cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CAMAC-based data acquisition for the Apnea Unit

Summary form only given. The Apnea Unit, an active-passive neutron examination and assay unit, extends the traditional differential dieaway technique for the nondestructive assay of transuranic waste. A key aspect of the new capabilities of this device is the novel approach to the data acquisition. The unit currently gives individual support to over 80 /sup 3/He gas proportional tubes for neutron detection and maintains a detailed list-mode time history for each detector. The CAMAC-based data acquisition system centers on a multi-time tagging module which records detector hits and their associated time. The data are managed in a CAMAC crate by an event handler which services the time tagging modules and blocks the resulting data through a FIFO into a personal computer. The richness of the resulting data is already being used to profile the contents of an assay drum and to differentiate events associated with cosmic rays. >
Factors determining the recruitment of inositol trisphosphate receptor channels during calcium puffs.

Puffs are localized, transient elevations in cytosolic Ca 2þ that serve both as the building blocks of global cellular Ca 2þ signals and as local signals in their own right. They arise from clustered inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor/channels (IP3Rs), whose openings are coordinated by Ca 2þ -induced Ca 2þ release (CICR). We utilized total internal reflection fluores- cence imaging of Ca 2þ signals in neuroblastoma cells with single-channel resolution to elucidate the mechanisms determining the triggering, amplitudes, kinetics, and spatial spread of puffs. We find that any given channel in a cluster has a mean probability of ~66% of opening following opening of an initial ''trigger'' channel, and the probability of puff triggering thus increases steeply with increasing number of channels in a cluster (cluster size). Mean puff amplitudes scale with cluster size, but individual amplitudes vary widely, even at sites of similar cluster size, displaying similar proportions of events involving any given number of the channels in the cluster. Stochastic variation in numbers of Ca 2þ -inhibited IP3Rs likely contributes to the variability of amplitudes of repeated puffs at a site but the amplitudes of successive puffs were uncorrelated, even though we observed statistical correlations between interpuff intervals and puff amplitudes. Initial puffs evoked following photorelease of IP3—which would not be subject to earlier Ca 2þ -inhibition—also showed wide variability, indicating that mechanisms such as stochastic vari- ation in IP3 binding and channel recruitment by CICR further determine puff amplitudes. The mean termination time of puffs lengthened with increasing puff amplitude size, consistent with independent closings of channels after a given mean open time, but we found no correlation of termination time with cluster size independent of puff amplitude. The spatial extent of puffs increased with their amplitude, and puffs of similar size were of similar width, independent of cluster size.
Causes and Implications of the Disappearance of Rifampin Resistance in a Rat Model of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Foreign Body Osteomyelitis

ABSTRACT Orthopedic foreign body-associated infections are often treated with rifampin-based combination antimicrobial therapy. We previously observed that rifampin-resistant and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates were present 2 days after cessation of rifampin therapy in experimental foreign body osteomyelitis. Unexpectedly, only rifampin-susceptible isolates were detected 14 days after the completion of treatment. We studied two rifampin-resistant isolates recovered 2 days after treatment and one rifampin-susceptible isolate recovered 14 days after treatment. Growing these isolates alone in vitro or in vivo demonstrated no fitness defects; however, in mixed culture, rifampin-susceptible bacteria outcompeted rifampin-resistant bacteria. In vivo , two courses of rifampin treatment (25 mg/kg of body weight every 12 h for 21 days) yielded a greater decrease in bacterial quantity in the bones of treated animals 14 days following treatment than that in animals receiving a single course of treatment ( P = 0.0398). In infections established with equal numbers of rifampin-resistant and rifampin-susceptible bacteria, one course of rifampin treatment did not affect bacterial quantities. Rifampin-resistant and rifampin-susceptible isolates were recovered both 2 days and 14 days following treatment completion; however, the proportion of animals with rifampin-resistant isolates was lower at 14 days than that at 2 days following treatment completion ( P = 0.024). In untreated animals infected with equal numbers of rifampin-resistant and rifampin-susceptible bacteria for 4 weeks, rifampin-susceptible isolates were exclusively recovered, indicating the outcompetition of rifampin-resistant by rifampin-susceptible isolates. The data presented imply that although there is no apparent fitness defect in rifampin-resistant bacteria when grown alone, they are outcompeted by rifampin-susceptible bacteria when the two are present together. The findings also suggest that selected rifampin resistance may not persist in initially rifampin-susceptible infections following the discontinuation of rifampin.
The Biogenesis of Endophilin B1 Containing Vesicles

Fluctuations of fluorescent light emerging from a small region of the sample were first considered more than four decades ago [1]. The technique is known as fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and has been extended over the years to study a variety of processes. Here, we focus on a particular type of analysis that is sensitive to the stoichiometry of the complexes, namely brightness analysis. Brightness analysis and its related techniques are used to extract the concentration of the fluorescent complexes and their brightness (“the intensity of a single particle”) from the distribution of photon counts. Brightness is a unique parameter that relies on the single molecule sensitivity of FFS and provides a direct quantification of the oligomeric status of populations of GFP-tagged proteins. Since EGFP is a monomer with distinct fluorescence intensity and recombinant 2x-EGFP elicits twice the intensity, the overall brightness of a GFP-tagged protein is a direct function of its oligomeric state (Fig. 1). Thus, brightness analysis is a robust parameter for determining the stoichiometry of protein oligomerizations.
Dimensional Publicness and Serving the Vulnerable: Analysis of Substance Abuse Treatment Organizations

The proliferation of market-based public service delivery raises concerns whether the vulnerable are dully served and what mechanisms may facilitate to serve them well. Using the dimensional publicness theory, the present study examines how ownership, public funding, control and policy environments shape organizations to provide special substance abuse treatment programs for vulnerable groups. The multi-level analyses indicate that public funding and control are two major policy mechanisms toward the realization of public outcomes. Policy environments exercise significant impact on organizations, contingent upon state-wide policies and organizational ownerships. For instance, in states with wider Medicaid coverage, organizations tend to offer less special programs for co-occurring patients; however, private organizations in these states prove more committed to serve multiple vulnerable groups. Further analyses show that policy mechanisms take on different parameters in serving different vulnerable groups, calling for contingent understanding of the dimensional publicness theory and its possible applications. The study concludes with the discussion of theoretical development and its policy implications on serving the vulnerable with substance abuse treatment demands.
Morehead City, North Carolina

Sitting at the desk in his office, Joe Nutz looks at the two computer monitors sitting side by side on his desk. Both are connected to one computer, one mouse, and one keyboard, and his screen saver—a panoramic picture of his favorite place, Cape Lookout on the North Carolina coast—crosses the two screens, half suspended on each one. As Joe moves the mouse, the different windows he has open—his patient schedule, his e-mail—jump from one monitor to the other, just as if you were alternating between the two windows on a single monitor, except that Joe can see both full windows at the same time. “Actually, I have a new system coming,” he says. “It has four flat-panel LCD monitors that you can put next to each other, because once you have two, all of a sudden the two monitors aren’t good enough, and you want to go to four. I can keep my patient schedule up here on one monitor, my electronic medical records up here on another, I can keep my Web browser open over here, and I have one for doing whatever else I want over here, like my e-mail. Once you get into that, you’ll never want to go back. You just won’t. When you’re on the fly, the fewer clicks the better. It’s all about information.”
A phase I/II trial of induction chemotherapy followed by concomitant docetaxel with concomitant boost radiotherapy (CBR) and amifostine for advanced head and neck cancer (HNC)

15525 Background: Concomitant chemo-radiation for head and neck cancer has emerged as the optimal method of treating advanced head and neck cancers, although the acute and late toxicities can be fo...
Classrooms without borders: The characteristics of international secondary schools that offer online courses

University of Minnesota Ed.D. dissertation. July 2009. Major: Educational Policy and Administration. Advisors: Dr. Gerald Fry and Dr. Deanne Magnusson. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 99 pages, appendices A-H.
Multiphoton X-ray Dynamics in Atoms and Molecules

The development of x-ray FELs has enabled multiphoton spectroscopy of atoms and molecules at x-ray wavelengths. We will discuss recent experiments using intense x-ray pulses to study femtosecond atomic and molecular dynamics under extreme conditions.
X-Ray Stress Measuring Apparatus Using Curved Back-Reflection Cameras

An X-ray film unit is described for measuring residual stress in large parts. The tube and camera are supported and rotated by an adjustable mechanism on a large table capable of supporting large steel parts. Cameras are used which have cylindrical cassettes. This enables a more convenient application of the technique of fitting a parabola to intensities across a diffraction peak to accurately determine the peak maximum. Intensities are corrected for angle-dependent factors. A theoretical stress factor is then used. Data is included and compared with the diffractometer.
Mechanical vapor compression—Membrane distillation hybrids for reduced specific energy consumption

AbstractThe energy efficiency of membrane distillation (MD) systems is low when compared to other thermal desalination systems. This leads to high water production costs when conventional fuels such as natural gas are used. In MD, separation of pure product water from feedwater is driven by differences in vapor pressure between the streams. Thus, the process can occur at low temperature and ambient pressure. As a result, MD is most frequently paired with waste or renewable sources of low temperature heat energy that can be economically more feasible. MD systems with internal heat regeneration have been compared to and modeled similar to counter-flow heat exchangers. In this study, MD is used to replace the preheater heat exchanger used for thermal energy recovery from the brine stream in mechanical vapor compression (MVC). Using MD in place of the heat exchanger results not only in effectively free thermal energy for MD, but also subsidized cost of capital, since the MD module is replacing expensive heat ...
Effects of Room Reverberation on Speaker Identification

Accuracy in speaker recognition systems may degrade if channel conditions during the training and testing stages are significantly different. Such channels may include different microphones, telephone and mobile handsets, speech coders, and VoIP. Many compensation techniques have been proposed which seek to minimize the channel mismatch condition thereby improving accuracy rates in these systems. More recently, the acoustic channel and its effect on speaker identification (SI) have been investigated and it has been shown that when using clean training signals and reverberated test signals, a loss in accuracy results. In this paper, we improve upon a proposed method to compensate for this acoustic channel mismatch by utilizing a more accurate room reverberation model during the training stage. This model allows us to pre-distort (reverberate) clean training signals in order to approximate the expected reverberation present in test signals. By utilizing a set of reverberated training models for each speaker, SI accuracies can be improved.
Mechanical indentation of the vestibular labyrinth and its relationship to head rotation in the toadfish, Opsanus tau

1. In the present study we examine the response of the semicircular canal of the toadfish (Opsanus tau) to head rotation and to mechanical indentation of the membranous labyrinth. The relationship ...
SQLShare: Results from a Multi-Year SQL-as-a-Service Experiment

We analyze the workload from a multi-year deployment of a database-as-a-service platform targeting scientists and data scientists with minimal database experience. Our hypothesis was that relatively minor changes to the way databases are delivered can increase their use in ad hoc analysis environments. The web-based SQLShare system emphasizes easy dataset-at-a-time ingest, relaxed schemas and schema inference, easy view creation and sharing, and full SQL support. We find that these features have helped attract workloads typically associated with scripts and files rather than relational databases: complex analytics, routine processing pipelines, data publishing, and collaborative analysis. Quantitatively, these workloads are characterized by shorter dataset "lifetimes", higher query complexity, and higher data complexity. We report on usage scenarios that suggest SQL is being used in place of scripts for one-off data analysis and ad hoc data sharing. The workload suggests that a new class of relational systems emphasizing short-term, ad hoc analytics over engineered schemas may improve uptake of database technology in data science contexts. Our contributions include a system design for delivering databases into these contexts, a description of a public research query workload dataset released to advance research in analytic data systems, and an initial analysis of the workload that provides evidence of new use cases under-supported in existing systems.
Poor People’s Participation: Neoliberal Institutions or Left Turn?:

While comparative political studies of voting and protest abound, little attention has been paid to nonelectoral and noncontentious participation, particularly at the local level. Who participates in local associations and why? We study the individual-level determinants of local civic participation in Bolivia to ask: Does local engagement reproduce the high socioeconomic bias predicted by resource theory? Did the left turn in government change the predictors of participation? Contrary to expectations, we find there is no high-class bias in Bolivia’s local civic engagement. Moreover, the levels and predictors of local civic engagement have not changed after the left turn. We contribute to the comparative politics literature by conceptualizing local programmatic participation and showing that the resource theory does not apply to this type of participation in a developing context. We argue that need—rather than plenty—prompts people to participate. Our findings are relevant to participation studies in devel...
Dispersal of Attaphila fungicola, a symbiotic cockroach of leaf-cutter ants

The myrmecophile cockroach Attaphila fungicola lives in the nests of leaf-cutter ants (Atta texana and A. cephalotes) and uses the female winged reproductives (i.e., female alates) of its host as vectors for the first phase of its dispersal. It is unknown whether A. fungicola remain with vectoring A. texana females after mating flights and throughout A. texana nest founding and subsequent colony development, or if the symbiotic cockroaches disperse to established A. texana colonies, either on their own or while still attached to vectoring A. texana females. We captured A. fungicola attached to A. texana female alates as they prepared for mating flights and measured their survivorship in artificial brood chambers with de-alate, recently mated A. texana queens and their incipient gardens, and in a non-natal established fungal garden tended by A. texana workers. After 13 days, 100% of A. fungicola had died in brood chambers with queens, while 100% of A. fungicola remained alive in the fungal garden chamber. We tested the feasibility of alternative modes of dispersal to established colonies by placing A. fungicola attached and unattached to vectoring female alates in the proximity of an established A. texana colony directly after a mating flight, and recorded whether A. fungicola entered the non-natal nest. A significantly higher proportion of A. fungicola attached to vectoring alates entered the nest compared to unattached A. fungicola. We also placed A. fungicola attached to vectoring alates in a foraging chamber of a laboratory colony to determine if, once in the nest, A. fungicola could navigate to the fungal garden chamber; 100% of A. fungicola detached from their vectoring alates and entered the fungal garden chamber. We tested alate preference of A. fungicola by placing A. fungicola separately in containers with one A. texana female alate and one male alate; after 2 h, 71% of A. fungicola were attached to female alates and 0% to male alates. Finally, we report the first record of a male A. fungicola collected during a mating flight of A. texana. These observations accumulated from field and laboratory studies suggest that A. fungicola vectored by A. texana female alates may not remain with foundresses, but instead disperse between established colonies through one or more alternative mechanisms. This study helps elucidate a tripartite ant-fungus-cockroach interaction, and provides a foundation for future research on Attaphila dispersal and reproductive biology.
Validating media-driven and crowdsourced police shooting data: a research note

Researchers have yet to explore the validity of ‘unofficial’ media-driven and crowdsourced police-involved killings data. This omission is important because unofficial data are touted as providing ...
Diffusion of sodium in single crystal CuInSe 2

The incorporation of sodium from sodium fluoride in single-crystal CuInSe2 (CIS) is investigated to provide insight into the intra-granular aspects of sodium incorporation in CIS-based thin films. Sodium was incorporated by evaporating NaF onto two CIS crystals of varying compositions and defect structures followed by heating under vacuum. Diffusion profiles show a near-surface reaction before a deeper diffusion zone which follows a complementary error function, confirming Na diffusion into the crystals. Transmission electron microscopy analysis indicates that dislocations do not control the diffusion process. The activation energy of diffusion is ∼0.7 eV for both crystals. This low activation energy suggests that Na diffusion occurs rapidly through the bulk at temperatures as low as 300 °C and helps explain the uniform Na concentration often observed in grain interiors of polycrystalline Cu(InGa)Se2 thin films.
Connecting visible and telecommunications wavelengths with silicon nitride nanophotonics

We design, fabricate, and characterize a nanophotonic device connecting visible and telecom wavelengths through degenerate four-wave mixing in the silicon nitride platform. This device is promising for extending classical/quantum nanophotonic applications to new spectral bands.
Nonlocal Effects in Transition Hyperbolic Metamaterials

Light–matter interactions at a particular point in a material may be dominated by properties of the medium at this point, or they could be affected by the electromagnetic properties of the medium in the surrounding regions. In the former case, the medium is said to be local, while in the latter, it is nonlocal. Recent studies of light–matter interactions in composite optical metamaterials showed that nonlocal effects enable new optical phenomena that are not acounted for by the conventional, local effective medium description. Up until now the majority of studies focused on metamaterials with spatially uniform material parameters. However, optical metamaterials with electromagnetic material parameters gradually changing from positive to negative values, so-called transition materials, have been predicted to induce a strong enhancement of the local electric or magnetic field in the vicinity of the zero refractive index point. This opens new opportunities for sensing and low-intensity nonlinear optical appl...
The potential of gum arabic stabilized Au-198 nanoparticles (GA-AuNP) as a radiotherapeutic agent for prostate cancer

3164 The American Cancer Society estimates that 1.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Men have a 45% probability of developing some form of cancer in their lifetime. Of men diagnosed with cancer, 1-in-3 will be prostate cancer. Current detection methods for prostate cancer involve determining the concentration of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in blood serum. Medications, certain herbs, and genetics can increase PSA levels, thus providing inaccurate results. Current treatment options for prostate cancer include surgery, irradiation, immunotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy. Gold nanoparticles provide an attractive alternative to treating cancer by delivering high irradiation payloads. Gold-198 (Au-198) radiolabeled nanoparticles stabilized with gum Arabic, a natural additive used in everyday food products and thus non-toxic in-vivo , are described. These nanoparticles are rapidly produced by using the non-toxic, amino acid derived reducing agent tris-hydroxymethyl phosphine alanine (THPAL). The nuclear properties of Au-198 are well suited for radiotherapy (t 1/2 = 2.7 days, E βmax = 1.37 MeV). The 411 keV gamma emission (95%) allows tracking of the Au-198 radiolabeled nanoparticles using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). The high thermal (98.6 barns) and epithermal (1550 barns) nuclear cross-section of natural, monoisotopic Au-197 allows for relatively rapid irradiation to achieve reasonable specific activity. If carrier-free radioactive Au is needed, Au-199 (t 1/2 = 3.1 days, E βmax = 0.45 MeV, 158 and 208 keV γ-rays) can be obtained from the β - decay of Pt-199 (t 1/2 = 30.9 min; produced from an enriched Pt-198 target). Three different routes of administering Au-198 radiolabeled gold nanoparticles (Au-198-GA-AuNP), prepared as described above, were compared using a PC-3 (human prostate cancer) xenograft tumor model in immunocompromised mice. Radiotracer uptake and retention were determined after 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, and 24 h. Tumor uptake after 24 h was 1.79 + 0.32% D/g by intravenous (IV) injection, 5.75 + 1.49% D/g by intraperitoneal (IP) injection, and 87.73 + 37.61% D/g by intratumoral (IT) injection. The IV injection also showed high liver (65.2 + 2.30% D/g), lungs (17.9 + 4.92% D/g), and spleen (8.52 + 1.12% D/g) uptake over time. After IP injection, tumor uptake increased steadily over the time course. IT administration showed little to no leakage of Au-198-GA-AuNP from the tumor over the first 4 hr, while 60% of the injected dose was retained at 24 hr, indicating potential as a radiotherapeutic agent.
Poloidal radiation asymmetries during disruption mitigation by massive gas injection on the DIII-D tokamak

A comparison of radiated power poloidal peaking during disruption mitigation using massive gas injection at multiple poloidal positions on the DIII-D tokamak is presented. The two injectors are located poloidally above and below the low field side midplane and toroidally located within the quadrants to either side of the fast bolometry diagnostic used to measure the radiated power. Differing quantities of injected neon are compared. A strong dependence of impurity poloidal flows upon the injector location is observed. Injection from the upper half of the vessel results in strong poloidal flows over the top of the plasma to the high field side midplane, while lower injection exhibits far less pronounced poloidal flow that is oriented in the opposite direction. The poloidal location of both pre-thermal quench and thermal quench emissivity peaking shows a strong dependence upon the injector location, although the poloidal flow in the upper injection case results in a much broader distribution. The wall radia...
Total Synthesis of (-)-Nahuoic Acid Ci (Bii).

A convergent total synthesis of (−)-nahuoic acid Ci(Bii) (3), a novel cis-decalin polyketide, has been achieved. Key synthetic transformations include Type II Anion Relay Chemistry (ARC) to construct the polyol chain, a Ti-catalyzed asymmetric Diels–Alder reaction to generate the cis-decalin skeleton, and a late-stage large fragment union exploiting a Micalizio alkoxide-directed alkyne–alkene coupling tactic.
The Complement System and Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia affects 3–4% of pregnancies with few treatment options to reduce maternal and fetal harm. Recent evidence that targeting the complement system may be an effective therapeutic strategy in prevention or treatment of preeclampsia will be reviewed. Studies in humans confirm the safety and efficacy of C5 blockade in complement-mediated disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia. Animal models mimic the placental abnormalities and/or the maternal symptoms which characterize preeclampsia. These models in mouse and rat have defined a role for complement and its regulators in placental dysfunction, hypertension, proteinuria, endothelial dysfunction, fetal growth restriction, and angiogenic imbalance, thus informing future human studies. Targeting excessive complement activation, particularly the terminal complement complex (C5b-9) and C5a may be an effective strategy to prolong pregnancy in women with preeclampsia. Continued research is needed to identify the initiator(s) of activation, the pathways involved, and the key component(s) in the pathophysiology to allow development of safe and effective therapeutics to target complement without compromising its role in homeostasis and host defense.
Gambling disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: A frequent but understudied comorbidity

Background and aimsEpidemiological data have suggested that the prevalence of co-occurring personality disorders is particularly high in people with gambling disorder (GD). Among the personality disorders, obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) appears to be the most common problem. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical presentation of GD with and without co-occurring OCPD.MethodsWe studied 25 subjects with current GD and lifetime diagnosis of OCPD. They were matched for age and gender with 25 individuals with current GD but no lifetime diagnosis of any personality disorder.ResultsSubjects with GD and OCPD demonstrated (a) lower severity of gambling symptoms, (b) slower progression from recreational gambling to full-blown GD, (c) preferred individual forms of betting, (d) identified more triggers to gambling (specially the availability of money and stress); and (e) reported less negative impact on relational problems due to GD.ConclusionsOur research provides further insigh...
The Ugly Underbelly of the MIS Movement: In Opposition

The relatively high complication rates associated with early prostheses and techniques eventually led to the improvement of implants and refinement of the surgical procedures. Almost all surgical techniques improve over time by leading to less invasive approaches. The modern era's communications technologies, coupled with more sophisticated marketing techniques, has dramatically influenced the speed with which new techniques are recognized, popularized, and thus demanded by an easily influenced public. Debate over the appropriate moral underpinnings of marketing medical practice is far from concluded, and the moral issue of when new technologies "should" be adopted is complex and challenging. Although the autonomy of medical practitioners and their ability to accurately assess the "scientific validity" of any given medical procedure have been gradually transferred over time from the bench, bedside, and consulting room to institutional formularies, clinical pathways, and federal authorities, it is likely that an appropriate balance of oversight, such as currently exists with Food and Drug Administration regulation, and the traditional autonomy of the physician are appropriate answers to the dilemma raised.
Multi-valued neurons: hebbian and error-correction learning

In this paper, we observe some important aspects of Hebbian and errorcorrection learning rules for the multi-valued neuron with complex-valued weights. It is shown that Hebbian weights are the best starting weights for the errorcorrection learning. Both learning rules are also generalized for a complex-valued neuron whose inputs and output are arbitrary complex numbers.
The Permeability of Monolayers to Several Gases

Abstract Close-packed monolayers of hexadecanol, octadecanol, octadecanoic acid, and heptadecylamine at the gas-water interface, which are known to retard the passage of water vapor, have been shown to retard the passage of other gases as well. The permeabilities of these monolayers to carbon dioxide, to oxygen, and to nitrous oxide are of the same magnitude (about 10-3 cm/sec) and considerably lower than the permeability to water vapor. The relative permeabilities of the different monolayers, however, agree with the literature on water vapor. The activation energy for the diffusion of a gas molecule through the whole monolayer is of an order of magnitude lower than that found for water permeability, but the activation energy per CH2 group was found to be about 360 cal/mole, in satisfactory agreement with the results for water vapor. The differences in the magnitudes of the permeabilities and of the activation barriers of whole monolayers to various gases are explained tentatively on the basis of the interfering effect of water vapor. The biological implications of this work are briefly discussed.
Accuracy of Medication Safety Report Severity Level Among Disciplines at a Tertiary Academic Medical Center

Computerized patient safety reporting systems are used to improve the safety of the medication use process. The objective of our analysis was to determine whether differences exist in the accuracy of reporter estimated incident severity level. This is a retrospective, quality assurance analysis of medication safety reports. Information collected included the total number of medication safety reports, reporter roles, reported severity level, and actual severity level. Accuracy of reporter severity was determined based on the difference between reported compared to the actual severity scored for each incident. Four hundred forty-nine were included in the analysis. Reports were most commonly entered by nurses (71.3%) followed by pharmacists (16.9%), physicians (7.6%), and physician extenders (nurse practitioners, physician assistants) (4.2%). The overall accuracy rate of severity level was 77.5%. No difference was found between nurses, pharmacists, and physicians in regard to reporting accuracy.
Science writing in Greco-Roman antiquity.

In Science Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity, Liba Taub brings together the history of ancient science and literary studies for a wide audience. Published by Cambridge University Press in its Key Th...
Simulating Protein-Mediated Membrane Remodeling at Multiple Scales

The reshaping of the cell membrane is integral in many important cellular pathways, such as division, immune response, infection, trafficking, and communication. This process is generally modeled by considering lipid membranes to be thin elastic sheets that resist bending and stretching deformations. However, biological membranes are much more complex, as the macroscopically observed behavior of the membrane is deeply connected to the underlying atomic-level interactions between proteins and lipids. Computational methods can be developed to tackle this complex and innately multiscale phenomenon, as they can model the behavior at both the molecular and the macroscopic levels. In this chapter, we discuss the general mechanisms of membrane curvature generation and computational tools developed and applied to study this problem. We focus especially on finite-temperature simulation methods that are designed to model the complex behavior of the system. We review recent efforts in multiscale simulation designed to study the large-scale membrane reshaping by proteins.
Fairness in psychological testing.

Abstract Increase in population migration worldwide and greater availability of health-related services has resulted in higher frequency of psychological services for individuals of diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, this shift has not been matched with parallel psychological knowledge, especially in application to testing. To improve fairness in testing, evaluation of individuals that are not part of a majority culture should take into account both universal and culturally unique psychological characteristics, including cultural relevance of testing process and assessed constructs, culture-appropriate test norms, acculturation and language proficiency, socioeconomic status, and quality of education. Future research should address development of culture-relevant tests and norms, evaluation of ecological validity of currently used tests, cultural significance of factors not yet studied, and education of psychologists on cross-cultural issues in assessment.
An overview of optical coherence tomography angiography and the posterior pole

Optical coherence tomography angiography is a relatively new, noninvasive technology that has revolutionized imaging of the retinal and choroidal microvasculature. This technology is based on the detection of movement or changes that represent moving red cells in sequential optical coherence tomography scans. As with other established imaging technologies, it has unique benefits as well as certain disadvantages, which include a limited field of view and vulnerability to imaging artifacts. However, software and hardware improvements are continually evolving to mitigate these limitations. Optical coherence tomography angiography has been used to gain a better understanding of microvascular changes across a spectrum of ocular diseases including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal vein occlusions. In this article, we review algorithms and techniques commonly utilized in optical coherence tomography angiography systems and compare optical coherence tomography angiography to fluorescein angiography, the current gold standard for imaging the retinal vasculature. In addition, we provide an overview of important optical coherence tomography angiography findings in a variety of ocular diseases. Although the clinical role of this technology is still poorly defined, optical coherence tomography angiography has the potential to become an invaluable tool in the diagnosis and monitoring of vascular pathologies.
Completely Effective Error Bounds for Stirling Numbers of the First and Second Kinds via Poisson Approximation

We provide completely effective error estimates for Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds, denoted by s(n, m) and S(n, m), respectively. These bounds are useful for values of $${m\geq n-O(\sqrt{n})}$$ . An application of our Theorem 3.2 yields, for example, $$\begin{array}{ll}{s({10^{12}}, {10^{12}}-2 \times{10^6})/{10^{35664464}} \in [1.87669, 1.876982],}\\{S({10^{12}}, {10^{12}}-2 \times{10^6})/{10^{35664463}} \in [1.30121, 1.306975]}.\end{array}$$ The bounds are obtained via Chen-Stein Poisson approximation, using an interpretation of Stirling numbers as the number of ways of placing non-attacking rooks on a chess board. As a corollary to Theorem 3.2, summarized in Proposition 2.4, we obtain two simple and explicit asymptotic formulas, one for each of s(n, m) and S(n, m), for the parametrization $${m = n-t {n^a}, 0 \leq a \leq \frac{1}{2}}$$ . These asymptotic formulas agree with the ones originally observed by Moser and Wyman in the range $${0 < a < \frac{1}{2}}$$ , and they connect with a recent asymptotic expansion by Louchard for $${\frac{1}{2} < a < 1}$$ , hence filling the gap at $${a = \frac{1}{2}}$$ . We also provide a generalization applicable to rook and file numbers.
Selecting a new textbook for a graduate level course on vibration and fluid acoustics

At Brigham Young University we offer a graduate level course on the fundamentals of acoustics. This course has traditionally covered vibrations in masses and springs, strings, bars, membranes and plates in the first half of the course. The second half covers the derivation of the wave equation, wave propagation, reflection/transmission phenomena, and source radiation problems. For decades, we used Kinsler and Frey’s “Fundamentals of Acoustics” book but the rising costs, lack of updates, and dissatisfaction with the rigor of the book motivated us to find a new text. For a few years, we used Kinsler and Frey for the vibrations portion of the course and also Blackstock’s “Fundamentals of Physical Acoustics” for the fluids portion. Two books meant even higher costs, although the Kinsler and Frey text was also used in another class at that time. When we switched instructors for the course, Anderson was asked to review Garrett’s “Understanding Acoustics” text and he ended up adopting it for this course. This talk will review our experiences in switching textbooks and discuss our reasons for selecting our current text and how we are using it in class in conjunction with pre-class reading quizzes, which has helped increase classroom discussions.
Repetitive microstimulation in rat primary somatosensory cortex (SI) strengthens the connection between homotopic sites in the opposite SI and leads to expression of previously ineffective input from the ipsilateral forelimb.

Abstract The primary somatosensory cortex (SI) receives input from the contralateral forelimb and projects to homotopic sites in the opposite SI. Since homotopic sites in SI are linked by a callosal pathway, we proposed that repetitive intracortical microstimulation (ICMSr) of neurons in layer V of SI forelimb cortex would increase spike firing in the opposite SI cortex thereby strengthening the callosal pathway sufficiently to allow normally ineffective stimuli from the ipsilateral forelimb to excite cells in the ipsilateral SI. The forelimb representation in SI in one hemisphere was mapped using mechanical and electrical stimulation of the contralateral forelimb, a homotopic site was similarly identified in the opposite SI, the presence of ipsilateral peripheral input was tested in both homotopic sites, and ICMS was used to establish an interhemispheric connection between the two homotopic recording sites. The major findings are: (1) each homotopic forelimb site in SI initially received short latency input only from the contralateral forelimb; (2) homotopic sites in layer V in each SI were interconnected by a callosal pathway; (3) ICMSr delivered to layer V of the homotopic SI in one hemisphere generally increased evoked response spike firing in layer V in the opposite homotopic site; (4) increased spike firing was often followed by the expression of a longer latency normally ineffective input from the ipsilateral forelimb; (5) these longer latency ipsilateral responses are consistent with a delay time sufficient to account for travel across the callosal pathway; (6) increased spike firing and the resulting ipsilateral peripheral input were also corroborated using in-vivo intracellular recording; and (7) inactivation of the stimulating site in SI by lidocaine injection or local surface cooling abolished the ipsilateral response, suggesting that the ipsilateral response was very likely relayed across the callosal pathway. These results suggest that repetitive microstimulation can do more than expand receptive fields in the territory adjacent to the stimulating electrode but in addition can also alter receptive fields in homotopic sites in the opposite SI to bring about the expression of previously ineffective input from the ipsilateral forelimb.
A Practical Methodology for Improving the Aging-Friendliness of Communities: Case Studies from Three U.S. Communities.

Background and Objectives In this paper, we present a series of three case studies to illustrate an innovative and practical approach to improving the aging-friendliness of communities. These three communities used the AdvantAge Initiative to "listen" to the voices of older adults in their communities and to identify and prioritize aging-related issues. This approach was developed by the Center for Home Care Policy and Research at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), the largest not-for-profit home health care organization in the United States, and has been implemented in over 60 communities throughout the United States. The methodology involves tools such as conceptual frameworks, survey questionnaires, focus groups, and technical assistance to help stakeholders interpret data and find solutions to identified issues. Research Design and Methods We interviewed VNSNY program staff and community partners involved in three AdvantAge Initiative projects that commenced at varying time points: Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee (2012); New York City's Chinatown neighborhood (2006); and the state of Indiana (2008). We also collected and reviewed secondary materials associated with these projects (e.g., meeting notes from community planning meetings, annual reports from grant recipients, press coverage). Results In this case study, we begin by providing an overview of the AdvantAge Initiative framework and the AdvantAge Initiative key indicators. We then present a more in-depth look at the three communities and how they approached and implemented the AdvantAge Initiative. Discussion and Implications These case studies demonstrate that this methodology may be implemented in diverse communities and geographic locations. By looking at the longer-term outcomes and by comparing the strategies employed by each community, we see that communities, regardless of size, can bring stakeholders together to promote health and implement meaningful changes that make the community a better place to live for older adults and their families.
The diagnosis and treatment of anorectal malformation associated with Hirschsprung's disease

Objective To analyze the clinical features of anorectal malformation (ARM) associated with Hirschsprung's disease(HD) in children. Methods The clinical data of 6 cases with ARM association with HD from January 2004 to April 2008 in this institute were retrospectively analyzed. The age of patients ranged from 8 months to 11 years with the mean age of 4. 1 years, and the gender ratio of males to females was 1:5. All patients still had symptoms of abdominal distention and constipation after anoplasty. Barium enema showed the existence of dilation of rectum in all cases, in which only 2 had a typical sign of spastic and transitional zones. Further anorectal manometries showed absence of anorectal inhibitory reflex in all cases. Four cases underwent the transabdominal Soave procedure, while the other 2 cases received the transanal Soave procedure. All patients were followed up for 2 months to 2 years. Results The aganglionosis was confirmed in the resected distal bowel by pathological diagnosis in all cases. Immunohistochemical staining for protease D in the proximal segments showed positive results while negative in the distal segments. All patients got excellent anal function. Conclusions In patients with ARM, especially in those who still had constipation after anoplasty, the possibility of associated with HD should be taken into consideration. The excellent results can be gained in those patients by Soave procedure. Key words: Anus, abnormalities; Rectum, abnormalities ; Hirschsprung disease
School formation characteristics and stimuli based modeling of Tetra fish.

Self-organizing motion is an important yet inadequately understood phenomena in the field of collective behavior. For birds flocks, insect swarms, and fish schools, group behavior can provide a mechanism for defense against predators, better foraging and mating capabilities and increased hydro/aerodynamic efficiency in long-distance migration events. Although collective motion has received much scientific attention, more work is required to model and understand the mechanisms responsible for school initiation and formation, and information transfer within these groups. Here we investigate schooling of Black Tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) fish triggered by startle stimuli in the form of approaching objects. High-speed video and tagging techniques were used to track the school and individual members. We then measured several variables including reaction times, group formation shapes, fish velocity, group density, and leadership within the group. These data reveal three things: 1) information propagates through the group as a wave, indicating that each fish is not reacting individually to the stimulus, 2) the time taken for information to transfer across the group is independent of group density, and 3) information propagates across large groups faster than would be expected if the fish were simply responding to the motion of their nearest neighbor. A model was then built wherein simulated fish have a simple `stimuli/escape' vector based on a hypothetical field of vision. The model was used to simulate a group of individual fish with initial conditions, size, and stimuli similar to the biological experiments. The model revealed similar behavior to the biological experiments and provide insights into the observed patterns, response times, and wave speeds.
U.S. Companies in Transition Economies: Wealth Effects from Expansion between 1987 and 1999

This study uses a unique sample to evaluate changes in shareholder wealth from announcements of expansion by US firms into 18 transition economies, through four entry modes, from 1987 to 1999. On average, expansion in transition economies is associated with significant positive wealth effects. Results show that value creation is most significantly associated with expansion through less risky entry modes into host countries that are in the more advanced stages of market liberalization and structural reform. Sample firms with lower profitability also experience significantly higher abnormal returns, while significant value creation documented for firms entering transition economies in 1989, 1990, and 1992 suggests first-mover advantages.