cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seasonal Variation in Gill-Net Sample Indexes for Northern Pike Collected from a Glacial Prairie Lake

Abstract We captured 702 northern pike Esox lucius in 416 gill-net sets on 17 monthly occasions from July 1991 to June 1993 to examine seasonal variation in sampling data in Lake Thompson, South Dakota. Mean catch per effort (CPE) of northern pike 35 cm or longer differed significantly among months during both years. Mean CPE was lowest in winter and peaked in spring of both years. Size structure estimates were lowest during early spring and summer when males dominated samples and were highest during winter when females dominated samples. Northern pike 86 cm or longer were caught primarily in winter during ice cover. Relative weight (Wr ) of male and female northern pike increased during fall, peaked in late winter, and declined during the spawning period. A similar pattern was found for the gonadosomatic index of female northern pike but not for males. Increases in the gonadosomatic index for males occurred entirely during fall. Gonadosomatic index and Wr were positively correlated for female northern pi...
Work in progress - assessment of MEA problem solving processes used by engineering students

We are developing model eliciting activities (MEAs) for use in undergraduate engineering education to enhance problem solving ability as well as to provide a means for assessment. The MEA construct, originally developed by math educators, involves a student team developing an analytical model to solve a real-world, open-ended engineering problem and providing formal documentation of the solution procedure for reusability. As we extend these to juniors and seniors, we are evolving both the process and the constructs. In order to study the relationship of MEAs to the problem solving process, we are assessing this process using handheld electronic devices (PDAs) and work measurement software, which capture the predefined steps taken by the students. We have completed a pilot study using PDAs, which showed this approach to be feasible. The design of the pilot study, lessons learned, data obtained, and outcomes requiring additional investigation will be discussed. Much of the data showed a progression through multiple steps of the problem solving process in sequential order.
Backside dynamic thermal laser signal injection microscopy (T-LSIM) fault isolation technique on WLCSP devices

Dynamic T-LSIM is a widely used technique in the failure analysis of semiconductor devices. However, this technique has limitations when used on WLCSP devices with highly voltage sensitive, intermittent and marginal failures. This work highlights a novel, low cost and efficient approach in localizing soft defects using backside dynamic T-LSIM on WLCSP devices.
Activating mutation in the stimulatory guanine nucleotide-binding protein in an infant with Cushing's syndrome and nodular adrenal hyperplasia

Cushing's syndrome in infancy is uncommon. In this report, we describe an infant with ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome in which an activating mutation in the stimulatory G-protein (Gs alpha) was detected. The patient presented at 3 months of age with Cushingoid features, poor linear growth, and elevated liver enzymes. Plasma ACTH and dexamethasone suppression test results were consistent with ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome, and a subsequent adrenalectomy revealed bilateral adrenocorticonodular hyperplasia. Asymptomatic lesions consistent with fibrous dysplasia were later detected on bone scan. Genomic DNA was extracted from adrenal, liver, and blood and amplified by polymerase chain reaction with Gs alpha exon 8 primers. Using allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization, the DNA was probed for known Gs alpha-activating mutations. A point mutation coding for an arginine to cysteine substitution at codon 201 of exon 8 was detected in genomic DNA from this infant's adrenal, liver, and leukocytes. The mutation was detected in nodular adrenal tissue, but was essentially absent in normal adrenal tissue. Activating mutations in the Gs alpha gene have previously been described in GH-secreting tumors, thyroid adenomas, and the McCune-Albright syndrome and are probably involved in the pathogenesis of adrenocorticonodular hyperplasia in this infant with Cushing's syndrome.
Establishing an obstetric neuraxial service in low-resource areas

The proportion of laboring women utilizing neuraxial techniques for labor analgesia has steadily increased over the past decades in North America, the UK and parts of Europe. Anesthesiologists in many other countries may want to introduce an obstetric neuraxial service but may lack the knowledge and experience necessary to ensure its safety. The focus of this article is to address the necessity, benefit and challenges of establishing such a service in a resource-limited environment. Even successful financial institutions may be considered resource-limited if critical components necessary for an obstetric neuraxial service are missing due to either perceived unimportance or non-availability. There is a need to deploy a culture of safety by ensuring the availability of resuscitation equipment, developing protocols and training, fostering communication among members of the care team and initiating quality-control measures. Patient education and satisfaction are additional key components of a successful service. Even in financially low-resource settings, proper safety measures must be adopted so that the neuraxial procedure itself does not contribute to morbidity and mortality. A viable and safe neuraxial service can be developed using innovative strategies based on local constraints.
Prototype personal navigation system

Honeywell Laboratories recently funded the development of a prototype personal navigation system based on MEMS technologies. The system components include a MEMS inertial measurement unit, a three-axis magnetometer, a barometric pressure sensor, and a SAASM GPS receiver. The system also uses Honeywell's human motion-based pedometry algorithm. The navigation process is based on a strap-down inertial navigator aided by feedback from a Kalman filter using typical measurements from the GPS, magnetometer and barometer when available. A key innovation is the addition of an independent measurement of distance traveled based on the use of a human motion algorithm. The navigation system combines the best features of dead reckoning and inertial navigation, resulting in positioning performance exceeding that achieved with either method alone. Subsequent to the Honeywell effort, DARPA funded an individual Personal Inertial Navigation System (iPINS) seedling program. Honeywell worked to improve the baseline personal navigation system with the objective of demonstrating the feasibility of reliably achieving navigation accuracy < 1 % of distance traveled in GPS-denied scenarios. In addition, an analysis was conducted to determine the benefit of incorporating terrain correlation into the personal navigation system. The results of this analysis indicate that overall navigation accuracy can be significantly improved through the application of terrain correlation. This presents an are presented. In addition, conclusions from the terrain correlation analysis conducted under the iPINS seedling program are included.
Business Decision-Making Using Geospatial Data: A Research Framework and Literature Review

Organizations that leverage their increasing volume of geospatial data have the potential to enhance their strategic and organizational decisions. However, literature describing the best techniques to make decisions using geospatial data and the best approaches to take advantage of geospatial data’s unique visualization capabilities is limited. This paper reviews the use of geospatial visualization and its effects on decision performance, which is one of the many components of decision-making when using geospatial data. Additionally, this paper proposes a comprehensive model allowing researchers to better understand decision-making using geospatial data and provides a robust foundation for future research. Finally, this paper makes an argument for further research of information-presentation, task-characteristics, user-characteristics and their effects on decision-performance when utilizing geospatial data.
A Case for Flexible Epistemology and Metamethodology in Religious Fundamentalism Research

After reviewing a representative sample of current and historical research in religious fundamentalism, the author addresses the epistemological presuppositions supporting both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and argues for epistemological flexibility and metamethodology, both of which support and are supported by metatheoretical thinking. Habermas' concept of the scientistic self- understanding of the sciences is used to point up the limitations of positivist epistemology, especially in the context of fundamentalism research. A metamethodological approach, supported by epistemological flexibility, makes dialogical engagement between researchers and those they research possible, and an example of how this would look in an actual research design is provided. The article concludes with a theoretical statement and graphic representation of a model for dialogical engagement between Western scholars and non-Western religious fundamentalists. Such engagement, the author argues, is necessary before any real progress on the "problem" of radicalized fundamentalism can be made.
Personality and Perpetration Narcissism Among College Sexual Assault Perpetrators

Theory and research suggest that narcissism plays an important role in perpetration of sexual aggression. As narcissism is a multidimensional construct, our objective was to clarify the relation between perpetration and three aspects of narcissism. College men (N = 234) completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) subscale of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders-II (SCID-N) Personality Questionnaire, and Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS). Perpetrators had higher scores on NPD traits, which were also associated with frequent perpetration. HSNS scores were only associated with perpetration via alcohol and/or drugs. Only the maladaptive facets of NPI narcissism correlated with perpetration. Narcissism seems to have been understudied in nonincarcerated perpetrators.
The evolution of side crash compatibility between cars, light trucks and vans

Several research studies have concluded that light trucks and vans (LTVs) are incompatible with cars in traffic collisions. These studies have noted that crash incompatibility is most severe in side crashes. These early research efforts however were conducted before complete introduction of crash injury countermeasures such as dynamic side impact protection. Based upon U.S. traffic accident statistics, this paper investigates the side crash compatibility of late model cars, light trucks and vans equipped with countermeasures designed specifically to provide side crash protection. The paper explores both LTV-to-car crash compatibility and crash incompatibility in car-to-car collisions.
Predicting the Effect of Solvent on the Crystal Habit of Small Organic Molecules

In order to develop a practical engineering tool for predicting the relative growth rates and morphology of solution-grown faceted crystals, a method for quickly determining solvent-modified crystal surface energies is required. The bulk interface approximation and model by van Oss, Chaudhury, and Good provides the most practical option available for small organic molecules. Applying these techniques to the mechanistic growth modeling of four centrosymmetric crystal systems provides evidence of the utility of this treatment, since both sublimation and solution growth shape predictions correspond to experimental shapes. The fact that the approach correctly predicts the changes between sublimation and solution growth shapes supports the ability of this technique to accurately account for the solvent effect.
Late results of coronary bypass in patients with peripheral vascular disease. I. Five-year survival according to age and clinical cardiac status.

Coronary angiography was performed in a series of 1000 patients (mean age 64 years) under consideration for elective peripheral vascular reconstruction at the Cleveland Clinic. Of the 251 patients found to have severe, correctable coronary artery disease (CAD), 216 underwent myocardial revascularization as a preliminary procedure. The operative mortality for coronary bypass was 5.5%, but only three early deaths (1.5%) occurred among 200 patients in this subset who subsequently had peripheral vascular operations. In comparison, vascular procedures were undertaken with conventional precautions in 16 of the 35 patients with severe, correctable CAD who declined myocardial revascularization. Two (12%) of these patients had fatal complications (p = 0.045). Complete late information was available for over 98% of the study group during follow-up intervals of 3-7 years (mean 4.6 years). Including the operative mortality of coronary bypass, cardiac deaths have been reported in 12% of the 216 patients who received myocardial revascularization, a figure surpassed only by those having normal coronary arteries (1.2%) or mild to moderate angiographic changes (4.4%). Cardiac mortality thus far has occurred in nine (26%) of the 35 unoperated patients with severe correctable CAD (p = 0.033). Five-year cumulative survival for the bypass subset currently is 72%, compared with 43% in patients with severe CAD for whom myocardial revascularization was warranted but never performed (p = 0.001). At the present time, the operative risk and late survival of selected patients over 70 years of age with peripheral vascular disease appear to be especially enhanced by myocardial revascularization.
Categorical factors in the oblique effect under successive and absolute judgments of inclination

Effects of inclined frame of reference upon inclination of the target line have been studied under successive and absolute judgments. Using nine undergraduate students as subjects, a marked oblique effect on the distribution of judgment errors was found under the condition with the horizontal frame of reference. In contrast, the peak of errors shifted in proportion to the inclination of the frame of reference and the relative dominance disappeared on physically horizontal and vertical axes. Some familiarized response categories such as 0 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees and -30 degrees were utilized more frequently than the others, and this tendency was found to be similar in every subjects and conditions. These consequences couldn't be attributed to the anisotropy of orientation analyzers, therefore, the obtained results have been explained in terms of the anchoring effect during categorization processes.
Dimensional Standardization and Production Scale in Mesoamerican Ceramics

The relation between vessel standardization and ceramic-production scale is firmly entrenched in the archaeological literature. This discussion challenges that relation, arguing that standardization is neither a necessary nor sufficient characteristic of craft specialization. Data gathered among seasonal potters in southern Veracruz, Mexico, demonstrate that product uniformity is easily achieved by nonintensive ceramic producers. The factors contributing to dimensional standardization and their implications for archaeological interpretations of pottery manufacture are discussed.
Determination of Metal Elements in Artemisia annua L. by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The samples were digested with the HNO3-HClO4 system and then the flame atomic absorption spectrometry was adopted to determine the contents of 5 mental elements(Fe,Mg,Mn,Cu,Zn) in Artemisia annua L.with 5 different resources.The result showed the content of 5 mental elements in A.annua L.from high to low were Mg,Fe,Mn,Zn and Cu.The additional standard recoveries of sample was 98.00%～104.00% with RSD(n=3) of 0.51%～2.86%.The established method was fast,simple,sensitive,precise and accuract.
Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism

Indonesia's Islamic organizations sustain the country's thriving civil society, democracy, and reputation for tolerance amid diversity. Yet scholars poorly understand how these organizations envision the accommodation of religious difference. What does tolerance mean to the world's largest Islamic organizations? What are the implications for democracy in Indonesia and the broader Muslim world? Jeremy Menchik argues that answering these questions requires decoupling tolerance from liberalism and investigating the historical and political conditions that engender democratic values. Drawing on archival documents, ethnographic observation, comparative political theory, and an original survey, Islam and Democracy in Indonesia demonstrates that Indonesia's Muslim leaders favor a democracy in which individual rights and group-differentiated rights converge within a system of legal pluralism, a vision at odds with American-style secular government but common in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Intrinsically Single-mode High-power Fiber Lasers Utilizing LMA Fibers Directly Fabricated by MCVD

We report on the development and performance of extremely low NA Yb doped fibers preforms (<0.03), fabricated directly by a conventional Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition (MCVD) technique. No micro-structuring was necessary to realize these fibers.
Modulation of Coherently Coupled Phased Photonic Crystal Vertical Cavity Laser Arrays

The modulation properties of two-element photonic crystal ion-implanted coherently coupled vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays emitting at 850 nm are reported. Single mode emission into either the in-phase or out-of-phase supermode and significant modulation bandwidth enhancement are obtained for both operating conditions. We model our device as a monolithically integrated, mutually optically injection-locked laser system and show that the phase detuning and injection ratio between array elements are critical parameters influencing modulation bandwidth. Comparison of our experimental measurements to our model is consistent with mutual injection locking. Modulation bandwidth greater than 30 GHz and up to 37 GHz is consistently found for several array designs. We show the modulation response can be tailored for different applications.
Designing Cyber Insurance Policies: Mitigating Moral Hazard Through Security Pre-Screening

Cyber-insurance has been studied as both a method for risk-transfer, as well as a potential incentive mechanism for improving the state of cyber-security. However, in the absence of regulated insurance markets or compulsory insurance, the introduction of insurance deteriorates network security. This is because by transferring part of their risk to the insurer, the insured agents can decrease their levels of effort. In this paper, we consider the design of insurance contracts by an (unregulated) profit-maximizing insurer, and allow for voluntary participation. We propose the use of pre-screening to offer premium discounts to higher effort agents. We show that such premium discrimination not only helps the insurer attain higher profits, but also leads the agents to improve their efforts. We show that with interdependent agents, the incentivized improvement in efforts can compensate for the effort reduction resulting from risk transfer, thus improving the state of network security over the no-insurance scenario. In other words, the availability of pre-screening signals benefits both the insurer, as well as the state of network security, without the need to regulate the market or compulsory participation.
Optical coherence tomography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention compared with other imaging guidance: a meta-analysis.

The use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in PCI guidance is limited perhaps by the lack of adequately powered studies which compare its efficacy and outcomes to the other more popular imaging modalities. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to compare clinical outcomes following OCT-guided PCI with the other imaging modalities in two separate comparisons. We abstracted data from randomized control trials and observational comparative studies focusing on OCT versus either angiography- or IVUS-guided PCI outcomes identified following a systematic search (April 2006 and May 2017). This meta-analysis included a total of 2781 patients; OCT-guidance versus Angiography guidance (n = 1753) and OCT-guidance versus IVUS-guidance (n = 1028). Pooled estimates of outcomes, presented as odds ratios (OR) [95% confidence intervals], were generated with random-effect models. OCT guidance showed lower rates of MACE (OR 0.70 [0.49, 1.00] p = 0.05) and cardiac deaths (OR 0.40 [0.18, 0.90] p = 0.03) compared to Angiography-guidance alone but no statistical significant results for myocardial infarction (OR 0.70 [0.42, 1.16] p = 0.17), stent thrombosis (OR 1.17 [0.40, 3.43] p = 0.77) and target lesion revascularizations (OR 1.07 [0.48, 2.38] p = 0.86).No statistical significance was observed in the OCT versus IVUS comparison; MACE (OR 0.89 [0.46, 1.73] p = 0.73), cardiac deaths (OR 0.56 [0.12, 2.70] p = 0.47), MI (OR 0.56 [0.12, 2.70] p = 0.47), ST (OR 0.43 [0.06, 2.95] p = 0.39), and TLR(OR 0.99 [0.45, 2.18] p = 0.99). OCT-guided PCI in comparison with angiography-guided was associated with reduction in adverse events for the composite of cardiac deaths, myocardial infarction and repeat revascularizations. There was no statistically significant difference in clinical outcomes observed in the comparison between OCT- and IVUS-guidance.
Validation of the Pediatric NEXUS II Head Computed Tomography Decision Instrument for Selective Imaging of Pediatric Patients with Blunt Head Trauma.

Background Data suggest that clinicians, when evaluating pediatric patients with blunt head trauma, may be overordering head computed tomography (CT). Prior decision instruments (DIs) aimed at aiding clinicians in safely forgoing CTs may be paradoxically increasing CT utilization. This study evaluated a novel DI that aims for high sensitivity while also improving specificity over prior instruments. Methods We conducted a planned secondary analysis of the NEXUS Head CT DI among patients less than 18 years old. The rule required patients satisfy seven criteria to achieve "low-risk" classification. Patients were assigned "high-risk" status if they fail to meet one or more criteria. Our primary outcome was the ability of the rule to identify all patients requiring neurosurgical intervention. Results The study enrolled 1,018 blunt head injury pediatric patients. The DI assigned high-risk status to 27 of 27 patients requiring neurosurgical intervention (sensitivity = 100.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 87.2%-100%]). The instrument assigned low-risk status to 330 of 991 patients who did not require neurosurgical intervention (specificity = 33.3%, 95% CI = 30.3%-36.3%). None of the 991 low-risk patients required neurosurgical intervention (negative predictive value [NPV] = 100%, 95% CI = 99.6%-100%). The DI correctly assigned high-risk status to 48 of the 49 patients with significant intracranial injuries, yielding a sensitivity of 98.0% (95% CI = 89.1%-99.9%). The instrument assigned low-risk status to 329 of 969 patients who did not have significant injuries to yield a specificity of 34.0% (95% CI = 31.0%-37.0%). Significant injuries were absent in 329 of the 330 patients assigned low-risk status to yield a NPV of 99.7% (95% CI = 98.3%-100%). Conclusions The Pediatric NEXUS Head CT DI reliably identifies blunt trauma patients who require head CT imaging and could significantly reduce the use of CT imaging.
Improved classification in tactile BCIs using a noisy label model

Tactile BCIs have gained recent popularity in the BCI community due to the advantages of using a stimulation medium which does not inhibit the users visual or auditory senses, is naturally inconspicuous, and can still be used by a person who may be visually or auditorily impaired. While many systems have been proposed which utilize the P300 response elicited through an oddball task, these systems struggle to classify user responses with accuracies comparable to many visual stimulus based systems. In this study, we model the tactile ERP generation as label noise and develop a novel BCI paradigm for binary communication designed to minimize label confusion. The classification model is based on a modified Gaussian mixture and trained using expectation maximization (EM). Finally, we show after testing on multiple subjects that this approach yields cross-validated accuracies for all users which are significantly above chance and suggests that such an approach is robust and reliable for a variety of binary communication-based applications.
Change in Police Organizations – Towards a Top Down/Bottom Up Strategy

The police are the most public face of the state (Marenim 1996; Grant et al. 2006). The treatment that people receive from the police is often a reflection of the fairness of government, and particularly the criminal justice system (Tyler and Wakslak, 2004) Years of research on legitimacy has demonstrated that the more that citizens have faith in the police, the more they are likely to comply with the rules and laws of society. Of course, in many developing countries, treatment by the police can also reflect the extent to which the government supports the rule of law itself. Without professional policing, the chances of building a culture supportive of the rule of law, or a culture of lawfulness, becomes unlikely or extremely difficult (Grant et al. 2014).
Fairness-Aware Tensor-Based Recommendation

Tensor-based methods have shown promise in improving upon traditional matrix factorization methods for recommender systems. But tensors may achieve improved recommendation quality while worsening the fairness of the recommendations. Hence, we propose a novel fairness-aware tensor recommendation framework that is designed to maintain quality while dramatically improving fairness. Four key aspects of the proposed framework are: (i) a new sensitive latent factor matrix for isolating sensitive features; (ii) a sensitive information regularizer that extracts sensitive information which can taint other latent factors; (iii) an effective algorithm to solve the proposed optimization model; and (iv) extension to multi-feature and multi-category cases which previous efforts have not addressed. Extensive experiments on real-world and synthetic datasets show that the framework enhances recommendation fairness while preserving recommendation quality in comparison with state-of-the-art alternatives.
Unsupervised Feature Selection through Fitness Proportionate Sharing Clustering

As an effective dimensionality reduction technique, feature selection is widely used in the preprocessing procedure in data mining. It is highly advocated by its superiority in mitigating the effect of noisy data and simplifying the analysis of high-dimensional data. In this paper, a novel unsupervised feature selection procedure based on a clustering algorithm is proposed to evaluate the goodness of features and select a set of useful features without losing the characteristics of the data. It consists of two steps: clustering and feature evaluation. In the clustering procedure, a novel clustering algorithm based on the fitness proportionate sharing is adopted to separate data into distinct clusters without any prior knowledge about data, which is more applicable to the analysis of unknown datasets. On the other hand, the feature evaluation procedure will use the information extracted from the clustering procedure to evaluate the usefulness of each feature and select good features. The proposed method is simulated with four other famous existing feature selection algorithms and a comparison is provided in this paper. Simulation results on both synthetic and real datasets demonstrate that the proposed procedure of feature selection can effectively evaluate the significance of features and obtain a better subset of features than other four existing algorithms.
Role of Grain Size in Work Hardening of Brass and Ni-Co Alloys

ABSTRACT Grain size models have in recent years incorporated a “two-phase” model of behavior; one such model is based on slip length as a function of strain and grain size. Experiments on 70–30 brass and on Ni-Co alloys of 45, 55 and 65% Co of varying grain size have been conducted to test critically the model calculations of slip length functions and to obtain further information on slip planarity behavior. Results were in satisfactory semi-quantitative agreement with the model. Refinements in the definitions of slip length and other aspects of slip line phenomena appear needed to assist experimental comparison with the models.
Predictive Simulation of Human Walking Augmented by a Powered Ankle Exoskeleton

The human ankle provides significant positive power during the stance phase of walking, which has resulted in studies focusing on methods to reduce the energetic walking cost by augmenting the ankle with exoskeletons. Recently, a few devices have successfully reduced the metabolic cost of walking by replacing part of the biological ankle plantar flexor torque. Despite these achievements, development of assistive ankle devices remains challenging, partly because the current practice of design and control of powered exoskeletons is highly time and effort consuming, which prevents quickly exploring different design and control parameters. Predictive simulations using musculoskeletal models coupled with robotic devices may facilitate the process of design and control of assistive devices. In this study, we simulate human walking augmented by a powered ankle exoskeleton. The walking problem was formulated as a predictive dynamic optimization in which both the optimal assistive device torque and the gait were solved simultaneously. Cases with exoskeletons assisting one ankle and both ankles were considered. The results showed that the energetic cost of walking could be reduced by 45% with one ankle augmented, and by 52% with both ankles augmented. This study contributes towards the goal of providing optimal assistive torque through external devices and theoretical peak reductions that could be expected from such devices.
AI for Management: An Overview

Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers great promise in supporting business operations. In this chapter, Dario Gil and co-authors provide a general introduction of AI and its applications to management. They describe how recent advancements in the field are enabling their use in supporting managerial tasks and functions such as strategy planning, marketing and customer support. They also discuss some key considerations for business leaders interested in leveraging AI to improve business performance.
Adenoma and Adenocarcinoma of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium: A Review of 51 Consecutive Patients.

Purpose To describe the clinical and imaging characteristics, pathologic features, and management options of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) adenoma/adenocarcinoma. Design Retrospective case series. Participants Fifty-one patients with RPE adenoma/adenocarcinoma. Methods Treatment options for the patients included observation, partial lamellar sclerouvectomy (PLSU), enucleation, and others. Main Outcome Measures Factors related to visual acuity (VA) outcomes (>2 Snellen lines loss, poor final VA [≤20/200], good final vision [≥20/40]), tumor growth, and need for enucleation. Results The mean patient age at diagnosis was 51 years, and the majority of patients were white (40/51, 78%) and female (34/51, 67%). Primary management included observation (29/51, 57%), PLSU (9/51, 18%), enucleation (4/51, 8%), or others (9/51, 18%). Outcomes revealed decreased VA (10/32, 31%), poor final VA (17/32, 53%), good final VA (11/32, 34%), tumor growth (12/25, 48%), and need for enucleation (7/51, 14%). By multivariable analysis, features predictive of decreased VA included increasing baseline tumor thickness (P = 0.01) and presence of vitreous hemorrhage (P = 0.05). Factors predictive of poor final VA included presence of exudative retinal detachment (P = 0.004), baseline VA 20/50 to 20/150 (P = 0.008), and baseline VA ≤20/200 (P = 0.01). Absence of feeding and/or draining vessel was predictive of good VA (P = 0.004). Tumor growth was associated with multiple treatments (P = 0.02). Increased tumor thickness (P = 0.03) and presence of exudative retinal detachment (P = 0.01) were predictive of enucleation. Conclusion RPE adenoma/adenocarcinoma can simulate choroidal melanoma. Greater tumor thickness, vitreous hemorrhage, exudative retinal detachment, and poor baseline VA predict worse visual outcome and greater risk for enucleation.
Non-canonical open reading frames encode functional proteins essential for cancer cell survival

A key question in genome research is whether biologically active proteins are restricted to the ∼20,000 canonical, well-annotated genes, or rather extend to the many non-canonical open reading frames (ORFs) predicted by genomic analyses. To address this, we experimentally interrogated 553 ORFs nominated in ribosome profiling datasets. Of these 553 ORFs, 57 (10%) induced a viability defect when the endogenous ORF was knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9 in 8 human cancer cell lines, 257 (46%) showed evidence of protein translation when ectopically expressed in HEK293T cells, and 401 (73%) induced gene expression changes measured by transcriptional profiling following ectopic expression across 4 cell types. CRISPR tiling and start codon mutagenesis indicated that the biological effects of these non-canonical ORFs required their translation as opposed to RNA-mediated effects. We selected one of these ORFs, G029442--renamed GREP1 (Glycine-Rich Extracellular Protein-1)--for further characterization. We found that GREP1 encodes a secreted protein highly expressed in breast cancer, and its knock-out in 263 cancer cell lines showed preferential essentiality in breast cancer derived lines. Analysis of the secretome of GREP1-expressing cells showed increased abundance of the oncogenic cytokine GDF15, and GDF15 supplementation mitigated the growth inhibitory effect of GREP1 knock-out. Taken together, these experiments suggest that the non-canonical ORFeome is surprisingly rich in biologically active proteins and potential cancer therapeutic targets deserving of further study.
Statistical modeling can determine what factors are predictive of appropriate follow-up in patients presenting with incidental pulmonary nodules on CT.

Abstract Purpose To assess the performance of statistical modeling in predicting follow-up adherence of incidentally detected pulmonary nodules (IPN) on CT, based on patient variables (PV), radiology report related variables (RRRV) and physician-patient communication variables (PPCV). Methods 200 patients with IPN on CT were retrospectively identified and randomly selected. PV (age, gender, smoking status, ethnicity), RRRV (nodule size, patient context, whether follow-up recommendations were provided) and PPCV (whether referring physician documented IPN and ordered follow-up on the electronic medical record) were recorded. Primary outcome was whether patients received appropriate follow-up within +/- 1 month of the recommended time frame. Statistical methods included logistic regression and machine learning (K-nearest neighbors and support vector machine). Results Adherence was low, with or without recommendations provided in the radiology report (23.4 %–27.4 %). Whether the referring physician ordered follow-up was the dominant predictor of adherence in all models. The following variables were statistically significant predictors of whether referring physician ordered follow-up: recommendations provided in the radiology report, smoking status, patient context and nodule size (FDR logworth of respectively 21.18, 11.66, 2.35, 1.63, p Conclusion PPCV are the most important predictors of adherence. Amongst all variables, patient context, smoking status, nodule size, and whether the radiologist provided follow-up recommendations in the report were all statistically significant predictors of patient follow-up adherence, supporting the utility of statistical modeling for analytics, quality assurance and optimization of outcomes related to IPN.
Ethics and Quality Improvement

Healthcare professionals have a responsibility to protect the patient’s rights, and their rights, in both quality improvement and research endeavors. Typically, Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are in place to review and provide oversight which ensures ethical standards are in place to protect the rights of humans participating in the effort. Guidelines and checklists have been developed to help determine if the design protocol of a quality improvement initiative intersects with a research methodology and should be reviewed by an IRB. This chapter discusses these guidelines and checklists, the important milestones in shaping biomedical ethics in the United States, and a variety of frameworks that can be used to guide decision-making and best practice in the clinical setting.
Literacy across the Disciplines: Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Literacy Instruction in Middle and High School Classrooms.

Nationally published research suggests middle and high school educators are often experts within their respective disciplines, but they may be unprepared to effectively consider literacy needs and ...
Ideology Isn't Everything: Transnational Terrorism, Recruitment Incentives & Attack Casualties

In the current literature, the primary determinants of terrorist attack casualty rates have been attributed to religious fundamentalism. While zealotry, martyrdom and the pursuit of salvation certainly empower religious fundamentalists with the liberty to decimate human targets, I argue that the sustaining necessity to recruit more terrorists from within the population, not religious fundamentalism alone, is an important predictor of the brutality of an attack. When targets are located within a potential recruitment population, there is an imminent need to restrict violence, as unnecessary collateral damage turns potential supporters away, rather than attracts them. Conversely, transnational attacks occurring outside the recruitment population abrogate these restrictions on violence. I test this argument on terrorist attacks from 1998-2005 and find empirical evidence that transnational attacks are a predictive cause of high casualty rates in a target population.
A Novel Inherited Cerebellar Abiotrophy in a Cohort of Related Goats

Cerebellar abiotrophies, also known as cerebellar ataxias, are characterized by premature post-natal degeneration of cerebellar neurons. This report describes the clinical, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), gross, histopathological and immunohistochemical features of a novel inherited cerebellar abiotrophy in a cohort of three closely related mixed-breed goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) in the southeastern USA. The animals all presented with early juvenile-onset ataxia, hypermetria, wide-based stance, head tremors and nystagmus. On MRI and at gross examination, there was moderate thinning of the cerebellar vermis and sharpening of the folia. Histologically, the vermis, paravermis and flocculonodular lobe had moderate to severe segmental loss of Purkinje cells with sparing of the hemispheres and secondary loss of granule cells and astrogliosis. Heritable cerebellar ataxias have been reported in many domestic animal species, but not, to the authors' knowledge, as a heritable condition in goats.
Chapter 12. Antibacterial Agents

Publisher Summary Research is going on the mode of action of antibiotics, antibiotic screening, and β-lactam antibiotics that continue to occupy a large portion of the literature dealing with the discovery of new antibacterial agents. Striking spectrum/potency improvements continue to emerge in the pyridine carboxylic acid class of synthetic anti-bacterial agents. Analogs of nalidixic acid continue to be of interest, as impressive improvements in spectrum and potency have been obtained with compounds like pefloxacin, AT 2266, DL-8280, and norfloxacin. Specific absorption rate (SAR) development for this class of orally effective anti-bacterials has continued. A comprehensive review of β-lactamase inhibitors has been discussed in this chapter. Augmentin, a physical combination of the β-lactamase inhibitor clavulanic acid and amoxicillin, continues to be the subject of extensive laboratory and clinical studies. Sultamicillin, a mutual prodrug of ampicillin and sulbactam that delivers good blood levels of ampicillin and the β-lactamase inhibitor upon oral administration, has been extensively discussed in the chapter. Ro 15-1903 is a more potent inhibitor of a variety of β-lactamases than clavulanic acid or sulbactam when preincubated with the enzymes. However, in vitro and in vivo Ro 15-1903 do not demonstrate greater synergy than clavulanic acid or sulbactam against various β-lactamase-producing bacteria when combined with ampicillin, piperacillin, or ceftriaxone. The structurally simple penam derivative, 6β-(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)-amidopenicillanic acid sulfone, is a potent inhibitor of Bacillus cereus 569/H β-iactamase I and E. coli RTEM β-lactarnase when preincubated with the enzymes. Novel carbapenem, SF-2103 A, possesses only modest anti-bacterial activity, but is reported to be a potent inhibitor of both penicillinases and cephalosporinases.
Efficient reachability analysis of büchi pushdown systems for hardware/software co-verification

We present an efficient approach to reachability analysis of Buchi Pushdown System (BPDS) models for Hardware/Software (HW/SW) co-verificat-ion This approach utilizes the asynchronous nature of the HW/SW interactions to reduce unnecessary HW/SW state transition orders being explored in co-verificat-ion The reduction is applied when the verification model is constructed We have realized this approach in our co-verification tool, CoVer, and applied it to the co-verification of two fully functional Windows device drivers with their device models respectively Both of the drivers are open source and their original C code has been used CoVer has proven seven safety properties and detected seven previously undiscovered software bugs Evaluation shows that the reduction can significantly scale co-verification.
Inefficient Resource Use for Patients Who Receive Both a Chest Radiograph and Chest CT in a Single Emergency Department Visit.

Abstract Purpose The goal of this study was to examine emergency department (ED) ordering practices in patients receiving both chest radiography (CXR) and chest CT (CCT). Methods Consecutive ED patients receiving both CXR and CCT in a single ED visit from January 2009 to December 2013 were included. For each examination, the time of order entry, time of study completion, and time of final interpretation were recorded and analyzed. Results A total of 3,627 patients met the inclusion criteria. In 3,437 (94.8%) patients, the CXR was ordered first; in 43 (1.2%), the CCT was ordered first; and in 91 (2.5%), the CCT and CXR were ordered simultaneously. In 50.3% (1,826 of 3,627) of all cases, imaging in the second modality (whether CCT or CXR) was ordered before final report availability of the first exam. In 9.8% (n = 354 of 3,627) of all cases, imaging in the second modality (whether CCT or CXR) was ordered before image availability from the first examination. Conclusions These results suggest inefficient resource usage, for which targeted technology solutions may be helpful.
Análisis automatizado de la calidad del conjunto mínimo de datos básicos. Implicaciones para los sistemas de ajuste de riesgos

Summary Setting. Together with the age of the patient, the main diagnosis, secondary diagnosis (comorbility and complications) and the procedures performed are the critical variables for risk-adjusting. Therefore, its correct incorporation to CMBD is of great importance. However, several studies, especially in the United States, but also in Spain, have made evident the existence of important problems of quality in these data, difficulties for its improvement and the limitations which this has to assess the quality or the efficiency of hospitals. The objective of this study is to approach the quality of administrative and clinical collected in the CMBD of the Valencian Health Service (VHS) using an automatized process of analysis of data from the same CMBD, and discuss the implications for its management, as well as possible improvement strategies. Material and method. An automatized analysis of the quality of CMBD 1994 of the VHS (20 hospitals, 241,341 admissions) was performed, using indicators of valid fulfilling of field values, relationship between fields of the same episode, relationship between variables in different episodes and volume and specificity of clinical information. Results. The analysed CMBD contains few errors in management variables, with the exception of residence, but it shows important problems of volume and specificity of clinical information, as well as a high variability in its fulfilling and quality in different hospitals. Conclusions. The quality of the clinical data of CMBD may be biased in its use with management aims or when assessing quality, as well as in epidemiological studies, evalua
Understanding adsorption/desorption hysteresis for fluids in mesoporous materials using simple molecular models and classical density functional theory

Abstract In this tutorial review, we discuss the use of classical density functional theory (DFT) to understand adsorption/desorption hysteresis phenomena for fluids confined in mesoporous materials. The emphasis is on lattice gas models, for which DFT is especially straightforward when studies of the fluid density distribution in two and three dimensions are required. The theme is to show that much of the experimentally determined hysteresis phenomena can be described using this modeling framework. Several examples have been used to illustrate this, including a simple duct pore, a duct inkbottle and a model of Vycor glass. We discuss hysteresis in single pores in terms of the metastability of the vapor phase in the pore and extend this to systems with pore size distributions. Inkbottle geometries are used to illustrate the phenomena of pore blocking and cavitation. The model of Vycor shows how the DFT formalism can describe systems with disordered interconnected pore structures that lead to type H2 hysteresis. The calculation of scanning curves using DFT is described and the relationship between scanning curves and pore interconnectivity is discussed. By weakening the surface field the DFT approach can be used to describe systems with partial wetting (e.g. water in carbon pores) and partial drying (mercury porosimetry). Finally, a dynamic mean field theory is introduced and used to study the dynamics of capillary condensation in the duct pore and, in particular, the nucleation of the liquid phase via the formation of a liquid bridge between the pore walls.
What turns on Foxp3

Inducible regulatory T cells respond to TGF-β by upregulating Foxp3 expression. Tone and colleagues identify an enhancer site in Foxp3 that binds transcription factors Smad3 and NFAT, suggesting a means by which TGF-β regulates Foxp3 expression.
A histological study of the parathyroids in the Anura

The parenchymal cells in the parathyroids of Rana catesbeiana (Shaw) are found to undergo a very curious cyclic change. The cytoplasm is broken down by a process of cytolysis. The nuclei are decomposed by chromatolysis and pycnosis. The entire parenchyma is finally liquefied, except for a layer of cells lining the capsule. The parathyroid body is reconstructed by young cells which are produced from rather definite growth centers. The process of regeneration begins some time before cytolysis is completed and continues until the entire organ is restored. The cytolytic and regenerative processes transpire in such sequence that the amount of apparently healthy tissue present at any one time is a rather large portion of the total mass normally present. The relationship between the parenchymal tissue and the stroma of the parathyroid is described.