cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Appreciative Inquiry into an Urban Drug Court: Cultural Transformation.

The purpose of this study was to use an appreciative inquiry (AI) theoretical research perspective and change methodology to transform the working relationships and cultural expectations of members through the discovery of their positive core leading to an optimistic and confidence-based future for an urban drug court. This study describes how participants through their participation in the first two stages of an AI 4-D cycle (Discovery and Dream) transformed their working relationships and organizational culture. Participants included an urban drug court magistrate, manager, and purposively selected staff [15 participants]. The urban drug court is designed as a last chance opportunity for substance abusers. As a result of participation in the appreciative inquiry process, participants (a) discovered a resiliency and willingness to overcome challenges, (b) reaffirmed a sense of purpose in their work and (c), discovered a positive core of successful experience. Our study demonstrates the creative possibilities when applying AI to groups mired in deficit thinking. In doing so, we advanced the research in AI, positive organizational psychology, and learned optimism. Keywords: Appreciative Inquiry, Cultural Transformation, Urban Drug Court, AI 4-D Cycle Public organizations are influenced by forces beyond their control such as the
Commentary: Correlation between trochlear dysplasia and anterior cruciate ligament injury

Acute patellar dislocation (APD) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury are common injuries and can lead to devastating consequences if not treated appropriately. Their mechanism of injury is similar, namely, a valgus twisting injury as a result of sudden non-contact deceleration. Those at risk also share similar epidemiological and anatomical characteristics; they tend to be female, have ligamentous laxity, and be young, active adults, with dysplastic intercondylar and trochlear notches. Concurrent injuries are common: osteochondral defects and medial patellofemoral ligament tears are associated with APD, 1–3 and mensical and collateral ligament tears are associated with ACL injury. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the gold standard to diagnose these injuries and to differentiate patients that warrant surgery as opposed to conservative treatment. A large study in New Zealand estimated the incidence of ACL injuries to be 36.9 per 100 000 person-years. 4 ACL injury is possibly associated with a narrow intercondylar notch, particularly in females. Nonetheless, controversies exist as to the mechanism; whether a narrow notch leads to impingement and attritional rupture or whether a narrow notch means a smaller and more vulnerable ACL remains unknown. Anterior knee pain has many possible causes. It is associated with trochlear dysplasia on MRI. 5 The
Sociodemographic determinants of growth among Malian adolescent females.

In Africa, research concerning the social determinants of poor nutritional status has typically focused on children under 5 years of age and has used defined categorical boundaries based on international reference standards. In this article, stunting and wasting of 1,157 Malian adolescent girls is measured through both categorical and continuous data. The focus on adolescent girls is significant because there is relatively little literature examining this group, and because adolescence marks the time when girls gain greater workload responsibilities, autonomy of food choices, and, as a result of the adolescent growth spurt, require the greatest amount of caloric intake respective to their weight since infancy. To differentiate stunting and wasting causes, a number of socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic factors are explored. The findings suggest that continuous data provides a basis for modeling stunting and wasting superior to utilizing international reference categories. Estimations show that decreasing age, the presence of servants, a greater number of wives in a compound, and residence in a large urban area correlate with improved nutritional status while wealthier families appear to correlate with greater stunting and wasting, and no correlation exists with estimated energy expenditure. Future studies should incorporate continuous data, and the need exists for greater analysis of social determinants of growth indicators among adolescent females. Further, these findings have significant implications in the development of nutrition intervention programs aimed at the vulnerable population in Mali, leading us to conclude that factors beyond socioeconomic indicators such as household structure and location should be more fully examined. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Seeking a better life in the plankton

Foraminifers are single-celled, testate protists with a rich geologic record spanning at least 500 million years of Earth's most recent history. Their abundance, diversity, and diagnostic distribution patterns make them very useful to Earth scientists for purposes of relative age determination, correlation from one locality to another, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Benthic foraminifers occupy nearly every conceivable marine habitat ranging from coastal salt marshes and estuaries to marginal silled basins and deep-sea trenches. They range from pole to pole and are particularly diverse and abundant in shallow waters of the tropics. Planktic foraminifers have a shorter geologic history that begins ≈180 Ma in the late Early Jurassic. Traditional classification has assigned all of the planktic forms to a single suborder Globigerinina (1). Such a classification scheme implies a monophyletic origin for the planktic foraminifers, although many specialists have long suspected a polyphyletic origin from benthic ancestors.
Reconstructing the Case for Black Reparations

Policies to address racial inequality are often promoted under the banner of black reparations. Yet the academic debate about black reparations has been preoccupied by the difficulties in advancing an argument that takes account of intergenerational justice — where the intended beneficiaries are not those who suffered the original abuses, but rather are descendants. These hurdles are created by the focus on slavery. This paper focuses on the federal government's complicity in exacerbating racial inequality during the middle third of the twentieth century, particularly in the areas of education, housing, employment, and social policy. From the New Deal onward, the government systematically favored whites and disfavored blacks. The New Deal was largely for whites only, and current racial inequality is largely attributable to policy decisions made within living memory. This evidence helps to advance the case for reparations, and avoids the many hurdles that the argument for reparations based on slavery faces. It thus bolsters the case for policies that address racial inequality.
Engaging Organic Chemistry Students Using ChemDraw for iPad.

Drawing structures, mechanisms, and syntheses is a vital part of success in organic chemistry courses. ChemDraw for iPad has been used to increase classroom experiences in the preparation of high quality chemical drawings. The embedded Flick-to-Share allows for simple, real-time exchange of ChemDraw documents. ChemDraw for iPad also allows documents to be readily shared with students via e-mail directly from the program. ChemDraw for iPad increased engagement and enhanced interactions between students and instructors in organic chemistry classes.
Structurally adjusting: Narratives of fiscal crisis in four US cities

The Great Recession unleashed a wave of fiscal stress in the USA, with austerity measures such as spending cuts, service reductions and privatisation predictably taking centre stage. Decades of fed...
Techniques for processing tcp/ip flow content in network switches at gigabit line rates

The growth of the Internet has enabled it to become a critical component used by businesses, governments and individuals. While most of the traffic on the Internet is legitimate, a proportion of the traffic includes worms, computer viruses, network intrusions, computer espionage, security breaches and illegal behavior. This rogue traffic causes computer and network outages, reduces network throughput, and costs governments and companies billions of dollars each year. This dissertation investigates the problems associated with TCP stream processing in high-speed networks. It describes an architecture that simplifies the processing of TCP data streams in these environments and presents a hardware circuit capable of TCP stream processing on multi-gigabit networks for millions of simultaneous network connections. Live Internet traffic is analyzed using this new TCP processing circuit.
Multiculturalism and Pluralistic Thought in Nursing Education: Native American World View and the Nursing Academic World View

Nursing's capability to meet the health care needs of America's increasing racial diversity is dependent on its capacity to embrace multicultural groups entering the profession. Faculty should be aware of both the culture and world view of nursing's Euro-American (Anglo) culture-based curriculum. As an example of how world view and culture affect learning and performance, this article juxtaposes nursing's and the Native American's educational world view and culture. Each group's survival is dependent on the culturally determined and learned skills of its members. As faculty and students become culture brokers/interpreters between their world views, student success is enhanced. Acknowledgement of differing world views mandates that caution against generalizations, stereotyping, nefarious comparison, or the devaluing of persons be exercised. This knowledge, appropriately used, provides significant direction in guiding students and planning nursing educational approaches and programs.
Prolongation of lactation in the rat by litter replacement.

SummaryLactation was prolonged in 16 rats up to 70 days after parturition by providing them with fresh litters every 10 days. Milk production, as judged by litter weight gains, declined about 1/3 after first 20 days and continued at this level for the remainder of 70-day period. The lobule-alveolar system of most rats showed little or no evidence of involution during entire period. This suggests that the decline in milk yield was due either to decrease in secretion of galactopoietic hormones or to reduction in secretory capacity of alveolar cells, or both.
Highly transient flow features in the ram accelerator

The reactive flow field in the thermally choked ram accelerator is highly transient. Time-accurate numerical simulations were performed to study the following transient, reactive flow features: (1) Initial establishment of the thermally choked combustion; (2) Motion of the near-normal shock relative to the ram accelerator projectile; (3) Intrinsic unsteadiness of thermally choked combustion; and (4) Effects of projectile acceleration on the flow field and the thermally choked combustion process.
Etude stéréotaxique du système porte extra-hépatique

Sur une serie de 50 sujets adultes embaumes, des deux sexes, le systeme porte extra-hepatique a ete etudie par la methode d'injection-corrosion, avec un melange de resine et de triethylenetetramine a 8 %.
Sources of cell and electrode polarisation losses in SOFCs

This chapter reviews the main sources of polarization loss in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). These include cell-level losses (electrolyte resistance, electrode overpotential, and gas-phase concentration polarization) as well as losses associated with gradients and finite utilization in multi-cell SOFC stacks. The chapter then delves into some of the specific rate processes which contribute to the measured electrode overpotential, including interfacial charge-transfer and chemical reaction rates and transport on surfaces or within the bulk of electrode materials, including co-limitation by transport and kinetics in porous electrodes.
ATRX mutations and glioblastoma: Impaired DNA damage repair, alternative lengthening of telomeres, and genetic instability

Alpha thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked (ATRX) is mutated in nearly a third of pediatric glioblastoma (GBM) patients. We developed an animal model of ATRX-deficient GBM. Using this model combined with analysis of multiple human glioma genome-wide datasets, we determined that ATRX mutation leads to genetic instability, impaired non-homologous end joining, and alternate lengthening of telomeres (ALT).
The Analysis and Testing of the Influence on the Damping Caused by Reactive Current Compensation

At first the influence of reactive current compensation(RCC) on power system damping is researched,namely leading RCC into Phillips-Heffron model and it is derived that the curve of increment of damping torque coefficient offered by RCC varying with RCC coefficient Xc is a second-degree parabola,and the opening direction of the parabola and its position relate to excitation parameters,generator parameters,operation condition of power system and system parameters.Then the influence of RCC on frequency response of generator is analyzed.Simulation results and on-site testing results show that in the frequency band of low-frequency oscillation from 0.1 Hz to 2 Hz,larger RCC coefficient evidently influences on frequency response characteristic of generator,therefore it is very necessary to take the influence of RCC into account during the setting of power system stabilizer(PSS).
312 ROLE OF METHYLGLYOXAL IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the United States. Why DN develops in up to 40% of diabetic patients is currently unknown. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms leading to the development of DN would provide the basis for the design of new therapies to prevent this diabetic complication. One hypothesis on why DN develops implicates the increased formation of a heterogeneous group of compounds collectively called advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in response to chronic hyperglycemia as a possible culprit. Methylglyoxal (MGO), a highly reactive carbonyl compound that is derived from autoxidation of glucose and the degradation of triose phosphates, is elevated in diabetic patients and is a major source of AGEs. We hypothesized that MGO may contribute to the pathogenesis of DN by two mechanisms: (1) by modifying key components that make up the extracellular matrix (ECM) and thus altering the interaction of glomerular kidney cells with the ECM proteins and (2) by having direct toxic effects on these cells leading to decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis. To test the first hypothesis, we coated plates with collagen IV and laminin 1, major components of the renal ECM, and incubated the plates with or without MGO. We found that the adhesion of both immortalized human podocytes and murine mesangial cells to collagen IV and laminin 1 was significantly impaired after these ECM components were modified by MGO. The weakening of the cell-ECM interactions may facilitate the migration and proliferation of mesangial cells leading to increased mesangial matrix, as well as the effacement of the podocyte foot processes and podocyte shedding, common findings in DN. To test whether MGO may also have direct toxic effects on glomerular cells, we incubated the same cells in media with and without MGO. Using cell viability reagent WST-1, we found that MGO led to decreased viability of both podocytes and mesangial cells. MGO also caused apoptosis in both cell types as determined in an ELISA apoptosis assay. Recently, we and other investigators have demonstrated that pyridoxamine (PM) can form covalent adducts with low-molecular-weight carbonyl compounds such as MGO and thereby may potentially protect cells from the toxic effects of MGO. Indeed, when added to glomerular cells PM improved viability of MGO-treated cells and decreased apoptotic cell death. In summary, our results suggest that MGO may contribute to the pathogenesis of DN by direct toxic effects on the glomerular cells and by modifying the underlying ECM. In addition, we found that PM may counteract this MGO toxicity indicating a potential therapeutic mechanism of PM in DN.
Religious Cultural Significance and Ethnic Identity of Xianghua Buddhist Ceremony——An Investigation of the Hakka Areas with East Guangdong as the Focus

Xianghua Buddhist ceremony is not only a popular folk etiquette and custom in east Guangdong province,but also a religious ritual combining Buddhist culture and local folk culture. By studying Xianghua Buddhist ceremony and Xianghua Buddhist monks,the author focuses on analyzing the relationship between rituals of Buddhism and other religions. However,the author does not argue that Xianghua Buddhist ceremony should be taken as ethnic identity of the Hakka people,and points out that the debatable life style of Xianghua Buddhist monk is not unique,but probably a rather common historical cultural phenomenon.
Benefits of self-selected projects from students' workplace as a pedagogical tool in graduate operations management classes

Project-based pedagogies are well recognised and widely adopted in business education. In this paper we present lessons from a project-based pedagogy specifically designed for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students: self-selected operations projects from their workplaces. We introduced this approach in two sections of our core MBA Operations Management course during the Spring 2014 semester, and then interviewed thirty-seven students to discover students' perceptions of the benefits of this pedagogy. Our analysis revealed that, from MBA students' perspective, self-selected projects from students' workplaces provided significant benefits to the students' workplace performance, professional and career development, project management experience, and course material learning. We conclude with the limitations of the study, implications for instructors, and suggestions for future research.
Diverse ontogenies of reciprocal and prosocial behavior: cooperative development in Fiji and the United States

Contingent reciprocity is an important foundation of human cooperation, but we know little about how reciprocal behavior develops across diverse societies, nor about how the development of reciprocal behavior is related to the development of prosocial behavior more broadly. Three- to 16-year-old children were presented with the opportunity to control the allocation of real food rewards in a binary-choice cooperative dilemma. Within dyads children alternated making choices across multiple trials, and reciprocal behavior emerged in three diverse populations (rural Fijian villages, and urban communities in both Fiji and the United States) by age 7-8. There was more societal variation in prosocial behavior than in reciprocal behavior, and there were more substantial differences between Fijians and Americans than between rural and urban populations. This suggests that the development of prosocial behavior is not driven entirely by the development of reciprocity, and differences in prosocial behavior across rural Fijians and urban Americans may not be due only to differences across rural and urban populations.
Touchdown to take-off : At the interface of flight and surface locomotion

Small aerial robots are limited to short mission times because aerodynamic and energy conversion efficiency diminish with scale. One way to extend mission times is to perch, as biological flyers do. Beyond perching, small robot flyers benefit from manoeuvring on surfaces for a diverse set of tasks, including exploration, inspection and collection of samples. These opportunities have prompted an interest in bimodal aerial and surface locomotion on both engineered and natural surfaces. To accomplish such novel robot behaviours, recent efforts have included advancing our understanding of the aerodynamics of surface approach and take-off, the contact dynamics of perching and attachment and making surface locomotion more efficient and robust. While current aerial robots show promise, flying animals, including insects, bats and birds, far surpass them in versatility, reliability and robustness. The maximal size of both perching animals and robots is limited by scaling laws for both adhesion and claw-based surface attachment. Biomechanists can use the current variety of specialized robots as inspiration for probing unknown aspects of bimodal animal locomotion. Similarly, the pitch-up landing manoeuvres and surface attachment techniques of animals can offer an evolutionary design guide for developing robots that perch on more diverse and complex surfaces.
Development of 10 novel SNP-RFLP markers for quick genotyping within the black-capped ( Poecile atricapillus ) and Carolina ( P. carolinensis ) chickadee hybrid zone

As species ranges shift due to anthropogenic change, accurate detection of hybridization between species will become increasingly important for conservation biologists. The black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina (Poecile carolinensis) chickadee hybrid zone is difficult to study because the parental species possess similar morphologies and song is an unreliable species identifier. Further, the hybrid zone is moving northward rapidly due to environmental change. Here, we present 10 single nucleotide polymorphism markers developed from black-capped and Carolina chickadee transcriptome sequences. This marker set coupled with species-specific restriction enzyme digestion allows fast, easy genotyping of pure species and hybrid individuals within the hybrid zone.
Days of Pheresis Needed for Harvesting CD34+ Cells for Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Is Associated with Speed of Neutrophil Recovery and the Development of Secondary AML/MDS.

Abstract 2151 Poster Board II-128 The number of CD34+ cells alone is used to determine the adequacy of mobilized pheresis products for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The quantity of CD34+ cells infused predicts the speed of hematopoietic recovery following transplantation. To investigate the extent to which the number of days of pheresis required to collect the minimum number of CD34+ cells (i.e. 2 ×10 6 cells/kg) might influence the speed of hematopoietic recovery, we analyzed the speed of neutrophil and platelet recovery following autologous transplantation of 496 consecutive individuals transplanted for Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma from 1998-2008. All had undergone mobilization using 2g/m 2 of etoposide and 10μg/kg/day of G-CSF. Recovery for neutrophils was defined as PMN > 500 k/μl and for platelets >20,000 k/μl independent of transfusion. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) with a log-rank splitting method was used to identify cutpoints in days of pheresis that predict neutrophil or platelet engraftment. The cutpoints of 6 cells/kg increase, p Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Microbes prevent HSPCs from "NOD"-ing off.

In this issue of Blood, Iwamura et al investigate the impact of microbes on the hematopoietic stem and precursor cell (HSPC) compartment. Using a mouse model and in vitro experiments, the authors demonstrate that the microbiota induces NOD1 in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and that this, subsequently, induces proliferation within the HSPC compartment.
Considerations on Energy Frontier Colliders after LHC

The future of the world-wide HEP community critically depends on the feasibility of possible post-LHC colliders. The concept of the feasibility is complex and includes at least three factors: feasibility of energy, feasibility of luminosiity and feasibility of cost. The talk will give on overview of all current options for post-LHC colliders from such perspective (ILC, CLIC, Muon Collider, plasma colliders, CEPC, FCC, HE-LHC, etc) and discuss major challenges and accelerator R&D required to claim these machines feasible.
Frequency-domain boson sampling

We present a scheme to efficiently perform boson sampling using frequency modes which yields exponential reduction in losses and significantly reduced experimental complexity compared to conventional spatial-mode implementations.
Evaluation of the Permeability Parameters (Influx, Efflux and Volume of Distribution) of Arterial Wall for LDL and Other Proteins

Atherosclerosis is generally considered to be a multifactorial disease; as such, the prevention or cure of the disease may be approached at different levels, control of serum cholesterol or β-lipoprotein being an important one. However, the ultimate manifestation of the disease is in the arterial wall, and any prospective drug will have to be effective in producing the beneficial action at the arterial level. From this point of view it is of great importance to be able to monitor the effect of a drug on the relevant processes at the arterial wall. For the present discussion the arterial permeability to serum proteins, low density lipoprotein (LDL) in particular, will be taken as the relevant process.
A Descriptive Analysis of Traction Splint Utilization and IV Analgesia by Emergency Medical Services

Study Objectives Traction splinting has been the prehospital treatment of midshaft femur fracture as early as the battlefield of the First World War (1914-1918). This study is the assessment of these injuries and the utilization of a traction splint (TS) in blunt and penetrating trauma, as well as intravenous (IV) analgesia utilization by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Miami, Florida (USA). Methods This is a retrospective study of patients who sustained a midshaft femur fracture in the absence of multiple other severe injuries or severe physiologic derangement, as defined by an injury severity score (ISS) <20 and a triage revised trauma score (T-RTS)≥10, who presented to an urban, Level 1 trauma center between September 2008 and September 2013. The EMS patient care reports were assessed for physical exam findings and treatment modality. Data were analyzed descriptively and statistical differences were assessed using odds ratios and Z-score with significance set at P≤.05. Results There were 170 patients studied in the cohort. The most common physical exam finding was a deformity +/- shortening and rotation in 136 patients (80.0%), followed by gunshot wound (GSW) in 22 patients (13.0%), pain or tenderness in four patients (2.4%), and no findings consistent with femur fracture in three patients (1.7%). The population was dichotomized between trauma type: blunt versus penetrating. Of 134 blunt trauma patients, 50 (37.0%) were immobilized in traction, and of the 36 penetrating trauma victims, one (2.7%) was immobilized in traction. Statistically significant differences were found in the application of a TS in blunt trauma when compared to penetrating trauma (OR=20.83; 95% CI, 2.77-156.8; P <.001). Intravenous analgesia was administered to treat pain in only 35 (22.0%) of the patients who had obtainable IV access. Of these patients, victims of blunt trauma were more likely to receive IV analgesia (OR=6.23; 95% CI, 1.42-27.41; P=.0067). Conclusion Although signs of femur fracture are recognized in the majority of cases of midshaft femur fracture, only 30% of patients were immobilized using a TS. Statistically significant differences were found in the utilization of a TS and IV analgesia administration in the setting of blunt trauma when compared to penetrating trauma. Nackenson J , Baez AA , Meizoso JP . A Descriptive Analysis of Traction Splint Utilization and IV Analgesia by Emergency Medical Services.Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(6):631–635.
Single Ni atoms and Ni4 clusters have similar catalytic activity for ethylene dimerization

Abstract Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Ni on the metal–organic framework NU-1000 has been shown to generate a material that serves as a catalyst for ethylene dimerization. However, the precise nature of the active catalytic site or sites remains uncertain. Here we employ periodic density functional calculations to characterize the structure and reactivity of the deposited species. Optimized lattice constants for a sequence of structures incorporating successively more Ni 4 -hydroxo clusters in the c pore of NU-1000 show good agreement with experimental trends involving multiple ALD cycles; therefore we study the catalytic cycle for this cluster in detail, and we compare it to that for a site with only a single Ni atom. We find that both the atomic Ni catalyst and the Ni 4 -hydroxo cluster have higher catalytic activity in the singlet state than in the triplet state. We also find that the two catalysts have very similar activity. Thus, precise size control of the active catalytic species is not essential for ethylene dimerization in this system.
Characterizing severe weather potential in synoptically weakly forced thunderstorm environments

Abstract. Weakly forced thunderstorms (WFTs), short-lived convection forming in synoptically quiescent regimes, are a contemporary forecasting challenge. The convective environments that support severe WFTs are often similar to those that yield only non-severe WFTs and, additionally, only a small proportion of individual WFTs will ultimately produce severe weather. The purpose of this study is to better characterize the relative severe weather potential in these settings as a function of the convective environment. Thirty-one near-storm convective parameters for > 200 000 WFTs in the Southeastern United States are calculated from a high-resolution numerical forecasting model, the Rapid Refresh (RAP). For each parameter, the relative odds of WFT days with at least one severe weather event is assessed along a moving threshold. Parameters (and the values of them) that reliably separate severe-weather-supporting from non-severe WFT days are highlighted. Only two convective parameters, vertical totals (VTs) and total totals (TTs), appreciably differentiate severe-wind-supporting and severe-hail-supporting days from non-severe WFT days. When VTs exceeded values between 24.6 and 25.1 ∘C or TTs between 46.5 and 47.3 ∘C , odds of severe-wind days were roughly 5 × greater. Meanwhile, odds of severe-hail days became roughly 10 × greater when VTs exceeded 24.4–26.0 ∘C or TTs exceeded 46.3–49.2 ∘C . The stronger performance of VT and TT is partly attributed to the more accurate representation of these parameters in the numerical model. Under-reporting of severe weather and model error are posited to exacerbate the forecasting challenge by obscuring the subtle convective environmental differences enhancing storm severity.
Rhetorical Recommendations Built on Ecological Experience: A Reassessment of the Challenge of Environmental Communication

ABSTRACTThis article reconsiders the challenge of environmental communication by inquiring into the fundamental rhetorical difficulty of thinking in terms of ecology. We discuss two essential yet bewildering aspects of ecology: its focus on interconnection and its use of multiple scales. On this basis, we distil six rhetorical recommendations: a shift from appealing to pre-existing values to avenues for transforming values; a shift from arguments from authority to addressing legitimate resistances; a shift from a focus on mutual agreement to a mutual bewilderment; a shift from intellectual comprehension to personal experience; a shift from negative effects to positive connections; and, finally, a shift from a focus on political results to local transformations. We experiment with this rhetorical approach through two applications: for critical reassessments of past articulations we consider the Gaia Hypothesis and Deep Ecology, and for current refinements to environmental problems we consider controversies...
Can electroencephalography improve road safety? An EEG-based study of driver's perception of traffic light signals in a virtual environment

Virtual traffic light environment was simulated by exposing the test subject to images of traffic lights to study his cognitive responses. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was collected from a driver in this environment, pre-processed and decomposed into EEG rhythms with wavelet transform. Epochs related to individual visual stimuli were extracted. Minimum and maximum values, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, and variance were used as feature vectors for classification with K-nearest neighbour (KNN) and neural network classifiers to discriminate between different traffic light colours. Classification accuracy was 84.05% and 86.94% for KNN and NN classifiers respectively, while the highest performance was observed for images of yellow lights. We conclude that drivers may perceive different traffic lights differently and that their perception results in distinct neurological activities reflected in EEG. Therefore, EEG-based detection of traffic lights may be possible that may be implemented in future automotive BCI systems expanding cars' assistive driving capabilities.
Teaching high school students

Computer controlled electro-mechanical human simulators are fascinating devices for which investigators have sought wide application. Here, we describe the use of a full human simulator to enrich the science lab experiences of high school students. Our intent is to describe the background and facilities of the “Education Lab” at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and to describe in some detail how simulator scenarios were developed for high school students. The students who attended these scenario demonstrations were asked to complete an evaluative questionnaire at the end of the sessions. Their responses gave us insight into their needs, interests, and enthusiasm and are also reported here.
Essays on the impact of health information technology on health care providers and patients

Information technology has been transforming health care industry. This dissertation investigates the use of health information technology by health care providers and patients as well as its outcomes. This dissertation consists of three essays studying workflow optimization in hospital emergency departments, people's search for online health information, and the relationships between EMR (Electronic Medical Records) usage and health care outcomes, respectively. Hospital emergency departments' capacities to deal with a patient surge play an important role in preparedness for natural or man-made disasters. The first essay examines how emergency departments could optimize workflows during extreme events when there is a patient surge. This essay proposes a framework to reconfigure workflows while maintaining treatment quality. Our results show that reorganizing lower-priority processes and relocating the resources associated with those processes can shorten total waiting time in emergency departments, allowing better management of patient flows. People are increasingly using the Internet to access health information and the information obtained has an impact on their health care outcomes. The second essay examines the impacts of IT enablers and health motivators on people's online health information search behaviors. We characterize users' online health information search behaviors along three dimensions: the frequency of online health information search, the diversity of online health information usage, and the preference of the Internet for initial search. Using the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) data on cancers, we find that ease of access to Internet and trust in online health information could affect all three dimensions of search behaviors. While perceived quality of communication with doctors has an impact on diversity of search and preference of search, we surprisingly do not find an impact on the frequency of search for online health information. In addition, our results find that perceived health status could affect both frequency and diversity of search for online health information. But we do not find evidence that perceived health status could lead to a preference for using the Internet as a source for health information. The US government has initiated incentive programs to encourage the adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). To qualify for the incentive payment, health care providers need to demonstrate "meaningful use" of EMR systems, which requires the use of certified EMRs and the implementation of a set of standard functionalities. In the third essay, we examine how the meaningful use of EMRs would affect health care outcomes in outpatient settings. Our results show that the use of core functionalities required by "meaningful use" criteria and the use of certified EMRs have a positive impact on the quality and efficiency of care. In addition, we find the relationship between the "meaningful use" and quality of care is moderated by the length of EMR use.
Inhibition of coronary thrombosis and local inflammation by a noncarbohydrate selectin inhibitor

We tested the hypothesis that selectin inhibition with blocking antibodies or a small-molecular-weight inhibitor of L-, P-, and E-selectin, methoxybenzoylpropionic acid (MBPA), prevents thrombus fo...
Rethinking the Structure of Teacher Retirement Benefits: Analyzing the Preferences of Entering Teachers:

Most U.S. public school teachers participate in defined benefit retirement plans, which base benefits on years of service and their last few years of salary. These plans are often backloaded and in...
A plano-freeform lens pair for shaping laser beams

Redistribution of light from a given source in order to create a prescribed intensity pattern on a given set in 3D space is a task arising in numerous applications. Designing optical systems with capabilities to perform such tasks reliably in a wide variety of applications is the overall goal of much of research in optics. An important practical case is the “laser beam shaping problem” which requires transformation of a Gaussian beam from a laser into a beam with “flat top” intensity profile. It has been shown by John A. Hoﬀnagle and C. Michael Jeﬀerson that a pair of plano-aspheric lenses can be used to transform a collimated, radially symmetric, Gaussian beam to a radially symmetric, collimated beam with “flat-top” intensity profile. Here we discuss this design problem when a priori requirement of radial symmetry is not imposed neither on the input/output radiances nor on the geometry of the input/output beams. The solution in this case is sought among “freeform” optical surfaces.
Rate of MgO Pickup in Alumina Inclusions in Aluminum-Killed Steel

This work aims to clarify the rate and mechanism of MgO pickup by alumina inclusions and the effect of oxide impurities in MgO crucibles on this transformation. Two MgO crucibles from different batches from the same supplier were used in laboratory experiments with Al-killed steel. A kinetic model was developed, based on mass-transfer control in the liquid steel. Rate constants were fitted using inclusion analysis. The rate of magnesium transfer from the two types of crucibles was found to differ by a factor of 20; faster magnesium transfer was associated with formation of a slag layer on the inner surface of the crucible wall (rather than a solid spinel product layer). The kinetic model was also used to simulate industrial scale ladle refining (1) to illustrate the effects of total oxygen concentration and (2) to evaluate the contribution of steel-refractory reaction (in addition to steel-slag reaction) on the rate of MgO pickup in alumina inclusion. The rate of MgO pickup was higher with a lower inclusion concentration. For ladle desulfurization, the extent of MgO pickup in inclusions is directly linked to the extent of desulfurization; both reactions are controlled by the oxygen potential at the steel-slag interface.
Emphysematous pyelonephritis in renal allograft related to antibody-mediated rejection: A case report and literature review.

Emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN) is a rare condition which can rapidly progress to sepsis and multiple organ failure with high mortality. We experienced a rare case of EPN in a renal allograft related to antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). The patient received a deceased donor kidney transplant due to end-stage renal disease secondary to diabetes mellitus. Cross-match test was negative but she had remote history of anti-HLA-A2 antibody corresponding with the donor HLA. Surgery concluded without any major events. Anti-thymoglobulin was given perioperatively for induction. She was compliant with her immunosuppressive medications making urine of 2 L/d with serum creatinine of 1.9 mg/dL at discharge on post-operative day (POD) 6. She did well until POD 14 when she presented to the clinic with features of sepsis, pain over the transplanted kidney area and decline in urine volume with elevated serum creatinine. CT revealed extensive gas throughout the transplanted kidney. Renal scan revealed non-functional transplant kidney with no arterial flow. Based on these findings, a decision to perform transplant nephrectomy was made. At laparotomy, the kidney was completely necrotic. Pathology showed non-viable kidney parenchyma with the tubules lacking neutrophilic casts suggestive of ischemic necrosis. Donor-specific antibody (DSA) returned positive with high intensity anti-HLA-A2 antibody. This is the first case of early EPN in allograft considered to have occurred as a result of thrombotic ischemia secondary to AMR. This case suggests consideration of perioperative anti-B-cell and/or anti-plasma cell therapies for historical DSA and strict post-operative follow-up in immunologically high-risk recipients to detect early signs of rejection and avoid deleterious outcomes.
Genome Resource for Neocamarosporium betae (syn. Pleospora betae), the Cause of Phoma Leaf Spot and Root Rot on Beta vulgaris.

Neocamarosporium betae (syn. Phoma betae, Pleospora betae) is the cause of Phoma leaf spot and root decay on Beta vulgaris worldwide. Despite the economic importance of the pathogen, many aspects o...
Differential associations between interpersonal variables and quality-of-life in a sample of college students.

Humans are fundamentally social beings, and the relationships we form with others are crucial for our well-being. Research across a variety of domains has established the association between a variety of interpersonal factors and health outcomes, including quality-of-life. However, there is a need for a more integrative, holistic analysis of these variables and how they relate to one another. Undergraduate students (n = 1456) from four universities across the United States completed self-report measures of their quality-of-life and a variety of interpersonal factors identified as important predictors across the literature. We examined zero-order correlations between these measures and quality-of-life, estimated a path model to look at unique variance accounted for by each, and finally used network analysis to examine the network of direct and indirect associations among these variables and quality-of-life. Loneliness had the strongest association with quality-of-life across all analyses. When examining the unique association between quality-of-life and each interpersonal variable, six remained statistically significant: loneliness, social support, social connectedness, emotional intelligence, intimacy with one’s romantic partner, and empathic concern. These results were supported by the network model, which found direct associations between quality-of-life and these six variables as well as indirect associations with all other interpersonal variables in the model. Results from this research suggest that interpersonal factors in general, and loneliness in particular, are strongly associated with quality-of-life. Future research is needed to establish the direction of these effects and examine for whom these findings are generalizable.
Low Grade Islet but Marked Exocrine Pancreas Inflammation in an Adult with Autoimmune Pre-Diabetes.

There is unexplained deficit in size and function of the exocrine pancreas in type 1 diabetes (T1D). We obtained pancreas from an individual with pre-T1D obtained at surgery and addressed the question, what is the relative inflammation in the exocrine and endocrine pancreas in pre-T1D in the absence of the potential confounding changes at autopsy or in brain dead organ donors. Pancreas was removed surgically from a 36 year woman for benign neuroendocrine tumors (NET). The patient had gestational diabetes at age 29 and has a 23 year old sister with T1D. Pre-operative fasting glucose of 109 mg/dl and HbA1C 5.8% revealed prediabetes with an anti-GAD 1,144 (5–250 U/ml) together with family history implying pre-T1D. There was patchy low grade immune infiltration in some, but not all, islets that met criteria for autoimmune insulitis. The exocrine pancreas showed more abundant inflammation with areas of chronic pancreatitis and acinar to ductal metaplasia, and with other areas of atrophy and fatty infiltration. In pre-T1D inflammation may be more prominent in the exocrine than the endocrine pancreas, calling into question the sequence of events and assumed islet centric basis of autoimmunity leading to T1D.
Novel Risk Calculator for Suboccipital Decompression for Adult Chiari Malformation

Background Patient counseling and selection for surgical therapy in adult Chiari malformation type I (CM-1) remain debatable. We aimed to develop a clinical calculator predicting the risk of nonhome discharge and reoperation using the American College of Surgeons–National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Methods The database from years 2011 through 2017 was queried to identify the subset of CM-1 patients undergoing suboccipital decompression. Univariable analysis was conducted to identify baseline factors associated with nonhome discharge and 30-day reoperation following the initial decompression procedure. Logistic regression and the Akaike Information Criterion were used to identify the optimal models predictive of both outcomes. Performance was assessed using receiver operating curves and validated with bootstrapping. Results In 706 CM-1 patients, the rate of nonhome discharge was 5.2% and the reoperation rate was 6.6% with most reoperations consisting of cerebrospinal fluid flow diversion and cerebrospinal fluid leak repair. The optimal model predictive of nonhome discharge consisted of age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.05, P = 0.001), diabetes (OR = 2.44, P = 0.080), and American Society of Anesthesiologists class (OR = 1.94, P = 0.082) with an area under the curve of 0.720. The optimal model predictive of reoperation consisted of female sex (OR = 0.48, P = 0.031), body mass index (OR = 1.05, P = 0.002), and ASA class (OR = 3.44, P = 0.001) with an area under the curve of 0.726. A calculator for both outcomes was deployed under the following URL: https://jhuspine3.shinyapps.io/Discharge_Reop_Calculator/ . Conclusions We have used a large international database to develop a simple risk calculator based on readily available preoperative variables. Following subsequent validation, this tool can help optimize patient counseling and decision making in adult CM-1.
Effects of elevated salinity on Cuban treefrog Osteopilus septontrionalis aldosterone levels, growth, and development

Amphibians are increasingly challenged with salinization due to factors such as elevated sea level associated with climate change, the use of road salts, and lowering of water tables. Aldosterone i...