cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Construct dimensionality of engagement and its relation with satisfaction.

Engagement—a persistent and positive affective-motivational state of fulfillment characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption (W. B. Schaufeli, M. Salanova, V. Gonzalez-Roma, & A. B. Bakker, 2002)—has become a popular subject among academic and industry researchers. Following suggestions in the recent literature calling for further examination of the underlying factors comprising the construct of engagement, the authors investigated the factor structure of W. B. Schaufeli et al.'s measure of engagement and academic engagement's relation to academic satisfaction. Previous researchers found a 3-factor structure of engagement that comprises vigor, dedication, and absorption. The authors administered to a sample of university students a questionnaire on their level of engagement in academic work and various other measures. The results did not confirm the 3-factor structure. The present authors found engagement and satisfaction to be highly related constructs.
End-to-end priority cell discarding analysis for ATM networks

The end-to-end cell discarding behavior of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) telecommunication networks is considered. Cell discarding is performed in priority fashion by a nested threshold mechanism. Extensions to a previous single-queue analysis that allow the calculations of end-to-end discarding probabilities for each priority are presented. A computer tool based on this analysis, called DANTE (for discarding analysis in a network telecommunications environment) is described. It facilitates the calculation of end-to-end discarding probabilities for very general network topologies. This tool is used to generate sample results, illustrating important issues in designing networks to meet cell loss objectives. The computational efficiency of the computer-aided analytical tool is compared with that of simulation techniques. The presence of bursty traffic (not modeled here) is likely to change the cell discarding results quantitatively, but not the design issues identified herein. >
Birth cohort patterns of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer among non-whites in the USA

Background The aim of this study was to follow the long-term trends of mortality from gastric cancer, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer in the USA. It was hypothesised that the time trends among different ethnic groups would be shaped by similar birth cohort patterns. Methods The US ulcer and cancer data were available from 1923 to 2006 and 1930 to 2006, respectively. Age-specific death rates were calculated for consecutive 10-year periods and 10-year age groups, stratified by sex and race. They were plotted against the period of death as period-age contours and against the period of birth as cohort-age contours. The time trends were also summarised as standardised cohort mortality ratios. Results The occurrence of birth cohort patterns with an initial rise and a subsequent decline was observed in gastric cancer and both ulcer types. It occurred similarly in white and non-white population, as well as men and women. In all ethnic groups alike, the initial rise in mortality from gastric cancer and gastric ulcer preceded the rise of duodenal ulcer by 10–20 years. The two time lags between gastric cancer and gastric ulcer and between gastric and duodenal ulcer were most pronounced in white patients. In non-white patients, the rise of gastric cancer occurred later than in white patients and coincided with that of gastric ulcer. The initial rise in mortality from gastric cancer was more evident in non-white than in white patients. Conclusion The birth cohort pattern has shaped the time trends of Helicobacter pylori -related disease similarly among different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Its cause remains unknown and warrants further investigation.
Between colonial racism and global capitalism: Japanese repatriates from northeast China since 1946

A decline in imperial power is not necessarily accompanied by "an equal and concomitant decline in racial ideas and ideologies" (Rich 1990:1). In this article, I examine this thesis in the context of contemporary Japan, which lost its empire with its unconditional surrender to the Allied powers in 1945. The protagonists of this article are the Japanese farmers who colonized northeast China during Japan's imperial expansion. Although the former colonists have been repatriating to Japan since 1946, their "Japaneseness" in postcolonial Japan has been contested not only by the Japanese state but also by the repatriates themselves. In contemporary Japan, the returning colonists are joined by an increasing number of Chinese immigrants, whom Japanese mainstream society identifies as "economic refugees." On the basis of long-term ethnographic research, I follow two generations of repatriates from China to Japan. I argue that to understand a resurgence of racism against Chinese immigrants in contemporary Japan, one should not only investigate the identity politics of the repatriates but also historicize such politics through repatriates' memories.
The structure and content of telephonic scripts found useful in a medicaid chronic disease management program

In 2003, the Indiana Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning launched the Indiana Chronic Disease Management Program (ICDMP), a programme intended to improve the health and healthcare utilization of 15,000 Aged, Blind and Disabled Medicaid members living with diabetes and/or congestive heart failure in Indiana. Within ICDMP, programme components derived from the Chronic Care Model and education based on an integrated theoretical framework were utilized to create a telephonic care management intervention that was delivered by trained, non-clinical Care Managers (CMs) working under the supervision of a Registered Nurse. CMs utilized computer-assisted health education scripts to address clinically important topics, including medication adherence, diet, exercise and prevention of disease-specific complications. Employing reflective listening techniques, barriers to optimal self-management were assessed and members were encouraged to engage in health-improving actions. ICDMP evaluation results suggest that this low-intensity telephonic intervention shifted utilization and lowered costs. We discuss this patient-centred method for motivating behaviour change, the theoretical constructs underlying the scripts and the branched-logic format that makes them suitable to use as a computer-based application. Our aim is to share these public-domain materials with other programmes.
Efficient signal proportional allocation (ESPA) mechanisms: decentralized social welfare maximization for divisible resources

We address the problem of devising efficient decentralized allocation mechanisms for a divisible resource, which is critical to many technological domains such as traffic management on the Internet and bandwidth allocation to agents in ad hoc wireless networks. We introduce a class of efficient signal proportional allocation (ESPA) mechanisms that yields an allocation which maximizes social welfare with minimal signaling and computational requirements for the resource. Revenue limits for this class are obtained and a sequence of schemes that approach these limits arbitrarily closely are given. We also present a locally stable negotiation scheme applicable to the entire class and illustrate efficiency and revenue properties through simulation.
Fluoroscopy-induced chronic radiation dermatitis (FICRD) after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm endoleak repair.

Fluoroscopy use has increased recently because of the growing use of minimally invasive surgical procedures. Fluoroscopy, and other procedures using radiation exposure, can induce acute and chronic skin damage. Diagnosis of fluoroscopy-induced chronic radiation dermatitis (FICRD) is challenging as patients are sometimes unaware of exposure to radiation and presentation often occurs after months or years.1, 2 Early recognition is important to optimize both therapy and surveillance for radiation-induced malignancies.1 We present a case of a 72-year-old man with a greater than 1-year history of a nonhealing ulcer on the back. He had a history of endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair with subsequent endoleak repairs, which required intraoperative use of fluoroscopy.
Using Tablets to Collect Data From Young Children

Mobile, touch-screen devices are increasingly ubiquitous in children’s lives. The extensive use of such devices presents an exciting opportunity for data collection. We describe a simple method for creating cross-platform, interactive tablet experiments using open Web-based resources. We illustrate this method by collecting data from 1- to 4-year-old children in a word-recognition paradigm, using 3 different techniques: tablets, eye tracking, and an in-person storybook paradigm. Both accuracy and reaction-time data from the tablet compared favorably with the other methods. Tablets should be considered as a viable method for collecting low-cost, well-controlled developmental data.
Effect of naloxone and ibuprofen on organ blood flow during endotoxic shock in pig

The effects of an opiate antagonist naloxone and a cyclooxygenase inhibitor ibuprofen on organ blood flow during endotoxic shock were evaluated in a fluid-resuscitated porcine endotoxic shock model. Radiolabeled microspheres were used to measure regional blood flow. Escherichia coli endotoxin (0.1 mg/kg), infused intravenously over 40 min, reduced mean arterial blood pressure to 50 mmHg and systemic vascular resistance to 57% of control without affecting cardiac output. Endotoxin reduced blood flow to cerebrum (to 49% of control), kidney (to 25% of control), spleen, and skeletal muscle, while blood flow to left ventricle, stomach, and small and large intestines were unaffected. Sixty minutes after endotoxin administration, animals were randomized to one of three groups. Group I animals were controls and received no drug, group II animals received ibuprofen (12.5 mg/kg iv), and group III animals received naloxone (2 mg/kg iv) 60 min after endotoxin. Ibuprofen increased mean arterial blood pressure to 80 mmHg and increased blood flow to both cerebrum (to 92% of control) and kidney (to 47% of control). Plasma levels of thromboxane B2 and 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha were increased 8- and 16-fold, respectively, after endotoxin, and both were decreased by ibuprofen. Naloxone increased mean arterial blood pressure to 62 mmHg but had no effect on regional blood flow or plasma cyclooxygenase metabolite levels. These data suggest that cyclooxygenase metabolites may contribute to decreased mean arterial blood pressure and reduced organ blood flow during endotoxic shock in the pig.
Destruction of Wave Energy by Vertical Walls

Summary of different methods of destroying or affecting wave energy such as diffraction, refraction, reflection, breaking, resonance, friction, permeability, special hydraulic arrangements as stilling basins and berms, and air entrainment.
Research review: use of activated clotting time to monitor heparin therapy in coronary patients

Successful management of patients after coronary angioplasty requires careful monitoring of the coagulation status in order to titrate heparin therapy and prevent thrombosis or bleeding. Traditionally, the activated partial thromboplastin time was used to monitor heparin therapy. Recently, however, use of activated clotting time is gaining more support because it can be performed at the bedside and is cost-effective. This article reviews the research on the use of activated clotting time in titrating heparin therapy in angioplasty patients. Although the literature supports the use of activated clotting time in angioplasty, limitations of the studies and the different methodologies used preclude generalization of results. More research is needed to confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of the activated clotting time in monitoring heparin therapy.
Myosin ATPase activity of muskrat, guinea pig and rat hearts

Determination des taux d'ATPase et de l'activite de la citrate synthase dans le cœur chez le rat et comparaison avec les resultats obtenus chez le rat musque ou chez le cobaye
French Caribbean Territories

French urbanism in the Caribbean is unique in one respect. With the exception of Haiti, the territories discussed in this chapter are integral parts of France. Therefore, the introduction of French planning models in the region is not completely French urbanism in foreign lands. Yet, there is no denying that territories in the region are culturally and socio-economically different from administrative divisions in mainland France. This chapter discusses the unique nature of France’s relation with these overseas dependencies and the various mechanisms that the French state has employed to diffuse French planning models to the region.
Interaction of Fibrin with the Very Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor: Further Characterization and Localization of the Fibrin-Binding Site.

Our recent study revealed that fibrin interacts with the very low density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) on endothelial cells through its βN domains, and this interaction promotes transendothelial migration of leukocytes and thereby inflammation. The major aims of this study were to further characterize this interaction and localize the fibrin-binding site in the VLDLR. To localize the fibrin-binding site, we expressed a soluble extracellular portion of this receptor, sVLDLRHT, its N- and C-terminal regions, VLDLR(1–8)HT and des(1–8)VLDLRHT, respectively, and a number of VLDLR fragments containing various combinations of CR domains and confirmed their proper folding by fluorescence spectroscopy. Interaction of these fragments with the (β15–66)2 fragment corresponding to a pair of VLDLR-binding βN domains of fibrin was tested by different methods. Our experiments performed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and surface plasmon resonance revealed that the VLDLR(1–8)HT fragment containing eight CR domains...
Decision Errors and Accidents Applying Naturalistic Decision Making to Accident Investigations

When faced with dynamic and often ill-structured situations, experienced decision makers can quickly recognize and respond to the situations they encounter, a process referred to as naturalistic decision making. Naturalistic decision-making research has addressed decision-making errors in complex systems, including those that have resulted in accidents, and explained the decision making that led to the errors. Although much research has been suggested by accident investigations, little has been written about how accident investigators apply naturalistic decision-making research to decision-making errors in the accidents they investigate. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the contribution of naturalistic decision making to accident investigation by describing how investigators explicated decision making in an accident that lacked much of the data that investigators and researchers have typically depended on to examine errors and determine accident causation.
Improving Social and Environmental Performance in Global Supply Chains

The rise of global supply chains has delivered many benefits for consumers and firms. Yet concurrently, social, environmental, and ethical problems have arisen and continue to persist, despite government, private sector, and nongovernmental efforts to address them. What are effective methods for global firms, or buyers, to gain an understanding of problems in the supply chain and to address them? We examine strategies using a sense and response framework, and find various approaches within this framework to be associated with improved performance. In particular, research suggests that using a collaborative, proactive approach with suppliers and providing meaningful incentives can be effective. There exists an opportunity to cascade these efforts to second tier suppliers and beyond, where some of the greatest impacts and opportunities to affect change lie. In this chapter, we discuss supply chain practices associated with improved social, environmental, and in several cases, economic performance. We discuss how leading firms are building upon compliance programs, which remain important, to increase their emphasis on building shared value for various actors along the supply chain.
Lateral Heat Transfer in Cryogenic Multilayer Insulation

In recent years, the increasing demand in the application of cryogenic multilayer insulation has stimulated considerable interest in the study of its heat transfer characteristics. While the mechanisms and analysis for the heat transfer normal to the layers are well developed and understood [1–3], there still exists some uncertainty in the basic understanding of lateral heat transfer characteristics, despite many recent investigations [4–10]. This uncertainty is due largely to the analytical complexity of lateral conduction-radiation interaction and the experimental difficulty in obtaining definitive measurements. The present paper examines existing theories and measurements in an attempt to clarify and improve the current understanding. New analytical interpretations and experimental data are also presented, and earlier measurements by other investigators are analyzed.
Derivatives of the Lp-cosine transform

Abstract The L p -cosine transform of an even, continuous function f∈C e ( S n−1 ) is defined by H(x)= ∫ S n−1 |〈x,ξ〉| p f(ξ) dξ, x∈ R n . It is shown that if p is not an even integer then all partial derivatives of even order of H ( x ) up to order p +1 (including p +1 if p is an odd integer) exist and are continuous everywhere in R n ⧹{0} . As a result of the corresponding differentiation formula, we show that if f is a positive bounded function and p >1 then H 1/ p is a support function of a convex body whose boundary has everywhere positive Gauss–Kronecker curvature.
INCREASING THE GENERATIVITY OF IDENTITY-BASED PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING ARBITRARY CONDITIONAL RELATIONS

Previous studies have shown that conditional discrimination training procedures involving identity matching to complex samples can produce emergent arbitrary relations. Identity-based training with complex stimuli therefore may be a valuable procedure for efficiently generating large networks of stimulus relations. The present study was an attempt to increase the yield of emergent relations from identity-based procedures by (a) including an extra (cross-modal) stimulus among the elements of the complex sample that was not implicated directly in the experimental contingencies and (b) including this extra stimulus in overlapping stimulus sets to promote the merger of separately trained classes. Identity-based relations were taught in the format of ABCD-X, in which Stimuli A, B, and C were visual symbols presented as a compound, D was an auditory stimulus presented simultaneously with the ABC compound, and X was a correct comparison stimulus identical to A, B, or C. Four 4-member stimulus classes emerged from this training, and pairs of classes sharing an auditory stimulus (D) subsequently merged to form two 7-member classes. The training of 12 identity-based relations produced 72 untrained arbitrary relations. This yield rivals that expected from stimulus equivalence procedures involving arbitrary-matching training and thus provides encouragement for the extension of identity-based procedures in the field of stimulus equivalence.
Impact of Stress and Strain on Current LGBT Health Disparities

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience chronic stress, or “minority stress,” that increases the risk of developing poor psychological, physical, and behavioral health outcomes. In addition to demonstrating the multifaceted impact of minority stress on health, recent research has outlined underlying psychological mechanisms by which stigma-related stressors are associated with negative health outcomes. To date, however, little is known about these underlying physiological mechanisms or how stress biomarkers may function clinically to mediate/moderate the relationship between stigma and health outcomes among LGBT individuals. One biomarker, the stress hormone cortisol, is believed to play an important role in the experience of minority stress. When individuals experience chronic stress, as in the experience of minority stress, cortisol exerts significant strain on multiple biological systems known as allostatic load. This chapter aims to provide healthcare providers with an understanding of allostatic load and the mechanisms underlying its impact on interconnected biological systems in the context of a growing body of research addressing the psychological and behavioral effects of minority stress experienced by LGBT individuals. Also outlined are implications for public policy reform and community advocacy, as well as strategies healthcare providers can use to help LGBT clients manage the effects of minority stress and foster resilience.
Continuous arterial and venous blood gas monitoring during cardiopulmonary bypass

A new monitoring technique, based on optical fluorescence chemistry, allows continuous monitoring of all blood gas variables during cardiopulmonary bypass. To evaluate the clinical performance of this monitor, we drew 220 arterial and 216 venous blood samples from 15 patients, and simultaneous blood gas values displayed by the monitor were compared with standard laboratory measurements. The continuous monitor predicted laboratory values with varying degrees of accuracy. (R2 values by linear regression: arterial oxygen tension 0.86, venous oxygen tension 0.36, arterial carbon dioxide tension 0.58, venous carbon dioxide tension 0.72, arterial pH 0.53, venous pH 0.58; p
A Call to Arms: Embrace Assistive AI Systems!

A quarter-century ago Web search stormed the world: within a few years the Web search box became a standard tool of daily life ready to satisfy informational, transactional, and navigational queries needed for some task completion. However, two recent trends are dramatically changing the box»s role: first, the explosive spread of smartphones brings significant computational resources literally into the pockets of billions of users; second, recent technological advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, and in particular in speech processing led to the wide deployment of assistive AI systems, culminating in personal digital assistants. Along the way, the "Web search box" has become an "assistance request box" (implicit, in the case of voice-activated assistants) and likewise, many other information processing systems (e.g. e-mail, navigation, personal search, etc) have adopted assistive aspects. Formally, the assistive systems can be viewed as a selection process within a base set of alternatives driven by some user input. The output is either one alternative or a smaller set of alternatives, maybe subject to future selection. Hence, classic IR is a particular instance of this formulation, where the input is a textual query and the selection process is relevance ranking over the corpus. In increasing order of selection capabilities, assistive systems can be classified into three categories: Subordinate : systems where the selection is fully specified by the request; if this results in a singleton the system provides it, otherwise the system provides a random alternative from the result set. Therefore, the challenge for subordinate systems consists only in the correct interpretation of the user request (e.g., weather information, simple personal schedule management, a "play jazz" request). Conducive : systems that reduce the set of alternatives to a smaller set, possibly via an interactive process (e.g. the classic ten blue links, the three "smart replies" in Gmail, interactive recommendations, etc). Decisive : systems that make all necessary decisions to reach the desired goal (in other words, select a single alternative from the set of possibilities) including resolving ambiguities and other substantive decisions without further input from the user (e.g., typical translation systems, self-driving cars). The main goal of this talk is to examine these developments and to urge the WSDM community to increase its focus on assistive AI solutions that are becoming pertinent to a wide variety of information processing problems. I will mostly present ideas and work in progress, and there will be many more open questions than definitive answers.
Retrograde perfusion through superior vena cava reaches the brain during circulatory arrest

Background: The optimal technique for brain perfusion during circulatory arrest remains controversial. Concern exists that retrograde cerebral perfusion (RCP) via the superior vena cava (SVC) is unable to perfuse the brain. We evaluated whether RCP blood circulates through the brain parenchyma in humans during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). We hypothesized that a significant difference in the levels of S-100β (a protein with very high neuro-sensitivity) between the blood infused in the SVC and the effluent blood returning in the left carotid artery (CA) during RCP, should be regarded as a sign of the circulation of RCP blood through the brain parenchyma. Methods: We enrolled 10 non-consecutive patients undergoing elective arch-surgery using DHCA and RCP. Circulating S-100β levels were measured at baseline and immediately before DHCA. During DHCA and RCP the difference in S-100β between the SVC and the CA was evaluated after 10 minutes of arrest and immediately before resumption of the circulation. S-100β levels were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Mean DHCA duration was 22.4±7.9 minutes. Mean S-100β level at baseline was 92.5±54.9 µg/L. After 10 minutes of DHCA the level of S-100β in the CA was significantly higher than in the SVC (936.9±326.3 vs . 810.9±307.4 µg/L, P=0.0021). This difference was enhanced at the second DHCA sample (1113.8±334.2 vs . 920.5±340.0 µg/L, P=0.0002). There was a statistically significant correlation between the duration of DHCA and the percent difference in S-100β level between the SVC and the CA (Pearson’s correlation coefficient =0.902). Conclusions: RCP is able to perfuse the brain parenchyma in humans during DHCA.
The Balanced Scorecard and Class Success: A Classroom Exercise for Developing Awareness of the Challenges to Successful Balanced Scorecard Implementation

This paper presents a description and discussion of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) classroom project that has been used to enhance student understanding of the development and validation of a BSC. The project requires students to develop a BSC to be utilized in monitoring academic success in a cost accounting class. The students are required to identify strategies, develop measures, create a strategy map and collect data associated with their BSC for academic success. Students are then required to evaluate the BSC based on data collected and offer explanations related to the strengths and weaknesses of the BSC that has been developed. The project results in students increased understanding of the complexities associated with the development of a BSC and the role of a strategy map in BSC design and validation.
Selection of earthquake records for the non-uniform excitation of bridges

Abstract Currently, there is no research effort on the efficient selection of earthquake records for the non-uniform excitation of bridges. The present investigation addresses this topic. Initially, the physics of the bridge response to asynchronous seismic excitations are illustrated. Next, two basic criteria are presented to provide insight into the selection of reference ground motions for the simulation of asynchronous excitations. The first criterion is the ratio of the zero-crossings of the reference ground displacement time series (n) to the total duration of the ground shaking (t), which can be evaluated by visual inspection of the displacement time series, and the second is the peak ground displacement. The former criterion is an indicator of the degree of sensitivity of the simulated displacement time series at various separation distances to the loss of coherency, and the numerical results of the present study indicate that the simulated waveforms of earthquake displacements with n/t greater than unity are highly dependent on coherency, i.e. become significantly modified by coherency, and, consequently, are more crucial for the pseudo-static response of bridges subjected to asynchronous seismic excitations. The latter criterion is also directly related to the magnitude of the pseudo-static force induced in the bridge structure. Finally, a brief discussion on the selection strategy of earthquake records for the seismic assessment of bridges is provided.
The Role of Glycine-Arginine-Alpha-Ketoisocaproic Acid in Sports Nutrition

Abstract Athletic performance enhancement studies published from independent academic laboratories have collectively established that GAKIC—the alpha-ketoisocaproic acid salt of l -arginine and glycine—benefits skeletal muscle anaerobic dynamic performance in three arenas: (1) high-volume weight training; (2) cycle ergometer–based training; and (3) exhaustive isokinetic dynamometry–guided isolated quadriceps training. The array of metabolic pathways manifesting the effects of GAKIC provides the athlete with a useful strategic performance time frame that fills the gap created after endogenous creatine stores have been immediately spent in a burst and before the long-range aerobic energetics of sodium-dependent carbohydrate rehydration. GAKIC mitigates muscle fatigue onset and force attenuation experienced during high-intensity training, translating its usefulness to long-term bodybuilding benefits.
GPipe: Efficient Training of Giant Neural Networks using Pipeline Parallelism

Scaling up deep neural network capacity has been known as an effective approach to improving model quality for several different machine learning tasks. In many cases, increasing model capacity beyond the memory limit of a single accelerator has required developing special algorithms or infrastructure. These solutions are often architecture-specific and do not transfer to other tasks. To address the need for efficient and task-independent model parallelism, we introduce GPipe, a pipeline parallelism library that allows scaling any network that can be expressed as a sequence of layers. By pipelining different sub-sequences of layers on separate accelerators, GPipe provides the flexibility of scaling a variety of different networks to gigantic sizes efficiently. Moreover, GPipe utilizes a novel batch-splitting pipelining algorithm, resulting in almost linear speedup when a model is partitioned across multiple accelerators. We demonstrate the advantages of GPipe by training large-scale neural networks on two different tasks with distinct network architectures: (i) Image Classification: We train a 557-million-parameter AmoebaNet model and attain a top-1 accuracy of 84.4% on ImageNet-2012, (ii) Multilingual Neural Machine Translation: We train a single 6-billion-parameter, 128-layer Transformer model on a corpus spanning over 100 languages and achieve better quality than all bilingual models.
Trump and Twitter 2.0

When I began my editorship, I wanted to create a special forum for my first issue in which a variety of scholars, at different points in their careers, contributed short pieces on their next resear...
Resonant Control based Frequency Domain Compensation for Single-Phase Boost PFC Converter

The single-phase boost power factor correction (PFC) converter serves as the fundamental energy conversion unit to convert the electrical energy from the ac form, which is delivered by the utility grid, to the electrical energy in dc form, which is accepted by a variety of consumer electronics circuits. In this paper, a resonant controller based compensation method is proposed and verified. The method enables boost PFC converter to reduce the amount of harmonic current it draws from the input ac side when there exist harmonic distortions in the ac side input voltage. The proposed method could reduce the need for the centralized active harmonic filters, especially for small scale power grid that has tight harmonic requirements. Experimental result is documented, and it shows the effectiveness by using the proposed control method.
Room Temperature Highly Efficient Topological Insulator/Mo/CoFeB Spin-Orbit Torque Memory with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

Spin-orbit torque (SOT)-MRAM is a promising candidate for future nonvolatile memory technology. Finding materials that have large SOT efficiency $(\xi_{\text{DL}})$ is critical for developing the SOT-MRAM. Topological insulators (TIs) have been shown to exhibit giant $\xi_{\text{DL}}$ (>1) at room temperature. However, integration of high $\xi_{\text{DL}}$ TIs with CoFeB with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at room temperature (RT) has not been achieved. In this work, we demonstrate a record-high $\xi_{\text{DL}}$ (∼2.66) in the (BiSb) 2 Te 3 with PMA CoFeB and achieve magnetization switching with TI current density as low as $3\times 10^{9}\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{m}^{2}$ at RT. For the first time, we propose to insert a light metal spacer between TI and CoFeB to achieve resistance matching and thus reduce write energy. We show that without insertion, TI/CoFeB show in-plane magnetic anisotropy but TIs show high $\xi_{\text{DL}}$ , consistent with previous reports. We then insert a Mo spacer to achieve PMA at RT. We accurately determine the $\xi_{\text{DL}}$ using both second harmonic method and MOKE for the first time. We investigate the SOT-driven switching and discover a memristor-like behavior in the TI/Mo/CoFeB.
The Impact of Food Safety Training on the Adoption of Good Agricultural Practices on Farms

Abstract Consumer demand for organic produce has been growing over the past decade, leading to a significant increase in the amount of organic produce grown in the United States. Organic produce is still subject to food safety risks, so all growers should understand the importance of produce safety and how to implement risk reduction practices such as Good Agricultural Practices on their farms. Based on National Organic Program requirements that often include restrictions on certain inputs and the small size of most organic farms, organic growers face unique challenges when adopting these risk reduction practices. Food safety educators should address these specific challenges, as well as provide practical production-based solutions, when developing food safety training programs in an effort to effect change. The most effective food safety training programs address the overlap between production goals and food safety goals while incorporating a technical assistance component to the in-person training.
Postabortion Care in Humanitarian Emergencies: Improving Treatment and Reducing Recurrence.

BACKGROUND Unsafe abortion contributes to maternal mortality worldwide and disproportionately affects the most disadvantaged women and girls; thus, improving the treatment of complications of abortion is essential. Shifting PAC treatment from sharp dilation and curettage (DC assurance of supplies and infrastructure; community collaboration and mobilization; and monitoring and evaluation. METHODS Program-level data were extracted for each of the 3 countries from the inception of their program through 2017. The sources of information included monthly service delivery reports that tracked key PAC indicators as well as qualitative data from evaluations of community mobilization activities. RESULTS The number of PAC clients increased in all countries. In the DRC in 2012, 19% of PAC clients requiring treatment received DC in 2017 the percentage was reduced to 3%. In 2013, 25% of all PAC clients in Yemen were treated with DC this percentage was reduced to 3% in 2017. The proportion of women choosing contraception after an abortion increased. In 2012, only 42% of all PAC clients in the DRC chose a contraceptive method; by 2017, the proportion had increased to 70%. Somalia had substantial increases in PAC demand, with the percentage of all PAC clients electing contraception increasing from 64% in 2012 to 82% in 2017. In Yemen, where the health system has been constrained due to severe conflict, the percentage of PAC clients choosing voluntary contraception rose from 17% in 2013 to 38% in 2017. Uptake and demand for PAC was mobilized through targeted community outreach in each context. CONCLUSION These data demonstrate that providers can effectively shift away from D&C as treatment for PAC and that contraceptive uptake by PAC clients can increase substantially, even in settings where the use of contraception after abortion is often stigmatized.
A Real-Time Optimal Eco-driving Approach for Autonomous Vehicles Crossing Multiple Signalized Intersections* This work was supported in part by NSF under grants ECCS-1509084, IIP-1430145, and CNS-1645681, by AFOSR under grant FA9550-12-1-0113, by ARPA-E‘s NEXTCAR program under grant DE-AR0000796, and by Bosch and the MathWorks.

This paper develops a methodology for obtaining an optimal acceleration/speed profile for a single autonomous vehicle crossing multiple signalized intersections without stopping in free flow mode. We aim to minimize an objective function that involves a trade-off between travel time and energy consumption of autonomous vehicles. Our design approach differs from most existing approaches based on numerical calculations: it begins with identifying the structure of the optimal acceleration profile and then showing that it is characterized by several parameters, which are used for design optimization. Therefore, the infinite dimensional optimal control problem is transformed into a finite dimensional parametric optimization problem, which enables a real-time online analytical solution. We include simulation results to show quantitatively the advantages of considering multiple intersections jointly rather than dealing with them individually. Based on mild assumptions, the optimal eco-driving algorithm is readily extended to include interferlna traffic.
Rare Occurrence of Prosthetic Knee Septic Arthritis Due to Streptococcus viridans in the Background of a Dental Procedure.

The American Academy of Oral Medicine, American Dental Association (ADA), in conjunction with the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, advises against the universal use of antimicrobial prophylaxis prior to dental procedures for the prevention of prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Here, we discuss the case of a patient with PJI in the background of periodontal scaling, which was done a week prior to presentation to the hospital. The PJI occurred with Streptococcus (S.) viridans, a rare organism for PJI but a common oral commensal. As the number of prosthetic joint surgeries are increasing and more data become available, prophylactic antibiotics might be considered to prevent PJI, especially in high-risk patients.
Scalable Hermite-Gaussian mode-demultiplexing hybrids.

We propose a Hermite–Gaussian (HG) mode-demulti-plexing hybrid (MDH) for coherent detection of mode-division multiplexed signals. The MDH, which performs multiple functionalities, including demultiplexing, local oscillator splitting, and optical 90-deg mixing, is realized based on the multi-plane light conversion technique. An isosceles right triangle output layout is employed to reduce the number of phase masks to fewer than the number of modes, significantly simplifying the construction of the MDH. A 10-Hermite–Gaussian (HG) mode MDH with only five phase masks is demonstrated by numerical simulation, achieving an insertion loss (IL) and mode dependent loss as low as ${-}{2.3}$−2.3 and 1.7 dB, respectively. The IL was further reduced to ${-}{1.5}\;{\rm dB}$−1.5dB through optimization of MDH parameters, such as the beam waists of the input HG modes and the output spots.
Introducing Curricular and Pedagogical Resuscitation (CPR): A Black Approach to Reviving the Self and Collective through Social Studies

Social studies has been lagging in the race to gain classroom instructional time due to the impact of high-stakes testing in urban schools. Furthermore, social studies can be particularly uninteresting to Black students whose diverse sociocultural histories and perspectives remain diminished or absent. Therefore, this paper advances curricular and pedagogical resuscitation (CPR) as a renewed and continuing quest to properly address and privilege Black students and their lived experiences. Employing BlackCrit, we forward CPR as a more accurate, timely, and holistic social studies approach—addressing the body, spirit, and mind of our students.
The Relationship of COVID-19 Severity with Cardiovascular Disease and Its Traditional Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Whether cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its traditional risk factors predict severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is uncertain, in part, because of potential confounding by age and sex. Methods: We performed a systematic review of studies that explored pre-existing CVD and its traditional risk factors as risk factors of severe COVID-19 (defined as death, acute respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation, or intensive care unit admission). We searched PubMed and Embase for papers in English with original data (≥10 cases of severe COVID-19). Using random-effects models, we pooled relative risk (RR) estimates and conducted meta-regression analyses. Results: Of the 661 publications identified in our search, 25 papers met our inclusion criteria, with 76,638 COVID-19 patients including 11,766 severe cases. Older age was consistently associated with severe COVID-19 in all eight eligible studies, with RR >~5 in >60–65 versus Conclusions: Despite the potential for confounding, these results suggest that hypertension, diabetes, and CVD are independently associated with severe COVID-19 and, together with age and male sex, can be informative for predicting the risk of severe COVID-19.
Diesel exhaust impairs TREM2 to dysregulate neuroinflammation

Air pollution has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and the underlying neuroimmune mechanisms remain poorly understood. TREM2 is a myeloid cell membrane receptor that is a key regulator of disease-associated microglia (DAM) cells, where loss-of-function TREM2 mutations are associated with an increased risk of AD. At present, the basic function of TREM2 in neuroinflammation is a point of controversy. Further, the impact of air pollution on TREM2 and the DAM phenotype is largely unknown. Using diesel exhaust (DE) as a model of urban air pollution exposure, we sought to address its impact on TREM2 expression, the DAM phenotype, the association of microglia with the neurovasculature, and the role of TREM2 in DE-induced neuroinflammation. WYK rats were exposed for 4 weeks to DE (0, 50, 150, 500 μg/m3) by inhalation. DE particles (DEP) were administered intratracheally once (600 μg/mouse) or 8 times (100 μg/mouse) across 28 days to male mice (Trem2+/+, Trem2−/−, PHOX+/+, and PHOX−/−). Rats exposed to DE exhibited inverted-U patterns of Trem2 mRNA expression in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, while TREM2 protein was globally diminished, indicating impaired TREM2 expression. Analysis of DAM markers Cx3Cr1, Lyz2, and Lpl in the frontal cortex and hippocampus showed inverted-U patterns of expression as well, supporting dysregulation of the DAM phenotype. Further, microglial-vessel association decreased with DE inhalation in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanistically, intratracheal administration of DEP increased Tnf (TNFα), Ncf1 (p47PHOX), and Ncf2 (p67PHOX) mRNA expression in only Trem2+/+ mice, where Il1b (IL-1β) expression was elevated in only Trem2−/− mice, emphasizing an important role for TREM2 in DEP-induced neuroinflammation. Collectively, these findings reveal a novel role for TREM2 in how air pollution regulates neuroinflammation and provides much needed insight into the potential mechanisms linking urban air pollution to AD.
A randomized-controlled trial comparing liposomal bupivacaine, plain bupivacaine, and the mixture of liposomal bupivacaine and plain bupivacaine in transversus abdominus plane block for postoperative analgesia for open abdominal hysterectomies.

Transversus abdominus plane (TAP) blocks are widely used for postoperative analgesia for abdominal surgical procedures. The purpose of this study was to compare the analgesic efficacy of plain bupivacaine, liposomal bupivacaine, and the mixture of plain bupivacaine with liposomal bupivacaine when used in a TAP block. This study was a single centre, prospective, patient-, observer-, and surgeon-blinded, randomized-controlled trial in which 90 patients undergoing an open abdominal hysterectomy with a midline incision were randomized to receive a TAP block with plain bupivacaine (group bupivacaine), liposomal bupivacaine (group liposomal), or a mixture of liposomal bupivacaine and plain bupivacaine (group mixture). Primary outcomes included time to the first rescue opioid analgesic and total opioid consumption during the first 72 postoperative hours. Secondary outcomes included pain scores, patient satisfaction, incidence of hemodynamic instability, presence of local anesthetic systemic toxicity, and length of hospital stay. The median [interquartile range] time to first opioid was 51 [28–66] min in group bupivacaine, 63 [44–102] min in group liposomal, and 51 [24–84] min in group mixture (P = 0.20). The median [interquartile range] total opioid consumption in the first 72 postoperative hours was 208 [155–270] mg in group bupivacaine, 203 [153–283] mg in group liposomal, and 202 [116–325] mg in group mixture (P = 0.92). There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes between groups. In this small study at risk of being under-powered, the mixture of liposomal bupivacaine with plain bupivacaine for TAP block did not improve analgesia compared with either liposomal bupivacaine or plain bupivacaine on their own. www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03250507); registered 5 April 2017.
21-Deoxycortisol is a Screening Marker for 21-hydroxylase Deficiency

Objective (s): To assess whether 21-deoxycortisol (21deoxy) can be used to predict 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) in newborns and to evaluate the influence of gestational age and the timing of collection on 21-deoxycortisol concentrations which can impact screening specificity. Study design 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) and 21-deoxycortisol (21deoxy) were measured in 906 newborn screening specimens (851 unaffected newborns, 55 confirmed cases of 2OHD) to compare their ability to identify babies with 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Additionally, these two steroids were scrutinized in the unaffected cohort to determine the influence of gestational age (ranging from 23-42 weeks) and the timing of the measured concentrations. Results The gestational age of the newborn impacted both 17OHP and 21deoxy concentrations, but the degree of influence was more substantial for 17OHP. Timing of collection, however, did not affect 21deoxy concentrations. Additionally, 21deoxy was a better predictor of 21OHD status than 17OHP, with little overlap in concentrations between the unaffected population and confirmed cases of 21OHD. A streamlined decision tree using solely 21deoxy (cutoff values of 0.85 ng/ml), yielded a 91.7% positive predictive value for 21OHD screening. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that 21deoxy is a key disease marker of 21OHD and could be used to improve the accuracy of newborn screening for this disorder.
Case 65: A “Routine” MRI Case

Today you are scheduled to work with a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite. The patient is a 17-year-old boy (72 kg). He was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with acute transverse myelitis. He presented with acute and progressive bilateral leg weakness and bladder dysfunction. Since he suffered from severe claustrophobia, he underwent an MRI of his spine and head under propofol infusion. The propofol recovery was very delayed due to excessive somnolence. His vital signs remained stable. Otherwise, the procedure was uneventful. He was started on intravenous (IV) steroids and IV immunoglobulin. Now 3weeks after the onset, he is showing signs of neurological recovery. A repeat MRI is requested.