cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antithrombin III. Theory and Clinical Applications: H. P. Smith Memorial Lecture

Antithrombin III is one of the main inhibitors in the blood coagulation mechanisms. Thrombin and factor Xa are slowly inactivated by it, as well as other serine proteinases of the coagulation mechanisms. Heparin tremendously accelerates the inhibitory function of antithrombin III. In the process antithrombin III activity is also reduced. Heparin retards the thrombin-fibrinogen reaction, but otherwise the effectiveness of heparin as an anticoagulant depends on antithrombin III in laboratory experiments, as well as in therapeutics. The activation of prothrombin is inhibited, and any thrombin or other vulnerable protease that might generate becomes inactivated. The measurement of antithrombin III concentration in blood is now achieved by research methods, as well as by methods that are practical for routine use. The tests require either thrombin or factor Xa as substrate, and could be specific for antithrombin III. There are congenital as well as acquired deficiencies of antithrombin III. The inhibitor is also found in tissues.
The effects of varying illumination levels on FRS algorithm performance

This study evaluated the performance of a commercially available face recognition algorithm for the verification of an individual's identity pertaining to three enrollment illumination levels. Existing face recognition technology from still or video sources is becoming a practical tool for law enforcement, security, and counter-terrorist applications despite the limitations of the current technology. This evaluation examined the influence of variations in illumination levels on the performance of a face recognition algorithm, specifically testing the significance between verification attempts and enrollment conditions with respect to factors of age, gender, ethnicity, facial characteristics, and facial obstructions. The failure to enroll (FTE) rates from the low illuminance (7-12 lux), medium illuminance (407 - 412 lux) and high illuminance (800 - 815 lux) enrollments were 6.25%, 3.22%, and 1.09% respectively, while the failure to acquire (FTA) rates were 0.92%, 0.65%, and 0.00%. The results of the evaluation showed that for low and medium illuminance enrollments there was a statistically significant difference between verification attempts made at low, medium, and high illuminance at α= 0.01. However for the high illuminance enrollment, there was no statistically significant difference between verification attempts made at low, medium or high illuminance at α= 0.01.
Experimental study of matrine on induction of tumor cells apoptosis in vitro

Objective To investigate the effect of matrine on induction of tumor cells apoptosis and its molecular mechanisms.Methods A21-2 and MG63 cells were treated with matrine at different concentration:0.2 mg/ml,0.4 mg/ml,0.6 mg/ml.Using light microscope to observe the change of morphology;flow cytometry(FMC) method was used to detect the apoptosis cycles of cells and expression of Caspase-3 protein.Results After matrine treatment,inverted microscope observation showed that the growth of cells was inhibited significantly.Flow cytometry method showed that there was a sub-G_0/G_1 apoptosis peak in the graph of drug-treated groups after 72h.Compared with control group,the apoptosis rate increased in observation group(P 0.01),and the more the concentration was,the higher the apoptosis rate was(P 0.01).FCM analysis showed Caspase-3 increased in observation group than control group(P 0.01),and alone with the increase of the concentration,the expression of Caspase-3 increased(P 0.05).Conclusion Matrine can inhibit proliferation of A21-2 and MG63cells.Its molecular mechanism might be related to modulating the expression of Caspase-3 protein.
Analysis on Monitoring of Serum Concentration of Carbamazepine in Epileptic Children

OBJECTIVE:To approach the correlations of carbamazepine concentration in serum with clinical therapeutic effect,dosage,sex,age and body weight in epileptic children.METHODS:158 monitoring records for serum concentration of carbamazepine in children with epilepsy in our clinical pharmacy department were consulted retrospectively.Data such as serum concentration,sex and age were recorded into data base and were analyzed using SPSS 13.0 software.RESULTS:No significant correlation was noted between serum concentration of carbamazepine in epileptic children and sex.However,serum concentration of carbamazepine was closely correlated with clinical therapeutic effect,dosage,age and body weight.CONCLUSION:The individual difference in the metabolic processes of carbamazepine was concerned with age and body weight,so it's necessary to make individualized regime according to child's specific condition and monitoring results.
Analysis on risk factors for critical hand,foot and mouth disease

Aim:To explore the risk factors from severe type to critical type of hand,foot and mouth disease(HFMD),and provide the reference for the clinical diagnosis of HFMD.Methods:A total of 455 sick children with HFMD treated in some Zhengzhou children hospital from January to December in 2009,were recruited and diagnosed severe illness(n=366)and the critical illness(n=89)groups according to their status.The information on clinical manifestations between the two groups was summarized and analyzed.Results:There were no differences in the age and the gender structure between the two groups(χ2=0.268 and 7.639,P0.05).Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that only 11 risk factors were statistically significantly associated with the changing from severe illness to critical illness groups.Conclusion:A total of 11 clinical risk factors are identified to help predict the children at risk of critical HFMD.
Ligand receptor characteristics of peptides encoded by complementary nucleic acids: implications for a molecular recognition code.

Publisher Summary One of the most fundamental problems remaining in molecular biology is the structural basis for the interaction of proteinaceous molecules. While considerable progress has been made in understanding the three-dimensional configuration of some peptides and proteins, a unifying hypothesis for their intermolecular recognition has been lacking. This chapter presents such a hypothesis and data that portend the existence of a code for molecular recognition wherein complementary strands of nucleic acid specify interactive peptide pairs. The hypothesis in its simplest form states that complementary strands of nucleic acids encode interactive peptide pairs. Thus, the complementarity that is a hallmark of nucleic acids, in a binding sense, may extend to the peptides that they encode. The chapter further reviews genetically specified hydropathic anticomplementarity of amino acids, interaction of peptide pairs that are encoded by complementary RNAs, receptor-like characteristics of peptides that are complementary to hormones, complementary nucleotide and amino acid sequences in known receptors and ligands, complementary peptides and immunoglobulins, and peptide equivalents of non-peptides.
Site-Specific Safety Analysis of Diverging Diamond Interchange Ramp Terminals

A site-specific analysis of the safety of diverging diamond interchange (DDI) ramp terminals was conducted for the first time. Crash modification factors (CMFs) were developed for DDI ramp terminals for different crash severity levels. The ramp terminal CMFs complement the project-level DDI CMFs developed in previous research. The study used data from 20 ramp terminals in Missouri. The safety evaluation was conducted with two before-and-after observational methods: comparison group (CG) and empirical Bayes (EB). Because of inaccurate crash locations, a systematic crash location correction process was developed. An extensive review of 8,400 individual crash reports was conducted for the calibration and safety evaluation. Both before-and-after safety evaluation methods produced consistent results. The DDI design replacing a conventional diamond decreased the numbers of ramp terminal–related crashes for all severity levels. The most significant crash reduction by method was observed for fatal and injury (FI)...
Terahertz-Range Weak Reflection Fiber Optic Structures for Sensing Applications

This paper describes a series of terahertz-range weak reflection fiber optic structures engineered for distributed temperature and strain sensing applications. Four specific structures are described: an intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer, a terahertz-range fiber Bragg grating, a phase-shifted terahertz-range fiber Bragg grating, and a terahertz-range fiber Bragg grating fabricated with an intact optical fiber buffer coating. All four structures were fabricated using a femtosecond laser micromachining system, which inscribed the structures within the core of a single-mode silica optical fiber. Interrogation technique, signal processing, fabrication method, and experimental investigation of each structure are described. The results presented demonstrate that these structures specifically, and terahertz-range optical fiber sensors more generally, hold substantial utility as methods of distributed temperature and strain sensing.
Mechano-chemo-transduction in cardiac myocytes

The heart has the ability to adjust to changing mechanical loads. The Frank-Starling law and the Anrep effect describe exquisite intrinsic mechanisms the heart has for autoregulating the force of contraction to maintain cardiac output under changes of preload and afterload. Although these mechanisms have been known for more than a century, their cellular and molecular underpinnings are still debated. How does the cardiac myocyte sense changes in preload or afterload? How does the myocyte adjust its response to compensate for such changes? In cardiac myocytes Ca2+ is a crucial regulator of contractile force and in this review we compare and contrast recent studies from different labs that address these two important questions. The 'dimensionality' of the mechanical milieu under which experiments are carried out provide important clues to the location of the mechanosensors and the kinds of mechanical forces they can sense and respond to. As a first approximation, sensors inside the myocyte appear to modulate reactive oxygen species while sensors on the cell surface appear to also modulate nitric oxide signalling; both signalling pathways affect Ca2+ handling. Undoubtedly, further studies will add layers to this simplified picture. Clarifying the intimate links from cellular mechanics to reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide signalling and to Ca2+ handling will deepen our understanding of the Frank-Starling law and the Anrep effect, and also provide a unified view on how arrhythmias may arise in seemingly disparate diseases that have in common altered myocyte mechanics.
Opting out: a single-centre pilot study assessing the reasons for and the psychosocial impact of withdrawing from living kidney donor evaluation

Understanding why individuals opt out of living donation is crucial to enhancing protections for all living donors and to identify modifiable barriers to donation. We developed an ethical approach to conducting research on individuals who opted out of living kidney donation and applied it in a small-scale qualitative study at one US transplant centre. The seven study participants (64% response rate) had varied reasons for opting out, the most prominent of which was concern about the financial burden from lost wages during the postoperative period. Several reported feeling alone during their decision-making process. Although no participants used an alibi, a centre-provided statement of non-eligibility to donate, all believed that centres should offer alibis to help preserve donor autonomy. Given the complexity of participants' decisions and the emotions they experienced before and after deciding not to donate, we suggest approaches for independent living donor advocates to support this population. This study demonstrates that research on individuals who opt out of donation is feasible and yields valuable insight into methods to improve the evaluation experience for potential living donors.
Security in the Internet of Things: A challenge of scale

Technological scaling has offered a windfall of benefits to electronics design. Increased transistor density has offered an exponential increase in computing capabilities over time, but without a corresponding increase in system cost. Information security has its own success story with scaling. Cryptographic algorithms become exponentially harder to break through a mere linear increase in encryption complexity or in key-length. In the Internet of Things, scaling is as much a security liability as it is an advantage. These security liabilities are new, poorly understood and poorly regulated. Some examples include the following: privacy of IoT data in the cloud; the safety consequences of poor information security in cyber-physical systems; the liabilities of long-lifetime devices that use outdated or poorly tested information security; the performance-limited information security in devices that run on the outskirts of the IoT using nothing but harvested energy. In this contribution we consider the security landscape for IoT. We consider the technological consequences of securely extending the Internet into the physical world of things. We identify current limitations, ongoing research efforts, and open challenges for the design community.
Perceptions of satisfaction, usability and desirability of the DEKA Arm before and after a trial of home use.

Objectives To: 1) describe perceptions of satisfaction with and usability of the DEKA Arm and preferences for the DEKA Arm or personal prosthesis; 2) compare perceptions of satisfaction and usability by DEKA Arm configuration level; and 3) evaluate satisfaction and usability for study completers and non-completers; and for those who did and did not want to receive a DEKA Arm. Methods The study had 2 phases: in-laboratory (Part A) and home trial (Part B). 32 participants with amputation, (50% transradial, 38% transhumeral and 13% shoulder) completed Part A and 18 completed Part B 16 (89%) of whom were prosthesis users at baseline. Measures of satisfaction, usability and user preferences were administered. Responses were compared for completers of Part A only and completers of Parts A and B. Preferences for the DEKA Arm over personal prosthesis and proportion of participants who wanted to receive a DEKA Arm were evaluated. Relationships between satisfaction, usability and desire to receive a DEKA Arm were examined. Results At end of Part A, 22 (69%) of the 32 participants who completed in-laboratory training wanted to receive a DEKA Arm and 5 (16%) might want one. At end of Part B, 14 (88%) of 16 prosthesis users who completed the home trial preferred the overall function of the DEKA Arm, 13 (81%) preferred DEKA hand function and 14 (88%) preferred DEKA wrist function to their own prosthesis. In contrast, 14 (88%) preferred the weight and 13 (81%) preferred the look of their own prosthesis. Most aspects of the DEKA Arm were rated "easy" to use. No items were rated as "difficult". Users were satisfied with most aspects of the DEKA Arm, except for the weight, shoulder appearance and harnessing. There were few differences in perceived usability or satisfaction by configuration level. Findings about desire to receive a DEKA Arm pertain only to study completers. Non-completers viewed the DEKA Arm less favorably than completers. Satisfaction was strongly related to participants' expressed desire to receive a DEKA Arm in the future. Significance To maximize likelihood of adoption of the DEKA Arm, findings suggest that both an in-laboratory and a home use trial may be useful prior to finalizing a recommendation for prescription.
A single institution experience with palbociclib toxicity requiring dose modifications

Since the widespread implementation of adding palbociclib to endocrine therapy in clinical practice, myelosuppression is becoming increasingly recognized as a toxicity that may lead to dose modification. We aimed to characterize toxicities observed with palbociclib resulting in dose modifications and prescriber preferences in modifying palbociclib dosage in response to treatment-related toxicities outside the context of a clinical trial. We conducted a single institution, retrospective study of treatment-related adverse events (AEs) resulting in modifications in dose and schedule and the methods by which dose modifications occurred in patients with advanced hormone receptor (HR)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer receiving palbociclib and endocrine therapy. From 2/2015 to 10/2016, 100 patients were identified for inclusion in this study. Treatment with palbociclib and endocrine therapy resulted in dose modifications in 38.0% of patients due to AEs with 18.4% requiring subsequent dose changes. Most palbociclib dose modifications occurred during the first 2 cycles. Grade 3–4 neutropenia accounted for 54.8% events of palbociclib dose modification. Most providers (65.8%) dose reduced palbociclib from 125 mg to 100 mg as their preferred method of dose modification, while others dose reduced from 125 mg to 75 mg (10.5%) and altered the schedule to 125 mg every other day (7.9%). A comparable rate of palbociclib dose modifications and subsequent dose changes were identified in an age ≥ 65 subgroup. In this group, dose adjustments were most commonly from grade 3–4 neutropenia, occurred mainly during cycle 1, and were most frequently addressed by dose reduction from 125 to 100 mg. Neutropenia remains the predominant cause for palbociclib dose modification and most modifications occur within the first two cycles. Older age (≥ 65) does not affect palbociclib tolerance. Our findings provide context outside of a clinical trial that inform ongoing studies evaluating the safety and feasibility of palbociclib-based therapies.
Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA)

There are two major approaches to producing an MRA image: (1) utilizing the principle of time-of-flight; and (2) utilizing phase contrast techniques.
Health information privacy and syndromic surveillance systems.

The development of syndromic surveillance systems to detect potential terrorist-related outbreaks has the potential to be a useful public health surveillance activity. However, the perception of how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule applies to the disclosure of certain public health information might affect the ability of state and local health departments to implement syndromic surveillance systems within their jurisdictions. To assess this effect, a multiple-question survey asked respondents to share their experiences regarding patient confidentiality and HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements when imple menting syndromic surveillance systems. This assessment summarizes the results of a national survey of state terrorism-preparedness coordinators and state epidemiologists and reflects the authors' and others' experiences with implementation.
The Effects of Age, Disease, Procedures, and Drugs on Bone Density

A bone density measurement is a quantitative assessment made at a single point in time. Although the measurement is accurate, the test itself cannot provide any insight into why the density is what it is at that moment. To interpret quantitative bone density results and place them in their proper context, a clinician must be knowledgeable about the effects of age, disease, and drugs on bone density. When an abnormally high or low bone density is found, a densitometrist is expected to provide a differential diagnosis for potential causes of the abnormality. Knowledge of the diseases that can affect bone density at various skeletal sites is imperative. If a clinician wishes to determine if a disease process is affecting bone density, the sites that are potentially affected by that disease process must be known in order to choose the appropriate skeletal region to measure. Similarly, if the effect of a disease process on bone density is to be followed over time, the expected magnitude of the change must be known in order to choose the appropriate interval between measurements.1 The skeletal sites affected by certain drugs and the magnitude of changes over time from those drugs must also be appreciated for similar reasons. All of this must be interpreted against the background of the expected agerelated changes in bone density. Brief summaries of the effects of age, disease, procedures, and drugs on the skeleton follow. The reader is referred to the cited references for more detailed descriptions of the actual studies.
Volume Standards for Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Are Not Associated With Improved Clinical Outcomes.

Background Volume-outcome relationships exist for many complex surgical procedures, prompting institutions to adopt surgical volume standards for credentialing. The current Leapfrog Group Hospital volume standard for open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (OAR) is 15 per year. However, this is primarily based on data from the 1990s and may not be appropriate given the dramatic decline in OAR. We sought to quantify the proportion of hospitals meeting volume standards, the difference in perioperative outcomes between low-volume and high-volume hospitals, and the potential travel burden of volume credentialing on patients. Methods We identified Medicare beneficiaries for individuals aged ≥65 years undergoing OAR in 2013–2014. Hospital “all-payer” annual volume was estimated based on the national proportion of patients undergoing OAR covered by Medicare in the Vascular Quality Initiative. Hospital annual OAR volume was characterized as Results A total of 21,191 OARs were performed at 1,445 hospitals between 2013 and 2014. The average hospital OAR annual volume was 7.8 (standard deviation [SD] ± 9.3) with a median of 4.5. Among the 1,445 hospitals, only 190 (13.1%) performed ≥15 OARs per year whereas 756 hospitals (53.3%) performed Conclusions By conservative estimates, only 13% of hospitals performing OAR meet current volume standards. Triaging all patients to high-volume hospitals would require shifting over 5,000 patients annually with no associated improvement in perioperative outcomes. Implementation of the current OAR hospital volume standard may significantly burden patients and hospitals without improving surgical outcomes.
Is Canada's Post-Graduate Medical Education Curricula Producing Physicians who can Provide Culturally Safe Care?

Indigenous peoples living in Canada experience significant health inequities relative to non-Indigenous people, which stem largely from experiences of colonization, past and present. An important contributor to such inequities is the paucity of culturally safe healthcare available to Indigenous people. A lack of relevant educational experiences for healthcare professionals has been implicated in both creating culturally unsafe healthcare environments and in perpetuating these healthcare-related inequities (Guerra & Kurtz, 2017). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC, 2015) calls for improved cultural safety training for healthcare professionals treating Indigenous patients. Recently, post-graduate medical education training programs have shifted to a competency-based model (CBME) whereby specific learning objectives must be attained to graduate, compared to the historical time-based model (Iobst et al., 2010). However, it is unknown whether the CBME programs sufficiently fulfill the TRC calls to action pertaining to Indigenous health. The objective of this study is to determine the extent to which Canada’s CBME curricula provide cultural safety training regarding Indigenous health. An environmental scan of the publically available national CBME curricula will assess the content of the core portions of the training programs. A self-report mixed-methods survey will be distributed to medical residents at Queen’s University to determine the extent to which they perceive that such training is provided to them. This research aims to identify gaps in the CBME curricula pertaining to Indigenous health, so as to contribute to improved cultural safety training, and thus health equity, in the future.
An Integrated Decomposition and Approximate Dynamic Programming Approach for On-Demand Ride Pooling

Through smartphone apps, drivers and passengers can dynamically enter and leave ride-hailing platforms. As a result, ride-pooling is challenging due to complex system dynamics and different objectives of multiple stakeholders. In this paper, we study ride-pooling with no more than two passenger groups who can share rides in the same vehicle. We dynamically match available drivers to randomly arriving passengers and also decide pick-up and drop-off routes. The goal is to minimize a weighted sum of passengers’ waiting time and trip delay time. A spatial-and-temporal decomposition heuristic is applied and each subproblem is solved using Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP), for which we show properties of the approximated value function at each stage. Our model is benchmarked with the one that optimizes vehicle dispatch without ride-pooling and the one that matches current drivers and passengers without demand forecasting. Using test instances generated based on the New York City taxi data during one peak hour, we conduct computational studies and sensitivity analysis to show (i) empirical convergence of ADP, (ii) benefit of ride-pooling, and (iii) value of future supply-demand information.
Meeting Cystic Fibrosis Patient Needs in Transition to Lung Transplant

Purpose The care of the patient with cystic fibrosis (CF) requires a multidisciplinary approach throughout the lifespan by teams specially trained to deal with the complexities of care. Improvements in therapies have resulted in increased life expectancy of those with CF, yet respiratory failure continues to be the leading cause of death. While lung transplant (LTx) can be a viable treatment option, 35% of CF patients who meet criteria are not referred. We sought to understand patient preferences regarding discussions surrounding LTx in anticipation of referral to the LTx center. Methods A cross-sectional survey was developed to understand the patient's perspective on LTx transition. The survey was sent, via MyChart, to a retrospective cohort of CF patients who were seen as a new patient in the LTx center over a two-year period, and we provided the survey at the end of initial LTx clinic encounter. Results Patients representing eight CF centers participated. All respondents identified the CF pulmonologist as discussing LTx (N=17). 52% of patients also discussed Ltx with another member of the CF team (Figure 1). Conversely 88% of respondents wanted to hear about LTx from members of the team other than their physician. In fact 35% of respondents did not select the pulmonologist as someone they felt comfortable speaking to regarding LTx. Conclusion Due to the success of the multidisciplinary approach in CF clinics, patients often prefer to discuss treatment options with a variety of clinicians. The decision to refer to LTx can be overwhelming for the patient and the CF team, who may lack comfort in discussing LTx. The responses reflecting multiple CF programs suggests this problem is not center-specific, but relevant across CF centers
Improved Tumor Control Related to Radiotherapy Technological Development for Hypopharyngeal Cancer.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx (SCCHP) is associated with worse survival compared to other head and neck subsites. This report quantifies the impact of technological improvements in radiotherapy (RT) on outcomes over 6 decades. METHODS Patients with SCCHP receiving curative-intent treatment between 1962 and 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Kaplan-Meier analyses of freedom from local recurrence (FFLR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were compared across treatment eras and radiation techniques. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling was performed to specify the effect of RT technique. RESULTS One hundred thirty-four patients had a median follow-up of 17 months (IQR = 9-38). There were no differences in staging or use of surgery over time, but use of chemotherapy concurrent with RT increased (P < .001) beginning in the 2000s. The 24-month FFLR using two-dimensional RT (2D-RT), three-dimensional conformal RT (3D-CRT), and intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) was 52%, 55%, and 80%, respectively; 24-month PFS was 39%, 46%, and 73%, respectively; and 24-month OS was 27%, 40%, and 68%, respectively. OS (P = .01), PFS (P = .03), and FFLR (P = 0.02) were improved with IMRT over 2D-RT, and FFLR appeared to be improved over 3D-CRT (P = .06). Controlling for chemotherapy use and other major variables, IMRT produced a strong influence over FFLR (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 0.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0-1.2, P = .08) and a benefit in OS (adjusted HR = 0.1, 95% CI: 0.0-0.4, P = .005). CONCLUSIONS Across 6 decades, patient and tumor characteristics remained similar whereas use of chemoradiation increased and IMRT was adopted. The introduction of IMRT was associated with improved FFLR, PFS, and OS, and a reduction in acute toxicity as compared to earlier radiation technologies. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E452-E458, 2021.
Effect of supercritical water temperature and Pd/C catalyst on upgrading fuel characteristics of gumweed-derived solvent-extracted biocrude

Grindelia squarrosa, known as gumweed, is a shrub that grows in arid lands in North America with up to 8% biocrude (or bio-oil) content that can be extracted by using a common solvent extraction method. This solvent-extracted biocrude (SEB) has nearly 24 wt% oxygen, which is not suitable for direct combustion as a bio-oil or biodiesel. In this study, supercritical water (SCW) upgrading is used to reduce the oxygen of the SEB and increase the fuel value by creating lighter oil fractions. Treatment for 30 min reduces the oxygen content from 24.1 ± 1.6 (for raw SEB) to 7.2 ± 0.7%, 7.1 ± 0.4%, and 6.9 ± 0.6% at 380, 400, and 420 °C respectively. The addition of palladium on carbon (Pd/C) catalyst at 400 °C further reduces the oxygen content to 4.8 ± 0.7%. This removal in oxygen content is shown in the reduction of carboxylic acid compounds in the oils. Without having to use hydrogen, such as with the traditional hydrodeoxygenation process, the SCW upgrading has rather high energy yields for the oils which all have higher heating values between 41.0 and 42.8 MJ kg−1 (with no significant effect of temperature or catalyst). Treatment at 400 °C had the highest energy yield at 76.4 ± 1.7%, and treatment with the Pd/C catalyst at 400 °C had the lowest at 61.4 ± 2.8%. These energy yields, higher heating values, and low oxygen contents show that SCW can effectively be used to convert gumweed-derived SEB into a valuable bio-oil.
Institutional approaches for plant health provision as a collective action problem

The provision of plant health has public good attributes when nobody can be excluded from enjoying its benefits and individual benefits do not reduce the ability of others to also benefit. These attributes increase risk of free-riding on plant health services provided by others, giving rise to a collective action problem when trying to ensure plant health in a region threatened by an emerging plant disease. This problem has traditionally been addressed by government intervention, but top-down approaches to plant health are often insufficient and are increasingly combined with bottom-up approaches that promote self-organization by affected individuals. The challenge is how to design plant health institutions that effectively deal with the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant diseases, while staying aligned with the preferences, values and needs of affected societies. Here, we illustrate how Ostrom’s design principles for collective action can be used to guide the incorporation of bottom-up approaches to plant health governance in order to improve institutional fit. Using the ongoing epidemic of huanglongbing (HLB) as a case study, we examine existing institutions designed to ensure citrus health under HLB in Brazil, Mexico, the United States and Argentina, and discuss potential implications of Ostrom’s design principles for the collective provision of plant health under HLB and other plant diseases that are threatening food security worldwide. The discussion leads to an outline for the interdisciplinary research agenda that would be needed to establish the link between institutional approaches and plant health outcomes in the context of global food security.
Preparing for the Future of Work and the Development of Expertise

Expertise is vital to any organization’s competitive advantage in the highly competitive landscape. However, as technology continues to evolve and emerge, organizations find themselves in a near-constant state of transformation. Moreover, the rapid pace of technological innovation is outpacing any previous era and contributes to an already complex transforming workplace. As the transformation continues to unfold, the workforce must be equipped to perform in the new operational environment. In other words, the workforce must also transform to keep pace with the workplace. Unfortunately, current methods used to develop expertise are inefficient and consequently require a tremendous amount of time and effort. For example, scholars agree that reaching an expert level of mastery requires more than 10,000 hours and up to ten years to achieve. Therefore, developing expertise within the workforce for the transformed workplace requires Human Resource Development professions to design and implement innovative solutions capable of overcoming these and other challenges created by ever-present transformation. Moreover, innovative and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are quickly being adopted in the workplace, including in the fields of medicine (Allen, 2018; Harrington & Johnson, 2019) and business (Schneider & Leyer, 2019). These highly complex and emerging technologies provide organizations the power to push beyond the limitations of human performance. Likewise, these technologies provide the potential to outpace the ongoing technological evolution. Human Resource Development professionals must employ innovative strategies that transcend disciplines to harness the power offered by machines as well as circumvent the extremely long lead times to efficiently develop expertise. These innovations must fundamentally disrupt the current methods of expertise development to increase efficiency. Consequently, this begs the question: As humans traverse toward and through the continually transforming workplace, how is the needed expertise developed to equip humans to interact and help organizations establish and maintain their competitive advantage? This question is at the heart of this chapter as the author addresses what is known about developing expertise, innovative and emerging technology, and the possibilities of greater connectedness in the digitally transformed workplace.
Gender Disparities in Cardiology-Related COVID-19 Publications.

Female authors are underrepresented in cardiology journals, although prior work suggested improvement in reducing disparities over time. Early in the recent COVID-19 pandemic, female authorship continued to lag that of their male counterparts despite a surge in publications. The cumulative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on authorship gender disparities remains unclear. We aimed to characterize gender disparities in COVID-19-related cardiology publications across the duration of the ongoing pandemic. We retrospectively analyzed COVID-19-related research articles published in the top 20 impact factor cardiology journals between March and June 2021. Gender representation data were extracted for any author, first authors, and senior authors. We found that 841 articles were related to COVID-19, with a total of 5586 authors and an average of 42 articles per journal. Less than a third (29.9%) of the total authors from publications were women. Women represented a smaller proportion of first authors (21.3%) and senior authors (16.4%). Female authorship has continued to lag male authorship for the duration of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic may have impeded progress in reducing gender disparities in academic cardiology publications. The low proportions of first and senior female authors may reflect the impact of the pandemic on women in cardiology in leadership domains.
Extreme genomes

The complete genome sequence of Thermoplasma acidophilum, an acid- and heat-loving archaeon, has recently been reported. Comparative genomic analysis of this 'extremophile' is providing new insights into the metabolic machinery, ecology and evolution of thermophilic archaea.
Generalized continuum mixture theory for multi-material shock physics

Abstract A long-standing area of research for computational shock physics has been the treatment of mixed materials. A mixed material volume is defined as a control volume space where two or more materials coexist as immiscible materials having separate densities and energies that have non-equilibrium stress and thermal states. In traditional computational shock physics framework, a mixture of materials can occupy a control volume having a common velocity corresponding to the mixture center of mass. In this work, this assumption is relaxed and separate densities, energies and velocities are used to characterize non-equilibrium material behavior. To accomplish this task, this work builds upon the original two-phase Baer and Nunziato model by extending the two-phase theory to N-phases. Specifically, this work is based on the development by Drumheller to derive a new N-phase mixture theory that incorporates deformation mechanics using the deformation gradient with a full stress tensor.
Parent emotional distress and feeding styles in low-income families. The role of parent depression and parenting stress.

Abstract Purpose: Depression and other stressors have been associated with general parenting and child outcomes in low-income families. Given that parents shape child eating behaviors through their feeding interactions with their child, it is important to investigate factors that may influence parental feeding of young children. The aim of this study was to examine how depressive symptoms and parenting stress might influence the nature of parent feeding styles in low-income families. Methods: Questionnaires were completed by 290 African-American and Hispanic parents residing in a large urban city in the southwestern United States. Twenty-six percent of the parents reported depressive symptoms above the clinical cutoff. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine how depressive symptoms and parenting stress might influence the nature of parent feeding styles. Results: After adjusting for potential confounding variables (e.g., ethnicity, education, age), parents with an uninvolved feeding style reported less positive affect and more parenting stress than parents showing the other three feeding styles – authoritative, authoritarian, and indulgent. Conclusions: Because feeding styles tend to be associated with child obesity in low income samples, the results of this study provide important information regarding the parent–child eating dynamic that may promote less optimal child eating behaviors and the development of childhood obesity. This information could be useful for prevention studies aimed at changing parent behaviors that negatively impact the socialization of child eating behaviors.
Prevention of Infective Endocarditis: Reconsidering the Facts in the 1990s

Antimicrobial prophylaxis for prevention of bacterial endocarditis remains a very controversial issue. Whether this is a tradition or a necessity has been called into question. However, logic dictates that as one can apparently reduce both qualitatively and quantitatively the bacteremia associated with certain dental and surgical procedures, and because bacteremia appears to be an important risk factor, it remains appropriate to administer antimicrobial agents to most at-risk patients with underlying cardiovascular disease.
Descartes' Cogito: Saved from the Great Shipwreck

Perhaps the most famous proposition in the history of philosophy is Descartes' cogito 'I think, therefore I am'. Husain Sarkar claims in this provocative interpretation of Descartes that the ancient tradition of reading the cogito as an argument is mistaken. It should, he says, be read as an intuition. Through this interpretative lens, the author reconsiders key Cartesian topics: the ideal inquirer, the role of clear and distinct ideas, the relation of these to the will, memory, the nature of intuition and deduction, the nature, content and elusiveness of 'I', and the tenability of the doctrine of the creation of eternal truths. Finally, the book demonstrates how Descartes' attempt to prove the existence of God is foiled by a new Cartesian Circle.
Role of clinical neurophysiology in the diagnosis and management of visual disorders.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of clinical neurophysiology in the diagnosis and management of visual disorders. The role of electroretinograms (ERG) is critical for evaluating widespread outer retinal disorders, can be used in predicting the onset of retinopathies in certain conditions such as diabetes and can be utilized to screen drugs with potential retinal toxicity. Electrophysiological methods are viable and the utilization of specific tests allows the precise localization of disorders affecting the photoreceptors, the macula, the outer retina, and the optic nerve. Neuroimaging is pivotal for the localization of the lesions within the visual pathways and often useful in the diagnosis of specific neurological diseases. It has an increasing role in the elucidation of human anatomy and physiopathology. The chapter shows that each method has specific indications as well as limitations and no method can assess vision. A battery of selected tests can only measure the complexities of visual perception.
Calibration and initial experiments with the ORNL-MIT recoil mass spectrometer

The first experiments which utilized the ORNL-MIT Recoil Mass Spectrometer (RMS) at the Holifield Heavy Ion Research Facility were designed to measure the evaporation residue component of the fusion cross section of 160 with targets of 182,184,186W. The ORNL-MIT RMS consists of separated electrostatic-magnetic dipole-electrostaticand magnetic quadrupole elements. Zero-degree excitation functions for incident projectile energies below, near, and above the interaction barrier (68 MeV 4 E(160) 4 120 MeV) were determined; these data were complemented with measurements of the 160 fission cross section in separate experiments to yield the fusion cross sections. Particular enhancement of the fusion cross section in the near-barrier region has been predicted for these projecti~e-target combinations and is related to the large static negative hexadecapole deformations for these tungsten isotopes. 1 The objective of the experiments was to elucidate the magnitude of the predicted enhancements as a function of hexadecapole deformation. To understand the acceptance of the RMS as a function of recoil charge, recoil velocity, and recoil angular distribution, a series of calibration experiments were performed. Initial calibrations were established with alpha particles from the decay of 244Cm. Additional calibrations using monoenergetic 2°spb ions in the energy range 5-8 MeV, produced by 180 ° backscattering of 27to 40-MeV 12C ions from a 208pb target, were used to probe the RMS acceptance as a function of RMS "tuning parameters." Successful computer modeling of the RMS charge, velocity, and angular distribution acceptances was achieved and tested in an absolute determination of the known evaporation residue cross section for the 19F + 181Ta system at an incident 19F energy of 88.4 MeV.
Running Out of Time? The Evolution of Taiwan’s Relations in Africa

This article highlights the precarious nature of Taiwan’s diplomatic relations in Africa. Whereas Cold War rationales initially benefitted Taiwan, economic interests now appear to incentivize African countries to establish relations with China. Through qualitative and quantitative data covering much of the post-World War II era, this analysis argues that economic factors have trumped political ration-ales for Taiwanese–African relations. In addition, this article prob-lematizes both conceptions of diplomatic recognition and Taiwan’s enduring relations with Africa.
Focal Stimulation of the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus Induces Focal Gamma Waves in Cortex

MacDonald, Kurt D., Eva Fifkova, Michael S. Jones, and Daniel S. Barth. Focal stimulation of the thalamic reticular nucleus induces focal gamma waves in cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 474–477, 1998. ...
Listening as Work in Primary Care

By Cocksedge Simon , Radcliffe Publishing Ltd; , 2005. . PB £21.95 , 175 pp . ISBN 1‐85775‐636‐3
Scaffolded Video Self-Analysis: Discrepancies between Preservice Teachers' Perceived and Actual Instructional Decisions.

While video is commonly used to record “expert” teachers, video editing and analysis tools have made it possible for preservice teachers to systematically document, assess, analyze and adapt their own teaching practices. This case study documents the experience of three preservice teachers as they used a Web-based video analysis tool to analyze and subsequently act on their instructional decisions. Findings highlight the ability to identify and address discrepancies between thought and action, resulting in marked differences in teaching practice.
High-brightness electron beams — small free-electron lasers

Abstract At the present time, the normalized brightness of electron beams available for use in free-electron lasers is of the order of 10 11 A / m 2 -steradian. Needle cathodes emitting by field emission have demonstrated high current density, low electron temperature, small emittance, and peak currents exceeding 1 A in microsecond pulses. Photoelectric field emission can be used to control the pulse length. Measurements are underway to measure the emittance and electron energy spread of beams produced by field emission. Using beams with very high brightness, as much as five orders of magnitude beyond those in use now, it is possible to construct compact free-electron lasers at wavelengths from the far infrared to the ultraviolet. Cherenkov and Thomson lasers are discussed in detail.
Augmentative and alternative communication: A field in transition

The field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) has emerged as a rapidly developing area. This paper highlights a number of critical professional and research issues which were the subject of discussion at a recent meeting of several members of the AAC community. Issues related to public policy, documentation, and direct service provision are addressed in terms of the transitions experienced by the field and directions for future development.
On periodic asymptotic equilibria of systems of nonlinear finite-difference equations

We obtain new sufficient conditions for the existence of periodic asymptotic equilibria of systems of nonlinear finite-difference equations with continuous argument.
The numerical solution of certain dual integral equations

Dual integral equations with Hankel kernels are reduced to simple integral equations whose unknowns are physically meaningful quantities. Numerical methods for solving these integral equations are established and applied to a problem in electrostatics.