cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hospice Staff Perspectives on Caring for People with Dementia: A Multisite, Multistakeholder Study

Background: In the United States, 45% of people enrolled in hospice have dementia. We know little about how hospice professionals facilitate preference-aligned end-of-life care for people with dementia (PWD) and their families. Objective: To examine hospice stakeholders' perspectives on caring for PWD and their families. Design: Multisite qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with interdisciplinary hospice clinicians, leaders, and administrators. The interdisciplinary team used the constant comparative method to identify, code, and characterize relevant themes. Setting/participants: Four geographically distinct nonprofit U.S. hospice organizations. Fifty-one hospice employees: 61% clinical staff, 25% executive leaders, and 14% administrators. Measurements: Interview domains included participants' practices of engaging patients/families in discussions of preferences for end-of-life care and professional opinions of changes over time. Cross-topic probes focused on delivering hospice care to PWD and their proxies/families. Results: Four themes regarding caring for PWD in hospice. (1) Dementia prevalence in hospice is increasing and some hospices are developing programs to accommodate specific needs. (2) Setting impacts discussions of preferences and care decisions. (3) Caring for PWD on hospice poses unique challenges caused by (i) perceptions that dementia is not terminal, (ii) a lack of advance care planning discussions before hospice admission, and (iii) proxy decision-makers who were inadequately prepared for their role. (4) Hospice regulatory and policy changes disproportionately impact PWD. Conclusions: Hospice professionals perceive increasing demand for, and multilevel challenges to, caring for PWD. Clinicians "upstream" from hospice may help by engaging patients and proxies in discussions of preferences for end-of-life care and providing anticipatory guidance.
Racial Differences in Left Ventricular Mass and Wave Reflection Intensity in Children

The burden of heart failure is disproportionately higher in African Americans, with a higher prevalence seen at an early age. Examination of racial differences in left ventricular mass (LVM) in childhood may offer insight into risk for cardiac target organ damage (cTOD) in adulthood. Central hemodynamic load, a harbinger of cTOD in adults, is higher in African Americans. The purpose of this study was to examine racial differences in central hemodynamic load and LVM in African American and non-Hispanic white (NHW) children. Two hundred sixty-nine children participated in this study (age, 10 ± 1 years; n = 149 female, n = 154 African American). Carotid pulse wave velocity (PWV), forward wave intensity (W1) and reflected wave intensity (negative area, NA) was assessed from simultaneously acquired distension and flow velocity waveforms using wave intensity analysis (WIA). Wave reflection magnitude was calculated as NA/W1. LVM was assessed using standard 2D echocardiography and indexed to height as LVM/[height (2.16) + 0.09]. A cutoff of 45 g/m (2.16) was used to define left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). LVM was higher in African American vs. NHW children (39.2 ± 8.0 vs. 37.2 ± 6.7 g/m (2.16), adjusted for age, sex, carotid systolic pressure and socioeconomic status; p 0.05). NA/W1 was higher in African American vs. NHW children (8.5 ± 5.3 vs. 6.7 ± 2.9; p < 0.05). Adjusting for NA/W1 attenuated racial differences in LVM (38.8 ± 8.0 vs. 37.6 ± 7.0 g/m (2.16); p = 0.19). In conclusion, racial differences in central hemodynamic load and cTOD are present in childhood. African American children have greater wave intensity from reflected waves and higher LVMI compared to NHW children. WIA offers novel insight into early life origins of racial differences in central hemodynamic load and cTOD.
Optical and Electrical Properties of Organic Semiconductor Thin Films on Aperiodic Plasmonic Metasurfaces

Metal electrodes are playing an increasingly important role in controlling photon absorption and in promoting optimal light management in thin-film semiconductor devices. For organic optoelectronic devices, the conventional fabrication approach is to build the device on top of a transparent electrode, with metal electrode deposition as the last step. This makes it challenging to control the surface of the metal electrode to promote good light management properties. An inverted fabrication approach that builds the device on top of a metal electrode makes it possible to control the morphology of the metal surface independently of the organic semiconductor active layer to achieve a variety of photonic and plasmonic behaviors useful for devices. However, there are few reports of inverted fabrication of organic optoelectronic devices and its impacts on device properties. Silver (Ag) is the most suitable metal for fabrication of nanostructured electrodes with plasmonic behavior (i.e., plasmonic electrodes) because of its low parasitic absorption loss and high reflectivity. In this project, we describe the facile fabrication of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) aperiodic plasmonic metasurfaces and study their physical and optical characteristics. Then, we investigate the photonic and electrical behaviors of the aperiodic plasmonic metasurfaces when interfaced with poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT) organic semiconducting polymer thin films. The luminescence quantum yield of F8BT thin films increases from 29% on planar Ag up to 66% on AgNP metasurfaces due to the Purcell effect and the improved extraction of emission coupled to surface plasmon polariton modes. In particular, we show that plasmonic enhancement can overcome ohmic losses associated with metals and metal-induced exciton quenching. According to the current-voltage characteristics of hole-only devices with and without aperiodic plasmonic metasurfaces, we conclude that AgNP aperiodic plasmonic metasurfaces have comparable electrical behavior to planar metal electrodes while having superior light management capability.
Advances and New Insights in Post-Transplant Care: From Sequencing to Imaging

Cardiac imaging and sequencing have greatly improved over the recent years. The goal of this review is to summarize these recent advances in cardiac imaging and sequencing, their application in heart-transplantation, and provide our perspective in how artificial intelligence provides a new paradigm for big data-driven analysis in heart-transplant research. Cardiac imaging, particularly parametric mapping by cardiac MRI and global longitudinal strain by echocardiography, has improved our understanding of cardiac allograft rejection and prediction of adverse clinical outcomes. Independently, gene expression profiling and measurement of donor-derived cell-free DNA have greatly improved risk stratification for acute rejection. More recently, data-driven phenotypic clustering using novel machine learning algorithms has been used to identify a distinct macrophage subset, associated with acute rejection. Developments in imaging and sequencing techniques in the application of heart-transplant research are improving rapidly and in parallel with improvements in analysis of these large datasets. The approach to heart-transplant research is in the transition of significant change as big data-driven analysis identifies new mechanistic patterns that can be combined with traditional hypothesis testing.
“Make the Implicit Explicit”: Measuring Perceptions of Gender Bias and Creating a Gender Bias Curriculum for Internal Medicine Residents

Background Gender bias in clinical training has been well established; however, little is known about how perceptions differ between men and women. Furthermore, few curricular options have been developed to discuss gender bias. Objective To measure the prevalence of gender bias, examine qualitative differences between men and women, and create a gender bias curriculum for internal medicine residents. Methods We surveyed 114 residents (response rate of 53.5%) to identify the prevalence and types of gender bias experienced in training. We compared estimates between genders and organized qualitative results into shared themes. We then developed a curriculum to promote and normalize discussions of gender bias. Results Among surveyed residents, 61% reported personal experiences of gender bias during training, with 98% of women and 19% of men reporting experiences when stratified by gender. We identified two domains in which gender bias manifested: role misidentification and a difficult working environment. Residents identified action items that led to the development of a gender bias curriculum. The curriculum includes didactic conferences and training sessions, a microaggression response toolkit, dinners for men and women residents, participation in a WhatsApp support group, and participation in academic projects related to gender bias in training. Conclusion We confirmed a wide prevalence of gender bias and developed a scalable curriculum for gender bias training. Future work should explore the long-term impacts of these interventions.
Health-Related Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents on Dialysis

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important health outcome for youth on dialysis and is often significantly impaired compared to healthy children. In this chapter we review the literature on HRQOL in pediatric dialysis patients and discuss comprehensive assessment of this construct, which may include both generic and disease-specific measures, as well as both parent-proxy and youth self-report. In addition, we will discuss how comorbidities are associated with HRQOL and associations between alternative dialysis modalities and improved HRQOL. The literature on HRQOL in children and adolescents on dialysis would benefit from additional clarity regarding correlates of HRQOL and testing of interventions to improve this important health outcome.
Narratives of Bystanding and Upstanding: Applying a Bystander Framework in Higher Education

Preservice teachers come to higher education with rich, storied knowledge about schools, schooling, and students based on their previous experiences as K-12 students. They then add to this knowledge through their teacher preparation coursework and field-based practicums. This study used a bystander framework and narrative inquiry to explore how previous bystander experiences involving the marginalization or bullying of an emergent bilingual student shaped a group of 108 preservice teachers’ developing storied knowledge about bystanding, upstanding, and issues of social justice in schools. This chapter details both the prominent plot patterns from preservice teacher bystander narratives, and how these narratives were used as pedagogy in the higher education classroom.
Rethinking PICO in the Machine Learning Era: ML-PICO.

Background Machine learning (ML) has captured the attention of many clinicians who may not have formal training in this area but are otherwise increasingly exposed to ML literature that may be relevant to their clinical specialties. ML papers that follow an outcomes-based research format can be assessed using clinical research appraisal frameworks such as PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome). However, the PICO frameworks strain when applied to ML papers that create new ML models, which are akin to diagnostic tests. There is a need for a new framework to help assess such papers. Objective We propose a new framework to help clinicians systematically read and evaluate medical ML papers whose aim is to create a new ML model: ML-PICO (Machine Learning, Population, Identification, Crosscheck, Outcomes). We describe how the ML-PICO framework can be applied toward appraising literature describing ML models for health care. Conclusion The relevance of ML to practitioners of clinical medicine is steadily increasing with a growing body of literature. Therefore, it is increasingly important for clinicians to be familiar with how to assess and best utilize these tools. In this paper we have described a practical framework on how to read ML papers that create a new ML model (or diagnostic test): ML-PICO. We hope that this can be used by clinicians to better evaluate the quality and utility of ML papers.
Perceived Changes in Mood and Anxiety Among Male Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From a Mixed-Methods Study.

Abstract Purpose The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed almost every aspect of our lives. Young adults are vulnerable to pandemic-related adverse mental health outcomes, but little is known about the impact on adolescents. We examined factors associated with perceived changes in mood and anxiety among male youth in urban and Appalachian Ohio. Methods In June 2020, participants in an ongoing male youth cohort study were invited to participate in an online survey that included questions about changes in mood, anxiety, closeness to friends and family, and the major impacts of the pandemic. Weighted log-binomial regression models were used to assess the risk of worsened mood and increased anxiety. Chi-square tests were used to examine the association between perceived changes in mood and anxiety and perceived changes in closeness to friends and family and open-ended responses to a question about COVID-19's impact on participants. Results Perceived worsened mood and increased anxiety during the pandemic were associated with higher household socioeconomic status, older age, feeling less close to friends and family, and reporting that COVID-19 negatively affected mental health. A perceived increase in anxiety was also associated with a history of symptoms of depression or anxiety. Conclusions Specific subgroups of male youth may be at heightened risk of worsening mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions should target vulnerable adolescents and seek to increase closeness to social contacts. Such efforts could involve novel programs that allow youth to stay connected to friends, which might mitigate the negative impact on mental health.
Future of HPC: Diversifying Heterogeneity

After the end of Dennard scaling and with the imminent end of Moore's Law, it has become challenging to continue scaling HPC systems within a given power envelope. This is exacerbated most in large systems, such as high end supercomputers. To alleviate this problem, general purpose is no longer sufficient, and HPC systems and components are being augmented with special-purpose hardware. By definition, because of the narrow applicability of specialization, broad supercomputing adoption requires using different heterogeneous components, each optimized for a specific application domain. In this paper, we discuss the impact of the introduced heterogeneity of specialization across the HPC stack: interconnects including memory models, accelerators including power and cooling, use cases and applications including AI, and delivery models, such as traditional, as-a-Service, and federated. We believe that a stack that supports diversification across hardware and software is required to continue scaling performance and maintaining energy efficiency.
Density Functional Theory Study of Reaction Equilibria in Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange.

An in-depth theoretical analysis of key chemical equilibria in Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange (SABRE) is provided, employing density functional theory calculations to characterize the likely reaction network. For all reactions in the network, the potential energy surface is probed to identify minimum energy pathways. Energy barriers and transition states are calculated, and harmonic transition state theory is applied to calculate exchange rates that approximate experimental values. The reaction network energy surface can be modulated by chemical potentials that account for the dependence on concentration, temperature, and partial pressure of molecular constituents (hydrogen, methanol, pyridine) supplied to the experiment under equilibrium conditions. We show that, under typical experimental conditions, the Gibbs free energies of the two key states involved in pyridine-hydrogen exchange at the common Ir-IMes catalyst system in methanol are essentially the same, i. e., nearly optimal for SABRE. We also show that a methanol-containing intermediate is plausible as a transient species in the process.
Discrete Wavelet Transformations: An Elementary Approach with Applications

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: Why Wavelets Vectors and Matrices An Introduction to Digital Images Complex Numbers and Fourier Series Convolution and Filters The Haar Wavelet Transformation Daubechies Wavelet Transformations Orthogonality and Fourier Series Wavelet Shrinkage: An Application to Denoising Biorthogonal Filters Computing Biorthogonal Wavelet Transformations The JPEG2000 Image Compression Standard Appendix A: Basic Statistics References Index
We’re E‐Preferred. Why Did We Get That Book in Print?

While California State University, Fullerton’s Pollak Library has an e‐preferred approval plan for all subject areas, the Library still continues to receive a number of print titles on approval. However, 25% of the print approval books received in the 2013–14 fiscal year were published by only eight publishers, all of which actively publish their books in e‐format. This paper investigates the reasons why print books were supplied over potentially available e‐versions. In some cases, individual titles were only published in print, while others were available as e‐books, but could only be purchased within collections. Others were available for purchase as individual e‐books, but not via the Library’s primary aggregator. Options for approval profile adjustments to further reduce print approval receipts are offered.
Electronic Optical Sky Surveys

The introduction of of Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) in the middle 1970s provided astronomy with nearly perfect (linear, high-sensitivity, low-noise, high dynamic-range, digital) optical detectors. Unfortunately, restrictions imposed by CCD production and cost has typically limited their use to observations of relatively small fields. Recently a combination of technical advances have made practical the application of CCDs to survey science. CCD mosaic cameras, which help overcome the size restrictions imposed by CCD manufacture, allow electronic access to a larger fraction of the available focal plane. Multi-fiber spectrographs, which couple the low-noise, high QE performance of CCDs with the ability to observe spectra for many objects at once, have improved the spectroscopic efficiency of telescopes by factors approaching half a million. An improved understanding of image distortion gives us telescopes on which we expect sub-arcsecond images a large fraction of the time. Finally, and perhaps most important, the performance of computer hardware continues to advance, to the point where analysis of multi-terabyte datasets, while still daunting, is at least conceivable.
The Concurrent Regulation of Metabolically Related Enzymes

The kinetics of derepression of isocitrate lyase, malate synthase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, citrate synthase, fumarate hydratase, and malate dehydrogenase were studied following transfer of mycelium grown on a medium containing sucrose to one containing acetate as sole source of carbon. The maximum rate of isocitrate lyase synthesis was proportional to the number of isocitrate lyase structural genes. Comparisons of the repressed levels of isocitrate lyase and malate synthase on sucrose medium and the derepressed levels in acetate medium showed an over-all coordination between the levels of these two enzymes. A similar relationship existed between the levels of fumarate hydratase, citrate synthase and malate dehydrogenase. The Krebs cycle enzymes also showed coordinate repression on sucrose medium under conditions of enhanced catabolite repression. Other results, however, showed that neither for the glyoxylate shunt enzymes nor for the Krebs cycle enzymes was this coordination invariable. Under conditions in which some of the Krebs cycle enzymes assumed different roles no coordination was observed. It is suggested that this type of coordination, which is frequently observed in the pathways of central carbon metabolism in eucaryotes, results from the metabolic repressors of each enzyme being in equilibrium or in a constant ratio to one another. The coordination does not arise because the structural genes of each enzyme belong to the same operon.
Structural and functional characterization of the purified cardiac ryanodine receptor-Ca2+ release channel complex.

Abstract Using density gradient centrifugation and [3H]ryanodine as a specific marker, the ryanodine receptor-Ca2+ release channel complex from Chaps-solubilized canine cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) has been purified in the form of an approximately 30 S complex, comprised of Mr approximately 400,000 polypeptides. Purification resulted in a specific activity of approximately 450 pmol bound ryanodine/mg of protein, a 60-70% recovery of ryanodine binding activity, and retention of the high affinity ryanodine binding site (KD = 3 nM). Negative stain electron microscopy revealed a 4-fold symmetric, four-leaf clover structure, which could fill a box approximately 30 x 30 nm and was thus morphologically similar to the SR-transverse-tubule, junctionally associated foot structure. The structural, sedimentation, and ryanodine binding data strongly suggest there is one high affinity ryanodine binding site/30 S complex, comprised of four Mr approximately 400,000 subunits. Upon reconstitution into planar lipid bilayers, the purified complex exhibited a Ca2+ conductance (70 pS in 50 mM Ca2+) similar to that of the native cardiac Ca2+ release channel (75 pS). The reconstituted complex was also found to conduct Na+ (550 pS in 500 mM Na+) and often to display complex Na+ subconducting states. The purified channel could be activated by micromolar Ca2+ or millimolar ATP, inhibited by millimolar Mg2+ or micromolar ruthenium red, and modified to a long-lived open subconducting state by ryanodine. The sedimentation, subunit composition, morphological, and ryanodine binding characteristics of the purified cardiac ryanodine receptor-Ca2+ release channel complex were similar to those previously described for the purified ryanodine receptor-Ca2+ release channel complex from fast-twitch skeletal muscle.
Preventing injury from within, using selective cPLA2 inhibitors.

The enzyme cPLA2 plays a pivotal role in adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Specific blocking of cPLA2 may present a useful therapeutic target for treating ARDS.
Deflating Logical Consequence

Deflationists about truth seek to undermine debates about the nature of truth by arguing that the truth predicate is merely a device that allows us to express a certain kind of generality. I argue that a parallel approach is available in the case of logical consequence. Just as deflationism about truth offers an alternative to accounts of truth's nature in terms of correspondence or justification, deflationism about consequence promises an alternative to model-theoretic or proof-theoretic accounts of consequence's nature. I then argue, against considerations put forward by Field and Beall, that Curry's paradox no more rules out deflationism about consequence than the liar paradox rules out deflationism about truth.
On the use of super-efficiency procedures for ranking efficient units and identifying outliers

Prior research (Banker and Chang in Eur J Oper Res 175: 1311–1320, 2006) has found that super-efficiency based procedures are effective in identifying outliers, but not in ranking efficient units. In this paper, we investigate why the procedures failed to rank efficient units satisfactorily and examine the performance of super-efficiency procedures in different “regions” of production set. We find that the unsatisfactory results mainly originate from the “left corners” of DMUs, those units with relatively smaller values. We further examine the effect of different noise levels on outlier detection using the BG procedure (Banker and Gifford in A relative efficiency model for the evaluation of public health nurse productivity. Mimeo, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1988). Our results show that the BG procedure is more effective when the noise level is high. We conduct extensive simulation experiments by considering different production functions (Cobb–Douglas and Polynomial), different DEA formulations (BCC and CCR) and different returns-to-scale (CRS and NIRS) assumptions. Our simulation results confirm that the findings in Banker and Chang (2006) are robust under different DEA formulations, production functions and returns to scale assumptions.
Biofilms: five-star accommodations for the aerobically challenged.

Summary The human microbiome contains a diverse array of microbes that affect human health. A recent study finds that fungal biofilms are capable of supporting growth of anaerobic bacteria, suggesting that these fungi can promote bacterial growth in otherwise toxic environments.
TOCTTOU vulnerabilities in UNIX-style file systems: an anatomical study

Due to their non-deterministic nature, Time of Check To Time of Use (TOCTTOU) vulnerabilities in Unix-style file systems (e.g., Linux) are difficult to find and prevent. We describe a comprehensive model of TOCTTOU vulnerabilities, enumerating 224 file system call pairs that may lead to successful TOCTTOU attacks. Based on this model, we built kernel monitoring tools that confirmed known vulnerabilities and discovered new ones (in often-used system utilities such as rpm, vi, and emacs). We evaluated the probability of successfully exploiting these newly discovered vulnerabilities and analyzed in detail the system events during such attacks. Our performance evaluation shows that the dynamic monitoring of system calls introduces non-negligible overhead in microbenchmark of those file system calls, but their impact on application benchmarks such as Andrew and PostMark is only a few percent.
Charging, migration and electrohydrodynamic transport of aerosols

Abstract In the electrostatic precipitation of dense submicron aerosols, migration is shown to be dominated by electrically induced turbulent transport. In the experiment, aerosol is simultaneously subjected to an electric field and an ion flux, the latter charging the particles by ion impact. Corona wind associated with point discharges creates local convection that typically masks effects of turbulence generated in regions removed from the discharge. This is avoided in the experiment by making use of a corona triode having an injection grid with 13 μm holes that effectively isolates the corona-generated turbulence from the aerosol. Detailed numerical simulation of the charging and migration transient, with effects of convection ignored, leads to a rate of precipitation for 6 μm diameter aerosols that is much slower than that experimentally observed. This disparity supports visual observations that point to the dominant role of electroconvection in the precipitation process.
Wind Power Price Trends in the United States: Struggling to Remain Competitive in the Face of Strong Growth

The amount of wind power capacity being installed globally is surging, with the United States the world leader in terms of annual market share for three years running (2005-2007). The rapidly growing market for wind has been a double-edged sword, however, as the resulting supply-demand imbalance in wind turbines, along with the rising cost of materials and weakness in the U.S. dollar, has put upward pressure on wind turbine costs, and ultimately, wind power prices. Two mitigating factors--reductions in the cost of equity provided to wind projects and improvements in project-level capacity factors--have helped to relieve some of the upward pressure on wind power prices over the last few years. Because neither of these two factors can be relied upon to further cushion the blow going forward, policymakers should recognize that continued financial support may be necessary to sustain the wind sector at its current pace of development, at least in the near term. Though this article emphasizes developments in the U.S. market for wind power, those trends are similar to, and hold implications for, the worldwide wind power market.
TCDD alters pituitary-adrenal function I: Adrenal responsiveness to exogenous ACTH

Plasma ACTH concentrations in 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD)-treated rats (50 micrograms/kg; single, oral dose) were 2.1-, 2.1-, 2.9-, 1.7-, 1.5-, 2.0- and 3.0-fold greater than control values, respectively, at days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14. At days 1 and 5 plasma corticosterone concentrations were increased 5.1- and 8.0-fold, respectively; whereas, at days 10 and 14 they were depressed to values of 50% and 39% of controls, respectively. Adrenal glands were excised from rats treated with TCDD and corticosterone production was assessed. Basal corticosterone concentrations produced by treated adrenals were depressed to 81%, 72%, and 71% of control values at days 5, 7, and 14, respectively. Corticosterone secretion by ACTH stimulated adrenals was equivalent to controls. These findings suggest that TCDD exposure decreases the bioactivity of the ACTH secreted by the anterior pituitary.
Detection of cervical precancer using optical spectroscopy (Extended Abstract)

The continuing morbidity and mortality rate related to cervical cancer necessitates an improvement in current screening and diagnostic programs that target early detection of its curable precursor, cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL). Optical spectroscopy is a technique that has the capability to improve the accuracy and efficacy of current techniques for the detection of SILs. We have utilized fluorescence spectroscopy for the differential detection of SILs, in vivo and we have also evaluated the utility of near infrared (IR) Raman spectroscopy for the characterization of SILs in vitro.
On nonlinear stability of isotropic models in stellar dynamics

. Consider an aggregation of mass particles in space which attract each other according to Newton's law of attraction. This system can be described by distribution functions satisfying the Vlasov equation and the Poisson laws. We obtain the nonlinear stability of certain stationary states, including those obeying modified Emden's laws. A priori estimates of the energy‐Casimir functions around stationary states are established for distribution functions for which the \(L^{5/3}\)‐norms of the density functions are uniformly bounded. A uniform bound on the kinetic energy of the system readily implies that these norms of the density functions are indeed uniformly bounded. In this way we prove nonlinear stability.
Differences in asthma risk factors due to influences of acculturation in a birth cohort of New York City-born Puerto Ricans

Abstract Rationale The prevalence of asthma among Puerto Ricans living in NYC is among the highest in the US. Differences in acculturation within this community might influence the development and exacerbation of allergic disease. Methods To date, 99 infants of Puerto Rican ethnicity born to women with inhalant allergy and/or asthma living in NYC have been enrolled in this birth cohort study. Home characteristics, and allergic disease risk factors were assessed at birth, and respiratory symptoms were assessed during the first 6 months of life. Travel to areas outside of NYC, especially tropical environments, was assessed every 3 months which might indicate differences in allergen exposure. Results Fewer women who were born on the mainland reported sightings of mice (35% vs. 52%, p=0.1) and cockroaches (65% vs. 82%, p=0.1) in their homes compared with those born in Puerto Rico or another country. In addition, dog ownership was more common among women born outside of the mainland (22% vs. 10%, p=0.2), and cat ownership was more common among women born on the mainland (17% vs. 7%, p=0.3). Of the 99 children enrolled, already 10 have traveled to Puerto Rico and 2 to other Caribbean countries. Of the children who have reached 6 months of age, 23% (12/53) have been to the emergency department for respiratory illness. Conclusions While the sample size thus far is small, it is clear that an understanding of acculturation could lead to better targeting of asthma risk factor interventions.
Two-Phase Seeding in Low-Density Plasma Flow

Numerical solutions of a typical boundary-layer seeding problem at low pressure are presented to demonstrate the important roles played by the interaction of heterogeneous fluid flow and chemical processes. A physicochemical model is developed for the investigation of the coupling of heterogeneous vaporization kinetics in a rarefied atmosphere, with the distribution of ionic and neutral species and homogeneous gas phase chemistry. It is found that the seeding effectiveness, as indicated by the evaporation efficiency and the degree of ionization for a given injection mass flow rate, is essentially controlled by the initial droplet size, the velocity and the direction of injection, kinetics of vaporization, and chemical processes.
Effects of Static Flexion-relaxation on Paraspinal Reflex Behavior

Abstract Background. Static trunk flexion working postures and disturbed trunk muscle reflexes are related to increased risk of low-back pain. Animal studies conclude that these factors may be related; passive tissue strain in spinal ligaments causes subsequent short-term changes in reflex. Although studies have documented changes in the myoelectric onset angle of flexion–relaxation following prolonged static flexion and cyclic flexion we could find no published evidence related to the human reflex response of the trunk extensor muscles following a period of static flexion–relaxation loading. Methods. Eighteen subjects maintained static lumbar flexion for 15 min. Paraspinal muscle reflexes were elicited both before and after the flexion–relaxation protocol using pseudorandom stochastic force disturbances while recording EMG. Reflex gain was computed from the peak value of the impulse response function relating input force perturbation to EMG response using time-domain deconvolution analyses. Findings. Reflexes showed a trend toward increased gain after the period of flexion–relaxation (P Interpretations. Occupational activities requiring extended periods of trunk flexion contribute to changes in reflex behavior of the paraspinal muscles. Results suggest potential mechanisms by which flexed posture work may contribute to low-back pain. Significant gender differences indicate risk analyses should consider personal factors when considering neuromuscular behavior.
Generalized Pupil-centric Imaging and Analytical Calibration for a Non-frontal Camera

We consider the problem of calibrating a small field of view central perspective non-frontal camera whose lens and sensor planes may not be parallel to each other. This can be due to manufacturing defects or intentional tilting. Thus, as such all cameras can be modeled as being non-frontal with varying degrees. There are two approaches to model non- frontal cameras. The first one based on rotation parameter- ization of sensor non-frontalness/tilt increases the number of calibration parameters, thus requiring heuristics to ini- tialize a few calibration parameters for the final non-linear optimization step. Additionally, for this parameterization, while it has been shown that pupil-centric imaging model leads to more accurate rotation estimates than a thin-lens imaging model, it has only been developed for a single axis lens-sensor tilt. But, in real cameras we can have arbitrary tilt. The second approach based on decentering distortion modeling is approximate as it can only handle small tilts and cannot explicitly estimate the sensor tilt. In this paper, we focus on rotation based non-frontal camera calibration and address the aforementioned prob- lems of over-parameterization and inadequacy of existing pupil-centric imaging model. We first derive a generalized pupil-centric imaging model for arbitrary axis lens-sensor tilt. We then derive an analytical solution, in this setting, for a subset of calibration parameters including sensor rotation angles as a function of center of radial distortion (CoD). A radial alignment based constraint is then proposed to com- putationally estimate CoD leveraging on the proposed an- alytical solution. Our analytical technique also estimates pupil-centric parameters of entrance pupil location and op- tical focal length, which have typically been done opti- cally. Given these analytical and computational calibration parameter estimates, we initialize the non-linear calibra- tion optimization for a set of synthetic and real data cap- tured from a non-frontal camera and show reduced pixel re-projection and undistortion errors compared to state of the art techniques in rotation and decentering based ap- proaches to non-frontal camera calibration.
The generality of the levels of processing hypothesis: An application to memory for chess positions.

The generality of the levels of processing approach to memory was tested by using chess positions rather than words as stimuli. Experiment 1 compared recall following semantic orienting instructions (find the best move and determine which side has the advantage), formal orienting instructions (determine the number of pieces on light squares and the number of pieces on dark squares), and intentional learning instructions using 19 novice chess players as subjects. Formal orienting instructions produced poorer recall than did either semantic orienting or intentional learning instructions, which yielded similar levels of retention. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 with 16 tournament chess players. Chess rating correlated with recall .82 under semantic orienting instructions but only —.15 under formal orienting instructions. It was concluded that the levels of processing framework has applicability outside the area of verbal learning.
Dissonance in the academy: the formation of the faculty entrepreneur

Purpose – While interest in and demand for entrepreneurial universities has gained prominence in recent years (e.g. Clark, 1998; Etzkowitz, 2008; Thorp and Goldstein, 2010), there is minimal research on the learning experiences and career-making events that transform traditional faculty members into faculty entrepreneurs who are able to successfully apply their research knowledge toward endeavors that intersect with the private market. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to understand, from the perspective of faculty entrepreneurs, the lived learning experiences that contributed to their development from traditional faculty member to faculty entrepreneur. Specifically, this study explored the question on how faculty members who were founders or co-founders of a business learned “to work in entrepreneurial ways” (Rae and Carswell, 2000, p. 220). In general, individuals who are interested in pursuing a career as a professor are not generally socialized during graduate school to engage in technology tr...
Polymerizable Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Containing Transition-Metal Ions as Building Blocks for Nanostructured Polymers and Composites

Transition-metal-containing analogues of a polymerizable lyotropic liquid crystal were prepared from sodium p-styryloctadecanoate by ion exchange with water-soluble metal chlorides, nitrates, and acetates. The mesophases of these amphiphilic monomers were investigated by polarized light microscopy, low-angle X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy. It was found that cadmium(II), manganese(II), and cobalt(II) p-styryloctadecanoate form an inverted hexagonal lyotropic phase at ambient temperature (22 °C), while the copper(II) salt forms a columnar hexagonal thermotropic phase. The monomers can be cross-linked photolytically in their respective liquid crystal phases with retention of phase architecture to yield polymer networks containing ordered microdomains of transition-metal ions. The relationship between the dimensions of the hexagonal mesophase formed and the identity of the counterion present in each salt is discussed. The polymerized inverted hexagonal phase of the cadmium salt was also used as ...
A Price Forecasting Competition: Introduction

Accurate forecasts are important to professional agricultural economists. Forecasts are used not only for predicting random variables but as proxies for unobservable expectations in many analytical settings. When using forecasts, the analyst strives to obtain the most accurate forecast possible, where "accuracy" is determined by the specific objective of the forecasting exercise. Forecasts can be obtained by (a) purely judgmental approaches, (b) structural econometric models, (c) univariate time-series models, (d) multivariate time-series models, or (e) any combination of the above. The problem becomes one of choosing the most appropriate method (or combination of methods) for a given application. Professional agricultural economists need to understand various forecasting approaches and how they differ from one another. Such information would aid forecast users in making rational choices regarding which forecasting methods to employ for a given application. A "best" forecasting method may not exist in all situations. Any one of the methods (or combination of the methods) mentioned above may provide the best forecasts in a given situation according to a particular loss function. Makridakas et al. summarize the conclusions from
Manipulating the Direction of Electron Transfer in the Bacterial Reaction Center by Swapping Phe for Tyr Near BChlM (L181) and Tyr for Phe Near BChlL (M208)

We have investigated the primary charge separation processes in Rb. capsulatus reaction centers (RCs) bearing the mutations Phe(L181) → Tyr, Tyr(M208) → Phe, and Leu(M212) → His. In the YFH mutant, decay of the excited primary electron donor P* occurs with an 11 ± 2 ps time constant and is trifurcated to give (1) internal conversion to the ground state (∼10% yield), (2) charge separation to the L side of the RC (∼60% yield), and (3) electron transfer to the M-side bacteriopheophytin BPhM (∼30% yield). These results relate previous work in which the ionizable residues Lys (at L178) and Asp (at M201) have been used to facilitate charge separation to the M side of the RC, and the widely studied L181 and M208 mutants. One conclusion that comes from this work is that the Tyr (M208) → Phe and Gly(M201) → Asp mutations near the L-side bacteriochlorophyll (BChlL) raise the free energy of P+BChlL- by comparable amounts. The results also suggest that the free energy of P+BChlM- is lowered more substantially by a Ty...
Collecting and Digitizing Forgotten Graduate Student Scholarship: The PILOs Project at Texas A&M University

This article describes a project at Texas A&M University Libraries to add a group of legacy student works (Projects in Lieu of Theses or Dissertations, or PILOs) to the collections in both hard copy and digital form. These unique works of institutional scholarship constitute a new area of acquisition for the libraries. The authors describe the new team-based workflows necessitated to evaluate, acquire, catalog, store, digitize, and preserve these reports. The cross-unit team that designed and implemented the project has devised a successful model upon which future collection development efforts can be built.
Response of a stream in disequilibrium to timber harvest

Timber was harvested on South Fork of Thomas Creek, White Mountains of Arizona, USA, for the first time in 1978–1979. This caused significant increases in annual flow volumes and annual instantaneous peak flows. North Fork remained untouched, but both streams were in disequilibrium before harvest time. Due to wetter years during the postharvest period, North Fork also experienced some flow increases, but the difference was not significant. Flow increases cause increased erosion in disequilibrium channels. While in South Fork channel cross sections enlarged by 10% since preharvest time, those in North Fork enlarged by only 2.5%. The number of knickpoints tripled in South Fork, which was about double that in North Fork. Knickpoint development resulted in destruction of the natural control structures (log steps and transverse gravel bars) in South Fork (47%), while in North Fork they increased by 23%. Knickpoints are scarps on the channel bed that have the appearance of gully headcuts. The tripling of the number of knickpoints signifies that adjustment processes of the bed profile are intensified drastically in South Fork. The geomorphic changes signify that due to increases in discharge, the extent of disequilibrium is exacerbated in South Fork. Yet, volumes of erosion are relatively small, as will be sediment volumes leaving the watershed at a given time, because of the stepwise sediment transport occurring in this ephemeral stream.
Behavioral evidence for two types of cholinergic receptors in the C.N.S.

Abstract Rats were trained to make a specific behavioral response in a T-maze apparatus conditional upon whether they were injected with 0.4 mg/kg nicotine or saline. Pretreatment with 0.25 mg/kg atropine sulfate had no effect on the rats' ability to discriminate the central cueing effect of nicotine. The administration of 0.25 and 0.50 mg/kg arecoline hydrobromide produced effects similar to saline. The results provide behavioral evidence for the possible existence of specific m -and n -cholinergic receptors in the central nervous system.
Human papillomavirus and herpes simplex virus in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma in situ

Abstract Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid were detected in tissue specimens from 38 of 46 patients (83%) with squamous cell carcinoma in situ of the vulva. Herpes simplex virus type 2-related antigen ICSP 34 35 was demonstrated in 23 of the lesions (50%), and antibodies to herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 were found in 74% and 65% of the serum samples tested, respectively. Both human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid and herpes simplex virus type 2 antigen were detected in 19 cases (41%). Correlation of human papillomavirus type to the ages of the patients revealed that types 16, 18, and 31 are most often seen in older patients, although the frequencies do not differ significantly. No relationship between the presence or absence of herpes simplex virus type 2-related angitgen to age of the patient was observed.
Iron and mechanisms of emotional behavior

Iron is required for appropriate behavioral organization. Iron deficiency results in poor brain myelination and impaired monoamine metabolism. Glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid homeostasis is modified by changes in brain iron status. Such changes produce not only deficits in memory/learning capacity and motor skills, but also emotional and psychological problems. An accumulating body of evidence indicates that both energy metabolism and neurotransmitter homeostasis influence emotional behavior, and both functions are influenced by brain iron status. Like other neurobehavioral aspects, the influence of iron metabolism on mechanisms of emotional behavior is multifactorial: brain region-specific control of behavior, regulation of neurotransmitters and associated proteins, temporal and regional differences in iron requirements, oxidative stress responses to excess iron, sex differences in metabolism, and interactions between iron and other metals. To better understand the role that brain iron plays in emotional behavior and mental health, this review discusses the pathologies associated with anxiety and other emotional disorders with respect to body iron status.