cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Permanent prostate brachytherapy pubic arch evaluation with diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging

Purpose Pubic arch interference (PAI), when it occurs, is often a limiting factor for patients pursuing brachytherapy treatment of prostate cancer. Pre-brachytherapy pubic arch evaluation is often performed by CT or transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), but MRI has increasingly replaced these modalities for prostate cancer evaluation. The purpose of this study was to determine if staging MRI could be used to evaluate PAI and compare it with these other imaging methods. Methods and Materials Forty-one consecutive patients undergoing brachytherapy evaluation had pelvic MRI-, CT-, and TRUS-based brachytherapy simulation. Pubic arch overlap on T2-weighted MRI and CT was determined by contouring the prostate gland on its largest axial slice and superimposing this contour onto the pubic arch bones. The largest degree of overlap of the prostate gland on MRI and CT was used to predict the existence of PAI as determined by TRUS-based simulation. The correlation between prostate contour overlap was also compared between MRI and CT. Results Nineteen patients (48%) exhibited PAI on TRUS brachytherapy simulation evaluation. The average (±standard error) amount of prostate contour overlap on the pubic arch on CT was 2.9 ± 0.6 mm and on MRI was 2.0 ± 0.6 mm (linear correlation, R, of 0.783, p < 0.001). CT and MRI were equally predictive of PAI on TRUS evaluation (area under the curve = 0.75). Conclusion Pre-brachytherapy pubic arch assessment with diagnostic MRI provides similar predictability of PAI compared with CT, potentially obviating the need for additional pre-brachytherapy CT in the setting of staging MRI.
Nurse and patient factors that influence nursing time in chest tube management early after open heart surgery: A descriptive, correlational study

Abstract Purpose Determine nurse characteristics and patient factors that affect nurses’ time in managing chest tubes in the first 24-hours of critical-care stay. Design Prospective, descriptive. Methods Cardiovascular critical-care nurses and post-operative heart surgery patients with chest tubes were enrolled from a single center in Ohio. Nurses completed case report forms about themselves, comfort and time in managing chest tubes, chest tube placement and management factors. Analysis included correlational and comparative statistics; Bonferroni corrections were applied, as appropriate. Results Of 29 nurses, 86.2% were very comfortable managing chest tubes and oozing/non-secure dressings, but only 41.4% were very comfortable managing clogged chest tubes. Of 364 patients, mean age was 63.1 (±12.3) years and 36% had previous heart surgery. Total minutes of chest tube management was higher with ≥ 3 chest tubes, tube size Conclusions Time to manage chest tubes can be anticipated by patient characteristics. Nurse comfort with chest tube-related tasks affected time spent on chest tube management.
Asymmetric Alkene and Arene Halofunctionalization Reactions in Meroterpenoid Biosynthesis

Meroterpenoid natural products are important bioactive molecules with broad distribution throughout nature. In Streptomyces bacteria, naphthoquinone-based meroterpenoids comprise a simple yet structurally fascinating group of natural product antibiotics that are enzymatically constructed through a series of asymmetric alkene and arene halofunctionalization reactions. This account article highlights our discovery and characterization of a group of vanadium-dependent chloroperoxidase enzymes that catalyze halogen-assisted cyclization and rearrangement reactions and have inspired biomimetic syntheses of numerous meroterpenoid natural products. 1 Introduction 2 Early Biosynthetic Insights and the Characterization of Alkene Halofunctionalization in Napyradiomycin Biosynthesis 3 Discovery of the Merochlorin Natural Products and Enzymatic Aryl Halofunctionalization 4 Discovery and Development of Unifying THN-Based Meroterpenoid Biosynthesis and Synthesis Approaches 5 Insights into Naphterpin and Marinone Biosynthesis Involving Cryptic Aryl Halofunctionalization Reactions 6 Closing Thoughts
Data analytics enables energy-efficiency and robustness: from mobile to manycores, datacenters, and networks (special session paper)

The amount of data generated and collected across computing platforms every day is not only enormous, but growing at an exponential rate. Advanced data analytics and machine-learning techniques have become increasingly essential to analyze and extract meaning from such "Big Data". These techniques can be very useful to detect patterns and trends to improve the operational behavior of computing platforms, but they also introduce a number of outstanding challenges: (1) How can we design and deploy data analytics and learning mechanisms to improve energy-efficiency in IoT and mobile devices, without introducing significant software overheads? (2) How to use machine learning and analytics techniques for effective designspace exploration during manycore chip design? (3) How can data analytics and learning improve the reliability and energy-efficiency of large-scale cloud datacenters, to cost-effectively support connected embedded and IoT platforms? (4) How can data analytics detect anomalies and increase robustness in the network backbone of emerging cloud datacenter networks? In this paper, we discuss these outstanding problems and describe far-reaching solutions applicable across the interconnected ecosystem of IoT and mobile devices, manycore chips, datacenters, and networks.
Anatomy and the Reconfiguration of Life and Death in Republican China

This article argues that the establishment of anatomo-power in China preceded and set the foundation for biopower. Anatomo-power is disciplinary power over live bodies in the military, schools, and hospitals, but also the power of the medical profession over dead bodies to investigate pathology through dissection. At the turn of the twentieth century, Chinese conceptions of political anatomy were used to advocate anatomical knowledge, and an anatomy law in 1913 made routinized dissection possible. Chinese society began to be transformed as old taboos were broken, and thousands of new terms allowed the scientific worldview to take root among professionals and the public. Anatomical researchers addressed both microscopic pathology to cure individuals and macroscopic questions that grouped individuals into a population to be managed, or that sought data to tell new narratives about the origins and future of humanity—a new political anatomy based on the practice of human dissection.
Patient reported dry mouth: Instrument comparison and model performance for correlation with quality of life in head and neck cancer survivors.

Abstract Purpose To identify a clinically meaningful cut-point for the single item dry mouth question of the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Head and Neck module (MDASI-HN). Methods Head and neck cancer survivors who had received radiation therapy (RT) completed the MDASI-HN, the University of Michigan Hospital Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ), and the health visual analog scale (VAS) of the EuroQol Five Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D). The Bayesian information criteria (BIC) were used to test the prediction power of each tool for EQ-5D VAS. The modified Breiman recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was used to identify a cut point of the MDASI-HN dry mouth score (MDASI-HN-DM) with EQ-5D VAS, using a ROC-based approach; regression analysis was used to confirm the threshold effect size. Results Two-hundred seven respondents formed the cohort. Median follow-up from the end of RT to questionnaire completion was 88 months. The single item MDASI-HN-DM score showed a linear relationship with the XQ composite score (ρ = 0.80, p Conclusion The single item MDASI-HN-DM correlated with the multi-item XQ and performed favorably in the prediction of QOL. A MDASI-HN-DM cut point of ≥6 correlated with decline in QOL.
Getting Around the Black Box: Teaching (Geophysical) Data Processing through GIS

It is argued that changes need to be made in how students are trained in contemporary computing environments. Focus is given to geophysical archaeology where knowledge of data processing is as important as understanding instrument handling in the field. While powerful and expensive commercial software programs are able to meet processing needs, it is suggested they are poorly suited for student training. In these icon-driven environments complex algorithms may be activated with a single click that requires little or no knowledge of what is actually done to the data yielding a “black box” approach to data processing. This situation contrasts with the days of pre-Windows computing when students often had to write their own code in a high-level computer language, forcing them to learn the intimate details of data processing. Such an approach is generally unacceptable today and may actually deter students from further study, yet an alternative software solution exists that can fulfill training needs. Graphically-driven modeling tools in GIS environments are available that offer diverse functionality, are easily learned, and permit most algorithms commonly applied in geophysical data processing to be constructed. Use of these tools requires complete understanding of necessary operations, their sequences and consequences. The end result is equivalent to a flowchart that shows in icon form all GIS layers input, output, and generated during intermediate steps, the various tools applied to manipulate the data, plus the full sequence of operations. In short, it is possible to teach students the art of data processing in an easy to learn and use graphical environment while imparting true knowledge of algorithms required to achieve desired outcomes. To substantiate these claims, case studies illustrate the processing of magnetic gradiometry and electrical resistance data from lateral surveys, GPR profiles in vertical investigations, and the generation of GPR time-slice maps.
Local versus extended deformed graphene geometries for valley filtering

The existence of two inequivalent valleys in the band structure of graphene has motivated the search of mechanisms that allow their separation and control for potential device applications. Among the several schemes proposed in the literature, strain-induced out-of-plane deformations (occurring naturally or intentionally designed in graphene samples), ranks among the best candidates to produce separation of valley currents. Because the valley filtering properties in these structures are, however, highly dependent on the type of deformation and setups considered, it is important to identify the relevant factors determining optimal operation and detection of valley currents. In this paper, we present a comprehensive comparison of two typical deformations commonly found in graphene samples: local centrosymmetric bubbles and extended folds/wrinkles. Using the Dirac model for graphene and the second-order Born approximation, we characterize the scattering properties of the bubble deformation, while numerical transmission matrix methods are used for the foldlike deformations. In both cases, we obtain the dependence of valley polarization on the geometrical parameters of deformations and discuss their possible experimental realizations. Our study reveals that extended deformations act as better valley filters in broader energy ranges and present more robust features against variations of geometrical parameters and incident current directions.
“The Chain Remain the Same” Communicative Practices in the Hip Hop Nation

It is true that the nature of society is to create, among its citizens, an illusion of safety; but it is also absolutely true that the safety is always necessarily an illusion. Artists are here to ...
The effect of iloprost on the ADP-ribosylation of Gsα (the α-subunit of Gs)

Treatment of platelets with a prostacyclin analogue, iloprost, decreased the cholera-toxin-induced ADP-ribosylation of membrane-bound Gs alpha (alpha-subunit of G-protein that stimulates adenylate cyclase; 42 kDa protein) and a cytosolic substrate (44 kDa protein) [Molina y Vedia, Reep & Lapetina (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 5899-5902]. This decrease is apparently not correlated with a significant change in the quantity of membrane Gs alpha, as detected by two Gs alpha-specific antisera. This finding contrasts with the suggestion in a previous report [Edwards, MacDermot & Wilkins (1987) Br. J. Pharmacol. 90, 501-510], indicating that iloprost caused a loss of Gs alpha from the membrane. Our evidence points to a modification in the ability of the 42 kDa protein to be ADP-ribosylated by cholera toxin. This modification of Gs alpha might be related to its ADP-ribosylation by endogenous ADP-ribosyltransferase activity. Here we present evidence showing that Gs alpha was ADP-ribosylated in platelets that had been electropermeabilized and incubated with [alpha-32P]NAD+. This endogenous ADP-ribosylation of Gs alpha is inhibited by nicotinamide and stimulated by iloprost.
RESPIRATORY PROTEINS: MOLECULAR INTERFACES BETWEEN THE ORGANISM AND ITS ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT Diffusional processes for the delivery of oxygen to respiring tissues and the transport of waste products from these tissues become inadequate as the size and complexity of animals increase. Respiratory proteins which reversibly bind oxygen and other ligands act at the interface between the respiring animal and its environment. The major classes of these proteins are the globins, the hemerythrins and the hemocyanins. Structural and functional diversity in both the organism and the environment is parallelled by diversity at the molecular level. Although great molecular diversity exists, the theme is the same: bind oxygen, deliver it to respiring tissues and, in some cases, bind metabolic wastes in the tissues and discharge them into the environment. In vivo modulation, involving allosteric control of function, frequently occurs. The allosteric nature of these proteins provides for fine-tuning of respiratory function in a wide variety of environmental and metabolic states.
The General Equilibrium Framework of Economic Analysis: Stocks and Flows—With Special Application to Macroeconomic Models

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the general equilibrium framework of economic analysis. One of the most conspicuous features of Professor McKenzie's work is its emphasis on general equilibrium. The chapter highlights the basic principle, that is, general equilibrium, that is prevalent throughout Lionel's work. The most well-known and celebrated static general equilibrium macro-economic model is probably the so-called IS−LM framework, which was introduced by Hicks as an exposition of Keynes. Equilibrium in this model is given by a flow equilibrium condition for the goods market and a stock equilibrium condition for the money market. Under the full-employment assumption, these two equations determine the price of the output and the interest rate, while under the assumption of a constant price level, they determine the level of output and the interest rate. Hence, in both cases, the equilibrium system is complete and looks rather simple.
Existence of solutions to the even dual Minkowski problem

Recently, Huang, Lutwak, Yang & Zhang discovered the duals of Federer’s curvature measures within the dual Brunn–Minkowski theory and stated the “Minkowski problem” associated with these new measures. As they showed, this dual Minkowski problem has as special cases the Aleksandrov problem (when the index is $0$) and the logarithmic Minkowski problem (when the index is the dimension of the ambient space)—two problems that were never imagined to be connected in any way. Huang, Lutwak, Yang & Zhang established sufficient conditions to guarantee existence of solution to the dual Minkowski problem in the even setting. In this work, existence of solution to the even dual Minkowski problem is established under new sufficiency conditions. It was recently shown by Boroczky, Henk & Pollehn that these new sufficiency conditions are also necessary.
Child abuse and the pediatric surgeon: A position statement from the Trauma Committee, the Board of Governors and the Membership of the American Pediatric Surgical Association.

Abstract Background The pediatric surgeon is in a unique position to assess, stabilize, and manage a victim of child physical abuse (formerly nonaccidental trauma [NAT]) in the setting of a formal trauma system. Methods The American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA) endorses the concept of child physical abuse as a traumatic disease that justifies the resource utilization of a trauma system to appropriately evaluate and manage this patient population including evaluation by pediatric surgeons. Results APSA recommends the implementation of a standardized tool to screen for child physical abuse at all state designated trauma or ACS verified trauma and children’s surgery hospitals. APSA encourages the admission of a suspected child abuse patient to a surgical trauma service because of the potential for polytrauma and increased severity of injury and to provide reliable coordination of services. Nevertheless, APSA recognizes the need for pediatric surgeons to participate in a multidisciplinary team including child abuse pediatricians, social work, and Child Protective Services (CPS) to coordinate the screening, evaluation, and management of patients with suspected child physical abuse. Finally, APSA recognizes that if a pediatric surgeon suspects abuse, a report to CPS for further investigation is mandated by law. Conclusion APSA supports data accrual on abuse screening and diagnosis into a trauma registry, the NTDB and the Pediatric ACS TQIP® for benchmarking purposes and quality improvement.
Teaching Force Field Analysis: A Suggested Training Design

In my experience, force field analysis is often misunderstood. And when it is understood and even highly praised, it is seldom actually used by groups or individuals on any sustained basis.
Developing an ‘Activist Mentality’ in an Environmental Science Course

This chapter presents a framework for understanding the goals of the Environmental Science course, including promoting an activist mentality, through Kempton and Holland’s (Identity and sustained environmental practice. In: Clayton S, Opotow S (eds) Identity and the natural environment: the psychological significance of nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 317–341, 2003) stages of environmental identity development. Subsequently, the concept of the ‘zone of proximal identity development’ (Polman JL, Revista de Educacion, 353:129–155, 2010) is introduced as a useful theoretical notion in conceptualizing how teachers can encourage activism within the Environmental Science course. Excerpts from teacher and student interviews from a recent ethnographic study in an Environmental Science high school course are shared in the discussion of the goals for the course and in the presentation of several activities which encourage student activism. The categories of environmental action described as ‘civic action’ and ‘cultural reform’ are used to further analyze the various types of activities that may be enacted in an Environmental Science course in the teaching of environmental issues. Additionally, this chapter considers how we can employ the objectives of the social reconstructivist movement of the early twentieth century as a guide for promoting activism in our schools, specifically to counter the current narrative of learning and schooling advocated by the ‘education reform’ movement. Finally, several teaching strategies that can be used in an Environmental Science course (or on a school-wide level) are recommended in order to extend the goals of the course beyond environmental awareness to a level where scaffolding for environmental activism becomes a central component.
Parallel Quantum Enhanced Plasmonic Sensing through Spatial Quantum Correlations

We present a parallel quantum enhanced sensing configuration that takes advantage of spatial quantum correlations in bright twin beams. We independently probe different spatial regions of plasmonic sensors with sensitives beyond the shot-noise limit.
The Elvis Presley Connection: 33 Roots and Covers of Elvis Presley

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were a perfectly imperfect pair. They portrayed The Odd Couple in the 1968 motion picture version of Neil Simon’s hit Broadway play. To many fans of rock and roll mus...
Assessment of a Machine Learning Model Applied to Harmonized Electronic Health Record Data for the Prediction of Incident Atrial Fibrillation

Importance Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and its early detection could lead to significant improvements in outcomes through the appropriate prescription of anticoagulation medication. Although a variety of methods exist for screening for AF, a targeted approach, which requires an efficient method for identifying patients at risk, would be preferred. Objective To examine machine learning approaches applied to electronic health record data that have been harmonized to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model for identifying risk of AF. Design, Setting, and Participants This diagnostic study used data from 2 252 219 individuals cared for in the UCHealth hospital system, which comprises 3 large hospitals in Colorado, from January 1, 2011, to October 1, 2018. Initial analysis was performed in December 2018; follow-up analysis was performed in July 2019. Exposures All Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model–harmonized electronic health record features, including diagnoses, procedures, medications, age, and sex. Main Outcomes and Measures Classification of incident AF in designated 6-month intervals, adjudicated retrospectively, based on area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and F1 statistic. Results Of 2 252 219 individuals (1 225 533 [54.4%] women; mean [SD] age, 42.9 [22.3] years), 28 036 (1.2%) developed incident AF during a designated 6-month interval. The machine learning model that used the 200 most common electronic health record features, including age and sex, and random oversampling with a single-layer, fully connected neural network provided the optimal prediction of 6-month incident AF, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.800 and an F1 score of 0.110. This model performed only slightly better than a more basic logistic regression model composed of known clinical risk factors for AF, which had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.794 and an F1 score of 0.079. Conclusions and Relevance Machine learning approaches to electronic health record data offer a promising method for improving risk prediction for incident AF, but more work is needed to show improvement beyond standard risk factors.
Padres Activos (Active Fathers): An Experiential Learning Approach to Obesity Prevention and Health Engagement among Latino Fathers and Their Children

Research shows that cultural aspects may contribute to obesity among Latinos; however, the role of fathers in the family’s health habits is largely unexplored. Padres Activos (PA) is an experientia...
‘You wonder ever if you’re a bad man?’: Toxic masculinity, paratexts and think pieces circulating around season one of HBO’s True Detective:

When it premiered in 2014, the first season of HBO’s True Detective received rave critical reviews. Featuring two A-list Hollywood actors, and a writer/director team who were rising stars in the in...
Risk Differences in Secondary Prevention Patients Who Present With Acute Coronary Syndrome and Implications of Guideline-Directed Cholesterol Management.

The 2018 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cholesterol guidelines for secondary prevention identified a group of “very high risk” (VHR) patients, those with multiple major atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events or 1 major ASCVD event with multiple high-risk features. A second group, “high risk” (HR), was defined as patients without any of the risk features in the VHR group. The incidence and relative risk differences of these 2 groups in a nontrial population has not been well characterized. Using the Northwestern Medicine Enterprise Data Warehouse, we compared the incidence of VHR and HR patients as well as their relative risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a single-center, large, academic, retrospective cohort study. Total 1,483 patients with acute coronary events from January 2014 to December 2016 were risk stratified into VHR and HR groups. International Classification of Diseases versions 9 and 10 were used to assess for composite events of unstable angina pectoris, non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, or ST-elevation myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or all-cause death with a median follow-up of 3.3 years. VHR patients were found to have 87 ± 5.4 composite events per 1,000 patient-years compared with HR patients who had 33 ± 5.1 events per 1,000 patient-years (p
Federalism and Federal-State Relations

Since its early history the Supreme Court has repeatedly faced challenging issues pertaining to the division of constitutional authority between the federal and state legislatures, federal versus state courts, and, ultimately, the struggles related to the federal government’s efforts at maintaining supremacy over the states. Chief Justice Marshall had federalism in mind in such watershed decisions as Marbury v. Madison, Gibbons v. Ogden, and McCulloch v. Maryland. The same is true of scores of other justices, especially conservatives during the 1990s. This chapter therefore examines the Court’s overall pattern of policy-making in federalism cases from Marshall to recent years.
Rapid and lean multifactorial screening methods for robust product lifetime improvement

Abstract Reliability enhancement is indispensable in modern operations. It aims to ensure the viability of complex functionalities in competitive products. We propose a full-robust screening/optimization method that promotes the rapid multi-factorial profiling of censored highly-fractionated lifetime datasets. The method intends to support operational conditions that demand quick, practical and economical experimentation. The innovative part of this proposal includes the robust split and quantification of structured lifetime information in terms of location and dispersion tendencies. To accomplish the robust data-reduction of lifetimes, maximum breakdown-point estimators are introduced to stabilize potential external-noise intrusions, which might be manifested as outliers or extremities. The novel solver provides resilience by robustifying the location (median) and dispersion (Rousseeuw-Croux Qn) estimations. The proposed profiler fuses dichotomized and homogenized lifetime information in a distribution-free manner. The converted and consolidated lifetime dataset is non-parametrically pre-screened to ensure error balances across effects. Consequently, any strong effects that maximize the lifetime response are diagnosed as long as the error symmetry has been previously established. We discuss problems that may be encountered in comparison to other multi-factorial profilers/optimizers upon application to densely-fractionated-and-saturated experimental schemes. We comment on the lean and agile advantages of the proposed technique with respect to several traditional treatments for the difficult case that implicates small and censored survival datasets. The robust screening procedure is illustrated on an industrial-level paradigm that concerns the multi-factorial reliability improvement of a thermostat; the trial units have been subjected to conditions of censoring and use-rate acceleration.
Practicing entertainment for social change in the United States: comparing the influences of U.S.-based documentary storytelling and print campaign resources in a univision prosocial media campaign

In the United States, Hispanic children experience dramatically different educational outcomes compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Educational disparities begin at the earliest phases of fo...
Examining Performance of Phase I Designs: 3+3 Versus Bayesian Optimal Interval (BOIN)

In Phase I oncology trials, the primary goal is to assess dose limiting toxicities (DLT) and estimate the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). The classical 3+3 design is still used in the vast majority of studies. In this chapter, we review the 3+3 design and the new Bayesian Optimal Interval (BOIN) design. BOIN is easy to implement, similar to the 3+3, using a simple table to guide dose escalation/de-escalation. As opposed to the 3+3 design, BOIN can target a DLT rate well above or below the usual 25–33% target. We explain how computer simulations can be used to evaluate phase I designs and present results comparing the designs under a large number of true dose-toxicity scenarios. We show that BOIN has better performance than 3+3. BOIN selects the true MTD at a much higher rate and treats a higher percentage of patients at the MTD. BOIN allocates fewer patients to low toxicity doses. Unlike older Bayesian designs (e.g., modified continual reassessment method), BOIN does not require a statistician to be available during the trial. Readily-available, free software makes BOIN simple to implement. We recommend the use of BOIN over the 3+3 design.
Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis following major vascular surgery is a new item on the differential for postoperative acidosis.

Abstract New pharmacologic advances in the treatment of diabetes include SGLT-2 inhibitors, which have been demonstrated in randomized-controlled clinical trials to reduce overall and cardiac-specific mortality and slow progression of chronic kidney disease. Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis is a rare but life-threatening complication associated with the use of SGLT-2 inhibitors. Here we describe a case of severe euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis after lower extremity bypass in a patient taking an SGLT-2 inhibitor. Awareness of this potential complication is essential as these novel agents are increasingly used in patients with cardiovascular disease.
Fostering Entrepreneurial Thinking in Biomaterials Education

The concept of entrepreneurial thinking is gaining attention in higher education. Originally attributed to entrepreneurs, this concept embraces a set of attitudes, skills, and behaviors that can also help students, engineers, and researchers to succeed academically, professionally, and personally. This editorial discusses the benefits of developing and adopting an entrepreneurial thinking in biomaterials science and engineering. Our society is constantly evolving, and the next generations of engineers and researchers will have to adapt fast to the needs and propose innovative solutions to the demands. A strong entrepreneurial mindset may thus be key for boosting our efforts towards innovation and sustainability.
Closed-Loop Radiographic Process Control of ARC Welding

Two different approaches may be applied to the nondestructive evaluation of welds. The conventional one consists in the application of nondestructive inspection after welding. The second, new, approach is in-process nondestructive evaluation where the production and testing operations are integrated into a single procedure. In this combined approach information received from nondestructive evaluation may be used in feedback with other process parameters for process control. Such a concept gives a significant cost saving [1]. Because the non-destructive system is included as a part of the sensing system in the feedback loop of the process control the quality control is integrated with the process itself.
Neuroenteric Staining as a Tool in the Evaluation of Pediatric Motility Disorders

The diagnosis of enteric neuromuscular disorders has come a long way since the first description of an enteric neuropathic disorder by the Danish physician Harald Hirschsprung in 1886. Advances in specialized enteric histopathological staining techniques have made it possible to identify subtle neuropathies and myopathies that cause intestinal motility disorders, from the common and now better understood and relatively easily diagnosed Hirschsprung’s disease to the less common and more severe and not well-characterized chronic idiopathic intestinal pseudoobstruction, which continues to present a diagnostic challenge to the gastroenterologist and histopathologist alike. This article will discuss the common gastrointestinal motility disorders and some of the specialized histological stains, such as the relatively common enzyme stain, acetylcholinesterase, used to diagnose Hirschsprung’s disease; advanced tinctorial stains, such as Masson trichrome, which may aid in diagnosis of enteric myopathies causing pseudoobstruction; and immunohistochemical stains such as C-Kit or PG 9.5, which may aid in the diagnosis of enteric neuropathies causing pseudoobstruction.
An Additive Double-Logarithmic Consumer Demand System

Despite obvious theoretical shortcomings, the double-logarithmic function, because of ease of estimation and generally superior fit, is often the demand function of choice in applied demand analysis. However, the drawback to double-logarithmic demand functions is that they are not theoretically plausible, in that they are neither consistent with an underlying utility function nor additive (in the sense of satisfying the budget constraint). The purpose of this chapter is to develop and apply a double-logarithmic demand system that is additive. This is accomplished through an extension of the indirect addilog model of Houthakker that allows for all prices, not just the own price of a good, to be included in each of the demand functions. The system is applied to the six exhaustive categories of consumption expenditure, using the same combined CES-ACCRA data set for the four quarters of 1996, that was analyzed in the last chapter.
Minimizing Deadhead Distance in Routing School Buses

AbstractA microcomputer based system that can be used to minimize the total distance that a fleet of school buses travels while not transporting passengers (“deadhead” distance) is presented. The system may be implemented on an MS-DOS compatible microcomputer, can be run quite quickly, and does not require a great deal of data preparation. Model development, data requirements, a review of the system, applications, and conclusion serve as major components in the presentation.
Chapter 13 Grasshopper Neuroblast Techniques

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a variety of techniques that have been developed to utilize the large neuroblasts present in an early embryonic stage of the grasshopper. Methods of handling grasshoppers and their eggs are presented, so that a continuous supply of young embryos is available throughout the year. Each neuroblast maintains a relatively fixed location with respect to its neighbor neuroblasts through repeated unequal cell divisions, and so can be reidentified with confidence during long-term observations over many cell generations in culture preparations or in sectioned material at the end of a known mitotic history in culture. Chortophaga is a small to medium-sized grasshopper. The males are considerably smaller and are stronger fliers than the females. It is widely distributed in eastern North America. Although Chortophaga can be reared in cages from the egg to the adult stage, the life cycle under such conditions is long-about three months under the best conditions and more often 5–6 months.The females do not produce as many or as good quality eggs as do animals collected and brought in from the field in the late nymphal or adult instar. The females insert their ovipositors in the sand to the full length of the abdomen and deposit the eggs, together with certain secretions, as they gradually withdraw the abdomen.
Motivating Operations Affect Stimulus Control: A Largely Overlooked Phenomenon in Discrimination Learning

Several recent studies have explored what Michael (e.g., 1982) termed the value-altering effect and the behavior-altering effect of motivating operations. One aspect of the behavior-altering effect that has garnered no recent attention involves changes in stimulus control produced by motivating operations. To call attention to this aspect of the behavior-altering effect, we herein review 11 studies that are concerned with the influence of varying levels of food or water deprivation on stimulus generalization. These studies suggest that motivating operations influence stimulus control (a) by changing the evocative strength of not just an established discriminative stimulus, but also of stimuli that are physically similar to it; (b) by changing the range of stimuli that evoke the operant in question; and (c) by exerting these effects in a graded fashion. These findings are potentially of conceptual and applied significance, and it appears that further research examining how motivating operations alter stimulus control, including some studies suggested herein, is warranted.
Modeling unbuffered latches for timing analysis

Unbuffered latches are often used in high-performance designs with custom timing flows. Adding these circuits to a standard library enables improved designs without blowing the library size. We observe a high potential frequency gain (up to 16%) for smaller power consumption. Accurate models for static timing analysis are required to reach a good point on the safety to performance trade-off. We are proposing a complete modeling methodology that can fit in a standard timing analysis flow. An accurate n-model is presented for the input impedance of an unbuffered latch with less than 2% error. We also present a new setup criteria required for these latches. We also show that more advanced waveform models are required to model the output. A Weibull waveform model proves to be effective in this case.
Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative: A Pilot Study of Enhanced Community Outreach in Rural Areas

Purpose Access, enrollment, and engagement with primary and specialty health care services present significant challenges for rural populations worldwide. The Alabama Veterans Rural Health Initiative evaluated an innovative outreach intervention combining motivational interviewing, patient navigation, and health services education to promote utilization of the United States Veterans Administration Healthcare System (VA) by veterans who live in rural locations. Methods Community outreach workers completed the intervention and assessment, enrolling veterans from 31 counties in a southern state. A total 203 participants were randomized to either an enhanced enrollment and engagement outreach condition (EEE, n = 101) or an administrative outreach (AO, n = 102) condition. Findings EEE participants enrolled and attended VA appointments at higher rates and within fewer days than those who received AO. Eighty-seven percent of EEE veterans attended an appointment within 6 months, compared to 58% of AO veterans (P < .0001). The median time to first appointment was 12 days for the EEE group and 98 days for the AO group (P < .0001). Additionally, a race by outreach group interaction emerged: black and white individuals benefited equally from the EEE intervention; however, black individuals who received AO took significantly longer to attend appointments than their white counterparts. Conclusions Results provide needed empirical support for a specific outreach intervention that speeds enrollment and engagement for rural individuals in VA services. Planned interventions to improve service utilization should ameliorate ambivalence about accessing health care in addition to addressing traditional systems or environmental-level barriers.
The use of polyurethane as an elastomer in thermoplastic microfluidic devices and the study of its creep properties

We report using polyurethane (PU) as an elastomer in microvalves integrated with thermoplastic microfluidic devices. Elastomer-based microvalves have been used in a number of applications and the elastomer often used is PDMS. Although it is a convenient material for prototyping, PDMS has been recognized to possess shortcomings such as solvent incompatibility and unfavorable manufacturability. We investigated the use of PU as an elastomer to address the challenges. A reliable method was developed to bond hybrid materials such as PU and cyclic olefin copolymer. The film thickness from 3.5 to 24.5 μm was studied to identify an appropriate thickness of PU films for desirable elasticity in microvalves. We integrated PU with thermally actuated, elastomer-based microvalves in thermoplastic devices. Valve actuations were demonstrated, and the relationship between the valve actuation time and heater power was studied. We compared PU with PDMS in terms of their microvalve performance. Valves with PDMS failed to function after two weeks since the thermal-sensitive solution evaporated through porous PDMS membrane, whereas the same valve with PU functioned properly after eight months. In addition, we evaluated the creep and creep recovery of PU, which is a common phenomenon of viscoelastic materials and is related to the long-term elastic property of PU after prolonged use.
Cost-effectiveness of active-passive prophylaxis and antiviral prophylaxis during pregnancy to prevent perinatal hepatitis B virus infection

In an era of antiviral treatment, reexamination of the cost-effectiveness of strategies to prevent perinatal hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission in the United States is needed. We used a decision tree and Markov model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of the current U.S. strategy and two alternatives: (1) Universal hepatitis B vaccination (HepB) strategy: No pregnant women are screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). All infants receive HepB before hospital discharge; no infants receive hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG). (2) Current strategy: All pregnant women are screened for HBsAg. Infants of HBsAg-positive women receive HepB and HBIG ≤12 hours of birth. All other infants receive HepB before hospital discharge. (3) Antiviral prophylaxis strategy: All pregnant women are screened for HBsAg. HBsAg-positive women have HBV-DNA load measured. Antiviral prophylaxis is offered for 4 months starting in the third trimester to women with DNA load ≥106 copies/mL. HepB and HBIG are administered at birth to infants of HBsAg-positive women, and HepB is administered before hospital discharge to infants of HBsAg-negative women. Effects were measured in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER). Compared to the universal HepB strategy, the current strategy prevented 1,006 chronic HBV infections and saved 13,600 QALYs (ICER: $6,957/QALY saved). Antiviral prophylaxis dominated the current strategy, preventing an additional 489 chronic infections, and saving 800 QALYs and $2.8 million. The results remained robust over a wide range of assumptions. Conclusion: The current U.S. strategy for preventing perinatal HBV remains cost-effective compared to the universal HepB strategy. An antiviral prophylaxis strategy was cost saving compared to the current strategy and should be considered to continue to decrease the burden of perinatal hepatitis B in the United States. (Hepatology 2016;63:1471-1480)
Growth of n-type InGaN nanorods on p-type silicon substrates dependent on III/V ratio

We have grown n-type InGaN nanorods directly on p-type Si substrates with a varying group III flux, by using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy technique. The crystal structure was studied by measuring reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns while the morphological and optical properties of the InGaN nanorods were investigated by using scanning electron microscope images and room temperature photoluminescence spectra. The photoluminescence band-to-band peak was shifted to a lower energy position by increasing group-III flux due to increased In concentration in the InGaN nanorod structure. Under optimal growth conditions, uniform indium concentration up to 36% was achieved without any evidence of phase separation, In droplet or optically observed defects.
Effect of increased noise levels by supersonic aircraft on annoyance levels and time estimations.

Several tests designed to assess the effects of increased noise levels created by the Concorde supersonic aircraft were administered to 48 residents living around Dulles International Airport and 31 persons not living near an airport. Results of a pretest questionnaire and lack of significant changes in annoyance levels and time estimations indicate that, while airport-area residents may be more conscious of aircraft noise, changes in the perceived intensities of sounds may not occur. Language: en
Paleogeographic and paleotectonic setting of Laramide sedimentary basins in the central Rocky Mountain region

In the Rocky Mountain region between central Montana and central New Mexico, sedimentologically isolated nonmarine basins were produced by basement deformation during the Laramide orogeny within the area formerly occupied by a broad Late Cretaceous foreland basin in which laterally continuous marine facies had accumulated previously. Laramide structures of varying trend and scale reflect heterogeneity of crustal strain caused by shear between the continental lithosphere and an underlying subhorizontal slab of subducted oceanic lithosphere. Laramide basins include perimeter basins along the cratonic periphery of the arcuate Laramide province, axial basins along a north-south intramontane trend, and ponded basins located farther west closer to the overthrust belt. Twelve specific stratigraphic and sedimentologic criteria for the onset, duration, and termination of Laramide deformation allow the chronology of basin development to be inferred independently for each basin. Maastrichtian initiation of Laramide deformation was approximately synchronous throughout the Laramide province, but termination of Laramide deformation was systematically diachronous from north to south between early and late Eocene time. Widespread Eocene erosion surfaces truncate syntectonic Laramide sequences and are overlain by largely volcanic and volcaniclastic post-Laramide strata of Eocene age in the north and Oligocene age in the south. Fluvial depositional systems draining toward the Great Plains were dominant in perimeter and axial basins, but ponded basins were occupied at times by large lakes that served as regional sediment traps. Paleocene drainages from ponded basins also led eastward toward the continental interior, but partly interconnected lakes that developed within several ponded basins by mid-Eocene time were either closed hydrologically, or else they drained westward into the "Tyee" paleoriver of the Pacific Northwest.
Analysis of the refractive index and film thickness of Eu doped gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) planar waveguides fabricated by the sol-gel and dip coating methods

The present research focused on the systematic study of the fabrication of gadolinium oxide (Gd 2 O 3 ) and gadolinium oxide:europium (Gd 2 O 3 :Eu 3+ ) thin films via the sol-gel and dip coating methods under normal laboratory conditions in a methanol solvent medium to determine if thin films of comparable quality could be produced. The thin films were synthesized via the sol-gel method by the hydrolysis of gadolinium acetylacetate in two different solvent mediums, absolute ethanol and methanol. The europium doped gadolinium oxide sol-­‐gels were prepared to have a final concentration of 0.01 M europium nitrate. Ordinary microscope glass slides (borosilicate glass or BSG) were used as the substrate. The substrates were cleaned and coated using the dip coating apparatus to prepare thin films that consisted of 5, 10, 30 and 50 layers. The cast films were annealed at 300°C and 500°C by direct insertion in a furnace operated under atmospheric conditions. The resulting film thickness and effective refractive indices were determined and compared. Finally, we present the introductory results of gadolinium oxide thin films as a waveguide.