cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of Roles and Affiliations on End-Users’ Acceptance of ERP Implementation in a Large Transportation Agency

AbstractThe authors studied Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which recently completed a 17-month project for implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The authors used self-reported data from 3,294 staff members collected over 11 months throughout the project and employed logistic regression to compare responses from three role groups, namely supervisors/managers, crew chiefs/lead workers, and employees as well as from three affiliation groups, namely respondents working at division, district, and office levels. As for roles, employees, the main users of ERP system, were less optimistic about the project. As for affiliations, districts were less optimistic about the project. Investigating TxDOT’s implementation approach suggested that lack of hands-on training, widespread content of work and variations in daily tasks, and proximity to the power structure might explain the findings. Employees and those from districts might have seen more risk to them personally and been less awa...
Corneal swelling responses with extended wear in naive and adapted subjects with menicon RGP contact lenses.

Overnight corneal swelling responses to Menicon SF-P and EX rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses were determined in 20 human volunteers previously adapted to lens wear and in five volunteers who had no prior contact lens experience. Slit lamp biomicroscopy revealed no evidence of lens adherence in either group. Overnight wear of both lenses produced greater corneal swelling in naive (8.732% +/- 1.50%) than in adapted eyes (5.016% +/- 1.10%) (P less than .00005). These results suggest that, at least for the lenses tested, adaptation to contact lens wear may down-regulate overnight swelling responses to levels at or near no lens wear or daily-wear values for the same lenses. Both the EX and SF-P lenses appear to satisfy Holden's criteria for zero residual swelling, suggesting promise for successful clinical extended wear.
Discovery and Clinical Decision Support for Personalized Healthcare

With the advent of electronic health records, more data are continuously collected for individual patients, and more data are available for review from past patients. Despite this, it has not yet been possible to successfully use this data to systematically build clinical decision support systems that can produce personalized clinical recommendations to assist clinicians in providing individualized healthcare. In this paper, we present a novel approach, discovery engine (DE), that discovers which patient characteristics are most relevant for predicting the correct diagnosis and/or recommending the best treatment regimen for each patient. We demonstrate the performance of DE in two clinical settings: diagnosis of breast cancer as well as a personalized recommendation for a specific chemotherapy regimen for breast cancer patients. For each distinct clinical recommendation, different patient features are relevant; DE can discover these different relevant features and use them to recommend personalized clinical decisions. The DE approach achieves a 16.6% improvement over existing state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms regarding kappa coefficients for recommending the personalized chemotherapy regimens. For diagnostic predictions, the DE approach achieves a 2.18% and 4.20% improvement over existing state-of-the-art prediction algorithms regarding prediction error rate and false positive rate, respectively. We also demonstrate that the performance of our approach is robust against missing information and that the relevant features discovered by DE are confirmed by clinical references.
Legacy Servers: Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

This chapter describes one approach with which legacy systems can be augmented to provide additional functionality. This is a helpful approach to quickly upgrading systems, and to adapt them to new requirements. We describe this in the context of authentication.
Comparing Oral and Written Corrective Feedback

Historically, the study of oral corrective feedback and the study of written corrective feedback have been carried out independently of each other. This reflects the differing concerns of SLA and second language writing researchers. Whereas SLA researchers have been largely concerned with whether corrective feedback (CF) has any impact on interlanguage development (e.g., Doughty and Varela, 1998) or on improvement in linguistic accuracy (e.g., Ellis et al., 2006; Lyster, 2004; Sheen, 2007b), second language writing researchers have examined CF in relation to feedback in general (i.e., feedback on organizational and content aspects of writing) and, until recently, have measured this in terms of whether it helps learners to improve their original draft during the revision process (e.g., Ashwell, 2000; Chandler, 2003). In effect, whereas SLA researchers have been primarily concerned with CF in relation to how it affects learning processes and outcomes, such as noticing the changes in linguistic competence, L2 writing researchers have been primarily concerned with how CF can improve writing performance (see Ferris, 2010).
Holistic Approaches for Power Generation, Linearization, and Radiation in CMOS

The field of wireless communications has experienced an exponential growth over the past four decades, going from the realm of science fiction to becoming so ubiquitous and natural that the younger generations have a difficult time imagining a world without it. This has been made possible through many breakthroughs in our understanding of the nature of wireless communications and, more importantly, numerous innovative enabling technologies that have made personal wireless communication an everyday reality.
Application of the Pitzer Method for Modeling Densities of Actinide Solutions in the SCALE Code System

A new approach to modeling fissile solution densities is developed and applied to arbitrary solutions of UO 2+ 2 , Th 4+ , Pu 4+ , H + , and NO - 3 in water. The model is based on the semiempirical method of Pitzer for describing electrolyte solution thermodynamics. This new density model has been included in the recent release of the SCALE 5 code system as the default for criticality calculations of fissile solutions.
Risk Analysis and Management

Risk is an expression of the potential harm or loss associated with an activity executed in an uncertain environment. This chapter presents a simple example of a risk analysis of a Pinewood Derby. Then it presents a longer example of assessing the risk of incorporating photovoltaic solar panels into an existing electric power grid. Throughout, it shows common mistakes that are often made while doing risk analyses, such as using unequal ranges for the frequency of occurrence and the severity of consequences.
Thermal decomposition pathways of 4-ethylguaiacol under fast pyrolysis and gasification conditions

Abstract Thermal decomposition pathways for the vapor-phase, homogeneous pyrolysis of 4-ethylguaiacol were examined. Experiments were conducted using a laminar-flow reactor operated at atmospheric pressure, temperatures in the range 300–900 °C, and a residence time of one second. Analysis of the products by gas chromatography shows that they can be categorized as light gases, oxygen-containing compounds, and aromatic hydrocarbons. The major products observed were: methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene, and carbon monoxide for the light gases; 4-ethylcatechol, 5-ethyl-2-hydroxybenzaldehdye, and 4-ethylphenol for the oxygen-containing products; benzene, indene, and naphthalene for the aromatic hydrocarbons. The product distribution was strongly influenced by temperature, with the oxygen-containing compounds dominating at temperatures below 700 °C, while light gases and aromatic hydrocarbons dominated above 700 °C. By consideration of the product distributions and analogous reactions based on established thermal decomposition mechanisms of structurally-similar compounds, reaction pathways leading to the generation of major products are proposed and discussed. Computational chemistry calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G + (2d,p) level of theory were performed to complement the proposed pathways. The results presented in this study would be of relevance to lignin fast pyrolysis and gasification processes.
Comment on “A Comparison of Eastern North America Ground Motions with Theoretical Predictions” by G. M. Atkinson

INTRODUCTION A paucity of digital seismic data from eastern North America has in the past necessitated a reliance on stochastic models to predict ground motion from large eastern events (e.g. Boore and Atkinson, 1987). A key assumption in applications of this technique has been that a stress drop of 100 bars is appropriate for eastern events. Although Somerville et al. (1987) conclude that there is no systematic difference in stress drop between inter- and intraplate events in North America, other studies have concluded that events in stable cratonic environments do have higher stress drops than those along plate boundaries (e.g. Scholz et al., 1986). Because this issue remains unresolved, it is important to test the stochastic model predictions with comparisons to newly-collected digital data from eastern North America, as Atkinson (1990) has done. As noted by Atkinson (1990), there is no doubt that theoretical models underpredict the observed ground motions from the M=6, 11/25/88 Saguenay, Quebec event, especially for frequencies around 5 Hz. This earthquake was the largest event to occur south of 50 degrees latitude in eastern North America in over 50 years, providing the only observational constraints to-date for events of this magnitude. Atkinson suggests that the model predictions are validated because, while the Saguenay amplitudes are underpredicted, amplitudes of the magnitude 6.8 Nahanni earthquake are overpredicted. Clearly, it is impossible at this point to assess whether the Saguenay event is representative or exceptional. Questions have been raised both about the high-frequency radiation at the source and about . . .
Pain severity and pharmacologic pain management among community-living older adults: the MOBILIZE Boston study

Concerns about polypharmacy and medication side effects contribute to undertreatment of geriatric pain. This study examines use and effects of pharmacologic treatment for persistent pain in older adults. The MOBILIZE Boston Study included 765 adults aged ≥70 years, living in the Boston area, recruited from 2005 to 2008. We studied 599 participants who reported chronic pain at baseline. Pain severity, measured using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) severity subscale, was grouped as very mild (BPI <2), mild (BPI 2–3.99), and moderate to severe (BPI 4–10). Medications taken in the previous 2 weeks were recorded from medication bottles in the home interview. Half of participants reported using analgesic medications in the previous 2 weeks. Older adults with moderate to severe pain were more likely to use one or more analgesic medications daily than those with very mild pain (49 versus 11%, respectively). The most commonly used analgesic was acetaminophen (28%). Opioid analgesics were used daily by 5% of participants. Adjusted for health and demographic factors, pain severity was strongly associated with daily analgesic use (moderate–severe pain compared to very mild pain, adj. OR 7.19, 95% CI 4.02–12.9). Nearly one third of participants (30%) with moderate to severe pain felt they needed a stronger pain medication while 16% of this group were concerned they were using too much pain medication. Serious gaps persist in pain management particularly for older adults with the most severe chronic pain. Greater efforts are needed to understand barriers to effective pain management and self-management in the older population.
Ocular Manifestations of Vitamin Disorders

Vitamins are essential micronutrients that must be obtained from the diet. Deficiencies of vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, and K can cause nutritional disorders associated with ophthalmic manifestations. Signs of deficiency can occur in the cornea, retina, or optic nerve, and may result in vision loss if no appropriate treatment is given. The ocular signs of vitamin deficiency are seen predominantly in developing countries, but patients with absorptive defects and/or severely restricted diets are also at risk for developing the symptoms. The systemic and ocular effects of deficiencies and excesses of specific vitamins, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of each vitamin disorder, are discussed.
Composite measures of women’s empowerment and their association with maternal mortality in low-income countries

Maternal mortality has declined significantly since 1990. While better access to emergency obstetrical care is partially responsible, women’s empowerment might also be a contributing factor. Gender equality composite measures generally include various dimensions of women’s advancement, including educational parity, formal employment, and political participation. In this paper, we compare several composite measures to assess which, if any, are associated with maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) in low-income countries, after controlling for other macro-level and direct determinants. Using data from 44 low-income countries (half in Africa), we assessed the correlation of three composite measures – the Gender Gap Index, the Gender Equity Index (GEI), and the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) – with MMRs. We also examined two recognized contributors to reduce maternal mortality (skilled birth attendance (SBA) and total fertility rate (TFR)) as well as several economic and political variables (such as the Corruption Index) to see which tracked most closely with MMRs. We examined the countries altogether, and disaggregated by region. We then performed multivariate analysis to determine which measures were predictive. Two gender measures (GEI and SIGI) and GDP per capita were significantly correlated with MMRs for all countries. For African countries, the SIGI, TFR, and Corruption Index were significant, whereas the GEI, SBA, and TFR were significant in non-African countries. After controlling for all measures, SBA emerged as a predictor of log MMR for non-African countries (β = –0.04, P = 0.01). However, for African countries, only the Corruption Index was a predictor (β = –0.04, P = 0.04). No gender measure was significant. In African countries, corruption is undermining the quality of maternal care, the availability of critical drugs and equipment, and pregnant women’s motivation to deliver in a hospital setting. Improving gender equality and SBA rates is unlikely to reduce MMR in Africa unless corruption is addressed. In other regions, increasing SBA rates can be expected to lower MMRs.
Clinical Impact and Economic Burden of Hospital-Acquired Conditions Following Common Surgical Procedures.

Study Design.Retrospective review of prospectively collected data.Objective.To assess the clinical impact and economic burden of the three most common hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) that occur within 30-day postoperatively for all spine surgeries and to compare these rates with other common sur
History of cardiology at Baylor University Medical Center

In 1903, when the Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium was founded, the Wright brothers flew their airplane and Professor Willem Einthoven developed the electrocardiogram. During the century that the sanitarium grew into a large health care system, the specialty of cardiology became a separate branch of medicine and made spectacular progress—with Baylor often being an early incorporator of advances (Table ​(Table11). This article begins with a review of some major developments in the field and then provides my recollections of the growth of cardiology at Baylor University Medical Center. Table 1 Some advances in cardiology and cardiovascular surgery first applied in North Texas at Baylor University Medical Center*
Chapter 4 Gulfs of the Northern Red Sea: Depositional Settings of Abrupt Siliciclastic-Carbonate Transitions

Abstract The two narrow gulfs of the northern Red Sea, Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba, have had different tectonic histories, but both display active interfingering of siliciclastic and carbonate facies. In an early stage of rifting, these embryonic seas are flanked by rugged mountains (to 2,000 m) and narrow coastal plains (generally The Gulf of Suez is shallow ( 12 km) and geometrically complicated strait separates it from the northern Red Sea. In contrast, the Gulf of Aqaba is deep ( The Gulf of Suez contains numerous carbonate platforms, which are probably seated on subtle gulf-parallel structures. Some of these features suggest that they are the initial stages of much larger carbonate platforms that will develop as rifting continues. Modern physical processes–strong axial winds ( 50 cm/sec)–tend to streamline reefs and sediment bodies, creating spindle shaped carbonate platforms. The Gulf of Aqaba has no mid-gulf platforms, but a complex of reef-dominated carbonates exists on gulf-normal structural blocks at the Strait of Tiran. A cross-section reduction of this already narrow strait by lowering of sea level, reef growth, and/or sedimentation could drastically change the basin-filling process by increasing salinity to the point of eventual evaporite deposition.
The clinical judgment experiences of expert public health nurses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the clinical judgments made by expert public health nurses in order to gain an understanding of how clinical judgments were made. Six expert public health nurses were interviewed individually and in a group. The data for this study were the interview transcripts. Data analysis was inductive, using the constant comparative method, which consisted of unitizing and categorizing the data. Six themes emerged from the data, which served to illuminate and interpret the data. The criteria developed by Lincoln and Guba were used to establish trustworthiness. The findings of the study indicated that: 1) the context of the clinical situation was an important issue for expert public health nurses in making clinical judgments; 2) the process used by expert public health nurses to make judgments was difficult to describe and they used intuitive knowledge to make judgments; 3) expert public health nurses used their past experiences to make clinical judgments in current situations; 4) clinical judgments and the process of making clinical judgments were affected by the relationship the nurse had with the client; 5) experience in making clinical judgments and analyzing the judgments of experts was a valuable way to vi i i learn to make clinical judgments; and 6) the respondent's perceptions of the outcomes of clinical judgments were determined by the feedback received from clients or other health professionals.
Postnatal blood pressure in the preterm small for gestational age neonate

OBJECTIVE Determine how blood pressure differs in premature infants born small for gestational age (SGA). DESIGN A retrospective study was conducted on inborn infants 24-32 weeks gestation. Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was collected and averaged every 12 h for the first 96 h of life. For each time point, the difference MAP in SGA vs. AGA infants was evaluated with t-testing. Linear mixed-effects modeling was performed to model MAP over time accounting for GA, BW, gender, and SGA status. RESULTS 356 subjects were evaluated. 52 (14.6%) were SGA. SGA infants were smaller, more likely male, exposed to maternal hypertension, born via caesarian section, and have chronic lung disease and retinopathy of prematurity. MAP in the SGA group more closely matched the MAP of AGA babies of similar GA for the first 24 h of life. Subsequently, SGA infants had lower MAPs more closely resembling their weight-matched counterparts. Mixed modeling showed GA to be significant, p < 0.0001 while BW though still marginally significant had less of an effect, p = 0.049. CONCLUSION SGA infants have blood pressure that is strongly associated with GA in the first 24 hours of life, but then fails to increase at the same rate as their AGA counterparts.
Wars within wars: Why windows of opportunity and vulnerability cause inter-rebel fighting in internal conflicts

Why do rebel groups often fight each other when confronting a common, and typically stronger, enemy—namely, the government? Inter-rebel aggression is a calculated response by rebel groups to opport...
Somatically mutated genes under positive and negative selection found by transcriptome sequence analysis include oncogene and tumor suppressor candidates

Introduction: Oncogenic somatic mutations confer proliferative advantage and undergo positive clonal selection. We developed software and applied new analytical approaches to identify: (1) somatic mutations in diverse tissues, (2) somatically mutated genes under positive and negative selection, (3) post-transcriptional modifications in the mitochondrial transcriptome, and (4) inherited germline alleles predisposing people to higher somatic mutation burden or higher levels of post-transcriptional modification. Methods: Transcriptome sequence data (Genotype Tissue Expression project) for 7051 tissue samples from 549 postmortem donors and representing 44 tissue types were used. Germline mutations were inferred from whole-exome DNA sequencing and SNP arrays. DNA somatic mutations were inferred from variant allele frequencies (VAF) in RNA-seq data. Post-transcriptional modifications were inferred from Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) at the p9 sites of mitochondrial tRNA sequences. Positive and negative clonal selection was evaluated using a nonsynonomous/synonomous mutation rate (dN/dS) model. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were assessed with mitochondrial PIC for post-transcriptional modification level, or using the total number of somatic mutations observed per donor for somatic mutation burden. Results: Our dN/dS model identified 78 genes under negative selection for somatic mutations (dN/dS 1, padj <0.05). Our GWAS identified 2 sites associated with post-transcriptional modification (1 approaching significance with p=5.99x10-8, 1 with p<5x10-8) and ~20 sites associated with somatic mutation burden (p<5x10-8). Conclusions: To our knowledge these are the first genome-wide association studies on normal somatic mutation burden. These studies were an attempt to increase understanding of the somatic mutation process. Our work identified somatic mutations at the global organismal level that may promote cell proliferation in a tissue-specific manner. By identifying tissue-specific mutations in actively expressed genes that appear before cancer phenotype is detected, this work also identifies gene candidates that might initiate tumorigenesis.
Coffee, Caffeine Metabolism Genotype and Disease Progression in Patients with Localized Prostate Cancer Managed with Active Surveillance.

Purpose:Active surveillance is increasingly used as a management strategy for localized prostate cancer. Coffee intake has been associated with a lower prostate cancer incidence. We assessed whether coffee was associated with disease progression in men on active surveillance.Materials and Methods:A total of 411 patients with newly diagnosed Gleason score 6 or 7 prostate cancer were enrolled on a prospective active surveillance protocol for at least 6 months and completed a baseline dietary assessment. The active surveillance protocol included a biennial monitoring regimen with disease progression defined as an increase in the Gleason score. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate associations of coffee intake with progression-free survival. We also evaluated patient genotype in the caffeine metabolism related single nucleotide polymorphism rs762551.Results:Median followup was 36 months (range 6 to 126) and the Gleason score progressed in 76 of the 411 patients (18.5%). Compared to 0 cups per...
Examining the career paths of doctorates in mathematics education working in institutions of higher education

This article focuses on the career paths in higher education taken by 351 doctoral graduates in mathematics education and provides insight into their career path and their resulting workload. Becau...
Platoon Dispersion and Saturation Flow Rates in Cellular Automata Models of Signal-Controlled Roadway Traffic

Cellular automata (CA) models of traffic flow have been used in many applications, including numerous studies of traffic signal control, but little attention has been given to the calibration of these models for analysis of interrupted traffic flow performance. This paper examines platoon dispersion and saturation flow rates in CA models that consider constant and variable probability $p$ of random vehicle slowing. The constant $p$ model exhibits unrealistic platoon dispersion behavior, and a wide range of saturation flow rates. The variable $p$ model achieves more realistic platoon dispersion and exhibits a more reasonable range of saturation flow rates. The rate of increase in $p$ is found to be an important parameter for calibration in the variable $p$ model, impacting both saturation flow and platoon dispersion. The results offer a starting point for development of more comprehensive CA model calibration in future work.
Metal chalcogenide quantum dot-sensitized 1D-based semiconducting heterostructures for optical-related applications

In terms of understanding and tuning the optoelectronic behavior of 3rd generation solar cells, such as quantum dot (QD)-sensitized solar cells, QD-based heterostructures represent an excellent and relevant model system and opportunity for analyzing exciton dissociation and charge separation across a well-defined nanoscale interface. In particular, because QDs possess a tunable bandgap and the capability of initiating multi-electron exciton generation, QD-based components tend to be incorporated within optical-related devices, including photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, photoelectrochemical devices, photosensors, and phototransistors. The community has collectively expended significant effort in terms of creating, formulating, and optimizing novel forms of heterostructures comprised of QDs, immobilized by predominantly chemical means onto one-dimensional (1D) motifs, such as but not limited to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs). In so doing, it has been noted that key physical variables such as but not limited to (a) QD size, (b) QD loading and coverage, as well as (c) ligand identity can impact upon optoelectronic behavior of CNT-based heterostructures. In recent years, work has extended towards analyzing the optoelectronic ‘cross-communication’ between QDs with related, adjoining 1D semiconducting metal oxides, metal chalcogenides, and metal fluorides. In these examples, other important factors that also are relevant for determining the optical properties of these more generalized classes of heterostructures include parameters, such as (i) morphology, (ii) surface coverage, (iii) chemical composition of the underlying platform, (iv) QD identity, (v) luminescence properties of activating species, as well as (vi) the identity and concentration of dopant ions. In other words, to alter, manage, and manipulate the charge versus energy transfer channels within these materials in a deterministic manner requires basic insights into the close correlation and interplay between physical structure, chemical bonding, and observed performance.
Persistence of Methanosaeta populations in anaerobic digestion during process instability

Anaerobic digestion is a sustainable technology for the treatment of organic waste and production of biogas. Acetoclastic methanogenesis accounts for the majority of methane production in anaerobic digestion. Therefore, sustaining robust acetoclastic methanogens is important for stable process performance. Due to faster growth kinetics at high acetate concentrations, it has been considered that Methanosarcina would be more prevalent than Methanosaeta in unstable anaerobic digestion processes which frequently experience high acetate levels. Methanogen population dynamics were monitored in multiple continuous anaerobic digesters for 500 days. Results from quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis show that Methanosaeta dominated over Methanosarcina in anaerobic digestion at high acetate levels up to 44 mM, suggesting the potential of Methanosaeta as a robust and efficient acetoclastic candidate for resilient anaerobic methane conversion. Further efforts are needed to identify mechanisms contributing to the unexpected competitiveness of these methanogens at high acetate levels observed in this study.
Autofocus algorithms for millimeter-wave 3-D FLoSAR

Three-dimensional (3-D) millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) Forward-Looking Synthetic Aperture Radar (FLoSAR) is an emerging technology that images targets in the forward direction of the flight path and holds the promise of high-resolution imaging by exploiting the unlicensed, wide bandwidth available at mm-Wave. This may be beneficial for applications such as self-landing, navigation, and collision-avoidance in a deteriorated vision environment. High angular resolution is difficult to achieve in FLoSAR because terrain points located symmetrically along the flight path have the same range and Doppler history. Additionally, the challenge at mm-Wave FLoSAR is to provide motion compensation because, at mmWave, GPS accuracy is insufficient to obtain platform position at subwavelength level, thereby leading to loss of resolution in reconstructed images. In this work, we investigate the phase gradient autofocus method for 3-D mm-Wave FLoSAR.
The role of frailty and comorbidity in treatment (tx) of elderly patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).

e19011Background: While HL is highly curable in younger patients, older patients have higher rates of tx failure and death, which may reflect age-related factors, tx decisions, or disease biology. ...
Shellbreaker: Automatically Detecting PHP-Based Malicious Web Shells

Abstract A web shell is a server-side script uploaded by an attacker to enable persistent access on a compromised machine. Detecting web shells is therefore of significant importance. In this paper, we present a novel system named ShellBreaker to detect web shells written in PHP, one of the leading languages used for server-side script development. ShellBreaker performs detection by correlating syntactical and semantic features that systematically characterize web shells through three aspects including (i) their communication with external users/attackers, (ii) their adaption to the run-time environment, and (iii) their usage of sensitive operations. We have evaluated ShellBreaker using real-world, PHP-based web shells and benign PHP scripts. Experimental results have demonstrated that ShellBreaker can achieve a high detection rate of 91.7% at a low false positive rate of 1%.
Power vs strength training to improve muscular strength, power, balance and functional movement in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Abstract Background Declines in strength and power are cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), a progressive neuromuscular disorder. Progressive resistance training (PRT) has been shown to reduce a wide variety of PD-related motor deficits; however, no study has examined differences between the two most common RT methodologies utilized in this population, high-load, low velocity strength training (ST) and low-load, high-velocity power training (PT). The primary purpose of this study was to compare the effects of ST and PT on measures of strength, power, balance and functional movement in persons with PD. Method Thirty-five persons with mild to moderate PD (Hoehm and Yahr Stages = 1–3; UPDRS Part III = 30.6 ± 14.0) were randomized into either a ST or PT group involving 12 weeks of supervised PRT (2 visits per week). Leg press (LP) and chest press (CP) muscular strength (1RM) and muscular peak power (PP) were assessed before and after the twelve week training period as primary outcome measures. In addition, secondary measures of balance (Berg Balance Assessment (BBA), dynamic posturography (DMA), Modified Falls Efficacy Scale (MFES)), functional movement (timed up-and-go), and quality of life (PDQ-39 summary index and Mobility subscore) were obtained at the same time points, given the impact of PD symptoms on fall probability and independence. Results Repeated measures ANCOVA revealed significant improvements in LP 1RM (Mdiff = 54.89 kg, 95% CI: 43.38, 66.40; p Conclusions Both ST and PT appear to be effective at reducing the neuromuscular deficits associated with PD; however, the use of these interventions for improving functional performance was not supported.
L’ENSEIGNEMENT DE LA PHYSIQUE À PARTIR DES REPRÉSENTATIONS : UN PROJET COLLABORATIF / TEACHING PHYSICS FROM REPRESENTATIONS: A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT

Dans cet article on presente la procedure methodologique et les premiers resultats d’un projet pedagogique collaboratif base sur les representations des eleves de l’ecole maternelle et de l’ecole primaire sur les phenomenes optiques et thermiques. 189 enseignants ont participe a un seminaire de formation au sujet des representations des enfants, ont propose et prepare d’activites didactiques correspondantes et pour deux annees scolaires ont travaille avec leurs eleves sur la base de ces activites. Les resultats de cette innovation semblent etre positifs. Les activites du projet ont ete utilisees regulierement dans les classes et les enseignants affirment avoir acquis de nouvelles idees pour leurs pratiques pedagogiques. This article presents the methodological procedure and the first results of an educational collaborative project based on the representations of kindergarten and primary school students on optical and thermal phenomena. 189 teachers participated in a training seminar on children's representations, proposed and prepared corresponding teaching activities and worked with their students for two school years on the basis of these activities. The results of this innovation seem to be positive. The project's activities have been used regularly in classrooms and teachers say they have come up with new ideas for their teaching practices. Article visualizations:
The impact of transitioning from availability of outside records within electronic health records to integration of local and outside records within electronic health records.

OBJECTIVE While there has been a substantial increase in health information exchange, levels of outside records use by frontline providers are low. We assessed whether integration between outside data and local data results in increased viewing of outside records, overall and by encounter, provider, and patient type. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using data from UCSF Health, we measured change in outside record views after integrating the list of local (UCSF) and outside (other health systems on Epic [Epic Systems, Verona, WI]) encounters on the Chart Review tab. Previously, providers only viewed records from outside encounters on a separate tab. We used an interrupted time series design (with outside record viewing event counts aggregated to the week level) to measure changes in the level and trend over a 1-year period. RESULTS There was a large increase in the level of outside record views of 22 920 per week (P < .001). The change in trend went from a weekly increase of 116 (P < .05) to a decrease of 402 (P = .08), reflecting a small effect decay. There were increases in the level of views for all provider and encounter types: attendings (n = 3675), residents (n = 3277), and nurses (n = 914); and inpatient (n = 1676), emergency (n = 487), and outpatient (n = 7228) (P < .001 for all). Results persisted when adjusted for total encounter volume. DISCUSSION While outside records were readily available before the encounter integration, the simple step of clicking on a separate tab appears to have depressed use. CONCLUSIONS User interface designs that comingle local and outside data result in higher levels of viewing and should be more broadly pursued.
The Rise of People-Centric Sensing

Technological advances in sensing, computation, storage, and communications will turn the near-ubiquitous mobile phone into a global mobile sensing device. People-centric sensing will help drive this trend by enabling a different way to sense, learn, visualize, and share information about ourselves, friends, communities, the way we live, and the world we live in. It juxtaposes the traditional view of mesh wireless sensor networks with one in which people, carrying mobile devices, enable opportunistic sensing coverage. In the MetroSense Project's vision of people-centric sensing, users are the key architectural system component, enabling a host of new application areas such as personal, public, and social sensing.
Disciplinary Dissent: The Troubled Implementation of a Restorative Justice Program at E.C. Johnson High School:

As many schools and school districts across the nation consider replacing traditional behavioral management strategies with restorative practices, this case asks the readers to consider the challen...
General Light-Mediated, Highly Diastereoselective Piperidine Epimerization: From Most Accessible to Most Stable Stereoisomer.

We report a combined photocatalytic and hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) approach for the light-mediated epimerization of readily accessible piperidines to provide the more stable diastereomer with hig...
Unlocking the Secrets of Highly Successful Legal Writing Students

Why are some law students successful in their legal writing classes and others are not? To identify the secrets to success, I did a case study of six second-year law students as they wrote a motion brief and an appellate brief for their 2L legal writing course. Based on their 1L legal writing course, two of these students were predicted to be highly successful, two were predicted to be moderately successfully, and two were predicted to be only marginally successful. Through daily records of all their activities related to writing the briefs, interviews with the study subjects, drafts of their two brief projects, and their professor's critiques of their work, the study reveals not only the results of working harder but the specifics of working smarter. The secrets to working smarter included note-taking and note-reviewing strategies; how to divide one's time between researching, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading; how to research and read cases efficiently; strategies for efficient time management; techniques for organizing one's research and staying organized while writing; and accessing the professor as a primary resource. Pitfalls to avoid included procrastination, poor management of distractions, and scapegoating.
Influence of W content on microstructure and surface morphology of hard Ni-W films fabricated by magnetron co-sputtering

Due to their unique mechanical, tribological, thermal, and anticorrosion properties, nickel-tungsten (Ni-W) alloy films have become indispensable for many industrial applications. The present study investigates the impact of W content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni-W thin films. By co-sputtering of Ni and W on silicon wafers coated with a thin buffer layer (∼20 nm) of titanium (Ti), six Ni-W coatings were fabricated, ranging from pure Ni to pure W. The samples were characterized using energy dispersive spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and microindentation. The results show that hardness of the Ni-W films is primarily a function of the W content, which changes the microstructure and surface morphology of the samples. When W concentration is smaller than 40 at. %, the Ni-rich samples have a face-centered cubic structure and the hardness increases with the W content. For the samples having 40 < W < 55 at. %, the sensitivity of the hardness to the W content becomes markedly low, which could be due to the presence of an amorphous phase. Finally, the impact of W addition on the hardness of the samples containing 55–80 at. % W is two times greater than that of W < 40 at. %. The extra hardening effect could be attributed to the dominancy of a solid solution hardened body-centered cubic W phase and electronic interaction between two transition metals. This sharp increase in the hardness leads to obtaining a high hardness of 21.9 ± 2.0 GPa for the Ni-79 at. % W film. The findings of this study show that solid solution strengthening could be considered the main hardening mechanism of these films.
Individual Differences in the Intensity and Consistency of Attention

Individual differences in attention abilities predict performance in a number of domains. We suggest that two aspects of attention are especially important for variation in attention abilities: int...
Enhanced removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in complex matrices by polyDADMAC-Coated regenerable granular activated carbon.

Abstract Granular activated carbon (GAC) has been used to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from industrial or AFFF-impacted waters,but its effectiveness can be low because adsorption of short-chained PFASs is ineffective and its sites are exhausted rapidly by co-contaminants. To increase adsorption of anionic PFASs on GAC by electrostatic attractions,we modified GAC's surface with the cationic polymer poly diallyldimethylammonium chloride (polyDADMAC) and tested its capacity in complex water matrices containing dissolved salts and humic acid. Amending with concentrations of polyDADMAC as low as 0.00025% enhanced GAC's adsorption capacity for PFASs,even in the presence of competing ions. This suggests that electrostatic interactions with polyDADMAC's quaternary ammonium functional groups helped bind organic and inorganic ions as well as the headgroup of short-chain PFASs,allowing more overall PFAS removal by GAC. Evaluating the effect of polymer dose is important because excessive addition can block pores and reduce overall PFAS removal rather than increase it. To decrease the waste associated with this adsorption strategy by making the adsorbent viable for more than one saturation cycle,a regeneration method is proposed which uses low-power ultrasound to enhance the desorption of PFASs from the polyDADMAC- GAC with minimum disruption to the adsorbent's structure. Re-modification with the polymer after sonication resulted in a negligible decrease in the sorbent's capacity over four saturation rounds. These results support consideration of polyDADMAC-modified GAC as an effective regenerable adsorbent for ex-situ concentration step of both short and long-chain PFASs from real waters with high concentrations of competing ions and low PFAS loads.
Altered residual ATP content in rat brain cortex subcellular fractions following status epilepticus induced by lithium and pilocarpine

Changes in residual ATP concentrations were investigated following subcellular fractionation of rat brain cortex after a prolonged period of status epilepticus induced by sequential administration of lithium and pilocarpine. After 2 h of continuous high-amplitude rapid spiking on EEG, we found significantly decreased levels of residual ATP in the homogenate and mitochondria fractions from status epilepticus rat brains compared to matched controls. No difference in residual ATP level was observed in the synaptosomal preparations of status epilepticus animals compared to controls. Inorganic phosphate concentration in the status animals was higher than controls in the cytosolic fraction only. F1-ATPase activity, an enzymatic indicator of mitochondrial ATP synthesis rate, was significantly higher in the status brains, whereas other mitochondrial enzymes were not different in the status and control rat groups. These findings, together with our earlier report of reduced synaptosomal ecto-ATPase activity, suggest that either the corresponding in vivo ATP concentrations were reduced as a result of status epilepticus or other biochemical changes had occurred that facilitated the hydrolysis of ATP following decapitation. Controls for and measurement of such other changes failed to provide an explanation for the observed changes in residual ATP.
Saving Sudan Yet Starving Uganda? A Spatial Analysis of Foreign Aid and Economic Growth

This paper studies the spatial effects of foreign aid in Sub-Saharan Africa. The motivation for the analysis builds on the case of Sudan and Uganda in which aid to Sudan has caused inflation in Uganda. By raising prices for food and other consumption goods, the theory argues that aid constrains the growth of the economies that border the aid recipient as it limits the development of non-agricultural sectors. The evidence used to test this argument includes a time-series cross-section econometric analysis for all contiguous Sub-Saharan African countries. A fixed-effects estimator and an instrumental-variables analysis indicate that a one standard-deviation increase in foreign aid to a country’s neighbors reduces growth in the bordering country by 1.6 percentage points. Further tests support the intervening part of the argument that aid is associated with inflation. Several important policy implications are discussed in the conclusion.
Focal Hyperplasia, Adrenal Cortex, Rat

The smallest and earliest lesions are grossly inapparent. Larger hyperplasias and adenomas occur as discrete nodular swellings within the cortex of the adrenal gland, resulting in its enlargement. They may be of the same color as the surrounding cortex or contrast with it by being either paler yellow or darker.
Morphogenesis of bacteriophage lambda deletion mutants. II. Escherichia coli mutants which prevent maturation of short genomes.

Abstract We have isolated mutants of Escherichia coli which severely reduce the growth of bacteriophage lambda carrying the b221 deletion. Some of the bacterial strains also cause a moderate reduction in the growth of wild-type phage. In the mutant hosts tested, the growth of λ b 221 is restored by chromosomal alterations producing a non-specific increase in genome length. Thus the defect in growth can be attributed to the physical size of the genome, rather than a genetic effect of the b221 deletion. Our experiments show that the failure to grow results from a block to head morphogenesis and that growth can be restored by mutations in at least two phage head genes. In the accompanying paper we have shown that even in the normal bacterium, the process of packing and cutting the λ b221 genome is perturbed as a result of its small size. The block to morphogenesis in the bacterial mutant we have studied most extensively appears to result from an enhancement of the same effect. The experiments described support the hypothesis that there is host participation in the cutting of encapsulated lambda DNA, although it is not yet clear if this involves the direct participation of a host gene product.