cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Impact of RTI on Timely Identification of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities.

Response to Intervention (RTI) has become the gateway to identification for many students with specific learning disabilities. Those include students in the 17 states that require RTI as the source of eligibility data as well as many students in the 33 states that allow districts to choose RTI among other options (e.g., discrepancy). There is concern that the use of RTI may infringe on due-process protections and child-find responsibilities. Specifically, the number of days students must remain in RTI may delay their referral for comprehensive evaluation and, hence, potential eligibility for special education. In the present study, the authors surveyed District Directors of Special Education in selected states to determine whether guidelines or policies were present to govern referrals for a comprehensive evaluation and how long a student may remain in RTI tiers before referral or eligibility determination. The extent to which districts permit individual schools to enact their own policies was also investigated. Results indicate that (a) RTI is often used to identify specific learning disabilities without clear guidelines, (b) many aspects of RTI are implemented without being communicated within state and district administrative levels, and (c) RTI is the required specific learning disability assessment determinant in a significant percentage of districts in states that allow that choice. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Science of health care delivery as a first step to advance undergraduate medical education: A multi-institutional collaboration

Physicians must possess knowledge and skills to address the gaps facing the US health care system. Educators advocate for reform in undergraduate medical education (UME) to align competencies with the Triple Aim. In 2014, five medical schools and one state university began collaborating on these curricular gaps. The authors report a framework for the Science of Health Care Delivery (SHCD) using six domains and highlight curricular examples from each school. They describe three challenges and strategies for success in implementing SHCD curricula. This collaboration highlights the importance of multi-institutional partnerships to accelerate innovation and adaptation of curricula.
Psychopathology and tobacco demand

Abstract Introduction Behavioral economic measurement of the relative value of tobacco (Cigarette Purchase Task; CPT) is used to examine individual differences in motivation for tobacco under certain contexts. Smokers with psychopathology, relative to those without, may demonstrate stronger demand for tobacco following a period of smoking deprivation, which could account for disparate rates of smoking and cessation among this subgroup. Method Participants (n = 111) were community-recruited adult daily smokers who completed the CPT after a deprivation period of approximately 60 min. Presence of psychopathology was assessed via clinical interview; 40.5% (n = 45) of the sample met criteria for past-year psychological diagnosis. Specifically, 31.5% (n = 35) had an emotional disorder (anxiety/depressive disorder), 17.1% (n = 19) had a substance use disorder, and 19.1% of the sample had more than one disorder. Results Smokers with any psychopathology showed significantly higher intensity (demand at unrestricted cost; $0) and O max (peak expenditure for a drug) relative to smokers with no psychopathology. Intensity was significantly higher among smokers with an emotional disorder compared to those without. Smokers with a substance use disorder showed significantly higher intensity and O max , and lower elasticity, reflecting greater insensitivity to price increases. Having ≥ 2 disorders was associated with higher intensity relative to having 1 or no disorders. Discussion Findings suggest that presence of psychopathology may be associated with greater and more persistent motivation to smoke. Future work is needed to explore the mechanism linking psychopathology to tobacco demand.
Quality spaces: Mental and physical

Perceptual-role theories of mental qualities hold that we can discover the nature of a being’s mental qualities by investigating that being’s capacity to make perceptual discriminations. Many advoc...
Quantitative Assessment of Heterogeneity in Bladder Tumor MRI Diffusivity: Can Response be Predicted Prior to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy?

Background It is a critical unmet need to predict chemosensitivity in muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients who receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Quantification of tumor heterogeneity has been shown to be useful in the assessment of therapeutic response. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) is derived from diffusion weighted MRI (DWI) to quantify the water diffusivity which characterizes micro-cellularity in tumor tissues. Objective The aim of this study is to assess if a quantitative measurement of ADC heterogeneity in bladder tumors can be a predictor of therapeutic response to NAC. Materials and Methods Twenty patients with pT2 bladder cancer have been included in this study. Patient MRI was performed on a 3T system with DWI prior to NAC. Regions of interest (ROIs) were placed over the whole tumor volume on ADC maps to acquire a data matrix of voxel-wise ADC values for each patient. We performed histogram analysis on each ADC data matrix to calculate uniformity (U) and entropy (E). These quantities were subsequently correlated with the patient's response to chemotherapy. Statistical significance was found with P < 0.05. Results Fifteen patients were categorized as responders, and five as non-responders. The data showed that tumors of responders were significantly higher in U (P = 0.01) and lower in E (P < 0.01) than non-responders. This finding indicates that resistant tumors were more heterogeneous in their spatial distribution of ADC values. While this difference in ADC heterogeneity was not always visually recognizable, it could be quantified by the data analytics. Conclusions This study demonstrates that the quantitative readout of tumor heterogeneity in micro-cellularity is associated with the patient's defined response to chemotherapy. Quantification of tumor ADC heterogeneity may provide useful information to enable the prediction of chemotherapeutic response prior to the treatment to improve patient outcomes.
Cost Modeling as a Technical Management Tool

OVERVIEW:Universally, cost is a key factor in determining the commercial success of new technologies. Corporate research laboratories have developed countless technically exciting processes, only to see them put aside because they were too expensive for their targeted markets to bear. Technical cost modeling is a methodology for simulating the cost of developmental technologies. It is a useful tool for assisting R&D management, both for the selection of program alternatives and for the identification of “economic bottlenecks” within a given technology. Technical cost modeling takes a science-based, bottoms-up perspective on the cost of a technology. First-principle theories are coupled with established commercial practices to produce models that are robust, realistic and useful.
Assessing the quality of pharmaceutical care. II. Application of concepts of quality assessment from medical care.

ObjectiveTo present a framework that facilitates quality assessment of pharmaceutical care (PC) so that the profession and the public may identify pharmacists in ambulatory settings who provide quality care in all aspects of their practices.Data SourcesA MEDLINE search augmented by a review of International Pharmacy Abstracts was used to identify pertinent quality assessment and pharmacy practice literature; indexing terms included quality assurance, healthcare, pharmacists, community pharmacy services, ambulatory, pharmacy, and process and outcome assessment.Study SelectionAll identified quality assessments of community pharmacy practice were considered. Studies that documented the effectiveness of specific pharmacist activities and patient satisfaction were also included.Data ExtractionThe literature was independently reviewed by the primary author.Data SynthesisThe structure–process–outcome paradigm is presented as a framework for quality assessment of PC. Structure should be assessed at periodic inter...
Computational Study on the Unimolecular Decomposition of JP-8 Jet Fuel Surrogates III: Butylbenzene Isomers (n-, s-, and t-C14H10)

Ab initio G3(CCSD,MP2)//B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) calculations of potential energy surfaces have been carried out to unravel the mechanism of the initial stages of pyrolysis of three C10H14 isomers: n-, s-, and t-butylbenzenes. The computed energy and molecular parameters have been utilized in RRKM-master equation calculations to predict temperature- and pressure-dependent rate constants and product branching ratios for the primary unimolecular decomposition of these molecules and for the secondary decomposition of their radical fragments. The results showed that the primary dissociation of n-butylbenzene produces mostly benzyl (C7H7) + propyl (C3H7) and 1-phenyl-2-ethyl (C6H5C2H4) + ethyl (C2H5), with their relative yields strongly dependent on temperature and pressure, together with a minor amount of 1-phenyl-prop-3-yl (C9H11) + methyl (CH3). Secondary decomposition reactions that are anticipated to occur on a nanosecond scale under typical combustion conditions split propyl (C3H7) into ethylene (C2H4) + methyl...
Role of nitric oxide in chronic gut inflammation

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD; Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis) are chronic, idiopathic inflammatory disorders of the intestine and/or colon characterized by rectal bleeding, severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and weight loss. Histologic examination of biopsies obtained from patients with active episodes of IBD reveal the infiltration of large numbers of leukocytes such as polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), monocytes, and lymphocytes into the intestinal interstitium. Extensive mucosal and/or transmural injury and dysfunction including edema, loss of goblet cells, decreased mucous production, crypt cell hyperplasia, erosions and ulcerations, accompany this inflammatory infiltrate. Despite several years of intense investigation, the etiology and specific pathogenetic mechanisms responsible for IBD remain poorly defined. Recent experimental and clinical studies suggest that the initiation and pathogenesis of these diseases are multi-factorial involving interactions among genetic, environmental and immune factors [1]. Regardless of exactly how these interactions ultimately promote chronic gut inflammation, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the immune system plays a crucial role in disease pathogenesis. Because the inflammation is localized primarily to the intestinal tract in IBD, investigators have focused on the intestinal lumen as the site for the antigenic trigger. Indeed, the chronic relapsing nature of IBD coupled to the fact that a large percentage of patients with Crohn’s disease will experience recurrence of the disease following surgical resection of the bowel, suggests that the antigen or antigens that initiate and perpetuate this disease are part of the normal gut flora. Different etio-logic theories have been proposed to account for this apparent mucosal immune system activation, however, data obtained from numerous experimental studies suggest that chronic gut inflammation may result from a dysregulated immune response to components of the normal gut flora [2]. For example, several groups of investigators have shown that targeted deletion of certain genes known to be important in regulating the inflammatory response or immune manipulation in mice induces chronic colitis in these animals [3]. Furthermore, the colonic inflammation observed in virtually all of these animal models is dependent upon the presence of normal gut flora. Animals raised under germ-free conditions either fail to develop disease or develop much milder forms of colitis [3]. These studies have lead investigators to suggest that bacterial/immune interactions in individuals with defects in their immune system may represent an important pathophysiological mechanism for the development of IBD in humans.
Lessons from NRC's Portage System at WMT 2010

NRC's Portage system participated in the English-French (E-F) and French-English (F-E) translation tasks of the ACL WMT 2010 evaluation. The most notable improvement over earlier versions of Portage is an efficient implementation of lattice MERT. While Portage has typically performed well in Chinese to English MT evaluations, most recently in the NIST09 evaluation, our participation in WMT 2010 revealed some interesting differences between Chinese-English and E-F/F-E translation, and alerted us to certain weak spots in our system. Most of this paper discusses the problems we found in our system and ways of fixing them. We learned several lessons that we think will be of general interest.
Delivery of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) by Drones: Implications for Emergency Cardiac Care.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) remains a significant health problem in the USA and only 8.6% of victims survive with good neurological function, despite advances in emergency cardiac care. The likelihood of OHCA survival decreases by 10% for every minute without resuscitation. Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) have the potential to save lives yet public access defibrillators are underutilized (< 2% of the time) because they are difficult to locate and rarely available in homes or residential areas, where the majority (70%) of OHCA occur. Even when AEDs are within close proximity (within 100 m), they are not used 40% of the time. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have the potential to deliver AEDs to a bystander and augment emergency medical service (EMS) care. We review the use of drones in medicine, what is currently known, and clinical implications for advancing emergency cardiac care.
Habitat restoration opportunities, climatic niche contraction, and conservation biogeography in California's San Joaquin Desert.

A recent global trend toward retirement of farmland presents opportunities to reclaim habitat for threatened and endangered species. We examine habitat restoration opportunities in one of the world’s most converted landscapes, California’s San Joaquin Desert (SJD). Despite the presence of 35 threatened and endangered species, agricultural expansion continues to drive habitat loss in the SJD, even as marginal farmland is retired. Over the next decades a combination of factors, including salinization, climate change, and historical groundwater overdraft, are projected to lead to the retirement of more than 2,000 km2 of farmland in the SJD. To promote strategic habitat protection and restoration, we conducted a quantitative assessment of habitat loss and fragmentation, habitat suitability, climatic niche stability, climate change impacts, habitat protection, and reintroduction opportunities for an umbrella species of the SJD, the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). We use our suitability models, in conjunction with modern and historical land use maps, to estimate the historical and modern rate of habitat loss to development. The estimated amount of habitat lost since the species became protected under endangered species law in 1967 is greater than the total amount of habitat currently protected through public ownership and conservation easement. We document climatic niche contraction and associated range contraction away from the more mesic margins of the species’ historical distribution, driven by the anthropogenic introduction of exotic grasses and forbs. The impact of exotic species on G. sila range dynamics appears to be still unfolding. Finally, we use NASA fallowed area maps to identify 610 km2 of fallowed or retired agricultural land with high potential to again serve as habitat. We discuss conservation strategies in light of the potential for habitat restoration and multiple drivers of ongoing and historical habitat loss.
Severity-based diagnosis for vehicular electric systems with multiple, interacting fault modes

Abstract Complex systems are comprised of multiple components that continuously interact in terms of how they degrade and fail. Diagnosing fault severity and causes of failures in these systems is often a non-trivial task. To address this challenge, we propose a data-driven, severity-based diagnosis framework for systems with multiple, interacting fault modes. We focus on the components of the automotive electric power generation and storage system, specifically, the Vehicle-Engine Start system comprised of the battery and the start-stop starter. Our framework leverages sensor data from several component-fault severity combinations. Using multiple feature extraction tools, we train separate classifiers using Regularized Multinomial Regression, and combine the performance of the classifiers using ensemble methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by performing degradation-based diagnostic tests utilizing a real-world engine test-rig.
Introduction to Multi-attribute Military Decision-Making

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) only has a limited number of assets and a finite amount of time to conduct investigations, thus DHS must establish priorities for its investigations. The risk assessment office has collected the data for the morning meeting shown in Table 5.1. Your operations research team must analyze the information and provide a priority list to the risk assessment team for that meeting with DHS.
Introduction: Building a Rationale for Prison Dog Programs

Professionals who work with incarcerated populations continually search for interventions sufficiently powerful to change behavior and rehabilitate inmates so that they can make a successful reentry into society. Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a burgeoning field of research that spans different disciplines: justice, psychology, education, social work, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine, to name a few. Bolstered by research that documents the potential benefits of HAI, many correctional facilities have implemented programs that involve inmates in the care and training of animals. The most common type of animal that is the focus of these initiatives is the dog. Dogs are readily available in most communities, do not require the physical space of larger animals, and are noted for forming bonds with human beings. In addition, trained dogs are widely sought, both as family dogs and as service animals. This edited volume brings together a diverse group of professionals from different fields to create a resource a review of research, and an agenda for the future of dog care and training in correctional facilities. While it is an evidence-based treatment of the topic it also draws upon the vast practical experience of individuals who have successfully begun, maintained, improved, and evaluated various types of dog programs with inmates. Each chapter is an intentional blend of empirical research and the perspectives of various stakeholders: inmates, staff, volunteers, community members, the families who get the dogs and the welfare of the dogs themselves. As such, it is the first book of its type. The contributors share their unique perspectives, guide practice, and engage readers who have an interest in dog care and training initiatives housed in correctional facilities.
Burke’s Liberalism: Prejudice, Habit, Affections, and the Remaking of the Social Contract

Many of the critiques of liberalism broadly center on the way its over-dependence on individual rationality has the effect of isolating individuals from their communities. Critics from both the right and the left have argued, particularly recently, as in the works of Thomas Piketty or Patrick Deneen, that liberalism has failed in its quest to create a society of free and responsible individuals in part because of the success of its principles. Part of this failure may lie in the way in which liberal commitments to principles like reason, consent, and even freedom have been pushed to extremes in a way that harms the fundamental balance required between individual rights and community interests. The work of Edmund Burke serves as an antidote to this extremism. Far from being a conservative as he is often characterized, Burke’s liberalism is one that provides a supplement or corrective to the excesses of more extreme versions of liberalism. He offers an “affectionate liberalism,” one rooted in the particulars of time and place and one that, far from rejecting liberal values, believes that they are best protected within robust communities of individuals who are connected by a shared past, present, and future.
Scale-free, programmable design of morphable chain loops of kilobots and colloidal motors

Micron-scale robots require systems that can morph into arbitrary target configurations controlled by external agents such as heat, light, electricity, and chemical environment. Achieving this behavior using conventional approaches is challenging because the available materials at these scales are not programmable like their macroscopic counterparts. To overcome this challenge, we propose a design strategy to make a robotic machine that is both programmable and compatible with colloidal-scale physics. Our strategy uses motors in the form of active colloidal particles that constantly propel forward. We sequence these motors end-to-end in a closed chain forming a two-dimensional loop that folds under its mechanical constraints. We encode the target loop shape and its motion by regulating six design parameters, each scale-invariant and achievable at the colloidal scale. We demonstrate the plausibility of our design strategy using centimeter-scale robots called kilobots We use Brownian dynamics simulation to explore the large design space beyond that possible with kilobots, and present an analytical theory to aid the design process. Multiple loops can also be fused together to achieve several complex shapes and robotic behaviors, demonstrated by folding a letter shape "M," a dynamic gripper, and a dynamic pacman The material-agnostic, scale-free, and programmable nature of our design enables building a variety of reconfigurable and autonomous robots at both colloidal scales and macroscales.
COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Considerations and Costs of Telehealth Exercise Programs for Older Adults With Functional Impairments Living at Home-Lessons Learned From a Pilot Case Study.

Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the process and cost of delivering a physical therapist-guided synchronous telehealth exercise program appropriate for older adults with functional limitations. Such programs may help alleviate some of the detrimental impacts of social distancing and quarantine on older adults at-risk of decline. Methods Data were derived from the feasibility arm of a parent study, which piloted the telehealth program for 36 sessions with 1 participant. The steps involved in each phase (ie, development, delivery) were documented, along with participant and program provider considerations for each step. Time-driven activity-based costing was used to track all costs over the course of the study. Costs were categorized as program development or delivery and estimated per session and per participant. Results A list of the steps and the participant and provider considerations involved in developing and delivering a synchronous telehealth exercise program for older adults with functional impairments was developed. Resources used, fixed and variable costs, per-session cost estimates, and total cost per person were reported. Two potential measures of the "value proposition" of this type of intervention were also reported. Per-session cost of $158 appeared to be a feasible business case, especially if the physical therapist to trained assistant personnel mix could be improved. Conclusions The findings provide insight into the process and costs of developing and delivering telehealth exercise programs for older adults with functional impairments. The information presented may provide a "blue print" for developing and implementing new telehealth programs or for transitioning in-person services to telehealth delivery during periods of social distancing and quarantine. Impact As movement experts, physical therapists are uniquely positioned to play an important role in the current COVID-19 pandemic and to help individuals who are at risk of functional decline during periods of social distancing and quarantine. Lessons learned from this study's experience can provide guidance on the process and cost of developing and delivering a telehealth exercise program for older adults with functional impairments. The findings also can inform new telehealth programs, as well as assist in transitioning in-person care to a telehealth format in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demographic Tendencies and Hospitalization Outcomes Among Inpatient Admissions of Osteoarthritis in the Midwest: A 2016 State Inpatient Database Study.

Objective To assess the inpatient prevalence of osteoarthritis in a Midwestern state and to identify trends in demographics and hospital outcomes. Methods The Wisconsin State Inpatient Sample Database (2016) was queried to identify hospitalization records with a primary diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Bivariate correlation, descriptive statistics, and single-layer mean comparison were used for categorical and continuous data within the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) sub-groups. Results In 2016, there were 64,805 admissions of osteoarthritis. The most common (>0.09%) were the right knee osteoarthritis (24.5%), left knee osteoarthritis (23%), right hip osteoarthritis (16.9%), left hip osteoarthritis (14.3%), knee unspecified osteoarthritis (11.5%), bilateral knees osteoarthritis (7%), and right shoulder osteoarthritis (2%). The mean age on admission was 67 years for each hip osteoarthritis, 66 years for each knee osteoarthritis, and 69 years for right shoulder osteoarthritis. The mean length of stay was 3.15 days for bilateral knee osteoarthritis and 1.92 days for the right shoulder osteoarthritis. Total inpatient charges and in-hospital mortality were highest in right shoulder osteoarthritis (USD 52,699.40 [0.6%]; N = 6), and total charges were lowest in right and left hip osteoarthritis (44,689.54 and 44,427.33, respectively). A greater frequency of females and Caucasians was consistently admitted within each of the included ICD-10-CM OA sub-groupings. Age was correlated with charge in the left hip osteoarthritis (r = 0.050) and right shoulder osteoarthritis (r = 0.068), and was negatively correlated with charge in the bilateral knee osteoarthritis (r = -0.115), right knee osteoarthritis (r = -0.054), and left knee osteoarthritis (r = -0.060). Conclusions In Wisconsin, with somewhat of a generalizability to other Midwestern states, attention should be given to Caucasian, elderly, and female patients with osteoarthritis of the hip and knee. Further studies are needed to broaden the understanding of cost utilization, how charges and hospital stay compare nationwide, and where preventative efforts are needed.
Exploratory narrative text analysis to characterize tasks associated with injuries among electric utility line workers: EPRI Occupational Health and Safety Database 1995–2013

BACKGROUND Injury prevention is an important goal for electric utility line workers who are among the top 10 U.S. occupational groups sustaining fatal injuries on the job. METHODS Using narrative text fields, we identified 10 high-risk tasks among electric utility line workers. We performed a case-control study of task-injury associations using data from the Electric Power Research Institute Occupational Health and Safety Database (1995-2013). RESULTS Drawn from 12,323 line worker injuries, cases were individuals with a major injury (5 or more days lost work) matched to controls, individuals with a minor injury (less than 1 day lost work), on company and year of injury. Conditional logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Some tasks associated with higher odds for major injuries among line workers included: climbing up/down ladder/stairs/elevator (OR = 4.3; 95% CI = 2.6, 7.4); climbing down poles and transmission towers (OR = 5.5; 95% CI = 3.6, 8.4); entering/stepping out/approaching utility trucks, bucket, or vaults (OR = 5.8; 95% CI = 4.0, 8.4); and performing repetitive work/overtime (OR = 5.5; 95% CI = 3.2, 9.5). CONCLUSIONS Knowledge gained can be used to focus efforts and plan efficient preventive measures that reduce injury rates, time lost from work, and costs within the electric power industry.
No association between consumption of eggs with energy or macronutrient intake: Objective evidence from the remote food photography method.

Abstract Background and aims Greater egg consumption is associated with poor glycemic control. However, greater egg intake could simply be a marker for other dietary indiscretions such as greater intake of energy or saturated fat, which may influence glycemic control. We examined the association between egg consumption and total energy intake and saturated fat intake, measured using the remote food photography method. Methods An observational study was conducted with 48 healthy adults consuming ≥1 eggs/week. Photographs of all meals consumed for seven days were captured via a smartphone application called SmartIntake® and analyzed for nutrient intake. Fasting blood samples were collected. Linear correlations between egg consumption and nutrient intake or measures of glycemic control were determined. Results Daily egg intake was significantly associated with cholesterol intake, but not with the daily energy and saturated fat intake or measures of glycemic control. Conclusions Higher consumption of eggs in free-living conditions was not associated with undesirable profiles of macronutrient intake, total EI, or an impaired glycemic profile in this study population. Thus, the assertion that eggs are linked with impaired glycemic control because of the accompanying intake of greater energy and saturated fat, does not appear valid. Trial registration NCT 03404700.
Unknown Unknowns: Why We Need to Know More About How the Government Stifles the Right to Receive Information from Foreigners Online

The First Amendment right to receive information ensures that where speakers are free to speak, listeners receive their speech. In theory, this right has been enshrined through doctrine, and is critical in protecting the First Amendment’s goals of truth-seeking, self-governance, and self-realization. In practice, with respect to foreign speech online, the right to receive is not realized, impacting the First Amendment’s goals. Courts have repeatedly struck down right to receive claims because of inadequate standing. The government also cooperates with technology companies to take down (foreign) content and monitor (foreign) speakers, which prevents Americans from seeing information sent their way, both directly and through speaker self-censorship. The government’s foreign policy moves in banning apps and pressuring technology companies to remove adversarial leaders also impacts this right. These moves mean that listeners do not know what they do not know. Despite these infringements, it is incredibly difficult to litigate the right to receive. Listeners may not have standing, as they do not know what they do not hear. The Court also defers heavily to the government on alleged issues of national security, which may be implicated with foreign speech. Some such speech could also be considered inciting, though not in line with traditional incitement doctrine. And the nature of the internet makes it difficult to find plaintiffs whose rights may have been violated. Instead of litigation, legislation is a better avenue of protecting this right. Such legislation could encourage transparency of technology companies, and ensure the government is held accountable for content takedowns and chilled speech online.
Creation of a State Drug Shortage Dashboard in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: Drug shortages are anticipated to worsen with time as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues. The aim of this study is to track drug shortages within Illinois and identify causes and trends to this time-sensitive problem. Methods: In order to communicate between health systems within the state, the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists (ICHP) developed a medication shortage dashboard, which collects information from health systems in the state on current drug shortages. Classes of medications inquired about included: anti-infectives, neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), sedatives/analgesics, vasopressors, and ?others.? Data was gathered from 6 different medication shortage dashboards, ranging from May 20, 2020 to June 22, 2020 and was used to track drug shortages within Illinois. Additionally, this data was analyzed in conjunction with the number of hospital beds utilized by COVID-19 patients at the time. Results: Illinois?s medication shortage dashboard tracked the supply level of 42 medications used in the treatment of patient?s hospitalized with COVID-19. Data from an average of 75 health systems was analyzed each week (average response rate: 52%). For each medication, health systems identified if they had ample supply, mild shortage, moderate shortage, or critical shortage. Overall the trends of these medications positively correlated with the number of hospital beds utilized by COVID-19 patients in Illinois (r2?=?0.7). Conclusion: The data from this study supports the conclusion that increased hospital bed utilization by COVID-19 patients is correlated with increased drug shortages of medications used in the treatment of COVID-19. It is imperative that health systems take appropriate action to prevent and manage drug shortages.
The use of a λgt11 Expression Vector and of Protein Sequence Derived DNA Oligomers to Clone Genes for Pilus Synthesis in PseudomonasSolanacearum

The change from virulence to avirulence that occurs in Pseudomonas solanacearum, strain K60 and Bl, respectively, markedly increases their adhesion to plant cell walls and, concomitantly, the production of pili. Cloned pilus genes, therefore, can be used as probes for possible rearrangements when virulence is lost and to determine the role of pili in bacterial attachment. When pLAFRl cosmid libraries of P. solanacearum were used to clone DNA fragments containing the pilus genes into E. coli, there was no expression of pilus protein, as determined by radioimmunoassay. Therefore, direct cloning by function did not appear feasible in E. coli. A more successful approach consisted of a) screening λgtll genomic expression libraries of P. solanacearum in E. coli for expression of pilus protein by radio-immunoassay, and b) identifying the gene in a cosmid library by hybridization with a synthetic oligonucleotide probe derived from the amino acid sequence of pilin CNBr fragments. Positive clones were characterized further.
Disconjugacy and the Secant Conjecture

We discuss the so-called secant conjecture in real algebraic geometry, and show that it follows from another interesting conjecture, about disconjugacy of vector spaces of real polynomials in one variable.
The Pigou-Dalton Principle and the Structure of Distributive Justice

The Pigou-Dalton (PD) principle recommends a non-leaky, non-rank-switching transfer of goods from someone with more goods to someone with less. This Article defends the PD principle as an aspect of distributive justice — enabling the comparison of two distributions, neither completely equal, as more or less just. It shows how the PD principle flows from a particular view, adumbrated by Thomas Nagel, about the grounding of distributive justice in individuals’ “claims.” And it criticizes two competing frameworks for thinking about justice that less clearly support the principle: the veil-of-ignorance framework, and Larry Temkin’s proposal that fairer distributions are those concerning which individuals have fewer “complaints.”The Article also clarifies the relation between the PD principle and prioritarianism. Prioritarians will surely endorse the PD principle (with the “good” individual well-being), but they are also committed to a distinct axiom of separability: the moral value of someone’s well-being change does not depend upon her position relative to others. The PD principle neither implies separability, nor is implied by it. Although prioritarianism is very plausible, the case for the PD principle is yet more compelling than for the combination of that principle with separability. In discussing prioritarianism, we should differentiate between these two, logically independent aspects of the view.
Beyond toxicity: human health and the natural environment.

Abstract Research and teaching in environmental health have centered on the hazardous effects of various environmental exposures, such as toxic chemicals, radiation, and biological and physical agents. However, some kinds of environmental exposures may have positive health effects. According to E.O. Wilson’s “biophilia” hypothesis, humans are innately attracted to other living organisms. Later authors have expanded this concept to suggest that humans have an innate bond with nature more generally. This implies that certain kinds of contact with the natural world may benefit health. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is presented from four aspects of the natural world: animals, plants, landscapes, and wilderness. Finally, the implications of this hypothesis for a broader agenda for environmental health, encompassing not only toxic outcomes but also salutary ones, are discussed. This agenda implies research on a range of potentially healthful environmental exposures, collaboration among professionals in a range of disciplines from public health to landscape architecture to city planning, and interventions based on research outcomes.
Constructing Female Identities: Meaning Making in an Upper Middle Class Youth Culture.

Constructing Female Identities: Meaning Making in an Upper Middle Class Youth Culture. Amira Proweller. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 284 pp.
Oral History, American Teachers and a Social History of Schooling: an emerging agenda

Abstract This study provides an overview of how oral history has enriched twentieth century American educational history. Hopefully it will provide a framework to analyse the historical and social context of schooling in other settings. First, it focuses on teachers’ lives, stressing the primary role of gender in ‘selecting’ teaching as an occupation, and briefly examines the impact of teacher training. Second, it relates classroom experiences, such as daily routines, ideological conformity, racial segregation and scientific management, through instructors’ eyes in an effort to reconstruct teacher and classroom culture. Third, it touches on how teachers’ lives and work intersected, revealing the complex experiences and conflicts of female instructors. This study relies on a synthetic approach and taps urban, small town and rural experiences through a comprehensive oral history review—by no means exhaustive but certainly illustrative. It couples this with some original research. Finally, in an attempt to c...
Selective negative word line scheme for improving refresh

Proposed is a new selective negative word line scheme that yields almost 2.7% of the fail bit count (FBC) in a DRAM chip with a conventional negative word line scheme in the pause refresh state. It has a superior dynamic refresh characteristic, which is almost 0.3% of the FBC in a DRAM chip using the ground word line scheme. This scheme leads to a very low cell VTH (threshold voltage).
Research activities in database management and information retrieval at University of Illinois at Chicago

Today, millions of people employ powerful search engines such as Google to retrieve information from the Web on a daily basis. In spite of the success, there are problems associated with such powerful search engines. First, the number of pages which are captured by a single search engine is a few billion, while it has been reported that the entire Web has about 500 billion pages and is rapidly growing. Thus, the coverage of the Web by a single search engine is rather small. Second, an index database has to be built to contain the key information of the captured Web pages. This database is huge and takes substantial amount of time to refresh its contents. Thus, it is not surprising that substantial amount of information in the indexed database can be weeks out-of-date. Third, in order to retrieve information from the large database when there are a large number of queries, enormous hardware resources are needed. It has been reported that Google is utilizing many thousands of computers.
Stimulation of S91 melanoma tyrosinase activity by superpotent α-melanotropins

Abstract α-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH, α-melanotropin), [Nle4,D-Phe7]-α-MSH and related fragment analogues, Ac-[Nle4,D-Phe7]-α-MSH4–11-NH2 and Ac-[Nle4,D-Phe7]-α-MSH4–10-NH2, were studied for their ability to stimulate tyrosinase activity in Cloudman S91 mouse melanoma cells in tissue culture. All of the melanotropins stimulated tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. [Nle4,D-Phe7]-α-MSH was about 100 times more active than a-MSH as determined from the minimal effective dose (MED) required to activate the enzyme above control (basal) levels. The MED of this analogue to significantly stimulate tyrosinase activity at 24, 48 and 72 h of incubation was 10−11 M whereas the MED of α-MSH was 10−9 M at each of these times. The maximum tyrosinase activity achieved from the time of initial incubation in the presence of [Nle4,D-Phe7]-α-MSH was approximately 3-, 5- and 6-fold greater than control levels at 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively. The 2 [Nle4,D-Phe7]-substituted fragment analogues were at least as active as the tridecapeptide analogue and therefore at least 100-fold more active than a-MSH in stimulating enzyme activity. These [Nle4,D-Phe7]-substituted analogues were more active in the melanoma tyrosinase assay than in the melanoma adenylate cyclase assay or other normal melanocyte (frog and lizard skin) bioassays.
Fighting an Uphill Battle: Expansion Barriers, Intra–Industry Social Stratification, and Minority Firm Growth:

Here, a model of minority firm expansion based on the resource–based view, the expansion barriers framework, and social stratification processes illustrates the economic and social barriers faced b...
Cardiorespiratory effects produced by injecting drugs that affect GABA receptors into nuclei associated with the ventral surface of the medulla.

Abstract It has recently been shown that l -glutamic acid induced stimulation of cell bodies in a circumscribed area of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in the cat, produced increases in arterial pressure (AP), decreases in heart rate (HR) and transient apnea (Gatti, Norman, DaSilva and Gillis, 1986). The purpose of the present study was to determine if this same area was sensitive to GABA receptor agonists and antagonists. Injection of the GABA agonist muscimol (200 ng), into the rostral ventrolateral medulla of cats anesthetized with chloralose produced a precipitous and immediate fall in arterial pressure (− 95 ± 4.6) and heart rate (− 31 ± 5.9; n = 4, P
On the interaction of a periodic system of parallel coaxial radial-shear cracks in a prestressed composite

Based on approaches of the linearized theory of elasticity, we consider an axisymmetric problem of stress-strain state of a composite with initial (residual) stresses containing a periodic system of parallel coaxial radial-shear cracks. Using representations of general solutions of the linearized equilibrium equations in terms of harmonic potential functions and the apparatus of integral Hankel transformations, we reduce the problem to a system of dual integral equations and then to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. We obtain expressions for the stress intensity factors near the crack edges and, for a laminated composite with isotropic layers, analyze dependences of these factors on the initial stresses, mechanical characteristics of components, and geometric parameters of the problem. On the basis of analysis of the sharp “resonance-like” behavior of the stress intensity factors, for certain values of the initial compressive stresses, we determine critical parameters of compression along the periodic system of parallel coaxial cracks.
Epigenetic Regulation of Condensin-Mediated Genome Organization during the Cell Cycle and upon DNA Damage through Histone H3 Lysine 56 Acetylation

Summary Complex genome organizations participate in various nuclear processes including transcription, DNA replication, and repair. However, the mechanisms that generate and regulate these functional genome structures remain largely unknown. Here, we describe how the Ku heterodimer complex, which functions in nonhomologous end joining, mediates clustering of long terminal repeat retrotransposons at centromeres in fission yeast. We demonstrate that the CENP-B subunit, Abp1, functions as a recruiter of the Ku complex, which in turn loads the genome-organizing machinery condensin to retrotransposons. Intriguingly, histone H3 lysine 56 (H3K56) acetylation, which functions in DNA replication and repair, interferes with Ku localization at retrotransposons without disrupting Abp1 localization and, as a consequence, dissociates condensin from retrotransposons. This dissociation releases condensin-mediated genomic associations during S phase and upon DNA damage. ATR (ATM- and Rad3-related) kinase mediates the DNA damage response of condensin-mediated genome organization. Our study describes a function of H3K56 acetylation that neutralizes condensin-mediated genome organization.
Cross-linking of DNA in situ as a probe for chromatin structure

The photochemical cross-linking of DNA in situ in chromatin is blocked over short intervals. Electron microscopy of DNA cross-linked in chromatin reveals the lengths of protected regions and provides a map of their sites along the DNA. Protected regions occur most frequently in tandem and have a basic length of 160 to 200 base pairs.
Mechanics of sintering thin films — I. Formulation and analytical results

Abstract An analysis of the mechanics of sintering thin films is presented. A two-dimensional formulation is obtained by averaging the governing equations through the film thickness. The effect of the interfacial shear traction is represented by a body force which is related to the in-plane velocity through an interface model. Analytical results valid for short times have been obtained for an initially homogeneous annular film on a rigid substrate. A theoretical justification of the interface model, together with a numerical simulation of interface deformation based on the underlying micromechanics is given in the Appendix for sintering films. The analysis is based on linear viscous material behavior but can be applied to elastic films with appropriate modifications.
On spatial processing in MIMO radar

We develop a signal model for MIMO radar which takes into account delay and Doppler mismatch due to the fact that scatterers do not generally lie in the center of delay/Doppler resolution cells, as is commonly assumed in the literature on this subject. This mismatch may cause a distortion of the array manifold thus impacting the results of array processing functions such as beamforming, null steering, and direction finding.