cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Measurement of Structural Stiffness and Damping Coefficients in a Metal Mesh Foil Bearing

Engineered Metal Mesh Foil Bearings (MMFB) are a promising low cost bearing technology for oil-free microturbomachinery. In a MMFB, a ring shaped metal mesh (MM) provides a soft elastic support to a smooth arcuate foil wrapped around a rotating shaft. The paper details the construction of a MMFB and the static and dynamic load tests conducted on the bearing for estimation of its structural stiffness and equivalent viscous damping. The 28.00 mm diameter, 28.05 mm long bearing, with a metal mesh ring made of 0.3 mm Copper wire and compactness of 20%, is installed on a test shaft with a slight preload. Static load versus bearing deflection measurements display a cubic nonlinearity with large hysteresis. The bearing deflection varies linearly during loading, but nonlinearly during the unloading process. An electromagnetic shaker applies on the test bearing loads of controlled amplitude over a frequency range. In the frequency domain, the ratio of applied force to bearing deflection gives the bearing mechanical impedance, whose real part and imaginary part give the structural stiffness and damping coefficients, respectively. As with prior art published in the literature, the bearing stiffness decreases significantly with the amplitude of motion and shows a gradual increasing trend with frequency. The bearing equivalent viscous damping is inversely proportional to the excitation frequency and motion amplitude. Hence, it is best to describe the mechanical energy dissipation characteristics of the MMFB with a structural loss factor (material damping). The experimental results show a loss factor as high as 0.7 though dependent on the amplitude of motion. Empirically based formulas, originally developed for metal mesh rings, predict bearing structural stiffness and damping coefficients agreeing well with the experimentally estimated parameters. Note, however, that the metal mesh ring, after continuous operation and various dismantling and reassembly processes, showed significant creep or sag that resulted in a gradual decrease of its structural force coefficients.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
The Effects of Changes in Michigan's School Finance System

I use district-level panel data from the 1991/92 school year through the 2003/04 school year to study the effects of Proposal A, passed in Michigan in 1994. Proposal A dramatically changed the way schools were funded starting in the 1994/95 school year. I discuss what has happened to the pattern of spending in years before and after the reform, including a discussion of funding equalization. Using the several additional years of data—which include additional periods of substantial funding increases for low-spending districts—and a richer lag structure in an econometric model, I find that increases in spending have nontrivial, statistically significant effects on math test pass rates. The effects are notably larger for districts with initially poor performance.
Assessment of Despiking Methods for Turbulence Data in Micrometeorology

AbstractThe computation of turbulent fluxes of heat, momentum, and greenhouse gases requires measurements taken at high sampling frequencies. An important step in this process involves the detection and removal of sudden, short-lived variations that do not represent physical processes and that contaminate the data (i.e., spikes). The objective of this study is to assess the performance of several noteworthy despiking methodologies in order to provide a benchmark assessment and to provide a recommendation that is most applicable to high-frequency micrometeorological data in terms of efficiency and simplicity. The performance of a statistical time window–based algorithm widely used in micrometeorology is compared to three other methodologies (phase space, wavelet based, and median filter). These algorithms are first applied to a synthetic signal (a clean reference version and then one with spikes) in order to assess general performance. Afterward, testing is done on a time series of actual CO2 concentration...
Leisure-time physical activity associates with cognitive decline The Northern Manhattan Study

Objective: Because leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is protective against incident dementia, we hypothesized that LTPA is protective against decline in domain-specific cognitive performance. Methods: As part of the Northern Manhattan Study, LTPA was ascertained at enrollment using a validated in-person questionnaire. We assessed cognition in participants in the Northern Manhattan Study MRI substudy using a standard neuropsychological examination (NPE) (n = 1,228), and a repeat examination was performed 5 years later (n = 876). LTPA was summarized as the maximum intensity of any activity performed, classified as none to light intensity (physical inactivity) (90%) vs moderate to heavy intensity (10%). The NPE was subcategorized using standardized z scores over validated domains: processing speed, semantic memory, episodic memory, and executive function. We used multivariable linear regression models to examine the association of LTPA with initial and change in cognitive performance. Analyses were adjusted for sociodemographics, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and MRI findings (white matter hyperintensity volume, silent brain infarcts, cerebral volume). Results: No/low levels of LTPA were associated with worse executive function, semantic memory, and processing speed scores on the first NPE. The associations were slightly attenuated and no longer significant after adjusting for vascular risk factors. Cognitively unimpaired participants reporting no/low LTPA vs moderate/high levels declined more over time in processing speed (β = −0.231 ± 0.112, p = 0.040) and episodic memory (β = −0.223 ± 0.117, p = 0.057) adjusting for sociodemographic and vascular risk factors. Conclusions: A low level of LTPA is independently associated with greater decline in cognitive performance over time across domains.
War’s End in Southeast Asia

As Canadian diplomat Escott Reid walked through the streets of San Francisco on VE Day, 8 May 1945, he detected only minimal public enthusiasm or display over Germany’s defeat. It had been a long, bloody, frightening war and there was little evidence that Californians much appreciated the significance of the Nazi collapse. Reid surmised that for people on the west coast, the Pacific War was the encounter of real import; and, apparently, Japan’s final defeat was yet a good many months in the future.1 Celebration in May would be premature. The enemy lurker, while banished from the threshold, still maintained large armies in the field in Asia and was preparing by most accounts a desperate defense of the home islands. More grisly battlefields awaited in a war which had encouraged a ‘visceral hatred’ of the Japanese, stoked by ‘racist codewords and imagery’: treacherous, simian-like, a monolithic swarm.2 The anxiety and humilia­tion of December 1941 was not forgotten as San Francisco hosted the founding conference of the United Nations Organization, dedicated to reconciliation and international co-operation as the capstones of a new world order.
Buccal mucosa in vitro experiments: I. Confocal imaging of vital staining and MTT assays for the determination of tissue viability

Abstract Delivery of drugs through the skin and the buccal mucosa has been considered as an alternative to per oral dosing for those substances that are degraded in the gastro-intestinal tract, or are subject to first-pass metabolism in the liver. In the buccal mucosa, contrary to skin, the diffusion barriers are located within living cell layers, hence the physiological state of the tissue is likely to significantly affect in vitro diffusion profiles. In this study, we were interested in assessing the viability of excised buccal mucosa and determining the limits of tissue usage under common in vitro experimental conditions. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we have shown that optical sectioning of samples exposed to calcein AM and ethidium homodimer-1 (used as `live' and `dead' cell probes respectively) can be employed to accurately and reliably determine the viability of buccal mucosa biopsies. The results of the CLSM assay were remarkably consistent with that of an MTT assay. In both studies, viability in PBS at 34°C was lost after about 8 h post-mortem, whereas it could be sustained for up to 24 h in KBR.
The Impact of For-Profit Hospital Status on the Care and Outcomes of Patients With Non–ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Results From the CRUSADE Initiative

Objectives We sought to determine whether for-profit status influenced hospitals’ care or outcomes among non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients. Background While for-profit hospitals potentially have financial incentives to selectively care for younger, healthier patients, perform highly reimbursed procedures, reduce costs by limiting access to expensive medications, and encourage shorter in-patient length of stay, there are limited data available to investigate these issues objectively. Methods Using data from the CRUSADE (Can Rapid risk stratification of Unstable angina patients Suppress ADverse outcomes with Early implementation of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines) Initiative, we investigated whether for-profit status influenced hospitals’ patient case mix, care, or outcomes among 145,357 patients with NSTEMI treated between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005, at 532 U.S. hospitals. Impact of for-profit status on care and outcomes was analyzed overall and after adjustment for clinical and facility factors using regression modeling. Results Patients (n = 11,658) treated at 58 for-profit hospitals were of similar age and gender, but were more likely to be nonwhite (black, Asian, Hispanic, and other) and have health maintenance organization/private insurance, diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, hypertension, and renal insufficiency compared with 133,699 patients treated at 474 nonprofit hospitals. For-profit hospitals were less likely to use discharge beta-blockers, but all other treatments were similar including the use of interventional procedures (cardiac catheterization and revascularization procedures) compared with nonprofit centers. In-hospital length of stay and mortality were also similar by hospital type. Conclusions We found no evidence that for-profit hospitals selectively treat less sick patients, provide less evidence-based care, limit in-hospital stays, or have patients with worse acute outcomes than nonprofit centers.
Pharmacovigilance and Biomedical Informatics: A Model for Future Development.

Abstract Purpose The discipline of pharmacovigilance is rooted in the aftermath of the thalidomide tragedy of 1961. It has evolved as a result of collaborative efforts by many individuals and organizations, including physicians, patients, Health Authorities, universities, industry, the World Health Organization, the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, and the International Conference on Harmonisation. Biomedical informatics is rooted in technologically based methodologies and has evolved at the speed of computer technology. The purpose of this review is to bring a novel lens to pharmacovigilance, looking at the evolution and development of the field of pharmacovigilance from the perspective of biomedical informatics, with the explicit goal of providing a foundation for discussion of the future direction of pharmacovigilance as a discipline. Methods For this review, we searched [publication trend for the log10 value of the numbers of publications identified in PubMed] using the key words [informatics (INF), pharmacovigilance (PV), phar-macovigilance þ informatics (PV þ INF)], for [study types] articles published between [1994-2015]. We manually searched the reference lists of identified articles for additional information. Implications Biomedical informatics has made significant contributions to the infrastructural development of pharmacovigilance. However, there has not otherwise been a systematic assessment of the role of biomedical informatics in enhancing the field of pharmacovigilance, and there has been little cross-discipline scholarship. Rapidly developing innovations in biomedical informatics pose a challenge to pharmacovigilance in finding ways to include new sources of safety information, including social media, massively linked databases, and mobile and wearable wellness applications and sensors. With biomedical informatics as a lens, it is evident that certain aspects of pharmacovigilance are evolving more slowly. However, the high levels of mutual interest in both fields and intense global and economic external pressures offer opportunities for a future of closer collaboration.
Cost and Survival Analysis Before and After Implementation of Dana-Farber Clinical Pathways for Patients With Stage IV Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose:Increasing costs and medical complexity are significant challenges in modern oncology. We explored the use of clinical pathways to support clinical decision making and manage resources prospectively across our network.Materials and Methods:We created customized lung cancer pathways and partnered with a commercial vendor to provide a Web-based platform for real-time decision support and post-treatment data aggregation. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) Pathways for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were introduced in January 2014. We identified all DFCI patients who were diagnosed and treated for stage IV NSCLC in 2012 (before pathways) and 2014 (after pathways). Costs of care were determined for 1 year from the time of diagnosis.Results:Pre- and postpathway cohorts included 160 and 210 patients with stage IV NSCLC, respectively. The prepathway group had more women but was otherwise similarly matched for demographic and tumor characteristics. The total 12-month cost of care (adjusted for age, se...
Monitoring for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon

Parenteral medications are titrated in the oral and maxillofacial surgery office to achieve moderate sedation, deep sedation, or general anesthesia while continuously maintaining spontaneous ventilation with an open airway. After initial drug administration, the provider assesses and interprets both the level of anesthesia and the presence/severity of adverse side effects, both of which guide further drug titration, cessation, reversal, or medical management. This assessment is called monitoring, which guides the conduct of anesthesia delivery and becomes the essence of this art.
Notes on the iconography of mediated gestures

This article argues for the relevance of Erwin Panofsky’s twentieth-century art historical three-step method of preiconography, iconography, and iconology to the field of media studies. It illustrates the ways in which genealogies of visual elements spread across a wide range of visual media can illuminate long-standing cultural tropes. More specifically, this project takes up the second step proposed by Panofsky—namely iconography—to link visual representations of Trump’s election campaign to the recruitment World War I posters featuring a caricature of Uncle Sam. Through the articulation of this genealogy, it sheds light on the ways in which humor and politics have been visually welded together by the popular press since the nineteenth century.
Residential Behavior Modification Programs and the Problem of Uncontrolled Contingencies: A Reply to Lachenmeyer

In reviewing Lachenmeyer’s observations of the program in question, most of the problems he has discussed are acknowledged. The basic issue, however, is how to solve these problems. A discussion of program modifications made in light of these problems is presented. These changes are contrasted to the “easy” but unrealistic solutions proposed by Lachenmeyer.
An infinite family of ninth degree dihedral polynomials

For any integer $m\neq 0$ , we prove that $f(x)=x^{9}+9mx^{6}+192m^{3}$ is irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$ and that the Galois group of $f(x)$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ is the dihedral group of order 18. Moreover, we show that for infinitely many values of $m$ , the splitting fields for $f(x)$ are distinct.
Severe hypoglycemia-induced sudden death is mediated by both cardiac arrhythmias and seizures.

We previously demonstrated that insulin-induced severe hypoglycemia-associated sudden death is largely mediated by fatal cardiac arrhythmias. In the current study, a pharmacological approach was ta...
Assay Development in Clinical Pathology

Assays are laboratory testing procedures in which a measurement is performed on a biological sample. Over 1000 different substances can be measured in patient samples and laboratory test results are the basis of the vast majority of medical decisions. Development and implementing a new assay into patient care requires multiple elements, including discovery, method development, validation, and evaluation before it is incorporated into routine use. Important characteristics that are considered when evaluating analytic performance include accuracy, precision, detection capability, analytic specificity, reportable range, and reference interval. This article briefly summarized the use of assays in patient care and addresses technological aspects of assays. In addition, progression of assays from discovery to implementation in patient management is described.
Maximizing pollinator diversity in willow biomass plantings: A comparison between willow sexes and among pedigrees

Abstract Shrub willow has potential to be a substantial source of renewable biomass for production of bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts. At the same time, scientists and land managers are increasingly challenged to achieve multiple ecosystem functions in bioenergy plantings. Due to willow's early-season bloom period, a time when natural forage for bees can be limited, biomass plantings offer a potential benefit of floral resources for pollinators, some of which are known to be experiencing recent declines. To assess which willow cultivars and sex may provide the most benefit to pollinators, we conducted a common-garden experiment (Northeast U.S.) comparing bee (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) visitation among seven pedigrees and both sexes of short rotation coppice willow. We quantified abundance, richness, diversity, evenness, and species composition in plots planted with each pedigree and sex. Over seven sampling dates, we found an abundant and diverse bee assemblage comprised of 4675 individuals representing >56 species, at least 10 of which are rare or in decline in the northeastern United States. Willow sex was an important factor in bee visitation differences, with male willows supporting 39% greater abundance, 20% greater richness, and 9% greater diversity of bee visitors. Greater bee richness and diversity on male willows was due to an abundance-driven accumulation of species, as determined via rarefaction. Ordination analyses indicated composition of bee species assemblages differed among both willow pedigree and sex. Thus, our findings suggest male willow of varying pedigrees may be optimal for strategic plantings intended to meet bioenergy goals while also benefiting pollinators.
Luminescent Electropolymerizable Ruthenium Complexes and Corresponding Conducting Metallopolymers

Tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) dichloride [Ru(bpy)3Cl2] and analogous complexes have been studied extensively in the literature due to their luminescent and photochemical properties as well as their excited-state lifetimes. Conducting polymers with similar ruthenium groups have also been investigated for various applications. In this study, syntheses of four ruthenium complexes with a polymerizable tridentate ligand, bis[4-[2-(3,4-diethylenedioxy)thiophene]pyrazol-1-yl]pyridine (EDOT2NNN), and with bidentate ligands, two of which were anionic (hfac: 1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedione; dbm: dibenzoylmethane) and two of which were neutral (bpy: 2,2′-bipyridyl; phen: 1,10-phenanthroline), were achieved for potential OLED/PLED applications. Saturated CH2Cl2 solutions of monomers were oxidatively and electrochemically polymerized, and the scan rate dependences of the polymers were measured. UV–vis spectroscopic characterizations of the complexes and the EDOT-functionalized ligand were obtained. [Ru(EDO...
Voice Disorders in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and the Role of CPAP.

Objective:Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by frequent interruptions in breathing related to upper airway collapse during sleep and may adversely affect phonatory function. This study...
Correction to: Effects of Local Watershed Land Use on Water Quality in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Bays and Subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay

The article Effects of Local Watershed Land Use on Water Quality in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Bays and Subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, written by Thomas E. Jordan, Donald E. Weller, and Carey E. Pelc was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink).
Determining the efficiency of investment activity of industrial holding enterprises

The article estimates the efficiency of investment activity of industrial holding enterprises. The ways to increase the efficiency of investment activity at the state and regional levels are developed. The basic methods of regulation of investment processes, the priority directions of use of state and non-state financing sources are determined. Investments contribute to the upgrade of obsolescent and deprecated equipment, modernization of technological processes of production, the application of the latest technologies and knowledge that ultimately leads to increase in the competitiveness of products, enterprise, its profits from production activities and the improvement of financial condition. The priority purpose of investment activity is to satisfy the participants’ interests to the fullest extent. Therefore, the qualitative characteristic of the investment efficiency is to obtain the highest level of efficiency. The in-depth study of the essence of the investment activity effectiveness of industrial enterprises is carried out; management instrument, which gives the opportunity to increase the investors’ motivation and to raise the level of manageability of the results and the efficiency of investment activity of industrial holding enterprises, is improved. There is a problem of choice for investing in industrial enterprises with the best prospects of development and which will be able to ensure the high efficiency of invested capital. The main factors hindering the processes of the investment activity are summarized. The priority tasks for the reform of administrative mechanisms at the enterprise level are identified. According to the results of the study, it is possible to conclude that each industrial enterprise should invest actively for the successful and efficient functioning and reflect its investment attractiveness
Acute pancreatitis: an update on the revised Atlanta classification

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is the most common gastrointestinal disease resulting in hospitalization in the United States with reports of over 270,000 hospitalizations and costs up to 2.6 billion dollars per year. AP is highly variable in disease course and outcome. Established in 1992, the original Atlanta classification system aimed to categorize the wide spectrum of AP by creating consensus-based terminology for AP types, severity, and complications. Though the original system standardized terminology, certain terms and definitions (i.e. pancreatic abscess) were unclear and often misused. The 2012 revised Atlanta classification (RAC) system updated terms, clarified definitions, and incorporated the medical community's improved understanding of the physiology of AP. The resulting RAC effectively defined the morphologic types of pancreatitis, provided a more standardized system for disease severity grading, further classified the local retroperitoneal complications, and established objective measures to describe this highly variable but common disease. This review provides an update on the recent literature evaluating the RAC, discusses both the strengths and shortcomings of the RAC system (including problematic interobserver agreement), and considers improvements for future classification systems.
Reservoir Operational Performance Subject to Climate and Management Changes in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon

AbstractReevaluation of the reliability of reservoirs in meeting operating objectives is needed as the landscape and operational priorities change. This study examined the individual and collective...
Making Good Americans: The Politics of Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather’s novel Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) offers a reflection on the role that religious faith can play in the creation and maintenance of national identity and social solidarity. ...
High-Quality Diversification for Task-Oriented Dialogue Systems.

Many task-oriented dialogue systems use deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to learn policies that respond to the user appropriately and complete the tasks successfully. Training DRL agents with diverse dialogue trajectories prepare them well for rare user requests and unseen situations. One effective diversification method is to let the agent interact with a diverse set of learned user models. However, trajectories created by these artificial user models may contain generation errors, which can quickly propagate into the agent's policy. It is thus important to control the quality of the diversification and resist the noise. In this paper, we propose a novel dialogue diversification method for task-oriented dialogue systems trained in simulators. Our method, Intermittent Short Extension Ensemble (I-SEE), constrains the intensity to interact with an ensemble of diverse user models and effectively controls the quality of the diversification. Evaluations on the Multiwoz dataset show that I-SEE successfully boosts the performance of several state-of-the-art DRL dialogue agents.
COVID-19-related violence trend data challenges & a resource for injury researchers

Published works have raised concerns that certain violent behaviors and firearm acquisition have encountered dramatic increases since the onset of COVID-19. While these works provide important preliminary insights, they lack the empirical robustness necessary to inform a targeted societal response. Having the ability to perform the research needed to support evidence-based policy requires that data at national, state and local-levels be accessible and of sufficient quality. While related, robust data sources do arguably exist, their availability may come long after the window for effective prevention and intervention efforts has closed or may otherwise present with quality limitations, leaving populations at risk for various forms of violence without the support of protective policies. The University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center and the Public Policy Center has compiled a compendium of secondary data sources in an effort to promote exploration of relationships between the COVID-19 pandemic and rates of injury and violence. The forms of violence and firearm-related behavior that were identified as being at risk for amplification given the social stress, economic stress and isolation associated with the public health emergency period included: firearm acquisition, firearm violence, intimate partner violence and family violence.
The Great Powers and the International System: Systemic Theory in Empirical Perspective

Do great leaders make history? Or are they compelled to act by historical circumstance? This debate has remained unresolved since Thomas Carlyle and Karl Marx framed it in the mid-nineteenth century, yet implicit answers inform our policies and our views of history. In this book, Professor Bear F. Braumoeller argues persuasively that both perspectives are correct: leaders shape the main material and ideological forces of history that subsequently constrain and compel them. His studies of the Congress of Vienna, the interwar period, and the end of the Cold War illustrate this dynamic, and the data he marshals provide systematic evidence that leaders both shape and are constrained by the structure of the international system.
Hepatic and metabolic effects of ethanol on rhesus monkeys.

Human alcoholics may suffer from a great variety of hepatic morphologic and biochemical abnormalities such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis. In addition, the metabolism of alcohol and of drugs is accelerated in human alcoholics (Shah,et al, 1972). The mechanisms of these changes are still disputed. Hepatic fatty change has been attributed to nutritional imbalance (Porta et al, 1970) and to a direct toxic effect of ethanol (Lieber et al, 1971). The mechanism of the accelerated metabolism of alcohol also remains uncertain.
Sustainable campuses and campus planning

This article explores the possibilities of teaching environmental planning by focusing on the sustainability of the campus and the campus master planning process. It describes the development of an urban planning course centered on campus master planning and its environmental impacts at the University of Kansas. Drawing on existing knowledge of campus planning and campus ecology, the article presents a tentative framework for assessing issues that can affect the structure of a campus environmental planning class, discusses the structure of the University of Kansas course, and outlines the lessons and reflections that have emerged from that course.
Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative (ECCLI): Baseline Evaluation Report of a Massachusetts Nursing Home Initiative

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts initiated the Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative (ECCLI) as part of a broader Nursing Home Quality Initiative, adopted by the Legislature in 2000. This legislation is a response to high turnover and vacancies among paraprofessionals in long-term care, creating instability that threatens quality and access to health care. Basic to these initiatives is the equation of good care for consumers with good jobs and opportunities for frontline caregivers. Thus it asks long-term care providers to partner with other organizations (including community based groups, unions, work force development agencies, community colleges, and other long-term care providers) to mount demonstration projects that offer insight into new care-giving and workplace practices that improve the quality of care and the quality of jobs. These projects should also demonstrate how the accomplishment of care giving and workforce quality goals can be mutually reinforcing. Sponsors hope that such projects will offer clear and replicable models for both the long term care industry, and the workforce development community that supports the industry and its potential and existing labor force. ECCLI'S overall program goal is to promote systemic change and build capacity within the long-term care and work force development communities in support of the following goals and objectives: (1) Improve quality of care; (2) Promote skill development; (3) Create and institutionalize career ladders and other workplace practices that support and develop workers; and (4) Improve employee retention. The attached baseline evaluation report is presented as a working paper for the information of researchers and practitioners in the field of nursing home quality and workforce development. It covers the period from March 2001 to June 2001 when the ECCLI program was getting underway, and was submitted to the Commonwealth Corporation of Massachusetts, the quasi-public agency that is administering the funds from the Nursing Home Quality Initiative. Future reports will analyze data collected by the researchers after this baseline and planning period. Major findings include insight into the process of forming consortia across unfamiliar realms of human services (health care and workforce development and education), and challenges for the participants as they consider and implement organizational change as well as training programs for frontline workers as well as supervisors.
A Geological Perspective on Climatic Change: Computer Simulation of Ancient Climates

The possibility of global warming resulting from the anthropogenic addition of carbon dioxide and other industrial gases into the atmosphere is a topic of much recent concern. Global climate models are used to make predictions for possible future climatic changes, but their ability to simulate climatic states other than the present day is not well constrained. The sedimentary record contains a wealth of information on past global climatic change. From this, we can get a good idea of what past climatic extremes were, and some idea of their underlying causes. If we attempt to simulate the climate of a past time period, we can evaluate the ability of a climate model to represent a climatic state substantially different from the present day. At present, models are not well utilized to reproduce a global climatology for a particular time period. Rather, the models are used for sensitivity experiments. One geologic factor is varied {e.g., geography or C0 2 level) while all others are held constant. In this way, the effect on the climate of changing that one factor can be tested, and insights into the mechanisms of global change are gained. The results are then compared with the geologic record. Two case studies are given as examples.
Patenting by Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study

The 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey is the first comprehensive investigation in the United States of patenting by entrepreneurs. In this Article, we use the survey results to explain why entrepreneurs and startup companies patent (and choose not to do so). We first briefly explore the dominant theories in the literature of why entrepreneurs file for patents and why they forgo patenting. Next, we describe the previous - and very limited - empirical data on the topic. Finally, we examine the results of the 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey. In addition to confirming the importance of patents to the biotechnology and medical device industries, we also find that patents appear to play a more important role in preventing competition for software entrepreneurs than previously believed. Additionally, startup firms in all industries--but especially in the biotechnology and medical-device sectors - use patents for "strategic" reasons, such as gaining leverage in cross-licensing negotiations, as well as "signaling" reasons, such as improving their chances of securing investment. We also find that a large share of entrepreneurs forgo patenting their inventions because the cost of doing so is too high. We conclude by briefly discussing potential policy implications of our findings.
Modulation of Hsp70 Interactions with Co-chaperones via Phosphorylation

The C-terminus of the 70-kilodalton heat shock protein interacts with TPR domains within the ubiquitin ligase CHIP (C-terminus of Hsp70 interacting protein) and Hop (Hsp70-Hsp90 organizing protein)...
On Pulsations of Luminous Stars.

Recent results from numerical studies of linear nonadiabatic eigenspectra of luminous stars are described. We consider low-mass, high-luminosity hydrogen-deficient stars, massive stars during their early evolutionary stages and blue supergiants similar to α Cygni. The chosen examples illustrate that a high degree of nonadiabaticity may lead to a qualitative change in the pulsational behaviour.
The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students’ Experiences of Safety, Support, and Connectedness

This study used student and teacher survey data from over 400 middle schools in California to examine within-school racial disparities in students’ experiences of school climate. It further examined the relationship between a school’s racial climate gaps and achievement gaps and other school structures and norms that may help explain why some schools have larger or smaller racial disparities in student reports of climate than others. Multilevel regression results problematized the concept of a “school climate” by showing that, in an average middle school, Black and Hispanic students have less favorable experiences of safety, connectedness, relationships with adults, and opportunities for participation compared to White students. The results also show that certain racial school climate gaps vary in magnitude across middle schools, and in middle schools where these gaps are larger, the racial achievement gap is also larger. Finally, the socioeconomic status of students, student–teacher ratio, and geographic location help explain some cross-school variation in racial climate gaps. These findings have implications for how school climate in conceptualized, measured, and improved.
An adaptive peer-to-peer collision warning system

A cooperative vehicle collision warning system is made possible by the progress in advanced positioning systems and wireless communication technology. We report our work in developing a cooperative intersection collision warning system that is not limited by the requirement of line-of-sight. The novel elements of the system include the use of a dynamic ad hoc wireless network for peer-to-peer data sharing, a new intersection collision warning algorithm, and a flexible and extensible software architecture and system design. The very same system is also capable of collision warning for other scenarios such as frontal and rear-end. Further, the tunable parameters in the algorithm make it possible for the system to adapt to the preference and capability of each individual driver.
Regulation of toll-like receptors in intestinal epithelial cells by stress and Toxoplasma gondii infection

SUMMARY Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) form a barrier between invading microorganisms and the underlying host tissues. IECs express toll-like receptors (TLRs) that recognize specific molecular signatures on microbes, which activate intracellular signalling pathways leading to production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Stress hormones play an important role in modulation of proinflammatory cytokines and down-regulation of immune responses. Here we demonstrated that expression levels of TLR-2, TLR-4, TLR-9 and TLR-11 were significantly increased in mouse IECs following infection with Toxoplasma gondii on day 8 postinfection. In contrast, expression of TLRs was significantly decreased in infected mice subjected to cold water stress (CWS + INF). Expression of TLR-9 and TLR-11 in the mouse MODE-K cell line was significantly increased after infection. Expression of TLR-9 and TLR-11 in cells exposed to norepinephrine (NE) and parasites was significantly decreased when compared to cells exposed to parasites only. A significant increase was observed in SIGIRR, a negative regulator of TLRs in the CWS + INF group when compared to the INF group. Stress components were able to decrease expression levels of TLRs in IECs, decrease parasite load, and increase expression of a negative regulator thereby ameliorating intestinal inflammatory responses commonly observed during per oral T. gondii infection in C57BL/6 mice.
Lessons from dietary studies in Adventists and questions for the future

Comparisons of diets and disease rates between Adventists and non-Adventists, and prospective cohort studies among Adventists, have contributed greatly to our general understanding of nutrition and health. The most fundamental conclusion drawn from the Adventist Health Studies has been that maintaining a lean body weight throughout life is central for optimal health. Other contributions have included the value of nut consumption for prevention of coronary artery disease, and the roles of red meat and dairy products in the etiologies of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Although much progress has been made, many issues remain unresolved. In particular, rates of breast and prostate cancers remain high among Adventist populations despite an overall healthy lifestyle and long life expectancy. There is even some suggestion that risk of breast cancer may increase with duration of being a vegetarian. One topic that may be uniquely studied among an Adventist population is the effect of soy phytoestrogens in disease prevention. Although soy consumption has been hypothesized to contribute to the low rates of breast cancer in Asian populations, several intervention studies using high doses of soy estrogens have shown changes in breast nipple fluid that would predict higher rates of breast cancer. Also, high dairy product consumption has been associated with risk of prostate and ovarian cancers in some but not all studies. The unusually wide range of milk consumption in Adventists will be particularly informative with regard to these relations. Resolution of these issues is needed to provide optimal guidance regarding healthy diets, and the newly funded Adventist Health Study will contribute importantly in this effort.
A new theory on the pathogenesis of acquired cholesteatoma: Mucosal traction

Objectives/Hypothesis Although the migration of its squamous outer surface of the tympanic membrane has been well characterized, there is a paucity of data available concerning the migratory behavior of its medial mucosal surface. Existing theories of primary acquired cholesteatoma pathogenesis do not adequately explain the observed characteristics of the disease. We propose a new hypothesis, based upon a conjecture that mucosal membrane interactions are the driving force in cholesteatoma. Study Design A retrospective chart review and a prospective observational cohort study in rats. Methods After developing the new theory, it was tested through both clinical and experimental observations. To evaluate whether impairment of middle ear mucociliary migration would influence cholesteatoma formation, a retrospective chart review evaluating cholesteatoma occurrence in a sizable population of patients with either primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) or cystic fibrosis (CF) was performed. To study mucosal migration on the medial aspect of the tympanic membrane, ink tattoos were monitored over time in a rat model. Results No cholesteatomas were identified in either PCD patients (470) or in CF patients (1,910). In the rat model, mucosa of the posterior pars tensa migrated toward the posterior superior quadrant, whereas the mucosa of the anterior pars tensa migrated radially toward the annulus. Conclusion Mucosal coupling with traction generated by interaction of migrating opposing surfaces provides the first comprehensive theory that explains the observed characteristics of primary acquired cholesteatoma. The somewhat counterintuitive hypothesis that cholesteatoma is fundamentally a mucosal disease has numerous therapeutic implications. Level of Evidence 4. Laryngoscope, 125:S1–S14, 2015
Reoperation for cryptorchid testis in prepubertal child

Twenty-two prepubertal patients with cryptorchid testes after having previous inguinal surgery were referred. These included 17 patients in whom orchidopexy had been unsuccessful. Five patients had prior surgery for hernia and/or hydrocele resulting in surgical entrapment of the testis. Five patients had bilateral disease. In 1 patient the testis was involved in Marlex mesh, 1 had had two prior orchidopexies, and 1 had prune belly syndrome. Postoperatively the testes were in good position in the scrotum in all 22 cases, with mean follow-up of 8.9 months. All testes were of normal size, and no atrophic testes ensued following the procedures. Principle factors for success in re-exploration included initial retrograde dissection of the testis and cord, intraperitoneal exposure, and subsequent dissection and adequate lengthening of the cord with protection of the spermatic vessels.
Professionalizing Human Services: A Case of Domestic Violence Shelter Advocates

Recent decades have witnessed a shift in the provision of human services in America in multiple forms, including the work of caring for the elderly, people living with mental/physical disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. Using a case study of domestic violence shelter advocates, this paper explores the professionalization of advocating for and providing human services to victims of domestic violence. The introduction of the rhetoric of "boundaries" allows domestic violence advocates to justify separating their personal lives from their professional advocacy and reinforcing and unequal distribution of power between the advocates and the domestic violence victims. Furthermore, the domestic violence shelter organization acted to promote a message of professionalization to the advocates through an emphasis on credentials and previous work experience in a domestic violence shelter. Additionally, the domestic violence shelter advocates received a strong message in favor of professionalizing their work from the regional community of human service providers. As the local level response to domestic violence becomes increasingly professionalized, service providers negotiate professional expectations while struggling to provide human services to domestic violence victims.
Regularization and feature selection for networked features

In the standard formalization of supervised learning problems, a datum is represented as a vector of features without prior knowledge about relationships among features. However, for many real world problems, we have such prior knowledge about structure relationships among features. For instance, in Microarray analysis where the genes are features, the genes form biological pathways. Such prior knowledge should be incorporated to build a more accurate and interpretable model, especially in applications with high dimensionality and low sample sizes. Towards an efficient incorporation of the structure relationships, we have designed a classification model where we use an undirected graph to capture the relationship of features. In our method, we combine both L1 norm and Laplacian based L2 norm regularization with logistic regression. In this approach, we enforce model sparsity and smoothness among features to identify a small subset of grouped features. We have derived efficient optimization algorithms based on coordinate decent for the new formulation. Using comprehensive experimental study, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed learning methods.
Excitons and Phonons in CdTe/MnTc and ZnTe/MnTc Single Quantum Wells. Aspects of Confinement and Optical Phonon Coupling

With the incorporation of wide gap cubic zineblende MnTe, a range of optical studies are carried out on single quantum wells of ZnTe/MnTe and CdTe/MnTe. By using thin MnTe barrier layers the highly strained structures appear to be nearly pseudomorphic and show evidence for good electron hole confinement. This has provided a means to examine the exciton-LO-phonon coupling through different indicators. Mit Einbeziehung des breitluckigen kubischen Mn Te vom Zinkblende-Typ werden eine Reihe Optischer Benutzung dunner Mn Te-Barrierenschichten scheinen die hochverspannten nahezu pseudomorph zu sein und zeigen Hinweise auf ein gutes Elektron-Loc-Confinement. Dies liefert ein Mittel zur Untersuchung der Exzitonen LO-Phononenkopplung mit verschiedenen Indikatoren.
Salvaging Vascular Access and Treatment of Severe Limb Edema: Case Reports on the Novel Use of the Hemodialysis Reliable Outflow Vascular Access Device

We report two cases in which patients on chronic hemodialysis presented with morbid unilateral edema of the upper extremity and chest on the side of a currently functioning arteriovenous access. Both patients were known to the vascular surgery service and had previously undergone multiple attempts to create and maintain vascular access. Both severe and disabling edema and the need to maintain dialysis access were of significant concern. These patients were taken to the operating room to address both issues. Upper extremity venography with central venous runoff revealed central vein stenosis and/or occlusion resistant to angioplasty and stenting. Ultimately, these two patients received the Hemodialysis Reliable Outflow vascular access device. The experiences in this study demonstrate the novel use of a relatively new vascular access device for salvage of a malfunctioning arteriovenous fistula or graft as well as treatment of symptoms and complications resulting from long standing vascular access.