cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Testing the interbasin flow hypothesis at Death Valley, California

Interbasin flow is a process by which groundwater moves from one topographic basin to another through an intervening structural or topographic barrier. For decades, interbasin flow has been the prevailing conceptual paradigm for groundwater movement in the arid southwestern United States wherever carbonate rocks are thought to be in continuous contact [e.g., Anderson, 2002]. This conceptual model of groundwater flow is especially relevant in the Death Valley region where water resources are scarce and where the U.S. government has conducted underground nuclear tests and has planned for the storage of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Recent studies of large flux springs (∼10,000 L/min) in the Furnace Creek area of Death Valley, California (Figure 1), however, indicate that the concept of interbasin flow may be fundamentally flawed, or at least not as universally applicable as previously thought. Rather, it appears that aquifers supplying Furnace Creek springs were replenished locally during episodes of wet climate more than 9500 yr ago, a contention supported by extensive regional fossil spring deposits [Quade et al., 2003].
Fatness and fitness: how do they influence health-related quality of life in type 2 diabetes mellitus?

We examined whether adiposity and fitness explain the decrease in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. This was a cross-sectional study using baseline data from two exercise training interventions. One study enrolled people with and the other without type 2 diabetes. We assessed aerobic fitness ("fitness") as peak oxygen uptake during treadmill testing, adiposity ("fatness") as percentage of total body fat by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and HRQOL by the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36. Bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were used examine determinants of HRQOL were used to examine determinants of HRQOL. There were 98 participants with and 119 participants without type 2 diabetes. Participants with type 2 diabetes had a mean hemoglobin A1c of 6.6% and, compared with participants without diabetes had lower HRQOL on the physical component summary score (P = 0.004), role-physical (P = 0.035), vitality (P = 0.062) and general health (P < 0.001) scales after adjusting for age, sex and race. These associations of HRQOL with type 2 diabetes were attenuated by higher fitness, even more than reduced fatness. Only general health remained positively associated with type 2 diabetes after accounting for fatness or fitness (P = 0.003). There were no significant differences between participants with and without diabetes in the mental component score. Improved fitness, even more than reduced fatness, attenuated the association of type 2 diabetes with HRQOL. The potential to improve HRQOL may motivate patients with type 2 diabetes to engage in physical activity aimed at increasing fitness. Findings from this cross-sectional analysis will be addressed in the ongoing trial of exercise training in this cohort of participants with type 2 diabetes. NCT00212303
Insatiable Appetite: The United States and the Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World. By Richard P. Tucker. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Pp. xiii, 551. $45.

Why les tristes tropiques have become the world's major sump of poverty has been analyzed from various perspectives, producing varying judgments on the complicity of the foreign powers who had “opened up” the tropics to foreign settlement, trade and investment. This volume's basic theses are that ecological degradation from the expansion of tropical agricultural and silvicultural exports have been a major source of socioeconomic damage to the tropics and that, especially in the past century, U.S. consumer demand and enterprise have dominated the external forces propelling this adverse dynamic.
A New Neurocognitive Model for Assessing Divergent Thinking: Applicability, Evidence of Reliability, and Implications for Educational Theory and Practice

A new model is presented to assess divergent thinking from a neurocognitive perspective. Evidence is presented showing its sensitivity to capture differences in divergent thinking. This observational interview-based study used a two-dimensional matrix (grid) composed of dimensions derived from neuropsychology and cognitive science theory. Each category (grid cell) is related to a particular cognitive operation that putatively is mediated by one or more functional/anatomical brain regions. Using the coding matrix, data were obtained from 30 middle school students through interviews and think-aloud responses to questions. Students were videotaped while viewing rich pictorial material and responses were coded and characterized for divergent production using 10 coefficients: higher category responses, detail, spontaneous generation, perspective switching, category switching per probe, category switches per utterance, different switches, detail per switching ratio, new subjects, higher category responses and r...
Use and Consequences of Assessments in the USA: Professional, Ethical and Legal Issues

Tests and assessments in the USA have taken on additional burdens as their uses have been greatly expanded by educators, employers, and policy makers. Increased demands are often placed on the same assessment, by different constituencies, to serve varied purposes (e. g., instructional reform, student accountability, quality of teaching and instruction). Such trends have raised considerable concerns about the appropriate use of tests and test data and testing is under increased scrutiny in education, employment and health care. This paper distinguishes among the legal, ethical and professional issues recently emerging from the increased demands of assessments and also identifies unique issues emanating from computer-based modes of test delivery and interpretation. Efforts to improve assessment practices by professional associations and emerging issues concerning the proper use of assessments in education are reviewed. Finally, a methodology for identifying consequences associated with test use and a taxono...
Humor and Older Adults What Makes Them Laugh

Laughter, the physical response to perceived humor, has demonstrated positive effects on physical and psychological well-being. Studies that focus on effects of humor on health and well-being of older adults are scarce. No studies were found that examine what older adults find humorous. The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the humor stimulus in a population of older adults. One hundred thirty (130) hospital auxiliary personnel aged 50 and older were asked the question What makes you laugh? Content analysis of responses revealed nine themes in two major categories, which were (a) people or animals and (b) situations or events. Children represented the largest category of people (30%), and telling jokes represented the largest category of situations or events (51%). Humor can be used by nurses as an effective therapeutic tool when caring for older adults if appropriate sources of humor are identified and applied.
Women's experience of abuse in a healthcare setting reveals preceding loss of power struggles, with sensitivity and dependency making them vulnerable to staff domination

Commentary on: Bruggemann AJ, Swahnberg K. What contributes to abuse in health care? A grounded theory of female patients’ stories. Int J Nurs Stud 2013;50:404–12[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] The purpose of this study was to describe patients’ reports of contributors to their experiences of abuse in healthcare. The investigators hoped to gain more knowledge of the occurrence and prevention of abuse in healthcare and … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DInt%2BJ%2BNurs%2BStud%26rft.volume%253D50%26rft.spage%253D404%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1016%252Fj.ijnurstu.2012.10.003%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F23122025%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.10.003&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=23122025&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febnurs%2F17%2F3%2F97.atom
A universal framework for partial coverage in Wireless Sensor Networks

The complete area coverage problem in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) where every point inside an area is covered by an active sensor has been extensively studied in the literature. However, there are many applications that do not always require complete coverage. For such applications, an effective method to save energy and prolong network lifetime is to partially cover the area. However, due to the hardness to verify the ratio of the covered area over the entire monitored area (coverage ratio), all the existing algorithms for partial coverage have very high time complexities (either centralized algorithms or distributed but non-parallel algorithms). Besides, all the existing algorithms are intentionally designed for partial coverage, thus they do not utilize the various exiting methods for the complete coverage problem. In this work, we propose a framework that can convert almost any existing algorithm for complete coverage to a one for partial coverage with any coverage ratio. Our framework can preserve the characteristics of the original algorithms and the conversion process has low time complexity. The framework also guarantees some degree of uniform partial coverage of the monitored area.
The ultra high resolution QuikSCAT product

Although QuikSCAT was originally designed to measure winds at a resolution of 25km, higher resolution wind and rain products have been developed. The 2.5km ultra high resolution (UHR) products allow QuikSCAT data to be used for applications involving rain, meso-scale phenomena, and in coastal applications. This paper overviews and unifies the various UHR products and discusses their advantages and limitations as compared to each other and the conventional 25km product. Theory, consequences of assumptions, and trade-offs are also discussed.
A Universal Framework for Regulatory Element Discovery across All Genomes and Data Types

Deciphering the noncoding regulatory genome has proved a formidable challenge. Despite the wealth of available gene expression data, there currently exists no broadly applicable method for characterizing the regulatory elements that shape the rich underlying dynamics. We present a general framework for detecting such regulatory DNA and RNA motifs that relies on directly assessing the mutual information between sequence and gene expression measurements. Our approach makes minimal assumptions about the background sequence model and the mechanisms by which elements affect gene expression. This provides a versatile motif discovery framework, across all data types and genomes, with exceptional sensitivity and near-zero false-positive rates. Applications from yeast to human uncover putative and established transcription-factor binding and miRNA target sites, revealing rich diversity in their spatial configurations, pervasive co-occurrences of DNA and RNA motifs, context-dependent selection for motif avoidance, and the strong impact of posttranscriptional processes on eukaryotic transcriptomes.
Design And Analysis Of A Network Level Channel Abstraction To Support Real-time Communications

The support of a predictable level of real-time performance requires some form of explicit resource allocations, and a degree of cooperation among t he network c omponents to enforce the resource allocation policies. In this paper, a network level abstraction, 4channel, to support the requirements of real-time applications is described and a discussion of a simulation experiment that was used to test t he validity of this network abstraction is provided. The experiment aims at demonstrating that the scheme guarantees the applications’ specified requirements. The simulation analysis demonstrates the eficiency of the scheme to handle a wide range of applications in di’erent network topologies.
Peer Acceptance and Friendship: An Investigation of their Relation to Self-Esteem:

The present study examined the relationship between peer relations and self-esteem. Specifically, this study investigated how peer acceptance and friendship were related to self-esteem in an adolescent population. Five hundred and forty-two ninth-grade students were classified by sociometric group and presence or absence of reciprocal friendships. Results indicate no significant difference in self-esteem scores across sociometric groups. However, subjects with at least I reciprocal friend had higher self-esteem scores than subjects without a reciprocal friend. Furthermore, there did not appear to be a cumulative effect of number of friendships on self-esteem scores. The importance of friendship to the development of self-esteem is discussed, as are the implications for intervention programs such as social skills training for children who may lack a close friendship. The authors indicate a need for further study of the relationship between peer relations and the correlates of self-esteem.
Oxygen Deprivation Triggers Upregulation of Early Growth Response-1 by the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products

Myocardial infarction, stroke, and venous thromboembolism are characterized by oxygen deprivation. In hypoxia, biological responses are activated that evoke tissue damage. Rapid activation of early growth response-1 in hypoxia upregulates fundamental inflammatory and prothrombotic stress genes. We probed the mechanisms mediating regulation of early growth response-1 and demonstrate that hypoxia stimulates brisk generation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) by endothelial cells. Via AGE interaction with their chief signaling receptor, RAGE, membrane translocation of protein kinase C-betaII occurs, provoking phosphorylation of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase and increased transcription of early growth response-1 and its downstream target genes. These findings identify RAGE as a master regulator of tissue stress elicited by hypoxia and highlight this receptor as a central therapeutic target to suppress the tissue injury-provoking effects of oxygen deprivation.
Properties and Possible Functions of the Adenylate Cyclase in Plasma Membranes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We have examined the possible role of adenosine 3',5'-phosphate (cAMP) in functions associated with the plasma membranes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Purified membranes from this source contained an adenylate cyclase which was insensitive to activation by fluoride or guanine nucleotides, only weakly responsive to changes of carbon source in the growth medium, and strongly stimulated by vanadate. They also contained at least two classes of receptor proteins for guanine nucleotides (as measured by binding of labeled 5'-guanylyl methylene diphosphate) with apparent dissociation constants equal to 1.0 x 10(-7) and 3 x 10(-6) M, a protein kinase capable of phosphorylating added histones, the activity of which was stimulated by cAMP, and cAMP receptors that may function as regulatory subunits for this kinase. Membrane proteins were also susceptible to phosphorylation by endogenous kinase(s), with polypeptides of apparent molecular weights equal to 160 x 10(3), 135 x 10(3), 114 x 10(3), and 58 x 10(3) as the major targets. Of these, the 114,000-molecular-weight polypeptide was probably identical to the proton-translocating ATPase of the membranes. However, the cAMP-dependent protein kinase did not appear to be involved in these reactions. Intact (rho+ or rho0) cells responded to dissipation of the proton electrochemical gradient across their plasma membranes by rapid and transient changes in their intracellular level of cAMP, as suggested earlier (J. M. Trevillyan and M. L. Pall, J. Bacteriol., 138:397-403, 1979). Thus, although yeast plasma membranes contain all the essential components of a stimulus-responsive adenylate cyclase system, the precise nature of the coupling device and the targets involved remain to be established.
Implementation of the AUA Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer Guidelines into Practice: Establishing a Multidisciplinary Clinic

Abstract Introduction AUA (American Urological Association) published guidelines on the treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer in August 2013. Urologists have remained integral members of a multifaceted team of professionals treating patients with prostate cancer. We discuss approaches to implementing a guidelines based, multidisciplinary, advanced prostate cancer treatment clinic. Methods A supplemented PubMed® search was performed to identify published literature evaluating the treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer. Attention was placed on studies assessing a multidisciplinary approach to treating patients with castrate resistant prostate cancer. A review of currently approved agents is provided with emphasis on administration from an integrated clinic. Results Treatment of patients with advanced prostate cancer remains a significant function of many urology clinics. Guidelines assist urologists with providing patients with the most appropriate care along with multispecialty collaboration. Several organizational approaches have been attempted, including all-in-one clinics, onsite clinics and virtual multidisciplinary clinics. Through close collaboration with medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and support staff patients with advanced prostate cancer can obtain the highest quality care. Conclusions Urologists remain an integral member of the multidisciplinary approach to treating castrate resistant prostate cancer. AUA guidelines for castration resistant prostate cancer are a useful tool that can be incorporated into virtual multidisciplinary clinics. Through a team approach patients receive timely and appropriate care.
Nietzsche's Culture of Humanity: Culture as Identity, Culture as Individuals

This has not only been a book about Nietzsche for Nietzsche scholars. I have also reconstructed Nietzsche's view so that it can speak to contemporary political theory. In this concluding chapter, I draw on my previous discussion to highlight one important contribution of Nietzsche's theory of culture: His view of culture as “individuals” represents a powerful rival to our contemporary view of culture as “identity.” Contemporary political theorists encounter two problems in conceiving of culture in terms of “identity.” On the one hand, identities are fluid and changeable, and so not a solid foundation for the integrity of culture; on the other hand, identities divide cultures rather than bringing them together. Nietzsche's novel defense of culture can overcome these problems. Whereas identities come and go, exemplary individuals remain the same, bringing permanence and integrity to a people. Whereas identities divide cultures, exemplary individuals, as representatives of humanity as a whole, bring them together. CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEORY OF CULTURE According to ancient thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle, the purpose of political community is to foster the good life for human beings. As such, ancient political philosophy began with the ethical question of what is the best life. Armed with the understanding of the good life, then, ancient thinkers could search for the right social and political conditions to foster that life – the best regime. Modern political philosophers, however, began at a different starting point, having rejected the ancients’ notion of a single summum bonum . Late modern thinkers such as Herder and Nietzsche accepted this critique of a single best life and a single best regime. However, they parted from early modern philosophers in defending the ancient notion of community, that the best community is the one that fosters the good life for human beings. What distinguished these thinkers is that, for them, there is no single best culture, but many, as there is no single best life, but many. This distinctive feature of the concept of culture is eminently familiar to us. When we contemporaries employ the word “culture,” we sidestep the ancient normative question of the best regime. When we discuss “cultures,” we implicitly assume that these communities cannot be ranked, but are in some fundamental way incommensurable.
Problems and Issues in Transformation from Conventional Banking to Islamic Banking: Literature Review for the Need of a Comprehensive Framework for a Smooth Change

During last few decades, conventional financial systems are being transformed to Islamic financial systems in many countries around the globe. One of the major components of Islamic financial system is Islamic Banking. As most of the economies were not ready for this change, Islamic banks and financial institutions were and are confronted by many difficulties primarily due to non-existence of a comprehensive framework. We studied these transformation problems and issues in Far Eastern countries being the first entrants in this transformation phase. Among a large number of problems some are lack of general awareness among various stakeholders, existence of different schools of thought within Islam and insufficient/ineffective legal rules and regulations. Concerted efforts are not made to develop a new framework in line with the sensibilities towards the role of religion in commercial and financial activities of society and to introduce laws compliant with core Shariah principles, prudential standard requirements for supervision, disclosure requirements for financial statements, corporate governance and transparency requirements, new product development requirement, consumer code of conduct to name a few. New entrants in Islamic Banking may take benefit of this learning curve.
Metal-assisted polyatomic SIMS and laser desorption/ionization for enhanced small molecule imaging of bacterial biofilms

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has become an important analytical tool for many sectors of science and medicine. As the application of MSI expands into new areas of inquiry, existing methodologies must be adapted and improved to meet emerging challenges. Particularly salient is the need for small molecule imaging methods that are compatible with complex multicomponent systems, a challenge that is amplified by the effects of analyte migration and matrix interference. With a focus on microbial biofilms from the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the relative advantages of two established microprobe-based MSI techniques-polyatomic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and laser desorption/ionization-are compared, with emphasis on exploring the effect of surface metallization on small molecule imaging. A combination of qualitative image comparison and multivariate statistical analysis demonstrates that sputtering microbial biofilms with a 2.5 nm layer of gold selectively enhances C60-SIMS ionization for several molecular classes including rhamnolipids and 2-alkyl-quinolones. Metallization also leads to the reduction of in-source fragmentation and subsequent ionization of media-specific background polymers, which improves spectral purity and image quality. These findings show that the influence of metallization upon ionization is strongly dependent on both the surface architecture and the analyte class, and further demonstrate that metal-assisted C60-SIMS is a viable method for small molecule imaging of intact molecular ions in complex biological systems.
School Psychologists’ Willingness to Implement RtI: The Role of Philosophical and Practical Readiness

After the change in IDEIA, different models of response to intervention (RtI) have been practiced widely in American school systems. School psychologists are in an important position to facilitate RtI practice and provide professional development in order to help their school systems successfully undergo this transformation. However, there is a paucity of research regarding school psychologists’ readiness to perform such a meaningful role. In this exploratory study, a sample of 62 practicing school psychologists completed a survey evaluating their practical and philosophical perceptions of RtI and the relationship with their willingness to support RtI implementation. Results from a multiple regression analysis indicated that only practitioners’ philosophical readiness, but not their practical readiness, made a unique contribution to their willingness to use or facilitate an RtI process. Implications for pre-service and in-service professional preparation and practice are discussed.
Surface acidity of Al(OH)_3 seed and its effect on precipitation of sodium aluminate liquors

The theory of catalysis was applied to precipitation process of sodium aluminate liquor, and the reaction was regarded as a self catalyze reaction, gibbsite seed was acted as catalyzer, therefore, the acid and base on its surface will affect its activity directly. In order to decide the acid intensity on seed surface, the acid was pre measured by aqueous titration firstly, then measured exactly by non aqueous titration method, on the same time, the effect of seed with different particle sizes on precipitation was researched. The result is that the surface acidity of coarse particle is bigger than that of the fine on the condition of the same surface area. As a result, the effect of seed particle size on the precipitation is illustrated. [
Fast, accurate gaussian process occupancy maps via test-data octrees and nested Bayesian fusion

We present a novel algorithm to produce descriptive online 3D occupancy maps using Gaussian processes (GPs). GP regression and classification have met with recent success in their application to robot mapping, as GPs are capable of expressing rich correlation among map cells and sensor data. However, the cubic computational complexity has limited its application to large-scale mapping and online use. In this paper we address this issue first by proposing test-data octrees, octrees within blocks of the map that prune away nodes of the same state, condensing the number of test data used in a regression, in addition to allowing fast data retrieval. We also propose a nested Bayesian committee machine which, after new sensor data is partitioned among several GP regressions, fuses the result and updates the map with greatly reduced complexity. Finally, by adjusting the range of influence of the training data and tuning a variance threshold implemented in our method's binary classification step, we are able to control the richness of inference achieved by GPs - and its tradeoff with classification accuracy. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated with both simulated and real data, demonstrating that the method may serve both as an improved-accuracy classifier, and as a predictive tool to support autonomous navigation.
Polyamines as Intermediates for the Synthesis of Heterocyclic Compounds and Oligomeric Heterocyclic Compounds from Resin-Bound Polyamides

Due to the well-understood chemistry, and excellent synthetic purity and yields obtained during the solid-phase synthesis of peptides, our focus has been directed toward the synthesis and design of acyclic organic and heterocyclic compounds using modified peptides and peptidomimetics as starting materials [1]. Thus, over the past five years, this strategy was successfully used to design and generate a range of novel solid phase chemistries. Specifically, we used our approach of the exhaustive reduction of resin-bound amides to generate resin-bound polyamines for the solid-phase synthesis of highly diverse heterocyclic libraries [2].
Device therapy for systolic ventricular failure

Systolic heart failure is a progressive syndrome marked by contractile dysfunction of the myocardium, activation of neurohormonal response systems including adrenergic and renin–angiotensin–aldosterone signaling, as well as cardiac and systemic metabolic abnormalities. Despite major advances in medical therapy, predominantly targeting pharmacologic blockade of neurohormonal systems, the end-result is often progressive pump failure or sudden cardiac death due to malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The implantation of devices for systolic heart failure, including automatic internal cardiac defibrillators (AICD), cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), and long-term ventricular assist devices (VADs) has led to a further improvement in functional capacity and survival beyond optimal medical therapy. In this chapter, we will present the biological mechanisms that drive changes in myocardial structure and function, often improving as is the case with myocardial “reverse remodeling” after implantation of cardiac assist devices and cardiac resynchronizing pacemaker/defibrillator therapies.
Patch-Based Discrete Registration of Clinical Brain Images

We introduce a method for registration of brain images acquired in clinical settings. The algorithm relies on three-dimensional patches in a discrete registration framework to estimate correspondences. Clinical images present significant challenges for computational analysis. Fast acquisition often results in images with sparse slices, severe artifacts, and variable fields of view. Yet, large clinical datasets hold a wealth of clinically relevant information. Despite significant progress in image registration, most algorithms make strong assumptions about the continuity of image data, failing when presented with clinical images that violate these assumptions. In this paper, we demonstrate a non-rigid registration method for aligning such images. The method explicitly models the sparsely available image information to achieve robust registration. We demonstrate the algorithm on clinical images of stroke patients. The proposed method outperforms state of the art registration algorithms and avoids catastrophic failures often caused by these images. We provide a freely available open source implementation of the algorithm.
Impact of victimization, community climate, and community size on the mental health of sexual and gender minority youth

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are at risk of stigma and victimization, which may lead to increased mental health symptoms, including depression, anxiety, and stress. The role of the community in exacerbating or mitigating the frequency of victimization and mental health symptoms among SGM youth has been understudied. Using a minority stress framework, this study examined the association between physical and nonphysical anti-SGM victimization, perceived community climate, and community size and their effects on depression, anxiety, and stress among SGM youth. An online survey was completed by 296 SGM-identified youth (aged 14–18 years). Results revealed that nonphysical forms of victimization were associated with depression, anxiety, and stress above and beyond physical victimization and community variables. Both types of victimization were more common in communities that participants perceived to be hostile and small towns. Practice implications include ways to reduce victimization and improve mental health via community climate and community interventions.
Thinking, Acting, Considering

ABSTRACTAccording to a familiar (alleged) requirement on practical reason, one must believe a proposition if one is to take it for granted in reasoning about what to do. This paper explores a related requirement, not on thinking but on acting—that one must accept a goal if one is to count as acting for its sake. This is the acceptance requirement. Although it is endorsed by writers as diverse as Christine Korsgaard, Donald Davidson, and Talbot Brewer, I argue that it is vulnerable to counterexamples, in which agents act in light of ends that they do not accept but are still merely considering. For instance, a young professional may keep a job option open not because she definitely wants or intends to take it, but just because she is considering taking it. I try to show (1) that such examples are not easily resisted; (2) that they present challenges specifically for Brewer, Davidson, and especially Korsgaard; and (3) that the examples also raise fresh, non-partisan questions in action theory. What is consi...
Abstract P146: Depression Predicts Increased Healthcare Utilization and Death Among Community Patients with Heart Failure

Background: The increasing prevalence of heart failure (HF) and high associated costs has spurred investigation of factors related to adverse outcomes in these patients. Reports to date present discrepant evidence regarding the link between depression and HF outcomes, and only scarce data related to healthcare utilization in the form of emergency department (ED) visits are available. Purpose: To evaluate the relationship of depression with healthcare utilization and death among HF patients in the community. Methods: Residents of Olmsted, Dodge, and Fillmore, MN counties with HF were prospectively recruited between October 2007 and December 2010, and completed a 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression categorized as: none-minimal (PHQ-9 score 0-4), mild (5-9), or moderate-severe (≥10). Anderson-Gill models were used to determine if depression predicted hospitalizations and ED visits while proportional hazards regression estimated hazard ratios for death. Results: Among 411 HF patients (mean age 73±13, 58% male), 15% had moderate-severe depression, 27% mild, and 58% none-minimal. Over a mean follow-up of 1.5 years, 613 hospitalizations, 786 ED visits, and 75 deaths occurred. The risk of all adverse outcomes increased stepwise with increasing severity of depression (Table). After adjustment for key clinical characteristics, moderate-severe depression was associated with nearly a 2-fold increased risk of hospitalization and ED visits, and almost a 4-fold increased risk of death. These results are independent of coexisting comorbidities. Conclusions: Depression is frequent among HF patients in the community and independently predicts a significant increase in the use of healthcare resources and mortality. Greater attention to the recognition and management of depression in HF may improve clinical outcomes and decrease healthcare utilization and expenditures in these patients.
Demo abstract: testbed for distributed demand response devices—internet of things

As the drive to integrate renewable resources into the modern power grid grows, services such as demand response (DR) capable of providing ancillary services (AS) for grid stabilization has become a central focus of current research. While DR programs are effective in theory, utilities are reticent to implement because of lack of data. The next step is to provide a platform to test proposed mechanisms to move toward implementation. This work presents a complete package for internet-of-things hardware-in-the-loop simulation offering scalability in simulation, integration with real and simulated device nodes and full control over grid parameters. It is a DR testbed providing telemetry and actuation for connected loads which, itself, serves as a node in a larger software based PSIM power simulation. Simulated node’s characteristics are modeled from the real node’s data. Increasing penetration of intermittent renewable generation resource challenges grid operators in providing stability to the grid and balancing generation to meet load [1–3]. In addition to improving social welfare [4] DR has been shown to be a viable solution to providing a portion of AS which is able to contribute to stabilizing grid conditions [5–7]. The testbed is used to test a DR response algorithm published previous at the REDlab for grid frequency control using DR [8].
Internal short circuit mitigation of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries with functional current collectors

The safety of lithium-ion battery (LIB) becomes increasingly critical as the specific energy and cell capacity rapidly increase. Based on the modified current collector technique recently developed for nickel–cobalt–manganese active materials, here we investigate high-energy LIBs based on functional current collectors (FCC). Two high-voltage active materials were tested in our experiments: lithium-rich layered oxide (LRLO) and lithium nickel manganese oxide (LNMO). At the same time as a fully charged LIB cell is damaged, FCC isolates the internal short circuit (ISC) from the undamaged area; hence, the ISC-induced heat generation is drastically reduced to a negligible level. The electrochemical performance of FCC-based cells is nearly identical to that of reference cells.
How Does Spiritual Intelligence Relate to Mental Health in a Western Sample

This study investigates a recently developed model of spiritual intelligence in relation to the common mental health concerns of depression, anxiety, and substance use. Three-hundred and fifty-thre...
Vitamin A treatment for severe sepsis in humans; a prospective randomized double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

Summary Purpose To test the benefits of Vitamin A treatment in patients with sepsis on length of time in ICU, days on ventilator, days on intravenous blood pressure support and 28-day mortality. The trial was prospective, randomized and double-blind. As part of a larger sepsis trial, 63 patients with sepsis were randomized to receive either 100,000 IU of Vitamin A intramuscular or placebo over 7-days. Data analysis was by ANOVA with two tailed test and p Results The mean age was 51 ± 2 (mean ± SEM) with 54% female. Groups were well matched with regards to APACHE III score, WBC count, and incidence of bacteremia. In addition, all patients had an ACTH stimulation test using 250 mcg of ACTH IV and serum cortisol was measured at time 0, 30 and 60 min. Baseline cortisol of 24.6 ± 1 mg/dl increased to 41 ± 2 mg/dl at 30 min and 49 ± 2 at 60 min. There was no significant difference between the groups. All cortisol responses were greater than 11.9 mg/dl. Serum Vitamin A level was below normal in 54% of the patients. After randomization, 100,000 IU of Vitamin A daily was given to 32 patients and blinded placebo was given daily to 32 patients for seven days. This was administered as a 1 cc injection of either medication or placebo and was blinded from all but the research pharmacist. The number of days in the ICU was slightly, but not significantly reduced (p = 0.39) by approximately 2 days in the Vitamin A treated patients. The average number of days on blood pressure agents and the day on ventilator were similar. The 28-day mortality rates were similar between the two groups (28 vs 34% placebo vs Vitamin A group). Seven days of high dose intramuscular Vitamin A treatment in patients with sepsis where approximately 50% were vitamin A deficient had no benefit in adults with sepsis.
Room temperature preparation of α-chloro-β,β-difluoroethenylzinc reagent (CF2CClZnCl) by the metallation of HCFC-133a (CF3CH2Cl) and a high yield one-pot synthesis of α-chloro-β,β-difluorostyrenes

Abstract α-Chloro-β,β-difluorovinylzinc reagent [CF 2 CClZnCl] was generated in 91% yield by the metallation of a THF solution of commercially available HCFC-133a (CF 3 CH 2 Cl) and zinc chloride at 15–20 °C using LDA as base. The corresponding reaction with Halothane™ (CF 3 CHClBr) produced a poor yield of CF 2 CClZnCl. The palladium catalyzed coupling reaction of the CF 2 CClZnCl with aryl iodides under mild reaction conditions produced α-chloro-β,β-difluorostyrenes in 64–90% isolated yields. The stability of the intermediate CF 2 CClLi and the nature of the zinc reagents are discussed.
Ambrisentan in portopulmonary hypertension: A multicenter, open-label trial

BACKGROUND Ambrisentan has shown effectiveness in the treatment of Group 1 pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although portopulmonary hypertension (PoPH) is a subset of Group 1 PAH, few clinical trials have been testing PAH therapies in patients with PoPH. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ambrisentan in PoPH. METHODS This study is a prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in which treatment-naive patients with PoPH with Child-Pugh class A/B were administered with ambrisentan for 24 weeks, followed by a long-term extension (24–28 weeks). The primary end-points were change in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and 6-minutes walk distance (6MWD) at 24 weeks, whereas secondary end-points included safety, World Health Organization (WHO) functional class (FC) and echocardiographic assessments. RESULTS Of the 31 patients, 23 finished 24 weeks of ambrisentan therapy and 19 finished the extension. PVR decreased significantly (mean ± SD) (7.1 ± 5 vs 3.8 ± 1.8 Wood units, p CONCLUSIONS Ambrisentan monotherapy in PoPH improves hemodynamics and FC at 24 weeks; however, it did not show any improvement in 6MWD. These preliminary outcomes should be interpreted with caution (Clinicaltrials.Gov:NCT01224210).
Rapid, Phase-free Detection of Long Identity-by-Descent Segments Enables Effective Relationship Classification

Identity-by-descent (IBD) segments are a useful tool for applications ranging from demographic inference to relationship classification, but most detection methods rely on phasing information and therefore require substantial computation time. As genetic datasets grow, methods for inferring IBD segments that scale well will be critical. We developed IBIS, an IBD detector that locates long regions of allele sharing between unphased individuals, and benchmarked it with Refined IBD, GERMLINE, and TRUFFLE on 3,000 simulated individuals. Phasing these with Beagle 5 takes 4.3 CPU days, followed by either Refined IBD or GERMLINE segment detection in 2.9 or 1.1 h, respectively. By comparison, IBIS finishes in 6.8 min or 7.8 min with IBD2 functionality enabled: speedups of 805–946× including phasing time. TRUFFLE takes 2.6 h, corresponding to IBIS speedups of 20.2–23.3×. IBIS is also accurate, inferring ≥7 cM IBD segments at quality comparable to Refined IBD and GERMLINE. With these segments, IBIS classifies first through third degree relatives in real Mexican American samples at rates meeting or exceeding other methods tested and identifies fourth through sixth degree pairs at rates within 0.0%–2.0% of the top method. While allele frequency-based approaches that do not detect segments can infer relationship degrees faster than IBIS, the fastest are biased in admixed samples, with KING inferring 30.8% fewer fifth degree Mexican American relatives correctly compared with IBIS. Finally, we ran IBIS on chromosome 2 of the UK Biobank dataset and estimate its runtime on the autosomes to be 3.3 days parallelized across 128 cores.
Modeling of a Bending Supercoiled Polymer (SCP) Artificial Muscle

As a recently developed artificial muscle, supercoiled polymer (SCP) actuators exhibit many desirable properties such as inherent compliance, large linear tensile actuation, and high energy and power densities. By embedding linear SCP actuators into flexible beams and activating them, bending SCP actuators can be created with outstanding deflection performances. However, their full potential as bending robotic muscles is challenged by their hysteresis nonlinearity and the complex coupling between the beam and the linear SCP actuator. In this study, we propose a nonlinear model that can accurately capture and estimate the steady-state displacement of the bending SCP actuator. The proposed model is constructed by coupling a Preisach hysteresis model and nonlinear beam equations. Numerical solution is obtained using a bisection technique-based algorithm and Runge-Kutta method. For comparison purposes, a linear model is also considered. Both simulation and experimental investigations are conducted. The effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach is confirmed.
Modeling, synthesis, and nano-positioning of semiconductor point defects (Conference Presentation)

Point defects in semiconductors are useful as quantum sensors, quantum emitters, and qubits for quantum computation. We have used ab initio quantum chemistry (supercell) calculations to model the photoluminescence of a new vanadium-nitrogen defect in diamond. Using ion implantation, we have attempted to synthesize this defect, and I will present spectroscopic analysis of our sample. Nanoscale positioning of defects is desired to improve the reliable coupling of defect centers to quantum photonic devices. I will discuss the merits of several methods for achieving this: introduction of functionalized seed molecules during diamond synthesis, laser annealing, and ion implantation. I will also present a scalable opto-thermal-mechanical printing method for additively releasing nanoparticles from a donor substrate and transferring them to a target substrate, such as a photonic device. Such integration is a crucial step towards realizing commercially scalable quantum sensing devices.
An ethical quandary that dare not speak its name: Archival privacy and access to queer erotica

Abstract Concern and even conflict over information privacy and access to personal, sensitive, information owns a lengthy, complex, and disputed history in the information professions. A historical case study, this research explores the ethical tensions between information access for (re)use and information privacy regarding queer archival materials. It engages with small worlds and normative behavior, with codes of ethics, and with issues of power and social justice. Various small worlds' definitions of normative behavior condition and potentially determine their positions on access to perceived sensitive information. Further, information professionals may overlook codes of ethics even when addressing ethical challenges. Finally, the power of information professionals to effect social justice may be overestimated. Implications for practice and directions for future research are suggested.
Abstract B33: Racial differences in tumor-associated microbes in early colorectal carcinogenesis

African Americans (AA) have a higher incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) than Caucasian Americans (CA). Emerging evidence indicates that pathogenic tumor-associated microbes (TAMs) within preinvasive lesions may promote carcinogenesis. Since AAs are more prone than CAs to robust inflammatory responses to bacteria and fungi, especially at younger ages, infiltrates in early neoplasms may differ by race and age. To study this issue, we selected a convenience sample of 35 preinvasive cases diagnosed between October 2013 and October 2016 at the Medical University of South Carolina for microbial analysis. The study pathologist diagnosed the degree of dysplasia and predominant histology for each lesion. We extracted DNA from 10-micron-thick FFPE sections and sequenced 16S rRNA gene amplicons to determine the microbial communities. We normalized the data using central log ratio transformation with pseudo-counts and selected 20 microbes previously associated with CRC for analysis. Linear regression was used to assess associations between TAMs and race while adjusting for age and sex. We also examined these associations by colorectal location (distal, proximal), degree of dysplasia (high, not high), and age ( Citation Format: Kristin Wallace, David N. Lewin, Christine Bookhout, Shaoli Sun, Brianna Bronsky, Chentha Vasu, Brenda J. Hoffman, John A. Baron, Alexander V. Alekseyenko. Racial differences in tumor-associated microbes in early colorectal carcinogenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Microbiome, Viruses, and Cancer; 2020 Feb 21-24; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(8 Suppl):Abstract nr B33.
Utility of Second-Look Endoscopy with Debridement After Pediatric Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Objectives:To determine the utility of Second-look endoscopy with debridement (SLED) after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) in pediatric cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. To compare outcomes ...
The impact of AVID tutoring on developing a teacher identity Bradley Bowen, Stacy Duffield

There is extensive research demonstrating the benefit tutoring has on the tutee. However, minimal research exists about the impact tutoring has on the tutor, and particularly, how being a tutor inf...