cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The MRI feature of corpus callosa1 infarction(78 cases report)

Objective To investigate the magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) features of corpus callosal infarction.Methods The history,risk factor and symptoms of 78 patients with corpus cal1osa1 stroke were reviewed and the imaging features of MRI were analyzed.Results Corpus callosal infarction was often coexisted with other area's infarction.The sites of infarction were 16 genu,7 body,15 genu and body,34 splenium,6 diffused.The clinical characteristics of patients with corpus callosal infarction were usually multiple,symptoms include hemiparalysis,language disorder,disturbance of intelligence,affective disorder and so on.Conclusions Corpus callosal infarctions are not rare and contribute to the clinical features of strokes.MRI is the main method for the detection of vascular lesions of the corpus callosa1.
Optimal Deployment of Dense WSN for Error Bounded Air Pollution Mapping

Air pollution has become a major issue of modern megalopolis because of industrial emissions and increasing urbanization along with traffic jams and heating/cooling of buildings. Monitoring urban air quality is therefore required by municipalities and by the civil society. Current monitoring systems rely on reference sensing stations that are precise but massive, costly and therefore seldom. In this ongoing work, we focus on an alternative or complementary approach, using a network of low cost and autonomic wireless sensors, allowing for a finer spatiotemporal granularity of air quality sensing. We tackle the optimization problem of sensor deployment and propose an integer programming model, which allows to find the optimal network topology while ensuring air quality monitoring with a high precision and the minimum financial cost. Most of existing deployment models of wireless sensor networks are generic and assume that sensors have a given detection range. This assumption does not fit pollutant concentrations sensing. Our model takes into account interpolation methods to place sensors in such a way that pollution concentration is estimated with a bounded error at locations where no sensor is deployed.
The cross-sectional study of cardiom etabolic risk factors in obese children and adolescents

Objective To determine the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors such as hypertension,diabetes and dyslipidemia through health assessment examination among obese children and adolescents. Methods This study was based on 1 809obese children and adolescents,aged 7 to 17 years from 17 schools in Beijing. The data of anthropometric measurements were collected,including weight,height,body composition and age. All subjects had a clinic examination containing a fasting blood, blood pressure and liver ultrasonography. Overweight,obesity and severe obesity were assessed by WGOC criteria with BMI. Results A total of 1 809 children and adolescents were recruited in the examination. The prevalence of hypertensnion,dyslipidemia and impaired fasting glucose( IFG) was 30. 8%,43. 3% and 66. 6% while the prevalence of dysfunction of liver,non-alcohol fatty liver,and acanthosis nigricans was 11. 6%,16. 0% and 21. 9%,the prevalence of hypertension,IFG,dysfunction of liver,nonalcohol fatty liver and the proportion of children with 2 or more cardiometabolic risk factors in males was higher than that in females. Severe obesity contributed 29. 9% to the obese children and adolescents,the prevalence of hypertension,dyslipidemia,hepatic dysfunction and non-alcohol fatty liver in severe obesity was higher than that in moderate obesity. The proportion of children with 2 or more cardiometabolic risk factors in severe obese children was higher than that in moderate obese children. Conclusion Cardiometabolic risk factors( such as hypertension,diabetes and IFG,dyslipidemia) are common in obese children, the prevalence increases with obese degree. The cardiovascular metabolic dysfunction should be highly noticed.
MODELING AND CONTROL OF KEYHOLE ARC WELDING PROCESS

Abstract This paper addresses the development of an adaptive control system for keyhole arc welding process. The system developed adjusts the amperage of the peak current to achieve the desired peak current period under varying manufacturing conditions. A nominal model is selected from models identified using experimental data and is used as the a prior model of the controlled process. A predictive control algorithm has been designed for the nominal model structure. Closed-loop control experiments have been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the developed system under varying set-point and varying travel speed.
Repeatability of tenderness measurements in beef round muscles.

The present experiment was conducted to determine 1) the repeatability of Warner-Bratzler shear force and trained sensory panel tenderness ratings in beef round cuts and 2) the effect of location within beef round cuts on shear force and tenderness ratings. Biceps femoris (BF) and semitendinosus (ST) were obtained from the carcasses of youthful (A-maturity), grain-fed, crossbred steers (n = 25) at 16 d postmortem. Steaks were removed from each muscle for determination of shear force and tenderness rating at each of three locations (A = proximal end, B = center, and C = distal end). Tenderness ratings of triplicate samples were slightly more repeatable than shear force for BF (R = .50 vs .30) and ST (R = .60 vs .56). However, all of those estimates of repeatability were much less than values we have obtained for beef longissimus using similar laboratory procedures (R = .79 to .90). Across both muscles and both methods of assessing tenderness, less than 40% of the total variance was accounted for by animal. The variance of tenderness rating among animals was less for BF (.12) and ST (.09) than values we have obtained for beef longissimus (.60). Location did not affect (P > .05) BF shear force; however, BF tenderness ratings were higher (P < .05) for location A (5.5) than for B (5.0) and C (5.2). Location accounted for a higher percentage of the total variance of ST tenderness rating and ST shear force than did animal. Shear force decreased (P < .05) from the proximal end to the distal end of ST (5.1, 4.6, and 3.9 kg for locations A, B, and C, respectively). Also, ST tenderness ratings were lower for location A (4.8) than for locations B (5.6) and C (5.7). Neither method of measuring tenderness was highly repeatable for BF or ST because there was little animal-to-animal variation in tenderness for these round muscles. Thus, there would be little opportunity for segregating round muscles into tenderness classes.
Can There Be a Vaishnava Kabir

When Kabir is invoked today, he is apt to come across as an individualistic and defiant social critic, someone who inveterately set himself apart from the religion he saw being practiced all around...
Cultural challenges to engaging patients in shared decision making

Abstract Objective Engaging patients in their health care through shared decision-making is a priority embraced by several national and international groups. Missing from these initiatives is an understanding of the challenges involved in engaging patients from diverse backgrounds in shared decision-making. In this commentary, we summarize some of the challenges and pose points for consideration regarding how to move toward more culturally appropriate shared decision-making. Discussion The past decade has seen repeated calls for health policies, research projects and interventions that more actively include patients in decision making. Yet research has shown that patients from different racial/ethnic and cultural backgrounds appraise their decision making process less positively than do white, U.S.-born patients who are the current demographic majority. Conclusion While preliminary conceptual frameworks have been proposed for considering the role of race/ethnicity and culture in healthcare utilization, we maintain that more foundational and empirical work is necessary. We offer recommendations for how to best involve patients early in treatment and how to maximize decision making in the way most meaningful to patients. Innovative and sustained efforts are needed to educate and train providers to communicate effectively in engaging patients in informed, shared decision-making and to provide culturally competent health care.
Northern Finnish Post-War Colonizing

Between 1946 and 1967 some 61 major colonization districts were established and occupied in Lapland Province. Each has such general unity that it may be termed a colony. Specifically, though, the colonies vary in degrees of isolation, date of settling, type of settlers, size, and speed of settling. To illustrate these differences five sample colonies were selected for more detailed study between 1956 and 1970.
HISTORY OF COLPOSCOPY IN THE UNITED STATES: Chronology of Colposcopy Development Worldwide

Colposcopy was initially developed by Professor Hinselmann of Germany and is now a procedure that is recognized the world over. Twenty-two countries now represent the International Federation for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy. Additionally, individual societies representing several countries exist.
Fuel displacement potential of a Thermoelectric Generator in a conventional vehicle

This paper evaluates the fuel displacement potential of a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) device in a conventional gasoline vehicle using vehicle simulation and engine in the loop. A TEG device was modelled in Simulink, to exhibit the thermal and electrical characteristics of such a device. This TEG model was integrated into the vehicle simulation software, Autonomie and evaluated in a real engine – virtual vehicle scenario using Engine in the loop (EIL) technique. The EIL approach was used to evaluate the fuel consumption benefit of TEG under cold and hot conditions. The complete vehicle model was then validated and used to evaluate the impact of the current TEG system on additional drive cycles as well as future TEG systems (i.e. no device temperature limits). EIL evaluation shows a fuel economy gain within the current device of 1% on the US06 cycle. The simulation study will quantify the impact of driving cycles and TEG design on fuel displacement potential.
Diversity at school as a lever for success?. Resources and limits of two models in Brussels

This article examines the democratic ideal of diversity in the broad sense, in the field of education. Based on two case studies of schools in Brussels which meet the challenges of diversity in Brussels in two very different ways, the author uses ethnographic data to put universalist and communitarianist integration models into perspective. She attempts to show that these two types of school do not simply constitute an ethical and philosophical alternative, but that they contribute to shaping different students. Beyond their impact on educational success and segregation, each model of school favours the three logics differently – strategies for success, integration and personal growth – which students must combine within the school environment.
Severe corneal ulcer with progression to endophthalmitis and high-grade bacteremia.

Abstract Purpose Bacterial sepsis is a common consequence of many infectious processes. Here, we describe a case of a woman with a corneal ulcer who went on to develop group B streptococcal (GBS) endophthalmitis, bacteremia, and eventual loss of the eye. Observations A previously healthy, immunocompetent, middle aged, contact lens wearing female who, after freshwater boating in her contact lenses, developed a red, painful eye. She was initially prescribed an hourly topical steroid by an outside optometrist but worsening of her condition prompted her to present to our Emergency Department. Despite aggressive initial management, the patient went on to develop GBS endophthalmitis, sepsis with high-grade bacteremia, and eventual loss of the eye. Conclusions and importance Eye care providers should exercise caution when prescribing frequent, potent corticosteroids when an infectious etiology is in the differential diagnosis.
Financial Incentives for Reducing Smoking and Promoting Other Health-Related Behavior Change in Vulnerable Populations:

Substantial reductions in U.S. cigarette smoking and associated chronic diseases over the past 50 years have benefited health. Unfortunately, those reductions have distributed unevenly throughout t...
Tethered Fluorogen Assay to Visualize Membrane Apposition in Living Cells.

We describe proof-of-concept for a novel approach for visualizing regions of close apposition between the surfaces of living cells. A membrane-anchored protein with high affinity for a chemical ligand is expressed on the surface of one set of cells, and the cells are co-cultured with a second set of cells that express a membrane-anchored fluorogen-activating protein (FAP). The co-cultured cells are incubated with a bivalent reagent composed of fluorogen linked to the high-affinity ligand, with the concentration of the bivalent reagent chosen to be less than the binding constant for the FAP–fluorogen pair but greater than the binding constant for the ligand–high-affinity protein pair. In these conditions, strong FAP signal is observed only in regions of close proximity between membranes of the two classes of cell, where high local concentration of fluorogen favors binding to the FAP.
Challenges in meeting water security and resilience

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the following and related questions: (1) What is water security, and is it related to food security, energy security, health security and ecological security? (2) What factors impact water security? (3) What are the challenges in meeting water security? (4) What can be done to ensure water security? (5) Is water security entirely a technical problem? (6) What systems need to be engineered to help ensure water security? It further offers a personal perspective on water security and engineering solutions.
Evaluating the Current State of Geospatial Software as a Service Platforms: A Comparison Study

The goal of this chapter is to evaluate and compare Geospatial Software as a Service (GSaaS) platforms oriented toward providing basic mapping capabilities to non-GIS experts. These platforms allow users to organize spatial materials in layers, perform overlay and basic visual analysis, and share both final maps and the processes used to create them with remote collaborators. The authors gathered data on the characteristics of 15 platforms through an online survey, then summarized the results and created an Excel tool to enable users to sift through the data to identify platforms based on need. This study presents a snapshot of the current GSaaS landscape, summarizes current capabilities, points out weaknesses, and considers the potential of this class of application.
Detecting Predictors of Rare Events: Demographic, Family, and Personal Deviance as Predictors of Stages in the Progression Toward Narcotic Addiction

Demographic characteristics, family patterns, and personal history are the three tools we use most in attempting to explain life history outcomes, whether favorable or unfavorable. These explanatory variables usually serve us well, if somewhat monotonously, so long as the outcome is neither close to invariate nor extremely rare. Most forms of psychopathology, fortunately for society and unfortunately for solving questions of causation, tend to be rare events. When we try to predict these rare events, our variables often do not perform well at all. Finding explanatory variables means accounting for the variance, but the rarer the event we wish to explain, the less variance is there to explain. The resulting small target is hard to hit. Thus we can predict arrests, which are common, but not the particular charge for which arrested, because each is relatively rare. When the demographic, family, and personal predictors describe large segments of the population, they are certain to be poor predictors of rare events, since they select more people than will have the rare event.
Space for all

The exploration of the Solar System is an expensive endeavour. The greater the number of nations that engage in peaceful planetary research the better.
Statistical, Gradient, Block and Graft Copolymers by Controlled/Living Radical Polymerizations

This review is focused on controlled/living radical polymerization methods for the preparation of various copolymers. A brief introduction to the subject of radical polymerization, and early attempts to control it, is followed by a detailed examination of the literature on controlled/living radical copolymerizations from the mid-1990s until 2001. The topics covered include statistical/gradient, block, graft, and star copolymers, and the polymerization methods used to produce them. These copolymers were prepared using three major controlled radical methods (either nitroxide mediated polymerization, atom transfer radical polymerization, or degenerative transfer) and a combination of polymerization techniques, including transformation chemistry or the simultaneous/dual living polymerizations, to achieve the desired chain architecture or topology. An evaluation of the current state of the field is also presented.
Live Cell Imaging of Nuclear Dynamics

The search for the mechanisms underlying nonrandom chromosome and gene organization within the nuclear volume and the precise functional consequences of such a configuration lies at the heart of research into nuclear dynamics. It has been demonstrated that chromatin is likely organized into discrete domains by association with distinct nuclear compartments enriched in structural and regulatory proteins. Growing evidence suggests that gene activity is modulated by interactions with these subnuclear compartments and that such interactions can be cell-type specific. Analyzing how nuclear architecture controls, genome activity and the mechanisms that drive such organization are necessary to fully understand complex biological processes such as development and disease. The most widely used approaches to understanding and illuminating nonrandom organization of the genome have relied on high-resolution two- or three-dimensional fluorescent in situ hybridization techniques at the single cell level and on bulk cell population analyses using molecular methods such as chromosome conformation capture (3C and its derivatives such as Hi-C) and DNA adenine methylation identification which measure probabilities of chromosomal regions interacting with each other or with a nuclear domain, respectively. While these powerful molecular and high-resolution microscopy techniques have given us a wealth of understanding about nuclear architecture, they reflect an average of a bulk population and are necessarily static. Complementary live cell imaging techniques using the living cell as both a visual and molecular test tube is vital to our understanding of the dynamics and mechanisms underlying nuclear organization.
Two Cultures Shaping the Corporate Governance Debate

This paper discusses an alternative to the conventional finance framework for analyzing corporate governance problems in the modern corporation. That framework, going back to at least 1932, suggests that governance problems arise because managers control the corporation and may use their positions to enrich themselves at the expense of shareholders who are not able to effectively monitor them. Alternatively, this paper suggests that some governance problems arise because major shareholders think differently about certain issues than do corporate managers, and these differences in thinking arise from their different “cultures.” The paper focuses on institutional shareholders and discusses how their culture, rooted in finance theory, may conflict with corporate managers whose cultures are based largely on legal theory. Several examples illustrate how shareholders and managers may come to legitimate, but opposing views on certain corporate governance issues, and the paper stresses that these opposing views do not assume that either side acts with bad motives.
Cyclooxygenase knockout mice: Models for elucidating isoform-specific functions

The development of cyclooxygenase (COX) deficient mice has allowed investigation into the individual physiological roles of the COX-1 and COX-2 isoforms. In the following article, the phenotypes of the two Ptgs (genes coding for COX-1 and COX-2) knockouts are summarized, and recent studies to investigate the effects of COX deficiency on cancer susceptibility, inflammatory response, gastric ulceration, and female reproductive processes are discussed. Also, the development and potential uses of mice deficient in both COX isoforms and mice containing only a single copy of one isoform are discussed. Additionally, when the data permit, the effects of genetic ablation of COX activity are compared with those of pharmacological inhibition of COX activity by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The data suggest that prostaglandins derived via the individual COX isoforms have separate as well as common functions. However, for the maintenance of normal physiology, it appears that deficiency of COX-2 has more profound effects than deficiency of COX-1.
Nodulation restrictive genotypes of Glycine and Amphicarpaea : a comparative analysis

Several genes that restrict nodulation with specific Bradyrhizobiumstrains are known in Glycine max (soybean), and a similar system of nodulation restriction has recently been discovered in the related North American legume Amphicarpaea bracteata. We analyzed how nodulation-restrictive genotypes of each plant interacted with Bradyrhizobium strains sampled from the other host species. Ten bacterial isolates from A. bracteata that nodulated differentially with genotypes of their homologous host legume showed uniform responses to two soybean isogenic lines that differed at the Rj4 locus controlling nodulation restriction: all isolates formed nodules of normal size and morphology on both isolines. However, little or no nitrogen fixation occurred in any of these symbioses. A. bracteata genotypes that displayed broad vs. restricted symbiotic phenotypes toward naturally-associated bradyrhizobia were also tested with two bacterial isolates from soybean (USDA 76 and USDA 123). Both isolates formed nodules and fixed nitrogen in association with both A. bracteata genotypes. However, symbiotic effectiveness (as measured by acetylene reduction assays) was normal only for the combination of USDA 76 with the restrictive A. bracteata genotype. Overall, these results indicate that plant genes that restrict nodulation by certain naturally-associated bradyrhizobia do not confer comparable specificity when plants interact with bacteria from another related legume species.
Delphinus bairdii (Pacific dolphin)

The karyotypes are gifts from Dr. Deborah D. Kulu, Los Angeles, California, and her colleagues.
Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality in Agency Microcomputer Use:

The author discusses the issues surrounding the maintenance of client records on agency computers, reporting the results of a survey of 48 microcomputer-using private nonprofit agencies with regard...
Decentralized Dynamic State Estimation with Missing and Delayed PMU Measurements

This paper studies decentralized Dynamic State Estimation (DSE) with missing and delayed PMU measurements in power systems. As data loss or delay can negatively affect the system state estimation and control, it is of paramount importance to account for the impact of data loss and delay. To this end, we propose a decentralized DSE scheme by utilizing a discrete Unscented Kalman Filtering (UKF). The proposed approach modifies the existing UKF by modeling the arrival rate of missing and delayed measurements as a stochastic process. We observe that there exists a critical value (threshold) for the measurement delay that depends on the measurement processing time of the state estimator, and measurements received beyond this threshold cannot be utilized for the DSE due to limited computation power. Numerical simulations under fault conditions in the simulated microgird show that the proposed scheme is able to avoid triggering unnecessary controlling and protection commands in the presence of contingencies.
Choice of Multiple Access Technique

Multiple access techniques enable many users to share the same spectrum in the frequency domain, time domain, code domain, or phase domain. These techniques are readily available as international standards and can be used to provide cellular services in a given geographical area. This chapter presents a brief overview of the various multiple access techniques available today. Numerous illustrations are used to bring students up-to-date in key concepts, underlying principles and practical applications of FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, and OFDMA. The mode of operation such as fDD and TDD is also presented with illustrations. To illustrate the concept, we present the construction of these radios.
Catalyst-Sidearm-Induced Stereoselectivity Switching in Polymerization of a Racemic Lactone for Stereocomplexed Crystalline Polymer with a Circular Life Cycle

Construction of robust, stereocomplexed (sc) crystalline material, based on a recently discovered infinitely recyclable polymer system, requires blending of enantiomeric polymer chains produced from respective enantiopure, fused six-five bicyclic lactones. Herein, the stereoselective polymerization of the racemic monomer by yttrium catalysts bearing tetradentate ligands is reported, where the tethered donor sidearm switches the heteroselectivity of the catalyst to isoselectivity when it is changed from the β-OMe to β-NMe2 sidearm. The latter catalyst produces an isotactic stereoblock polymer (Pm up to 0.95) that forms the crystalline sc-material with a Tm of up to 171 °C. This sc-material can be fully depolymerized back to rac-monomer in a quantitative yield and purity, thus establishing its circular life cycle.
Fecal microbiota analysis of polycystic kidney disease patients according to renal function: A pilot study.

Gut bacterial microbiota is altered in patients with advanced renal disease and those on dialysis. However, it is not clear yet what bacterial composition changes are due to the renal insufficiency...
Sickle cell disease and readmissions rates after lower extremity arthroplasty: a multistate analysis 2007-2014.

Aim To compare readmission rates between patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and non-sickle cell disease undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA and TKA). Methods Identified adult patients who underwent THA or TKA from 2007 to 2014 in California, Florida, New York, Maryland and Kentucky using a multistate database. Outcomes were 30- and 90-day readmission rates, mortality, complications, length of stay and hospital charges. Logistic regression models were used for analysis. Results Compared with non-sickle cell disease patients following TKA and THA, SCD patients had higher odds of 30- (odds ratio [OR]: 3.79) and 90-day readmissions (OR: 4.15), mortality (OR: 6.54), more complications, longer length of stay, and higher total charges. Conclusion Following TKA and THA, SCD is associated with higher readmissions and worse outcomes.
Temporal variation in intertidal habitat use by nekton at seasonal and diel scales

Abstract Structure provided by temperate seagrasses is expected to reduce encounter rates with predators and therefore benefit small nekton most in summer, when predation is intense and seagrass reaches peak biomass, and in the day relative to night, when darkness limits visually-oriented predators regardless of habitat. Based on seines in eelgrass ( Zostera marina ), unvegetated habitat, and edges in Willapa Bay, Washington, USA, nekton abundances varied across habitats and on both diel and seasonal time scales, yet only a few time-by-habitat interactions were observed, in which habitat distinctions were most pronounced at certain times. One explanation is that four of the six most abundant species disproportionately occupied unvegetated habitat or were habitat generalists , but our expectations were based on eelgrass-associated taxa. Multivariate community structure responded separately to season, habitat, and diel period, in order of importance. Total abundance showed a significant season-by-habitat interaction. A summer peak in vegetated habitats was largely driven by shiner perch and sticklebacks , two eelgrass-associated fishes, while unvegetated habitat showed year-round uniform abundances due to taxa like English sole and sand shrimp with winter and spring peaks, and no strong habitat associations or association with unvegetated habitat, respectively. In a single diel-by-habitat interaction, shiner perch were eelgrass-associated during the day but not at night. No evidence emerged of differences in body size across habitats for any species measured, but many taxa grew seasonally, likely as cohorts migrating out of the estuary . Seasonality was thus the strongest signal governing patterns of community structure, abundance, and body size across time and space, while habitat structure and diel period were less important. Our results are largely consistent with the other studies showing the primacy of seasonality in structuring estuarine nekton communities, but also show that this pattern is highly dependent on the seasonal recruitment patterns and habitat associations of abundant nekton.
A Model of Queer STEM Identity in the Workplace

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are often stereotyped as spaces in which personal identity is subsumed in the pursuit of a single-minded focus on objective scientifi...
Trends in hearing rehabilitation use among vestibular schwannoma patients.

Objective Most patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS) have significant hearing loss in the affected ear as a result of either their tumor or treatment. There is a paucity of data on which hearing rehabilitation options, if any, are preferred by patients with VS. Our study analyzed the use of hearing rehabilitation devices among VS patients. Methods Patients with unilateral VS treated at our institution from January 2008 to August 2018 were identified. Those with bilateral VS, profound hearing loss in the contralateral ear, neurofibromatosis type 2, or inadequate follow-up were excluded. Patients who met inclusion criteria were given two online questionnaires: an 8-item instrument that assesses use of hearing rehabilitation devices and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit. Results Of 212 eligible patients, 61 completed both surveys. The majority (88%) were able to hear "poorly" or "not at all" in the affected ear, but less than one-third had ever used a hearing rehabilitation device. Most had used conventional hearing aids (30%) or contralateral routing of signal/bilateral contralateral routing of signal (30%), whereas only a handful had used bone-anchored hearing devices or cochlear implant. Patients who did not pursue hearing rehabilitation were either not bothered by their deficit or were unaware of their options. Most had good functionality despite their deficit. Conclusion Whereas 88% of patients treated for VS had a significant hearing loss, the majority did not pursue hearing rehabilitation but maintained good functional performance. Many did not remember being counseled about hearing rehabilitation options, indicating that regular and repeated counseling may be needed to increase patient utilization of hearing rehabilitation after VS treatment. Level of evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 130:1558-1564, 2020.
Yours, Mine, and Ours: Issues of Identity, Collaboration, and (Re)Presentation When (Re)Telling Stories in Narrative Research

This chapter explores narrative inquiry through the eyes of the writers and the participants with whom we worked for our dissertations. Throughout our separate journeys as researchers, we became keenly aware of our differences from the participants, which created interesting struggles as we attempted to (re)create and (re)tell their stories. As we shared these struggles with each other, we gained additional insight that allowed us to consider how our subjectivities could be affecting the way in which we were interpreting the data and thus, how we were choosing to (re)present the participants.
Social and psychological determinants of consumption: Evidence for the lipstick effect during the Great Recession

Abstract Using the Great Recession as a case study, we evaluate the evidence for the “lipstick effect” by analyzing expenditures on cosmetics products using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditures Survey. We find a significant increase in average cosmetics expenditures among younger women (age 18–40) during the Great Recession. The increase occurred regardless of marital or employment status, providing evidence against popular explanations for the lipstick effect in the academic literature: to wit, that women purchase more lipstick either to attract a mate during uncertain economic times, or to increase the probability of staying or becoming employed during the economic downturn. Rather, we find evidence to support the claim that the lipstick effect is caused by a substitution away from spending on women's clothes.
Optimal Trajectory Tracking for a Magnetically Driven Microswimmer

Remotely actuated micro-scale swimming robots have received considerable research attention in recent years due to their promising potential for biomedical applications such as minimally invasive drug delivery. An important requirement for such applications is the ability of the robot to track a reference trajectory. In this work, a micro-robot driven by a torque induced through an applied magnetic field is considered. The spatial and rotational dynamics are formulated in terms of the body-frame torque, which is directly related to the magnetic field in the spatial frame. Controllability of the nonlinear system is then proven using the Lie algebra rank condition. Finally, an iterative linear quadratic tracking algorithm is presented and demonstrated on the system that can track arbitrary paths with both steady and time-varying velocities.
Endothelium-derived nitric oxide mediates hypoxic vasodilation of resistance vessels in humans

Endothelium-derived nitric oxide (EDNO) contributes to basal systemic vascular resistance under normoxic conditions. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether EDNO contributes to t...
Myological and Osteological Correlates of Hindfoot Reversal in the Kinkajou (Potos flavus)

The kinkajou (Potos flavus) is a South and Central American procyonid that can plantarflex and invert its hindfoot around multiple joints in order to fully reverse the hindfoot 180°. However, the myological and osteological adaptions that facilitate this behavior have not been quantified metrically. Osteological correlates of hindfoot reversal have been described in the past, but recent advances in data collection allow for a more comprehensive evaluation of shape differences. Osteological features of the astragalus (talus), calcaneus, and distal tibia of P. flavus were collected and compared to other carnivoran species, including species that are full, partial, and non-reversers of the hindfoot. Hindfoot reversing procyonids were found to possess a relatively smaller medial malleousl, a wider sustentaculum tali, narrower calcaneal tuberosity, and a relatively longer astragalus. In general, the dimensions of the astragalus tend to discriminate hindfoot reversing taxa from other locomotor categories more reliably than the dimensions of the calcaneus or distal tibia. A detailed dissection, description, and documentation of the hind limb muscles in P. flavus was undertaken, and we present the first comprehensive review of its muscular anatomy utilizing muscle maps of the pelvis, femur, tibia, and fibula. Potos flavus has well-developed plantarflexor and invertor muscles, traits which have been hypothesized to characterize species that perform hindfoot reversal. This finding contrasts with other procyonid hindfoot reversing species, such as Bassariscus astutus, which appear to lack muscular adaptations to hindfoot reversal. Muscle semimembranosus, a muscle that facilitates hind limb suspension, was also enlarged. Overall, the hind limb musculature and hindfoot osteology of the kinkajou are consistent with proposed adaptations to hindfoot reversal.
Auditing Scientology: Reexamining the Church's 501(c)(3) Tax Exemption Eligibility

The Church of Scientology is one of the most discussed religions of the modern era, and its beliefs and practices have been shrouded in controversy since its emergence in the 1950’s. Shortly thereafter, the Internal Revenue Service recognized Scientology as a valid religious organization, thus granting certain governmental protections and benefits afforded to religious organizations in this country, including tax exemption. After a decades-long battle between the Church and the IRS, the IRS eventually granted a blanket tax exemption to all Scientology organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. However, the Church’s current practices and activities raise significant concerns that warrant a reexamination of its tax exemption eligibility. The Church engages in activities that are substantially commercial by requiring payment from Scientologists to practice the religion and improve their spiritual standing. Additionally, the Church violates the fundamental national public policy that freedom of speech should not be suppressed simply because two parties disagree, a foundation of our nation that is trounced by Scientology’s Fair Game policy. Further, the Church facilitates private inurement of top executives and influential celebrity members by expending excessive funds for their personal benefit. For these reasons, the IRS should reevaluate the tax exemption status of each individual Scientology organization, or risk undermining judicial decisions and creating the dangerous precedent that persistent attacks on governmental agencies will in turn lead to leniency and submission. Should the IRS investigate and determine that all Scientology organizations comply with the requirements of Section 501(c)(3), then retention of their tax exemption status would be completely warranted; however, to permit such activities to continue without question would undoubtedly defeat the principles behind tax exemption and raise legitimate concerns regarding the fairness of IRS decisions.
Lightweight Multi-robot Communication Protocols for Information Synchronization

Communication is one of the most popular and efficient means of multi-robot coordination. Due to potential real-world constraints, such as limited bandwidth and contested scenarios, a communication strategy requiring to send, for example, all n bits of an environment representation might not be feasible in situations where the robots’ data exchanges are frequent and large. To this end, we propose and implement lightweight, bandwidth-efficient, robot-to-robot communication protocols inspired by communication complexity results for data synchronization without exchanging the originally required n bits. We have tested our proposed approach both in simulation and with real robots. Simulation results show that the proposed method is computationally fast and enables the robots to synchronize the data (near) accurately while exchanging significantly smaller amounts of information (in the order of log n bits). Real-world experiments with two mobile robots show the practical feasibility of our proposed approach.
Explainable Health Risk Predictor with Transformer-based Medicare Claim Encoder.

In 2019, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge seeking solutions to predict risk in value-based care for incorporation into CMS Innovation Center payment and service delivery models. Recently, modern language models have played key roles in a number of health related tasks. This paper presents, to the best of our knowledge, the first application of these models to patient readmission prediction. To facilitate this, we create a dataset of 1.2 million medical history samples derived from the Limited Dataset (LDS) issued by CMS. Moreover, we propose a comprehensive modeling solution centered on a deep learning framework for this data. To demonstrate the framework, we train an attention-based Transformer to learn Medicare semantics in support of performing downstream prediction tasks thereby achieving 0.91 AUC and 0.91 recall on readmission classification. We also introduce a novel data pre-processing pipeline and discuss pertinent deployment considerations surrounding model explainability and bias.
Impact of Environmental and Pharmacologic Changes on the Upper Gastrointestinal Microbiome

Diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract have become more prevalent over time. Mechanisms of disease formation are still only partially understood. Recent literature has shown that the surrounding microbiome affects the propensity for disease formation in various parts of the upper gastrointestinal tract. A review was performed of any literature to our best knowledge concerning the effects of pharmacologic agents, environmental changes, and surgical intervention on the microbiome of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Searches of the literature were performed using specific keywords related to drugs, surgical procedures, and environmental factors. Many prescription and nonprescription drugs that are commonly used have varying effects on the upper gastrointestinal tract. Proton pump inhibitors may affect the relative prevalence of some organisms in the lower esophagus and have less effect in the proximal esophagus. Changes in the esophageal microbiome correlate with some esophageal diseases. Drugs that induce weight loss have also been shown to affect the microbiomes of the esophagus and stomach. Common surgical procedures are associated with shifts in the microbial community in the gastrointestinal tract. Environmental factors have been shown to affect the microbiome in the upper gastrointestinal tract, as geographic differences correlate with alterations in the microbiome of the gastrointestinal tract. Understanding the association of environmental and pharmacologic changes on the microbiome of the upper gastrointestinal tract will facilitate treatment plans to reduce morbidity from disease.
Functional characterization of odor responses and gene expression changes in olfactory co-receptor mutants in Drosophila

Abstract Two large families of olfactory receptors, the Odorant Receptors (ORs) and the Ionotropic Receptors (IRs), mediate responses to most odors in the insect olfactory system. Individual odor binding “tuning” OR receptors are expressed by olfactory neurons in basiconic and trichoid sensilla and require the co-receptor Orco to function. The situation for IRs is more complex. Different tuning IR receptors are expressed by olfactory neurons in coeloconic sensilla and rely on either the Ir25a or Ir8a co-receptors; some evidence suggests that Ir76b may also act as a coreceptor, but its function has not been systematically examined. This is particularly important as recent data indicate that nearly all coeloconic olfactory neurons co-express Ir25a, Ir8a, and Ir76b. Here, we report the effects of Drosophila olfactory co-receptor mutants on odor detection by coeloconic olfactory neurons and determine their broader impact on gene expression through RNASeq analysis. We demonstrate that Ir76b and Ir25a function together in all amine-sensing olfactory receptor neurons. In most neurons, loss of either co-receptor abolishes amine responses, whereas in ac1 sensilla, amine responses persist in the absence of Ir76b or Ir25a, but are lost in a double-mutant. Such responses do not require Ir8a. Conversely, acid-sensing ORNs require Ir8a, but not Ir76b or Ir25a. Using antennal transcriptional profiling, we find that the expression of acid-sensing IR receptors is significantly reduced in Ir8a mutants, but is unaffected by the loss of Ir25a or Ir76b. Similarly, select OR tuning receptors are also downregulated in Orco2 mutants. In contrast, expression of amine-sensing IR receptors is mostly unchanged in Ir25a and Ir76b mutants. Together, our data reveal new aspects of co-receptor function in the olfactory system. Summary Insect vectors of human disease rely on their sense of smell to locate humans for blood meals. A critical first step in olfaction is the odorant-induced activation of receptors on olfactory neurons. There are two major olfactory receptor families in insects, with each species having dozens of different odorant-binding “tuning” receptors. The receptor complexes also contain non-tuning co-receptors, which are highly conserved across insect species and are required for function. Here we characterize co-receptor mutants with electrophysiological recordings and transcriptome analysis in Drosophila. Our findings resolve the differential co-receptor dependence of olfactory neuron responses to volatile amines and acids. We also report changes in antennal gene expression that result from the absence of these co-receptors. Most notably, the absence of some co-receptors leads to a selective loss of transcript expression for the tuning olfactory receptors whose function depends on the missing co-receptors. Together our data provide new insight into the roles of co-receptors in insect olfaction.
The impact of representations of chemical bonding on students’ predictions of chemical properties

Representations are ubiquitous in chemistry. They are part of the chemistry language instructors use to communicate chemistry phenomenon to students. Literature calls in support of learning with multiple representations, but there is a pre-requisite for students to learn from a single representation. In this exploratory study, 1086 students in second semester general chemistry were randomly assigned to one of four representations showing bonding of sulfur dioxide: chemical formula, Lewis dot structure, an image of a ball and stick model, or an image of a space filling model. Students were asked to predict chemical properties of sulfur dioxide: relative bond length, molecular polarity, and the strongest intermolecular force with a water molecule. Using the lens of Multimedia Learning Theory on Learning with Text and Visual Representations, analyses of students’ prediction of chemical properties and the features cited when making predictions was conducted. Effect sizes were used to describe variations among representations in terms of how students predicted bond length, polarity and intermolecular forces. Meaningful differences were found across representations in students’ ability to correctly predict relative bond length and molecular polarity. These explorations generated the following hypotheses: (1) chemical formula leads students to depend on chemical conventions, (2) Lewis dot structure hinders predicting polarity when it shows an inaccurate shape, and (3) visual representations of ball and stick and space filling cue students to rely on visual estimations more than the other representations. Upon further testing, these hypotheses can inform instructors how to introduce representations and in the decision-making process of which representations to use to convey or assess a specific chemical property.