cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Immunomodulatory Peptide IDR-1018 Decreases Implant Infection and Preserves Osseointegration.

Background Innate defense regulator peptide-1018 (IDR-1018) is a 12-amino acid, synthetic, immunomodulatory host defense peptide that can reduce soft tissue infections and is less likely to induce bacterial resistance than conventional antibiotics. However, IDRs have not been tested on orthopaedic infections and the immunomodulatory effects of IDR-1018 have only been characterized in response to lipopolysacharide, which is exclusively produced by Gram-negative bacteria.
Non‐HLA donor–recipient mismatches in kidney transplantation—A stone left unturned

In kidney transplantation, short-term allograft survival has improved due to improvements in acute rejection episodes without corresponding improvements in long-term survival. Although current organ allocation algorithms take into account human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching to reduce antidonor alloimmune responses, it is likely that genomic variation at non-HLA loci (ie, non-HLA donor-recipient [D-R] pair mismatches) play a role in the "non-self" responses and ultimately affect long-term allograft survival. Existing data from both animal models and human studies suggest an association between non-HLA D-R mismatches and kidney allograft outcomes. In this minireview, we examine existing and emerging data and discuss putative mechanisms on the role of non-HLA D-R mismatches on long-term allograft outcomes in kidney transplantation.
A hospitalist’s role in preventing patient falls

Despite decades of fall prevention efforts, patient falls remain a common cause of harm in hospitalized older adults. While fall prevention strategies have been historically championed by nurses, hospitalist physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants play a vital role in the multidisciplinary care team in ensuring the safety of our patients. Multiple fall risk assessment tools exist, but no one tool has demonstrated excellence in predicting patient falls in the hospital. Any fall risk assessment tool should be complemented by a clinician's individualized evaluation of patient-specific, situational, and environmental risk factors. A particular emphasis on medication review is critical, as numerous medication classes can increase the risk of falls, and medications are a potentially modifiable risk factor. Multiple studies of individual and multicomponent nursing-based interventions have failed to demonstrate success in reducing falls or fall injuries. Promising strategies for fall prevention include tailoring interventions to patient risk factors and individualized patient education. In addition to nursing-based interventions, the hospitalist's role in fall prevention is to (1) identify and address potentially modifiable risk factors, (2) reinforce individualized education to patients, and (3) advise behavior choices that promote safe mobility. If a patient does sustain a fall, the hospitalist should partner with the multidisciplinary care team in post fall care to assess for injury, evaluate underlying causes of the fall, and determine plans for secondary prevention.
Development of a method for clinical pharmacokinetic testing to allow for targeted Melphalan dosing in multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous transplant.

Aims High dose melphalan (HDM) and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) is standard of care for multiple myeloma (MM), but there is significant variability in melphalan exposure (area under the plasma drug concentration-time curve, AUC) when using body surface area-based dosing. Our aim was to establish a method of pharmacokinetic (PK) testing for real-time melphalan dose adjustments. Methods We performed a prospective PK study of melphalan 140 or 200 mg/m2 in MM patients undergoing ASCT. Twenty MM patients were administered HDM on days -2 and - 1, with PK sampling at 8-10 time points. PK testing was performed on day -2 in all patients, and on day -1 in 5 patients. Results Less than 20% interpatient variation in the day -2 and - 1 AUC was observed. The day -2 range in AUC (4.95-11.28 mg h/L) confirmed significant interpatient variability. The hypothetical total dose ranged from 133-302 mg/m2 to achieve the total median AUC. A 4-time point AUC (0, 30, 150 and 240 min) highly correlated with the AUC from the 8-time point schedule. A higher AUC correlated with increased risk of febrile neutropenia (P = .05). Conclusion Here we outline the methods to establish novel melphalan dosing using PK testing in MM patients undergoing ASCT to target a desired melphalan AUC.
What are the psychometric properties of a menstrual hygiene management scale: a community-based cross-sectional study.

The last decade has highlighted how menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is a public health issue because of its link to health, education, social justice and human rights. However, measurement of MHM has not been validated across different studies. The objective of this manuscript was to test the psychometric properties of a MHM scale. An embedded mixed-method design was utilized. The girls (age 12–19) were from three districts of Uttar Pradesh (Mirzapur, Jaunpur and Sonebhadra), India. A total of 2212 girls participated in the structured questionnaire. Trained interviewers collected the data on tablets using computer assisted personal interviewing. A total of 36 FGDs were conducted among 309 girls between. Trained moderators collected the data. Factor analysis and thematic analysis was conducted to analyze and triangulate the data. More than 90% of the girls were from a marginalized caste. Overall, 28% of the girls practiced all six MHM behaviors adequately. The factor analysis found five separate constructs corresponding to menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) with a variation of 84% and eigenvalue of 1.7. Preparation of clean absorbent, storage of clean absorbent, frequency of changing and disposal loaded separately, corresponding to menstrual health. Privacy to change and hygiene loaded together (eigenvalue 0.91 each), corresponding to hygiene management. An underlying theme from the FGD was menstruation as a taboo and lack of privacy for changing the absorbent. MHM is multi-dimensional construct comprising of behaviors which were time-bound by menstruation (menstrual health) and behaviors not time-bound by menstruation (hygiene management). Based on these results, the author recommends that MHHM is used as an acronym in the future and proposes a revised definition for MHHM.
Abstract 903: In vivo efficacy of bempegaldesleukin, immune checkpoint inhibition, and targeted radionuclide therapy in immunocompetent murine model of head and neck cancer

In preclinical studies, we have demonstrated that delivering low dose radiation therapy to all sites of metastatic cancer using targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) can improve the response to immune checkpoint blockade. NM600 is a tumor-targeting alkylphosphocholine radiolabeled with 90Y. Following intravenous administration, NM600 is selectively taken up and retained in most murine and human cancer cells. Bempegaldesleukin (NKTR-214) is a first in class, CD122-preferential interleukin-2 (IL2) pathway agonist being studied for its ability to influence the IL2 pathway and selectively stimulate an immune response. The primary objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that NKTR-214 and 90Y-NM600 would increase the response to immune checkpoint blockade in the immunologically “cold” MOC2 syngeneic mouse model of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). C57BL/6 female mice were engrafted with MOC2, a murine HNSCC cell line, in the right flank. When mean tumor volume reached ~100mm3, mice were randomized into eight treatment groups using a 2 × 2 × 2 study design for combinations of NKTR-214, 90Y-NM600, and anti-CTLA4. 100 µCi 90Y-NM600 was administered intravenously (IV, treatment day 1). Prior in vivo dosimetry performed using the Monte Carlo based RAPID platform following serial 86Y-NM600 PET/CT imaging demonstrated that this activity delivered ~8Gy to the MOC2 tumor. 200 µg anti-CTLA4 was delivered by intraperitoneal injection on days 4, 7, and 10. 16 µg NKTR-214 was given IV on days 6, 15, and 24. Tumor growth was monitored. In a parallel study, cohorts of mice were treated with PBS (control), NKTR-214, 90Y-NM600, or NKTR-214 + 90Y-NM600, and tumors were collected at day 14 for flow cytometry analysis. In the spontaneously metastatic, immunologically “cold” MOC2 HNSCC tumor model, 62.5% of mice treated with the combination of 90Y-NM600, NKTR-214, and anti-CTLA4 experienced complete tumor response, and these mice showed no observable primary or metastatic disease 60 days after treatment initiation. No mice receiving single or dual therapy combinations exhibited complete tumor response (p = Citation Format: Gustavo A. Sosa, Amber M. Bates, Ravi Patel, Reinier Hernandez, Joseph J. Grudzinski, Ian Marsh, Bryan Bednarz, Alexander Pieper, Erin Nystuen, Sarah Emma, Elizabeth G. Sumiec, Jamey P. Weichert, Zachary S. Morris. In vivo efficacy of bempegaldesleukin, immune checkpoint inhibition, and targeted radionuclide therapy in immunocompetent murine model of head and neck cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 903.
Integrated Intelligent Drowsiness Detection System Based on Deep Learning

Drowsy driving contributes more than 20% of road fatalities, especially to countries like America which relies heavily on road transportation. With significant physical injuries to passengers and significant economic losses, it becomes a vital task to detect driver drowsiness and relieve their fatigue. In this research, we developed an integrated facility to help resolve this task, which contains a polymorphic detection model, based on deep learning, and a music recommender system, aiming to release drivers' fatigue. The detection model contains two parts. The first utilized human keypoints detection model to monitor driver's expression and detect drowsiness while the other used real time heart rate to detect. To ease the pressure of data collection and make the whole system a integrated product, a wearable device is made by ourselves. Besides these, a novel personalized music recommender system is built up to help adjust the status of driver. With the combination of two detection model, we achieved 96.82% accuracy and built up a finetuned deep learning model.
Whole-Genome Analysis of a Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O103:H2 Strain Isolated from Cattle Feces.

ABSTRACT Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serotype O103 is one of the primary pathogenic contaminants of beef products, contributing to several foodborne outbreaks in recent years. Here, we report the whole-genome sequence of a STEC O103:H2 strain isolated from cattle feces that contains a locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) pathogenicity island.
Model and integrate medical resource available times and relationships in verifiably correct executable medical best practice guideline models

Improving patient care safety is an ultimate objective for medical cyber-physical systems. A recent study shows that the patients' death rate is significantly reduced by computerizing medical best practice guidelines [16]. Recent data also show that some morbidity and mortality in emergency care are directly caused by delayed or interrupted treatment due to lack of medical resources [15]. However, medical guidelines usually do not provide guidance on medical resource demands and how to manage potential unexpected delays in resource availability. If medical resources are temporarily unavailable, safety properties in existing executable medical guideline models may fail which may cause increased risk to patients under care. The paper presents a separately model and jointly verify (SMJV) architecture to separately model medical resource available times and relationships and jointly verify safety properties of existing medical best practice guideline models with resource models being integrated in. The separated modeling approach also allows different domain professionals to make independent model modifications, facilitates the management of frequent resource availability changes, and enables resource statechart reuse in multiple medical guideline models. A simplified stroke scenario is used as a case study to investigate the effectiveness and validity of the SMJV architecture. The case study indicates that the SMJV architecture is able to identify unsafe properties caused by unexpected resource delays.
Spatial Release from Informational Masking: Evidence from Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

ABSTRACT Informational masking (IM) can greatly reduce speech intelligibility, but the neural mechanisms underlying IM are not understood. Binaural differences between target and masker can improve speech perception. In general, improvement in masked speech intelligibility due to provision of spatial cues is called spatial release from masking. Here, we focused on an aspect of spatial release from masking, specifically, the role of spatial attention. We hypothesized that in a situation with IM background sound 1) attention to speech recruits lateral frontal cortex (LFCx), and 2) LFCx activity varies with direction of spatial attention. Using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we assessed LFCx activity bilaterally in normal-hearing listeners. In experiment 1, two talkers were simultaneously presented. Listeners either attended to the target talker (speech task) or they listened passively to an unintelligible, scrambled version of the acoustic mixture (control task). Target and masker differed in pitch and interaural time difference (ITD). Relative to the passive control, LFCx activity increased during attentive listening. Experiment 2 measured how LFCx activity varied with ITD, by testing listeners on the speech task in experiment 1, except that talkers either were spatially separated by ITD or co-located. Results show that directing of auditory attention activates LFCx bilaterally. Moreover, right LFCx is recruited more strongly in the spatially separated as compared with co-located configurations. Findings hint that LFCx function contributes to spatial release from masking in situations with IM.
Minor tissue absorbers can distinguish benign and malignant breast lesions using broadband quantitative diffuse optical spectroscopy

Noninvasive diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) is promising as an adjunct diagnostic imaging technique for distinguishing benign and malignant breast lesions. However, most DOS approaches require normalizing lesion optical biomarkers to healthy values in reference tissue since major tissue constituents exhibit large inter-patient variations. Our goal is to determine whether absolute measurements of minor optical absorbers such as collagen and methemoglobin (metHb) can successfully distinguish benign and malignant breast lesions. In this retrospective clinical study, 30 lesions with BIRADS score >= 3 (12 benign and 18 malignant lesions from 28 subjects) measured with broadband quantitative DOS were analyzed for their oxy-, deoxy- hemoglobin, water, lipids, collagen, and metHb concentrations as well as their optical scattering characteristics. Amongst all absolute DOS parameters (i.e., without normalization to healthy tissue) considered, only absolute metHb was observed to be significant for lesion discrimination (0.43±0.18 μM for benign vs 0.87±0.32 μM for malignant, p = 0.0002). Our findings demonstrate that lesion metHb concentration measured by quantitative DOS can improve noninvasive optical diagnosis of breast malignancies.
Primary Integration, Llc: Lower-Middle-Market Investment

This case is used in Darden's course elective "Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity." Students are asked to analyze the internal rate of return and cash-on-cash returns that a private equity firm is likely to achieve on a particular investment. In addition, students are asked to assess whether the minority rights negotiated in this deal are sufficient to protect the firm's interests in the absence of a controlling equity stake. If instructors have previously covered the topic of term sheets in relation to early-stage investment, this case allows students to review how the deal terms can affect the returns that investors receive.Primary Integration, LLC (PI) was a professional services company that focused on data-center commissioning, whose existing management team was seeking funding to buy the company from the previous owner. The management team had arranged to purchase the interests for $6 million, but lacked the personal resources to fund the purchase. In April 2012, they were approached by a private equity firm, Rotunda Capital Partners (RCP), which offered to provide $5 million in return for a 25% stake of PI's equity. Because RCP would not receive majority control, the terms of the deal had to allow it to influence the company's direction and exit the investment in a timely manner. Therefore, RCP also negotiated a number of minority rights with the deal that it hoped would help it achieve an adequate return. The challenge for RCP was to see that it earned an adequate return for the risk of this investment. Excerpt UVA-F-1705 Rev. Feb. 20, 2014 PRIMARY INTEGRATION, LLC: LOWER-MIDDLE-MARKET INVESTMENT Life took an unfortunate turn for Shawn Till when his business partner, Shariar Zaimi, the founder of Primary Integration, LLC (PI), died unexpectedly in August 2011. Zaimi, an early builder and successful developer of data centers, had invested the proceeds from his first business into PI in 2004 and was looking to grow the business when he met Till through Wharton's executive MBA program. The two classmates and former engineers hit it off, and Zaimi recruited Till to join PI as COO in September 2006. The company had a promising business in data center commissioning, a highly technical certification process that optimized the performance of “mission-critical” data facilities. When Zaimi died, the company's funding was threatened because he had personally guaranteed the firm's line of bank credit. His estate was seeking to liquidate its majority stake in the firm. Till, who would become CEO, and the company's president and cofounder, Kelly Decker, wanted to purchase Zaimi's stake but did not have the personal resources to do so. The bank allowed some time to arrange financing and Till began searching for funding to pursue a buyout of the estate's interest. . . .
Pathology and Staging: Genetics and Molecular Biology

Urothelial cell cancer of the bladder is a multifactorial disease with well-established links to environmental factors and a clear demonstration of a genetic component in its development. Despite a twofold increase in incidence in first-degree relatives, a mode of inheritance, genetic site specificity, or an ethnic predilection has yet to be discovered. Specific chromosomal deletions, gene mutations, genetic pathways, epigenetic changes, and genetic susceptibility loci have been correlated with the development and staging of urothelial cell cancer. Two distinct clinical and molecular pathways to the development of bladder cancer have emerged, namely the pathway to non-invasive stage Ta disease and the CIS pathway that leads to muscle invasive disease. In this chapter we will discuss these two pathways in detail, along with the evolving approach to using genetics and molecular biology for predicting development of bladder cancer, effect on stage and grade, as well as prognosis.
Resource Allocation for Cognitive Radio Enabled Vehicular Network Users

Vehicular communication networks are expected to provide safety and comfort services to passengers and drivers. To support diverse set of services and applications, vehicular network is expected to used variety of wireless access technologies for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) communications. V2R communication could introduce high delay as roadside communication unit relays the information from source vehicle to destinations vehicles. Thus, for time critical messages, V2R based communication is not suitable to notify drivers in a timely manner. V2V based communication in VANET is performed in a peer-to-peer basis and the intended vehicles could exchange their information directly using single hop or multi-hop communications. In this case, performance of VANET depends on connectivity among vehicles since reliable connectivity for single hop or multi-hop communication is very important to forward time-critical information. The connectivity in VANET is directly related to density of vehicles, relative speed of the vehicles, association time of wireless technology, and transmission range and frequency bands used by vehicles. In this chapter, we present cloud assisted cognitive radio enabled vehicular communications.
More Than a Dream: The Cristo Rey Story: How One School's Vision Is Changing the World by G. R. Kearney

G. R. Kearney, a Chicago-based author and film producer, tells the story of a private school that has since grown into a national network. His history of Chicago's Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is ...
Prevention of loss of Streptomycin production on repeated transfer of Streptomyces griseus.

The streptomycin-producing capacity of submerged cultures of Streptomyces griseus 107 was nearly lost during repeated transfers on synthetic nutrient medium. This effect did not occur on the same nutrient medium from which Fe++ was omitted. The physiological reason for this effect was discussed from the point of the relationship of iron-containing porphyrin enzymes to the process of streptomycin biosynthesis.
Willingness to Pay for Agricultural Research and Extension Programs

The North Carolina Agriculture Survey was designed to estimate the willingness to pay for agricultural research and extension programs. We find that North Carolina households are willing to pay between $218 and $401 million for food production programs and between $251 and $698 million for water quality programs annually. We find evidence of divergent validity and differences in the willingness to pay estimates from the single- bound and multiple-bound data.
D-Optimal Experimental Designs for Uniaxial Expression

D-optimal designs are developed for uniaxial expression of oil from seeds, nuts and other materials. Both simply supported pseudo-exact and pseudo-continuous designs are determined for three variations on the expression model: instantaneous pressure application, ramped pressure application and sine wave pressure application. The results show that the designs are dependent on the magnitude of the applied pressure and, to a much lesser extent, the rate at which it is applied and the manner in which it is applied. For most cases, the maximum standardized variance for the simply supported pseudo-exact designs was 1.005 or less. The pseudo-continuous designs were only significantly better when the maximum standardized variance of the simply supported pseudo-exact designs was greater than 1.02. Practical Applications This work presents a series of new experimental designs for the expression modeling process that can aid researchers in developing more efficient designs. The designs developed in this work integrate two separate existing fields of study: D-optimal design theory and theoretical expression modeling. Furthermore, the results show under what combinations of the model parameters the simply supported, pseudo-exact designs can be used instead of the more complex pseudo-continuous designs. For experiments that do not use the model parameters considered herein, the complete development of the numerical approach provides the framework for others to develop the appropriate designs to satisfy their needs.
The Radiative Impact of FU Orionis Outbursts on Protostellar Envelopes

We present preliminary results of an investigation into the radiative impact of FU Orionis outbursts on protostellar envelopes. In the thermal accretion disk instability model, the inner portion of the disk is inflated in such a way as to funnel most of the outburst luminosity along the poles of the system. A multidimensional radiative transfer code is employed to derive the thermal equilibrium structure of the surrounding protostellar envelope and the backheated accretion disk during outburst. The radiation emitted during outburst is modeled as a combination of a self-luminous accretion disk and a central point source. We compare the relative heating of circumstellar material due to (1) an isotropic point source and (2) an anisotropic point source in which the emitted radiation is confined to a 30° cone about the polar axis. The isotropic point source creates a spherical dust cavity, while the anisotropic source naturally results in a cavity which is hourglass-shaped. Repeated outbursts may ultimately be responsible for the large-scale polar cavities commonly inferred to exist around young stellar objects. We also show that due to the anisotropy of the radiation expected during outburst, disk annuli within a few au will be shielded from the radiation of the outburst.
Comparison of traditional and ET-based irrigation scheduling of surface-irrigated cotton in the arid southwestern USA

Abstract The use of irrigation scheduling tools to produce cotton under-surface irrigation in the arid southwestern USA is minimal. In the State of Arizona, where traditional irrigation scheduling is the norm, producers use an average of 1460 mm annually to grow a cotton crop. The purpose of this paper was to determine whether or not the use of ET-based irrigation scheduling methods could improve lint yield and irrigation water use productivity over traditional cotton border irrigation scheduling practices in the region. A field study with four irrigation scheduling treatments replicated in 4 blocks was conducted for two cotton seasons (2009 and 2011) in 16, 12-m × 168-m cotton borders at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC), in Arizona, USA. Remotely-sensed vegetation indices (VI) were used to estimate basal crop coefficients (Kcb) at 40, 4-m × 8-m zones within borders for two treatments, denoted as VI_A and VI_B, whereas a single Kcb curve was applied to all zones in borders for a third treatment (FAO). Daily ETc for these three treatments was estimated using FAO-56 dual crop coefficient procedures with local weather data and irrigation scheduling for the three treatments were based on soil water balance predictions of soil water depletion (SWD). For the VI_A and FAO treatments, irrigations were given when predicted SWD of all 160 zones in the treatment averaged 45% of total available water (TAW). For the VI_B treatment, irrigations were given when 5% of the 160 zones in the treatment were predicted to be at 65% SWD. A fourth treatment (MAC) represented the traditional irrigation scheduling treatment and was scheduled solely by the MAC farm irrigation manager using only experience as a guide. The study showed that the lint yields attained under the MAC farm manager’s irrigation scheduling equaled or exceeded the yields for the three ET-based irrigation scheduling treatments. Although the MAC irrigation scheduling resulted in somewhat higher irrigation input than for the other treatments, the MAC treatment maintained or exceeded the irrigation water productivity attained for other treatments that had lower irrigation inputs. A major conclusion of the study was that present-day irrigation water use for cotton in surface-irrigated fields could be substantially reduced. When compared to Arizona state cotton averages, any of the four treatments presented in the study could potentially offer methods to significantly reduce cotton irrigation water use while maintaining or increasing current lint yields levels.
Iterative development in the field

In this paper, we describe Iterative Development in the Field (IDF), a User-Centered Design approach for developing interactive applications. This approach is characterized by repeated evaluation and redesign cycles that are carried out throughout the product life cycle, from initial discovery and gathering of requirements to beyond deployment in the field. The evaluation is based on the use of interactive prototypes and is performed by actual users in the field. We describe how IDF has evolved over the past 13 years through the experience gained from four major projects and offer a set of guidelines for successful IDF that we illustrate with examples from our experience. We discuss limitations in the applicability of IDF and conclude with some comments regarding the future of IDF.
Modeling orbital forcing of lake level change: Lake Gosiute (Eocene), North America

Abstract The sedimentary record of Lake Gosiute, a lake that existed in southwestern Wyoming during the Eocene, contains evidence for lake level fluctuations thought to be caused by the earth's precession cycle. However, it is not clear how the effects of these orbital variations were transferred through the climate system and into the sedimentary record. We carry out a series of experiments using a general circulation model (GCM), a lake energy balance model and a lake water balance model to better understand the processes by which these orbital variations could have altered lake evaporation, on-lake precipitation and runoff from the lake's catchment. GCM simulations indicate significant differences in surface incident shortwave radiation between the two end-members of the precession cycle. These differences cause lake evaporation to be ∼25% higher when perihelion occurs at the summer solstice. GCM simulations also indicate significant seasonal changes in the amount of precipitation between the two end-members, but no change in the annual mean precipitation. Preliminary experiments with a lake water balance model show that local effects such as changes in vegetation, in snowmelt runoff, or in the area of mudflats surrounding the lake could have a large impact on lake level. However, more data need to be collected to determine the importance of these effects. Our results challenge previous interpretations of paleoclimate that were based on geologic data and simple assumptions regarding the effects of orbital variations on the water balance of the lake. In particular, we find that (1) changes in shortwave radiation may have been more important than changes in temperature or moisture in causing lake level fluctuations and (2) changes in catchment and lake characteristics should be further examined. In order to make an accurate reconstruction of past climatic change from a lake level record, climate system processes and local non-climatic variables must be considered explicitly.
Monitoring MOOCs: which information sources do instructors value?

For an instructor who is teaching a massive open online course (MOOC), what is the best way to understand their class? What is the best way to view how the students are interacting with the content while the course is running? To help prepare for the next iteration, how should the course's data be best analyzed after the fact? How do these instructional monitoring needs differ between online courses with tens of thousands of students and courses with only tens? This paper reports the results of a survey of 92 MOOC instructors who answered questions about which information they find useful in their course, with the end goal of creating an information display for MOOC instructors.The main findings are: (i) quantitative data sources such as grades, although useful, are not sufficient; understanding the activity in discussion forums and student surveys was rated useful for all use cases by a large majority of respondents, (ii) chat logs were not seen as useful, (iii) for the most part, the same sources of information were seen as useful as found in surveys of smaller online courses, (iv) mockups of existing and novel visualization techniques were responded to positively for use both while the course is running and for planning a revision of the course, and (v) a wide range of views was expressed about other details.
Photocopy reduction arrays: design and analysis

Third-order aberration theory is extended to analyze gradient-index arrays. This theory is used to design a reduction array for photocopy applications. An array with untilted endfaces is designed and shown to have better image quality than previously designed arrays.
A POTENTIAL MICROBIOLOGICAL ASSAY OF FRUIT CONTENT IN ORANGE JUICE PRODUCTS

A microbiological assay has been developed to estimate the content of orange juice in a product. A bacterium was found which under standard assay conditions grew in proportion to the amount of orange juice in the mixture. Imitation orange beverages did not support growth. Commercial concentrates from various sources were assayed by the microbiological procedure, and the variability of the results was about the same as or slightly lower than that of many of the other constituents used to estimate juice content. Preliminary tests suggest that the organism is a homofermentative Lacobacillus of the subgenus Streptobacterium.
Reassessing State Housing Trust Funds: Results of a Florida Survey

While their structure and targets vary, state housing trust funds offer an increasingly common form of assistance designed to flexibly meet local housing needs. Frequently they are generated through real estate transaction fees, making them particularly relevant in high growth states such as Florida. For 16 years, Florida's housing trust fund (SHIP) has consistently met its major funding targets, assisting housing initiatives from rural counties to the largest urban centers. A survey of local SHIP administrators provides insight on defining characteristics and key policy dilemmas. Although this critical housing program fails to consistently meet certain goals, those stakeholders involved in its passage, maintenance and implementation consider it a success. Given these conditions, strengthened state oversight to ensure consistency with housing plans and increased state support for other programs, particularly those targeting rental strategies and the lowest income, rather than major legislative changes, co...
Terrorists Next Door? A Comparison of Mexican Drug Cartels and Middle Eastern Terrorist Organizations

Drawing from interviews, surveys, and other forms of research conducted in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, and Mexico, this article compares Mexican cartels to Hamas and Hezbollah. The similarities between them are striking: these are all by necessity territorially specific organizations tied to relatively defined geographic locations, and have deep and sophisticated relationships with the states within which they operate. However, there are critical differences between Mexican drug cartels and Hamas and Hezbollah as well, the most important (according to an analysis of multiple definitions of terrorism) being the presence of political and ideological motivations. This analysis illustrates the conceptual challenges and classificational ambiguity involved in analyzing terrorism and organized crime.
Acute hemodynamic and gastrointestinal changes produced by staphylococcal exotoxin and enterotoxin in dogs

Summary Acute hemodynamic and gastrointestinal changes produced by intravenous and intra-intestinal administration of the crude staphylococcal extract and by the pure staphylococcal enterotoxin were studied in 34 dogs. Purified staphylococcal enterotoxin has profound affinity for the gastrointestinal tract. Not only a single intra-intestinal dose but also its intravenous administration produced acute inflammatory changes in the intestinal mucosa. Pathologic changes observed in the pancreas will require further study. The profound shock induced by the intravenous and to a lesser degree by the intra-intestinal administration of the crude staphylococcal exotoxin is not caused by the enterotoxin itself, but by the other compounds comprising the staphylococcal exotoxin complex. Temporary cessation of the arterial inflow into the liver prevents the acute onset of shock during the occlusion time but does not prevent the secondary hypotension and death of the animal after occlusion is released.
Classifying structural joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis as progressive or nonprogressive using a composite definition of joint radiographic change: a preliminary proposal.

Objective To categorize radiographic joint damage as progressive or nonprogressive in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) participating in clinical studies. Methods Using the total Sharp radiographic damage score, erosion score, and joint space narrowing (JSN) score for 751 serial films of the hand/wrist and forefoot obtained from 190 patients with early RA during 6–60 months of followup (mean 31 months), various threshold values for progression of joint damage were evaluated singly and in various combinations. For each patient, the progression rate was estimated from the linear regression line for all available radiographic time points. After preliminary screening, 23 candidate definitions were tested to select a definition that discriminated well between radiographic progression and radiographic nonprogression. Results The definition selected describes radiographic nonprogression in individual patients as an increase of ≤0.1 in the standardized response mean of the trimmed population (the central 95% of patients) for ≥5 of 6 change measures (erosion scores and JSN scores for the fingers, wrists, and feet). Using this definition, 59% of the 190 patients with early RA were defined as having nonprogressive radiographic damage. Moreover, 95% of 95 patients with progression of the total Sharp score at or below the median and 24% of 95 patients with progression of the total Sharp score above the median were defined as having nonprogressive joint damage (χ2 = 98, P < 0.0001), as were 97% of patients in the lowest quintile of total Sharp score progression rates and none of the patients in the highest progression quintile. Patients defined as nonprogressors had significantly lower baseline levels of C-reactive protein and lower erythrocyte sedimentation rates compared with patients defined as progressors, and those patients in the nonprogressive joint damage group more frequently had American College of Rheumatology 20% and 50% improvement criteria responses, “good” improvements (decrease of ≥1.2) in the Disease Activity Score, and ≥50% decreases in the swollen joint counts during the first 2 years of followup. Conclusion RA joint damage in an observational cohort can be classified as progressive or nonprogressive with the use of a composite definition. Validation and/or refinement of this definition is needed by utilizing the data from controlled clinical trials that compare placebo with active treatment.
Pupil Size After Use of Marijuana and Alcohol

In an experiment using ten subjects, marijuana produced a dose-related constriction of the pupil at low photopic light levels; alcohol produced no effect on pupil size. The two drugs in combination produced no change in pupil size.
Fluorescent properties of monoamine neurons following glyoxylic acid treatment of intact leech ganglia

The SPG modification (de la Torre and Surgeon 1976) of the glyoxylic acid method for amine condensation is a straightforward procedure which can be used upon intact ganglia from the leech. Intense fluorescence of the neurosomata of identified neurons which contain either indoleamine (serotonin, 5-HT) or catecholamine (CA) is obtained in less than 30 min. The fluorescence of the 5-HT containing neurons is yellow (518-526 nm) and decays more rapidly than the dominant blue emission (478-480 nm) of the CA neurons. Most importantly, the SPG technique greatly enhances the visibility of the axonal processes of neurons which contain both classes of amines over the fluorescence produced by formaldehyde condensation techniques. Both blue and yellow fluorescent varicosities are easily distinguished in the longitudinal connectives and lateral roots of the leech C.N.S. Because of its simplicity and high fluorescence yields, the SPG method for histochemical fluorescence should contribute to investigations of amine functions in invertebrate nervous systems.
Dissociation and Physical Abuse as Predictors of Bulimic Symptomatology and Impulse Dysregulation

Abstract The current study examined the relationship between physical abuse, dissociation, bulimic symptomatology, and impulse dysregulation. Subjects were 126 female and 57 male undergraduate and graduate psychology students. Child physical abuse, as measured by the Violence History Questionnaire, was reported by 32% of the sample, The results of this study provide support for the role of violence history in predicting the presence and severity of bulimic symptomatology and impulse dysregulation. Additionally, violence effects were gender specific, yielding higher correlations to bulimia in men and impulsivity in women. Dissociation, though predictive of bulimia for women, did not clearly function as a mediator of violence history.
FINE-SEDIMENT LOADINGS TO LAKE TAHOE

: Over the past 35 years, a trend of decreasing water clarity has been documented in Lake Tahoe, attributable in part to the delivery of fine-grained sediments emanating from upland and channel sources. The overall objective of the research reported here was to determine the amount of fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from each of the 63 contributing watersheds. The research described in this report used combinations of field-based observations of channel and bank stability with measured and simulated data on fine-sediment loadings to estimate fine-sediment loadings from unmonitored basins throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. Loadings were expressed in the conventional format of mass per unit time but also in the number of particles finer than 20 μm, the latter for future use in a lake-clarity model. The greatest contributors of fine sediment happened to be those with measured data, not requiring extrapolation. In descending order, they are as follows: Upper Truckee River [1,010 tonnes per year (T/year)], Blackwood Creek (846 T/year), Trout Creek (462 T/year), and Ward Creek (412 T/year). Summing estimated values from the contributing watersheds provided an average, annual estimate of fine-sediment (<0.063 mm) loadings to the lake of 5,206 T/year. A total of 7.79E + 19 particles in the 5-20 μm fraction were calculated to enter Lake Tahoe in an average year with the Upper Truckee River accounting for almost 25% of the total. Contributions from Blackwood, Ward, Trout, and Third creeks account for another 23% of these very fine particles. Thus, these five streams making up about 40% of the basin area, account for almost 50% of all fine-sediment loadings to the lake. Contribution of fine sediment from streambank erosion were estimated by developing empirical relations between measured or simulated bank-erosion rates with a field-based measure of the extent of bank instability along given streams. An average, annual fine-sediment loading from streambank erosion of 1,305 T/year was calculated. This represents about 25% of the average, annual fine-sediment load delivered to the lake from all sources. The two largest contributors, the Upper Truckee River (639 T/year) and Blackwood Creek (431 T/year), account for slightly more than 80% of all fines emanating from streambanks, representing about 20% of the fine sediment delivered to Lake Tahoe from all sources. Extrapolations of fine-sediment loadings to the unmonitored watersheds are based on documented empirical relations, yet contain a significant amount of uncertainty. Except for those values derived directly from measured data, reported results should be considered as estimates.
Relationships Between Nitrogen Transformation Rates and Gene Abundance in a Riparian Buffer Soil

Denitrification is a critical biogeochemical process that results in the conversion of nitrate to volatile products, and thus is a major route of nitrogen loss from terrestrial environments. Riparian buffers are an important management tool that is widely utilized to protect water from non-point source pollution. However, riparian buffers vary in their nitrate removal effectiveness, and thus there is a need for mechanistic studies to explore nitrate dynamics in buffer soils. The objectives of this study were to examine the influence of specific types of soluble organic matter on nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production rates, and to elucidate the relationships between these rates and the abundances of functional genes in a riparian buffer soil. Continuous-flow soil column experiments were performed to investigate the effect of three types of soluble organic matter (citric acid, alginic acid, and Suwannee River dissolved organic carbon) on rates of nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production. We found that nitrate loss rates increased as citric acid concentrations increased; however, rates of nitrate loss were weakly affected or not affected by the addition of the other types of organic matter. In all experiments, rates of nitrous oxide production mirrored nitrate loss rates. In addition, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was utilized to quantify the number of genes known to encode enzymes that catalyze nitrite reduction (i.e., nirS and nirK) in soil that was collected at the conclusion of column experiments. Nitrate loss and nitrous oxide production rates trended with copy numbers of both nir and 16s rDNA genes. The results suggest that low-molecular mass organic species are more effective at promoting nitrogen transformations than large biopolymers or humic substances, and also help to link genetic potential to chemical reactivity.
Potential-Step Chronocoulometric and Quartz Crystal Microbalance Investigation of Coadsorbed Cadmium and Sulfate on Au(111) Electrodes

Cd underpotentially deposited on Au(111) has been studied using potential-step chronocoulometry and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance investigations to determine the actual surface coverage of Cd. In the potential region where Cd undergoes underpotential deposition (upd), the coverage is observed by chronocoulometry to rise to a limiting value of 0.66 ML. The electrosorption valency calculated on the basis of this coverage is 0.5, indicating that the Cd adatoms are not fully discharged on the surface. Potential-step chronocoulometry has been used at various sulfate concentrations to determine the surface coverage of sulfate anion in the presence of underpotentially deposited Cd. The coverage is negligible in the absence of underpotentially deposited Cd at the point of zero charge. It rises to a value of 0.23 ML in the Cd upd region, indicating that sulfate is specifically adsorbed with underpotentially deposited Cd at negative electrode potentials. Quartz crystal microbalance measurements indicate that there is considerably larger mass change at the surface during Cd upd than that expected on the basis of the measured coverages of Cd and sulfate. The extra mass is explained in terms of additional sulfate required in the outer Helmholtz plane to balance the residual positive charge on the underpotentially deposited Cd atoms.
Helium in the Martian atmosphere - Thermal loss considerations

Helium concentrations in the Martian atmosphere are estimated assuming that the helium production on Mars (comparable to its production on earth) via the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium is in steady state equilibrium with its thermal escape. Although nonthermal losses would tend to reduce the estimated concentrations, these concentrations are not necessarily an upper limit since higher production rates and/or a possibly lower effective exospheric temperature over the solar activity cycle could increase them to even higher values. The computed helium concentration at the Martian exobase (200 km) is 8 million atoms/cu cm. Through the lower exosphere, the computed helium concentrations are 30-200 times greater than the Mariner-measured atomic hydrogen concentrations. It follows that helium may be the predominant constituent in the Martian lower exosphere and may well control the orbital lifetime of Mars-orbiting spacecraft.