cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Guide for Assessing the Interpretive Validity of Student Evaluations of Teaching in Medical Schools

Abstract Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are conducted in virtually every medical school in the world. Despite their widespread use, the validity of SET results has been subject to much debate. Of particular concern is the use of SET results as the basis for faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. Given the high-stakes nature of SET result and their implications for faculty, it is critical that those making evaluative judgments about faculty performance are able to discern the validity of these results. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present a guide for assessing the interpretative validity of SET results.
Acetaminophen-induced pancreatic pseudocyst: first case report.

INTRODUCTION Acetaminophen is known for its toxic effects onhepatic cells. Moreover, acetaminophen toxicity in the setting of hepatic failure has also been associatedwith dysfunction and failure of other organ systems, including the pancreas. Drug-induced pancreatitis (DIP) is rare and has been associated with acetaminophen. CASE A 19-year-old female presents with a one-week history of abdominal pain associated with nausea, vomiting, and headache. One day earlier she was discharged from an outside hospital where she was admitted for fulminant hepatic failure secondary to acetaminophen toxicity. She had no other complaints and denied consuming alcohol or taking any medications. An examination showed epigastric tenderness. Labs obtained on admission revealed abnormal but improving liver function tests with worsening amylase and lipase. A computed tomography scan on day three of admission revealed what appeared to be a large pancreatic pseudocyst. A magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatographyconfirmed the diagnosis. DISCUSSION Here we present the case of a young female with a delayed onset acetaminophen-induced pancreatitis. Although DIP is rare, acetaminophen should be recognized as a cause of acute pancreatitis. In addition, itis important for physicians to recognize the increased incidence of pancreatic pseudocyst amongst patients under age 20 with history of DIP, and include pseudocyst in the differential and workup for those presenting with recurrent abdominal pain.
Balancing sensory inputs: Sensory reweighting of ankle proprioception and vision during a bipedal posture task

During multisensory integration, it has been proposed that the central nervous system (CNS) assigns a weight to each sensory input through a process called sensory reweighting. The outcome of this integration process is a single percept that is used to control posture. The main objective of this study was to determine the interaction between ankle proprioception and vision during sensory integration when the two inputs provide conflicting sensory information pertaining to direction of body sway. Sensory conflict was created by using bilateral Achilles tendon vibration and contracting visual flow and produced body sway in opposing directions when applied independently. Vibration was applied at 80Hz, 1mm amplitude and the visual flow consisted of a virtual reality scene with concentric rings retreating at 3m/s. Body sway elicited by the stimuli individually and in combination was evaluated in 10 healthy young adults by analyzing center of pressure (COP) displacement and lower limb kinematics. The magnitude of COP displacement produced when vibration and visual flow were combined was found to be lesser than the algebraic sum of COP displacement produced by the stimuli when applied individually. This suggests that multisensory integration is not merely an algebraic summation of individual cues. Instead the observed response might be a result of a weighted combination process with the weight attached to each cue being directly proportional to the relative reliability of the cues. The moderating effect of visual flow on postural instability produced by vibration points to the potential use of controlled visual flow for balance training.
Recent Developments in Difficult Protein Expression: A Guide to E. coli Strains, Promoters, and Relevant Host Mutations

Escherichia coli is a versatile and popular tool for heterologous protein production. Some of the reasons for its popularity include rapid growth, a variety of portable vectors, relatively simple genetics, and the potential for high-density cultivation. In addition, the extensive laboratory use of E. coli has resulted in technologies to target protein overexpression to various intracellular compartments. This is advantageous because these compartments have different environments that may facilitate folding of particular proteins of interest. This chapter discusses the properties of many of the E. coli strains available for protein expression in order to facilitate the choice of the best expression host for a particular protein of interest.
Dorsal Plate Fixation of Scapular Fracture.

Scapular fractures are uncommon injuries. When they occur, they are usually treated nonsurgically. However, certain indications remain for operative intervention for the treatment of these injuries. In this article, we review some operative indications as well as the surgical technique. We present a case to demonstrate the indications and surgical technique of treatment. As with most surgical approaches, technique is critical to minimize morbidity and maximize functional outcome. Using these techniques, operative management of scapular fractures can be successful.
Benchmarking best practice: Internal financial control at deloitte touche1

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is an appropriate approach to deal with internal control since experience drawn from specific business case studies is in most instances more valuable than generalized textbook knowledge. At the same time, internal control evaluation is a domain where there is a potential combinatorial explosion because of the existence of many features associated with each case of internal control. ControlSCAPE has shown that CBR is an appropriate approach to business problem solving when the problem domain is unstructured and involves significant amounts of tacit knowledge. The main benefit of ControlSCAPE is the significant benefit to Deloitte & Touche clients. The ControlSCAPE techniques, resulting audit work, and discussions always help the client identify control performance gaps. Workshops with clients can then be organized by holding one or more sessions with the client's staff to generate ideas on control performance opportunities. Part of these sessions can be used to identify the change drivers and business objectives and then help brainstorm with the client on the aspects of the system of control that are strong, and on where it can be improved. Potentials for improvement are always detected. A second benchmark can be done as a follow-up a few months after the first benchmark to see if the ratings improve. Case-based input also allows accountants to relate to typical or atypical cases rather than to hypothetical models.
Revenue Recognition: A Brave New World

We examine the market reaction to the discussions and deliberations during the period 1998 to 2015 surrounding the new revenue recognition standard issued simultaneously by the FASB and IASB. We find that market reactions to events leading to the joint standard differ for US GAAP and IFRS firms. The reaction is a net negative reaction for US GAAP reporters but a net positive reaction for IFRS reporters. US GAAP (IFRS) firms in high litigation industries experience negative (less positive) market reactions to those in low risk industries. In certain high-impact industries in the U.S. including medical equipment and telecommunications, the market reaction is positive suggesting benefits in these industries. Further, the results for the most visible and significant events are consistent with those based on the full set of events. The evidence suggests that the new revenue recognition standard imposes net costs to the U.S. firms, except in those industries expected to benefit the most, while it provides net benefits to IFRS reporters.
Roasting Pretreatment-Low Temperature Digestion Method for Comprehensive Utilization of High-Sulfur Bauxite

The Roasting Pretreatment-Low temperature Digestion Method developed by the Northeastern University is presented in this paper, aiming for the comprehensive utilization of high-sulfur bauxite. Experimental results show that pre-roasting of the bauxite in a fluidized bed can effectively remove pyrite sulfur, and that the removal is increased with the increase of roasting temperature and roasting time. When the roasting temperature is 850 °C, the roasting time is 10 min the sulfur content in the bauxite can be reduced to below 0.2%. The digestion performance of the roasted ore was better than for the raw ore. This indicates that a low energy consumption production process with high-sulfur bauxite can be achieved by this method.
Effects of intranasal oxytocin on satiety signaling in people with schizophrenia.

Abstract Overweight and obesity in schizophrenia are prevalent, affecting half to three-quarters of people with schizophrenia. Hyperphagia and increased meal size have also been implicated as significant contributors to the weight gain problem. Oxytocin has shown to play a role in appetite control in humans and is considered an anorexigenic peptide. This two-day, within-subjects, challenge study involved the examination of satiety after administration of 24 IU oxytocin (intranasal) vs. placebo in participants with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia (N = 16). Self reported satiety along with a preload-test meal paradigm were utilized as well as related laboratory measures (insulin, glucose, and leptin), and measures of taste and smell. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups on self-reported satiety or test meal consumption, insulin or glucose levels, or sensory measures. A significant treatment difference was found (F = 5.22, df = 1,97.6, p = 0.025), with a decrease in leptin in the oxytocin group post-administration, but no time effect (F = 1.67, df = 6,95.1, p = 0.180) or treatment by time interaction (F = 1.36. df = 3,4.16, p = 0.261). Despite the small sample and mostly negative findings, we encourage more work to use higher and repeated doses of oxytocin, and to further examine the effect of oxytocin on leptin in schizophrenia as this may be important for understanding both weight control and psychopathology.
Clinical applications of comparative genomic hybridization.

Purpose: Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a powerful DNA-based cytogenetic technique that allows the entire genome to be scanned for chromosomal imbalances without requiring the sample material to be mitotically active. During the past 2 years we received many requests from various medical centers around the country to use CGH to resolve the identity of aberrant chromosomal material. Methods: We report the use of CGH for the evaluation of 12 clinical postnatal cases in which traditional cytogenetic analysis yielded ambiguous results. This series consisted of five marker chromosomes, five unbalanced translocations, and two intrachromosomal duplications. Results: Identification and characterization of the additional unknown chromosomal material was achieved with use of CGH. All CGH findings were validated by traditional fluorescence in situ hybridization and other specialized staining techniques. Conclusions: These results demonstrate the effective use of CGH as a focused, single-step method for the identification of chromosomal material of unknown origin.
The Use of Enzymatic Radioisotopic Microassays for the Quantification of β-Phenylethylamine, Phenylethanolamine, Tyramine and Octopamine

Enzymatic radioisotopic microassays have been used to quantitate those biogenic amines present in mammalian brain in small amounts. Methods were developed for β-phenylethylamine, phenylethanolamine, octopamine and tyramine. The use of partially purified and group-specific N-methyl and 0-methyltransferases, combined with selective procedures for the complete separation of the reaction products, including chromatographic steps, resulted in specific and sensitive microassays. Similar procedures are used for the determination of the activities of enzymes which synthesize or metabolize these amines.
Three-Dimensional Mechanics of Microcellular Solids Using Scanning Confocal Microscopy

Cellular solids are materials comprised of an interconnected network of solid ligaments or plates which form the edges and walls of cells [1]. These types of materials are often considered in engineering applications because of their unique properties relative to their fully-dense counterparts, including elastic moduli, specific strength, and thermal conductivity [1]. Classical cellular mechanics models, such as the Gibson-Ashby model, have been extensively used to describe the mechanical response and idealize the behavior of foam-like materials by modeling unit-cell level deformation. Scaling equations provided by such mechanics formulations allow for comparison between theory and experiment through readily measurable quantities such as relative density. These mechanics models are applied to cell sizes on the order of several micrometers or larger, and often to materials with random cell structures in the absence of a complete understanding of the mechanics governing local deformation. Direct experimental characterization of unit-cell level deformation has been scarce and generally limited to either two-dimensional or post-mortem analyses. Extensions to micro- and nanostructured systems are further complicated by size-dependent mechanical behavior where the constitutive response of the ligament material is not always known a priori.
Drug treatment outcome methodology (1993–1997): Strengths, weaknesses, and a comparison to the alcohol field

Although several critiques of the methodology of alcohol treatment outcome studies have been published, similar reviews of the methodology of drug treatment outcome studies are lacking. This paper reviews the methodology of drug treatment outcome studies published from 1993 through 1997 and draws comparisons with the most recent methodological review of alcohol treatment outcome studies. Each drug study was evaluated as to whether the following types of data were reported: (1) demographic, (2) drug use, (3) study characteristics, and (4) outcome and follow-up information. Although results for drug studies showed some areas of strength compared to alcohol studies, in general, the weaknesses were similar to or worse than in the alcohol field, including inadequate reporting of demographic and drug use variables. Weaknesses in follow-up procedures were particularly notable. Suggestions for improving the reporting of methodological and outcome variables for drug treatment outcome studies are discussed.
Experiences with community-based projects for computing majors

Projects which compel students to work in team situations with community partners are one method for building so-called "soft skills" in computing majors. The use of team-oriented, community-based service learning projects can provide meaningful and productive experiences for students but must be selected and managed carefully by faculty. This paper discusses a sample of recent community-based projects at one campus of a large, multi-campus research university. Experiences with community-based projects involving Web design, systems design and implementation, and digital storytelling are discussed, as well as the benefits and challenges encountered in the projects.
Shielding and Grounding

Modern recording instruments frequently have sensitive preamplifiers built into their circuitry or available as optional plug-in equipment. Sensitivities of 0.5 mV/inch are common and sensitivities as high as 1 μV/inch are available. The use of sophisticated electronic amplifiers in recorders greatly increases their capability but at the same time requires increased sophistication on the part of the user to deal with the problem of electrical noise.
What is "Nonbinary" and What Do I Need to Know? A Primer for Surgeons Providing Chest Surgery for Transgender Patients.

BACKGROUND:Most transgender research focuses on patients who identify within the gender binary of either trans-male or trans-female. This largely omits understanding of the "nonbinary" gender identity as it pertains to surgical care. OBJECTIVES:We sought to describe a single-institution experience of chest-affirming procedures performed in nonbinary patients, including patient characteristics, surgical techniques, practice pearls, and outcomes. METHODS:This was an observational study of nonbinary patients who underwent "chest-affirming surgery" from 2012 to 2017. Demographic and surgical data were collected. A postoperative questionnaire assessing quality of life and body image outcomes was administered. RESULTS:A total of 458 patients with gender dysphoria underwent chest surgery; 58 (13%) patients were nonbinary. All nonbinary patients indicated female sex was assigned at their birth (100%). The most commonly performed procedure was the double incision technique with nipple grafts (72%), followed by the double incision technique without nipple grafts (19%). On a Likert scale, patients reported improved quality of life (4.88, SD ± 0.34), comfort with exercise (4.07, SD ± 0.98), sex life (4.02, SD ± 0.92), and comfort with physical appearance with (4.97, SD ± 0.18) and without clothes (4.69, SD ± 0.47). CONCLUSIONS:Chest surgery for nonbinary patients comprises a considerable proportion of transgender surgery practice, and surgeons who provide affirming care should be familiar with the unique characteristics and treatment options for this population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4:
The Ontic and the Iterative: Descartes on the Infinite and the Indefinite

Descartes’s metaphysics posits a sharp distinction between two types of non-finitude, or unlimitedness: whereas God alone is infinite, numbers, space, and time are indefinite. The distinction has proven difficult to interpret in a way that abides by the textual evidence and conserves the theoretical roles that the distinction plays in Descartes’s philosophy—in particular, the important role it plays in the causal proof for God’s existence in the Meditations. After formulating the interpretive task, I criticize extant interpretations of the distinction. I then propose an alternative at whose core is the idea that whereas the indefinite is a structural, iterative notion, designating the absence of an upper bound, the infinite is an ontic notion, signifying being in general, or what is, without qualification.
Mechanical Genomic Studies Reveal the Role of d-Alanine Metabolism in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cell Stiffness.

The stiffness of bacteria prevents cells from bursting due to the large osmotic pressure across the cell wall. Many successful antibiotic chemotherapies target elements that alter mechanical properties of bacteria, and yet a global view of the biochemistry underlying the regulation of bacterial cell stiffness is still emerging. This connection is particularly interesting in opportunistic human pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa that have a large (80%) proportion of genes of unknown function and low susceptibility to different families of antibiotics, including beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, and quinolones. We used a high-throughput technique to study a library of 5,790 loss-of-function mutants covering ~80% of the nonessential genes and correlated P. aeruginosa individual genes with cell stiffness. We identified 42 genes coding for proteins with diverse functions that, when deleted individually, decreased cell stiffness by >20%. This approach enabled us to construct a "mechanical genome" for P. aeruginosa d-Alanine dehydrogenase (DadA) is an enzyme that converts d-Ala to pyruvate that was included among the hits; when DadA was deleted, cell stiffness decreased by 18% (using multiple assays to measure mechanics). An increase in the concentration of d-Ala in cells downregulated the expression of genes in peptidoglycan (PG) biosynthesis, including the peptidoglycan-cross-linking transpeptidase genes ponA and dacC Consistent with this observation, ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of murein from P. aeruginosa cells revealed that dadA deletion mutants contained PG with reduced cross-linking and altered composition compared to wild-type cells.IMPORTANCE The mechanical properties of bacteria are important for protecting cells against physical stress. The cell wall is the best-characterized cellular element contributing to bacterial cell mechanics; however, the biochemistry underlying its regulation and assembly is still not completely understood. Using a unique high-throughput biophysical assay, we identified genes coding proteins that modulate cell stiffness in the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa This approach enabled us to discover proteins with roles in a diverse range of biochemical pathways that influence the stiffness of P. aeruginosa cells. We demonstrate that d-Ala-a component of the peptidoglycan-is tightly regulated in cells and that its accumulation reduces expression of machinery that cross-links this material and decreases cell stiffness. This research demonstrates that there is much to learn about mechanical regulation in bacteria, and these studies revealed new nonessential P. aeruginosa targets that may enhance antibacterial chemotherapies or lead to new approaches.
Constrained Local Graph Clustering by Colored Random Walk

Detecting local graph clusters is an important problem in big graph analysis. Given seed nodes in a graph, local clustering aims at finding subgraphs around the seed nodes, which consist of nodes highly relevant to the seed nodes. However, existing local clustering methods either allow only a single seed node, or assume all seed nodes are from the same cluster, which is not true in many real applications. Moreover, the assumption that all seed nodes are in a single cluster fails to use the crucial information of relations between seed nodes. In this paper, we propose a method to take advantage of such relationship. With prior knowledge of the community membership of the seed nodes, the method labels seed nodes in the same (different) community by the same (different) color. To further use this information, we introduce a color-based random walk mechanism, where colors are propagated from the seed nodes to every node in the graph. By the interaction of identical and distinct colors, we can enclose the supervision of seed nodes into the random walk process. We also propose a heuristic strategy to speed up the algorithm by more than 2 orders of magnitude. Experimental evaluations reveal that our clustering method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches by a large margin.
Abstract WP523: Aerobic Training Reduces Stroke Risk in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the leading cause of fatal ischemic stroke. Although stroke risk factors can be identified using available clinical assessment tools, current standard of c...
Food Nanotechnology: Harnessing the Power of the Miniature World Inside Our Foods

Nanotechnology involves manipulating matter on a miniscule scale so as to create new materials with novel or improved properties. This chapter starts with a brief history of nanotechnology and how it is being applied to foods. The different kinds of nanomaterials found in foods are highlighted. Inorganic nanoparticles, such as those made from gold, silver, silicon, or titanium, are being used to create special optical effects, to kill harmful microbes, and to make our foods flow more smoothly. Organic nanoparticles are being incorporated into our foods to increase the bioavailability of nutrients, to create desirable flavor profiles, or as tiny sensors to detect the presence of microbes. The exciting advances being made in the use of nanoparticles to increase yields, reduce waste, and minimize pollution in agriculture are also discussed. As well as having many potential benefits for improving our foods, nanotechnology also has some risks due to the very small size of the particles used. For instance, certain types of nanoparticles may accumulate in our bodies or environments, causing damage in the long term. Like genetic engineering, a vigorous debate is needed about both the risks and benefits of applying nanotechnology in foods.
Educational Research, The Field of

This article focuses on the social organization of education research as a social science field in the United States and considers its development and scope worldwide. It examines the emergence of education research, the structure and context of training in the field, doctoral degree production, characteristics of education researchers and their location in the labor force, the formal organizations of professionals in the field, and patterns of knowledge dissemination. The article also includes salient comparisons to other social science fields.
Quasi-Monte Carlo Feature Maps for Shift-Invariant Kernels

We consider the problem of improving the efficiency of randomized Fourier feature maps to accelerate training and testing speed of kernel methods on large datasets. These approximate feature maps arise as Monte Carlo approximations to integral representations of shift-invariant kernel functions (e.g., Gaussian kernel). In this paper, we propose to use Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) approximations instead where the relevant integrands are evaluated on a low-discrepancy sequence of points as opposed to random point sets as in the Monte Carlo approach. We derive a new discrepancy measure called box discrepancy based on theoretical characterizations of the integration error with respect to a given sequence. We then propose to learn QMC sequences adapted to our setting based on explicit box discrepancy minimization. Our theoretical analyses are complemented with empirical results that demonstrate the effectiveness of classical and adaptive QMC techniques for this problem.
Activation of AP-1 signaling pathway by nanosecond pulsed electric field: Inhibition of AP-1 results in increased apoptosis

5755 Nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) that generates non-ionizing radiation is a potential new technology in development for cancer treatment. Studies from our laboratory and others have shown induction of apoptosis after nsPEF exposure. The present study was undertaken to examine the effects of nsPEF on the gene expression profile using microarray analysis. Microarray analysis revealed changes in the expression of fos/jun transcription factors; which are components of the AP-1 transcription factor. These observations led to the hypothesis that nsPEF exposure can activate the AP-1 signaling pathway and that the inhibition of AP-1 signaling using specific AP-1 inhibitors might increase the apoptotic response of nsPEF. The studies were performed in 244B human lymphoblastoid cells. The cells were exposed to nsPEF pulses with 10 ns pulse duration at an average peak electric field intensity of 200 kV/cm using a Blumlein pulser device. Microarray analysis was performed using Affymetrix HGU133-A chip, which probes for 22,000 genes. The expression of the fos/Jun (AP-1) factors was analyzed using RNase protection assay and Western blotting. The binding of AP-1 complex to the AP-1 consensus element TGACTCA was examined using the electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Induction of apoptosis was examined using different apoptosis markers, including annexin-V binding and caspase activation. Early induction of the members of the fos and jun transcription factors were observed, occurring within 3 hours after the nsPEF exposure. Functional studies using electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed an increased binding of AP-1 transcription factor to the AP-1 binding element after nsPEF exposure. Fos/jun factors were translocated into the nucleus and there was also activation of the AP-1 target genes EGR-1 and EGR-3 following nsPEF exposure. Further, the expression of fos and jun transcription factors and the binding of AP-1 complex were inhibited in the presence of AP-1 inhibitors curcumin and nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA). Inhibition of AP-1 by curcumin and NDGA resulted in increased apoptosis by nsPEF. Our findings suggest that nsPEF, in combination with AP-1 inhibitors, could possibly be used as a new approach to increase apoptosis in cancer treatment. This work was supported by the AFOSR MURI Grant No. F49620-02-10320, and URC grant No. 123953.
Exploring Violent Crime Reporting among School-Age Victims: Findings from NCVS SCS 2005-2015

Most studies on the reporting of crimes to the police have focused on adult victims. Less is known, however, regarding crime reporting behavior among school-age victims. This paper presents finding...
Weekly Overview of the Course: Lecture and Lab

The first day of the class is over, and it is now time to focus on the material. This chapter will focus on the daily mechanics of what is taught during each week of class. That includes both lecture topics and lab assignments. Since a research method class typically meets about 6 h a week, you have a lot of time to work with students. That time can be used to teach material, for classroom activities, and to focus on lab assignments. This chapter will cover all these elements.
Verdict Analysis and Defect Life Cycle Management in Test Automation Environments

Test Automation is a fundamental stage for agile software development projects. As software projects mature, the number of automated validation scenarios increases as well. By then, the challenge becomes to keep up with test execution, result analysis and defect life cycle in an autonomous way, avoiding the bottleneck and time penalties that human intervention represents. This paper describes the analysis and action determination logic behind the “Test Analyzer” library in order to achieve an automated handling of test execution and results reporting within agile environments.
Chapter 1 – Introduction and Overview

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview on the hydrogen energy economy and how it will transform the global transportation system. Transforming the global transportation energy economy from oil dependent vehicles to sustainable hydrogen systems is a daunting challenge. The first problem is that free hydrogen does not exist naturally on Earth in its gaseous form. Much lighter than air, any free hydrogen produced by natural processes during the planet's history has long since floated into space or been captured in more complex molecules. Hydrogen, therefore, is more like effervescent electricity than naturally occurring oil. It is an energy carrier and can be produced be from a wide range of common materials, including water, natural gas, and coal. Once formed, gaseous hydrogen—which consists of two bound hydrogen atoms—can be burned as a fuel or used in a fuel cell to generate electricity. The key to the hydrogen economy and the upsurge in interest in hydrogen in the past few years is the rapid development of fuel cell technology. The use of hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles (FCV) entails the electrification of the automobile's power train, an important attraction to automakers due to the high torque and power output of electric motors. However, a future hydrogen energy system will be interdependent with the rest of the energy system, especially the electricity system. To fully realize hydrogen's multiple benefits over the long term, it will be important to use hydrogen supply pathways with near-zero emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, and to use diverse primary energy supplies.
Variable Zoom technique for X-Ray Computed Tomography

Abstract X-ray Computed Tomography has proven its unprecedented objectivity for nondestructive inspection of materials and structures. However, high-resolution nondestructive evaluation of small critical flaws in structures with large in-plane dimensions has been a fundamental challenge for the CT techniques. This work presents a novel Variable Zoom X-ray CT technique that can significantly improve defect resolution for structures with large in-plane dimensions. The details of the scanning technique and the reconstruction method essential for achieving accurate high-resolution results are provided. Superior performance and accuracy of the technique is demonstrated on the dimensional and sharpness measurements of known features in the artificial phantom and in X-ray CT of composite panel with large in-plane dimensions. Application of the new approach is demonstrated on the detection of complex structural damage due to low-velocity impact in large and thin composite laminate panels, which is among the worst-case scenario for the conventional CT methods.
Introduction to Digital Phenotyping for Global Health

Background: The advent of personal mobile devices and the popularity of the Internet are generating unprecedented amounts of data, which can be harnessed to shed light on—and potentially mitigate—public health concerns. Objective: To provide a theoretical overview of digital phenotyping (DP), as well as examples of DP in practice. Results: Digital phenotyping has been successfully employed to diagnose PTSD in trauma-stricken populations and to localize the source of infectious disease outbreaks. These are only two of the many potential applications of this technology. Conclusion: Digital phenotyping is a relatively low-cost, yet powerful tool for both assessing the health status of individuals as well as analyzing broader public health trends.
Measured damage resistance of corn and wheat kernels to compression, friction, and repeated impacts

Abstract The damage resistance of grain kernels to external loading is useful for optimizing agricultural equipment design and adjusting operational settings. This study aims to quantify and compare the damage resistance of corn and wheat kernels under different types of loading and fit the data with statistical models. The damage resistance of corn and wheat kernels to compression, friction, and repeated impacts was measured using a universal testing machine, pin-on-disk tribometer, and Wisconsin breakage tester/rotary blade impactor, respectively. The average fracture force and fracture energy under compression (± one standard deviation) were, respectively, 309.4±107.1 N and 48.7±27.1 mJ for corn, and 83.4±23.8 N and 28.7±13.5 mJ for wheat. The wear damage was insignificant for corn-acrylic, corn-steel, and wheat-acrylic wear tests. For the wheat-steel wear test, the average work done by the friction force to cause pericarp damage was 3.85±1.50 J. A lognormal distribution was used to fit the compression test data, and a three-parameter Weibull distribution was used to fit the repeated impact test data. The statistical models fit the damage probability based on the loading force or input energy with R-squared values over 0.98. It was found that corn and wheat kernels were susceptible to compression and impact loading, while both had high resistance to wear damage.
The philosophical foundation of the lecture‐versus‐case controversy: Its implications for faculty teaching, research, and service

Purpose – To see how educational philosophies that underlie lecture and case methods of teaching are related to how faculty perform their teaching, research, and service. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the premise that foundational philosophies, worldviews or paradigms underlie educational philosophies, and each educational philosophy favors a certain instructional methodology, which in turn implies a certain way or method of instruction. Findings – The findings of this paper are that each educational philosophy favors a certain instructional methodology, which in turn determines not only the way that the instruction is performed but also how faculty perform their teaching, research, and service. Research limitations/implications – This paper implies that differences between the underlying world views of lecture and case methods of teaching similarly lead to differences in many other aspects of the teaching and learning process. Practical implications – This paper implies that, in practice, faculty would perform their teaching, research, and service in a more consistent manner if they become consciously aware of the underlying philosophy of their teaching method. Originality/value – The original contribution of this paper is that it shows how in a systematic manner the differences in teaching philosophy lead to differences in what faculty do in all areas of their activities: teaching, research, and service.
Repression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling by SOX9 and Mastermind-like transcriptional coactivator 2

Wnt/β-catenin signaling requires inhibition of a multiprotein destruction complex that targets β-catenin for proteasomal degradation. SOX9 is a potent antagonist of the Wnt pathway and has been proposed to act through direct binding to β-catenin or the β-catenin destruction complex. Here, we demonstrate that SOX9 promotes turnover of β-catenin in mammalian cell culture, but this occurs independently of the destruction complex and the proteasome. This activity requires SOX9's ability to activate transcription. Transcriptome analysis revealed that SOX9 induces the expression of the Notch coactivator Mastermind-like transcriptional activator 2 (MAML2), which is required for SOX9-dependent Wnt/β-catenin antagonism. MAML2 promotes β-catenin turnover independently of Notch signaling, and MAML2 appears to associate directly with β-catenin in an in vitro binding assay. This work defines a previously unidentified pathway that promotes β-catenin degradation, acting in parallel to established mechanisms. SOX9 uses this pathway to restrict Wnt/β-catenin signaling.
Evaluation of Next-Generation H3 Influenza Vaccines in Ferrets Pre-Immune to Historical H3N2 Viruses

Each person has a unique immune history to past influenza virus infections. Exposure to influenza viruses early in life establishes memory B cell populations that influence future immune responses to influenza vaccination. Current influenza vaccines elicit antibodies that are typically strain specific and do not offer broad protection against antigenically drifted influenza strains in all age groups of people. This is particularly true for vaccine antigens of the A(H3N2) influenza virus subtype, where continual antigenic drift necessitates frequent vaccine reformulation. Broadly-reactive influenza virus vaccine antigens offer a solution to combat antigenic drift, but they also need to be equally effective in all populations, regardless of prior influenza virus exposure history. This study examined the role that pre-existing immunity plays on influenza virus vaccination. Ferrets were infected with historical A(H3N2) influenza viruses isolated from either the 1970's, 1980's, or 1990's and then vaccinated with computationally optimized broadly reactive antigens (COBRA) or wild-type (WT) influenza virus like particles (VLPs) expressing hemagglutinin (HA) vaccine antigens to examine the expansion of immune breadth. Vaccines with the H3 COBRA HA antigens had more cross-reactive antibodies following a single vaccination in all three pre-immune regimens than vaccines with WT H3 HA antigens against historical, contemporary, and future drifted A(H3N2) influenza viruses. The H3 COBRA HA vaccines also induced antibodies capable of neutralizing live virus infections against modern drifted A(H3N2) strains at higher titers than the WT H3 HA vaccine comparators.
Adjunctive Management of Opioid Withdrawal with the Nonopioid Medication Cannabidiol

Introduction: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major public health crisis worldwide. Patients with OUD inevitably experience withdrawal symptoms when they attempt to taper down on their current opioid use, abstain completely from opioids, or attempt to transition to certain medications for opioid use disorder. Acute opioid withdrawal can be debilitating and include a range of symptoms such as anxiety, pain, insomnia, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Whereas acute opioid withdrawal only lasts for 1-2 weeks, protracted withdrawal symptoms can persist for months after the cessation of opioids. Insufficient management of opioid withdrawal often leads to devastating results including treatment failure, relapse, and overdose. Thus, there is a critical need for cost-effective, nonopioid medications, with minimal side effects to help in the medical management of opioid withdrawal syndrome. We discuss the potential consideration of cannabidiol (CBD), a nonintoxicating component of the cannabis plant, as an adjunctive treatment in managing the opioid withdrawal syndrome. Materials and Methods: A review of the literature was performed using keywords related to CBD and opioid withdrawal syndrome in PubMed and Google Scholar. A total of 144 abstracts were identified, and 41 articles were selected where CBD had been evaluated in clinical studies relevant to opioid withdrawal. Results: CBD has been reported to have several therapeutic properties including anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-emetic, analgesic, as well as reduction of cue-induced craving for opioids, all of which are highly relevant to opioid withdrawal syndrome. In addition, CBD has been shown in several clinical trials to be a well-tolerated with no significant adverse effects, even when co-administered with a potent opioid agonist. Conclusions: Growing evidence suggests that CBD could potentially be added to the standard opioid detoxification regimen to mitigate acute or protracted opioid withdrawal-related symptoms. However, most existing findings are either based on preclinical studies and/or small clinical trials. Well-designed, prospective, randomized-controlled studies evaluating the effect of CBD on managing opioid withdrawal symptoms are warranted.
Richard Feynman: Miracle Numbers

In this chapter our drumbeat is that sometimes strange numbers arise in mathematics, in theory, and in even in physics. Richard Feynman was fond of some strange numbers, and we are too. There is a new polynomial time algorithm whose exponent is very large—another strange result? We will discuss the role of such strange numbers and strange results.
Effects of Local Labor Market Conditions On Husband-Wife Wage Labor Participation and Labor Demand: U.S. Farm and Rural Nonfarm households

Nonmetropolitan America contains almost 25 percent of the nation's population and 33 percent of its labor force. Rural residents are more likely to experience subemployment or poverty than their urban counterparts', and nonmetropolitan areas have lower wage rates and family income than urban areas. During the 1970s, rural areas benefited from a shift of manufacturing jobs from the metropolitan to nonmetro areas. However, during the 1980s employment prospects for nonmetro areas have deteriorated (USDA 1987). Part of this change in prospects is a result of increased international competition for U.S. manufactured goods and agricultural products. In addition, a major business-cycle contraction started in 1981. The relatively rapid growth of service sector employment during the 1980s has largely by-passed rural labor markets.
Pre-construction evaluation modeling of open area test sites (OATS)

The construction of open area test sites (OATS) for commercial EMI testing for FCC and CE radiated emission requirements is at an all-time high. The demand for test facilities to meet the amount of testing required for computer, consumer, medical and other products has forced many test laboratories to turn away business due to a lack of test capacity. Semi-anechoic rooms are sometimes used to perform radiated emissions testing, but these sites are very expensive and usually limited to large companies doing internal product testing. Therefore the construction of OATS facilities is rising to try and fulfill the test capacity demand. This paper discusses some pre-construction OATS analysis methods using numerical modeling techniques (in this case, the method of moments). Comparison between various ground plane sizes and shapes, and nearby metal objects, are made to a perfect site.
Atomic theory of the lambda transition in helium

It is shown from first principles that, in spite of the large interatomic forces, liquid He4 should exhibit a transition analogous to the transition in an ideal Bose-Einstein gas. The exact partition function is written as an integral over trajectories, using the space-time approach to quantum mechanics. It is next argued that the motion of one atom through the others is not opposed by a potential barrier because the others may move out of the way. This just increases the effective inertia of the moving atom. This permits a simpler form to be written for the partition function. A rough analysis of this form shows the existence of a transition, but of the third order. It is possible that a more complete analysis would show that the transition implied by the simplified partition function is actually like the experimental one.
Postexercise insulin action in African-American women.

exercise reduces insulin resistance insedentary Caucasian individuals. Theimpact of asingle bout ofexercise oninsulin resistance hasnever been studied inAfrican Americans. Thepurpose ofthis experiment wastoevaluate theimpact ofasingle bout ofexercise on insulin resistance inAfrican-American women. Design: Insulin resistance wasassessed in10sedentary, overweight orobese African-American womenduring asedentory andexercise condition over atwo-day period. During thesedentary condition, participants fasted overnight and satquietly inthelaboratory for 75minutes. During theexercise condition, participants completed 75minutes ofbrisk walking onatreadmill. Ninety minutes following eachcondition, participants completed anoral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Three-and-a-half hours later, subjects consumed a standardized meal[meal tolerance test (MTT)]. Results: Theinsulin response totheOGTTwas18%lower (p=0.046), andinsulin sensitivity was18%higher (p=0.042) inthe exercise condition compared tothe sedentary condition. There were nodifferences between conditions following theMTT. Conclusions: These results indicate that overweight/obese, sedentary, insulin resistant African-Amercan womenhada significant improvement ininsulin sensitivity from 75minutes ofbrsk walking.
Interprocedural aliasing in the presence of pointers

An Alias occurs at some program point during execution when two more more names exist for the same location. We've investigated the theoretical difficulty of determining the aliases of a program, developed an approximation algorithm for solving for aliases in C like languages, and explored the precision (i.e., closeness of our approximate solution to the actual solution) and time behavior of this algorithm. Myers (Mye81) explored the theoretical difficulty of solving flow sensitive interprocedural data flow problems in the presence of aliasing. However, he did not make any claims about the difficulty of determining aliases. We isolate various programming language mechanisms that create aliases. The complexity of the alias problem (i.e., determining the aliases for a program) induced by each mechanism and their combinations is considered separately and categorized as ${\cal NP}$-hard, complement ${\cal NP}$-hard, or polynomial time $({\cal P}).$ We proved that if there are two (or more) levels of indirection, regardless of the alias mechanisms used, aliasing is ${\cal NP}$-hard. However, if only one level of indirection is possible, then the alias problem is in ${\cal P}.$ In addition, we show the alias problem in the presence of some mechanisms to be ${\cal P}$-space complete. Therefore, in a language which allows general purpose pointers, the problem of determining which aliases can occur during program execution is ${\cal NP}$-hard. We present an algorithm which safely approximates Interprocedural May Alias (i.e., we fail to report an alias only if it never occurs) in the presence of pointers. We are able to show, relative to our definition of precision, that our algorithm is as precise as possible in the worst case. We also pinpoint the sources of imprecision in our algorithm and can empirically bound its precision. Our algorithm has been implemented in a prototype analysis tool for C programs, and we present a preliminary empirical investigation of algorithm speed and precision.