cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Pilot Comparison of In-Room and Video Ratings of Team Behaviors of Students in Interprofesional Teams.

Objective. To examine concordance between in-room and video faculty ratings of interprofessional behaviors in a standardized team objective structured clinical encounter (TOSCE).Methods. In-room and video-rated student performance scores in an interprofessional 2-station TOSCE were compared using a validated 3-point scale assessing six team competencies. Scores for each student were derived from two in-room faculty members and one faculty member who viewed video recordings of the same team encounter from equivalent visual vantage points. All faculty members received the same rigorous rater training. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare individual student scores. McNemar’s test was used to compare student pass/fail rates to determine the impact of rating modality on performance scores.Results. In-room and video student scores were captured for 12 novice teams (47 students) with each team consisting of students from four professions (medicine, pharmacy, physician assistant, nursing). Video ratings wer...
Group Self-Reflection to Address Burnout: A Facilitator's Guide.

Introduction Inadequately supported clinicians risk burnout, which is prevalent among them. Balint-like groups can be utilized to address clinician stressors and augment interpersonal skills by exp...
Joint Costs and Cost Allocation

In this chapter we extend our study of the product costing art to joint costs and cost allocation. Joint costs arise when an organization produces multiple products and its cost function is not fully separable. Some costs, then, “jointly” produce the products. Cost allocation is the phrase used to describe the procedures by which product costs are constructed in the face of joint costs.
Single Anti-Platelet Therapy versus Dual Anti-Platelet Therapy after Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Meta-Analysis

Background: The optimal anti-platelet regimen after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of single ant...
Isolation of Collagen from Cortical Bovine Bone for Preparation of Porous Collagen Sponges

Fabrication of collagen sponges from type I collagen isolated from cortical bovine femur bone is reported. Collagen was extracted with 0.1 M EDTA by refreshing the solution every 24 h for 9 days. Sodium dodecyl sulfate poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) demonstrated the isolation of intact pure type I collagen. The sponges were fabricated by freeze-drying and heat-dehydration cross-linking of collagen solution. The resulting sponges showed fibrils arranged in a highly porous network. These sponges can be used for tissue engineering as well as for bone-like composite fabrication.
A closer look at the items within three measures of evolution acceptance: analysis of the MATE, I-SEA, and GAENE as a single corpus of items

Current direct Likert measures for evolution acceptance include the MATE, GAENE, and I-SEA. Pros and cons of each of these instruments have been debated, and yet there is a dearth of research teasing out their similarities and differences when they are used together in a single context beyond the fact that their measures tend to be highly correlated. We administered these to 452 college students in non-major biology classes at two research-intensive universities from the Midwestern and Western United States to investigate the measurement properties of the items within these instruments when combined as a single corpus. Factor analysis using exploratory and confirmatory methods, and Rasch analyses, suggested that a two-dimensional factor structure best describes the corpus of items. Whether the item was positively or negatively worded was the key delimiter in its factor assignment. Examination of the highest loading items on the respective factors indicates that the first factor measures acceptance of the truth of evolution and the second factor measures rejection of incredible ideas about evolution. The correlation of these two factors is 0.73, indicating that they share 53% of their variance with each other. When treated unidimensionally, eleven items exhibited potential misfit with the Rasch model. This number dropped to nine items when the two factors were considered. These items, and implications for future use of the MATE, GAENE, and I-SEA together, are discussed in detail. This study is the first analysis of the MATE, GAENE, and I-SEA as a single corpus of items, and yet corroborates previous work showing that these instruments yield measures with highly similar quantitative interpretations. This study also corroborates the effect of negative item wording on how college students interpret the item. While this finding can be applied to college-level students taking undergraduate non-majors biology coursework, work with more advanced biology students has demonstrated that this apparent item wording effect tends to disappear as students advance and become more accepting of evolution. We conclude that despite apparent epistemological differences between the MATE, GAENE, and I-SEA, these can be treated as a single set of items measuring a single factor or two factors without significant loss of quantitative interpretability.
Corrosion Education for Materials Life Extension: Pathway to Improvement in Resource Productivity

Materials are nonrenewal resources that are created through an “unnatural” process. In addition to resource recovery and recycling of valuable materials to achieve sustainability, simple methods to extend the life of materials enhance the resource productivity. The natural process of corrosion tries to reverse the process of material extraction causing enormous loss of energy and impacts the environment. Corrosion costs the U.S. over $300 billion per year and also produces significant safety hazards. Corrosion control is, therefore, important to enhance the life of engineering metals and materials, which is also the focus of many government regulatory agencies such as the EPA, DOT, and OPS. Corrosion protection technology utilizes metallurgy, material chemistry, and physics as well as electricity to prevent or control corrosion degradation and therefore, the education of corrosion science and engineering is directly linked to improving material life. Education in corrosion control applies these sciences to control the chemical and mechanical aspects that are involved in the deterioration of properties. This paper will address the educational aspects of corrosion technology that allow resource productivity improvement of materials.
Pentosidine Is Associated With Cortical Bone Geometry and Insulin Resistance in Otherwise Healthy Children

Pentosidine is an advanced glycation end product (AGE) associated with fracture in adults with diabetes. AGE accumulation in bone collagen contributes to bone fragility but might also adversely influence bone turnover and, consequently, bone geometry. The relationships between AGEs and bone health have yet to be studied in children. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess relationships between pentosidine and cortical bone volumetric density, geometry, and estimated strength in children. Participants were otherwise healthy black and white boys and girls, ages 9 to 13 years, who were at sexual maturation stage 2 or 3 (N = 160). Tibia and radius cortical bone and muscle area (66% site) were assessed via pQCT. In fasting sera, insulin, glucose, and pentosidine were measured. The Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI), a measure of insulin sensitivity, was calculated. While controlling for race, sex, maturation, and height, pentosidine negatively correlated with QUICKI (P < 0.05). In unadjusted analyses, pentosidine was associated with lower radius and tibia cortical volumetric bone mineral density, bone mineral content (Ct.BMC), area (Ct.Ar), and thickness (Ct.Th); a larger radius endosteal circumference (Endo.Circ); and lower tibia polar strength strain index (all P < 0.05). While controlling for race, sex, maturation, height, and muscle area, pentosidine was negatively associated with tibia Ct.BMC, Ct.Ar, and Ct.Th but positively associated with Endo.Circ (all P < 0.05). Linear regression revealed a significant interaction between pentosidine and QUICKI in relation to tibia Ct.Th (pinteraction = 0.049), indicating that the negative relationship between pentosidine and Ct.Th was stronger in those with lower QUICKI (ie, greater insulin resistance). This is the first study to report evidence of a potentially adverse influence of AGEs on bone strength in otherwise healthy children. This relationship was strongest in children with the greatest insulin resistance, supporting further work in youth with chronic metabolic health conditions. © 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Pain, Intercultural Communication, and Narrative Medicine

This chapter examines communication about chronic pain through the lenses of intercultural communication and narrative medicine. Intercultural communication as an anthropologic field offers a perspective that may heighten awareness of common pitfalls in communicating with people with pain. Narrative medicine offers a complementary approach to understanding contextual and relational issues among patients, providers, and significant others. Also discussed are common relational subtexts in communication around pain, such as trust, power dynamics, legitimacy, and specialness and how these may apply to challenging discussions, such as the use of opioids. General strategies for dealing with these subtexts are presented in keeping with principles of intercultural communication and narrative medicine.
The tensions between Indigenous sovereignty and multicultural citizenship education: Toward an anticolonial approach to civic education

Indigenous studies complicates and advances existing notions of citizenship education, in particular, by making visible ongoing legacies of colonialism and foregrounding Indigenous sovereignty. In ...
Heart rate and blood pressure in male Ts65Dn mice: a model to investigate cardiovascular responses in Down syndrome.

Down syndrome (Ds) is the most common chromosomal cause of intellectual disability that results from triplication of chromosome 21 genes. Lower blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in response to exercise and other stressors are prevalent in Ds, and are mediated by autonomic dysfunction. The Ts65Dn mouse is a model of Ds that is commonly used in preclinical studies, but has not been formally investigated for cardiovascular responses in conscious mice. Based on human studies of Ds, we hypothesized Ts65Dn would have lower BP and HR, but similar arterial stiffness. BP was quantified in conscious wild-type (WT) and Ts65Dn. A main effect for strain was observed for all BP measures (systolic, diastolic, mean, pulse pressure), with WT higher than Ts65Dn. Pulse wave velocity was similar between WT and Ts65Dn. High-frequency power spectra was higher in WT suggesting autonomic differences between strains. Freely moving HR was higher in WT versus Ts65Dn in both the dark and light cycles, although a main effect of circadian cycle was also present (dark> light). Similar to what is observed in humans, Ts65Dn has a lower BP which may be attributed to autonomic differences and result in preservation of arterial function with advancing age. Ts65Dn thus appears to capture the Ds cardiovascular phenotype across the lifespan. These data support further use of Ts65Dn to investigate mechanisms that may lead to altered BP and HR responses in Ds.
Where’s the Reward?

Since the 1960s, researchers have been trying to optimize the sequencing of instructional activities using the tools of reinforcement learning (RL) and sequential decision making under uncertainty. Many researchers have realized that reinforcement learning provides a natural framework for optimal instructional sequencing given a particular model of student learning, and excitement towards this area of research is as alive now as it was over fifty years ago. But does RL actually help students learn? If so, when and where might we expect it to be most helpful? To help answer these questions, we review the variety of attempts to use RL for instructional sequencing. First, we present a historical narrative of this research area. We identify three waves of research, which gives us a sense of the various communities of researchers that have been interested in this problem and where the field is going. Second, we review all of the empirical research that has compared RL-induced instructional policies to baseline methods of sequencing. We find that over half of the studies found that RL-induced policies significantly outperform baselines. Moreover, we identify five clusters of studies with different characteristics and varying levels of success in using RL to help students learn. We find that reinforcement learning has been most successful in cases where it has been constrained with ideas and theories from cognitive psychology and the learning sciences. However, given that our theories and models are limited, we also find that it has been useful to complement this approach with running more robust offline analyses that do not rely heavily on the assumptions of one particular model. Given that many researchers are turning to deep reinforcement learning and big data to tackle instructional sequencing, we believe keeping these best practices in mind can help guide the way to the reward in using RL for instructional sequencing.
The open‐and‐shut case against inequality

Motivation The case against inequality should be open‐and‐shut. Evidence shows that the happiest and healthiest people live in countries with low inequality. Yet, the argument that inequality constitutes perhaps the most pressing challenge the world faces today is an idea whose time has not yet come. Purpose Since the impact of inequality extends well beyond the economic realm, the scope of analysis must be broadened, taking a multidisciplinary perspective, including historians, sociologists, psychologists, moral philosophers and political scientists. Approach and methods Mostly a concise summary of the main findings of the literature and research from a wide range of disciplines. Findings The findings in these different disciplines must be brought together and complemented by deliberate efforts to convey them to the public at large. They show that inequality has a deep and far‐reaching influence on people and society. Policy implications Inequality will not be brought down by paying more lip service to it or by conducting more research that stays in an ivory tower. Only if we come to understand that inequality engenders near universal harm will we muster the courage to address it. Equity‐adjusted averages must replace standard statistics on human development.
Anthromes—Temperate and Tropical Agroforestry

Abstract The proposed designation of the Anthropocene suggests a triple challenge of preventing biodiversity loss, mitigating and adapting to climate change, and sustainably providing resources for a growing human population. Anthromes often take the form of multifunctional mosaics of perennials and annuals (e.g., agroforestry systems). Biodiversity-based land management of working lands has been practiced since ancient times and their value has been recognized, updated and promoted across our global biomes over the past forty years. Analogous agroforestry systems are found in common biomes across the globe. Agroforestry incorporates an array of successful strategies, historic and modern, that have relevance for achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., biodiversity, climate change, poverty alleviation). Four agroforestry biomes are described, both historic and modern, that will play an important role in helping to achieve global Sustainable Development Goals. These include: (1) Mediterranean anthrome (dehesa/savanna with livestock); (2) Highland/lowland/island tropical anthrome (homegardens and multi-strata systems); (3) Temperate zone anthrome (silvopasture, alley cropping—silvoarable); and (4) Arid/semi-arid tropical anthrome (improved fallows, farmer-managed natural regeneration, evergreen agriculture).
Late effects from radiation therapy: the hits just keep on coming.

There can be little doubt by now that if radiation therapy use in Hodgkin’s disease were a drug regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it would have been taken off the market. Can you imagine the response to a drug company’s argument? “Even though we don’t have any long-term follow-up data, we are pretty sure that reducing the dose of the drug by one third is going to eliminate the late fatal and life-threatening side effects. We are giving the drug completely differently these days. Trust us on this.” It seems highly unlikely that such an argument would influence the FDA’s decision making, doesn’t it? However, precisely that argument seems to be infl uencing the persistent use of radiation therapy plus chemotherapy in Hodgkin’s disease when equally effective treatment that omits radiation therapy altogether, namely chemotherapy alone, is available. The practice defi es logical explanation. Like Samuel Johnson’s comment on second marriages, it seems to refl ect a triumph of hope over experience. To add to the already overwhelming evidence that the use of radiation therapy in Hodgkin’s disease is shortsighted, De Bruin et al. ( 1 ), reporting for Flora van Leeuwen’s group at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, have quantifi ed yet another late side effect from the use of radiation therapy. They examined the incidence of strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) among 2201 patients who had been treated with radiation therapy, combined modality therapy, or chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease, and who had survived at least 5 years. The subjects had a median follow-up of 17 years, a long time by usual standards but still not long enough that one can be sure that all events that are likely to occur have occurred. Patients remain at risk. The median time to fi rst stroke was 17.4 years and the median age at fi rst stroke was 52 years. Forty-fi ve percent of the cerebrovascular events occurred in patients younger than 50 years of age. In the entire group, about 20% of the strokes were fatal, and 7% of the population is projected to die from stroke at 30 years of follow-up. That projection is actually a bit of an underestimate of the risk because only one person among the 187 who received chemotherapy alone had a stroke (three strokes would have been expected in an age-matched population not treated for Hodgkin’s disease), that stroke was not fatal, and none had TIAs. Thus, 87 of the 88 documented ischemic events and all the fatal events were in Hodgkin’s disease survivors who had received radiation therapy. Among those who received radiation to the neck and/or mediastinum, the risk of a cerebrovascular event was increased 2.5-fold compared with an agematched control group that had received no radiation therapy.
Sex-Specific Norms for Diagnosing Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Childhood: A Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Analysis

This study employed Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses to identify optimal symptom count cutoffs for girls and boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A nationally ...
Effects of Demographic Factors on Wellbeing

This chapter discusses the effects of other demographic factors (age, gender, marriage, ethnicity and minority status, education, etc.) on subjective aspects of quality of life (hedonic wellbeing, life satisfaction, and eudaimonia). With respect to age, I break down the wellbeing research in terms of the various stages of the life cycle (i.e., infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and late adulthood). Research on gender and wellbeing is discussed. Specifically, I highlight the research on the moderating factors that explain the conditions in which men and women differ in their wellbeing. I also cover the varied explanations of the gender-wellbeing link. Wellbeing research is also discussed in relation to marital status, family composition, and the family life cycle. Similarly, the research on the link between ethnicity/minority status and wellbeing is discussed in light of three streams of research, namely racial-ethnic discrimination, racial-ethnic identity, acculturation/enculturation, and racial/ethnic socialization. The wellbeing effects of other demographic factors (education, type of work, etc.) are also briefly reviewed.
Demonstration and implications of IL-3 upregulation of CD25 expression on human mast cells.

Background CD25+ human mast cells (huMCs) have been reported in patients with monoclonal mast cell diseases and in rare association with inflammation. However, the regulation of CD25 expression on huMCs and the possible biologic consequences remain poorly understood. Objective We sought to identify conditions that would upregulate CD25 expression on huMCs and to explore possible functional implications. Methods huMCs were cultured from peripheral blood progenitor cells over 6 to 8 weeks. Expression of CD25 was determined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and soluble CD25 by ELISA. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) phosphorylation induced by IL-2 in huMCs, regulatory T (Treg) cells, or in cocultured huMCs and Treg cells was examined by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Results Addition of IL-3 to CD34+ progenitors at the initiation of huMC cultures in the presence of stem cell factor and IL-6 upregulated the expression of CD25 in developing huMCs and resulted in shedding of soluble CD25 into the media. Removal of IL-3 after the first week of culture did not affect subsequent expression of CD25. Furthermore, addition of IL-3 14 days after the initiation of the culture did not induce significant CD25 expression. Treatment with anti–IL-3 antibody or the Janus kinase inhibitor tofacitinib blocked IL-3–induced CD25 upregulation. Binding of IL-2 to CD25+ huMCs did not induce STAT5 phosphorylation. However, coincubation of Treg cells with CD25+ huMCs pretreated with IL-2 was sufficient to result in STAT5 phosphorylation in Treg cells. Conclusions IL-3 promotes CD25 expression and shedding by huMCs. Although CD25+ huMCs do not respond to IL-2, they bind IL-2 and may act as a reservoir of IL-2 to then activate lymphocytes.
Determination of foreign-material content in uncleaned peanuts by microwave measurements and machine learning techniques

Foreign-material content determination in uncleaned peanuts based on dielectric properties and bulk density measurements by microwave techniques is presented in this paper. A microwave free-space t...
Truncating Seat Ranges: Minimum-Maximum Restrictions

Electoral systems occasionally restrict the seat numbers to respect a guaranteed minimum or to obey a preordained maximum. Minimum requirements or maximum cappings form an obstacle for quota methods, but are accommodated easily by divisor methods. Such restrictions commonly apply when representing geographical districts. They also arise when combining proportional representation of political parties in the electoral region with the election of persons in single-seat constituencies. Various instances of restrictions are exemplified, with election data from the United Kingdom and Germany and with the issue of determining the composition of the EP.
Congenital hip dislocation and pediatric hip disorders

The pediatric hip changes through development, leading to a challenging evaluation of pain. Common problems noted in children include congenital dislocation of the hip, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, and transient synovitis. Hip disorders are also seen secondary to other childhood diseases, such as spina bifida. Long-term complications of all of these hip disorders can lead to joint deformity and osteoarthritis in adulthood.
Empiricism at Sea

Ought one represent the Quine-Kuhn-Hanson-Feyerabend-Lakatos-Polanyi rejection of the logical positivist account of science that dominated the world of English-speaking philosophy in the decades between 1930 and 1960 as a rejection of empiricism itself? Is it permissible to group these critics together as though the differences between them in this context were not significant? These are the first questions that are likely to leap to the reader’s mind as he peruses Professor Feigl’s spirited defence of a threatened orthodoxy. As he reads on, another question may begin to nag him a little too. From the beginning, Professor Feigl concedes that “drastic revisions are in order”. Indeed, he admits so many of these revisions as his essay progresses that one is not altogether sure finally where to locate the substantial disagreement he believes to exist between him and those whom he is attacking. His aim, he says, is to defend “the central tenets of classical as well as of modern (or ‘logical’) empiricism” against the mistaken objections of ‘the critics of empiricism’. But as one notes the concessions he makes to these same critics, one cannot but ask whether many of the central tenets of these two forms of empiricism are not in fact being abandoned, and whether the critics are really critics of empiricism, as such, or only of two historical forms of it associated with 18th century Britain and 20th century Vienna respectively. In short, is it really empiricism that is at bay? And has not Professor Feigl, in the light of the concessions he makes, become one of the hunters himself, displaying (incidentally) an admirable openness of mind thereby?
Bubbles and Leverage: A Simple and Unified Approach

In this paper, we lay out a simple framework that captures much of what the theoretical literature has to say about the role of credit in systemically important asset booms and busts. In addition, we suggest ways in which to incorporate physical investment in the bubble asset as well as monetary policy.
Perception of Synthetic Visual Speech

We report here on an experiment comparing visual recognition of monosyllabic words produced either by our computer-animated talker or a human talker. Recognition of the synthetic talker is reasonably close to that of the human talker, but a significant distance remains to be covered and we discuss improvements to the synthetic phoneme specifications. In an additional experiment using the same paradigm, we compare perception of our animated talker with a similarly generated point-light display, finding significantly worse performance for the latter for a number of viseme classes. We conclude with some ideas for future progress and briefly describe our new animated tongue.
Variance reduction techniques for the simulation of Markov process

Let X n, n?0 be an irreducible, aperiodic, Markov chain with finite state space E, transition matrix P, and stationary distribution ?. Let f be a real valued function on E and define r = ?f. A method of reducing the variance of simulation estimates for r is presented. The method combines the techniques of numerical analysis and simulation by partially solving an appropriate system of linear equations using some matrix iterative procedure and then estimating the difference between the true and partial solutions via simulation. After k iterations of the iterative procedure, functions f ? ? = 0, ..., k are defined so that r = ?f gn for each ?. Let $$\hat x_v (N) = \sum\limits_{n = 0}^N {f_v (x_n )/(N + 1)} $$ and $$\hat x_\beta (N) = \sum\limits_{v = 0}^k {\beta (v)\hat x_v (N)} $$ where $$\sum\limits_{v = 0}^k {\beta (v) = 1} $$ . Then $$\hat x_\beta (N) \to r$$ a.s. as N ? ? and β is chosen to minimize the asymptotic variance of $$\hat x_\beta (N)$$ . Numerical results for a simple queueing model are presented.
Generalized Quantification in Situation Semantics

This paper extends the grammar presented in Loukanova (2002, this volume) to cover NL expressions that contain multiple quantificational NPs, restrictive relative clauses, and intensional verbs. The grammar rules use a quantificational operator, which moves quantifier representations from the storage to the basis. This operator is highly context dependent and is a subject of structural restrictions, introduced in this paper. These restrictions do not permit free parameters to fall out of the scope of the quantificational binding. The grammar permits more than one NPs, different from pronouns, to be in antecedent-anaphora relations. The relevant quantificational rules use a two argument operator R, defined over types of individuals, which combines the meaning types corresponding to the determiners a, SOME, THE.
Stylistic analysis of a corpus of twentieth-century Spanish narrative.

Statistical information on a substantial corpus of representative Spanish texts is needed in order to determine the significance of data about individual authors or texts by means of comparison. This study describes the organization and analysis of a 150,000-word corpus of 30 well-known twentieth-century Spanish authors. Tables show the computational results of analyses involving sentences, segments, quotations, and word length.
Alcohol use following liver transplantation: a comparison of follow-up methods.

Alcoholic cirrhosis is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation. Previous researchers have studied rates of return to drinking following transplantation, however, few have employed prospective measures of alcohol use. The authors prospectively studied the alcohol use of patients transplanted for alcoholic liver disease. The authors improved the accuracy of monitoring alcohol use by using various methods for tracking patient's alcohol consumption, and we report on the time to first alcohol use after transplantation comparing these different methods. The authors found that alcohol use can occur very early after transplantation, even within the first 3 months posttransplant. Thirty-eight percent of the patients consumed any alcohol after transplantation. The clinical interviews by the psychiatrist were the most successful method for identifying posttransplant alcohol use. Posttransplant alcohol use was significantly associated with prior nonalcohol substance use (P
Effect of a pelleted supplement fed during and after omeprazole treatment on nonglandular gastric ulcer scores and gastric juice pH in horses

Summary Gastric ulcers are common in horses. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of a commercially available supplement, SmartGut® Ultra pellets (SmGU) on gastric ulcer scores and gastric juice pH after omeprazole treatment in stall-confined horses. Eight Thoroughbred horses were studied in a 2-period, 2-treatment crossover design, where the SmGU (40 g, twice daily) was mixed in grain feed. Horses were stall-confined and treated with the supplement or control for 6 weeks, consisting of 2 weeks (Days 1–14) omeprazole treatment, 2 weeks (Days 14–28) following discontinuation of omeprazole treatment, one week (Days 28–35) alternating feed deprivation to induce or worsen existing ulcers and a one week (Days 35–42) recovery period. Gastroscopy was performed and gastric juice pH measured on Days 0, 14, 28, 35 and 42. Gastric ulcer lesion number (NGN) and severity (NGS) scores were assigned to each horse by an investigator (F.M.A.) masked to treatment. On Day 0 before treatment, mean NGN and NGS scores and gastric juice pH were not different (P>0.05) between treatment groups. By Day 14, mean NGN and NGS scores decreased (P<0.05) in both treatment groups. By Days 28 and 35, mean NGN score significantly increased in the untreated control horses but not the SmGU-treated horses. By Day 42, mean NGN and NGS scores were not different in either group and were significantly lower than Day 0. Mean gastric juice pH was higher in both groups on Day 14 as a result of omeprazole treatment when compared with other days. SmartGut® Ultra supplement added to the feed prevented the worsening of gastric ulcer number 2 weeks after omeprazole treatment, without altering the gastric juice pH. Supplementation with SmGU might aid in protection of the nonglandular stomach from recurrence of ulcers after omeprazole treatment in stall-confined horses undergoing intermittent feeding.
Connecting the DOTS: The Design of Thrivable Systems Through the Power of Collective Intelligence

Meeting and Conference of the international Society for the Systems Sciences focuses on the meta-theme of Curating the Conditions for a Thrivable Planet. It has been conceived as a living learning lab for collective intelligence so as to provide its participants with a set of total immersion environments in which to explore our role as systems scientists, and beyond that, as members of a globalizing species at this time in history. As such, the conference provides individual and collective opportunities to foster that basic feeling of being connected, to explore what it means to be Appreciative Systems, to manifest new levels of community, and fundamentally, to evolve the narrative of our role as authors of the conscious evolution of our species. Through this process, we will address the principal theme of the conference this year: the search for systemic leverage points for the emergence of a global eco-civilization.
Federalism Challenges to the Adam Walsh Act

This Note addresses two provisions of the Adam Walsh Act that have been challenged as violating principles of federalism: 18 U.S.C. § 4248, which provides for federal civil commitment of sexually violent predators, and 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a)(2)(A), which creates a new federal “failure to register” crime for federal sex offenders. Part I provides background information on the Adam Walsh Act and these two provisions. Part II examines the possible sources of constitutional authority for these provisions, the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. This Part explains that these two clauses provide the basis for most of the federal criminal law, and describes how they might be invoked to justify the Adam Walsh Act provisions at issue. Part III argues that neither provision is justified independently by the Commerce Clause. Finally, Part IV argues that neither provision is justified as a law necessary and proper for carrying into execution Congress’s power to enact federal criminal laws. This is the chief rationale that the government has relied on in cases challenging the constitutionality of the civil commitment provision. Interestingly, the government has argued that the civil commitment provision is a law necessary and proper for carrying into execution Congress’s power to criminalize both federal offenders’ past federal crimes and possible future federal crimes. This Note argues that neither provision is a law necessary and proper for carrying into execution the federal government’s power to prosecute, punish, or imprison individuals for past federal offenses. Furthermore, neither provision is a law necessary and proper for carrying into execution the federal government’s power to prevent future federal crimes. Because the provisions at issue exceed Congress’s constitutional authority, they are invalid and must be struck down. The Note concludes by suggesting how the provisions might be revised to pass constitutional muster.
Sensitivity of HAWC to gamma ray bursts

HAWC is a ground based very high-energy gamma ray detector under construction in Mexico at an altitude of 4100 m a.s.l. Higher altitude, improved design and a larger physical size used to reject CR background, make HAWC 10-20 times more sensitive than its predecessor Milagro. HAWC's large field of view, ≈2sr, and over 90% duty cycle make it ideal to search for GRBs. We review the sensitivity of HAWC to GRBs with two independent data acquisition systems. We show that some of the brightest GRBs observed by Fermi LAT (e.g. GRB 090510) could result in >5 σ observation by HAWC. The observations (or limits) of GRBs by HAWC will provide information on the high-energy spectra of GRBs. The high-energy spectra will teach us about extra galactic background light, the Lorentz boost factor of the jets tha power GRBs and/or particle acceleration models of GRBs. Finally we present limits on > 10 GeV emission from GRB 111016B, recently studied with HAWC's engineering array VAMOS.
Oxygen Availability Provides a Signal for Hatching in the Rainbow Trout (Salmo gairdneri) Embryo

The hatching of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) embryos can be stimulated by subjecting them to low oxygen partial pressures during the final days of incubation or delayed by elevating . Most embry...
Water use efficiency of double-cropped wheat and soybean

Many studies have demonstrated that double cropping wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] allows for greater utilization of natural resources by intensifying cropping practices. A 3-yr study was conducted on a Captina silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic, typic Fragiudult) to determine the water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat and to determine the effects of selected management practices on WUE of double-cropped soybeans (...)
Auxin uptake and action of N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid in corn coleoptiles.

The validity of a chemiosmotic hypothesis for uptake of weak acids as an explanation for the accumulation of auxin by cells has been explored further by comparing the uptake of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) by 1-mm segments of corn (Zea mays L.) coleoptiles with that of benzoic acid and two neutral indoles, indoleethanol and indoleacetonitrile, which do not ionize. These substances, while structurally related to IAA lack both auxin activity and polar transport. Uptake of IAA and benzoic acid increase with decreasing external pH, whereas the uptake of the two neutral indoles is independent of external pH. Although metabolism of IAA, during 90 min or less, is minimal and without significant effect on its uptake, metabolism of benzoic acid appears responsible for the apparent saturation of benzoic acid uptake at high concentrations. An inhibitor of auxin transport, N-1-naphthylphathalamic acid (NPA), stimulates uptake of IAA but has no effect on uptake of either benzoic acid or the two neutral indoles. Thus, NPA does not affect the driving forces for accumulation of weak acids but probably specifically decreases the flux of the auxin anions relative to undissociated auxin. Since the electrochemical potential of auxin anions is usually higher in than outside cells, blocking the anion flux with NPA would enhance auxin uptake. Azide, which abolishes accumulation of both IAA and benzoic acid, may simply collapse the pH gradient across the plasma membrane. In the absence of NPA, increasing concentrations of auxins or the analogoue β-naphthaleneacetic acid (β-NAA) exert two opposing effects on the uptake of IAA-depression and stimulation. Stimulation results from saturating the anion flux. With uptake fully stimulated by NPA, however, increasing concentrations of auxins or analogues only depress uptake of [3H]IAA. These results are consistent with more than one path for auxin transport each with a different dependence on concentration. In depressing NPA-stimulated IAA uptake, the effectiveness of β-NAA≧IAA≫α-NAA≫ benzoic acid, a specificity similar to that of an auxin binding site in vitro that has been implicated by others in auxin transport. The results support the general hypothesis that cellular auxin uptake and polar transport through tissues are chemiosmotically coupled to the electrochemical potential of auxin and protons.
Toward dual-wavelength functional photoacoustic endoscopy: laser and peripheral optical systems development

Photoacoustic endoscopy (PAE) provides unique functional information with high spatial resolution at super depths. The provision of functional information is predicated on its strong spectroscopic imaging ability, and its deep imaging capability is derived from its ultrasonic detection of diffused photon absorption. To accurately image functional physiological parameters, it is necessary to rapidly alternate laser pulses of sufficient energy and different wavelengths. In this study, we developed peripheral optical systems for PAE based on two identical pulsed-laser systems to achieve the fast laser wavelength switching that is essential for accurate functional imaging. Each laser system was comprised of a tunable dye laser pumped by a solid-state, diode-pumped Nd:YLF laser. Both systems deliver adequate energy at the scanning head of the endoscope for imaging biological tissue in the optically diffusive regime (~0.3-0.6 mJ per pulse with a repetition rate of ~1 kHz). In this paper, we introduce the employed laser systems and design of the light delivery optics, and present results from an ex vivo animal imaging experiment that validates the system's multi-wavelength functional imaging capability.
Shaken and Stirred: Mechanisms of Ultrasound-Enhanced Thrombolysis

The use of ultrasound and microbubbles as an effective adjuvant to thrombolytics has been reported in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. However, the specific mechanisms underlying ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis have yet to be elucidated. We present visual observations illustrating two mechanisms of ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis: acoustic cavitation and radiation force. An in vitro flow model was developed to observe human whole blood clots exposed to human fresh-frozen plasma, recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (0, 0.32, 1.58 or 3.15 μg/mL) and the ultrasound contrast agent Definity (2 μL/mL). Intermittent, continuous-wave ultrasound (120 kHz, 0.44 MPa peak-to-peak pressure) was used to insonify the perfusate. Ultraharmonic emissions indicative of stable cavitation were monitored with a passive cavitation detector. The clot was observed with an inverted microscope, and images were recorded with a charge-coupled device camera. The images were post-processed to determine the time-dependent clot diameter and root-mean-square velocity of the clot position. Clot lysis occurred preferentially surrounding large, resonant-sized bubbles undergoing stable oscillations. Ultraharmonic emissions from stable cavitation were found to correlate with the lytic rate. Clots were observed to translate synchronously with the initiation and cessation of the ultrasound exposure. The root-mean-square velocity of the clot correlated with the lytic rate. These data provide visual documentation of stable cavitation activity and radiation force during sub-megahertz sonothrombolysis. The observations of this study suggest that the process of clot lysis is complex, and both stable cavitation and radiation force are mechanistically responsible for this beneficial bio-effect in this in vitro model.
35 Years of research in glycogen metabolism.

I have now taken you over some 35 years of research to the forefront of our research in this area at the present time. I hope I have given you an overall picture of this fascinating area of metabolism which is under such very elegant control by interrelated covalent and non-covalent mechanisms.Our own work has led to the discovery of the action of the debranching enzyme amylo-1, 6-glucosidase, the mechanism of action of the branching enzyme amylo-1, 4→1, 6-transglucosidase, the discovery of the covalent control of glycogenl synthase by the multiple phosphorylation of glycogen synthase on a single polypeptide chain, the discovery of the mechanism of action of insulin to bring about the activation of glycogen synthase by dephosphorylation, the discovery of the inactivation of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase by insulin and most recently the discovery of the novel insulin second messenger peptides. I wish to acknowledge the work of many coworkers in my own laboratory and the scientists in many other laboratories throughout the world who have also contributed to our understanding of this field of research.At present it is clear that covalent control by phosphorylation of key catalysts within the cell is a dominant theme for research in the mechanism of hormonal control. Perhaps similar mechanisms of action may apply in the case of plant cells as well. The late Dr. Earl Sutherland, one of my teachers, told me in his last conversation with me just before he died, that he was going to begin research in the mechanism of action of plant hormones.
Ethacrynic acid: outflow effects and toxicity in human trabecular meshwork in perfusion organ culture

The effect of ethacrynic acid, a potential outflow agent for the treatment of glaucoma, was studied in a series of 25 pairs of human eyes in perfusion organ culture.Concentrations varied from 0.01 mM to 2.4 mM and were used in single or repetitive doses.Intraocular pressure was continuously recorded for up to two weeks after exposure. Eyes were then fixed and the meshwork examined histologically.Ethacrynic acid in single doses of 0.05 mM, 0.3 mM, and 0.6 mM increased facility of outflow at least 40% when compared with fellow control eyes. The duration of effect was approximately 18 hours, during which time the intraocular pressure gradually returned to baseline. Histologic examination revealed dose related effects on the trabecular cells, ranging from clumping of nuclear chromatin in some eyes to cellular swelling, disruption of cytoplasmic membranes, and cell necrosis in other eyes at concentrations of 0.1 mM and higher. No recovery or reversal of these changes was noted with time, even two weeks after a...
Perinatal injuries to the visual cortex enhance the significance of extravisual cortex for performance of a visual habit

If rats are prepared with visual cortical ablations in early infancy or in adulthood, are trained on a simple visual habit in adulthood, and are finally prepared with second-stage ablations which destroy the rest of the cortex, performance of the habit is markedly affected if, and only if, the injuries to the visual cortex were sustained in infancy. Hence a perinatal visual cortical ablation induces a reorganization of the functions of the extra-visual cortex, and that effect is not producible by injuries to the visual cortex in adulthood.
A skill score based on economic value for probability forecasts

An approach to evaluating probability forecasts for dichotomous events, based on their economic value over all possible cost/loss ratio decision problems, is proposed. The resulting Value Score (VS) curve shows non-dimensionalised relative economic value as a function of the cost/loss ratios for different decision-makers, over their full meaningful range. The VS curve is similar in terms of computational mechanics and graphical display to the Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, but the ROC curve is shown to be insensitive to either conditional or unconditional biases and thus to reflect potential rather than actual skill. The possibility of collapsing the VS curve into a single scalar score is addressed, and it is shown that the results can depend very strongly on the assumed distribution of cost/loss ratios in the community of forecast users. Copyright © 2001 Royal Meteorological Society