cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimal structural design under multiple eigenvalue constraints

Abstract With increasing complexity, structures that are optimally designed subject to an eigenvalue constraint (buckling load, fundamental frequency, etc.) are likely to display multiple coincident eigenvalues. For example, optimal statically determinate and simply indeterminate columns buckle into a single mode, whereas fixed-fixed columns may exhibit a dual buckling mode. This phenomenon has been observed first by Olhoff and Rasmussen[1]. Even if the optimal design is in the interior of the admissible design space, multiple eigenvalue solutions are not stationary but singular. The nature of the singularity is the main topic of this investigation. Necessary and sufficient conditions for local and global optimality are explored and explicit optimality criteria are established for a double mode solution. In that case the space of all admissible design changes is split into a two-dimensional subspace in which the dual eigenvalues separate, and a complementary subspace in which they remain coincident. It is within this latter subspace that sequential approximations must take place. The criteria developed here are applied first to a two-degree-of freedom system. In addition, an exact analytical solution is established for the fixed-fixed column problem. The accuracy of the numerical solution of this problem in [1] had been challenged but is now confirmed. The paper ends with a discussion of the ring buckling problem. The prismatic design is shown to be optimal without being stationary; however, unlike the cases discussed previously the optimal eigenvalue for the ring corresponds to a continuous spectrum of buckling modes.
Generic limits in the seagrass family Zosteraceae

The seagrass family Zosteraceae may be divided into four groups of species on the basis of morphological and developmental evidence. It is proposed to treat each of these groups as a genus; this involves the elevation of Zosterella from subgeneric to generic rank as Nanozostera. The family thus now includes: Heterozostera (one sp.), Nanozostera (eight spp.), Phyllospadix (five spp.), and Zostera (four spp.). Molecular and morphological evidence suggests that Phyllospadix is the most divergent taxon, while Heterozostera and Nanozostera are the most closely related.
Microbial community analysis: a kinetic approach to constructing potential C source utilization patterns

Abstract The analysis of multiple substrate metabolism by assemblages of bacterial strains may be used to differentiate inocula from environmental samples. Biolog plates, 96-well microtiter plates containing nutrients, a single carbon test substrate in each well and a tetrazolium redox dye to monitor substrate oxidation, have been used for this purpose. One of the difficulties faced by users of this technique is determining which substrates have been metabolized. Reliance on single-time-point absorbance data for each well is problematic due to variably non-linear rates of color development for each well. Previous efforts to use color-normalized single plate readings have been successful in discriminating between environmental sample types, but substrate-use contributions to sample classifications vary depending on the duration of the plate incubation. We present a model based on the logistic equation for density-dependent population growth providing a good (low χ 2 ) fit to the sigmoidal kinetics of color development data. The kinetic parameters generated by the model can be used as surrogates for single-time-point data in constructing carbon source utilization patterns, and contribution of substrate use to sample classification does not depend on incubation time. This technique obviates the need to choose the time following inoculation to read the plate absorbance data and also provides two kinetic parameters that are invariant with respect to inoculum density. We provide a comparison of community potential substrate use analyses using single-time-point microplate data and parameters from our kinetic model.
Comparison and quantitative verification of mapping algorithms for whole-genome bisulfite sequencing

Coupling bisulfite conversion with next-generation sequencing (Bisulfite-seq) enables genome-wide measurement of DNA methylation, but poses unique challenges for mapping. However, despite a proliferation of Bisulfite-seq mapping tools, no systematic comparison of their genomic coverage and quantitative accuracy has been reported. We sequenced bisulfite-converted DNA from two tissues from each of two healthy human adults and systematically compared five widely used Bisulfite-seq mapping algorithms: Bismark, BSMAP, Pash, BatMeth and BS Seeker. We evaluated their computational speed and genomic coverage and verified their percentage methylation estimates. With the exception of BatMeth, all mappers covered >70% of CpG sites genome-wide and yielded highly concordant estimates of percentage methylation (r(2) ≥ 0.95). Fourfold variation in mapping time was found between BSMAP (fastest) and Pash (slowest). In each library, 8-12% of genomic regions covered by Bismark and Pash were not covered by BSMAP. An experiment using simulated reads confirmed that Pash has an exceptional ability to uniquely map reads in genomic regions of structural variation. Independent verification by bisulfite pyrosequencing generally confirmed the percentage methylation estimates by the mappers. Of these algorithms, Bismark provides an attractive combination of processing speed, genomic coverage and quantitative accuracy, whereas Pash offers considerably higher genomic coverage.
Mechanisms for sensitization to TNF‐induced apoptosis by acute glutathione depletion in murine hepatocytes

We previously reported that depletion of glutathione in murine hepatocytes by diethylmaleate (DEM) or acetaminophen (APAP) leads to oxidative stress-dependent necrosis and sensitizes to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced apoptosis in an oxidative stress-independent fashion, which could not be explained by interference with nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) nuclear translocation. The present report explores the mechanisms of these effects. We observed that DEM led to necrosis when both mitochondrial and cytosol glutathione were depleted profoundly but sensitized to TNF-induced apoptosis when cytosol glutathione was depleted selectively. DEM and APAP lead to a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) ratio. Glutathione depletion by DEM or APAP was associated with inhibition of TNF-induced NF-kappaB transactivation of anti-apoptotic genes, including inducible nitric oxide synthase (i-NOS). Provision of exogenous NO partially abrogated the sensitization to TNF in response to glutathione depletion. Glutathione depletion alone led to sustained increase in phospho-jun levels and c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) activity. JNK inhibitor partially blocked the sensitization to TNF-induced apoptosis accompanying glutathione depletion. In conclusion, these findings suggest that extramitochondrial glutathione depletion alters the thiol-disulfide redox state, leading to inhibition of NF-kappaB transactivation of survival genes and to sustained activation of JNK, both of which contribute to the sensitization to TNF-induced apoptosis.
Uterine Calcium-Binding Protein Activity of Nonlaying Hens and Hens Laying Hard-Shelled or Shell-Less Eggs

Uterine calcium-binding protein (CaBP) activity was compared at oviposition and 14 h postoviposition in nonlaying (NL) hens and hens laying a high incidence of shell-less (SL) or hard-shelled (HS) eggs fed a commercial laying diet. Epithelial cells were removed from uteri of NL, SL, and HS hens and homogenized in Tris buffer, pH 7.4. Proteins in homogenate were fractionated by the addition of ammonium sulfate and centrifugation, separated by Sephadex chromatography, and measured by ultraviolet spectrophotometry at A280. Calcium-binding protein activity was determined using a 45Ca-chelex binding assay. Two peaks of CaBP activity were detected and designated CaBP-a (28,000 Da) and CaBP-b (16,000 Da). Uterine CaBP-b may differ from CaBP-a only in Ca content. The activities of CaBP (a and b) were higher (P less than or equal to .05) in HS and SL hens than in NL hens at 0 h. There was no significant difference (0 h) between CaBP activity (a versus b) of either HS or SL hens. There was also no difference (0 h) of CaBP-a or CaBP-b activity when SL and HS hens were compared. Uterine CaBP-a activity was lower (P less than or equal to .05) in SL hens than HS hens at 14 h. Under normal dietary conditions, the level of CaBP activity at 14 h may be associated with SL egg production.
From Corpus to Classroom: Language Use and Language Teaching by O'KEEFFE, ANNE, MICHAEL MCCARTHY, & RONALD CARTER

The article reviews the book "From Corpus to Classroom: Language Use and Language Teaching," by Anne O'Keeffe, Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter.
Impaction allografting for massive femoral defects in revision hip arthroplasty using collared textured stems.

Abstract We present a prospective study of impaction grafting using collared textured stems in femurs with massive defects (defined as requiring >150 cm 3 of cancellous allograft). Eighteen hips were followed for a minimum of 2 years. Average Harris hip scores increased from 50 preoperatively to 83 at most recent follow-up. Seventeen hips were functioning well at the time of most recent follow-up and exhibited no stem subsidence or aseptic loosening. One hip was associated with visible subsidence and required further revision. Single-photon emission computed tomography analyses performed at an average of 37 months indicated active graft reorganization in all cases studied. Impaction allografting with collared textured stems for massive defects demonstrates good intermediate-term clinical results and may be a useful alternative to allograft stem composites and megaprostheses.
Evidence-Based Pharmacologic Treatment for People With Severe Mental Illness:A Focus on Guidelines and Algorithms

Medication treatment of severe mental illness has been advanced and complicated by the introduction of numerous therapeutic agents. Practice guidelines based on research evidence have been developed to help clinicians make complex decisions. Studies of usual care suggest an important potential role for guidelines in improving the quality of medication treatment for people with severe mental illness. The authors review current evidence-based guidelines for medication treatment of persons with severe mental illness. Four categories of guidelines are described: recommendations, comprehensive treatment options, medication algorithms, and expert consensus. The authors note that more research is needed on optimal next-step strategies and the treatment of patients with comorbidity and other complicating problems. They discuss barriers to the implementation of guidelines, and they observe that the potential of guidelines and algorithms to promote evidence-based medication treatment for persons with severe mental illness depends on refinement of tools, progress in research, and cooperation of physicians, nonphysician clinicians, administrators, and consumers and family members.
Time-domain radiation from large two-dimensional apertures via narrow-waisted Gaussian beams

This paper deals with the short-pulse radiation of three-dimensional (3-D) vector electromagnetic fields from arbitrarily polarized large two-dimensional (2-D) truncated aperture distributions, which are parameterized in terms of narrow-waisted ray-like pulsed Gaussian basis beams centered on a discretized Gabor lattice in a four-dimensional (4-D) configuration-spectrum phase space. The study extends our previous Gabor-based investigation of time-domain (TD) short-pulse radiation of 2-D fields from 1-D large truncated apertures with nonphased, linearly phased (delayed) and nonlinearly phased focusing aperture field profiles . We begin with, and summarize, a Gabor-based frequency domain (FD) formulation of the 2-D aperture problem which has been presented and tested elsewhere, but we include additional numerical examples for validation and quality assessment. As done by Galdi, Felsen and Castanon (see ibid., vol 49, p. 1322-32, Sept. 2001) we access the time domain by Fourier inversion from the FD, starting from the initial 3-D space-time Kirchhoff formulation (whose numerical integration furnishes reference solutions), and then passing on to Gabor-parameterized field representations in terms of pulsed beam (PB) wavepackets which are launched by linearly and nonlinearly phase-delayed focusing aperture distributions. Example calculations and comparisons with numerically generated reference data serve to calibrate the Gabor-PB algorithms and assess their domains of validity.
Homogeneous enzyme immune assay for staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

A simple homogeneous enzyme immune assay was developed for detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin B by a conjugate of β-amylase coupled with the enterotoxin.
Novel PCR-based methods enhance characterization of vaginal microbiota in a bacterial vaginosis patient before and after treatment.

ABSTRACT Deep characterization, even by next-generation sequencing, of the vaginal microbiota in healthy women or posttreatment bacterial vaginosis patients is limited by the dominance of lactobacilli. To improve detection, we offer two approaches: quantitative PCR (qPCR) using phylogenetic branch-inclusive primers and sequencing of broad-spectrum amplicons generated with oligomers that block amplification of lactobacilli.
Measuring maximal percent area stenosis poststent placement with intracoronary Doppler and the continuity equation and correlation with intracoronary ultrasound and angiography.

Abstract Quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) and intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS) are methods for anatomic assessment of stent deployment. Intracoronary Doppler is primarily a method for the physiologic assessment of coronary stenoses. It correlates well with traditional noninvasive measurements of lesion significance. Intracoronary Doppler was used for the anatomic assessment of de novo coronary artery stenosis with variable success; however, its use for anatomic assessment of adequate stent deployment is unavailable. A rapid, automated software program was developed based on a modified continuity equation to calculate the maximal in-stent percent area stenosis by comparing the maximal in-stent velocity to an average reference velocity (proximal and distal). This study was designed to compare the Doppler method of an anatomic assessment with QCA and ICUS in 15 patients. Physiologic success of stent deployment was determined by the distal coronary flow reserve to 24 to 36 μg of intracoronary adenosine. Following successful stent deployment, distal coronary flow reserve increased significantly from a baseline of 1.6 ± 0.5 to 2.9 ±1.1. There was a significant correlation between the maximal in-stent percent area stenosis as measured by Doppler and both QCA (r = 0.78, p
Wafer Scale Integration Enabling Space Science

Wafer scale integration enables the ability to miniaturize space craft instrument builds. We use the term wafer scale to indicate a packaging concept where the wafer is the substrate eliminating the use of individually packaged microstructures. The key here is the combination of advanced integration and miniaturization. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in collaboration with the US Air Force Academy is building a wafer integrated plasma spectrometer (WISPER) for mapping missions. The fabrication of the WISPER instrument suite uses a number of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and micro electronics fabrication technologies. JHUAPL has successfully demonstrated these approaches in the fabrication of the single instrument currently in orbit on the FalconSat-3 mission. This instrument is a Flat Plasma Spectrometer (FlaPS) which includes a sensor-head array, printed circuit board with amplifier array electronics, power supply, and chassis which occupies a volume of approximately 400 cm3 in a 0.5 kg, 700 mW package. The sensor head array is fabricated and assembled at the wafer-level and stacked in a planar geometry. Together with common electronics to control the array, our design takes advantage of emerging micro- fabrication techniques including deep reactive ion etching, laser machining, and wire electrical discharge machining, as well as advanced electronic die assembly and packaging methods. Innovations in packaging combined with etch process steps from the micro-fabrication industry allow for novel instrument builds which will open up the realm of nano sats and cubesat in mapping missions. This paper reviews the combination of manufacturing methods, material combinations and packaging techniques that can be applied to miniaturizing space instrumentation. This work is representative of the next generation of space instruments that will be enablers for smaller and more cost effective missions.
The cellular basis of delirium and its relevance to age-related disorders including Alzheimer's disease.

A wide variety of conditions lead to delirium (i.e., metabolic encephalopathies) in human beings and animals. Despite the varied etiology the clinical consequences are relatively stereotyped which suggests that the diverse insults that cause delirium may act by common metabolic and cellular "final pathways." Related molecular and cellular mechanisms may be involved in aging and Alzheimer's disease, conditions that predispose to the development of delirium. Animal models of delirium better reflect age-related disorders such as Alzheimer's disease than those that impair a single neurotransmitter system such as the cholinergic system; the metabolic encephalopathies produce global cognitive disturbance, which is more typical of these disorders. Thus, research related to delirium has far-reaching implications for normal and abnormal brain function.
Gestational and Lactational Exposure to Ethinyl Estradiol, but not Bisphenol A, Decreases Androgen-Dependent Reproductive Organ Weights and Epididymal Sperm Abundance in the Male Long Evans Hooded Rat

Many chemicals released into the environment are capable of disrupting normal sex steroid balance, including the oral contraceptive ethinyl estradiol (EE) and the plastic monomer bisphenol A (BPA). EE and BPA are reported to impair reproductive organ development in laboratory animals; however, effects of lower doses of these chemicals have been debated. The goal of the current study was to determine whether relatively low oral doses of EE or BPA would alter male reproductive morphology and associated hormone levels of Long Evans hooded rat. Dams were gavaged with corn oil vehicle, EE (0.05–50 mg/kg/ day) or BPA (2, 20, and 200 mg/kg/day) during pregnancy through lactation from gestational day 7 to postnatal day (PND) 18. Anogenital distance was measured at PND2 and nipple retention was measured at PND14 in male pups. Male offspring were euthanized beginning at PND150, and sera and organs were collected for analyses. Adult body weight was significantly decreased in males exposed to 50 mg EE/kg/day. Developmental EE exposure reduced androgen-dependent tissue weights in a dose-dependent fashion; for example, seminal vesicle and paired testes weights were reduced with ‡ 5 mg EE/kg/day. Epididymal sperm counts were also significantly decreased with 50 mg EE/kg/ day. In contrast, treatment with 2, 20, or 200 mg BPA/kg/day or EE at 0.05–1.5 mg/kg/day did not significantly affect any male endpoint in the current study. These results demonstrate that developmental exposure to oral micromolar doses of EE can permanently disrupt the reproductive tract of the male rat.
Resource Provisioning in an E-commerce Application

It is the responsibility of an e-commerce provider to provision resources to ensure that the performance of the services provided by an e-commerce application is acceptable. A quantitative estimate of the performance expected from the site, obtained from the expected workload imposed on the application, may allow the provider to make informed decisions with respect to the right level of resources so that acceptable service performance may be offered in a cost-effective manner. In this paper we first present a systematic methodology to estimate the performance expected from an e-commerce application based on the representation of the e-commerce workload. Subsequently, we discuss how the estimate of the expected application performance could guide resource provisioning decisions. We illustrate the performance estimation and resource provisioning methodology using the TPC-W benchmark.
PURE BERYLLIUM OXIDE AS A REFRACTORY

The development of a pure BeO refractory is described, using pure Be(OH)2 as the starting material. The hydroxide is calcined at 1200° (low) to 1800°C. (high), depending on the crystal size desired. The calcine is ball milled wet in a steel mill and cast at pH 4.5 to 5.0, or the powder may be dried and mixed with 14% Carbowax 4000 added as a water solution for dry pressing at 20,000 to 30,000 lb. per sq. in. The pressed product is vitreous when fired at 1800°C. but is also volatile at that temperature.
Efficient simulation of large-scale Spiking Neural Networks using CUDA graphics processors

Neural network simulators that take into account the spiking behavior of neurons are useful for studying brain mechanisms and for engineering applications. Spiking Neural Network (SNN) simulators have been traditionally simulated on large-scale clusters, super-computers, or on dedicated hardware architectures. Alternatively, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) can provide a low-cost, programmable, and high-performance computing platform for simulation of SNNs. In this paper we demonstrate an efficient, Izhikevich neuron based large-scale SNN simulator that runs on a single GPU. The GPU-SNN model (running on an NVIDIA GTX-280 with 1GB of memory), is up to 26 times faster than a CPU version for the simulation of 100K neurons with 50 Million synaptic connections, firing at an average rate of 7Hz. For simulation of 100K neurons with 10 Million synaptic connections, the GPU-SNN model is only 1.5 times slower than real-time. Further, we present a collection of new techniques related to parallelism extraction, mapping of irregular communication, and compact network representation for effective simulation of SNNs on GPUs. The fidelity of the simulation results were validated against CPU simulations using firing rate, synaptic weight distribution, and inter-spike interval analysis. We intend to make our simulator available to the modeling community so that researchers will have easy access to large-scale SNN simulations.
Characterizing the strand-specific distribution of non-CpG methylation in human pluripotent cells

DNA methylation is an important defense and regulatory mechanism. In mammals, most DNA methylation occurs at CpG sites, and asymmetric non-CpG methylation has only been detected at appreciable levels in a few cell types. We are the first to systematically study the strand-specific distribution of non-CpG methylation. With the divide-and-compare strategy, we show that CHG and CHH methylation are not intrinsically different in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). We also find that non-CpG methylation is skewed between the two strands in introns, especially at intron boundaries and in highly expressed genes. Controlling for the proximal sequences of non-CpG sites, we show that the skew of non-CpG methylation in introns is mainly guided by sequence skew. By studying subgroups of transposable elements, we also found that non-CpG methylation is distributed in a strand-specific manner in both short interspersed nuclear elements (SINE) and long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE), but not in long terminal repeats (LTR). Finally, we show that on the antisense strand of Alus, a non-CpG site just downstream of the A-box is highly methylated. Together, the divide-and-compare strategy leads us to identify regions with strand-specific distributions of non-CpG methylation in humans.
Impact of CC-NUMA memory management policies on the application performance of multistage switching networks

In this paper, the impact of memory management policies and switch design alternatives on the application performance of cache-coherent nonuniform memory access (CC-NUMA) multiprocessors is studied in detail. Memory management plays an important role in determining the performance of NUMA multiprocessors by dictating the placement of data among the distributed memory modules. We analyze memory traces of several scientific applications for three different memory management techniques, namely buddy, round-robin, and first-touch policies, and compare their memory system performance. Interconnection network switch designs that consider virtual channels and varying number of input buffers per switch are presented. Our performance evaluation is based on execution-driven simulation methodology to capture the dynamic changes in the network traffic during execution of the applications. It is shown that the use of cut-through switching with buffers and virtual channels can Improve the average message latency tremendously. However, the choice of memory management policy affects the amount of network traffic and the network access pattern. Thus, we vary the memory management policy and confirm the performance benefits of improved switch designs. Results of sensitivity studies by varying switch design parameters, cache block size, and memory page size are also presented. We find that a combination of first-touch memory management policy and a switch design with virtual channels and increased buffer space can reduce the average message latency by as high as 70 percent.
Managing Medications During Home Hospice Cancer Care: The Needs of Family Caregivers

Abstract Context Family caregivers (FCGs) are often at the frontline of symptom management for patients with advanced illness in home hospice. FCGs' cognitive, social, and technical skills in complex medication management have been well studied in the literature; however, few studies have tested existing frameworks in clinical cases in home hospice. Objectives This study sought to assess the applicability of caregiver medication management skills framework by Lau et al. in the context of family caregiving in home hospice to further the understanding of FCGs' essential medication management skills. Methods This was a secondary data analysis of 18 audio recorded home hospice visits transcribed verbatim; deductive content analysis of caregiver-nurse interactions was conducted. The target sample included FCGs of hospice patients who had cancer diagnoses in hospices located in the greater urban area of the Rocky Mountain West. Caregiver medication management skills were identified and categorized into the five domains of caregiver expertise. Exemplars of each domain were identified. Results An average of four medications (SD = 3.5) was discussed at each home hospice visit. Medication knowledge skills were observed in most home hospice visits (15 of 18). Teamwork skills were observed in 11 of 18 cases, followed by organizational and personhood skills (10 of 18). Symptom management skills occurred in 12 of 18 cases. An additional two subconstructs of the personhood domain—1) advocacy for the caregiver and 2) skills in discontinuing medications—were proposed. Conclusion These findings support framework by Lau et al. for caregiver medication management skills and expands on the existing domains proposed. Future interventions to assess FCGs' skills are recommended.
Effects of Response Instructions on Faking a Situational Judgment Test

A situational judgment test (SJT) and a Big 5 personality test were administered to 203 participants under instructions to respond honestly and to fake good using a within-subjects design. Participants indicated both the best and worst response (i.e., Knowledge) and the most likely and least likely response (i.e., Behavioral Tendency) to each situation. Faking effect size for the SJT Behavioral Tendency response format was (d=.34) when participants responded first under honest instructions and (d=.15) when they responded first under faking instructions. Those for the Big 5 dimensions ranged from d=.26 to d=1.0. For the Knowledge response format results were inconsistent. Honest condition Knowledge SJT scores were more highly correlated with cognitive ability (r=.56) than were Behavioral Tendency SJT scores (r=.38). Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Magnetized gas clouds can survive acceleration by a hot wind

We present three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetized gas clouds accelerated by hot winds. We initialize gas clouds with tangled internal magnetic fields and show that this field suppresses the disruption of the cloud: rather than mixing into the hot wind as found in hydrodynamic simulations, cloud fragments end up co-moving and in pressure equilibrium with their surroundings. We also show that a magnetic field in the hot wind enhances the drag force on the cloud by a factor ~(1+v_A^2/v_wind^2)$, where v_A is the Alfven speed in the wind and v_wind measures the relative speed between the cloud and the wind. We apply this result to gas clouds in several astrophysical contexts, including galaxy clusters, galactic winds, the Galactic center, and the outskirts of the Galactic halo. Our results can explain the prevalence of cool gas in galactic winds and galactic halos and how such cool gas survives in spite of its interaction with hot wind/halo gas. We also predict that drag forces can lead to a deviation from Keplerian orbits for the G2 cloud in the galactic center.
Promoting Professional Labor Support through Education

Poster Presentation Objective To design, implement, and evaluate a nursing theory and evidence‐based educational program on professional labor support (PLS). Design Pretest/posttest descriptive design for program evaluation research. Setting A tertiary medical center in the Midwest United States. Sample A convenience sample of intrapartum nurses employed at the participating hospital ( N = 31). Methods Nurses were measured on study outcomes before and after attending a four‐hour continuing education program, The Professional Labor Support Course, founded on Swanson's theory of caring. Evidence‐based content information stemmed from AWHONN's position statement on nursing support of laboring women. Measured outcomes included self‐efficacy for PLS, perceived value of content information, learner satisfaction, and intended knowledge translation to nursing practice. Results A paired samples t test revealed a highly significant difference in self‐efficacy for PLS composite scores before and after attending the PLS course, t (30) = −7.92, p ≤ .01. Perceived value of content information revealed that 90.3% of nurses found the information clinically relevant, 80.6% of nurses reported they learned something new, 64.5% stated their practice will be changed and improved, 80.6% planned to use the information to modify patient management, and 83.9% anticipated increasing patient knowledge as a health benefit of the information. Learner satisfaction reported ratings of outstanding for learning objectives (>74%), speaker evaluation (>93%), and process evaluation (>80%) categories with 96.8% of nurses rating the overall course experience as outstanding. Intended knowledge translation revealed positioning (83.9%) as the top ranked PLS behavior nurses plan to implement in their practices. Top ranked barriers to PLS were identified as continuous monitoring, physician barriers, lack of equipment, staffing, and family influence. Top‐ranked facilitators to PLS were identified as knowledge, equipment, staffing, attitude, and patient education. Conclusion/Implications for Nursing Practice The PLS course was highly effective in leading to increased self‐efficacy for PLS and high levels of perceived value of content information and learner satisfaction. Although nurses reported plans to implement PLS, it is unknown if there will be actual knowledge translation into practice. Therefore, it would be beneficial to measure frequency of PLS following attendance. The overall study assumption is that nurses who are knowledgeable and place value on PLS will embrace PLS as best practice and ultimately lead to improved patient outcomes.
Effect of various combinations of alfalfa and standard layer diet on susceptibility of laying hens to Salmonella enteritidis during forced molt

Feed deprivation is commonly used by the poultry industry to induce molting and stimulate multiple egg-laying cycles. However, feed deprivation has been observed experimentally to increase susceptibility of poultry to Salmonella infections. Previous studies indicated that alfalfa was efficacious in reducing Salmonella; the present investigation was designed to evaluate the efficacy of combined alfalfa and layer diets on Salmonella colonization. Leghorn hens over 50 wk of age were divided into 12 groups of hens and placed in individual laying cages. One week prior to dietary changes, hens were put on an 8L:16D photoperiod that continued for the 9-d experiment. Hens were challenged orally with 104 cfu of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) on d 4 of treatment and cultured for SE at the termination of the 9-d study. Two independent experiments were conducted consisting of the following treatment groups: nonfed hens, full-fed standard commercial layer diet, 100% alfalfa meal diet, a 90% alfalfa meal/10% standard commercial layer diet, and a 70% alfalfa meal/30% standard commercial layer diet. When evaluating SE colonization in the ceca (Exp. 1), a reduction (P < 0.05) was seen in the 100% alfalfa meal diet and the 70% alfalfa meal/30% standard commercial layer diet treatment groups when compared with the controls with Log10 values of 0.54, 0.44, and 2.82, respectively. Evaluation of physiological parameters showed the alfalfa treatment groups had reductions (P < 0.05) in weight loss, ovary weight, and feed consumption when compared with the full-fed standard commercial layer diet hens, and these results were comparable with the nonfed hens. In Exp. 2, all of the treatment groups had a reduction (P < 0.05) in SE colonization of the ceca when compared with the controls. There were also similar physiological reductions in weight loss, ovary weight, and feed consumption when birds were fed the alfalfa diets in Exp. 2. These data suggest that alfalfa can potentially be combined with layer ration to limit SE infection and still induce a molt comparable with feed withdrawal.
MALE PREGNANCY AND THE EVOLUTION OF BODY SEGMENTATION IN SEAHORSES AND PIPEFISHES

The evolution of complex traits, which are specified by the interplay of multiple genetic loci and environmental effects, is a topic of central importance in evolutionary biology. Here, we show that body and tail vertebral numbers in fishes of the pipefish and seahorse family (Syngnathidae) can serve as a model for studies of quantitative trait evolution. A quantitative genetic analysis of body and tail vertebrae from field-collected families of the Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli, shows that both traits exhibit significantly positive additive genetic variance, with heritabilities of 0.75 ± 0.13 (mean ± standard error) and 0.46 ± 0.18, respectively. We do not find any evidence for either phenotypic or genetic correlations between the two traits. Pipefish are characterized by male pregnancy, and phylogenetic consideration of body proportions suggests that the position of eggs on the pregnant male's body may have contributed to the evolution of vertebral counts. In terms of numbers of vertebrae, tail-brooding males have longer tails for a given trunk size than do trunk-brooding males. Overall, these results suggest that vertebral counts in pipefish are heritable traits, capable of a response to selection, and they may have experienced an interesting history of selection due to the phenomenon of male pregnancy. Given that these traits vary among populations within species as well as among species, they appear to provide an excellent model for further research on complex trait evolution. Body segmentation may thus afford excellent opportunities for comparative study of homologous complex traits among disparate vertebrate taxa.
Effect of Distance to Schooling on Home Prices

This paper uses hedonic analysis of home transactions in the Denver Public School District to estimate the effect of distance to schooling on sales price. This study considers all three levels of public location based schooling: elementary, middle and high school. While most studies examining the relationship between schooling and home price investigate the change in home value based on the quality of schooling, this paper controls for school quality differences and focuses on the value of distance to schools. Results indicate that as distance to schooling increases, home price decreases. Despite the overall inverse relationship, the study finds a congestion effect near all levels of schooling; homes 1,000 feet from a school have a higher price than homes less than 500 feet. In addition, results suggest that homes just inside the cutoff distance for walking to elementary school (1,320 feet) are priced lower than homes just outside this cutoff.
Effective Brake Torque Allocation in Regenerative Braking System Considering Shaft Vibration Using Model Predictive Control

A regenerative brake system is an effective way of recovering energy that would be lost as heat during brake operation, and such systems are widely used in hybrid and electric vehicles. This paper presents a multi-objective method for allocating brake torque between the hydraulic and regenerative brake systems using model predictive control. The proposed control method has two objectives: bandwidth-based torque allocation and reduction in driveshaft vibrations. A quarter-car model with a PMSM electric drive system is used to investigate this control method’s effectiveness. The simulation results show that the vehicle stopping distance and the drive shaft vibrations will be reduced with the proposed control strategy.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Pedro Medina: Corporate Leader or Social Entrepreneur?

In this case, successful McDonald's executive Pedro Medina recounts his transformation from business leader to social entrepreneur. After bringing the McDonald's brand to his native Colombia, Medina develops and promotes Yo Creo en Colombia (I Believe in Colombia), a grassroots initiative that empowers Colombians to take pride in their country's achievements and resources and leverage its assets into building a just and competitive nation. As the impact of his vision grows and the volume of his speaking engagements increases, Medina must choose between his lucrative corporate career and his fledgling national-empowerment venture. His new role could both fulfill his life's passion and affect his country positively. But at what personal cost? The case prompts students to examine the role of entrepreneurship in creating value and solving social problems. It forces students to rethink the stereotype that entrepreneurship is all about creating a for-profit venture. It also demonstrates that the processes of entrepreneurship are the same for both for-profits and social enterprises.
Contesting cultural meaning in a post-apartheid South African HIV/AIDS music event

On the night of July 29, 2007 a cocktail party was organized by McCord Hospital at the Zimbali Lodge at the Overport in Durban for a leading Harvard AIDs research scientist and his team. In line with what had become customary at the hospital, the Siphithemba Choir, which functions as a support group and choral ensemble at the hospital, was invited to perform at the event. At the party the choir performed several gospel tunes, including an adaptation of Enoch Sontongas Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika, and some of their own compositions. Two traditional Zulu songs, Isiyalo (Advice) and Ikhalaphi (From whence the cry), however, stood out most. Their performance styles affected the configuration of the night’s music event, thus informing the discourse that is central to this paper. The two traditional songs share commonalities on a number of levels. First, they are both in rudimentary African call and response style, with Ikhalaphi having two distinct spoken A and sung B sections. Second, the lyrics of each song address the HIV/AIDS issue. Isiyalo speaks about a young beautiful woman who engages in the prostitution trade and rejects the men who propose marriage to her. Ikhalaphi sings about a female lover whose sagged breasts are clear indications that she has become sexually active before marriage. Thus the two songs touch on the theme of sexuality, which is integral to HIV/AIDS discourse, particularly in regards to disease prevention. Finally, they both integrate Zulu ngoma dance.
Abstract 3166: Asymptomatic Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis is Associated with More Cortical Subclinical Brain Infarcts: the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS)

Background: Asymptomatic internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis is a modifiable risk factor for ischemic stroke but its role in subclinical brain infarction (SBI), also a stroke risk factor, is poorly understood especially in multiethnic populations. Methods: In the Northern Manhattan Study community-based cohort, stroke-free participants underwent quantitative assessment of SBI with MRI and of carotid atherosclerosis with Doppler ultrasound. We examined the prevalence and location of SBI in those with and without carotid stenosis (defined as ≥60% or occlusion). We used Fisher Exact Tests to assess group differences. Results: The mean age of the sample (N=1217) was 71±9 years and 60% were women. The race-ethnic distribution was 65% Hispanic white, 18% non-Hispanic Black, and 17% non-Hispanic white. There were 21 participants with asymptomatic ICA stenosis or occlusion (1.7%) and 170 participants with SBI (14%). Overall, five of 21 participants with ICA stenosis or occlusion had SBI (24%) compared to 165 of 1196 with less or no stenosis (14%), but this difference was not statistically significant (Fisher Exact Test P=0.19). However, a greater proportion of participants with stenosis or occlusion had cortical SBI (N=3 of 21, 14%) compared to those with less or no stenosis (N=28 of 1196, 2%; Fisher Exact Test P=0.03). Also, of five participants with both SBI and stenosis or occlusion, four were ipsilateral and one was contralateral to the lesion. Race/ethnic differences were not discernible. Conclusions: In this stroke free community based sample, participants with asymptomatic ICA stenosis had a greater proportion of cortical SBI than those with less or no stenosis. Further studies with larger race/ethnically diverse samples are needed to confirm these findings, and to assess the risk of stroke associated with having both asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis and SBI.
Modeling human motion using manifold learning and factorized generative models

Modeling the dynamic shape and appearance of articulated moving objects is essential for human motion analysis, tracking, synthesis, and other computer vision problems. Modeling the shape and appearance of human motion is challenging due to the high dimensionality of the articulated human motion, variations of shape and appearance from different views and in different people, and the nonlinearity in shape and appearance deformations in the observed sequences. Recent interest in modeling human motion is originated from the various potential real-world applications such as visual surveillance, human-computer interaction, video analysis, computer animation, etc. We present a novel framework to model dynamic shape and appearance using nonlinear manifold embedding and factorization. We investigate different representations to embed high-dimensional human motion sequences in low dimensional spaces by supervised and unsupervised manifold learning techniques to achieve representations that capture the intrinsic structure of the motion. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques based on visual data and kinematic data are applied to discover low dimensional intrinsic manifold representation for body configuration. Also, we investigate the use of supervised manifold learning from a known manifold topology to model deformation of manifolds from an ideal case. By learning nonlinear mapping from the embedding space to the input shape or appearance, we can generate shape and appearance sequences according to the motion state on the embedded manifold. We present a decomposable generative model to analyze shape and appearance variations by different factors such as person’s style, motion type, and view point. We use multilinear analysis in the nonlinear mapping coefficient space to factorize shape and appearance variations. Also, we investigate learning generative models to represent continuous body configuration and continuous view manifolds in a product space (i.e. body configuration manifold × view manifold). The proposed factorized generative models provide rich models for the analysis of dynamic shape and appearance of human motion. We applied the model in computer vision problems such as inferring 3D body pose from 2D images, tracking human motion with continuous view variations within the Bayesian framework, and gait recognition. We also applied our model for facial expression analysis, tracking, recognition and synthesis.
Effect of sodium on calcium-dependent force in unstimulated rat cardiac muscle

It has previously been demonstrated that 1) changes in superfusate calcium concentration [Ca2+]o within the low millimolar range result in changes in "resting" force and in the light-scattering pro...
Stress Structures the Brain

Stress experienced early in life is associated with high rates of childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders, as well as dysfunction of the key corticolimbic brain circuit that recognizes and adapts to stress. Early stress changes the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis,
Morbidity and Mortality of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis in United States Adults.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are life-threatening disorders. Our study objective was to describe the incidence, costs of care, length of stay, comorbidities, and mortality of SJS and TEN in US adults. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2009-2012, containing a 20% sample of all US hospitalizations, was analyzed. We used a validated approach involving International Classification of Disease, 9th edition, Clinical Modification codes to identify SJS, SJS/TEN, and TEN (n = 2,591, n = 502, and n = 564, respectively). The mean estimated incidences of SJS, SJS/TEN, and TEN were 9.2, 1.6, and 1.9 per million adults per year, respectively. SJS/TEN was associated with nonwhite race, particularly Asians (odds ratio = 3.27, 95% confidence interval = 3.02-3.54) and blacks (odds ratio = 2.01, 95% confidence interval = 1.92-2.10). Significantly prolonged length of stay and higher costs of care (SJS: 9.8 ± 0.3 days, $21,437 ± $807; SJS/TEN: 16.5 ± 1.0 days, $58,954 ± $5,238; TEN: 16.2 ± 1.0 days, $53,695 ± $4,037) were observed compared with all other admissions (4.7 ± 0.02 days, $11,281 ± $98). Mean adjusted mortality was 4.8% for SJS, 19.4% for SJS/TEN, and 14.8% for TEN. SJS, SJS/TEN, and TEN pose a substantial health care burden. Predictors of mortality included increasing age, increasing number of chronic conditions, infection (septicemia, pneumonia, tuberculosis), hematological malignancy (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, leukemia), and renal failure (P ≤ 0.03 for all). Further studies are needed to confirm mortality findings to improve prognostication of SJS/TEN.