cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Literature on Community Colleges: An Overview

The literature on community colleges is varied in terms of categories, types, purposes, authors, and audiences. It reveals a gap between the perceptions of the research community and perceptions among practitioners regarding the important topics for research and publication.
Burnout in academic faculty of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery.

Objective/Hypothesis: To characterize burnout in academic faculty of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery. To identify associated modifiable factors to reduce burnout and improve the health of the field. Study Design: Mailed survey. Methods: A cross section of US academic otolaryngologists was sampled through a mailed survey. Content included the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Study (MBI-HSS) and questions assessing potential burnout predictors such as demographic information, professional stressors, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and support systems. Results: Burnout was common among academic otolaryngologists. High burnout was observed in 4% of faculty, moderate burnout in 66%, and low burnout in 30%. Women experienced a statistically higher level of emotional exhaustion than men. In addition, associate professors were significantly more burned out than full professors and microvascular surgeons were notably more burned out than all other subspecialists. The strongest predictors of burnout were dissatisfaction with the balance between personal and professional life, low self-efficacy, inadequate research time, and inadequate administration time. A significant association was seen between high burnout and likelihood to leave academic medicine within the next 1 to 2 years. Conclusions: Burnout was prevalent among US academic otolaryngologists, although levels were lower than those of otolaryngology chairs and residents. Modification of risk factors, such as allowing sufficient faculty time for research and administrative activities, should be undertaken to curb the development of burnout and its deleterious sequelae.
High-speed p/sup +/ GaInAs-n InP heterojunction JFET's (HJFET's) grown by MOCVD

The authors report the high-frequency characteristics of a new type of InP-JFET having p/sup +/ GaInAs as the gate material grown by MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapor deposition) using tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP) and tertiarybutylarsine (TBA) as the alternative source for phosphine and arsine, respectively. Using selective wet chemical etching, heterojunction JFETs (HJFETs) with gate length of 0.6 mu m led to a unity current gain cutoff frequency and power gain cutoff frequency of 14.3 and 37.5 GHz, respectively. The large valence band discontinuity ( triangle E/sub v/ approximately=0.37 eV) considerably suppresses hole injection into the channel in the HJFET as compared to homojunction InP-JFETs, making the HJFET a preferred device for high-speed logic circuits based on JFET technology. >
Are reservoir-induced earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 5.0 at Koyna, India, preceded by pairs of earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 4.0?

Foreshocks of Koyna, India, earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 5.0 are investigated using data from the Poona WWSSN Seismic Station situated at a distance of 120 km from Koyna. Schemes for estimating earthquake magnitude on the SPZ component seismogram at Poona have been developed. These schemes are applicable to earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 2.0 occurring in the Koyna region. Earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 5 on 13 September 1967, 10 December 1967, and 17 October 1973 in the Koyna region were each preceded by two earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 4.0 occurring within the preceding 15 days. In comparison, the activity of September 1980 was different. An earthquake of magnitude ≧ 5.0 occurred on 2 September and two more ≧ 5.0 earthquakes occurred on 20 September. These earthquakes were not preceded by pairs of ≧ 4.0 events. All events of magnitude ≧ 4.0 during 1974 through 1976 were singular (no two such events occurred within 15 days of one another). There appears to be a 50 per cent probability of occurrence of a magnitude ≧ 5.0 earthquake if two earthquakes of magnitude ≧ 4.0 are closely spaced in time (within 15 days) in the Koyna region.
Work, Occupation, Income, and Mortality

Work is a central feature in the stratification of society because it sorts individuals into more or less prestigious occupations; exposes workers to salubrious, dangerous, or stressful environments; and provides earnings that, if adequate, can be converted into wealth, housing, and additional education. Thus, it seems intuitive that work, earnings, and occupations would be associated with broader life chances, including the attainment of long and healthy lives. Our chapter has four major sections. First, we discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges regarding the myriad and multidirectional relationships among work, income, and occupation, on the one hand, and health and mortality, on the other hand. Second, we review some of the major theoretical and empirical findings that link work, income, and occupation to individual mortality in more-developed countries. Third, we describe how work, occupation, and income impact mortality in less-developed countries where work and social safety net conditions may be quite different than in more-developed countries. Finally, we discuss some of the aggregate, historical, and comparative research that links work and income to mortality. Throughout the chapter, we note how gender and the life course shape the relationship between work and mortality.
Penicillin allergy : when is it ok to use a Cephalosporin? : review article

Penicillin and penicillin-based antibiotics are the most widely used antibiotics for common infections and arealso the antibiotics which most often cause allergic reactions. Penicillins and cephalosporins share a commonbeta-lactam ring structure as well as similar side chains which could potentially lead to clinical cross-reactivity.IgE-mediated allergy to penicillins and cephalosporins may be due to the beta-lactam ring structure that is common to this group of drugs, or due to the R-group side chain that distinguishes the different penicillins from each other. After administration penicillin undergoes degradation resulting mainly in the formation of benzyl penicilloyl which is the major antigenic determinant to which the majority of allergic patients react. The beta-lactam ring may act as a hapten by covalently binding to tissue or serum proteins. When cephalosporins degrade, the beta-lactam ring as well as the R-group side chain are exposed. It is the R-group that is believed to play a more important role in the cross-reactivity between penicillins and cephalosporins. Most patients withproven penicillin allergy can safely receive cephalosporin antibiotics after a thorough history is taken and skinprick testing and a drug provocation test performed.
Calcitonin stimulates calcium transport in distal convoluted tubule cells.

Calcitonin increases Ca2+ absorption by renal distal tubules. The mechanism underlying this action is not known. Calcitonin effects on Ca2+ uptake, intracellular Ca2+ activity, and membrane voltage were determined in transformed mouse distal convoluted tubule (DCT) cells. Intracellular Ca2+, measured in single cells grown on cover slips and loaded with fura-2, averaged 102 nM. Maximal increases of intracellular Ca2+ to 312 nM were elicited by 1 nM calcitonin. Calcitonin stimulated 45Ca2+ influx by 45% from control rates of 2.8 nmol.min-1 x mg protein-1. Membrane voltage was measured in single cells loaded with the voltage-sensitive dye 3,3'-dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide. Resting membrane voltage averaged 69 mV. Calcitonin maximally hyperpolarized cells by 18 mV. The Cl- channel blocker, 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid, abolished calcitonin-induced membrane hyperpolarization and Ca2+ influx. Calcitonin increased halide ion permeability, estimated from the rate of 125I- efflux, by 160%. The Ca2+ channel blocker nifedipine abolished calcitonin-stimulated 45Ca2+ uptake and the increase of intracellular Ca2+. Combined exposure to calcitonin and parathyroid hormone (PTH) had no additional effect on 45Ca2+ influx or intracellular Ca2+. In contrast to the long latency (8 min) before onset of PTH effects, calcitonin increased 45Ca2+ uptake and intracellular Ca2+ concentration within 2 min. Blockade of protein synthesis with cycloheximide inhibited Ca2+ uptake induced by PTH but not that stimulated by calcitonin. We conclude that calcitonin increases Cl- conductance in DCT cells, resulting in membrane hyperpolarization and activation of Ca2+ entry through dihydropyridine-sensitive Ca2+ channels. The shorter onset of calcitonin action compared with PTH may reflect differences in the signaling mechanisms between the two hormones.
Black engineering transfer students: What explains their success?

The transfer pathway, particularly from two- to four-year colleges, is often seen as a vehicle to expand the science and engineering workforce by increasing college participation of underrepresented groups, such as black or African American students. In an earlier study, after controlling for credits earned, we found that black transfer students are more likely to persist in engineering than non-transfer black students — a finding that does not hold for students of other ethnicities. In this paper, we study this somewhat puzzling difference in outcomes for black transfer students. Using an updated version of the longitudinal data set used in the earlier study that enables us to distinguish transfers from two- versus four-year institutions, we find that (1) black students in engineering are more likely to transfer from other four-year institutions than from two-year institutions, and (2) transfers from two- versus four-year institutions differ on several key characteristics, including gender, full- versus part-time enrollment status, and education outcomes including six-year graduation in engineering. Observing that our earlier results were driven by transfer students from four-year institutions, we focus this analysis on transfers from two-year colleges to identify factors associated with their performance and persistence in engineering. We find that gender and academic achievement (engineering GPA) — not transfer status — are driving graduation outcomes for two-year black transfer students. Black women are 28 percent less likely to drop out, IS percent less likely to fail an engineering course, and 25 percent more likely to graduate in engineering in six years than black men. In terms of performance, for every tenth of a grade point increase in engineering GPA, the odds of a black student graduating with an engineering degree in six years improves by 13.7 percent. These results should inform debates regarding the effectiveness of the two-year transfer pathway in engineering for black and other minority students.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study of membrane fouling and electrochemical regeneration at a sub-stoichiometric TiO2 reactive electrochemical membrane

Abstract In this study, a novel sub-stoichiometric TiO2 ultrafiltration reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) was synthesized and used for electrochemical regeneration of membranes fouled by humic acid (HA) and polystyrene beads (PS). A non-invasive and non-destructive electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characterization technique was used to spatially characterize fouling at the REM and data were successfully interpreted by a transmission line model. Based on these analyses, a chemical free electrochemical regeneration (CFER) scheme in backwash mode was developed. The CFER in anodic treatment mode recovered the flux of a HA fouled REM from 3.0% to between 76% and 99% of the initial flux over 5 continuous fouling/regeneration cycles. Full flux recovery of a PS fouled REM (fouling 31% to 38%) was achieved when using either cathodic or anodic CFER. By contrast, regeneration without an applied potential showed only partial flux recovery of 66% and 62% on HA fouled and PS fouled membranes, respectively. The operating cost of CFER was $0.04 m−2 to $0.06 m−2 per regeneration cycle, which is only 1.3% the cost of NaOH cleaning. Results suggest that the REM can provide an efficient and cost effective regeneration scheme that allows it to function in a diverse set of water treatment applications.
Abstract B06: The roles of FoxO transcription factors in mediating AKT activation and renal tumor growth in response to pharmacological inhibition of the PI3K-AKT pathway

The PI3K-AKT pathway is hyperactivated in many human cancers, and several drugs to inhibit this pathway are currently being tested in various pre-clinical and clinical trials. It has been shown that pharmacological inhibition of the PI3K-AKT pathway results in feedback activation of other oncogenic signaling pathways, which likely will limit the clinical utilization of these inhibitors in cancer treatment. However, the underlying mechanisms of such feedback regulation remain incompletely understood. The PI3K-AKT pathway is a validated therapeutic target in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Here we show that FoxO transcription factors serve to promote AKT phosphorylation at Ser473 in response to the treatment of NVP-BEZ235, a PI3K/mTOR dual inhibitor, in renal cancer cells. Inactivation of FoxO attenuated NVP-BEZ235-induced AKT Ser473 phosphorylation, and rendered renal cancer cells more susceptible to NVP-BEZ235-mediated cell growth suppression in vitro and tumor shrinkage in vivo. Mechanistically, we showed that FoxOs upregulated the expression of Rictor, an essential component of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2), in response to NVP-BEZ235 treatment, and revealed that Rictor is a key downstream target of FoxOs in NVP-BEZ235-mediated feedback regulation. We also show that FoxOs similarly modulate the feedback response on AKT Ser473 phosphorylation and renal tumor growth by the treatment of other PI3K or AKT inhibitors, such as MK-2206. Together, our study reveals a novel mechanism of PI3K-AKT inhibition-mediated feedback regulation. Importantly, a recent RCC clinical trial with MK-2206 revealed a dichotomous response in renal cancer patients: a subset of patients had dramatic tumor reduction, while another subset of RCC patients showed no decrease in tumor growth rate, and had a very short progression free survival. We will discuss our work to determine the expression/activation status of the FoxO-Rictor-AKT signaling axis in renal cancer patients receiving AKT inhibitor treatment, which may identify FoxO as a novel biomarker to stratify RCC patients for PI3K or AKT inhibitor treatment. Citation Format: Boyi Gan. The roles of FoxO transcription factors in mediating AKT activation and renal tumor growth in response to pharmacological inhibition of the PI3K-AKT pathway. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer; Sep 14-17, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(7 Suppl):Abstract nr B06.
Isolation and characterization of a tetramethyliron(III) ferrate: an intermediate in the reduction pathway of ferric salts with MeMgBr.

While iron-catalyzed Kumada cross-coupling reactions with simple iron salts have been known since the early 1970s, the nature of the in situ-formed iron species remains elusive. Herein, we report the synthesis of the homoleptic tetralkyliron(III) ferrate complex [MgCl(THF)5][FeMe4] from the reaction of FeCl3 with MeMgBr in THF. Upon warming, this distorted square-planar S = 3/2 species converts to the S = 1/2 species originally observed by Kochi and co-workers with concomitant formation of ethane, consistent with its intermediacy in the reduction pathway of FeCl3 to generate the reduced iron species involved in catalysis.
Extraction of flavone glycosides from the leaves of persimmon by supercritical CO_2 fluid

The extraction technology of flavonoids from persimmon leaves with CO_2 supercritical fluid was studied and the processing parameters were optimized.The results showed that the optimal processing parameters of extraction pressure,extraction temperature,extraction time and the flux of CO_2 were at 30 MPa,50℃,3h,and 30kg·h~(-1),respectively.
Immunotherapy with Human Antiendotoxin Antibodies in the Treatment of Gram-Negative Sepsis: Practical Considerations

Gram-negative sepsis is an increasingly common disease, with a high mortality rate [1]. Endotoxin, present in the outer membrane of all gram-negative bacteria, is an important trigger in the development of the septic syndrome [2]. Recently, a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showed a significant reduction in mortality in gram-negative bacteremic patients who were treated with the human antiendotoxin monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody HA-1A (Centoxin) [3].
Collateral Benefits of Financial Globalization

This chapter provides a brief review of the literature on the collateral benefits of financial globalization. Theoretical and empirical studies are first surveyed, to analyze different types of collateral benefits, including development of domestic financial markets, improvements in institutional governance, and discipline on macroeconomic policies. The chapter then assesses the evidence about the impact of globalization on total factor productivity, the channel through which the collateral benefits are expected to produce better growth outcomes. The review provided in the chapter suggests that there is modest but increasing evidence that financial globalization can generate collateral benefits.
Fundamentals of Digital Communications [Book/Software Reviews]

This book provides the fundamentals of and basic design techniques for digital communications in a simple, easy-to-understand format. All the text discussions in the book are very brief and simple, chapters are short, and explanations are direct, providing a good summary of each subject. The text covers all important topics related to digital communications, such as radio beams, satellites, optic fibers, radar, and mobile wireless systems. Geared toward engineering students, the book's 13 chapters include a complete analysis of the structures used for emission or reception technology and provide a complete set of approaches to be used for digital communication design. The text consists of four parts: an introduction to digital communication basics; statistics communication and cover sampling methods, analog-to-digital conversion, quantization error, coding, probability of detection, and Nyquist criteria; digital communications on the carriers' frequency; and various exercises and problems, with each problem followed by a detailed solution, providing a most welcome exercise format for ll students. This book is designed for master's level engineering courses, and students would need prerequisite undergraduate courses on basic digital communication.
Insights into the Seeded-Growth Synthesis of Colloidal Hybrid Nanoparticles

Colloidal hybrid nanoparticles integrate two or more nanocrystal domains into a single architecture that can have properties not found in, or enhanced relative to those of, the individual components. These hybrid nanomaterials are typically constructed using multistep seeded-growth reaction sequences, which are conceptually analogous to the total synthesis approaches used in molecular synthesis. Here, we discuss in detail the synthetic protocols that lead to the formation of three-component Ag–Pt–Fe3O4 and Au–Pt–Fe3O4 heterotrimers. These instructive model systems highlight the important synthetic details that underpin successful hybrid nanoparticle reactions. We provide detailed, step-by-step protocols for generating these materials, focusing on describing and rationalizing the key reaction parameters that need to be rigorously controlled to minimize unwanted nanoparticle byproducts. The importance of comprehensive analysis using a suite of materials characterization tools is highlighted, as such efforts...
Virtual Breakthrough Series, Part 2: Improving Fall Prevention Practices in the Veterans Health Administration

Article-at-a-Glance Background The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented a Virtual Breakthrough Series (VBTS) collaborative to help prevent falls and fall-related injuries. This project enabled teams to expand program infrastructure, redesign improvement strategies, and enhance program evaluation. Methods A VBTS collaborative involves prework, action, and continuous improvement. Actions included educational calls, monthly reports, coaching, and feedback. Evaluation included assessment of interventions, team capacity and infrastructure changes, and rates of falls and fall-related major injuries. Results Fifty-nine teams completed the project. The majority submitted monthly reports. The average number of interventions per team was 6.66 (range, 1–12; mode=6). The most frequently implemented changes were staff education; post-fall huddles; data tracking; and classifying falls, handoff communication, and intentional rounding. On a program questionnaire aggregated average summary scores improved from 136.54 (baseline) to 58.26 (follow-up; range, 0–189; p Conclusion Teams submitted reports and implemented changes resulting in decreased major injuries related to falls for participating units. Teams also made changes in their fall prevention programs such as classifying how they analyze falls and implementing injury reduction strategies. The approaches used show promise for reducing fall-related harm for inpatients, as well as assisting teams in implementing changes.
Polemics of Arsenii Matseevich

Arsenii Matseevich, an important ecclesiastical figure, defended the doctrine of Orthodox Church from schismatics, in particular, from attacks of Ioasif, who, among others, wanted to abolish the Orthodox priesthood. Matseevich was also involved in polemics with Lutherans who criticized Iavorskii’s monumental The Rock of faith . The article discusses arguments Matseevich used against schismatics and Lutherans. Matseevich was an isolated vocal voice that opposed the idea of secularization of the Church. The article describes arguments he used to retain the dignity of the Church and even to restore it to the former glory. For all his efforts Catherine II put him in prison where he died.
Comparison between cylindrical and prismatic lithium-ion cell costs using a process based cost model

Abstract The relative size and age of the US electric vehicle market means that a few vehicles are able to drive market-wide trends in the battery chemistries and cell formats on the road today. Three lithium-ion chemistries account for nearly all of the storage capacity, and half of the cells are cylindrical. However, no specific model exists to examine the costs of manufacturing these cylindrical cells. Here we present a process-based cost model tailored to the cylindrical lithium-ion cells currently used in the EV market. We examine the costs for varied cell dimensions, electrode thicknesses, chemistries, and production volumes. Although cost savings are possible from increasing cell dimensions and electrode thicknesses, economies of scale have already been reached, and future cost reductions from increased production volumes are minimal. Prismatic cells, which are able to further capitalize on the cost reduction from larger formats, can offer further reductions than those possible for cylindrical cells.
Ethical Issues of Renal Replacement Therapy in the Elderly

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) predominantly occurs in older individuals secondary to increasing comorbidities, higher incidences of diabetes and hypertension, and increased overall longevity. As the number of elderly patients facing this diagnosis continues to increase, clinicians are often faced with ethical dilemmas and treatment challenges regarding the risk-benefit ratio of dialysis in this population. This chapter focuses on the unique ethical issues and challenges which should be considered when making decisions regarding treatment of ESRD in the geriatric age group.
Mechanism of Action for Obtaining Job Offers With Virtual Reality Job Interview Training

Objective:Four randomized controlled trials revealed that virtual-reality job interview training (VR-JIT) improved interviewing skills and the odds of obtaining a job offer among trainees with severe mental illness or autism spectrum disorder. This study assessed whether postintervention interviewing skills mediated the relationship between completion of virtual interviews and receiving job offers by six-month follow-up.Methods:VR-JIT trainees (N=79) completed pre- and posttest mock interviews and a brief survey approximately six months later to assess whether they received a job offer.Results:As hypothesized, analyses indicated that the number of completed virtual interviews predicted greater posttest interviewing skills (β=.20, 95% posterior credible interval [PCI]=.08–.33), which in turn predicted trainees’ obtaining a job offer (β=.28, 95% PCI=.01–.53).Conclusions:VR-JIT may provide a mechanism of action that helps trainees with various psychiatric diagnoses obtain job offers in the community. Future ...
Many-body dissipative particle dynamics modeling of fluid flow in fine-grained nanoporous shales

A many-body dissipative particle dynamics model, namely, MDPD, is applied for simulation of pore-scale, multi-component, multi-phase fluid flows in fine-grained, nanoporous shales. Since this model is able to simultaneously capture the discrete features of fluid molecules in nanometer size pores and continuum fluid dynamics in larger pores, and is relatively easy to parameterize, it has been recognized as being particularly suitable for simulating complex fluid flow in multi-length-scale nanopore networks of shales. A remarkable feature of this work is the integration of a high-resolution FIB-SEM (focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy) digital imaging technique to the MDPD model for providing 3D voxel data that contain the invaluable geometrical and compositional information of shale samples. This is the first time that FIB-SEM is seamlessly linked to a Lagrangian model like MDPD for fluid flow simulation, which offers a robust approach to bridging gaps between the molecular- and continuum-scales,...
Engaging in identity work through engineering practices in elementary classrooms

Abstract This article examines the emergence of identity work in engineering among elementary school students. Engineering has only recently been added to state and national standards in the United States. The purpose of the study was to examine ways that engaging in engineering practices transforms students’ views of engineering and themselves. Video of two teachers, each teaching one engineering unit, was analyzed. Across the lessons of these engineering units (designing a parachute and designing a mortar mixture for a stone wall), a sociolinguistic perspective was taken to show how engagement in engineering provides opportunities for identity work among the students and teachers. Analyses of the classroom discourse identified the epistemological and ontological constructions of identity, uses of intertextuality and chronotopes to build identity over time, and ways that collective understandings supported student take-up of an engineering identity. Because engineering is a new discipline in most classrooms, it provides a unique opportunity to examine how disciplinary affinity can be developed through purposeful activity and metadiscourse about participation.
GENERALIST PRACTICE VS. CASE MANAGEMENT: AN ACCREDITATION CONTRADICTION

This article critically analyzes a contradiction in the accreditation process of BSW programs. While the standards mandate that undergraduate social work education must prepare students for beginning generalist practice, they concurrently mandate that the results of systematic outcome evaluations must inform program planning and curriculum design. When a program’s outcome measures indicate that students upon graduation perform primarily direct practice, case management functions, must the curriculum reflect this emphasis rather than an even-handed generalist approach? This contradiction raises the issue of the relative priority of standards and the reality of social work practice in the marketplace.
Parts, Wholes, and the Forms of Life: Husserl and the New Biology

With the success of modern analytical biology, and in the absence of adequate reflection on the wholeness of living wholes, our understanding of living things has come to be characterized by a neglect or even a denial of biological form. This essay invokes Husserl’s logic of parts and wholes, and his doctrine of categorical intuition in order to argue for a reconsideration of the place of form in biology. Rightly understood, the notion of form neither supplants analytical investigations nor does it lead into a realm of spurious abstraction. Rather, form makes our understanding of life more concrete by expressing the radiant unity constitutive of every living thing.
Pharmacology of Local and Neuraxial Anesthetics

Local anesthetics are the pharmacologic cornerstone of regional anesthesia producing reversible and complete blockade of neuronal transmission when applied near the axons. Development of local anesthetics, since the 1950s, has focused on amide local anesthetics. Ester local anesthetics exhibit a number of limitations including instability when in solution, short shelf life, degradation when exposed to high temperatures, and an increased propensity to cause allergic reactions. Local anesthetics are widely used to prevent or treat acute pain; to treat inflammatory, cancer, and chronic pain; and for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Nociceptive pain, as well as neuropathic pain, is targeted with this group of drugs. Any part of the nervous system, from the periphery to the brain, may be where local anesthetics act to produce a desired anesthetic or analgesic effect.
Antimicrobial agents in prostatic fluid and tissue

Lipid solubility and a basic pKa are the necessary requirements for the secretion of antibacterial agents into the prostatic fluid in dogs in concentrations exceeding the simultaneous serum concentrations. Protein binding appears to be of less importance. This was demonstrated in constant infusion experiments in dogs. Ampicillin concentrations in prostatic fluid in a patient with urinary diversion were found to be much higher following oral administration of the lipid-soluble hetacillin ester than following administration of ampicillin. This had also previously been found to be true in prostatic fluid and tissue of dogs. The prostatic tissue ampicillin concentrations in humans were not found to be increased following hetacillin ester administration, possibly because the drug was washed out of the tissue during surgery. The importance of the basic pKa is shown in constant infusion experiments in dogs with trimethoprim, erythromycin and rosamicin, all 3 lipid-soluble antibiotics having a high pKa and all being found to concentrate in prostatic fluid and tissue of dogs.
Clinical commentary: how to choose blood pressure goals and treatment: influence of estimated glomerular filtration rate and albuminuria

Objective measures of cardiovascular disease are often lacking until patients develop symptoms associated with either coronary, cerebral or peripheral vascular disease. Estimating risk for cardiovascular disease is often based on classic Framingham Heart Study criteria, such as age, gender, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and family history. Moreover, there is a well described continuous relationship between blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose and risk for cardiovascular events. Estimating GFR, using simple formulae, and screening quantitatively for albuminuria may provide an important opportunity for identifying patients at increased risk for cardiovascular events. These safe, simple and cost-effective measures of estimating cardiovascular disease risk can be used not only to estimate cardiovascular disease burden, but also to gauge the adequacy of response to cardiovascular risk-reducing therapies.
Colonoscopy-based colorectal cancer modeling in mice with CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing and organoid transplantation

Most genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of colorectal cancer are limited by tumor formation in the small intestine, a high tumor burden that limits metastasis, and the need to generate and cross mutant mice. Cell line or organoid transplantation models generally produce tumors in ectopic locations-such as the subcutaneous space, kidney capsule, or cecal wall-that do not reflect the native stromal environment of the colon mucosa. Here, we describe detailed protocols to rapidly and efficiently induce site-directed tumors in the distal colon of mice that are based on colonoscopy-guided mucosal injection. These techniques can be adapted to deliver viral vectors carrying Cre recombinase, CRISPR-Cas9 components, CRISPR-engineered mouse tumor organoids, or human cancer organoids to mice to model the adenoma-carcinoma-metastasis sequence of tumor progression. The colonoscopy injection procedure takes ∼15 min, including preparation. In our experience, anyone with reasonable hand-eye coordination can become proficient with mouse colonoscopy and mucosal injection with a few hours of practice. These approaches are ideal for a wide range of applications, including assessment of gene function in tumorigenesis, examination of tumor-stroma interactions, studies of cancer metastasis, and translational research with patient-derived cancers.
Environmental sources of community-acquired legionnaires' disease: A review.

Abstract Background Most Legionnaires’ disease in the US and abroad is community-acquired and believed to be sporadic, or non-outbreak associated. Most patients are exposed to numerous water sources, thus making it difficult to focus environmental investigations. Identifying known sources of sporadic community-acquired Legionnaires’ disease will inform future sporadic Legionnaires’ disease investigations as well as highlight directions for research. The objective is to summarize and rank sporadic Legionnaires’ disease sources based on the level of linkage between the environmental source and cases. Methods A PubMed search was conducted using the search terms legion* and (origins or source or transmission) and (sporadic or community-acquired). Studies of nosocomial and/or outbreak-associated disease were excluded from this review. Definite, probable, possible and suspect ranks were assigned to sources based on evidence of linkage to sporadic Legionnaires’ disease. Results The search yielded 196 articles and 47 articles were included in the final review after application of exclusion criteria. A total of 28 sources were identified. Of these, eight were assigned definite rank including residential potable water and car air-conditioner water leakage. Probable rank was assigned to five sources including solar-heated potable water and soil. Possible rank was assigned to nine sources including residential potable water and cooling towers. Suspect rank was assigned to 20 sources including large building water systems and cooling towers. Conclusion Residential potable water, large building water systems and car travel appear to contribute to a substantial proportion of sporadic Legionnaires’ disease. Cooling towers are also a potentially significant source; however, definitive linkage to sporadic cases proves difficult. The sources of sporadic Legionnaires’ disease cannot be definitively identified for most cases.
Letter to General Daniel O’Leary

Supporters of Bolivar were not pleased with the constitution that was being written at Ocana. They withdrew from the convention and thus created a lack of a quorum. Insurrections in Venezuela and Ecuador now occupied Bolivar’s time. However, Bolivar ordered a new congress to be convened in January 1830. Meanwhile he declared the 1821 Cucuta Constitution still in effect, although he assumed virtually dictatorial powers in the meanwhile. The various insurrections and a border dispute with Peru were temporarily settled.
Ice Thickness Distribution — Measurement and Theory

In considering the historical literature relevant to the subject of ice thickness distribution, I was struck by the paper by Wittmann and Schule (1966) at the Lake Arrowhead symposium on the Arctic heat budget. They presented a synthesis of visual observations from aircraft showing ice concentration, lead spacings, percent coverage of several ice types, and ridging indices in subregions of the Arctic Ocean. Their format emphasizes the basic elements of present thinking--first, that we want properties averaged over space scales which include many ice features, and second, that these average properties vary on yet longer scales over the basin and from one season to the next, in ways of interest to the climatologist.
Personality Changes Associated with Localized Brain Injury in Elderly Populations

Emotional disturbances following brain damage have been frequently reported in the literature. However, systematic investigation of these disorders and their specific causes were not common until the last 30 years. However, the number of research studies into this area remains slight compared to the voluminous literature on the cognitive effects of brain injury. The completed research has fallen into 3 major areas: (1) The study of clients with localized brain injuries to evaluate whether the site of the injury predicts the emotional reactions; (2) the effect of time poststroke on personality changes; and (3) the relation of neuropsychological deficits to emotional changes. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research that has been completed in this area with elderly subjects along with an analysis of the current state of the knowledge in this area. Future directions for research to further our understanding are discussed.
The burden of pediatric status epilepticus: Epidemiology, morbidity, mortality, and costs.

Abstract Purpose To summarize the epidemiology, morbidity, mortality, and costs of status epilepticus (SE) in the pediatric population. Method Review of the medical literature. Results The overall incidence of pediatric SE is roughly 20 per 100,000 children per year, with overall mortality of 3%. Underlying etiology is the biggest risk factor for SE, with symptomatic (acute > remote) etiologies associated with worse outcomes. The most common cause of SE in children is febrile SE, though this entity occurs primarily in early childhood. After a first episode, the risk of recurrence is similar to the risk after a first unprovoked seizure (25–40%). SE is expensive, regularly costing more than $10,000 per episode and often more than $100,000 for refractory cases. Conclusion SE is not an uncommon neurologic emergency and depending on the associated etiology can carry significant morbidity, mortality, and cost especially if treatment is not performed in a timely manner.
Geospatial uncertainty modeling using Stacked Gaussian Processes

Abstract A network of independently trained Gaussian processes (StackedGP) is introduced to obtain predictions of geospatial quantities of interest (model outputs) with quantified uncertainties. The uncertain nature of model outputs is due to model inadequacy, parametric uncertainty, and measurement noise. StackedGP framework supports component-based modeling in environmental science, enhances predictions of quantities of interest through a cascade of intermediate predictions usually addressed by cokriging, and propagates uncertainties through emulated dynamical systems driven by uncertain forcing variables. By using analytical first and second-order moments of a Gaussian process with uncertain inputs using squared exponential and polynomial kernels, approximated expectations of model outputs that require an arbitrary composition of functions can be obtained. The performance of the proposed nonparametric stacked model in model composition and cascading predictions is measured in a wildfire and mineral resource problem using real data, and its application to time-series prediction is demonstrated in a 2D puff advection problem.
Influence of country and company characteristics on international business decisions: A review, conceptual model, and propositions

Abstract This research advances four propositions and a conceptual model of country and company characteristics influencing key International Business Decisions (IBDs). The IBDs in this study are country selection and evaluation, entry mode, segmentation-targeting-positioning, and the marketing mix – the first two in the international business domain, and the latter two in the international marketing field. The conceptual model and related four propositions are advanced, based on an extensive literature review and subsequent in-depth review of 169 published research papers on major IBDs and their determinants, namely, country characteristics, including opportunities, risks, and various distances between the host country and home country, and company characteristics, which include international business experience, assets/resources, and expansion/growth strategies. Managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Nonadiabatic conical nodes are near but not at an elliptical conical intersection

Abstract Numerical nonadiabatic eigenfunctions are calculated for 2D Jahn-Teller conical intersections with the elliptical shape found in square-symmetric molecules. Hunter’s exact factorization is used to visualize the complete real-valued vibronic eigenfunctions. Point nodes are observed in the vibrational factor and the nodal structures are compared with those for circularly symmetric conical intersections. Without pseudo-rotation symmetry, essential nth order nodes at circular conical intersections split into n accidental conical nodes that are near but not at the elliptical conical intersection. For each eigenfunction, the integer electronic index that measures electronic state vector rotation around a closed vibrational path is locally stable to perturbations. Pairs of oppositely signed conical nodes can be generated or annihilated as Hamiltonian parameters are continuously varied. At annihilation, a tangential node with an electronic index of zero is created. For elliptical conical intersections, all eigenfunctions examined generate nonzero total vibrational probability density at the conical intersection.
Divide-and-Conquer Kronecker Product Decomposition for Memory-Efficient Graph Approximation

Graphs are a widely used data structure for modeling objects in several domains, ranging from social media analytics to molecular biology. Recently, with the surge of big data, finding compact representations of large graphs has become an integral part of large-scale data analysis. To that end, we explore the effectiveness of the Kronecker Product SVD (KPSVD) for scalable sparse graph approximation, in a Divide-and-Conquer fashion. The KPSVD seeks to represent a graph as the sum of the Kronecker Product (KP) of several smaller factor matrices. In our method, we first partition the graph into inter-graph and intra-graph, and then use the Van Loan-Pitsianis (VLP) SVD-based algorithm to find the low-rank KPSVD of each subgraph to approximate the intra-graph. We use both the inter-graph and the intra-graph to find the approximation for the whole graph. We perform experiments on small-scale to large-scale real-world datasets to test the effectiveness of our method in terms of approximation error and spectral clustering results. The experiments demonstrate that our approach can provide better or competitive performance in terms of approximation error and clustering results while saving memory, compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms.
Semantics Processing for Search Engines

This paper presents a study of extracting related content based on links on web sites through semantics keyword inputs and content analysis. The java-based implementation semantically converts keywords in English to potential website names as those done by search engines. But our work doesn't work here, we use the URL's returned from a search engine to fetch content from website names and to match them with the keywords, through semantics analysis such as Latent Semantics Indexing (LSI). Our differentiator is to extract relevant content from all the sub-links besides the sites discovered by search engines. Our research includes three parts: 1) Let the user input a list of keywords and convert them into a list of URL's through search engines. 2) Use a method to match the keyword information and extract the sub-links from the content of the URL's. Then save the content in a new list. The content will be filtered through LSI analysis. 3) Create an interface to output the content list to users. Some relevant research is shown in the paper, e.g. PageRank algorithm, Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search algorithm. Link extraction has been done while the LSI part is ongoing.
A stereoscopic reading of Rosario Ferré’s “El cuento envenenado” and “The Poisoned Story”

Abstract Rosario Ferre has been a self-translator since the mid-1980s. For just as long, criticism of her work has been snarled in essentialist arguments that assume that language embodies the values of the culture from which it derives and that words transmit an essence regardless of context. Following this logic, English and Spanish are systems in opposition. This essay compares “El cuento envenenado” (1986) to Ferre’s self-translation, “The Poisoned Story” (1991) in order to recast her as a bilingual writer. Using Marilyn Gaddis Rose’s concept of stereoscopic reading, the essay places two autonomous but interrelated texts in a theory-informed relationship that renders them as one textual space and captures the creative interliminality of a bilingual writer. This reading traces Ferre’s evolution as a writer from the late seventies to the nineties and beyond, when she envisioned a short story of greater inscrutability and resistance that reflected the legacy of colonialism within a Puerto Rican household.
Individual and aggregate demand for higher education: the role of strategic scholarships

Undergraduate enrollment increased over 50 percent nationally from 1973 to 1994. The proportion of high school graduates enrolling in college increased from 46.6 to 61.9 percent. These increases occurred despite increases in real tuition prices since 1985, constant (nominal) levels of federal Pell grants per recipient, and declining numbers of high school graduates. This dissertation examines the admitted applicant's decision to enroll and aggregate (state/county) enrollment at a large public institution;The aggregate enrollment model investigates the extent to which national trends in enrollment can be captured within the context of a model of enrollment demand at a specific university. State or national data sources do not allow sufficient time-series to test competing explanations for the increasing enrollment rates. A two stage process models the decision to attend a university as the product of the probability of attending college and the probability of attending the specific institution, conditional on college attenDance;;Analysis of college enrollment aggregated to the state or county level reveals that increased per capita income and increased expected returns to higher education have played major roles in increasing college enrollments. These factors led to rising college enrollments, even as rising tuition lowered college incentives. The model finds freshmen enrollment is negatively related to price and distance, with an inelastic own-price response;The individual level model determines the applicant's reservation price. Four issues are discussed. (1) Can increases in tuition be offset with equal increases in grant aid? (2) Holding the probability of enrollment constant, how much must tuition increase to increase a desirable student attribute (academic ability, protected group status)? (3) How can institutions maximize revenues by price discriminating, and do they? (4) Based on computed reservation prices, what are the characteristics of the demand curve for the institution?;The probit estimates reveal that the response to tuition is larger than grant aid and women, minorities, and high ability students have higher reservation prices. The last dollar of grant aid decreases net revenue by more than one dollar and the institution is not maximizing revenue. Finally, the own-price elasticity in the individual level model is also inelastic.