cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DISCHARGE PATTERNS OF NEURONES SUPPLYING TONIC ABDOMINAL FLEXOR MUSCLES IN THE CRAYFISH

1. The discharge patterns of tonic flexor motoneurones in the crayfish abdomen have been investigated by simultaneous recording from several nerve roots. The five flexor motoneurones supplying each segment are serially homologous, smaller units have higher discharge frequencies, and the excitability of a given unit is generally higher in more caudal ganglia. 2. Even the smallest axons are capable of generating substantial muscle tension at their spontaneous discharge frequencies. Tension development is extremely tonic. Single motor impulses are without effect, latencies are long, and the frequency/tension relation is steep. 3. The inhibitory axon to each flexor discharges during ‘extension’ reflexes, but has no visible effect upon relaxation time, or upon the response to subsequent excitation. Inhibitory impulses do not relax previously unexcited muscle. 4. Phase histograms for the discharge of pairs of homologous or non-homologous efferent axons across a single ganglion, within the same root, and between adjacent ganglia have revealed several coupling mechanisms. One is mediated by short time-constant electrotonic junctions between bilaterally paired inhibitory axons. The second involves weaker, more generalized interactions of longer time-constant between non-homologous axons. The third is brought about by common presynaptic sources of excitation. Inputs tend to be common for homologues in adjacent ganglia rather than for non-homologues in a single ganglion, a finding consistent with the selectivity shown by central interneurones in their effects upon motoneurones.
A physiological system simulation environment based on knowledge networking

A new approach is proposed for the simulation of interacting human physiological subsystems. The new simulation environment will allow users to build, analyze and solve a coupled physiological system model with distributed subsystem models. The subsystem models as an abstract form of physiological knowledge are shared through the Internet. The simulation knowledge network includes a distributed model database, an information server, and an analysis and solution environment that will be downloaded from the server. To represent the coupled system, the authors use Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE) as the basic format. There are three common sources of DAEs in modeling of physiological systems. They are causal conflict, simulation optimization, and multistage processes. The singularly perturbed sliding manifold method is chosen for solving DAEs. Possible future improvements are discussed.
Mechanics of microtubules

Microtubules are rigid cytoskeletal filaments, and their mechanics affect cell morphology and cellular processes. For instance, microtubules for the support structures for extended morphologies, such as axons and cilia. Further, microtubules act as tension rods to pull apart chromosomes during cellular division. Unlike other cytoskeletal filaments (e.g., actin) that work as large networks, microtubules work individually or in small groups, so their individual mechanical properties are quite important to their cellular function. In this review, we explore the past work on the mechanics of individual microtubules, which have been studied for over a quarter of a century. We also present some prospective on future endeavors to determine the molecular mechanisms that control microtubule rigidity.
Two-wave mixing with partially coherent waves in high-speed photorefractive media

We investigate the coupling of two partially coherent waves in high-speed photorefractive media. When the coherence time of the optical waves is close to the speed of the photorefractive media, the photoinduced index grating will follow the amplitude fluctuation of the optical waves. The stochastic coupled-wave equations are solved in the nondepleted pump region. The effects on the evolution of the signal wave are presented and discussed.
THE SPIRITUAL GENOGRAM IN FAMILY THERAPY

Spiritual and religious issues often surface during marital and family therapy. In this article, I describe a spiritual genogram that is a multigenerational map of family members' religious and spiritual affiliations, events, and conflicts. Used as a tool in family therapy, the spiritual genogram enables clients to make sense of their families' religious/spiritual heritage and to explore the ways in which their experiences impact present couple or family issues.
Selection for Digital Conversion in Academic Libraries

Electronic technology has begun to change the way scholars conduct their research. Before this new approach to scholarly inquiry becomes a viable and productive method in institutions of higher learning, the existing resources that a scholar normally would use in the library must be converted to a digital format in order to be accessible electronically. How do academic libraries set about creating a body of knowledge and begin to convert traditional print collections to a digital format in order to satisfy what today’s researchers want? This article examines previous methods of selection and collection building, and applies those supporting principles to today’s collection-building efforts for digital collections.
Adorn Them with Amulets or Exorcise Them of Evil? How Malagasy Shepherd Healers are Changing the Religious Landscape of Madagascar

This paper illustrates how charismatic shepherd healers, as leaders of Madagascar’s indigenous Christian healing movement, build upon, diverge from and reinvent traditional methods for safeguarding vulnerable bodies from spiritual harm. My research focuses on the convergence of religious and medical practices around pregnancy and infant-care in northern Madagascar. Malagasy parents have a variety of options in terms of who they consult (doctors, midwives, diviners and shepherd healers) and in terms of what kinds of treatments they employ (injections, pills, protective amulets, and growth medicines) for the safeguarding of mothers and infants from spiritual and biomedical harm. Some parents adorn babies’ bodies with amulets and growth medicines (ody be); others attend shepherd healing services as a means by which to arm themselves and their children against evil spirits. These seemingly divergent approaches to spiritual health share more in common than participants admit. Pentecostals commonly use the language of rupture to frame their conversion from traditionalist, or mainline Christian practices, to Charismatic ones (Daswani 2011, Halvorson 2010). Malagasy shepherd healers (mpiandry) encourage participants to abandon ancestral practices (fombandrazana) and burn traditional medicines. However, more often than not among people who profess dramatic change, few are able to wholeheartedly abandon older religious commitments.
Energy Transfer and Upconversion in Yb:Er:YAG

Energy transfer and upconversion have been measured in Yb:Er:YAG. The net Yb-Er transfer efficiency is fairly high, but strong Yb-Er upconversion limits the its usefulness as a laser material.
“Look, a [picture]!”: Visuality, race, and what we do not see

ABSTRACTThis article argues that understanding vision and visuality as associated but distinct terms has significant implications for the ways in which we engage with racial constructions of identity. Expanding the ways in which we visualize race beyond simply the visual offers us a more comprehensive approach to understanding the construction of and response to race in the twenty-first-century United States. This article moves from theoretical implications of non-visual visualizations like tactile visuality and audial visuality through photographs taken by blind photographers to ask how race and racial identity are implicated in conversations about both vision and visuality.
SOAP and the Web of Science: how to bulk download query results

Purpose – This paper aims to give step-by-step guidance for downloading data from any site that uses a simple object access protocol (SOAP) interface such as Web of Science (WOS)/Web of Knowledge. The SOAP interface is a method that is used widely by Web sites to allow automatic download of data. Using a case study approach, we also discuss some problems that can happen and ways to avoid them. The WOS is used as a demonstration. Design/methodology/approach – This case study explores ways to download large amounts of data from a Web site. As pitfalls were encountered, techniques were developed to circumnavigate them. The result is a specific procedure for accessing these types of databases. Findings – The paper provides a transferrable procedure that non-technical people can use to access WOS and other SOAP data sources. Practical implications – The set of scripts are presented in the paper that will allow others to download data from any site that uses a SOAP interface. Explanations are given so that the procedure can be adapted for other tasks. Originality/value – This paper clearly illustrates how to interact with a SOAP interface with explicit instructions for downloading from WOS. It is written for the non- technical with illustrations at each step. Instructions are given for modifying the scripts so that librarians can search using other keywords and dates as well as downloading from other Web sites.
Commissioner Wright and Behavioral Antitrust

This contribution to a symposium on Commissioner Josh Wright's scholarship discusses his analyses of the application of behavioral economics to antitrust law.
An Experimental Study of Cavity Nucleation During Superplastic Deformation

Cavity nucleation during superplastic deformation of a high strength aluminium alloy has been studied using a high voltage electron microscope and an optical microscope. The results show that cavities nucleation is due only to superplastic deformation and not to pre-existing microvoids which may be introduced during thermomechanical processing. The main reason for cavity nucleation is the high stress concentration at discontinuties in the plane of the grain boundary due to grain boundary sliding.
Little Pim: A review of the French Teacher's Kit

Price Single user Multiple copies Site license Distribution Rights French 3-pack, volume 1 (set of three videos) $34.99 for digital download Teacher’s Kit is available for $219.99 and includes 6 videos, lesson plans, worksheets, teacher’s guide, pronunciation guide, companion scripts, flashcards, Pim poster, plush panda, and a progress tracking app. Orders can be placed online using www.littlepim.com or by phone. Also, retailers (such as Toys R Us) sell Little Pim products. Information can be accessed on the website using “store locator.” The program is based upon the Entertainment Immersion Method®, a registered trademark.
Evening Cortisol Is Associated With Intra-Individual Instability in Daytime Napping in Nursing Home Residents With Dementia: An Allostatic Load Perspective

Background:Circadian rhythm disruption, reflected in alterations in sleep–wake activity and daytime napping behavior, is consistently reported in nursing home (NH) residents with dementia. This dis...
Probabilistic Modeling and Assessment Tool Design and Evaluation

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a prototype decision support tool (DST) called the Probabilistic Modeling and Assessment Tool (PMAT). The DST is designed to help traffic management coordinators adjust the parameter settings of Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) in response to forecast changes in airport acceptance rate (AAR). Using an internal fast-time simulation of arrival operations, PMAT generates estimates of the delays arriving aircraft will experience based on the incoming demand and probabilistic AAR forecast. PMAT may accept forecast AAR from weather or non-weather based plans for managing airport capacity. When the probabilistic AAR forecast is due to weather, PMAT will provide the air traffic management DST portion of the ATM-Weather Integration Plan. The use of a DST for proactively responding to an AAR forecast has several novel elements including a forecast probability matrix, operational impact metrics, and presentation of metrics for multiple alternatives. These elements were evaluated in a set of Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulations employing traffic management coordinators at Los Angeles and Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ZLA and ZTL, respectively) and Southern California and Charlotte Terminal Radar Approach Controls (SCT and CLT, respectively). Among the participants, 95 percent said that they would use PMAT to help them make decisions every day or whenever there was a potential weather disruption. Benefits that the HITL participants saw from a tool like PMAT included greater confidence to deliver high demand under marginal conditions when the potential airborne holding is reasonable for their facility, and improved coordination with other NAS stakeholders.
Investigation on biological characteristics of Aedes caspius group

Objective To understand the biological characteristics of the Aedes caspius group in Inner Mongolia and provide scientific basis for mosquitoes prevention and control.Methods Using cattle as the bait to catch female mosquitoes,gathering the larvae and pupa in various water.Results Ae.caspius,Ae.dorsalis and Ae.flavidorsalis were the major mosquitoes in the western region of Inner Mongolia.They all had the similarities in ecoligical habits.Conclusion It is necessary to give the first place to managing in the breeding groud and take the measures for the mosquito prevention as the supplement.
Secondary repair of burned hands. 1981.

SUMMARY The vast majority of problems requiring secondary repairs following thermal burns are the consequences of complications rather than direct thermal injury. As primary care improves, there is a corresponding reduction in the need for secondary repairs, but multiple injuries and many other factors often preclude ideal initial care. Secondary repair of burned hands requires a careful, comprehensive plan, individualized for each patient and with due respect to all of the patient’s problems. With severe injury, multiple surgical procedures are almost always required and should be planned for maximum economy of time and stages. Much can be offered, but always our success can be measured only in terms of what our efforts have done for the patient in a global sense.
Intravenous Potassium Infusion Reverses Skeletal Muscle Fatigue

Intracellular potassium loss has been implicated as the basis of skeletal muscle fatigue (1). A decrease in the cell membrane K+ gradient diminishes the action potential. In turn, Ca++ release decreases and a smaller tension is developed. The largest K+ losses have been reported during high-intensity, dynamic exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of KC1 infusion on hindlimb forces in rabbits.
DC analysis and design of a PWM buck converter operated as a dynamic power supply

Summary Modern energy transmission and signal reproduction techniques rely upon power amplifiers that must operate with high efficiency. An increasingly popular technique for addressing this problem involves replacing the fixed power amplifier supply voltage VDD with a controlled, variable voltage provided by a dynamic power supply. Although pulse-width modulated dc-dc buck converters typically function as fixed-output supplies, this paper provides new theoretical dc analysis for operation wherein the output voltage is controlled and continuously variable over a wide range. A design procedure for the variable-output buck converter is derived. Key device parameters affecting converter speed and efficiency are identified. The dc analysis and design procedure are verified experimentally, with calculated and measured parameters shown to be in good agreement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development and Validation of a Cultural Method for the Detection and Isolation of Salmonella in Cloves.

ABSTRACT Detection of Salmonella in some spices, such as cloves, remains a challenge due to their inherent antimicrobial properties. The purpose of this study was to develop an effective detection method for Salmonella from spices using cloves as a model. Two clove varieties, Ceylon and Madagascar, were used in the study. Cloves were inoculated with Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotypes Montevideo, Typhimurium, or Weltevreden at about 1, 3, or 6 log CFU/25 g. Two test portion sizes, 10 and 25 g, were compared. After adding Trypticase soy broth (TSB) to the weighed cloves for preenrichment, three preenrichment methods were compared: cloves were left in the TSB for 24 h during preenrichment (PreE1), or the cloves-TSB mixture was shaken vigorously for 30 s (PreE2) or 60 s (PreE3), and the decanted material was transferred to a new bag for 24 h of preenrichment. The rest of the procedures were carried out according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM). At th...
Age and Cadmium as Modifiers of Metabolic and Thiol-Based Redox Homeostasis in Glutathione-Deficient Mice

The Nrf2 signaling pathway is one of the most important cellular defense and survival pathways, and the importance of Nrf2 signaling in aging has been well-documented. Intracellular levels of glutathione (GSH), a very important endogenous antioxidant, both governs and is governed by the Nrf2 pathway through expression of genes involved in its biosynthesis, including the subunits of the rate-limiting enzyme (glutamate cysteine ligase, GCL) in GSH production, GCLC and GCLM. Mice homozygous for the Gclm gene are severely deficient in GSH compared to wild-type controls, expressing approximately 10% of normal GSH levels (McConnachie et al., 2007). To compensate for reduced GSH, Gclm null mice have upregulated Nrf2-regulated genes, and, surprisingly, are less susceptible to certain types of oxidative damage. Young (
The Challenge of Originalism: That Old-Time Originalism

In recent years, and especially lately, both the defense and criticism of originalism have become more theoretically sophisticated than they once were, reflecting the influence of philosophy in an analytical vein. But has this sophistication been beneficial? And is it in any case irresistible, so that as Larry Solum suggests, "if philosophical tools make significant contributions to constitutional theory, then constitutional theorists must master them"? This essay questions whether increased philosophical sophistication has benefitted originalism and tentatively concludes that there can be commerce between law and philosophy without colonization.
From talking to the radio to talking through the radio: Addressee analysis of text messages sent to the Italian radio station

Abstract This study analyzes addressee choice(s) in text message construction sent to the radio station by listeners. Addressee choices within a text message are conditioned by the user texting practices implemented by the radio station in several ways. First, the radio station filters listeners’ messages and does not text back. Second, texting is limited to a character length. Thus, messages have to be relevant but succinct. Study has revealed that texters addressed their messages one to another instead of addressing their messages to the radio station; this occurred in single and multiple-addressee messages. This finding suggests that listeners continue to address the radio station, as in classical call-ins, yet, these practices reveal the shift from talking to to talking through mass media. This research suggests that individual audience members’ engagement with mass media shifts toward interpersonal uses of back-channels that are not necessarily geared toward mass media content. I explain such behaviors through the lens of associational listening that fosters interpersonal talk. The emergence of messages that combines radio and user addressees resemble what we metaphorically call interactive content smuggling geared toward interpersonal interactions through a mass medium.
Emotional Factor Impacts on User Compliance with an Automated Advisor System

Social norms and emotional instincts such as “women and children first” have historically guided judgement and decision making processes in crisis situations. This study simulated emotionally charg...
Pure Monopoly Model

The classical model of the anti-competitive and socially undesirable monopoly is the pure monopoly model. In this model, the monopolist provides less output—at a higher price—than would be provided by competitive firms facing the same production costs. The output drop and price hike are both anti-competitive negative consequences to consumers of monopoly. The model accommodates other measures of anti-competitive harm, including changes in consumer surplus and total surplus.
What parents are reading about laryngomalacia: Quality and readability of internet resources on laryngomalacia.

Abstract Objective The goal of this study is to measure the quality and readability of websites related to laryngomalacia, and to compare the quality and readability scores for the sites accessed through the most popular search engines. Introduction Laryngomalacia is a common diagnosis in children but is often difficult for parents to comprehend. As information available on the internet is unregulated, the quality and readability of this information may vary. Methods An advanced search on Google, Yahoo, and Bing was conducted using the terms “laryngomalacia” OR “soft larynx” OR “floppy voice box.” The first ten websites meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria were evaluated, for each search engine. Quality and readability were assessed using the DISCERN criteria and the Flesch reading ease scoring (FRES) and Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL) tests, respectively. Results The top 10 hits on each search engine yielded 15 unique web pages. The median DISCERN score (out of a possible high-score of 80) was 48.5 (SD 12.6). The median USA grade-level estimated by the FKGL was 11.3 (SD 1.4). Only one website (6.7%), had a readability score in the optimal range of 6th to 8th grade reading level. DISCERN scores did not correlate with FKGL scores (r = 0.10). Conclusion Online information discussing laryngomalacia often varies in quality and may not be easily comprehensible to the public. It is important for healthcare professionals to understand the quality of health information accessible to patients as it may influence medical decision-making by patient families.
Where do Black lives matter? Race, stigma, and place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

This article analyzes how the spatial metaphor of 53206, a zip code within the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, connects with crises in the legitimacy of policing and politicians’ claims to care about...
Hypothermia During Laparoscopic Nephrectomy

A case of hypothermia occurring during laparoscopic nephrectomy for kidney donation is presented. Induction of general anesthesia and multiple boluses of unwarmed normal saline precipitated the drop in temperature which decreased to 33.6 °C during the case. Following the placement of a forced-air warming blanket and fluid warmers, the patient’s temperature improved and eventually normalized in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Expected changes in temperature following the induction of general anesthesia are reviewed. The initial decrease in core body temperature is caused by a redistribution of blood from the patient’s core to periphery. This is followed by continued heat loss to the environment via four main processes: radiation, convection, conduction, and evaporation. Multiple deleterious consequences of hypothermia are discussed which include myocardial ischemia, cardiac dysrhythmias, altered metabolism of drugs, and increased PACU stay. Lastly important methods to warm a hypothermic patient are summarized.
Financial Reform and the Subsidization of Sophisticated Investors’ Ignorance in Securitization Markets

Many commentators have argued that securitization – where investment banks pool receivables, such as mortgages, and then resell them as a collection of securities – creates investments so complex that even sophisticated investors cannot determine asset quality. Securitization’s critics often cite evidence of widespread fraud in the securitization of subprime residential mortgage loans as an exemplar of this argument. Relying on recent work in behavioral economics and social psychology, these critics conclude that mandatory disclosure will be insufficient to protect investors from overpaying for lower quality assets because of limitations endemic to human behavior.However, loans securitized in the $800 billion market for commercial mortgage backed securities (“CMBS”) have not experienced widespread defaults or evidenced fraud. Even though few CMBS issuances took place during the financial crisis, the resiliency of commercial mortgage loans is an example of where, even under stress, investments created through securitization have met investors’ expectations. As a result, CMBS stand as an unexplored counterexample to securitization’s critics who contend that securitization makes accurate pricing of assets impossible. This Article fills an important gap in the literature by being the first to examine the CMBS market and its resilience during the Market Meltdown and one of the first to examine the effects of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill on securitization.Even in a market with perfect information, some critics of securitization suggest that behavioral biases will prevent investors from acting rationally. I argue that these behavioral biases may be (i) culturally specific, (ii) overcome through use of technology, and (iii) mitigated through learning and cross checking. Drawing on research of information asymmetries in economics and finance, I propose an alternate regulatory framework to determine, in a market where not all information is publicly available, at what point prices will inform investors about investment quality. In particular, I use the framework to show that, even in an illiquid market, sufficient publicly available information about substitute investments is the best investor protection. I conclude that protecting investors from themselves robs uninformed investors of the information necessary to transact with sophisticated investors and subsidizes sophisticated investors’ ignorance at the expense of all market participants.
Maximizing flexibility: a retraction heuristic for oversubscribed scheduling problems

In this paper we consider the solution of scheduling problems that are inherently over-subscribed. In such problems, there are always more tasks to execute within a given time frame than available resource capacity will allow, and hence decisions must be made about which tasks should be included in the schedule and which should be excluded. We adopt a controlled, iterative repair search approach, and focus on improving the results of an initial priority-driven solution generation procedure. Central to our approach is a new retraction heuristic, termed max-flexibility, which is responsible for identifying which tasks to (temporarily) retract from the schedule for reassignment in an effort to incorporate additional tasks into the schedule. The max-flexibility heuristic chooses those tasks that have maximum flexibility for assignment within their feasible windows. We empirically evaluate the performance of max-flexibility using problem data and the basic scheduling procedure from a fielded airlift mission scheduling application. We show that it produces better improvement results than two contention-based retraction heuristics, including a variant of min-conflicts L Minton et al., 1992, with significantly less search and computational cost.
Self-driving cars: Technologies, business opportunities and challenges

In this talk our solutions to the four core modules in self-driving cars, "Where am I?", "What's around me?", "What will happen next" and "What should I do?" will be described. The lessons learned, business opportunities and challenges for deploying self-driving cars at scale will be discussed.
Time to bite the bullet on removing incompetent teachers

This article suggests that it is now time to properly prepare to have processes in place in each educational institution that will support removing teachers who continue to fail their students. It ...
The Influence of Delinquent Peer Affiliation on Substance Use: The Moderating Effects of Anxiety and Depression

Although the effects of peer substance use on adolescent substance use are well documented, little is known about whether internalizing behaviors—anxiety and depression—exacerbate or attenuate the ...
School resources and labor market outcomes: Evidence from early twentieth-century Georgia

Abstract The relationship between school resources and students’ labor market outcomes has been a topic of debate among economists for the last half-century. The release of the 1940 United States census, the first to ask questions regarding income, allows for a closer examination of this relationship for those born in the early twentieth century. I link children residing in Georgia in 1910 to their responses as adults to the 1940 census and to district-level measures of school revenues. Georgia is attractive as a case study since State School Fund allocation rules provide a plausibly exogenous source of variation in school district revenues. The results suggest that a 10 percentage point increase in school revenues for the first three years of an individual’s schooling increases educational attainment by more than a third of a year and weekly wage earnings in adulthood by 7.14% ( e 0.0069 × 10 − 1 ) on average for whites.
Cochlear implant electrode insertion: Jacobson's nerve, a useful anatomical landmark.

The classical technique in approaching the scala tympani through the round window niche by way of facial recess has not always been successful. There have been recent reports on false insertion of the electrode array into the hypotympanic cells tracts or infralabrynithine cells tracts. In these cases the round window niche are situated posterior, or obliterated due to bony growth, or sclerosed at the basal turn of the cochlea. Therefore, successful intubation of the scala tympani much depends upon the position of the round window niche and patency of the basal turn of the cochlea. The present study was conducted in an attempt to elucidate factors that determine the ease of insertion of an electrode array, and to by-pass the initial turn of the basal cochlea (hook area). The jacobson’s nerve (JN) landmark was used to perform cochleostomy by drilling anteriorly or through the nerve. The inferior segment position of the basal turn of the cochlea studied in relation to the JN and successful intubation of the scala tympani was achieved. Also, critical anatomical measurements were made pertaining to this surgical technique.
Differential gene expression and functional pathway enrichment in colon cell line CCD 841 CoN (CRL-1790) transfected with miR-mimics miR-18b, miR-142-3p, miR-155, and miR-890

Abstract This report is a bioinformatic analysis of samples from NCBI GEO database series GS132501. It includes previously un-reported data for miR-mimic over-expression of the miRNAs miR-18b, miR-155, miR-142-3p, and miR-890 in the ATCC CRL-1790 cell line. Data analysis was performed using Nanostring nSolver 4.0 and Advanced Analysis Module 2.0 plugin (Nanostring MAN-10030-03). Bioinformatic methods utilized include pathway scoring, differential expression (DE), and gene-set enrichment (GSE) analyses. Findings, with full supplementary data, provide a community resource for effects of dysregulation of these miRNAs in a colon ‘epithelial-like’ cell line.
An exploration of the diagnosis and treatment of obesity among integrative medicine health care providers

Abstract Introduction Little is known about how Integrative Medicine (IM) providers diagnose and treat obesity. The study objectives were to explore the diagnosis and treatment of obesity, to evaluate the accuracy of visual inspection of body mass index (BMI) category, and to assess barriers to weight loss counseling among providers. Methods A survey was administered to providers through the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health, Bravewell Clinical Network, and Pan Osher sites. Participants were asked to select the BMI category of 19 individuals based on a full-length photograph. Provider behaviors and barriers regarding the management of obesity were assessed. Results Surveys were sent to approximately 200 providers. A total of 67 people responded, 60 of whom met the inclusion criteria for an approximate response rate of 34 %. Respondents represented 14 different professions; 47 %, physicians (MD), 13 %, licensed acupuncturists (LAc), 8%, registered dieticians (RD). The accuracy of visual assessment of BMI was 45 %, and providers were more likely to underestimate BMI category (44 %) than overestimate (12 %, p Conclusions IM providers in our study felt it was their role to address obesity. However, the accuracy of visual inspection was low, and some IM physicians felt comfortable discussing medical or surgical interventions.
Wireless Reconfigurable RF Detector Array for Focal and Multiregional Signal Enhancement

Wirelessly Amplified NMR Detectors (WAND) can utilize wireless pumping power to amplify MRI signals in situ for sensitivity enhancement of deep-lying tissues that are difficult to access by conventional surface coils. To reconfigure between selective and simultaneous activation in a multielement array, each WAND has a dipole resonance mode for MR signal acquisition and two butterfly modes that support counter-rotating current circulation. Because detectors in the same row share the same lower butterfly frequency but different higher butterfly frequency, a pumping signal at the sum frequency of the dipole mode and the higher butterfly mode can selectively activate individual resonators, leading to 4-fold sensitivity gain over passive coupling. Meanwhile, a pumping signal at the sum frequency of the dipole mode and the lower butterfly mode can simultaneously activate multiple resonators in the same row, leading to 3-fold sensitivity gain over passive coupling. When multiple rows of detectors are parallelly aligned, each row has a unique lower butterfly frequency for consecutive activation during the acquisition interval of the others. This wireless detector array can be embedded beneath a headpost that is normally required for multi-modal brain imaging, enabling easy reconfiguration between focal imaging of individual vessels and multiregional mapping of brain connectivity.
Investigating the Photochemical Decomposition of Solid 1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX)

Energetic materials such as 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) are known to photodissociate when exposed to UV light. However, the fundamental photochemical process(es) that initiate the decompo...
Using Innovative and Scientifically-Based Debate to Build e-Learning Community

The research described in this article explored the efficacy of a novel approach to recreating classroom debates online. Using a structured approach and collaborative group work, the researcher developed an approach that students found very useful in six differ ent dimensions. The research also explored possible differences in perceptions stemming from students’ familiarity with online learning by comparing the perceptions of students enrolled in only online classes with those of students enrolled in primarily on-ground classes. No significant differences in any of the variables were found, indicating the efficacy of the approach for all students.
The Influence of Body Mass Index on Outcomes After Hip Arthroscopy for Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome: Five-Year Results in 140 Patients:

Background:Significant short-term improvements in function and pain after arthroscopic management of femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) have been demonstrated regardless of mass index (BM...
A Longitudinal Study of Exposure to Tobacco-Related Toxicants and Subsequent Respiratory Symptoms Among U.S. Adults with Varying E-cigarette Use Status.

Background The link between e-cigarette use and subsequent development of respiratory diseases remains an open question. Aims and methods A subset of a probability sample of U.S. adults from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study Waves 1 and 2 were selected for biospecimen analysis (n = 4614). Subjects were divided into three mutually exclusive groups at baseline: nonusers (n = 2849), exclusive e-cigarette users (n = 222), and poly e-cigarette/tobacco users (n = 1,543). Geometric mean concentrations of baseline biomarkers from five classes of harmful and potentially harmful constituents were reported. Multivariable linear regressions were conducted to examine the relationship between baseline biomarkers and subsequent respiratory symptoms among user groups. Results Baseline exclusive e-cigarette users (33.6%[confidence interval, CI: 26.7% to 41.4%]) and poly e-cigarette/tobacco users (50.8%[CI: 47.4% to 54.2%]) had higher prevalence of subsequent respiratory symptoms than nonusers (21.7%[19.2% to 24.4%]). As compared with nonusers, poly e-cigarette/tobacco users had higher concentrations in clinically relevant biomarkers at baseline than exclusive e-cigarette users. Among poly e-cigarette/tobacco users, baseline nicotine metabolites (TNE2, cotinine), tobacco-specific nitrosamine (NNAL), PAH (1-NAP, 3-FLU), and volatile organic compound (N-Acetyl-S-(2-carboxyethyl)-l-cysteine, N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoethyl)-l-cysteine) were significantly higher among those reporting subsequent respiratory symptoms than those who did not. Among exclusive e-cigarette users, baseline NNAL was significantly higher among those reporting subsequent respiratory symptoms than those who did not. Within subjects with subsequent respiratory symptoms, NNAL was 2.5 times higher in exclusive e-cigarette users (10.7[6.5 to 17.5]) and 63.4 times higher in poly e-cigarette/tobacco users (199.6[176.7 to 225.4]) than nonusers (3.1[2.4 to 3.9]). Conclusions E-cigarette use is associated with higher concentrations of known tobacco-related toxicants and risks of subsequent respiratory symptoms than nonusers. Poly e-cigarette/tobacco users exhibit higher risk than exclusive e-cigarette users. Implications This longitudinal study identified positive associations between baseline urinary biomarkers of exposure to tobacco-related toxicants and increased risks of subsequent respiratory symptoms across varying e-cigarette use groups. E-cigarette use is associated with increased exposure to known tobacco-related toxicants, and certain toxicant exposure increases the risk of respiratory symptoms.
Ultra-sonic super compact rotary stage for arrayed wide-angle camera system: prototype results

Arrayed Wide-Angle Camera System (AWACS) is built on the segmented field corrector architecture that can break the limits of monolithic design in scaling to the ELTs and beyond. AWACS accomplishes desired field expansion via a suite of small cost-effective electro-opto-mechanical units over a telescope’s focal surface that compensates for telescope field aberrations and atmospheric dispersion, locally but simultaneously. These units are based on one common design where a pair of atmospheric dispersion compensation prisms and cylindrical lenses must be counter rotated to tune the level of corrections within a highly confined air space within each unit. This calls for a super tiny rotary mechanism and this paper details the results from prototyping ultra-sonic super compact rotary stages.
How to Create and Evaluate a Resident-Led Audio Program: Six Clinical Podcasts for Medicine House Staff.

Introduction Podcasting in medical education has grown substantially. However, podcasts focused on internal medicine topics are relatively uncommon, and those created by or designed for medicine re...
The Quality of Kenya's March 2013 Elections and its Likely Impact

This paper will evaluate the quality of the critical March 2013 national elections in Kenya based on the application of the Election Administration Systems Index (EASI). The ethnic violence surrounding the 2007 presidential elections produced a wide-ranging reform of the political system, the first major test of which is the March elections. The perceived legitimacy of the electionsthe quality of their administrationwill largely determine whether the country can peacefully continue with its dramatic democratic transition. Created and pilot tested in consultation with elections experts worldwide, EASI is a practical, transparent, and sustainable tool for measuring the quality of elections in the developing world. EASI is based on a 48-question survey of 1'212 election experts, and in Kenya will be carried out soon after the election. The evaluation will include a set of six primary scores displayed across dimension and time. Our EASI findings will be supplemented by the reports of election monitors, the media, and other documentation. I will discuss the results in detail and the likely impact of the quality of the elections on the Kenyan polity.
Cannabis-related diagnosis in pregnancy and adverse maternal and infant outcomes.

Abstract Background Cannabis use and cannabis use disorders are increasing in prevalence, including among pregnant women. The objective was to evaluate the association of a cannabis-related diagnosis (CRD) in pregnancy and adverse maternal and infant outcomes. Methods We queried an administrative birth cohort of singleton deliveries in California between 2011–2017 linked to maternal and infant hospital discharge records. We classified pregnancies with CRD from International Classification of Disease codes. We identified nicotine and other substance-related diagnoses (SRD) in the same manner. Outcomes of interest included maternal (hypertensive disorders) and infant (prematurity, small for gestational age, NICU admission, major structural malformations) adverse outcomes. Results From 3,067,069 pregnancies resulting in live births, 29,112 (1.0 %) had a CRD. CRD was associated with an increased risk of all outcomes studied; the strongest risks observed were for very preterm birth (aRR 1.4, 95 % CI 1.3, 1.6) and small for gestational age (aRR 1.4, 95 % CI 1.3, 1.4). When analyzed with or without co-exposure diagnoses, CRD alone conferred increased risk for all outcomes compared to no use. The strongest effects were seen for CRD with other SRD (preterm birth aRR 2.3, 95 % CI 2.2, 2.5; very preterm birth aRR 2.6, 95 % CI 2.3, 3.0; gastrointestinal malformations aRR 2.0, 95 % CI 1.6, 2.6). The findings were generally robust to unmeasured confounding and misclassification analyses. Conclusions CRD in pregnancy was associated with increased risk of adverse maternal and infant outcomes. Providing education and effective treatment for women with a CRD during prenatal care may improve maternal and infant health.
Back to basics: a rare and aggressive case of Aggregatibacter aphrophilus endocarditis

We present the case of a 25-year-old with a history of bicuspid aortic valve and ascending aortopathy who was successfully treated for infective endocarditis (IE) due to Aggregatibacter aphrophilus. His clinical course was complicated by a large aortic root abscess not initially visualised on transthoracic echocardiography or computerised tomography. The cardinal feature of progressive prolongation of the PR interval on serial electrocardiograms was the only sign associated with clinical deterioration and was the trigger for rapid investigation and urgent management. Our case emphasises the importance of simple bedside tests to identify dynamic clinical scenarios and the requirement for early further imaging in the management of IE.
Rethinking incompatibility in kidney transplantation.

Donor/recipient incompatibility in kidney transplantation classically refers to ABO/HLA-incompatibility. Kidney paired donation (KPD) was historically established to circumvent ABO/HLA-incompatibility, with the goal of identifying ABO/HLA-compatible matches. However, there is a broad range of donor factors known to impact recipient outcomes beyond ABO/HLA-incompatibility, such as age and weight, and quantitative tools are now available to empirically compare potential living donors across many of these factors, such as the living donor kidney donor profile index (LKDPI). Moreover, the detrimental impact of mismatch at other HLA antigens (such as DQ) and epitope mismatching on post-transplant outcomes has become increasingly recognized. Thus, it is time for a new paradigm of incompatibility that considers all of these risks factors together in assessing donor/recipient compatibility and the potential utility for KPD. Under this new paradigm of incompatibility, we show how the LKDPI and other tools can be used to identify donor/recipient incompatibilities that could be improved through KPD, even for those with a traditionally 'compatible' living donor.
The Ultrasonic Measurement of Elastic Constants of Structural FRP Composites

Interest in fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) composites for structural highway applications has generated the need for reliable techniques which may be used to measure all of the elastic constants of these materials. Mechanical techniques may only be used to measure some of the engineering constants of these anisotropic materials due to the geometry of the pultruded members. Further, mechanical tests are destructive in nature. Ultrasonic techniques are uniquely qualified for the nondestructive measurement of all of the elastic constants of these materials. This paper presents the results of three ultrasonic techniques. The first of these is an immersion technique, similar to that presented by Gieske and Allred [1]. The last two techniques were developed specifically for this research, and implement optical generation and detection of surface acoustic waves for the measurement of some of the elastic constants. The results of the various techniques are compared to each other, as well as to results from mechanical tests.
Explanation and Connectionism

Explanation is an important function in symbolic artificial intelligence (AI). For example, explanation is used in machine learning and for the interpretation of prediction failures in case-based reasoning. Furthermore, the explanation of results of a reasoning process to a user who is not a domain expert must be a component of any inference system. Experience with expert systems has shown that the ability to generate explanations is absolutely crucial for the user-acceptance of AI systems (Davis, Buchanan & Shortliffe 1977). In contrast to symbolic systems, neural networks have no explicit, declarative knowledge representation and therefore have considerable difficulties in generating explanation structures. In neural networks, knowledge is encoded in numeric parameters (weights) and distributed all over the system.
Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields

In this chapter we study elliptic curves defined over a finite field. The most important arithmetic quantity associated with such a curve is its number of rational points. We start by proving a theorem of Hasse which says that if K is a field with q elements, and E/K is an elliptic curve, then E(K) contains approximately q points, with an error of no more than \(2\sqrt {q} \). Following Weil, we then reinterpret and extend this result in terms of a certain generating function, the zeta-function of the curve. In the final two sections we study in some detail the endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve defined over a finite field, and in particular give the relationship between End(E) and the existence of non-trivial p-torsion points. The notation for chapter V is:
Hayek's New Popularity

As FOXNews talk show host Glenn Beck and others champion Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, its sales have soared. Hayek warned that even a moderate social safety net would lead to a totalitarian government. It did not happen. But this does not deter his avid supporters. The authors follow up on their article on the subject in the previous issue of Challenge to identify how misplaced the fear invoked by Beck and others is—and how wrong Hayek was.