cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dietary and plasma branched-chain amino acids in relation to tryptophan: effect on voluntary feed intake and lactation metabolism in the primiparous sow

Seventy-six gravid gilts of different genotypes, Yorkshire x Duroc (YD) and Pig Improvement Company (PIC), were used in two trials to test the effect of decreasing the dietary ratio of tryptophan: branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) on feed intake, plasma metabolites, and body weight change during a 4-wk lactation period. The dietary ratio of tryptophan: BCAA was .063 in the Control and .041 in the experimental diet (BC). Gilts were fed 1.8 kg/d from d 107 of gestation until farrowing and given ad libitum access to feed during lactation. Feed consumption was measured daily. Body weights and preprandial blood samples were taken on d 107 of gestation and on d 1, 7, 14, and 21 postpartum. Plasma glucose, NEFA, urea nitrogen, ammonia, N tau-methylhistidine, and alpha-amino nitrogen were measured. The plasma tryptophan:BCAA ratio was higher (P < .05) on d 1 postpartum than on d 107 of gestation and d 7 postpartum in the Control group. Dietary addition of BCAA (BC) reduced (P < .06) the plasma tryptophan: BCAA ratio during the early postpartum period compared with the Control group but did not affect the other plasma metabolites measured. Feed intake was lower (P < .08) between d 6 and 12 of lactation in sows fed the BC diet. Regression of d-1 plasma NEFA concentration on d-1 postpartum feed intake was significant (r2 = .41; P < .05). The PIC sows showed a tendency for positive lactation body weight response to the BC diet (P = .2), whereas the response of YD sows was not significant (P < .8).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Qualitative Comparison of Susceptibility and Behavior in Recreational and Occupational Risk Environments: Implications for Promoting Health and Safety

Although internal factors that influence risk are frequently studied to understand human behavior, external factors, including social, cultural, and institutional factors, should be better utilized to inform ways to efficiently target, tailor, and promote safety messaging to at-risk populations. Semi-structured interviews obtained data from 37 motorcyclists and 18 mineworkers about their risk perceptions and behaviors within their respective dynamic environments. A comparative thematic analysis revealed information about external factors that influence risk perceptions and behaviors. Results support the importance of qualitative approaches for assessing and targeting individuals' risk perceptions and behaviors. In addition, segmenting at-risk subgroups within target populations and tailoring messages for these at-risk groups is critical for safety behavior modification. Practitioners should utilize strategic, culture-centric risk communication that takes into account external factors when determining when, who, and what to communicate via health promotion activities to more accurately disseminate valid, empathetic, and engaging communication with a higher level of fidelity.
Why does Nature Tie-Up Proteins? Structural Insights from Solution Studies of a Knotted Methyltransferase

How proteins balance their ability to productively fold from an unfolded ensemble to a well ordered native state while maintaining functionality has been intensely studied even before Anfinsen postulated the “thermodynamic hypothesis” (1). The understanding of the interplay between protein fold and function was even further complicated in 2000, with the discovery of the first deeply knotted protein (2). This led to a myriad of questions, not the least of which was why would such a complex topology exist when there are so many other barriers to successfully fold a protein? To probe this, we have selected to study the Minimal Tied Trefoil from Thermotoga Maritima (MTTTm), a SPOUT methyltransferase with a 30-residue deep C-terminal trefoil knot (PDB 1O6D). We aim to focus on gaining insight into why knots exist by first characterizing the native state at an atomic resolution using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). In addition to probing the structure of MTTTm, NMR studies were done with the cofactor homologue S-Adenosyl-L-Homocysteine (SAH) to gain insight on the interaction between the knot and cofactor. These studies will lay the foundation for determining the importance of the knot for dynamics and function within this exciting class of folds. 1) Anfinsen, C. B. (1973) Science, 181, 4096. 2) Taylor, W. R. (2000) Nature, 406, 916.
Danse en tandem : étude du mouvement des spectateurs et des performeurs dans Sleep No More de Punchdrunk

La compagnie britannique Punchdrunk a cree plusieurs productions theâtrales immersives depuis sa fondation en 2000. Sleep No More se distingue de celles-ci puisqu’on y presente le drame de Macbeth de Shakespeare par le truchement de la danse, mais aussi en raison du succes critique et commercial du spectacle. A l’aide des explications de Maxine Doyle, choregraphe et directrice artistique associee de Sleep No More et des reflexions des performeurs et des spectateurs de la version new-yorkaise, la chercheuse en danse Julia M. Ritter emet l’hypothese que la popularite de ce theâtre immersif est due en grande partie a la maniere dont la danse est concue et s’avere centrale comme methode destinee a faciliter l’experience du spectateur. Selon elle, Sleep No More fonctionne sur le modele d’une danse en tandem entre les membres de la distribution et les spectateurs. La danse serait le medium structurant du contenu interprete par les danseurs professionnels et elle se deploierait par le biais d’improvisations susceptibles d’inciter les spectateurs a s’y mouvoir. L’auteure montre comment la danse executee dans Sleep No More permet au public de transformer en danse son experience de spectateur tout en lui offrant des moments de decouvertes personnelles et en l’amenant a developper une agentivite creative qui le conduit a osciller entre les roles de participant, createur, spectateur, curateur et performeur.
Childhood disclosure of sexual abuse: Necessary but not necessarily sufficient.

Prevention programs often encourage sexually abused children to disclose without fully considering the potential for adverse consequences. This study examined the impact of disclosure on abuse cessation and later adult symptomatology. A clinical sample of 301 adult survivors completed the Impact of Event Scale (IES/IES-R), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Participants were divided into 3 groups: Nondisclosure (n=221), Disclosure/Abuse Ended (n=25), and Disclosure/Abuse Continued (n=55). Multivariate analyses of covariance, adjusting for abuse characteristics (age of onset, penetration, and number of perpetrators) and other trauma exposure, revealed significant differences in psychiatric symptom severity among the three groups, Wilks' λ=0. 95, F (6, 584)=2.69, p=0.014, ηp(2)=0.03. Specifically, those in the Disclosure/Abuse Continued group scored significantly higher on the IES/IES-R Intrusion subscale (p=0.04) and the BDI-II (p=0.01), as compared to the Nondisclosure group. The Disclosure/Abuse Ended group did not differ significantly from the other groups. RESULTS suggest that disclosure may be detrimental unless adequate steps are taken to ensure abuse cessation and appropriate treatment.Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Language: en
Der Alte Orient

Wahrend des funften, vierten und dritten Jahrtausends vor unserer Zeitrechnung entfalteten sich an den Ufern groser Strome in Afrika und Asien, in subtropischen oder fast subtropischen Gebieten, neuere und fortgeschrittenere Staatsformen aus den festgefugten steinzeitlichen Gemeinwesen. Diese Strome waren der Nil, der Tigris und Euphrat, der Indus, spater der Ganges, der Hoangho und noch spater der Jangtsekiang.
Smart-energy group anomaly based behavioral abnormality detection

Monitoring behavioral abnormality of individuals living independently in their own homes is a key issue for building sustainable healthcare models in smart environments. While most of the efforts have been directed towards building ambient and wearable sensors-assisted activity recognition based behavioral analysis models for remote health monitoring, energy analytics assisted behavioral abnormality prediction have rarely been investigated. In this paper, we propose a data analytic approach that helps detect energy usage anomalies corresponding to the behavioral abnormality of the residents. Our approach relies on detecting everyday appliances usage from smart meter and smart plug data traces in regular activity days and then learning the unique time segment group of each appliance’s energy consumption. We focus on detecting behavioral anomalies over a set of energy source data points rather than pinpointing individual odd points. We employ hierarchical probabilistic model-based group anomaly detection [7] to interpret the anomalous behavior and therefore, detect potential tendency towards behavioral abnormality. We apply daily activity logs to evaluate our approach using two realworld energy datasets pertaining to staged functional behaviors, and show that it is possible to detect max. 97% of anomalous days with max. 87% of meaningful micro-behavioral abnormal events generating 1.1% of false alarms. However, we show that our detected abnormality can be meaningfully represented to different stakeholders such as caregivers and family members to understand the nature and severity of abnormal human behavior for sustaining better healthcare.
Longitudinal Long-term Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Clinical Follow-up After Single-Row Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair: Clinical Superiority of Structural Tendon Integrity.

Background:The number of arthroscopic rotator cuff surgeries is consistently increasing. Although generally considered successful, the reported number of retears after rotator cuff repair is substa...
Physical and metabolic consequences of Hessian fly infestation are more severe on nonhost Brachypodium distachyon than on host-plant resistant wheat

Physical and metabolic changes were compared between the model grass, Brachypodium distachyon, and the Hessian fly host plant, wheat, after infestation. B. distachyon was determined to be a nonhost, where 13 lines were resistant to all infestations tested, yet it responded with characteristics of both host-plant resistant wheat and susceptible wheat. Similar to resistant wheat, B. distachyon completed development with no seed yield penalty imposed by Hessian fly infestation. Wheat and B. distachyon exhibited some degree of leaf stunting, but only of the leaves that were actively growing while the larvae were attempting to feed. Since resistant wheat killed all larvae within 3–5 days after egg hatch, only the lower leaves were stunted. In compensation for leaf stunting, infested resistant wheat underwent precocious initiation and accelerated growth of the upper leaves once the larvae had died. In contrast, larvae survived, without growing, on B. distachyon for much longer, some up to 46 days after egg hatch when the plant was senescing; consequently, all leaves of B. distachyon exhibited stunting, but to a lesser degree than leaves of susceptible wheat where the insects complete their life cycle. Transcript profiling of eight key genes, known to respond to Hessian fly in either resistant or susceptible wheat, demonstrated that B. distachyon exhibited responses intermediate between the compatible and incompatible interactions of wheat as well as both type I and type II nonhost resistance.
The neighborhood configuration model: a framework to distinguish topological relationships between complex volumes

Topological relationships between spatial objects are considered to be important for spatial databases. They lead to topological predicates, which can be embedded into spatial queries as join or selection conditions. Before rushing into the implementation of topological predicates, topological relationships between spatial objects must be first understood and clarified. This requires a detailed study of a vast number of possible spatial configurations at the abstract level, and as a result, methods that are able to classify and identify as many as possible different spatial configurations are needed. While a lot of research has already been carried out for topological relationships in the 2D space, the investigation in the 3D space is rather neglected. Developed modeling strategies are mostly extensions from the popular 9-intersection model which has been originally designed for simple 2D spatial objects. We observe that a large number of topological relationships, especially the ones between two complex 3D objects are still not distinguished in these models. Thus, we propose a new modeling strategy that is based on point set topology. We explore all possible neighborhood configurations of an arbitrary point in the Euclidean space where two volume objects are embedded, and define corresponding neighborhood configuration flags. Then, by composing the Boolean values of all flags, we uniquely identify a topological relationship between two complex volume objects.
Brain Emotional Learning-Based Intelligent Controller for flocking of Multi-Agent Systems

A biologically-inspired intelligent controller based on a computational model of emotional learning in mammal's brain is employed for flocking control of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). The methodology, known as Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Controller (BELBIC), is implemented in this application for the first time, enhancing the flocking strategy with multi-objective properties. The learning capabilities added by BELBIC to the flocking are very useful, especially when dealing with noises and/or system uncertainty. Furthermore, the low computational complexity of the proposed method makes it very promising for implementation in real-time applications. Numerical results of the BELBIC-based flocking for MAS demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Occupant-behavior driven appliance scheduling for residential buildings

Building-to-grid integration is one important step in having a smart grid. This integration will support energy efficiency, load balancing, and the incorporation of renewables. This study introduces a residential building energy management solution to control connected devices based on economic signals from the grid and occupant behavior. An air-conditioning unit, a water heater, and an electric vehicle (EV) were modeled and controlled using a traditional on/off controller and model predictive controller (MPC). The MPC is designed to minimize the total building electricity costs while maintaining occupant comfort. The MPC utilizes the building thermal mass, the EV battery storage, and the water heater’s hot water tank to shift electricity use to a period when the price is lower. This controller considers occupant behavior as a constraint in controlling these devices to maintain users’ comfort. The simulation results show a 10%–30% reduction in the electricity bill by applying the MPC in a dynamic electricity price scenario, as compared to the traditional methods of control. The proposed method of control makes buildings responsive to grid signals that provide the potential of peak shaving and ancillary services.
Abstract NS1: Development of the Preparedness Assessment for the Transition Home After Stroke (PATH-s) Instrument

Introduction: Care transitions from the inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) to home after stroke are often ineffective and inefficient, resulting in unmet patient and caregiver needs, increased...
Parathyroid Hormone and Abaloparatide Treatment for Osteoporosis

Abstract The PTH1-34 peptide, teriparatide (TPTD), acts through the PTH1 receptor to rapidly stimulate bone formation and then bone remodeling. Abaloparatide (ABL), a synthetic analogue of PTH related peptide (PTHrP), also acts through the PTH1 receptor, with preferential affinity for the receptor conformation associated with bone formation. Both TPTD and ABL provide rapid protection against vertebral and nonvertebral fractures within 18–19 months as well as improving BMD rapidly in both spine and hip regions. These agents are thus well suited to patients at high risk of fracture, particularly those at high imminent risk. TPTD and ABL are contraindicated in individuals at elevated risk for osteosarcoma (skeletal radiation and Paget's disease) and those with primary or metastatic bone cancer, myeloma, hyperparathyroidism or hypercalcemia. TPTD and ABL treatment should be followed by potent antiresorptive therapy, usually either Denosumab or a potent bisphosphonate to enhance and/or maintain BMD and gains in bone strength. This review highlights the most important recent clinical studies with TPTD and ABL, including the ABL extension study and a direct head to head fracture outcome study comparing TPTD and risedronate. This paper provides a rationale for early proactive use of anabolic treatment of osteoporosis in patients at high risk of fracture.
If Cyclic GMP is a Neuronal Second Messenger What is the Message

Some evidence has recently been provided for a possible role of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) as a neuronal second messenger in the superior cervical ganglion, the retina and the cortex (9, 18, 20, 22, 26). In the superior cervical ganglion, cGMP has been linked with the production of a slow EPSP as a consequence of cholinergic muscarinic neural transmission. In the retina, cGMP may be involved in the control of light-dark adaptation by light activation of a cGMP phosphodiesterase. (In this case light would produce a decrease in cGMP.)
Regulation and Function of the Copper Ion Transport Machinery

Impressive arrays of highly structurally and functionally conserved proteins have dedicated roles in Cu ion transport and distribution. Many questions remain to be answered in the field of Cu ion homeostasis. Currently, it is unclear exactly what mechanisms are used by the plasma membrane Cu transport proteins to safely move Cu ions across biological membranes. Are these proteins functioning alone or in a large metal ion-transporting complex? Further, once Cu is imported, how do Cu chaperones obtain their Cu cargo for delivery to proteins and cellular compartments? These and related questions are of great importance in formulating a comprehensive understanding of the molecular basis for Cu ion transport and distribution in all cells.
Self-reported use of eye care among Latinos: the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study.

Purpose To identify the prevalence and determinants of self-reported eye care use in Latinos. Design Population-based ocular epidemiologic study in Latinos aged 40+ years living in La Puente, California. Participants A total of 5455 participants. Methods Univariate, multivariable, and stepwise logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predisposing, enabling, and need variables associated with self-reported eye care use. Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of self-reported use: eye care visit, having had a dilated examination in the past 12 months, ever having had a dilated examination, and odds ratios for factors associated with self-reported use. Results Overall, 36% of participants reported an eye care visit and 19% reported having a dilated examination in the past year. Fifty-seven percent reported ever having had a dilated eye examination. Greater eye care use was associated with older age, female gender, bilingual language proficiency (English and Spanish), more education, having health insurance, having a usual place for care, having a regular provider of care, a greater number of comorbidities, visual impairment, and lower vision-specific quality of life scores. Conclusions Multiple modifiable factors are associated with greater use and access to eye care for Latinos. Modification of these factors should be a priority because visual impairment has significant impacts on well-being and mortality. Financial Disclosure(s) The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
ON MULTIDIMENSIONAL POSITIVELY CONSERVATIVE HIGH-RESOLUTION SCHEMES

There is often a need to compute flows containing regions in which the total energy is overwhelmingly dominated by the kinetic energy mode. This poses a difficulty if the equations are solved in conservation form. Pressure, being a difference of two large quantities, may be contaminated by various types of numerical error, and its value may become negative. It is also possible for a particular scheme to produce negative density even if an exact solution does not contain vacuum zones. As soon as density or pressure become negative a computation fails. When the problem occurs, it can be usually postponed by lowering the time step. However, one needs a scheme that preserves positivity for all time, under conditions not much more severe that the usual CFL restriction. This problem has recently received growing attention in the literature.
Borderline Personality Disorder in Cultural Context: Commentary on Paris

Paris suggests that some cultures provide protective factors that can suppress the emergence of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Yet all cultures contain some individuals who perceive themselves as unable to meet what is expected of them, and the resultant distress is expressed through a variety of "ethnic" disorders such as susto or nervios. When viewed in this context, BPD is similar to these disorders, notably in the perceived sense of social failure, marginality and powerlessness.
Perturbation analysis of one-dimensional heterogeneous flow in rocket nozzles

A perturbation analysis of the velocity and temperature lags in two-phase flow in rocket nozzles is developed and applied to the calculation of specific impulse and other performance characteristics of nozzles of arbitrary shape. Within the limitations of the one-dimensional flow approximation, the analysis is valid for distributions of particle diameters that are in a practical range.
Homopolymers with Intrachain Interactions

The system under consideration is a classical homopolymeric chain under an arbitrary external field, and in the grand canonical ensemble of its monomeric units. The ideal case of only symmetric next neighbor interactions is first analyzed in the relative density format. Arbitrary monomer-monomer interactions are introduced in a graphical perturbation series, and the leading order is expressed as a relative density functional with the aid of a sequence of redundant fields under whose variation the thermodynamic potential—here the excess grand potential—is stationary. Various reduction methods are suggested to compress the set of redundant fields of this overcomplete description.
Experimental Validation of Computational Models of Microwave Tissue Heating with Magnetic Resonance Thermometry

Microwave systems are in clinical use for thermal therapy applications, including: tumor ablation; moderate hyperthermia adjuvant to ionizing radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy; and tissue reshaping. Computational models of microwave heating play an important role in the design and optimization of novel devices and comparative assessment of energy delivery strategies, and are under development for patient-specific treatment planning. Experimental characterization of microwave thermal therapy models is often limited to comparison of simulated temperature profiles against transient temperature profiles measured at a few discrete locations with point temperature sensors. Here, we present an experimental platform integrating a microwave thermal therapy system with 14.1 T high-field MRI for validation of computational models of microwave tissue heating. For 15–30 W microwave exposure over 5 min, maximum discrepancy between simulations and experiment was 1.1 °C; maximum discrepancy in simulated and measured depth and width of the heated zone were 1.4 mm and 0.3mm, respectively.
The Jeanes Teacher Fund (1908–1960)

This chapter highlights the accomplishments and historical significance of select Jeanes Teacher Fund educators, who worked to provide educational opportunities in the rural South during Reconstruction. The chapter also offers a critical analysis of the role the Jeanes teachers had in contributing to the access, growth, and development of education in African American communities.
Low-dose Methotrexate has Similar Outcomes to High-dose Methotrexate in Combination with Anti-TNF Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Background and aims Methotrexate [MTX] is a well-known immunomodulator in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] and is often combined with biologic agents. The ideal MTX dose for combination therapy has not been determined. This study aimed to investigate the effect of varying doses of MTX on efficacy and safety outcomes when used with anti-TNF agents in IBD. Methods This study included patients with Crohn's disease [CD] or ulcerative colitis [UC] receiving care between January 2005 and June 2018. Low-dose MTX was defined as ≤12.5 mg/week and high-dose as >12.5 mg/week. The primary efficacy outcome was a composite of need for IBD-related hospitalization or surgery, steroid initiation, or change of biologic agent within 1 year. Safety outcomes included side effects related to MTX, serious infections, malignancy, and need to discontinue MTX therapy within 1 year. Multivariable logistic regression models adjusting for relevant covariates were used to assess independent association between MTX dose and outcomes. Results Our study included 222 patients with IBD [163 CD, 59 UC]. Just under a third were receiving low-dose MTX [28%]. The primary efficacy composite outcome was noted in 75 patients [47%] in the high-dose MTX group compared with 23 patients [37%] in the low-dose MTX group [p = 0.15]. We found no significant associations between MTX dose and any side effect [odds ratio 1.59, 95% confidence interval 0.77-3.31, p = 0.21] or development of serious infections [odds ratio 1.19, 95% confidence interval 0.41-3.45, p = 0.76]. Conclusions Low-dose and high-dose MTX combination therapy were equally effective, and no difference in infection or malignancy rates was observed.
Predictability and efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange for hypertriglyceridemia induced acute pancreatitis

Abstract Background Hypertriglyceridemia induced acute pancreatitis is associated with more severe clinical course than acute pancreatitis caused by other etiologies. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is a potential treatment for patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia induced acute pancreatitis due to its rapid effect in lowering triglycerides (TG) levels and reducing inflammatory cytokines. However, clinical data regarding the effectiveness and safety of TPE is limited. Methods We retrospectively reviewed eight cases of hypertriglyceridemia induced acute pancreatitis and treated with TPE. Patients' demographic data, personal history, clinical course, laboratory results, apheresis data and clinical outcome were collected and analyzed. Results At initial presentation, the average TG levels for the eight patients was 3381.6 mg/dl (SD: 1491.6 mg/dl). Twelve procedures were performed on the eight patients in the study, and TG levels decreased by an average of 2673.2 mg/dl (SD: 2306.3 mg/dl) with a corresponding average reduction rate of 60.3 % (SD:21.1 %), ranging from 14.6%–84.9%. A 60 % or greater reduction was achieved in 66.7 % of all the procedures; however, the degree of reduction for each procedure was not predictable, even among repeat procedures on the same patient. Conclusions Our study indicates that TPE is an effective and safe treatment option for patients with hypertriglyceridemia induced acute pancreatitis. However, due to the unpredictability of TG removal, repeat procedures may be necessary for some patients.
Composition-function analysis of HDL subpopulations: influence of lipid composition on particle functionality

The composition-function relationship of HDL particles and its effects on the mechanisms driving coronary heart disease (CHD) is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that the functionality of HDL particles is significantly influenced by their lipid composition. Using a novel 3D-separation method, we isolated five different-sized HDL subpopulations from CHD patients who had low preβ-1 functionality (low-F) (ABCA1-dependent cholesterol-efflux normalized for preβ-1 concentration) and controls who had either low-F or high preβ-1 functionality (high-F). Molecular numbers of apoA-I, apoA-II, and eight major lipid classes were determined in each subpopulation by LC-MS. The average number of lipid molecules decreased from 422 in the large spherical α-1 particles to 57 in the small discoid preβ-1 particles. With decreasing particle size, the relative concentration of free cholesterol (FC) decreased in α-mobility but not in preβ-1 particles. Preβ-1 particles contained more lipids than predicted; 30% of which were neutral lipids (cholesteryl ester and triglyceride), indicating that these particles were mainly remodeled from larger particles not newly synthesized. There were significant correlations between HDL-particle functionality and the concentrations of several lipids. Unexpectedly, the phospholipid:FC ratio was significantly correlated with large-HDL-particle functionality but not with preβ-1 functionality. There was significant positive correlation between particle functionality and total lipids in high-F controls, indicating that the lipid-binding capacity of apoA-I plays a major role in the cholesterol efflux capacity of HDL particles. Functionality and lipid composition of HDL particles are significantly correlated and probably both are influenced by the lipid-binding capacity of apoA-I.
Investigation of the Electrical Properties of Grain Boundaries in (Ag x Cu 1-x )(In y Ga 1-y )Se 2

Alloying Cu(InGa)Se 2 (CIGS) with Ag(InGa)Se 2 results in thin films that are more defect tolerant and can improve device performance compared with pure CIGS. In this study scanning microwave impedance microscopy (sMIM) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) were used to investigate the electrical characteristics of grain boundaries in ACIGS. Two films were deposited by a three stage co-evaporation technique. sMIM measurements revealed Sample A to have high variation in electrical properties between grains and grain boundaries while Sample B was uniform across the surface. TOF-SIMS measurements found Sample A to have low oxygen inclusion while Sample B had increased oxygen at the grain boundaries. It is theorized that oxygen atoms are filling V Se at grain boundaries and passivating the electronic behavior.
Heartmate III™ Implantation: A Novel Technique to Reduce the Incidence of Perioperative Bleeding and the Use of Intraoperative Blood Products

Purpose We describe a method for implanting the Abbot HeartMate 3™ (HM3) Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) that may reduce perioperative bleeding and the use of blood products. Methods First a median sternotomy is performed and the HM3 prepared. The driveline is tunneled through the subcutaneous tissue and the patient is placed on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The HM3 is implanted via the “cut then sew” method. A ring is made from Teflon™ felt and placed over the cuff of the HM3 sewing ring (Figure 1A-C). After coring the LV apex, a second donut shaped felt ring (1D) is placed (1E). Sutures are placed through the felt and LV wall and passed through the sewing cuff. The cuff is lowered, sutures tightened (1F-G), and more sutures are placed through the cuff and passed through the myocardium and felt strip (1H). The inflow and outflow cannula are attached, and patient removed from CPB. To determine the effect of this method on perioperative bleeding, we reviewed the charts of 114 patients that underwent HM3 placement in our institution between October 2015 and June 2019 by 4 surgeons, 1 of whom used this method. Results Table 1 shows our results and suggests that the novel method results in less perioperative bleeding, as indicated by both comparison of pre and postoperative hemoglobin and hematocrit and the amount of blood products given intraoperatively. The novel method also resulted in a shorter procedure time, possibly due to improved hemostasis. Conclusion Our addition of Teflon™ felt strips around the sewing cuff of the HM3 may reduce perioperative bleeding and the use of perioperative blood products.
High-Volume Parallel Mouse Vital-Sign Monitoring With Near-Field Coherent Sensing

Mouse vital signs, such as the heartbeat and respiration rates, are critical observables for the current biomedical and pharmaceutical research works. The number of mice going through the measurement pipeline often needs to be massive to derive statistically significant correlation. However, present mouse vital-sign monitoring methods require substantial individual handling and have limited throughput per setup. In this letter, we demonstrate, for the first time, a parallel mouse vital-sign reading system, which can simultaneously retrieve the respiration and heartbeat rates for multiple mice in individual chambers with minimal noninvasive handling. The cardio signal quality is high enough to estimate the stress states by the heart rate variation analyses. Our system utilizes the multiplexed radio frequency signal around 1.8 GHz to detect the vital signs by near-field coherent sensing. The cross-chamber interference is minimized by the locality of near fields, frequency division, and radar-absorbing materials. The isolation can be readily done for more than 20 dB within a compact system volume. Our scalable design clearly shows how to achieve a high-throughput system for mouse vital-sign monitoring.
Admitting Low-Risk Patients With Intracerebral Hemorrhage to a Neurological Step-Down Unit Is Safe, Results in Shorter Length of Stay, and Reduces Intensive Care Utilization: A Retrospective Controlled Cohort Study.

Background and Purpose:Patients suffering intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are at risk for early neurologic deterioration and are often admitted to intensive care units (ICU) for observation. There i...
Resonant nonlinear damping in nanoscale magnets

Nanoscale magnets are the building blocks of many existing and emergent spintronic applications. Controlling magnetic damping in nanomagnets holds the key to improving the performance of future technologies. Here, we demonstrate that a ferromagnetic nanoparticle can exhibit spin dynamics qualitatively different from those predicted by the harmonic oscillator model. Nonlinear contributions to the damping can be unusually strong, and the effective damping parameter itself can exhibit resonant dependence on field/frequency. We observe a resonant magnon scattering process that drastically alters the magnetization dynamics of a nanomagnet driven by spin torques. It reverses the effect of the spin torque on magnetic damping and turns an anti-damping torque into a dissipation-enhancing torque. The discovery of this counter-intuitive effect advances our understanding of spin dynamics in nanoscale magnetic systems and has far-reaching implications for spintronic applications.
Studying public administration in authoritarian regimes

Every year for at least the past decade the statistics from organisations such as Freedom House show that the number of authoritarian political systems are increasing, and even those that remain de...
“A better place to be”? Black Mecca, White democracy, and the contradictions of neoliberal cityhood in Atlanta’s Black suburbs

In November of 2016, the City of Stonecrest was carved out of Atlanta’s suburban Black Mecca. The hope was that the new city’s “brand” might bring development and increased wealth to an area which ...
Architectural Search and Innovation

Product innovation can result from the novel design and combination of product components as well as from changing the underlying architecture: that is, the way components interact with each other....
Implementation of an enhanced recovery protocol in gynecologic oncology.

Abstract Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) is an evidence-based approach that aims to reduce narcotic use and maintain anabolic balance to enable full functional recovery. Our primary aim was to determine the effect of ERAS on narcotic usage among patients who underwent exploratory laparotomy by gynecologic oncologists. We characterized its effect on length of stay, intraoperative blood transfusions, bowel function, 30-day readmissions, and postoperative complications. A retrospective cohort study was performed at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health in gynecologic oncology. Women who underwent an exploratory laparotomy from 2011 to 2016 for both benign and malignant etiologies were included before and after implementation of our ERAS protocol. Patients who underwent a bowel resection were excluded. A total of 724 patients were included: 360 in the non-ERAS and 364 in the ERAS cohort. An overall reduction in narcotic usage, measured as oral morphine milliequivalents (MMEs) was observed in the ERAS relative to the non-ERAS group, during the entire hospital stay (MME 34 versus 68, p
Retrospective on the resource for radiative cooling

The history of quantitative measurements of radiative cooling is briefly reviewed, starting with Count Rumford in 1804. The cooling results from upward emission of thermal infrared radiation (wavelengths of 5 to 50 μm) that is not fully offset by downward atmospheric emission. The downward emission is characterized by the apparent atmospheric (sky) emittance and the surface air temperature. In 1984, an equation was published that describes the clear sky emittance as a function of the surface dew point temperature. At the time, this equation was merely one of many empirical relations. Now that time has passed, experimental and theoretical advances support its validity. Further refinements can include improved corrections for time-of-day and the lower air pressure at elevated locations. Complex computer codes for predicting atmospheric radiation have reached quantitative maturity. Given profiles of air temperature, water vapor, CO2, O3, CH4, N2O, and aerosols, they can compute spectral radiances with an accuracy of ∼3 % . The effect of clouds in reducing radiative cooling remains more uncertain.
Digital Storytelling as Community-Based Intercultural Learning in Cultural/Historical Geography

Digital storytelling, the practice of producing short digital videos combining photographs, video clips, and other images with voiceover audio narration, has become a popular pedagogical tool at all levels of education. Although digital storytelling has found a wide variety of applications in higher education, from foreign language learning to dance pedagogy, its uptake in the geography classroom has been slow to nearly nonexistent. Broadly, the use of digital storytelling in higher education pivots between its use in facilitating individual self-reflection/small-group collaboration within the classroom, and its capacity for connecting classrooms across the globe by sharing digital stories internationally via internet communication. Less often considered is the use of digital storytelling to enable students to engage with local communities or to encourage them to explore and observe their proximate surroundings as part of an experiential learning pedagogy. This is somewhat counterintuitive given digital storytelling’s deep roots in community radio and its use as a tool in community development work. More recently, researchers have found digital storytelling to be an empowering artistic research method for research with marginalized communities, particularly in the fields of health and education research. Drawing upon participant observation data and student reflections from a historical and cultural geography course, this chapter examines the educational possibilities and ethical challenges of using digital storytelling as part of a community-based service-learning course. In this course, students conducted place-based oral history interviews with residents of a historic African-American neighborhood in Burlington, NC, and then mediatized these interviews as digital stories in order to support existing efforts to preserve local history and make it more publicly available.
Outcomes of Critically Ill Lung Cancer Patients Initiating Targeted Therapy or Immunotherapy in the Intensive Care Unit: A Single-Center Report.

Introduction: Targeted therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have drastically improved outcomes of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in outpatient settings. Because tr...
Managing Climate Change: A View from Deep Ecology

Despite the awareness that climate change is an increasingly urgent issue to manage, little is being done to adequately achieve mitigation targets and ambitions. It has been suggested that this is due to ill-equipped normative frameworks and that common concepts, such as responsibility, harm, and justice, collapse when applied to climate change. One perspective has however been missing from this debate – the deep ecological perspective. The paper will investigate the deep ecological view and will argue that it can provide a valuable contribution to normative issues pertaining to climate change.
A Multidimensional Commitment Model of Volitional Systems Adoption and Usage Behavior

In recent years, several organizations have implemented nonmandatory information and communication systems that escape the conventional behavioral logic of understanding acceptance and usage from a normative perspective of compliance with the beliefs of others. Because voluntary systems require users' volitional behavior, researchers have traced recent implementation failures to a lack of user commitment. However, gaps in our understanding of volitional usage behavior and user commitment have made it difficult to advance theory, research, and practice on this issue. To validate a proposed research model, cross-sectional, between-subjects, and within-subjects field data were collected from 714 users at the time of initial adoption and after six months of extended use. The model explained between 44.1 percent and 58.5 percent of the variance in adoption and usage behavior based upon direct effects of user commitment. Findings suggest that user commitment plays a critical role in the volitional acceptance and usage of such systems. Affective commitment--that is, internalization and identification based upon personal norms--exhibits a sustained positive influence on usage behavior. In contrast, continuance commitment--that is, compliance based upon social norms--shows a sustained negative influence from initial adoption to extended use. Theory development based upon Kelman's social influence framework offers new empirical insights about system users' commitment and how it affects volitional usage behavior.
Silicon influences cytological and molecular events in compatible and incompatible rice-Magnaporthe grisea interactions

Many monocot plants grown in soils amended with silicon (Si) exhibit increased levels of resistance to fungal diseases. Silicon-mediated resistance to rice blast disease, caused by Magnaporthe grisea, has been hypothesized to be the result of a mechanical barrier produced from Si polymerization in planta. The present study examined the cytological and molecular influences of Si amendment during genetically defined incompatible (resistant) and compatible (susceptible with no major resistance genes) interactions of rice with M. grisea. Differential accumulation of glucanase, peroxidase, and PR-1 transcripts were associated with limited colonization by M. grisea in epidermal cells of Si+ plants of the susceptible cultivar M201. Katy, a resistant cultivar, responded to an avirulent race of M. grisea through the development of a hypersensitive response along with a strong induction of PR-1 and peroxidase transcripts independent of Si amendment. These findings support an active participation, distinct from single-gene-defined resistance, for Si in the defense of rice against M. grisea. While not discounting a physical barrier role for Si, new insights into a potential active role for this ubiquitous element during non-genetically defined rice-blast resistance is suggested.
Endovascular Clot Retrieval Therapy Implications for the Organization of Stroke Systems of Care in North America

Endovascular acute ischemic stroke therapy is now proven by randomized controlled trials to produce large, clinically meaningful benefits. In response, stroke systems of care must change to increase timely and equitable access to this therapy. In this review, we provide a North American perspective on implications for stroke systems, focusing on the United States and Canada, accompanied by initial recommendations for changes. Most urgently, every community must create access to a hospital that can safely and quickly provide intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator and immediately transfer appropriate patients onward to a more capable center as required. Safe and effective therapy in the community setting will be ensured by certification programs, performance measurement, and data entry into registries.
Yeast as a Model for Human Disease

The sequencing of the human genome promised the identification of disease-causing genes and, subsequently, therapies for those diseases. However, when identifying the genetic basis of a disease, it is not uncommon to discover an abnormal protein whose normal function is unknown. The genetic manipulations required to assign function to genes is often extremely difficult, if not impossible, in human cells. Model organisms have been used to facilitate understanding of gene function because of the ease of genetic manipulations and because many features of eukaryotic physiology have been conserved across phyla. Yeast is a simple eukaryote with a tractable genome, a short generation time, and a large network of researchers who have generated a vast arsenal of research tools. These traits make yeast ideally suited to help reveal the function of genes implicated in human disease.
A model of enterprise systems engineering contributions to acquisition success

This paper presents a conceptual causal model for the contributions of enterprise systems engineering (ESE) to systems acquisition success when the systems under development are complex and include direct interaction between users and the finished product (versus an embedded effort). The model takes the form of a directed acyclic graph and its major components consist of collaboration support, ESE technique application, system characteristics, and organizational characteristics. As initial validation, we converted this conceptual model to a computational model using our Descriptive to Executable SIMulation (DESIM) modeling method. By using the executable model, we obtained unbiased data based on subject matter experts' (SMEs') mental models so that we could determine the degree to which the SMEs in the aggregate agreed with the model's components and relationships.
Lymph node ratio influence on risk of head and neck cancer locoregional recurrence after initial surgical resection: Implications for adjuvant therapy

Background The purpose of this study was to determine if lymph node ratio is associated with locoregional recurrence for patients with oral cavity or laryngeal cancer treated with initial surgical management. Methods The study included 350 patients with oral cavity (73%) or laryngeal cancer (27%) who underwent initial surgery. All analyses were multivariable, adjusting for primary site, pathologic prognostic factors, and adjuvant therapy. Results Lymph node ratio was significantly associated with locoregional recurrence, in which each 1% increase in lymph node ratio had an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for locoregional recurrence of 1.02 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.002–1.042; p = .05). Lymph node ratio was also associated with OS, in which each 1% increase in lymph node ratio had an adjusted HR for death of 1.028 (95% CI, 1.012–1.045; p = .001). Conclusion Adjusting for pathologic factors and adjuvant therapy, lymph node ratio was found to be an independent prognostic factor for locoregional recurrence and overall survival (OS). Patients with lymph node ratio ≥20% are at high risk of locoregional recurrence and death, and may be considered for adjuvant chemoradiation. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 777–782, 2015