cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nanoscale stabilization of zintl compounds: 1D ionic Li–P double helix confined inside a carbon nanotube

One-dimensional (1D) ionic nanowires are extremely rare materials due to the difficulty in stabilizing 1D chains of ions under ambient conditions. We demonstrate here a theoretical prediction of a novel hybrid material, a nanotube encapsulated 1D ionic lithium monophosphide (LiP) chain, featuring a unique double-helix structure, which is very unusual in inorganic chemistry. This nanocomposite has been investigated with density functional theory, including molecular dynamics simulations and electronic structure calculations. We find that the formation of the LiP double-helical nanowire is facilitated by strong interactions between LiP and CNTs resulting in a charge transfer. This work suggests that nanostructured confinement may be used to stabilize other polyphosphide 1D chains, thus opening new ways to study the chemistry of zintl compounds at the nanoscale.
The New Ontologies: The Effect of Copyright Protection on Public Scientific Data Sharing Using Semantic Web Ontologies

The semantic web is going to become an important tool for scientists who need to accurately share data given context through structured relationships. The structure that defines contextual relationships on the semantic web is known as an ontology; which is a hierarchical organization of a knowledge domain that contains entities and their relations. This paper seeks to answer whether semantic web ontologies are protectable by copyright, and regardless of the outcome, what the best practices are for the scientific community. The best practices for the scientific community should include the adoption of a machine readable ontology license which disclaims copyright protection for publication of public scientific data to assure automation of the integration of ontologies and to maximize easy access to public science materials that can be queried. Sharing and information is essential for scientists and failure to address the possibility of ontologies as a possible constraint to public data access could result in data fragmentation and lost scientific opportunities. The ability of the semantic web to annotate and reuse data relies on the social structure of science supporting data sharing as a norm and as an extension of this norm, open licensing of ontologies should be embraced.
Progress Towards Drosophila Epithelial Cell Culture

Drosophila epithelial research is at the forefront of the field; however, there are no well-characterized epithelial cell lines that could provide a complementary in vitro model for studies conducted in vivo. Here, a protocol is described that produces epithelial cell lines. The method uses genetic manipulation of oncogenes or tumor suppressors to induce embryonic primary culture cells to rapidly progress to permanent cell lines. It is, however, a general method and the type of cells that comprise a given line is not controlled experimentally. Indeed, only a small fraction of the lines produced are epithelial in character. For this reason, additional work needs to be done to develop a more robust epithelial cell-specific protocol. It is expected that Drosophila epithelial cell lines will have great utility for in vitro analysis of epithelial biology, particularly high-throughput analyses such as RNAi screens.
Blood thrombocyte levels after administration of equine estrogens.

SummaryAdministration of mixed natural estrogens (Premarin) intravenously to 5 patients with normal platelet counts and to 9 patients with thrombocytopenia did not produce a significant change in thrombocyte counts of peripheral blood, as compared to saline injections in the same patients. Premarin appears to be of no value in controlling bleeding due to thrombocytopenia.
Presence of calcium-binding motifs in PilY1 homologs correlates with Ca-mediated twitching motility and evolutionary history across diverse bacteria.

Twitching motility, involving type IV pili, is essential for host colonization and virulence of many pathogenic bacteria. Studies of PilY1, a tip-associated type IV pili protein, indicate that PilY1 functions as a switch between pilus extension and retraction, resulting in twitching motility. Recent work detected a calcium-binding motif in PilY1 of some animal bacterial pathogens and demonstrated that binding of calcium to PilY1 with this motif regulates twitching. Though studies of PilY1 in non-animal pathogens are limited, our group demonstrated that twitching motility in the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa , which contains three PilY1 homologs, is increased by calcium supplementation. A study was conducted to investigate the phylogenetic relationship between multiple PilY1 homologs, the presence of calcium-binding motifs therein, and calcium-mediated twitching motility across diverse bacteria. Strains analyzed contained one to three PilY1 homologs, but phylogenetic analyses indicated that PilY1 homologs containing the calcium-binding motif Dx[DN]xDGxxD are phylogenetically divergent from other PilY1 homologs. Plant-associated bacteria included in these analyses were then examined for a calcium-mediated twitching response. Results indicate that bacteria must have at least one PilY1 homolog containing the Dx[DN]xDGxxD motif to display a calcium-mediated increase in twitching motility, which likely reflects an adaption to environmental calcium concentrations.
Inhibition of gonadotropin release in chimpanzees by the LH-RH antagonist (D-Phe2, D-Trp3, D-Phe6)-LH-RH.

SummaryThirty-five mg of the LH-RH antagonist (D-Phe6, D-Trp3, D-Phe6)-LH-RH inhibited the LH response of chimpanzees given 10 μg of LH-RH to 33% of the amount released by control animals. Seven mg of the same analog also attenuated the LH response, but the inhibition was not statistically significant. Neither dose level of the inhibitor significantly altered basal gonadotropin levels. These data indicate that LH-RH antagonists have at least an acute ability to diminish the response to exogenous releasing hormones without acutely affecting basal gonadotropin secretion. They further suggest that a non-human primate model may be used to test the efficacy of these compounds as potential contraceptive agents.
Outcomes and Lessons Learned From a Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Health Care Utilization During the First Year After Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation: Telephone Counseling Versus Usual Care

Abstract Objectives To describe the outcomes and lessons learned from a trial of telephone counseling (TC) to reduce medical complications and health care utilization and to improve psychosocial outcomes during the first year after spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Design Single-site, single-blind, randomized (1:1) controlled trial comparing usual care plus TC with usual care (UC). Setting Two inpatient rehabilitation programs. Participants Adult patients (N=168) discharged between 2007 and 2010. Interventions The TC group (n=85, 51%) received up to eleven 30- to 45-minute scheduled telephone calls to provide education, resources, and support. The UC group (n=83, 49%) received indicated referrals and treatment. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was a composite of self-reported health care utilization and medical complications. Secondary outcomes were depression severity, current health state, subjective health, and community participation. Results No significant differences were observed between TC and UC groups in the primary or secondary psychosocial outcomes. Conclusions This study had a number of strengths, but included potential design weaknesses. Intervention studies would benefit from prescreening participants to identify those with treatable problems, those at high risk for poor outcomes, or those with intentions to change target behaviors. Interventions focused on treatment goals and designed to work in collaboration with the participant's medical care system may lead to improved outcomes.
Ideal system morphology and reflectivity measurements for radiative-transfer model development and validation

This paper describes measurements being made on a series of material systems for the purpose of developing a radiative-transfer model that describes the reflectance of light by granular solids. It is well recognized that the reflectance spectra of granular materials depend on their intrinsic (n(λ) and k(λ)) and extrinsic (morphological) properties. There is, however, a lack of robust and proven models to relate spectra to these parameters. The described work is being conducted in parallel with a modeling effort 1 to address this need. Each follows a common developmental spiral in which material properties are varied and the ability of the model to calculate the effects of the changes are tested. The parameters being varied include particle size/shape, packing density, material birefringence, optical thickness, and spectral contribution of a substrate. It is expected that the outcome of this work will be useful in interpreting reflectance data for hyperspectral imaging (HSI), and for a variety of other areas that rely on it.
The Prom : an example of socially-oriented gameplay

The Prom, pictured above, is a game where the player manages the social life of a group of high school students and creates the situations from which dramatic, thought provoking or at least funny stories can unfold. The setting of The Prom involves a group of alternative high school kids (e.g. Emos, Goths, Geeks, etc.) and their dramatic lives as they prepare for the upcoming school prom. Through creating friendships, making people become enemies, controlling who gets to be in the "in" crowd and much more, the player can shape the social world of the characters. Each character has a distinct personality represented by interests (e.g. what bands they like), needs (e.g. a character may need to demonstrate a certain degree of dominance over others), traits (e.g. being a particularly jealous person), social networks (e.g. to what degree a characters like, are attracted to or respect one another) and social status (e.g. who is dating who).
Effective mass of elementary excitations in Galilean-invariant integrable models

We study low-energy excitations of one-dimensional Galilean-invariant models integrable by Bethe ansatz and characterized by nonsingular two-particle scattering phase shifts. We prove that the curvature of the excitation spectra is described by the recently proposed phenomenological expression for the effective mass. Our results apply to such models as the repulsive Lieb-Liniger model and the hyperbolic Calogero-Sutherland model.
Sugar beet wireworm Limonius californicus damage to wheat and barley: evaluations of plant damage with respect to soil media, seeding depth, and diatomaceous earth application

Wireworms, the larval stage of click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae), continue to be one of the major concerns of cereal producers, primarily due to the lack of effective pesticides and species-specific management options. To have a better understanding of species-specific interactions of one of the most damaging wireworms in the Pacific Northwest and intermountain regions of the USA, a greenhouse study was set to evaluate the damage from the sugar beet wireworm Limonius californicus to wheat and barley planted at different depths and in soil media with varying levels of organic content and texture. Overall, the evaluated wheat appeared to be more susceptible than the barley, showing greater reductions in emergence success and foliar biomass. The greatest loss of foliar biomass was observed in peatmoss-dominated medium, as indicated by a significant host plant-by-soil media interaction. Percentage of plants fed upon by L. californicus was significantly higher in the sand-dominated medium than peatmoss-dominated and 1:1 mix media. Moreover, manipulation of soil media by the addition of diatomaceous earth showed no consistent effect in protecting the planted wheat. Our findings indicated that in addition to quantifying wireworm species-specific interactions, host plant interactions with the environment in the presence of wireworm infestation should also be further studied. These relationships could influence the outcome of integrated management approaches and future risk assessment models and recovery plans.
Introduction: Student Handbooks and the First Amendment

After Briana Popour was asked to go home for wearing a T-shirt to school that read “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian,” she argued that the school’s speech and dress policies did not prohibit her from wearing the shirt on the school premises. While the First Amendment is black and white in theory, its application appears to be far grayer. Because of the degree of focus and the intentionality toward a student audience, this book explores student speech policy as it is conveyed in student handbooks. It does so specifically by exploring previous Supreme Court cases with regard to student expression, readability metrics, qualitative student application, and external research.
Equal Friends or Equal Enemies: Power Asymmetry and the Impact on Reciprocal Cycles

This chapter reviews and analyzes the roots and buildup to the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war and examines how the accumulation of tensions and then the war resulted in a long-lasting negative reciprocal cycle between the two countries. The case accounts for the operation and importance of all four variables, yet highlights the importance of power symmetry. Power symmetry is always an important element in any study of international crises or conflict management, and it is also important for understanding the impact of the other variables such as images and domain of operation on the direction of the evolving reciprocal cycle. The case reviewed here is an illustration of how power asymmetry coupled with negative images and a bigger appetite for risk-taking operate as an obstacle for the development of a positive tit-For-tat (TFT) reciprocal cycle.
Estimating the cost of saving electricity through U.S. utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs

Abstract The program administrator and total cost of saved energy allow comparison of the cost of efficiency across utilities, states, and program types, and can identify potential performance improvements. Comparing program administrator cost with the total cost of saved energy can indicate the degree to which programs leverage investment by participants. Based on reported total costs and savings information for U.S. utility efficiency programs from 2009 to 2013, we estimate the savings-weighted average total cost of saved electricity across 20 states at $0.046 per kilowatt-hour (kW h), comparing favorably with energy supply costs and retail rates. Programs targeted on the residential market averaged $0.030 per kW h compared to $0.053 per kW h for non-residential programs. Lighting programs, with an average total cost of $0.018 per kW h, drove lower savings costs in the residential market. We provide estimates for the most common program types and find that program administrators and participants on average are splitting the costs of efficiency in half. More consistent, standardized and complete reporting on efficiency programs is needed. Differing definitions and quantification of costs, savings and savings lifetimes pose challenges for comparing program results. Reducing these uncertainties could increase confidence in efficiency as a resource among planners and policymakers.
Joint-Product Export Smuggling and Export Tax Policy

The effect of smuggling on tax revenue collection and the revenue-maximizing tax rate is an unresolved issue in the smuggling literature. Clandestine and joint-product smuggling models arrive at different conclusions concerning smuggling's effect on tax revenue collection and the revenue-maximizing tax rate. Clandestine (joint-product) smuggling is consistent with the assumption that legal and illegal trade are substitutable (complementary) activities for the exporting firm. The effect of smuggling on the tax rate and tax revenue is shown to be dependent on whether smuggling and legal trade are assumed to be complementary or substitutable activities.
Analyzing competing risks in the treatment of lung cancer: a good start

With the advent of low-dose computed tomography for lung cancer screening, it is expected that more lung cancers will be diagnosed at an earlier stage.
Empowering Women with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Resist Abuse in Interpersonal Relationships: Promising Interventions and Practices

Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience heightened rates of domestic violence and all forms of abuse in their interpersonal relationships (e.g., Barger et al. Intellect Dev Disabil 47(4):249–262, 2009; Ward et al. Intellect Dev Disabil 48(2):89–98, 2010). After reviewing studies conducted between 2000 and 2010, Hughes et al. (Rehabil Psychol 56(4):302–319, 2011) reported that up to 90% of women with IDD experience some form of abuse during their lifetime. Almost all of the abuse is perpetrated by someone who is known to the victim, including intimate partners, family members, and paid caregivers (e.g., Stevens. J Ment Health Res Intellect Disabil 5:168–186, 2012). In the present chapter, the terms abuse and maltreatment are used interchangeably to refer to the full range of intentional harm experienced by individuals with IDD. This encompasses the various terms appearing in the literature to describe sexual abuse, physical abuse, and verbal/emotional abuse.
Lee, Bush, and Wiener’s Thoughts on Networks and Computers

Wiener’s work on the Heaviside operational calculus (§ 9B), undertaken at the behest of his engineering friends, was mathematical and did not represent his more tangible engineering predilections and flair for things electrical. The latter showed themselves, however, in his excitement over the computer building program at MIT from the mid-1920s to the 1940s, executed under the leadership of Dr. Vannevar Bush. This had three basic targets: (1) a network analyzer for solving systems of algebraic equations that appear in power engineering, (2) an intergraph for the evaluation of integrals depending on a parameter t, e.g. $$\int_a^t f \left( x \right)g\left( x \right)dx\;or\;\int_o^a {f\left( {t - x} \right)g\left( x \right)} dx$$ , and (3) a differential analyser for solving ordinary differential equations.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may blunt more than pain

In this issue of Acta Physiologica, Lilja et al. 1 provide novel insights into the effects of consuming high-doses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on exercise-induced muscular adaptations. NSAIDs are routinely administered to relieve symptoms associated with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and restore normal physical function following intense physical activity. Millions worldwide report the daily intake of NSAIDS, and their usage is especially common in athletes and those who partake in rigorous exercise 2. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Beyond equality and inequality in education: Bakhtinian dialogic ethics approach of human uniqueness to educational justice

In our essay, we challenge the hegemonic Kantian discourse of defining justice as equality (in a broader sense) and injustice as inequality in education (and elsewhere). We argue that this discourse is based on the underlining assumption of replaceability and measurement of people and of educational practice itself. In contrast, we argue that people and their education are unique. Thus, it is necessary to develop an alternative notion of justice based on uniqueness and immeasurability of people and their education. We found that Bakhtin’s dialogic ethics framework is helpful for developing such an alternative approach. According to the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics, people are engaged in self-contradictory deeds, charged with ethical tensions. These ethically problematic deeds must be challenged by others and the self in critical dialogue and must demand responses by the authors of the deeds striving to achieve justice. Taking responsibility is not merely a discursive process of answering – it is not “answerability” – but rather another ethic deed of defining ethically good or bad, defining quality and values, accepting blame, standing grounds, committing to fixing negative consequences, emotional sympathy, and so on. The process of challenging people’s deeds in critical dialogue and their taking (or not taking) responsibility defines (in)justice of people’s deeds. We examine two cases of educational injustice based on the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics framework of uniquness. We try to show that education and its justice are essentially authorial and, thus, unique processes. Even when justice involves measurable things like money, it is still about unique people with unique educational goals, interests, and needs in unique circumstances that these measurable resources afford. We consider a case of allocation of measurable resources as a compromise between the Kantian formulistic and the Bakhtinian dialogic ethics approaches. We conclude our essay with developing a vision for a just educational practice based on students’ academic freedoms for authorial education.
Is the Treatment Response of Manufactured BMPs to Urban Drainage PM Loads Portable

AbstractHydrodynamic separators (HS) and basins/tanks such as rectangular clarifiers (RC), as unit operations (UOs) for particulate matter (PM) separation, are common smaller-footprint best managem...
Elucidation of the orientation of selected drugs with 2-hydroxylpropyl-β-cyclodextrin using 2D-NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling.

This project aims to study the nature of interaction and orientation of selected drugs such as dexamethorphan HBr (DXM), diphenhydramine HCl (DPH), and lidocaine HCl (LDC) inclusion complexes with hydroxyl-propyl s-cyclodextrin (HP-s-CD) using 1HNMR spectroscopy, 2D-NMR ROESY and molecular-modeling techniques. Freeze-drying technique was used to formulate the inclusion complexes between DXM, DPH and LDC with HP-s-CD (1:1 M ratio) in solid state. Inclusion complex formation was initially characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Further characterization of inclusion complexes to determine the interaction of DXM, DPH and LDC with HP-β-CD was performed using the 1HNMR spectroscopy, 2D-NMR ROESY and molecular modeling techniques. Inclusion complexes of DXM, DPH and LDC with HP-s-CD were successfully prepared using the freeze-drying technique. Preliminary studies with FT-IR, DSC, XRD and SEM indicated the formation of inclusion complexes of DXM, DPH and LDC with HP-β-CD at 1:1 M ratio. 1HNMR study showed a change in proton chemical shift upon complexation. 2D-NMR ROESY (two-dimensional) spectroscopy gave an insight into the spatial arrangement between the host and guest atoms. 2D-ROESY experiments further predicted the direction of orientation of guest molecules, indicating the probability that amino moieties of DXM, DPH and LDC are inside the hydrophobic HP-s-CD cavity. Cross-peaks of inclusion complexes demonstrated intermolecular nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE) between the amino protons in DXM, DPH and LDC and H-atoms of HP-s-CD. Molecular modeling studies further confirmed the NMR data, providing a structural basis of the individual complex formations. Microsecond time-level molecular dynamics and metadynamics simulations indicate much stronger binding of DXM to HP-s-CD and more dynamic behavior for DPH and LDC. In particular, LDC can exhibit multiple binding modes, and even spent some time (∼1-2%) out of the carrier, proving the dynamic nature of the complex. To conclude, 2D-NMR and molecular dynamic simulations elucidate the formation of inclusion complexes and intermolecular interactions of DXM, DPH and LDC with HP-s-CD.
Laplace-based modeling of fiber orientation in the tongue

Mechanical modeling of tongue deformation plays a significant role in the study of breathing, swallowing, and speech production. In the absence of internal joints, fiber orientations determine the direction of sarcomeric contraction and have great influence over real and simulated tissue motion. However, subject-specific experimental observations of fiber distribution are difficult to obtain; thus, models of fiber distribution are generally used in mechanical simulations. This paper describes modeling of fiber distribution using solutions of Laplace equations and compares the effectiveness of this approach against tractography from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. The experiments included qualitative comparison of streamlines from the fiber model against experimental tractography, as well as quantitative differences between biomechanical simulations focusing in the region near the genioglossus. The model showed good overall agreement in terms of fiber directionality and muscle positioning when compared to subject-specific imaging results and the literature. The angle between the fiber distribution model against tractography in the genioglossus and geniohyoid muscles averaged $$22^{\circ }$$ likely due to experimental noise. However, kinematic responses were similar between simulations with modeled fibers versus experimentally obtained fibers; average discrepancy in surface displacement ranged from 1 to 7 mm, and average strain residual magnitude ranged from $$4\times 10^{-3}$$ to 0.2. The results suggest that, for simulation purposes, the modeled fibers can act as a reasonable approximation for the tongue’s fiber distribution. Also, given its agreement with the global tongue anatomy, the approach may be used in model-based reconstruction of displacement tracking and diffusion results.
Dissection of the Early Molecular Events in the Activation of Lymphocytes by 12-0-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-Acetate

In this report, normal lymphocytes from bovine lymph nodes have been used to study the metabolic interactions of tumor promoting phorbol esters and antitumor-promoting retinoids. As shown earlier with this model system, 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and related tumor-promoting phorbol esters act as co-mitogens in cells treated with a suboptimal level of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or concanavalin A (con A) (1,2). This mitogenic response, as measured by an increase in the level of DNA synthesis in cultures 48 hours after the initiation of TPA-PHA treatment, is prevented when the cultures are treated simultaneously with retinoic acid (RA) or a related retinoid with anti-tumor promoting activity in mouse skin. This antagonism by RA was also seen in the case of the co-induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity by the combination of PHA and TPA during the first 18 hours in such cultures (3).
Application of Vegetation Health Data and Products for Monitoring Food Security

The twenty-first century was continuing the previous centuries’ tendencies for a rapid population growth, declining stock of natural resources, climate warming, land cover changes, increasing natural disasters, etc., which have intensified considerably world’s concerns about the future food supply/demand and global food security. Most of the indicated problems are related to a deterioration of environmental conditions. World and countries decision makers need reliable and timely environmental information to understand, monitor, and predict impacts of weather, climate, and long-term Earth changes on global food security (FS). Environmental earth conditions have already affected global FS. The current climate and weather have already started to limit staple crop production and fresh water, increased soil degradation, and slowed down the rate of agricultural output. In the 1990s, NOAA/NESDIS (2018) has developed new operational satellite-based vegetation health method for high special and temporal resolution monitoring environmental impacts on agriculture and other weather- and climate-related problems since 1981. These data and products are presented on the following NOAA WEB https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/vci/VH/index.php where data and products are presented for real-time and historical applications and for making environmental and economic decisions. The WEB also explains how to use the information for non-experienced users. The WEB displays real-time and historical (since 1981) weekly data with 16, 4, 1, and 0.5 km2 resolution for the entire world and also mean country and administrative regions data in the form of images and digital characteristics of moisture (VCI), thermal (TCI), and moisture–thermal combine (VHI) conditions, drought, vegetation stress, fire risk, etc. and their changes between weeks and years. Vegetation health is a very powerful tool, available on WEB since the early twenty-first century to assess moisture and temperature condition of crops and pasture, derive area and intensity of environmental stress, detect drought and monitor its area, intensity, duration, and impacts, model agricultural production, predict crop yield, assess soil moisture, identify areas with potential weather-related threat of fire, detect areas with elevated activity of mosquitoes and malaria spreading, estimate malaria intensity and predict the number of affected people, identify climate warming impacts on land cover conditions, assess multiyear trends in such natural disasters as drought, landslides, soil excessive wetness, crop and pasture production losses, spread of malaria, and food security problems. This short list of applications would help users to provide advises to farmers, agricultural producers, business community, international organizations, and policy developers for making decisions for an enhancement of food security.
Perioperative Bundle to Reduce Surgical Site Infection after Pancreaticoduodenectomy: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background Pancreaticoduodenectomy is historically associated with incisional surgical site infection (iSSI) rates between 15% and 20%. Prospective studies have been mixed with respect to the benefit of individual interventions directed at decreasing iSSI. We hypothesized that the application of a perioperative bundle during pancreaticoduodenectomy would decrease the rate of iSSIs significantly. Methods An initial cohort of 150 consecutive post-pancreaticoduodenectomy patients were assessed within 2 to 4 weeks of operation to determine baseline iSSI rates. The CDC definition of iSSI was used. A 4-part perioperative bundle was then instituted for the second cohort of 150 patients. This bundle consisted of a double-ring wound protector, gown/glove and drape change before fascial closure, irrigation of the wound with bacitracin solution, and a negative-pressure wound dressing that was left in place until postoperative day 7 or day of discharge. Three-hundred patients provided 80% power to detect a 50% risk reduction in iSSIs. Results Cohorts 1 and 2 were similar with respect to age (68 vs 69 years; p = 0.918), sex (male, 51% vs 55%; p = 0.644), BMI (26 vs 26 kg/m2; p = 0.928), use of neoadjuvant therapy (21% vs 17%; p = 0.377), median operative time (222 vs 215 minutes; p = 0.366), and presence of a preoperative stent (53% vs 41%; p = 0.064). The iSSI rate was 22.3% in the initial cohort. This rate was higher than both our institutional database (13%) and NSQIP reporting (11%). Within the second cohort, the iSSI rate decreased significantly to 10.7% (n = 16; p = 0.012). All 4 components of the bundle were used in 91% of cohort 2 patients. Conclusions In this cohort study of 300 consecutive patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, the implementation of a 4-part bundle decreased iSSI rate from 22% to 11%.
Sleep deprivation and the development of leadership and need for cognition during the college years.

Abstract Introduction The epidemic of sleep deprivation among college students is alarming. Prior studies of college students' sleep deprivation have focused on academic outcomes and mental health problems. This study considers the impact of college students’ sleep deprivation on two key, developmental outcomes: leadership and need for cognition. Methods This study is a secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (N = 3,690), using random-effects and fixed-effects models to estimate the association between chronic sleep deprivation from freshman year to senior year and developmental outcomes. Results Results from the random-effects model show that chronic sleep deprivation is negatively associated with lower scores in leadership skills ( β = − . 09 P . 001 ) and need for cognition ( β = − . 08 P . 001 ), after accounting for potential confounders. Results from the fixed-effects model that accounts for time-invariant unobserved variables show similar patterns for leadership skills ( β = − . 09 P . 01 ) and need for cognition ( β = − . 06 P . 01 ). Conclusions This study demonstrates that chronic sleep deprivation has consequences for critical skills, suggesting that steps to promote college students’ sleep health may also enhance their positive development in leadership skills and need for cognition.
Education at the intersection of conflict and peace: the inclusion and framing of education provisions in African peace agreements from 1975-2017

International actors have called for greater inclusion of education provisions in peace agreements given the important symbolic and practical roles peace agreements play post-conflict. Yet, the inc...
The Combined Effects of Omitting Confounders and Measurement Error on Statistical Inference of Mediation and a New Tool for Sensitivity Analysis

To make valid statistical inferences from mediation analysis, a number of assumptions need to be assessed. Two frequently discussed ones are (1) no confounders of the relations among X, M, and Y ar...
Refinement of Appendix Ultrasound Interpretation to Limit Equivocal Results

Background: In children with acute abdominal pain, equivocal ultrasound (US) interpretations of the appendix provide a diagnostic dilemma for clinicians. The use of a standardized US interpretation may improve the utility of US and reduce equivocal interpretation. Objective: To determine if a standardized appendix US interpretation could reduce the number of equivocal US results and to determine which secondary findings on US were most useful. Design/Methods: …
Allies in Progress: The Public-SchoolInstitutions We’ve Ignored

This article highlights some of the successes the Humanities Out There (HOT) program at the University of California, Irvine had when partnering with progressive institutions, namely with the Chicano/Latino Studies program at the university and with the arts program in a local high school. The first program engaged students in exploring the history underlying their communities, and the second helped students to dramatize their life experiences before a local public using their home languages. Analyzing what enabled HOT’s successes, I urge others sponsoring youth literacy to seek out, and make alliance with, progressive institutions within public education.
Pharmacological inhibition of USP30 activates tissue-specific mitophagy

Aim Mitophagy is the regulated process that targets damaged or dysfunctional mitochondria for lysosomal-mediated removal. This process is an essential element of mitochondrial quality control, and dysregulation of mitophagy may contribute to a host of diseases, most notably neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Mitochondria targeted for mitophagic destruction are molecularly marked by the ubiquitination of several outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) proteins. This ubiquitination is positively regulated, in part, by the mitochondrial-targeted kinase PINK1 and the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin. In contrast, the reverse phenomenon, deubiquitination, removes ubiquitin from Parkin substrates embedded in the OMM proteins, antagonizing mitophagy. Recent evidence suggests that the mitochondrial deubiquitinase USP30 negatively regulates Parkin-mediated mitophagy, providing opportunities to identify USP30 inhibitors and test for their effects in augmenting mitophagy. Here we will characterize a USP30 inhibitor and demonstrate how the pharmacological inhibition of USP30 can augment stress-induced mitophagic flux. Methods We have conducted mitophagy and mitochondrial analyses in cultured cells. We have determined the plasma pharmacokinetics of the USP30 inhibitor in mice and conducted analyses using the mt-Keima mice to measure in vivo mitophagy directly. Results The compound has minimal mitochondrial toxicity in cultured cells and is tolerated well in mice. Interestingly, we demonstrated tissue-specific induction of mitophagy following USP30 pharmacological inhibition. In particular, pharmacological inhibition of USP30 induces a significant increase in cardiac mitophagy without detriment to cardiac function. Conclusion Our data support the evidence that USP30 inhibition may serve as a specific strategy to selectively increase mitophagic flux, allowing for the development of novel therapeutic approaches.
Resolving Single-layer Nanosheets as Short-lived Intermediates in the Solution Synthesis of FeS

Short-lived reaction intermediates play a critical role in mediating material synthesis. Such short-lived species often elude characterization because of the mismatch between the time scale of meas...
StreamCollab: A Streaming Crowd-AI Collaborative System to Smart Urban Infrastructure Monitoring in Social Sensing

Social sensing has emerged as a pervasive and scalable sensing paradigm to collect observations of the physical world from human sensors. A key advantage of social sensing is its infrastructure-free nature. In this paper, we focus on a streaming urban infrastructure monitoring (Streaming UIM) problem in social sensing. The goal is to automatically detect the urban infrastructure damages from the streaming imagery data posted on social media by exploring the collective power of both AI and human intelligence from crowdsourcing systems. Our work is motivated by the limitation of current AI and crowdsourcing solutions that either fail in many critical time-sensitive UIM application scenarios or are not easily generalizable to monitor the damage of different types of urban infrastructures. We identify two critical challenges in solving our problem: i) it is difficult to dynamically integrate AI and crowd intelligence to effectively identify and fix the failure cases of AI solutions; ii) it is non-trivial to obtain accurate human intelligence from unreliable crowd workers in streaming UIM applications. In this paper, we propose StreamCollab, a streaming crowd-AI collaborative system that explores the collaborative intelligence from AI and crowd to solve the streaming UIM problem. The evaluation results on a real-world urban infrastructure imagery dataset collected from social media demonstrate that StreamCollab consistently outperforms both state-of-the-art AI and crowd-AI baselines in UIM accuracy while maintaining the lowest computational cost.
Encouraging Trade Liberalization: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Foreign Aid as Prize

We examine how foreign aid can be used to induce a recipient country to engage in trade-policy reforms. First, we develop a two-country and two-period theoretical model where the donor's promise of aid in period 2 depends on the recipient's chosen tariff in period 1. Without aid, optimal tariff is positive because of the presence of lobbying in the recipient country. We consider three variants of the model depending on whether the donor government is passive or active, and, when the donor government is active, whether the two governments move simultaneously or sequentially. When the donor government is active, it optimally chooses the degree of ex-post conditionality on aid. We find, inter alia, that if a passive donor government increases the level of ex-post unconditional aid, or decrease the degree of ex-post conditionality, optimal tariff goes up. Using a panel data, we then examine if there is any evidence for the ex-post conditionality of aid, and how this conditionality has affected the effectiveness of aid. We find some positive evidence on both counts.
Prevalence and Role of a Low-Lying Peroneus Brevis Muscle Belly in Patients With Peroneal Tendon Pathologic Features: A Potential Source of Tendon Subluxation

A peroneus brevis low-lying muscle belly (LLMB) is a rare anomaly. A few published studies have supported the presence of this anomaly as an etiology for a peroneal tendon tear. However, the association between a peroneus brevis LLMB and tendon subluxation has not been well explored. In the present retrospective study, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intraoperative findings of 50 consecutive patients undergoing primary peroneal tendon surgery during a 5-year period were assessed. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI compared with the intraoperative findings for identifying peroneal tendon disease were investigated. The presence of associated peroneal tendon pathologic features in patients with and without a peroneus brevis LLMB was also compared. The sensitivity of MRI was high for identifying peroneal tenosynovitis (81.58%) and tear (85.71%). Although the sensitivity of MRI for detecting a peroneus brevis LLMB (3.23%) and tendon subluxation (10.00%) was low, MRI had high specificity at 94.74% and 100%, respectively. Intraoperatively, a peroneus brevis LLMB was seen in 62.00% of the patients with chronic lateral ankle pain and was associated with 64.52% of the patients with tenosynovitis, 29.03% of those with tendon subluxation, and 80.65% of those with a peroneus brevis tendon tear. Although the presence of a peroneus brevis LLMB did not show any statistically significant association with peroneus brevis tendon subluxation, of the 10 patients with intraoperatively observed tendon subluxation, 9 had a concomitant peroneus brevis LLMB. More studies with larger patient populations are needed to better investigate the role of a peroneus brevis LLMB as a mass-occupying lesion resulting in peroneal tendon subluxation.
Translation initiation factor IF1 is essential for cell viability in Escherichia coli

Translation initiation factor IF1 is a highly conserved element of the prokaryotic translational apparatus. It has been demonstrated earlier that the factor stimulates in vitro the initiation phase of protein synthesis. However, no mutation in its gene, infA, has been identified, and a role for IF1 in translation has not been demonstrated in vivo. To elucidate the function of IF1 and determine if the protein is essential for cell growth, the chromosomal copy of infA was disrupted. Cell viability is maintained only when infA is expressed in trans from a plasmid, thereby demonstrating that IF1 is essential for cell growth in Escherichia coli. Cells depleted of IF1 exhibit few polysomes, suggesting that IF1 functions in the initiation phase of protein synthesis. Images
Prosecuting the Womb

Policing wombs brings private, intimate spaces into the public theatre, creating spectacles of poor, pregnant women and their children; and this public humiliation functions to visually inscribe these women’s place in the social hierarchy. This article contemplates how we might reconsider these negative externalities relative to the public policy interests that fetal drug laws support. The author argues that the reproductive policing efforts of the past twenty years are consistent with a communitarian approach to reproduction. Goodwin sheds light on the inconsistencies of this approach to behavior policing, which tends to disfavor the less sophisticated, less powerful members of society – namely drug-addicted, poor women of color – and yet ignores the risks posed to fetuses by wealthier would-be parents who use sophisticated, expensive reproductive technologies in their attempts to reproduce.The author makes several claims. First, policing reproduction by way of fetal drug laws will likely have a chilling effect on drug dependent women seeking prenatal care. Opportunities for intervention and treatment will likely be significantly diminished as a consequence of tethering prenatal services to fetal inspections. Second, fetal drug laws are an arbitrary means of regulating risks to fetuses because they are under inclusive as they target poor women and ignore the risky high income-bracket pregnancies where prescribed medications are abused as well as pregnancies that rely on assisted reproductive technologies. Fetal drug laws also ignore the behavior of boyfriends and husbands that are detrimental to a developing fetus. Third, these laws establish and perpetuate disturbing medico-legal trends by normalizing and possibly incentivizing breaches in fiduciary obligations. Fourth, fetal drug laws pose economic and efficiency problems related to incarcerating parents.
Synergies: atoms of brain and behavior.

Using a Socratic method, the hypothesis is proposed that the fundamental units of the behavior of complex living things on multiple levels—all the way from cells to societies—are structural functional organizations called synergies. In the context of motor control, synergies arose because of the need to control, coordinate and exploit enormous numbers of degrees of freedom in complex systems. Synergies are the unique expression of two fundamental mechanisms heretofore conceived of as independent: self-organization and natural selection. Synergies offer a principled means to connect behavior, brains and genes and open up new possibilities for the design of machines.
Infantile colic: looking to old data through new eyes

This paper performs an overview about researches and clinical trials on gut microflora and the use of probiotics, and seeks to define a new picture of current literature in order to propose an evidence-based practice approach for the treatment of infantile colic. Colics are a self-limiting, benign and widespread disturbance in the first three months of life, but provide a great disturbance on family life, also because this condition is frequently undervalued by physicians and available literature doesn’t provide univocal indication about management and treatment. Literature reports growing evidences about the effectiveness of dietary approach or supplementation with probiotics. This article tries to evaluate available evidences through GRADE system, in order to underline limitations, inconsistency and publication bias of old clinical trials. However, this choice could provide multiple and discordant results. According to the growing of new systematic reviews, evaluations about evidences and recommendations in health care are complex, and might show up different results. Moreover, up to date many different definitions and outcome measures for infantile colic have been proposed in clinical trials: many take in account crying time, but a minor part also consider parental perception. The effectiveness of complementary and alternative treatments and behavioural interventions needs to be further investigated. Recently, the possible action of microbiota as a cause of colics and the use of some probiotic strains for the treatment have raised great interest. It has been also postulated that parent-infant interaction may influence infantile colic, but further researches on educational and psychological intervention are required in order to better clarify this issue, as well as further investigations are needed in order to provide more reliable evidence-based guidelines. Proceedings of the 11 th International Workshop on Neonatology and Satellite Meetings · Cagliari (Italy) · October 26 th -31 st , 2015 · From the womb to the adult Guest Editors: Vassilios Fanos (Cagliari, Italy), Michele Mussap (Genoa, Italy), Antonio Del Vecchio (Bari, Italy), Bo Sun (Shanghai, China), Dorret I. Boomsma (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Gavino Faa (Cagliari, Italy), Antonio Giordano (Philadelphia, USA)
A New Turn Toward Learning for Leadership Findings From an Exploratory Coursework Pilot Project

Aspiring leaders in preparation programs need up-to-date research applied in real-life situations. University faculty need to change their understandings of what it means to effectively promote lea...