cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Priced Out: Aggregate Income Shocks and School Pricing in the Chilean Voucher Market

Private school market shares are rising steadily in many developing countries, but we have a limited understanding of how private schools set prices, how parents respond, and how this a↵ects enrollment and performance in equilibrium. To shed light on demand behavior and supply response, I present a model of school pricing that incorporates an unusual feature of schooling compared to other goods ‐ a potential preference by parents for small classes, and hence low school enrollment ‐ that interacts with schools having market power. I show that, for a relatively broad range of parameter values, these two features can lead to the surprising result that an increase in aggregate household income, and hence an increase in willingness to pay for private schooling, can actually cause equilibrium private school enrollment to decrease. To investigate how private school enrollment responds to rising household income in practice, I exploit aggregate community-level income shocks in Chile, which has had a nationwide school voucher system since 1981. These shocks are caused by di↵erent responses to the price of copper in di↵erent municipalities. I show that private school prices rise by 0.9% in response to a shock that causes a 1% rise in income while private school enrollment falls by 2.0%. I find that falling private school enrollment is primarily caused by the middle-income students at the top schools. Those middle-income students induced to downgrade by rising prices do not experience the test score gains from the income shock experienced by students in the rest of the income distribution. I structurally estimate an extended version of the model and find that both market power and parental preferences for reduced class size are contributing to the observed declines in enrollment. JEL: I24, I25, L1, O15
Multiple granulomatous dermatitides in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

Granulomatous dermatitides often arise as a cutaneous reaction pattern to an underlying systemic inflammatory process, such as autoimmune disease. Here we present a case of multiple types of granulomatous dermatitides in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.
Purification and enrichment of total saponin in rhizome of Anemone raddeana by macroporous adsorption resin

Objective To set up the preparation technology for purifying and enriching total saponin in rhizome of Anemone raddeana Regel by macroporous adsorption resin,and to investigate eight various types of macroporous adsorption resin.Methods The static adsorption and desorption were used in selecting the type of macroporous adsorption resin;with dynamic adsorption and desorption,the yield of total saponin were used as the evaluation criteria to investigate conditions of purification and enrichment.Results HPD 400 was the best type for purification and enrichment of the total saponin in rhizome of A.raddeana in the following technological condition:the ratio of the resin to crude drug was 2∶1;the concentration of the raw material was 1 g crude drug in 10 mL extract;the flow rate of adsorption was 10 BV·h-1(BV:body volume);70% alcohol was selected as elution agent.Conclusions The technology is economic and applicable.The yield of total saponin is no less than 75%.
Domestic Violence Enhanced Perinatal Home Visits: The DOVE Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract Background: Perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV) is common and has significant negative health outcomes for mothers and infants. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an IPV intervention in reducing violence among abused women in perinatal home visiting programs. Materials and Methods: This assessor-blinded multisite randomized control trial of 239 women experiencing perinatal IPV was conducted from 2006 to 2012 in U.S. urban and rural settings. The Domestic Violence Enhanced Home Visitation Program (DOVE) intervention group (n = 124) received a structured abuse assessment and six home visitor-delivered empowerment sessions integrated into home visits. All participants were screened for IPV and referred appropriately. IPV was measured by the Conflicts Tactics Scale2 at baseline through 24 months postpartum. Results: There was a significant decrease in IPV over time (F = 114.23; p < 0.001) from baseline to 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postpartum (all p < 0.001). Additional models examin...
Ores and Orogenesis: Circum-Pacific Tectonics, Geologic Evolution, and Ore Deposits.Jon E. Spencer and Spencer R. Titley, Editors. Pp. 618. 2008. Arizona Geological Society, Digest 22. ISBN-10: 978-1-891924-10-1. Price US$75.00.

This publication was born out of an Arizona Geological Society meeting with the same title, held in October 2007, and consists of 45 papers representing a fraction of the material presented at the meeting. The compilation is dedicated to William R. (Bill) Dickinson, emeritus professor of geology at the University of Arizona, who was one of the first geologists to recognize and promote the inter-relationship between tectonics and ore deposit formation. The editors proclaim the volume to be a measure of the current level of cross-pollination between and advancement within the fields of tectonics and economic geology. As the title suggests, the papers within the volume cover a broad range of tectonics and ore deposits studies, from the global to deposit scale. Thus, this 618-page-long book is divided into six sections, with a large-scale Pacific margins, orogenesis, and metallogeny section; an exploration, mining and modeling section; and four other sections, each of which contains papers on one of the four quadrants of the circum-Pacific orogenic belts. Even within the individual sections, as outlined below, the range of topics is exceptionally broad. Five papers make up the first section, which opens with a paper by Dickinson that outlines basic observations of the current configuration of circum-Pacific orogenic belts and sets the stage for reconstructing older, dissected belts based on these observations. Kerrich et al. present a summary paper of metallogenic provinces of North America through super-continent assembly and breakup, and Sengor et al. propose potential for strata-bound …
Enzymatic Cross-Linking of Resilin-Based Proteins for Vascular Tissue Engineering Applications

Protein-based biomaterials have received significant attention for tissue engineering applications. For example, resilin-based protein gels have been produced with different cross-linking chemistries for applications in cartilage, cardiovascular, and vocal fold engineering. In this study, we investigate an alternative cross-linking chemistry to form resilin-based protein hydrogels and demonstrate the versatility of the gels for investigating cell response to matrix stiffness. Specifically, transglutaminase was used to cross-link proteins and resulted in gel surfaces more suitable for long-term cell attachment compared to those formed by a Mannich-type condensation reaction. Since matrix stiffness is an important determinant in modulating cell response, we first tuned matrix stiffness by varying total protein concentration. Next, we observed that matrix stiffness modulated cell spreading and endothelial differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells. In particular, our results show that cells differentiated on our matrices, which have a stiffness similar to subendothelial layers, had statistically equivalent endothelial function compared to cells differentiated on hard glass surfaces. Thus, our protein-based matrix system is a promising tool to provide substrates favorable for long-term cell attachment and better mimics the native subendothelial environment compared to conventional hard culture substrates.
Group cognitive-behavioral treatment for internalized weight stigma: a pilot study

This study tested a novel group-based, cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to reduce internalized weight stigma among individuals with obesity. A total of eight men and women with obesity who had experienced weight stigma and reported high levels of internalized weight stigma attended the Weight Bias Internalization and Stigma (BIAS) Program. The program provided eight weekly sessions of cognitive-behavioral treatment to cope with weight stigma. Participants completed questionnaires pre- and post-intervention, including the Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS), Fat Phobia Scale, Weight Efficacy Life-Style Questionnaire (WEL), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Six additional participants were included in a quasi-control group that received no intervention until after completing all study measures. Participants in the Weight BIAS Program reported significantly greater decreases in WBIS and Fat Phobia scores, and greater increases in WEL scores than participants in the quasi-control group (ps < .04). Changes in BDI-II scores did not differ between groups. Treatment-acceptability ratings were high among participants who received the intervention. Including cognitive-behavioral strategies to address weight stigma in weight management programs could potentially reduce internalized weight stigma and enhance treatment outcomes.
History found in a grain of sand

Hari Seldon, the fictional creator of "psychohistory" in Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series of novels, predicts the imminent demise of the First Galactic Empire after a 12 millennium run and establishes the Foundation on a planet at the galaxy's edge. In doing so, he initiates a chain of events aimed at reducing the duration of the dark ages between the first and second empires from a disastrous 30 millennia to a tolerable one. Seldon's plan is based on psychohistory – "that branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli".
Dry Matter Loss for Hybrid Rough Rice Stored Under Reduced‐Oxygen Conditions

The objectives of this research were to characterize dry matter loss of hybrid long-grain rough rice during storage under reduced-oxygen conditions and develop a new approach to predict the dry matter loss by using storage temperature and relative humidity data as input. Two long-grain hybrid rice cultivars, CL XL745 and XL760, harvested in the year 2015 were stored in rough-rice form in sealed glass jars at moisture contents of 12.5, 16, 19, and 21%, (wet basis) and temperatures of 10, 15, 20, 27, and 40°C for a total of 16 weeks, with samples taken at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 weeks of storage. Results revealed no differences in dry matter loss connected with the rough-rice moisture content levels and temperature during the storage duration. However, the dry matter loss was statistically different based on rough-rice cultivar. Experimental data were fitted to a dry matter loss equation for long-grain rice found in literature. The dry matter loss equation developed for conditions of grain storage withou...
Extraoral Uses of Autologous Oral Soft Tissue Grafts: A Different Bridge Between Mouth and Body Health

Focused Clinical Question: Are there any extraoral uses for intraoral soft tissue grafts? Summary: Despite extensive literature on the intraoral uses of soft tissue autografts harvested from oral sites, the periodontal literature is lacking information on the extraoral uses of such grafts. The purpose of this article is to review the autologous use of certain oral soft tissue grafts for extraoral indications. A literature search revealed that several medical specialties, including otolaryngology, ophthalmology, dermatology, plastic surgery, and urology, have a track record of positive outcomes with the use of free gingival, buccal fat pad, and buccal mucosa grafts for a wide variety of reconstructive procedures at diverse body sites. Conclusions: The numerous successful extraoral uses of oral soft tissue autografts underscore the versatility of these tissues in reconstructive surgery and suggest there is potential for collaboration between periodontal and medical specialists for the benefit of patients in need of such reconstructions. Broader awareness of these applications of oral soft tissue grafts could help expand their current uses and would allow practitioners to better answer possible patient inquiries.
Tackling the Housing Affordability Crisis

The United States is experiencing a housing crisis unlike anything we have seen for decades. Since the 2008 recession, the national homeownership rate has plummeted to a 50-year low, largely becaus...
The Construct and Concurrent Validity of a 12-Minute Crawl Stroke Swim as a Field Test of Swimming Endurance

Abstract This study investigated the construct and concurrent validity of a 12-minute crawl stroke swim as a field test of swimming endurance. A sample of 42 male college students who ranged from certified life savers to competitive swimmers were administered three tests. The first, a multistage swimming endurance test, required that a tethered subject swim to exhaustion under a linear progressive increase in workload. The second measure was the crawl stroke count for two lengths of a 25-yard pool. The third test was a 12-minute crawl stroke swim for distance with total distance and distance covered each minute recorded for each subject. Alpha factor analysis of the 12 minute intervals of the crawl stroke swim produced one factor which demonstrated that swimming performance was internally consistent during the 12-minute swim. There was a correlation of .898 (p < .01) between the 12-minute swim and the tethered swim test. Cross validity procedures demonstrated a high degree of stability for the correlation...
Structure and function of the bacterial and fungal gut flora of Neotropical butterflies

The relationship between animals and their gut flora is simultaneously one of the most common and most complex symbioses on Earth. Despite its ubiquity, our understanding of this invisible but often critical relationship is still in its infancy. We employed adult Neotropical butterflies as a study system to ask three questions: First, how does gut microbial community composition vary across host individuals, species and dietary guilds? Second, how do gut flora compare to food microbial communities? Finally, are gut flora functionally adapted to the chemical makeup of host foods? To answer these questions we captured nearly 300 Costa Rican butterflies representing over 50 species, six families and two feeding guilds: frugivores and nectivores. We characterized the bacteria and fungi in guts, wild fruits and wild nectars via amplicon sequencing and assessed the catabolic abilities of the gut flora via culture-based assays. Gut communities were distinct from food communities, suggesting that the gut environment acts as a strong filter on potential colonists. Nevertheless, gut flora varied widely among individuals and species. On average, a pair of butterflies shared 21% of their bacterial species and 6% of their fungi. Host species explained 25-30% of total variation in microbial communities while host diet explained 4%. However, diet was still relevant at the individual microbe level-half of the most abundant microbial species differed in abundance between frugivores and nectivores. Diet was also related to the functional profile of gut flora: compared to frugivores, nectivores9 gut flora exhibited increased catabolism of sugars and sugar alcohols and decreased catabolism of amino acids, carboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids. Since fermented juice contains more amino acids and less sugar than nectar, it appears that host diet filters the gut flora by favoring microbes that digest compounds abundant in foods. By quantifying the degree to which gut communities vary among host individuals, species and dietary guilds and evaluating how gut microbial composition and catabolic potential are related to host diet, this study deepens our understanding of the structure and function of one of the most complex and ubiquitous symbioses in the animal kingdom.
PersaLog: Personalization of News Article Content

Content personalization automatically modifying text and multimedia features within articles based on the reader's individual features'is evolving as a new form of journalism. Informed by constraints articulated through a survey of journalists, we have implemented PersaLog, a novel system for creating personalized content (e.g., text and interactive visualizations). Because crafting, and validating, personalized content can be challenging to scale across articles (unlike feed personalization), we offer a simple Domain Specific Language (DSL), and editing environment, to support this task. PersaLog is particularly designed to support the personalization of existing text and visualizations. Our work provides guidelines for personalization as well as a system that allows for both subtle and dramatic personalization-driven content changes. We validate PersaLog using case and lab studies.
Effects of teacher framing on student engagement during collaborative reasoning discussions

Abstract Collaborative argumentation can enhance students’ reasoning, content learning, and interest, but these benefits are contingent upon high levels of student engagement. This study examined the influence of teacher framing strategies that provided autonomy support and structure on students’ engagement during Collaborative Reasoning discussions through the lens of self-determination theory. Transcripts and video recordings of 52 discussions in six fourth-grade classrooms were analyzed for (a) teacher framing strategies used to communicate structure and autonomy support for the upcoming discussion, (b) teacher scaffolding strategies used to enhance thinking and interaction during the discussion, and (c) students’ cognitive-behavioral and social-emotional engagement during the discussion. The findings identified certain teacher framing and teacher scaffolding strategies that had a significant influence on student engagement. Notably, one teacher framing strategy, collaborative rule-setting, predicted higher cognitive-behavioral and social-emotional engagement after controlling for the effects of teacher scaffolding during the discussions. The evidence suggests that providing task structure in autonomy-supportive ways can enhance student engagement during collaborative argumentation.
THE PARADOX OF RACE AND CULTURE IN DEWEY'S DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION

Democracy and Education was Dewey's magnum opus on education, the work in which he pulled together decades of research and thinking on schooling in a democratic society. It was also the work in which Dewey explicitly and implicitly affirmed his theories on race and cultural development. In this intellectual history, the author argues that Democracy and Education represented a transition in Dewey's thinking on race and culture, away from his previous concerns with psychological-sociological stage theory toward his expanded focus on cultural pluralism as an essential component of democratic life. As a result, Dewey presented a contradictory perspective on race and culture that both depicted nonwhite societies as previous steps in the universal stages of development, but also valued racial and cultural diversity as necessary elements of his theory of cultural pluralism. The juxtaposition of Dewey's pre-1916 concern with genetic stage theories and his post-1916 concern for cultural pluralism created a paradox in his views on race and culture, one with which educators are still struggling today.
Legal Models and Business Realities of Enterprise Groups - Mismatch and Change

Although conducted world-wide through hundreds of subsidiaries and affiliates, modern large business is, in economic reality, typically a single economically integrated enterprise functioning with a common objective under the control of its parent company. Yet the prevailing legal models are, for the most part, oblivious to this. Mistakenly adopting outmoded concepts inherited from the misty past, these models focus on many separate subsidiary corporations that make up the business and necessarily overlook the larger whole. The result of this outdated view is a mismatch between business reality and legal form which has led so frequently to poor legal and regulatory decision-making and ineffectual public control. While there is change stirring today, overall the law’s response to this mismatch has been piecemeal and unsystematic. After reviewing how we got to this unhappy point, this paper will sketch out a new legal theory of enterprise analysis as the basis of modern corporation law to serve the needs of the Twenty-First Century. In some areas it will replace and in other areas it will supplement existing legal models. Enterprise analysis focuses on the implementation of the underlying policies and rules of the specific body of law at issue, such as securities, tax, or bankruptcy, to determine whether the objectives of that body of law are better served in the specific matter by looking to the whole enterprise or, alternatively, to the particular corporate subsidiary entities involved. While overt recognition of this enterprise analysis has been limited, the American legal system today is in fact applying it in numerous areas.
Hemolymph proteinases in immune responses of Manduca sexta.

Extracellular signal transduction pathways in blood are often composed of cascades of serine proteinases to amplify rapidly a response to wounding or infection. The vertebrate blood coagulation and complement pathways are the most fully characterized of such proteinase cascades. Serine proteinases also play important roles in defensive responses in hemolymph of arthropods. The hemolymph coagulation system of horseshoe crabs has been very nicely elucidated to function as a complex and intricately regulated proteinase cascade for protection against microbial infection (Kawabata et al., 1996).
Phenomena of Physics Taking Place During Hardening of Steel Parts in Liquid Media That Can Be Investigated by Liščić/Petrofer Probe

This article discusses some phenomena of physics taking place during the quenching of steel parts in liquid media, such as the formation of a double surface electrical layer, poker effect, the existence of the second spike of the cooling rate during the quenching of the standard probe in salt water and alkali water solutions, and the self-regulation of the part surface temperature during the transient nucleate boiling process. A double electrical layer is conceived around the steel part surface during quenching in salt water or alkali water solutions. This layer prevents the film boiling during quenching because of electrical forces arising in it. This is a reason for maximizing critical heat flux densities. When immersing the quench probe into a salt (alkali) water solution, the probe surface temperature drops almost instantly (within 1–2 s) to the liquid boiling point and remains at this level for a relatively long time. A so-called self-regulated thermal process takes place; such a process is possible because of a significant difference between boiling and convection Biot numbers. A new quenching technology that allows for the austempering process to be performed in cold liquids is discussed in the article. It is shown that a Liscic/Petrofer probe can be successfully used for investigations of the discovered phenomena and for controlling austempering processes in cold liquids.
Measuring Regulation (Powerpoint Presentation)

This paper uses occupational employment and wage data for over 270 industries from 1990 to 2017 to estimate the percentage of an industry’s annual labor costs paid to perform regulation-related tasks. We hypothesize that this measure reflects the intensity of regulations that incentivize firm spending on compliance to avoid legal liability or regulatory sanctions. We study the sensitivity of this measure to shocks that in- crease or decrease regulatory intensity in the finance and energy sectors. Compared to text-based measures that count words in regulations, our Regulation Index reflects broader sources of regulation, can better detect the impact of regulations, and can better distinguish deregulation from increased regulation. Our measure is highly correlated with industry’s outsourced legal spending but offers more granular estimates for a larger number of industries. The paper that goes with this presentation is available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3205589.
Reducing t1 noise through rapid scanning.

Abstract The so-called t1 noise, which arises due to random instabilities in the spectrometer hardware, remains the primary source of noise that limits the sensitivity of most 2D NMR experiments, particularly in the expanding group of solid-state NMR methods that utilize dipolar-recoupling. In this communication we revisit the relationship between the signal intensity and the t1 noise produced. It is shown that since the latter scales linearly with the signal strength, the use of a conventional relaxation delay of 1.3T1 may prove far from optimal. In cases where the fluctuations occur on a shorter timescale than the recycle delay, a considerably faster repetition rate should be used to maximize the time sensitivity in a 2D experiment than what is used to maximize the sensitivity in 1D. This is demonstrated with the acquisition of 1H{13C} Dipolar-mediated Heteronuclear Multiple-Quantum Correlation (D-HMQC) type spectra in which the sensitivity could be nearly doubled by choosing a very short relaxation delay corresponding to 0.2T1.
Modifications to COBRA-TF to model dispersed flow film boiling with two flow, four field Eulerian–Eulerian approach – Part 1

In the case of a postulated loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in a nuclear reactor, an accurate prediction of clad temperature is needed to determine the safety margins. During the reflood phase of the LOCA, when the local void fraction is greater than 80% with the wall temperature above minimum film boiling temperature (Tmin), the heat transfer process is dispersed flow film boiling (DFFB). This study has been performed to model DFFB in the reflood phase of a LOCA in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) rod bundle. The COBRA-TF computer code is utilized, since it has a detailed reflood package which takes into account the effect of spacer grids on the local heat transfer. The COBRA-TF code has also been improved to include a four field Eulerian–Eulerian modeling for the two-phase dispersed flow film boiling heat transfer regime. The modifications include adding a small droplet field to COBRA-TF as the fourth field. In addition, the spacer grid models of COBRA-TF have been revised and modified. In the first part of the paper, the results of the code predictions are presented by comparing the experimental data from rod bundle heat transfer (RBHT) experiments with the results of code simulations performed with original and modified code. Measurements and calculations for the heater rod, vapor temperatures and quench front progression have been compared and the results are described in detail. The results of the analysis performed with the modified code indicate the improvement in code predictions for the rod surface temperature, vapor temperature and quench front behavior. The results also indicate the need for improvement in the entrainment and interfacial drag models for the drop fields. The effects of spacer grids on the heat transfer, the models improved and developed for spacer grids and the results of the code calculations with these models are described in the part 2 of the paper.
Elementary students’ socialization into science reading

Abstract To better understand how children learn to engage with science books, this qualitative and ethnographic study examines how aloud reading is approached by fourth-grade teachers. Our multimodal discourse analysis revealed two literacy orientations. One class saw the emergence of a transmissive orientation wherein the teacher used gestures to prompt students to extract concepts from the text for public knowledge display. A dialogic orientation emerged in the other class where both teacher and students used hand gestures to scientifically model concepts as they engaged in open-ended exploration. This study highlights the importance of bodily experiences to student socialization into science reading.
Impact of abdominal fat distribution, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat on coronary plaque scores assessed by 320-row computed tomography coronary angiography

Abstract Background and aims Obesity is a risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD), but the association between fat distribution, i.e., visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and coronary artery plaque morphology remains unclear. This study explored the association between abdominal fat distribution and coronary artery plaques. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 4327 consecutive patients without CAD history, undergoing coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography. Plaques were assessed using segment stenosis score (SSS) and segment involvement score (SIS). We evaluated abdominal VAT and SAT areas using CT images. Patients were categorized into four groups: low VAT ( Results Mean age was 65 years (men, 66.4%). VAT area correlated with SSS (β-coefficient = 0.11, p Conclusions Higher SAT and lower VAT were inversely correlated with the extent and severity of coronary artery plaques. Fat distribution may be useful for evaluating risk and prognosis of CAD.
Teaching Undergraduates R in an Introductory Research Methods Course: A Step-by-Step Approach

The statistical computing and graphics software R, despite its many advantages, is sometimes considered too complex to be introduced to undergraduate political science majors. In this article I sho...
Photo-synthesis: Facilitating Goal Setting in Supervision Using Images and Creativity

One of the most important aspects of clinical supervision is goal-setting. In the early stages of supervision, supervisees may find it difficult to connect authentically with their supervisors due ...
Engineering Functional Pseudo-Islets of Defined Sizes from Primary Murine Cells Using PEG Microwell Devices

A major limitation of islet transplantation as a therapy for treating Type 1 Diabetes is eventual graft failure, which can be partially attributed to islet cell death. When cultured in vitro, cells in the center of large islets show increased necrosis and exhibit decreased viability and insulin secretion compared to smaller islets. Given the necessity of beta-cell-to-beta-cell coupling for the physiological response to glucose, a technique to re-aggregate primary islet cells or cells derived from progenitor cells into small clusters of defined sizes may prove advantageous for promoting function upon transplantation. Here, hydrogel microwell arrays were utilized to generate 3-dimensional pseudo-islets from primary murine islets. Pseudo-islets ranged from 50 to 100 micro meter in diameter as controlled through the microwell dimensions, and contained beta-, alpha-, and delta-cells with ratios similar to those in whole murine islets. Over two weeks in culture, pseudo-islets remained highly viable and responsive to glucose. Intracellular calcium flux showed more robust and coordinated dynamics at high glucose and decreased activity at low glucose compared to age-matched wild-type islets. Therefore, microwell devices can control the aggregation of cells isolated from primary islets to produce islet-like clusters that are functionally similar to freshly isolated islets, and may provide a technique to create improved cellular therapies for Type 1 Diabetes.
Hypoglycemia unawareness and autonomic dysfunction in diabetes: Lessons learned and roles of diabetes technologies.

Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH) is a reduction in the ability to recognize low blood glucose levels that would otherwise prompt an appropriate corrective therapy. Identified in approximately 25% of patients with type 1 diabetes, IAH has complex pathophysiology, and might lead to serious and potentially lethal consequences in patients with diabetes, particularly in those with more advanced disease and comorbidities. Continuous glucose monitoring systems can provide real-time glucose information and generate timely alerts on rapidly falling or low blood glucose levels. Given their improvements in accuracy, affordability and integration with insulin pump technology, continuous glucose monitoring systems are emerging as critical tools to help prevent serious hypoglycemia and mitigate its consequences in patients with diabetes. This review discusses the current knowledge on IAH and effective diagnostic methods, the relationship between hypoglycemia and cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, a practical approach to evaluating cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy for clinicians, and recent evidence from clinical trials assessing the effects of the use of CGM technologies in patients with type 1 diabetes with IAH.
Going to war on COVID-19: Mobilizing an academic nephrology group practice.

AIM: The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented operational challenges to nephrology divisions in every country as they cope with COVID-19-related kidney disease in addition to regular patient care. Although general approaches have been proposed, there is a lack of practical guidance for nephrology division response in a hospital facing a surge of cases. Here, we describe the specific measures that our division has taken in the hope that our experience in Singapore may be helpful to others. METHODS: Descriptive narrative. RESULTS: A compilation of operational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic taken by a nephrology division at a Singapore university hospital. CONCLUSION: Nephrology operational readiness for COVID-19 requires a clinical mindset shift from usual standard of care to a crisis exigency model that targets best outcomes for available resources. Rapid multi-disciplinary efforts that evolve flexibly with the local dynamics of the outbreak are required.
Spore-Forming Bacteria Associated with Dairy Powders Can Be Found in Bacteriological Grade Agar–Agar Supply

ABSTRACT Thermophilic spore-forming bacteria are found ubiquitously in natural environments and, therefore, are present in a number of agricultural food products. Spores produced by these bacteria can survive harsh environmental conditions encountered during food processing and have been implicated in food spoilage. During research efforts to develop a standardized method for enumerating spores in dairy powders, the dairy powder-associated thermophilic sporeformer Anoxybacillus flavithermus was discovered growing in uninoculated control plates of tryptic soy agar (TSA) supplemented with 1% (w/v) starch, after incubation at thermophilic (55°C) growth temperatures. This article reports the investigation into the source of this thermophilic sporeformer in TSA medium components and characterization of the bacterial isolates collected. Aqueous solutions of tryptic soy broth powder from four suppliers and four agar-agar powders (two manufacturing lots from one supplier [agar A_1 and agar A_2] and two from separate suppliers [agar B and agar C]) were subjected to two different autoclave cycle times (121°C for 15 min or 121°C for 30 min) and then prepared as TSA. After incubation at 55°C for 48 h, bacterial growth was observed only in media prepared from both lots of agar A agar-agar powder, and only when they were subjected to a 15-min autoclave cycle, implicating these powders as a source of the sporeformer contamination. Genetic characterization of 49 isolates obtained indicated the presence of five unique rpoB allelic types of the thermophilic sporeformer Geobacillus spp. in agar-agar powder from agar A. These results not only highlight the importance of microbiological controls but also alert researchers to the potential for survival of thermophilic sporeformers such as Anoxybacillus and Geobacillus in microbiological media used for detection and enumeration of these same thermophilic sporeformers in products such as dairy powders. HIGHLIGHTS
Calibration of HVI cotton elongation measurements

The strength of cotton fiber has been extensively studied and significant improvements in fiber strength have been made, but fiber elongation has largely been ignored, despite it contributing to the energy needed to break fibers, which affects fiber handling and processing. High Volume Instruments (HVI) measure fiber elongation but have not been calibrated for this property, making the measurement unavailable for comparative work among instruments. In prior work, a set of elongation calibration materials had been developed based on Stelometer results. A round trial of ten Australian and U.S. instruments was conducted on six cotton samples representing a range of 4.9% to 8.1% elongation. By scaling the HVI elongation values of each instrument to the values of the two calibration samples, the coefficient of variation in instrument measurements was reduced from an average of 34% for the uncalibrated measurements to 5% for the calibrated measurements. The reduction in variance allows for the direct comparison of results among instruments. A single-point elongation calibration was also assessed but found to be less effective than the proposed two-point calibration. The use of an effective calibration routine on HVI measurement of cotton significantly reduces the coefficient of variation of the elongation measurement within and between instruments. The implementation of the elongation calibration will allow testing and breeding programs to implement high-speed elongation testing which makes the use of elongation values possible in breeding programs.
A bayesian-based approach for public sentiment modeling

Public sentiment is a direct public-centric indicator for planning effective actions. Despite its importance, systematic and reliable modeling of public sentiment remains untapped in previous studies. This research aims to develop a Bayesian-based approach for quantitative public sentiment modeling, which is capable of incorporating the inherent uncertainty of interviewed dataset. This study comprises three steps: (1) quantifying prior sentiment information and new sentiment observations with Dirichlet distribution and multinomial distribution respectively; (2) deriving the posterior distribution of sentiment probabilities through incorporating the Dirichlet distribution and multinomial distribution via Bayesian inference; and (3) measuring public sentiment through aggregating sampled sets of sentiment probabilities with an application-based measure. A case study on Hurricane Harvey is provided to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed approach. The developed approach also has the potential for modeling all types of probability-based measures.
Predicting Resolvin D1 Pharmacokinetics in Humans with Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling

Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease with no effective treatment options. Resolvin D1 (RvD1) belongs to a class of lipid-based specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPM's) that showed efficacy in pre-clinical models of SS. We developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of RvD1 in mice and optimized the model using plasma and salivary gland pharmacokinetic studies performed in NOD/ ShiLtJ mice with SS-like features. The predictive performance of the PBPK model was also evaluated with two external datasets from the literature reporting RvD1 pharmacokinetics. The PBPK model adequately captured the observed concentrations of RvD1 administered at different doses and in different species. The pharmacokinetics of RvD1 in virtual humans were predicted using the verified PBPK model at various doses (0.01 - 10 mg/kg). The first-in-human predictions of RvD1 will be useful for the clinical trial design and translation of RvD1 as an effective treatment strategy for SS.
Liquid metal “divertorlets” concept for fusion reactors

Abstract A new, novel approach to liquid metal plasma facing components called “divertorlets” is presented and accompanied by experiments, simulations, and analysis. The development of a robust and reliable plasma facing component at the divertor is ongoing, with liquid metal divertor concepts gaining interest by showing promise for being able to handle higher heat fluxes as well as improve plasma performance through a reduction in particle recycling. The presented design in this work seeks to address challenges associated with evaporation, operation power, and liquid metal inventory. Divertorlets utilize many adjacent narrow channels with alternating vertical velocity that maintain large flow rates with small velocities at the surface by minimizing the flow path length. Preliminary results using a test stand on LMX-U at PPPL and simulations in COMSOL demonstrate the successful operation and the potential for divertorlets to remove large heat fluxes, with projections made to reactor scale showing the expected system performance.
Byzantine Consensus in Directed Hypergraphs.

Byzantine consensus is a classical problem in distributed computing. Each node in a synchronous system starts with a binary input. The goal is to reach agreement in the presence of Byzantine faulty nodes. We consider the setting where communication between nodes is modelled via a directed hypergraph. In the classical point-to-point communication model, the communication between nodes is modelled as a simple graph where all messages sent on an edge are private between the two endpoints of the edge. This allows a faulty node to equivocate, i.e., lie differently to its different neighbors. Different models have been proposed in the literature that weaken equivocation. In the local broadcast model, every message transmitted by a node is received identically and correctly by all of its neighbors. In the hypergraph model, every message transmitted by a node on a hyperedge is received identically and correctly by all nodes on the hyperedge. Tight network conditions are known for each of the three cases for undirected (hyper)graphs. For the directed models, tight conditions are known for the point-to-point and local broadcast models. In this work, we consider the directed hypergraph model that encompasses all the models above. Each directed hyperedge consists of a single head (sender) and at least one tail (receiver), This models a local multicast channel where messages transmitted by the sender are received identically by all the receivers in the hyperedge. For this model, we identify tight network conditions for consensus. We observe how the directed hypergraph model reduces to each of the three models above under specific conditions. In each case, we relate our network condition to the corresponding known tight conditions. The directed hypergraph model also encompasses other practical network models of interest that have not been explored previously, as elaborated in the paper.
Clinical Guideline Highlights for the Hospitalist: Focused Updates to Pediatric Asthma Management.

GUIDELINE TITLE 2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines: A Report from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Coordinating Committee (NAEPPCC) Expert Panel Working Group1 RELEASE DATE: Online: December 3, 2020 PRIOR VERSIONS: 1991, 1997, 2002, 2007 DEVELOPER: NAEPPCC Expert Panel Working Group (referred to as "the Expert Panel") of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health FUNDING SOURCE: NHLBI of the National Institutes of Health TARGET POPULATION: Adults and children with asthma and recurrent wheezing.
Overcoming gefitinib resistance in NSCLC via inactivation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by a combination of FUS1 nanoparticles and EGFR inhibitors.

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006 5426 Gefitinib (Iressa) is an orally active epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been shown to be clinically effective in a subpopulation of non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Despite initial responses to gefitinib in some NSCLC patients, cancer eventually progresses by unknown mechanisms of acquired resistance. We explored the use of the novel tumor suppressor FUS1 to enhance the chemotherapeutic potency of gefitinib and overcome gefitinib resistance in NSCLC. We found that reactivation of wild-type FUS1 by FUS1 nanoparticle-mediated gene transfer into FUS1-deficient and gefitinib-resistant NSCLC H1299, H322, H358, and H460 cells significantly ( P < 0.001) sensitized their response to gefitinib treatment and synergistically induced apoptosis in vitro and in an H322 orthotopic lung cancer mouse model. To understand the mechanism of gefitinib-induced resistance, we established a gefitinib-resistant HCC827GR NSCLC cell line (IC50 = 16 μM) by selecting against gefitinib from the parental HCC827 cells that contain an activating deletion mutation of the EGFR gene and are extremely sensitive to gefitinib treatment (IC50 = 0.016 μM). We found no secondary mutations in the EGFR gene in the HCC827GR cells, but these cells registered a significantly elevated level of phosphorylated AKT protein. Combination treatment with FUS1 nanoparticles and gefitinib at a dose level of IC10 significantly re-sensitized the cells to gefitinib, as demonstrated by synergistically enhanced growth inhibition and apoptosis. FUS1 nanoparticle treatment alone or with gefitinib markedly inactivated EGFR and AKT, as demonstrated by decreased phosphorylation levels of both proteins on Western blots, compared with either agent alone. Cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-9, and PARP was also significantly induced by the combination of FUS1 and gefitinib in HCC872GR and other gefitinib-resistant NSCLC cells. Our results suggest that a combination treatment of FUS1 nanoparticles and gefitinib could overcome drug-induced resistance by simultaneously inactivating EGFR and the AKT signaling pathway and by facilitating apoptosis. This abstract is supported by grants from NCI (SPORE P50CA70907) and DOD (TARGET, DAMD17002-1-0706).
Multi-temporal Composite Trend Classification using DMSP-OLS Images

The DMSP-OLS constellation of satellites constructs images consisting of visible light present on the Earth’s surface at night. The DMSP-OLS satellite data has been utilized for many different studies involving physical, social and economic indicators. It has been shown at varying scales that the DMSP-OLS satellite dataset correlates especially well with economic statistics. The method proposed in this study seeks to define a fast and accurate supervised classification of changes occurring over time using a multi-temporal composite of the DMSP-OLS images. A method is sought to identify trending in composited satellite-based remote sensing data representing multiple coverages over time by identifying and classifying linear trends using spectral matching. For the years 2005 to 2009, DMSP-OLS images were composited and co-registered. A time change profile library of idealized trends was created for input to the Spectral Angle Mapper in order to match and classify multi-temporal rasters. A map of trends was created. While an initial analysis of the results was performed, further analysis is pending development of an accuracy assessment for the method.
Intrauterine Torsion of An Intra-Abdominal Testis

Intra-abdominal torsion of an undescended testis is a rare surgical problem in the neonate. However, one must consider the possibility of intrauterine torsion in a neonate who presents with an undescended testis and an abdominal mass.
Modeling Steatosis and Lipid-Mediated Cell Injury Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived-Hepatocytes

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by steatosis with varying degrees of hepatocellular injury, fibrosis and cirrhosis. The iPSC-derived hepatocytes (iHep) model is a novel s...
A digital protection system incorporating knowledge based learning (for space power systems)

A digital system architecture used to diagnose the operating state and health of space power electric distribution lines and to generate actions for line protection is presented. The architecture is described functionally and to a limited extent at the hardware level. This architecture incorporates multiple analysis and fault detection techniques utilizing a variety of parameters. In addition, a knowledge-based decision maker, a long-term memory retention and recall scheme, and a learning environment are described. Preliminary laboratory implementations of this system elements have been completed. Enhanced protection for electric distribution feeders is provided by this system. Advantages of the system are enumerated. >