cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insulator‐based dielectrophoretic single particle and single cancer cell trapping

Trapping of individual cells at specific locations in a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip platform is essential for single cell studies, especially those requiring individual stimulation followed by downstream analysis. To this aim, we have designed microdevices based on direct current (DC) insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) acting as individual single cell traps. We present both the design of a negative iDEP trap and a positive iDEP trap using insulating posts integrated at microchannel intersections. We obtained electric field distributions via numerical simulations adapted to the intersection and trap geometry with which we predict single particle pathlines. With polystyrene particles of 10 μm diameter, we demonstrated an effective design for a single particle trap in the case of negative dielectrophoresis. The onset trapping voltage shows an inverse relation to the buffer conductivity, thus indicating the influence of electrokinetic effects on the trapping behavior. Additionally, we demonstrated the proof-of-principle of single MCF-7 breast cancer cell trapping in a positive iDEP trap. Our single particle trapping experiments were further in very good agreement with numerical simulations. To ensure that no significant damage occurred to the cells during the experiment, we further optimized medium conditions to ensure viability of the cells for at least 1 h, more than sufficient for microfluidic trapping experiments. Our results thus indicated the successful design of DC iDEP traps, which can easily be integrated into a variety of microchip operations for single cell analysis.
Canadian raising in a midwestern U.S. city

This article provides evidence from a small city in the northern United States for Canadian raising, the raising of /au/ and /ai/ to [AU] and [Ai]. As hypothesized, /ai/-raising is much more frequent and regular, but /au/-raising also occurs. Speech style is statistically significant only for /ai/-raising. The raising of /ai/ is not significant for gender or age, but /au/-raising seems to be led by young women. This evidence suggests that, while /ai/-raising has been fully entrenched in this phonological system for some time, /au/-raising is a new and separate change in progress. The /au/-diphthong is also often fronted when raised, a finding similar to several Canadian studies (Chambers, 1981a; Hung, Davison, & Chambers, 1993). This suggests that the Canadian varieties studied may not, as previously suggested (Chambers, 1981b), be conforming to the U.S. norm, but instead that the two varieties are converging.
Neutron radiotherapy in South Africa: neutron radiotherapy: a different perspective.

This correspondence is in response to the article: Abratt RP. The fast neutron therapy programme for patients in South Africa should come to an end. S Afr Med J 2012;102(2):58. Other correspondence in this series: Neutron radiotherapy should continue. S Afr Med J 2012;102(5):269-270; Neutron radiotherapy, Abratt reply. S Afr Med J 2012;102(5):270-217; Neutron radiotherapy: Society comments. S Afr Med J 2012;102(5):271; Neutron radiotherapy: Abratt supported. S Afr Med J 2012;102(5):271.
Post-trip philanthropic intentions of nature-based tourists in Galapagos

Researchers and practitioners often highlight the potential for nature-based tourism and environmental conservation to function symbiotically, with favourable outcomes for visitors and the environment alike. This paper draws on data from two sets of passengers on weeklong cruises in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador to explore philanthropic intentions resulting from such nature-based tourism experiences. Our findings suggest that the Galapagos experience fosters enjoyment of the environment, new knowledge about that environment, an affective connection with the environment and the local wildlife, and an interest in sharing those connections with others – trip characteristics that are related with intentions to philanthropically support environmental conservation in the Galapagos. Visitors in this study also exhibited values that related to the amounts they were willing to donate in support of a philanthropic fund for the islands’ conservation needs. This study contributes to the emerging scholarship on tra...
Detection of the Antimicrobial Triclosan in Environmental Samples by Immunoassay

A sensitive, competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of the antimicrobial triclosan (TCS; 2,4,4′-trichloro-2′-hydroxydiphenyl ether) was developed. Novel immunizing haptens were synthesized by derivatizing at the 4-Cl position of the TCS molecule. Compounds derived from substitutions at 4′-Cl and that replaced the 2′-OH with a Cl atom were designed as unique coating antigen haptens. Polyclonal rabbit antisera were screened against the coating antigen library to identify combinations of immunoreagents resulting in the most sensitive assays. The most sensitive assay identified was one utilizing antiserum no. 1155 and a heterologous competitive hapten, where the 2′-OH group was substituted with a Cl atom. An IC50 value and the detection range for TCS in assay buffer were 1.19 and 0.21–6.71 μg/L, respectively. The assay was selective for TCS, providing low cross-reactivity (<5%) to the major metabolites of TCS and to brominated diphenyl ether-47. A second assay utilizing a comp...
Single nucleotide polymorphism tightly linked to a major QTL on chromosome 7A for both kernel length and kernel weight in wheat

Thousand-kernel weight (TKW) is one of the major components of grain yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum). Identifying major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for TKW and developing effective markers are prerequisite for success in marker-assisted selection (MAS) to improve wheat yield through breeding. This study mapped a major QTL, designated as TaTKW-7AL, for increasing TKW on the long arm of chromosome 7A of ‘Clark’ to a 1.3-cM interval between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers IWB13913 and IWA5913. This QTL explained 19.7 % of the phenotypic variation for TKW. A QTL for increasing kernel length (KL), one of the major components of TKW, was mapped in the same interval as TaTKW-7AL, suggesting that increased TKW by the QTL in ‘Clark’ is most likely due to the increased KL. Association analysis on a diversity panel of 200 US winter wheat accessions also identified a haplotype of three SNP markers (IWB13913, IWB6693 and IWA5913) that were tightly associated with the both KL and TKW. The analysis of allele frequencies of the haplotype in the diversity panel suggested that the favorable allele of TaTKW-7AL has not been strongly selected for in practice and has potential to be used to improve grain yield in US hard winter wheat breeding. Two user-friendly flanking KASPar markers, IWB13913 and IWA5913, were developed for MAS of TaTKW-7AL.
Tandem metathesis reactions of oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptenes: studies on the spirocyclic core of cyclopamine.

A rapid approach to the spirocyclic core of cyclopamine was achieved in four steps from 2-pentenyl-furan. A furan Diels−Alder reaction followed by a one-pot dehalogenation/amination sequence provid...
Diagonalizing Positive Definite Matrices

(1966). Diagonalizing Positive Definite Matrices. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 226-227.
Central intranodal vessels to predict cytology during endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration.

Background: There has been recent interest in identifying the endoscopic ultrasonographic characteristics of lymph nodes (LNs) that predict the presence or absence of malignant involvement. Normal LN anatomy includes the presence of a central intranodal blood vessel (CIV) that can be obliterated with invasion of malignant cells. We sought to determine whether examining LNs for the presence or absence of a CIV during endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) could predict benign or malignant cytology of the samples obtained. Methods: We prospectively evaluated patients undergoing EBUS-transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) for mediastinal or hilar adenopathy in a tertiary care referral center. All LNs were prospectively characterized as having or not having a CIV and subsequently classified as benign or malignant by cytologic analysis. Results: A total of 56 patients undergoing EBUS-TBNA were evaluated. One hundred three LNs were available for analysis. Fifty-six of 103 LNs were positive for malignancy (54.3%). Ultrasonographic identification of a CIV was associated with benign LN cytology with a sensitivity of 83.0% and a specificity of 91.1% and an OR of 49.7 (95% confidence interval, 15.1-163.9). Finding a CIV had a positive predictive value for benign LN cytology of 88.6%. The absence of finding a CIV had a positive predictive value for malignant cytology of 86.4%. The presence or absence of a CIV had an overall diagnostic accuracy of 87.4% (correctly categorizing 90 of 103 LNs). Conclusions: There are morphologic characteristics of LNs that can be visualized at the time of EBUS to help predict whether the nodes being evaluated have malignant involvement. The presence of a CIV suggests that the node is benign, whereas the absence of a central intranodal vessel increases the likelihood of malignancy. The presence or absence of a CIV has a good overall accuracy in predicting malignancy (87.4%).
The Social Contract and Alzheimer’s

Don’t worry too much about terrorism. According to the National Safety Council, your odds of dying from a terrorist attack in the USA are 1 in 20 million. While the US government raises its defense budget by billions of dollars every year to protect you from this terrorist threat, or possibly a nuclear attack from the evil empire, consider the greater danger of dying from being struck by lightning (odds 1 in 5 million) or drowning in a bathtub (odds 1 in 800,000). Somehow, the US government in its mystifying reasoning has decided that infinitely more money should be budgeted to keep terrorists from harming you than to put that money to find a cure or prevention for any disease known to man that can and will more readily kill you.
The Application of Glibenclamide in Traumatic Brain Injury

Sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) is a known component of ATP-sensitive potassium channels in the pancreas but more recently has been identified in association with a nonselective cation channel, transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4). SUR1-TRPM4 channels are upregulated in all members of the neurovascular unit in response to mechanical trauma. Channel opening results in sodium influx, oncotic swelling, and cell death and plays a critical role in microvascular dysfunction, edema formation, and progressive secondary hemorrhage following traumatic brain injury. Sulfonylureas, including glibenclamide, bind to SUR1 and inhibit opening of the SUR1-TRPM4 channel and have the potential to minimize posttraumatic secondary injury. Preclinical studies confirm the ability of glibenclamide to reduce hemorrhage volumes, prevent capillary fragmentation, reduce edema, and improve cognitive outcomes. A Phase II trial recently completed recruitment and was designed to provide information about drug efficacy and safety.
A data-driven search for semen-related phenotypes in conception delay.

Sperm count, morphology, and motility have been reported to be predictive of pregnancy, although with equivocal basis prompting some authors to question the prognostic value of semen analysis. To assess the utility of including semen quality data in predicting conception delay or requiring >6 cycles to become pregnant (referred to as conception delay), we utilized novel data-driven analytic techniques in a pre-conception cohort of couples prospectively followed up for time-to-pregnancy. The study cohort comprised 402 (80%) male partners who provided semen samples and had time-to-pregnancy information. Female partners used home pregnancy tests and recorded results in daily journals. Odds ratios (OR), false discovery rates, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for conception delay (time-to-pregnancy > 6 cycles) were estimated for 40 semen quality phenotypes comprising 35 semen quality endpoints and 5 closely related fecundity determinants (body mass index, time of contraception, lipids, cotinine and seminal white blood cells). Both traditional and strict sperm phenotype measures were associated with lower odds of conception delay. Specifically, for an increase in percent morphologically normal spermatozoa using traditional methods, we observed a 40% decrease in conception delay (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.50, 0.81; p = 0.0003). Similarly, for an increase in strict criteria, we observed a 30% decrease in odds for conception delay (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.52, 0.83; p = 0.001). On the other hand, an increase in percent coiled tail spermatozoa was associated with a 40% increase in the odds for conception delay (OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.75; p = 0.003). However, our findings suggest that semen phenotypes have little predictive value of conception delay (area under the curve of 73%). In a multivariate model containing significant semen factors and traditional risk factors (i.e. age, body mass index, cotinine and ever having fathered a pregnancy), there was a modest improvement in prediction of conception delay (16% increase in area under the curve, p < 0.0002).
Does IT Lead to More Equal Treatment? An Empirical Study of the Effect of Smartphone Use on Customer Complaint Resolution

Customers with more education may get better service after complaining, because they are better placed to advocate for themselves. It is unclear how digitization of the consumer complaint process will change this situation. To investigate this, we analyze 364,189 customer complaints to the city of Boston. Empirically, complaints that originate from areas with high levels of education are more likely to be solved quickly. However, dedicated mobile app technologies that automate the complaint process can help mitigate the advantage conferred by education. Since the adoption of digital devices is endogenous to wealth and education, we instrument their usage using granular geographic data on a proxy for cellular signal strength. This analysis again suggests that mobile applications can partially eliminate the disparity between educated and uneducated people. We present suggestive evidence that this is because mobile devices and the standardization of communication they require, eliminate potential differences in treatment of cases that arise due to differences in communication skills. This result suggests that using newer forms of automated digital communication tools enhances equality in customer service.
Periodic Black Phosphorene Nanoribbons Infrared Edge Plasmon Enhanced Absorbance

This work demonstrates enhanced infrared light absorption due to edge confined strong plasmon enhancement in anisotropic black phosphorene nanoribbons. The absorption spectra peak position of nanoribbon is tunable in a wide infrared wavelength range.
Knowledge Structures and Social Interaction

The ways in which knowledge about people and the roles they play, as well as social interaction conventions and social contexts, is organized in long-term memory plays a vital role in the understanding of others’ actions and discourse, on the one hand, and the production of messages on the other. Once activated, the cognitive structures that organize this knowledge allow social actors to understand each other's behavior, including what is being said and how it is being said, and to respond to others rapidly and in meaningful ways. When social actors struggle to understand others’ intentions or have difficulty actualizing their intentions in speech and action, social interaction is disrupted; these disruptions may potentiate negative emotional states. Thus, mutual attunement to the knowledge structures guiding social interaction is necessary to promote efficient goal achievement and to ensure that goals are attained in a socially appropriate manner. Keywords: knowledge structures; message processing; message production
Self-Directed Learning Readiness, Individualism–Collectivism and Adult Student Learning in Online Environment: Development and Test of a Causal Model

Over the past few decades, distance learning as a training method has grown considerably. while distance learning has had different forms such as correspondence course, interactive television – the advent of technology – has enabled teaching institutions and individuals to engage in distance learning, notably online learning, as evidenced in the growth of online degrees. The education delivered through web-enabled technology has been an attractive aspect of obtaining education for adult learners who are full-time employees and/or have other commitments such as family obligations or engage in frequent travel. Given the asynchronous and flexible nature of learning it is of paramount importance to institutions and individuals to identify individual differences relating to the learning that may help or hamper their learning process.
Epilogue: Something New

Since the theory of elasticity originated primarily in the first half of the nineteenth century, most of the original work supporting the presentation in this introductory text is many decades old. Occasionally new developments emerge, even in a mature field. A recent contribution, countering the classical notion that material cannot have a negative Poisson’s ratio, is the development of a substance called antirubber that bulges in the middle when the ends are pulled. Also, modern material science has recently explored methods to coax metallic alloys into shapes that were only possible from molded plastics. The materials are known as “Glassimetals” referring to the alloys called metallic glasses and possess properties that promise to be useful as structural components or protective casings.
Mechanism of action of alpha2delta ligands: voltage sensitive calcium channel (VSCC) modulators.

ISSUE Voltage sensitive calcium channels (VSCCs) have unique structures and functions that distinguish them from other ion channels, especially the voltage sensitive sodium channels (VSSCs). Modulation of VSCCs by certain drugs such as pregabalin and gabapentin via binding to the alpha2delta subunits of VSCCs can lead to anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, and chronic pain-relieving actions.
Polarization asymmetry in high- p ⊥ inclusive production

We calculate the asymmetry A/sub L/L for scattering of longitudinally polarized protons from a polarized target in an effort to discriminate among constituent models of inclusive high-transverse-momentum hadron and jet production. A/sub L/L is defined by A/sub L/L = (Edsigma/sup +//sub L//d/sup 3/p - Edsigma/sup -//sub L//d/sup 3/p) /(Edsigma/sup +//sub L//d/sup 3/p + Edsigma/sup -//sub L//d/sup 3/p), where sigma/sup +//sub L/ (sigma/sup -//sub L/) is the pp cross section for the configuration in which the proton helicities are the same (opposite). For inclusive pion production the principal mechanism in the constituent-interchange model is quark-meson scattering, which leads to the prediction A/sub L/L = 0. However, in several recent models the mechanism for producing high-transverse-momentum pions invloves processes such as quark-quark scattering for which it is expected that A/sub L/L not = 0. In the present paper A/sub L/L is calculated for inclusive production of pions and jets in the phenomenological effective-gluon model and also in a model based on quantum chromodynamics. Among the important ingredients of such calculations are the distribution functions for quarks in a polarized proton. A new model of these is developed and compared to the most recent SLAC data. It is shown that even in modelsmore » where A/sub L/L not = 0, the magnitude and sign of A/sub L/L depend sensitively on the strong-interaction dynamics and hence can be used to discriminate among models of inclusive production.« less
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTAL RIDGE AUGMENTATION STUDIES WITH POROUS HYDROXYAPATITE CERAMIC IMPLANTS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the usefulness of replamineform hydroxyapatite (RHAP) in the augmentation of atrophic edentulous ridges using a simple insertion procedure. Coralline porous replamineform hydroxyapatite, when used as an implant for subperiosteal ridge augmentation's characterized by lack of toxicity and by a relatively rapid ingrowth of connective tissue and bone. The ability of the implanted ceramic to withstand soft tissue surgery, probably related to the network of living tissues within its pore structure, suggests that it can recover from localized denture trauma. Application of this technique of subperiosteal ceramic placement, if successful, could significantly modify current approaches to augmentation of the atrophic edentulous ridge. Insertion under local anesthesia in an office setting would be preferable to current techniques involving hospitalization, general anesthesia, and major surgery. The favorable results of these studies have formed the basis for controlled human clinicaltrials, which are in progress.
Hypersensitivity reactions to asparaginase in mice are mediated by anti-asparaginase IgE and IgG and the immunoglobulin receptors FcεRI and FcγRIII

Asparaginase is an important drug for the treatment of leukemias. However, anti-asparaginase antibodies often develop, which can decrease asparaginase drug levels and increase the risk of relapse. The aim of this study is to identify the immunoglobulin isotypes and receptors responsible for asparaginase hypersensitivities. Mice immunized with asparaginase developed anti-asparaginase IgG1 and IgE antibodies, and challenging the sensitized mice with asparaginase induced severe hypersensitivity reactions. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that macrophages/monocytes, neutrophils, and basophils bind asparaginase ex vivo through FcγRIII. In contrast, asparaginase binding to basophils was dependent on FcγRIII and IgE. Consistent with the asparaginase binding data, basophil activation by asparaginase occurred via both IgG/FcγRIII and IgE/FceRI. Depleting >95% of B cells suppressed IgG but not IgE-dependent hypersensitivity, while depleting CD4+ T cells provided complete protection. Combined treatment with either anti-IgE mAb plus a platelet-activating factor receptor antagonist or anti-FcγRIII mAb plus a H1 receptor antagonist suppressed asparaginase hypersensitivity. The observations indicate that asparaginase hypersensitivity is mediated by antigen-specific IgG and/or IgE through the immunoglobulin receptors FcγRIII and FceRI, respectively. Provided that these results apply to humans, they emphasize the importance of monitoring both IgE- and IgG-mediated asparaginase hypersensitivities in patients receiving this agent.
Loss of Sirt2 increases and prolongs a caerulein-induced pancreatitis permissive phenotype and induces spontaneous oncogenic Kras mutations in mice

Mice lacking Sirt2 spontaneously develop tumors in multiple organs, as well as when expressed in combination with oncogenic KrasG12D, leading to pancreatic tumors. Here, we report that after caerulein-induced pancreatitis, Sirt2-deficient mice exhibited an increased inflammatory phenotype and delayed pancreatic tissue recovery. Seven days post injury, the pancreas of Sirt2-/- mice display active inflammation, whereas wild-type mice had mostly recovered. In addition, the pancreas from the Sirt2-/- mice exhibited extensive tissue fibrosis, which was still present at six weeks after exposure. The mice lacking Sirt2 also demonstrated an enhanced whole body pro-inflammatory phenotype that was most obvious with increasing age. Importantly, an accumulation of a cell population with spontaneous cancerous KrasG12D mutations was observed in the Sirt2-/- mice that is enhanced in the recovering pancreas after exposure to caerulein. Finally, transcriptome analysis of the pancreas of the Sirt2-/- mice exhibited a pro-inflammatory genomic signature. These results suggest that loss of Sirt2, as well as increased age, enhanced the immune response to pancreatic injury and induced an inflammatory phenotype permissive for the accumulation of cells carrying oncogenic Kras mutations.
Surgery for Apical Vaginal Prolapse after Hysterectomy: Transvaginal Mesh-Based Repair

Several transvaginal mesh products have been marketed to address vaginal vault prolapse. Although data are limited, prolapse recurrence rates and subjective outcome measures seem to be equivalent for vaginal mesh compared with native tissue apical prolapse repair, and the different vaginal meshes have not proven superior to one another. Given the known unique complications specific to vaginal mesh with equivalent outcomes for the apical vaginal prolapse, it is reasonable to reserve mesh use for specific high-risk cases, such as patients with large apical prolapse recurrence after native tissue repair who are not candidates for sacrocolpopexy.
Task Duration Estimation

Estimating how long a task will take to complete (i.e., the task duration) is important for many applications, including calendaring and project management. Population-scale calendar data contains distributional information about time allocated by individuals for tasks that may be useful to build computational models for task duration estimation. This study analyzes anonymized large-scale calendar appointment data from hundreds of thousands of individuals and millions of tasks to understand expected task durations and the longitudinal evolution in these durations. Machine-learned models are trained using the appointment data to estimate task duration. Study findings show that task attributes, including content (anonymized appointment subjects), context, and history, are correlated with time allocated for tasks. We also show that machine-learned models can be trained to estimate task duration, with multiclass classification accuracies of almost 80%. The findings have implications for understanding time estimation in populations, and in the design of support in digital assistants and calendaring applications to find time for tasks and to help people, especially those who are new to a task, block sufficient time for task completion.
Trauma Exposure and PTSD Among Women Receiving Treatment for Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration.

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have been associated with men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV), but relatively little research has examined these ...
Characterizing Sexual Health Conversations Among Afro-Caribbean Families: Adolescent and Parent Perspectives:

Black adolescents, including Black immigrants living in the United States, experience a disproportionate burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV, which are linked to adolesc...
Deducing Proton-Bound Heterodimer Association Energies from Shifts in Ion Mobility Arrival Time Distributions

Through vapor modification of the counter-current drift gas in an atmospheric pressure drift tube ion mobility spectrometer (IMS), we demonstrate measurement of gas-phase association enthalpies and entropies for select proton-bound heterodimers formed from a phosphonic acid with 2-propanol. Previous efforts to determine gas-phase association thermodynamic properties have relied largely upon lower pressure systems and inference of the relative concentrations of m/ z isolated species. In contrast, the drift tube IMS based approach developed and applied in this study leverages the explicit gas-phase equilibrium that is established within an ion mobility drift cell. The inferred enthalpies and entropies of association are based solely upon monitoring a shift in the arrival time of an ion at different temperatures (and not on the signal intensity or on external instrument drift time calibration). We specifically report the gas-phase Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy changes for the association of 2-propanol with protonated methyl, ethyl, and propyl phosphonic acid ions (MPA, EPA, PPA) across the 100-175 °C temperature range. For all of these proton-bound heterodimers, the standard enthalpies and entropies of 2-propanol association were negative and positive, respectively. These data indicate that proton-bound heterodimer formation is both enthalpically and entropically favorable, though we find that the magnitude of the standard enthalpy change for vapor association is small (near 1 kcal/mol for all examined heterodimers). Though many prior results (largely obtained with high pressure mass-spectrometry) for other proton-bound organic heterodimer complexes show larger enthalpic favorability and an entropic barrier, our results qualitatively conform to the bulk Kelvin-Thomson-Raoult (KTR) model, which is commonly utilized in describing ion-induced nucleation of a vapor onto a soluble, nanometer scale ion. The KTR model suggests that heterodimer formation due to vapor binding to an ion should be slightly enthalpically favored (due to a larger Thomson effect than the Kelvin effect) and entropically favored because of ion solvation (Raoult's effect). The method presented in this study can be applied to any static-field ion mobility spectrometer and to a wide variety of heterodimers. Due to the ease of implementation and broad applicability, this approach may find consistent use in determining the thermodynamic properties of weakly bound gas-phase heterodimer complexes which are difficult to probe via alternative techniques. Moreover, this renewed implementation of the IMS experiment is directly compatible with soft ionization sources which will enable the characterization of vapor modifier-induced mobility shift experiments for larger molecular complexes.
The health plan choices of retirees under managed competition.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of price on the health insurance decisions of Medicare-eligible retirees in a managed competition setting. DATA SOURCE: The study is based on four years of administrative data from the University of California (UC) Retiree Health Benefits Program, which closely resembles the managed competition model upon which several leading Medicare reform proposals are based. STUDY DESIGN: A change in UC's premium contribution policy between 1993 and 1994 created a unique natural experiment for investigating the effect of price on retirees' health insurance decisions. This study consists of two related analyses. First, I estimate the effect of changes in out-of-pocket premiums between 1993 and 1994 on the decision to switch plans during open enrollment. Second, using data from 1993 to 1996, I examine the extent to which rising premiums for fee-for-service Medigap coverage increased HMO enrollment among Medicare-eligible UC retirees. PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: Price is a significant factor affecting the health plan decisions of Medicare-eligible UC retirees. However, these retirees are substantially less price sensitive than active UC employees and the non-elderly in other similar programs. This result is likely attributable to higher nonpecuniary switching costs facing older individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Although it is not clear exactly how price sensitive enrollees must be in order to generate price competition among health plans, the behavioral differences between retirees and active employees suggest that caution should be taken in extrapolating from research on the non-elderly to the Medicare program.
What Are the Best Practices in Medical Professionalism? Reviewing Medical Professionalism Best Practices: Professionalism in the Modern Era

This book is the second monograph on professionalism produced and disseminated by the AΩA and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.1 The chapters of the monograph were adapted from conference speakers’ p...
The Experience of Being a Millennial Nurse Manager.

Objective The aim of this study was to explore the experience of being a Millennial nurse manager with a goal to better understand the influence of organizational factors on role expectations, satisfaction, support, development, and intent to stay. Background Research on Millennial nurse leaders is scarce. Understanding the perception of these young managers is needed to create succession and retention planning that meets the needs of this generation of leaders. Method A national sample of 25 Millennial nurse managers participated in a qualitative interpretative phenomenological study. Audio-recorded telephone interviews were conducted and analyzed. Results Millennial leaders have a unique perspective on role expectations and support variables. Seven themes of experience emerged: coming into the role, learning as I go, having the support of my director, making an impact, helping staff succeed, and managing change. Conclusions Opportunities to develop and retain Millennial leaders are shaped by understanding the support variables that are important to them.
Patient Safety in Microvascular Plastic Surgery.

Patient safety is defined as freedom from accidental or preventable harm produced by medical care. The identification of patient- and procedure-related risk factors enables the surgical team to carry out prophylactic measures to reduce the rate of complications and adverse events. The purpose of this review is to identify the characteristics of patients, practitioners, and microvascular surgical procedures that place patients at risk for preventable harm, and to discuss evidence-based prevention practices that can potentially help to generate a culture of patient safety.
Human Capital Resource Orchestration: Does Human Resource Function Really Matter?

What’s the role of functional managers in resource orchestration, if any? Drawing on the resource orchestration literature, we propose that functional managers who can closely communicate with mult...
Asynchronous circuits for ultra-low supply voltages

Modern digital systems based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits (IC) are increasingly sensitive to power consumption and heat generation which has direct impact on the system's performance and reliability. Power consumption of a system can be effectively reduced by techniques such as supply voltage scaling, downsizing transistors, or limiting switching activity. Supply voltage scaling is amidst one of the most effective way to reduce power dissipation. The continuance reduction of supply voltage will require transistors to operate in subthreshold region. Process technology developed with transistors optimized for subthreshold operation offers the essential building blocks to construct digital systems that are capable of operating at ultra-low supply voltage and consuming significantly less power.
Prevalence and Risk Factors for Iron Deficiency in Adults With Cystic Fibrosis.

BACKGROUND Iron deficiency is common in cystic fibrosis (CF), but previous prevalence studies often reported results confounded by acute exacerbations. This single-center retrospective study aimed to identify the prevalence of iron deficiency in a stable adult CF population, identify the risk factors associated with iron deficiency, and compare common laboratory indicators of iron status. METHODS Medical charts of 105 patients aged 18-67 were reviewed to determine the prevalence of anemia. Of these patients, a subgroup of 67 were included in analyses of iron deficiency, defined as serum ferritin < 12 ng/mL and/or percent transferrin saturation (TSAT) < 16%. Data on sex, age, body mass index, anemia status, vitamin deficiencies, presence of comorbidities, colonization with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and use of acid blockers and CF transmembrane conductance regulator modulators were collected to evaluate relationship of iron deficiency with these clinical factors. κ agreements between serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, and TSAT were compared. RESULTS In this stable CF population, the prevalence of iron deficiency was 41.8% (n = 67), and the prevalence of anemia was 33.3% (n = 105). Iron deficiency was associated with presence of anemia (P < .001), vitamin A deficiency (P = .012), and moderate (P = .047) and severe lung disease (P = .045) compared with mild lung disease. Transferrin agreed poorly with other iron status indicators. CONCLUSION Iron deficiency is common in CF, although prevalence rates can vary widely depending on the laboratory parameters used. CF centers should consider routine screening for iron deficiency.
Silyl Tosylate Precursors to Cyclohexyne, 1,2-Cyclohexadiene, and 1,2-Cycloheptadiene.

Transient strained cyclic intermediates have become valuable intermediates in modern synthetic chemistry. Although silyl triflate precursors to strained intermediates are most often employed, the i...
Experiences in Machine Learning Models for Aircraft Fuel Flow and Drag Polar Predictions

Fuel consumption prediction for transport aircrafts is critical for optimally managing fuel, saving energy costs, minimizing fuel emissions, optimizing aircraft trajectories and for efficient air traffic management. This paper shares experiences associated with developing machine learning based fuel flow and drag polar models for twin-engine business jet aircrafts. A set of neural network topologies, along with different activation functions, is analyzed with respect to the fuel flow prediction accuracies. Further, machine learning models are leveraged towards arriving at high fidelity drag polar model. Potential applications of the developed models include fine tuning the traditional fuel prediction models and assessing impact of factors such aircraft aging, engine performance degradation, on fuel consumption.
Bayesian sequential update for monitoring and control of high-dimensional processes

Simultaneous monitoring of multi-dimensional processes becomes much more challenging as the dimension increases, especially when there are only a few or moderate number of process variables that are responsible for the process change, and when the size of change is particularly small. In this paper, we develop an efficient statistical process monitoring methodology in high-dimensional processes based on the Bayesian approach. The key idea of this paper is to sequentially update a posterior distribution of the process parameter of interest through the Bayesian rule. In particular, a sparsity promoting prior distribution of the parameter is applied properly under sparsity, and is sequentially updated in online processing. A Bayesian hierarchical model with a data-driven way of determining the hyperparameters enables the monitoring scheme to be effective to the detection of process shifts and to be efficient to the computational complexity in the high-dimensional processes. Comparison with recently proposed methods for monitoring high-dimensional processes demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method in detecting small shifts. In addition, graphical presentations in tracking the process parameter provide the information about decisions regarding whether a process needs to be adjusted before it triggers alarm.
Glucocorticoid Regulated Sorting of Cell Surface Glycoproteins: Evidence for a Glucocorticoid Regulated Trafficking Gene

Analysis of the expression and transport of mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) glycoproteins in the viral infected rat hepatoma (HTC) cell line M1.54 has revealed a novel glucocorticoid-regulated trafficking pathway that controls the sorting and processing of cell surface MMTV glycoproteins. Complement cytolysis was used to recover M1.54-derived variants that fail to express a threshold level of cell surface MMTV glycoproteins. One complement selected variant, CR4, is selectively defective in the glucocorticoid-regulated sorting pathway while the expression of MMTV RNA is fully glucocorticoid responsive. Indirect immunofluorescence of intracellular and cell surface MMTV glycoproteins revealed that hormone induced CR4 displays an intracellular perinuclear staining of viral glycoproteins indicative of a block in the Golgi. 50 kb genomic fragments were prepared from DNA isolated from uninfected rat HTC hepatoma cells, ligated to the neomycin resistance gene and transfected into variant CR4 cells. DNA mediated complementation of CR4 was observed in 0.1% of neomycin resistant colonies screened for cell surface MMTV glycoproteins by indirect immunofluorescence. This phenotypic reversion was dependent upon glucocorticoid treatment. In a parallel approach, a truncated MMTV glycoprotein which lacks its transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail fails to be secreted and remains in an intracellular vesicle compartment in the presence of glucocorticoids. We conclude that rat hepatoma cells encode a glucocorticoid regulated trafficking (GRT) gene whose protein product acts in trans on specific substrates to mediate the sorting of cell surface glycoproteins.
Romance novels in american public libraries

AbstractIn library literature, the collection of romance novels has produced a fairly vociferous debate that has not surrounded other genres. However, there is relatively little in the literature that examines current practices. The authors conducted a national survey, asking libraries how they acquired romance novels for their libraries, what their proportional expenditures were for romance, and the extent of their romance collections. Responses suggested that libraries in general have sizeable romance collections. Some libraries do indeed have smaller collections and spend little or no money on the romance genre. Little is known about public libraries' collection development practices for any genre, and these results help fill that gap in the library literature. Results also suggest that library and information science education, beyond supporting leisure reading, ought to emphasize the roles that leisure reading serves for readers.
Skills, spills and the nature of mindful action

Hubert Dreyfus offers a potent and important challenge to the fans of internal representation. Learning and skillful action, Dreyfus argues, can be effectively explained “without recourse to mind or brain representations” (p. ?). In place of internally represented knowledge we are to imagine experience as leading to fine-grained dispositions to respond to the precise details of the current situation. Thus tuned, the expert practitioner is keyed to the world in which she must live and act. This tight fit (Merleau-Ponty’s “intentional arc”) is not magical, but neither does it require us to posit anything worth calling “internal representations”. Instead, it can be fully explained and understood by reference to artificial neural networks and recent accounts of brain dynamics. As some of you might guess, I rather like this story. But I have two misgivings. First, I think it moves too quickly from the rejection of inner propositional data structures to the rejection (in these cases) of anything worth calling internal representation . Second, and relatedly, I think it calls for a long, difficult and overdue discussion of the very idea of mindful action. For it seems unclear, on Dreyfus’ account, where mind, cognition and intelligence stop and the nonmental world begins.
Statistical treatment and comparative analysis of scale-dependent aquatic transect data in estuarine landscapes

Estuarine ecosystem dynamics have evolved around and respond to landscape-level influences that are dynamic in space and time. The estuarine water column is effectively the physical and biologial integrator of these landscape inputs. In this paper, we present a floating window Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) technique to statistically compare and contrast aquatic transect data that were taken at different times and under different tidal conditions, yet were geographically parallel and spatially articulate. The floating window ANCOVA compared two transects by testing whether the means of the dependent variable were significantly different while also testing whether the slopes of patterns in the dependent variable were significantly different. By varying the size of the floating window where the ANCOVA was run, we were able to examine how scale affected the magnitude and spatial pattern of that variable. The percentages of total models run, at a given window size, that generated significantly different magnitudes (means) and patterns (slopes) in the dependent variable were referred to as the “degree of dissimilarity”. Plots of window size versus degree of dissimilarity elucidated temporal and spatial variability in water column parameters at a range of scales. The advantages of this new statistical method in relation to traditional spatial statistics are discussed.
A Review of Paradigms for Evaluating the Quality of Online Education Programs.

As the demands for public accountability increase for higher education, institutions must demonstrate quality within programs and processes, including those provided through online education. While quality may be elusive to specifically quantify, there have been several recommendations for identifying and defining quality online education that address common areas of program development and administration. This paper explores and compares 13 recommendations and paradigms found in the literature for identifying and evaluating the quality of online education programs in higher education.
Common Value Auctions with Default: An Experimental Approach

This paper examines a common value auction in which bidder default is explicitly allowed. The lack of contractual enforcement has implications for the formation of bids as well as the revenue properties of the auction. Using a common value procurement auction, we explore these implications in an experimental setting. Our results show that bidders are more aggressive when default is allowed. A theoretical result shows that allowing default can actually be in the best interest of the auctioneer. Experimental evidence, however, indicates that this result does not hold true in practice. One possible reason for this discrepancy is that the data in our experiments is consistent with winner's curse behavior.
Petrography and microanalysis of Pennsylvanian coal-ball concretions (Herrin Coal, Illinois Basin, USA): Bearing on fossil plant preservation and coal-ball origins

Abstract Petrographic analyses of 25 coal balls from well-studied paleobotanical profiles in the Middle Pennsylvanian Herrin Coal (Westphalian D, Illinois Basin) and five select coal balls from university collections, indicate that Herrin Coal-ball peats were permineralized by fibrous and non-fibrous carbonates. Fibrous carbonates occur in fan-like to spherulitic arrays in many intracellular (within tissue) pores, and are best developed in relatively open extracellular (between plant) pore spaces. Acid etched fibrous carbonates appear white under reflected light and possess a microcrystalline texture attributable to abundant microdolomite. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electron microprobe analysis demonstrate that individual fibers have a distinct trigonal prism morphology and are notable for their magnesium content (≈ 9–15 mol% MgCO 3 ). Non-fibrous carbonates fill intercrystalline spaces among fibers and pores within the peat as primary precipitates and neomorphic replacements. In the immediate vicinity of plant cell walls, non-fibrous carbonates cut across fibrous carbonates as a secondary, neomorphic phase attributed to coalification of plant cell walls. Dolomite occurs as diagenetic microdolomite associated with the fibrous carbonate phase, as sparite replacements, and as void-filling cement. Maximum dolomite (50–59 wt.%) is in the top-of-seam coal-ball zone at the Sahara Mine, which is overlain by the marine Anna Shale. Coal-ball formation in the Herrin Coal began with the precipitation of fibrous high magnesium calcite. The trigonal prism morphology of the carbonate fibers suggests rapid precipitation from super-saturated, meteoric pore waters. Carbonate precipitation from marine waters is discounted on the basis of stratigraphic, paleobotanical, and stable isotopic evidence. Most non-fibrous carbonate is attributable to later diagenetic events, including void-fill replacements, recrystallization, and post-depositional fracture fills. Evidence suggests that CO 2 degassing was important in coal-ball formation in the Herrin Coal, which mainly occurred sequentially upward with peat accumulation in the sites studied.