cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Learning and Technology? Technology and Learning? A Commentary

Should we or can we understand learning better by working with technology, and then better support learning through technology? Research that compares learning with “low-tech” technologies (paper and pencil, models and metaphors) with learning with “high-tech” technologies (calculators, dynamic software environments, touch-interactive devices) promises contributions to this question. This commentary argues that learning uses technology while technology uses learning, as demonstrated by the studies in this section of Sourcebook. Researchers in these chapters resist a common tendency to conceive of technology outside of humanity, and in this way offer models of richly informed by the co-construction of humans and their technologies.
VEPTR: Are We Reducing Respiratory Assistance Requirements?

BACKGROUND The assisted ventilation rating (AVR) indicates the degree of external respiratory support required in children with thoracic insufficiency syndrome (TIS) and early onset scoliosis. For skeletally immature patients with TIS, the vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) device can be used to improve lung volume and growth. We hypothesized that patients who underwent early thoracic reconstruction by VEPTR treatment had an improved respiratory status. METHODS Preoperative and postoperative AVR ratings were prospectively collected in a multicenter study group and compared to determine change after VEPTR treatment. Patients under 10 years of age at initial implant with minimum of 2-year follow-up data were included. Patients were excluded if there were incomplete data or if initial AVR was normal (breathing on room air). Statistical analysis was performed on groups which had stable, declined, and improved AVR at final follow-up. RESULTS Database search yielded 77 patients with initial abnormal AVR. Average follow-up was 5.6 years. The most frequent primary diagnoses were congenital scoliosis (n=14) and spinal muscular atrophy (n=14). In total, 19 (24%) demonstrated improvement, 9 (12%) patients deteriorated, and 49 (64%) remained at the same level. The average preoperative major curve in those with improvement (58.4 degrees) and those with no change (63.5 degrees) was less than in those with deterioration (85.5 degrees) (P=0.014). The average age in years at implant of those with improvement (4) was less than those declined (6.7) and those with no change (5.5). In total, 16 (84.2%) of those that improved had a normal AVR and did not require respiratory support at last follow-up. CONCLUSIONS There is evidence that a subset of patients with early onset scoliosis and TIS who received early thoracic reconstruction with VEPTR treatment show complete resolution of pulmonary support at final follow-up. In total, 89% of 79 patients did not experience respiratory deterioration. A total of 24% (n=19) had a positive change with over 84% (n=16) of this group no longer requiring support. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level III-prognostic.
Transcriptomic profiles of aging in naïve and memory CD4 + cells from mice.

CD4+ T cells can be broadly divided into naive and memory subsets, each of which are differentially impaired by the aging process. It is unclear if and how these differences are reflected at the transcriptomic level. We performed microarray profiling on RNA derived from naive (CD44low) and memory (CD44high) CD4+ T cells derived from young (2–3 month) and old (28 month) mice, in order to better understand the mechanisms of age-related functional alterations in both subsets. We also performed follow-up bioinformatic analyses in order to determine the functional consequences of gene expression changes in both of these subsets, and identify regulatory factors potentially responsible for these changes. We found 185 and 328 genes differentially expressed (FDR ≤ 0.05) in young vs. old naive and memory cells, respectively, with 50 genes differentially expressed in both subsets. Functional annotation analyses highlighted an increase in genes involved in apoptosis specific to aged naive cells. Both subsets shared age-related increases in inflammatory signaling genes, along with a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation genes. Cis-regulatory analyses revealed enrichment of multiple transcription factor binding sites near genes with age-associated expression, in particular NF-κB and several forkhead box transcription factors. Enhancer associated histone modifications were enriched near genes down-regulated in naive cells. Comparison of our results with previous mouse and human datasets indicates few overlapping genes overall, but suggest consistent up-regulation of Casp1 and Il1r2, and down-regulation of Foxp1 in both mouse and human CD4+ T cells. The transcriptomes of naive and memory CD4+ T cells are distinctly affected by the aging process. However, both subsets exhibit a common increase inflammatory genes and decrease in oxidative phosphorylation genes. NF-κB, forkhead box, and Myc transcription factors are implicated as upstream regulators of these gene expression changes in both subsets, with enhancer histone modifications potentially driving unique changes unique to naive cells. Finally we conclude that there is little overlap in age-related gene expression changes between humans and mice; however, age-related alterations in a small subset of genes may be conserved.
THE EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE MATURITY ON CONCUSSION ASSESSMENT IN LOW SOCIOECONOMIC URBAN HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES

Background Implementing concussion assessment programs for youth athletes are necessary to manage clinical care in sports. However, confounding factors such as cognitive maturity and socioeconomic status may complicate clinical interpretation of testing following concussion. Objective Determine the stability of test scores between low socioeconomic athletes and non-athletes. Design Prospective longitudinal between-groups cohort design. Setting Youth Sports. Participants High school students (n=783) were recruited either prior to their competitive season or during the academic year to establish baseline cognitive function. Interventions All participants were administered annual baseline testing on computerized neuropsychological test battery (ImPACT) to track the effect of cognitive maturity. Using SPSS, a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures (group×time) was run on ImPACT composite scores, using an alpha level of .05 for all tests. Main Outcome Measurements ImPACT composite scores. Results Significant interactions of group and time existed for composite visual motor (Wilks9 λ=0.97, F(1,782)=20.53, p Conclusions Cognitive maturity does not appear to affect composite ImPACT scores, however there is a break in composite visual motor scores between older and ninth grade participants. The need for annual baseline testing may not be warranted beyond tenth grade. Future research should examine test scores across a high school career to gain more understanding of changes related to cognitive maturity.
Effect of Sensory Attenuation on Cortical Movement-Related Oscillations

Transient attenuation of sensory afferents in young, healthy adults led to similar changes in brain activity found previously in volunteers with incomplete spinal cord injury. Beta band power assoc...
White Views of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity: Colorblindness, Qualifications, and Quotas

This paper reports on interviews with 246 randomly selected whites (25-55) in three areas of the country regarding views of civil rights and equal opportunity. The interviews find that most whites are positive about the civil rights movement, but are opposed to affirmative action in the form of quotas. The interviewees espouse a principle of colorblindness (that color doesn't or shouldn't matter), that everyone should have equal opportunity as long as they are qualified, and that those who try hard enough and don't give up will have a reasonable chance of reaching their goals. The interviewees condemn prejudice and discrimination based on color. Although there are some variations, these views are consistent across region, class, and gender. Because the interviewees believe that their views define what is fair, they do not see themselves as contributing to racial conflict. Many attribute to blacks a view that they believe to be unfair, namely, that blacks want special privileges and that they believe that the country owes them a living. The life histories of the white interviewees, however, show their own reliance on social capital and family resources. Indeed, the interviews show that most whites are not content to live by the principle of equal opportunity. Instead, they seek advantage. Because of the ideology of colorblindness, however, the advantages that the white interviewees enjoy are not salient to them. They believe themselves to have gotten ahead through hard work, motivation, persistence, and talent.
Damage Control Laparotomy

Patients who require damage control surgery are generally in extremis where there is little time for extensive preoperative work-up and evaluation. Damage control laparotomy begins with rapid access and wide exposure followed by control of bleeding and contamination in that order. In trauma patients, rapid control of hemorrhage followed by resuscitation with blood, plasma, and platelets in a 1:1:1 ratio may prevent the lethal triad of hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulopathy. Enter peritoneal cavity through generous midline incision from xyphoid to pubis and quickly assess the degree of surgery that is required compared to the patient’s physiology and available institutional resources. If the patients is unstable or what is necessary to treat their condition is greater than what can be provided, it is time to embark on a damage control pathway. Thus damage control is more of a concept than technique which is important for all surgeons to understand.
Use of Lambing Cubicles and the Behavior of Ewes at Parturition

Three trials were conducted involving 393 ewes to determine the feasibility of using cubicles to provide isolation for parturient ewes in lambing pens. The cubicles consisted of an enclosure with 1 m high walls and a small (.6 m wide) opening to allow ewes free access. In trial 1, 42% of the parturitions occurred in the cubicles, which occupied only 19% of the pen area. No preference was noted for large (1.8 x 1.8 m) vs small (1.8 x 1.2 m) cubicles. Use of the cubicles increased from 4% of the time 24 h before parturition to 25% of the time during the 6 h immediately preceding parturition. In trial 2, ewes did not show a preference for open vs covered walls on cubicles or for open vs covered cubicle ceilings. Cubicles were again used to a greater (P less than .01) extent than would be predicted by their relative area (26% use, 18% area). In the final trial, mature ewes used cubicles to a greater (P less than .10) extent than did yearlings (55 vs 38%, respectively). Cubicles and areas of the pen farthest from the working area of the herdsman were most frequently (P less than .001) used during parturition. Cubicles appeared to be effective in preventing separation of newborn lambs from their dam and in reducing interference by other ewes.
Isolation of Gene Sequences from the BRCA1 Region of Chromosome 17q21 by Exon Amplification

A variety of techniques now exist for the identification and isolation of gene sequences from cloned genomic DNA. We report the use of exon amplification to isolate candidate exons of genes in the chromosome 17q21 region associated with familial breast and ovarian cancer. We have used the second generation splicing vector pSPL3, which provides greater flexibility for cloning genomic fragments and which reduces the frequency of the major classes of false positive clones. In two experiments, exon amplification was performed using DNAs of approximately 170 cosmids spanning 1–2 Mb of this region. Cosmid DNAs were pooled in groups of 6–10 each. More than 2000 candidate exon clones from these experiments have been arrayed in microtiter dishes. The average size determined for nearly 400 cloned inserts was approximately 200 base pairs. Ongoing efforts to identify and eliminate clone redundancy have thus far yielded more than 100 unique exon clones. Less than 10% of the clones were found to be repetitive or to be artifacts resulting from cryptic splicing involving sequences present in the splicing vector. Thus the great majority of clones were found to be single copy and to derive from the correct chromosomal location. These exons have been used as hybridization probes to isolate cDNA clones derived from normal breast tissue. The cloned exons and corresponding cDNAs are being localized within developing cosmid contigs in order to assemble a transcription map of the region, and to position transcribed sequences with respect to critical recombinants in breast/ovarian cancer families. While database searches suggest that many of the exon sequences are unique, these searches have also identified several genes which were either mapped previously to proximal 17q or which appear to be homologs of genes in other species. Exon amplification represents a rapid and efficient means for isolating candidate gene sequences from genomic clones, facilitating efforts to identify specific genes associated with disease using positional cloning strategies. Utilization of this technique to survey large genomic regions will also assist in efforts to construct transcription maps of chromosomes.
“The best predictor of future behavior is…”: examining the impact of past police misconduct on the likelihood of future misconduct

Previous studies have identified numerous correlates of police misconduct, but no study to date has examined the impact of prior misconduct on the likelihood of future misconduct. Using a populatio...
Optimizing cerebral oxygenation in cardiac surgery: A randomized controlled trial examining neurocognitive and perioperative outcomes

Abstract Objective The study objective was to determine whether targeted therapy to optimize cerebral oxygenation is associated with improved neurocognitive and perioperative outcomes. Methods In a prospective trial, intraoperative cerebral oximetry monitoring using bilateral forehead probes was performed in cardiac surgical patients who were randomly assigned to an intervention group in which episodes of cerebral oxygen desaturation ( 60 consecutive seconds at either probe) triggered an intervention protocol or a control group in which the cerebral oximetry data were hidden from the clinical team, and no intervention protocol was applied. Cognitive testing was performed preoperatively and at postoperative months 3 and 6; domains studied were response speed, processing speed, attention, and memory. Perioperative outcomes studied were death, hospital length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, postoperative day of extubation, time on mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit delirium, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment on intensive care unit admission, and intensive care unit blood transfusion. Results Group mean memory change scores were significantly better in the intervention group at 6 months (0.60 [standard error, 0.30] vs −0.17 [standard error, 0.33], adjusted P = .008). However, presence, duration, and severity of cerebral desaturation were not associated with cognitive change scores. Perioperative outcomes did not differ between the intervention and control groups. Conclusions Targeted therapy to optimize cerebral oxygenation was associated with better memory outcome in a group of cardiac surgical patients. Some aspects of the protocol other than desaturation duration and severity contributed to the observed neuroprotective effect.
Performance of Plain and Galvanized Reinforcing Steel During the Initiation Stage of Corrosion in Concrete with Pozzolanic Additions

The pH of the concrete pore solution is expected to be somewhat lower in concretes using pozzolanic additions than in concrete using unblended cements. Variations in pH pore solution may hold the key to explaining conflicting reports on the performance of galvanized rebar. To examine that factor, plain and galvanized rebars have been tested for over two years in concrete specimens made with cement type 2, with various contents of fly ash and silica fume. Electrochemical impedance measurements and sensitive polarization techniques have been used to measure the rate of metal dissolution in the absence of chloride contamination at two different levels of concrete moisture. The plain steel specimens have shown little tendency for passivation in two of the cement compositions with the highest levels of pozzolanic addition. The galvanized steel passivated in all cases and showed apparent corrosion current densities of less than 0.3 {micro}A near the end of the test. Implications of the length of the corrosion initiation period and on current materials selection criteria are presented.
Brexit Announcement: A Test of Market Efficiency

This study tests market efficiency theory by examining the effect of the Brexit announcement on the risk adjusted stock price returns of a sample of firms with strong economic ties to the EU using the standard event study methodology in the finance literature. How did the market react to UK leaving the European Union? We hypothesize that the June 24, 2016 Brexit announcement would negatively affect the risk adjusted returns of the sample of firms analyzed. The purpose of this study is to test market efficiency by analyzing the effect of Brexit’s announcement on the market. Specifically, we analyze the semi-strong market efficiency hypothesis predicting that stock price returns react so fast to all public information that no investor can earn an above normal return by acting on such news. Consistent with market efficiency and behavioral finance theories, we observe an overreaction to the bad news up to 14 days following the announcement followed by a return to equilibrium. Overall, results support semi-strong form market efficiency for the Brexit announcement. Implications of this study suggest that efforts to determine the “right” value of stock are useless since the market is semi-strong form efficient. The “right” price is themarket price that instantly impounds all available and relevant information.
Teaching or Not Teaching Empathic Listening to Future Physicians? Historical Roots and Ongoing Challenges

This commentary raises questions regarding empathy training as a core objective of foundational skills courses in most U.S. medical schools. While a number of educational activities focused on the ...
Virtual Reality as an Adjunct to Anesthesia in the Operating Room

Advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology have resulted in its expansion into health care. Preliminary studies have found VR to be effective as an adjunct to anesthesia to reduce pain and anxiety for patients during upper gastrointestinal endoscopies, dental procedures and joint arthroplasties. Current standard care practice for upper extremity surgery includes a combination of regional anesthesia and intraoperative propofol sedation. Commonly, patients receive deep propofol sedation during these cases, leading to potentially avoidable risks of over-sedation, hypotension, upper airway obstruction, and apnea. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of VR technology to promote relaxation for patients undergoing upper extremity surgery, thereby reducing intraoperative anesthetic requirements and improving the perioperative patient experience. In this single-center, randomized controlled trial, 40 adult patients undergoing upper extremity orthopedic surgery will be randomly allocated to either intraoperative VR immersion or usual care. VR immersion is designed to provide patients with a relaxing virtual environment to alleviate intraoperative anxiety. All patients receive a peripheral nerve block prior to surgery. Patients in the intervention group will select videos or immersive environments which will be played in the VR headset during surgery. An anesthesia provider will perform their usual clinical responsibilities intraoperatively and can administer anesthetic medications if and when clinically necessary. Patients in the control arm will undergo perioperative anesthesia according to standard care practice. The primary outcome is the difference in intraoperative propofol dose between the groups. Secondary outcomes include postoperative analgesia requirements and pain scores, length of stay in the postanesthesia care unit, overall patient satisfaction and postoperative functional outcomes. It is unknown whether the use of VR during upper extremity surgery can reduce intraoperative anesthetic requirements, reduce perioperative complications, or improve the postoperative patient experience. A positive result from this clinical trial would add to the growing body of evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of VR as an adjunct to anesthesia in reducing intraoperative pain and anxiety for multiple types of procedure. This could lead to a change in practice, with the introduction of a nonpharmacologic intervention potentially reducing the burden of over-sedation while still providing a satisfactory perioperative experience. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03614325. Registered on 9 July 2018.
Addressing spiritual well-being as a means of improving quality of life in Parkinson disease.

There is a growing acceptance of the role of palliative care for patients with neurological diseases, given the often progressive, debilitating, and terminal nature of the conditions (1). A specific body of literature has emerged that focuses on the needs of patients with Parkinson disease and their caregivers and it highlights the significant symptom burden in this patient population (2-5).
Estimates of availability and catchability for select rockfish species based on acoustic-optic surveys in the Gulf of Alaska

Abstract Fishery-independent surveys, such as bottom trawl surveys, provide time-series abundance estimates, which inform many modern stock assessments. Area-swept biomass estimates from trawl surveys assume that fish densities do not differ between trawlable (T) and untrawlable (UT) areas. Bias and imprecision in the biomass estimates can occur when this assumption is not met. Thus, reliable estimates are needed for both the extent of T and UT habitat types in the surveyed area, and the relative densities of the fish species in the two habitat types to accurately assess groundfish populations. Acoustics and stereo-camera survey tools were used in the present study to determine the extent of T and UT habitat within 25-km2 bottom trawl survey grid cells historically designated as T/UT. Splitbeam acoustics were used to compare the abundance of rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) between the T/UT grid cell areas. Acoustic data were collected along uniformly spaced transects within 52 T and 43 UT grid cells throughout the Gulf of Alaska during summers 2013, 2015, and 2017. The acoustic backscatter attributed to rockfishes in UT grid cells was approximately three times that in T cells, and the percentages available to the bottom trawl survey were 40 % for harlequin rockfish, 43 % for northern rockfish, 51 % for dusky rockfish, and 98 % for Pacific ocean perch (POP). These findings allowed for estimation of the trawl catchability coefficient (q; a scaler between estimates of the area-swept survey abundance and actual abundance) of 0.46 for harlequin rockfish, 0.50 for northern rockfish, and 0.64 for dusky rockfish, and 1.15 for POP. These values could be used to inform the relationship between trawl survey estimated and actual abundances of rockfishes to improve the accuracy of stock assessments for these species.
Why Do They Keep Coming? Labor Migrants in the Persian Gulf States

Based on sustained and multi-sited ethnographic work, this book chapter seeks to explain why migrants continue to flow to the wealthy states of the Arabian Peninsula despite the problems, challenges, and exploitations that many transnational labor migrants encounter there. The chapter concentrates on three overlapping explanations: poverty and structural violence in the migrant sending countries; misinformation and disinformation that shapes migrants' decisions to migrate; and the image and aura that migrants themselves construct around their time abroad.
Approaches for establishing and sustaining clinical academic partnerships: A discursive review.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To discuss the need for a formalised structure that bridges the clinical and academic realms with concrete recommendations for programme development. BACKGROUND In the rapidly changing landscape of health care, nurses are challenged with the responsibility to engage in evidence-based practice, quality improvement and research projects. Clinical and academic partnerships play a vital role in fostering collaboration, mentorship and resources. DESIGN Discursive paper. METHOD Searching international literature published between 2010-2020 in PubMed, CINAHL and Google Scholar, we explored the benefits, barriers and facilitators of clinical academic partnerships from the available evidence and professional perspectives from both sides of a clinical/academic collaboration. DISCUSSION Evidence-based literature supports the establishment of partnerships schools of nursing and clinical institutions to improve patient outcomes and experiences and provide additional resources for improved research and practice capacity between both entities. Barriers to establishing clinical academic partnerships included lack of time, lack of formal collaborations and knowledge deficits. Facilitators included visible leadership endorsement, mentoring and modelling a culture of inquiry. CONCLUSIONS The establishment of formalised clinical academic partnerships can be used to develop continuing education programmes, promote engagement in nursing inquiry, fill in knowledge gaps in practice and improve available resources and patient outcomes. There is a great need for capacity building in hospitals, superficially, those with a mission to address the research-practice gap, promote nursing excellence and improve patient outcomes. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nurse leaders play an instrumental role in establishing sustainable clinical academic partnerships that create shared resources, resulting in mutual benefit, and influences a much-needed shift in organisational culture and infrastructure.
Task-dependent audiovisual temporal sensitivity is not affected by stimulus intensity levels.

Abstract Flexibility and robustness of multisensory temporal recalibration is paramount for maintaining perceptual constancy of the surrounding natural world. Different environments impart various impediments, distances and routes that alter the propagation times of sight and sound cues comprising a multimodal event. One’s ability to rapidly calibrate and account for these external variations allows for maintained perception of synchrony which is crucial for coherent and consistent perception. The two common paradigms used to compare precision of temporal processing between experimental and control groups, the simultaneity judgment (SJ) and temporal order judgment (TOJ) tasks, often use supra-threshold stimuli. However, few studies have specifically examined the effects of normalizing stimulus intensities to participant’s unisensory detection thresholds. The current project presented multiple combinations of auditory and visual stimulus intensity levels, based on individual detection thresholds, during a TOJ and a SJ task. While no effect of stimulus intensity was found on temporal sensitivity or perceived temporal synchrony, there was a significant difference in point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) measures between tasks. In addition, PSS estimates were audio-leading, rather than visual-leading as previously reported, suggesting that exposure to the particular combinations of stimulus intensity levels used influenced temporal synchrony perception. Overall, these results support the use of supra-threshold stimuli in TOJ and SJ tasks as a way of minimizing the confound from differences in unisensory processing.
Majorization Minimization Methods for Distributed Pose Graph Optimization.

We consider the problem of distributed pose graph optimization (PGO) that has important applications in multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). We propose the majorization minimization (MM) method for distributed PGO ($\mathsf{MM\!\!-\!\!PGO}$) that applies to a broad class of robust loss kernels. The $\mathsf{MM\!\!-\!\!PGO}$ method is guaranteed to converge to first-order critical points under mild conditions. Furthermore, noting that the $\mathsf{MM\!\!-\!\!PGO}$ method is reminiscent of proximal methods, we leverage Nesterov's method and adopt adaptive restarts to accelerate convergence. The resulting accelerated MM methods for distributed PGO -- both with a master node in the network ($\mathsf{AMM\!\!-\!\!PGO}^*$) and without ($\mathsf{AMM\!\!-\!\!PGO}^{\#}$) -- have faster convergence in contrast to the $\mathsf{MM\!\!-\!\!PGO}$ method without sacrificing theoretical guarantees. In particular, the $\mathsf{AMM\!\!-\!\!PGO}^{\#}$ method, which needs no master node and is fully decentralized, features a novel adaptive restart scheme and has a rate of convergence comparable to that of the $\mathsf{AMM\!\!-\!\!PGO}^*$ method using a master node to aggregate information from all the other nodes. The efficacy of this work is validated through extensive applications to 2D and 3D SLAM benchmark datasets and comprehensive comparisons against existing state-of-the-art methods, indicating that our MM methods converge faster and result in better solutions to distributed PGO.
Do Refugee Students Affect the Academic Achievement of Peers? Evidence from a Large Urban School District

Much of the recent debate on refugee resettlement focuses on its perceived adverse effects on local communities. However, there is sparse credible evidence to either support or refute this perception. This paper contributes to an emerging literature on the externalities of refugee integration by providing evidence on how this population affects the academic performance of incumbent students. Leveraging variation in the share of refugees within schools and across grades, I find that increasing the share of grade-level refugees by 1 percentage point leads to a 0.01 standard deviation increase in average math test scores. While I find no effect on average English Language Arts (ELA) test scores, using nonlinear-in-means specifications I find evidence of negative spillovers in ELA performance among low-achieving students and positive spillovers among high-achieving students.
Evaluation of the Transition to Online Learning in Mechanical Ventilation During the COVID Pandemic

Background: Traditional education models for respiratory therapy (RT) programs require in-class attendance and laboratory experience. The COVID pandemic interrupted this model requiring RT programs to transition to virtual learning. The purpose of this study was to compare the 2020 mechanical ventilation I course test scores and overall final course grade to determine if modification to virtual instruction impacted mean scores compared to previous years of in-person instruction. Methods: Data included two exam scores and final course grade for four years, from 2017-2020. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used. Data from 2017-2019 was collected in a traditional course meeting in-person 200 min per week for seven weeks and seven laboratory meetings. Data from 2020 course utilized a virtual course design that included pre-recorded lectures on the same material as 2017-2019, including the same textbook and three in-person laboratory meetings. Online interaction via WebEx for 120 min was presented for students to identify material in which they did not understand. Additionally, students could converse via other communication sources outside of class as in previous years to discuss issues. Results: The 2020 data group had the highest mean grade for exam one, exam two, and final grade at 88.92, 83.11, 87.59 respectively. Of the four groups, 2020 had the lowest number of students (N = 37). One-way ANOVA showed no statistical differences between the four years for exam one (P = .594), exam two (P = .626), or final course grade (P = .35). Conclusions: Transitioning to virtual instruction for mechanical ventilation did produce higher mean averages for exam one, exam two, and final grade for the 2020 subject group compared to previous years, but this difference was not statistically significant. This could have been influenced for reasons other than the virtual classroom model. Students had opportunities to review lecture material multiple times and online/email access to the professor. Therefore, the COVID pandemic had no significant impact on RT student’s achievement in mechanical ventilation.
"It's the Right Thing to Do": Why the Animal Agriculture Industry Should Not Oppose Science-Based Regulations Protecting the Welfare Of Animals Raised for Food

Since the beginning of history, people have used farm animals to assist with their work and to provide a source of food. These agricultural pursuits were not questioned; rather, they were a widely-accepted way of life. In fact, many people still say that the very purpose of livestock on this Earth is to provide these resources for mankind. As for the proper way to treat our livestock, we commonly hear farmers and livestock producers make comments like, “If we take care of the animals, they will take care of us,” and, “We treat our animals well because that’s just good business.” Though times and methods have changed, our need for the resources provided to us by farm animals has not. Today individual families rarely raise their own livestock to harvest on the farm or at the local butcher shop. The majority of animals are raised in larger scale operations, and the task of harvesting them has been assumed by the meatpacking industry. This change has been driven not only by economics, but also by the fact that urbanization has encroached on previously rural lands. People do not want, or have the space, to grow their own food. The purpose of this commentary is to respond to the question, “Should laws criminalizing animal abuse apply to animals raised for food?” The simple answer to the question is “yes,” but the reality is not simple. It requires analyzing both the science of raising livestock and the current legal framework, which we must understand before discussing what to require and how to implement those requirements. Continued improvements in the livestock and meatpacking industries and the rising expectations of consumers add to the complexity of the issue.
Introduction to Process Theology

This section of the book collects four articles that have taken their inspiration for contemporary models of God and ultimate reality from process theology. A good choice! I know of no other elaborate theological pattern of thought—throughout history or currently—that would allow us not only to express a distinct group of models of God and ultimate reality at once, but even more to harbor such a variety of models of both the divine and the ultimate. On the basis of its declared variability of construction and differentiation of possibly employed methods, but mostly because of its ability to generate always new conceptions in varying contexts, process theology may be one of the very few contemporary alternatives in (philosophical) theology that escapes the threat of being ossified by any particular dogmatic tradition within any given religion with which it might engage.
The role of mutations in whole genome duplication

Genetic mutation is an essential factor in the evolution of biological organisms and a driving force of phenotypical innovation. On rare occasions, nature takes a major evolutionary leap during which an organism's gene repertoire suddenly doubled. Genetic mutation affects both the whole genome duplication as it happens, and also during all the subsequent evolutionary steps. We develop a Boolean model of gene regulatory networks that simulates the duplication event and subsequent Darwinian evolution using an evolutionary algorithm. We analyze the role of these two different types of mutations on synthetic systems. Our results show that high duplication mutation rate triggers the development of new phenotypes, advantageous in a changing environment, to the detriment of environmental robustness. Additionally, our research highlights the necessity of a low evolutionary mutation rate for the survival of duplicated individuals within a mixed population, ensuring the spreading novel phenotype. We conclude that both types of mutations play complementary roles in determining the successful propagation of organisms with duplicated genomes.
The Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell Experiment

The Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell (GFFC) experiment performed visualizations of thermal convection in a rotating differentially heated spherical shell of fluid. In these experiments dielectric polarization forces are used to generate a radially directed buoyancy force. This enables the laboratory simulation of a number of geophysically and astrophysically important situations in which sphericity and rotation both impose strong constraints on global scale fluid motions. During USML-2 a large set of experiments with spherically symmetric heating were carried out. These enabled the determination of critical points for the transition to various forms of nonaxisymmetric convection and, for highly turbulent flows, the transition latitudes separating the different modes of motion. This paper presents a first analysis of these experiments as well as data on the general performance of the instrument during the USML-2 flight.
IN DEFENSE OF THE TRADITIONAL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS PROCESS

Some new requirements tools and techniques carry with them the suggestion that the traditional system requirements analysis (SRA) process is somehow deficient and passe. This paper re-visits that process, expands its structured decomposition techniques to include alternatives to functional flow diagramming, augments it with structured interface, environmental, and specialty engineering requirements analysis and adapts it to the Integrated Product Development (IPD) approach. In the traditional SRA approach, it was never clearly explained how it began, leaving many to conclude that there was a chicken-and-egg problem hiding in there somewhere. It also was never clear where it ended (decompose as required). Some have concluded that the process has neither beginning nor end, only a very expensive middle producing paper of great mass but questionable utility. The traditional process also focused principally on performance requirements. It provided an effective demand driver for only one of three kinds of constraints and had little to offer for programmatic requirements analysis. All of these shortcomings are disposed of in this paper revealing a comprehensive, flexible, and robust approach to project-wide requirements analysis linked to recent advances like quality function deployment (QFD), IPD concepts, and the U.S. Air Force integrated planning initiative. The process is described more fully in a new book about an old process titled System Requirements Analysis (Grady 1993).
Pep12p is a Multifunctional Yeast Syntaxin that Controls Entry of Biosynthetic, Endocytic and Retrograde Traffic into the Prevacuolar Compartment

Delivery of proteins to the vacuole of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires the function of the endosomal syntaxin, Pep12p. Many vacuolar proteins, such as the soluble vacuolar hydrolase, carboxypeptidase Y (CPY), traverse the prevacuolar compartment (PVC) en route to the vacuole. Here we show that deletion of the carboxy-terminal transmembrane domain of Pep12p results in a temperature-conditional block in transport of CPY to the PVC. The PVC also receives traffic from the early endosome and the vacuole, and mutation in PEP12 also blocks these other trafficking pathways into the PVC. Therefore, Pep12p is a multifunctional syntaxin that is required for all known trafficking pathways into the yeast PVC. Finally, we found that the internalized pheromone receptor, Ste3p, can cycle out of the PVC in a VPS27-independent fashion.
Conformation in solution of hemoglobin Osler (alpha 2 A beta 2 145 Tyr replaced by Asp).

Computer simulations of Gelin and Karplus ((1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 801-805) suggest that in hemoglobin upon ligation the penultimate tyrosyl residues of the subunits are not expelled from the hydrophobic pockets described in the crystals between the helices E and F (Perutz, M.F. (1970) Nature 228, 726-737). This implies that both the liganded and unliganded conformations of hemoglobin may be affected by mutations involving such residues. Investigation of the conformational behavior of liganded and unliganded hemoglobin Osler was conducted measuring the functional properties, the subunits dissociation, the CD and electronic spectra, the protons absorption upon interaction with polyanions, and the reactivity of the -SH groups of the protein. The results suggest that both the liganded and unliganded conformations of the system are affected by the mutation, confirming the anticipations of Gelin and Karplus on the relevance of tyrosine at beta 145 for both allosteric states of hemoglobin.
Image Processing on a Custom Computing Platform

Custom computing platforms are emerging as a class of computing engine that not only can provide near application-specific computational performance, but also can be configured to accommodate a wide variety of tasks. Due to vast computational needs, image processing computing platforms are traditionally constructed either by using costly application-specific hardware to support real-time image processing, or by sacrificing real-time performance and using a general-purpose engine. The Splash-2 custom computing platform is a general-purpose platform not designed specifically for image processing, yet it can cost-effectively deliver real-time performance on a wide variety of image applications. This paper describes an image processing system based on the Splash-2 custom computing engine, along with performance results from a variety of image processing tasks extracted from a working laboratory system. The application design process used for these image processing tasks is also examined.
Violence prevention at work: A business perspective

Abstract Introduction: The risk of workplace violence varies depending on the type and location of the business. Business managers should assess violence risk and develop a program based on the level of risk faced by their employees. Discussion: This assessment should include: (1) a review of workplace security and identification of positions with increased risk of exposure to violence, (2) risk reduction through environmental design and employee training, (3) development of a plan and identification of professional resources to respond to incidents should they occur, and (4) communication of the employer’s commitment to providing a safe work environment for employees. Conclusions: For most businesses, threat assessment and management comprise the cornerstone of a workplace violence–prevention program. Planning and preparation are key to workplace violence prevention.
Insight into volatile behavior at Nyamuragira volcano (D.R. Congo, Africa) through olivine‐hosted melt inclusions

We present new olivine-hosted melt inclusion volatile (H2O, CO2, S, Cl, F) and major element data from five historic eruptions of Nyamuragira volcano (1912, 1938, 1948, 1986, 2006). Host-olivine Mg#'s range from 71 to 84, with the exception of the 1912 sample (Mg# = 90). Inclusion compositions extend from alkali basalts to basanite-tephrites. Our results indicate inclusion entrapment over depths ranging from 3 to 5 km, which agree with independent estimates of magma storage depths (3–7 km) based on geophysical methods. Melt compositions derived from the 1986 and 2006 Nyamuragira tephra samples best represent pre-eruptive volatile compositions because these samples contain naturally glassy inclusions that underwent less post-entrapment modification than crystallized inclusions. Volatile concentrations of the 1986 and 2006 samples are as follows: H2O ranged from 0.6 to 1.4 wt %, CO2 from 350 to 1900 ppm, S from 1300 to 2400 ppm, Cl from 720 to 990 ppm, and F from 1500 to 2200 ppm. Based on FeOT and S data, we suggest that Nyamuragira magmas have higher fO2 (>NNO) than MORB. We estimate the total amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) released from the 1986 (0.04 Mt) and 2006 (0.06 Mt) Nyamuragira eruptions using the petrologic method, whereby S contents in melt inclusions are scaled to erupted lava volumes. These amounts are significantly less than satellite-based SO2 emissions for the same eruptions (1986 = ∼1 Mt; 2006 = ∼2 Mt). Potential explanations for this observation are: (1) accumulation of a vapor phase within the magmatic system that is only released during eruptions, and/or (2) syn-eruptive gas release from unerupted magma.
Intestinal heme oxygenase inhibition and increased biliary iron excretion by metalloporphyrins

Abstract The effects of synthetic metalloporphyrins on heme oxygenase activity in the epithelium of the proximal region of the small intestine were examined both in vitro and in vivo in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Metalloporphyrins, which inhibit hepatic heme oxygenase in vitro, also inhibit intestinal heme oxygenase. Chromium and tin porphyrins are the most potent inhibitors of the intestinal enzyme in vitro. Oral administration of Sn-protoporphyrin (25 μmol/kg body weight) resulted in inhibition of intestinal heme oxygenase, however, no effect was observed on the splenic, hepatic, or renal enzymes. Metal analyses in these tissues showed essentially no intestinal absorption of the metalloporphyrin. Oral administration of Cr-mesoporphyrin (25 μmol/kg body wt) also resulted in inhibition of intestinal heme oxygenase activity. Zinc and manganese mesoporphyrin did not inhibit intestinal heme oxygenase activity when administered orally. Microsomal intestinal heme oxygenase activity was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by antiserum raised in rabbit against rat hepatic heme oxygenase. The parenteral administration of metalloporphyrin inhibitors of heme oxygenase to bile ductcannulated rats resulted in a significant increase in iron levels in the bile.
Expression of engrailed during segmentation in grasshopper and crayfish

We have used a monoclonal antibody that recognizes engrailed proteins to compare the process of segmentation in grasshopper, crayfish, and Drosophila. Drosophila embryos rapidly generate metameres during an embryonic stage characterized by the absence of cell division. In contrast, many other arthropod embryos, such as those of more primitive insects and crustaceans, generate metameres gradually and sequentially, as cell proliferation causes caudal elongation. In all three organisms, the pattern of engrailed expression at the segmented germ band stage is similar, and the parasegments are the first metameres to form. Nevertheless, the way in which the engrailed pattern is generated differs and reflects the differences in how these organisms generate their metameres. These differences call into question what role homologues of the Drosophila pair-rule segmentation genes might play in other arthropods that generate metameres sequentially.
Near infrared absorption spectra of oxygen-18 enriched carbon dioxide

Abstract The near infrared absorption spectra of 12C18O2 have been recorded using a vacuum prism-grating spectrograph with a resolution of about 0.03 cm−1. A one-meter absorption path was used with pressures ranging from 4 mm Hg to 10 cm Hg. The vibrational transitions (1001,0201)I-0000, (1001,0201)II-0000, (2001,0401)I-0000, (2001,0401)II-0000, (2001,0401)III-0000, and their associated “hot” bands were observed and the structure has been analyzed to determine the vibrational energy levels and relevant rotational constants.
Loading PEG-Catalase into Filamentous and Spherical Polymer Nanocarriers

Purpose Based on a unique phase alignment that occurs during formulation, we postulated that PEG-ylation of the cargo enzyme would enhance its encapsulation within diblock copolymer nanocarriers and thus resistance to proteases.