cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determining preventability of pediatric readmissions using fault tree analysis

BACKGROUND Previous studies attempting to distinguish preventable from nonpreventable readmissions reported challenges in completing reviews efficiently and consistently. OBJECTIVES (1) Examine the efficiency and reliability of a Web-based fault tree tool designed to guide physicians through chart reviews to a determination about preventability. (2) Investigate root causes of general pediatrics readmissions and identify the percent that are preventable. DESIGN/SETTING/PATIENTS General pediatricians from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia used a Web-based fault tree tool to classify root causes of all general pediatrics 15-day readmissions in 2014. INTERVENTION/MEASUREMENTS The tool guided reviewers through a logical progression of questions, which resulted in 1 of 18 root causes of readmission, 8 of which were considered potentially preventable. Twenty percent of cases were cross-checked to measure inter-rater reliability. RESULTS Of the 7252 discharges, 248 were readmitted, for an all-cause general pediatrics 15-day readmission rate of 3.4%. Of those readmissions, 15 (6.0%) were deemed potentially preventable, corresponding to 0.2% of total discharges. The most common cause of potentially preventable readmissions was premature discharge. For the 50 cross-checked cases, both reviews resulted in the same root cause for 44 (86%) of files (κ = 0.79; 95% confidence interval: 0.60-0.98). Completing 1 review using the tool took approximately 20 minutes. CONCLUSION The Web-based fault tree tool helped physicians to identify root causes of hospital readmissions and classify them as either preventable or not preventable in an efficient and consistent way. It also confirmed that only a small percentage of general pediatrics 15-day readmissions are potentially preventable. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:329–335. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine
Low-storage IMEX Runge-Kutta schemes for the simulation of Navier-Stokes systems

Implicit/Explicit (IMEX) Runge-Kutta (RK) schemes are effective for time-marching ODE systems with both stiff and nonstiff terms on the RHS; such schemes implement an (often A-stable or better) implicit RK scheme for the stiff part of the ODE, which is often linear, and, simultaneously, a (more convenient) explicit RK scheme for the nonstiff part of the ODE, which is often nonlinear. Low-storage RK schemes are especially effective for time-marching high-dimensional ODE discretizations of PDE systems on modern (cache-based) computational hardware, in which memory management is often the most significant computational bottleneck. In this paper, we develop one second-order, three thirdorder and one fourth-order IMEXRK schemes of the low-storage variety, all of which have the same or comparable low storage requirements, better stability properties, and either fewer or slightly more floating-point operations per timestep as the venerable (and, up to now, unique) second-order tworegister Crank-Nicolson/Runge-Kutta-Wray (CN/RKW3) IMEXRK algorithm that has dominated the DNS/LES literature for the last two decades.
NOVEL NON-INVASIVE ASSESSMENT OF PULMONARY ARTERIAL IMPEDANCE USING CARDIAC MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

The ability to assess pulmonary artery impedance (PAI) non-invasively will help detect early pulmonary artery (PA) remodeling as it takes into account pulsatility of PA. We describe a novel surrogate of invasive PAI, velocity transfer function (VTF), measured on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and
Determination of Lateral and Vertical Adherence to Route

This paper presents an algorithm to evaluate the adherence of an aircraft to its known clearance. There are two independently operating algorithms involved in the determination of adherence, one evaluating the vertical dimension for adherence and another evaluating the lateral dimension. Both algorithms have recently taken on new functionality. This paper presents the algorithms, the recent modifications, and the study conducted to calibrate the parameters of the algorithms.
Public Responses to Forensic DNA Testing Backlogs Media Use and Understandings of Science

A number of public controversies have emerged around forensic DNA testing backlogs at crime laboratories in the United States. This study provides a first look at public responses to such backlogs,...
Regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle

The sundry cellular processes required to successfully replicate and divide cells are driven by the sequential activation and inactivation of a family of cyclin dependent kinases. Activation is driven predominately by the periodic expression of the cyclin subunit and requires activating phosphorylation of the kinase subunit. Inactivation is controlled by inhibitory phosphorylation of the kinase subunit, by ubiquitin-mediated degradation of the cyclin subunit and by interaction of the complex with small inhibitory proteins. The mechanisms that coordinate cell cycle progression under favorable and adverse conditions are reviewed.
Trade Threats in Domestic Tobacco Control Debates

Tobacco companies frequently use arguments about global trade and investment to strengthen their positions in domestic tobacco control debates. Comparing debates around the plain packaging of tobacco products in Canada in the 1990s with contemporary debates in Australia, Jarman analyzes the effect of this trend on how states define acceptable public policies. Arguing that effective international commitments strengthen states against tobacco firm lobbying, Jarman highlights the importance of international consensus among governments for the resilience of tobacco control policies.
Do beliefs about gender roles moderate the relationship between exposure to misogynistic song lyrics and men's female‐directed aggression?

Although independent lines of research have identified misogynistic lyrical content and traditional gender role beliefs as reliable predictors of men's female-directed aggression, more research is needed to understand the extent to which these variables may function in synthesis to potentiate aggression. In the current study, men (N = 193), who completed questionnaires relevant to their conformity to masculine norms and level of hostile and benevolent sexism, were exposed to either misogynistic or neutral lyrics before having the opportunity to shock an ostensible female confederate in a bogus reaction time task that, in effect, measured aggression. Results indicated that misogynistic lyrics and hostile sexism significantly predicted both unprovoked and provoked aggression against a female target. Contrary to expectations, moderating effects of gender role beliefs on the relationship between misogynistic lyrics and men's aggression were not found. Implications are discussed in terms of the costs of misogyny in media for women's lives. Aggr. Behav. 43:123-132, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Does SKDA Make It Too Easy for Survey Practitioners and Clients to Avoid Harder (OD) Challenges

A fair reading of Cucina, Walmsley, Gast, Martin, and Curtin's ( 2017 ) astute analysis of survey key driver analysis (SKDA) presents a good case that such analyses are driving down the wrong road and should slow down or come to a halt. In large part, the SKDA they describe seems to be a misleading set of exercises.
Unassisted reduction and segmentation of large hyperspectral image datasets

The information density in hyperspectral data is not uniform across the spectral and spatial dimensions, and the overall information sparsity is often high. While these non-uniformities underpin the sought-after image contrast, high sparsity generates unnecessarily long acquisition and data processing times. Conventional reduction techniques like those based on principal components analysis (PCA) sacrifice the contributions of minority pixel populations while retaining those representing a greater portion of the overall variability. The effect is that some regions in the reconstructed images achieve a higher degree of recovery than other locations, making it difficult to assess the meaning or relevance of the minority pixels, even when this information would reveal important sample defects or spectral inhomogeneities. In the work presented here, we introduce a novel user-unassisted data reduction and image segmentation method called reduction of spectral images (ROSI). The aim of ROSI is to achieve a threshold information density in the spectral dimension for all image pixels. The result effectively segments the image in a manner that provides rapid image contrast that is comparable to traditionally classified images, but does so without a priori information. In addition, ROSI results are suitable for subsequent data analysis and enable ROSI to be performed alone or as a preprocessing data reduction step. A full description of ROSI is presented along with results from both model and real hyperspectral data, and its performance is compared quantitatively to conventional class of data reduction methods.
Is There an Association Between Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries and Decreased Hip Internal Rotation or Radiographic Femoroacetabular Impingement? A Systematic Review

Purpose To perform a systematic review to determine if there is (1) an association between decreased hip internal rotation and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear rates; (2) an association between radiographic femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and ACL tear rates; and (3) biomechanical evidence demonstrating increased strain in the ACL of patients with decreased hip internal rotation. Methods A systematic review was performed using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Studies investigating relationships between hip motion, hip radiographs, and ACL tear were sought. Studies with Levels of evidence I-IV were eligible for inclusion. Study methodology/evidence were evaluated using Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS), Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Results Eleven studies were analyzed (2 cadaveric in vitro models, 8 clinical studies measuring hip internal rotation (2 concurrently assessing radiographic FAI), and 1 clinical study assessing radiographic FAI alone). Mean MINORS, STROBE, and GRADE for the studies was 82.4%, 20.9 out of 22, and "low," respectively. A total of 959 subjects (84.8% male; mean age 23.6 ± 3.8 years) were analyzed. Overall, 378 subjects sustained 427 ACL tears (399 primary ACL ruptures, 28 reruptures). Six of 8 clinical studies identified a significant association between limited rotation (internal rotation [IR; loss greater than 10°-20°], external rotation [ER], or combined IR + ER [loss greater than 20°]) and ACL tears. Two studies found an association between ACL ruptures and radiographic cam/pincer impingement. Two cadaveric models found a significant association between ACL strain and limited hip internal rotation. Conclusions This systematic review identified a significant association between ACL tear and both limited hip rotation and radiographic FAI. Level of Evidence Level IV, systematic review of Levels II-IV studies.
Online Object Tracking, Learning, and Parsing with And-Or Graphs

This paper presents a framework for simultaneously tracking, learning and parsing objects with a hierarchical and compositional and-or graph (AOG) representation. The AOG is discriminatively learned online to account for the appearance (e.g., lighting and partial occlusion) and structural (e.g., different poses and viewpoints) variations of the object itself, as well as the distractors (e.g., similar objects) in the scene background. In tracking, the state of the object (i.e., bounding box) is inferred by parsing with the current AOG using a spatial-temporal dynamic programming (DP) algorithm. When the AOG grows big for handling objects with large variations in long-term tracking, we propose a bottom-up/top-down scheduling scheme for efficient inference, which performs focused inference with the most stable and discriminative small sub-AOG. During online learning, the AOG is re-learned iteratively with two steps: (i) Identifying the false positives and false negatives of the current AOG in a new frame by exploiting the spatial and temporal constraints observed in the trajectory, (ii) Updating the structure of the AOG, and re-estimating the parameters based on the augmented training dataset. In experiments, the proposed method outperforms state-of-theart tracking algorithms on a recent public tracking benchmark with 50 testing videos and 30 publicly available trackers evaluated [34].
Legal Briefs: Head and Shoulder Trauma

A 4,580-g, 38 5/7 weeks’ gestation male infant was delivered by a 33-year-old gravida 5, para 1, aborta 1 woman whose pregnancy had been unremarkable. One month before delivery, the woman reported a decrease in fetal movement, but fetal activity resumed subsequently and the nonstress test result was normal. The pregnancy continued without problems. However, when labor began and the fetus did not descend, she received oxytocin to augment labor. Fetal tachycardia, decreased variability, and excessive uterine activity were noted. Also, inadequate rest time between contractions appeared as the second stage of labor was approaching. The plaintiff obstetrician pointed out that the fetus was being stressed since the peak of 1 contraction to the next peak should be at least 2 minutes, and the end of 1 contraction to the beginning of the next should be at least 1 minute. He also discussed that oxytocin should have been discontinued because of the lack of descent and the excessive uterine activity. The obstetrician retained by the defense said that technically tachysystole was not present and the tracing was category 2. He stated that the continuation of oxytocin was acceptable because the fetus was not descending adequately. The plaintiff obstetrician maintained that the tracings were concerning; the progression of labor was not appropriate; and it was clear, hours before delivery, that the pregnant woman could not safely deliver this fetus vaginally. Two and a half hours before delivery when the station was −1 and the cervix was fully effaced and dilated, the membranes were artificially ruptured. Thin, light brown, meconium-stained fluid was noted. The defense obstetrician said that the decreased fetal movement that had …
What is an embryo

Most scientific and medical discoveries are accompanied by new terms to describe the new processes. Although this imposes the burden on society of continually learning a new lexicon, new terminology clarifies that the societal impact of emerging technologies needs to be newly interpreted. A notable exception to this general practice, however, has been the failure to develop new terms to describe the new demands placed on mammalian eggs. Approximately 250 times the size of a somatic cell, and 4,000 times the size of a sperm head, the mammalian egg is a highly specialized cell which has stockpiled a collection of enzymes and other molecules that empower it to completely remodel the chromosomes brought in
Vector Ordinary Differential Equations

This chapter focuses on vector ordinary differential equations. It highlights that very often a system of coupled equations with constant coefficients can be transformed to a system of decoupled equations with constant coefficients. For a system of n ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients, the system is written as a vector ordinary differential equation in the form y' = Ay, y ( t 0 ) = y 0 , where y is a vector of the unknowns and A is a constant n × n matrix. Then the eigenvectors of A (that is, those vectors x that satisfy Ax = λ for some value of λ) is determined, and a diagonalizing matrix S is constructed whose columns are the eigenvectors of A. The variables are changed by the transformation y = Su , so that y' = Ay, y ( t 0 ) = y 0 becomes ( Su ) ' = A ( Su ), or u' = S −1 ASu.
CATECHOLAMINE-INDUCED DESENSITIZATION OF THE β-RECEPTOR-LINKED ADENYLATE CYCLASE

Incubation of astrocytoma cells with catecholamines (CA) leads to the rapid conversion of the native β-receptor to a form, R′, that binds antagonists normally but has reduced affinity for agonists in the absence of GTP. This form of the receptor is functionally uncoupled from adenylate cyclase. The uncoupled β-receptor, R′, is slowly converted to a form, R″, that binds neither agonists nor antagonists. The formation of R′ is a rapidly reversible process whereas the formation of R″ is essentially irreversible.
Raman Scattering from High Temperature Superconductors

Raman scattering has been an unusually fruitful method of studying high temperature superconductors. Two-magnon excitations in antiferromagnetic samples, the broad electronic continuum in superconducting samples, and vibrational modes and their sensitivity to doping and to temperature have all been extensively investigated. The properties of the continuum are discussed, including its coupling to phonons, its universality, and its redistribution upon cooling well below Tc. Possible origins of the continuum, its possible non-Fermi liquid behavior, and its connection with the superconducting gap will be considered.
Geometrically exact beam equations in the adaptive DCA framework

This work examines the suitability of two popular methods of modeling bodies that undergo large deformation for use in the adaptive divide-and-conquer framework. In this framework, the method used to form and solve the equations-of-motion must handle a mixed set of bodies using different formulations, such as rigid-bodies that use a Newton–Euler formulation or flexible-bodies that use a floating frame of reference. Importantly, the method must treat all bodies indiscriminately of underlying formulation since the goal is to have adaptive changes in body definition, e.g., various rigid-bodies to a highly-flexible body. This work shows that the absolute nodal coordinate formulation is not immediately suitable for this purpose and derives the geometrically exact beam formulation equations that are compatible with these adaptive changes in body definition. An example problem that demonstrates the accuracy of this work is presented for the static case since the solution is known analytically and can be used for comparison. This work lays the foundation for adaptive changes in body definition because the DCA can now deal with bodies that are rigid, flexible, and highly-flexible, indiscriminately. Furthermore, using the DCA to solve the equations-of-motion for systems of mixed body types, some of which undergo large deformations, does not require the rigid or FFR body to be discretized, as would be necessary with some software packages using finite element method type approach. This greatly reduces the number of degrees-of-freedom and therefore the computational effort required to simulate such systems.
Effect of sulfate on the basaltic liquidus and Sulfur Concentration at Anhydrite Saturation (SCAS) of hydrous basalts – Implications for sulfur cycle in subduction zones

Abstract To add to our understanding of sulfur cycle in subduction zones in general and constrain the effects of slab-released sulfate (SO42−) on the magma genesis and sulfur transport from sub-arc mantle to the arc volcanoes in particular we carried out an experimental study. High pressure-temperature, piston-cylinder experiments were carried out in Au-Pd capsules at 0.5–3 GPa and 1050–1325 °C to investigate (a) the effect of variable sulfur concentration from 0 to ~2 wt%, dissolved as SO42− on the stability field of a primary arc basalt with ~4 wt% H2O and determine (b) the sulfur content at anhydrite saturation (SCAS) of hydrous mafic magmas. Speciation of sulfur in the silicate melt was confirmed to be SO42− by S Kα X-ray peak position using electron microprobe. S-free hydrous clinopyroxene liquidus at 2 GPa is ~25 °C hotter than the hydrous clinopyroxene liquidus with ~0.1 wt% S in the liquidus melt as SO42− and the liquidus depression with further S-enrichment to anhydrite saturation (~2 wt% S) can be fitted by a power function ΔT (°C) = 26.52(±3.48)(Smelt in wt%)0.24(±0.06). Anhydrite-saturated experiments show that SCAS increases with increasing temperature and CaO content of melt and decreases with increasing SiO2 content of the melt. Previous SCAS models based mostly on lower P-T experiments and/or on silicic melt compositions can't capture our new experimental SCAS data. A new SCAS parameterization was developed using previous and our new experimental data. Calculations using our new parameterization and assuming 200–500 ppm S in the arc mantle show that
Individual variation and ecotypic niches in simulations of the impact of climatic volatility

Abstract Expectations of the impacts of climatic variation on species can depend on whether and how intraspecific variability is incorporated in models. Coefficients of variation from tree-ring records of Pinus albicaulis through time and across space were used to parameterize volatility and individuality, respectively. The records across sites were used to differentiate the average modes on an environmental gradient for Gaussian fitness of ecotypic niches, and to add further individual variation in mode and standard deviation of these functions in individual-based Monte Carlo simulations of reproduction and mortality with inheritance of individual variability. Ecotypic gamma and Shannon diversity decreased with volatility included, however, the decreases were mitigated by niche differentiation, but not individual-level variability. Increasing climatic volatility may threaten biodiversity, but less so if a species has ecotypes as represented by ecotypic niches in the model. The results illustrate the usefulness of these parameterizations and of simulations versus analytical solutions.
Editorial: Attention to Threat in Child Anxiety: Gazing Into the Future While Keeping Sight of the Past.

Since the 1960s, cognitive theories of anxiety have prioritized attention to threat in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety and its disorders.1 The development of computer-administered tasks in the 1980s, displaying threatening stimuli on the screen and relying on participants' clicking of keys or mouse buttons to measure reaction time, permitted experimental testing of the hypothesis that individuals with anxiety disorders show biased attention to threat.2 Considerable data have since accumulated supporting this hypothesis, including in children and adolescents.1,3 However, reaction times measured by mouse button clicks are indirect and imprecise measurements of attention.4 With the availability of eye-tracking in the last decade, researchers have been able to directly and precisely measure attention. Lisk et al.,5 in this issue of the Journal, provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that used eye-tracking to measure attention to threat in children and adolescents.
Clinical Management of Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a well-established technique to rescue patients experiencing cardiogenic shock. As a form of temporary mechanical circulatory support, venoarterial ECMO can be life-saving, but it is resource intensive and associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Optimal clinical outcomes require specific expertise in the principles and nuances of ECMO physiology and management. Key considerations discussed in this review include hemodynamic assessment and goals; pharmacologic anticoagulation; ECMO weaning strategies; and the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of common complications.
Dose, timing, and spectrum of prenatal antibiotic exposure and risk of childhood asthma.

BACKGROUND The potential for prenatal antibiotic exposure to influence asthma risk is not clear. We aimed to determine the effect of timing, dose, and spectrum of prenatal antibiotic exposure on the risk of childhood asthma. METHODS We conducted a population-based cohort study of 84 214 mother-child dyads to examine the association of prenatal antibiotic exposure and childhood asthma using multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS Sixty-four percent of pregnant women received antibiotics. Prenatal antibiotic exposure was associated dose-dependently with increased odds of childhood asthma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for interquartile increase of 2 courses [interquartile range, 0-2], 1.26 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.20-1.33]). Among children exposed to at least 1 course in utero, the effect of timing at the first course was moderated by total maternal courses. Among pregnant women receiving a single antibiotic course, timing of exposure had no effect on childhood asthma risk. Among women receiving > 1 course, early exposure of the first course was associated with greater childhood asthma risk. Compared to narrow spectrum-only antibiotic use, broad spectrum-only antibiotic exposure was associated with increased odds of asthma (aOR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.05-1.24]). There were effect modifications (P < .001) by maternal asthma on total courses, and on timing of the first course, significant only among those without maternal asthma. CONCLUSIONS Increased cumulative dose, early pregnancy first course, and broad-spectrum antibiotic exposure were associated with childhood asthma risk. Our study provides important evidence supporting judicious prenatal antibiotic use, particularly timing of use and choice of antibiotics, in preventing subsequent childhood asthma.
Repurposing the Antiamoebic Drug Diiodohydroxyquinoline for Treatment of Clostridioides difficile Infections.

Clostridioides difficile, the leading cause of nosocomial infections, is an urgent health threat worldwide. The increased incidence and severity of disease, the high recurrence rates, and the dearth of effective anticlostridial drugs have created an urgent need for new therapeutic agents. In an effort to discover new drugs for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs), we investigated a panel of FDA-approved antiparasitic drugs against C. difficile and identified diiodohydroxyquinoline (DIHQ), an FDA-approved oral antiamoebic drug. DIHQ exhibited potent activity against 39 C. difficile isolates, inhibiting growth of 50% and 90% of these isolates at concentrations of 0.5 μg/ml and 2 μg/ml, respectively. In a time-kill assay, DIHQ was superior to vancomycin and metronidazole, reducing a high bacterial inoculum by 3 log10 within 6 h. Furthermore, DIHQ reacted synergistically with vancomycin and metronidazole against C. difficile in vitro. Moreover, at subinhibitory concentrations, DIHQ was superior to vancomycin and metronidazole in inhibiting two key virulence factors of C. difficile, toxin production and spore formation. Additionally, DIHQ did not inhibit the growth of key species that compose the host intestinal microbiota, such as Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus spp. Collectively, our results indicate that DIHQ is a promising anticlostridial drug that warrants further investigation as a new therapeutic for CDIs.
Low-Cost, High-Throughput Process Using HF Acid to Singulate Fused-Silica Shell Resonators with High-Q

In this paper, we report a low-cost, fast, and high-throughput process for releasing molded fused-silica 3D micro-shell resonators from their original flat substrate. 49% Hydrofluoric Acid is used to selectively etch the flat part of the substrate to release the resonator shell. Nine resonators are released using this approach and the quality factor is measured and compared with 22 shells singulated using our standard lap/CMP method. In addition, the frequency mismatch of another four devices released using each method is compared. All the resonators exhibited high-Q (as high as 5.8M) and low frequency mismatch comparable to those processed using lap/CMP method.
Restoration at the landscape scale as a means of mitigation and adaptation to climate change

Although landscape-scale restoration efforts are gaining traction worldwide, their success is generally unknown. We review landscape-scale restorations to gain insight to whether focal ecological outcomes have been achieved, in the face of changing environmental conditions. Only 9% of the 477 articles that resulted from our search were studies of landscape-scale restorations. The majority (73%) of the landscape restorations from our study have occurred since the 1990s, indicating that this type of restoration has gained in popularity in the last 30 years. Furthermore, 67% of these restoration studies occurred in a single country: China. Many scientific studies have addressed the ability of a species to shift ranges with climate change, yet few of the landscape-scale restoration studies used for our study addressed this question. Instead, 87% of the studies focused on ecosystem function, rather than community-level processes, as a result of restoration. There is a clear need for more research to be undertaken on the ecological outcomes of landscape-scale restorations to understand whether they enable species and communities to shift their ranges or adapt to climate change. Conservation practitioners could utilize our decision matrix as a tool to guide restoration of individual sites within a landscape context, as well as current and future climatic conditions, to guide ecological outcomes of interest. Optimal biodiversity maintenance requires habitat conservation in concert with restoration activities at the landscape scale, and the latter, likely increasingly so in a world of changing climate.
Converting Flip-Flop to Clock-Gated 3-Phase Latch-Based Designs using Graph-Based Retiming

Latches have the advantages of timing-borrowing, smaller cell area, lower input capacitance, and lower power compared to flip-flops (FFs). This paper presents a CAD flow that converts any arbitrarily complex single-clock-domain FF-based RTL design into an efficient 3-phase latch-based design. The flow includes a novel 3-phase aware retiming algorithm for power and area optimization. Recent research has demonstrated significant power benefits of an automatic conversion algorithm from FF-based to 3-phase latch-based designs. This paper proposes a new retiming algorithm for 3-phase latch designs that further reduces the number of required latches while also considering the impact of clock gating. Post place-and-route results demonstrate that our new 3-phase designs achieve retiming algorithm yields 23.5% and 23.9% average power reductions compared to more traditional FF and master-slave based alternatives across a board range of benchmarks with no degradation in performance and on average less area.
Nonmagnetized Collisional Plasma Parameter Estimation From Two Frequency Signal Interrogation Attenuation

A nonmagnetized collisional plasma parameter estimator from two frequency signal interrogation attenuation is developed. The plasma parameters that are estimated are the plasma frequency, electron neutral momentum collision frequency, and the plasma thickness. The plasma frequency and electron neutral momentum collision frequency are considered uniform across the plasma thickness. The relative permittivity is defined, and the complex index of refraction is developed. Using this definition and applying the plasma frequency, electron neutral momentum collision frequency, the radial propagation frequency, and plasma thickness, an attenuation is determined for known cases. The development of the estimator is discussed. The estimator uses a performance index where the minimum difference between the plasma frequencies and electron neutral momentum collision frequencies is determined for the two signal interrogation frequencies under the constraint of the same plasma thickness. The estimator was developed in three stages which include iterative, sequential, and adaptive. The setups of the iterative, sequential, and adaptive approaches are discussed. The impact of the interrogation frequency and the estimator setup is investigated. The estimator in the three development stages is compared with known cases and the plasma parameter estimator performance is quantified.
Allele-specific expression analysis reveals conserved and unique features of preimplantation development in equine ICSI embryos.

Embryonic genome activation and dosage compensation are major genetic events in early development. Combined analysis of single embryo RNA-seq data and parental genome sequencing was used to evaluate parental contributions to early development and investigate X-chromosome dynamics. In addition, we evaluated dimorphism in gene expression between male and female embryos. Evaluation of parent-specific gene expression revealed a minor increase in paternal expression at the 4-cell stage that increased at the 8-cell stage. We also detected eight genes with allelic expression bias that may have an important role in early development, notably NANOGNB. The main actor in X-chromosome inactivation, XIST, was significantly upregulated at the 8-cell, morula, and blastocyst stages in female embryos, with high expression at the latter. Sexual dimorphism in gene expression was identified at all stages, with strong representation of the X-chromosome in females from the 16-cell to the blastocyst stage. Female embryos showed biparental X-chromosome expression at all stages after the 4-cell stage, demonstrating the absence of imprinted X-inactivation at the embryo level. The analysis of gene dosage showed incomplete dosage compensation (0.5 < X:A < 1) in MII oocytes and embryos up to the 4-cell stage, an increase of the X:A ratio at the 16-cell and morula stages after genome activation, and a decrease of the X:A ratio at the blastocyst stage, which might be associated with the beginning of X-chromosome inactivation. This study represents the first critical analysis of parent- and sex-specific gene expression in early equine embryos produced in vitro.
Insights from Project GLOBE

Numerous calls have been made for further application of the Project GLOBE cultural framework (cf. House et al . 2004) in the global advertising literature (e.g. Terlutter et al. 2006; Okazaki & Mu...
Writing resistance: the rhetorical imagination of Hindi literature, by Laura R. Brueck, New York, Columbia University Press, 2014, 218 pp., $28.50 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-231-16605-8

The longevity of Jurgen Habermas’s seminal work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, along with the rousing engagement and critiques of its silences by scholars like Nancy Fraser, M...
“Why Would Our Heavenly Father Do that to Anyone”: Oppressive Othering through Sexual Classification Schemes in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

In this article, we examine how leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or LDS Church) responded to the emergence of homosexuality as a prominent social issue by engaging in “oppressive othering” (Schwalbe et al. 2000), which refers to the process whereby elites classify members of other groups as morally inferior. On the basis of LDS archival materials, we analyze how LDS elites accomplished “oppressive othering” by constructing sexual classification schemes defining homosexuality as the result of (1) familial, (2) gendered, and (3) sexual dysfunctions. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding (1) how elites, religious, or otherwise, construct sexual classification schemes that facilitate the ongoing subordination of sexual minorities, (2) the importance of taking an intersectional approach to oppressive othering, and (3) the ways elites revise institutional doctrines in response to shifting societal issues and concerns.
Health Issues for the Hmong Population in the U.S.: Implications for Health Educators.

The Hmong population in the US has grown since 1975. According to the 2000 US census, there are more than 160,000 Hmong living in the US. New waves of Hmong immigrants are re-settling in the US. Over 15,000 Hmong have come to the US from Thailand as refugees since summer 2004. California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are the States with the highest Hmong populations in the US. Minneapolis, Fresno, and Sacramento are the metropolitan areas with the highest number of Hmong residents. Health issues such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B carrier status, asymptomatic splenomegaly, sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, injuries related to agricultural occupation, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lower immunization rates, and cancer, pose major challenges for health education practitioners. Genetics, problems with access to health services, and diet-related issues appear to be important contributors for morbidity and mortality in this population. Although the Hmong born outside the US account for less than 0.5% of the foreign population in the US, they are an important group from a health education perspective.
Destruction of volatile organic compounds using catalytic oxidation

Catalytic oxidation is an air pollution control technique in which volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and vapor-phase air toxics in an air emission stream are oxidized with the help of a catalyst Design of catalytic systems for control of point source emissions is based on stream-specific characteristics and desired control efficiency. This paper discusses the key emission stream characteristics and VOC characteristics that affect the applicability of catalytic oxidation. The application of catalytic oxidation technology to four types of air emission sources is discussed: (1) groundwater stripping operations; (2) graphic arts facilities; (3) flexographic printing plants; and (4) latex monomer production. The characteristics of each of these emissions are discussed along with the catalytic technology used to control these emissions.
Keynote: just enough requirements management for web engineering

When building web applications, strong temptation exists to “just build it.” After all, the tools available today for web engineering are just so easy to use. The operational environment is so tolerant of implementation problems. And the expectations of the user community allow for constant evolution. On the other hand, almost every type of application, including those that are highly financial-critical and life-critical, is migrating to the web. This trend works against the attitude of “just build it.” So, the answer cannot be “forget about requirements; we'll figure them out later.” And the answer cannot be “write a formal requirements specification for all parties to approve prior to system implementation.” Requirements management exists to reduce risk, but it also needs to be made simpler, not more complex. And in today's competitive world we need to find ways to accelerate system development dramatically; modern requirements management must thus reduce, not extend, the effort. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) movement has tended to cause companies to over-methodize, while the agile programming movement has tended to cause companies to under-methodize. The result is that requirements are either over-analyzed and over-specified, or are totally ignored. This common-sense talk addresses the “right” level at which requirements should be addressed, with emphasis on recognizing that the “right” level is different for every project. The talk will cover all three major areas of requirements management: elicitation, triage, and specification. Each will be described, its goals will be made clear, common practices will be described, and recommendations for doing it in a “just enough” manner for web engineering will be explored. The talk will also discuss the factors that would cause you to want to alter the “just enough” prescription for your own needs.
Janet Sternberg, Misbehavior in Cyber Places: The Regulation of Online Conduct in Virtual Communities on the Internet

To be programmed or to program? That is the question. For media ecology scholars, it is time to examine digital media from a new perspective. Janet Sternberg gives her answer to the above question in the book Misbehavior in Cyber Places: The Regulation of Online Conduct in Virtual Communities on the Internet. In comparison with monographs on digital media or human behavior, the book is intriguing because it revisits media ecology both from social and human behavioral perspectives and acts as an important call for scholarship on studies involving situationist-based medium theory.
Human Relationships: An Introduction to Social Psychology

While most introductory social psychology textbooks do an excellent job of outlining the field and presenting current research, they often seem to be unrelated to real life because they undervalue the substructure of social behaviour: our relationships with other people. The intention of this unique book is to make the study of social psychology a living reflection of students' everyday experiences through the study of relationships. Human Relationships will not supplant the instructor's chosen introductory text, but will instead supplement it to give students an exciting glimpse into the psychology of their own lives. Professor Duck, who has played a major international role in the establishment of the new science of personal relationships, skilfully interweaves current research on interpersonal emotions with traditional social psychology topics to demonstrate conclusively that relationships form the basis for our mental and physical well-being. Thus the book offers information to students about key areas of research in the field, while asking them to relate it to their own lives and showing them its subtle interconnections with other areas of social psychology. Chapters introduce questions frequently asked by undergraduates, such as why some people are lonely or shy, what is jealousy, how do people fall in -- and out -- of love, why some children are unpopular, how children are affected by their parents' divorce. In addition, the book includes sections on sociolinguistics and the role of speech styles in social behaviour, non-verbal communication, social skills, physician-patient relationships, the social psychology of death and bereavement, social anxiety and the repair ofdeteriorating relationships. Human Relationships gives strong teaching support to instructors by encouraging students to consider familiar emotions and experiences analytically and to interpret them through research. An appendix contains library and research skills instruction, 'thought exercises', practical exercises and suggestions for further research. Steve Duck has not only written a book that will stimulate and supplement students' interest in social psychology, but has also added the definitive text on personal relationships to the professional psychologist's library.
Lateral Earth Pressure

The purpose of a retaining wall is to accommodate an abrupt change in grade as required by architectural or engineering considerations. In order to accomplish this, the retaining wall must restrain the lateral pressure exerted by the earth situated in back of the wall. A retaining wall cannot be properly designed until the designer has a clear understanding of the physical properties and in-place characteristics of the earth whose pressure the wall is to restrain. The purpose of this section is to develop the equations from which reasonable earth pressures can be computed.
Experiences with string matching on the fermi architecture

String matching is a computationally intensive procedure which poses significant challenges on current software and hardware implementations. In this paper we present an efficient implementation of the Aho-Corasick string matching algorithm on Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), showing how we progressively redesigned the algorithm and the data structures to fit on the architecture. We then evaluate the implementation on single and multiple Tesla C2050 (T20 "Fermi" based) boards, comparing them to the previous Tesla C1060 (T10 based) solutions and equivalent multi-core implementations on x86 CPUs. We discuss the various tradeoffs of the different architectures.
Selective adsorbents for germanium(IV) derived from chitosan

Abstract Branched-saccharide-chitosan resins and beads were prepared from chitosan and saccharides. Germanium(IV) was selectively adsorbed on these resins and beads from aqueous solutions containing semimetals over the range of weakly acidic to basic media. The adsorbents have large adsorption capacities of up to about 2 mmol g −1 . The adsorption mechanism is ascribed to a complex formation between germanium(IV) and the hydroxy groups of the branched saccharide.
Disinfection of Eggs Artificially Inoculated with Salmonellae 1. Application of Several Disinfectants

Abstract CONTAMINATION of shell eggs by organisms of the genus Salmonella is one of the major problems of the egg-breaking industry. Although Salmonellae do not cause a rapid deterioration of the infected eggs, they are a public health hazard. A considerable proportion of the outbreaks of salmonellosis is due to poultry and poultry products. It has been shown that Salmonellae can penetrate hen’s eggs (Schalm, 1937; Bigland and Papas, 1953; and Stokes et al., 1956). Consequently, washing eggs with various sanitizing agents is considered an expedient procedure for eliminating penetration by Salmonellae into the shell membrane. However, many investigators have shown that there is a higher percentage of bacterial spoilage in washed eggs than in unwashed eggs (Gillespie et al., 1950; Johns et al., 1946; Dawson and Davidson, 1951; Lorenz et al., 1962). On the other hand, a number of investigators have reported no harm from washing eggs (Bryant and Sharp, …
A method to portray and analyze sales performance

Abstract An objective method to analyze and portray sales performance for a specific salesperson, reporting unit, or company as a whole is needed. In many companies, sales performance is a mystery because of an inappropriate reporting system. This article introduces a newly devised ratio-analysis method that allows for qualitative measurement and comparison of period-to-period sales performance, while providing the means to accurately determine periodic differences, without the distortions caused by seasonality and irregularity. This method lends itself to application on personal computers, using spreadsheet and graphing techniques.
Synthesis and positron emission tomography studies of C-11 labeled isotopomers and metabolites of GTS-21, a partial α7 nicotinic cholinergic agonist drug

Abstract Introduction (3E)-3-[(2,4-dimethoxyphenyl)methylene]-3,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2,3′-bipyridine (GTS-21), a partial α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist drug, has recently been shown to improve cognition in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. One of its two major demethylated metabolites, 4-OH-GTS-21, has been suggested to contribute to its therapeutic effects. Methods We labeled GTS-21 in two different positions with carbon-11 ([2-methoxy-11C]GTS-21 and [4-11C]GTS-21) along with two corresponding demethylated metabolites ([2-methoxy-11C]4-OH-GTS-21 and [4-methoxy-11C]2-OH-GTS-21) for pharmacokinetic studies in baboons and mice with positron emission tomography (PET). Results Both [2-11C]GTS-21 and [4-methoxy-11C]GTS-21 showed similar initial high rapid uptake in baboon brain, peaking from 1 to 3.5 min (0.027–0.038%ID/cc) followed by rapid clearance (t1/2 Conclusions The major findings are as follows: (a) extremely rapid uptake and clearance of [2-methoxy-11C]GTS-21 from the brain, which may need to be considered in developing optimal dosing of GTS-21 for patients, and (b) significant brain uptake of 2-OH-GTS-21, suggesting that it might contribute to the therapeutic effects of GTS-21. This study illustrates the value of comparing different label positions and labeled metabolites to gain insight on the behavior of a central nervous system drug and its metabolites in the brain, providing an important perspective on drug pharmacokinetics.