cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Work-family conflict among IT specialty workers in the US

ABSTRACTSpecialty workers are a source of critical, locally scarce technical skills. This study aimed to understand the experience of work-family conflict among specialty workers in the US by exploring the process of transitioning from working in their home countries to working in the US. While participants perceived initial difficulties in adapting to the new environment, over time, they experienced lower work-family conflict in the US compared to working in their own home countries. In their home countries, where work and family domains were considered separate and culturally defined boundaries separating these domains are rigidly maintained; these participants relied heavily on family support to manage work-family conflict. Moving to the US, where greater integration of work and family domains is prevalent, these participants managed work-family conflict by revisiting altered demands, accessing alternate organizational resources and learning new skills to create and maintain work-family boundaries. Thi...
Determinants of Selective Vulnerability of Dopamine Neurons in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) shows regionally selective neuropathology, and several mechanisms have been proposed to explain what makes a few neuronal populations particularly vulnerable to the disease. This review discusses the main hypotheses for this selective vulnerability with a focus on dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, whose loss determines the main motor symptoms of PD: their neurotransmitter, DA, itself; their morphology, especially their long and highly branched axon; and their physiological phenotype coupled to a large influx of Ca2+ due to CaV1.3 channels engaging in their pacemaker activity. Interestingly, all these mechanisms seem to converge on mitochondria dysfunction, as it will be described. Understanding the causes of this specific vulnerability is the key to design better therapeutic strategies against the disease.
PET-CT evaluation of malignant pleural mesothelioma

1081 Learning Objectives 1. Provide a brief overview regarding malignant pleural mesothelioma. 2. Gain an understanding of the utility of imaging techniques in the diagnosis, staging and assessment of therapy of patients with mesothelioma. The emphasis will be on PET/CT. 3. Provide pertinent illustrative figures of PET/CT and CT for malignant pleural mesothelioma. 4. Discuss the advantages and limitations of PET/CT in diagnosis and assessment of therapy. Uptake of tracer in 18F-FDG PET scans is a measure of the metabolic activity and, therefore, the viability of tumor cells. Mesothelioma is 18F-FDG avid, and tumor volume has been shown to correlate with patient survival. In addition, early response to chemotherapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) has been demonstrated using serial 18F-FDG PET scans. Our presentation will provide a comprehensive pictorial overview of diagnosing malignant pleural mesothelioma while emphasizing on the role of PET/CT in diagnosing, staging and follow up of mesothelioma patients. It will serve as a valuable review for technologists and physicians alike
Perceptions of treatment for underrepresented minority faculty in engineering

In this Work In Progress paper, we describe an NSF-funded research project designed to enhance the presence, socialization, retention and advancement of junior and mid-career university faculty from underrepresented minorities (URM) (i.e., African American, Native American, Pacific Islander and Hispanic Faculty) in engineering disciplines. The understanding behind this project is that to increase and sustain diversity in engineering, there is first and foremost, a fundamental need to increase diversity in faculty and enhance their career development; therefore, this project is developing and implementing a holistic array of career development initiatives for URM faculty. Although important conversations about race, inclusion and diversity are at the forefront of academic institutions around the country, preliminary results suggest that many of the circumstances that are potential barriers to URM faculty development still persist. Through this project, we are working to continue moving these conversations toward purposeful and deliberate actions and to research and analyze these perceived barriers to inform academic institutions, as well as interested constituents, of realities URM faculty face. This work-in-progress project is in the first year of the five years projected and it will continue to elaborate on a mixed method approach to answering the research questions while offering a yearly workshop that also integrates more than a decade of first-hand experience with the NSF Minority Development Workshop (MFDW).
Observations on the Brittle Fracture Of Cemented Titanium Carbide

The brittle fracture of a TiC-Inconel cermet at room temperature is shown to occur primarily as a result of the cracking of the larger carbide particles (at a tensile strain of approximately 0.3 pct), followed by cracking of adjacent, smaller carbides and, finally, by the rupture of the Inconel matrix between cracked carbides (at a strain of ~ 1.2 pct). No evidence was found for separation at the interface between carbide and matrix at any point in the fracture process.
Preoperative Planning and Sizing for Iliac Branch Devices

Planning and sizing is the first step to be successful with endovascular repair of aortoiliac aneurysms using iliac branch devices and parallel stent-grafts. Factors affecting selection of device and best approach include sealing zones, access, suitability of the internal iliac artery target, and other issues that can increase technical challenge such as tortuosity, narrowing, and calcifications. This chapter summarizes recommendations for planning iliac branch procedures.
Reliability and validity of active and passive pectoralis minor muscle length measures.

Abstract Background Pectoralis minor muscle length is believed to play an important role in shoulder pain and dysfunction. Current clinical procedures for assessing pectoralis minor muscle length may not provide the most useful information for clinical decision making. Objective To establish the reliability and construct validity of a novel technique to measure pectoralis minor muscle length under actively and passively lengthened conditions. Design Cross-sectional repeated measures. Methods Thirty-four healthy adults (age: 23.9, SD = 1.6 years; 18 females) participated in this study. Pectoralis minor muscle length was measured on the dominant arm in three length conditions: resting, actively lengthened, and passively lengthened. Based upon availability, two raters, out of a pool of five, used a caliper to measure the distance between the coracoid process and the 4th rib. The average of two pectoralis minor muscle length measures was used for all muscle length conditions and analyses. Intraclass correlation coefficients determined intra-and inter-rater reliability, and measurement error was determined via standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change. Construct validity was assessed by ANOVA to determine differences in muscle length across the three conditions. Results Our intra- and inter-rater reliability values across all three conditions ranged from 0.84 to 0.92 and from 0.80 to 0.90, respectively. Significant differences (p Conclusions The techniques described in this study for measuring pectoralis minor muscle length under resting and actively and passively lengthened conditions have acceptable reliability for clinical decision making.
Context-Aware User Interfaces for Intelligent Emergency Applications

The importance of context in many recent software engineering research studies has been rising significantly. Injecting context awareness into software systems has facilitated multiple facets of modelling, increasing user satisfaction, and increased the level of User Interface (UI) intelligence. Context has been a major part of traditional Artificial Intelligence (AI), lately however, it is being deployed to a wider spectrum of research topics such as human cognition, the internet of things, software usability and many others. In this paper, a new context-aware method for emergency applications is introduced. An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to life, health, property or environment. There is an obvious gap in applying context to such critical cases; this paper shows that context awareness in user interfaces can play an important role with notifications and improving human reactions during such unfortunate and unforeseen incidents. The proposed method is evaluated through live emergency drills and simulations, the experimental results are presented.
High-Temperature RF Material Characterization Using a Dual-Chambered Rectangular Waveguide Fixture

A rectangular waveguide (RWG) fixture is proposed for the high-temperature RF characterization of materials. Composed of two RWGs in a side-by-side or over–under orientation, the new apparatus permits the calibration and specimen measurements to be collected simultaneously reducing high-temperature measurement time by two full days over the traditional method. In addition, the permittivity and permeability, determined from measured $S$ -parameters, are independent of sample position and can be found in closed form. The design and construction of the dual-chambered RWG fixture are detailed. The closed-form, position-independent, permittivity and permeability extraction method is also discussed. Finally, high-temperature material characterization experiments are performed to validate the fixture. The errors in permittivity and permeability are estimated assuming uncertainties in sample thickness and measured $S$ -parameters.
Bolivia’s “democracy in transition”: more questions than answers in 2016

On 21 February 2016, an absolute majority of Bolivian voters (51.3%) voted against a constitutional revision that would clear the way for President Morales to assume a fourth term in office. Evaluating the municipal level change in pro-MAS vote share over previous elections, I find that the pro-government vote share declined most dramatically in traditional MAS electoral strongholds, particularly those with high concentrations of mine workers or indigenous voters. This, along with numerous other challenges to the MAS institutional hegemony, begs larger questions about the future of the MAS as a political coalition, and about Bolivia’s “democracy in transition.”
Multinational Tax Incentives and Offshored U.S. Jobs

ABSTRACT This paper examines if, when, and to what extent multinational tax incentives incrementally explain where firms move offshored U.S. jobs. Using jobs data from a Department of Labor program...
Progress in the Development of Fe-Based PGM-Free Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Development of alternative energy sources is crucial to tackle challenges encountered by the growing global energy demand. Hydrogen fuel, a promising way to store energy produced from renewable power sources, can be converted into electrical energy at high efficiency via direct electrochemical conversion in fuel cells, releasing water as the sole byproduct. One important drawback to current fuel-cell technology is the high content of platinum-group-metal (PGM) electrocatalysts required to perform the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Addressing this challenge, remarkable progress has been made in the development of low-cost PGM-free electrocatalysts synthesized from inexpensive, earth-abundant, and easily sourced materials such as iron, nitrogen, and carbon (Fe-N-C). PGM-free Fe-N-C electrocatalysts now exhibit ORR activities approaching that of PGM electrocatalysts but at a fraction of the cost, promising to significantly reduce overall fuel-cell technology costs. Herein, recent developments in PGM-free electrocatalysis, demonstrating increased fuel-cell performance, as well as efforts aimed at understanding the key limiting factor, i.e., the nature of the PGM-free active site, are summarized. Further improvements will be accomplished through the controlled and/or rationally designed synthesis of materials with higher active-site densities, while at the same time establishing methods to mitigate catalyst degradation.
Isolation by Distance, Source-Sink Population Dynamics and Dispersal Facilitation by Trade Routes: Impact on Population Genetic Structure of a Stored Grain Pest.

Population genetic structure of agricultural pests can be impacted not only by geographic distance and the broader ecological and physical barriers but also by patterns related to where crops are produced and how they are moved after harvest. Stored-product pests, for instance, specialize in exploiting grains such as wheat and rice from on-farm storage through transportation to final processing at often geographically distant locations; therefore human-aided movement may impact their dispersal. Although stored product insects are associated with stored grain, they can also exploit resources in the surrounding environments so different ecological regions where the grain is grown and stored may also influence population structure. Here we used 1,156 SNP markers to investigate how geographic distance, ecological and agricultural variables can impact the genetic structure and gene flow of the stored food pest beetle Rhyzopertha dominica. We found a substantial degree of admixture between weakly structured populations in the US. Ecological regions were more important in explaining R. dominica population structure than crop type, suggesting insect movement between wheat and rice grain distribution channels. We have also found a significant correlation between the genetic and geographical distance (i.e., isolation by distance). However, our modeling approach combining the ecological and management variables has highlighted the importance of the volume of grain received by a location in the dispersal dynamics of the pest. The first-generation migrant analysis offered additional supported to movement over great distances that are likely associated with grain movement. Our data suggest that a multitude of factors play small but significant parts in the movement dynamics of the pest. The beetles can take advantage of the source-sink dynamic of grain movement in the US, but also engage in a high rate of movement at the local scale. Understanding population structure for R. dominica will provide insights into the potential for local processes of adaptation and broader patterns of movement that will impact management programs and the potential for spread of resistance genes.
Implementing a Population-Based Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Program.

Abstract Background Personalized breast cancer risk assessment is important in identifying and managing women at increased risk for breast cancer. However, there has been little evaluation of the practical aspects of implementing a population-based program that identifies and refers high-risk patients for further evaluation. Patients and Methods We implemented a semiautomated approach to collect personal and family history to identify women at high risk of breast cancer. On the basis of the survey, women identified as elevated risk received letters inviting them to telephone consultations with licensed breast health genetic counselors (BHGCs). High-risk women's history was verified and counseling and referrals provided, as appropriate. Results Among 20,558 women screened, 2000 (9.7%) women were identified as high risk on the basis of patient initial report. However, most (1,580) were excluded from receiving risk communication after BHGC review of risk information with the woman or because of previous attention to breast cancer risk or an abnormal mammogram. Among 420 subjects who received risk letters, 225 received a BHGC consultation. Of these 225 women, 63 were reclassified as average risk, 158 were referred to high-risk clinics, and 5 consultations were incomplete after determining that further information was needed. Of the 158 women referred to high-risk breast clinics, 51 attended an appointment. Conclusion This study highlights the complex nature of a population-based breast cancer screening program in a clinical setting and shows the substantial effort needed to identify newly discovered women at high risk for breast cancer and refer them to appropriate services.
Racial Disparities in Readmission Rates among Patients Discharged to Skilled Nursing Facilities.

Objectives Prior studies have reported mixed findings about the existence of racial disparities in readmission rates among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, but these studies used data from one state, focused on black-white disparities, and did not focus on patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The objective of the study was to characterize racial and ethnic disparities in rates of 30-day rehospitalization directly from SNFs among fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage patients. Design A cross-sectional study of admissions to SNFs in 2015 was conducted. Setting SNFs across the United States. Participants The sample included 1 500 334 white, 213 848 African American, and 99 781 Hispanic Medicare patients who were admitted to 13 375 SNFs. Measurements The main outcome of interest was readmission, identified as patients sent back to any hospital directly from the SNF within 30 days of admission, as indicated on the Minimum Data Set discharge assessment. Results Overall readmission rates for fee-for-service patients were 16.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 16.7%-16.8%) for whites, 18.8% (95% CI = 18.7%-19.0%) for African Americans, and 17.4% (95% CI = 17.1%-17.7%) for Hispanics. Readmission rates in Medicare Advantage were 14.7% (95% CI = 14.5%-14.8%) for whites, 16.8% (95% CI = 16.6%-17.1%) for African Americans, and 15.3% (95% CI = 14.9%-15.6%) for Hispanics. We also found that African Americans had about 1% higher readmission rates than whites, even when they received care within the same SNF. No statistically significant differences were found in the magnitude of within-SNF racial disparities in Medicare Advantage compared with Medicare fee-for-service. Conclusion We found racial disparities in readmission rates even within the same facility for both Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service beneficiaries. Intervention to reduce disparities in readmission rates, as well as more comprehensive quality measures that incorporate outcomes for Medicare Advantage enrollees, are needed. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1672-1679, 2019.
Buying the Ballot: Political Actors and Official Ballot Initiative Language

At the time of their inception in the Progressive Era, ballot initiatives were intended as a way for citizens to wrest control of the policy making process away from politicians corrupted by special interests. However, this measure of popular sovereignty may not be as immune to meddling these same special interests as either the founders of direct democracy or the literature suggests. Many voters learn about initiatives only from the titles and summaries appearing on ballots, which are themselves written by elected politicians. We study that special interest groups influence the wording of these official ballot initiative summaries, showing that summaries are more likely to use supporters’ preferred language as supporters contributed more to the summary writer. This relationship holds true even when the summary writer is running for a different office and does not exist in summaries written by an independent, apolitical non-profit group. We then show that donors are more likely to give to Attorney General candidates when relevant initiatives appear on the ballot. This result is not reflected in broader state-level political activity and exists only in states where the Attorney General writes the summary. Our results show the risks of tasking elected officials with fundamentally bureaucratic tasks and indicate that this process designed to reduce the power of special interests over the legislative process may have actually given them another avenue of control.
Abstract 170: Exosomal AAV-mediated SERCA2a Gene Transfer Improves Cardiac Function in a Mouse Model of Heart Failure

Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are promising therapeutic tools for gene delivery to the heart. However, pre-existing antibodies (NAbs) to many cardiotropic AAV serotypes naturally present in human...
Activities for Humanizing Dance Pedagogy: Immersive Learning in Practice

Based upon Paulo Freire’s theory of humanizing pedagogy and informed more recently by Freirean scholars Lilia Bartolome and Maria del Carmen Salazar, this practice-based article provides two immers...
Piloting a first-year resident-as-teacher workshop to foster evidence-based teaching.

PURPOSE Residents function as important educators of dental students; however, they often have limited training in educational best-practices. Resident-as-teacher programs have been designed and implemented in other health professions to prepare residents to teach in clinic and classroom settings. In this research, we describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a 2-day workshop for first-year advanced dental residents. METHODS The program engaged residents in techniques to: (1) foster psychological safety, (2) use the cognitive apprenticeship framework, (3) deliver quality feedback, and (4) conduct effective didactic instruction. Nineteen first-year residents attended 2 four-hour workshops in July 2019. The impact of the program was evaluated using Kirkpatrick's model, which included participant reactions, learning, and self-reported behaviors. RESULTS Most residents (at least 83.3%) reported the value and quality of the workshop was high or very high. With regard to knowledge, residents had statistically significant higher scores after the workshop on knowledge questions about cognitive apprenticeship (P < 0.01), feedback strategies (P < 0.05), and classroom instruction techniques (P < 0.05). Resident reported self-efficacy had a statistically significantly increase (P < 0.05) after the workshop in psychological safety, cognitive apprenticeship, and most items related to providing feedback; there were few changes in self-efficacy on classroom instruction strategies. CONCLUSION Overall, a workshop to prepare residents as teachers can improve knowledge and self-efficacy in evidence-based educational practices.
Numerical Study of Rectangular Air-Holes Based Highly Dispersion Compensating Octagonal Photonic Crystal Fiber: A Novel Approach

This paper proposed a single-mode octagonal photonic crystal fiber (O-PCF) based on rectangular air holes to achieve high nonlinearity with very high negative dispersion. The full vector finite element method (FEM) incorporated with a circular, perfectly matched layer (PML) at the boundary is applied to investigate the different optical properties of the proposed fiber. The numerical results show that our proposed structure attains a dispersion of −1822 ps/(nm.km) and nonlinearity of 104 W−1km−1 at $1.55\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ wavelength. This O-PCF can be used for various practical applications which includes dispersion compensation and nonlinear optics application.
Stimulating and sustaining scholarly activity at teaching-intensive institutions.

Abstract Introduction Research and scholarship are core elements of the academic mission. Yet fulfilling institutional and accreditation requirements for scholarly activity can be challenging, particularly for teaching-intensive institutions. This paper describes strategies for employing a teacher-scholar model to stimulate and sustain scholarly activity. Methods Metrics of scholarly productivity were programmatically assessed and reported for at least five years following implementation of sixteen different strategic initiatives at three teaching-intensive colleges of pharmacy. Data reported included publications (original peer-reviewed publications, case reports, review articles), presentations (posters, podiums, and continuing education sessions), peer-reviewed published abstracts, grants awarded, and total extramural funding per annum. Faculty and student engagement in scholarship was indicated by authorship on at least one scholarly work. Results Broad increases in metrics of scholarly productivity were observed, while the timing and degree of change varied (1.4-fold to 10.4-fold, across all institutions, all years). Notably, the most robust growth was observed in grantsmanship and the number of faculty and student contributors to scholarly works. A key observation was that increased scholarly output was sustained, as during the most recent three-year period publications increased 1.6-fold, grants and extramural funding increased 3.4- and 15.8-fold, respectively, and faculty and student contributors increased 1.8- and 4.5-fold, respectively. Conclusions Overall, these data point to a substantive, detailed approach for increasing scholarship at diverse, teaching-intensive institutions by implementing cost-conscious strategies, including clear ties between scholarly effort/productivity and faculty performance/advancement, strong faculty development and mentoring, institutional commitments to infrastructure and research budgets, and student engagement in scholarly activities.
Meiosis: Is Spermatogenesis Stress an Opportunity for Evolutionary Innovation?

During a brief increase in temperature, cells undergoing spermatogenesis, but not oogenesis, activate transposons. This sexual dimorphism suggests that temperature stress during spermatogenesis provides a unique opportunity for transposons to mobilize and modify genomes, driving evolutionary change without substantially affecting reproduction.
Design of Solar Power LED Lighting System using Horizontal Two-Axis Arduino Based Solar Tracking System

The project deals with design of solar power LED lighting system using Horizontal Two-Axis Arduino based Solar Tracking System. The main goal of this project is to design a very precise solar tracker. The project is divided into two parts; hardware and software. Hardware part generally composed of solar panel, two-DC motors with gearbox, LDR sensor module and electronic circuit. Software part represents the thinking behavior of the system, that is how the system acting under several weather conditions. In this work sensing of the sun position carried out in two stages primary and secondary. Primary stage or indirect sensing performed via sun-earth relationship as a coarse adjustment and second stage or direct sensing performed via set of LDR sensors as output tuning to trims the azimuth and altitude angles. If the weather is cloudy or dusty, the tracking system uses primary stage or sun-earth geometrical relationships only to identify the location of the sun; so the system tracks the position of the sun regardless the weather condition. The energy extracted from photovoltaic (PV) or any solar collector depends on solar irradiance. For maximum extraction of energy from the sun, the solar collector panel should always be normal to the incident radiation Solar trackers moves the solar collector to follow the sun path and keeps the orientation of the solar collector at an optimal tilt angle. Solar tracking system improves substantially the energy efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panel. In this paper, an automatic dual axis solar tracking system is designed and developed using Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) and DC motors on a mechanical structure with gear arrangement. Two axis solar tracking (azimuth angle as well as altitude angle) is implemented through Arduino UNO controller based on Sun Earth Geometry. The results indicated that the automatic solar tracking system is more reliable and efficient than fixed one.
Wang Lianming, Jesuitenerbe in Peking: Sakralbauten und transkulturelle Räume, 1600–1800.: Heidelberg Transcultural Studies, 5. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2020. 479 pp. Figures, Plates, Bibliography, Index. € 68 (HB). ISBN 978-3-8253-6937-8

Jesuitenerbe in Peking: Sakralbauten und transkulturelle Raume, 1600–1800 (The Jesuit Legacy in Beijing: Sacred Buildings and Transcultural Spaces, 1600–1800) is a remarkable attempt to use the too...
Policy Responses to COVID-19 and Stock Market Reactions - An International Evidence

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused escalating levels of business, economic and societal uncertainty and created extensive disruptions around the world. Policymakers have responded with a variety of measures to combat this unprecedented crisis. This paper investigates the stock market reactions to the national policy responses. We focus on the two influential policy actions: the nationwide lockdown order aiming to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus, and the interest rate cut policy aiming to minimize the negative economic impact of the pandemic. The Difference-In-Difference method is employed to conduct a cross-country analysis. We find that both policy actions have a significant and positive impact on the stock market performance. We also document a larger stock market reaction to the announcement of an interest rate cut policy than that of a lockdown order.
Synthesis of acetoxyphenyl‐ and hydroxyphenyl‐terminated polyfunctional T8, T10, T12 silsesquioxanes and initial studies on their use in the formation of highly crosslinked polyesters

There is continuing interest in the synthesis of polyhydroxy-terminated molecular species for diverse applications ranging from photolithographic materials to intermediates in the synthesis of porous, crosslinked polymers as media for molecular separations, drug delivery etc. We describe here the use of [vinylSiO1.5]8 and [vinylSiO1.5]10/12 mixtures to synthesize first- and second-generation acetoxyphenyl compounds via metathesis with p-acetoxystyrene (generation 1, GEN1) or metathesis with p-bromostyrene followed by Heck coupling with p-acetoxystyrene (generation 2, GEN2). The resulting acetoxy compounds were then hydrolyzed to produce octa-, deca- and dodecahydroxy GEN1 and GEN2 compounds. These compounds were purified and then reacted with adipic acid chloride to form the first examples of highly crosslinked polyesters based on silsesquioxanes. The coupling products, their hydrolyzed products and the crosslinked polymers were characterized using a variety of spectroscopic methods. In general, the observed specific surface areas were less than 5 m2 g−1; however, the T8 GEN1 derivative gave a surface area of 25 m2 g−1 and was the only crosslinked polymer with a TGA ceramic yield that matched theory for ‘perfect’ crosslinking. This crosslinked polyester has the shortest organic linker between cages and despite the highly flexible C6 linker provides continuing evidence that it is possible to use the cubic symmetry in these materials to build well-ordered 3-D nanocomposite structures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Effect of Randomness on Group Cross Sections, II*

A model is developed for the estimation of the Doppler effect from the unresolved energy region for fissile nuclides. For energy intervals that contain enough resonances for the reaction rates to b...
t(3;21)(q26;q22) in myeloid leukemia : An aggressive syndrome of blast transformation associated with hydroxyurea or antimetabolite therapy

BACKGROUND The t(3;21)(q26;q22) translocation is associated with myeloid leukemias and results in a chimeric oncoprotein containing AML1/RUNX1 variably fused to EAP, MDS1, and/or EVI1. METHODS The current study describes what to the authors' knowledge is the first large case series reported to date of 26 t(3;21)(q26;q22)-associated leukemias, in which 24 cases arose after chemotherapy. Conventional G-band karyotyping and flow cytometry immunophenotyping were performed. Reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) was performed to detect fusion transcripts between AML1 and EAP, MDS1, or EVI1, followed by DNA sequencing. RESULTS In all 16 patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders, including 14 with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), the occurrence of t(3;21) heralded myeloid blast transformation. Fifteen (93%) patients had been previously treated with hydroxyurea. Eight patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders (CMPD) were found to have t(3;21) with t(9;22) as the sole cytogenetic abnormality; in 5 other patients this was accompanied by trisomy 8. Among 10 cases of t(3;21)-associated acute myeloid leukemia, 8 were secondary tumors after chemotherapy for other neoplasms that had been treated with regimens including fludarabine and 5–fluorouracil in 3 patients each and etoposide in 2 patients. The immunophenotype of the blasts in all 22 tested cases was similar, with uniform expression of myeloid markers and CD34 and variable expression of CD7 and CD9, but minimal morphological myeloid maturation. Dysplastic micromegakaryocytes and bone marrow fibrosis were observed predominantly in CMPD cases. RT–PCR followed by DNA sequencing showed that the AML1-/MDS1-/EVI1 (AME) fusion transcript was detected in all 5 cases assessed. Among the patients with CMPD, 8 died of disease (at a median of 6.5 mos) and 5 achieved disease remission with bone marrow transplantation. Among patients with acute myeloid leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome, 7 died of disease (at a median of 2 mos) and 2 had persistent leukemia with short follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Activation of AME through t(3;21) defines a highly aggressive, therapy-related leukemic blast syndrome. Prior treatment with hydroxyurea or other antimetabolites is implicated as a contributory cause. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.
The Effects of Lycosoid Spider Density within Trophic Cascades

In a trophic cascade an organism can indirectly have a beneficial impact on another organism by directly impacting an intermediate organism. This idea is useful in conservational practices because these organisms, known as keystone predators, can be used to control the populations lower down on the food chain, ultimately benefiting producers. In the grasslands of western Montana, grasshoppers are considered pests by local farmers. In this experiment, we tested whether Lycosoid spiders play the role of a keystone predator within this ecosystem by preying on early developmental stage grasshoppers. This project also looked into how the grasshoppers reacted to the Lycosoid spider presence, and if a potentially resulting trophic cascade had a positive effect on plant biomass. Data was collected at the National Bison Range, MT at an undisturbed grassland in July. Ten early-stage grasshoppers were placed in wire mesh cages with 0, 1, or 2 Lycasoid spiders and observations were recorded over an eleven day period. Results showed that while early developmental stage Melanoplus sanguinipes and Melanoplus femurubrum exhibited risk behaviors in the presence of Lycosoid spiders and that the number of individuals practicing these behaviors increased with the number of spiders added, no tropic cascade resulted.
Gravity-induced instability of an electron on the D-3-brane

We study the effect of gravity on stability of an electron living on the 3-brane. Our recently proposed fermion self-energy model is augmented by the energy of self-gravitating electron. This energy is evaluated using the gravitational field of a spherical source on the 3-brane derived by Garriga and Tanaka. Owing to the smallness of the electron radius, the short-range correction to this field dominates the Newtonian gravitational field of the electron. The magnitude of the short-range correction is proportional to the square of the curvature radius, $ l $, of the anti-de Sitter space. On increasing $l$ beyond a critical value $l_{c}$, the equilibrium radius of the electron, undergoes a transition to a region where it becomes complex-signaling an instability of the electron. For the gravity-modified fermion self-energy model, we find $l_{c} = 2 \times 10^{-21}$ cm. If the electron is confined by the "hedgehog" potential, the critical length is $l_{c} = 1.6 \times 10^{-12}$ cm.
Analysis of the List Scheduling Algorithm for Precedence Constrained Parallel Tasks

Given P processors, and a set of precedence constrained parallel tasks with their processor requirements and execution times, the problem of scheduling precedence constrained parallel tasks on multiprocessors is to find a nonpreemptive schedule of the tasks on a multiprocessor with P processors, such that the schedule length is minimized. We show that for many heuristic choices of the initial priority list, the list scheduling algorithm has worst-case performance ratio P, which is unbounded as P gets large. However, it is also shown that when task sizes are bounded from above by a fraction of P, the list scheduling algorithm has finite worst-case performance ratio. In particular, we prove that if all tasks request for no more than qP processors, where 0 < q < 1, then the worst-case performance ratio of the list scheduling algorithm is no larger than $$\frac{{(2 - q)P}}{{(1 - q)P + 1}}$$ which is independent of the initial priority list. When q is small, the above bound is very close to the well known Graham's bound 2 − 1/P in scheduling sequential tasks.
Design for Modularity

This chapter presents a three-phase methodology, which is proposed for the development of complex products using the modularity concept. The proposed methodology matches the criteria set by the design for functionality, assembly, and manufacture. A detailed discussion of needs analysis, quality function deployment, product requirement analysis, product/concept analysis, product physical analysis, product functional analysis, product/concept integration, identification of the Impact of system-level specifications on general functional requirements, similarity index, and optimization-based solution methodology for grouping components into modules is presented in this chapter. Finally, genetic algorithm-based solution methodology and algorithm-based solution methodology for grouping components into modules are described for understanding the presented concepts.
Predictors of Rural Health Clinics Managers' Willingness to Join Accountable Care Organizations.

Abstract Purpose The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has facilitated the development of an innovative and integrated delivery care system, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). It is timely, to identify how health care managers in rural health clinics (RHCs) are responding to the ACO model. This research examines RHC managers’ perceived benefits and barriers for implementing ACOs from an organizational ecology perspective. Methodology/approach A survey was conducted in spring of 2012 covering the present RHC network working infrastructures – (1) Organizational social network; (2) organizational care delivery structure; (3) ACO knowledge, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers; (4) quality and disease management programs; and (5) health information technology (HIT) infrastructure. One thousand one hundred sixty clinics were surveyed in the United States. They cover eight southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and California. A total of 91 responses were received. Findings RHC managers’ personal perceptions on ACO’s benefits and knowledge level explained the most variance in their willingness to join ACOs. Individual perceptions appear to be more influential than organizational and context factors in the predictive analysis. Research limitations/implications The study is primarily focused in the Southeastern region of the United States. The generalizability is limited to this region. The predictors of RHCs’ participation in ACOs are germane to guide the development of organizational strategies for enhancing the general knowledge about the innovativeness of delivering coordinated care and containing health care costs inspired by the Affordable Care Act. Originality/value of chapter RHCs are lagged behind the growth curve of ACO adoption. The diffusion of new knowledge about pros and cons of ACO is essential to reinforce the health care reform in the United States.
The APA Model Law and Three Legal Issues in Mental Health

The needs of nondangerous mentally ill persons, the right of patients to refuse treatment, and professionals' duty to warn about the potential for dangerous behavior are important and controversial legal issues. The author considers the difficulties social workers have in implementing the principles and discusses the likely effects of the American Psychiatric Association's proposed model law on mental health services, particularly in the context of inadequate community care resources.
Retinoids inhibit prolactin-induced development of the mammary gland in vitro

Mouse mammary gland organ culture technique was utilized to determine the effects of retinoids on the prolactin-induced structural differentiation of the mammary gland. Thoracic glands from BALB/c mice pretreated with steroids differentiate in 6 days into alveolar structures in presence of insulin and prolactin. All-trans-retinoic acid and N-(-4-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide inhibit prolactin-induced structural changes in the glands. Retinyl acetate, which is effective against mammary carcinogenesis in the rat, but is ineffective against mouse mammary carcinogenesis, failed to inhibit such proliferation. These results were correlated with inhibition of [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA in a dose related manner by retinoids effective in inhibiting mammary development.
The mean squared writhe of alternating random knot diagrams

The writhe of a knot diagram is a simple geometric measure of the complexity of the knot diagram. It plays an important role not only in knot theory itself, but also in various applications of knot theory to fields such as molecular biology and polymer physics. The mean squared writhe of any sample of knot diagrams with n crossings is n when for each diagram at each crossing one of the two strands is chosen as the overpass at random with probability one-half. However, such a diagram is usually not minimal. If we restrict ourselves to a minimal knot diagram, then the choice of which strand is the over- or under-strand at each crossing is no longer independent of the neighboring crossings and a larger mean squared writhe is expected for minimal diagrams. This paper explores the effect on the correlation between the mean squared writhe and the diagrams imposed by the condition that diagrams are minimal by studying the writhe of classes of reduced, alternating knot diagrams. We demonstrate that the behavior of the mean squared writhe heavily depends on the underlying space of diagram templates. In particular this is true when the sample space contains only diagrams of a special structure. When the sample space is large enough to contain not only diagrams of a special type, then the mean squared writhe for n crossing diagrams tends to grow linearly with n, but at a faster rate than n, indicating an intrinsic property of alternating knot diagrams. Studying the mean squared writhe of alternating random knot diagrams also provides some insight into the properties of the diagram generating methods used, which is an important area of study in the applications of random knot theory.
Joint corresponding feature identification and alignment for multiple LC/MS replicates

In Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS), identifying corresponding peptide features (LC peaks) in multiple replicate datasets plays a crucial role in the differential analysis of complex peptide or protein samples for biomarker discovery. Given a peptide sequence, we aim at identifying its LC peak intervals in all datasets simultaneously. Generally, features are first identified in each replicate dataset, and then the features are aligned using warping functions. In such a procedure, the error in feature identification will propagate to alignment. Instead, we consider the problem of joint feature identification and alignment in multiple datasets. Since accurate feature identification improves the accuracy of corresponding feature alignment and vice versa, joint processing provides better performance than separate processing. We propose an algorithm which combines peak identification quality scores, time shifts and the similarity of LC peak shapes between candidate corresponding features for accurate alignment. In addition, we also incorporate the approximate elution time interval of a peptide stored in an Accurate Time and Mass (ATM) database when available. We test our algorithm on publicly available datasets, and we compare its with that of separate feature identification and alignment. Results show that the number of accurately identified corresponding features is improved significantly by using the proposed method.
Using multivariate analyses to compare subsets of electrodes and potentials within an electrode array for predicting sugar concentrations in mixed solutions

A non-selective electrode array is presented for the quantification of fructose, galactose, and glucose in mixed solutions. A unique feature of this electrode array relative to other published work is the wide diversity of electrode materials incorporated within the array, being constructed of 41 different metals and metal alloys. Cyclic voltammograms were acquired for solutions containing a single sugar at varying concentrations, and the correlation between current and sugar concentration was calculated as a function of potential and electrode array element. The correlation plots identified potential regions and electrodes that scaled most linearly with sugar concentration, and the number of electrodes used in building predictive models was reduced to 15. Partial least squares regression models relating electrochemical response to sugar concentration were constructed using data from single electrodes and multiple electrodes within the array, and the predictive abilities of these models were rigorously compared using a non-parametric Wilcoxon test. Models using single electrodes (Pt:Rh (90:10) for fructose, Au:Ni (82:18) for galactose, and Au for glucose) were judged to be statistically superior or indistinguishable from those built with multiple electrodes. Additionally, for each sugar, interval partial least squares regression successfully identified a subset of potentials within a given electrode that generated a model of statistically equivalent predictive ability relative to the full potential model. While including data from multiple electrodes offered no benefit in predicting sugar concentration, use of the array afforded the versatility and flexibility of selecting the best single electrode for each sugar.