cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of primary care fellowship training on career satisfaction, happiness and perceived stress

Purpose This study was designed to measure the impact of primary care fellowship training on the subsequent happiness, career satisfaction and perceived stress levels of fellowship-trained physicians as compared to a general population of Family Medicine physicians in North Carolina. Methods A written survey instrument was completed by fellowship graduates of the Brody School of Medicine (n=53) and general population of Family Medicine physicians in North Carolina (n=203) in 2011. The survey included general demographic and practice variables, and validated psychological scales on subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, and perceived stress. Results Fellowship graduates (n=50), and non-fellowship graduates (n=203), exhibited similar levels of satisfaction with life (fellows=27.36 SD 5.45, FM physicians=26.91, SD 5.99 on a 5–35 scale), statistically higher levels of perceived stress (fellows=5.92, SD 3.03, FM physicians=4.98, SD 2.70 on a 0–16 scale), and significantly higher levels of subjective happiness (fellows=5.61SD 83, FM physician=4.75 SD 1.00 on a 1–7 scale). Female fellow response was significantly higher on the Satisfaction with Life and Subjective Happiness Scores, and lower on the Perceived Stress Scale. Male fellowship graduates presented with a reverse relationship, with higher perceived stress and lower satisfaction with life and subjective happiness. Conclusions Fellowship training exhibited a positive psychological effect on the graduate respondents versus the general physician population. Scores on various well-being scales were higher than the general Family Medicine physician population as a whole, although stress levels were also higher. Female physicians seem to garner a much larger gain in satisfaction than male fellowship graduates, who score slightly worse than the general family medicine population on the satisfaction with life and Perceived Stress Scales.
Disability and Income

It has long been recognized that people with disabilities usually have less earnings than workers who do not have disabilities. The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)-911 data for 2012 were examined to determine the “true” income of workers with disabilities. The 2012 database included 579,312 cases closed during that year. The benefits and earnings of the whole data set and of 17 disability groups were examined. That is, the amount of earnings (at application for Vocational Rehabilitation [VR] services and at case closure) were combined with the amount of benefits to determine (a) whether total income increased from application for VR services to case closure, (b) the proportion of total income from benefits versus earnings, and (c) how total income for these consumers compared with the poverty level. Overall, those data revealed a 326% increase in total income from application to closure. At application, the proportion of total monthly income from earnings was 42%, whereas at closure, it had s...
10 TB patients from 2012 to 2013 in urine test results analysis

objective to understand the development zone after the TB drugs affect kidney function. Methods from 2012 to 2013 patients with tuberculosis drug for fresh urine tests on the urine analyzer. Results tuberculosis men than women; With occult blood in urine 10 high positive rate, followed by white blood cells, blood sugar; TB men with high positive rate of urine occult blood over the age of 60, female tuberculosis person with high positive rate of 20~40 years old.Conclusion we should strengthen the TB patients renal function tests, provide reference for clinical doctors, formulate the corresponding strategy.
Investigations of electrical methods for evaluating and producing degradation in plastics

The electrical investigation described in this report is part of a study of the deterioration of organic materials for the Signal Corps. Communication wire designated WD-1 uses polyethylene as an insulating material protected by an outer jacket of nylon. Until the present time, the resistance of nylon to deterioration by climatic factors was measured by outdoor exposure of specimens of the wire at the Coles Signal Laboratories in New Jersey. This required many months of aging. It was the purpose of this investigation to determine the factors contributing to the degradation of nylon and other organic materials, and to devise an accelerated aging method which would simulate outdoor aging.
The T-Cell Receptor/T3 Complex on the Surface of Human and Murine T Lymphocytes

Thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) are essential in the protection of vertebrates from environmental pathogens. As effector cells, they serve to recognize and eliminate cells bearing infectious agents and tumor antigens. In addition, they play a major role in the functional regulation of the immune response. Unlike B lymphocytes, which mediate their antigen-specific functions via secreted or membrane bound immunoglobulins that can bind to soluble ligands, T cells are responsive only to cell-surface antigens. Specifically, T-lymphocyte membrane receptors recognize antigen presenting cells (APCs), which express the autologous class I or class II integral membrane protein products of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This interaction between cells can lead to a variety of responses by the antigen-specific T lymphocytes, including proliferation, production of lymphokines, and target cell cytolysis.
Resolving Intellectual Property Problems through Alternative Dispute Resolution

This paper presented to the World Intellectual Property Organization Advisory Committee on Enforcement discusses the many alternative dispute resolution mechanisms involved in Intellectual Property disputes.
Foodborne Pathogens in Milk and Dairy Products: Genetic Characterization and Rapid Diagnostic Approach for Food Safety of Public Health Importance

Abstract A food produced from the milk of mammals, predominantly cows, water buffalos, goats, sheep, horses, camels, and yaks, is considered as a dairy product. It contains several essential nutrients (including calcium, vitamins, and proteins) that are recognized to boost human health and reduce the risk factor of some diseases. Nevertheless, in a recent comprehensive report published by the Centers for Disease Control, the consumption of raw milk products was linked as a cause for foodborne illnesses. Dairy foods were also found as the second leading source of human-pathogenic microorganisms causing 14% of foodborne illness and 10% of deaths with 128,000 hospitalizations of Americans during the period of 1998–2008. Thus, there is a need to have effective surveillance program and robust diagnostic methods to prevent and control dairy foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. Sequence characterization of partial or full-length regions of conserved and regulatory genes can be utilized in understanding inter- and intra-species genetic variations and transmission dynamics of pathogenic microorganisms causing foodborne illness of public health importance. To date, the whole genome sequencing is considered and used by the Food and Drug Administration and others as the gold standard to ascertain pathogens isolated from food samples during foodborne outbreaks and sporadic cases of illness worldwide.
EGFR signaling promotes inflammation and cancer stem-like activity in inflammatory breast cancer

// Xiaoping Wang 1, 2, 3, * , Monica E. Reyes 1, 2, 3, * , Dongwei Zhang 1, 2, 3, * , Yohei Funakoshi 1, 2, 3 , Adriana P. Trape 1, 2, 3 , Yun Gong 1, 4 , Takahiro Kogawa 1, 2, 3 , Bedrich L. Eckhardt 1, 2, 3 , Hiroko Masuda 1, 2, 3 , David A. Pirman Jr 5 , Peiying Yang 6 , James M. Reuben 1, 7 , Wendy A. Woodward 1, 8 , Chandra Bartholomeusz 1, 2, 3 , Gabriel N. Hortobagyi 3 , Debu Tripathy 3 and Naoto T. Ueno 1, 2, 3 1 Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 2 Section of Translational Breast Cancer Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 3 Department of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 4 Department of Pathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 5 Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 6 Department of General Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 7 Department of Hematopathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 8 Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Naoto T. Ueno, email: nueno@mdanderson.org Xiaoping Wang, email: xiwang@mdanderson.org Keywords: inflammatory breast cancer, EGFR, COX-2, nodal, cancer stem-like cells Received: October 19, 2016 Accepted: June 17, 2017 Published: July 04, 2017 ABSTRACT Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most lethal and aggressive type of breast cancer, with a strong proclivity to metastasize, and IBC-specific targeted therapies have not yet been developed. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has emerged as an important therapeutic target in IBC. However, the mechanism behind the therapeutic effect of EGFR targeted therapy is not well defined. Here, we report that EGFR regulates the IBC cell population that expresses cancer stem-like cell (CSC) markers through COX-2, a key mediator of inflammation whose expression correlates with worse outcome in IBC. The COX-2 pathway promoted IBC cell migration and invasion and the CSC marker-bearing population in vitro , and the inhibition of this pathway reduced IBC tumor growth in vivo . Mechanistically, we identified Nodal, a member of the TGFβ superfamily, as a potential driver of COX-2-regulated invasive capacity and the CSC phenotype of IBC cells. Our data indicate that the EGFR pathway regulates the expression of COX-2, which in turn regulates the expression of Nodal and the activation of Nodal signaling. Together, our findings demonstrate a novel connection between the EGFR/COX-2/Nodal signaling axis and CSC regulation in IBC, which has potential implications for new combination approaches with EGFR targeted therapy for patients with IBC.
Building on Your Own Invention

While many have acknowledged the importance of capturing value from existing inventions, how firms capture value from generative appropriability - capturing the share of future inventions that build on current inventions - remains poorly understood. With this study, we address this research gap by examining the influence of generative appropriability on firm performance as well as the moderating influence of the firm’s upstream and downstream diversification. We propose that generative appropriability has a curvilinear relationship with firm performance where moderate generative appropriability provides optimal results. We also propose that firm’s upstream and downstream diversification negatively moderate the relationship between generative appropriability and firm performance. Empirical evidence from a sample of manufacturing firms supports our hypotheses
Radiometer development for small satellite microwave atmospheric remote sensing

Recent advances in low-power millimeterwave low-noise amplifier technologies have enabled the hosting of high-performance atmospheric sounding instruments on very small satellites. Microwave instrumentation is particularly well suited for such implementations, as the sensor requirements for power, pointing, and spatial resolution (aperture size) can readily be accommodated by a nanosatellite platform. Several missions have been formulated to demonstrate the core technologies. The Microsized Microwave Atmospheric Satellite, second generation (MicroMAS-2), will demonstrate temperature sounding near 118 GHz and moisture sounding near 183 GHz. MicroMAS-2a and MicroMAS-2b are scheduled to launch in 2017. The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) cubesat will demonstrate multi-band atmospheric sounding and co-located GPS radio occultation. MiRaTA will launch in 2017, and will fly a tri-band sounder (60, 183, and 206 GHz) and a GPS radio occultation (GPS-RO) sensor. Both MicroMAS and MiRaTA are 3U CubeSats (aggregates of 10 × 10 × 10 cm cubes). The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission utilizes these technology advancements in a complete mission with a constellation of CubeSats similar in capability to MicroMAS-2. TROPICS is expected to launch in 2020. The Earth Observing Nanosatellite-Microwave (EON) concept is a 12U CubeSat designed to provide most of the capabilities of current operational microwave sounders. These new capabilities offer the potential of higher performance and reliability through the use of constellation observatories.
Principles of Precision Prevention Science for Improving Recruitment and Retention of Participants.

Precision medicine and precision public health focus on identifying and providing the right intervention to the right population at the right time. Expanding on the concept, precision prevention science could allow the field to examine prevention programs to identify ways to make them more efficient and effective at scale, including addressing issues related to engagement and retention of participants. Research to date on engagement and retention has often focused on demographics and risk factors. The current paper proposes using McCurdy and Daro (Family Relations, 50, 113–121, 2001) model that posits a complex mixture of individual, provider, program, and community-level factors synergistically affect enrollment, engagement, and retention. The paper concludes recommending the use of research-practice partnerships and innovative, rapid cycle methods to design and improve prevention programs related to participant engagement and retention at scale.
Explaining the role and mechanism of carbon matrices in enhancing reaction reversibility of metal oxide anodes for high performance Li ion batteries

Abstract Using NiO as a representative oxide, it is shown that the inter-particle electronic conductivity in lithium battery anodes can be drastically enhanced by additive carbon. Two types of carbon, Vulcan XC-72R and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), were added in various amounts ranging from 2.5 to 40 wt %. The conductivity boost is highly dependent on the carbon type, where rGO requires much less addition to realize the same effect due to its higher charge carrier concentration and charge carrier utilization efficiency. Half-cell charge discharge experiments were performed at various rates between C/5 and 5C, from which direct quantitative links are made between the active layer electronic conductivity and: i) reaction reversibility (achievable capacity); and ii) conversion kinetics (mechanism and rate capability). Through Tafel analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy it is shown that enhanced conductivity does not affect the underlying reaction mechanism, but allows for more complete utilization of the active layer. These findings provide new insight into the design of high performing metal oxide-advanced carbon nanocomposite Li-ion battery anodes – and allowed us to achieve long-term stable capacity retention for NiO with 10% rGO (925 mAh/g after 250 charge/discharge cycles at 1C) and stable performance at high rates (600 mAh/g at 5C).
The Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on Student Learning in Public Schools

This article discusses three aspects of Brown v. Board of Education. The first section offers a brief judicial history of desegregation in American public schools. The second portion discusses the ...
Small Bowel Obstruction and Volvulus During Pregnancy

Bowel obstruction is the third most common cause of surgical admission in the pregnant patient. Fetal and maternal mortality rates climb as pregnancy progresses if an obstruction advances to ischemia. The most common causes of bowel obstruction are adhesive small bowel disease and volvulus. Compared to the general population, pregnant women are at a much higher risk for cecal volvulus. Volvulus rates can be up to 40%. Other more rare causes include inguinal hernia and intussusception. Internal hernia in a patient with prior gastric bypass is also reported after 28 weeks.
Chemical Generation of Hydroxyl Radical for Oxidative ‘Footprinting’

Background For almost four decades, hydroxyl radical chemically generated by Fenton chemistry has been a mainstay for the oxidative 'footprinting' of macromolecules. Objective In this article, we start by reviewing the application of chemical generation of hydroxyl radical to the development of oxidative footprinting of DNA and RNA and the subsequent application of the method to oxidative footprinting of proteins. We next discuss a novel strategy for generating hydroxyl radicals by Fenton chemistry that immobilizes catalytic iron on a solid surface (Pyrite Shrink Wrap laminate) for the application of nucleic acid and protein footprinting. Method Pyrite Shrink-Wrap Laminate is fabricated by depositing pyrite (Fe-S2, aka 'fool's gold') nanocrystals onto thermolabile plastic (Shrinky Dink). The laminate can be thermoformed into a microtiter plate format into which samples are deposited for oxidation. Results We demonstrate the utility of the Pyrite Shrink-Wrap Laminate for the chemical generation of hydroxyl radicals by mapping the surface of the T-cell co-stimulatory protein Programmed Death - 1 (PD-1) and the interface of the complex with its ligand PD-L1. Conclusion We have developed and validated an affordable and reliable benchtop method of hydroxyl radical generation that will broaden the application of protein oxidative footprinting. Due to the minimal equipment required to implement this method, it should be easily adaptable by many laboratories with access to mass spectrometry.
Decentralized Event-Based Controllers for Robust Stabilization of Hybrid Periodic Orbits: Application to Underactuated 3-D Bipedal Walking

Models of bipedal walking are hybrid, with continuous-time dynamics representing the swing phases and discrete-time dynamics representing the impact events. The feedback controllers for these systems can be two-level, including both continuous- and discrete-time (event-based) actions. This paper presents a systematic framework to design decentralized event-based controllers for robust stabilization of hybrid periodic orbits against possible disturbances in discrete-time phases. The properties of the Poincare return map are investigated to study the orbital input-to-state stability for the closed-loop system with respect to disturbance inputs. An optimization problem involving bilinear matrix inequalities is then presented to design $\mathcal {H}_{2}$ - and $\mathcal {H}_{\infty }$ -optimal decentralized event-based controllers. The power of the proposed framework is finally demonstrated through designing a set of decentralized two-level controllers for underactuated walking of a three-dimensional autonomous bipedal robot with nine degrees of freedom and a decentralization scheme motivated by amputee locomotion with a transpelvic prosthetic leg.
Quantification and simulation of nutrient sources at watershed scale in Mississippi

Excessive quantity of nutrient produced from various point and non-point source deteriorates the quality of water. For reduction of nutrient from a watershed, it is needed to be quantified followed by implementation of appropriate management practices. In this study, major sources of nutrient in Big Sunflower River Watershed (BSRW) were identified, quantified, and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied for assessment of flow, sediment and nutrient. SWAT was calibrated and validated for streamflow, sediment, total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) for three United States Geological Survey (USGS) gauge stations within BSRW. Moreover, different scenarios, based on agricultural operation and best management practices, were developed. Performance of SWAT was evaluated using Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The performance was good for streamflow during calibration and validation with R2 and NSE ranging from 0.74 to 0.90 and 0.70 to 0.82 respectively. SWAT performed satisfactorily for sediment, TN and TP except in few extreme conditions, where animal waste was mixed with farm runoff. This study has provided a suitable crop rotation and management practice for efficient management of nutrient in BSRW. Manure applied on field cultivated entirely with soybean was the best practice for reduction of TN with R2 and NSE ranging from 0.70 to 0.90 and 0.58 to 0.76 respectively. Application of manure only on existing soybean crop-land was the best practice for reduction of TP with R2 and NSE ranging from 0.51 to 0.69 and 0.41 to 0.60 respectively. Soybean was effective in accumulating both nitrogen and phosphorus from soil. This study will be helpful for efficient planning and management of nutrient through suitable crop rotation and management practice.
Adverse Events After Microvascular Decompression: A National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Analysis

Background Although microvascular decompression (MVD) is a durable treatment for medically refractory trigeminal neuralgia, hemifacial spasm, or glossopharyngeal neuralgia attributable to neurovascular conflict, few national studies have analyzed predictors of postoperative complications. Objective To determine the incidence and risk factors for adverse events after MVD. Methods Patients who underwent MVD were extracted from the prospectively collected National Surgical Quality Improvement Program registry (2006–2017). Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of 30-day adverse events and unplanned readmission; multivariable linear regression analyzed predictors of a longer hospital stay. Results Among the 1005 patients evaluated, the mortality was 0.3%, major neurologic complication rate 0.4%, and 2.8% had a nonroutine hospital discharge. Patient age was not a predictor of any adverse events. Statistically significant independent predictors both of any adverse event (9.2%) and of a longer hospitalization were American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification III–IV designation and longer operative duration (P ≤ 0.03) The 30-day readmission rate was 6.8%, and the most common reasons were surgical site infections (22.4%) and cerebrospinal fluid leakage (14.3%). Higher ASA classification, diabetes mellitus, and operative time were predictors of readmission (P Conclusions In this National Surgical Quality Improvement Program analysis, postoperative morbidity and mortality after MVD was low. Patient age was not a predictor of postoperative complications, whereas higher ASA classification, diabetes mellitus, and longer operative duration were predictive of any adverse event and readmission. ASA classification provided superior risk stratification compared with the total number of patient comorbidities or laboratory values. These data can assist with preoperative patient counseling and risk stratification.
Slow escape decisions are swayed by trait anxiety

Theoretical models distinguish between neural responses elicited by distal threats and those evoked by more immediate threats1-3. Specifically, slower 'cognitive' fear responses towards distal threats involve a network of brain regions including the ventral hippocampus (vHPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), while immediate 'reactive' fear responses rely on regions such as the periaqueductal grey4,5. However, it is unclear how anxiety and its neural substrates relate to these distinct defensive survival circuits. We tested whether individual differences in trait anxiety would impact escape behaviour and neural responses to slow and fast attacking predators: conditions designed to evoke cognitive and reactive fear, respectively. Behaviourally, we found that trait anxiety was not related to escape decisions for fast threats, but individuals with higher trait anxiety escaped earlier during slow threats. Functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that when subjects faced slow threats, trait anxiety positively correlated with activity in the vHPC, mPFC, amygdala and insula. Furthermore, the strength of functional coupling between two components of the cognitive circuit-the vHPC and mPFC-was correlated with the degree of trait anxiety. This suggests that anxiety predominantly affects cognitive fear circuits that are involved in volitional strategic escape.
X-ray snapshots reveal conformational influence on active site ligation during metalloprotein folding

Cytochrome c (cyt c) has long been utilized as a model system to study metalloprotein folding dynamics and the interplay between active site ligation and tertiary structure. However, recent reports regarding the weakness of the native Fe(II)–S bond (Fe–Met80) call into question the role of the active site ligation in the protein folding process. In order to investigate the interplay between protein conformation and active site structures, we directly tracked the evolution of both during a photolysis-induced folding reaction using X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy and time-resolved X-ray solution scattering techniques. We observe an intermediate Fe–Met80 species appearing on ∼2 μs timescale, which should not be sustained without stabilization from the folded protein structure. We also observe the appearance of a new active site intermediate: a weakly interacting Fe–H2O state. As both intermediates require stabilization of weak metal–ligand interactions, we surmise the existence of a local structure within the unfolded protein that protects and limits the movement of the ligands, similar to the entatic state found in the native cyt c fold. Furthermore, we observe that in some of the unfolded ensemble, the local stabilizing structure is lost, leading to expansion of the unfolded protein structure and misligation to His26/His33 residues.
Unpartnered Mothers’ Work-Family Conflict and Parenting Stress: The Moderating Effects of Nonstandard Work Schedules

Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study dataset, we examined the moderating effects of nonstandard work schedules on the association between work-family conflict and parenting stress among unpartnered mothers 1 year after childbirth. A multiple-group analysis was conducted to examine the interaction between a latent continuous variable (work-family conflict) and observed categorical variables (four types of work schedules: daytime weekday, daytime weekend, nighttime weekday, and nighttime weekend). Results showed that unpartnered mothers’ work-family conflict was positively associated with their parenting stress, regardless of their work schedules. In addition, unpartnered mothers’ nonstandard work schedules moderated the association between work-family conflict and parenting stress. Contrary to our expectations, however, the negative effects of work-family conflict on parenting stress were alleviated in unpartnered mothers who worked nighttime compared to those who worked daytime weekend. This result indicates that working nights can be a strategy by which unpartnered mothers can balance work and family life. Specifically, using informal caregiving support, unpartnered mothers can have a respite from parenting by working nonstandard hours. Implications are discussed in terms of the importance of researchers’ and policymakers’ attention regarding unpartnered mothers’ work and parenting issues.
A estética da exclusão: imigrantes chineses em culturas visuais brasileiras na virada do século XX

Este artigo examina os processos que levaram trabalhadores chineses ao Brasil, analisando documentos escritos por diplomatas e funcionarios da dinastia Qing que viajaram ao Brasil para abrir rotas de imigracao chinesa. As autoridades Qing utilizavam nesse contexto uma palavra que pode significar tanto imigracao quanto colonizacao ( yizhi ). O Brasil, para eles, apresentava-se como uma opcao viavel tanto para a colonizacao quanto para a imigracao devido ao seu vasto territorio e a suas leis de cidadania inclusivas. Discuto as questoes levantadas por intelectuais ligados ao governo Qing sobre a abertura de rotas de imigracao e comercio entre a China e o Brasil, em relacao as preocupacoes dos abolicionistas brasileiros com a emancipacao, a independencia nacional e o desejo de branquear a composicao racial da nova nacao. Este artigo explora o que chamo de estetica da exclusao para descrever a producao e a circulacao de culturas visuais sobre os chineses enquanto raca, as quais contribuem para o discurso global da exclusao chinesa como uma necessidade da modernizacao brasileira e de seu investimento no branqueamento.
Magical Realism in the Context of Cold War Cultural Interventions

The rejection of ‘committed’ literature by Latin American magical realist writers is legible within Cold War cultural interventions and the tensions between politics and aesthetics. For some critics, the rejection of such literature by most Boom authors evoked the dictum of anti-communist politics espoused by the United States, which had institutionalised modernism as a counter to Soviet programmatic realism. However, this chapter argues that Latin American magical realism responded instead to a self-affirmation of the author’s individual/national autonomy against the political dicta coming first from the Soviet Union and later from Cuba. The chapter will then explore the uses of magical realism in other national contexts during the Cold War, where the form became progressively more aligned with ‘free world’ ideologies.
Trade and Institutions in the Medieval Mediterranean: The Geniza Merchants and their Business World

1. Introduction: two tales Part I. Institutions: 2. Merchants in their community 3. The uses of commercial correspondence 4. The nature of merchants' trade 5. The human landscape: business relationships, institutions of law and government 6. Conclusion to Part I Part II. Geographies: 7. The geography of information 8. Commodities in a regional market 9. Individual geographies of trade 10. The contracting geography of the eleventh-century merchant network 11. Conclusion: the Mediterranean through the eyes of Geniza merchants Glossary of terms Bibliography.
Assisting the elite-driven open source development through activity data

Elite developers, who own the administrative privileges for a project, maintain a diverse profile of contributing activities, and drive the development of open source software (OSS). To advance our understanding and further support the OSS community, I present a fresh approach to investigate developers’ public activities from the fine-grained event data provided by GitHub. Further, I develop this approach into an analysis framework for collecting, modeling, and analyzing elite developers’ online contributing activities. Employing this framework, I have conducted empirical studies on various OSS projects and ecosystems to characterize elite developers’ full-spectrum activities and their dynamics, and also unveil relationships between their effort allocation and projects’ technical outcomes. Finally, I propose to design and implement a toolset based on this framework and my results to date, which supports individual developers’ decision-making and assists their routine workflows with automation.
Neo-Colonialism, Same Old Racism: A Critical Analysis of the United States' Shift toward Colorblindness as a Tool for the Protection of the American Colonial Empire and White Supremacy

The Article explains the shift in American law and politics towards colorblindness via definition and discussion of colonialism, and acknowledges the United States' past and present identity as a racist, colonial state. The Article begins with a discussion of colonialism, its roots in white supremacy, and its link to American liberal democracy. It analyzes shifts in the American approach to racism by examining the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States over the course of three time periods: the pre-civil rights era, the civil rights era, and the present post-civil rights, neo-conservative era. The Article illuminates the manner in which Supreme Court rulings reflect or catalyze shifts in theory and policy sustaining a white supremacist legal order. Using France as an illustrative model, the Author recommends a move away from colorblindness and the present neocolonial order in the United States towards an approach that is decidedly anti-racist and post-colonial.
Purpose in Life May Delay Adverse Health Outcomes in Old Age.

ABSTRACT Objective Test the hypothesis that a higher level of purpose in life is associated with an older age of Alzheimer's dementia onset and later mortality. Design Prospective cohort studies of aging and Alzheimer's dementia. Setting Community-based. Participants Two thousand five hundred fifty-eight older adults initially free of dementia underwent assessments of purpose in life and detailed annual clinical evaluations to document incident Alzheimer's dementia and mortality. General accelerated failure time models examined the relation of baseline purpose in life with age at Alzheimer's dementia diagnosis and mortality. Exposures Purpose in life was assessed at baseline. Main Outcomes Alzheimer's dementia diagnosis was documented annually based on detailed clinical evaluations and mortality was documented via regular contacts and annual evaluations. Results During a mean of 6.89 years of follow-up, 520 individuals were diagnosed with incident Alzheimer's dementia at a mean age of 88 (SD = 6.7; range: 64.1–106.5). They had a mean baseline level of purpose in life of 3.7 (SD = 0.47; range: 1–5). A higher level of purpose in life was associated with a considerably later age of dementia onset (estimate = 0.044; 95% CI: 0.023, 0.065); specifically, individuals with high purpose (90th percentile) developed Alzheimer's dementia at a mean age of about 95 compared to a mean age of about 89 for individuals with low purpose (10th percentile). Further, the estimated mean age of death was about 89 for individuals with high purpose compared to 85 for those with low purpose. Results persisted after controlling for sex and education. Conclusion and relevance Purpose in life delays dementia onset and mortality by several years. Interventions to increase purpose in life among older persons may increase healthspan and offer considerable public health benefit.
Perspectives on Natural Resource Conflicts

This chapter reviews approaches to conflict studies. The chapter opens with an observation that no unified theory exists that explains the causes and effects of all conflicts. Instead, conflict studies exhibit several general patterns, and the concept is explained according to the discipline and backgrounds of theorists. A gap also exists between researchers who theorize about conflicts and scholars who intervene in those conflicts. Thus, resource conflicts are explained from two main perspectives: a competitive approach that assumes a zero-sum view of resources such that a win for one party is a loss for the rival party, and a cooperative viewpoint that is grounded in a win/win outcome for both parties. However, the chapter explains that conflict is an interactive activity within the shared experiences of people who live together and interact in several ways. The mutual dependence that lie beneath social exchange relations has a cooperative phase that generate mutual benefits and a competitive phase that reflects independent rewards. Consequently, the chapter contends that natural resource conflicts are subject to contextual forces that are both competitive and cooperative. A case is made for an approach that integrates theory and practice and is useful, not just for explaining the causes of resource conflicts, but also for responding to conflict in ways that enhances co nsensus building.
Simulation Studies of Item Bias Estimation Accuracy

The item-parameter invariance assumption of Cognitive Diagnostic Models (CDMs) states that item parameters are not functionally dependent upon the characteristics of an examinee with respect to a specific examinee population. Violations of this assumption for a test item indicate the presence of item-bias for that item. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the evidence for item parameter invariance varies as a function of the number of times an item is administered to an examinee. Towards this end, three different data sets are used: (i) ECPE-Grammar (Templin and Hoffman, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 32(2):37–50, 2013) with n=2922, (ii) TIMSS (Mullis et al. TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics. International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 2012) with n = 1010 and (iii) Social Psychology class conducted in University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) (Social-UTD) n = 136. To detect the presence of item parameter invariance, Bootstrap Mean Absolute Bias (Bootstrap-AB) metric for each item parameter is calculated by comparing two examinee subpopulations generated by sampling with replacement multiple times from the original examinee population. This process is repeated over pairs of examinee population samples of varying sizes to get different Item Administered Count (IAC) values. Item-specific guess and slip parameters are estimated using the DINA model in the CDM package in R (George et al. Journal of Statistical Software 74(2), 2016). Violations of item invariance are observed for smaller IAC, but such violations decrease as the IAC increases. The standard parameter DINA parameter estimation method was then compared with a bagging approach for estimating DINA model parameters (Breiman, Machine Learning, 24(2):123–140, 1996). The fitted bagged-DINA model demonstrated fewer violations of item invariance for smaller IAC values for all three data sets.
Elective neck dissection in salivary gland malignancies: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

We defined the occult nodal metastasis (ONM) rate of clinical node-negative salivary gland malignancies and examined the role of elective neck dissection (END). Meta-analysis querying four databases, from inception of databases to March 25th, 2020. Fifty-one studies with 11 698 patients were included. ONM rates were 64% for salivary ductal carcinoma (SDC), 51% for undifferentiated carcinoma, 34% for carcinoma ex-pleomorphic adenoma (CXPA), 32% for adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (ANOS), 31% for lymphoepithelial carcinoma (LE), 20% for mucoepidermoid carcinoma, 17% for acinic cell carcinoma, and 17% for adenoid cystic carcinoma. T3/T4 tumors had a 2.3 times increased risk of ONM than T1/T2 tumors. High-grade tumors had a 3.8 times increased risk of ONM than low/intermediate-grade tumors. ONM rates were exceedingly high for T3/T4, high-grade, and undifferentiated, SDC, ANOS, CXPA, and LE tumors, indicating the potential role of END.
Improving Traffic Safety Policy

Just as imperfections can be found in the traffic safety behavior of individual travelers so can imperfections be found in the formulation and implementation of traffic safety policy. Vehicle technology has been emphasized at the expense of nontechnological safety measures. Safety of passenger car occupants has been emphasized at the expense of other travelers. Net benefits of crashworthiness standards such as mandatory passive restraints have been exaggerated because safety gains are overestimated and some costs are ignored. The Dole Rule on passive restraints only partly satisfies the five criteria for analytical acceptability.
Taking advantage of optimal on-chip parallelism for parallel discrete-event simulation

The optimal level of performance from parallel discrete-event simulation depends on the circuit being simulated, the vectors being simulated, and the machine on which the simulation is being performed. Empirical studies based on very simple models suggest that the amount of parallelism available in typical circuits is very small. A model of optimal performance for a machine with an infinite number of processors having uniform memory accesses is presented. It demonstrates that some circuits have significantly more parallelism than previously believed. The model is refined to define the optimal load partitioning for a machine with a finite number of processors with uniform access and extended to define the optimal static data partitioning. A metric is obtained which can be used to benchmark different models of parallel simulation. The effectiveness of these models in detecting performance problems of the version of RSIM running on the BBN Butterfly is shown. >
Distributed Lags and Dynamic Models

Many economic models have lagged values of the regressors in the regression equation. For example, it takes time to build roads and highways. Therefore, the effect of this public investment on growth in GNP will show up with a lag, and this effect will probably linger on for several years. It takes time before investment in research and development pays off in new inventions which in turn take time to develop into commercial products. In studying consumption behavior, a change in income may affect consumption over several periods. This is true in the permanent income theory of consumption, where it may take the consumer several periods to determine whether the change in real disposable income was temporary or permanent. For example, is the extra consulting money earned this year going to continue next year? Also, lagged values of real disposable income appear in the regression equation because the consumer takes into account his life time earnings in trying to smooth out his consumption behavior. In turn, one’s life time income may be guessed by looking at past as well as current earnings. In other words, the regression relationship would look like $$ {Y_t} = \alpha + {\beta _0}{X_t} + {\beta _1}{X_{t - 1}} + .. + {\beta _s}{X_{t - s}} + {u_0}\quad t = 1,2,....,T $$ (6.1) where Y t denotes the t–th observation on the dependent variable Y and Xt-s denotes the (t-s)th observation on the independent variable X. α is the intercept and β 0, β1,..., β S are the current and lagged coefficients of X t . Equation (6.1) is known as a distributed lag since it distributes the effect of an increase in income on consumption over s periods. Note that the short-run effect of a unit change in X on Y is given by β 0, while the long-run effect of a unit change in X on Y is (β 0 + β 1 + .. + β s ).
Compensating Wage Differentials for Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Risk by Gender and Race

Our research examines risk compensation by gender and race using occupation, gender, and race specific fatal and nonfatal injury rates and a data set sufficiently large to produce accurate estimates across fairly narrow groups. The data provide strong evidence that men earn compensating differentials for both fatal and nonfatal injury risk and women earn compensating differentials for nonfatal injury risk. Female wage premiums for nonfatal injury risk exceed male wage premiums by a factor of more than three. Nonfatal injury risk compensation is widespread among the various demographic groups although largest for white women. Fatal injury risk compensation is more isolated with only white and Hispanic males earning significantly higher pay for greater amounts of fatal injury risk.
On the significance of crack closure in fatigue crack growth

ABSTRACT The research of recent years has brought about a better understanding of the nature and the significance of fatigue crack closure. Important types of closure are plasticity-induced closure, roughness-induced closure, and oxidation-induced closure. These types of closure are discussed and their significance in understanding retardation effects after an overload, anomolous crack growth, and fatigue notch size effects is indicated.
Selective Laser Photocatalysis of Bromine Reactions: Laser light excites gaseous bromine molecules to single bound quantum states near the dissociation continuum

Gaseous chemical reaction dynamics analyzed with monochromatic laser light-induced photocatalysis
Images of achievement and action spaces: somatic processes in the control of action

Of several brain processes that organize behavior, one holds special interest. This process involves the junctional mechanism of cerebral motor and cerebellar cortices and constructs an image-of-achievement by means of a fast-time calculation which extrapolates a projection from the immediately preceding changes in force exerted on muscle receptors. This image-of-achievement by means of a fast-time calculation extrapolates a projection from the immediately preceding changes in force exerted on muscle receptors. The neural control of behavior is achieved largely through an effect on receptor functions. This image-of-achievement encodes environmental contingencies, e.g. forces, not patterns of muscle contraction. The image-of-achievement regulates behavior. >
Proximal enterectomy stimulates distal hyperplasia more than bypass or pancreaticobiliary diversion

Abstract To determine the contribution of intraluminal factors to postresectional intestinal hyperplasia, cell proliferation in the distal intestine of male rats was studied after 50% proximal enterectomy or 50% proximal bypass and also after transposition of the duodenal papilla to the mid small bowel. Within 48 hr all three operations increased RNA and DNA contents in the ileal mucosa 16 to 50% over control values. At 48 hr and 1 week the response distal to resection exceeded that of bypass or pancreaticobiliary diversion; nucleic acid contents, DNA specific activity, villous height, crypt depth, and luminal circumference were greatest 1 week after resection. By 1 month, however, chemical and histological values after resection were equalled or surpassed by those in the other two groups. In excluded jejunum itself, mucosal atrophy lowered RNA and DNA contents to 60% of control levels 1 month postoperatively. Neither pancreaticobiliary diversion nor proximal enteric bypass produces the same rate of distal hyperplasia as proximal resection. Modest colonic hyperplasia may contribute to intestinal adaptation after proximal enterectomy. Adaptive postresectional cell proliferation appears not to be mediated simply by intraluminal nutrition or enteric secretions; hormonal factors may also be important.
Wind turbine rotor imbalance detection using nacelle and blade measurements

Wind power is the world's fastest growing renewable energy source, but operations and maintenance costs are still a major obstacle toward reliability and widescale adoption of wind power, accounting for a large part of the cost of energy for offshore installations. Structural health monitoring systems have been proposed for implementing condition-based maintenance. The wind energy industry currently uses condition monitoring systems that are mostly adapted from roating machinery in other power generation industries. However, these systems have had limited effectiveness on wind turbines because of their atypical operating conditions, which are characterized by low and variable rotational speed, rapidly varying torque, extremely large rotors and stochastic loading from the wind. Although existing systems primarily take measurements from the nacelle, valuable information can be extracted from the structural dynamic response of the rotor blades to mitigate potentially damaging loading conditions. One such condition is rotor imbalance, which not only reduces the aerodynamic efficiency of the turbine and therefore its power output but can also lead to very large increases in loading on the drivetrain, blades and tower. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's fast software was used to model both mass and aerodynamic imbalance in a 5 MW offshore wind turbine. It is shown that a combination of blade and nacelle measurements, most of which can be obtained from standard instrumentation already found on utility-scale wind turbines, can be formulated into an algorithm used to detect and locate imbalance. The method described herein allows for imbalance detection that is potentially more sensitive than existing on-line systems, while taking advantage of sensors that are already in place on many utility-scale wind turbines. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.