cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Outpatient management of malignant pleural effusion by a chronic indwelling pleural catheter

Abstract Background . Previous studies have shown that a chronic indwelling pleural catheter (PC) safely and effectively relieved dyspnea, maintained quality of life, and reduced hospitalization in patients with malignant pleural effusions. Outpatient management of malignant pleural effusion with a PC may reduce length of stay and early (7-day) charges compared with inpatient management with chest tube and sclerosis. Methods . A retrospective review of consecutive PC patients (n = 100; 60 outpatient, 40 inpatient) were treated from July 1, 1994 to September 2, 1998 and compared with 68 consecutive inpatients treated with chest tube and sclerosis between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1997. Hospital charges were obtained from date of insertion (day 0) through day 7. Results . Demographics were similar in both groups. Pretreatment cytology was positive in 126 of 168 patients (75%), negative in 21 (12.5%), and unknown in 21 (12.5%). Primary histology included lung (n = 61, 36%), breast (n = 39, 23%), lymphoma (n = 12, 7%), or other (n = 56, 34%). Median survival was 3.4 months and did not differ significantly between treatment groups. Overall median length of stay was 7.0 days for inpatient chest tube and inpatient PC versus 0.0 days for outpatient Pleurx. No mortality occurred related to the PC. Eighty-one percent (81/100) of PC patients had no complications. One or more complications occurred in 19 patients (19%). Patients treated with outpatient PC (n = 60) had early (7-day) mean charges of $3,391 ± $1,753 compared with inpatient PC (n = 40, $11,188 ± $7,964) or inpatient chest tube (n = 68, $7,830 ± $4,497, SD) ( p Conclusions . Outpatient PC may be used effectively and safely to treat malignant pleural effusions. Hospitalization is not required in selected patients. Early (7-day) charges for malignant pleural effusion are reduced in outpatient PC patients compared with inpatient PC patients or chest tube plus sclerosis patients.
Deliquescence behavior of organic/ammonium sulfate aerosol

Received 15 January 2002; revised 16 May 2002; accepted 23 May 2002; published 8 October 2002. [1] Recent studies have shown that tropospheric aerosols composed of internal mixtures of organics with sulfates are quite common with the organic composing up to 50% of the particle mass. The influences of the organics on the chemical and physical properties of the aerosol are not known. In this paper, we report the solubility of a series of dicarboxylic acids in saturated ammonium sulfate solution as a function of temperature. We also report the deliquescence relative humidity (DRH) of the pure dicarboxylic acids and of mixtures of dicarboxylic acids with ammonium sulfate. For the systems studied, we find that the presence of watersoluble dicarboxylic acids caused deliquescence to occur at a lower relative humidity (RH) than pure ammonium sulfate. In contrast, the less soluble dicarboxylic acids had no measurable effect on the deliquescence relative humidity of ammonium sulfate. INDEX TERMS: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0320 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Cloud physics and chemistry; 0340 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere—composition and chemistry. Citation: Brooks, S. D., M. E. Wise, M. Cushing, and M. A. Tolbert, Deliquescence behavior of organic/ammonium sulfate aerosol, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(19), 1917, doi:10.1029/2002GL014733, 2002.
Cochlear implantation following treatment for medulloblastoma.

Objectives/Hypothesis: Medulloblastoma is the most common pediatric malignant tumor of the central nervous system in children. Treatment includes surgical excision, external beam radiation, and multiagent chemotherapy. Otologic sequelae are common and may result from radiation and/or chemotherapy. Profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is a known complication of neuro-oncologic treatment and may render these patients eligible for cochlear implantation (CI). Issues of CI in this population, including diagnosis, treatment of preoperative middle ear disease, operative and postoperative course, performance data, and long-term tumor surveillance are highlighted and reviewed. Study Design: Retrospective chart review. Methods: Three patients treated for pediatric medulloblastoma with surgical resection, postoperative hyperfractioned craniospinal radiotherapy, and multiagent adjuvant chemotherapy who underwent cochlear implantation were identified. Details of neuro-oncologic treatment and associated otologic complications are presented and analyzed. Primary outcome assessment includes treatment of middle ear pathology, perioperative cochlear implant course, and postimplantation performance data. Results: Each patient required surgical treatment of chronic ear disease 4 to 16 years after chemoradiation. All progressed to profound SNHL and were implanted 8 to 17 years post–neuro-oncologic treatment. There were no intraoperative complications, and full insertion of the cochlear implant electrode array was achieved in each patient. One patient developed postoperative wound dehiscence requiring operative closure. Postimplantation performance data support significant benefit in all patients. Conclusions: Patients treated for pediatric medulloblastoma develop otologic sequelae, including profound SNHL, and may require cochlear implantation. Successful management of middle ear and mastoid pathology involves consideration of potential future cochlear implantation. Postoperative performance data supports cochlear implantation in this population. Laryngoscope, 2010
Gene expression in fetal murine keratinocytes and fibroblasts

Background Early fetuses heal wounds without the formation of a scar. Many studies have attempted to explain this remarkable phenomenon. However, the exact mechanism remains unknown. Herein, we examine the predominant cell types of the epidermis and dermis—the keratinocyte and fibroblast—during different stages of fetal development to better understand the changes that lead to scarring wound repair versus regeneration.
Prion formation by a yeast GLFG nucleoporin.

The self-assembly of proteins into higher order structures is both central to normal biology and a dominant force in disease. Certain glutamine/asparagine (Q/N)-rich proteins in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae assemble into self-replicating amyloid-like protein polymers, or prions, that act as genetic elements in an entirely protein-based system of inheritance. The nuclear pore complex (NPC) contains multiple Q/N-rich proteins whose self-assembly has also been proposed to underlie structural and functional properties of the NPC. Here we show that an essential sequence feature of these proteins—repeating GLFG motifs—strongly promotes their self-assembly into amyloids with characteristics of prions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Nup100 can form bona fide prions, thus establishing a previously undiscovered ability of yeast GLFG nucleoporins to adopt this conformational state in vivo.
Synthetic-aperture inversion in the presence of noise and clutter

This paper presents an analytic method for synthetic-aperture inversion when the measurements are corrupted with noise and clutter. We use microlocal analysis in a statistical setting to develop filtered-backprojection-type reconstruction methods. The inversion method is applicable in non-ideal scenarios, such as those involving arbitrary source trajectories or variable antenna beam patterns. We show that the backprojection preserves the location and orientation of the singularities of the first- and second-order statistics of the target scene. We derive backprojection filters with respect to different statistical criteria. In particular, if we use a criterion based on first-order statistics, the resulting image can be interpreted as approximately unbiased. Alternatively, if we use a criterion based on second-order statistics to design the backprojection filter, such as a minimum-mean-square error criterion, the strength of the singularities due to noise and clutter is suppressed in the resulting image. Although we have developed our approach specifically for synthetic-aperture radar application, the method is also applicable to other inversion problems in which microlocal techniques are relevant, such as geophysics and x-ray tomography.
Pre-Professional Training for Serving Children With ASD: An Apprenticeship Model of Supervision

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with varied skill profiles and levels of severity making development and implementation of specialized school services challenging. Research indicates that school professionals require and desire additional ASD-specific professional development, both at the pre- and in-service levels. Speech–language pathologists (SLPs) are one member of a school-based team who frequently serve children with ASD. Due to broad graduate training requirements (across the life span), SLPs receive limited ASD-specific clinical education, which may affect their contributions on school-based intervention teams. Given these issues, this article aims to briefly describe an apprenticeship model of clinical supervision, which may be well suited to preparing SLPs to significantly contribute to school teams serving children with ASD; present a case illustration of the use of this model within university graduate program; and briefly discuss implications for pre- and post-professional education and development.
REHABILITATION OF CHILDREN DISCHARGED FROM A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL.

The problem of assisting the community to understand a patient discharged from a psychiatric hospital and help a child with his integration back into community life is considered. The importance of working with the particular community facility most critical in the life of the child is stressed. This paper is based on clinical experience with 23 children and focuses on three cases in which community participation has been crucial.
Changes in breath carbon isotope composition as a potential biomarker of inflammatory acute phase response in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients

Sepsis is a leading cause of mortality in intensive care units. Animal studies have shown exhaled breath carbon isotope delta values (BDVs, i.e., 13CO2/12CO2 delta value) to be a marker for the inflammatory acute phase response (APR). The purpose of this study was to determine the baseline variability of BDVs in mechanically ventilated pediatric patients with and without systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and to correlate the BDV with clinical course over time. The study was an observational pilot study in a pediatric intensive care unit at an urban, tertiary care children's hospital. Seventeen mechanically ventilated pediatric patients underwent measurement of exhaled BDVs every 8 hours for 72 hours. The BDV was not statistically different between SIRS, No-SIRS and SIRS with shock. The mean BDV was significantly lower in subjects with active sepsis or trauma/post-op status compared to subjects with No-Infection/Trauma/Surgery (No-ITS) or septic shock. Trend analysis over time revealed that the No-ITS and ITS in recovery groups had positive slopes. Subjects who developed infections during the study and subjects who underwent shock had a negative trend over time. These results indicate that the BDV does not correlate well with the SIRS status. However, when patients are classified based on their inflammatory APR the BDV correlates with the severity of systemic inflammation. When monitored over time, changes in the BDV may correlate with changes in physiology related to fractionation during the APR to infection, trauma or due to altered macronutrient oxidation during episodes of septic shock.
Clustering-Based Performance Optimization of the Boiler–Turbine System

In this paper, two optimization models for improvement of the boiler-turbine system performance are formulated. The models are constructed using a data-mining approach. Historical process data is clustered and the discovered patterns are selected for performance improvement of the boiler-turbine system. The first model optimizes a widely used performance index, the unit heat rate. The second model minimizes the total fuel consumption while meeting the electricity demand. The strengths and weaknesses of the two models are discussed. An industrial case study illustrates the concepts presented in the paper.
Response Variability in Self- and Proxy Reports of Paternal and Filial Socioeconomic Characteristics'

In a 1973 Australian survey, Broom et al. located two distinct subsamples of men in which fathers and sons reported their own status characteristics and those of their sons and fathers, respectively. Inconsistencies between these two subsamples led Broom et al. to infer that "respondents report (perhaps unconsciously) their socioeconomic careers and the careers of their kin in such ways as either to maximize differences between themselves and their sathers or to minimize differences between themselves and their fathers or to minimize differences between themselves and their sons." If true, this would invalidate most stratification research. Reexamination of the Australian data suggests that the paternal and filial reports are not directly comparable. In a sample of Wisconsin men, parental and filial reports of status variables provide unique and direct evidence about the response biases postulated by Broom et al. There is negligible evidence of such biases. Given the relative strengths of the Australian a...
Unsupervised Decomposition of Mixed Pixels Using the Maximum Entropy Principle

Due to the wide existence of mixed pixels, the derivation of constituent components (endmembers) and their proportions (abundances) at subpixel scales has become an important research topic. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised decomposition method based on the classical maximum entropy principle, termed uMaxEnt. The algorithm integrates a global least square error-based endmember detection and a per-pixel maximum entropy learning to find the most possible proportions. We apply the proposed method to the subject of spectral unmixing. The experimental results obtained from both simulated and real hyper-spectral data demonstrate the effectiveness of the uMaxEnt method
Cyclic Electrochemical Inactivation and Restoration of Competence of Bone Matrix to Transform Fibroblasts

Abstract Brief exposure of rat bone matrix to highly charged electrochemicals had profound but reversible effects on its competence to transform fibroblasts into chondroblasts and osteoblasts. Suppression and subsequent reactivation of this function were influenced critically by the charge of the electrochemical reagent and the pH of the reaction mixture. In dilute acids, Evans Blue, a long electronegative molecule, suppressed transforming competence, whereas hexadimethrine, a polycationic quaternary ammonium base, failed to do so. A cycle of inactivation-restoration of transforming competence was achieved by sequential treatment of bone matrix with Evans Blue followed by hexadimethrine; an electrochemical complex was demonstrated by histochemistry. In dilute alkalies, hexadimethrine inhibited, whereas, Evans Blue did not suppress the transforming function of the bone matrix. Electric charge characteristics on the surface of the bone matrix are of crucial significance for the fibroblast-transforming attribute.
Affective, Behavioral, and Avoidance Responses on the Visual Cliff: Effects of Crawling Onset Age, Crawling Experience, and Testing Age

Two visual cliff experiments with human infants are reported that were designed to determine relationships among cardiac responses, avoidance and other behavioral responses, and developmental factors. The developmental factors considered were age at crawling onset, age at testing, and amount of crawling experience. In Experiment 1, infants were given either 30 or 60 days of crawling experience following crawling onset. In Experiment 2, infants were tested at either 9 or 12 months of age and crawling onset age was recorded. Infants were tested using a crawling avoidance procedure and the placing procedure that has been established for heart rate responses. Crawling onset age was the best predictor of avoidance behavior. Heart rate response was also a significant predictor of visual cliff avoidance, and was found to be related to testing age, especially for late crawlers. Looking down behavior was also found to distinguish crawling avoidance and crossing of the deep side of the cliff apparatus. These results, it is argued, suggest that fear is not the primary determinant of avoidance behavior on the visual cliff, but does contribute to avoidance at later ages.
Regulation of the transcriptional activity of poised RNA polymerase II by the elongation factor ELL

Many developmentally regulated genes contain a poised RNA polymerase II (Pol II) at their promoters under conditions where full-length transcripts are undetectable. It has been proposed that the transcriptional activity of such promoters is regulated at the elongation stage of Pol II transcription. In Drosophila, the heat-shock loci expressing the Hsp70 genes have been used as a model for the regulation of the transcriptional activity of poised Pol II. Drosophila ELL (dELL) is a Pol II elongation factor capable of stimulating the rate of transcription both in vivo and in vitro. Although ELL and the elongation factor Elongin A have indistinguishable effects on RNA polymerase in vitro, the loss-of-function studies indicate that these proteins are not redundant in vivo. In this article, we use RNAi to investigate the physiological properties of dELL and a dELL-associated factor (dEaf) in a living organism. Both ELL and Eaf are essential for fly development. dELL is recruited to heat shock loci upon induction, and its presence with Pol II at such loci is required for proper heat-shock gene expression. Consistent with a role in elongation, dELL knockdown reduces the levels of phosphorylated Pol II at heat-shock loci. This study implicates dELL in the expression of loci regulated by Pol II elongation.
Random Strategies and Sex Differences in the Prisoner's Dilemma Game

Forty-eight male and 48 female subjects were randomly assigned to same-sex or mixed-sex simulated other dyads and played a reiterated Prisoner's Dilemma game consisting of 10 trials at either 80% cooperative or 20% cooperative, randomly programmed, followed by 50 trials of within trial tit-for-tat. Significant differences were found for trial blocks (p <.001), trial blocks by sex of partner (p <.01), trial blocks by pretreatment (p <.05), and trial blocks by sex of subject by pretreatment condition (p <.001). When all experimental groups were combined, there was an increase shown in cooperative behavior from the initial pretreatment to the final block of trials. Male partners elicited a higher level of cooperation than female partners when the initial interaction was cooperative. The 80% cooperative groups cooperated at a higher level than the 20% cooperative groups. And finally, the female groups cooperated at a higher level than the male groups in both pretreatment conditions.
In Defense of Autonomy: A Critique of the Public Journalism Critique

This article argues that public journalism as a reform movement has failed to appreciate the complexity of professional autonomy arid the occupational benefits it affords to practitioners. The article describes how the dynamics of professional. socialization predispose journalists to guardedly protect their independence. What might appear to be a defensive orientation is, in fact, quite understandable, given numerous threats to autonomy originating from inside and outside the neu'-sroom. Would-be reformers should articulate how autonomy could be protected-but recast- as professional expertise directed at political activation. The author discusses the implications of this argument for theory of press reform and for college instruction.
Brief The analysis of optimization based controllers

Many control techniques employ on-line optimization in the determination of a control policy. We develop a framework which provides sufficient convex conditions, in the form of linear matrix inequalities, for the analysis of constrained quadratic based optimization schemes. These results encompass standard robustness analysis problems for a wide variety of receding horizon control schemes, including those with polytopic and structured uncertainty. A simple example illustrates the methodology.
Those Wonderful Pioneer Years of SSRL: A Personal Reflection

It is a rare moment in the history of science when a new capability is born that transforms our ability to “see” what is happening in the world in which we live. The use of the light emitted from accelerating electrons as they are bent by magnetic fields that was pioneered at SSRL in the 1970s is not just another example of this, but arguably is the most important development in the history of science in enabling us to “see” the world of electrons and atoms. There is, in addition, a special feature of the new capability enabled by synchrotron radiation: it is likely to remain, in the future, the best way to see the microscopic world forever. This is because the light used to “see” does not only have all the intensity one needs, but also because all its properties can be adjusted so as to provide the ideal illumination for the particular thing one wants to “see.” Thus, literally what was born at SSRL, which has since then been and will be continually improved, will forever provide our species the ability t...
Behavioural Studies on Some Rhodesian Rodents

AbstractField studies (Lake Kariba shoreline and Salisbury) and experiments with a captive colony of 12 species of Rhodesian rodents were undertaken for a period of three years. Comparative behavioural data are presented here with special reference to den and nest behaviour, group and territorial behaviour, reproductive and juvenile behaviour, and activity pattern. No species was found to be truly gregarious except Dendromus mesomelas, but Praomys (Mastomys) natalensis, Lemniscomys griselda, Tatera leucogaster, and Aethomys chrysophilus were found to tolerate crowded conditions in captivity. Nipple dragging of young was found in both species of Aethomys and in Acomys, with the remainder observed to utilise mouth carrying behaviour. It was noted that especially in Rhabdomys and Praomys (Mastomysj, and also in Lemniscomys, young have a strong tendency to scatter in all directions from a disturbed nest, even before their eyes open. The significance of nipple dragging, scattering and crowding behaviour and co...
Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music by Steve Larson

Performers and audiences alike have meaningful responses to music, but not everyone is interested in discussing theories about musical meaning. It's the kind of subject that either entices or repel...
Modeling a Retweet Network via an Adaptive Bayesian Approach

Twitter (and similar microblogging services) has become a central nexus for discussion of the topics of the day. Twitter data contains rich content and structured information on users' topics of interest and behavior patterns. Correctly analyzing and modeling Twitter data enables the prediction of the user behavior and preference in a variety of practical applications, such as tweet recommendation and followee recommendation. Although a number of models have been developed on Twitter data in prior work, most of these only model the tweets from users, while neglecting their valuable retweet information in the data. Models would enhance their predictive power by incorporating users' retweet content as well as their retweet behavior. In this paper, we propose two novel Bayesian nonparametric models, URM and UCM, on retweet data. Both of them are able to integrate the analysis of tweet text and users' retweet behavior in the same probabilistic framework. Moreover, they both jointly model users' interest in tweet and retweet. As nonparametric models, URM and UCM can automatically determine the parameters of the models based on input data, avoiding arbitrary parameter settings. Extensive experiments on real-world Twitter data show that both URM and UCM are superior to all the baselines, while UCM further outperforms URM, confirming the appropriateness of our models in retweet modeling.
Allergic fungal sinusitis: an underdiagnosed problem.

(1992). Allergic Fungal Sinusitis: An Underdiagnosed Problem. Hospital Practice: Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 73-92.
The Role of Glycogenin in Glycogen Synthesis and Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus

The principal defect in the majority of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients is impaired glycogenesis in skeletal muscle in response to insulin. Glycogen synthesis is initiated by transfer of glucosyl residues to the tyrosine OH at position 194 of a 37KD primer protein named glycogenin (1,2). While the enzymatic details of the first glucose addition have not yet been determined, addition of the next 8 or 9 glucose residues is autocatalytic. Subsequent elongation of this product by an enzyme named proglycogen synthase, yields an intermediate (proglycogen, M.W. 400,000) that is subsequently enlarged some 25-fold to mature glycogen of M.W. lo7 by glycogen synthase (3). Cultured quail skeletal muscle cells, starved of glucose by incubation in glucose-free medium overnight, contained very little glycogen, (Table 1) that was principally in the form of proglycogen. Following transfer to hyperglycemic medium (25 mM glucose), the glycogen content increased several hundred-fold within 4 hrs. This increase was stimulated by insulin (Table 1). The insulin effect was not observed when the cells were pretreated for 2 hrs with dexamethasone (1 pM). Glucocorticoids also block insulin stimulation in skeletal muscle in vivQ (4).
Biogenic Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Higher Plants

Publisher Summary The biosphere, especially vegetation, releases a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere. Some of these biogenic VOCs are emitted in surprisingly large amounts and have high enough chemical reactivity to significantly affect the chemistry of the atmosphere. Most living systems directly or indirectly exchange volatile chemical compounds with the atmosphere. Over biological time, the major gases exchanged with living organisms have included carbon dioxide, with production by respiring organisms and uptake by photosynthetic and chemoautotrophic organisms; oxygen (O2), with production by photosynthetic organisms and uptake by aerobic respiration; and nitrogen (N2), which is produced by denitrifying bacteria and taken up by nitrogen-fixing bacteria. This chapter describes the major biogenic VOCs emitted by higher plants and the mechanisms of their formation. In addition, the chapter describes the regulation and roles of formation of VOCs and their emission from plant surfaces. The details of these biochemical and biological processes are complex, comparable in complexity to the photochemistry of VOCs in the atmosphere, but need to be appreciated to accurately model regional and global biogenic VOC emissions.
Analysis of Third-order Intermodulation in Receiver Down-Converter Employing Multiband Feedback

This paper presents an analysis of the third-order intermodulation characteristics of a recently reported receiver down-converter with multiband feedback and current reuse. This design not only achieves very a high gain with a low-current requirement but also provides an inherent cancellation mechanism for enhancing the linearity of the topology. By employing the signal feedback scheme, the inherent second-order nonlinearity of the tail current sources of differential pairs that are used to provide gain at baseband can be used to cancel the third-order intermodulation distortion resulting from the same devices. Circuit simulation using 0.13-?m RF CMOS process shows an IIP3 improvement of 4 dB in comparison to its normal cascaded counterpart.
Increased Calreticulin Expression in Clonal Plasma Cells Is Associated with Complete Response to Melphalan and Autologous Stem Cell Transplant in Systemic Light-Chain Amyloidosis.

Systemic light-chain amyloidosis (AL) is a protein deposition disorder and a monoclonal plasma cell disease. Treatment of AL has focused on the reduction or elimination of the clonal plasma cells that make amyloid-forming light chains. High-dose melphalan and stem cell transplant (MEL SCT) is an effective therapy for selected AL patients. At 3 months post-SCT, response of the clonal plasma cell disease can be reliably scored; the achievement of a complete response (CR= immunofixation negative) is usually associated with extended survival while no response (NR= 95% pure) from untreated AL patients before SCT. Supervised analyses were then performed based on responses at 3 months post-SCT, comparing the CR (n=4) and NR (n=5) groups. The basic analysis was a t-test, filtering genes for differential expression at p WARS , SHMT2 , IARS , CALR , and PSMB4 . Our initial validation studies, using purified baseline clonal plasma cells from 11 patients and baseline marrow biopsy specimens from 25 patients, have focused on calreticulin ( CALR ) and tryptophanyl tRNA synthetase ( WARS ). By real-time polymerase chain reaction studies with GAPDH and normal plasma cell controls, the expression levels of CALR were significantly lower in NR patients (p=0.02) while differences in WARS expression did not achieve significance (p=0.25). By immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for CALR in marrow biopsies, a CALR IHC index was developed, with scoring of the fraction of plasma cells expressing CALR (over total CD138 positivity) and intensity of CALR staining (both scored 0, 1, 2 or 3; the scores were multiplied to compute the index, range 0–9). CALR-stained marrows were scored blindly. Patients with CALR index of 9 had an 88% likelihood of achieving CR while those with scores of 0–6 had a 39% chance (Fisher’s exact test, p=0.046). In sum, calreticulin expression in clonal plasma cells from AL patients is associated with the response to MEL SCT. Further studies are on-going to determine the basis for this association.
Markers’ criteria in assessing English essays: an exploratory study of the higher secondary school certificate (HSCC) in the Punjab province of Pakistan

Marking of essays is mainly carried out by human raters who bring in their own subjective and idiosyncratic evaluation criteria, which sometimes lead to discrepancy. This discrepancy may in turn raise issues like reliability and fairness. The current research attempts to explore the evaluation criteria of markers on a national level high stakes examination conducted at 12th grade by three examination boards in the South of Pakistan. Fifteen markers and 30 students participated in the study. For this research, data came from quantitative as well as qualitative sources. Qualitative data came in the form of scores on a set of three essays that all the fifteen markers in the study marked. For the purpose of this study, they weren’t provided with any rating scale as to replicate the current practices. Qualitative data came from semi-structured interviews with the selected markers and short written commentaries by the markers to rationalize their scores on the essays. Many-facet Rasch model analyses present differences in raters’ consistency of scoring and the severity they exercised. Additionally, an analysis of the interviews and the commentaries written by raters justifying the scores they gave showed that there is a great deal of variability in their assessment criteria in terms of grammar, attitude towards mistakes, handwriting, length, creativity and organization and use of cohesive devices. The study shows a great deal of variability amongst markers, in their actual scores as well as in the criteria they use to assess English essays. Even they apply the same evaluation criteria, markers differ in the relative weight they give them.
Just Cause for Termination Rules and Economic Efficiency

In recent years, courts have riddled the employment at-will doctrine with exceptions while many authorities have called for it to be replaced with a legally enforceable right to be free from unjust dismissal. This article concludes that the bad effects of reform outweigh the good effects of abandoning at-will employment. A legal rule that the termination of employment is prima facie a legal wrong leaves employers and employees alike worse off than in the unreformed system where the presumption of at-will employment holds.
Targeted combination therapy with fulvestrant (FUL) for second-line (2L) treatment of hormone receptor-positive (HR+) advanced breast cancer (ABC).

e12527Background: FUL is the recommended 2L treatment for patients whose HR+ ABC progressed after aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy. In first line ABC adding targeted therapy, eg. cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) palbociclib or ribociclib, or mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor (mTORi) everolimus (EVE), to endocrine therapy (ET) has shown superior efficacy vs ET alone. The use of similar strategies to delay disease progression on ET in the 2L setting is an area of active research. Methods: PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for trials investigating FUL + targeted therapies in 2L HR+ ABC. Search terms: (advanced OR metastatic) AND (breast cancer) AND (FUL OR faslodex) AND (2L OR relapse OR refractory OR resistant OR progression). Efficacy, adverse events (AEs) and quality of life were assessed. Results: 28 studies of FUL + targeted therapies in 2L ABC were found. Key randomized trials include 8 studies exploring FUL + CDK4/6i: palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib. Palbociclib ...
True Leadership: Leading with Meaning

Leadership is an enduring subject for research, writing, and discussion. There are almost endless theoretical and fundamental explanations as to what leadership is and what makes a good leader. The research has gone through various different phases. Intended for all audiences but specifically written for an Executive Education course, this technical note identifies some of the contemporary theories and prominent thinkers in the field of leadership and outlines the basics of their views. Excerpt UVA-E-0364 Rev. Dec. 2, 2011 True Leadership: Leading with Meaning Leadership is one of the world's oldest preoccupations. —Bernard Bass Leadership is an enduring subject for research, writing, and discussion. There are almost endless theoretical and fundamental explanations as to what leadership is and what makes a good leader. As Ralph Stogdill observes in his 900-page survey of scholarly research on the topic, “There are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept.” It seems that practically every CEO of a Fortune 500 company has written his or her own leadership book—some bestsellers, many not—as have a host of politicians and presidents. Many of these works fall into a blueprint format and invariably portray the leader as succeeding against Herculean obstacles and barriers. Then there is a raft of motivational books on leadership, but the sad fact of these, according to Bruce Pasternack, “is that leadership manuals deliver mainly truisms, pap, and gross generalizations.” And few even attempt to describe the process of becoming a leader. . . .
Guidelines for the management of a brain death donor in the rhesus macaque: A translational transplant model.

Introduction The development of a translatable brain death animal model has significant potential to advance not only transplant research, but also the understanding of the pathophysiologic changes that occur in brain death and severe traumatic brain injury. The aim of this paper is to describe a rhesus macaque model of brain death designed to simulate the average time and medical management described in the human literature. Methods Following approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a brain death model was developed. Non-human primates were monitored and maintained for 20 hours after brain death induction. Vasoactive agents and fluid boluses were administered to maintain hemodynamic stability. Endocrine derangements, particularly diabetes insipidus, were aggressively managed. Results A total of 9 rhesus macaque animals were included in the study. The expected hemodynamic instability of brain death in a rostral to caudal fashion was documented in terms of blood pressure and heart rate changes. During the maintenance phase of brain death, the animal’s temperature and hemodynamics were maintained with goals of mean arterial pressure greater than 60mmHg and heart rate within 20 beats per minute of baseline. Resuscitation protocols are described so that future investigators may reproduce this model. Conclusion We have developed a reproducible large animal primate model of brain death which simulates clinical scenarios and treatment. Our model offers the opportunity for researchers to have translational model to test the efficacy of therapeutic strategies prior to human clinical trials.
Level shifter design for voltage stacking

As chips increase in complexity with ever increasing power consumption, pressure in efficient power delivery mechanism such as multi-VDD, voltage stacked and DVS continues to rise. The main objective is to reduce the overall current delivered to the chip. For instance, in voltage stacking, if the circuit is stacked in 2 levels and supply voltage is doubled, the current drawn will be reduced by half. Hence, the same amount of power is delivered, but with half the current. With the prevalence of systems using those techniques, level shifters will have to be optimally designed to perform fast with low power. As the number of level shifters grows, area consumption becomes another design factor. This study explores different types of existing level shifters for voltage stacking application, their optimal sizing and energy, delay and area trade-offs. It includes effect the of PVT variation as another design factor and its impact on delay and energy consumption. We will also propose modifications to the best energy-delay level shifter to reduce its area overhead.
PopperCI: Automated reproducibility validation

This paper introduces PopperCI, a continous integration (CI) service hosted at UC Santa Cruz that allows researchers to automate the end-to-end execution and validation of experiments. PopperCI assumes that experiments follow Popper, a convention for implementing experiments and writing articles following a DevOps approach that has been proposed recently. PopperCI runs experiments on public, private or government-fundend cloud infrastructures in a fully automated way. We describe how PopperCI executes experiments and present a use case that illustrates the usefulness of the service.
Visual Pathways, Anatomy and Field Defects

The shape and distribution of visual field loss closely reflect the site of a lesion affecting the optic pathways. Nerve fiber bundle defects are field abnormalities in which at least part of the border coincides with the course of the retinal nerve fiber layer. Peripheral nerve fiber bundle defects in the nasal field tend to have an arcuate shape when they are secondary to retinal or optic nerve disease. Although monocular visual field defects are usually due to retinal or optic nerve disease, in the early stages of a chiasmatic lesion the loss may be restricted to the temporal portion of the field corresponding to the ipsilateral eye. Bitemporal field defects are most often due to a compressive mass lesion affecting the optic chiasm, such as pituitary tumors. A central defect in one field with a superior temporal defect in the opposite field points to the involvement of the anterior angle of the chiasm, with damage of the ipsilateral optic nerve and of the loop made by the fibers from the inferonasal retina of the other eye (Wilbrand's knee). Because of its localizing implications, this type of visual field defect has been termed junctional scotoma. Homonymous hemianopias appear with lesions in the retrochiasmatic pathways. Homonymous hemianopia may thus be caused by lesions affecting the optic tract, lateral geniculate body, optic radiations, or occipital lobe. Homonymous hemianopias affecting the tract and lateral geniculate body tend to be incongruous, but the more posteriorly the lesion is located in the optic pathways, the greater the congruity of the defect in either field. Superior homonymous quadrantic defects (pie-in-the-sky field defects) may result from a lesion in the temporal (Meyer's) loop of the optic radiations or in the inferior bank of the calcarine fissure. Involvement of the optic radiations in the depth of the parietal lobe gives rise to an inferior quadrantic defect (pie-on-the-floor defect). Medial occipital lesions cause highly congruous homonymous hemianopias. Bilateral occipital lobe lesions may occur from a single or consecutive events and may cause bilateral homonymous scotomas, usually with some macular sparing (ring scotomas), that respect the vertical midline.
Variations in Cigarette Smoking and Quit Attempts by Health Insurance Among US Adults in 41 States and 2 Jurisdictions, 2014.

Objectives:Information on the impact of health insurance on smoking and quit attempts at the state level is limited. We examined the state-specific prevalence of cigarette smoking and past-year qui...
Demographic and Dietary Associations of Chronic Diarrhea in a Representative Sample of Adults in the United States

Demographic and Dietary Associations of Chronic Diarrhea in a Representative Sample of Adults in the United States
A comparison of both DENSE and feature tracking techniques with tagging for the cardiovascular magnetic resonance assessment of myocardial strain

Myocardial strain is increasingly recognized as an important assessment for myocardial function. In addition, it also improves outcome prediction. However, there is lack of standardization in strain evaluation by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). In this study we compared strain values using multiple techniques and multiple vendor products. Prospectively recruited patients with cardiomyopathy of diverse etiology (N = 77) and healthy controls (N = 10) underwent CMR on a 1.5 T scanner. Tagging, displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) and balanced stead state free precession cine imaging were acquired on all subjects. A single matched mid left ventricular (LV) short axis plane was used for the comparisons of peak circumferential (Ecc) and radial strain (Err) and a 4-chamber view for longitudinal strain (Ell). Tagging images were analyzed using harmonic phase (HARP) and displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) images using a proprietary program. Feature tracking (FT) was evaluated using 3 commercially available software from Tomtec Imaging Systems, Cardiac Image Modeller (CIM), and Circle Cardiovascular Imaging. Tagging data were used as reference. Statistic analyses were performed using paired t-test, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Bland Altman limits of agreement and coefficient of variations. Average LV ejection fraction was 50% (range 32 to 62%). Regional LV wall motion abnormalities were present in 48% of the analyzed planes. The average Ecc was − 13 ± 4%, − 13 ± 4%, − 16 ± 6%, − 10 ± 3% and − 14 ± 4% for tagging, DENSE, Tomtec, CIM and Circle, respectively, with the best agreement seen in DENSE and Circle with tagging. The Err was highly varied with poor agreement across the techniques, 32 ± 24%, 40 ± 28%, 47 ± 26%, 64 ± 33% and 23 ± 9% for tagging, DENSE, Tomtec, CIM and Circle, respectively. The average Ell was − 14 ± 4%, − 8 ± 3%, − 13 ± 5%, − 11 ± 3% and − 12 ± 4% for tagging, DENSE, Tomtec, CIM and Circle, respectively with the best agreement seen in Tomtec and Circle with tagging. In the intra- and inter-observer agreement analysis the reproducibility of each technique was good except for Err by HARP. Small but important differences are evident in Ecc and Ell comparisons among vendors while large differences are seen in Err assessment. Our findings suggest that CMR strain values are technique and vendor dependent. Hence, it is essential to develop reference standard from each technique and analytical product for clinical use, and to sequentially compare patient data using the same software.
Strain relaxation via formation of cracks in compositionally modulated two-dimensional semiconductor alloys

Composition modulation of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has introduced an enticing prospect for the synthesis of Van der Waals alloys and lateral heterostructures with tunable optoelectronic properties. Phenomenologically, the optoelectronic properties of alloys are entangled to a strain that is intrinsic to synthesis processes. Here, we report an unprecedented biaxial strain that stems from the composition modulation of monolayer TMD alloys (e.g., MoS2xSe2(1 - x)) and inflicts fracture on the crystals. We find that the starting crystal (MoSe2) fails to adjust its lattice constant as the atoms of the host crystal (selenium) are replaced by foreign atoms (sulfur) during the alloying process. Thus, the resulting alloy forms a stretched lattice and experiences a large biaxial tensile strain. Our experiments show that the biaxial strain relaxes via formation of cracks in interior crystal domains or through less constraint bounds at the edge of the monolayer alloys. Griffith’s criterion suggests that defects combined with a sulfur-rich environment have the potential to significantly reduce the critical strain at which cracking occurs. Our calculations demonstrate a substantial reduction in fracture-inducing critical strain from 11% (in standard TMD crystals) to a range below 4% in as-synthesized alloys. Composition modulation synthesis of ternary alloys of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides gives rise to intrinsic biaxial strain. A team led by Ali Adibi at Georgia Institute of Technology reported the onset of a substantial biaxial strain in monolayer MoS2xSe2(1-x) that is intrinsically linked to the two-step composition modulation synthesis used to grow the ternary alloy. As the S atoms replace the Se atoms of the starting MoSe2 host crystal, the resulting alloy forms a stretched lattice and develops a large biaxial tensile strain. Morphological and spectroscopic characterisations suggest that such strain results in the onset of fracture in the crystal, and further relaxes via formation of cracks within the crystal domains. Theoretical modelling indicates that pre-existing cracks give a substantial contribution in weakening the strength of the synthesized van der Waals alloy.
A volumetric water budget of Devils Lake (USA): non-stationary precipitation–runoff relationships in an amplifier terminal lake

Devils Lake, a terminal lake in eastern North Dakota, rose more than 9 m between 1992 and 2013, producing a 286% increase in lake area, and causing more than US$1 billion in direct damages. An annu...
Multiparameter Analysis of Immunogenetic Mechanisms in Clinical Diagnosis and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The integrity of the intestinal mucosa depends on a functional coordination of the epithelium, lumenal microorganisms, and the local immune system. The mammalian immune system is superbly organized for innate and adaptive recognition of microbial antigens, a defensive capacity that must be balanced against the tissue damage produced by immune activity to preserve normal intestinal function. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is generally thought to reflect an impairment in this balance, due to a combination of host genetic traits that shift the balance of immune and epithelial function to commensal microbiota, and perhaps the composition or activity of certain microbial elements as well.
Recent Studies Related to Clear Air Turbulence

This is a brief review of recent work at Stanford Research Institute related to clear air turbulence. Four separate topics are covered: (1) Computer techniques of forecasting the probability of encountering CAT (2) The climatology of CAT (3) Analysis of high resolution vertical wind profiles (4) Lidar observations of atmospheric structure indicating air motion.