cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Value of “Authenticity” in “Glocal” Strategic Communication: The New Juan Valdez Campaign

This case study describes the use of a glocal communication strategy to unveil a new Colombian coffee ambassador, Juan Valdez. The strategy is based on nation building and global branding, utilizing the influence of authenticity as a novel communication model. The purpose of the study is to underscore the dual-prong strategic communication campaign used to boost morale among Colombian coffee growers and solidify the coffee culture domestically, while simultaneously revitalizing Colombia's leading national brand externally in the global market. This study uses a case study methodology, including in-depth interview and text analysis. The examination of this unique phenomenon requires a multidisciplinary perspective: brand authenticity, nation building, country of origin effect, and global brand building. Authenticity is at the core, which appears to make the character as well as the glocal strategies effective. This case and its theoretical framework provide evidence of the interdependence of the domestic a...
The x-ray transform for a non-Abelian connection in two dimensions

We show that in two dimensions we can determine a connection from the line integrals of the connection with values in skew-Hermitian m×m matrices provided that the connection has a small curvature in an appropriate sense.
Quoting “the Environment”: Touchstones on Earth

This essay reflects upon the purposes of studying environmental communication by focusing on the variety of ways we quote “the environment” in our studies. Special attention is given to balancing the twin objectives of speaking about “the environment,” while also listening to what the environment says to us. In the process, we can serve a diversity of peoples, eco-parts and processes, through a language which can keep that diversity in view. How, then, can we assess movement, toward these ends? A proposal is made: We can gather Touchstones on EARTH into our studies, reminding ourselves that: Earth, “Environment,” is doubly quoted: Both the word and the world speak; Action is engaged in words, environments, and their peoples; Responsible research takes nature, or earth, to be the measure of the good; Time helps temper enthusiasms, and allows enduring insights to be built; Heuristic explorations as these can create insights about communication and environment, while generating better ways of dwelling on earth.
Recent development of non-faradaic potentiometry

Non-faradaic potentiometry has been plagued by a great many fundamental errors and a lack of conceptualization. Of greatest concern is the second Nernst equation hiatus. Potentiometry may be generally classified as faradaic and non-faradaic. The former deals with the redox reactions using the Nernst equation to explain the potential origin. The latter deals with the non-redox reactions using the Boltzmann and modified Boltzmann equations to explain the origin of electrode potential. Redox faradaic potentiometry has been well described in the textbooks. However, non-faradaic potentiometry has been almost completely neglected in the literature. Many well-known electrodes, such as the pH glass electrode, common reference electrodes, and ion selective electrodes (ISE) have been mistakenly interpreted as redox reactions or ion exchange reactions. New theories and experimental results show their mechanisms to be non-faradaic in nature. Furthermore, the reaction mechanisms for ISE have been confused in textbooks with redox reactions and the Nernst equation. The ISE potentials originating from adsorption of ions or charged particles based on surface charge density will be explained using the double and counterion triple layers concept. The new counterion triple layer concept may be applied to the potential development of sensors. The reason for a new concept, theory, or mechanism is to better explain the phenomena. Examples will be given of how our new concept explains the capacitor, counterion triple layer, surface adsorbed layers interactions, and the interface structure. We will also discuss the new sensor development based on the new adsorption concept. For the first time a new type of Ag/AgCl reference electrode for non-faradaic potentiometry will be presented, one without a liquid junction and with a Pt wire instead of a salt bridge. They will help open up a new horizon for electrochemical sensor research and may be used under unusual conditions, such as high temperature and high pressure, stirring, etc.
Responding to officers’ gendered experiences through community policing and improving police accountability to citizens

This paper sets out to evaluate the potential for community policing (CP) to produce changes in gender equality in police agencies. To that end, the author evaluates if tenets of CP can create the necessary organizational and ideological changes required to move toward a post‐gendered subjectivity in the work experiences of officers. If so, then CP tactics could be the start of changes of how traditional policing serves communities, opening a police–community partnership toward significant social change.
VMPlants: Providing and Managing Virtual Machine Execution Environments for Grid Computing

Virtual machines provide flexible, powerful execution environments for Grid computing, offering isolation and security mechanisms complementary to operating systems, customization and encapsulation of entire application environments, and support for legacy applications. This paper describes a Grid service - VMPlant - that provides for automated configuration and creation of flexible VMs that, once configured to meet application needs, can then subsequently be copied ("cloned") and dynamically instantiated to provide homogeneous execution environments across distributed Grid resources. In combination with complementary middleware for user, data and resource management, the functionality enabled by VMPlant allows for problem-solving environments to deliver Grid applications to users with unprecedented flexibility. VMPlant supports a graph-based model for the definition of customized VM configuration actions; partial graph matching, VM state storage and "cloning" for efficient creation. This paper presents the VMPlant architecture, describes a prototype implementation of the service, and presents an analysis of its performance.
Analog vs. Digital Instruction and Learning: Teaching within First and Second Life Environments

Pre- and postsurveys were administered and analyzed regarding student knowledge of course content and attitudes concerned with the instruction for two groups of students for the same class—one taught completely in a traditional, face-to-face classroom setting and the other taught completely online with Blackboard and Second Life software products. Both groups were taught by the same instructor. Results indicate that online students learned just as much and enjoyed the teaching experience just as well as their traditional counterparts.
Isolation of Human Oral Keratinocyte Progenitor/Stem Cells

Progenitor/stem cell populations of epithelium are known to reside in the small-sized cell population. Our objective was to physically isolate and characterize an oral keratinocyte-enriched population of small-sized progenitor/stem cells. Primary human oral mucosal keratinocytes cultured in a chemically defined serum-free culture system, devoid of animal-derived feeder cells, were sorted by relative cell size and characterized by immunolabeling for beta1 integrin, nuclear transcription factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, and cell-cycle analysis. Sorted cells were distinguished as progenitor/stem cells by functional assays and their ability to regenerate an oral mucosal graft. Small-sized cells demonstrated the lowest expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, the highest colony-forming efficiency, a longer long-term proliferative potential, an enriched quiescent cell population, and the ability to regenerate an oral mucosal graft, implying that the small-sized cultured oral keratinocytes contained an enriched population of progenitor/stem cells.
Challenges in Covering Health Disparities in Local News Media: An Exploratory Analysis Assessing Views of Journalists

News coverage of health topics influences knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors at the individual level, and agendas and actions at the institutional and policy levels. Because disparities in health often are the result of social inequalities that require community-level or policy-level solutions, news stories employing a health disparities news frame may contribute to agenda-setting among opinion leaders and policymakers and lead to policy efforts aimed at reducing health disparities. This study objective was to conduct an exploratory analysis to qualitatively describe barriers that health journalists face when covering health disparities in local media. Between June and October 2007, 18 journalists from television, print, and radio in Boston, Lawrence, and Worcester, Massachusetts, were recruited using a purposive sampling technique. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone, and the crystallization/immersion method was used to conduct a qualitative analysis of interview transcripts. Our results revealed that journalists said that they consider several angles when developing health stories, including public impact and personal behavior change. Challenges to employing a health disparities frame included inability to translate how research findings may impact different socioeconomic groups, and difficulty understanding how findings may translate across racial/ethnic groups. Several journalists reported that disparities-focused stories are “less palatable” for some audiences. This exploratory study offers insights into the challenges that local news media face in using health disparities news frames in their routine coverage of health news. Public health practitioners may use these findings to inform communication efforts with local media in order to advance the public dialogue about health disparities.
Mouse SGLT3a generates proton-activated currents but does not transport sugar

Sodium-glucose cotransporters (SGLTs) are secondary active transporters belonging to the SLC5 gene family. SGLT1, a well-characterized member of this family, electrogenically transports glucose and...
On the optimal number of finite-duration impluse-response (FIR) filter coefficients under a memory size constraint

A method is given for efficiently assessing the performance of a finite-duration impulse-response (FIR) digital filter under the constraint of fixed (number of coefficients) × (word length) product. The tradeoff of impulse-response truncation error against coefficient quantization error is readily evaluated. The method yields a quantitative estimate of the optimal solution and of the sensitivity of this solution without the need for extensive filter simulations.
Prevention of venous thromboembolism in obesity

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Where appropriate, evidence-based methods of prophylaxis are implemented and the burden of VTE can be reduced substantially. Obesity, including morbid obesity, is associated with a high risk of VTE and, unfortunately, fixed doses of US FDA-approved anticoagulant regimens, including unfractionated heparins, low-molecular-weight heparins and factor Xa inhibitors, may not provide optimal VTE prophylaxis in these patients. Although the data are still limited, a rapidly growing body of literature and cumulative evidence suggests that anticoagulant dose adjustments in morbidly obese patients may optimize pharmacodynamic activity and reduce VTE risk. With the prevalence of morbid obesity continuing to rise, more high-quality clinical data are needed to better understand the pathobiology of VTE in obesity and provide effective, yet safe, prevention strategies.
Maternal self-efficacy beliefs, competence in parenting, and toddlers' behavior and developmental status

This study was designed to examine parenting self-efficacy beliefs as correlates of mothers' competence in parenting toddlers and as predictors of toddlers' behavior and development. Sixty-eight predominantly middle-class mother–toddler pairs participated in this study. Mothers completed questionnaires, toddlers were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II), and each dyad participated in the Crowell Procedure, which is designed to observe parent and toddler behaviors in a semistructured laboratory context. Although domain-general and domain-specific parenting self-efficacy beliefs were not associated with parenting competence, domain-specific beliefs were significantly related to toddlers' scores on the Mental Scale of the BSID-II and several behaviors observed during the Crowell Procedure (Affection Towards Mother, Avoidance of Mother, Compliance, Enthusiasm, and Negativity). Implications of the findings are discussed. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Strategic information synthesis by globular knowledge fusion

A method is proposed to combine high level numerical information for the purpose of strategic decision making. The term globular knowledge fusion is applied to describe a non-additive aggregation process which enables structures of knowledge variables to be developed that embed tradeoff information in the multi-tier global values. At the highest level of integration, globular knowledge fusion enables a single meta-system metric to be computed that reflects the big picture.
Chitinolytic bacteria and chitin mineralization in the marine waters and sediments along the Antartic Peninsula

Chitinolytic bacteria were enumerated and isolated from marine waters and sediments along the highly productive Antarctic Peninsula. Chitinolytic bacteria were found in low concentrations (approximately 1 cell per ml) in the water column and at much higher levels in marine surface sediments (104–105 per g). The predominant chitinolytic bacteria isolated from the water column were identified as psychrophilic Vibrio spp. Rates of chitin mineralization were measured by collection of 14CO2 respired from 14C-labeled chitin synthesized from chitosan and [1-14C]acetic anhydride. Chitin mineralization rates were extremely low in the marine waters analyzed (0.00085–0.0019% of the added label respired in 48 h) and appreciably higher in the marine sediments (0.0039–0.01% per 48 h), suggesting that the sediments are much more important in chitin degradation. Such low mineralization rates suggest that chitin may be accumulating in Antarctic marine sediments, though animals may also play an important role in chitin degradation.
The First Time/Das Erstes Mal Approaches to Virginity Loss in U.S. and German Teen Magazines

Cross-national studies link mass media presentation of sexuality to different patterns of adolescent sexual socialization and conduct but have not analyzed media texts in detail. Using ethnographic content analysis, the author evaluates 76 stories about virginity loss—a key sexual transition—from one German and one U.S. teen magazine. Consistent with culture-specific approaches to teen sexuality, editors at both publications made similar recommendations for virginity loss, but German editors portrayed suggested practices as more appealing and feasible.
Iron nanoparticles as potential magnetic carriers

Using a sequential synthesis offered by reverse micelles, stable magnetic nanoparticles based on iron can be formed. Sequential synthesis allows an iron core to be passivated by a thin layer of gold. These nanocomposite materials offer enhanced magnetic properties over existing iron oxide-based particles as well as reduced non-specific binding of proteins due to the small size.
Numerical Modeling of Odorant Uptake in the Rat Nasal Cavity

An anatomically accurate 3-dimensional numerical model of the right rat nasal cavity was developed and used to compute low, medium, and high flow rate inspiratory and expiratory mucosal odorant uptake (imposed patterning) for 3 odorants with different mucus solubilities. The computed surface mass flux distributions were compared with anatomic receptor gene expression zones identified in the literature. In general, simulations predicted that odorants that were highly soluble in mucus were absorbed dorsally and medially, corresponding roughly to receptors from one of the gene expression zones. Insoluble odorants tended to be absorbed more peripherally in the rat olfactory region corresponding to the other 2 zones. These findings also agreed in general with the electroolfactogram measurements and the voltage-sensitive dye measurements reported in the literature. This numerical approach is the first to predict detailed odorant flux information across the olfactory mucosa in the rat nasal cavity during inspiratory and expiratory flow and to relate it to anatomic olfactory receptor location, physiological function, and biochemical experiment. This numerical technique can allow us to separate the contributions of imposed and inherent patterning mechanisms on the rat olfactory mucosa.
Angiographic evaluation of the renal artery in the newborn.

Summary After a detailed description of the technical approach and performance of neonatal transumbilical arteriography data are presented on the actual finding in 14 infants, having undergone abdominal aortography. In 13 patients the angles of the origin of the renal arteries were determined. Four cases with abnormal local findings, in particular one with an absence of renal arteries bilaterally, are presented.
The elastic constants of a cubic crystal subjected to moderately high hydrostatic pressure

Abstract This paper presents the results of an analysis of the finite strain theory that goes to the next higher-order term than third-order in the strains for cubic crystals. Theoretical expressions for the effective second-order elastic constants are presented here in terms of the second-, third-, and fourth-order elastic constants and the Lagrangian strain; these have been derived from the rigorous stress-strain relationship set by the Murnaghan theory of finite deformation. Since typical ultrasonic experiments with pressure result in thermodynamically mixed elastic constants, the practical ultrasonic expressions of the effective elastic constants are presented for a cubic crystal subjected to moderately high hydrostatic compression. The rigorous relationships between the pressure derivatives of the effective elastic constants and partial contractions of the higher-order elastic constants are presented also, and then the primary experimental quantities that are resulting from the usual ultrasonic-pressure experiments have been identified in terms of the thermodynamically mixed second-, third-, and fourth-order elastic constants of the crystal.
Evaluation of prognostic markers for canine mast cell tumors treated with vinblastine and prednisone

Canine cutaneous mast cell tumor (MCT) is a common neoplastic disease associated with a variable biologic behavior. Surgery remains the primary treatment for canine MCT; however, radiation therapy (RT) and chemotherapy are commonly used to treat aggressive MCT. The goals of this study were to evaluate the prognostic utility of histologic grade, c-KIT mutations, KIT staining patterns, and the proliferation markers Ki67 and AgNORs in dogs postoperatively treated with vinblastine and prednisone +/- RT, and to compare the outcome of dogs treated with post-operative chemotherapy +/- RT to that of a prognostically matched group treated with surgery alone. Associations between prognostic markers and survival were evaluated. Disease-free intervals (DFI) and overall survival times (OS) of dogs with similar pretreatment prognostic indices postoperatively treated with chemotherapy were compared to dogs treated with surgery alone. Histologic grade 3 MCTs, MCTs with c-KIT mutations, MCTs with increased cytoplasmic KIT, and MCTs with increased Ki67 and AgNOR values were associated with decreased DFI and OS. Dogs with histologic grade 3 MCT had significantly increased DFI and OS when treated with chemotherapy vs. surgery alone. Although not statistically significant due to small sample sizes, MCTs with c-KIT mutations had increased DFI and OS when treated with chemotherapy vs. surgery alone. This study confirms the prognostic value of histologic grade, c-KIT mutations, KIT staining patterns, and proliferation analyses for canine MCT. Additionally, the results of this study further define the benefit of postoperative vinblastine and prednisone for histologic grade 3 MCTs.
Gesture play: motivating online gesture learning with fun, positive reinforcement and physical metaphors

Learning a set of gestures requires a non-trivial investment of time from novice users. We propose a novel approach based on positive reinforcement for motivating the online learning of multi-touch gestures: introducing simple, game-like elements to make gesture learning fun and enjoyable. We develop 3 metaphors, button widgets, animated spring widgets, and physical props, as primitives for simple, physically-based puzzles which afford the disclosure of static and dynamic hand gestures. Using these metaphors, we implemented a gesture set representing 14 of 16 gesture types in an established hand gesture taxonomy. We present the results of a quantitative and qualitative evaluation which indicate this approach motivates gesture rehearsal more so than video demonstrations, while memory recall was equivalent overall but improved in the short-term, for controlled tasks.
TRAUMA AND ITS SEQUELAE IN MALE PRISONERS: Effects of Confinement, Overcrowding, and Diminished Services

With explosive growth in prison populations, deteriorating conditions "inside," and a large number of mentally disordered felons, correctional mental health programs are inundated with demands for services. Based on the author's first-hand survey of state prisons, inmate responses to the harsh conditions are described and a link is suggested between childhood traumas of inmates and the traumas they experience in prison. Implications for correctional mental health services, as well as correctional policy in general, are offered.
Translating Principles into Practice: Implementing the Feminist and Strengths Perspectives in Work with Battered Women:

This study examined the narratives of battered women to determine whether court advocates used principles of the feminist and strengths perspectives to assist the women in obtaining protective orders and devising safety plans. The results indicated that advocates were using principles of these perspectives. Advocates uncovered women’s strengths, often reinforcing the steps the women had taken to effect positive change in their lives, and gave the women information on resources. Most of the women were satisfied with the services and believed that the advocates showed concern about their plight. Taking time to listen was cited as a major aspect of that display of concern.
Improved bubble velocity equation for bubbling fluidized beds

An improved bubble velocity equation is developed for gas-solid fluidized beds. Model parameters are evaluated from reported experimental results of bubble flow. Finally, this improved equation is compared to the commonly applied velocity relationship of Davidson and Harrison (1963).
Exploring DRAM cache architectures for CMP server platforms

As dual-core and quad-core processors arrive in the marketplace, the momentum behind CMP architectures continues to grow strong. As more and more cores/threads are placed on-die, the pressure on the memory subsystem is rapidly increasing. To address this issue, we explore DRAM cache architectures for CMP platforms. In this paper, we investigate the impact of introducing a low latency, large capacity and high bandwidth DRAM-based cache between the last level SRAM cache and memory subsystem. We first show the potential benefits of large DRAM caches for key commercial server workloads. As the primary hurdle to achieving these benefits with DRAM caches is the tag space overheads associated with them, we identify the most efficient DRAM cache organization and investigate various options. Our results show that the combination of 8-bit partial tags and 2-way sectoring achieves the highest performance (20% to 70%) with the lowest tag space (<25%) overhead.
Impact of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia on postoperative outcomes after cardiac surgery.

Background The objectives of this study are to determine the effect of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) on postoperative morbidity and mortality after cardiac surgery and to identify preoperative risk factors for HIT. Methods From 2002 to 2005, 487 cardiac surgery patients with postoperative thrombocytopenia (50% drop in platelet count or absolute count Results 23.2% of patients (113 of 487) were HIT+. Multivariable predictors of HIT included previous percutaneous coronary interventions (odds ratio [OR] = 1.76, p = 0.03), class IV New York Heart Association heart failure (OR = 1.80, p = 0.012), and infectious endocarditis (OR = 3.66, p = 0.0123). Postoperative infections occurred more frequently in HIT+ patients, including sepsis (16.8% versus 9.9%, p = 0.0433) and pneumonia (46.9% versus 23.3 %, p Conclusions Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia patients are at significantly greater risk of thrombosis, renal failure, and mortality in the postoperative setting. Greater awareness of this devastating problem may allow earlier detection of HIT, with prompt institution of appropriate anticoagulation therapy, which could potentially limit the associated morbidity and mortality.
Measuring Democracy: Comparative Analysis of Different Indices

There are multiple indices of democracy in existence. Not a single one of them seems to operationalize the concept satisfactorily and this lack of universally acceptable index is hampering the progress of empirical studies of democracy and democratization. Some studies have attempted to explicate the attributes and shortcomings of the indices, while others have presented some new and improved instruments of measurement. Most of them, however, rely heavily on measuring the aspects of 'electoral democracy' but not enough of 'liberal democracy'. While we may need to continue to rely on some of the existing indices until a comprehensive index is established upon which every scholar can agree, we may be able to make better use of them if we knew the strengths and weaknesses of the indices - and specifically, which aspects of democracy the indices are most suited to measure. This study tries to delineate the strengths and weaknesses and applies them to analyze the requisites of democracy.
Toward Personalized Activity Recognition Systems With a Semipopulation Approach

Activity recognition is a key component of context-aware computing to support people's physical activity, but conventional approaches often lack in their generalizability and scalability due to problems of diversity in how individuals perform activities, overfitting when building activity models, and collection of a large amount of labeled data from end users. To address these limitations, we propose a semipopulation-based approach that exploits activity models trained from other users; therefore, a new user does not need to provide a large volume of labeled activity data. Instead of relying on any additional information from users like their weight or height, our approach directly measures the fitness of others’ models on a small amount of labeled data collected from the new user. With these shared activity models among users, we compose a hybrid model of Bayesian networks and support vector machines to accurately recognize the activity of the new user. On activity data collected from 28 people with a diversity in gender, age, weight, and height, our approach produced an average accuracy of 83.4% (kappa: 0.852), compared with individual and (standard) population models that had accuracies of 77.3% (kappa: 0.79) and 77.7% (kappa: 0.743), respectively. Through an analysis on the performance of our approach and users’ demographic information, our approach outperforms others that rely on users’ demographic information for recognizing their activities, which may contradict the commonly held belief that physically similar people would have similar activity patterns.
Low resolution microwave spectroscopy, part IV: The conformation of isopropyl formate, isopropyl fluoroformate, isopropyl chloroformate, isopropyl cyanoformate, and isopropyl trifluoroacetate

Abstract Low resolution microwave spectra of isopropyl formate, fluorofonnate, chloroformate, cyanoformate, and trifluoroacetate each display strong a-type band series associated with a single rotamer. Experimental B+C values for these compounds are: 4641±5; 3172±4; 2275±1/2226±1 MHz ( 35 Cl/ 37 Cl); 2257±1 MHz; and 1509±4 MHz, respectively. In each case the experimental values agree with a τ - 1 (OCOC) = 0°, τ 2 (COCH) ~ 40° structure indicating a modest internal rotation barrier when the methine C—H bond is syn eclipsed with the carboxyl framework. A potential function for the internal rotation of an isopropyl group extrapolated from the known functions in methyl and ethyl formate and one calculated by ab initio methods support the model derived from the low resolution microwave spectra. The single isopropyl conformer observed can be viewed as a combination of the two most stable forms of ethyl esters.
Identification of novel targets for cancer therapy using expression proteomics

Although most drugs target proteins, the proteome has remained largely untapped for the discovery of drug targets. The sequencing of the human genome has had a tremendous impact on proteomics and has provided a framework for protein identification. There is currently substantial interest in implementing proteomics platforms for drug target discovery. Although the field is still in the early stages, current proteomic tools include a variety of technologies that could be implemented for large-scale protein expression analysis of cells and tissues, leading to discovery of novel drug targets. Proteomics uniquely allows delineation of global changes in protein expression patterns resulting from transcriptional and post-transcriptional control, post-translational modifications and shifts in proteins between different cellular compartments. Some of the current technologies for proteome profiling and the application of proteomics to the analysis of leukemias by our group are reviewed.
Cyclic polymers from alkynes

Cyclic polymers are an area of significant interest, but understanding the potential of these macrocycles has been difficult because of challenges in their synthesis and characterization. It has now been shown that a tungsten catalyst featuring a tetraanionic pincer ligand can rapidly polymerize alkynes to form conjugated macrocycles in high yield.
Open image in new window Global Catalog of Rainfall-Triggered Landslides for Spatial and Temporal Hazard Characterization

It is well known that extreme or prolonged rainfall is the dominant trigger of landslides; however, there remain large uncertainties in characterizing the distribution of these hazards and meteorological triggers at the global scale. We have developed a Global Landslide Catalog (GLC), available from 2007 to the present, which contains information on reported rainfall-triggered landslide events around the world using online media reports, disaster databases, etc. This database is being input into a map-based viewable interface. Three applications of this landslide database are outlined in this study. These applications include: (1) characterizing the spatial and temporal distribution of reported landslides and fatalities over the GLC record; (2) evaluating the co-occurrence of precipitation and rainfall-triggered landslides globally; and (3) calibrating and validating a regional landslide hazard algorithm for Mesoamerica.
Carbon footballs bounce into the limelight

The literature on fullerenes is growing at an explosive rate, with contributions from inorganic and organic chemistry, condensed matter physics and materials science. At present, information is scattered acorss a range of primary research journals, so it is refreshing to see contributions emerge that bring disparate aspects of the field together in a single reference source.
Neural Activity in the Ventral Pallidum Encodes Variation in the Incentive Value of a Reward Cue.

There is considerable individual variation in the extent to which reward cues are attributed with incentive salience. For example, a food-predictive conditioned stimulus (CS; an illuminated lever) becomes attractive, eliciting approach toward it only in some rats (“sign trackers,” STs), whereas others (“goal trackers,” GTs) approach the food cup during the CS period. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual differences in Pavlovian approach responses are represented in neural firing patterns in the major output structure of the mesolimbic system, the ventral pallidum (VP). Single-unit in vivo electrophysiology was used to record neural activity in the caudal VP during the performance of ST and GT conditioned responses. All rats showed neural responses to both cue onset and reward delivery but, during the CS period, STs showed greater neural activity than GTs both in terms of the percentage of responsive neurons and the magnitude of the change in neural activity. Furthermore, neural activity was positively correlated with the degree of attraction to the cue. Given that the CS had equal predictive value in STs and GTs, we conclude that neural activity in the VP largely reflects the degree to which the CS was attributed with incentive salience. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cues associated with reward can acquire motivational properties (i.e., incentive salience) that cause them to have a powerful influence on desire and motivated behavior. There are individual differences in sensitivity to reward-paired cues, with some individuals attaching greater motivational value to cues than others. Here, we investigated the neural activity associated with these individual differences in incentive salience. We found that cue-evoked neural firing in the ventral pallidum (VP) reflected the strength of incentive motivation, with the greatest neural responses occurring in individuals that demonstrated the strongest attraction to the cue. This suggests that the VP plays an important role in the process by which cues gain control over motivation and behavior.
The democratic peace and territorial conflict in the twentieth century: Empirical results for decisions to escalate with military force

In this final empirical chapter we analyze the decisions of leaders in challenger and target states to risk war by escalating military confrontations in territorial disputes. The military confrontations we examine in this chapter are those initiated by the challenger either through threats of force, military movements and deployments, or the limited use of force in disputed territory (see Chapter 7). Once again, we test the hypotheses derived from our four models to determine which international politico-military and domestic political conditions influence policy choices in this Escalation Stage. Estimation of the Escalation Stage We estimate the Military Escalation Stage in a manner that parallels our estimation of the Negotiations Stage in Chapter 8. However, instead of explaining whether state leaders make concessions once they have entered into a round of talks, our focus now shifts to an examination of whether the challenger or target escalates the use of military force now that the two states are engaged in a military confrontation. We once again employ a bivariate probit model to examine the escalation decisions of both the challenger and the target. As we discussed in the previous chapter, bivariate probit models take into account many of the strategic dynamics inherent to the Military Escalation Stage, yet still allow us to test separate sets of hypotheses for each of the two states embroiled in a militarized dispute. Furthermore, we find particularly strong evidence to justify the use of a bivariate model to test the Escalation Stage hypotheses.
Cortical Motor Output of Braille Reading Hand

Focal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to map the motor cortical outputs to the right and left first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and right abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles of the reading hand in 6 blind proficient Braille readers studied at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
Dynamic pinhole SPECT imaging and compartmental modeling of fatty acid metabolism in the rat heart

The goal of this work is to quantitatively compare fatty acid metabolism in the hearts of normal and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as a function of age, and thereby track physiological changes associated with the onset and progression of heart failure in the SHR model. We imposed a more-stringent negativity penalty for fully 4-D multiresolution B-spline SPECT image reconstruction, and applied this method to obtain weighted least-squares estimates of time-activity curves directly from projections for dynamic pinhole SPECT studies of 123I-labeled BMIPP fatty acid analog in the myocardium of both a normal rat and an SHR. Dynamic projection data were acquired for 60 min in 1-sec time frames with an angular step of 4 degrees per frame on a dual-head GE Millennium VG Hawkeye SPECT/CT scanner equipped with custom pinhole collimators. The time-varying spatial distribution of 123I-BMIPP was modeled with use of 4-D multiresolution B-splines that were piecewise constant in space and piecewise quadratic in time. The 4-D splines were organized on a 3-D spatial grid that provided sampling of 3.2 mm near the heart and 6.4 mm away from the heart. Temporal sampling intervals were 0–2.4, 2.4–9.4, 9.4–30, and 30–90 sec during the first gantry rotation. The use of nonuniform time sampling with B-splines that varied quadratically in time yielded smooth time-activity curves that captured the relatively fast rise and fall of 123I-BMIPP in the left ventricular blood pool, as well as the uptake and trapping of the radiotracer in the left ventricular myocardium. Compartmental modeling was then applied to the time-activity curves. This yielded quantitative metabolic rate estimates (K i ) of 0.60 min−1 and 0.22 min−1 in the normal and SHR hearts, respectively. The slower rate of fatty acid metabolism in the SHR is what one expects as the SHR heart switches to a reliance on glycolysis as the primary pathway for energy production during the development of heart failure. This fully 4-D image reconstruction method can also be applied to dynamic PET.
Correlation of Strain on Instrumentation to Simulated Posterolateral Lumbar Fusion in a Sheep Model

Determining the stability and integrity of posterolateral lumbar spinal fusions continues to be one of the leading challenges facing surgeons today. Radiographs have long been the gold standard for evaluating spinal fusion, but they often give delayed or inaccurate results.It is the goal of this research to develop a new method for determining the strength and stability of a posterolateral lumbar spinal fusion using a sensor based on two strain gauges attached to a spinal rod. It was hypothesized that the spinal implants, in particular the plates or rods, would respond to this change in strain as the stiffness of the fusion increased.To investigate this hypothesis, an in vitro sheep model of the lumbar spine was developed and bony fusion was simulated with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), also known as bone cement. Eight sheep spines were prepared for use in a test fixture that applied a physiological moment of 5 Nm in flexion. One of the spinal rods was instrumented with two strain gauges in a Wheatstone half bridge, and all of the results were ported directly to a data collection system on a dynamic fatigue test machine.For each spine, the magnitude of the strain was plotted versus amount of simulated fusion. To evaluate the effect of simulated fusion, a moving average of the slope of three sequential strain values was used.The results showed there is a strong correlation between strain and spinal fusion and that a computer algorithm could be developed that would be more accurate than current techniques in predicting when a spinal fusion is mature enough for a patient to resume normal activities.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
The association of BMI and PSA density on survival among patients with metastatic or castration-resistant prostate cancer.

207Background: The majority of deaths from prostate cancer are among men with metastatic (mPCa) or castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Long-term outcomes of these patients are generally not well characterized as data from most randomized trials were censored at interim analysis. The objective of our study is to investigate factors associated with survival in a dedicated outpatient clinic. Variables of interest included body mass index (BMI) and PSA density (PSAD) at diagnosis, as well as initial treatment. Methods: All patients with mPCa or CRPC seen in the Vanderbilt Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Clinic were eligible. Demographic and pathologic information were extracted from the electronic record under IRB-protocol. Overall survival (OS) was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analyses using Cox proportional hazard models were also performed. Results: Clinicopathological data was available for 65 patients at interim analysis of a total of 198 patients. Median follow-up was 7.4...
Antecedents and Consequences of Mutual Knowledge in Teams

A tension exists between two well-established streams of literature on the performance of teams. One stream contends that teams with diverse backgrounds, social structures, knowledge, and experience function more effectively because they bring novel information to bear on problems that cannot be solved by groups of homogeneous individuals. In contrast, the literature on mutual knowledge contends that shared information and experience is essential to effective communication, trust, understanding and coordination among team members. Furthermore, several distinct antecedents of mutual information and knowledge have been hypothesized, making it difficult to manage information overlap in teams. In this paper, we use a unique data set of observed email content from 1382 executive recruiting teams and detailed accounting data on their productivity to examine both the antecedents and performance effects of shared versus diverse information. We find clear evidence of an inverted-U shaped relationship between mutual information and team productivity. A significant amount of information overlap among team members is associated with higher performance while extremes of too little or too much mutual information hamper performance. We also find that geographic dispersion and social network distance are strong predictors of mutual knowledge failures, while demographic dissimilarity and organizational distance do not predict the degree of mutual information in our data. Our work helps bring together the divergent streams of literature on mutual knowledge, information diversity, and the management of team performance.
Abstract 028: Electronic Health Record Meaningful Use Did Not Improve Pay-for-Performance Outcomes

Objective: With the goal of improving healthcare quality, Medicare has implemented a series of pay-for-performance initiatives and allocated substantial financial resources to promote meaningful us...
Teaching Technology Speed Dating: Finding Digital Tools to Use in Teaching

We propose to introduce participants to the Mason Instructional Design Special Interest Group (MID-SIG). Mason faculty, staff, and graduate students with an interest in instructional design, instructional technology, curriculum design and development, or learning technologies research are invited to join.This poster session intends to provide information about our Technology Speed Dating events which take place during the spring and fall semesters. During our events, we share ideas in a fun and engaging way as participants visit each presentation. Presenters demonstrate how technology-based instructional strategies can challenge faculty, staff, and graduate students to embrace learning as a creative and reflective process.AÂ Technology Speed Dating is an engaging way to cultivate creative and intentional learners. Participants experience three 20-minute presentations followed by a 20-minute think-pair-share discussion wrap-up. Past topics include learner engagement, instructor presence, active learning, and stepping into the world of video.Participants who attend this poster session will walk away with an understanding of 1) how Technology Speed Dating cultivates creative and intentional learners and 2) how joining the MID-SIG is aligned with the Mason value A¢â¬AWe thrive together.A¢â¬Â
Incorporating Nonphysician Stroke Specialists Into the Stroke Team.

Stroke care is team-based care, but trainees in neurology programs may have little experience in working directly with stroke specialists from other disciplines. Outside of an intensive care unit, nurses and physicians rarely round as a team, and stroke neurologists often have few interactions with prehospital care providers besides a quick handoff in the emergency room. However, nonphysician stroke specialists bring a broad base of expertise which overlaps with and complements the stroke neurologist’s knowledge. Increasingly, integrated stroke care is being provided by multidisciplinary teams. Team structures may vary from hospital to hospital and country to country, but often include integration of emergency medical services (EMS; particularly where mobile stroke treatment units are used); specialized nurses and nurse practitioners (NPs); and specialized therapy teams including speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists with particular expertise in poststroke care. The stroke chain of survival begins with the 911 call, yet even high-level paramedics receive little formal stroke training outside of standard Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols. EMS providers are often the first point of contact for the stroke patient and have the opportunity to collect vital information about timing of symptoms and medication use. First responders to stroke 911 calls may be Basic Life Support or Advanced Cardiac Life Support level. EMS providers should be familiar with validated prehospital stroke scales such as the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale.1 EMS providers who have more experience with stroke, such as paramedics who staff mobile stroke treatment units, find stroke to be an exciting field because of the time-critical nature of the treatment. Therefore, it is imperative that stroke neurologists reach out to EMS providers to offer additional training in stroke care. A basic understanding of stroke syndromes is both fascinating and extremely useful to EMS providers, who are often eager …
Confidence in Banks, Financial Institutions and Wall Street, 1971-2011

Animosity toward banks, financial institutions and Wall Street has been an important part of the public discourse since the bank bailouts of 2008. Indeed, Americans’ confidence in all three institutions has plummeted accordingly in the years since. This paper places these declines in confidence in historical perspective. I examine trends in confidence in commercial banks, local banks, savings and loan associations, Wall Street, and Wall Street executives over the last 40 years, as well as perceptions of the moral and ethical practices of bankers and stockbrokers. I pay particular attention to how confidence shifts in response to both economic contractions and major scandals. My findings suggest that while changes in the business cycle have an effect on public opinion in this domain, it is the economic contractions that correspond to major scandals in the financial sector which motivate the largest shifts in confidence and provoke the most public outrage.