cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Morphological variation among Gutierrezia sarothrae populations

Abstract To evaluate relationships among populations, phenotypic variation of morphological characters in one Gutierrezia microcephala and eight Gutierrezia sarothrae populations from New Mexico was quantified and compared with variation expressed when these same populations were grown in a common garden. During flowering, plants were randomly collected from each population across New Mexico during two growing seasons. A common garden of stem cuttings from these same populations was established in Las Cruces. Vegetative and reproductive characters were measured for each population at original and common sites. Vegetative characters did not differ between G. sarothrae and G. microcephala collected from the same location; however, reproductive characters were dissimilar between these two species. Vegetative and reproductive characters differed among G. sarothrae populations at original and common sites between years, although certain populations clustered. Based on morphological characters, more populations...
Spinal Bone Density and Tooth Loss in a Cohort of Postmenopausal Women

Osteoporosis has been suggested to contribute to the edentulous condition. However, studies specifically designed to examine the relationship between tooth loss and osteoporosis are scarce, and reported results have been mixed. This study investigated the correlation between tooth loss and spinal bone density in a nonHispanic white female population. Forty-four subjects were recruited and divided into high and low spinal bone density groups based on whether the bone density was higher or lower than the age-adjusted population mean bone density. Missing teeth and periodontal status in these groups were assessed and analyzed. Tooth loss was not significantly different between subjects with low spinal bone density (4.90 +/- 0.89 teeth) and high spinal bone density (3.81 +/- 0.90 teeth). Tooth loss did not differ after age and periodontal adjustment. However, the loss of attachment levels (relative to the cementoenamel junction) was greater in the low spinal bone density subjects (3.42 +/- 0.30 mm) than in the high spinal bone density subjects (2.37 +/- 0.26 mm) (P < .05). The difference may have resulted from gingival recession (P < .05), because the gingival pocket depths were not significantly different between the two groups. In this study, total tooth loss was not directly associated with systemic bone density. However, periodontal disease was negatively associated with spinal bone density. Whether periodontal disease will ultimately lead to greater tooth loss in low spinal bone density group merits further investigation.
Attitudes to Authority in Women Religious

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between three stances in attitudes to authority and levels of intrapsychic and interrelational of maturity in women religious in initial stages of membership. Subjects were drawn from congregations throughout the U.S. from those involved in programs of formation or temporary commitment. The total sample (N = 162) was divided into three equal-attitude groups (N = 54), using complementary but uncorrelated measures of attitudes to institutional authority and directiveness. Relationship between the behavioral rating of directiveness seemed associated with intrapsychic measures of individuation, with those scoring as most directive found most mature from this perspective. Maturation rated from an intergenerational system approach seemed to be associated with pro-authority attitudes, with those most supportive of authority scoring highest on this construct. Implications for further research as well as work with religious in formation are suggested.
Criteria for evaluating rSr′ patterns due to high precordial ECG lead placement accurately confirm absence of a Brugada ECG pattern

Abstract Background An rSr′ pattern in leads V 1 –V 2 can be observed when ECG leads are placed in the 2nd intercostal space. Recently, three criteria analyzing the ST segment and r′ width to identify true Brugada pattern ECGs have been described. Objectives To assess the feasibility and reliability of using high precordial lead ECGs in conjunction with three new criteria for identifying true Brugada pattern ECGs. Methods ECGs of 491 college athletes and 181 non-athletes were performed with standard and high-lead ECGs. ECGs were then analyzed using the newly proposed criteria. Results Zero patients had a Brugada type 1 or 2 pattern at baseline; 76 patients demonstrated an rSr′ pattern in leads V 1 –V 2 on the high-lead ECG. Two of the 76 (3%) met criteria suggesting a true Brugada ECG. Conclusion New ECG criteria based on the r′ wave accurately identify rSr′ patterns in V 1 –V 2 from potential Brugada type 2 patterns in patients with purposely placed high precordial leads.
Designing for Collaborative Sensemaking: Leveraging Human Cognition For Complex Tasks

My research aims to design systems for complex sensemaking by remotely located non-expert collaborators (crowds), to solve computationally hard problems like crimes.
Switched dynamic structural equation models for tracking social network topologies

Contagions such as the spread of popular news stories, or infectious diseases, propagate in cascades over dynamic networks with unobservable topologies. However, "social signals" such as product purchase time, or blog entry timestamps are measurable, and implicitly depend on the underlying topology, making it possible to track it over time. Interestingly, network topologies often "jump" between discrete states that may account for sudden changes in the observed signals. The present paper advocates a switched dynamic structural equation model to capture the topology-dependent cascade evolution, as well as the discrete states driving the underlying topologies. Leveraging the edge sparsity inherent to social networks, a recursive l1-norm regularized least-squares estimator is put forth to jointly track the states and network topologies. A first-order proximal-gradient algorithm is developed to solve the resulting optimization problem, and numerical tests on synthetic data corroborate its efficacy.
Protist-facilitated particle transport using emulated soil micromodels.

Microbial processes in the subsurface can be visualized directly using micromodels to emulate pore-scale geometries. Here, emulated soil micromodels were used to measure transport of fluorescent beads in the presence and absence of the soil ciliate Colpoda sp. under quiescent conditions. Beads alone or beads with protists were delivered to the input wells of replicate micromodels that contained three 20 mm2 channels emulating a sandy loam microstructure. Bead abundance in microstructured channels was measured by direct counts of tiled confocal micrographs. For channels with protists, average bead abundances were approximately 320, 560, 710, 830, and 790 mm–2 after 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 days, respectively, versus 0, 0, 0.3, 7.8, and 45 mm–2 without protists. Spatial and temporal patterns of bead abundance indicate that protist-facilitated transport is not a diffusive-type process but rather a function of more complex protist behaviors, including particle uptake and egestion and motility in a microstructured h...
Complete Representation of a Correlation Singularity in a Partially Coherent Beam

The complete structure of a correlation singularity of a partially coherent vortex beam is studied and its propagation characteristics described. The singularity undergoes non-trivial evolution on propagation.
Participatory health seminars for nursing home residents: a model for multidisciplinary education.

The objective of this demonstration project was the development of an innovative, seminar discussion of aging and health issues for a group of institutionalized elderly. The project staff consisted of a multidisciplinary team of students from medicine, nursing, social work, and gerontology. The program's impact on the particpants' quality of life and its significance as a learning experience for the student team members are explored. Implications of the model's use in other contexts and for the training of multidisciplinary professional teams are discussed.
Solar Sailing Trajectory Control for Sub -L1 Stationkeeping

Solar sails provide unique capabilities for space missions, due to the opportunities f or non - Keplerian orbits provided by significant continuous thrust over the mission life. This paper focuses on a particular example, which takes advantage of the increased warning time of solar flare events afforded by stationing a solar sail spacecraft si gnificantly inside the Earth - Sun L1 equilibrium. In the case of a circular Earth orbit about the sun, it is known that a 2 - dimensional manifold of station keeping equilibria exist in the synodic frame, parameterized by the in -plane and out -of -plane offsets of the station from the Earth -Sun line. Although no expendable fuel is required to maintain such an equilibrium, these equilibria are not stable, and periodic corrections to the nominal sail thrust vector (e.g. with feedback control) are required to main tain station. Since the sail thrust magnitude is a function of the attitude of the sail normal relative to the spacecraft -sun line, the corrective control thrusts derived from attitude changes on the sailcraft are constrained to a 2 -dimensional manifold, raising questions about the controllability of the desired equilibrium. It is shown in this paper that a 10,000 square meter sail with representative reflectance properties is controllable, according to the standard test for linearized dynamics, for a larg e region on the station keeping manifold. However, this result does not imply that sail attitude (thrust correction) angles will be within acceptable limits for particular initial off -equilibrium conditions. A controllability Gramian approach is used to pr ovide quantitative estimates of initial state errors which are correctable to zero within a given time, such that sailcraft attitude adjustments remain within specified limits. This enables early analysis of a mission profile to indicate whether orbit inje ction errors relative to the desired station are correctable. It can also be used to quantify tracking error correctability along non -equilibrium trajectories. Examples of its use in sub -L1 halo trajectory tracking are provided for the case of an eccentric Earth orbit.
Apparatus for Artificial Infestation of Pastured Beef Cattle with the Lone Star Tick (Acari: Ixodidae)

An apparatus for infesting cattle with lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum (L.), was constructed from an elastic band and was attached about the girth of a calf by a pair of leather straps to form a belt. Snap fasteners on the belt hold two-part, seamless steel cans (containing the ticks) to the belt. Once the belt is positioned on a calf and the cans are fastened in place, a latex band blocking the exit holes in each can is removed and the ticks crawl onto the host. The belt has no effect on average daily gain in preweaner calves, but provides a method for infesting calves with lone star ticks in numbers similar to those observed in field infestations.
Analysis of Architectures for Long-Range Crewed Moon and Mars Surface Mobility

This paper presents an architecture-level analysis of a set of planetary surface mobility concepts for human exploration. The motivation for the analysis is two-fold: to gain an understanding of the limitations of different architectures for extended-range surface mobility and to assess the feasibility of global-scale exploration from a single site to reduce the requirements for surface infrastructure emplacement. Four architectural concepts are investigated, including unpressurized and pressurized mobility options. The primary metric for assessing system performance is the ideal exploration radius achievable based on operational and technological constraints, i.e. the exploration radius the system could nominally achieve on a smooth planetary sphere. The analysis results indicate that for both the lunar and Martian environment, significant exploration radii on the order of several 100 km can be achieved from a single location provided that two independent pressurized vehicles are available, and that pre-positioning of supplies and in-situ generation of power in the field is possible. From the perspective of accessible surface area, this makes a single base on a planetary surface superior to a sequence of missions to separate sites. The analysis also indicates that unpressurized mobility can achieve exploration radii on the order of several 10 km when using two independent vehicles and high driving speeds, i.e. the accessible exploration radius of an unpressurized mobility system can increase significantly due to familiarization with the terrain and resulting increased driving speeds. The paper is concluded by a summary of findings and suggestions for future work.
No Arbitrage Conditions and Characters of Implied Volatility Surface: A Review for Implied Volatility Modelers

Since the market model based approach gained more popularity in implied volatility modeling literature, it is very important to understand the restriction on implied volatility surface imposed by no arbitrage conditions. There are many papers offering conclusions in different forms under kinds of assumptions. Thus a review of these conditions and a discussion of the relationship among these conditions will be helpful for implied volatility modeler as they can avoid wrong models. We will first introduce some results in the literature about no arbitrage conditions and general properties on implied volatility surface. Then we will present the sufficient and close to necessary conditions for no static arbitrage and talk about no dynamic arbitrage. Finally, we will show that when we are building models, check the last group of conditions, which can imply other necessary conditions, is quite enough.
Hospice and palliative social workers' experiences with clients at risk of suicide.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the frequency with which hospice and palliative social workers encounter patients, family caregivers, and other clients at risk of suicide, and to discover the extent to which hospice and palliative social workers feel prepared to address issues related to suicide in their professional practice. METHOD: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of hospice and palliative social workers, recruiting a convenience sample of volunteer respondents through advertisements at professional conferences and listservs, and via social media accounts associated with national organizations, state hospice and palliative care associations, and individual healthcare professionals. RESULTS: Most respondents reported having worked with patients, family caregivers, or other clients who had exhibited warning signs of suicide during the previous year. Fewer respondents indicated that they had worked with patients and family members who had attempted or died by suicide. While the majority of respondents believed they possessed sufficient knowledge and skills to intervene effectively with individuals at risk of suicide, they indicated that additional education on this topic would be valuable for their professional practice. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: These study results suggest that suicide-related competencies are important in the practice of hospice and palliative social work. Future education and training efforts should include skill development in addition to knowledge building. Language: en
Visualizing the library as place

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to share the research processes and results of secondary analysis using GIS to map usage of a university library to contribute to ongoing efforts to help identify how library spaces are used to explain how university libraries can continue to evolve as teaching, learning, and shared communities of scholars. This paper details the use of ArcGIS to visualize where students are in the library in order to explain how this method can used by libraries to visualize the use of their facilities. Design/methodology/approach – This research utilized secondary analysis of data collected during seating sweeps; through secondary analysis, data were analyzed and visualized in ArcGIS. The seating sweeps were conducted three times a day during a sample week, with researchers noting on maps of the library floor plan where students were sitting. Data were entered into an ArcGIS database file and mapped to display usage directly on the library map to improve stakeholders’ understanding...
Polyurea-Based Composites: Ultrasonic Testing and Dynamic Mechanical Properties Modeling

Many scientists and researchers study polyurea due to its excellent blast-mitigating properties. In this work, we have studied two polyurea composite systems with filler materials intended to improve dynamic mechanical properties. The two filler materials are milled glass and fly ash. The shape and quantity of filler significantly affect the dynamic mechanical properties of the composite. Ultrasonic tests were conducted on samples with both fillers. The volume fraction of the inclusions was varied to study the effect of filler quantity on mechanical properties. Moreover, computational models based on the methods of dilute-randomly-distributed inclusions and periodically-distributed inclusions were created to improve our understanding of polyurea-based composites and serve as tools for estimating the dynamic mechanical properties of similar composite material systems. The experimental and computational results were compared and show good agreement. The experiments and modeling have been conducted to facilitate the design of new elastomeric composites with desirable impact- and blast-mitigating properties.
Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity

As we will see throughout this book, Hamiltonian formulations provide important insights, especially for gauge theories such as general relativity with its underlying symmetry principle of general covariance. Canonical structures play a role for a general analysis of the systems of dynamical equations encountered in this setting, for the issue of observables, for the specific types of equation as they occur in cosmology or the physics of black holes, for a numerical investigation of solutions, and, last but not least, for diverse sets of issues forming the basis of quantum gravity. Several different Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity exist. In his comprehensive analysis, Dirac (1969), based on Dirac (1958a) and Dirac (1958b) and in parallel with Anderson and Bergmann (1951), developed much of the general framework of constrained systems as they are realized for gauge theories. (Earlier versions of Hamiltonian equations for gravity were developed by Pirani and Schild (1950) and Pirani et al. (1953). In many of these papers, the canonical analysis is presented as a mere prelude to canonical quantization. It is now clear that quantum gravity entails much more, as indicated in Chapter 6, but also that a Hamiltonian formulation of gravity has its own merits for classical purposes.) The most widely used canonical formulation in metric variables is named after Arnowitt, Deser and Misner (Arnowitt et al. (1962)) who first undertook the lengthy derivations in coordinate-independent form.
Lateral Versus Vertical Growth of Two-Dimensional Layered Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides: Thermodynamic Insight into MoS2.

Unprecedented interest has been spurred recently in two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) that possess tunable electronic and optical properties. However, synthesis of a wafer-scale TMD thin film with controlled layers and homogeneity remains highly challenging due mainly to the lack of thermodynamic and diffusion knowledge, which can be used to understand and design process conditions, but falls far behind the rapidly growing TMD field. Here, an integrated density functional theory (DFT) and calculation of phase diagram (CALPHAD) modeling approach is employed to provide thermodynamic insight into lateral versus vertical growth of the prototypical 2D material MoS2. Various DFT energies are predicted from the layer-dependent MoS2, 2D flake-size related mono- and bilayer MoS2, to Mo and S migrations with and without graphene and sapphire substrates, thus shedding light on the factors that control lateral versus vertical growth of 2D islands. For example, the monolayer MoS2 fla...
A New Role for Lyn in the CLL Microenvironment.

The role of Lyn, both a positive and a negative regulator of B and myeloid cells, in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has not been well characterized. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Nguyen et al. demonstrated that Lyn in macrophages rather than in CLL cells is critical for the malignancy.
The role of hospital pharmacists in the adoption and use of pharmacogenomics and precision medicine.

Aim: Our aim was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of US hospital pharmacists about the implementation of clinical pharmacogenomics, and examine liability risks of adopting pharmacogenomics by pharmacists. Methods: We surveyed hospital pharmacists. Linear regression models of predictor variables for pharmacist adoption and use of pharmacogenomics were analyzed. Results: The survey was administered to 660 hospital pharmacists (23% response rate; n = 149). The majority of respondents (72%) favor implementing pharmacogenomics into pharmacy practice. However, only 25% are confident in their abilities to interpret pharmacogenomic test results. Conclusion: Pharmacists lack confidence in their abilities to interpret and use pharmacogenomic information in clinical care. These results raise potential liability risks that are pertinent to pharmacists.
Survival of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pups during the first months of life at the Forrester Island complex, Alaska

Mark–recapture models and a sample of 607 Steller sea lion (SSL, Eumetopias jubatus) pups born to individually marked, known-aged females were used to estimate pup survival probabilities from birth to approximately 2 months of age over 8 years (2007–2014) at the Forrester Island complex, the largest rookery in Alaska. Survival of pups was lowest (0.846/week) early in the season when pupping areas were less dense than after the time of maximum counts of adults (≥ 18 June, 0.972/week). Survival was lowest in the first 2 weeks of life and then consistently high after 2 weeks of age. After including age effects, survival was lowest for pups born < 9 June and for pups of 5–7-year-old mothers than 8–20-year-old mothers. Compared to average survival over 6 other years, pup survival to 3 weeks of age was ∼20% lower in 2010, due to a prolonged storm during the middle of the active pupping period, and in 2013, for unknown reasons but not storm-related. Average survival to 3 weeks of age was 0.79, suggesting neonatal mortality was significant and likely important to population dynamics at this stable rookery and in shaping reproductive strategies of females. To prevent disturbance of very young pups and their mothers, SSL pups are first marked for long-term mark–recapture studies at approximately 3 weeks of age throughout their range. When the high neonatal mortality rate observed in this study was ignored, the positively biased model-based population trend estimate (2.3%/year) was triple the estimate produced when the 1st-year survival estimate included neonatal mortality (0.7%/year).
Lactate and Lactate: Pyruvate Ratio in the Diagnosis and Outcomes of Pediatric Acute Liver Failure.

Objectives To assess the accuracy of blood lactate and lactate: pyruvate molar ratio (L:P) as a screen for mitochondrial, respiratory chain, or fatty acid oxidation disorders in children with pediatric acute liver failure (PALF); to determine whether serum lactate ≥ 2.5 mmol/L or L:P ≥ 25 correlated with biochemical variables of clinical severity; and to determine whether lactate or L:P is associated with clinical outcome at 21 days. Study design Retrospective review of demographic, clinical, laboratory, and outcome data for PALF study group participants who had lactate and pyruvate levels collected on the same day. Results Of 986 participants, 110 had lactate and pyruvate levels collected on the same day. Of the 110, the etiology of PALF was a mitochondrial disorder in 8 (7%), indeterminate in 65 (59%), and an alternative diagnosis in 37 (34%). Lactate, pyruvate, and L:P were similar among the 3 etiologic groups. There was no significant association between the initial lactate or L:P and biochemical variables of clinical severity or clinical outcome at 21 days. Conclusions A serum lactate ≥ 2.5 mmol/L and/or elevated L:P was common in all causes of PALF, not limited to those with a mitochondrial etiology, and did not predict 21-day clinical outcome. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT00986648
It Takes a (Virtual) Village: Exploring the Role of a Career Community to Support Sensemaking As a Proactive Socialization Practice.

Scholars have long advocated for individuals to play a more proactive role during organizational entry rather than relying on institutionally led processes. The primary benefit being that the newcomer moves from passive recipient, dependent on the institution to highlight relevant information, to active agent with self-determined sources and methods to aid in adjustment. A virtual career community made up of 12 first year business faculty members was created to provide such a self-determined source of support during the transition from doctoral studies to full-time assistant professorship. After the entry period (1 academic year), the interactions in this community were used as data for a phenomenon driven research study. The results illustrate how a virtual career community could be used as a proactive socialization tool by encouraging sensemaking amongst first year faculty peers. The sensemaking process consists of perceived contrasts and tensions, followed by positive and negative self-disclosures, community feedback and the experience of cognitive-behavioral shifts. The findings also expand the proactive use of external referents during organizational entry, which previously had only looked at friends and family members of the newcomer. Keywords: career communities, sense-making, organizational entry, proactive socialization, growth, development
CGCM and AGCM Seasonal Climate Predictions – A Study in CCSM4

Seasonal climate predictions are formulated from known, present conditions, and simulate the near-term climate for approximately a year in the future. Recent efforts in seasonal climate prediction include coupled general circulation model (CGCM) ensemble predictions, but other efforts have included atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ensemble predictions that are forced by time-varying sea surface temperatures (SSTs). CGCMs and AGCMs have differences in the way surface energy fluxes are simulated, which may lead to differences in skill and predictability. Concerning model biases, forecasted SSTs have errors compared to observed SSTs, which may also affect skill and predictability. This manuscript focuses on the role of the ocean in climate predictions, and includes the influences of ocean-atmosphere coupling and SST errors on skill and predictability. We perform a series of prediction experiments comparing coupled and uncoupled Community Climate System Model version 4.0 (CCSM4) predictions, and forecasted versus observed SSTs to determine which is the leading cause for differences in skill and predictability. Overall, prediction skill and predictability are only weakly influenced by ocean-atmosphere coupling, with the exception of the western Pacific, while errors in forecasted SSTs significantly impact skill and predictability. Comparatively, SST errors lead to more significant and robust differences in prediction skill and predictability versus inconsistencies in ocean-atmosphere coupling.
Family Activity Model: Crossroads of Activity Environment and Family Interactions in Family Leisure

ABSTRACTThis article proposes the Family Activity Model (FAM) that integrates the previous work of Orthner's theoretical constructs of joint and parallel activities with Zabriskie and McCormick's constructs of core and balance experiences. FAM includes two dimensions of family experiences: activity environment and family interaction. Activity environment refers to the degree of novelty in the environment, while family interaction refers to the degree of social interaction among family members. These dimensions include objective and subjective elements of experiences. As a result of these orthogonal dimensions, four categories were developed providing a more nuanced understanding of family experiences: core-joint, core-parallel, balance-joint, and balance-parallel. The broader implications of using the FAM are discussed for researchers and practitioners.
Nutrition management methods effective in increasing weight, survival time and functional status in ALS patients: a systematic review

Poor prognosis and decreased survival time correlate with the nutritional status of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Various studies were reviewed which assessed weight, body mass index (BMI), survival time and ALS functional rating scale revised (ALSFRS-R) in order to determine the best nutrition management methods for this patient population. A systematic review was conducted using CINAHL, Medline, and PubMed, and various search terms in order to determine the most recent clinical trials and observational studies that have been conducted concerning nutrition and ALS. Four articles met criteria to be included in the review. Data were extracted from these articles and were inputted into the Data Extraction Tool (DET) provided by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND). Results showed that nutrition supplementation does promote weight stabilisation or weight gain in individuals with ALS. Given the low risk and low cost associated with intervention, early and aggressive nutrition intervention is recommended. This systematic review shows that there is a lack of high quality evidence regarding the efficacy of any dietary interventions for promoting survival in ALS or slowing disease progression; therefore more research is necessary related to effects of nutrition interventions.
Multiple aspects of high school students’ strategic processing on reading outcomes: The role of quantity, quality, and conjunctive strategy use

Background While the literature on strategy use is relatively mature, measures of strategy use overwhelmingly measure only one aspect of that use, frequency, when relating that strategy use to performance outcomes. While this might be one important attribute of strategy use, there is increasing evidence that quality and conditional use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies may also be important. Aims This study examines how multiple aspects of strategy use, namely frequency, quality, and conjunctive use of strategies, influence task performance on both well- and ill-structured task outcomes in addition to other concomitant variables that may interact with strategic processing during reading. Sample The sample consisted of 21 high school students enrolled in an upper-level biology class in a suburban school in the north-eastern United States. Methods These participants completed measures of prior knowledge and interest, then read either an expository or persuasive text while thinking aloud. They then completed a passage recall and open-ended response following passage completion. Results In general, quantity was not positively related to the study outcomes and was negatively related to one of them. Quality of strategy use, on the other hand, was consistently related to positive reading outcomes. The influence of knowledge and interest in terms of strategies is also discussed as well as six cases which illustrate the relation of aspects of strategy use and the other concomitant variables. Conclusions Evaluating strategy use by solely examining the frequency of strategy use did not explain differences in task performance as well as evaluating the quality and conjunctive use of strategies. Further, important relations between prior knowledge, interest, and the task outcomes appeared to be mediated and moderated by the aspects of strategy use investigated.
Technical aspects of acquiring and measuring myocardial blood flow: Method, technique, and QA

Measuring absolute myocardial blood flow (MBF) is becoming a common aid for diagnosing patients suspected to have coronary artery disease. An MBF study, however, requires a scanner with high count rate capability, is more susceptible to artifacts, and is much more technically involved than static imaging, which leads to a greater risk of artifactual results contaminating the final result. This technical note gives the reader an introductory understanding of the method for calculating MBF. It then describes the scanning protocol, potential pitfalls and how to recognize them, and quality control steps that should be taken to avoid basing a clinical decision on possibly inaccurate flow information.
Having an Opinion vs. Knowing the Facts: Success Strategies among Men and Women in a Global Bank

This article contrasts the strategies that men and women have employed in pursuit of their career advancement in an elite professional services firm. Analyzing narratives in interviews of 115 senior leaders in a global investment bank, I find that women and men have used markedly different strategies to advance their careers and achieve success. Each group pursues the same objective–building relationships–but utilizes different means. Men “have opinions;” women “know facts.” Men emphasize having a point of view, assuming connections with colleagues and clients that can withstand conflict. Women emphasize their technical capabilities, not only to prove their competence, but also to establish connections with colleagues and clients grounded in achievements and expertise. Despite their differences, successful men and women’s strategies have similar aims: legitimacy and connectivity. For men, having an opinion fits within a culture that privileges a “masculine ethic,” practicable due to the social fabric tyin...
A Review Essay of Dennis Rasmussen, 'The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought'

This is a review essay of Dennis Rasmussen's 2017 book, The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship that Shaped the Modern Thought.
The cricket indoor location system

Indoor environments present opportunities for a rich set of location-aware applications such as navigation tools for humans and robots, interactive virtual games, resource discovery, asset tracking, location-aware sensor networking etc. Typical indoor applications require better accuracy than what current outdoor location systems provide. Outdoor location technologies such as GPS have poor indoor performance because of the harsh nature of indoor environments. Further, typical indoor applications require different types of location information such as physical space, position and orientation. This dissertation describes the design and implementation of the Cricket indoor location system that provides accurate location in the form of user space, position and orientation to mobile and sensor network applications. Cricket consists of location beacons that are attached to the ceiling of a building, and receivers, called listeners, attached to devices that need location. Each beacon periodically transmits its location information in an RF message. At the same time, the beacon also transmits an ultrasonic pulse. The listeners listen to beacon transmissions and measure distances to nearby beacons, and use these distances to compute their own locations. This active-beacon passive-listener architecture is scalable with respect to the number of users, and enables applications that preserve user privacy. This dissertation describes how Cricket achieves accurate distance measurements between beacons and listeners. Once the beacons are deployed, the MAT and AFL algorithms, described in this dissertation, use measurements taken at a mobile listener to configure the beacons with a coordinate assignment that reflects the beacon layout. This dissertation presents beacon interference avoidance and detection algorithms, as well as outlier rejection algorithms to prevent and filter out outlier distance estimates caused by uncoordinated beacon transmissions. The Cricket listeners can measure distances with an accuracy of 5 cm. The listeners can detect boundaries with an accuracy of 1 cm. Cricket has a position estimation accuracy of 10 cm and an orientation accuracy of 3 degrees. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
The Diabetic Intrauterine Environment: Short and Long-Term Consequences

Fetal life is one of the critical periods when an exposure may have lifelong effects through biological programming. Intrauterine exposure to an excess of fuels, such as hyperglycemia, leads to greater birth weight and an increased risk of obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, and type 2 diabetes. These effects are not limited to children of women diagnosed with diabetes. In addition to hyperglycemia, alterations in other maternal fuels or derangement in placental transport of fuels may be involved in fetal overgrowth. Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes and studies have shown an independent association of maternal obesity with excessive fetal growth and adiposity. Several mechanisms that are not mutually exclusive may explain these associations, including: genetic predisposition, shared familial socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, and specific intrauterine effects. Future research should further characterize the specific intrauterine mediators of short and long-term consequences, and provide better understanding of the biological bases of fetal programming. Such studies could ultimately lead to the development of strategies for early life prevention of future chronic disorders.
Characterizing and modeling wear-recovery behaviors of acid-induced casein hydrogels

Abstract Hydrogels are soft materials with applications in multiple industries, but their fundamental wear behaviors are relatively unknown. Studies on hydrogel wear behaviors generally use empirical measurements. Additionally, it can be difficult to measuring hydrogel wear rates by traditional mass loss measurements because wear debris cannot always be removed without disturbing intact sample. Therefore, the objective of study was to develop a method for more precise calculation of soft material wear rates. The method developed compared creep-recovery and wear-recovery behaviors of casein hydrogels to separate deflection of the material under an applied load from the amount of material removed. Casein hydrogels were prepared at different concentrations (8%, 10%, and 15% w/w) and pH (2.3, 3.6, 4.8), and tested under a range of normal loads (0.3, 0.4, 0.5 N). Wear-recovery behaviors were fit to an exponential model. Maximum penetration depth during wear and creep, creep-recovery, and wear-recovery increased with lower casein concentration and higher normal force and pH. Exponential models for casein gel wear-recovery behaviors indicated good fit (R2 > 0.99). This wear measurement method is useful for developing food products with specific oral and industrial processing behaviors.
Content-Aware Enhancement of Images With Filamentous Structures

In this paper, we describe a novel enhancement method for images containing filamentous structures. Our method combines a gradient sparsity constraint with a filamentous structure constraint for the effective removal of clutter and noise from the background. The method is applied and evaluated on three types of data: 1) confocal microscopy images of neurons; 2) calcium imaging data; and 3) images of road pavement. We found that the images enhanced by our method preserve both the structure and the intensity details of the original object. In the case of neuron microscopy, we find that the neurons enhanced by our method are better correlated with the original structure intensities than the neurons enhanced by well-known vessel enhancement methods. Experiments on simulated calcium imaging data indicate that both the number of detected neurons and the accuracy of the derived calcium activity are improved. Applying our method to real calcium data, more regions exhibiting calcium activity in the full field of view were found. In road pavement crack detection, smaller or milder cracks were detected after using our enhancement method.
Learning Sparse Neural Networks via \(\ell _0\) and T\(\ell _1\) by a Relaxed Variable Splitting Method with Application to Multi-scale Curve Classification

We study sparsification of convolutional neural networks (CNN) by a relaxed variable splitting method of \(\ell _0\) and transformed-\(\ell _1\) (T\(\ell _1\)) penalties, with application to complex curves such as texts written in different fonts, and words written with trembling hands simulating those of Parkinson’s disease patients. The CNN contains 3 convolutional layers, each followed by a maximum pooling, and finally a fully connected layer which contains the largest number of network weights. With \(\ell _0\) penalty, we achieved over 99% test accuracy in distinguishing shaky vs. regular fonts or hand writings with above 86% of the weights in the fully connected layer being zero. Comparable sparsity and test accuracy are also reached with a proper choice of T\(\ell _1\) penalty.
Undocumented Migration and Evolving Health Care Ethical Issues.

Given what some perceive to be a moral crisis in the present U.S. treatment of undocumented migrants, Mark Kuczewski's thoughtful article, “Clinical Ethicists Awakened" (2019), elicits further refl...
Delayed-immediate hybrid breast reconstruction-Increasing patient input and precision in breast reconstruction.

The benefits of breast reconstruction via free tissue transfer with simultaneous implant placement, that is, hybrid breast reconstruction, in select patients are well-known. Challenges exist, however, and are related to proper implant selection as well as postoperative mastectomy skin necrosis. Here, the authors present an approach that increases reconstructive precision while minimizing postoperative mastectomy skin necrosis. A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent immediate prepectoral tissue expander placement (stage 1) followed by delayed-immediate hybrid breast reconstruction (stage 2) was performed. Parameters of interest included patient demographics, postoperative complications, and revision rates. A total of 31 patients with a mean age of 48.7 years (range, 30-67 years) and a mean BMI of 26.3 kg/m2 (range, 21.0-35.3 kg/m2 ) who underwent bilateral breast reconstruction were included. Of the 62 free abdominal flaps, 45 (72.6%) and 17 (27.4%) were MS-TRAM and DIEP flaps, respectively. The most common implant volume was 240 cc (range, 140-445 cc). Following stage 1, minor and major complications were observed in nine (29%) and one (3.2%) patients, respectively. No major complications were noted after stage 2. Of note, no patient developed mastectomy skin necrosis or requested a change in implant size following stage 2. Delayed-immediate hybrid breast reconstruction improves the ability to more precisely match patient expectations related to breast size and is associated with a reduction in the rate of mastectomy skin necrosis following the critical second stage of reconstruction.
Development of a Homemade Spinal Model for Simulation to Teach Ultrasound Guidance for Lumbar Puncture.

Spinal procedures such as lumbar punctures (LPs), epidurals, and spinal blocks are essential components to clinical practice but are challenging to teach, learn, or practice on real patients due to patient safety and comfort limiting the number of attempts. Resident physicians traditionally learn these spinal procedural skills through observation of a more senior physician before attempting the procedure. Simulation using models can improve providers’ competency without introducing an added risk to patients. A difficulty encountered with access to simulation training for such procedures is the limited availability of simulators. While there are several high-quality, commercially available models that mimic the anatomy of lumbar spine, the cost of these models often limits the access to students and practitioners. The other challenge is access to simulators with versatility that can be used for palpation as well as ultrasound (US)-guided procedures. A simulator that can combine practice of both palpation and US-guided modalities would be efficacious in reducing cost to the teaching institutions. We attempted to overcome the access barrier to spinal models by developing an alternative that provides a good simulator for both palpation and US-guided LP while keeping the cost low. Our model can be easily manufactured by not only clinicians but also medical students. A literature review was conducted to assess the available research and information on the production and use of simulators for practicing LPs and other spinal procedures. Publications queried described the production of models and utilizing the information compiled we devised and fabricated a model. A lumbar spine model was developed using computed tomography spine data of an average-sized male patient without lumbar spine pathology. The model was created using medical imaging processing software and printed on 3D printer using nylon plastic. This model was then utilized by residents, advanced practice providers, and medical students for palpation and US-guided LP simulation training. An inexpensive reusable non-commercial LP simulator can be an effective method for teaching invasive procedures like LPs, especially if it can be used both for palpation and US-guided procedures. The method outlined here can be easily reproduced in a relatively short amount of time. We recognize one limitation in the widespread dissemination of this technique being access to a 3D printer and digital designs for printing. Future studies will be necessary to determine the efficacy of the homemade LP simulator in teaching neurointensivist in training.
We do not have borders: Greater Somalia and the predicaments of belonging in Kenya

We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya presents details about ethnic Somalis in the Horn of Africa, looking explicitly at the difficulties assigned to th...
Nascent directions for design creativity research

Design is recognized as one of the creative professions but that does not mean that design equals creativity. Much of design is not creative, rather it is routine in the sense that the designs prod...
Increased Daily Steps Associated with Reduced All-Cause Mortality.

This study found that a greater number of daily steps was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality.
The Emotional Flow Hypothesis in Entertainment-Education Narratives: Theory, Empirical Evidence, and Open Questions

This chapter examined the emotional flow hypothesis that suggested that emotional shifts in response to educational narratives promote and sustain message engagement, and that engagement, in turn, can promote story-consistent attitudes and beliefs. We conducted two controlled experimental studies, manipulating emotional flow through discrete emotions or emotional valence. The persuasive messages about the misinformed nature of organic tobacco were embedded within an entertainment-education narrative about a romantic date. Results suggest that, at least in the short narratives often used for health campaigns, emotional shifts may not increase engagement with plots or characters. This finding was further supported by the manipulation checks, showing participants did go through emotional shifts in the appropriate conditions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.