cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scrutinizing a Survey-Based Measure of Science and Mathematics Teacher Knowledge: Relationship to Observations of Teaching Practice

There is a clear need for valid and reliable instrumentation that measures teacher knowledge. However, the process of investigating and making a case for instrument validity is not a simple undertaking; rather, it is a complex endeavor. This paper presents the empirical case of one aspect of such an instrument validation effort. The particular instrument under scrutiny was developed in order to determine the effect of a teacher education program on novice science and mathematics teachers’ strategic knowledge (SK). The relationship between novice science and mathematics teachers’ SK as measured by a survey and their SK as inferred from observations of practice using a widely used observation protocol is the subject of this paper. Moderate correlations between parts of the observation-based construct and the SK construct were observed. However, the main finding of this work is that the context in which the measurement is made (in situ observations vs. ex situ survey) is an essential factor in establishing the validity of the measurement itself.
Hydraulics and Thermal Dispersion in an Irregular Estuary

The model is based on the open-channel hydraulics equations in two dimensions. A unique feature is the use of a coordinate transformation to map the irregular shoreline into a rectangular computational space, thereby simplifying treatment of boundary conditions. The hydraulic flow field is calculated separately from the temperature field, due to the large difference in stable step size for the two calculations. The results of the hydraulics calculation, which become periodic after about one and one-half tidal cycles, are stored on magnetic tape for use in the temperature calculation. The temperature field arising from a power plant thermal discharge requires 15 or more tidal cycles to become periodic, due to the gradual diffusion of heat away from the outfall by oscillating tidal currents. Sample temperature calculations are presented which illustrate the effect of the oscillatory tidal flow on the temperature distribution near the outfall.
An iterated beam search algorithm for the green vehicle routing problem

Green, or, alternative-fuel vehicles provide opportunities to improve fleet operators' financial and environmental bottom lines. They also present challenges due to limited driving ranges, limited refueling infrastructure, and lengthy refueling times. This paper addresses a green vehicle routing problem of homogeneous service fleets with stated challenges, and develops an Iterated Beam Search algorithm for its solution. The developed algorithm can employ different lower and upper bounding strategies, and can work as an exact or a heuristics algorithm. A dominance strategy is also developed to improve efficiency of the algorithm. Computational experiments on various-size test instances show that the algorithm's performance is comparable to existing approaches. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 693, 317-328 2017
It's a Family Affair: Interracial Couples' Perceptions of Familial Responses

This article explores the perceptions of interracial couples of their families' reactions to their relationship. These perceptions play an integral role in how the couples see them­selves, understand their place in society, as well as how to cope with the problems they face. The findings from this study support other research, which tends to indicate that White families have more difficulty in adjusting to interracial marriages than African American fam­ilies. This qualitative study consists of 28 interviews with Black/White couples in the South­ern region of the United States over a three year period beginning in 1995.
Abstract MP05: Knockdown of Gamma-adducin Expression Impairs the Myogenic Response of the Cerebral and Renal Arterioles

We recently identified a region on chromosome 1 containing 15 genes that rescues the impaired myogenic response in the afferent arteriole (Af-art) and the development of renal injury in Fawn Hood Hypertensive (FHH) rats. We also found an inactivating K572Q mutation in the gamma-Adducin (Add3) gene in FHH rats in this region that may play a causal role. To test this hypothesis, the present study examed the effect of knockdown of the expression of Add3 with DsiRNA on the myogenic response of renal and cerebral arterioles. A newly designed 27-mer Add3 DsiRNA blocked the expression of the Add3 protein in 293 cells and reduced Add3 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner up to 75% in cultured middle cerebral arteries (MCA). The inner diameter of MCA and renal Af-art 36 hours after co-transfection of Add3 DsiRNA dilated by 9 ± 2% and 4 ± 3%, respectively, in response to an elevation in transmural pressure from 60 to 140 mmHg. In contrast, these vessels still constricted normally by 11± 2% and 10 ± 1% in vessels transfected with scrambled siRNA. Add3 DsiRNA had no effect on the vasoconstrictor response of the Af-art to NE (10-7 M). The large conductance calcium sensitive potassium (BK) current was 5-fold higher in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) freshly isolated from the MCA that were transfected with Add3 DsiRNA as indicated by the appearance of SiGLO red fluorescence compared with that seen in non-transfected cells. Administration of IBTX normalized the elevated BK channel current recorded from VSMC transfected with Add3 DsiRNA, but it had little effect in non-transfected cells. These results indicate that knockdown of the expression of Add3 impairs the myogenic response of both MCA and Af-art and it is associated with an elevation in BK channel activity. It also supports the hypothesis that the K572Q mutation of Add3 found in FHH rats may play a causal role in the impaired myogenic response and autoregulation of renal and cerebral blood flow by elevating BK channel activity in VSMC.
Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis by a Sparsely Substituted Cobalt Chlorin

A sparsely substituted chlorin macrocycle containing a Co(II) center (1-Co) has been synthesized and structurally characterized. The Co(II) atom resides in a square planar coordination environment and induces significant out-of-plane distortion of the chlorin macrocycle. The paramagnetic Co(II) center resides in the macrocycle in a S = 1/2 spin state, which displays an axial doublet signal (g⊥ ≈ 2.3 and g∥ ≈ 2.03) in the X-band EPR spectrum. The open-shell d-orbital configuration is manifest in the transient absorption spectrum, which reveals an excited-state lifetime of 8.6 ± 0.2 ps for 1-Co. The Co(II) chlorin exhibits a rich oxidation–reduction chemistry with five reversible one-electron waves (three oxidative processes and two reductive processes) observed in the cyclic voltammogram. The reduction processes of 1-Co drive hydrogen evolution catalysis. Electrochemical kinetics analysis of HER by 1-Co in trifluoroacetic acid reveals a hydrogen evolution mechanism that proceeds by an ECEC mechanism. Bench...
Preparation and in vivo characterization of 51 MnCl 2 as PET tracer of Ca 2+ channel-mediated transport.

Manganese has long been employed as a T1-shortening agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications, but these techniques are limited by the biotoxicity of bulk-manganese. Positron emission tomography (PET) offers superior contrast sensitivity compared with MRI, and recent preclinical PET studies employing 52gMn (t1/2: 5.6 d, β+: 29%) show promise for a variety of applications including cell tracking, neural tract tracing, immunoPET, and functional β-cell mass quantification. The half-life and confounding gamma emissions of 52gMn are prohibitive to clinical translation, but the short-lived 51Mn (t1/2: 46 min, β+: 97%) represents a viable alternative. This work develops methods to produce 51Mn on low-energy medical cyclotrons, characterizes the in vivo behavior of 51MnCl2 in mice, and performs preliminary human dosimetry predictions. 51Mn was produced by proton irradiation of electrodeposited isotopically-enriched 54Fe targets. Radiochemically isolated 51MnCl2 was intravenously administered to ICR mice which were scanned by dynamic and static PET, followed by ex vivo gamma counting. Rapid blood clearance was observed with stable uptake in the pancreas, kidneys, liver, heart, and salivary gland. Dosimetry calculations predict that 370 MBq of 51Mn in an adult human male would yield an effective dose equivalent of approximately 13.5 mSv, roughly equivalent to a clinical [18F]-FDG procedure.
Examples and Basic Theories for Length Biased Sampling Problems

We begin with a discussion of length biased sampling problems and their applications in different fields. Biased sampling occurs when an investigator naturally collects samples from a population, but the sampling distribution is different from the target population. It happens because not every unit in the population has an equal chance to be sampled when the natural sampling plan is adopted.
High tide on main street: Rising sea level and the coming coastal crisis

Having read numerous volumes on climate change and sustainability, I was skeptical of another book on the subject. This one is different. The author, John Englander, uses a didactic approach, with ...
Synthetic versatility of 2-substituted-6-methyl 2,3-dihydropyridinones in the synthesis of polyfunctional piperidine-based compounds and related β amino acid derivatives.

Chiral 2-substituted-6-methyl 2,3-dihydropyidinones 9, which can be facilely obtained from an asymmetric vinylogous Mannich reaction (VMR) with 1,3-bis-trimethysily enol ether, were used as versatile intermediates in constructing chiral polyfunctional piperidine-based compounds. The 6-methyl group of such compounds can be conveniently functionalized via alkylation and acylation reactions to provide efficient entries to the synthesis of a variety of chiral multi-substituted piperidine-based compounds. Further elaboration of the corresponding intermediates also provided access to polyfunctional indolizidine-based compounds. These methods were showcased in an asymmetric synthesis of 2,6-di-substituted piperidine compound 13, reported as the key intermediate in the synthesis of (+)-calvine and a natural alkaloid (−)-indolizidine 209D. Furthermore, selective C5 iodination of compound 9 enabled the installation of additional functional groups at this position. Finally, we demonstrated that the oxidative cleavage of 2-substituted-6-methyl-2,3-dihydropyidinones is a practical and efficient method for the enantioselective synthesis of β-amino acids, which can undergo further intra-molecular cyclization to give the corresponding chiral four-membered β-lactam derivatives.
Design criteria for plasticized polymer coatings for long-term acoustic-wave sensor measurements in aqueous phase

This work investigates design criteria for an array of polymer-coated shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave sensors for detection of aromatic compounds directly in groundwater and wastewater. In addition to the sensitivity and selectivity issues, coating stability in water and long-term repeatability of the sensor response have been investigated. The compounds used in designing the coating have been selected according to their Hansen solubility parameters to ensure maximum chemical compatibility between the coating and the target analytes. The coatings' physical characteristics have been optimized to ensure high analyte uptake while maintaining low acoustic-wave attenuation and low spectrum distortion.
Is Seeing Believing?: Observation in Physics

In 2016 the LIGO-Virgo collaboration announced “the first direct detection of gravitational waves.” This was to distinguish their result from the indirect observation of Russell Hulse, Joel Weisberg, and Joseph Taylor, which used the decrease in the period of a binary pulsar to “establish, with a high degree of confidence the existence of gravitational radiation as predicted by general relativity.” This raises several interesting questions. One might ask how one can distinguish between direct and indirect observation and whether that distinction is exemplified in the practice of science. One might also ask whether a direct observation has more epistemic weight than an indirect observation. In this essay, I briefly discuss several episodes from the history of modern physics in an attempt to answer those questions. These episodes include Galileo and falling bodies, the discovery of the neutrino, the Higgs boson, and gravitational radiation.
Epilogue: Robust Realism: Pluralist or Emergent?

In ﻿﻿﻿Retrieving Realism, Taylor and Dreyfus aim to correct mistaken Modern assumptions, and post-modern reactions to them, in order to retrieve a robust realism about the world for scientific and moral exploration. Their critiques of Modern thought and their bridging of the person to the world have much in common with Polanyi’s approach in that they all emphasize tacit body-knowing, background frameworks, and our ability to develop epistemological structures that better and better grasp the world considered independent from us. Dreyfus-Taylor and Polanyi diverge, however, when it comes to choosing a framework from which to understand a robust moral realism. The former endorse a Heideggerian “reveal but conceal” pluralist approach, while a Polanyian view advocates a “progress but with risk” emergentist approach. It is argued that the emergentist approach provides a better defense against deflationary realism and better reconciles apparent contradictions, such as physical causality and free will, engaged contact and progress in knowing reality in-itself, and cultural relativism and objective morality. While a pluralist account has the strength of more clearly endorsing tolerance, it is more vulnerable to an ethical relativism; and while an emergentist view is more clearly at risk of illicit dogmatism, it has the strength of endorsing the search for moral truth that we all can share.
What matters after sleeve gastrectomy: patient characteristics or surgical technique?

Abstract Background The impact of operative technique on outcomes in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy has been explored previously; however, the relative importance of patient characteristics remains unknown. Our aim was to characterize national variability in operative technique for laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and determine whether patient-specific factors are more critical to predicting outcomes. Methods We queried the database of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program for laparoscopic sleeve gastrostomies performed in 2015 (n = 88,845). Logistic regression models were used to determine predictors of postoperative outcomes. Results In 2015, >460 variations of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy were performed based on combinations of bougie size, distance from the pylorus, use of staple line reinforcement, and oversewing of the staple line. Despite such substantial variability, technique variants were not predictive of outcomes, including perioperative morbidity, leak, or bleeding (all P ≥ .05). Instead, preoperative patient characteristics were found to be more predictive of these outcomes after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Only history of gastroesophageal disease (odds ratio 1.44, 95% confidence interval 1.08–1.91, P Conclusion Considerable variability exists in technique among surgeons nationally, but patient characteristics are more predictive of adverse outcomes after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Bundled payments and reimbursement policies should account for patient-specific factors in addition to current accreditation and volume thresholds when deciding risk-adjustment strategies.
Marching Orders? U.S. Party Platforms and Legislative Agenda Setting 1948–2014:

What is the relationship between the priorities expressed in party platforms before an election and the subsequent legislative agenda? The agenda setting literature often deemphasizes the role of p...
Sex Differences and Estrous Cycle Effects of Peripheral Serotonin-Evoked Rodent Pain Behaviors

Abstract Many persistent pain conditions occur predominantly in women making pain a major women’s health issue. One theory for the prevalence in females is hormone modulation of pain mechanisms. The peripheral release of the neurotransmitter serotonin (5HT) has been implicated in various sexually dimorphic pain conditions; yet no studies have examined the effect of ovarian hormones on peripheral 5HT-evoked pain behaviors. We hypothesized that peripheral 5HT evokes greater pain behaviors in female rodents during estrus and/or proestrus, stages of the estrous cycle where ovarian hormones are greatly fluctuating. Female Sprague–Dawley rats (250–350 g) from each stage of the estrous cycle, ovariectomized females, and intact males received an intraplantar hindpaw injection of 5HT (2 μg/100 μL) or saline (n = 6 per group) and thermal hyperalgesia, mechanical allodynia, or edema was measured at 0, 10, 20 and 30 min post-injection. A separate group of rats received an ipsilateral injection of the selective 5HT2A antagonist, M100907, 15 min prior to 5HT injection. We report that females in proestrus and estrus exhibited significantly greater and/or longer lasting pain behaviors compared to males, females in diestrus, and ovariectomized females. There were no significant sex differences or estrous cycle effects on 5HT-evoked edema or 5HT content in inflamed hindpaws. Local pretreatment with the 5HT2A receptor antagonist blocked 5HT-evoked thermal hyperalgesia and edema. These data provide evidence of a modulatory role of hormones on peripheral 5HT-evoked pain occurring via the 5HT2A receptor.
Multiple clinical features of Huntington’s disease correlate with mutant HTT gene CAG repeat lengths and neurodegeneration

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by mutant HTT gene expansions of CAG triplet repeat numbers that are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. HD patients display multiple clinical features that are correlated with HTT CAG repeat numbers that include age of disease onset, motor dysfunction, cognitive deficits, compromised daily living capacity, and brain neurodegeneration. It is important to understand the significant relationships of the multiple HD clinical deficits correlated with the number of mutant HTT CAG expansions that are the genetic basis for HD disabilities. Therefore, this review highlights the significant correlations of the HD clinical features of age of onset, motor and cognitive disabilities, decline in living capabilities, weight loss, risk of death, and brain neurodegeneration with respect to their associations with CAG repeat lengths of the HTT gene. Quantitative HTT gene expression patterns analyzed in normal adult human brain regions demonstrated its distribution in areas known to undergo neurodegeneration in HD, as well as in other brain regions. Future investigation of the relationships of the spectrum of clinical HD features with mutant HTT molecular mechanisms will be important to gain understanding of how mutant CAG expansions of the HTT gene result in the devastating disabilities of HD patients.
Error-Tolerant Data Mining

Data mining seeks to discover novel and actionable knowledge hidden in the data. As dealing with large, noisy data is a defining characteristic for data mining, where the noise in a data source comes from, whether the noisy items are randomly generated (called random noise) or they comply with some types of generative models (called systematic noise), and how we use these data errors to boost the succeeding mining process and generate better results, are all important and challenging issues that existing data mining algorithms can not yet directly solve. Consequently, systematic research efforts in bridging the gap between the data errors and the available mining algorithms are needed to provide an accurate understanding of the underlying data and to produce enhanced mining results for imperfect, real-world information sources. This talk presents our recent investigations on bridging the data and knowledge gap in mining noisy information sources.
FDG PET-CT and I-123 MIBG in the evaluation of neuroblastoma

1112 Learning Objectives The aim of this educational exhibit is to demonstrate the utility of I-123 MIBG and FDG PET-CT in imaging neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood and the most common neoplasm in the first year of life in the US. Of the approximately 600 patients diagnosed per year, > 90% are below 5 years old. The prognosis is poor, and the mean overall 5 years survival rate is about 55% by recent figures. Clinical staging of neuroblastoma routinely includes imaging with MIBG scintigraphy and CT or MRI to define primary and metastatic soft tissue disease. FDG PET-CT more recently has been shown to be useful in the evaluation of metastatic disease, especially in tumors which fail to or weakly take up MIBG. Summary: MIBG scintigraphy and PET-CT image positive findings of neuroblastoma, thereby providing anatomic as well as metabolic data.
Abstract WMP61: Predictors of Diagnostic Yield of Implanted Loop Recorder in Patients With Cryptogenic Stroke: a Systemic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Implantable Loop Recorders (ILR) are increasingly being used for detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) after cryptogenic stroke (CS). There is limited data on determinants of diagnostic...
Researcher degrees of freedom in phonetic research

The results of published research critically depend on methodological decisions that have been made during data analysis. These so-called ‘researcher degrees of freedom’ (Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2011) can affect the results and the conclusions researchers draw from it. It is argued that phonetic research faces a large number of researcher degrees of freedom due to its scientific object—speech—being inherently multidimensional and exhibiting complex interactions between multiple covariates. A Type-I error simulation is presented that demonstrates the severe inflation of false positives when exploring researcher degrees of freedom. It is argued that combined with common cognitive fallacies, exploitation of researcher degrees of freedom introduces strong bias and poses a serious challenge to quantitative phonetics as an empirical science. This paper discusses potential remedies for this problem including adjusting the threshold for significance; drawing a clear line between confirmatory and exploratory analyses via preregistration; open, honest, and transparent practices in communicating data analytical decisions; and direct replications.
An Economic Perspective on the Relationship between Wilderness and Water Resources

Proponents of wilderness often cite the provision of high-quality water as a key benefit provided by designated wilderness areas to society. We critically examine this claim by exploring the relationship between wilderness and water resources from an economic perspective. We demonstrate strong spatial and hydrological links from wilderness areas to downstream users: substantial portions of the United States' total water resources originate in, or flow through, wilderness areas. We then discuss coarse estimates of the total economic value of this water flowing from wilderness that could be based on this and related information, focusing our attention on the limitations of this approach. We then consider preliminary examples of the potential specific effects of alternative management schemes on the localized benefits of water resources. Throughout, we demonstrate theoretical and practical challenges to the more readily available approaches for estimating the value added to water resources by wilderness areas. We argue that rigorous characterization of the economic benefits provided by wilderness through water resources, if desired, will require substantial more development of case studies using these types of alternative approaches. That said, our review of the evidence demonstrates many important connections between the water resources that society depends upon and the public lands that it protects as wilderness.(This paper is reprinted from a 2019 US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station publication titled A Perpetual Flow of Nature's Benefits: State-of-the Knowledge Report on the Economic, Social, and Tribal Values of Wilderness in America.)
Orthodoxy, recalcitrance and in-between: describing variation in seed storage characteristics using threshold responses to water loss.

Discrete categories of seed physiology can be explained through a unified concept of the structural and molecular mobility responses within cells to drying. Tolerance of desiccation is typically described by a threshold or low water content limit to survival. This convention provides fairly good distinction between orthodox and recalcitrant seeds, which show thresholds of less than about 0.07 and greater than about 0.2 g H2O g DW−1, respectively. Threshold water contents, however, are not direct measures of the intensity of water stress tolerated by seeds, nor are they measures of cell response to water stress. More direct criteria, that accommodate both spatial and temporal effects of water loss, are required to explain variation of desiccation tolerance and longevity in seeds from diverse genetic backgrounds and growth conditions. This essay presents the argument that changes in cellular volume directly quantify primary responses to desiccating stress in a context that also links damage, as cellular constituents compress, and protection, as compressed molecules form stabilizing structure. During desiccation, fluid cytoplasm solidifies, and the newly formed spatial relationships among molecules determine whether and how long viability is maintained. The diversity of seed behaviors suggests complexity and opportunity to discover molecules and mechanisms that regulate survival and perception of time in cells that lack metabolic function.
Geometry and Pattern

Most of the programs in this chapter compute arrays of numerical values representing configurations of lines and points, which are supplied as right arguments to the graphics programs described in Appendix 1 to produce geometrical displays on the screen. The functions which are used in this chapter are summarised here with diagrams to provide a visual reminder of the parameters.
Improving Quality of Care Can Mitigate Persistent Disparities.

* Abbreviation: QI — : quality improvement Outcomes for preterm infants treated in NICUs have improved in the last 25 years but progress has been unequal.1 Persistent racial and ethnic disparities exist in this vulnerable population.2 Although disparities are rooted in a complex set of causes, there is increasing recognition that differential quality of care is a contributing factor.3–5 Minority infants are more likely to receive care at poor-quality NICUs5,6 and more likely to receive worse care than white infants within a NICU.3 African American and Hispanic infants are at particular risk. Eliminating deficits in the quality of care for minority infants requires a granular understanding of differences in care across different racial and ethnic groups. In this issue of Pediatrics , Boghossian et al7 evaluate racial and ethnic differences over time in care practices for 215 000 infants born at 22 through 29 weeks’ gestation between January 2006 and December 2017 at US centers of the Vermont Oxford Network, a voluntary network of NICUs focused on quality improvement (QI). This study has several strengths: a national data set drawn from 789 NICUs representing 88% of all US births … Address correspondence to Dhurjati Ravi, MS, PhD, Division of Neonatology and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Medical School Office Building, 1265 Welch Rd, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail: dhurjati{at}stanford.edu
Are Distinctions between “Environmental Sociology” and “Natural Resource Sociology” Real – and Important? Reactions to Qin et al.’s Seeing the Forest for the Trees

The bibliometric analysis presented by Qin et al. provides useful evidence regarding debates into whether there are meaningful distinctions between “environmental sociology” and “natural resource s...
P2X7R: The Achilles heel of follicular helper memory T cells.

Protecting TFH memory CD4+ T cells from NAD-induced cell death reveals both their longevity and plasticity (see related Research Article by Kunzli et al.).
Estimation of Relationships Between Demographic Characteristics and Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Beef

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to determine the relationship between consumer demographic characteristics and willingness to pay for beef.Materials and MethodsData were collected from consumers (n = 4080) from April to December 2018 in conjunction with consumer eating quality assessments in Lubbock, TX. All beef samples were prepared and demographics and willingness to pay (WTP) questionnaires were administered in accordance with Meat Standards Australia protocols. The following demographic characteristics were collected: age, gender (GEN), occupation (OCC), consumption (CONS), number of adults in household (NOA), number of children (NOC), beef preferences (PREF), preferred degree of doneness (DOD), income (INC), education (EDU), and heritage (HER). At the conclusion of a tasting session, which consisted of 7 beef samples prepared and served as steaks, smoked brisket, or fajita strips, consumers were asked how much they would pay for each of the four quality levels [Unsatisfactory (UNS), Good everyday (GOOD), Better than everyday (BTE), and Premium (PREM)], using line scales anchored from $0/lb. to $40/lb. Data were analyzed using the STEPWISE option of PROC REG of SAS. Variables had to meet a 0.15 significance level for entry and to remain in the model. Willingness to pay data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX of SAS with fixed effects of quality level, cook method, and their interaction (α = 0.05).ResultsRegression analysis revealed that demographic characteristics accounted for 6, 7, 6, and 7% of the variation in willingness to pay for UNS, GOOD, BTE, and PREM quality beef, respectively (P BTE > GOOD > UNS). Overall, consumers were willing to pay $17.84, $12.96, $8.65, and $3.80 for PREM, BTE, GOOD, and UNS, respectively. However, within quality level, consumer WTP varied due to cook method. For PREM and UNS WTP, consumers were willing to pay more (P 0.05) to the other cook methods.ConclusionDemographic characteristics can account for a small proportion of the variation in consumer WTP for beef products. Increasing age, number of children, and education consistently had negative impacts on WTP, regardless of quality level. Conversely, increasing beef consumption and preferences, along with number of adults lifted WTP across all quality levels. Cook method also influenced consumer WTP within each quality level.
Improvement of nutrient elements and allicin content in green onion (Allium fistulosum) plants exposed to CuO nanoparticles.

Abstract With the exponential growth of nanomaterial production in the last years, nano copper (Cu)-based compounds are gaining more consideration in agriculture since they can work as pesticides or fertilizers. Chinese scallions (Allium fistulosum), which are characterized by their high content of the antioxidant allicin, were the chosen plants for this study. Spectroscopic and microscopic techniques were used to evaluate the nutrient element, allicin content, and enzyme antioxidant properties of scallion plants. Plants were harvested after growing for 80 days at greenhouse conditions in soil amended with CuO particles [nano (nCuO) and bulk (bCuO)] and CuSO4 at 75–600 mg/kg]. Two-photon microscopy images demonstrated the particulate Cu uptake in nCuO and bCuO treated roots. In plants exposed to 150 mg/kg of the Cu-based compounds, root Cu content was higher in plants treated with nCuO compared with bCuO, CuSO4, and control (p ≤ 0.05). At 150 mg/kg, nCuO increased root Ca (86%), root Fe (71%), bulb Ca (74%), and bulb Mg (108%) content, compared with control (p ≤ 0.05). At the same concentration, bCuO reduced root Ca (67%) and root Mg (33%), compared with control (p ≤ 0.05). At all concentrations, nCuO and CuSO4 increased leaf allicin (56–187% and 42–90%, respectively), compared with control (p ≤ 0.05). The antioxidant enzymes were differentially affected by the Cu-based treatments. Overall, the data showed that nCuO enhances nutrient and allicin contents in scallion, which suggests they might be used as a nanofertilizer for onion production.
Electrically-programmable optical devices with phase change materials

Phase change materials (PCM) provide unique optical characteristics, such as a dramatic change in optical refractive index <1, not obtainable from conventional semiconductor optical materials such as Si and InP. Thus, PCMs are being explored to program and reconfigure optical devices to adapt to the sensing needs per the environment. Also, the nonvolatile nature of PCM devices offers system integration without disturbing the sensing. An example of a PCM-based optical device can be a spatial light modulator (SLM) that enables a coded aperture imaging technique to extract spectral signature for remote detection and identification without platform motion. SLMs offer a way to carry out spectral imaging with reconfigurability, which allows signature detection against a spectrally cluttered background. Here, we report on a new solid-state optical modulator device with a SbTe PCM operating in the infrared range and at cryogenic temperatures with excellent switching cycle reliability for the programming of PCM-based optical devices.
Covariance estimation with nonnegative partial correlations

We study the problem of high-dimensional covariance estimation under the constraint that the partial correlations are nonnegative. The sign constraints dramatically simplify estimation: the Gaussian maximum likelihood estimator is well defined with only two observations regardless of the number of variables. We analyze its performance in the setting where the dimension may be much larger than the sample size. We establish that the estimator is both high-dimensionally consistent and minimax optimal in the symmetrized Stein loss. We also prove a negative result which shows that the sign-constraints can introduce substantial bias for estimating the top eigenvalue of the covariance matrix.
Monitoring DOACs with a Novel Dielectric Microsensor: A Clinical Study.

Background There are acute settings where assessing the anticoagulant effect of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) can be useful. Due to variability among routine coagulation tests, there is an unmet need for an assay that detects DOAC effects within minutes in the laboratory or at the point of care. Methods We developed a novel dielectric microsensor, termed ClotChip, and previously showed that the time to reach peak permittivity (T peak) is a sensitive parameter of coagulation function. We conducted a prospective, single-center, pilot study to determine its clinical utility at detecting DOAC anticoagulant effects in whole blood. Results We accrued 154 individuals: 50 healthy volunteers, 49 rivaroxaban patients, 47 apixaban, and 8 dabigatran patients. Blood samples underwent ClotChip measurements and plasma coagulation tests. Control mean T peak was 428 seconds (95% confidence interval [CI]: 401–455 seconds). For rivaroxaban, mean T peak was 592 seconds (95% CI: 550–634 seconds). A receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the area under the curve (AUC) predicting rivaroxaban using T peak was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.91, p < 0.01). For apixaban, mean T peak was 594 seconds (95% CI: 548–639 seconds); AUC was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.73–0.91, p < 0.01). For dabigatran, mean T peak was 894 seconds (95% CI: 701–1,086 seconds); AUC was 1 (p Conclusion This diagnostic study using samples from “real-world” DOAC patients supports that ClotChip exhibits high sensitivity at detecting DOAC anticoagulant effects in a disposable portable platform, using a miniscule amount of whole blood (
How do Modelers Code Artificial Societies? Investigating Practices and Quality of Netlogo Codes from Large Repositories

Many guidelines have been developed for simulations in general or for agent-based models which support artificial societies. When applying such guidelines to examine existing practices, assessment studies are limited by the artifacts released by modelers. Although code is the final product defining an artificial society, 90% of the code produced is not released hence previous assessments necessarily focused on higher-level items such as conceptual design or validation. We address this gap by collecting 338 artificial societies from two hosting platforms, CoMSES/OpenABM and GitHub. An innovation of our approach is the use of software engineering techniques to automatically examine the models with respect to items such as commenting the code, using libraries, or dividing code into functions. We found that developers of artificial societies code the decision-making of their agents from scratch in every model, despite the existence of several libraries that could be used as building blocks.
Walk A Mile in Their Shoes: Perspective-Taking as an Intervention for Difficult Customer Interactions:

An important gap in the customer mistreatment literature is understanding how employees’ affective reactions can be modified to decrease negative affective reactions. The current study draws from a...
Management of Hypertriglyceridemia-Induced Acute Pancreatitis in a Nondiabetic Patient

Hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis treatment strategies are not well defined in current literature or guidelines. One therapy option is an insulin infusion accompanied by a dextrose infusion to avoid hypoglycemia. The purpose of this case report is to highlight dosing considerations for dextrose infusions in nondiabetic patients. We describe a case of hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis in a 34-year-old nondiabetic female patient treated with a reduced-dose insulin infusion, complicated by hypoglycemic episodes requiring dextrose infusion titrations. Empirical initiation of a higher dextrose concentration infusion with glucose level titrations should be considered to avoid hypoglycemia for nondiabetic patients treated with an insulin infusion to lower triglyceride levels. In this case, clinical pharmacy assistance was imperative for successful treatment with a reduced-dose insulin infusion and titrated dextrose infusion in the management of hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis.
A meta-analytic review of trials that tested whether eating disorder prevention programs prevent eating disorder onset.

Abstract This report provides a review of randomized controlled trials that tested whether an eating disorder prevention program significantly reduced future onset of eating disorders, which is important because eating disorders are common and result in marked functional impairment. We identified 15 trials involving 5080 participants (mean ages ranging from 14.5 to 22.3) that reported 19 tests of whether selective eating disorder prevention programs significantly reduced future onset of eating disorders relative to some type of minimal control condition or a credible alternative intervention. Healthy lifestyle modification prevention programs, dissonance-based prevention programs, and a self-esteem/self-efficacy prevention program significantly reduced future onset of eating disorders, though the later was only evaluated in one trial. Psychoeducational, cognitive behavioral, behavioral weight gain, interpersonal, and family-therapy-based prevention programs did not significantly reduce future onset of eating disorders. The average prevention effect size was statistically significant (OR = 1.64, 95% CI = [1.09, 2.46], t = 2.54, p = .020) and there was heterogeneity in effect sizes (Q [18] = 35.96, p = .007). Prevention effects were significantly larger for trials that recruited participants with elevations on a single risk factor versus with elevations in multiple risk factors and for healthy lifestyle modification prevention programs versus cognitive behavioral prevention programs, though the remaining examined factors did not moderate intervention effect sizes (e.g., risk of bias). The fact that lifestyle modification and dissonance-based prevention programs significantly reduced future onset of eating disorders in multiple trials, producing a 54% to 77% reduction in future eating disorder onset implies that broadly implementing these prevention programs could reduce the population prevalence of eating disorders.
Top level systems requirements analysis for a ground cooperative orbital debris avoidance system

The increasing population of orbital debris in low earth orbit establishes an environment in which the risk of damage or destruction to strategic space assets is no longer insignificant. Using NASAs ORDEM2000 software as a guide, risk of a 5m2 satellite in 800km sun synchronous orbit being hit by a 5mm particle is now close to 1% per year. The continuing execution of operations in low earth orbit will increasingly rely on a combination of risk reduction activities such as planned end-of-life deorbit, elimination of separable deployments and collision avoidance maneuvering. This paper explores the viability of an onboard detection and maneuvering system which uses ground derived debris ephemeris to cue an onboard active sensor during possible collision scenarios to detect an imminent collision. Conjunction analysis is already provided to existing satellites, but with that knowledge, an onboard sensor can be used to supplement the ground information by searching along the accurately known approach vector, effectively eliminating the need for wide angle search. With such a system, scans are simplified, and duty cycles are limited only to a couple of seconds during the actual conjunctions. Analysis shows that even though uncertainty in debris position can exceed 10km, the approach vector for potential collisions can be established with sub-milliradian precision. Analysis is executed for a sample spacecraft in sun-synchronous orbit to establish sensor requirements for field of regard, range, sample rate and angular search volume. Photometric analysis establishes baseline parameters for a candidate system and the requirements for a propulsive based evasion system are explored.
Refractory DLBCL: Challenges and Treatment

Despite a greater understanding of pathologic factors that increase the chance for treatment failure, initial therapy of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has not evolved from R/CHOP. Although it was anticipated that the genetic underpinnings of the cell or origin would dramatically change treatment, thus far, this has not been realized. Similarly, contrary to the situation with Hodgkin lymphoma, meaningful early treatment response assessment with PET-CT has yet to be established in DLBCL. Nevertheless, there is tremendous enthusiasm that circulating tumor DNA, possibly in combination with PET- T may facilitate earlier recognition of treatment failure or relapse. And, in contrast to the situation with front-line treatment, therapy for recurrent disease appears to be on the cusp of dramatically improving. Thus, in addition to high dose therapy with autologous transplant, a treatment that is not feasible for many older patients, CAR-T cells, bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), antibody-drug conjugates and new monoclonal antibodies are all offering the possibility of long-term disease control and possible cure. The success of the cell and immunotherapies even offer hope for a chemotherapy-free strategy, initially for recurrent disease. Herein, we review the landscape of the novel agents in resistant DLBCL and speculate about their appropriate sequencing and possible migration to earlier use.
IF YOU BUILD IT, WILL THEY STAY? MISSION STABIILTY IN NASCENT SOCIAL VENTURES

We examine how and why missions emerge during social venture organizing processes. Through a real time longitudinal grounded theory study of seven nascent ventures, we discovered that prosocial motivations take distinctly different forms and that differences between how empathetic versus sympathetic founders conceive of those needing help drives differences in processes leading to mission emergence. We discover and theorize forms of passion that expand prior conceptualizations of entrepreneurial passion. Our findings provide a theoretical footing for research on the creation of social ventures while our model ties the creation of such ventures to mainstream approaches in entrepreneurship and organization theory.
Nonperturbative Quantum Electrodynamics of Bound States and Radiative Processes

Some recent nonperturbative approaches to radiative processes (Lamb shift, spontaneous emission, anomalous magnetic moment,) and to two-body dynamics are reformulated in a simplified form in terms of an action principle without using the equations of motion.
A protective player in the vascular response to injury.

Heme oxygenase-1, an enzyme expressed during injury, reduces vasoconstriction and inhibits formation of free radicals. Someday it might be used as a local therapeutic agent at sites of vascular injury (Pages 693–698 ).
On the achievable rate of three-node wireless networks

Wc propose an information theoretic wireless network model consisting of three half-duplex nodes under the total power constraint. The three-node network formulation specializes to many generalized scenarios including relay and multi-cast, with realistic feedback and cooperation. In this framework, cooperation and feedback are naturally incorporated via different patterns of node transmission or reception. We focus on several important sub-problems to gain fundamental insights on the role of cooperation and feedback. In particular, we characterize the achievable rate for the relay case under various cooperation strategies. Our analytical results help identify scenarios where one strategy may outperform the others. We propose a novel (noisy, half-duplex) feedback scheme that can improve upon known non-feedback methods. However, the gain of feedback diminishes in either high power or low power regime. We then extend our results on the relay case into the multicast scenario, and show that receiver cooperation enlarges achievable rate region even under the stringent half-duplex and total power constraint. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate our theoretical findings.
An Honest Teaching Philosophy

An essay based on the idea of what a first-year composition instructor would really say in a teaching philosophy statement if given the chance to be frank. It is a look into the politics and personal struggles one instructor has with his job, but it is also a love letter of ethos to his former students as he tries to account for what might not always have been the best performance.