cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How language affects peer responsiveness in an online cancer support group: implications for treatment design and facilitation

Objectives Little is known about how positive group interactions develop in online support groups. Previous research suggests that message content, self-disclosure, and emotional expression may be central to this process. The purpose of this study was to identify linguistic and qualitative characteristics of participants' messages that predict how other participants respond in an asynchronous discussion board for cancer-related distress.
Measurement of respiratory patterns in rodents using whole-body plethysmography and a pneumotachograph.

137 Summary Up to 8 variables in the respiratory patterns of rats and hamsters can be measured simultaneously. The technique uses modified restraint tubes and an animal pneumotachograph. The importance of measuring the dose of materials received by animals in inhalation toxicology, and the importance of the breathing pattern in assessing the received dose, are now both widely accepted. This is particularly the case with studies on inhaled irritants such as smoke: minute volumes (the volume of air respired by an animal in one minute) of animals exposed to cigarette smoke have been shown to decrease by more than 40% during smoke inhalation (Klimisch & Dontenwill, 1977; Binns & Wilton, 1978). Less well understood but equally important is the fact that changes in breathing pattern can markedly affect the deposition and distribution of particles in the lung. It has been reported that particle deposition is much greater at low breathing frequency and high tidal volume than vice versa (Nettesheim et al., 1974; Kendrick et al., 1976). Several methods have been described for measuring breathing patterns, the non-plethysmographic methods including impedance pneumography, temperature change at the nostrils, and light reflected from the thorax. The classic plethysmographic method as described by Amdur & Mead (1958) has in the past been shown to offer practical difficulties, although it does provide much more information than do nonplethysmographic methods (most of which are capable of measuring breathing frequency only). This report describes the design of partial wholebody plethysmographs (for both rats and hamsters)
Parental effects on early development: testing for indirect benefits of polyandry

Females of many species mate with multiple males even when it is costly. Multiple mating may allow females to exploit postcopulatory mechanisms to ensure that their eggs are fertilized by high quality (good genes) and/or genetically compatible males. We conducted a series of noncompetitive in vitro fertilization experiments to evaluate the benefits of polyandry in naturally occurring pairs of horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus. In this externally fertilizing species, attached pairs migrate to shore to spawn; unpaired males are attracted to spawning pairs by visual and chemical cues and become satellites of some (polyandrous) females while ignoring others (monandrous). When present, satellites may fertilize a high proportion of the female’s eggs, but their presence is costly to female nesting success. We measured developmental success for monandrous and polyandrous females crossed with attached and satellite males. We found that satellite males increased the success of polyandrous but not monandrous females. We then examined the effect of good genes and genetic compatibility on developmental success and offspring size using a North Carolina II breeding design. Results indicate that both incompatibilities between males and females and paternal good genes effects may provide a selective advantage that offsets the costs of multiple mating in this species.
Urological Surveillance and Medical Complications after Spinal Cord Injury in the United States.

Objective To evaluate the national patterns of urologic follow up after spinal cord injury (SCI) and the occurrence and predictors of urological complications. Materials and Methods This retrospective cohort study used a 5% sample of Medicare data 2007-2010. The minimum adequate urologic surveillance was defined as a urologist visit, serum creatinine evaluation, and upper urinary tract imaging study within the 2-year period. Patients were classified to their most severe complication in a multivariate linear regression model. Results Among the 7162 patients with SCI, the majority were functionally paraplegic (82.4%) and Caucasian (80.9%). Among them, 4.9% received no screening studies over the 2-year period; 70.5% received some, but not all screening; and 24.6% received all three screening tests. Patients traveled a mean of 21.3 ± 27.5 miles to receive care. A total of 35.7% of patients saw a urologist during the 2-year period; 48.6% had some form of upper tract evaluation, with the majority being computed tomography scans; and 90.7% had serum creatinine evaluation. Of all patients, 35.8% had a minor complication during their 2-year follow up, 17.1% had a moderate complication, and 8.0% had a severe complication. In our prediction model, patient factors that correlated with increased complications included male gender, African American race, paraplegia, and receiving some or all of the neurogenic bladder recommended screening. Patients’ distance of travel to their treating physician (urologist or physiatrist) did not affect the rate of complications. Conclusion Urological complications are common in patients with SCI who receive Medicare. Most of these patients with SCI are not receiving even the minimum recommended surveillance for these urological complications.
Schedule control in the rabbit

Operant responding for water reinforcement was investigated in three New Zealand albino rabbits. Performance of two rabbits under FR3, FR8t and FR95 schedules was similar to the performance of other organisms exposed to low- or high-value fixed-ratio reinforcement. The behavior of the third rabbit under an FI 1-min LH 5-sec schedule was characteristic of fixed-ratio performance. These data were compared with data obtained from other organisms.
Glucocorticoids Regulate Plasma Membrane Potential During Rat Thymocyte Apoptosis in Vivo and in Vitro

Glucocorticoids induce a series of profound biochemical changes in thymocytes that initiate apoptosis; however, the pathways beyond receptor transactivation that lead to this form of cell death are not fully understood. In this study, we report a novel site of action for glucocorticoids at the site of the plasma membrane. Specifically, we find that glucocorticoids induce the loss of plasma membrane potential both in vivo and in vitro. The glucocorticoid-induced loss of plasma membrane potential in cultured primary isolated rat thymocytes was both dose and time dependent. Other steroid hormones, including progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone, fail to alter the depolarization state of the thymocyte plasma membrane. Interestingly, other nonsteroid stimuli that also activate apoptosis in thymocytes also lead to cellular depolarization. In contrast, HeLa cells, which contain functional glucocorticoid receptors but do not die in response to hormone, do not alter their plasma membrane potential in response t...
Emerging issues in health care regulation: protecting patients or punishing providers? A symposium introduction and overview.

No credible claim can assuage the assertion that medical errors beleaguer the health care industry and pose grave danger to patients. 1 As with any issue that impacts both a significant segment of ...
Cu wetting and interfacial stability on clean and nitrided tungsten surfaces

Abstract Cu growth/nucleation behavior and thermal stability on clean and nitrided tungsten foil have been characterized by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) under controlled ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions. At room temperature, Auger intensity ratio versus time plots demonstrate layer by layer Cu growth for the clean tungsten surface (W) and three-dimensional nucleation for the nitride overlayer (7.5–10 A, WNx/W). Auger intensity ratio versus temperature measurements for the Cu (1 monolayer)/W system indicate a stable interface up to 1000 K. For the Cu (1 ML)/WNx/W system, initial Cu diffusion into the nitride overlayer is observed at 550 K. Maximum diffusion of the Cu occurs at 750 K. The driving force for diffusion is due to an effective Cu–nitride repulsion and a more thermodynamically favorable Cu–W interaction. TDS measurements of the nitride overlayer demonstrate N2 decomposition from 800–1400 K. The addition of Cu (1 ML) to the nitride overlayer lowers the decomposition temperature range of 750–1350 K. The enhancement of N2 recombination is attributed to the perturbing effect of Cu on W–N bonding driven by a Cu–W surface alloy formation.
Effects of Different Feather Lengths in the Vent Area of White Leghorn Hens on Northern Fowl Mite Populations

Abstract Two tests of mature White Leghorn laying hens with feathers in the “vent area” clipped to
Thrombin-induced inhibition of platelet agglutination by von Willebrand factor (vWF): reversal by ionized calcium

The present study has used washed human platelets combined with ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) to determine the influence of calcium ions on thrombin-induced down-regulation of glycoprotein (GP) Ib/IX, the platelet surface receptor for von Willebrand factor (vWF). Bovine plasma vWF (BvWF) does not require the antibiotic, ristocetin, or calcium ions to cause agglutination of platelets. Thus, EDTA platelets agglutinate as well with BvWF as platelets in the absence of the chelating agent. Thrombin treatment of EDTA platelets prevented subsequent agglutination by BvWF. However, the addition of calcium ions to the sample restores sensitivity of the six PIb/IX receptors, and irreversible agglutination occurs when BvWF is added. Monoclonal antibodies to GPIb/IX and GPIIb/IIIa demonstrated that restoration of refractory platelet sensitivity to BvWF was related to GPIb/IX, not to GPIIb/IIIa. Experimental results suggest that GPIb/IX receptors on thrombin-treated EDTA platelets can be down-regulated by thr...
Factors Affecting Production and Productivity in Czechoslovak Agriculture, 1934–38 and 1946–60

T HE present paper attempts to provide answers to four main questions about the agricultural sector of the Czechoslovak economy during 1934-38 and 1946-60; namely: (1) How did different production measures behave during this period? (2) What changes occurred in the productivity of land, capital, labor and total productivity? (3) What were the most significant economic and noneconomic influences affecting production and productivity? (4) How did Czechoslovak performance compare with that of Western Europe? Czechoslovak postwar agriculture is of particular interest as an example of economic performance by a socialist economic system in agriculture. Basic structural changes have been made in the whole Czechoslovak economy since the war. In agriculture, ownership and control of the bulk of productive resources were gradually transferred to the state between 1949 and 1960. This study thus provides a comparison between the 1934-38 base period, during which a private-enterprise system prevailed, and the years 1946 to 1960, during which Czechoslovak agriculture was reorganized into a centrally-planned socialist system. The official Czechoslovak statistical agencies publish an index of value added in agriculture including forestry'; but the detailed calculations of these indexes have not been released, although the general methodology concerning the construction of these indexes was discussed in the Czechoslovak economic literature. One of the purposes of this paper is to check the official indexes against our measures. To insure the comparability of the statistical series developed in this paper with those available for agricultural sectors in other countries, the standard definitions and methods for classification and presentation de-
Bromodeoxyuridine mutagenesis and deoxyribonucleotide pool imbalance in mammalian cells.

The thymidine (dT) analog 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) produces a variety of biological effects in mammalian cells, such as the induction of latent viruses [10], inhibition or induction of differentiated functions [20], and mutagenesis [11]. Because BrdU is such an excellent analog of dT, it is readily phosphorylated and incorporated into mammalian DNA in place of dT. Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between the incorporation of BrdU into DNA and the occurrence of its biological effects. As a result, it has been assumed that all or most of the biological effects of BrdU result from the presence of the analog in DNA.
Cryptococcal therapies and drug targets: the old, the new and the promising.

Summary Half a century after the introduction of Amphotericin B the management of cryptococcosis remains unsatisfactory. The disease, caused primarily by the two fungal species Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, remains responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality despite standard medical care. Current therapeutic options are limited to Amphotericin B, azoles and 5-flucytosine. However, this organism has numerous well-characterized virulence mechanisms that are amenable to pharmacological interference and are thus potential therapeutic targets. Here, we discuss existing approved antifungal drugs, resistance mechanisms to these drugs and non-standard antifungal drugs that have potential in treatment of cryptococcosis, including immunomodulatory strategies that synergize with antifungal drugs, such as cytokine administration or monoclonal antibodies. Finally, we summarize attempts to target well-described virulence factors of Cryptococcus, the capsule or fungal melanin. This review emphasizes the pressing need for new therapeutic alternatives for cryptococcosis.
Factors impacting innovation acceptance in a product development organization: Utilizing technology acceptance model

Numerous product development (PD) organizations have integrated innovative products in order to remain competitive and retain their customer base. The major goal of this study is to assist managers in the selection of appropriate innovative CAD technology for their organizations by focusing on eight critical factors that could guide their decision-making process when recommending specific innovative CAD technologies: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, organization support, organizational size, cost effectiveness, system quality, organizational need, and function effectiveness. The theoretical foundation used for this study was the technology acceptance model (TAM). Parametric statistic methods were used to test perceptions of decision makers toward innovative CAD technologies. Results indicated perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, organizational support, cost effectiveness, system quality, organizational need, and functional effectiveness are important attributes in the decision process of acceptance of innovative CAD technologies. The positive relationship indicates that when these seven variables increased, the intent to adopt increased as well.
Investigation of the density and monthly dynamics of mosquito-vector species in Pukou District, Nanjing.

Four categories and five species of 2 842 mosquitoes were collected in human and livestock housing in the towns of Xindian and Qiaolin in Pukou District from early May to the end of October.Armigeres subalbatus and Culex pipiens pallens were the dominant species.Mosquito activity was highest from June to September.Anopheles sinensis accounted for only 1.2% of mosquitoes in human housing but 16.4% of mosquitoes in livestock housing.The number of A.sinensis in dikes was significantly higher than that in mountains.Eliminating mosquitoes in dikes and especially in livestock housing is an important step in preventing malaria.
Pope Saint John XXIII: Army Medic and Military Hospital Chaplain.

Pope Saint John XXIII, also known as “Il Papa Buono” (the good pope) was canonized on July 5, 2013. His feast day is October 11.Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, prior to becoming Pope John XXIII, had serv...
Global Assessment of Schistosomiasis Control Over the Past Century Shows Targeting the Snail Intermediate Host Works Best

Background Despite control efforts, human schistosomiasis remains prevalent throughout Africa, Asia, and South America. The global schistosomiasis burden has changed little since the new anthelmintic drug, praziquantel, promised widespread control. Methodology We evaluated large-scale schistosomiasis control attempts over the past century and across the globe by identifying factors that predict control program success: snail control (e.g., molluscicides or biological control), mass drug administrations (MDA) with praziquantel, or a combined strategy using both. For data, we compiled historical information on control tactics and their quantitative outcomes for all 83 countries and territories in which: (i) schistosomiasis was allegedly endemic during the 20th century, and (ii) schistosomiasis remains endemic, or (iii) schistosomiasis has been "eliminated," or is "no longer endemic," or transmission has been interrupted. Principal Findings Widespread snail control reduced prevalence by 92 ± 5% (N = 19) vs. 37 ± 7% (N = 29) for programs using little or no snail control. In addition, ecological, economic, and political factors contributed to schistosomiasis elimination. For instance, snail control was most common and widespread in wealthier countries and when control began earlier in the 20th century. Conclusions/Significance Snail control has been the most effective way to reduce schistosomiasis prevalence. Despite evidence that snail control leads to long-term disease reduction and elimination, most current schistosomiasis control efforts emphasize MDA using praziquantel over snail control. Combining drug-based control programs with affordable snail control seems the best strategy for eliminating schistosomiasis.
Faulty Decision-Making: Impact on Treatment Adherence in Bipolar Disorder

In spite of advances in the pharmacologic treatment of bipolar disor- der, people with this illness and those who provide their care continue to struggle with the problem of treatment adherence. Studies documenting adherence rates have focused on single point assessments (eg, every 6-18 months) that incorrectly assume these end points reflect daily behaviors. People pharmacologically treated for bipolar disorder make daily decisions to consume medication or a void it with the decision process influenced by symptoms, including mood and cognitive impairment as well as decision-making paradigms. This article suggests a new conceptualization of adherence that explicates its dynamic nature including daily decision-making processes that can facilitate or deter use of pharmacotherapy. A better understanding of this dynamic process will help clinicians and patients to plan ahead for fluctuations in adherence that can predispose patients to relapse. Suggestions are provided for addressing memory impair- ments, faulty decision-making paradigms, and poor problem-solving skills as they pertain to enhancing treatment adherence.
Enhancing rejection in cognitive radio filtennas using a reconfigurable filter+antenna approach

Frequency rejection reconfigurable antennas offer a possible solution to block jammer frequencies that may saturate nonlinear components further down the RF chain. At present, only a few designs presented in the literature make the cut when it comes to practical requirements, where rejection levels of 6 dB or more are desired. We revisit the problem in attaining frequency reconfigurable rejection in antennas and shed light on the root cause behind poor rejection performance. We then propose a reconfigurable filter+antenna whose rejection frequencies are linked to further improve rejection levels. Our filtenna shows improved rejection performance in its various configurations.
Signaling Robot State with Light Attributes

Light is a visual signaling mechanism that can be used for non-verbal robot-human communication. In our work, we are interested in examining how different attributes of light can be used to convey a variety of robot state information to proximal humans. To do this, we developed an interactive design tool to simulate static and dynamic light signals. With this tool, we conducted a participatory design study in which designers were asked to create light signals for 16 robot states. The results showed the possibility of employing dynamic attributes to enhance human awareness of robot state, rather than merely the state itself.
Augmented Resource Allocation Framework for Disaster Response Coordination in Mobile Cloud Environments

In disaster scenarios requiring real-time response to multiple incidents in a limited period of time, the importance of efficient allocation of resources such as paramedics and supplies becomes crucial. Yet, this need is often complicated by the dynamic nature of emergencies, with differing levels of patient priority and accessibility, unknown degrees of communication and computation infrastructure damage, and varying numbers of available responders all contributing to the complexity of the situation. We present Augmented Resource Allocation (ARA), a new framework for efficiently managing responders, supplies, and resources during disaster scenarios within a mobile cloud environment. Our framework leverages human knowledge of the situation, existing dynamic routing algorithms, and centralized information storage at the mobile edge network to augment disaster response coordination. Finally, we apply our ARA methodology in a real-world mobile cloud computing application viz., Panacea's Cloud, and use experiments and simulations to show how we streamline information flows for disaster response coordination.
On identifying the aging mechanisms in li-ion batteries using two points measurements

Lithium-ion batteries are prone to aging, which decreases the battery performance. The term battery State of Health (SOH) is widely used to describe many different aspects of battery performance. One critical aging characteristic is the loss of cyclable energy quantified by the decrease in capacity. Algorithms that estimate the capacity fade using voltage measurements are widely published in literature and are commonly used in commercial Battery Management Systems (BMS). However, there are fewer studies identifying the aging mechanisms, such as the loss of cyclable lithium, or the loss of active material, both of which manifest as capacity fade. Furthermore, many of these algorithms require voltage measurement data acquired during a full charge or discharge cycle, which is inconvenient to obtain while the battery is in use. In the following, we present a methodology to identify the aging mechanisms by changes in the capacity of active material in each electrode, and the changes in the stoichiometric operating window of the half-cell potentials. The proposed method utilizes measurement obtained from only two operating points, with no requirement on a constant current while traversing between these two operating points. The method is tested via simulating the LiFePO4 (LFP) chemistry, where identification is particularly difficult due to its flat voltage characteristics. Furthermore, unlike previously presented methods, the identifiability of the aging mechanisms is studied with respect to location of the two operating points in the voltage curve. It is important to note that the techniques explored and proposed in this paper rely on opportunistic measurements of terminal voltage after a rest period due to its reliance on the invariant characteristic of the half-cell potentials.
Roman Corbridge and the Corbridge Hoard: Reconstructing the World of Roman Britain

The last vestiges of the Roman-British world exist throughout modern day Britain and Scotland, ranging from coin hoards in the countryside to Roman urban remains in modern English cities. In particular, the Roman town of Corbridge in northeastern England played an important role throughout the history of Roman Britain and also is home to a variety of material culture evidence that has helped shape how the modern world views and understands Roman Britain. By examining modern Corbridge, its history, and the Corbridge Hoard, one can reconstruct and better understand the Roman world of Britain during this period both militarily and culturally.
Study of Dense Network Approaches for Speech Emotion Recognition

Deep neural networks have been proven to be very effective in various classification problems and show great promise for emotion recognition from speech. Studies have proposed various architectures that further improve the performance of emotion recognition systems. However, there are still various open questions regarding the best approach to building a speech emotion recognition system. Would the system's performance improve if we have more labeled data? How much do we benefit from data augmentation? What activation and regularization schemes are more beneficial? How does the depth of the network affect the performance? We are collecting the MSP-Podcast corpus, a large dataset with over 30 hours of data, which provides an ideal resource to address these questions. This study explores various dense architectures to predict arousal, valence and dominance scores. We investigate varying the training set size, width, and depth of the network, as well as the activation functions used during training. We also study the effect of data augmentation on the network's performance. We find that bigger training set improves the performance. Batch normalization is crucial to achieving a good performance for deeper networks. We do not observe significant differences in the performance in residual networks compared to dense networks.
Impulse response timing differences in BOLD and CBV weighted fMRI.

Abstract Recent advances in BOLD fMRI scan techniques have substantially improved spatial and temporal resolution, currently reaching to sub-millimeter and sub-second levels respectively. Unfortunately, there remain physiological barriers that prevent achieving this resolution in practice. BOLD contrast relies on the hemodynamic response to neuronal activity, whose associated cerebral blood oxygenation (CBO) changes may spread over several millimeters and last several seconds. Recent reports have suggested that significant improvements may be possible with cerebral blood volume (CBV)-weighted fMRI, which highlights the CBV changes rather than the BOLD changes associated with the hemodynamic response. Nevertheless, quantitative comparisons between CBV and BOLD are sparse, in particular regarding their temporal characteristics in human brain. To address this, we studied a cohort of subjects that received injection of ferumoxytol, an intravascular iron-oxide based contrast agent that introduces strong CBV contrast. An event-related visual stimulus paradigm was used to compare the impulse response (IR) for CBV and BOLD contrast, obtained with and without ferumoxytol, respectively. Experiments performed at 7 T (n = 5) at 1.2–1.5 mm spatial and 1 s temporal resolution showed that the onset time and time-to-peak of the CBV IR averaged 0.8 and 3.5 s respectively, both 0.6 s shorter than the BOLD IR. While significant, these improvements are relatively small and not expected to lead to practical advantages for the extraction of temporal information about neural activity. Nonlinearities in the observed IR were also compared and found to be similar between the CBV and BOLD, indicating that these are likely not caused by a ‘ceiling’ effect in the CBO response, but rather support a previously proposed model of vascular compliance, in which changes in vascular tone elicited by a preceding stimulus affect the IR.
Nomothetical Nets and Higher Order Factor Analysis in Middle Range Theory Development

The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual and methodological approach that will contribute to the development of middle range theory. Nomothetical nets and higher order factor analysis represent these respective approaches.
Radio Detection of Meteors

Most meteors that can be seen on a clear night, especially on the nights of a meteor shower, range in size from a grain of sand to the size of a pea. These meteors come from the debris left over from the tails of comets that have orbited around the Sun, in most cases many years ago. Mixed in with this cometary remains are small particles of debris that have come from other sources, such as the collision of two or more asteroids within the asteroid belt or the rubble left over after the solar system came into being. These small particles are drawn towards the inner solar system by the Sun’s gravity, they can get trapped within the debris left by comets. These small particles of cometary and other debris are known as meteoroids and have been left floating in space for many years after the comet has passed. They are gravitationally attracted to each other and build up to form dense regions, called meteor streams.
The effect of aminooxyacetic acid on the metabolism of γ-aminobutyric acid in brain

Abstract With the aid of histochemical technique that is specific in demonstrating γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) metabolism, aminooxyacetic acid was shown to cause strong inhibition in vivo of GABA-α-ketoglutarate transaminase which was not reversed by GABA. Succinic Semialdehyde dehydrogenase was not affected by this compound. With the rates of formazan production in brain sections as a basis for comparison, the results showed that GABA metabolism was much slower than succinic semialdehyde oxidation, indicating that in vivo transamination is probably rate limiting with respect to GABA degradation. After maximal inhibition of GABA transaminase activity by aminooxyacetic acid, GABA synthesis in vivo was shown to be 5–6 μmoles/g per hour. The maximal brain GABA levels that could be reached in vivo under these circumstances were 20 μmoles/g fresh tissue. Finally, administration of GABA to animals which had received aminooxyacetic acid either enhanced or caused severe impairment of motor function. Although the symptoms were compatible with a central action of GABA, no evidence could be obtained that exogenous GABA penetrated into the central nervous system under these conditions.
Guidelines for clinical nurse specialist education

A recent survey of clinical nurse specialist (CNS) programs found significant differences among the programs in the number of classroom and clinical hours required and some variation in curricular content. To address these differences, the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) developed Guidelines for Clinical Nurse Specialist Education and charged the Education Committee of NACNS with testing and refining them. This article describes the methods used by the Education Committee to test and refine the Guidelines and presents the finalized document. The 18 Guidelines provide quality indicators for CNS programs in the areas of organization and faculty, program admissions, curriculum, clinical resources and experiences, and program evaluation. NACNS recommends that these Guidelines be used in addition to accreditation standards to evaluate CNS programs and to guide development of new CNS programs.
Job Tasks Performed by Career Preparation System Administrators in One Midwestern State: Implications for Leadership Development.

There is a need to prepare new leaders in Career and Technical Education due to retirements and because the job demands have changed over the years. In order to verify the curriculum for leadership development programs, a study was conducted to measure the importance and frequency of job tasks performed by Career Preparation System administrators in the state of Michigan. A mailed survey based on a previous Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) study generated a 72% response rate. The analysis illustrates the job priorities and time commitments of these leaders. Significant differences were observed in the perceptions among administrators from various types of organizations. A relationship between the frequency and importance of job tasks was also revealed. The results of the study support the need for structured leadership development programs for Career and Technical Education administrators. Julia VanderMolen is the Director of Online Instruction at Davenport University. She can be reached at Julia.vandermolen@davenport.edu. Richard Zinser is an Associate Professor, CTE at Western Michigan University. He can be reached at richard.zinser@wmich.edu
Fundamentals of Dry Powder Inhaler Technology

Dry powders and their delivery devices are an alternative to pressurized metered dose inhalers for the administration of aerosols to the lungs. Use of powders would reduce the necessity of employing global warming propellants; however further developments are needed in the technology required to disperse dry powders as aerosols if there is to be an alternative to pMDI as the primary means of aerosol delivery. For progress to occur the following factors influencing dry powder dispensing and dispersion must be considered. (1) The way in which particles are prepared may influence their subsequent behavioral characteristics. These preparative techniques fall in the general categories of constructive and destructive methods. (2) Specific morphological characteristics of particles such as size, shape, and rugosity may influence their interaction. In addition, particles may interact with each other or with surrounding surfaces. Among the underlying forces giving rise to these interactions are electrostatic, van der Waals, capillary and mechanical interlocking forces. (3) Powder may be dispersed by laboratory equipment, dry dust and fluidized bed generators, or small hand held devices designed for delivery of drugs to the lung. A development program requires selection of optimal conditions for each of these steps in the delivery of drugs to the lungs. The following description of dry-powder production, dispersion in air and particulate interactions discusses some of the difficulties that must be overcome for systems to advance as alternative to MDIs.
Symptoms, Cytokines, and Quality of Life in Patients Diagnosed With Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Purpose/objectives To describe associations among symptoms, cytokines, and quality of life (QOL) of patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Design Prospective, cross-sectional, cohort. Setting The bone marrow transplantation unit at a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Virginia. Sample 24 adults diagnosed with cGVHD. Methods Data were collected for demographic factors, symptoms, and QOL from medical record and validated questionnaires. Serum was analyzed for cytokine levels. Main research variables cGVHD, symptoms, cytokines, C-reactive protein, and QOL. Findings Participants reported multiple, concurrent symptoms. Cytokine levels were higher in participants with symptoms versus those without symptoms. Cytokine interleukin-6 correlated with lack of energy and dry mouth. Negative correlations were noted between QOL and symptoms. Conclusions Findings demonstrated multiple concurrent symptoms present in this sample and significant relationships among symptoms, cytokines, and QOL. Implications for nursing cGVHD is a serious condition affecting QOL in many individuals after bone marrow transplantation for many different cancers. Results from this pilot study indicate that patients experience multiple symptoms, including sexual dysfunction, that adversely affect QOL. Better understanding of the interrelated symptoms of cGVHD and the biomarkers associated with these symptoms may lead to targeted symptom management interventions.
Field and Laboratory Evaluations of the Low-Cost Plantower Particulate Matter Sensor.

Due to the rapid development of low-cost air-quality sensors, a rigorous scientific evaluation has not been conducted for many available sensors. We evaluated three Plantower PMS A003 sensors when exposed to eight particulate matter (PM) sources (i.e., incense, oleic acid, NaCl, talcum powder, cooking emissions, and monodispersed polystyrene latex spheres under controlled laboratory conditions and also residential air and ambient outdoor air in Baltimore, MD). The PM2.5 sensors exhibited a high degree of precision and R2 values greater than 0.86 for all sources, but the accuracy ranged from 13 to >90% compared with reference instruments. The sensors were most accurate for PM with diameters below 1 μm, and they poorly measured PM in the 2.5–5 μm range. The accuracy of the sensors was dependent on relative humidity (RH), with decreases in accuracy at RH > 50%. The sensors were able to produce meaningful data at low and high temperatures and when in motion, as it would be if utilized for outdoor or personal ...
Building Bridges Between Brazil and the US: Anatomical Sciences and Medical Education

Brazil and the US represent the two most populous countries in the western hemisphere with the greatest number of medical schools and students in training. Over the past decade there has been consi...
Sensory Evoked Potentials in Psychosis

Three decades have elapsed since Dawson (1947) demonstrated that the averaging method can be used to extract sensory evoked potentials (EPs) from the electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms in which they are embedded. During the first half of this thirty year period, the development of apparatus for accomplishing averaging was the prime concern of the few investigators in the field. Foll owing introduction of commercially produced equipment in the early 1960s, the volume of EP studies quickly expanded. Although EP recording was applied to clinical psychiatric research relatively early (Shagass and Schwartz, 1961), the number of psychiatric studies has grown quite slowly. The lack of faster progress can probably be attributed mainly to methodological difficulties inherent in studying psychiatric problems. At present, however, the slowly accumulated body of data bearing on EP correlates of mental illness may have reached the stage of beginning to justify optimism that it will be possible to realize one of the ultimate goals of such research, namely, to establish useful, objective neurophysiological indicators of psychopathology. The purpose of this paper is to review the principal findings obtained in EP investigations of the major psychoses.
Development of the Serum α-Fetoprotein Reference Range in Patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann Spectrum

Objective To establish reference ranges for serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) at various ages in patients with Beckwith-Wiedemann spectrum (BWSp), to better predict the risk for hepatoblastoma in this population. Study design A retrospective analysis of AFP measurements collected from patients with BWSp was performed. Factors including sex, prematurity, molecular diagnosis of patients, and performing laboratory were evaluated for significant differences. In total, 1372 AFP values were collected from 147 patients and the predictive AFP values at various ages were calculated to establish reference ranges. Mixed-effects polynomial regression models were used to study various potential factors affecting log(AFP) values. Results Overall, predicted AFP values declined to normal range for age ( Conclusions Predictive AFP values were created for premature and nonpremature patients with BWSp to aid with interpretation and monitoring of the risk for hepatoblastoma. Further analysis is needed to determine whether AFP values differ within the less common molecular subtypes of patients with BWSsp.
Delusional Misidentification of the Mirror Image.

Delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) include conditions in which a false belief about the identity of a person, place, or object occurs in the context of psychiatric or neurological disorders. One form of DMS involves the delusion that the patient’s mirror image is a separate individual. This review of reported cases characterizes the psychiatric, neuropathological, and neuropsychological aspects of DMS for the mirror image. An individual case presentation highlights the patient’s subjective experience. Finally, the impact of this syndrome on the sense of self is considered. Mirror DMS is a persistent delusion that occurs in the context of neurological illness. It is associated with right hemisphere impairment and a variety of neuropsychological and neuroimaging abnormalities. This phenomenon contributes to our understanding of a range of neurobehavioral syndromes that can be classified as neuropathologies of the self (NPS). DMS for the mirror image is a neurobehavioral syndrome in which the inability to recognize oneself in the mirror entails neurological, neuropsychological, as well as psychiatric aspects of the sense of self.
Metastable intermetallic phases in the Al-Sm system

Abstract The thermodynamic landscape involving several metastable phases in the glass-forming Al-Sm system is assessed, integrating experimental measurements and first principles calculations into a comprehensive CALPHAD description. The phases examined here include Al41Sm5-η, Al60Sm11-e, Al5Sm-θ, Al5Sm-π and Al4Sm-γ, having basis stoichiometries from 9 to 20 at% Sm, a range over which the Al-fcc and Al3Sm phases are stable. Amongst the metastable phases examined, our findings indicate that the Al41Sm5-η and Al60Sm11-e phases comprise the convex hull of minimum formation energies at absolute zero. Competitive crystallization processes were investigated through situ X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry and used to assess relative stability within the overall landscape. Asserting thermodynamic scenarios consistent with our measurements, temperature-dependent Gibbs free energies for the metastable phases are proposed along with the corresponding constrained phase diagrams, comprehensively showing metastable phases and associated invariant reactions. Assumptions and limitations of the proposed thermodynamic model are discussed with reference to available transport data.
Janthinobacterium CG23_2: Comparative Genome Analysis Reveals Enhanced Environmental Sensing and Transcriptional Regulation for Adaptation to Life in an Antarctic Supraglacial Stream.

As many bacteria detected in Antarctic environments are neither true psychrophiles nor endemic species, their proliferation in spite of environmental extremes gives rise to genome adaptations. Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2 is a bacterial isolate from the Cotton Glacier stream, Antarctica. To understand how Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2 has adapted to its environment, we investigated its genomic traits in comparison to genomes of 35 published Janthinobacterium species. While we hypothesized that genome shrinkage and specialization to narrow ecological niches would be energetically favorable for dwelling in an ephemeral Antarctic stream, the genome of Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2 was on average 1.7 ± 0.6 Mb larger and predicted 1411 ± 499 more coding sequences compared to the other Janthinobacterium spp. Putatively identified horizontal gene transfer events contributed 0.92 Mb to the genome size expansion of Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2. Genes with high copy numbers in the species-specific accessory genome of Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2 were associated with environmental sensing, locomotion, response and transcriptional regulation, stress response, and mobile elements—functional categories which also showed molecular adaptation to cold. Our data suggest that genome plasticity and the abundant complementary genes for sensing and responding to the extracellular environment supported the adaptation of Janthinobacterium sp. CG23_2 to this extreme environment.
A High-Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) for the Phase-II upgrade of the ATLAS detector

The expected increase of the particle flux at the high-luminosity phase of the LHC (HL-LHC) with instantaneous luminosities up to L = 7.5× 1034 cm−1s−1 will have a severe impact on the ATLAS detector performance. The pile-up is expected to increase on average to 200 interactions per bunch crossing. The reconstruction and trigger performance for electrons, photons as well as jets and transverse missing energy will be severely degraded in the end-cap and forward region, where the liquid Argon based electromagnetic calorimeter has coarser granularity and the inner tracker has poorer momentum resolution compared to the central region. A High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) is proposed in front of the liquid Argon end-cap calorimeters for pile-up mitigation and for bunch per bunch luminosity measurements. This device should cover the pseudo-rapidity range of 2.4 to about 4.0. Two Silicon sensors double-sided layers are foreseen to provide a precision timing information for minimum ionizing particle with a time resolution better than 50 pico-seconds per hit (i.e. 30 pico-seconds per track) in order to assign the particle to the correct vertex. Each readout cell has a transverse size of 1.3 mm×1.3 mm leading to a highly granular detector with about 3 millions of readout electronics channels. Low-Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) technology has been chosen as it provides an internal gain good enough to reach large signal over noise ratio needed for excellent time resolution. Extensive LGAD research and development (R&D) campaigns are carried out to investigate the suitability of this new technology as timing sensors for HGTD. The related readout ASIC is also being studied extensively.
Design performance and designer preference in an interactive, data-driven conceptual building design scenario

Various interactive optimization techniques have been proposed to simultaneously consider quantitative and qualitative goals in conceptual architectural design. However, more research is required to understand the effects of these techniques on design processes and outcomes at the building scale, when substantial building performance simulations are considered. This paper presents a design study involving 34 participants who engaged with live feedback from surrogate models of structural and energy performance, while producing conceptual building geometries in several digital design environments. This study reveals that performance-enabled environments tend to improve simulated design objectives, while designers often prefer more flexibility than traditional automated optimization approaches when given the choice. Together, these preliminary findings encourage further development of interactive approaches to multi-objective early building design.
Analyticity of replica correlators and Modular ETH

We study the two point correlation function of a local operator on an $n$-sheeted replica manifold corresponding to the half-space in the vacuum state of a conformal field theory. In analogy with the inverse Laplace transform, we define the Renyi transform of this correlation function, which is a function of one complex variable $w$, dual to the Renyi parameter $n$. Inspired by the inversion formula of Caron-Huot, we argue that if the Renyi transform $f(w)$ has bounded behavior at infinity in the complex $w$ plane, the discontinuity of the Renyi transform disc $f(w)$ provides the unique analytic continuation in $n$ of the original replica correlation function. We check our formula by explicitly calculating the Renyi transform of a particular replica correlator in a large $N$ holographic CFT$_d$ in dimensions $d>2$. We also discover that the discontinuity of the Renyi transform is related to the matrix element of local operators between two distinct eigenstates of the modular Hamiltonian. We calculate the Renyi transform in $2d$ conformal field theories, and use it to extract the off-diagonal elements of (modular) ETH.