cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bringing Mohamed to the Mountain: Situated Professional Development in a Ubiquitous Computing Classroom

This article describes an ongoing situated professional development program in which teachers bring their intact classes for an extended stay in a ubiquitous computing environment equipped with a variety of state-of-the-art computing devices. The experience is unique in that it not only situates teacher learning about technology integration in their regular practice, but also gives them the opportunity to explore the full possibilities afforded by a variety of technologies and 1:1 computing opportunities. The program provides an important alternative model for professional development that has been highly successful, not only in increasing teachers' knowledge and confidence in technology integration but also in changing the ways in which teachers think about and use a variety of technologies in their classrooms. Findings also suggest that ubiquitous computing environments afford unique teaching and learning opportunities upon which ordinary classroom teachers can capitalize to a greater or lesser degree.
Survival Analysis of Fatigue Cracking for Flexible Pavements Based on Long-Term Pavement Performance Data

The study presented in this paper analyzed the development patterns of fatigue cracking shown in flexible pavement test sections of the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program. A large number of LTPP test sections exhibited a sudden burst of fatigue cracking after a few years of service. In order to characterize this type of LTPP cracking data, a survival analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between fatigue failure time and various influencing factors. After dropping insignificant influencing factors, accelerated failure time models were developed to show the quantitative relationship between fatigue failure time and asphalt concrete layer thickness, Portland cement concrete base layer thickness, average traffic level, intensity of precipitation, and freeze-thaw cycles. The error distribution of the accelerated failure time model was found to be best represented by the generalized gamma distribution. The model can also be used to predict the average behavior of fatigue failures of flexible pavements.
An Examination of Competing Explanations for the Pay Gap among Scientists and Engineers

This article uses a nationally representative data set to determine the role of glass ceiling barriers and cohort effects on the earnings differences between women and men in an elite and growing group of professionals: Scientists and engineers. It draws on national data gathered in four surveys during the 1990s for cohorts graduating between 1955and1990.Results indicate a continuing pay gap net of human capital, family status, and occupational characteristics that was not fully explained by either cohort effects or the glass ceiling. The authors suggest that the gender pay gap in these fields results from several unmeasured barriers that neither worsen across the life cycle nor become less problematic for recent cohorts. Improvements will require continued attention to discriminatory barriers.
Scheduling with integer time budgeting for low-power optimization

In this paper we present a mathematical programming formulation of the integer time budgeting problem for directed acyclic graphs. In particular, we formally prove that our constraint matrix has a special property that enables a polynomial-time algorithm to solve the problem optimally with a guaranteed integral solution. Our theory can be directly applied to solving a scheduling problem in behavioral synthesis with the objective of minimizing the system power consumption. Given a set of scheduling constraints and a collection of convex power-delay tradeoff curves for each type of operation, our scheduler can intelligently schedule the operations to appropriate clock cycles and simultaneously select the module implementations that lead to low-power solutions. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed technique can produce near-optimal results (within 6% of the optimum by the ILP formulation), with 40x+ speedup.
Changes in the biochemical constituents and morphologic appearance of the human cervical stroma during pregnancy

Abstract Objective The cervix is the lower portion of the uterus. It is composed of fibrous tissue and its mechanical integrity is crucial for maintaining a healthy gestation. During normal pregnancy, the cervical extracellular matrix (ECM) remodels in preparation for labor. The objective of this study was to investigate the biochemical and morphological changes in cervical stroma associated with physiological remodeling during normal pregnancy. Study design Using human cervical tissue obtained from pregnant and non-pregnant patients, the ECM was analyzed for its biochemical constituents and histologic morphology. The ECM was assayed for hydration, collagen concentration, collagen solubility, total sulfated glycosaminoglycan concentration, and individual disaccharide concentration. The ECM morphology was visualized using conventional histological techniques (Masson's trichrome stain, polarized light microscopy) as well as second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. Results When comparing pregnant to non-pregnant tissue, significant increases were measured for total sulfated glycosaminoglycans, hyaluronic acid, and collagen solubility. The microscopy studies confirmed that the collagenous network of the cervical stroma was anisotropic and pregnancy was associated with a discernable decrease in collagen organization. Conclusion Significant changes were seen in the concentration and organization of cervical ECM constituents during normal pregnancy.
Identification of CCR8: A human monocyte and thymus receptor for the CC chemokine I-309

The human CC chemokine I-309 is a potent monocyte chemoattractant and inhibits apoptosis in thymic cell lines. Here, we identify a specific human I-309 receptor, and name it CCR8 according to an accepted nomenclature system. The receptor has seven predicted transmembrane domains, is expressed constitutively in monocytes and thymus, and is encoded by a previously reported gene of previously unknown function named, alternatively, CY6, TER1, and CKR-L1. After transfection with the CY6 open reading frame, a mouse pre–B cell line exhibited calcium flux and chemotaxis in response to I-309 (EC50 = 2 nM for each), whereas 20 other chemokines were inactive. Signaling was sensitive to pertussis toxin, suggesting coupling to a Gi-type G protein. These properties parallel those of endogenous I-309 receptors expressed in an HL-60 clone 15 cell line model. The apparent monogamous relationship between I-309 and CCR8 is unusual among known CC chemokines and known CC chemokine receptors. CCR8 may regulate monocyte chemotaxis and thymic cell line apoptosis.
Collision tumor of apocrine carcinoma and squamous carcinoma occurring in the ear

An unusual case of a cutaneous collision tumor comprised of a squamous cell carcinoma and an apocrine carcinoma occurring in the auricle of an 82-year-old man is presented. Microscopic study confirmed 2 distinct tumors: a squamous cell carcinoma arising in the epidermis and an adjacent apocrine carcinoma. We discuss the diagnostic criteria and review pertinent recent literature. To our knowledge, this is the first English language report of such a collision tumor.
Miniaturized and broadband V-band balanced frequency doubler for highly integrated 3-D MMIC

This paper presents a compact V-band balanced frequency doubler 3-D MMIC with broadband performance. The MMIC was fabricated by combining a commercial 0.15 /spl mu/m GaAs pHEMT technology with the 3-D MMIC technology. A fabricated frequency doubler MMIC, which occupies 0.92 mm/sup 2/, achieves 2.5-dBm output power and more than 15-dB fundamental signal suppression over 50-GHz to 68-GHz (30% bandwidth) for an 8-dBm input signal. A transmit MMIC, intended for 50-GHz application, realizes a 10-dBm output power and 40-dB isolation in an area of 1.48 mm/sup 2/, it is supported by input and output buffer amplifiers. These fabricated MMICs are very effective in realizing compact and highly integrated single-chip transceiver MMICs. Furthermore, they can be re-used for various V-band applications, resulting in significant cost reduction.
Sphagnum oregonense sp. nov. from western North America

Sphagnum oregonense is described as a new species in section Subsecunda from the state of Oregon, U.S.A. It differs from other North America Subsecunda in lacking commissural pores on either surface of the branch leaf hyaline cells, having instead as many as five free pores on the convex surface of the hyaline cells.
Herding Behavior in the DJIA 2005-2009: An Application of the Bass Model

The presence of investor herding behavior for DOW firms is analyzed for the years 2005 to 2009 through an examination of trading volume. We examine whether herding investors behave in a way similar to the diffusion of new products into consumer and commercial markets. We hypothesize that herding is viral and that the behavior of herding investors can be modeled by applying the principles of the Bass Model, a respected theory in the fields of marketing and technology management. Herding starts with influential investment initiators (called innovators in the Bass Model) who attract early imitators, who in turn attract later imitators. Our results show that this behavior is consistent with the behavior of financial market investors, and that the significance and degree of herding has increased over time. This finding has important implications for stock market stability and for the strategies of investment analysts.
Stress-induced hyperglycemia is associated with higher mortality in severe traumatic brain injury

BACKGROUND: An association between stress-induced hyperglycemia (SIH) and increased mortality has been demonstrated following trauma. Experimental animal model data regarding the association between hyperglycemia and outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are inconsistent, suggesting that hyperglycemia may be harmful, neutral, or beneficial. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SIH versus diabetic hyperglycemia (DH) on severe TBI. METHODS: Admission glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), glucose levels, and comorbidity data were collected during a 4-year period from September 2009 to December 2013 for patients with severe TBI (i.e., admission Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score of 3-8 and head Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] score ≥ 3). Diabetes mellitus was determined by patient history or admission HbA1c of 6.5% or greater. SIH was determined by the absence of diabetes mellitus and admission glucose of 200 mg/dL or greater. A Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, injury mechanism, and Injury Severity Score (ISS) was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between SIH and the outcomes of interest. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 626 patients were included in the study group, having severe TBI defined by both GCS score of 3 to 8 and head AIS score being 3 or greater and also had available HbA1c and admission glucose levels. A total of 184 patients were admitted with hyperglycemia; 152 patients (82.6%) were diagnosed with SIH, and 32 patients (17.4%) were diagnosed with DH. When comparing patients with severe TBI adjusted for age, sex, injury mechanism, ISS, Revised Trauma Score (RTS), and lactic acid greater than 2.5 mmol/L, patients with SIH had a 50% increased mortality (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.13-1.95) compared with the nondiabetic normoglycemia patients. DH patients did not have a significant increase in mortality (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.56-1.58). CONCLUSION: SIH is associated with higher mortality after severe TBI. This association was not observed among patients with DH, which suggests that hyperglycemia related to diabetes is of less importance compared with SIH in terms of mortality in the acute trauma and TBI patient. Further research is warranted to identify mechanisms causing SIH and subsequent worse outcomes after TBI. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic/epidemiologic study, leve III. Language: en
The Truth About the Human Person as a Content of Education Targeting the 'Quality of Life'

The Pope Benedict XVI in his new Encyclical Letter about the integral human development makes also a very important reflection of the sense of education. As everybody knows, education is an important way to the human development, both in the individual and in the social dimension. But very important is that the educational project should have an integral and true vision of the human person. Otherwise our “educare” – “to lead out somebody somewhere” will have either wrong target to follow, or wrong way to pursue. In other words, education will have either an incorrect vision of its goal, or wrong didactics.
PARALLELISM AND CONVERGENCE IN THE EVOLUTION OF SIZE AND SHAPE IN HOLARCTIC HYLA.

The relationships among the species of the genus Hyla and the closely allied Pseudacris have formed the basis for a myriad of researches. With the exception of the work of W. F. Blair (1962) most of these papers have dealt with relatively few species. Recently Rallin and Selander have studied the biochemical variation of a large number of species (in ms). We use most of the Hyla and Pseudacris taxa found in northern North America and some of their presumed close relatives in Latin America, Europe and Asia and compare these results with conclusions from other studies. The analytic problems encountered in phylogenetic studies center around the need to diagnose two or more taxa and to determine which among such taxa are more closely related. Since fossil frogs are of limited usefulness these relations constitute the basis for understanding the evolutionary development of the Hylidae. Modern systematic procedures involve a set of rules and a set of characters (Sokal and Crovello, 1970). With these all workers should reach the same conclusions. Discrete characters are ideally suited to these rules even though there is little agreement on exactly what are the rules or whether or not to weight and if so how much to weight each character. Continuous characters have unique difficulties, most of which involve the large volume of numbers and arithmetic operations which are generated by even a few measures on several taxa. Nevertheless, frogs possess a wide variety of sizes and shapes and these are undoubtedly important in obtaining food, avoiding predators, and in thermal and moisture exchange. R. A. Fisher (1936) proposed the use of a discriminant function to aid in the understanding of multivariate continuous variation. This tool has been used extensively in anthropological and psychological as well as biological research. Cooley and Lohnes (1962) provide an intuitive, geometrical approach to discriminant analysis and to principal component analysis and computer programs are now in the library of most computational centers. The typical systematic problem can be reduced to a test of the null hypothesis. (Ho) (Fisher, 1956).
Abstract 3888: Ionizing radiation destabilizes inverted ALU repeats linked to LOH

Ionizing radiation is a potent inducer of Loss of Heterozygosity (LOH), driven primarily by DNA double strand breaks. Such a process impacts both tumorigenesis through deletion of linked tumor suppressor genes and, similarly, the potential development of radiation resistant tumor clones during radiation therapy. The human mucoepidermoid cell line, H292, was exposed to either 4 or 8 Gy and surviving clones developed from two rounds of cloning analyzed for LOH using polymorphic microsatellite markers. A high level of LOH was observed within individual clones extending from 11q21 to 11q24 (6/49 after 4 Gy and 8/50 after 8Gy). More detailed analysis using a SNP screen on selected LOH positive clones indicated a sharp telomeric termination of LOH adjacent to a common SNP location. The telomeric extent of LOH observed co-mapped to a region of elevated recombination instability documented previously using linkage analysis. Further, SNP analysis showed a region of approximately 1 Mbp LOH that included the region of recombination instability identified through linkage analysis, in some clones isolated either with or without irradiation. The consistency of the telomeric boundary of LOH observed in the irradiated clones permitted a targeted analysis of DNA double strand breaks at this location, using LM-PCR, both before and after 4Gy irradiation of the same cell line. Using a six primer set screen covering a 9 kbp region at the telomeric extent of radiation-induced LOH, a single primer set showed an elevation in DNA breaks from 2-8h after irradiation. The timing and discrete distribution of such breaks indicated that these were not directly induced by the radiation itself. Cells that were unirradiated were not affected. Further inspection of the location demonstrating selective radiation-linked fragmentation showed the presence of an ALU inverted repeat, separated by approximately 1kbp, where the DNA breaks determined by LM-PCR were clustered within the 5’ ALU. Others have shown previously that inverted ALU repeats separated by Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3888. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3888
Function Requirements and Structure Properties Analysis of Bi-directional Smart Meter

In this paper,firstly related standards for multifunctional electricity meter and the enterprise standard Q/GDW 354-2009 i.e.,the Functional Specification for Smart Electricity Meters,specified by State Grid Corporation of China,are researched.Considering the requirement during the development of electricity utilization in smart grid and in allusion to huge amounts of single-phase smart electricity meters,several new functional requiments to smart electricity meters are proposed.Secondly,according to the experiences from making prototype of smart electricity meter and its performance tests,the performance analysis on main components and key elements of smart electricity meter is performed and the problems to be paid attention to during the design and application of the components are summarized.Finally,based on the development trend of the latest technologies,a technical solution that could be applied to smart electricity meter is given.
Improving mortality trends for hospitalization of aortic dissection in the National Inpatient Sample.

Objective Population-based assessment of aortic dissection (AD) hospitalizations in the general United States population is limited. We assessed the current trends in AD admissions and in-hospital mortality for surgical and medical AD treatment. Methods Patients admitted for primary diagnosis of AD were identified from the National Inpatient Sample database (2003-2012). Patients were identified by International Classification of Diseases-Ninth Revision diagnosis codes and categorized by treatment type: type A open surgical repair (TASR), type B open surgical repair (TBSR), thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR), and medical management (MM). Our primary outcomes were to evaluate admission trends and in-hospital mortality of AD. Secondary outcomes included postoperative complications. We used weighted national estimates of admissions to assess trends over time using linear regression. We also identified factors associated with mortality via a hierarchical multivariable logistic regression model. Results We identified 15,641 patients (60.7% male; mean age, 63.5 years) admitted with a primary diagnosis of AD between 2003 and 2012. Intervention types included TASR in 3253 (20.8%), TBSR in 3007 (19.2%), TEVAR in 1417 (9.1%), and MM in 7964 (50.9%). Overall weighted admissions for AD increased significantly, from 6980 in 2003 to 8875 in 2012 ( P P P P = .9, test of trend) and MM admissions at 4319 in 2003 and 4075 in 2012 ( P = .8, test of trend). During the same interval, overall in-hospital mortality rates for AD decreased from 18.1% to 13.0% ( P P P = .03, test of trend), and for MM, from 17.5% to 13.9% ( P P = .8, test of trend) during the study period. Factors associated with increased mortality included older age, Caucasian race, nonelective admission, pre-existing peripheral vascular disease, and acute postoperative complication of myocardial infarction, stroke, or kidney failure. Admissions at a center with high surgical volume were associated with a decreased mortality for TBSR admissions only (odds ratio, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.4-0.7). Conclusions Overall and surgical admission rates for AD appear to be increasing, and in-hospital mortality rates are decreasing. TEVAR mortality remains mostly unchanged, however, suggesting targets for further improvement in mortality for AD treatment. Decreased mortality for TBSR at centers with a high surgical volume may suggest a need for regionalization of AD care.
Trends in Levels of N-Nitrosopyrrolidine in Fried Bacon

Commercially purchased bacon has been periodically analyzed since 1971 for N-nitrosopyrrolidine in the fried product. The downward trend in the concentration of N-nitrosopyrrolidine that has been observed is partially explained by the use of reduced levels of nitrite and increased levels of ascorbate in bacon curing mixtures.
Evaluation of graph centrality measures for tweet classification

Micro-blogging has become a very popular trend among the users of online social networks. As of January 2016, 6000 tweets are tweeted on twitter per second, Although Twitter provides a list of most popular topics people tweet about known as Trending Topics in real time, and one must have good knowledge about the current #hashtags to have the understanding of the topics. Therefore, it is interesting to explore the techniques to classify these topics into general categories with high accuracy for better information retrieval. In this paper, we explore the utilization of graph centrality measures to classify tweets accuracy. In our classifier we build graphs from the input texts, and then use properties of these graphs to classify them. We have tested the resulting technique by classifying Twitter messages in belonging to trending topic of #eq2015 and then classifying them in subtopics based on geographical information.
Effectiveness of Liquid Agricultural By-Products and Solid Complex Chlorides for Snow and Ice Control

AbstractAgro-based products and complex chlorides/minerals (CCM) based products are increasingly employed in snow and ice control operations, either used alone or more commonly as additives for chloride-based products. Recent studies have shown that agro-based or CCM-based products have the potential to improve the overall deicing and/or anti-icing performance and reduce the corrosion and environmental risks. However, the effectiveness of such products has been limited to qualitative field observations, and their specific role in snow and ice control is poorly understood. This work consists of a systematic laboratory investigation, which focuses on the thermal properties, ice melting behavior, and corrosivity of four agro-based deicers and two CCM based deicers. First, CCM-based deicers do not exhibit significantly better ability to lower the freezing point of water when compared with NaCl, but they feature slightly better ice melting capacity at −9.4°C (15°F) than NaCl. Second, agro-based additives appea...
Weight conversations in romantic relationships: What do they sound like and how do partners respond?

INTRODUCTION The limited research examining weight conversations (i.e., conversations about weight, body shape, or size) in adult romantic relationships has shown associations between engaging in these conversations and disordered eating behaviors, overweight/obesity, and psychosocial problems in adults. Given the potential harmful consequences of these conversations, it is important to gather more rich qualitative data to understand how weight talk is experienced in romantic relationships and how romantic partners respond to these conversations. METHODS Adults (n = 118; mean age 35 years) from a cross-sectional study were interviewed in their homes. The majority of adults (90% female; mean age = 35 years) were from minority (64% African American) and low-income (<$25,000/year) households. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. RESULTS Sixty-five percent of participants reported that weight conversations were occurring in their romantic relationships. Qualitative themes included the following: (a) Weight conversations were direct and focused on physical characteristics; (b) weight conversations included joking or sarcastic remarks; (c) weight conversations focused on "we" and being healthy; (d) weight conversations occurred after watching TV or movies, as a result of insecurities in oneself, as length of the relationship increased, or as partners aged; and (e) partners responded to weight conversations by feeling insecure or by engaging in reciprocal weight conversations with their romantic partner. DISCUSSION Weight conversations were prevalent in romantic relationships, with some conversations experienced as negative and some positive. Qualitative themes from the current study should be confirmed in quantitative studies to inform future intervention research targeting weight conversations in romantic relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record
Wearable ESM: differences in the experience sampling method across wearable devices

The Experience Sampling Method is widely used for collecting self-report responses from people in natural settings. While most traditional approaches rely on using a phone to trigger prompts and record information, wearable devices now offer new opportunities that may improve this method. This research quantitatively and qualitatively studies the experience sampling process on head-worn and wrist-worn wearable devices, and compares them to the traditional "smartphone in the pocket." To enable this work, we designed and implemented a custom application to provide similar prompts across the three types of devices and evaluated it with 15 individuals for five days (75 days total), in the context of real-life stress measurement. We found significant differences in response times across devices, and captured tradeoffs in interaction types, screen size, and device familiarity that can affect both users' experience and the reports made by users.
Urban residential energy consumption modeling in the Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool (IUMAT)

Abstract The Integrated Urban Metabolism Analysis Tool (IUMAT) is a system-based computational platform for quantifying the environmental impacts of urban development scenarios. IUMAT's EWM module is a bottom-up approach to generate energy, water, and material resources demand profiles based on building and neighborhood characteristics. This paper presents the EWM approach using national and regional datasets to identify the relationships between environmental impacts and resource use determinants within a simulation platform for urban metabolism analysis. We focus on residential energy consumption, which serves as a template for how the EWM module will be used to simulate commercial and industrial demand profiles. Quantile regression methods are applied to Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2009 data to describe the impacts of physical and socio-economic parameters on end use residential energy profiles and create a modeling framework for residential energy prediction. Also, a method for quantifying CO 2 emissions and water consumption associated with energy production is outlined.
A stochastic segment model for phoneme-based continuous speech recognition

The authors introduce a novel approach to modeling variable-duration phonemes, called the stochastic segment model. A phoneme X is observed as a variable-length sequence of frames, where each frame is represented by a parameter vector and the length of the sequence is random. The stochastic segment model consists of (1) a time warping of the variable-length segment X into a fixed-length segment Y called a resampled segment and (2) a joint density function of the parameters of X which in this study is a Gaussian density. The segment model represents spectra/temporal structure over the entire phoneme. The model also allows the incorporation in Y of acoustic-phonetic features derived from X, in addition to the usual spectral features that have been used in hidden Markov modeling and dynamic time warping approaches to speech recognition. The authors describe the stochastic segment model, the recognition algorithm, and an iterative training algorithm for estimating segment models from continuous speech. They present several results using segment models in two speaker-dependent recognition tasks and compare the performance of the stochastic segment model to the performance of the hidden Markov models. >
Red blood cell distribution width is not a reliable biomarker for low iron stores in children with cystic fibrosis

Low iron stores in children, absolute iron deficiency (AID), can lead to impaired neurodevelopment and requires iron therapy. In the presence of infection/inflammation, like in cystic fibrosis (CF), serum ferritin (SF) is not a reliable biomarker for AID. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a promising alternative reported not to be influenced by infection in healthy children. Currently, there are no data on the diagnostic capacity of RDW to detect AID in pediatric CF patients. This was a prospective observational study that investigated iron status biomarkers in 53 Dutch pediatric CF patients. AID was defined using World Health Organization criteria for SF in stable patients (no recent pulmonary exacerbation) and C-reactive protein (CRP) ≤10 mg/l. Patients with AID had higher RDW levels than patients without AID (p = 0.019). An RDW ≥13.2% showed the following test statistics: sensitivity 100%; specificity 39.4%; positive predictive value 20%; and negative predictive value 100%. Furthermore, we found a correlation between RDW and CRP in the total group that originated from the stable patients (r = 0.308; p = 0.042). In conclusion, the diagnostic capacity of RDW for detecting AID in pediatric CF patients seems limited because RDW levels might also be influenced by chronic infection/inflammation in these patients.
Physical activity-related differences in body mass index and patient-reported quality of life in socioculturally diverse endometrial cancer survivors

The purpose of this study was to describe physical activity-related differences in body composition, quality of life, and behavioral variables among a socioculturally diverse sample of endometrial cancer survivors. Ambulatory, English-speaking endometrial cancer survivors (6 months to 5 years post-treatment), who were residents of Bronx, NY, were recruited to complete questionnaires about physical activity (PA), quality of life (QoL), and psychosocial characteristics. Body weight and height were obtained from medical records to determine body mass index (BMI). ANOVA and independent sample t tests were used to determine differences between racial/ethnic groups and active versus insufficiently active, respectively. Sixty-two participants enrolled in the study. Recruitment rate was 7% for mailed questionnaires and 92% in clinic. Mean age was 63 ± 10 years. Sixty-five percent of the sample was obese (mean BMI: 34.2 ± 8.6 kg·m−2). BMI was significantly higher in non-Hispanic black women (37.8 ± 10.2 kg·m−2) than non-Hispanic white women (31.2 ± 7.8 kg·m−2; d = 0.73, p = 0.05). Forty-seven percent reported being physically active, with no differences by race/ethnicity. Physically active endometrial cancer survivors had higher QoL scores (d = 0.57, p = 0.02). There was a moderate effect size for BMI for the active (32.4 ± 5.6 kg·m−2) compared to the insufficiently active group (35.7 ± 10.2 kg·m−2; d = 0.40, p = 0.06). Walking self-efficacy was a significant predictor of physical activity (χ2 = 13.5, p = 0.02). Physically active endometrial cancer survivors reported higher QoL, lower BMI, and more positive walking self-efficacy. These data suggest that a physically active lifestyle has a benefit in socioculturally diverse endometrial cancer survivors.
Pediatric Cholesteatoma: Factors Affecting Recurrence Rates and Hearing Outcomes

Objective : Children with cholesteatoma have been reported to have higher rates of recurrence compared to adults. Clinical factors affecting the rate of disease recurrence and ultimate hearing outcomes were analyzed. Methods : Children diagnosed with cholesteatoma between April 1988 and May 2014 were identified. Medical records were reviewed to determine risk factors for disease recurrence and assess the hearing outcome. Results : One hundred and twenty-two children had sufficient data available for inclusion in our study. Three suffered bilateral disease allowing for 125 patient ears to be analyzed. Of these, 67/125 (53.6%) had recurrence after one surgery with a median time to recurrence of 9 months. There was a mean of 2.5 operations per patient. Five-year cholesteatoma free survival rate was 86.29%. Age (8.04 vs. 8.67 yrs old, p =0.36) and origin (congenital vs. acquired cholesteatoma) (54.8% vs. 53.7%, p =1) did not differ in outcomes. Epitympanic and oval window involvement resulted in a significantly higher recurrence rate (64.5% vs. 37.5%, p =0.0053 and 67.3% vs 45.3%, p =0.0178). Children with recurrence demonstrated more extensive disease with a higher number of middle ear sub-sites involved (3.67 vs. 2.82 areas involved, p =0.0061). Most importantly, children whose disease recurred had worse hearing outcomes with lower rates of air-bone gap closure (-5.319 dB vs. 6.351 dB, p =0.0082). Conclusion : While age was not a factor, pediatric patients with more extensive cholesteatoma are more likely to have recurrent disease and worse hearing outcomes.
Crosstalk and EMI in mixed-signal / microwave multi-layer pc boards

Transmission line crosstalk and electromagnetic interference (EMI) must be carefully controlled in microwave and high-speed mixed-signal systems. Experimental results are reported from DC to 30 GHz for PC board interconnects in a low-cost 4-layer FR4 process. It is shown that stripline to coplanar waveguide (CPW) isolation can reach 100 dB at L-band and 60 dB through Ku band for 3.3cm traces separated by as little as 150mils, provided careful attention is paid to signal launch and ground-via stitching. Various line-types are compared and changes in isolation with trace separation are investigated to provide guidance useful in the early stages of PC board design. Preliminary investigations of EMI are also reported to assess the degree to which additional shielding can be avoided in systems employing multi-layer PC board technologies.
Challenges of Francisella classification exemplified by an atypical clinical isolate

The accumulation of sequenced Francisella strains has made it increasingly apparent that the 16S rRNA gene alone is not enough to stratify the Francisella genus into precise and clinically useful classifications. Continued whole-genome sequencing of isolates will provide a larger base of knowledge for targeted approaches with broad applicability. Additionally, examination of genomic information on a case-by-case basis will help resolve outstanding questions regarding strain stratification. We report the complete genome sequence of a clinical isolate, designated here as F. novicida-like strain TCH2015, acquired from the lymph node of a 6-year-old male. Two features were atypical for F. novicida: exhibition of functional oxidase activity and additional gene content, including proposed virulence determinants. These differences, which could potentially impact virulence and clinical diagnosis, emphasize the need for more comprehensive methods to profile Francisella isolates. This study highlights the value of whole-genome sequencing, which will lead to a more robust database of environmental and clinical genomes and inform strategies to improve detection and classification of Francisella strains.
Enhancing Evaluation of Cervical Spine: Thresholds for Normal CT Relationships in the Subaxial Cervical Spine.

Background Very little normative CT scan data exist defining expected relationships of vertebral structures in the intact cervical spine. Better understanding of normal relationships should improve sensitivity of injury detection, particularly for facet subluxation. The purpose of this paper was to describe the normal anatomical relationships and most sensitive measurements to detect abnormal alignment in the subaxial cervical spine. Methods A group of 30 CT scans with no documented cervical spine injury were utilized from an established data base in a trauma population. Twenty-two anatomical measurements were made for each level of the subaxial cervical spine using Microview software. For the purposes of measurement, the upper confidence limit of normal was reported as two standard deviations from the mean. Results The novel, CT based measurements of bone articulation were generally smaller and had lower confidence intervals compared to traditional radiographic measurements of midline structures (such as interspinous distance, interlaminar widening, disc space widening). The upper limit of normal of facet joint height was reported (1.54mm anterior, 1.27mm posterior, and 2.0mm midportion) which may help identify distractive-flexion injuries. The upper limit of normal vertebral translation (2.0mm) was also reported to identify translation/rotation injuries. Conclusions Normal CT measurements for the subaxial cervical spine, especially in the facets, were found to have small confidence limits and variation. Based upon these findings, we conclude that facet measurements and translation may be better screening tools than traditional radiographic criteria based upon midline structures. Using these measurements may improve detection of cervical spine injuries warranting further imaging or investigation and reducing missed injuries. Clinical Relevance Improved understanding of normal anatomic measures in the subaxial spine will allow for better screening and identification of injuries. Ethical Statement This was approved by the Office of Research Institutional Review Board, Baylor College of Medicine.
Discrimination, religious and cultural factors, and Middle Eastern/Arab Americans’ psychological distress

Objective(s) We investigated (1) the moderating role of religiosity in the link between religious affiliation and ethnic discrimination and (2) the moderating roles of religiosity, ethnic identity, and family connectedness in the relations between ethnic discrimination and psychological distress. Method Our sample consisted of 122 (60% women, 40% men) Middle Eastern/Arab Americans (MEAAs), ranging in age from 18 to 82 years old, who completed an online survey. Results Muslim identification predicted discrimination for MEAAs with high but not low religiosity. Higher levels of discrimination, more family connectedness, the interaction of discrimination and religiosity, and the interaction of discrimination and family connectedness were unique predictors of psychological distress. Conclusions Religiosity is a risk factor for experiencing ethnic discrimination among Muslim identified MEAAs. MEAAs who have high religiosity and low to moderate levels of family connectedness are vulnerable to psychological distress associated with ethnic discrimination.
Effect of BMI on allograft function and survival in pediatric renal transplant recipients.

To determine whether pre-transplant body mass index (BMI) affects renal allograft function and survival in pediatric renal transplant recipients. This is a retrospective cohort study using the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data from 2000 to 2013 to compare time to total allograft loss (allograft failure or death), prevalence of delayed graft function, prevalence of acute rejection, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) post-transplant in pediatric renal transplant recipients categorized by BMI z-score. A total of 8804 kidney transplant recipients met our inclusion criteria, and of those, 6% were underweight, 14% were overweight, and 17% were obese pre-transplant. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for allograft failure was significantly higher for obese recipients compared to normal weight recipients (HR 1.25, 95% CI 1.1, 1.42); for every 1 point increase in BMI z-score, there was a 7% increased hazard of allograft failure (HR 1.07; 95% CI 1.03–1.1, p < 0.001). The prevalence of delayed graft function and acute rejection increased with higher BMI z-score category; however, this difference did not reach statistical significance. eGFR at 1 and 5 years post-transplant decreased with higher BMI z-score although it was only statistically significant at 1 year. Obesity is prevalent in pediatric renal transplant recipients, and obese, but not overweight or underweight, pediatric renal transplant recipients have an increased risk of allograft failure. Implementation of effective obesity interventions in pediatric renal transplant recipients is of critical importance to improve longevity of the renal allograft.
A Virtual-Queue-Based Algorithm for Constrained Online Convex Optimization With Applications to Data Center Resource Allocation

In this paper, online convex optimization (OCO) problems with time-varying objective and constraint functions are studied from the perspective of an agent who takes actions in real time. Information about the current objective and constraint functions is revealed only after the corresponding action is already chosen. Inspired by a fast converging algorithm for time-invariant optimization in the very recent work [1] , we develop a novel online algorithm based on virtual queues for constrained OCO. Optimal points of the dynamic optimization problems with full knowledge of the current objective and constraint functions are used as a dynamic benchmark sequence. Upper bounds on the regrets with respect to the dynamic benchmark and the constraint violations are derived for the presented algorithm in terms of the temporal variations of the underlying dynamic optimization problems. It is observed that the proposed algorithm possesses sublinear regret and sublinear constraint violations, as long as the temporal variations of the optimization problems are sublinear, i.e., the objective and constraint functions do not vary too drastically across time. The performance bounds of the proposed algorithm are superior to those of the state-of-the-art OCO method in most scenarios. Besides, different from the saddle point methods widely used in constrained OCO, the stepsize of the proposed algorithm does not rely on the total time horizon, which may be unknown in practice. Finally, the algorithm is applied to a dynamic resource allocation problem in data center networks. Numerical experiments are conducted to corroborate the merit of the developed algorithm and its advantage over the state-of-the-art.
A Brief History of Geology

Geology as a science has a fascinating and controversial history. Kieran D. O'Hara's book provides a brief and accessible account of the major events in the history of geology over the last two hundred years, from early theories of Earth structure during the Reformation, through major controversies over the age of the Earth during the Industrial Revolution, to the more recent twentieth-century development of plate tectonic theory, and on to current ideas concerning the Anthropocene. Most chapters include a short 'text box' providing more technical and detailed elaborations on selected topics. The book also includes a history of the geology of the Moon, a topic not normally included in books on the history of geology. The book will appeal to students of Earth science, researchers in geology who wish to learn more about the history of their subject, and general readers interested in the history of science.
Effects of different levels of lespedeza and supplementation with monensin, coconut oil, or soybean oil on ruminal methane emission by mature Boer goat wethers after different lengths of feeding

Mature Boer goat wethers were supplemented with 0.5% BW rolled corn and consumed pelleted alfalfa (CON), pelleted Sericea lespedeza (HSL; 6.4% condensed tannins), a 1:1 mixture of alfalfa and lespe...
Speciation Behavior of Americium Higher Oxidation States for the Separation of Americium from Curium

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF ACRONYMS xiv CHAPTER
Analogue OTA multiplier without input voltage swing restrictions, and temperature-compensated

An analogue multiplier with operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) is presented. It overcomes the typical problems of previous OTA multipliers: limited input voltage swings and temperature dependence. It uses a minimum number of resistive components, and only two of them are critical in their performance. A simple temperature compensation scheme for the OTA multiplier is introduced.
Optimizing Clinical Outcomes by Individualizing Observations

The science of statistics has evolved predominantly into a system for analyzing data from groups of subjects. It serves to describe the group with the mean and standard deviation, for instance, to compare groups by comparing their means or the variances and to predict certain outcomes in the group based on the aggregate data of predictors. Group or “aggregate” data analyses are widely reported in clinical trials and observational studies, used in meta-analyses, and reported in systematic reviews. As useful as aggregate data are to characterize the groups, they do not draw the individual characteristics of each individual subjects. As we strive to develop and establish patient-centered care, we must use new analytical models that permit individual patient data analysis and meta-analysis. This is the subject of this chapter. Increasingly, and following the lead of the Cochrane Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis Methods Group, systematic reviews are presented with individual patient data, as it is recognized as one of the most important areas of future methodological research in the field.
Cytoplasmic Ca2' Is Necessary for Thrombin-induced Platelet Activation*

alpha-Thrombin induces a dose-dependent rapid transient increase in platelet cytosolic Ca2+ levels, coming solely from intracellular stores, since EGTA has no effect. In contrast, the post-stimulation equilibrium [Ca2+]in depends upon an influx from the extracellular milieu, and is lower in the presence of EGTA. We measured the Ca2+ transient (with Indo-1, 1-[2-amino-5-(6-carboxyindol-2-yl)-phenoxy]-2-(2'-amino-5'-methylp henoxy)- ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid), cytosolic alkalinization (with BCECF, 2',7-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5(and 6)-carboxyfluorescein), membrane depolarization (with diS-C3-(5), 3,3'-dipropylthiodi-carbocyanide iodide), and degranulation (by beta-glucuronidase release) induced in washed human platelets by 9 nM thrombin in the absence or presence of extracellular or intracellular Ca2+ chelating agents (EGTA and BAPTA, 5,5'-dimethyl-bis-(o-aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid, respectively). Platelets loaded simultaneously with 2 microM Indo-1 and 15 microM BAPTA (each as the acetoxymethyl ester) before addition of thrombin exhibited no cytoplasmic Ca2+ transient or alkalinization, no depolarization or degranulation. Replenishment of such cells with extracellular CaCl2 restored resting [Ca2+]in. Upon stimulation with 9 nM thrombin these replenished platelets exhibited no Ca2+ transient, and a slow gradual increase in [Ca2+]in from extracellular stores, a slow alkalinization and depolarization, and partial degranulation, all abolished by extracellular EGTA. Thus thrombin-induced platelet activation exhibits a biphasic Ca2+ requirement: the initial transient increase in [Ca2+]in comes from intracellular stores only, while the later steps of depolarization, alkalinization, and degranulation can proceed, albeit more slowly, if only extracellular Ca2+ is available.