cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Surgeon Experience Does Not Change Rate of Perioperative Surgical Complication in Rib-Based Distraction Surgery for Early-Onset Scoliosis.

To report on the surgical learning curve in treating early-onset scoliosis with rib-based distraction. The idea of a surgical learning curve proposes improved outcomes with experience. Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) is a challenging condition to treat and complication rates are high. All patients from a single experienced spine surgeon’s practice who had undergone placement of rib-based distraction constructs between 2002 and 2013 were identified. A retrospective chart review was performed to determine patient characteristics at implantation and follow-up surgeries and complications. The primary outcome was complication rate per surgical encounter. Experience was analyzed both by number of surgical procedures and year in study period. The surgeon began using rib-based distraction in 2002, and between 2002 and 2013, a total of 101 patients underwent 1,009 implantation or expansion surgeries involving rib-based distraction at a median age of 6 years at implantation (10 months–9.4 years). The median preoperative Cobb angle was 67° (8°–125°; IQR: 57°–76°) and follow-up was a median of 4.4 years (IQR 3.7–5.6 years). Overall, 65.3% of patients experienced complications, including 40 Grade I, 20 Grade II, 126 Grade IIA, and 3 Grade III. Univariate analysis identified a trend toward cumulative number of surgeries relating to a decreased complication rate, with every 50 surgeries decreasing the complication rate by 3% (p = .071). However, multivariate analysis found cumulative number of surgeries and complication rate to not be significantly related (p = .12). Surgeon experience as measured by study time (as both a continuous and categorical predictor) did not achieve statistical significance in either the univariate or multivariate models. This is the largest single-surgeon series of EOS patients treated with rib-based distraction. Surgeon experience defined either as number of procedures or years of experience within the study period did not impact the rate of complications.
Optimizing the Use of Medications and Other Therapies in Infant Gastroesophageal Reflux

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is the retrograde movement of gastric (and sometimes duodenal) contents into the esophagus. While the majority of GER is physiologic, for patients, it can be associated with symptoms. While some symptoms are merely bothersome (crying), others can be life threatening (cough, gagging, choking). The main driver of GER in infants is the frequent feedings that produce increased intra-abdominal pressure, which is known to trigger transient relaxations of the lower esophageal sphincter. The recent 2018 clinical practice guidelines reported by the North American and European Societies for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN/ESPGHAN) have recommended non-pharmacologic management initially with subsequent consideration of brief trials with acid suppressants. The main target for these acid suppressants is the gastric parietal cells. Our review of the literature has revealed a paucity of data regarding the use of histamine-2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors in infants. Despite the absence of well-controlled clinical studies, the prescription rate of these medications has increased internationally. Risks to patients of all ages have become increasingly recognized, with new associations being reported all too often. Here we report our review of all pharmacologic modalities as well as some non-surgical options.
Ontological Detection of Phishing Emails

Detection of phishing emails is a topic that received a lot of attention both from academia and industry due to the devastating effects of phishing enabled data breaches have on private individual and companies. While the accuracy of phishing detection reported in the papers is impressive, the damage from the attacks continues to grow every year. One of the reasons is the diversity of attacks, especially within spear phishing and whaling. Another reason is that the natural language part of the detectors is usually devoid of semantics. In this paper we present an approach that adds semantics to highly accurate bag of words and part of speech approaches. We show that while the current approach is less accurate as a starting point, it retains its accuracy as a corpus deviates from training, while the accuracy of the original approach decreases with the amount of deviations.
“I Understand What They’re Going through”: How Socioeconomic Background Shapes the Student Service-learning Experience:

Traditional service-learning pedagogy assumes that learning occurs when contact between relatively advantaged students and a relatively disadvantaged service population reduces prejudice. However, ...
Impediments to globalisation and financing of small exporting firms: evidence from Southwest Louisiana

The primary purpose of this study is to explore the problems and prospects of internationalisation and financing of small firms using those domiciled in Southwest Louisiana as an example. The data on firm characteristics, extents and sources of local financing and export willingness are collected from the primary source by administering a questionnaire. The survey findings conclude that the small firms in the southwestern region of Louisiana have enormous export potentials. The impeding factors include paucity of export awareness among small firms, and information gap including misinformation about the perceived overall risk, associated with exporting. The fears of international business risks among the small firms seem exaggerated. The export impediments can be overcome by active involvements of the state and local chambers of commerce, Small Business Administration units and the local banks.
Gastrointestinal peptide hormones during postoperative ileus. Effect of octreotide

The hypothesis was that postoperative ileus might be caused by a disturbed balance between the motor-stimulating hormones, motilin and substance P, and the motorinhibitory hormone, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, and that octreotide might prevent this disturbance and so ameliorate the ileus. In 15 conscious dogs with chronic gastro-intestinal electrodes, electrical activity was recorded and blood was drawn for radioimmunoassay of motilin, substance P, and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) during fasting and after a liquid meal. Ileus was then induced by celiotomy and intestinal abrasion. During and after operation, five dogs received 154 mM NaCl only, five dogs octreotide, 0.19 µg/kg/hr, and five octreotide, 0.83 µg/kg/hr. Plasma levels of motilin, substance P, and VIP were changed little by operation, but cyclical increases in plasma motilin, which occurred preoperatively during phase III of the interdigestive myoelectric complex, were completely abolished postoperatively during ileus, as was the complex itself. Octreotide ameliorated the ileus and restored the interdigestive complexes, but it decreased plasma motilin and did not restore the cyclic increases in motilin found in health, nor did it alter plasma substance P and VIP. In conclusion, octreotide ameliorates postoperative ileus, but it does not do so by increasing plasma motilin or substance P or decreasing plasma VIP.
Clarifying "Faith-Learning Integration": Essentially Contested Concepts and the Concept-Conception Distinction

THE LANGUAGE OF “faith-learning integration” remains popular among evangelical educators in both K-12 and higher education. Some observers suggest for theological and educational reasons that Chris...
PD22-08 OPIOID AND NON-OPIOID BASED CARE PATHWAYS FOR RECONSTRUCTIVE MALE ANTERIOR URETHRAL SURGERY: EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH FOR OPIOID STEWARDSHIP

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES:The United States is facing an opioid epidemic. Surgeons play a critical role, with the incidence of chronic opioid use following surgical procedures impacting up to 10%...
Use of Topical and Systemic Retinoids in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: Update and Review of the Current Literature.

Background Solid organ transplant recipients (SOTRs) are at an increased risk of epithelial malignancies, mainly squamous cell carcinoma, and its precursor lesions such as actinic keratoses, warts, and porokeratosis, which may respond to retinoid therapy. Objective To review the published evidence on the efficacy and safety of topical and systemic retinoids for the treatment and prophylaxis of malignant and premalignant conditions that mostly afflict SOTRs. Materials and methods Systematic review of the literature to summarize the level of evidence and grade of recommendation for retinoid therapy with emphasis in the SOTR population. Results Acitretin has the highest strength of recommendation (Grade A) for prophylaxis of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and treatment and prophylaxis of actinic keratoses in SOTR. In nonimmunosuppressed patients, acitretin and isotretinoin have a Grade B recommendation for treatment of recalcitrant warts. Topical retinoids have not shown efficacy in preventing NMSC in immunocompetent patients. Conclusion Retinoids constitute a highly efficacious alternative for the management of the most common conditions that affect SOTRs. Acitretin has the most robust evidence for chemoprophylaxis in SOTRs. Knowledge about the specific indications and expected side effects of topical and systemic retinoids may help optimize their therapeutic potential.
A Distributed Control Framework for TDM-PON Based 5G Mobile Fronthaul

The 5G mobile fronthaul (MFH) is bound to be overwhelmed by the explosive growth and stringent requirements of future wireless traffic. The time division multiplexed (TDM) passive optical network (PON) is a candidate for supporting such an MFH. Typically, such a TDM-PON utilizes upstream dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) schemes that are centralized at a distant central office (CO) which results in a performance that is not best suited for the MFH. Therefore, this work proposes a novel control framework by shifting the centralized DBA tasks away from the CO towards the closely clustered Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). By exploiting the interconnectivity of the RRHs, the access nodes exchange signaling and control information among themselves to facilitate a fully distributed upstream DBA without the involvement of the CO. The proposed framework separates the control plane from the data plane which paves the way for an efficient exchange of control messages, increased available upstream bandwidth and improved cyclic bandwidth allocation. This translates into a TDM-PON based MFH with lower latency, higher utilization and reduced packet loss.
Strong polaronic effect in a superatomic two-dimensional semiconductor

Crystalline solids assembled from superatomic building blocks are attractive functional materials due to their hierarchical structure, multifunctionality, and tunability. An interesting example is Re6Se8Cl2, in which the Re6Se8 building blocks are covalently linked into two-dimensional (2D) sheets that are stacked into a layered van der Waals solid. It is an indirect gap semiconductor that, when heavily doped, becomes a superconductor at low temperatures. Given the finite electronic bandwidths (300–400 meV), carrier properties in this material are expected to be strongly influenced by coupling to phonons. Here, we apply angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to probe the valence band edge (VBE) of Re6Se8Cl2. We find that dispersion of the VBE is a strong function of temperature. The bandwidth is W = 120 ± 30 meV at 70 K and decreases by one order of magnitude to W ∼ 10 ± 20 meV as temperature is increased to 300 K. This observation reveals the dominant polaronic effects in Re6Se8Cl2, consistent with the Holstein polaron model commonly used to describe molecular solids.
Kilopower Project: The KRUSTY Fission Power Experiment and Potential Missions

The Kilopower Project was initiated by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate/Game Changing Development Program in fiscal year 2015 to demonstrate subsystem-level technology readiness of small...
Economic Freedom Improves Income Mobility: Evidence from Canadian Provinces, 1982–2018

Economic freedom is robustly associated with income growth, but does this association extend to the poorest in a society? In this paper, we employ Canada’s longitudinal cohorts of income mobility between 1982 and 2018 to answer this question. We find that economic freedom, as measured by the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index, is positively associated with multiple measures of income mobility for people in the lowest income deciles, including a) absolute income gain; b) the percentage of people with rising income; and c) average decile mobility. For the overall population, economic freedom has weaker effects.
Effect of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Heart Transplant Status in 4 Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices

Bariatric surgery helps many morbidly obese patients lose substantial weight. However, few data exist on its long-term safety and effectiveness in patients who also have continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices and in whom heart transplantation is contemplated. We retrospectively identified patients at our institution who had undergone ventricular assist device implantation and subsequent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy from June 2015 through September 2017, and we evaluated their baseline demographic data, preoperative characteristics, and postoperative outcomes. Four patients (3 men), ranging in age from 32 to 44 years and in body mass index from 40 to 57, underwent sleeve gastrectomy from 858 to 1,849 days after left ventricular assist device implantation to treat nonischemic cardiomyopathy. All had multiple comorbidities. At a median follow-up duration of 42 months (range, 24-47 mo), median body mass index decreased to 31.9 (range, 28.3-44.3) at maximal weight loss, with a median percentage of excess body mass index lost of 72.5% (range, 38.7%-87.4%). After achieving target weight, one patient was listed for heart transplantation, another awaited listing, one was kept on destination therapy because of positive drug screens, and one regained weight and remained ineligible. On long-term follow-up, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy appears to be safe and feasible for morbidly obese patients with ventricular assist devices who must lose weight for transplantation consideration. Additional studies are warranted to evaluate this weight-loss strategy after transplantation and immunosuppression.
Crying 'Fraud' and Cost-Shifting: U.S. Foreign Trademark Application Regulation and International Trade Law

This paper examines new U.S. regulation of foreign trademark applications through the lens of international trade and international intellectual property law treaties and conventions to which the U.S. is a member, and ultimately concludes that while there is unlikely to be a successful international challenge to a July 2019 USPTO regulation on these applications, the regulation itself violates American commitment under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement.
Micro Indentation Measurements of the Creep Properties of CABGA Doped Solder Joint

Doping SAC solder joints with some elements such as Bi (bismuth) and In (Indium) has been found to improve the thermal cycling reliability, reduce the effect of aging, and improve fatigue resistance. However, the impact of such elements on creep and mechanical properties is not well understood. In this study, the creep properties of doped solder joints and the impact on reliability are investigated. Three different lead-free solder alloy compositions are considered, including SAC305, SnAgCu-3Bi, SnAgCu-0.5Bi-6In, SnAgCu-0.5Bi-0.13In, and those were compared with Sn63Pb37 solder alloy. The test vehicle involves three 15mm Ball Grid Array (CABGA) components. Two groups of CABGA are studied. The first group is tested directly after assembly. The second group is thermally cycled between -40oC to +125oC. The Instron 5948 Micro Tester is used to perform the micro-indentation for individual solder joints by using a customized experimental setup with a cylindrical flat indenter. The test conditions involve applying constant load for an extended time and record the indentation depth with time. Three different loads are applied, with 3 replicates each. The test was conducted at room temperature. The results showed that the creep rate of doped alloys was notably lower than SAC305 due to the solid solution hardening of the Sn lattice structure. SAC-3Bi alloys showed improved steady-state creep rate after thermal cycling.
Health professionals' attitudes toward medications for opioid use disorder.

Research has shown that medications, especially opioid agonist treatments, are an effective way to treat opioid use disorder (OUD); however, negative attitudes held by health professionals contribu...
Multi-dimensional scheduling in cloud storage systems

The increasing demand for elastic and scalable cloud block storage requires flexible and efficient ways to provision volumes. The scheduling of volume requests in physical storage nodes or virtualized storage pools is usually based on a single criterion, such as the available capacity or the number of volumes per backend. Those properties are exposed to the cloud block storage scheduler through drivers, and may vary based on the workload. Hence, most cloud storage providers refrain from describing Service Level Objectives (SLOs). In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a new scheduling algorithm for block storage systems that has the following advantages over the currently implemented scheduler in OpenStack. It provides guaranteed SLOs even in a dynamic workload, it increases the I/O throughput of the volumes that have been already provisioned in the backend systems, it can be scalable to a higher arrival rate for the volume requests, and finally it can minimize the number of active hosts (or else the energy consumption). The volume placement process is based on an APX-hard multi-dimensional Vector Bin Packing (VBP d ) algorithm. In order to reduce the complexity we propose a heuristic named Modified Vector Best Fit Decreasing (MVBFD). Our scheduler design for block storage systems is based on the principles of the OpenStack's Cinder scheduler; hence it can be deployed with only minor modifications to an OpenStack block storage deployment.
Kinetics of intestinal replication of group B rotavirus and relevance to diagnostic methods.

Non-group-A rotaviruses have been implicated with increasing frequency as causes of acute gastroenteritis in humans and other animals. However, the incidence and significance of infection with these agents, as well as appropriate diagnostic strategies for making these determinations, are largely unknown. Studies to make these determinations could be more accurately conducted if the relationship between the viral replication kinetics and the particular diagnostic method used is understood. We thus utilized the murine model of group B rotavirus infection to establish the viral replication kinetics by a variety of commonly used diagnostic methods. Enzyme immunoassay, routine negative-stain electron microscopy, solid-phase immunosorbent electron microscopy, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and a dot hybridization assay were used in these studies. By enzyme immunoassay, 100% of experimentally infected suckling rats tested positive for group B rotaviral antigens at 1, 4, and 5 days postinoculation. However, only 70 and 20% of infected animals tested positive at days 2 and 3 postinoculation, respectively. Dot hybridization with a complementary DNA probe also suggested a biphasic pattern of viral antigen excretion. Evidence of the virus causing infectious diarrhea in infant rats was found only on day 1 postinoculation in samples examined by routine negative-stain electron microscopy and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Rotaviruslike particles were observed by solid-phase immunosorbent electron microscopy on days 1, 2, and 4 after viral inoculation suckling rats but were clearly the most numerous on day 1. Additionally, the enzyme immunoassay was used to quantitate the kinetics of group B rotaviral replication in the intestines of the experimentally infected animals. Levels of murine group B rotaviral antigens in intestinal samples peaked on days 1 and 4 postinoculation; however, only peak 1 represented actual intraepithelial replication of the virus. These studies thus indicate that early sample collection and selection of the appropriate diagnostic method are critical if the incidence and significance of group B and possibly other non-group-A rotaviral infections are to be accurately assessed. Images
The economics of academic tenure: A relational perspective

Abstract This analysis draws on recent work in analytical labor economics that shows the value of stable long-term employment relationships. Tenure is conventionally portrayed as an economically wasteful institution justified (if at all) by its non-economic value. The present analysis identifies ways in which an extended probationary period followed by a lifetime guarantee of a well-defined job is well adapted to features of academic work. The most important of these are: (a) the difficulty of monitoring faculty work performance, and the highly specific character of (b) faculty jobs, and (c) the training those jobs require. The probation-tenure system is contrasted with term contracting. Case studies support the theoretical inferences about the drawbacks of term contracting in an academic setting.
Extremes: Spatial Models and Prediction

Max-stable processes and fields are reviewed as natural models of spatial extremes. Their stochastic properties, extremal integral, and de Haan spectral representations are briefly discussed. A solution to the prediction problem for a large class of spectrally discrete max-linear models is presented and illustrated over a data set of rainfall extremes. Keywords: spatial extremes; max-stable processes; extremal integrals; de Haan spectral representation; prediction; max-linear
A novel strictly anaerobic recovery and enrichment system incorporating lithium for detection of heat-injured Listeria monocytogenes in pasteurized milk containing background microflora

Heat-injured cells of Listeria monocytogenes were recovered from heated raw milk containing noninjured Enterococcus faecium by combining a simple method for obtaining strict anaerobiosis with a novel enrichment broth, Penn State University broth (PSU broth). Strictly anaerobic conditions were rapidly achieved by adding 0.5 g of filter-sterilized cysteine per liter to PSU broth and then purging the preparation with N2 gas. Little resuscitation or growth occurred in strictly anaerobic PSU broth without lithium chloride because of overgrowth by E. faecium. The growth of E. faecium decreased dramatically with increasing LiCl concentration; LiCl concentrations of 8 and 10 g/liter were completely bacteriostatic. The mechanism of inhibition by LiCl appeared to involve competition with the divalent cations Ca2+ and Mg2+. Heat-injured L. monocytogenes consistently recovered and grew rapidly in strictly anaerobic PSU broth containing 4, 6, or 7 g of LiCl per liter. The use of strictly anaerobic PSU broth containing 7 g of LiCl per liter permitted detection of severely heat-injured L. monocytogenes in one simple recovery-enrichment step by eliminating oxygen toxicity and inhibiting the growth of background microflora, without preventing the resuscitation and subsequent growth of heat-injured L. monocytogenes. L. monocytogenes heated in raw milk at 62.8 degrees C for 10, 15, and 20 min could be consistently recovered from strictly anaerobic PSU broth enrichment cultures at 30 degrees C after 48, 96, and 144 h, respectively, and hence, use of PSU broth may result in better recovery of both injured and noninjured cells from foods than currently used U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration preenrichment procedures.
A Genomics Approach to the Study of Ancient Polyploidy and Floral Developmental Genetics

Abstract Comparative genomics approaches are proving to be extremely valuable for the study of gene function, gene duplications, and genome evolution. In this chapter we discuss how cross‐species comparisons of gene sequences and gene‐expression patterns are elucidating the evolution of many plant processes including the regulation of reproduction. Emphasis is placed on the implications of gene and genome duplications for the evolution of genome structure and plant reproduction. In addition, we show that comparative analyses can both promote transfer of knowledge from model to nonmodel systems and inform our understanding of conserved processes in model species.
Conflict and HIV: A framework for risk assessment to prevent HIV in conflict-affected settings in Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS and violent conflict interact to shape population health and development in dramatic ways. HIV/AIDS can create conditions conducive to conflict. Conflict can affect the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS. Conflict is generally understood to accelerate HIV transmission, but this view is simplistic and disregards complex interrelationships between factors that can inhibit and accelerate the spread of HIV in conflict and post conflict settings, respectively. This paper provides a framework for understanding these factors and discusses their implications for policy formulation and program planning in conflict-affected settings.
Pitching mechanics, revisited.

The overhead pitching motion is described as a coordinated sequence of body movements and muscular forces that have an ultimate goal of achieving high ball velocity and target accuracy. An understanding of the dynamic overhead throwing motion outlined in this clinical commentary can assist the clinician in addressing the unique injuries experienced by the pitcher. The potential biomechanical sources for injury have been studied utilizing videography and electromyographic techniques due to the rapid pace with which the pitching motion occurs. This clinical comentary will describe what is widely accepted as the six phases of the pitching motion and the relationship to the kinetic chain theory as well as outline the common mechanical faults that can lead to increased tissue stress and potential injury. Level of Evidence: 5
ERISA Misrepresentation and Nondisclosure Claims: Securities Litigation Under the Guise of ERISA?

In the wake of recent corporate scandals and dramatic market downturns, many employees whose defined contribution plans were heavily invested in employer stock have experienced substantial losses in their anticipated retirement savings. To recover for their losses, plan participants have filed a number of lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) alleging that plan fiduciaries made misrepresentations or failed to disclose material information about the suitability of investing in the company stock. These controversial suits are usually derivative or companion cases to securities class actions based on the same allegations of misrepresentations or nondisclosures. Even though there is a significant overlap between the ERISA and the securities suit, the procedural, remedial, and substantive rules governing the two actions are quite different. By juxtaposing these rules, this Article examines whether ERISA fiduciary misrepresentation and nondisclosure claims amount to securities litigation in disguise; and if so, whether these claims should be allowed to proceed in the absence of the procedural safeguards imposed by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”). INTRODUCTION In the wake of recent corporate scandals and dramatic market downturns, many employees whose company-sponsored retirement saving plans were heavily invested in the stock of their employers have seen their account balances substantially depleted. To recover for their losses, some plan participants have filed lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) alleging that plan fiduciaries made misrepresentations or *Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 2008; University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, B.A. 2005. I am thankful to Professor Donald Langevoort for his valuable guidance from the conception through the completion of this Article. I woud also like to thank Professor Mark Poerio for his helpful comments and to Jennifer Locke Davitt for excellent research help. 1 See generally Susan J. Stabile, Enron, Global Crossing and Beyond: Implications for Workers, 76 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 815 (2002). 2 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001–1461 (2000).
Growth Deficits in Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Stimulant-associated growth deficits in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have long been a concern. Height deficits in preadolescence have been reported, but adult heights have been reported to be uncompromised. It is possible that the catch-up growth that occurs is related to ADHD-associated delayed maturation and not to the cessation of stimulant treatment. To date, no consistent neurohormonal pathophysiology to explain stimulant-associated height deficits has been identified nor have the initial associations of height and weight deficits been replicated. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated with dysregulation of several neurotransmitter systems, especially the catecholamines, that may alter neuroendocrine function and lead to growth delays. The literature on neuroendocrine aspects of growth and treatment in ADHD and on growth in boys with ADHD who are treated with psychotropics is reviewed, and the results of a controlled study in 124 boys with ADHD are presented. Small but significant differences in height were found between children with and without ADHD. However, the height deficits were evident in early, but not late, adolescence and were not related to the use of psychotropic medications. There was no evidence of weight deficits in children with ADHD relative to control subjects and no relationship between measures of malnutrition and short stature was found. These findings suggest that ADHD may be associated with temporary deficits in height gain through midadolescence that may normalize by late adolescence. This effect appears to be mediated by ADHD and not by its treatment.
Research in early childhood education for sustainability: international perspectives and provocations

Research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability: International Perspectives and Provocations provides a platform for promoting a ‘Transnational Dialogue’ on global issues of sustainability...
On-Line Data Link Layer Scheduling in Wireless Networked Control Systems

Wireless networked control systems (WNCSs) are widely used in many applications. A key challenge in WNCSs is to develop efficient data link layer (DLL) scheduling algorithms to achieve reliable end-to-end real-time communication. Previous research typically assumes that the network communication schedule of WNCS, once constructed and distributed, stays unchanged, thus cannot handle dynamic variations which are unavoidable in many WNCSs. This paper considers the DLL scheduling problem in WNCSs, where external disturbances occur sporadically. An on-line framework, employing a rhythmic task model, is introduced to adjust the static schedule to respond to external disturbances. The approach determines the time duration to apply a dynamic schedule and generates the schedule for that time duration to minimize the impact of network dynamics on existing network flows. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm are validated by extensive simulation. Results indicate that the proposed approach outperforms existing work both in terms of the number of feasible task sets (between 11% and 41% increase on average) and the number of feasible periodic packets (between 122% and 128% increase on average).
Syntaphilin Binds to Dynamin-1 and Inhibits Dynamin-dependent Endocytosis

Syntaphilin is a brain-specific syntaxin-binding partner first characterized as an inhibitor of SNARE complex formation and neurotransmitter release. Here we show that syntaphilin also binds to dynamin-1 and through this interaction inhibits dynamin-mediated endocytosis. Immunoprecipitation studies from cross-linked rat synaptosomes demonstrate that an endogenous syntaphilin-dynamin-1 complex exists independently of dynamin-1 binding to amphiphysin. Functionally, syntaphilin expression inhibits transferrin internalization in COS-7 cells. These data reveal that syntaphilin is an inhibitor of both SNARE-based fusion and dynamin-mediated endocytosis.
The Anomalous pKa of Tyr-9 in Glutathione S-Transferase A1-1 Catalyzes Product Release

Abstract The pKa of the catalytic Tyr-9 in glutathione S-transferase (GST) A1-1 is lowered from 10.3 to ∼8.1 in the apoenzyme and ∼9.0 with a GSH conjugate bound at the active site. However, a clear functional role for the unusual Tyr-9 pKa has not been elucidated. GSTA1-1 also includes a dynamic C terminus that undergoes a ligand-dependent disorder-to-order transition. Previous studies suggest a functional link between Tyr-9 ionization and C-terminal dynamics. Here we directly probe the role of Tyr-9 ionization in ligand binding and C-terminal conformation. An engineered mutant of rGSTA1-1, W21F/F222W, which contains a single Trp at the C terminus, was used as a fluorescent reporter of pH-dependent C-terminal dynamics. This mutant exhibited a pH-dependent change in Trp-222 emission properties consistent with changes in C-terminal solvation or conformation. The apparent pKa values for the conformational transition were 7.9 ± 0.1 and 9.3 ± 0.1 for the apoenzyme and ligand-bound enzyme, respectively, in excellent agreement with the pKa for Tyr-9 in these states. The Y9F/W21F/F222W mutant, however, exhibited no such pH-dependent changes. Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy studies revealed a ligand-dependent, Tyr-9-dependent, change in the order parameter of Trp-222. However, no pH dependence was observed. In equilibrium and pre-steady-state ligand binding studies, product conjugate had a decreased equilibrium binding affinity (KD), concomitant with increased binding and dissociation rates, at higher pH values. Furthermore, the recovered pKa values for the pH-dependent microscopic rate constants ranged from 7.7 to 8.4, also in agreement with the pKa of Tyr-9. In contrast, the Y9F/W21F/F222W mutant had no pH-dependent transition in KD or rate constants for ligand binding or dissociation. The combined results indicate that the macroscopic populations of “open” and “closed” states of the C terminus are not determined solely by the ionization state of Tyr-9. However, the rates of transition between these states are faster for the ionized Tyr-9. The ionized Tyr-9 states provide a parallel pathway for product dissociation, which is kinetically and thermodynamically favored. In silico kinetic models further support the functional role for the parallel dissociation pathway provided by ionized Tyr-9.
Economics of Identity and Access Management: Providing decision support for investments

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a key enabler of enterprise businesses: it supports automation, security enforcement, and compliance. However, most enterprises struggle with their Identity and Access Management strategy. Discussions on IAM primarily focus at the IT operational level, rather than targeting strategic decision-makers' issues, at the business level. Organizations are experiencing an increasing number of internal and external threats and risks: there is scarcity of resources and budget to address them all. Decision-makers (e.g., CIOs, CISOs) need to prioritize their choices and motivate their requests for investments. This applies for investments in IAM vs. other possible security or business investments that could be made by the organization. In this context, a range of possible IAM investment options has an effect on multiple strategic outcomes of interest, such as assurance, agility, security, compliance, productivity, and empowerment. We have developed a repeatable approach and methodology to help organizations work through this complex problem space and determine an appropriate strategy, by providing them with decision support capabilities. The proposed approach, validated in collaboration with security and IAM experts, couples economic modelling (which explores decision-makers' preferences between the different outcomes) with system modelling and simulations to predict the consequences (likely outcomes) associated with different investment choices and map them against decision-makers' preferences, in order to identify the most suitable investment options. We illustrate how this methodology has been applied in an IAM case study, in a business-driven context with core enterprise services. This work is in progress. We discuss current results and next steps.
The Relationship of the Laminar Flame Width to Flame Speed

Abstract The width ( δ ) of a laminar flame is often characterized as a basic property of the flame and is sometimes used in turbulent combustion models to categorize the turbulence scale of the mixture. From computed flame speeds and temperature profiles of C3H8/Oa/Ns (o=1) flames we have determined widths, using definitions based on ( dT*sol;dx)max, Q (the heat release rate) and r (the characteristic chemical time) and characteristic distances have been determined from the transport properties of the burned (δ b) and unburned (δ u) gases. The flame widths are compared via the transport properties, (A/Cp), of the gas mixtures in the flame where A is the thermal conductivity and Cp is the heat capacity. A derived or approximate transport property for the flame widths is defined by the product of the mass flow rate (Mƒ) and the flame width. The functional dependence of these flame widths is compared by varying the Na fraction and initial mixture temperature. Both the set of Na fractions and mixture tempera...
Influenza-like illness and presenteeism among school employees

We determined the prevalence of influenza-like illness (ILI) among employees of a suburban Ohio school district. In a survey of 412 of 841 employees (49%), 120 (29%) reported ILI symptoms during the school year, and 92 (77%) reported working while ill. Age ≥50 years and asthma were significantly associated with reporting of ILI symptoms. Encouraging school employees to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine and to stay home when ill should be part of a comprehensive influenza prevention strategy.
Analysis of Some Physical Properties of Poultry Processing Chiller Effluent

Abstract The chiller discharges of five poultry processing plants were sampled and some of the physical properties of the wastewater were measured. Over 60% of the total solids in the wastewater were dissolved solids which cannot be removed by screening and filtering, but 51% of the suspended solids and 77% of the settleable solids could be removed by a 325 mesh sieve.
Occurrence of catastrophic fracture in fully yielded components. Stability analysis

Conditions under which fast fracture may occur in ductile solids are described in terms of a new quantity, named stability index, λ. This index, defined as % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikaiaabs% gacaWGsbGaai4laiaadsgacaWGHbGaeyOeI0IaeyOaIyRaamOuamaa% BaaaleaacaWGbbaabeaakiaac+cacqGHciITcaWGHbGaaiykaiaacI% cacqGHciITcaWGsbWaaSbaaSqaaiaadgeaaeqaaOGaai4laiabgkGi% 2kaadggacaGGPaWaaWbaaSqabeaacqGHsislcaaIXaaaaaaa!4C11!\[({\text{d}}R/da - \partial R_A /\partial a)(\partial R_A /\partial a)^{ - 1}\], encompasses the tearing modulus of Paris % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaiikaiaadw% eacaGGVaGaeq4Wdm3aa0baaSqaaiaaicdaaeaacaaIYaaaaOGaaiyk% aiaacIcacaqGKbGaamOsaiaac+cacaqGKbGaamyyaiaacMcadaWgaa% WcbaGaamyAaaqabaaaaa!42DC!\[(E/\sigma _0^2 )({\text{d}}J/{\text{d}}a)_i\]determined at the point of incipient crack extension, and other geometry dependent quantities. Stability index serves as a measure of the “distance” of any given state of the system considered (specimen containing an extending crack) from the critical state. Instability occurs at λ=0. This work suggests a means of computation of the quantities % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaeizaiaabk% facaqGVaGaaeizaiaadggaaaa!3A28!\[{\text{dR/d}}a\]and % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafiart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaeyOaIyRaam% OuamaaBaaaleaacaWGbbaabeaakiaac+cacqGHciITcaWGHbaaaa!3C25!\[\partial R_A /\partial a\]necessary for evaluation of the stability index λ when a geometrical configuration of the test-piece is specified and under an assumption that the DBCS model employed here and extended to a moving crack situation, is adequate. Symbols R and RAdenote the extent of the plastic zone developed during a quasi-static crack growth and considered either as a measure of material toughness (R) or as an intensity of the applied field (RA). Symbol “a” denotes the current crack half-length.
Analysis of Embedded Shock Waves Calculated by Relaxation Methods

The requirements for uniqueness of the calculated jump conditions across embedded shock waves are investigated for type-dependent difference systems used in transonic flow studies. A mathematical analysis shows that sufficient conditions are (1) the equations should be differenced in conservative form and (2) a special difference operator should be used when switching from a hyperbolic to an elliptic operator. The latter results in a consistency condition on the integral equations, rather than the differential, at these points. Calculated jump conditions for several embedded and detached shock waves are analyzed in the physical and hodograph planes. Comparisons are made with previous results, a time-dependent calculation, and data.
Hormonally regulated α4β2δ GABAA receptors are a target for alcohol

Here we report that low concentrations of alcohol (1–3 mM) increased Cl− currents gated by a recombinant GABAA receptor, α4β2δ, by 40–50% in Xenopus laevis oocytes. We also found greater hippocampal expression of receptors containing α4 and δ subunits, using a rat model1 of premenstrual2 syndrome (PMS) in which 1–3 mM alcohol preferentially enhanced GABA-gated currents, and low doses of alcohol attenuated anxiety and behavioral reactivity. The alcohol sensitivity of δ-containing receptors may underlie the reinforcing effects of alcohol during PMS, when eye saccade responses to low doses of alcohol are increased2.
Topiramate reduces neuronal injury after experimental status epilepticus

Prolonged seizures are associated with injury to vulnerable neurons, particularly in the hippocampus. Identification of compounds that attenuate injury after prolonged seizures could be of value in the management of refractory status epilepticus. We hypothesized that topiramate, an anticonvulsant with multiple mechanisms of action, would attenuate hippocampal neuronal injury when given after experimental status epilepticus. Limbic status epilepticus was induced in adult male Wistar rats for 140 min by unilateral hippocampal electrical stimulation. Rats then received intraperitoneal injections of either vehicle (n=6) or topiramate at 20 mg/kg (n=6), 40 mg/kg (n=7) or 80 mg/kg (n=7). Three days later, hippocampal sections were processed for neuronal degeneration using a silver impregnation stain. Seizure-induced damage was assessed by measuring the density of silver staining in hippocampal regions CA1, CA3 and dentate hilus. Administration of topiramate at each dose was associated with a significant reduction in staining density bilaterally in area CA1 and the dentate hilus. Reduction in staining density in area CA3 was seen contralateral to the side of stimulation at the two higher topiramate doses only. The results indicate that administration of topiramate after experimental status epilepticus can attenuate seizure-induced hippocampal neuronal injury.
The Effects of Experience and Tpaining on the Assessment of Pilot Subjective Workload

This paper presents the results of an experiment designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot workload assessment technique called POSWAT. The motivation for this research arises from the need to evaluate the workload impact of complex cockpit systems being advanced for improved safety, efficiency and reduced pilot workload. In this study 36 experienced instrument pilots gave workload ratings at periodic intervals while making three LOFT type simulated instrument cross-country flights of varying levels of induced workload in a Frasca 141 simulator. Results indicate that the POSWAT workload evaluation method is highly correlated with induced workload. They are also correlated with some, but not all performance measures. Pilot currency was also reflected in POSWAT ratings.
An efficient track association algorithm for the multitarget tracking problem

Abstract A new and extremely promising approach is presented for the solution of the multitarget tracking problem for an important class of targets. For the class of targets that can be described as a linear, time-invariant system, it appears that this approach may be considerably more efficient, computationally, than existing procedures. A survey of approaches to the solution of the multitarget tracking problem has been presented in Ref. [2]. As indicated there, most algorithms require the use of the Kalman filter to provide state estimation for data association and track assignment. In this report, the need for state estimation to identify feasible tracks is eliminated. The use of simpler input-output models for track prediction results in a very substantial reduction in computational burden when compared with methods requiring state estimation. The utility of the method presented here depends, as do Kalman-filter-based methods, upon the definition of data windows that permit the identification of feasible tracks and the elimination of infeasible tracks in a timely manner and according to statistically meaningful criteria. After identifying feasible tracks, the Kalman filter can be utilized to obtain the required state estimates and to analyze and refine the information in the feasible track files.
Effect of the fungicide benomyl on xenobiotic metabolism in rats.

The effect of benomyl administered orally (p.o.) and intraperitoneally (i.p.) on the activity of hepatic microsomal mixed-function oxidases (MFOs) was studied in rats. A dose of 100 mg/kg given i.p. reduced the activities of several hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes 24 h following the treatment. A similar reduction in the activities of the MFOs was also noted 24 h following oral benomyl administration at a dose of 500 mg/kg. Furthermore, in vivo inhibition of drug metabolism by benomyl was demonstrated by increased pentobarbital sleeping-time 24 h after p.o. as well as i.p. dosing. No alterations were found in the serum sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) at 24 h after i.p. or oral benomyl indicating a lack of hepatotoxic effect. These results indicate that benomyl shows a route-independent effect on MFOs and is not toxic to the liver.