cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanical Properties and Grain Growth Inhibition in The System Al2O3 : c-ZrO2

The grain coarsening in a 50:50 volume percent Al2 O3 : c-ZrO2 composite is shown to be severely limited even after long heat treatments at high temperatures (100 hours at 1650°C). The strength behavior, measured by an indentation-strength-inbending (ISIB) method, shows a “rule-of-mixtures” type behavior. The microstructural stability at high temperatures yields reliability in the mechanical properties which has important implications with regard to fiber-reinforcement technology.
Deep Thoughts on Tin Men Fact, Fallacy, and Future of Mechanical Circulatory Support

Since the first artificial heart implant in 1969, physicians have expressed both ardent enthusiasm and serious doubt regarding the potential of mechanical devices to replace the failing human heart.1 The recent funding of the REMATCH trial by the US NIH may best illustrate the renewed interest in mechanical circulatory support. This trial is a milestone in the development of mechanical support because it will be the first large, controlled trial of the effect of LVAD support on survival when used as a permanent alternative to medical therapy. In large part, the basis for this renewed optimism in mechanical circulatory support has been the impressive success of the LVAD in its “bridge-to-transplant” role of providing hemodynamic support until a donor heart is available.2 A recent study showed that 72% of patients supported with a LVAD survived for 60 days after heart transplantation, compared with 33% of patients who received medical therapy alone.3 A more limited but still impressive experience with long-term LVAD therapy has been obtained among patients now successfully supported for 1 year; a handful of patients have been supported for almost 2 years. Furthermore, patients supported with LVADs are in general better transplant candidates, because they experience a significant improvement in vital organ function during support.4 In this issue of Circulation , Jaski et al5 report their experience with the improvements in exercise capacity that can be achieved with LVAD support. Their study illustrates the need for a better understanding of the underlying physiology of LVAD support before a more widespread clinical application of LVADs is implemented as a permanent alternative to other therapies. While LVADs are one of the most commonly used methods of mechanical cardiac assistance, the range of cardiac replacement therapies clinically available or in the research phase is substantially broader. …
Fast Iterative Graph Computation with Resource Aware Graph Parallel Abstractions

Iterative computation on large graphs has challenged system research from two aspects: (1) how to conduct high performance parallel processing for both in-memory and out-of-core graphs; and (2) how to handle large graphs that exceed the resource boundary of traditional systems by resource aware graph partitioning such that it is feasible to run large-scale graph analysis on a single PC. This paper presents GraphLego, a resource adaptive graph processing system with multi-level programmable graph parallel abstractions. GraphLego is novel in three aspects: (1) we argue that vertex-centric or edge-centric graph partitioning are ineffective for parallel processing of large graphs and we introduce three alternative graph parallel abstractions to enable a large graph to be partitioned at the granularity of subgraphs by slice, strip and dice based partitioning; (2) we use dice-based data placement algorithm to store a large graph on disk by minimizing non-sequential disk access and enabling more structured in-memory access; and (3) we dynamically determine the right level of graph parallel abstraction to maximize sequential access and minimize random access. GraphLego can run efficiently on different computers with diverse resource capacities and respond to different memory requirements by real-world graphs of different complexity. Extensive experiments show the competitiveness of GraphLego against existing representative graph processing systems, such as GraphChi, GraphLab and X-Stream.
SRDA: secure reference-based data aggregation protocol for wireless sensor networks

Data aggregation in wireless sensor networks eliminates data redundancy, thereby improving bandwidth usage and energy utilization. The paper presents a secure data aggregation protocol, called SRDA (secure reference-based data aggregation), for wireless sensor networks. In order to reduce the number of bits transmitted, sensor nodes compare their raw sensed data value with their reference data value and then transfer only the difference data. In addition to reducing the number of transmitted bits, SRDA also establishes secure connectivity among sensor nodes without any online key distribution. The security level of the communication links is gradually increased as packets are transmitted at higher level cluster-heads, since intercepting a packet at higher levels of the clustering hierarchy provides a summary of a large number of transmissions at lower levels. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol yields significant savings in energy consumption while preserving data security.
Cost-Effective Medicines for Stroke Prophylaxis in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

Non-valvular atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice and is associated with substantial healthcare costs. The risk of thromboembolic stroke is 3-5 times higher in patients with atrial fibrillation compared with the general population. Until the recent emergence of direct thrombin (factor IIa) and factor Xa inhibitors, antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation was achieved with antiplatelet agents or vitamin K antagonists, which are considered cost-effective strategies when compared to no treatment. Now newer agents, such as the direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran, can lower thromboembolic events and reduce the risk of fatal and intracerebral hemorrhage compared with warfarin, in addition to eliminating the need for costly therapeutic monitoring. Multiple analyses have shown that dabigatran, when compared with warfarin therapy that achieves a time in therapeutic range (TTR) consistent with previous large-scale trials, is a cost-effective approach to antithrombotic therapy in atrial fibrillation, ranging from $16,385 to $86,000 per quality-adjust life-year (QALY) gained. It has been shown to be especially cost-effective (QALY 3 (barring excellent INR control) and for lower-risk patients with a CHADS2 of 2 but concomitant high risk of hemorrhage. In addition, factor Xa inhibitors, such as rivaroxaban (recently approved by the Federal Drug Administration [FDA]) and apixaban, may exhibit the same cost savings as dabigatran in terms of reduction of bleeding and elimination of therapeutic level monitoring costs. Going forward, the use of these agents and their role in thromboembolic stroke prophylaxis will need to be evaluated on a patient-by-patient basis, balancing consideration of the patient?s stroke and bleeding risks, as well as quality of life post-therapy.
Osmotic Relationships Between Blood Plasma and Intestinal Fluid During Absorption

SummaryDuring the process of absorption of various solutions from isolated loops of dog's ileum the osmotic activity of the loop fluid normally decreases. The total osmotic pressure may fall to a half atmosphere below that of the blood plasma, even when the major solute constituents of the fluid show changes in concentration opposite to those expected on the basis of simple diffusion. These observations appear to leave no doubt as to the occurrence of active osmotic work in intestinal absorption, but they do not permit conclusions concerning the mechanism by which it is performed.The authors are indebted to Dr. E. J. Baldes of the Mayo Foundation of the University of Minnesota for the loan of the thermoelectric apparatus.
Status of Imported Malaria Cases in Neijiang City,2007-2011

Objective To grasp the trend of imported malaria cases so as to establish prevention and control strategies.Methods The imported malaria cases were collected,and the distribution of infected cases,time and place of the affected and the control outcome were analyzed.Results There were 46 imported malaria cases in 2007-2011,18 of which were falciparum and 22 cases were vivax and 6 cases were unclassified.The main occurrence age concentrated in 30-50,male cases accounted for 86.96%,female 13.04%.The falciparum cases were infected in Burma,Congo,Angola,Nigeria and other countries.The discovery time and treatment period were 36.95%(0-3 d),43.48%(4-10 d),4.35%(10-20 d) and 15.22%(above 21 d) respectively.Conclusion Imported malaria has become key prevention point in the city,pertinent measures such as collecting traveler exchange information,health education,enhancing self awareness of malaria and timely treatment should be carried out to prevent the occurrence of second-generation cases.
Study on Weather Typing Based Wind Power Prediction

It is an effective means to predict the output power of wind farms for ensuring secure and stable operation of power grid concentratedly connected with large-scale wind farms. A whether typing based wind power prediction algorithm is proposed. Based on wind speed vector in numerical weather prediction(NWP) and daily atomospheric pressure and using principal component analysis, the proposed algorithm performs dimensionality reduction for samples and classifies weather types by clustering analysis, and different prediction models are established respectively according to different whether types and compared with single prediction model. Research results show that using the method combining principal component analysis with clustering analysis the weather phenomena can be effectively classified; for more stable whether phenomena the prediction result by clustering model is far more accurate than that by single model; for instable whether phenomena, limited improvement of prediction accuracy by clustering model can be attained; as for overall samples, the accuracy improvement by whether typing based prediction method can reach to 2% and more than traditional prediction method.
4D intravital microscopy uncovers critical strain differences for the roles of PECAM and CD99 in leukocyte diapedesis.

The data presented in this study help clarify seemingly discrepant findings in the field involving two of the common mouse strains used to study inflammation, particularly regarding the roles of PE...
ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF LANGUAGE: STUDIES IN APHASIA*

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the electrophysiological (EP) correlates of language through several studies in aphasia. There are several studies that have shown abnormal EEG patterns in a mixed population of aphasies. In one study, stimuli consisted of 3-letter words or random dot patterns. Left temporal patients showed less different ER waveforms evoked by right and left field presentation of verbal stimuli. The nonverbal deficit in right temporal patients was demonstrated by undifferentiated ER waveforms. Although these subjects were presumably nonaphasic, subtle deficits in word finding have been shown in left temporal lobectomy cases. Motor aphasies show larger amplitude auditory EPs than sensory aphasies and like normals show enhancement with binaural stimulation. In other cases, the EP was reduced or absent. Altered EP responsiveness to verbal instruction was associated with mediobasal lesions.
Complete Genome Sequence of Staphylococcus aureus Strain Wood 46.

ABSTRACT Here, we report the first complete genome sequence of the Staphylococcus aureus strain Wood 46. Wood 46 has played an important role in understanding the virulence and pathogenesis of S. aureus infections. This report will assist efforts in vaccine development against methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections.
Components of the Protein-Lipid Complex of Arterial Elastin: Their Role in the Retention of Lipid in Atherosclerotic Lesions

Atherosclerosis is associated with accumulations of lipids, especially ester cholesterol, in focal areas of the arterial intima and frequently in the subintimal media below plaques. The lipid accumulations commonly occur intracellularly as well as extracellularly. As many morphological studies have shown, the increased amounts of intracellular lipids are deposited mainly in proliferated and modified smooth muscle cells (Constantinides, 1965; Scott et al., 1967; Geer et al., 1968; Daoud et al., 1968). The extracellular lipids are located at the necrotic core of lesions or are associated with connective tissue which frequently has proliferated. A common finding is reduplication (or splitting) and fragmentation of the arterial elastic lamellae of the intima and subintima of lesions. These altered elastic lamellae appear to play an important role in the retention of stainable lipids in atherosclerotic lesions of all stages (Zugibe and Brown, 1960; McGill et al., 1960; Parker, 1960; Adams and Tuqan, 1961; Friedman, 1963; Lindsay and Chaikoff, 1965; Smith et al., 1967; Kramsch and Hollander, 1968).
An Effective Proton Hyperfine Tensor for Di-Tertbutylnitroxide

Nitroxide spin labels are often used to probe the dynamics of liquid crystals and membranes. In analyzing the results, the EPR linewidth variation as a function of the label orientation enters as a parameter. This parameter comes on top of a number of other parameters, so it would be of interest to determine it from the results of a separate experiment. We report such a procedure in which the linewidth of the label is studied as a function of its alignment in a nematic liquid crystal. The alignment of the label is determined in the normal way by measuring line spacings in the nitrogen hyperfine pattern.
Understanding Perspectives on Sharing Neutron Data at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Even though the importance of sharing data is frequently discussed, data sharing appears to be limited to a few fields, and practices within those fields are not well understood. This study examines perspectives on sharing neutron data collected at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s neutron sources. Operation at user facilities has traditionally focused on making data accessible to those who create them. The recent emphasis on open data is shifting the focus to ensure that the data produced are reusable by others. This mixed methods research study included a series of surveys and focus group interviews in which 13 data consumers, data managers, and data producers answered questions about their perspectives on sharing neutron data. Data consumers reported interest in reusing neutron data for comparison/verification of results against their own measurements and testing new theories using existing data. They also stressed the importance of establishing context for data, including how data are produced, how samples are prepared, units of measurement, and how temperatures are determined. Data managers expressed reservations about reusing others’ data because they were not always sure if they could trust whether the people responsible for interpreting data did so correctly. Data producers described concerns about their data being misused, competing with other users, and over-reliance on data producers to understand data. We present the Consumers Managers Producers (CMP) Model for understanding the interplay of each group regarding data sharing. We conclude with policy and system recommendations and discuss directions for future research.
The Impact of State Medical Malpractice Reform on Individual-Level Health Care Expenditures

Laws limiting malpractice payments may lower state health care expenditures by between 3-4%.
Oral aniracetam treatment in C57BL/6J mice without pre-existing cognitive dysfunction reveals no changes in learning, memory, anxiety or stereotypy.

Background : The piracetam analog, aniracetam, has recently received attention for its cognition enhancing potential, with minimal reported side effects. Previous studies report the drug to be effective in both human and non-human models with pre-existing cognitive dysfunction, but few studies have evaluated its efficacy in healthy subjects. A previous study performed in our laboratory found no cognitive enhancing effects of oral aniracetam administration 1-hour prior to behavioral testing in naive C57BL/6J mice. Methods : The current study aims to further evaluate this drug by administration of aniracetam 30 minutes prior to testing in order to optimize any cognitive enhancing effects. In this study, all naive C57BL/6J mice were tested in tasks of delayed fear conditioning, novel object recognition, rotarod, open field, elevated plus maze, and marble burying. Results : Across all tasks, animals in the treatment group failed to show enhanced learning when compared to controls. Conclusions : These results provide further evidence suggesting that aniracetam conveys no therapeutic benefit to subjects without pre-existing cognitive dysfunction.
Tropics of Literacy

Definitions of literacy are explored as tropes which invariably express a social relationship between self and other. Hence, definitions project the cultural terms on which the literate members of ...
Maternal emotional support but not cognitive support during problem-solving predicts increases in cognitive flexibility in early childhood:

Cognitive flexibility is a sophisticated form of executive functions that predicts a range of adaptive outcomes; however, little is known about which caregiving behaviors predict the rapid improvements in children’s cognitive flexibility during early childhood. This study examined whether ordinary variations in mothers’ provision of emotional and cognitive support during problem-solving predict children’s cognitive flexibility and tested whether children’s cognitive flexibility predicts caregiving behaviors across time. Two hundred and seventy-eight children and their caregivers (96% mothers) participated in laboratory visits when children were in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. At each visit, cognitive flexibility was measured via a computerized version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort task and mothers’ behaviors were observed during a semi-structured problem-solving board game task. Results from autoregressive cross-lagged structural regression analyses indicated that mothers’ emotional sup...
Incorporating High-Frequency Physiologic Data Using Computational Dictionary Learning Improves Prediction of Delayed Cerebral Ischemia Compared to Existing Methods.

Purpose Accurate prediction of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) can be critical for planning interventions to prevent poor neurological outcome. This paper presents a model using convolution dictionary learning to extract features from physiological data available from bedside monitors. We develop and validate a prediction model for DCI after SAH, demonstrating improved precision over standard methods alone. Methods 488 consecutive SAH admissions from 2006 to 2014 to a tertiary care hospital were included. Models were trained on 80%, while 20% were set aside for validation testing. Modified Fisher Scale was considered the standard grading scale in clinical use; baseline features also analyzed included age, sex, Hunt-Hess, and Glasgow Coma Scales. An unsupervised approach using convolution dictionary learning was used to extract features from physiological time series (systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation). Classifiers (partial least squares and linear and kernel support vector machines) were trained on feature subsets of the derivation dataset. Models were applied to the validation dataset. Results The performances of the best classifiers on the validation dataset are reported by feature subset. Standard grading scale (mFS): AUC 0.54. Combined demographics and grading scales (baseline features): AUC 0.63. Kernel derived physiologic features: AUC 0.66. Combined baseline and physiologic features with redundant feature reduction: AUC 0.71 on derivation dataset and 0.78 on validation dataset. Conclusion Current DCI prediction tools rely on admission imaging and are advantageously simple to employ. However, using an agnostic and computationally inexpensive learning approach for high-frequency physiologic time series data, we demonstrated that we could incorporate individual physiologic data to achieve higher classification accuracy.
The Alvarado score should be used to reduce emergency department length of stay and radiation exposure in select patients with abdominal pain.

BACKGROUNDAbdominal pain is the common reason patients seek treatment in emergency departments (ED), and computed tomography (CT) is frequently used for diagnosis; however, length of stay (LOS) in the ED and risks of radiation remain a concern. The hypothesis of this study was the Alvarado score (AS
(Ideo)Logical Reasoning: Ideology Impairs Sound Reasoning

Beliefs shape how people interpret information and may impair how people engage in logical reasoning. In three studies, we show how ideological beliefs impair people’s ability to (1) recognize logi...
On-Line ATC Evaluation for Large-Scale Power Systems: Framework and Tool

A framework for accurate determination of Available Transfer Capability (ATC) of interconnected power systems with respect to a set of proposed power transactions is presented. A full AC nonlinear modeling of power systems including the effects of control devices is employed in the framework. Both static and dynamic security constraints under a list of credible contingencies are taken into account in the framework. A computer package implementing this framework for ATC evaluation of large-scale power systems is developed. One distinguished feature of this tool is that it provides a list of the topmost severe contingencies in terms of ATC and identifies the associated violated constraints. This feature offers a platform for the development of effective migration schemes to increase ATC. This tool was applied to compute the ATC satisfying the static security constraints of a 15,000-bus system with promising results.
Overview of monitoring of cerebral blood flow and metabolism after severe head injury

The relationships between cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral metabolism (cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen, CMRO2) and cerebral oxygen extraction (arteriovenous difference of oxygen, AVDO2) are discussed, using the formula CMRO2 = CBF x AVDO2. Metabolic autoregulation, pressure autoregulation and viscosity autoregulation can all be explained by the strong tendency of the brain to keep AVDO2 constant. Monitoring of CBF, CMRO2 or AVDO2 very early after injury is impractical but the available data indicate that cerebral ischemia plays a considerable role at this stage. It can best be avoided by not "treating" arterial hypertension and not using too much hyperventilation, while generous use of mannitol is probably beneficial. Once in the ICU, treatment can most practically be guided by monitoring of jugular bulb venous oxygen saturation. If saturation drops below 50%, the reason for this must be found (high intracranial pressure, blood pressure not high enough, too vigorous hyperventilation, arterial hypoxia, anemia) and must be treated accordingly.
Alcohol and Sleep in the Chronic Alcoholic

The purposes of this study were to compare physiological sleep profiles of sober chronic alcoholics with those of age-matched normal control subjects, and to examine the effects of two days of drinking on the sleep of the alcoholic patients.1
EVIDENCE FOR ABERRANT IMMUNOREGULATION OF NZB AUTOANTIBODYSECRETING PRECURSOR B LYMPHOCYTES

Publisher Summary This chapter presents evidence for aberrant immunoregulation of NZB autoantibody-secreting precursor B lymphocytes. It presents a study in which the immunoregulation of B-lymphocyte differentiation and the production of anti-X anti-erythrocyte autoantibodies, implicated in the spontaneous and genetically prescribed autoimmune hemolytic anemia of NZB mice, were explored using adoptive transfer experiments. Humoral anti-X autoantibody responses were assayed by Coombs' tests, autoantibody-secreting precursor B cells by X autoantigen-binding lymphocyte (X-ABL) assays, and differentiation of B cells by anti-X plaque-forming cell (X-PFC) assays. Transfer of 30 × 10 6 bone marrow cells (BMC), containing 4.5 × 10 2 X-ABL, from 6–8-week old NZB mice to lethally irradiated (900R) histocompatible DBA/2, B10.D2/Ks and BALB/c mice of similar ages resulted in the appearance of X-PFC and humoral autoantibody in 12/17 recipients. Differentiation was not dependent upon available X-ABL because transfer of 30 × 10 6 BMC, containing comparable numbers of X-ABL, from DBA/2, B10.D2/Ks, or BALB/c mice to lethally irradiated NZB or syngeneic recipients was not associated with X-PFC.
Assessing fault occurrence likelihood for service-oriented systems

Automated identification and recovery of faults are important and challenging issues for service-oriented systems. The process requires monitoring the system's behavior, determining when and why faults occur, and then applying fault prevention/recovery mechanisms to minimize the impact and/or recover from these faults. In this paper, we introduce an approach (defined FOLT) to automate the fault identification process in services-based systems. FOLT calculates the likelihood of fault occurrence at component services' invocation points, using the component's past history, reputation, the time it was invoked, and its relative weight. Experiment results indicate the applicability of our approach.
Teaching Big Data and Cloud Computing: A Modular Approach

Big data and cloud computing collectively offer a paradigm shift in the way businesses are now acquiring, using and managing information technology. This creates the need for every CS and IT student to be equipped with foundation knowledge in this collective paradigm and to possess some hands-on-experience in deploying and managing big data applications in the cloud. We argue that for substantial coverage of big data and cloud computing concepts and skills, the relevant topics need to be integrated into multiple core courses of CS/IT curriculum rather than creating additional standalone dedicated core or elective courses. Our approach to including these topics is to develop learning modules and to suggest specific core courses in which their coverage might find an appropriate context. In this paper, two such modules are discussed and our classroom experiences during these interventions are documented. Specifically, we discuss the learning outcomes, module contents, their designs and implementations, student assessment results and the lessons learned. Our objective is to share our experience with the instructors who aim at incorporating similar pedagogy that enhance student knowledge on this collective paradigm.
Imperialism through Virtuous Helping: Baldwin’s Innocence and Implications for Clinical Social Work Practice

Following a scholarly thread in political theory that looks to American literature to deepen understanding of social problems and potential solutions, this paper explores James Baldwin’s conceptual...
Underlying Mechanisms Explaining the Link between Differentiation and Romantic Relationship Outcomes

AbstractDifferentiation of self has been associated with positive relationship outcomes, but little has been done to analyze the underlying mechanisms that promote these outcomes for highly differe...
Appropriateness of inpatient stress testing: Implications for development of clinical decision support mechanisms and future criteria

An upcoming national mandate will require consultation of appropriate use criteria (AUC) through a clinical decision support mechanism (CDSM) for advanced imaging. We aimed to evaluate our current ability to ascertain test appropriateness. We prospectively collected data on 288 consecutive stress tests and coronary computed tomography angiography studies for medical inpatients. Study appropriateness was determined independently by two physicians using the 2013 Multimodality AUC. The median age of the study population was 66 years [interquartile range (IQR) 56, 75], 40.8% were female, and 52.8% had a history of coronary artery disease. Review of the electronic health record (EHR) alone was sufficient to deem appropriateness for 87.2% of cases. The most common reason it was insufficient was inability to determine if the patient could exercise (59.5%). After reviewing the EHR and pilot CDSM data together, appropriateness could be determined for 95.8% of the cases. The most common reason appropriateness could not be determined was that the exam indication was not addressed by an AUC criterion (83.3%). In preparing for the mandate, it will be important for future CDSM to obtain information on the patient’s ability to exercise and for future AUC to include additional indications that are not currently addressed.
Knowledge for What? Monist, Pluralist, Pragmatist Approaches to the Sciences of Behavior

There are a variety of approaches to investigating human behavior as an object of scientific inquiry. This paper is about the puzzle provoked by the availability of apparently incompatible research approaches that nevertheless succeed in producing empirical results that have a confirmatory import. For monists, committed to there being one correct and comprehensive account of any given scientific phenomenon, this seems paradoxical. Pluralism seems better able to accommodate multiplicity of successful, but incompatible approaches, but it requires supplementation by pragmatism.
The left inferior frontal gyrus is causally involved in selective semantic retrieval: Evidence from tDCS in primary progressive aphasia

Abstract Lesion and imaging studies have shown that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is involved in selective semantic retrieval of information from the temporal lobes. However, causal, i.e., interventional, evidence is sparse. In the present study we addressed this question by testing whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the left IFG in a group of individuals with primary progressive aphasia may improve semantic fluency, a task that relies to selective semantic retrieval. Semantic fluency improved significantly more in the tDCS vs. sham condition immediately post-treatment and improvement lasted up to 2 months. We further addressed the question of who will benefit most from such an intervention by testing possible demographic, clinical and functional connectivity variables that may predict the behavioral tDCS effect. We found that patients with stronger baseline functional connectivity between the subareas of the left IFG opercularis and triangularis, and between the middle temporal pole and superior temporal gyrus. were the most likely to benefit from tDCS over the left IFG. We thus provided causal evidence that the left IFG is the neural substrate of selective semantic retrieval and tDCS over the left IFG may improve semantic fluency in individuals with stronger baseline functional connectivity.
Outcomes of a Mobile App to Monitor Patient Reported Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of a smartphone application (app) to monitor longitudinal electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) on patient satisfaction and disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We conducted a 6-month randomized controlled trial of care coordination along with an app (intervention) versus care coordination alone (control) in 191 RA patients. Participants in the intervention group were prompted to provide information daily using ePROs. In both the intervention and control groups, a care coordinator contacted participants at 6 and 18 weeks to assess for flares. The main outcome measures were the global satisfaction score from the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM), the score from the Perceived Efficacy in Patient-Physician Interactions (PEPPI) Questionnaire, and the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) score. RESULTS Groups were similar at baseline. The median TSQM score at 6 months was 83.3 in both groups, and the median PEPPI score at 6 months was 50 in both groups. The median CDAI score at 6 months was 8 in the intervention group versus 10 in the control group. No statistically significant group differences in the medians of TSQM, PEPPI, or CDAI scores at 6 months were detected. Of the 67 intervention participants who completed the exit survey, 90% rated their likelihood of recommending the app as ≥7 of 10. Of the 11 physicians who completed the exit survey, 73% agreed/strongly agreed that they wanted to continue offering the app to patients. CONCLUSION A mobile app designed to collect ePRO data on RA symptoms did not significantly improve patient satisfaction or disease activity compared to care coordination alone. However, both patients and physicians reported positive experiences with the app.
Mendelian Randomization Analysis Using Multiple Biomarkers of an Underlying Common Exposure

Abstract Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis is increasingly popular for testing the causal effect of exposures on disease outcomes using data from genome-wide association studies. In some settings, the underlying exposure, such as systematic inflammation, may not be directly observable, but measurements can be available on multiple biomarkers, or other types of traits, that are co-regulated by the exposure. We propose method MRLE, which tests the significance for, and the direction of, the effect of a latent exposure by leveraging information from multiple related traits. The method is developed by constructing a set of estimating functions based on the second-order moments of summary association statistics, under a structural equation model where genetic variants are assumed to have indirect effects through the latent exposure and potentially direct effects on the traits. Simulation studies showed that MRLE has well-controlled type I error rates and increased power compared to single-trait MR tests under various types of pleiotropy. Applications of MRLE using genetic association statistics across five inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and MCP-1) provided evidence for potential causal effects of inflammation on increased risk of coronary artery disease, colorectal cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, while standard MR analysis for individual biomarkers often failed to detect consistent evidence for such effects.
Identification of gene products involved in plant colonization by Pantoea sp. YR343 using a diguanylate cyclase expressed in the presence of plants

Microbial colonization of plant roots is a highly complex process that requires the coordination and regulation of many gene networks, yet the functions of many of these gene products remain poorly understood. Pantoea sp. YR343, a gamma-proteobacterium isolated from the rhizosphere of Populus deltoides , forms robust biofilms along the root surfaces of Populus and possesses plant growth-promoting characteristics. The mechanisms governing biofilm formation along plant roots by bacteria, including Pantoea sp. YR343, are not fully understood and many genes involved in this process have yet to be discovered. In this work, we identified three diguanylate cyclases in the plant-associated microbe Pantoea sp. YR343 that are expressed in the presence of plant roots, One of these diguanylate cyclases, DGC2884 localizes to discrete sites in the cells and its overexpression results in reduced motility and increased EPS production and biofilm formation. We then performed a genetic screen by expressing this diguanylate cyclase from an inducible promoter in order to identify candidate downstream effectors of c-di-GMP signaling which may be involved in root colonization by Pantoea sp. YR343. Further, we demonstrate the importance of other domains in DGC2884 to its activity, which in combination with the genes identified by transposon mutagenesis, may yield insights into activity and regulation of homologous enzymes in medically and agriculturally relevant microbes.
Numerical Study of Disperse Monopropellant Slug Formation at a Cross Junction

uids converging at a microchannel cross junction results in the formation of periodic, dispersed microslugs. This microslug formation phenomena has been proposed as the basis for a fuel injection system in a novel, discrete monopropellant microthruster design for use in next-generation nanosatellites. Experimental work by McCabe et al. demonstrated the ability to repeatably generate fuel slugs with characteristics commensurate with the intended application. In this work, numerical modeling and simulation is used to further study this problem, and identify the sensitivity of the slug characteristics to key material properties including surface tension, contact angle and fuel viscosity. These concerns are of practical concern for this application due to potential for thermal variations and/or uid contamination during typical operation. For each of these properties, highly stable regions where the slug characteristics are essentially insensitive to property variations. Future microthruster system designs should target and incorporate these stable ow regions in their baseline operating conditions to maximize robustness of operation.
Teacher perceptions of facilitating inquiry-based instruction following a 12-month professional development experience

Using inquiry-based learning instructional strategies as a way to integrate science into secondary classrooms is a common approach in education. This study documents agricultural teachers’ perceptions of science integration using inquiry-based learning as an instructional method when teaching animal science after participating in a on professional development program. A focus group (n = 10) was used to collect data which were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The following six themes emerged: (a) perceived value in inquiry-based learning, (b) alignment to state and local expectations, (c) value and challenges of a 12-month program, (d) challenges in engaging science teachers, (e) confidence in teaching technical content, and (f) integrating science concepts. Teachers in the focus group described positive experiences and attitudes when using inquiry-based learning techniques in their classrooms and described an appreciation for the 12-month program, including how the approach helped to meet state standards and local administrative requirements. Logistical challenges of a 12-month program existed, but also provided accountability for teachers. The program increased teachers’ confidence in both instruction of technical content and their ability to engage students while integrating science concepts.
Safety and Highway Investment

This monograph examines issues related to the valuation of accident cost saving and the estimation of accident rate reductions likely to be associated with highway investments. The two primary purposes of this research were to 1) develop a practical method for estimating the reduction in accident risk if a roadway is improved and 2) shed light on the appropriate value to be assigned to a reduction in accidents. Chapter 1 contains an overview of the study. Chapter 2 considers in detail the question of how to valuate the safety benefits of highway investments. Information on how state departments of transportation (DOTs) currently evaluate safety benefits was obtained by a survey, the results of which are described in Chapter 3. These results show that state DOTs vary in the values they assign to decreases in accident risks. Most still use a value that is less than the value that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires to be used in evaluating safety benefits of federally funded projects. The other piece of information needed to estimate the safety benefits of a project--how the project affects the rate and type of accidents--can be obtained from data on accidents and road characteristics. Detailed data bases developed by the Iowa DOT are used to analyze the relationships between road characteristics, accident rates, and accident costs; the results are presented in Chapter 4. The predictive models that were developed enable accident rates and costs of an illustrative two-lane road to be compared with those likely if a specific upgrade were made. Also tested are the sensitivity of accident cost saving per million vehicle miles of travel to the dollar values assigned to reductions in fatal, personal injury, and property damage accidents. Chapter 5 summarizes the research findings and offers three recommendations to improve the ability of state DOTs to take accident cost saving into account when evaluating potential highway investments.
The 'Access Report': Balancing the Privacy Benefits with the Administrative Burdens

Pursuant to the HITECH Act of 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services released a notice of proposed rulemaking in 2011 that would modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The proposed regulations divide the current right to an accounting of disclosures of an individual’s personal health information into two new privacy rights — the new right to an “access report” and the right to a re-focused version of an “accounting of disclosures.” However, because these proposed regulations continue to create controversy, they have yet to be finalized. In particular, the covered entities are concerned with the overwhelming administrative burden and costs associated with implementing these rights. This article analyzes these burdens and weighs them against the benefits to individual privacy. Finally, this article offers an alternative approach to the regulations that would reduce the burdens while maintaining the proposed rights to an accounting of disclosures and an access report.
Development and Characterization of High-Efficiency, High-Specific Impulse Xenon Hall Thrusters

This dissertation presents research aimed at extending the efficient operation of 1600 s specific impulse Hall thruster technology to the 2000 to 3000 s range. Motivated by previous industry efforts and mission studies, the aim of this research was to develop and characterize xenon Hall thrusters capable of both high-specific impulse and high-efficiency operation. During the development phase, the laboratory-model NASA 173M Hall thrusters were designed and their performance and plasma characteristics were evaluated. Experiments with the NASA-173M version 1 (v1) validated the plasma lens magnetic field design. Experiments with the NASA 173M version 2 (v2) showed there was a minimum current density and optimum magnetic field topography at which efficiency monotonically increased with voltage. Comparison of the thrusters showed that efficiency can be optimized for specific impulse by varying the plasma lens. During the characterization phase, additional plasma properties of the NASA 173Mv2 were measured and a performance model was derived. Results from the model and experimental data showed how efficient operation at high-specific impulse was enabled through regulation of the electron current with the magnetic field. The electron Hall parameter was approximately constant with voltage, which confirmed efficient operation can be realized only over a limited range of Hall parameters.
Measures of Merit for Ship Design

This paper explains the role of engineering economy in ship design and discusses the relative virtues and shortcomings of the several measures of merit in current use. In particular, comparison is made of the two criteria most popular with U.S. business managers today: net present value and discounted cash flow rate of return or yield. Under some conditions, the required freight rate criterion may be preferable to either of those two. Valid criteria have characteristics of flat laxity. Therefore, finding an exactly optimal design is not as important as establishing the range of designs that promises close to the maximum level of profitability. Applying the different criteria to a typical speed-optimization study demonstrates that, when properly used, each valid criterion will indicate a design that is within the reasonable range indicated by the others. The effects of taxes as well as bank loans are covered in some detail, with illustrative examples from a feasibility study. These demonstrate that taxes have great influence in weighing the economic merit of new technologies but that bank loans do not. A brief discussion of inflation concludes that technical decisions need be little affected by expected changes in the value of the dollar.
Regulation of staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

Several factors influenced the formation of enterotoxin B by Staphylococcus aureus strain S-6. In the standard casein hydrolysate medium, toxin was not produced in detectable quantities during exponential growth; it was produced during the post-exponential phase when total protein synthesis was arithmetic. The rate of toxin synthesis was much greater than the rate of total protein synthesis. The appearance of enterotoxin was inhibited by chloramphenicol; thus, the presence of toxin was dependent on de novo protein synthesis. When low concentrations of glucose ( p H resulting from the acid end products of glucose metabolism. At p H p H above 5.6. In such media, the differential rates of toxin synthesis, with respect to the rates of total protein synthesis, were lower than the differential rates in casein hydrolysate medium alone. Addition of glucose to a culture synthesizing toxin resulted in an immediate decrease in the differential rate without any change in p H. Thus, toxin synthesis appeared to be regulated by catabolite repression.
The Erratic Journey of U.S. Commodity Options Regulation

The history of derivatives regulation in the United States has been non-linear, exhibiting wide oscillations between, on the one hand, heavy Federal regulation, including the outright prohibition of whole classes of transactions and, on the other hand, unfettered free markets in large portions of the commercial over-the-counter markets. The regulatory history of commodity options has been especially circuitous. It includes moments of prohibition; forays into regulated exchange-traded and off-exchange commodity options; retrenchments into prohibitions; differing treatments for agricultural commodity options, options for physical delivery of non-agricultural products and options on non-agricultural futures; the inclusion of options for physical delivery of non-agricultural products and options on non-agricultural futures in the same framework for regulation of other derivatives; and, recently, the convergence of treatment of options on agricultural commodities with other derivatives along with an exemption for commercial interests. This article seeks to tease-out the many threads comprising the history of Federal commodity options regulation.
Subregion-Scale Hindcasting of Contrail Outbreaks, Utilizing Their Synoptic Climatology*

AbstractContrail statistical prediction methods are often location specific. To take advantage of the fact that the upper-tropospheric (UT) meteorological conditions that favor “clear-sky outbreaks” of persisting contrails, or contrail favored areas (CFAs), tend to be synoptic in scale, a visual UT-map technique to hindcast CFAs has been developed and tested for subregions of the contiguous United States (CONUS) that have high outbreak frequencies in midseason months (January, April, July, and October) of 2000–02. The method compares daily maps with the composite fields for outbreak days (CON) versus nonoutbreak days (NON), and those assessments are evaluated using standard skill measures. Binary logistic regression determines which UT variables are significant predictors, individually and in combination. The reproducibility of the outbreak hindcast results is tested on the same subregions for the corresponding months of 2008–09. The results confirm the importance of UT relative humidity and vertical-moti...