cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Severity of White Matter Hyperintensities and Effects on All-Cause Mortality in the Mayo Clinic Florida Familial Cerebrovascular Diseases Registry

Abstract Objective To compare all-cause mortality rates across the severity range of white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Patients and Methods Between October 26, 2010, and October 5, 2017, the ongoing Mayo Clinic Florida Familial Cerebrovascular Diseases Registry prospectively enrolled 1011 diverse participants with and without cerebrovascular disease. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was used to evaluate WMH in 455 participants using the Fazekas scale. Fazekas deep WMH (FD) and periventricular WMH (FPV) scores (0-3 points) were assigned on the basis of WMH severity. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses, Cox proportional hazards models, and estimated hazard ratios compared survival rates across FD and FPV categories. The Fisher exact and χ2 tests evaluated the relationship of categorical variables, and the Kruskal-Wallis test measured the relationship of continuous variables across FD and FPV categories. All tests were performed at a P Results Over a median follow-up of 3.06 years (range, 0.00-6.96 years), 96 deaths occurred. Higher FD scores corresponded to a higher likelihood of mortality (P Conclusion Associations between all-cause mortality rates across the severity range of WMH were observed in the Registry. Further studies are warranted to understand the clinical importance of WMH in other clinical populations.
Extortion Committed by a Group of Persons by Previous Concert: Features and Peculiarities of Qualification

In the article, the authors consider such a qualifying sign as extortion of someone else's property, committed by a group of persons by previous concert. Extortion has become a common crime among all offenses in the context of the country's economic reforms, impoverishment of a part of the population against the global economic crisis, which predetermined the need for deep scientific analysis of extortion, its criminal-legal characteristics, consideration of controversial issues of qualification of this crime. The signs of the joint commission of this crime are considered. In the course of the study, it was concluded that, for the qualification of extortion on the grounds of committing it by previous concert by a group of persons, there might be cases of cooperation and other activities related to the distribution of roles of persons involved in committing a crime. In the process of studying the opinions of leading scientists in the field of criminal law and criminology, the authors highlighted the main directions of scientific research on the problem. Taking as a basis the study of theoretical and methodological issues and criminal legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan, and based on the results of scientific research of domestic and foreign scholars-jurists, the authors fully considered the issue of the commission of extortion on qualifying signs, namely by a group of persons by previous concert. In addition, as a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion about the urgency and necessity of further development of theoretical aspects of extortion. According to the authors, the scientific development of the theoretical aspects of the problem will further improve the criminal legislation and develop an effective system of measures aimed at preventing this type of crime.
One-pot preparation of (RSe)2CF2 and (RS)2CF2 compounds via insertion of TMSCF3-derived difluorocarbene into diselenides and disulfides

Abstract A method for the first direct insertion of difluorcarbene, generated from TMSCF3, into diselenides and disulfides is disclosed, producing novel difluoromethyl diselenoacetals and difluoromethyl dithioacetals. The reaction conditions tolerate a range of synthetically useful and biologically relevant functional groups. The process is scalable, with two representative compounds prepared at a gram-scale in good yields, and it utilizes cheap and available reagents.
Direct Ink Writing of Graphene-Based Solutions for Gas Sensing

In the energy industry, there is a great need for novel low-cost gas-sensing solutions. This is particularly true for shale gas operations where there is a need to monitor both performance and comp...
Three year experience of a clinical cardiovascular genetics program for infants with congenital heart disease.

OBJECTIVE To describe the first 3 years of experience of having an inpatient "cardiogenetics" program which involves medical geneticist assessment of infants with major congenital heart disease (CHD) requiring surgical intervention in the first year of life. PATIENTS Patients less than a year of age admitted to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin's Herma Heart Institute for surgical intervention for CHD seen by the cardiogenetics program. Patients with major trisomies (13, 18, and 21) were excluded. OUTCOME MEASURES Utilization and yield of genetic testing, and diagnostic rate were assessed as outcome measures and compared to a baseline time period and a genetic testing protocol time period. RESULTS There were 201 infants with CHD evaluated by the cardiogenetics program over 3 years. A total of patients 46 patients of the 196 who underwent genetic testing had multiple tests completed. This is a significant decrease from the baseline (247/329, P < .0001) and from the genetic testing protocol (29/81, P < .0387) time periods. The diagnostic rate was 33% which is significantly increased compared to the baseline rate of 15% (80/524, P < .0001) and trends toward a significant increase during the testing protocol rate (25/113, P = .0520). The number of dual diagnosis increased to 9 of 201 compared to the baseline (2/524) and the genetic testing protocol (1/113) time periods. The rate of incidental diagnoses altering care increased to 6 of 201 from the baseline (1/524) and the genetic testing protocol (1/113) time periods. CONCLUSION An inpatient cardiogenetics program significantly increases the diagnostic rate, the detection of complex phenotypes with dual diagnoses, the identification of incidental genetic diagnoses associated with changes in care, and significantly decreases the likelihood of multiple tests being completed on an individual patient. Increased medical geneticist involvement in programs that care for infants with CHD should be encouraged to improve patient care and genetic testing utilization.
Integrating Curriculum and Community Spaces

Curriculum is a key resource that the vast majority of teachers utilize, yet authentic connections to children’s everyday experiences are not necessarily straightforward with curriculum materials. Because curriculum materials have a direct influence on teachers’ instruction, we must prepare teachers to analyze curriculum in ways that enable integration of connections to children’s everyday experiences and knowledge. In this chapter, we present a case study of a trio of prospective teachers who used a curriculum analysis tool to analyze curriculum materials. In using this resource, they considered how materials might be drawing on children’s everyday mathematical experiences and knowledge. We examine how this tool supported prospective teachers’ curricular noticing, meaning how prospective teachers attended to particular curricular features, interpreted those features, and then made decisions to draw upon such features to design instruction. The prospective teachers recognized opportunities for connections in the materials to the extent that they often seemed to foreground the focus on communities with the mathematics in the background. Additionally, they recognized instances when more could have been included in the materials to form connections between the mathematics and students’ lives and experiences. Finally, the prospective teachers made adaptations based on the materials in ways they considered would improve the lesson. Given the outcomes of this case, we argue for opportunities for prospective teachers to analyze curriculum materials with an eye toward mathematical community resources.
Stability analysis of a fractional-order vector-bias model on malaria transmission

In this paper, a fractional-order vector-bias model on malaria transmission is presented and analyzed. First, the basic reproduction number R 0 and the existence of equilibria are obtained. Further, the stability of the disease free equilibrium points and endemic equilibrium points are investigated. Then, Hopf bifurcation are proposed by choosing the fractional-order q 1 as the bifurcation parameter. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to illustrate our theoretical results.
Seeking frequent episodes in baseline data of In-Situ Decommissioning (ISD) Sensor Network Test Bed with temporal data mining tools

Abstract Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has established an In-Situ Decommissioning (ISD) Sensor Network Test Bed—a unique, small scale, and configurable environment— for the assessment of prospective sensors on actual ISD system at minimal cost. The temporal data mining (TDM) technique can be employed to process the extensive data collected by the ISD sensors well because these data are time-specific, age-specific, and development stage-specific. This paper analyzed the baseline data collected by ISD Sensor Network Test Bed in recent years with the assistant of TDM algorithms to work out frequency episodes in the event stream. The results have confirmed that TDM techniques are effective tools to validate ISD performance, and the frequent episodes found in the data stream not only showed the daily cycle of the sensor responses, but also established the response sequences of different types of sensors, which was verified by the actual experimental setup. Some abnormal patterns may have the potential for prediction of system failures.
Qualitative Assessment of Rapid System Transformation to Primary Care Video Visits at an Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic spurred health systems across the world to quickly shift from in-person visits to safer video visits. OBJECTIVE: To seek stakeholder perspectives on video visits' acceptability and effect 3 weeks after near-total transition to video visits. DESIGN: Semistructured qualitative interviews. SETTING: 6 Stanford general primary care and express care clinics at 6 northern California sites, with 81 providers, 123 staff, and 97 614 patient visits in 2019. PARTICIPANTS: 53 program participants (overlapping roles as medical providers [n = 20], medical assistants [n = 16], nurses [n = 4], technologists [n = 4], and administrators [n = 13]) were interviewed about video visit transition and challenges. INTERVENTION: In 3 weeks, express care and primary care video visits increased from less than 10% to greater than 80% and from less than 10% to greater than 75%, respectively. New video visit providers received video visit training and care quality feedback. New system workflows were created to accommodate the new visit method. MEASUREMENTS: 9 faculty, trained in qualitative research methods, conducted 53 stakeholder interviews in 4 days using purposeful (administrators and technologists) and convenience (medical assistant, nurses, and providers) sampling. A rapid qualitative analytic approach for thematic analysis was used. RESULTS: The analysis revealed 12 themes, including Pandemic as Catalyst; Joy in Medicine; Safety in Medicine; Slipping Through the Cracks; My Role, Redefined; and The New Normal. Themes were analyzed using the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to identify critical issues for continued program utilization. LIMITATIONS: Evaluation was done immediately after deployment. Although viewpoints may have evolved later, immediate evaluation allowed for prompt program changes and identified broader issues to address for program sustainability. CONCLUSION: After pandemic-related systems transformation at Stanford, critical issues to sustain video visit long-term viability were identified. Specifically, technology ease of use must improve and support multiparty videoconferencing. Providers should be able to care for their patients, regardless of geography. Providers need decision-making support with virtual examination training and home-based patient diagnostics. Finally, ongoing video visit reimbursement should be commensurate with value to the patients' health and well-being. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Stanford Department of Medicine and Stanford Health Care.
Mycobacterium septicum: a 6-Year Clinical Experience from a Tertiary Hospital and Reference Laboratory.

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium septicum is a rarely identified nontuberculous mycobacterium capable of causing infections in both healthy and immunocompromised individuals. Only a few cases of M. septicum infections have been reported, which makes recognizing corresponding clinical disease more challenging for clinicians. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles for this organism are not well described, and corresponding optimal therapeutic regimens have not been established. We report a tertiary care center’s experience with M. septicum from 2014 to 2020. Twelve adult patients with positive cultures for M. septicum were identified. Most cases were identified from sputum samples of individuals with underlying lung disease. Most cases involving M. septicum isolation in culture were not felt to be clinically significant. Two cases were considered possible infections, while only one case was considered a definite infection that required antimicrobial treatment. All M. septicum isolates were susceptible in vitro to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, imipenem, linezolid, moxifloxacin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Isolates were universally resistant to clarithromycin and doxycycline. The isolation of M. septicum in culture is uncommon and requires clinical correlation to determine its clinical relevance and need for treatment. Susceptibility testing should be performed to guide therapy.
Black-White Disparities in Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health Index and Their Associations with Self-rated Health and Functional Limitations in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND To characterize cumulative risk scores of social and behavioral determinants of health (SDoH) and examine their association with self-rated general health and functional limitations between non-Hispanic black and white older adults in the United States. METHOD We used data from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), with a nationally representative sample of black and white adults aged 65 or older (n = 954 unweighted). We quantified the cumulative risk scores of SDoH (eg, food insecurity, education and poverty), ranging from 0 (no risk at all) to 8 (highest risk), and used multivariable-adjusted logistic and Poisson regression analyses to assess the association of SDoH by racial group with self-rated health and functional limitations, adjusting for other covariates. RESULTS Black older adults had a higher mean cumulative risk score than white counterparts (2.3 ± 2.1 vs 1.5 ± 1.0; p < .001). Black older adults were more likely to report lower self-rated health than white older adults in each of SDoH domains (p < .01 for each). In multivariable-adjusted analyses, black older adults were more likely to report lower self-rated health than white older adults (p < .01 for all) regardless of SDoH risk factors. However, those with high SDoH risk factors (ie, ≥3 risk factors) were more likely to report functional limitations than those in the low-risk group (ie, <3 risk factors) in both racial groups (p < .01 for all). CONCLUSION SDoH-related black-white disparities remain persistent in older age. In particular, SDoH index scores for black and white older adults were differentially associated with functional limitations. Addressing SDoH should be an important consideration in reducing gaps in black-white disparities of functioning.
A xenophilic perspective of social entrepreneurship

Abstract Social entrepreneurship has grown as an established field of inquiry, accompanied by growth in both academic and practice. In this paper, we offer a novel perspective on why some social entrepreneurs venture for foreigners. We employ xenophilia, a love of foreigners, to explain why some people care for foreigners by venturing for them. We conceptualize that religious and social class logics influence a xenophilic perspective of foreigners. We also analyze how xenophilia can have a darker side, particularly in social entrepreneurship. Our arguments and analysis allow us to provoke future research questions and offer practical implications.
Biomolecular corona formation on CuO nanoparticles in plant xylem fluid

Biomolecular coatings (coronas) that form on nanomaterials have been widely investigated in animal and bacterial cell culture and in the extracellular and intracellular fluids of animals. Such coronas influence the distribution of nanoparticles within organisms, their uptake by cells, and their storage in intracellular compartments. Plants can be exposed to nanoparticles via either intentional application of nanomaterials in agriculture or inadvertently due, for example, to biosolids amendment of soils. Development of a mechanistic understanding of nanoparticle transport and fate within plants requires consideration of corona acquisition within plants, particularly within the vascular fluids that transport nanoparticles throughout plants. Here, we examine the interactions between copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles and pumpkin xylem fluid to understand corona formation in an important part of the plant vasculature system. We used CuO nanoparticles because they have emerged as a promising micronutrient source for the suppression of fungal diseases. The corona was composed primarily of proteins, despite the higher abundance of carbohydrates in xylem fluid. We used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to determine the thickness of the protein corona. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that protein binding to the CuO nanoparticle surface was selective; the most abundant proteins in the corona were not the most abundant ones in the xylem fluid. We used in situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to show that the protein–CuO NP interactions were quasi-irreversible, while carbohydrate–CuO interactions were reversible. Corona formation is expected to influence the distribution and transformation of nanomaterials in plants.
Communication in Organizations

Communication is one of the most challenging yet important tasks that any organization undertakes. Communication allows employees to learn about organizational goals, share ideas, and develop plans. However, organizational messages are only useful if they are received and understood by the intended audience. This chapter explores the communication process, from identifying the intended audience, choosing the proper communication channel, and delivering the message so that it can be understood. This chapter also explores the challenges for lower-tier employees in getting their messages to upper administration.
“Twixt earth and ocean”: Standish O’Grady, water, and history

This essay will explore some of the ways in which Standish O’Grady’s literary works, in particular his histories and his books for children, can be read through a series of liquid, and coastal, per...
Exploring the Impact of Age and Relationship Status on Heterosexual Men’s Discussion of Sexuality

This study focused on heterosexual men’s attitudes and behaviors related to discussion of sexuality. Exploration of men’s discussion of sexuality is important because talking about sex can contribute to sexual subjectivity and build intimacy in sexual relationships. Comfort talking about sex, particularly with women partners, can also enhance communication regarding sexual issues. Heterosexually-identifying U.S. resident men (N = 742), ages 18–49, participated in an online study. Men answered questions about how often they discuss sex, who they discuss sex with, and their comfort level talking about sex. Findings indicated that men ages 18–29 discussed sex more often with other men than men ages 30–49. Also, men who are dating or engaged are significantly more likely to talk with both men and women about sex than men who are not in a relationship. These findings highlight that age and relationship status impact discussion of sexuality.
The Evolution of Financial Services in the Digital Age

This chapter provides an overview of how digital technologies are transforming the financial services landscape. We highlight the latest in digital financial product and service offerings related to payments and transfers, savings and investments, borrowing, and risk management. We then consider how digitalization is impacting the delivery of financial advice-including virtual advisors, robo-and hybrid advisors, and personal finance communities. While many of these digital innovations were underway prior to COVID-19, the pandemic accelerated the transition raising concerns that some individuals and families may be at risk of being excluded from financial services due to growing socioeconomic and digital divides. We look at barriers to access and usage and emphasize the need for digital financial literacy. Legal and regulatory challenges are also examined. Particular attention is given to recent efforts by regulatory and supervisory authorities to balance innovation and competition with consumer protection. The insights from this chapter provide a useful starting place for scholars and practitioners who are interested in exploring in greater detail how digital technologies are impacting the financial services industry.
To Use or Not to Use—ERP Resistance is the Question: The Roles of Tacit Knowledge and Complexity

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in business environments demand multidisciplinary understanding and collaboration between functional departments. The traditional educational paradigm isolates the learning of each functional discipline as if business people operated in functional isolation. ERP system value can only be realized by collaborating across business functions. Integral to the success of ERP use is the tacit or unconscious understanding of the concepts underlying business processes and the dynamic interplay of collaborating business functions. Resistance to ERP systems often occur due to the high complexity of these business processes. This study describes an experiment in ERP based on an immersive experiential learning environment using the leading commercial ERP system to create a realistic and dynamic business situation. Multidisciplinary knowledge is measured by multiple methods of self-reported and knowledge structure assessment. Survey measures of both declarative and tacit knowledge are used to assess student learning, and standard measures assess perceived resistance to ERP use. Results show perceived complexity to be a parsimonious predictor of resistance to ERP use. Findings further support the importance of assessing tacit knowledge (gained from conceptual experiential learning), and demonstrates avenues to create a highly effective multidisciplinary learning program.
Evolution of the Neutral Gas and Metal Content of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems

Surveys for damped Lyα absorption systems indicate that the neutral gas content of the universe increases with redshift at z 3.3 places restrictions on various models for structure formation. The metal content of the damped Lyα systems is discussed. Accurate spectra obtained with the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck 10 m telescope are used to obtain accurate metallicities of damped Lyα systems for the first time. The small sample reveals a wide range of metallicities. The kinematic structure of the gas is consistent with a thick, rapidly rotating disk.
Multidimensional scaling analysis of head-related transfer functions

Accurate rendering of auditory objects in a virtual auditory display depends on signal processing that is based on detailed measurements of the human free-field to eardrum transfer function (HRTF). The performance of an auditory display can be severely compromised if the HRTF measurements are not made individually, for each potential user. This requirement could sharply limit the practical application of auditory display technology. Thus, we have been working to develop a standard set of HRTFs that could be used to synthesize veridical virtual auditory objects for all users. Our latest effort along those lines has involved a feature analysis of HRTFs from 15 listeners who demonstrated high proficiency localizing virtual sources. The primary objectives were to quantify the differences among HRTFs, to identify listeners with similar and different HRTFs, and to test the localizability of virtual sources synthesized from the HRTFs of an individual with closely and not closely matched HRTFs. We used a multidimensional scaling algorithm, a statistical procedure which assesses the similarity of a set of objects and/or individuals, to analyze the HRTFs of the 15 listeners. Listeners with similar HRTFs were identified and their ability to localize virtual sources synthesized from the HRTFs of a "similar" listener was evaluated. All listeners were able to localize accurately. When these same listeners were tested with virtual sources synthesized from HRTFs that were identified to be "different" by the MDS analysis. Both azimuth and elevation of virtual sources were judged less accurately. Although we were able to identify "typical" listeners from the MDS analysis, our preliminary data suggest that several alternative sets of HRTFs may be necessary to produce a usable auditory display system. >
Why do symbiotic copepods matter

Currently, less than 10% of the members of the World Association of Copepodologists are working actively on symbiotic copepods. This surprisingly small guild of workers is thought to result from a general lack of understanding of the importance of symbiotic copepods. Symbiotic copepods as a whole comprise more than one-third (4224/11956 or 35.33%) of known copepods. They are found not only in the five major orders of Copepoda (Calanoida, Harpacticoida, Cyclopoida, Poecilostomatoida and Siphonostomatoida), but also in association with all major phyla of marine animals, ranging from sponges up to mammals (cetaceans). Discussion on these subjects is augmented with information on the impact of symbiotic copepods on aquaculture, and their exhibition of unusual biological phenomena. It is concluded that copepodologists today need to pay more attention to the symbiotic copepods, if copepodology is to become a major subject of modern biological sciences.
Induction of Dimorphism in the Basidiomycete Lenzites saepiaria

Sugars can serve as the germinant for basidiospores of the wood-rotting fungus Lenzites saepiaria. Hexoses sterilized by autoclaving were better germinants than hexoses that were sterilized by filtration. The degradation products in heated hexose which were responsible for the stimulation of germination were levulinic and formic acid. Another product of hexose degradation, hydroxymethyl furfural, had a marked effect on outgrowth of L. saepiaria basidiospores and on the development of mycelia. Basidiospores that germinated in the presence of hydroxymethyl furfural yielded large rounded bodies that, in some cases, developed as a chain of yeastlike cells. Addition of hydroxymethyl furfural to developing mycelia resulted in the production of chains of round yeastlike structures. Similar results were obtained by treating basidiospores or mycelia with phenethyl alcohol.
Property Outlaws in Cyberspace and Meatspace? Examining the Relationship between Online Peer Production and Support for Private Property Violations

Marxian theory has long viewed the institution of private property as central to labour exploitation. After all, private property laws allow those who control the means of production to expropriate surplus value from the dispossessed. An analogous relationship arguably defines life on the Internet, where users are forced to venture onto privately owned digital enclosures to access key services. Yet these online property relationships are anything but settled and uncontested. Outside the digital enclosures of Apple and Google, the Internet has fostered the development of “commons-based peer production”, where key resources (e.g. software) are produced without anyone claiming exclusive property rights. In fact, some scholars have argued that the rise of peer production on the web has begun to re-shape popular attitudes concerning the legitimacy of property exclusions more broadly. In short, as we become “property outlaws” on the web, we come to question the inevitability and legitimacy of private property elsewhere in life. This paper explores this hypothesis by reporting data from a survey of Internet users at an East Coast university. Are users who engage in more peer production activities on the web also more likely to approve of “property outlaw” behaviours not just in the online context, but in the offline world as well (e.g. squatting)? The data provide only partial support for the hypothesis: active online peer producers were indeed more likely to support violations of intangible (intellectual) properties, but not violations of tangible or “real-world” properties.
Black walnut allelopathy: current state of the science

Allelopathy, generally defined as any direct or indirect effect by one plant species on another through the production of chemical compounds that are released to the environment [1, 2, 3], has important widespread implications in natural communities and in artificial plant assemblages such as agriculture, horticulture, and forestry [2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Allelopathic influences may be subtle in natural communities, but they can be more pronounced in artificial communities among plant species whose evolutionary history is seldom connected. Black walnut (Juglans nigra), a tree species often cited as an example of allelopathy, is one of the most valuable hardwood timber species in the United States. It is often found in natural forests and grown in plantations. Anecdotal stories abound of the allelopathic effects of black walnut on associated vegetation, dating back to the first century A.D. [9]. Our knowledge base of black walnut allelopathy has increased steadily over the last two decades, allowing us to distinguish between myths and science. This chapter examines the different facets of black walnut allelopathy in the light of recent advances in chemical ecology.
The virtual mail system

The paper discusses a virtual mail system. V-mail is designed to be used in the CAVE virtual environment. The participants' mail messages and the ongoing modifications of the VE are maintained by a central server. V-mail's user interface is embodied in a virtual friend or pet that follows the participant as he/she interacts with the VE.
Foucauldian hog futures: The birth of mega-hog farms

The development of mega-hog farms is a contentious topic throughout the United States that has garnered a lot of attention in the past five years. This article examines the construction of mega-hog...
Developing microprocessor based expert models for instrument interpretation

We describe a scheme for developing expert interpretive systems and transferring them to a microprocessor environment The scheme has been successfully implemented and tested by producing a program for interpreting results from a widely used medical laboratory instrument a scanning densitometer Specialists in the field of serum protein electrophoresis analysis provided the knowledge needed to build an interpretive model using EXPERT, a general production rule system for developing consultation models By constraining a few of the structures used in the general model it was possible to develop procedures for automatically translating the model to a specialized application program and then to a microprocessor assembly language program Thus, the model development can take place on a large machine, using established techniques for capturing and conveniently updating expert knowledge structures, while the final interpretive program can be targeted to a microprocessor depending on the application Our experience in carrying out the complete process illustrates many of the requirements involved in taking an expert system from its early development phase to actual implementation and use in a real world application.
Nurse practitioner attitudes and treatment practices for childhood overweight: How do rural and urban practitioners differ?

Purpose: Pediatric overweight and obesity has become an epidemic problem of our nation. Nurse practitioners (NPs) are exposed to overweight pediatric patients on a regular basis. The purpose of this study was to investigate NP attitudes toward pediatric overweight and obesity and explore their current diagnosis and treatment practices. Differences between rural and urban NPs were also investigated. Data sources: Survey data were gathered from 1088 family and pediatric NPs from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners member list randomly. Only family and pediatric NPs were included in the sample. Conclusions: NPs in the sample believed that pediatric overweight and obesity are problems in need of treatment, but also reported not assessing and diagnosing the condition per current guidelines. Initiation of treatment was reported at very low rates. Rural NPs reported having fewer referral resources than urban NPs. Implications for practice: NPs are in an ideal position to properly assess, diagnose, and treat pediatric overweight and obesity. The findings suggest that more education on these topics is necessary for NPs. Rural NPs reported fewer referral services, and may need to have more knowledge about how to provide obesity treatment services in their own practice settings due to this disparity.
Preventing and Controlling Cancer in North America: A Cross‐Cultural Perspective; Evaluating Alternative Cancer Therapies: A Guide to the Science and Politics of an Emerging Medical Field

Preventing and Controlling Cancer in North America:. Cross-Cultural Perspective. Diane Weiner. ed. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1999. xvii. 245 pp. Evaluating Alternative Cancer Therapies:. Guide to the Science and Politics of an Emerging Medical Field. David J. Hess. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1999. xxi. 260 pp.
THE TECUMSEH STUDY OF RESPIRATORY ILLNESS VII. FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS AND MYCOPLASMA PNEUMONIAE INFECTIONS

The occurrence of infection with respiratory syncytial (RS) virus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae was determined over a 6-year period among residents of Tecumseh, Michigan by isolation and serology. RS virus infection was detected for a variable time each year during the months extending from November to May. There was little viral activity in intervals between these periods of prevalence, which occurred on an alternating short-long cycle. Higher infection rates were detected in periods preceding the long interval than were detected in periods preceding the short interval. Viruses isolated from serial annual outbreaks did not show any sequential changes in antigens, although some variation in antigenic structure was apparent. Infections were common in school-age children, indicating the role of this population in transmission. Young girls were infected as often as young boys, suggesting that observed differences in occurrence of illness must be related to differences in expression of infection. In contrast to RS virus, M. pneumoniae did not appear and disappear annually, but like it, the school-age group was most heavily involved in infection.
Social-Psychological Harmonic Oscillators in the Self-Regulation of Organizations and Systems: The Physics of Conservation of Information (COI)

Using computational intelligence, our ultimate goal is to self-regulate systems composed of humans, machines and robots. Self-regulation is important for the control of mixed organizations and systems. An overview of self-regulation for organizations and systems, characterized by our solution of the tradeoffs between Fourier pairs of Gaussian distributions that affect decision-making differently, is provided. A mathematical outline of our solution and a sketch of future plans are provided.
SAEM Training Grants: Hoping Prior Performance Indicates Future Results

Abstract : Career development awards for new investigators from foundations, specialty societies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other organizations have been considered critical to developing independent researchers. These grants provide awardees salary support (thus protected time) for research training and supervised research and ensure that they receive mentorship from accomplished researchers. This experience then provides the foundation for awardees to successfully compete for larger research grants (such as NIH R awards) and achieve research independence as recognized experts in their fields. The NIH and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) support this model and fund a career development award (K award) portfolio that has awarded over $8 billion since 1957.1 In the early 1990s, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) sought to reduce the challenges faced by emergency physician-scientists who aim to become independent researchers and to advance the science of emergency medicine (EM).2 SAEM funded several training grants and specifically established the Research Training Grant (1998) and the Institutional Research Training Grant (2002) as the flagship opportunities. Now funded by the SAEM Foundation, these grants are thought to be important initial opportunities for new investigators who desire to successfully compete for NIH and AHRQ K awards. However, the evidence for the value of these awards has been limited to a description of the trajectory of SAEM grant recipients. 3 The Society had intended for the SAEM grants to prepare EM researchers to apply for K awards, just as the K awards prepare researchers to compete for and receive NIH independent research grants (R01).
Growth factor regulation of smooth muscle actin expression and contraction of human articular chondrocytes and meniscal cells in a collagen-GAG matrix

Recent work has demonstrated that human articular chondrocytes and meniscus cells can express the gene for a contractile actin isoform, alpha-smooth muscle actin (SMA), in vivo. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of two growth factors, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB, on the SMA content of these cells and their contraction of a collagen-glycosaminoglycan (GAG) analog of extracellular matrix in vitro. TGF-beta1 was found to markedly increase SMA content of the cells and PDGF-BB decreased SMA expression, with both findings achieving statistical significance. A notable finding was the increased contraction of the collagen-GAG matrix induced by TGF-beta1 and the decrease in contraction resulting from PDGF-BB treatment, indicating a causal relationship between expression of SMA and the contractility of the cells. A novel cell force monitor, employed to estimate the force exerted per cell, demonstrated a higher force exerted by the TGF-beta1-treated cells. The findings demonstrate that the expression of SMA by articular chondrocytes and meniscal cells and their associated contractile behavior can be regulated by selected growth factors. This work provides a foundation for the rational investigation of the mechanisms underlying SMA-enabled contraction of these cell types and the control of this behavior in tissue engineering.
Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction: Docking Technique

The management of patellar instability has advanced with an improved understanding of the critical role of the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL), along with the development of novel techniques for ligament reconstruction. The docking technique for MPFL reconstruction offers several technical advantages, including anatomically accurate reconstruction, ease of confirmation of graft isometry, and simplicity of graft tensioning and fixation. Biomechanically, the femoral fixation provides a combined interference screw and suture anchor construct. Imbrication of the vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) and medial retinaculum contributes additional dynamic support to the medial soft-tissue reconstruction. The docking technique offers a simplified and accurate approach to MPFL reconstruction, with consistently favorable postoperative results in the management of patellar instability.
On the origin of the typological/population distinction in Ernst Mayr’s changing views of species, 1942–1959

Abstract Ernst Mayr’s typological/population distinction is a conceptual thread that runs throughout much of his work in systematics, evolutionary biology, and the history and philosophy of biology. Mayr himself claims that typological thinking originated in the philosophy of Plato and that population thinking was first introduced by Charles Darwin and field naturalists. A more proximate origin of the typological/population thinking, however, is found in Mayr’s own work on species. This paper traces the antecedents of the typological/population distinction by detailing Mayr’s changing views of species between 1942 and 1955. During this period, Mayr struggles to refine the biological species concept in the face of tensions that exist between studying species locally and studying them as geographically distributed collections of variable populations. The typological/population distinction is first formulated in 1955, when Mayr generalizes from the type concept versus the population concept in taxonomy to typological versus population thinking in biology more generally. Mayr’s appeal to the more general distinction between typological and population thinking coincides with the waning status of natural history and evolutionary biology that occurs in the early 1950s and the distinction plays an important role in Mayr’s efforts to legitimate the natural historical sciences.
Identifying content for planned events across social media sites

User-contributed Web data contains rich and diverse information about a variety of events in the physical world, such as shows, festivals, conferences and more. This information ranges from known event features (e.g., title, time, location) posted on event aggregation platforms (e.g., Last.fm events, EventBrite, Facebook events) to discussions and reactions related to events shared on different social media sites (e.g., Twitter, YouTube, Flickr). In this paper, we focus on the challenge of automatically identifying user-contributed content for events that are planned and, therefore, known in advance, across different social media sites. We mine event aggregation platforms to extract event features, which are often noisy or missing. We use these features to develop query formulation strategies for retrieving content associated with an event on different social media sites. Further, we explore ways in which event content identified on one social media site can be used to retrieve additional relevant event content on other social media sites. We apply our strategies to a large set of user-contributed events, and analyze their effectiveness in retrieving relevant event content from Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr.
Equation of state and metallization of neon.

The linear combination of Gaussian-type orbitals technique is used to study the bulk properties, equation of state, and metallization pressure of Ne using the Kohn-Sham-Gaspar local-density approximation to density-functional theory. Unlike previous non-muffin-tin calculations for Ne, the present results are obtained for enough values of the lattice parameter to allow a careful determination of the equilibrium lattice constant, binding energy, and bulk modulus. Although the properties of Ne for pressures up to about 3 Mbar are in qualitative agreement with prior results, there are quantitative differences. In particular, as has been found in Li and Fe, the non-muffin-tin lattice constant is contracted relative to the muffin-tin result. The metallization pressure of Ne is determined to be 1.34 Gbar at a lattice constant of 2.32 a.u. as opposed to an earlier augmented plane wave prediction of 1.58 Gbar at 2.256 a.u. An explanation is given for what has been referred to as the ``anomalously'' large metallization pressure of Ne.
Possible Futures: E-Reserves, Decentralization, and Collaboration

E-Reserves is a library support service that was conceived as a strategic, decentralized response to changes occurring in curricular resource formats during the 1990s. It is a service that has since become ubiquitous in academic libraries and one that is presently facing a crisis spurred by shifts in user culture, e-learning environments, and modes of scholarship production. Challenges facing E-Reserve services are compounded by a professional culture of isolation and by the absence of best practices and internal assessment measures that can serve as effective rubrics to measure changes or test the efficacy of current service models. This analysis of the history of E-Reserve services and evaluation of curricular support needs of faculty and students sheds light on the current crisis and envisions possible futures for the service. The article advocates for a move toward hybrid and iterative service models and highlights the importance of collaboration and outreach to ensure the future viability of E-Reserv...
Cloud pattern and water relations in Picea rubens and Abies fraseri, southern Appalachian Mountains, USA

Abstract The spruce-fir [Picea rubens Sarg.-Abies fraseri (Pursh) Poir.] forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains are considered refugial, endangered communities that exist on only seven mountaintop areas in Virginia and North Carolina, USA. These relict forests continue to be threatened by stress factors such as logging, acid rain deposition, attacks from invasive insects, and climate change. It has been suggested that these communities have persisted because of frequent cloudiness and periods of cloud immersion (fog), although few studies have examined corresponding effects on microclimate and tree ecophysiology. Incident sunlight (PPFD), air temperature, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and xylem water potentials were measured throughout the summer growing season in Mount Mitchell State Park, NC (35°45′53″N, 82°15′54″W), along with continuous camera recordings of the forest canopy and accompanying cloud conditions. Approximately 60% of all summer days had at least 2 h of cloud immersion with the large majority (80.3%) of immersion events occurring during morning hours. Cloud-immersed days had the greatest reduction in cumulative daily PPFD compared to clear days (11.09 mol m−2 day−1 vs. 38.03 mol m−2 day−1, respectively), as well as substantially reduced mean VPD (0.98 kPa vs. 1.81 kPa) but only slightly lower mean air temperatures (14.5 °C vs. 14.9 °C, respectively). Moreover, xylem water potential (Ψ) increased significantly (∼0.2 MPa; values) from morning to afternoon on cloud-immersed days. In contrast, clear days showed no afternoon recovery in Ψ, but a continued decrease during the afternoon. Juvenile Ψ was more responsive to daily cloud regime compared to adult Ψ and had a strong negative correlation with vapor pressure deficit. When all measurement days were sorted by the cloud pattern of the previous day, there was a strong response in juveniles trees, i.e. Ψ increased following previous afternoon cloud-immersion. Juveniles of both species also had greater seasonal decreases in Ψ than adults (P. rubens, adult: 0.05 MPa, juvenile: 0.13 MPa; A. fraseri, adult: 0.06 MPa, juvenile: 0.20 Mpa). For climate change models that predict a higher cloud base (resulting in less immersion) and dryer conditions, the water relations of Abies fraseri and Picea rubens could be substantially and negatively influenced.