cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A W-Band Low-Loss Dual-Polarization Quasi-TEM Waveguide

As an enabling feed/interconnect element for various millimeter wave components, dual polarization quasi-transverse electromagnetic (TEM) waveguides at W-band (75-110 GHz) are investigated with two-dimensional electromagnetic crystal (EMXT) surfaces as the four boundary walls instead of the regular metallic walls. A 2.54 mm x 2.54 mm quasi-TEM square waveguide prototype with a length of 2 mm is fabricated and demonstrated. Both eigenmode and full-wave EM simulations of the prototype verify the quasi-TEM propagation at the designed frequency of 95 GHz with a bandwidth of more than 10% and the low insertion loss for the entire W-band. The prototype waveguide is measured in a WR-10 fixture and the results agree with simulations well. To better understand the loss mechanisms, various design and packaging parameters are studied. Undesirable resonant surface modes have been identified as a critical cause of loss at specific frequencies. This type of waveguides may also be useful for spatial power combining, low loss interconnects, and packaging for millimeter wave systems.
Materials/processing approaches to phase stabilization of thermally conductive pastes

Previously reported thermally conductive pastes based on simple dispersions of boron nitride particles in mineral oil were observed to undergo phase separation when stressed thermal-mechanically. Such stressing of thermal pastes was carried out to simulate the mechanical shearing action imposed on such pastes as a result of the anticipated differential motion of contacted heat-transfer surfaces and the paste during transient heating/cooling in various cooling assemblies. In the present work, the tendency of thermally conductive pastes to phase-separate during such simulated functional use was eliminated and given attributes of reworkability and corrosion inhibition by a combination of several approaches. These included: (1) the use of surface modification agents such as coupling agents and/or polymers on boron nitride particles: (2) milling conditions employed; and (3) the selection of novel oily and oxidation-resistant vehicle material systems to interact with the modified particle surfaces while preventing corrosion of contacted metallic surfaces. >
Good Citations Another Step Toward Good Advocacy

The article discusses Bluebook citation and techniques for citing cases and statutes correctly and effectively in legal memoranda and briefs.
Standardizing Care Processes and Improving Quality Using Pathways and Continuous Quality Improvement

Health care providers have an opportunity to improve the quality of care provided by reducing unnecessary variation. Current evidence and expert consensus can be used to develop a standardized mental model that can be used by all members of a clinical team. Process management and continuous quality improvement can be applied to measure process, health, and patient satisfaction outcomes. Clinical pathways represent one method to accomplish these goals. When combined with targeted education, electronic clinical decision support, and robust measurement, this methodology can help to create the dynamic learning health care system that will support the health of the next generation of our children.
Circumcision as a lifetime vaccination with many benefits

Think of newborn circumcision as a vaccination a preventive health procedure which has lifetime benefits against not one but many medical disorders. The most significant protective effect of circumcision is against HIV/AIDS a modern day plague that has killed over 20 million people in the past 20 years and is now being carried by over 40 million men women and children worldwide. Since the late 1980s over 30 separate clinical research studies have shown that circumcised men are significantly less likely to acquire HIV when exposed sexually to HIV-positive women than are men with intact foreskins. The evidence has become overwhelming since 2005 following the almost identical findings in three randomized clinical trials (RCTs) the gold standard of clinical research. Circumcision was 60% effective in preventing heterosexual HIV infection a value equivalent to the protection afforded by many vaccines. The results of the RCTs were so convincing that all 3 studies had to be terminated early when it became obvious that it was no longer ethical to withhold circumcision from the control group. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) now recognize the powerful protection offered by circumcision and the potential for saving millions of lives. Both the WHO and the United Nations (UNAIDS) have recently advised that circumcision be added to current interventions to reduce the spread of HIV. (excerpt)
Droplet, a blocks-based editor for text code

This paper presents Droplet, a programming editor which has a drag-and-drop block interface like Scratch, but that allows users to edit in mainstream text programming languages. It is designed to close the learning gap between blocks and text. Droplet accomplishes two-way conversion by using the program text in the target text language as the primary data model. The paper also presents a preliminary analysis of data from several months of student use of Droplet.
Numerical simulation of interactions between dissociating gases and catalytic materials in shock tubes

A numerical method has been developed to study interactions between gas flows and catalytic materials of the shock-tube end after shock wave reflection at high temperature conditions. The study is based on computations of nonequilibrium multicomponent gasdynamic parameters in air and analysis of the nonsteady-state thermal boundary layer near the tube end.
Chapter 9: Into the Void: The Legal Ambiguities of an Unregulated Medical Tourism Market

This chapter, appearing in the book Risks and Challenges in Medical Tourism: Understanding the Global Market for Health Services (Praeger Publishing 2012), explores how the medical tourism market operates in an environment void of legal and regulatory oversight. Given this void, I address seven legal questions surrounding the medical tourism market: 1. Is it illegal for patients to leave the United States for health care? 2. Can patients injured overseas sue in the United States? 3. Can patients injured overseas sue overseas? 4. How might governments regulate medical tourism? 5. Can U.S.-based institutions regulate foreign hospitals and physicians? 6. Is it legal for U.S. insurers to ask patients to leave the country? 7. How will U.S. health reform affect the medical tourism market?In confronting these questions, a unifying theme emerges: Very few laws and regulations govern medical tourism transactions, largely because these are cross-border transactions consummated in foreign jurisdictions. This creates legal risks for all parties. And the industry is shifting these risks to perhaps the least sophisticated party: patients.
Comment: What Prevents Loan Modifications?

This comment describes the barriers to preventive servicing for securitized residential loans and assesses the importance of loan modifications, given the recent increases in default and foreclosure rates for subprime loans. Several hurdles slow or reduce such modifications, even those that help borrowers and investors alike. For example, self-interest may reduce servicers' willingness to modify loans rapidly.In addition, underlying securitization agreements may impede servicers' ability and discretion in this area. Further, tax laws that govern a common securitization entity may limit modifications, as may accounting standards. Finally, "tranche warfare," the sometimes contradictory fiduciary duties servicers have toward investors holding different tranches of securitized pools, may decrease their ability or their willingness to modify loans.This comment concludes that barriers to effective loan modifications should be reduced or eliminated where feasible, but that the securitization of subprime loans creates risks for borrowers.
Use of Plastic Optical Fibers for Charged Particle Tracking in High Energy Physics

A large tracking detector consisting of scintillating plastic optical fibers has been chosen by the D0 collaboration as a part of a planned upgrade at the Fermilab Tevatron. The tracker will utilize a state of the art photodetector known as the Visible Light Photon Counter. The benefits of fiber tracking in high energy physics will be presented along with recent progress in several key areas, including: optimization of scintillating dyes and light yields, fiber construction, fiber ribbon manufacture and placement, optical transmission and photodetection. The current status of the D0 development effort will be outlined, including results from the characterization of 5000 channels of VLPC. Finally, results from simulations of expected detector performance will be shown and discussed.
Emplumada: Chicana Rites-of-Passage

Emplumada, the first published collection by Lorna Dee Cervantes, is poetry that defines a Mexican-American identity and so carries an "ethnic" denomination. As ethnic poetry it is art that does not dwell in the region of purely detached art, "art for art's sake," but that necessarily attempts to establish its integrity in a particular territory and time. However, for Cervantes, the role of the ethnic writer intent on affirming a personal and group identity within a clearly defined temporal and spatial context is complicated by the fact that her sense of self as a woman does not conform to the traditions of her ethnic heritage. Together, the poems of Emplumada tell the story of a coming-of-age in which time-honored "great expectations" are necessarily altered. The rites-of-passage of a Mexican-American woman will not fit the formula of the nineteenth-century Bildiingsroman, nor will her rites be consonant with stereotypic sex roles in Chicano coming-of-age novels. As long as the achievement of an identity through a temporal process in which the child struggles to adulthood is male-identified, a discussion of the struggle toward an autonomous female identity will be viewed as feminist; and within the closely held values of ethnicity "feminism" is likely to be equated with subversion. Thus the poems of Emplumada, speaking as they do of a Chicana coming-of-age, heighten awareness of human as well as artistic complexities. Cervantes establishes the spatial dimension of her poetry within a Mexican barrio of San Jose, California, where she grew up; and, though the poems of Emplumada identified with feathers and winging birds are poems of flight and of freeing, they are poems of place-centeredness. The ultimate liberation is not measured in distance but rather in the
Factors Associated with Parent Concern for Child Weight and Parenting Behaviors

Background: A parent's perception about their child's overweight status is an important precursor or determinant of preventative actions. Acknowledgment of, and concern for, overweight may be moderated by the parent's own weight status whereas engaging in healthy behaviors at home may promote healthy weight status. It is hypothesized that normal weight parents are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and acknowledge overweight in their own children whereas heavier parents may report more concern about child weight. Methods: A total of 1745 parents of first- through fifth-grade students completed a questionnaire assessing reactions to a school BMI report and perceptions about BMI issues. Specific items included perceptions of child's weight status, concern for child weight status, and preventive practices. Parents also provided information about their own weight status. Relationships between measured child weight, perceived child weight, parent weight, parent concern, and healthy behaviors were examined. Results: Overweight parents were more likely to identify overweight in their child and report concern about their child's weight. Concern was higher for parents of overweight children than of normal weight children. Normal weight parents and parents of normal weight children reported more healthy behaviors. Conclusions: Results support the hypothesis that normal weight parents are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and that overweight parents are more likely to report concern about child weight. However, overweight parents are also more likely to acknowledge overweight status in their own child. Future research should examine links between parent concern and actual pursuit of weight management assistance.
Comparison of remote sensing indices for monitoring of desert cienegas

ABSTRACTThis research considers the applicability of different vegetation indices at 30 m resolution for mapping and monitoring desert wetland (cienega) health and spatial extent through time at Cienega Creek in southeastern Arizona, USA. Multiple stressors including the risk of decadal-scale drought, the effects of current and predicted global warming, and continued anthropogenic pressures threaten aquatic habitats in the southwest and cienegas are recognized as important sites for conservation and restoration efforts. However, cienegas present a challenge to satellite-imagery based analysis due to their small size and mixed surface cover of open water, exposed soils, and vegetation. We created time series of five well-known vegetation indices using annual Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images retrieved during the April–June dry season, from 1984 to 2011 to map landscape-level distribution of wetlands and monitor the temporal dynamics of individual sites. Indices included the Normalized Difference Vegetati...
The Moonstone : Service Work as Narrative Work

More than any of the previous novels I have discussed, Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone (1868) makes explicit the interrelation of service work and narrative work through its use of character-narrators. As we will see, the novel uses narration to engage with problems of service work and its discipline in ways that are distinct from the methods examined in prior chapters, where narrative work uses and improvises with existing discourse to search out new forms of useful work or skills, all the while turning its plotting and narration to use disciplining such work. By contrast, because the character-narrators of The Moonstone take up such narrative work directly, the problem of disciplining new modes of service work becomes a problem of disciplining narrative work. Indeed, the novel makes this conjunction of service and narrative work quite clear by making its narrators unproductive laborers, including a number of domestic service workers and professionals. By displacing service work into narrative work, The Moonstone highlights the use of financial and economic mechanisms to discipline narrative work, focusing in particular on the wage as a means of asserting control over the narrative work of its narrators. This is not to say cultural discourses play no role here, but rather that the novel’s mystery plot, use of banking, and narrative organization highlight the importance of an economic disciplining of unruly and potentially threatening forms of work that gesture toward what I discussed in the prior chapter as biopolitical production. As a result, the wage acts as a crucial disciplinary mechanism for the novel’s socially productive immaterial forms of service work, here conjured by the use of character-narrators.
Volar Locking Plate for Intra-Articular Distal Radius Fracture

There are several operative options for displaced fractures of the distal radius. Volar plate fixation provides options for fixation of extra- and intra-articular fractures, and is a locked construct which can add support to osteoporotic bone. We will review the literature on the benefits and limitations of volar plates and present an illustrative case.
Proposition of a Protocol for E-voting Systems that Breaks the Link Between the Voter and His Vote

One of the most challenging aspects in computer-supported voting is to combine the apparently conflicting requirements of privacy and verifiability. In this paper, some of the definitions related to the electoral procedure are introduced, different mechanisms for identification and authentication of voters are discussed, and then a protocol is proposed which breaks the link between identity of the voter and the vote itself very early in the electoral process, enabling both privacy and verifiability. The protocol is best suited for a system where votes are casted in polling stations, but recommendations for use in a remote voting scheme are also given.
Comparative persuasive styles in Arabic and English: A study of the United Nations General Assembly Debate speeches

ABSTRACTThis study analyzed persuasive styles and tactics used in the United Nations General Assembly Debate speeches by Arabic and English speaking leaders. Past work has identified three persuasive styles: analogical, presentational, and quasilogical. The literature suggests that Arabs use analogical and presentational styles, while the “West” prefers the quasilogical style. Our results indicate that Arabs used the quasilogical style more often than English speakers. All speakers drew upon most of the tactics identified to strengthen their arguments. Finally, there has been a shift in the usage of some tactics for both sets of speakers over 30 years.
Yawn duration predicts brain weight and cortical neuron number in mammals.

Research indicates that the motor action pattern of yawning functions to promote cortical arousal and state change through enhanced intracranial circulation and brain cooling. Because the magnitude of this response likely corresponds to the degree of neurophysiological change, we hypothesized that interspecies variation in yawn duration would correlate with underlying neurological differences. Using openly accessible data, we show that both the mean and variance in yawn duration are robust predictors of mammalian brain weight and cortical neuron number ( ρ -values > 0.9). Consistent with these effects, primates tend to have longer and more variable yawn durations compared with other mammals. Although yawning has long been considered a stereotyped action pattern, these findings reveal substantial variation in this response and highlight the importance of measuring yawn duration in future research.
Optimal Code Rate Allocation with Turbo Product Codes for JPEG2000 Compression of Ultraspectral Sounder Data

Given a limited bandwidth, unequal error protection (UEP) via channel coding with different code rates for different important regions of bitstream may yield much less error contamination than equal error protection (EEP). We propose an optimal code rate allocation scheme that minimizes error contamination after channel and source decoding. We use JPEG2000 for source coding and turbo product code (TPC) for channel coding as an example to demonstrate this technique with ultraspectral sounder data. The statistics of erroneous pixels after TPC and JPEG2000 decoding are used to determine the optimal channel code rates for each wavelet resolution. The proposed UEP scheme significantly reduces error contamination when compared to its EEP counterpart. The optimal code rate allocation needs to be determined only once, given any predefined set of available channel codes, desired code rate, and noise level.
Fungal physiology: Robbing the bank of haem iron.

Structural determination of the secreted haem-binding protein from Candida albicans reveals a novel fold and haem coordination environment that facilitates the shuttling of the haem cofactor across the cell wall to the cell surface.
Domestic Application of Treaties

This paper is a chapter for a forthcoming book, the Oxford Guide to Treaties. The chapter addresses the application of treaties within domestic legal systems. Traditional scholarship on the domestic application of treaties has focused on the distinction between monist and dualist legal systems. Although the monist-dualist framework helps illuminate important formal differences among states, the chapter suggests that scholarly preoccupation with the formal distinction between monism and dualism tends to obscure key functional differences among states. After discussing the monist-dualist dichotomy in Part One, the remainder of the chapter adopts a functional approach, focusing primarily on the role of domestic courts in promoting compliance with treaty obligations and protecting treaty-based private rights. Part Two explains the distinction between horizontal, vertical and transnational treaty provisions. Part Three addresses the functional distinction between nationalist and transnationalist approaches to judicial application of treaties. Part Four discusses the crucial role of domestic courts in promoting compliance with treaty obligations, especially transnational and vertical treaty obligations. The analysis shows that domestic courts play a key role in protecting private rights under transnational treaty provisions and promoting compliance with those provisions, but they play virtually no role in promoting compliance with horizontal treaty provisions. This is generally true for both monist and dualist states. The story with respect to vertical treaty provisions is more complicated. When domestic courts adopt a transnationalist approach, they play a key role in protecting private rights under vertical treaty provisions and promoting compliance with those provisions. When domestic courts adopt a nationalist approach, vertical treaty provisions may be under-enforced. There does not appear to be any significant correlation between a state’s formal classification as monist or dualist and the tendency of domestic courts in that state to function in a nationalist or transnationalist mode.
Pyruvate in Producer and Commingled Manufacturing Grade Milk

The automated test for pyruvate concentration, [P], was evaluated as a substitute for the direct microscopic count (DMC) in determining quality of manufacturing grade milk. Samples of manufacturing grade milk from producers and tank trucks as well as skim milk were collected at a large milk drying plant. Each sample was tested immediately for standard plate count (SPC), psychrotrophic plate count (PPC) and DMC. Portions of milk were heated to 85°C for 10 min to stabilize [P] before being returned to the laboratory for analysis of initial pyruvate concentration, [IP]. Unheated samples stored at 4°C were analyzed for [P] and DMC daily for up to 120 h. [IP] was a good indicator of PPC in milk from individual producers (r=0.81). However, [IP] was not highly correlated (r=0.26) with PPC in skim milk samples which were characteristically high in SPC and homogeneous in PPC. With skim milk, [IP] was more highly and significantly correlated with initial DMC (r=0.61) than with initial SPC (r=0.31) or initial PPC (r...
Wellness and multiple sclerosis: The National MS Society establishes a Wellness Research Working Group and research priorities.

Background:People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have identified “wellness” and associated behaviors as a high priority based on “social media listening” undertaken by the National MS Society (i.e. the Society).Objective:The Society recently convened a group that consisted of researchers with experience in MS and wellness-related research, Society staff members, and an individual with MS for developing recommendations regarding a wellness research agenda.Method:The members of the group engaged in focal reviews and discussions involving the state of science within three approaches for promoting wellness in MS, namely diet, exercise, and emotional wellness.Results:That process informed a group-mediated activity for developing and prioritizing research goals for wellness in MS. This served as a background for articulating the mission and objectives of the Society’s Wellness Research Working Group.Conclusion:The primary mission of the Wellness Research Working Group is the provision of scientific evidence suppo...
Carnap’s Aufbau Rehabilitated

In the last paragraph of section 2 of his The Logical Construction of the World (commonly and hereafter referred to as “the Aufbau”) Rudolf Carnap says: “Even though the subjective origin of all knowledge lies in the contents of experiences and their connections, it is still possible, as the constructional system will show, to advance to [knowledge of] an intersubjective, objective world.”
In Situ and Ex Situ 2D Infrared/Fluorescence Correlation Monitoring of Surface Functionality and Electron Density of Biochars

Carboxyl, hydroxyl, and other oxygen-containing functional groups play key roles in the interfacial reactions of soil surfaces including biochar (solid-phase slow pyrolysis product) soil amendment. Intensity and directionality in both real (synchronous) and imaginary (asynchronous) coordinates of 2D infrared correlation spectra were confirmed by the time courses of pyrolysis reaction (temperature × wavenumber × absorbance; 10 °C min–1, 1 h residence time at 500 °C) utilizing high-density (74 total spectra) in situ diffuse reflectance Fourier transform (DRIFTs) monitoring. Similar primary trends were observed for four different lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks: cottonseed hull, cotton ginning waste, flax shive, and pecan shell. In the OH stretch region (3100–3750 cm–1), free OH was most sensitive to pyrolysis temperature and reacted before H-bonded OH indicating the evaporation of water, followed by the cleavage of interchain H-bonds. Aromatic CH (R=CHn) was the primary CH functionality (within 2700–3100...
Asymmetrical ligand-induced cross-regulation of chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 by α 1 -adrenergic receptors at the heteromeric receptor complex

Recently, we reported that chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor (CXCR)4 and atypical chemokine receptor 3 regulate α1-adrenergic receptors (α1-AR) through the formation of hetero-oligomeric complexes. Whether α1-ARs also regulate chemokine receptor function within such heteromeric receptor complexes is unknown. We observed that activation of α1b-AR within the α1b-AR:CXCR4 heteromeric complex leads to cross-recruitment of β-arrestin2 to CXCR4, which could not be inhibited with AMD3100. Activation of CXCR4 did not cross-recruit β-arrestin2 to α1b-AR. A peptide analogue of transmembrane domain 2 of CXCR4 interfered with α1b-AR:CXCR4 heteromerization and inhibited α1b-AR-mediated β-arrestin2 cross-recruitment. Phenylephrine (PE) induced internalization of CXCR4 in HEK293 cells co-expressing CXCR4 and α1b-AR and of endogenous CXCR4 in human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMC). The latter was detectable despite blockade of CXCR4 with the neutralizing antibody 12G5. hVSMC migrated towards CXCL12 and PE, but not towards a combination of CXCL12 and PE. PE inhibited CXCL12-induced chemotaxis of hVSMC (IC50: 77 ± 30 nM). Phentolamine cross-inhibited CXCL12-induced chemotaxis of hVSMC, whereas AMD3100 did not cross-inhibit PE-induced chemotaxis. These data provide evidence for asymmetrical cross-regulation of CXCR4 by α1-adrenergic receptors within the heteromeric receptor complex. Our findings provide mechanistic insights into the function of α1-AR:CXCR4 heteromers and suggest alternative approaches to modulate CXCR4 in disease conditions.
Healing our divided society: Investing in America fifty years after the Kerner report, edited by Fred Harris and Alan Curtis: Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2018

“Everybody does better when everybody does better” (p. vi) is the appropriate opening epigram, penned by Jim Hightower, for this retrospective on the 50th anniversary of the Report of the National ...
Conclusion: Using Research Evidence from the Schoolhouse Door to Capitol Hill

Understanding the role of research evidence in educational improvement is of critical importance as we continue to try to reduce the inequities in our educational system. Contained within this volume are groundbreaking studies put forth by leading scholars who push the thinking in the field, as well as discuss many cross cutting themes relating to the value and use of research evidence. The important meta-themes are presented in this chapter through a careful review and synthesis of these contributions. Several key themes arise including the need for adopting a systems perspective on the work, recognizing the role of both the quantity and quality of relationships as well as need to rethink, realign, and retool the relationship between research producers and users. The findings from this volume should serve to stimulate dialogue at all levels of the system around the use of research evidence, as well as push research, policy, and practice toward more collaborative coproduction of knowledge.
Adaptation to Equilibration: A More Complex Model of the Applications of Piaget’s Theory to Early Childhood Education

Three levels of educational applications of Piagetian theory are delineated in this paper--the level of the learning experiences of the child; the level of the teacher’s views of teaching and learning; and the level of the transmission of culture through the educational process. Each of these levels has been approached with a simple interactionist model of equilibration. Although this model has been a fruitful one and has generated considerable thinking and research, it may rest on oversimple epistemological assumptions. The problems that need to be addressed are restated given the more complex model of equilibration set forth by Piaget (1977).
Influenza virus infection of human lymphocytes occurs in the immune cell cluster of the developing antiviral response

Monocytes-macrophages and lymphocytes are recruited to the respiratory tract in response to influenza virus challenge and are exposed to the virus during the establishment of immune defenses. The susceptibility of human lymphocytes to infection was assessed. The presence of monocytes-macrophages was required to attain infection of both resting and proliferating lymphocytes. Lymphocyte infection occurred in the context of immune cell clusters and was blocked by the addition of anti-intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) antibody to prevent cell clustering. Both peripheral blood-derived and bronchoalveolar lymphocytes were susceptible to infection. Both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T lymphocytes were susceptible to influenza virus infection, and the infected CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ lymphocytes served as infectious foci for other nonpermissive or even virus-permissive cells. These data show that monocytes-macrophages and both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ lymphocytes can become infected during the course of an immune response to influenza virus challenge. The described leukocyte interactions during infection may play an important role in the development of effective anti-influenza responses.
The Basics of Item Response Theory Using R

This article reviews the book The Basics of Item Response Theory Using R by Baker and Kim (2017). It describes the structure and goals of the book, provides an overview of each chapter, and conclud...
Common Terminology and Acoustic Measures for Human Voice and Birdsong

Purpose The zebra finch is used as a model to study the neural circuitry of auditory-guided human vocal production. The terminology of birdsong production and acoustic analysis, however, differs fr...
“A Personal Touch of Advocacy to My Profession”: Counter-Narratives of Immigrant Latina Teachers in English as a Second Language Education

Guided by Critical Raced-Gendered epistemologies and methodologies, this study investigated life experiences of six Latina teachers who were former English Language Learners (ELL) and are currently becoming English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in an urban community. Multiple data sources such as interviews, open-ended autobiographical surveys, anecdotal notes, reflection journals, online discussions, and field observation notes were collected over two years and analyzed through inductive analysis in conjunction with Grounded theory. The findings present counter-narratives to dominant yet deficit narratives of minority teacher education. Salient themes included teachers9 support versus institutional racism; strength of motherhood and female family support versus traditional gender roles; agency and advocacy versus marginalized socio-cultural environments. In their journeys from ELLs to ESL teachers, constant negotiation between the conflicting life experiences and critical self-positioning turned out to be crucial.
4 History of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery

Bariatric and metabolic surgery has blossomed over the last 60 years from its experimental origin to become one of the most astounding weapons in the arsenal of modern medicine. The evolution has taken place in a stepwise fashion through the inventive efforts of surgeons who were farsighted enough to envision the potential utility of altering gastrointestinal anatomy to change physiology. A multitude of procedures have come and gone, but with the dedication of pioneers studying the effectiveness, drawbacks, and safety, our knowledge of the field has grown immensely. This has led to the sound and unrivaled surgical treatments for obesity that we can offer today.
Counting Test and Parametric Two One-Sided Tolerance Interval Test for Content Uniformity Using Large Sample Sizes

The purpose of uniformity of dosage unit test is to determine the degree of uniformity in the amount of drug substance among dosage units in a batch. Recently, there are several nonparametric methods including the large sample counting approach proposed in European Pharmacopeia 8.1 (EU Option 2). All nonparametric methods specify a maximum number of tablets, of which the contents fall outside the interval (85%, 115%) of labeling claim (LC) for a given large sample size. The nonparametric method in European Pharmacopeia requires another maximum number of tablets, of which the contents fall outside the interval (75%, 125%) LC. We denote the nonparametric method as the counting test which will be used in the rest of the article. We focus on the comparison of the acceptance probabilities between EU Option 2 and the parametric two one-sided tolerance intervals (PTIT_matchUSP90) test. Obviously, a counting test is less efficient than a parametric test in general. Our simulation study clearly shows that the EU Option 2 is not sensitive to batches with a large variability in contents which follow a normal distribution with an off-target mean, a mixture of two normal distributions, or a mixture of a uniform distribution with small percent of extreme values. The EU Option 2 is not sensitive to the mean shift of the majority population (97%) from 100% LC to 90% LC. In addition, the EU Option 2 is not sensitive to low assay values (about 90% LC). The EU Option 2 is over-sensitive to one extreme case: 97% tablets with 100% LC and 3% tablets with 76% LC.
Plasma receptor interacting protein kinase-3 levels are associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in sepsis and trauma: a cohort study

Necroptosis, a form of programmed cell death mediated by receptor interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase-3 (RIPK3), is implicated in murine models of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We hypothesized that plasma RIPK3 concentrations in sepsis and trauma would be associated with ARDS development and that plasma RIPK3 would reflect changes in lung tissue RIPK3 in a murine model of systemic inflammation. We utilized prospective cohort studies of critically ill sepsis (n = 120) and trauma (n = 180) patients and measured plasma RIPK3 at presentation and 48 h. Patients were followed for 6 days for ARDS by the Berlin definition. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine the association of plasma RIPK3 with ARDS in each cohort, adjusting for confounders. In mice, we determined whether plasma and lung tissue RIPK3 levels rise concomitantly 4 h after injection with lipopolysaccharide and ZVAD-FMK, an apoptosis inhibitor. The change in plasma RIPK3 from presentation to 48 h (ΔRIPK3) was associated with ARDS in sepsis (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.03–1.63, per ½ standard deviation) and trauma (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.33–2.40). This association was not evident for presentation RIPK3 levels. Secondary analyses showed similar findings for the association of ΔRIPK3 with acute kidney injury and 30-day mortality. Mice injected with lipopolysaccharide and ZVAD-FMK had significantly higher plasma (p < 0.001) and lung (p = 0.005) RIPK3 than control mice. The change in plasma RIPK3 from presentation to 48 h in both sepsis and trauma patients is independently associated with ARDS, and plasma RIPK3 may reflect RIPK3 activity in lung tissue.
Implementation of the WASPLab™ and first year achievements within a university hospital

In essence, automation can be driven by several of the following incentives: increased processing capacity of the laboratory, better costs control through processes standardization, optimized traceability, or improved workflows to reduce turnaround times (TAT). This project aims at presenting an overview of the project management and change management with a focus on the major challenges addressed by lab staff and laboratory leadership during the different phases of the implementation of the WASPLab™ in a routine clinical bacteriology laboratory. This paper reports our experience and reviews changes in the bacteriology laboratory at Geneva University Hospitals when shifting to the WASPLab™. Practically, the whole automation process was segmented into different packages (specimen type-based segmentation) allowing sequential validation, staff training, and routine implementation. Such process allowed reaching 90% of the identified “automatable” samples within 1 year, including personal training, documentation for accreditation supported by publications, without interrupting routine operations. In addition, we implemented a validated automated solution for antimicrobial disk diffusion susceptibility testing. Structured supervision and accurate monitoring of all the activities related to the automation project including key partners such as IT support, technical committee, and after-sales service guaranteed a swift and timely achievement of the project allowing the improvement of the workflow in routine bacteriology within 1 year.
An examination of electronic nicotine delivery system use among college students using social cognitive theory.

OBJECTIVE Using social cognitive theory as a framework, this study examined electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use, related cognitions, and context among college students. Participants: Respondents were 1229 students attending a mid-sized, northeastern university. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered and SPSS was used for analysis. Results: Almost 41% of respondents reported ENDS use in the prior month (past-month user), 26.8% reported trying ENDS but no use in the prior month (occasional user), and 32.3% reported never trying ENDS. The results highlight significant associations in past-month versus occasional use and reasons for initation, location for ENDS use, perceived norms for ENDS use, and outcome expectations for ENDS use. Conclusions: This study highlights a need for theory-based, multi-level strategies to reduce ENDS use. Interventions should increase awareness about the risks of ENDS, include peer-based interventions to foster health-promoting campus social environments, and explore the use of policies restricting campus ENDS use.
In Vitro–to–In Vivo Extrapolation of Transporter-Mediated Renal Clearance: Relative Expression Factor Versus Relative Activity Factor Approach

About 30% of approved drugs are cleared predominantly by renal clearance (CLr). Of these, many are secreted by transporters. For these drugs, in vitro–to–in vivo extrapolation of transporter-mediated renal secretory clearance (CLsec,plasma) is important to prospectively predict their renal clearance and to assess the impact of drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetics on their pharmacokinetics. Here we compared the ability of the relative expression factor (REF) and the relative activity factor (RAF) approaches to quantitatively predict the in vivo CLsec,plasma of 26 organic anion transporter (OAT) substrates assuming that OAT-mediated uptake is the rate-determining step in the CLsec,plasma of the drugs. The REF approach requires protein quantification of each transporter in the tissue (e.g., kidney) and transporter-expressing cells, whereas the RAF approach requires the use of a transporter-selective probe substrate (both in vitro and in vivo) for each transporter of interest. For the REF approach, 50% and 69% of the CLsec,plasma predictions were within 2- and 3-fold of the observed values, respectively; the corresponding values for the RAF approach were 65% and 81%. We found no significant difference between the two approaches in their predictive capability (as measured by accuracy and bias) of the CLsec,plasma or CLr of OAT drugs. We recommend that the REF and RAF approaches can be used interchangeably to predict OAT-mediated CLsec,plasma. Further research is warranted to evaluate the ability of the REF or RAF approach to predict CLsec,plasma of drugs when uptake is not the rate-determining step. Significance Statement This is the first direct comparison of the relative expression factor (REF) and relative activity factor (RAF) approaches to predict transporter-mediated renal clearance (CLr). The RAF, but not REF, approach requires transporter-selective probes and that the basolateral uptake is the rate-determining step in the CLr of drugs. Given that there is no difference in predictive capability of the REF and RAF approach for organic anion transporter–mediated CLr, the REF approach should be explored further to assess its ability to predict CLr when basolateral uptake is not the sole rate-determining step.
Abstract 7: AntagomiR-762 Prevents and Reverses Angiotensin II Induced Aortic Stiffening

We and others have shown that hypertension (HTN) is associated with a striking deposition of collagen in the aortic adventitia. This leads to aortic stiffening, eventually leading to end-organ dama...
A Comparison of Primers in 16S rRNA Gene Surveys of Bacteria and Archaea from Volcanic Caves

The construction of amplified 16S rRNA gene libraries has been a major methodology for bacterial/archaeal environmental community profiling for decades. Over the years, a variety of alternative pri...
Are all charge-transfer parameters created equally? A study of functional dependence and excited-state charge-transfer quantification across two dye families.

Small molecule organic dyes have many potential uses in medicine, textiles, forensics, and light-harvesting technology. Being able to computationally predict the spectroscopic properties of these dyes could greatly expedite screening efforts, saving time and materials. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) has been shown to be a good tool for this in many instances, but characterizing electronic excitations with charge-transfer (CT) character has historically been challenging and can be highly sensitive to the chosen exchange–correlation functional. Here we present a combined experimental and computational study of the excited-state electronic structure of twenty organic dyes obtained from the Max Weaver Dye Library at NCSU. Results of UV-vis spectra calculations on these dyes with six different exchange–correlation functionals, BP86, B3LYP, PBE0, M06, BH and HLYP, and CAM-B3LYP, were compared against their measured UV-vis spectra. It was found that hybrid functionals with modest amounts (20–30%) of included Hartree–Fock exchange are the most effective at matching the experimentally determined λmax. The interplay between the observed error, the functional chosen, and the degree of CT was analyzed by quantifying the CT character of λmax using four orbital and density-based metrics, Λ, Δr, SC and DCT, as well as the change in the dipole moment, Δμ. The results showed that the relationship between CT character and the functional dependence of error is not straightforward, with the observed behavior being dependent both on how CT was quantified and the functional groups present in the molecules themselves. It is concluded that this may be a result of the examined excitations having intermediate CT character. Ultimately it was found that the nature of the molecular “family” influenced how a given functional behaved as a function of CT character, with only two of the examined CT quantification methods, Δr and DCT, showing consistent behavior between the different molecular families. This suggests that further work needs to be done to ensure that currently used CT quantification methods show the same general trends across large sets of multiple dye families.
Lung Cancer Stage Shift as a Result of COVID-19 Lockdowns in New York City, a Brief Report.

Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic reached New York City in early March 2020 resulting in an 11-week lockdown period to mitigate further spread. It has been well documented that cancer care was drastically affected as a result. Given New York City's early involvement, we attempted to identify any stage shift that may have occurred in the diagnoses of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at our institution as a result of these lockdowns. Patients and Methods We conducted a retrospective review of a prospective database of lung cancer patients at our institution from July 1, 2019 until March 31, 2021. Patients were grouped by calendar year quarter in which they received care. Basic demographics and clinical staging were compared across quarters. Results Five hundred and fifty four patients were identified that underwent treatment during the time period of interest. During the lockdown period, there was a 50% reduction in the mean number of patients seen (15 ± 3 vs. 28 ± 7, P = .004). In the quarter following easing of restrictions, there was a significant trend towards earlier stage (cStage I/II) disease. In comparison to quarters preceding the pandemic lockdown, there was a significant increase in the proportion of patients with Stage IV disease in the quarters following phased reopening (P = .026). Conclusion After a transient but significant increase in Stage I/II disease with easing of restrictions there was a significant increase in patients with Stage IV disease. Extended longitudinal studies must be conducted to determine whether COVID-19 lockdowns will lead to further increases in the proportion of patients with advanced NSCLC.
Nonparametric Methods for Complex Multivariate Data: Asymptotics and Small Sample Approximations

Quality of Life (QOL) outcomes are important in the management of chronic illnesses. In studies of efficacies of treatments or intervention modalities, QOL scales multi-dimensional constructs are routinely used as primary endpoints. The standard data analysis strategy computes composite (average) overall and domain scores, and conducts a mixed-model analysis for evaluating efficacy or monitoring medical conditions as if these scores were in continuous metric scale. However, assumptions of parametric models like continuity and homoscedastivity can be violated in many cases. Furthermore, it is even more challenging when there are missing values on some of the variables. In this paper, we propose a purely nonparametric approach in the sense that meaningful and, yet, nonparametric effect size measures are developed. We propose estimator for the effect size and develop the asymptotic properties. Our methods are shown to be particularly effective in the presence of some form of clustering and/or missing values. Inferential procedures are derived from the asymptotic theory. The Asthma Randomized Trial of Indoor Wood Smoke data will be used to illustrate the applications of the proposed methods. The data was collected from a three-arm randomized trial which evaluated interventions targeting biomass smoke particulate matter from older model residential wood stoves in homes that have children with asthma.
Current Status of H-2 Serology

H-2 serology is based almost entirely on analysis of inbred strains and congenic resistant lines of the laboratory mouse; analysis of H-2 antigens in populations of wild mice has begun only recently, and has not significantly altered the view of the system. Since relatively few different H-2 haplotypes exist in the laboratory mouse, H-2 analysis can be intensive rather than extensive, leading to a thoroughness not otherwise possible.