cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Revisiting the Future…Again!

This edition of Clinical Researcher was assembled in celebration of the 40th anniversary of ACRP with the intent to look toward the future, rather than to provide a historical review. For the 30th anniversary of ACRP, the predecessor of this journal published some “Visions of the Future,” in which then-current and former ACRP leaders gazed into their crystal balls to report on where they thought ACRP would be at today’s 40th anniversary. I can’t tell you exactly what 10 years from now will look like because I (thankfully) am not determining that alone. I can, however, celebrate that it will be built with not only some of the greatest people I have (and will have) the privilege of knowing, but who also share the values of the ACRP mission and vision.
Novel Use of Geosolar Exergy and Storage Technology in Existing Housing Applications: Conceptual Study

AbstractA solution to the inordinate amount of energy used for climate control in buildings is of paramount importance if we are to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in a relatively short time. A large quantity of low-grade energy is available in the earth surrounding a typical residential structure. This energy is often tapped for use in heating and cooling in conjunction with a ground source heat pump. Efficient use of this energy source can be realized without the expense of a heat pump by designing a green system directly integrating the ground source with a dynamic building envelope. This paper explains the concept of the ground-coupled dynamic (GCD) wall, which can be easily retrofitted in some form to most existing structures to capture and use this low-grade energy. It makes use of clean renewable resources without excessive amounts of expensive or high-tech equipment. The paper demonstrates that in conjunction with an exergy management system, the application of this concept cou...
Distribution of trace elements in human hair

Scalp hair has been successfully used in forensic medicine, screening populations for heavy metal poisoning, and for monitoring environmental pollutants. However, its use for the diagnosis of the individual for disease or nutritional status has been questionable. This is primarily due to the large individual differences associated with age, sex, race, hair color, hair treatment, and environmental exposure.
Fetal-to-maternal signaling in the timing of birth

Preterm birth remains the major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality throughout the world. This is due, in part, to our incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the maintenance of pregnancy and the initiation of parturition at term. In this article, we review our current knowledge of the complex, interrelated and concerted mechanisms whereby progesterone maintains myometrial quiescence throughout most of pregnancy, as well as those that mediate the upregulation of the inflammatory response and decline in progesterone receptor function leading to parturition. Herein, we review findings that demonstrate a role of the fetus in the timing of birth. Specifically, we focus on our own studies indicating that maturation of the fetal lung and enhanced secretion of the surfactant components, surfactant protein A (SP-A) and the potent inflammatory glycerophospholipid, platelet-activating factor (PAF), initiate a signaling cascade culminating in parturition. Our studies suggest an essential role of steroid receptor coactivators, SRC-1 and SRC-2, which activate expression of genes encoding SP-A and LPCAT1. LPCAT1 is a key enzyme in the synthesis of PAF, as well as DPPC, a highly surface-active glycerophospholipid component of surfactant. Thus, we describe a novel pathway through which the fetus contributes to the initiation of labor by signaling the mother when its lungs have achieved sufficient maturity for survival in an aerobic environment.
Interactions with community members and institutions: Preventive pathways for child maltreatment

Parents interact with their environment in important ways that may impact their ability to parent their children positively. The current study uses data from the age 3 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to investigate whether neighborhood processes and community participation relate to internal control, and whether these three variables are associated with child maltreatment behaviors. Using structural equation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of the environment (neighborhood disorder, social control, and social cohesion) and community participation on child maltreatment are tested. The mediating variable tested is internal control. The results show that neighborhood processes and community participation are associated with child neglect, physical child abuse, and psychological aggression but that these associations are driven through their effect on internal control.
Dissolved methane concentrations in the water column and surface sediments of Hanna Shoal and Barrow Canyon, Northern Chukchi Sea

Abstract Current estimates of methane (CH 4 ) flux suggest that Arctic shelves may be a significant source of atmospheric CH 4 , a potent greenhouse gas. However, little information is known about the CH 4 flux from most Arctic shelves, other than the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. We report here dissolved CH 4 concentrations in the water column and within surface sediments of the Northern Chukchi Sea. We hypothesized that this area contains high concentrations of CH 4 because it receives nutrient rich waters through the Bering Strait, promoting primary production that enhances an organic-rich material flux to the seafloor and eventual microbial methanogenesis in the sediments. In August 2012, as part of the Chukchi Sea Offshore Monitoring in Drilling Area (COMIDA) project, fourteen stations were sampled on Hanna Shoal, a shallow feature on the shelf, and ten stations across the undersea Barrow Canyon. On Hanna Shoal, water column CH 4 concentrations ranged from 14 to 74 nM, and surface concentrations were up to 15 times supersaturated in CH 4 compared to equilibrium with the average atmospheric concentrations (3 nM). CH 4 concentrations at the sediment-water interface were around 1,500 nM, and typically increased with depth in the sediment. At the head of Barrow Canyon, water column CH 4 concentrations ranged from 5 to 46 nM, with the highest concentrations in the deepest waters that were sampled (118 m). Overall, the calculated fluxes to the atmosphere ranged from 1 to 80 µmol CH 4 m −2 d −1 for Hanna Shoal and 4 to 17 µmol CH 4 m −2 d −1 across the Barrow Canyon stations. Although there was a large range in these fluxes, the average atmospheric flux (20 µmol CH 4 m −2 d −1 ) across Hanna Shoal was 12 times lower than the flux reported from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf in summer. We conclude that while there is a positive flux of CH 4 to the atmosphere, this part of the Chukchi Sea is not a significant source of atmospheric CH 4 compared to the East Siberian Sea shelf.
Precipitation Drivers of Cropping Frequency in the Brazilian Cerrado: Evidence and Implications for Decision-Making

AbstractThe Amazon basin has been subjected to unprecedented rates of land-use change over the past several decades, primarily as a result of the expansion of agriculture. Enhanced rain forest conservation efforts toward the end of the twentieth century slowed deforestation of the Amazon but, in turn, increased demand for land repurposing in the adjacent Cerrado (savanna) region, where conservation regulations are less strict. To maintain or increase yields while minimizing the need for additional land, agricultural producers adopted a form of intensification in which two rain-fed crops are planted within a single growing season (double cropping). Using 10 years (August 2002 to July 2012) of MODIS and TRMM data, it is demonstrated that there exists a threshold growing season rainfall amount (1759 mm) for double cropping. But more nuanced is the relationship between observable precipitation information available to farmers at the time of planting decision and the choice to “double crop” in a given year. An...
Being and Becoming Poor: How Cultural Schemas Shape Beliefs About Poverty

Prior research on stratification beliefs has investigated individuals’ understandings regarding the causes of poverty in America. These past studies have uncovered demographic characteristics associated with individualist and structuralist explanations for poverty. In the current study, we will argue that Americans, like social scientists, envision poverty as a heterogeneous and complex phenomenon. We utilize a cultural cognition theoretical approach to conceptualize these understandings of poverty as schemas. We contend that a schema of poverty contains a set of unique associations regarding both demographic beliefs (who the poor are) and causal attributions (why they are poor). Using original data in a mixed-methods design that incorporates inductive and experimental components, we find that people differentiate between two key types of poverty: intergenerational poverty and downward mobility. People perceive each type of poverty as caused by a different set of factors and as experienced by a different group of people. The type of poverty envisioned is, in most cases, as important as or more important than a respondent’s own demographic characteristics in predicting what type of causal attributions he or she makes for poverty. These findings underscore the importance of investigating different schemas of poverty in future stratification beliefs research.
Effects of an Intervention to Reduce Hospitalizations From Nursing Homes: A Randomized Implementation Trial of the INTERACT Program.

Importance Medicare payment initiatives are spurring efforts to reduce potentially avoidable hospitalizations. Objective To determine whether training and support for implementation of a nursing home (NH) quality improvement program (Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers [INTERACT]) reduced hospital admissions and emergency department (ED) visits. Design, Setting, and Participants This analysis compared changes in hospitalization and ED visit rates between the preintervention and postintervention periods for NHs randomly assigned to receive training and implementation support on INTERACT to changes in control NHs. The analysis focused on 85 NHs (36 717 NH residents) that reported no use of INTERACT during the preintervention period. Interventions The study team provided training and support for implementing INTERACT, which included tools that help NH staff identify and evaluate acute changes in NH resident condition and document communication between physicians; care paths to avoid hospitalization when safe and feasible; and advance care planning and quality improvement tools. Main Outcomes and Measures All-cause hospitalizations, hospitalizations considered potentially avoidable, 30-day hospital readmissions, and ED visits without admission. All-cause hospitalization rates were calculated for all resident-days, high-risk days (0-30 days after NH admission), and lower-risk days (≥31 days after NH admission). Results We found that of 85 NHs, those that received implementation training and support exhibited statistically nonsignificant reductions in hospitalization rates compared with control NHs (net difference, −0.13 per 1000 resident-days; P = .25), hospitalizations during the first 30 days after NH admission (net difference, −0.37 per 1000 resident-days; P = .48), hospitalizations during periods more than 30 days after NH admission (net difference, −0.09 per 1000 resident-days; P = .39), 30-day readmission rates (net change in rate among hospital discharges, −0.01; P = .36), and ED visits without admission (net difference, 0.02 per 1000 resident-days; P = .83). Intervention NHs exhibited a reduction in potentially avoidable hospitalizations overall (net difference, −0.18 per 1000 resident-days, P = .01); however, this effect was not robust to a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions and Relevance Training and support for INTERACT implementation as carried out in this study had no effect on hospitalization or ED visit rates in the overall population of residents in participating NHs. The results have several important implications for implementing quality improvement initiatives in NHs. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT02177058
David Oliver: Challenging the victim narrative about NHS doctors

In July, I posted some tweets arguing that doctors still have high professional status, public respect, secure and relatively well paid careers, and a great deal of hard power and soft influence. I said that doctors shouldn’t describe themselves using the language of hapless, impotent victims of the state. Plenty of doctors agreed with me, often those who had taken on difficult service leadership roles with all of the challenges those entail. And plenty disagreed vehemently. Years of below-inflation pay rises, the mistreatment of whistleblowers and the inefficacy of mechanisms to protect them, and the government’s indefensible, demoralising attitude to junior doctors during last year’s contract stand-off were all cited as evidence of our disempowerment. They certainly contribute to doctors’ sense of being less influential than we once were—or were expecting …
Methods for Handling Inter-Hospital Transfer in acute Myocardial Infarction Research

Context: Patients are frequently transferred during their care for acute myocardial infarction. The clinical risks and benefits associated with inter-hospital transfer have not been fully evaluated. Objective: To compare and contrast the analytic methods used to handle transferred patients in previous acute myocardial infarction research. Design: Systematic review of acute myocardial infarction literature over the past 10 years. Main Outcomes: Benefits and risks of various methods used for handling transferred patients in acute myocardial infarction research. Results: Seven major methods for dealing with inter-hospital transfer emerged: 1) Count each hospitalization as a separate event. 2) Delete transferred patients from analysis. 3) Link the data from different hospitals and produce a record of the “episode” of acute myocardial infarction. 4) Analyze data on transferred patients the same as on non-transferred patients. 5) Transfer patients are the specifi c population of interest. 6) Diagnosis, treatment, outcomes are attributed to the index hospital. 7) Control for transfer in logistic regression modeling. Several studies included a combination of these methods. Conclusion: Inter-hospital transfer in the care of acute MI is common and increasing. From a clinical standpoint, determining the patient most likely to benefit from inter-hospital transfer will help guide clinicians faced with this difficult decision. From a health services standpoint it is essential to understand the implications of using a particular method for handling transfer patients, the impact on data collection, the data lost, the appropriate analyses, and the generalizability of findings.
Comparative outcomes of thrombocytopenic acute leukemic patients with venous thromboembolism at a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Patients with hematological malignancies often have severe thrombocytopenia, which poses problems when making thrombosis management decisions. A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical outcomes associated with different management options in acute leukemic patients with thrombocytopenia (≤ 50 × 109/L) following an acute venous thromboembolic event. A total of 74 patients were divided into three treatment groups: observation only (n = 30); anticoagulation (n = 23); or inferior vena cava placement (n = 21). Multivariate analysis showed that anticoagulant administration was significantly associated with improved overall survival without an increased rate of clinical relevant bleeding events when compared to other thrombosis management modalities. This study notes that dose adjusted-anticoagulant therapy may offer a safe and clinical advantageous strategy for the treatment and secondary prevention of recurrent venous thrombosis in thrombocytopenic patients with hematologic malignancies.
Role of MMP2 in Brain Metastasis

Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) is important in breast cancer (BC) invasion and metastasis.
Discovery of fissionogenic Cs and Ba capture five years after Oklo reactor shutdown

Understanding the release and sequestration of specific radioactive signatures into the environment is of extreme importance for long-term nuclear waste storage and reactor accident mitigation. Recent accidents at the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear reactors released radioactive 137Cs and 134Cs into the environment, the former of which is still live today. We have studied the migration of fission products in the Oklo natural nuclear reactor using an isotope imaging capability, the NAval Ultra-Trace Isotope Laboratory's Universal Spectrometer (NAUTILUS) at the US Naval Research Laboratory. In Oklo reactor zone (RZ) 13, we have identified the most depleted natural U of any known material with a 235U/238U ratio of 0.3655 ± 0.0007% (2σ). This sample contains the most extreme natural burnup in 149Sm, 151Eu, 155Gd, and 157Gd, which demonstrates that it was sourced from the most active Oklo reactor region. We have discovered that fissionogenic Cs and Ba were captured by Ru metal/sulfide aggregates shortly following reactor shutdown. Isochrons from the Ru aggregates place their closure time at 4.98 ± 0.56 y after the end of criticality. Most fissionogenic 135Ba and 137Ba in the Ru migrated and was incorporated as Cs over this period. Excesses in 134Ba in the Ru point to the burnup of 133Cs. Cesium and Ba were retained in the Ru despite local volcanic activity since the reactor shutdown and the high level of activity during reactor operation.
Autism at a glance: A pilot study optimizing thin-slice observations

Borrowing from a clinical psychology observational methodology, thin-slice observations were used to assess autism characteristics in toddlers. Thin-slices are short observations taken from a longer behavior stream which are assigned ratings by multiple raters using a 5-point scale. The raters' observations are averaged together to assign a "thin-slice" value for each observation. In this study, a total of 60 toddlers were selected from a video archive: 20 children with typical development, 20 children with developmental language disorder, and 20 children with autism. In the first part of this study, 20 raters observed small play segments between toddlers and an assessor. Raters assigned scores to each of the 60 toddlers on items related to autism symptomatology. Item analysis and generalizability and decision studies were conducted to determine the factor structure and optimal number of raters to achieve a stable estimate of autism characteristics. In the second part of the study, generalizability and decision studies were conducted to determine the most efficient and optimal combination of raters and naturalistic contexts. This pilot study provides recommendations for optimizing the utility of thin-slice observations for measuring autism symptomatology in young children.
Sparse Unsupervised Clustering with Mixture Observations for Video Summarization

This paper designs a robot rapid moving strategy based on curve model. The virtual target points are introduced into the path planning of the robot so that the robot can complete the task smoothly and quickly. We give the method to solve the curve model in detail. At the same time, the design of state feedback from the robot control model based on the turning radius is used to solve the practical error problem. Simulation experiments show that the design of virtual target points can not only make the robot complete the task faster, but also can be applied to multi-robot formation control. The real experiment shows that the curve model can correct the error through the robot state feedback and finally make the robots reach the target point successfully.
Residue number system arithmetic based on integrated nanophotonics (Conference Presentation)

Residue number system (RNS) enables dimensionality reduction of an arithmetic problem by representing a large number as a set of smaller integers, where the number is decomposed by prime number factorization. These reduced problem sets can then be processed in- dependently and in parallel, thus improving computational efficiency and speed. Here we show an optical RNS hardware representation based on integrated nanophotonics. The digit-wise shifting in RNS arithmetic is expressed as spatial routing of an optical signal in 2×2 hybrid photonic-plasmonic switches. Here the residue is represented by spatially shifting the input waveguides relative to the routers’ outputs, where the moduli are represented by the number of waveguides. By cascading the photonic 2×2 switches, we design a photonic RNS adder and a multiplier forming an all-to- all sparse directional network. The advantage of this photonic arithmetic processor is the short (10’s ps) computational execution time given by the optical propagation delay through the integrated nanophotonic router. Furthermore, we show how photonic processing in- the-network leverages the natural parallelism of optics such as wavelength-division-multiplexing in this RNS processor. A key application for such a photonic RNS engine is the functional analysis of convolutional neural networks.
Flipping the Precalculus Classroom.

The flipped classroom is becoming a popular course structure in many academic disciplines, but particularly in STEM disciplines, including mathematics. Considerable research has addressed potential...
Knowledge Authoring for Rule-Based Reasoning

Modern knowledge bases have matured to the extent of being capable of complex reasoning at scale. Unfortunately, wide deployment of this technology is still hindered by the fact that specifying the requisite knowledge requires skills that most domain experts do not have, and skilled knowledge engineers are in short supply. A way around this problem could be to acquire knowledge from text. However, the current knowledge acquisition technologies for information extraction are not up to the task because logic reasoning systems are extremely sensitive to errors in the acquired knowledge, and existing techniques lack the required accuracy by too large of a margin. Because of the enormous complexity of the problem, controlled natural languages (CNLs) were proposed in the past, but even they lack high enough accuracy. Instead of tackling the general problem of text understanding, our interest is in a related, but different, area of knowledge authoring—a technology designed to enable domain experts to manually create formalized knowledge using CNL. Our approach adopts and formalizes the FrameNet methodology for representing the meaning, enables incrementally-learnable and explainable semantic parsing, and harnesses rich knowledge graphs like BabelNet in the quest to obtain unique, disambiguated meaning of CNL sentences. Our experiments show that this approach is 95.6% accurate in standardizing the semantic relations extracted from CNL sentences—far superior to alternative systems.
Entomological Investigation of Aedes aegypti In Neighborhoods With Confirmed Human Arbovirus Infection In Puerto Rico

The exotic arboviruses chikungunya (CHIKV) and Zika (ZIKV) recently caused large outbreaks and continue to circulate in Puerto Rico, prompting entomological investigations at 9 locations with confirmed CHIKV- or ZIKV-infected human cases. Adult mosquitoes were collected using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention autocidal gravid ovitraps over a 14-day period at each site. Mean female Aedes aegypti captured per trap-week ranged from 13.47 per trap-week to 1.27 per trap-week. Arbovirus-positive pools were detected at 7 of the 9 sampling sites. We investigated vertical transmission by collecting Ae. aegypti eggs in a single location where ZIKV was found in adult mosquitoes. We discuss the relationship between vector density and infection rates and its implications for determining mosquito density thresholds of novel invasive arboviruses such as CHIKV and ZIKV.
A cell-free platform for the prenylation of natural products and application to cannabinoid production

Prenylation of natural compounds adds structural diversity, alters biological activity, and enhances therapeutic potential. Because prenylated compounds often have a low natural abundance, alternative production methods are needed. Metabolic engineering enables natural product biosynthesis from inexpensive biomass, but is limited by the complexity of secondary metabolite pathways, intermediate and product toxicities, and substrate accessibility. Alternatively, enzyme catalyzed prenyl transfer provides excellent regio- and stereo-specificity, but requires expensive isoprenyl pyrophosphate substrates. Here we develop a flexible cell-free enzymatic prenylating system that generates isoprenyl pyrophosphate substrates from glucose to prenylate an array of natural products. The system provides an efficient route to cannabinoid precursors cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) and cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA) at >1 g/L, and a single enzymatic step converts the precursors into cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) and cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA). Cell-free methods may provide a powerful alternative to metabolic engineering for chemicals that are hard to produce in living organisms.
Altering the Traditional Approach to Restorative Proctocolectomy After Subtotal Colectomy in Pediatric Patients.

Abstract Purpose: Restoration of intestinal continuity by ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) following subtotal colectomy may not require a temporary, protective ileostomy. Diversion contributes t...
Effect of the Strengthening Opioid Misuse Prevention (STOP) Act on Opioid Prescription Practices After Ankle Fracture Fixation

Background:In North Carolina, the Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention Act of 2017 (STOP Act) went into effect on January 1, 2018, intending to increase oversight over opioid prescriptions. This stu...
Progressive VAE Training on Highly Sparse and Imbalanced Data.

In this paper, we present a novel approach for training a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) on a highly imbalanced data set. The proposed training of a high-resolution VAE model begins with the training of a low-resolution core model, which can be successfully trained on imbalanced data set. In subsequent training steps, new convolutional, upsampling, deconvolutional, and downsampling layers are iteratively attached to the model. In each iteration, the additional layers are trained based on the intermediate pretrained model - a result of previous training iterations. Thus, the resolution of the model is progressively increased up to the required resolution level. In this paper, the progressive VAE training is exploited for learning a latent representation with imbalanced, highly sparse data sets and, consequently, generating routes in a constrained 2D space. Routing problems (e.g., vehicle routing problem, travelling salesman problem, and arc routing) are of special significance in many modern applications (e.g., route planning, network maintenance, developing high-performance nanoelectronic systems, and others) and typically associated with sparse imbalanced data. In this paper, the critical problem of routing billions of components in nanoelectronic devices is considered. The proposed approach exhibits a significant training speedup as compared with state-of-the-art existing VAE training methods, while generating expected image outputs from unseen input data. Furthermore, the final progressive VAE models exhibit much more precise output representation, than the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) models trained with comparable training time. The proposed method is expected to be applicable to a wide range of applications, including but not limited image impainting, sentence interpolation, and semi-supervised learning.
Atomic-Scale Structural Analysis of Homoepitaxial LaF3:Yb,Tm Core–Shell Upconversion Nanoparticles Synthesized through a Microwave Route

Core–shell upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been intensely studied and are anticipated to affect fields including solar cells and imaging, sensing, and biomedical applications where both opt...
Genetics and clinical progress of Marfan's syndrome

Marfan's syndrome(MFS) is a relatively common autosomal dominant hereditary disorder with prominent manifestations in the skeletal, ocular, and cardiovascular systems. MFS has a high penetrance. Recent research on the pathogenesis and diagnosis and therapy of MFS has made a lot of progress. So we reviewed the advance on the relation of molecular genetics and phenotype of MFS.We discussed the molecular hasis, gene mutation and location, diagnosis, clinical features and therapy. Now the detection on the molecular level has been a very important method in diagnose MFS very early or before bom. Key words: Marfan's syndrome; Mutation; Gene
Recommendations to Medical Mission Trip Teams: A Retrospective Study of an Annual Medical Student-Run Mission Trip to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

Introduction There are more than 6,000 international medical mission trips that are conducted annually by United States medical teams. Successfully planning a medical mission trip relies on careful preparation. The objective of this study is to elucidate common chief concerns, diagnoses, and prescription patterns so that medical mission trip teams can effectively prepare for future medical mission trips in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, or similar international sites. Methods A retrospective chart review of 940 patient charts was conducted from two University of South Florida Latino Medical Student Association medical mission trips to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic (DR) that took place during October 2017 and 2018. A coding system was utilized to categorize the data. The most common chief concerns, diagnoses, and medications prescribed were revealed. Findings were stratified further by age (<18 vs ≥18 years old) and sex. Results Our study reveals that 68.6% (n=597/870) of the patients were female and 59.2% (n=161/870) of males were under 18. The most common chief concerns were "cold/flu" (33.2%,n=289/870), gastrointestinal problems (20.3%, n=177/870), headache (20.0%, n=174/870), and musculoskeletal problems (12.0%, n=104/870). The most common diagnoses were viral syndrome (25.4%, n=221/870), presumed parasitic infection (16.9%, n=147/870), hypertension (12.6%, n=110/870), headache (10.6%, n=92/870), and musculoskeletal disorder (8.5%, n=74/870). The most frequently prescribed medications were acetaminophen (18.3%, n=291/1,587), albendazole (15.2%, n=241/1,587), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (10.5%, n=166/1,587), antihistamines (6.1%, n=97/1,587), and antibiotics (5.9%, n=93/1,587). Conclusions Our study reveals potential areas for improvement of an annual, medical student-run medical mission trip to Jarabacoa, DR. Dedicated efforts should be made to address long-term management of chronic conditions identified or treated on medical mission trips. Community partnerships should be established to facilitate this. We hope this will encourage other medical mission trip teams to analyze their data in order to be more prepared for their trips.
Validation of non‐negative matrix factorization for rapid assessment of large sets of atomic pair distribution function data

The use of the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) technique is validated for automatically extracting physically relevant components from atomic pair distribution function (PDF) data from time-series data such as in situ experiments. The use of two matrix-factorization techniques, principal component analysis and NMF, on PDF data is compared in the context of a chemical synthesis reaction taking place in a synchrotron beam, applying the approach to synthetic data where the correct composition is known and on measured PDFs from previously published experimental data. The NMF approach yields mathematical components that are very close to the PDFs of the chemical components of the system and a time evolution of the weights that closely follows the ground truth. Finally, it is discussed how this would appear in a streaming context if the analysis were being carried out at the beamline as the experiment progressed.
Karl von Basedow

Karl von Basedow (1799–1854) was a German general physician who practiced in Merseburg, Germany. He was a kind, talented, knowledgeable, and skilled family doctor who possessed a social conscience and was dedicated to public health issues. From a scientific standpoint, von Basedow was recognized as a very accomplished scholar with extensive, broad, and diverse scientific interests. His most significant contribution to medicine was the first description of “Basedow disease” in the German language on March 28, 1840, entitled “Exophthalmos due to hypertrophy of the cellular tissue in the orbit.” In this 1840 publication and others to follow, von Basedow vividly and masterfully described the relationship between three characteristic symptoms (exophthalmos, palpitations, and goiter) which became known as Merseburg triad. Since 1858, this disease has been most commonly referred to as “Morbus Basedow” or Basedow’s disease in Europe and Graves’ disease in English-speaking countries.
Techniques in Computational Stochastic Dynamic Programming

Differential dynamic programming (DDP) is a variant of dynamic programming in which a quadratic approximation of the cost about a nominal state and control plays an essential role. The method uses successive approximations and expansions in differentials or increments to obtain a solution of optimal control problems. The DDP method is due to Mayne [11, 8]. DDP is primarily used in deterministic problems in discrete time, although there are many variations. Mayne [11] in his original paper did give a straight-forward extension to continuous time problems, while Jacobson and Mayne [8] present several stochastic variations. The mathematical basis for DDP is given by Mayne in [12], along the relations between dynamic programming and the Hamiltonian formulation of the maximum principle. A concise, computationally oriented survey of DDP developments is given by Yakowitz [16] in an earlier volume of this series and the outline for deterministic control problems in discrete time here is roughly based on that chapter. Earlier, Yakowitz [15] surveys the use of dynamic programming in water resources applications, nicely placing DDP in the larger perspective of other dynamic programming variants. Also, Jones, Willis and Yeh [9], and Yakowitz and Rutherford [17] present brief helpful summaries with particular emphasis on the computational aspects of DDP.
Images in Law

Contents: Introduction, William Pencak and Anne Wagner. Part 1 Images of Law: Deep structures of Empire: a note on imperial machines and bodies, Ronnie Lippens Intervention and the new imagery of World Order, Wouter G. Werner Key words in Chinese law, Deborah Cao Visual semiotics of court dress in England and Wales: failed or successful vector of professional identity?, Shaeda Isani The drama of the courtroom, Annabelle Mooney Digital visual and multimedia software and the reshaping of legal knowledge, Neal Feigenson A Las Meninas for the law, Christina Spiesel. Part 2 Legal Language in Action: Legal language in action: raising basic awareness about and understanding of competing legal systems in the legal classroom, Nicola M. Langton Discourses of the ideal and the actual in the courtroom: the conflict for jurors in 'making sense' of general instructions, Philip Gaines Jurors' recorded deliberations: an analysis, Paul Robertshaw 'Let me see your hands': the grammar of physical control in police directives, Philip C. H. Shon Images of the Irish family: a 'slightly' constitutional arrangement, Sophie Cacciaguidi-Fahy Images of racial discrimination in France, Anne Wagner Law's trouble with images: fetishism and seduction from Athens and Jerusalem to Madison Avenue, Robert A Yelle. Bibliography Index.
Pairs-Trading on Divergent Analyst Recommendations

Pairs-trading is a short-term, self-financing arbitrage strategy in which buy and sell positions are simultaneously placed on two stocks whose prices have moved temporarily apart after following a long parallel path. We develop a new pairs trading rule based on financial analysts’ buy hold sell recommendations from IBES Details Recommendation Database and test it for the period 1994-2009. On the basis of the Fama-French (1993) and Carhart (1997) four-factor models, we find that our trading rule generally results in positive risk-adjusted returns. It is more effective on small- and mid-cap pairs of stocks than on large-cap pairs, consistent with the hypothesis of information disparity in the stock market. It is more effective in the industries of mining, finance, and services than in others. In additional exploration of our strategy, we examine the correlation of analyst recommendations with past stock investment and corporate earnings performance in the past. We find significant positive correlation, lending new support to prior findings of the relation between of the relation between recommendations and recent performance.
Hierarchy of Logics of Irrational and Conflicting Agents

This paper proposes a hierarchy of logics of agents relative to levels of their conflicts, self-conflicts and irrationality to provide a base for several studies on foundations of the theories of uncertainties. These studies include the foundation of known uncertainty theories (probability theory, fuzzy logic, and others) as well as new logics and types of uncertainties. Probability theory, fuzzy logic, and others theories of uncertainties provide a calculus for manipulating with probabilities, membership functions, and other types of uncertainty indicators. However, these theories lack a mechanism for getting initial (basic) uncertainties. The proposed hierarchy of conflicting and irrational agents creates a base for generating uncertainty values, logic operations with these values and for comparing different types of uncertainty for the preference relation. A core concept of this hierarchy is the concept of expansion by superposition that includes fusion and adjustment of contradictory events and statements.
An energy-efficient routing protocol for wireless sensor networks with battery level uncertainty

A wireless microsensor network consists of a large number of low-cost nodes communicating with a base station. The nodes have limited energy and short transmission ranges. By employing estimates of the remaining battery energy in routing, the use of radios nearing energy exhaustion can be discouraged. Knowledge of the rate at which a node is consuming its energy provides additional useful information. This paper investigates novel routing metrics that incorporate both kinds of information to improve network performance. Also, in practice, there may be some error in a node's estimate of its battery level. The metrics are designed to explicitly account for uncertainty in remaining energy. Numerical results using several statistical models for this uncertainty show that the proposed metrics outperform a variety of alternatives.
Characterization of CMP-N-acetylneuraminic acid synthetase of group B streptococci.

Abstract The capsular polysaccharide is a critical virulence factor for group B streptococci associated with human infections, yet little is known about capsule biosynthesis. We detected CMP-Neu5Ac synthetase, the enzyme which activates N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac, or sialic acid) for transfer to the nascent capsular polysaccharide, in multiple group B streptococcus serotypes, all of which elaborate capsules containing Neu5Ac. CMP-Neu5Ac synthetase isolated from a high-producing type Ib strain was purified 87-fold. The enzyme had apparent Km values of 7.6 for Neu5Ac and 1.4 for CTP and a pH optimum of 8.3 to 9.4, required magnesium, and was stimulated by dithiothreitol. This is the first characterization of an enzyme involved in group B streptococcus capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis.
Contrasting controls on wildland fires in Southern California during periods with and without Santa Ana winds

Wildland fires in Southern California can be divided into two categories: fall fires, which are typically driven by strong offshore Santa Ana winds, and summer fires, which occur with comparatively weak onshore winds and hot and dry weather. Both types of fire contribute significantly to annual burned area and economic loss. An improved understanding of the relationship between Southern California's meteorology and fire is needed to improve predictions of how fire will change in the future and to anticipate management needs. We used output from a regional climate model constrained by reanalysis observations to identify Santa Ana events and partition fires into those occurring during periods with and without Santa Ana conditions during 1959–2009. We then developed separate empirical regression models for Santa Ana and non-Santa Ana fires to quantify the effects of meteorology on fire number and size. These models explained approximately 58% of the seasonal and interannual variation in the number of Santa Ana fires and 36% of the variation in non-Santa Ana fires. The number of Santa Ana fires increased during years when relative humidity during Santa Ana events and fall precipitation were below average, indicating that fuel moisture is a key controller of ignition. Relative humidity strongly affected Santa Ana fire size. Cumulative precipitation during the previous three winters was significantly correlated with the number of non-Santa Ana fires, presumably through increased fine fuel density and connectivity between infrastructure and nearby vegetation. Both relative humidity and the preceding wet season precipitation influenced non-Santa Ana fire size. Regression models driven by meteorology explained 57% of the temporal variation in Santa Ana burned area and 22% of the variation in non-Santa Ana burned area. The area burned by non-Santa Ana fires has increased steadily by 1.7% year−1 since 1959 (p < 0.006); the occurrence of extremely large Santa Ana fires has increased abruptly since 2003. Our results underscore the need to separately consider the fuel and meteorological controls on Santa Ana and non-Santa Ana fires when projecting climate change impacts on regional fire.
The SCanning Ozone Radiometer (SCOR): a ground-based wideband trace constituent sensor

A new instrument, the SCanning Ozone Radiometer (SCOR), to measure ozone profiles throughout the entire atmosphere is currently under development at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. This passive millimeter-wave instrument will detect ozone near the 110 GHz ozone line (and may be extended to another channel near the 142 GHz line). The bandwidth is 18 GHz wide and is centered near the ozone line center. The instrument will scan 360/spl deg/ through elevation at a rate of about 15 rpm with the downward looks viewing hot and cold loads. A chopper mirror may be included if more frequent calibration is needed. With the inclusion of a front-end low-noise amplifier and the wide bandwidth it is planned to retrieve tropospheric ozone abundances in addition to stratospheric profiles.
The effect of El Niño Southern Oscillation cycles on the decadal scale suspended sediment behavior of a coastal dry‐summer subtropical catchment

Author(s): Gray, AB; Pasternack, GB; Watson, EB; Warrick, JA; Goni, MA | Abstract: Rivers display temporal dependence in suspended sediment-water discharge relationships. Although most work has focused on multi-decadal trends, river sediment behavior often displays sub-decadal scale fluctuations that have received little attention. The objectives of this study were to identify inter-annual to decadal scale fluctuations in the suspended sediment-discharge relationship of a dry-summer subtropical river, infer the mechanisms behind these fluctuations, and examine the role of El Nino Southern Oscillation climate cycles. The Salinas River (California) is a moderate sized (11 000km2), coastal dry-summer subtropical catchment with a mean discharge (Qmean) of 11.6m3s-1. This watershed is located at the northern most extent of the Pacific coastal North America region that experiences increased storm frequency during El Nino years. Event to inter-annual scale suspended sediment behavior in this system was known to be influenced by antecedent hydrologic conditions, whereby previous hydrologic activity regulates the suspended sediment concentration-water discharge relationship. Fine and sand suspended sediment in the lower Salinas River exhibited persistent, decadal scale periods of positive and negative discharge corrected concentrations. The decadal scale variability in suspended sediment behavior was influenced by inter-annual to decadal scale fluctuations in hydrologic characteristics, including: elapsed time since small (~0.1×Qmean), and moderate (~10×Qmean) threshold discharge values, the number of preceding days that low/no flow occurred, and annual water yield. El Nino climatic activity was found to have little effect on decadal-scale fluctuations in the fine suspended sediment-discharge relationship due to low or no effect on the frequency of moderate to low discharge magnitudes, annual precipitation, and water yield. However, sand concentrations generally increased in El Nino years due to the increased frequency of moderate to high magnitude discharge events, which generally increase sand supply.
A complementary thin layer and gas-liquid chromatographic procedure for fatty acid analysis.

Abstract A procedure is described for the analysis of methyl esters of fatty acids on the basis of number of double bonds and chain length. After conversion of the unsaturates to their methoxy, bromomercuri-adducts separation of the saturated, monoenoic, dienoic, trienoic, tetraenoic, and combined pentaenoic and hexaenoic classes was accomplished by thin layer chromatography on silica gel G in i h using the developing solvent heptane—dioxane (60:40, v/v). following adduct decomposition chain lengths within each unsaturaton class were determined by gas chromatography. Analysis of synthetic mixtures revealed close agreement of experimental and known values.
Pre-hospital care of pediatric patients with trauma

Prehospital pediatric care is an important component in the treatment of the injured child, as the prehospital responders are the first medical providers performing life saving and directed medical care. Traumatic injuries are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric patient population. Nevertheless, for most prehospital provider it is a rare event to treat pediatric trauma patients and there is a still existing gap between the quality of care for pediatric patients compared to adults. To improve pediatric prehospital trauma care more provider need to be trained in identifying the specific differences between adult and pediatric patients.
Emergency extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)-supported percutaneous coronary interventions in the fibrillating heart

We describe two cases of refractory ventricular fibrillation complicating transcatheter interventional procedures. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was used in each to support percutaneous coronary revascularization in the fibrillating heart as a means of facilitating successful restoration of sinus rhythm. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 48:402-405, 1999.
Characterization of sulphated monosaccharides from stumptail monkey (Macaca arctoides) salivary mucin.

Abstract Using a combination of mild acid hydrolysis, ion-exchange chromatography on Dowex resins, and Smith periodate oxidation with sodium borotritide, the sulphated mono-saccharide of monkey salivary mucin was identified as glucosamine-4-sulphate.