cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of PAF-acether inhalation on nonspecific bronchial reactivity and adrenergic response in normal and asthmatic subjects.

Bronchial hyperreactivity, although recognized as a hallmark of asthma, is not totally understood. Mast cell-derived mediators, including histamine, have been shown to cause immediate bronchoconstriction, but until recently, no single mediator has been shown to induce prolonged changes in airway reactivity. Recent reports indicate PAF-acether (PAF) can induce increased nonspecific bronchial reactivity in normal subjects but not in asthmatics. We sought to elucidate the role of PAF in airway hyperreactivity by comparing the effect of inhaled PAF on methacholine and isoproterenol airway responsiveness in six nonasthmatic and six asthmatic subjects. Neither nonspecific airway reactivity nor isoproterenol responsiveness was changed following PAF inhalation in the nonasthmatic subjects in the six days following PAF. Asthmatics had increased airway responsiveness to methacholine at two hours post-PAF, which did not persist. Responsiveness to isoproterenol did not change in the asthmatic subjects. Additional evaluation of the role of PAF in causing changes in airway reactivity is warranted. PAF = PAF-acether; pFEF60-80 = forced partial expiratory flow at 60 to 80 percent remaining from the baseline VC
Comparative Fault in Criminal Law: Conceptual and Normative Perplexities

Vera Bergelson has provided an ambitious defense of the thesis that victim fault is and ought to be relevant to the criminal liability of perpetrators. No theorist should respond that this thesis is fundamentally misguided; anyone who contends that victim fault is and ought to be irrelevant in all cases simply does not know what he is talking about. As Bergelson explains, pleas like selfdefense and provocation are clear instances in which the criminal liability of the perpetrator is altered by the faulty conduct of the victim. From here, the most powerful of Bergelson’s several arguments involves consistency of principle. If the fault of the defendant is so obviously significant on these occasions, why should it not be important elsewhere? Indeed, Begelson endorses a fairly radical change in our understanding of the nature of criminal liability by making victim fault relevant throughout broad areas of the criminal law.
Bare naked baskets: ureteroscope deflection and flow characteristics with intact and disassembled ureteroscopic nitinol stone baskets

Purpose: Lower pole renal access during flexible ureterorenoscopy is often limited by the active deflection capabilities of the ureteroscope. Deterioration in the deflection and flow capabilities of ureteroscopes occurs with the passage of instrumentation through the working channel. We performed in vitro evaluation of a novel technique using unsheathed nitinol baskets to minimize the deterioration in deflection and maximize the irrigant flow associated with instrument passage through the working channel during flexible ureterorenoscopy.Materials and Methods: Alterations in the irrigant flow and active deflection of 4 ureteroscopes from different manufacturers were evaluated. Each ureteroscope was evaluated with an empty working channel, and then with sheathed and unsheathed 2.2, 3 and 3.2Fr (Cook Urological, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana), 2.4 and 3Fr (Microvasive Urology, Natick, Massachusetts) nitinol baskets in the working channel.Results: With all baskets tested and in all ureteroscopes the deteriorati...
Will Stent-Graft Repair Emerge as Treatment of Choice for Acute Type B Dissection?

Endovascular stent grafts are now accepted globally and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an alternative to open surgical repair for patients with descending thoracic aortic aneurysm. However, as opposed to the abdominal aorta, application of this technology to manage thoracic aortic disease is not limited to degenerative aneurysms. In fact, international registries and surveys estimate that only 60% of the thoracic cases managed currently with stent-graft placement are aneurysms. The remainder of this experience includes acute dissection, chronic dissection, traumatic aortic injury, penetrating ulcer, intramural hematoma, aortic fistula, anastomotic pseudoaneurysm, and an embolizing lesion. In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that the present devices used in these nonaneurysmal applications are not designed to address the unique anatomical and pathological features that these lesions present. Consequently, in the future, it is possible that we will see stent-graft designs that focus specifically on the challenges of some of the nonaneurysmal thoracic aortic pathologies.
Study of phase separation of a critical binary fluid in gel

We have employed small angle neutron scattering to study the phase separation process of a binary fluid in a permanently cross-linked polymer gel. The fluid trapped in a 7 wt. % polyacrylamide network is a mixture of heavy water 2-6 lutidine near its critical composition, This single phase homogeneous mixture at room temperature exhibits a cloud point transition upon heating. Due to the difference in the affinity of polymer to heavy water and 2-6 lutidine, the polymer network may be considered to exert a type of chemical random field on the trapped binary fluid. Our results were analyzed in terms of the random field Ising model and a more recent theory of de Gennes.
Experimental Investigation of Robot Exploration with Ultrasonic Sensor in Unstructured Environment

A detecting method is presented for a robot with ultrasonic sensors in unstructured environment. Setting up a structure model of the detecting system and describing its operation principle, exploration experiments are done on some surfaces of unstructured environment, such as level plane, cambered surface, inclined plane and vertical plane. The experimental results show that ultrasonic sensor doesn't fit to detect the cambered surface. As for the other surfaces, different exploration strategies and data processing methods are developed by experimental study. The results include that three ultrasonic sensors are necessary to detect the inclined plane, and the compensation of patulous angle error as well as the dynamic error are necessary to detect level plane, vertical plane and so on.
Facebook-Induced Motivation Shifts in a French Online Course.

This study explores the effects of instructor’s self-disclosure using the Facebook social networking online platform on students’ motivation types in an online language course. The participants were 104 beginning French students enrolled in an online French course at a major research university in the southeast U.S. The participants were divided into a Facebook group, where they could access the instructor’s Facebook profile throughout the semester, and a control group. The Academic Motivation Scale (Noels, Pelletier, Clement, & Vallerand, 2003) was used for determining whether the participants were intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, anchoring this research within the Self-Determination Theory model (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Post-treatment results indicated that participants assigned to the Facebook group experienced a significant shift in motivation type that research has determined as being beneficial for language learning (Gardner, 1985). No such shift occurred in students assigned to the control group. This shift is of particular importance in an online course environment where the instructor’s Facebook profile was the only means of teacher’s self-disclosure unlike a face-to-face environment where teacher self-disclosure can occur spontaneously.
Minimizing defective part level using a linear programming-based optimal test selection method

Recent probabilistic test generation approaches have proven that detecting single stuck-at-faults multiple times is effective at reducing the defective part level (DPL). Unfortunately, these test generation strategies increase the number of test patterns. In this paper, we present a novel linear programming-based method to accelerate the optimal selection of test sets to minimize the defective part level based upon the MPG-D model. Our experimental results show that the proposed method is on average 300 times faster than the existing test pattern selection method.
Strategic micro-lending to create corporate competitive advantage

Corporate social responsibility in the form of microlending is examined as a means to create comparative advantage in the quest to secure long-term petroleum leases within the developing world. The changing competitive landscape, which now includes sovereign nations, such as China is also discussed in this essay. The long-term role of petroleum in the global context is explored and major assumptions going forward are presented to create alternative strategies from the perspective of the Integrated Oil Companies (IOCs). Microlending is also discussed both from the positive and negative experience of more than four decades. This grass roots strategy seeks to establish long-term relationships with the host countries, which are positive and which avoid the adversarial relationship of the past, such that a true partnership that produces long-term benefit for both parties is the result.
Stimulus‐dependent dynamics of p53 in single cells

Many biological networks respond to various inputs through a common signaling molecule that triggers distinct cellular outcomes. One potential mechanism for achieving specific input-output relationships is to trigger distinct dynamical patterns in response to different stimuli. Here we focused on the dynamics of p53, a tumor suppressor activated in response to cellular stress. We quantified the dynamics of p53 in individual cells in response to UV and observed a single pulse that increases in amplitude and duration in proportion to the UV dose. This graded response contrasts with the previously described series of fixed pulses in response to γ-radiation. We further found that while γ-triggered p53 pulses are excitable, the p53 response to UV is not excitable and depends on continuous signaling from the input-sensing kinases. Using mathematical modeling and experiments, we identified feedback loops that contribute to specific features of the stimulus-dependent dynamics of p53, including excitability and input-duration dependency. Our study shows that different stresses elicit different temporal profiles of p53, suggesting that modulation of p53 dynamics might be used to achieve specificity in this network.
Clarification of Coccolithus crassus Bramlette and Sullivan, an index fossil of Coccolithophoridae

Coccolithus crassus was described by Bramlette and Sullivan (1961) from the Lodo Formation of California. This species has a short stratigraphic range within the lower Eocene and its first occurrence is a marker for the CP10/CP11 zonal boundary in the widely used nannofossil zonation of Okada and Bukry (1980). Most nannofossil workers, however, do not report this index fossil, and the CP10/CP11 zonal boundary is often not determined. This is in contrast to the work of D. Bukry, who used the first occurrence of C. crassus for the CP10/CP11 boundary in virtually all lower Eocene DSDP cores that he examined (Figure 1). Apparently, there is considerable confusion about C. crassus. For instance, Romein (1979) considered C. crassus a junior synonym of Coccolithus eopelagicus (Bramlette and Riedel) Bramlette and Sullivan; Steinmetz and Stradner (1984, p. 741, Pl. 42, figs. 1 and 2) figured a specimen of Ericsonia subpertusa Hay and Mohler from Zone CP7 (upper Paleocene) as C. crassus; Perch-Nielsen (1985, p. 433, figs. 3.46 and 3.47, p. 504, figs. 58.12 and 58.13) mistook Toweius callosus Perch-Nielsen as C. crassus, as did Varol (1989, p. 302, Pl. 4, figs. 37 and 38). The main problem that prevents most workers from using this index fossil is that the species concept is largely unclear. It appears to be difficult to distinguish C. crassus from C. pelagicus or T. callosus based on the light micrographs of Bramlette and Sullivan (1961, Pl. 1, figs. 4a and 4c), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs of this species have never been published except one specimen of the species was illustrated in Matter et al. (1974, p. 914, Pl. 4, fig. 8) under the name Ericsonia ovalis Black.
QUE ANTIGA QUERELA ENTRE POESIA E FILOSOFIA

In a celebrated passage of Plato’s Republic, Socrates speaks of “an ancientquarrel between poetry and philosophy” (Rep. X, 607b-c). But did such a quarrel everreally exist in pre-Socratic Greek culture? Examination of the evidence of Greek poetryand philosophy from the centuries preceding Socrates reveals, with a single exception,little or no trace of any such quarrel in either direction, philosophers attacking poets orpoets attacking philosophers. The only poetic genre in which attacks upon philosopherswere frequent was Old Comedy; Socrates himself was notoriously a prominent target.And all four passages that Socrates cites in support of his claim are best interpreted asderiving from Old Comedy. The paper considers how we can understand the ensuinglikelihood that the quarrel to which Socrates refers had no existence outside of OldComedy on the one hand and Plato’s philosophy on the other.
Communicating animal science to the public, policymakers, and students

This issue of Animal Frontiers, “Communicating the Animal Sciences Effectively,” focuses on the challenges associated with how best to communicate animal science information with policymakers, the public, and students. Communicating effectively with these stakeholder groups is critical to the future of the livestock and poultry industries. In addition, the general public gets most of its information related to food systems from the internet, family, or friends, and these sources often contain inaccurate information. It is not surprising, then, that communication about the production of meat, milk, and eggs has become increasingly difficult. The article by Johnson and Hamernik (2015) explores the reasons effective communication is important for how the public makes informed decisions. Scientists often try to educate the public with the hope that a better understanding of scientific and technical facts will enable the public to view controversial issues from the same perspective as a scientist. However, the public is also interested in the social, ethical, and economic aspects of issues. Effective communication on issues related to the management of livestock and poultry will require a commitment to building trust, shared values, ethics, and credible expertise. Glenn et al. (2015) describe the importance of sound agricultural and livestock policies in the United States to allow opportunities for animal science research, education, and extension activities that will be necessary to meet the growing demand for animal-sourced foods. Although most American politicians do not understand science, the unified voice of thousands of animal scientists as advocates for federal funding for animal science research or research friendly policies and regulations can have a tremendous, positive impact on elected officials. Federal policies and regulations in the United States are made based on emotions, trust, scientific facts, and clear and concise communication. Fraser (2015) provides a historical perspective of how science influenced Canadian policy for the welfare of farm animals. Development of national, science-based standards for farm animal welfare in Canada resulted from the timely actions of a number of stakeholder groups, including livestock producers, national producer organizations, retailers, and scientists. Each of these groups provided trusted individuals to participate in conversations and engage in debates on controversial issues associated with the welfare of farm animals. Social media, the internet, and conversations with the public and policymakers can be used to provide more information about the production of meat, milk, and eggs. This information can enhance a stakeholder’s ability to make informed decisions and to refute misinformed communications
The Unintended Consequences of Basel III: Reducing Performance Ratios and Limiting Bank Access to Equity Funding Markets

The third Basel, implemented in stages to meet deadlines in 2015 and 2019, mandates substantial enhancements to common equity as a capital adequacy component. In comparison to Basel II, these enhancements place a greater emphasis on the equity portion of the balance sheet and therefore could affect the EPS, stock price, P/E and EPS of banks in a more substantive way as they compete for strategic space in common equity institutional portfolios, and in the extreme might even push bank stocks as a type of high income stock out of portfolios altogether. Thus, banks will inherently resist new rules that cause fundamental changes in the performance numbers reported to the investment community. I also looked at bank readiness for Basel III. For large banks the research shows that American banks will be less impacted than foreign banks since almost all of the top 50 American banks are already in compliance with the 2019 requirements while most large foreign banks are not. Since Basel III for the first time will apply to smaller banks, I also looked at American mid-cap publicly traded banks and found that they too are already well capitalized.
Systematic Nanoengineering of Soft Matter Organic Electro-optic Materials†

An overview of the development and utilization of organic electro-optic materials is presented with emphasis on the role played by quantum and statistical mechanical calculations in understanding critical structure/function relationships that have guided the improvement of such materials over the past two decades. This review concentrates largely on three classes of organic electro-optic materials prepared by electric field poling of materials near their glass transition temperature: (1) chromophore/polymer composite materials, (2) dendrimers and polymers containing covalently incorporated chromophores, and (3) matrix-assisted-poling (MAP) materials where specific spatially anisotropic interactions enhance poling efficiency. In particular, the role of chromophore shape, restrictions on chromophore motion associated with covalent bonds, and lattice dimensionality effects are reviewed. The role of device design and auxiliary properties (optical loss, thermal stability, photochemical stability, processabilit...
Design of High Accuracy Synchronous Sampling Clock in Digital Substations

High stability and accuracy synchronous sampling clocks are required in the realization of digital substations.The key to meeting this requirement is to find a way to eliminate the errors of the synchronous sampling clock by effective compensation.By analyzing the causes of generation of the GPS clock errors and using the GPS clock error distribution characteristics,the relative stability of the frequency of the crystal oscillator within a short time,and the characteristics of the high speed digital signal processing by FPGA,and aided by the corresponding measures,it has been possible to eliminate the influence of the frequency deviation of the crystal oscillator on the sampling clock error and realize man-made incorporation of one or more clocks should rather apparent deviation or perturbation occur within a short time,thereby guaranteeing accurate synchronization of the sampling clocks and providing the design and application of the prevailing digital substations with a highly stable and accurate design method for synchronous sampling clocks.
On the use of computational multi-body dynamics analysis in SLS-based 3D printing

Abstract In the context of additive manufacturing, we illustrate how computational multi-body dynamics (CMBD) analysis can (a) increase printing throughput; and, (b) play a role in improving the quality of 3D printed parts. Throughput is increased by packing the printing volume with as many parts as possible. The problem becomes one of determining where each component that needs to be printed finds itself inside the printing volume. Finding the position and orientation of each part is accomplished through CMBD analysis, a point illustrated through an example in which an open-source dynamics engine called Chrono is used to simulate the filling of the active printing volume with a dress that is subsequently 3D printed. This approach, which is general in purpose, enables one to print in one pass multiple parts that are virtually; i.e., through simulation, dropped inside the printing volume to fully fill it up, thus improving efficiencies. In relation to (b), we use million-body dynamics simulations to gauge how various granular mixture parameters and rolling regimes combine to ultimately control the roughness of the surface being sintered.
Study on Biodegradation of Aremyctins Wastewater by White Rot Fungus

This paper introducesd the treatment of Aremyctins wastewater with the prophase experiment white-rot fungus.Experiment results indicated that the white-rot fungus treated this wastewater had a good effect.Furthermore,the growth characteristic and degradation effect had a direct proportion relation.
COOPERATING MORPHOGENS CONTROL HOXD GENE EXPRESSION IN THE DEVELOPING VERTEBRATE LIMB

A mechanism was recently proposed which controls the expression of Hoxa genes in the developing vertebrate limb. This is a three-dimensional diffusion model of a morphogen Ma secreted at the apical ectodermal ridge. The morphogen Ma is at the same time degraded by first order chemical kinetics. The emerging diffusion gradient, supplemented with a natural sequence of thresholds, can explain the spatial and temporal collinearities of the Hoxa gene expression domains. In the present model it is assumed that a second diffusing morphogen Mz is produced at the zone of polarizing activity. A concentration superposition of morphogens Ma and Mz can then explain the observed pattern of expression of Hoxd-10, 11, 12, and 13 during normal limb development (spatial and temporal collinearity). The associated thresholds for gene expression increase sequentially from Hoxd-10 to Hoxd-13 (threshold collinearity). The observed deformations or deletions of these expression domains in manipulated limbs are also explained by the model. Additional model predictions are proposed to test the validity of the model. In patterning two mechanisms are mainly considered as responsible for signalling: (i) a gradient of a long-range morphogen created by passive diffusion; and (ii) a short-range inducer initiating a cascade of consecutive signals. A time-test is proposed which distinguishes the modes of specific gene expressions for these distinct signalling mechanisms.
Information and Communications Technology and Ethnic Conflict in Myanmar: Organizing for Violence or Peace?

Objective In a country as historically conflict ridden as Myanmar, will the reduced communication costs yielded by the recent expansion of mobile telephony create political affordances that make collective organization for peace or violence more likely to prevail? Method Applying a random effects model of time-series cross-sectional data, we test the relationship shared by ethnic groups’ increasing access to mobile telephony and their incidence of violent conflict against the state. By comparing differences in the effect across two distinct periods of time—before and after mobile phones became widely available—we can conduct robust tests of this relationship. Results The results of the analysis offer only marginal support for the prediction that increased access to mobile phones amplified groups’ incidence of violence against the state. More often, the direction of the effect traveled in the opposite direction, suggesting that the spread of mobile phones possibly served as a pacifying force for certain ethnic groups. Conclusions Within the context of Myanmar, the expansion of mobile telephony has not encouraged greater violence and may instead serve as a pacifying force.
The convex hull of the AC power flow equations in rectangular coordinates

Obtaining the convex hull of the alternating current (AC) power flow equations is largely beneficial in the convexification of the optimization problems in power systems where the AC power flow constraints are taken into account. In this paper, the AC power flow formulation in rectangular coordinates which is a non-convex quadratic equality is equivalently decomposed into four quadratic inequalities whose coefficient matrices are positive semidefinite. Two of the quadratic inequalities are convex while the other two are not. The proposed decomposition facilitates the convexification of the power flow equations much. A convex hull formulation is proposed for the resulting non-convex quadratic inequalities. This formulation is applied to study the convex hull of the AC power flow.
Research on the water-entry attitude of a submersible aircraft

The water entry of a submersible aircraft, which is transient, highly coupled, and nonlinear, is complicated. After analyzing the mechanics of this process, the change rate of every variable is considered. A dynamic model is build and employed to study vehicle attitude and overturn phenomenon during water entry. Experiments are carried out and a method to organize experiment data is proposed. The accuracy of the method is confirmed by comparing the results of simulation of dynamic model and experiment under the same condition. Based on the analysis of the experiment and simulation, the initial attack angle and angular velocity largely influence the water entry of vehicle. Simulations of water entry with different initial and angular velocities are completed, followed by an analysis, and the motion law of vehicle is obtained. To solve the problem of vehicle stability and control during water entry, an approach is proposed by which the vehicle sails with a zero attack angle after entering water by controlling the initial angular velocity. With the dynamic model and optimization research algorithm, calculation is performed, and the optimal initial angular velocity of water-entry is obtained. The outcome of simulations confirms that the effectiveness of the propose approach by which the initial water-entry angular velocity is controlled.
Altruistic punishment can help resolve tragedy of the commons social dilemmas

Social dilemmas force individuals to choose between cooperation, which benefits a group, and defection which benefits the individual. The unfortunate outcome in most social dilemmas is mutual defection where nobody benefits. Researchers frequently use mathematical games such as public goods games to help identify circumstances that might improve cooperation levels within a population. Altruistic punishment has shown promise in these games. Many real-world social dilemmas are expressed via a tragedy of the commons metaphor. This paper describes an investigation designed to see if altruistic punishment might work in tragedy of the commons social dilemmas. Simulation results indicate not only does it help resolve a tragedy of the commons but it also effectively deals with the associated first-order and second-order free rider problems.
Plastic Film Production

The process of converting plastic from the form provided by the material suppliers into plastic film looks simple, but there are several complex phenomena that influence the final product. By manipulating several key polymer properties, different types of film can be produced. This can be done by using different processing equipment, as well as varying the processing parameters. All of these elements are used to change polymer film properties.
Fluorine at the C5 Position of 2′-Deoxyuridine Enhances Repair of a O4-Methyl Adduct by O6-Alkylguanine DNA Alkyltransferases

Alkylation damage at the O6- and O4-atoms of 2′-deoxyguanosine (dG) and thymidine (T), respectively, can be removed by O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferases (AGTs). Previous studies have shown that human AGT (hAGT) repairs small adducts poorly at the O4-atom of T, in comparison to the E. coli variants (OGT and Ada-C). The C5 methyl group of the thymine nucleobase is suspected to contribute to hAGT repair proficiency possibly due to steric effects in the protein active site. In the present study, repair of oligonucleotides containing a 5-fluoro-O4-methyl-2′-deoxyuridine (dFU-Me) insert by hAGT, E. coli AGT variants (OGT and Ada-C) and a chimeric hAGT/OGT protein was evaluated. All AGT variants, particularly hAGT and the hAGT/OGT chimera, demonstrated improved proficiency at removing the O4-methyl group from substrates containing dFU-Me, relative to the thymidine and 2′-deoxyuridine counterparts.
Risk Factors for Infection Following Third-line Therapy for Overactive Bladder

Sacral neuromodulation and intradetrusor onabotulinum toxinA are FDA approved treatment options for overactive bladder (OAB) and considered third-line therapies according to the American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines. Although each therapy has unique associated risks, infection is a common adverse event shared by both. The purpose of this review is to identify risk factors for infection in third-line therapies for OAB. A PUBMED® and MEDLINE® search was performed for scientific publications on “sacral neuromodulation,” “sacral nerve stimulation,” “onabotulinum toxinA,” “Botox,” “percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS)” and “infection,” and “overactive bladder (OAB)” between the years 2003 and 2016. Articles were screened for reports on adverse events and were included in the review if they contained information on infection. We also limited this review to idiopathic OAB in adults. A total of 127 articles were identified (61 in the onabotulinum toxinA and 64 in the sacral neuromodulation (SNM) groups, respectively, and two containing combined data). No articles referencing PTNS and infection were identified; thus, PTNS is not reviewed in this manuscript. Twenty-nine articles met criteria and served as the source information for this article. The primary infection associated with sacral neuromodulation is device-related and ranges between 1.7 and 7.8% in patients implanted for OAB. The most common infection in the onabotulinum toxinA group is a urinary tract infection, with rates ranging from 9.5 to 44%, with the vast majority classified as uncomplicated. Potential risk factors for surgical site infection associated with SNM include patients who are immunocompromised, those with diabetes, or those with a higher BMI. Potential risk factors for urinary tract infection (UTI) associated with onabotulinum toxinA include active medication vs. placebo, urinary retention, and the use of clean intermittent catheterization. Onabotulinum toxinA and SNM are safe and effective third-line therapies for refractory OAB. Onabotulinum toxinA injection is associated with UTIs, and risk factors appear to be the use of active drug vs. placebo, urinary retention, and use of clean intermittent catheterization. In contrast, SNM is associated primarily with surgical site infection. Risk factors identified include diabetes, higher BMI, or immunocompromised status.
Non-Mainstream Actors

In this chapter the focus is on fourteen non-mainstream actors who are/were self-acknowledged heroin misusers. There were three subgroups: actors connected to the Warhol scene, those not connected to the scene, and directors who were also actors. Profiles are presented and the hypotheses from Chap. 1 are examined. The hypothesis that these actors didn’t start using until after they became actors was not supported, while the prediction that these actors would report the same basic reasons for use as most heroin misusers was supported. As expected, the effects of heroin on performance, creativity, and careers were mainly adverse. The chapter addresses two subcultures—both outlaw/rebel subcultures—that held values and attitudes supportive of heroin use, were a source of members’ identities, and that help explain heroin misuse by some of the non-mainstream actors.
Proton Pump Inhibitors Independently Protect Against Early Allograft Injury or Chronic Rejection After Lung Transplantation

Acid reflux has been associated with poor outcomes following lung transplantation. Unlike surgical fundoplication, the role of noninvasive, pharmacologic acid suppression remains uncertain. To assess the relationship between post-transplant acid suppression with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) or histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RA) and onset of early allograft injury or chronic rejection following lung transplantation. This was a retrospective cohort study of lung transplant recipients at a tertiary center in 2007–2014. Patients with pre-transplant antireflux surgery were excluded. Time-to-event analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model was applied to assess acid suppression therapy and onset of acute or chronic rejection, defined histologically and clinically. Subgroup analyses were performed to assess PPI versus H2RA use. A total of 188 subjects (60% men, mean age 54, follow-up 554 person-years) met inclusion criteria. During follow-up, 115 subjects (61.5%) developed rejection, with all-cause mortality of 27.6%. On univariate analyses, acid suppression and BMI, but not other patient demographics, were associated with rejection. The Kaplan–Meier curve demonstrated decreased rejection with use of acid suppression therapy (log-rank p = 0.03). On multivariate analyses, acid suppression (HR 0.39, p = 0.04) and lower BMI (HR 0.67, p = 0.04) were independently predicted against rejection. Subgroup analyses demonstrated that persistent PPI use was more protective than H2RA or no antireflux medications. Post-lung transplant exposure to persistent PPI therapy results in the greatest protection against rejection in lung transplant recipients, independent of other clinical predictors including BMI, suggesting that PPI may have antireflux or anti-inflammatory effects in enhancing allograft protection.
Keeping Track or Getting Offtrack: Issues in the Tracking Of Students

Tracking is a generic term that covers ways that most educators keep track of students’ academic progress by matriculating them into curricula of varying difficulty. Contests over tracking’s practical and theoretical viability – getting offtrack – concern what Oakes (1985) asks about whether tracking makes most children smart or only some smart children smarter? In other words, does the school fairly advance students on the basis of their merits or does it reproduce the inequalities they bring with them at the starting gate (Argys, Rees, & Brewer, 1996; Cohen & Lotan, 1997; Oakes, 1985, 1994; Oakes, Gamoran, & Page, 1992; Slavin, 1987, 1990a, 1990b; Wheelock, 1992)? While clearly tracking may be a well-intended practice for organizing instruction, international and cross-cultural research fails to support the belief that it improves academic achievement and the debate remains unresolved (Ansalone, 2003; Resh, 1998). In a study of thirty countries the official rationale for tracking is largely based on student ability and not to ascriptive characteristics (Marks, 2005). Other evidence from Palestinian Arab High Schools points to an ongoing disagreement over social stratification within the school remaining largely obscure and requiring further research attention to unravel the tangled threads of the issue (Mazawi, 1998). The debate over ability grouping roils in Scotland as well, where the validity of the practice is explored for both academic and vocational tracks. Raffe (1993) found evidence in favor of a unified, as opposed to the existing multitrack systems with separate academic and vocational courses and qualifications. A comparative analysis of the United States, Germany and Japan on tracking in public, K-12 school systems conveys additional information on the status of the debate internationally. Analyses of respondent perceptions about differentiation in placement showed that nation-specific values and attitudes influence which forms of curricular differentiation are supported. The researchers note that in all industrialized nations students encounter curricular differentiation and that this sorting or “tracking,” appears to have a negative effect on students’ educational careers. They suggest that researchers on
Robust and Accurate Text Stroke Segmentation

We propose a new technique for the accurate segmentation of text strokes from an image. The algorithm takes in a cropped image containing a word. It first performs a coarse segmentation using a Fully Convolutional Network (FCN). While not accurate, this initial segmentation can usually identify most of the text stroke content even in difficult situations, with uneven lighting and non-uniform background. The segmentation is then refined using a fully connected Conditional Random Field (CRF) with a novel kernel definition that includes stroke width information. In order to train the network, we created a new synthetic data set with 100K text images. Tested against standard benchmarks with pixellevel annotation (ICDAR 2003, ICDAR 2011, and SVT) our algorithm outperforms the state of the art by a noticeable margin.
Effect of In-Class vs Online Education on Sexual Health Communication Skills in First-Year Medical Students: a Pilot Study.

Online education is effective for knowledge acquisition, but its effect on clinical skill development is not well characterized. We aimed to compare communication skills of 50 first-year medical students who learned to assess and treat patients through an online learning module vs an in-class lecture. Twenty-six students were randomized to learn about antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction in class and 24 learned the same content through an online module. Students were individually observed conducting an interview with a standardized patient with antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction. Students were assessed by faculty raters blinded to the student’s learning mode. Standardized patients were asked about their willingness to have the student as their physician. More students who learned in class vs online demonstrated appropriate verbal empathy (18 [69%] vs 8 [33%]; P = 0.01), defined as completing each task in the “verbal empathy” assessment domain, as measured by a faculty rater. Other assessed variables were not significantly different. Standardized patients’ willingness (vs unwillingness; P = 0.01) to have the student as their physician was associated with the demonstration (by faculty appraisal) of a number of basic skills: using open-ended questions, asking one question at a time, using gender-neutral terminology when asking about the patient’s relationship, and using appropriate sexual-health terminology. This study, although limited by a single-site design and the small number of participants, offers preliminary evidence that, if confirmed, may suggest that in-class learning from a psychiatrist (vs from an online module) is associated with greater verbal empathy in the assessment of SSRI-related sexual dysfunction.
Student Experiences With Community-Based Enforcement Of A Smoke-Free University

A common approach to enforcing a university smoke-free policy is through “community-based” enforcement, in which the entire campus community is responsible for asking smokers in violation to abide by the policy. The purpose of the study was to explore university students’ experiences with this strategy of enforcing a smoke-free policy. A total of 43 undergraduate students were interviewed regarding their experiences and opinions of community enforcement. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using phenomenological methods, in which six major themes emerged from the data: Fear (alarm that smokers might respond with verbal insults orphysical violence), Situational (enforcing the policy depended on violators’ distance, group settings, strangers vs. peers), Protect Image (not wanting to be viewed as annoying, judgmental, or offensive), Lack of Authority (feeling a lack of authority to enforce the smoking policy), Compassion (empathy that violators smoke due to physical/emotional needs), and Enforcer (willingness to confront a policy violator). These findings reflected previous studies regarding people’s fear to ask a smoker to extinguish a cigarette, feelings of a lack of authority, and so on. The study demonstrated that using only a community-based approach to enforcement may not be a realistic responsibility to impose on an entire campus community.
Are beliefs signals

Eric Funkhouser argues that beliefs can function as social signals. I argue that Funkhouser’s argument for this conclusion rests on a problematic definition of “signal,” and that on standard defini...
OXIDATION OF STYRENE IN A SILENT DISCHARGE PLASMA

A silent discharge plasma reactor has been developed to study the oxidation of styrene vapor in argon/oxygen mixtures. A number of analytical techniques were employed to determine the destruction efficiency and to characterize the intermediate products. The destruction efficiency was measured as a function of initial styrene concentration, temperature, and energy density of the plasma. The formation of solid products was observed in most experiments. At low temperature (100°C), the solid deposit was polymeric in nature, while at high temperature (300°C) the solid appeared to be amorphous carbon. A combination of high temperature and high energy density resulted in high destruction efficiency and minimal production of solid films. The destruction efficiency vs. energy density is shown to be more complex than a simple model predicting exponential behavior. Several reasons for the discrepancy are suggested. The “e-folding” energy density for the destruction of styrene is compared to literature values for other organic compounds, measured using similar types of plasma reactors.
Energy and Development

Human development, as measured by health, income, and education, is closely linked with access to energy. This chapter describes the state and trends of global energy and electricity consumption with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries. Different off-grid electrification approaches are described, including grid extension, mini-grids, micro-grids, energy kiosks, solar home systems, and solar lanterns.
Transcendent communities

Online communities are potential arenas for informal and lifelong learning. Even though technology fosters internal sharing and collaboration in online communities, it also presents excessively strong external boundaries. These silo-like structures lead to fragmentation, counteracting cross-community collaboration and interdisciplinary learning. We are revising our own online community software to support a particular sociotechnical pattern: the emergence of "transcendent communities"--networks of participation that transcend collections of related but distinct communities. In order to understand such inter-community activity we have developed a theoretical analysis of the basis for individual action and how this action can lead to value for the larger community. Investigating the relationships between individual action, social affordances of the technology and group identities will help us to design for functionality and for meaning.
A data-quality-control protocol for in vivo oximetry in small vessels by visible light optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

Biological functions rely on local microvasculature for delivering oxygen and nutrients and carrying away metabolic waste. Alterations to local oxygenation level are manifested in diseases including cancer, diabetes mellitus, etc. The ability to in vivo quantify oxygen saturation (sO2) of single vessels down to capillary level to assess local tissue oxygenation and metabolic function is highly sought after. Visible light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) has shown promise in reaching this goal. However, to achieve reliable measurement in small vessels are challenging due to the reduced signal and requires data averaging to improve the spectral data quality. Therefore, a method to quality control the vis-OCT data from small vessels becomes essential to reject unreliable readings. In this work, we present a generalized method with several quantitative metrics to evaluate the spectral data for reliable sO2 measurements. Parameters of the scanning protocol and the statistical data cleaning can be flexibly adjusted according to different applications and system performances. We used this method to measure sO2 of C57BL/6J mice lower extremity microvasculature and validated it via introducing hyperoxia for expected sO2 changes. After validation, we applied this method on C57BL/J mouse ear microvasculature to conduct in vivo single capillary OCT oximetry. This work intends to standardize the data processing method for in vivo oximetry in small vessels by vis-OCT.
Health symptoms among adults living near a coal-burning power plant

Coal ash is a waste product generated when coal is burned for energy. The purpose of this study was to assess health symptoms in adults living near a coal-burning power plant and compare the symptoms to a non-exposed population. A community-based mixed methods study was conducted with four neighborhoods adjacent to a coal-burning power plant. The comparison population was not exposed to coal ash and did not live near a coal-burning power plant. Adults who lived near the coal-burning power plant were significantly more likely to suffer from respiratory (AOR = 5.27, 95% CI = 2.16-12.0), gingiva (AOR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.46-4.15), and skin symptoms (AOR = 3.37, 95% CI = 2.09-5.43). Results suggest that health symptoms may develop in people living near coal-burning power plants.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency liver disease

The clinical presentation of liver disease is highly variable in homozygous ZZ alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, and not all patients with the homozygous ZZ genotype develop liver disease. Although not fully identified, there is likely a strong influence of genetic and environmental modifiers of the intracellular injury cascade and fibrotic response. Most ZZ children are well and remain undiagnosed. Of those who come to medical attention, the most common pediatric presentation is neonatal cholestatic hepatitis, sometimes referred to as "neonatal hepatitis syndrome". The gold standard for diagnosis of AAT deficiency is analysis of the AAT protein phenotype in the patient serum or the genotype of their DNA genome. Careful follow up of all diagnosed children is important. Heterozygotes for S and Z alleles of AAT (SZ) may develop progressive liver disease similar to ZZ patients and also require close monitoring. There is no specific treatment for AAT deficiency induced liver disease and current therapy remains supportive with management of complications. Rarely, patients require liver transplant and typically the patient outcomes are excellent. With improved understanding of liver injury mechanisms, new strategies for treatment are now being explored, including siRNA technology, molecules to modulate secretion, and enhancers of proteolysis.