cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A needs assessment of pharmacokinetic skills performed on advanced pharmacy practice experiences by student pharmacists.

Abstract Introduction Pharmacokinetic (PK) calculations are an important competency for pharmacy students, however, there is little to guide which medications should be included in pharmacy curricula. Additionally, many new medications require therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)—but not PK calculations—to ensure safe use. The objectives of this study were to quantify which medications are most frequently encountered by pharmacy students during advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE's) and to what extent PK calculations or TDM were completed by students while on APPE's at the University of New England. Methods Fourth-year students were surveyed upon completion of their advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE's). Results Pharmacokinetic calculations occurred most frequently on institutional rotations. Vancomycin and aminoglycosides were the two most common medications pharmacy students were asked to perform PK calculations for while on APPE's. Therapeutic drug monitoring occurred most frequently on institutional rotations. Therapeutic drug monitoring also occurred more often than pharmacokinetic monitoring on ambulatory care rotations. Conclusions Pharmacokinetic calculations as well as therapeutic drug monitoring requiring no calculations were both commonly encountered by student pharmacists while on APPE rotations. Changes to clinical guidelines have impacted the types of medications students are expected to have proficiency with, and more broadly defined therapeutic drug monitoring competencies may be important for ambulatory care APPE's.
Does the Threat of Suspension Curb Dangerous Behavior in Soccer? A Case Study From the Premier League:

Using data from the 2011-2012 season of the Premier League, we study empirically and theoretically the impact of soccer suspension rules on the behavior of players and referees. For players facing ...
Realization of deep ultraviolet random lasing in MgZnO metal-semiconductor-metal devices

A single-phase wurtzite Mg 0.3 Zn 0.7 O thin film was grown on c-sapphire substrate. Deep ultraviolet random lasing with lasing peaks distributed between 320 nm and 340 nm was achieved from Mg 0.3 Zn 0.7 O based metal-semiconductor-metal devices.
Effects of Thalassinoides ichnofabrics on the petrophysical properties of the Lower Cretaceous Lower Glen Rose Limestone, Middle Trinity Aquifer, Northern Bexar County, Texas

Abstract The combined Edwards and Trinity aquifer system is the primary source of freshwater for the rapidly growing San Antonio and Austin metropolitan areas. The karstic Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) Lower Glen Rose Limestone (GRL) contains the middle Trinity aquifer and has been subdivided into six hydrostratigraphic units (HSUs) with distinct hydrologic characteristics. These HSUs were first identified in the subsurface via core examination at the Camp Stanley Storage Activity (CSSA) in northern Bexar County, Texas and were then correlated to associated gamma-ray and resistivity logs. The Trinity aquifer system is a telogenetic karst and fluid flow is directed primarily through solution-enhanced faults, fractures, and pervasive Thalassinoides networks because matrix porosity of both transmissive and confining HSUs is very low. Meteoric water infiltrates the Trinity aquifer through vertically-oriented faults and likely moves laterally through biogenic pores. Two 7.62 cm diameter GRL cores and well logs from monitoring wells CS-MW9-CC and CS-MW5-LGR recovered from the CSSA were used to characterize the effect such large-scale Thalassinoides networks have on the petrophysical properties (resistivity and natural gamma-ray) of four HSUs (Honey Creek, Rust, Doeppenschmidt, and Twin Sisters HSUs). Resistivity logs show that resistance values > 300 Ω-m correlate with well-developed biogenic porosity and values of 650 Ω-m are associated with solution enhancement of the Thalassinoides networks. These high resistivity zones are cyclical and are identified in muddy confining units, even when no changes in lithology or karstic development are identified. Pervasive Thalassinoides networks act as starting points for wide spread dissolution and lead to advanced karst development in transmissive HSUs. Natural gamma-ray logs do not reflect hydrologic characteristics directly, but are inversely correlated to resistivity logs and display m-scale cyclicity. Resistivity logs suggest that Thalassinoides networks are interconnected throughout strata within the GRL and when coupled with natural gamma-logs, the lateral distribution of these networks within HSUs can be correlated. Identifying such fluid pathways is of particular importance for wells not located in proximity to major faults and karstic features.
Los Humedales de la Quebrada Estero en San Ramón, Costa Rica: importancia y estado actual.

Los humedales de la microcuenca alta de la Quebrada Estero, en San Ramon, Costa Rica, son considerados una prioridad de conservacion por su representatividad y ubicacion que los hace unicos en su tipo. Por eso se planteo el objetivo de conocer su importancia y estado actual para que esta informacion sirva de base para su recuperacion y conservacion. Se llevo a cabo la identificacion de los servicios ecosistemicos y de las amenazas e impactos que tienen las actividades humanas en ellos mediante visitas de campo, analisis de uso del suelo, revision de informacion secundaria y consulta a actores clave. Los servicios ecosistemicos son el reabastecimiento de aguas subterraneas, depuracion del agua, control biologico, control de inundaciones, proteccion de suelos y sedimentos, adaptacion al cambio climatico, mantenimiento de la cadena trofica, habitat para la flora y fauna, provision de agua para actividades agricolas y domesticas, alimento para ganado, recursos geneticos y son un elemento importante del patrimonio cultural y natural de San Ramon. Por otro lado, estan amenazados por la rapida urbanizacion que provoca contaminacion del agua por fuentes domesticas, proliferacion de especies invasoras, perdida del habitat acuatico, rellenos, invasion de las zonas de proteccion, eutrofizacion y colmatacion de los embalses y disminucion de su capacidad para mitigar inundaciones. Por lo tanto, debido al estado de degradacion y ante la falta de un ecosistema de referencia o informacion ecologica previa a la degradacion, se recomienda llevar a cabo acciones de rehabilitacion ecologica para recuperar y conservar los servicios ecosistemicos que brindan.
Logging in persistent memory: to cache, or not to cache?

Persistent memory is a new class of memory that functions as a hybrid of traditional storage systems and main memory. It combines the benefits of both the data persistence property of storage and the fast load/store interface of memory. In order to maintain data persistence in memory, a widely used mechanism is logging - in addition to updating the original data structures as in traditional memory systems, persistent memory systems also log the update. Most previous persistent memory studies suggest that log updates should bypass the cache hierarchy because the log is only used for system recovery and will not be reused during program execution. Caching the log only contaminates critical cache resources, leading to performance degradation. However, our study shows that current cache bypassing schemes (e.g., cache bypassing instructions and write-combining buffers) are sub-optimal for accommodating log writes. Making the log uncacheable can degrade persistent memory system performance worse than with cacheable logging. This presentation outlines our observations of the trade-offs between cacheable and uncacheable logging, based on our experimental results. We also analyze the reasons that lead to such trade-offs.
Plasma Protein Turnover Rates in Rats Using Stable Isotope Labeling, Global Proteomics, and Activity-Based Protein Profiling

Protein turnover is important for general health on cellular and organism scales providing a strategy to replace old, damaged, or dysfunctional proteins. Protein turnover also informs of biomarker kinetics, as a better understanding of synthesis and degradation of proteins increases the clinical utility of biomarkers. Here, turnover rates of plasma proteins in rats were measured in vivo using a pulse-chase stable isotope labeling experiment. During the pulse, rats (n = 5) were fed 13C6-labeled lysine ("heavy") feed for 23 days to label proteins. During the chase, feed was changed to an unlabeled equivalent feed ("light"), and blood was repeatedly sampled from rats over 10 time points for 28 days. Plasma samples were digested with trypsin and analyzed with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). MaxQuant was used to identify peptides and proteins and quantify heavy/light lysine ratios. A system of ordinary differential equations was used to calculate protein turnover rates. Using this approach, 273 proteins were identified, and turnover rates were quantified for 157 plasma proteins with half-lives ranging 0.3-103 days. For the ∼70 most abundant proteins, variability in turnover rates among rats was low (median coefficient of variation: 0.09). Activity-based protein profiling was applied to pooled plasma samples to enrich serine hydrolases using a fluorophosphonate (FP2) activity-based probe. This enrichment resulted in turnover rates for an additional 17 proteins. This study is the first to measure global plasma protein turnover rates in rats in vivo, measure variability of protein turnover rates in any animal model, and utilize activity-based protein profiling for enhancing turnover measurements of targeted, low-abundant proteins, such as those commonly used as biomarkers. Measured protein turnover rates will be important for understanding of the role of protein turnover in cellular and organism health as well as increasing the utility of protein biomarkers through better understanding of processes governing biomarker kinetics.
Post prostatectomy outcomes of patients with high-risk prostate cancer treated with neoadjuvant androgen blockade

Patients with high-risk prostate cancer have an increased likelihood of experiencing a relapse following radical prostatectomy (RP). We previously conducted three neoadjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) trials prior to RP in unfavorable intermediate and high-risk disease. In this analysis, we report on the post-RP outcomes of a subset of patients enrolled on these studies. We conducted a pooled analysis of patients with available follow-up data treated on three neoadjuvant trials at three institutions. All patients received intense ADT prior to RP. The primary endpoint was time to biochemical recurrence (BCR). BCR was defined as a PSA ≥ 0.2 ng/mL or treatment with radiation or androgen-deprivation therapy for a rising PSA < 0.2 ng/mL. Overall, 72 patients were included of whom the majority had a Gleason score ≥ 8 (n = 46, 63.9%). Following neoadjuvant therapy, 55.7% of patients (n = 39/70) had pT3 disease, 40% (n = 28) had seminal vesicle invasion, 12.9% (n = 9) had positive margins, and 11.4% (n = 8) had lymph node involvement. Overall, 11 (15.7%) had tumor measuring ≤ 0.5 cm, which included four patients (5.7%) with a pathologic complete response and seven (10.0%) with residual tumor measuring 0.1–0.5 cm. Compared to pretreatment clinical staging, 10 patients (14.3%) had pathologic T downstaging at RP. The median follow-up was 3.4 years. Overall, the 3-year BCR-free rate was 70% (95% CI 57%, 90%). Of the 15 patients with either residual tumor ≤ 0.5 cm or pathologic T downstaging, no patient experienced a recurrence. In this exploratory pooled clinical trials analysis, we highlight that neoadjuvant therapy prior to RP in unfavorable intermediate and high-risk patients may potentially have a positive impact on recurrence rates. Larger studies with longer follow-up periods are warranted to evaluate the impact of neoadjuvant hormone therapy on pathologic and long-term outcomes.
Negative fateful life events in midlife and advanced predicted brain aging

Negative fateful life events (FLEs) such as interpersonal conflict, death in the family, financial hardship, and serious medical emergencies can act as allostatic stressors that accelerate biological aging. However, the relationship between FLEs and neuroanatomical aging is not well understood. We examined 359 men (mean age 62 years) participating in the Vietnam Era twin study of aging (VETSA) to determine whether negative midlife FLEs are associated with advanced brain aging after controlling for physical, psychological, and lifestyle factors. At two different time points, participants were assessed for negative FLEs, health and well-being, general cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, depression, and ethnicity. Participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging examination, and T1-weighted images were processed with FreeSurfer. Subsequent neuroanatomical measurements were entered into the Brain-Age Regression Analysis and Computation Utility software (BARACUS) to predict brain age. Having more midlife FLEs, particularly relating to interpersonal relationships, was associated with advanced predicted brain aging (i.e., higher predicted brain age relative to chronological age). This association remained after controlling for the significant covariates of alcohol consumption, cardiovascular risk, adult socioeconomic status, and ethnicity.
Managing participation in the adult ESL classroom: engagement and exit practices

While there has been long-standing interest in identifying teacher practices for facilitating participation, less attention has been paid to what might be termed the ‘participation paradox’, or the...
Education and the Culture Wars

Education has been a central field for cultural conflict in the modern era. This is because schools are one of the primary institutions for imparting shared understandings of collective identity and purpose. Schooling is a key institutional context through which a society tells itself a story about itself. Modern pluralism makes conflict in educational processes inevitable, and schools unavoidably become places where competing conceptions of the good are contested. This chapter analyzes the main areas of conflict in modern American schooling to demonstrate that schools do more than prepare students for the economy; they are normative institutions engaged in forming persons and legitimating social orders. We conclude by suggesting a neo-Durkheimian model of conflict in education that offers a cultural account of the deep structures of moral life by which social orders are constituted and through which humans make sense of their world.
Effects of high-temperature conditioning on enzymatic activity and tenderness of Bos indicus longissimus muscle.

We studied the effects of high-temperature conditioning (HTC) on beef longissimus (LM) and semitendinosus muscles. Eleven 5/8 Sahiwal x Angus, Hereford or Angus x Hereford crosses (seven heifers and four steers) were slaughtered. Alternate carcass sides were held at 22 +/- 3 degrees C for 6 h, then chilled at -1 degree C for 18 h. The opposite, control (C) sides were chilled at -1 degree C for 24 h. Samples were removed only from the LM at various times to determine calcium-dependent protease (CDP) and CDP inhibitor (INH) activity, cathepsins B and B + L activity, shear-force, sensory panel traits, myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) and sarcomere length. Results were analyzed by least squares procedures; our model included fixed effects of temperature, sex and their interaction. The LM temperature remained higher (P less than .01) for the HTC treatment at 3, 6, 9 and 12 h postmortem. In addition, HTC increased the rate of pH decline which resulted in pH differences (P less than .01) at 6, 9 and 12 h. At d 1, LM steaks had lower (P less than .05) shear forces (8.3 vs 9.6 kg) from HTC than C carcasses. At d 14, LM shear forces tended (P = .13) to be lower for HTC (6.9 kg) than for C (7.7 kg) carcasses. At, 3, 7 and 14 d, MFI for LM were greater (P less than .07) for the HTC steaks. However, by 6 h postmortem, INH activity had decreased (P less than .10) 35% in HTC samples, but no change had occurred in C samples (P less than .10).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The First Antenna and Wireless Telegraph, Personal Communications System (PCS), and PCS Symposium in Virginia

This is the story of the early history of wireless communications using antennas. The antenna was conceived by Dr. Mahlon Looms, a Washington, D.C. dentist, in 1864--at the same time that Prof. James Clerk Maxwell first presented his equations to the Royal Society in London Loomis used 600-fi wires, suspended by kites, a hand-held key to transmit and a galvanometer detector to receive on-off-keyed (OOK) signals at 0.033 baud in October 1866 between two Virginia mountain tops separated by 18 miles. These two-way communications, which were witnessed, provided the impetus for Loomis’U.S.Patent No. 129,971, “Improvement in Telegraphing (Wireless),” dated 30 July 1872. Loomis’ patent was the second U.S. wireless patent, by 3 months, to that of his friend, William Henry Ward, of Auburn, NY. It also inspired HR 772, “Act of Incorporation of Loomis Aerial Telegraph Company,” during the 3rd Session of the 42nd Congress in 1873. This law established the first U.S. wireless company, but the company failed due to losses by Loomis’venture capitalists in the great Chicago fire of 1871 and the “Black Friday” financial crises of the 19th century. Whether Loomis’system utilized electromagnetic (Hertzian) waves, of the type first demonstrated definitively for the first time by Heinrich Rudolph Hertz in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1886 (the year of Loomis’death), or whether his system functioned totally on the basis of electrostatic conduction is unresolved. Loomis’system did radiate electromagnetic waves when his key closed and generated sparks, but it is not clear whether his DC galvanometer could detect these waves due to some hysteresis effect or other nonlinearity. Loomis used the word wireless and he apparently coined the term aerial. Loomis also achieved communications between two ships on the Chesapeake Bay which were separated by 2 miles. This represented the first maritime mobile wireless communications, and it occurred before the birth ofMarchese Guglielmo Marconi in 1874. But it remained for Marconi to recognize and successfully exploit the commercial aspects of wireless communications using Hertzian waves to provide service to governments and to the general public
Der Rechtsschein der verbrieften Forderung, § 405 BGB

Hat der Schuldner uber die Schuld eine Urkunde ausgestellt, so kann er sich gemas der Bestimmung des § 405 BGB gegenuber einem gutglaubigen Zessionar, dem die Forderung unter Vorlage der Urkunde abgetreten worden ist, nicht darauf berufen, das die Eingehung der Schuld nur zum Schein erfolgt sei oder das mit dem Zedenten ein Ausschlus der Abtretung rechtsgeschaftlich vereinbart worden sei. Das die Vorschrift einen Tatbestand der Rechtsscheinhaftung regelt, ist unbestritten1. Der gutglaubige Zessionar wird in seinem Vertrauen darauf geschutzt, das die Eingehung der Verbindlichkeit ernstlich gemeint gewesen sei und das die ihm zedierte Forderung keinem Abtretungsverbot unterlegen habe2. Grundlage des Vertrauens ist die vom Schuldner ausgestellte Urkunde.
Characterization of MPI usage on a production supercomputer

MPI is the most prominent programming model used in scientific computing today. Despite the importance of MPI, however, how scientific computing applications use it in production is not well understood. This lack of understanding is attributed primarily to the fact that production systems are often wary of incorporating automatic profiling tools that perform such analysis because of concerns about potential performance over-heads. In this study, we used a lightweight profiling tool, called Autoperf, to log the MPI usage characteristics of production applications on a large IBM BG/Q supercomputing system (Mira) and its corresponding development system (Cetus). Autoperf limits the amount of information that it records, in order to keep the overhead to a minimum while still storing enough data to derive useful insights. MPI usage statistics have been collected for over 100K jobs that were run within a two-year period and are analyzed in this paper. The analysis is intended to provide useful insights for MPI developers and network hardware developers for their next generation of improvements and for supercomputing center operators for their next system procurements.
600.24 Transcatheter versus Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease: A Meta-analysis

Cirrhosis increases cardiac surgical risk with a 30-day mortality of 9–52% in Child-Pugh class A and C, respectively. A higher Model for End-stage Liver Disease excluding International normalized ratio (MELD-XI) score is associated with higher mortality following transcatheter aortic valve
Repeated impulse aging of oil-polypropylene insulation

Repeated impulse voltage has long been considered to affect the insulation property of power equipment, which is called accumulative effect. This phenomenon is widely studied on oil paper insulation but rarely on oil polypropylene film insulation, which is widely used in power capacitors and other equipment. Therefore, the accumulative effect of repeated impulse on oil polypropylene insulation is studied in this work. First, a repeated impulse accumulating test platform was set up and the accumulation characteristics of oil polypropylene insulation with repeated impulses were tested and analyzed. Next, the residual breakdown voltage, surface morphology and gas composition dissolved in the oil in different aging levels were tested. The results indicated that the OPF insulation residual breakdown voltage decreased and the film surface roughness increased when subjected to the repeated impulses. The dissolved gas contents changed along with the impulse accumulation aging. Lastly, the possible mechanisms of the accumulative effect in oil polypropylene insulation are discussed based on the test results.
Arrangement of the Polymerase Complexes inside a Nine-Segmented dsRNA Virus

Summary Members of the family Reoviridae package several copies of the viral polymerase complex into their capsid to carry out replication and transcription within viral particles. Classical single-particle reconstruction encounters difficulties resolving structures such as the intraparticle polymerase complex because refinement can converge to an incorrect map and because the map could depict a nonrepresentative subset of particles or an average of heterogeneous particles. Using the nine-segmented Fako virus, we tested hypotheses for the arrangement and number of polymerase complexes within the virion by measuring how well each hypothesis describes the set of cryoelectron microscopy images of individual viral particles. We find that the polymerase complex in Fako virus binds at ten possible sites despite having only nine genome segments. A single asymmetric configuration describes the arrangement of these complexes in both virions and genome-free capsids. Similarities between the arrangements of Reoviridae with 9, 10, and 11 segments indicate the generalizability of this architecture.
Seeking Inclusion through Local Entrepreneurship Training Initiatives in Low-Income Communities.

Understanding the role of local resources in enabling or constraining the development of entrepreneurial activities in urban communities holds important implications for community placed-based initiatives led by urban universities. This article analyzes the societal and interpersonal factors that affect the outcomes of an entrepreneurship center created in 2016, in partnership with an urban university within a low-income community adjacent to campus. The center was created to address the needs of local residents wanting to launch new businesses, as well as supporting small business owners in the neighborhood who desire to grow their businesses and capitalize on the neighborhood’s proximity to large city anchors. The study uses a mixed research design to understand, through the voice of residents and local business owners, the potential of the center as a catalyst for local entrepreneurship and inclusion, and proposes ways in which community resources can be used to bolster entrepreneurial success. Results reveal the need to strengthen local entrepreneurs’ social capital and social competences in order to promote access to financial and business resources. Local businesses must be used as significant assets to build upon in order to strengthen entrepreneurial capacities and cultivate community attitudes towards entrepreneurship.
Thoracic Surgery in the Elderly

General thoracic surgery is a broad field encompassing procedures such as VATS, tube thoracostomies, lobectomies, and thoracic tumor resections. Despite overall improvement in patient outcomes with the advent of minimally invasive techniques such as robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS), further improvements can be made – especially with regard to our increasingly aging population. This chapter discusses the preoperative assessment of older thoracic patients, as well as considerations for physiological, social, and psychological optimization to improve surgical outcomes in thoracic surgery.
The other virus: Covid-19 and violence against civilians

The article analyzes how Covid-19 might affect the risk of violence against civilians (VAC) in two ways First, I glean from Armed Conflict Location and Event Data the quantity and types of Covid-related VAC attacks Second, I present possible economic channels by which Covid could affect mass atrocity risk I apply the channels to identify possible Covid-related economic risks for VAC in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Adversarial Attack on Deepfake Detection Using RL Based Texture Patches

The advancements in GANs have made creating deepfake videos a relatively easy task. Considering the threat that deepfake videos pose for manipulating political opinion, recent research has focused on ways to better detect deepfake videos. Even though researchers have had some success in detecting deepfake videos, it has been found that these detection systems can be attacked.
Lexical Botany in Amarakośa

Sanskrit literature abounds in lexicons. Amarakośa is the most celebrated and authoritative ancient thesaurus of Sanskrit. There are references to various lexicons in many ancient Sanskrit texts, but none of these except for Dhanvantari’s and Amarasiṃha’s are extant. Between the two, the latter’s work Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana popularly known as Amarakośa is very familiar to every student of Sanskrit. The actual name of the book ‘ Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana ’ means instruction concerning nouns and gender. It is divided into three kāṇḍas (volumes). Each kāṇḍa is divided into Vargas depending on the subject they deal with. A list of more than 220 plants is mentioned with all the synonyms in the four Vargas . The plants that are revealed in the Amarakośa can be classified into huge trees, edible fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, creepers, water plants, grasses, pulses, cereals, wild cereals and others. Plants that are generally used for incensing, perfumery and cosmetics for human consumption are mentioned in the Manuṣhya Varga. In the Vaiśyavarga crops of commercial value are included.
Experimental validation and design feasibility of a compact interferometric refractive index structure constant measurement sensor for atmospheric turbulence characterization

Measurement of atmospheric turbulence has long been carried out using differential temperature sensors, DTS. DTS measurements of small temperature fluctuation differences between two spatially separated thermocouples can be ensemble averaged to calculate the temperature structure constant which can be used to approximate the refractive index structure constant. This technique has been widely applied and used with reasonable success in spite of several important limitations. One of the primary limitations is that the temperature structure constant alone does not fully define the refractive index structure constant; because the water vapor structure and water vapor to temperature cross correlation terms, which are much more difficult to measure, are ignored. This paper presents an initial feasibility analysis and experimental validation for a new type of refractive index structure constant sensor that is based on a compact, low cost interferometric sensor. This method is being explored as a potential alternative to DTS, because it measures index of refraction directly and thus offers the possibility of significant improvement in measurement accuracy. The paper outlines the sensor concept, its key components, and an analytical and experimental validation of the refractive index structure measurement accuracy.
Variable Presentation of Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis at a Single Center.

Objectives Describe atypical presentations of hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis with polyneuropathy. Methods Initial symptoms, diagnoses, and follow-up were recorded at the Austin Neuromuscular Center for 12 patients with nonclassical presentation of hATTR amyloidosis. Results Common initial symptoms were hand and/or feet sensory manifestations (83%), muscle weakness (58%), and, less frequently, gastrointestinal and orthostatic impairment and carpal tunnel syndrome. Initial diagnoses were polyneuropathy (83%) and/or myopathy (25%). During follow-up, 10 patients (83%) developed cardiac symptoms (dyspnea, 67% and ankle edema, 17%), resulting in revised diagnoses of heart disease. Multisystem involvement raised suspicion of amyloidosis, which was confirmed by biopsy or nuclear scintigraphy, and genetic testing. All patients had polyneuropathy; 8 (67%) had cardiomyopathy-associated transthyretin mutations (V122I or T60A). Time from symptom onset to diagnosis was up to 10 years (median 5 years), during which patients' health deteriorated, although with recognition of disease signs/symptoms the diagnosis of hATTR amyloidosis was made in approximately 2-6 months from presentation at our center. Conclusions Increased awareness of the diverse initial hATTR amyloidosis symptoms could shorten time to diagnosis, enabling earlier treatment and improved patient outcomes.
A History of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law (Chapter 2)

"A History of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law" is the story of the radical transformation of a San Diego law school during the final decades of the twentieth century, a story that is told in the context of larger changes occurring in American legal education in those years. The author served as dean of the law school from 1994 to 2005.The Thomas Jefferson School of Law was founded in 1969 as the San Diego branch campus of Western State University College of Law (WSU), a for-profit, non-ABA-accredited Orange County law school that primarily served part-time evening students. The law school was proud of educating working adults and produced some outstanding alumni, but its attrition rates ranged between 50 and 75 percent and its pass rate on the California bar exam sometimes fell below 25 percent.In a half dozen years during the 1990s, the law school experienced a rebirth. It separated from WSU, adopted a new name, became the first for-profit law school to gain ABA accreditation, and became the first and only ABA-approved law school to convert from a for-profit to a nonprofit institution. Admissions applications soared more than ten-fold, resulting in a nationally based student body second in California only to Stanford’s for its geographic diversity. The law school’s academic dismissal rate dropped to around 5 percent and its California bar pass rate climbed above 75 percent. The law school was ranked 5th in the nation for the quality of academic life and 55th among law schools worldwide for the number of its faculty publications downloaded from SSRN. Its legal writing program was ranked in the top 20 nationally.Chapter Two of the book, posted here for free download on SSRN, offers a very candid portrayal of the law school in its early history, capturing the culture of a new state-accredited, part-time law school in Southern California in the early 1970s struggling to bolster its academic program, its reputation, and its revenue. Later chapters describe the impact of rapidly declining applications for admission to law schools nationally during the 1980s, the historic challenges to the ABA’s accreditation standards, WSU’s disastrous application for ABA approval in the late 1980s, and the renaissance on the San Diego campus that began in the early 1990s, culminating in a complete transformation of the institution in less than a decade.The published version of the book contains approximately 80 photographs depicting key individuals, places and events in the history of the law school.
Fetal cells from maternal blood: their selection and prospects for use in prenatal diagnosis.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the selection and prospects of fetal cells from maternal blood for use in prenatal diagnosis. There have been a number of reports of the detection of fetal cells in maternal blood during pregnancy. The results were based on identification of XY mitoses following mitogen stimulation of cells from maternal blood or on identification of Y-chromatin-positive interphase cells with or without mitogen stimulation. In five of the eight cases with HLA-A2-positive male infants, two or three maternal blood samples were tested beginning at 15 weeks gestation. Y-chromatin-positive cells were found in each sample. Finding such cells in all samples where they would have been expected a posteriori is the most convincing evidence that they are usually present as early as 15 weeks and that they continue to be present through midpregnancy. The assurance of collecting each deflected cell has also been increased by shortening the path from the fluorescence-activated cell sorter nozzle to the collector and by grounding the collection vessel to prevent static charge buildup, which can cause the charged drops to be repelled out of the well. It is found that use of the Y-body technique for identification of male cells is limited by the fact that not all male cells show a Y-body and by the appearance of fluorescent spots in cells for reasons other than the presence of Y-chromatin.
Gesture Authentication with Touch Input for Mobile Devices

The convergence of our increasing reliance on mobile devices to access online services and the increasing number of online services bring to light usability and security problems in password entry. We propose using gestures with taps to the screen as an alternative to passwords. We test the recall and forgery of gesture authentication and show, using dynamic time warping, that even simple gestures are repeatable by their creators yet hard to forge by attackers when taps are added.
Frequency domain processing of ultra-wideband signals

The central challenge of ultra-wideband (UWB) radio is to overcome its intrinsic complexity. This paper argues for the use of high-speed sampling and a front-end FFT as the paradigm of choice for robust performance and low energy consumption in certain ultra-wideband designs. Assuming the need to approach optimal performance, it highlights the complexity advantage of frequency domain (FD) over time domain processing. Anechoic chamber and realistically propagated indoor UWB measurements, combined with simulated noise and interference, are used to illustrate FD techniques for initial synchronization and estimation of channel response.
The biological impact of concurrent exposure to metallic nanoparticles and a static magnetic field.

The rapid advancement of technology has led to an exponential increase of both nanomaterial and magnetic field utilization in applications spanning a variety of sectors. While extensive work has focused on the impact of these two variables on biological systems independently, the existence of any synergistic effects following concurrent exposure has yet to be investigated. This study sought to ascertain the induced alterations to the stress and proliferation responses of the human adult low calcium, high temperature keratinocyte (HaCaT) cell line by the application of a static magnetic field (approximately 0.5 or 30 mT) in conjunction with either gold or iron oxide nanoparticles for a duration of 24 h. By evaluating targets at a cellular, protein, and genetic level a complete assessment of the HaCaT response was generated. A magnetic field-dependent proliferative effect was found (∼15%), which correlated with a decrease in reactive oxygen species and a simultaneous increase in ki67 expression, all occurring independently of nanoparticle presence. Furthermore, the application of a static magnetic field was able to counteract the cellular stress response induced by nanoparticle exposure through a combination of decreased reactive oxygen species production and modification of gene regulation. Therefore, we conclude that while these variables each introduce the potential to uniquely influence physiological events, no negative synergistic reactions were identified. Bioelectromagnetics. 34:500–511. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Disturbance Pharmacopoeias: Medicine and Myth from the Humid Tropics

Abstract The much-publicized quest for miracle drug plants in tropical rainforests has provided compelling support for the preservationist agenda. This article questions the assumptions that underpin this claim, particularly the myth that pristine forest represents the primary repository of nature's medicinal providence. After tracing colonial European efforts at medicinal plant discovery, intellectual property exploitation, and plant transference and acclimation, I review the recent resurgence of scientific interest in tropical folk pharmacopoeias. In spite of the image marketed by environmental entrepreneurs, the medicinal foraging preference of rural tropical groups is largely successional mosaics of their own creation—trails, kitchen gardens, swiddens, and forest fallows. Focusing on the subsistence transition from hunting and gathering to small-scale cultivation, I propose that disturbance pharmacopoeias are the logical outcome of changing subsistence strategies, ecological processes, and disease pat...
A novel methodology using pulsed-IV for interface or border traps characterization on AlGaN/GaN MOSHFETs

Characterization of traps at a dielectric/AlGaN interface is critical to evaluate the reliability of the dielectric for the gate stack or passivation of an AlGaN/GaN based MOS Heterojunction Field Effect Transistor (MOSHFET). In this work, we propose a new methodology for interface and border traps characterization using simple DC IV, CV and pulsed-IV measurements. Along with a generic UV lamp, we use this technique to characterize both shallow and deep trap concentrations across the entire AlGaN band gap. The resulting analysis of the ALD HfAlO/AlGaN interface reveals a high density of shallow traps (~7×10 13 cm -2 .eV -1 ) and deep traps (10 11 -10 12 cm -2 .eV -1 ) with a characteristic U-shape.
A measure of DNA periodicity

A Fourier transform g(n) of a sequence of bases along a given stretch of DNA is defined. The transform is invariant to the labelling of the bases and can therefore be used as a measure of periodicity for segments of DNA with differing base content. It can also be conveniently used to search for base periodicities within large DNA data bases.
Two-phase model of hadronic matter and high energy nuclear production

Abstract We present a simple descriptive model of the dynamics of hadronic processes which fits experimental data on nuclear multiparticle production.
An efficient and fair cooperative approach for resource management in wireless networks

In cellular networks, the implementation of various resource management processes, such as bandwidth reservation and location updates, has been based on the one-to-one resource management information exchange paradigm, between the mobile nodes and the base stations. In this paper, we design and demonstrate the use of a distributed cooperative scheme that can be applied in the future wireless networks to improve the energy consumption for the routine management processes of mobile terminals, by adopting the peer-to-peer communication concept of wireless ad hoc networks. In our approach, the network is subdivided into one-hop ad hoc clusters where the members of each cluster cooperate to perform the required management functions, and conventional individual direct report transmissions of the mobile terminals to the base stations are replaced by two-hop transmissions. The performance evaluation and the corresponding numerical results presented in this paper confirm that our proposed scheme reduces significantly the overall system energy consumption when compared with the conventional one-to-one direct information management exchange approach. Furthermore the issue of fairness in dynamically selecting the various cluster heads in successive operational cycles of the proposed scheme is analyzed, and an enhanced algorithm is proposed and evaluated, which improves significantly the cluster head selection fairness, in order to balance the energy consumption among the various mobile terminals. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A historical overview of educational psychology

Abstract A historical review of educational psychology might improve understanding of current status and problems. Before American development of the field, the Greeks, Juan Vives in the 16th century, and Pestalozzi and Herbart in the 19th century applied psychological views to educational problems. Despite the absence of scientific psychology in 19th century America, normal schools offered courses purporting to be psychological in content; these courses were supported by textbooks on the subject. James began, and Thorndike developed, the discipline that by the mid-1920s had assumed much of its current form. Journals and academic departments appeared in the first quarter of the century also. The continuing search through the middle of the century for a satisfying professional organization reflected educational psychology's difficulties in establishing an identity. It is not clear even today that the field has “crystallized,” as one writer described it in the 1920s.
Traveling-wave and vortex states in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection

Abstract Experimental results on states of rotating Rayleigh–Benard convection in water with a Prandtl number of 6.4 are presented. Using precision heat transport measurements and optical shadowgraph imaging, we have explored the sidewall traveling-wave state in cylindrical convection cells with radius-to-height ratios Γ =1, 2.5, and 5. The critical Rayleigh number and precession frequencies for the wall mode were measured as a function of a dimensionless rotation rate and are compared to theoretical predictions. The onset of bulk convection and its pattern wave number are found to agree quite closely with predictions of Chandrasekhar’s linear stability analysis. Vortex states at higher Rayleigh number are also described and characteristics of the thermal vortices including the vortex circulation and the frequency of collective vortex motions are presented.
Pharmacokinetic interactions of efavirenz and voriconazole in healthy volunteers

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT • Efavirenz 400 mg q24 h reduces exposure to voriconazole 200 mg q12 h when the two drugs are co-administered. • Furthermore, voriconazole increases the systemic exposure of efavirenz. • Co-administration was therefore initially contraindicated. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS • The doses of efavirenz and voriconazole can be adjusted to provide adequate exposure to both drugs when the two are co-administered, without compromising safety. • Appropriate adjustment of doses for both drugs may thus represent an alternative to a mere contraindication. AIMS Co-administration of standard-dose voriconazole and efavirenz results in a substantial decrease in voriconazole levels, while concurrently increasing efavirenz levels. Hence, concomitant use of standard doses of these drugs was initially contraindicated. This study assessed different dose combinations of efavirenz and voriconazole, with the goal of attaining a dose combination that provides systemic exposures similar to standard-dose monotherapy with each drug. METHODS This was an open-label, four-treatment, multiple-dose, fixed-sequence study in 16 healthy males. Steady-state pharmacokinetics were assessed following two test treatments (voriconazole 300 mg q12 h + efavirenz 300 mg q24 h and voriconazole 400 mg q12 h + efavirenz 300 mg q24 h) and compared with standard-dose monotherapy (voriconazole 200 mg q12 h or efavirenz 600 mg q24 h). RESULTS Dose adjustment to voriconazole 300 mg q12 h with efavirenz 300 mg q24 h decreased voriconazole area under the concentration–time curve (AUCτ) and maximum concentration (Cmax), with changes of −55% [90% confidence interval (CI) −62, −45] and −36% (90% CI −49, −21), respectively, when compared with monotherapy. Voriconazole 400 mg q12 h plus efavirenz 300 mg q24 h decreased voriconazole AUCτ (−7%; 90% CI −23, 13) and increased Cmax (23%; 90% CI −1, 53), while increasing efavirenz AUCτ (17%; 90% CI 6, 29) and not changing Cmax when compared with the respective monotherapy regimens. No serious adverse events were observed with voriconazole plus efavirenz. CONCLUSIONS When co-administered, voriconazole dose should be increased to 400 mg q12 h and efavirenz dose decreased to 300 mg q24 h in order to provide systemic exposures similar to standard-dose monotherapy.
Building an Academic Nation Through Social Networks: Black Immigrant Men in Community Colleges

Whether naturalized or native, a nation becomes stronger as individuals embrace opportunities for postsecondary education. President Obama's commitment to community college education through the American Graduation Initiative (AGI) will facilitate increased matriculation into community colleges, encourage students to transfer into four-year institutions, and ultimately create an academically affluent America. Research on students who transfer from community college to four-year institutions discusses this phenomenon from an institutional perspective; however, there is a dearth in the literature regarding how the Black student population, particularly Black immigrant men, engage in the transfer process in the academy. Social Network Theory is the framework through which the experiences of these men from various countries in the African Diaspora were examined during their transfer process in an American public university system. Data analysis revealed three major findings, including the forms of capital tha...