cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electronic Alerts and Clinician Turnover: The Influence of User Acceptance

OBJECTIVES Use of certain components of electronic health records (EHRs), such as EHR-based alerting systems (EASs), might reduce provider satisfaction, a strong precursor to turnover. We examined the impact of factors likely to influence providers' acceptance of an alerting system, designed to facilitate electronic communication in outpatient settings, on provider satisfaction, intentions to quit, and turnover. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional Web-based survey of EAS-related practices from a nationwide sample of primary care providers (PCPs) practicing at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities. Of 5001 invited VA PCPs, 2590 completed the survey. We relied on Venkatesh's Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to create survey measures of 4 factors likely to impact user acceptance of EAS: supportive norms, monitoring/ feedback, training, and providers' perceptions of the value (PPOV) of EASs to provider effectiveness. Facility-level PCP turnover was measured via the VA's Service Support Center Human Resources Cube. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. RESULTS After accounting for intercorrelations among predictors, monitoring/feedback regarding EASs significantly predicted intention to quit (b = 0.30, P < .01), and PPOV of EASs predicted both overall provider satisfaction (b = 0.58, P < .01) and facility-level provider turnover levels (b = -0.19, P < .05), all without relying on any intervening mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS Design, implementation, and use of EASs might impact provider satisfaction and retention. Institutions should consider strategies to help providers perceive greater value in these clinical tools.
Feeding Success and Host Selection by Culex quinquefasciatus Say Mosquitoes in Experimental Trials

Abstract Arthropod vector feeding preferences are defined as an overutilization of a particular host species given its abundance in relationship to other species in the community. Numerous methods ...
OSCAR as a Resource for Developing Student Opportunities

OSCAR is the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research located in the Johnson Center room 246. The office facilitates projects between students and mentors in which students have the opportunity to experience research, scholarly, and creative projects from inception through execution to dissemination, embedded in classes, as independent projects, or as part of a team of researchers. OSCAR runs several programs, including the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, the Undergraduate Student Travel Fund, the Research Assistant Program, and the Summer Impact Grants. We offer student workshops on poster writing, proposal writing, and summer opportunities, and regularly consult with faculty and students on developing research and creative projects. Our goal is to work with students and mentors from every discipline, in every college at Mason, and we are always looking for new directions and new opportunities for students and mentors. This poster will serve as a catalyst for ongoing discussions of how to facilitate student projects, new directions in undergraduate research, scholarly, and creative activities, and the forging of new partnerships on campus. What are your ideas of how OSCAR can expand opportunities for students in your discipline? How can we network to most effectively facilitate these opportunities? How can we include digital learning and resources in our programs? How can OSCAR connect more effectively to other experiential learning programs on campus?
The Russian hybrid warfare strategy – neither Russian nor strategy

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its initial actions in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the term hybrid warfare has received much public attention. Many have argued that the Russian actions we ...
Natural selection influenced the genetic architecture of brain structure, behavioral and neuropsychiatric traits

Natural selection has shaped the phenotypic characteristics of human populations. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have elucidated contributions of thousands of common variants with small effects on an individuals predisposition to complex traits (polygenicity), as well as wide-spread sharing of risk alleles across traits in the human phenome (pleiotropy). It remains unclear how the pervasive effects of natural selection influence polygenicity in brain-related traits. We investigate these effects by annotating the genome with measures of background (BGS) and positive selection, indications of Neanderthal introgression, measures of functional significance including loss-of-function (LoF) intolerant and genic regions, and genotype networks in 75 brain-related traits. Evidence of natural selection was determined using binary annotations of top 2%, 1%, and 0.5% of selection scores genome-wide. We detected enrichment (q<0.05) of SNP-heritability at loci with elevated BGS (7 phenotypes) and in genic (34 phenotypes) and LoF-intolerant regions (67 phenotypes). BGS (top 2%) significantly predicted effect size variance for trait-associated loci ({sigma}2 parameter) in 75 brain-related traits ({beta}=4.39x10-5, p=1.43x10-5, model r2=0.548). By including the number of DSM-5 diagnostic combinations per psychiatric disorder, we substantially improved model fit ({sigma}2 ~ BTop2% x Genic x diagnostic combinations; model r2=0.661). We show that GWAS with larger variance in risk locus effect sizes are collectively predicted by the effects of loci under strong BGS and in regulatory regions of the genome. We further show that diagnostic complexity exacerbates this relationship and perhaps dampens the ability to detect psychiatric risk loci.
What does a radical exemplar view not predict? A commentary on Ambridge (2020):

This article reviews two aspects of human learning: (1) people draw inferences that appear to rely on hierarchical conceptual representations; (2) some categories are much easier to learn than othe...
Denosumab: Delay of bone metastasis in men with nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

In a large multicenter phase 3 randomized controlled trial published in Lancet , Smith and colleagues highlight a potential new indication for denosumab for patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer (1). Already approved for prevention of skeletal-related events in the setting of bone metastases in solid tumors (Xgeva) and prevention of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) induced bone loss (Prolia), the authors theorized that denosumab administered prior to bone metastasis might stabilize the bone microenvironment thus delaying time to first bone metastasis. Men with castrate-resistant nonmetastatic prostate cancer treated with denosumab showed improved bone-metastasis-free survival and delayed time to first bone metastasis compared to those dosed with placebo.
Donor HLA-DR Drives the Development of De Novo Autoimmunity Following Lung and Heart Transplantation.

Individuals harbor preexisting HLA-DR/DQ-restricted responses to collagen type V (ColV) mediated by Th17 cells under Treg control, both specific to peptides that bind to inherited HLA class II antigens. Yet after transplant, the donor-DR type somehow influences graft outcome. We hypothesized that, long after a lung or heart allograft, the particular HLA-DR type of the mismatched transplant donor transforms the specificity of the "anti-self" response. This could explain why, over long term, certain donor DRs could be more immunogenic than others. Methods We analyzed 7 HLA-DR15neg patients who had received a lung allograft from a DR15+ donor. To determine the mechanism of acquired specificity in self-reactivity, we analyzed the kinetics of DR1 (host) and DR15 (donor) peptide restriction in a heart transplant model using DR-transgenic mice. Results Beyond 1.5 years post-lung transplant, all patients tested had acquired DR15-restricted immune responses to ColV peptides. These responses were either unrestrained Th17 type (n = 4) or Th17 controlled by Treg arising early ( 7 y) after transplant (n = 4). Treg suppression via conventional (transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β]) and extracellular vesicle-associated (IL-35) cytokines correlated with superior outcomes. Naive DR1 and DR15 transgenic mice had preexisting DR-restricted responses, exclusively to ColV fragments containing DR1- or DR15-binding peptides. When HLA-DR1 transgenic recipients of a HLA-DR15 heart developed ColV reactivity post-transplant, mice that acutely rejected (20-25 d) responded only to the DR1-restricted ColV peptide epitope. In animals whose grafts survived long term, we could detect acquisition of DR from the transplant donor onto the surface of recipient dendritic cells, and immune responses against a donor DR15-restricted ColV peptide. Conclusions These results might explain how certain donor HLA-DR types redirect host immune responses to novel peptides of critical self-antigens. Unless regulated, such responses may predispose the allograft to chronic rejection.
Healthcare personnel absenteeism, presenteeism, and staffing challenges during epidemics.

Objective: Presenteeism is an expensive and challenging problem in the healthcare industry. In anticipation of the staffing challenges expected with the COVID-19 pandemic, we examined a decade of payroll data for a healthcare workforce. We aimed to determine the effect of seasonal influenza-like illness (ILI) on absences to support COVID-19 staffing plans. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Large academic medical center in the United States. Participants: Employees of the academic medical center who were on payroll between the years of 2009 and 2019. Methods: Biweekly institutional payroll data was evaluated for unscheduled absences as a marker for acute illness-related work absences. Linear regression models, stratified by payroll status (salaried vs hourly employees) were developed for unscheduled absences as a function of local ILI. Results: Both hours worked and unscheduled absences were significantly related to the community prevalence of influenza-like illness in our cohort. These effects were stronger in hourly employees. Conclusions: Organizations should target their messaging at encouraging salaried staff to stay home when ill.
Possible evidence of disoriented chiral condensates from the anomaly in Ω. and -Ω abundances at the super proton synchrotron

No conventional picture of nucleus-nucleus collisions has yet been able to explain the abundance of Ω and -Ω. in central collisions between Pb nuclei at 158 A GeV at the CERN SPS. We argue that such a deviation from predictions of statistical thermal models and numerical simulations is the evidence that they are produced as topological defects in the form of skyrmions arising from the formation of disoriented chiral condensates. The estimated domain size falls in the right range to be consistent with the so far non-observation of disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) from the distribution of neutral pions.
Clinical and Morphologic Characteristics of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Inhibitor-Associated Retinopathy.

Importance Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 1 to 4 inhibitors are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and suppress the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, with a potential for treatment-related retinopathy. To date, implications of FGFR inhibitor–associated ocular toxic effects are poorly described. Therefore, more detailed clinical descriptions of this ocular toxic effect could help explain visual symptoms while receiving drug therapy. Objective To describe the clinical and morphologic characteristics of serous retinal disturbances associated with FGFR inhibitors. Design, Setting, and Participants In this retrospective case series, 146 patients receiving FGFR inhibitors as cancer treatment at a single tertiary referral center were included. This study included 40 eyes of 20 patients with retinopathy by optical coherence tomography (OCT). OCTs were obtained on the remaining patients and the results were judged normal. Patients were recruited from March 2012 to January 2021. Main Outcomes and Measures Characteristics of treatment-emergent choroidal and retinal OCT abnormalities as compared with baseline OCT, associated with visual acuity at presentation and at fluid resolution. Results A total of 20 of 146 patients (13.7%) exhibited FGFR inhibitor–associated retinopathy. Of these 20 patients, 11 (55%) were female, and the median (range) age was 62.6 (42.7-86.0) years. The median (range; mean) time from medication start to initial subretinal fluid detection was 21 (5-125; 32) days. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) baseline logMAR best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0 (0-0.1). At fluid accumulation, 11 eyes had decreased vision: the median (IQR) subgroup baseline BCVA was 0 (0-0.1); and the median (IQR) BCVA change from baseline to accumulation was −0.1 (−0.2 to −0.1). For 26 eyes (65%) with follow-up, the subretinal fluid resolved without medical intervention or drug interruption in all but 1 patient. At fluid resolution, the median (IQR) BCVA was 0.1 (0-0.1), and the change in median (IQR) BCVA from baseline to fluid resolution was 0 (−0.03 to 0). No patient discontinued drug therapy on account of their retinopathy. Conclusions and Relevance FGFR inhibitors result in subretinal fluid foci similar to other drugs that inhibit the MAPK pathway. In this series, FGFR inhibitors did not cause irreversible loss of vision; the retinopathy was self-limited and did not require medical intervention. These results may explain visual symptoms while taking the drug, although the precise frequency or magnitude of this adverse effect cannot be determined with certainty from this retrospective investigation.
Ensuring trust in COVID-19 data: A retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT There are no standardized methods for collecting and reporting coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) data. We aimed to compare the proportion of patients admitted for COVID-19-related symptoms and those admitted for other reasons who incidentally tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).Retrospective cohort studyData were sampled twice weekly between March 26 and June 6, 2020 from a "COVID-19 dashboard," a system-wide administrative database that includes the number of hospitalized patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test. Patient charts were subsequently reviewed and the principal reason for hospitalization abstracted.Data collected during a statewide lockdown revealed that 92 hospitalized patients had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results. Among these individuals, 4.3% were hospitalized for reasons other than COVID-19-related symptoms but were incidentally found to be SARS-CoV-2-positive. After the lockdown was suspended, the total inpatient census of SARS-CoV-2-positive patients increased to 128, 20.3% of whom were hospitalized for non-COVID-19-related complaints.In the absence of a statewide lockdown, there was a significant increase in the proportion of patients admitted for non-COVID-19-related complaints who were incidentally found to be SARS-CoV-2-positive. In order to ensure data integrity, coding should distinguish between patients with COVID-19-related symptoms and asymptomatic patients carrying the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Estimating the Effects of Human Rights Treaties on State Behavior

Though research suggests that international regimes that coordinate economic and security policy can alter state behavior, research examining the effect of human rights treaties on state behavior has found that these agreements do little to curb repressive practices. However, those studies neglect to account for the fact that several of the state-level characteristics which are known to affect repressive practices also influence the likelihood of a state making a formal commitment to the human rights regime. States that commit and states that do not are likely to have different domestic institutional features. Systematic heterogeneity across ratifiers and nonratifiers makes it difficult to infer the level of repression that would have been observed in a state had it not committed to the treaty in question. This paper employs matching techniques that address this problem and allow for more valid inferences about the effects of human rights treaties on repressive practices. The impact of human rights treati...
Crack Tip Toughening by Inclusions with Pairs of Shear Transformations

The deviatoric transformation strain of an inclusion is modeled by applying an equivalent distribution of dislocations along a surface which exhibits a discontinuous change in the transformation strains. This method is applied to qualitatively model the twin structures generated in transformation toughened ceramics. For this case, the transformation shear strain of the inclusion is assumed to consist of a number of symmetrical pairs of (twinning) shears in a rectangular grain. The elastic energy is derived and expressed in terms of elementary functions. With one pair of shears, the inclusion induced toughening effect in the presence of a crack is calculated by applying a recent solution of the crack-dislocation interaction problem. Numerical results show that the toughening due to the inclusion (as compared to that due to dilatation) is not negligible if the inclusion is located within a distance equal to several grain sizes from the crack tip. Moreover, the toughening depends strongly on the orientation of the inclusion relative to the crack.
Stochastic Search Methods for Global Optimization

Stochastic search methods, also known as random search algorithms, are popular for ill-structured global optimization problems because they are straightforward to implement and usually find a relatively good solution quickly. These algorithms have been inspired by physics, such as simulated annealing and interacting particle algorithms, as well as by biology, including genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, particle swarm, and ant colony optimization. This article highlights the use of a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling method called Hit-and-Run in random search algorithms for global optimization. Keywords: global optimization; stochastic search; random search algorithm; cross-entropy; simulated annealing; hit-and-run; Monte Carlo methods
On the tangent spaces of Chow groups of certain projective hypersurfaces

In this paper, the Chow groups of projective hypersurfaces are studied. We will prove that if the degree of the hypersurface is sufficiently high, its Chow group is small in the sense that its formal tangent space vanishes. Then, we will give an example in which the formal tangent space is infinite dimensional.
New Essays on Clint Eastwood Leonard Engel, Editor. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2012.

New Essays on Clint Eastwood Leonard Engel, Editor. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2012.As John M. Gourlie and Leonard Engel state in their introduction to New Essays on Clint Eastwood, the intention of this collection of essays is "both to expand our understanding of individual films and to deepen our overall appreciation of Eastwood's artistry as, through the various stages of his career, he becomes an even greater master of his craft" (2). In these goals the collection succeeds. The essays are not all equal in their value, and the collection lacks an overall unity, but for Eastwood scholars this is a useful and worthwhile book.Several of the best essays in this collection strive, more or less successfully, to find patterns and cohesive elements across Eastwood's career. One of the first attempts at this, Robert Smart's essay titled "'Landscape as Moral Destiny': Mythic Reinvention from Rowdy Yates to the Stranger" suggests that landscape provides the backdrop and creates the logic for much of Eastwood's work, including Rawhide and the Leone films. Perhaps leaning of the work of Jane Tompkins, Smart argues that the early parts of Eastwood's career move consistently toward "less spoken dialogue, more depiction, greater reliance on landscape as dialogue, and clear focus on character" (26). In a similar vein, Dennis Rothermel does an excellent job analyzing four of Eastwood's seemingly unrelated films, Bronco Billy, Honkytonk Man, White Hunter Black Heart, and Bird in terms of their portrayal of creativity and performance. His careful work with both the texts and the contexts surrounding them, including interviews, draws convincing parallels between the lead characters in these films and offers us a new view of Eastwood as an auteur focused, at least in some cases, on the nature of creativity generally, and the act of self-creation specifically. Craig Rinne, on the other hand, offers a very different overview of Eastwood's directing career, suggesting that he is, in short, "a sociopolitical production" (131). Rinne argues convincingly that Eastwood's successful late directing (and acting) career is partly a result of the end of the Cold War and the resurgence of the "man of sensitivity." "The sociopolitical climate of the early 1990s," Rinne says, "is what made Eastwood, his changed star persona, and his films once again relevant" (130). In the process of making his case, Rinne offers fine readings of several of Eastwood's films, including Unforgiven. …
Performance-Enhancing Drugs and the Production of Season Best Performances in Track & Field

This paper explores trends in the production of post WWII track and fieldperformances in six events. Of particular concern is how performances deviated fromlong-term trend from 1962 through 1990, a period when elite track and field athletes wereknown to systematically use steroids in an environment of ineffective testing. Log-lineartrend regression for each event and their residuals are used to develop an indicatorvariable of whether the actual performances of elite athletes were better than trend. Probitmodels are then used to predict the probability of better than trend performance for threetime periods. The results show very high probabilities of above trend performance duringthe heavy use period and much lower probabilities of above trend performance after 1990,a period when testing was more effective and international anti-doping efforts morecoordinated. (J24)
Murder and the death penalty: a case report.

Psychiatrists frequently maintain that the death penalty may encourage rather than deter, the commission of homicide and other violent crimes. However, there is a dearth of case reports in the literature to substantiate this belief. One such history is offered, of a man who committed three murders and attempted a fourth, hoping thereby to be executed by the state. His death wish was fulfilled. Language: en
Southern OB Associations: New Clues to Star Formation Mechanisms?

The advantages of examining southern OB associations, and the molecular clouds from which they are born, for clues to the way in which luminous stars form are considered. A number of problems which may be addressed more readily when southern observations are available are reviewed. Methods of identifying star-forming clouds for detailed study are discussed, taking into account the current instruments in the southern hemisphere.
Numerical Methods for the Approximation of Path Integrals Arising in Quantum Statistical Mechanics

Discretizations of the Feynman-Kac path integral representation of the quatum mechanical density matrix are investigated. Each infinite-dimensional path integral is approximated by a Riemann integral over a finite-dimensional Sobolev space, by restricting the integration to a subspace of all admissible paths. Using this process, a wide class of methods can be derived, with each method corresponding to a different choice for the approximating subspace. The traditional "short-time" approximation and "Fourier discretization" can be recovered from this approach, using linear and spectral basis functions respectively. As an illustration, a new method is formulated using cubic elements and is shown to have improved convergence properties when applied to model problems. Experimental results will be discussed, including a double-well model and cluster simulations using the Blue Horizon.
Spacecraft at Small NEO

The impact risk has been sharply curtailed for the largest km-sized Near Earth Objects (NEOs) through a concerted period of observation spanning the last decade. Thus the risk of impact has now migrated to the smaller and more numerous members of the Near Earth Object (NEO) population. Characterization and mitigation missions to these smaller objects become more complex from a spacecraft operations perspective, even as the prospects for nudging such lower mass bodies off course become more feasible. This paper details the challenges for spacecraft operations at small bodies and indicates areas where more research and analysis of this problem is needed.
Detection of Shiga toxin-producing Shigella dysenteriae type 1 and Escherichia coli by using polymerase chain reaction with incorporation of digoxigenin-11-dUTP.

A technique has been developed for the detection of Shiga toxin- and Shiga-like toxin type I (ShT/SLT-I)-producing Shigella dysenteriae type 1 and Escherichia coli by using the polymerase chain reaction with the incorporation of digoxigenin-11-dUTP. Target DNA liberated from whole cells was amplified, using primer pairs homologous to the A-subunit genes of ShT/SLT-I. The TTP analog digoxigenin-11-dUTP was incorporated into the reaction mixture, permitting nonradioactive labeling of the amplified DNA. The labeled polymerase chain reaction products were hybridized to specific gene sequences immobilized on a nitrocellulose membrane and detected by using an alkaline phosphatase-conjugated antibody to digoxigenin and the enzyme substrates. Toxin-producing strains of E. coli and S. dysenteriae type 1 were identified as colored spots on the membrane. Because this technique does not require DNA purification, gel electrophoresis, or radioactive DNA probes, it is suitable for the clinical detection of ShT/SLT-I-producing strains of S. dysenteriae type 1 and E. coli. Images
Increased tissue conductance and ion transport in guinea pig ileum after exposure to Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin in vitro.

Prior studies had shown that Staphylococcus aureus delta-toxin was able to inhibit water absorption in guinea pig ileum and to elevate the cyclic AMP content of this tissue, but was unable to elicit certain cyclic AMP-mediated changes in Y-1 adrenal or Chinese hamster ovary cells. Because water movement passively follows the net movement of electrolytes in the gut, this study investigated the effect of delta-toxin on ion transport in guinea pig ileum maintained in vitro. The transmural potential difference (PD) of guinea pig ileum was measured and nullified with an automatic voltage clamp. The short circuit flowing under these conditions (Isc) was measured, and the conductance was calculated (Isc/PD). Unidirectional 22Na+ and 36Cl− fluxes were measured. In a glucose-free Ringer solution, delta-toxin caused an immediate spike in PD and Isc, and the extent and duration of the spike generally increased with increasing toxin concentration. The conductance of ileum was increased by delta-toxin, and this effect on conductance could be blocked by lecithin, a known inhibitor of delta-toxin. Tissue in the presence of glucose did not exhibit a spike in PD or Isc when exposed to delta-toxin. In a glucose-free medium, delta-toxin caused a 1.5- to 2.5-fold increase in both the unidirectional absorption and secretion of Na+ and Cl−, whereas the net secretion of Na+ increased above basal levels. The observation that delta-toxin causes a prompt increase in intestinal ion flux lends credence to the concept that the elevation in cellular cyclic AMP, which occurs later, is a secondary response to the toxin. The rapid increase in ion flux may reflect the ability of delta-toxin to augment intercellular movement of ions across the mucosa rather than the stimulation of transcellular processes.
Evasive Shareholder Meetings

We study the strategic scheduling of annual shareholder meetings. When companies move their annual meetings a great distance from headquarters, they tend to experience pronounced stock market underperformance in the six months after the meeting and announce earnings below expectations over the subsequent year. Companies appear to schedule meetings in remote locations when the managers have private, adverse information about future performance and wish to discourage scrutiny by shareholders, analysts, and the media. However, shareholders do not decode this signal, since the disclosure of meeting locations leads to little immediate stock price reaction. We find that voter participation drops when meetings are held at unusual hours, even though most voting is done electronically during a period of weeks before the meeting convenes.
Circulating eosinophils in children in health and disease.

A total of 351 circulating eosinophil counts were done on 75 children. The range of circulating eosinophils for 18 normal children was 109 to 359. In 12 patients with nonfebrile miscellaneous diseases the circulating eosinophil counts ranged from 84 to 599, and in three patients with mild febrile illnesses, from 170 to 341. A possible explanation for the fact that these counts fell within the normal range was discussed. In 29 patients with acute febrile illnesses the initial circulating eosinophil counts ranged from 0 to 97. Serial counts during convalescence on three of these patients are presented and the prognostic significance discussed. In 10 patients with various allergic manifestations there was a range of 393 to 2665. Serial counts on one case of acute atopic eczema treated with ACTH are presented. Serial counts on one patient before and after laparotomy are presented. Results of the "ACTH test," the "epinephrine test" and the "insulin test" on a group of children with miscellaneous diseases are presented.
Frank H. Knight and the Committee on Social Thought: Contrasting Visions of Interdisciplinarity in the 1950s

The paper uses the occasion of Frank Knight's return to the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago in 1952 to link Knight’s disagreements with Hayek during the 1950s and 1960s, when they were both members of the Committee, with his disagreements with Nef and Hutchins during the early 1940s, when they were forming the Committee. Two common threads appear in the paper. The first is Knight's disagreement with his disputants over the nature of the knowledge appropriate to intelligent action in a liberal society. The second is his disagreement with all of them on the type of education necessary for an educated elite in such a society. Throughout the paper, I show that Knight’s criticisms of Hayek share common cause with his criticisms of Nef.
Cartoon animation based on a multiscale curve representation with Lagrangian dynamics

By using the wavelet transform, in our previous work we developed a hierarchical planar curve descriptor which decomposes a curve into components of different scales so that the coarsest scale components carry the global approximation information while the finer scale components contain the local detailed information. In this research, we extend the work to a multiscale description of cartoon characters and propose a framework of cartoon animation and morphing. We perform the wavelet transforms on the curves that describe cartoon shapes and use the multiscale coefficients as the control points for shape manipulation. To facilitate animation, we model the motion of a cartoon character with the Lagrangian dynamic equation where the multiscale curve is driven by some internal and external forces. The spatial and frequency localization property of the multiscale curve model results in sparse and diagonally dominant representations of the mass and stiffness matrices of the Lagrangian equation so that the computation can be greatly simplified. To further simplify this model, we also consider an approximating model which consists of a set of a decoupled system of ODEs. The motion parameters can be extracted from some given sequence of real motion. This set of parameters which contain the kinematic information of control points is then used to generate a similar type of motion for cartoon characters. Experiments of the proposed morphing and motion algorithm are conducted to demonstrate its performance.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Technological improvements on classroom community and the increasing acceptance of distance learning courses

Educators and students across the country are embracing the idea of increased distance learning and online course offerings from universities. The increased acceptance of online classes is supported by several key factors. Most notable of these factors include an increase of basic computer knowledge, faster means of communication between computers and more widespread access to computers. In addition to those factors, there are many social aspects that lend themselves to the acceptance of distance learning opportunities that include an increase in enrolment over the past several years due to more limited opportunities in the job market and a change in family dynamics. This study examines community factors which impact the classroom environment by comparing perceptions of students taking the same class from the same instructor in online and traditional classroom settings. The results reveal that these community factors were perceived differently by students in the two groups which lead to different level of satisfaction. The results in this study help in identifying key differences in student perceptions of the course and promote an understanding on whether there is a positive or negative perception in student satisfaction related to these community factors.
Electrophilic additions involving fluoronium ions II. The addition of fluoroxy groups to perfluoro-aromatic compounds

Abstract The addition of fluoroxy groups to perfluoroaromatic compounds results in the formation of stable adducts. Thus, for the reaction of equimolar quantities of hexafluorobenzene and trifluoromethyl hypofluorite, the main products are the 1,4-monofluoroxy and 1,2-monofluoroxy adducts, but the latter adduct is not detected in the corresponding reaction with perfluoro-t-butyl hypofluorite. Polyfluoroxy additions to perfluoroaromatic compounds occur more readily for (CF 3 ) 3 COF than for CF 3 OF in spite of steric hindrance in the former. The other OF-containing compound which has been studied is oxygen difluoride which reacts with hexafluorobenzene to form polymeric perfluoroalicyclic ethers. In contrast to nucleophilic reactions, fluoroxy addition reactions occur more readily with hexafluorobenzene than with octafluorotoluene, a result which may be attributed to deactivation of the fluoroaromatic ring towards electrophilic addition by the trifluoromethyl group.
Adsorption studies at reaction conditions—Catalytic dehydration of t-butyl alcohol

Abstract A rapid response technique for measuring the amount of reactant and product adsorbed on a catalyst at reaction conditions was developed. The technique was evaluated using the dehydration reaction of t -butyl alcohol over alumina at 195 °C and 1 atm pressure. Pure component isotherms were determined for t -butyl alcohol, water and isobutylene at 195 °C and pressures up to 600 mm Hg as well as binary isotherms for alcohol-water mixtures. Based on the adsorption data, a relatively simple kinetic reaction rate equation was proposed and evaluated. The rate equation gave an excellent correlation of integral conversion data obtained from fixedbed reactor studies.
Channel-buffer (substrate) interface phenomena in GaAs MESFETs fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy

A fundamental understanding of the channel-buffer (substrate) interface is obtained from an experimental and theoretical investigation of long-channel GaAs MESFETs fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). A low-field channel pinchoff mechanism is studied in which the carrier concentration in the near-pinchoff regime is obtained from an exact solution of Poisson's equation in such a way as to conserve the total charge in the entire device. One the basis of these calculations it is shown that resolution of the order of a Debye length is feasible in the determination of the impurity profile in the vicinity of homojunction interfaces from the conventional capacitance-voltage profiling technique. The threshold-voltage dependence on the semiconductor crystal lattice temperature indicates that steady-state carrier trapping and accumulation of operation. The variations of the threshold voltage and negative charge in donor-like states at the channel-buffer (substrate) interface play a detrimental role in both the linear and saturated regimes of device gate capacitance with substrate bias are consistent with each other and suggest that a significant reduction in the channel charge occurs with increased reverse bias on the substrate. >
Acute Restriction of Nocturnal Sleep in Children

Sleep, performance, and sleepiness were evaluated in nine (6 girls, 3 boys) children (ages 11 to 13.2 yr.) with a view toward determining whether children are more sensitive to sleep restriction th...
A comparative study of nonlinear optimization and Taguchi methods applied to the intelligent control of manufacturing processes

current investigation focused on neural-network-based control of manufacturing processes utilizing an optimization scheme. In an earlier study, Demirci and Coulter introduced the utilization of neural networks for the intelligent control of molding processes. In that study, a forward model neural network, employed with a search strategy based on the factorial design of experiments method, was shown to successfully control the flow progression during injection molding processes. Recently, Demirciet al. showed that the search mechanism based on the factorial design of experiments method can be intolerable in time during on-line control of manufacturing processes, and suggested an inverse model neural network. This inverse model neural network was shown to be beneficial as it totally eliminated time-consuming parameter searches, but it required a harder mapping than the forward model neural network and thus its performance was inferior. In the present study, the authors investigated two different optimization methods that were utilized in making the search method of the forward control scheme more efficient. The first method was Taguchi's method of parameter design, and the second method was a nonlinear optimization method known as Nelder and Mead's downhill simplex method. These two methods were separately utilized in creating an efficient search method to be used with the forward model neural network. The performance of the resulting two control methods was compared with each other as well as with that of the forward control scheme utilizing a search strategy based on the factorial design of experiments method. Although the applications in this study were on molding processes, the method can be applied to any manufacturing process for which a process model and anin-situ sensing scheme exists.
Has leisure time become Medicaid's new competitor?

Dozens of state Medicaid programs pay pediatricians poorly.1 There have been some successful court challenges to paltry reimbursement rates for pediatric care2; nonetheless, many Medicaid programs manage to get away with extremely low reimbursement levels. These states' unspoken strategy is to rely on subsidized safety-net providers (such as federally qualified health centers and hospital emergency and outpatient departments) and private practitioners who are willing to accept below-market reimbursement rates for appointments not taken by better-paying, privately insured patients. However, recent trends have indicated that the days of Medicaid on the cheap may be waning. Safety-net providers are stretched to capacity,3,4 and an increasing number of young pediatricians value leisure time more than Medicaid's reimbursements. Fortunately for low-income children, pediatricians are greater participants in Medicaid than any other specialty despite its uncompetitive fees. Medicaid accounts for an average of 34% of pediatricians' revenues, more than twice the average for all US physicians,5 and many pediatricians will treat all children regardless of reimbursement level.6 However, when Medicaid rates are too low, strong economic incentives push doctors toward maximizing the number of privately-insured patients in their practice and minimizing the number of Medicaid-insured children that they treat. Historically, state Medicaid programs have counted on the immutable economics of private practice. The vast majority of practice overhead costs are fixed (eg, nonphysician personnel, rent, malpractice insurance premiums), but the marginal cost to treat each … Address correspondence to Samuel S. Flint, PhD, Indiana University Northwest, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, 3400 Broadway, Gary, IN 46408-1197. E-mail: sflint{at}iun.edu
Survey design optimization for catch curve analysis

Abstract Catch curve analysis provides a simple method for estimating the abundance and the fishing mortality rate of a stock of exploited fish. The age composition of a catch of fish is the key ingredient of catch curve analysis. However, estimation of the age composition of the catch is rarely of interest in its own right. Rather, a double sampling design is used to economize the estimation of the age composition of the catch for the purposes of estimating abundance and vital rates of the fishery. This paper provides a framework for obtaining the most precise estimates of abundance and the fishing mortality rate for a fixed budget with respect to the second phase subsampling strategy of the double sampling design. Also, methods are given describing how to optimize the survey design when there is nonsampling error due to age misclassification.
Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in bovine rumen fluid and feces by flow cytometry

Abstract This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a flow cytometric method to detect and quantify Escherichia coli O157:H7 in the rumen fluid and feces. The rumen fluid and feces were collected from two ruminally cannulated beef steers consuming a grass-hay diet. Samples of rumen fluid and diluted (1:10) feces were filtered through cheesecloth before inoculation with E. coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43888) at various concentrations (10 3 –10 7 cells/ml). A fluorescein (FITC) conjugated anti-O157:H7 monoclonal antibody was used to label the pathogen. Negative controls were samples of rumen fluid and feces with or without a strain of non-O157:H7 E. coli (ATCC 25922). Labeled- E. coli O157:H7 were accurately enumerated at concentrations ⩾10 4 cells/ml while concentrations ⩽10 3 were only detected after enrichment. This flow cytometric method can quantify or detect E. coli O157:H7 in bovine rumen fluid and feces at concentrations commonly shed by cattle.
Activity-based costing for hospitals.

This article examines the application of activity-based costing to hospitals using current health care practices and procedures such as diagnosis-related groups, patient-activity systems, case management, and critical path analysis.
The impact of haptic augmentation on middle school students’ conceptions of the animal cell

Of the five sensory channels—sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, it is only our sense of touch that enables us to modify and manipulate the world around us. This article reports the preliminary findings of a systematic study investigating the efficacy of adding haptic feedback to a desktop virtual reality program for use in middle school science instruction. Current technology allows for the simulation of tactile and kinesthetic sensations via sophisticated haptic devices and a computer interface. This research, conducted with 80 middle school students, examined the cognitive and affective impact of this technology on students’ understandings of the structure and function of an animal cell. The results of this work offer valuable insights into the theoretical and practical considerations involved in the development and implementation of haptically augmented virtual reality instructional programs.
Test-retest reliability and gender differences in the sexual discounting task among cocaine-dependent individuals.

The Sexual Discounting Task uses the delay discounting framework to examine sexual HIV risk behavior. Previous research showed task performance to be significantly correlated with self-reported HIV risk behavior in cocaine dependence. Test–retest reliability and gender differences had remained unexamined. The present study examined the test–retest reliability of the Sexual Discounting Task. Cocaine-dependent individuals (18 men, 13 women) completed the task in two laboratory visits 7 days apart. Participants selected photographs of individuals with whom they were willing to have casual sex. Among these, participants identified the individual most (and least) likely to have a sexually transmitted infection (STI), and the individual with whom he or she most (and least) wanted to have sex. In reference to these individuals, participants rated their likelihood of having unprotected sex versus waiting to have sex with a condom, at various delays. A money delay discounting task was also completed at the first visit. Significant differences in discounting among partner conditions were shown. Differential stability was demonstrated by significant, positive correlations between test and retest for all four partner conditions. Absolute stability was demonstrated by statistical equivalence tests between test and retest, and also supported by a lack of significant differences between test and retest. Men generally discounted significantly more than women for sexual outcomes but not money. Results suggest the Sexual Discounting Task to be a reliable measure in cocaine-dependent individuals, which supports its use as a repeated measure in clinical research, for example, studies examining acute drug effects on sexual risk and the effects of addiction treatment and HIV prevention interventions on sexual risk.
Learning by Doing: Policy Learning in Community-Based Deer Management

ABSTRACT Increasing numbers of urban and suburban communities are facing the problem of learning to manage large populations of white-tailed deer in close proximity to large numbers of people. Some communities have been trying to address such problems for decades, and what they have learned from their experience could help other communities just beginning to face these problems. This study used the policy learning literature to explore what key stakeholders learn as their communities manage deer and how this learning affects their management. Case studies of 6 communities with more than 10 years of deer management experience were conducted. Three types of learning (technical, conceptual, and social) were found to be important. These learning types were interrelated with social learning serving as the foundation for the other two. The learning process was more difficult in communities in which public attitudes did not support traditional management practices and in those in which the ownership of land on w...