cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reassessing the Effect of Economic Growth on Well‐Being in Less Developed Countries, 1980-2003

Development debates have been greatly influenced by the growth consensus: the conventional wisdom that economic growth should be the primary priority for less-developed countries (LDCs) because it most effectively improves the well-being of the world’s poor. We compare the impact of growth to other independent variables in an unbalanced panel analysis of up to 109 LDCs and 580 observations across six time points (1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2003). Our dependent variables include caloric consumption, infant survival probability, one-to-five year survival probability, female life expectancy, and male life expectancy. First, we find that gross domestic product (GDP) has significant positive effects on caloric consumption, female life expectancy, and male life expectancy. Second, GDP does not have robust effects on infant and one-to-five survival probabilities. Third, fertility, urbanization, and secondary school enrollment have larger effects than GDP in the majority of models. The more powerful effects of fertility, urbanization, and secondary schooling cannot simply be attributed to an indirect effect of GDP. Fourth, we find that dependency variables do not have robust significant effects. Fifth, over time, GDP has become much less effective at improving caloric consumption and infant and one-to-five survival. We infer that there are serious limitations to concentrating exclusively on economic growth to improve well-being in LDCs.
Modified moment distribution method for reinforced concrete equivalent frames

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to enhance and improve the moment distribution method used in solving reinforced concrete equivalent frame problems. In the analysis of a planar building frame which is a vertical cut from the building structure, the horizontal members are tee-sections (tee-beams) and vertical members are usually rectangular columns. When a moment is applied to the end of the tee-beam that creates compression stresses at the flange (top fibers), it can be observed that the tee-beam shows more flexural stiffness than applying the same magnitude of moment to create compression stress at the bottom fibers. In other words, its stiffness is different for applied clockwise and counterclockwise unit moments. In this study, the original moment distribution method (MDM) has been modified and the modified moment distribution method (MMDM) introduced and applied to the American Concrete Institute Equivalent Frame Method (ACI-EFM). The new technique applies different distribution factors for clockwise and counterclockwise moments at a joint and solves the problem accordingly. Several typical problems of reinforced concrete equivalent frame have been solved with the ACI-EFM, new MMDM, and also Portland Cement Association (PCA) computer software ‘Analysis and Design of Slab System’ (ADOSS). The results are found to be about 0–20% different. Considering the fact that the ACI-EFM is itself the approximate method, the results of the introduced method were observed to be close enough to use for preliminary analysis. It is also suitable for long-hand calculations.
Necrosis of Lung Epithelial Cells during Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Is Preceded by Cell Permeation

Mycobacterium tuberculosis establishes infection, progresses towards disease, and is transmitted from the alveolus of the lung. However, the role of the alveolar epithelium in any of these pathogenic processes of tuberculosis is unclear. In this study, lung epithelial cells (A549) were used as a model in which to examine cytotoxicity during infection with either virulent or avirulent mycobacteria in order to further establish the role of the lung epithelium during tuberculosis. Infection of A549 cells with M. tuberculosis strains Erdman and CDC1551 demonstrated significant cell monolayer clearing, whereas infection with either Mycobacterium bovis BCG or Mycobacterium smegmatis LR222 did not. Clearing of M. tuberculosis-infected A549 cells correlated to necrosis, not apoptosis. Treatment of M. tuberculosis-infected A549 cells with streptomycin, but not cycloheximide, demonstrated a significant reduction in the necrosis of A549 cell monolayers. This mycobacterium-induced A549 necrosis did not correlate to higher levels of intracellular or extracellular growth by the mycobacteria during infection. Staining of infected cells with propidium iodide demonstrated that M. tuberculosis induced increased permeation of A549 cell membranes within 24 h postinfection. Quantitation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from infected cells further demonstrated that cell permeation was specific to M. tuberculosis infection and correlated to A549 cellular necrosis. Inactivated M. tuberculosis or its subcellular fractions did not result in A549 necrosis or LDH release. These studies demonstrate that lung epithelial cell cytotoxicity is specific to infection by virulent mycobacteria and is caused by cellular necrosis. This necrosis is not a direct correlate of mycobacterial growth or of the expression of host cell factors, but is preceded by permeation of the A549 cell membrane and requires infection with live bacilli.
An efficient algorithm for the compression of time-dependent data from scientific simulations

The efficient storage of simulation data obtained from the solution of time-dependent scientific models represents a significant issue in large-scale computing. One approach to storing this data is to use a mesh independent, or functional, representation of the simulation data. The implementation of such an approach requires an efficient means of computing a functional representation. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for computing this representation that guarantees that a user-specified pointwise error bound is satisfied by the functional approximation. This approach is based on a weighted least squares method to approximate the minimax solution for multi-dimensional simulation data. We present experimental results that demonstrate that this method can be used to efficiently compute the functional representation of large-scale, multi-dimensional data.
Organic Acid Accumulation in Egg Products Inoculated With Known Bacterial Cultures

Abstract Aseptically prepared liquid whole egg samples were inoculated with single species of bacteria and incubated. The control samples contained small amounts of both acetic and lactic acid, as did all of the inoculated samples. Succinic acid was found in egg in which Streptococcus faecalis, Salmonella choleraesuis and Escherichia coli were grown, but not in inoculated and incubated egg containing Pseudomonas fluorescens, Achromobacter xerosis or Staphylococcus aureus. E. coli inoculated egg contained 16.4 mg. of acetic, 13.1 mg. lactic and 24.8 mg. succinic acid per 100 g. egg when the total plate count was 1.1 × 108 per ml. However, when the total plate count increased to 5.4 × 108 per ml., there was a substantial decrease in the quantity of each acid present. This demonstrated that certain microorganisms in liquid egg may utilize organic acids as well as produce them.
A review of NOx storage/reduction catalysts: mechanism, materials and degradation studies

The catalytic removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from lean-burn exhaust emissions is one of the major challenges in environmental catalysis. Among the NOx emission control technologies, NOx storage/reduction (NSR) is currently regarded as one of the most practical technologies for lean-burn gasoline and diesel vehicles. This review gives a comprehensive overview of NSR technology, including the NSR reaction mechanisms, degradation mechanisms and NSR catalyst developments. The NSR reaction and degradation mechanisms will be addressed based on a typical NSR catalyst such as Pt/BaO/Al2O3, along with the concurrent new NSR catalyst developments for enhancing the NSR performance and alleviating their sulfur poisoning and thermal degradation.
The mechanism of galvanic/metal-assisted etching of silicon

Metal-assisted etching is initiated by hole injection from an oxidant catalyzed by a metal nanoparticle or film on a Si surface. It is shown that the electronic structure of the metal/Si interface, i.e., band bending, is not conducive to diffusion of the injected hole away from the metal in the case of Ag or away from the metal/Si interface in the cases of Au, Pd, and Pt. Since holes do not diffuse away from the metals, the electric field resulting from charging of the metal after hole injection must instead be the cause of metal-assisted etching.
Vector competence of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, for the recently recognized Lyme borreliosis spirochete Candidatus Borrelia mayonii.

Abstract A novel species within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, provisionally named Borrelia mayonii , was recently found to be associated with Lyme borreliosis in the Upper Midwest of the United States. Moreover, B. mayonii was detected from host-seeking Ixodes scapularis , the primary vector of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto in the eastern United States. We therefore conducted a study to confirm the experimental vector competence of I. scapularis for B. mayonii (strain MN14-1420), using colony ticks originating from adults collected in Connecticut and CD-1 white mice. Larvae fed on mice 10 weeks after needle-inoculation with B. mayonii acquired spirochetes and maintained infection through the nymphal stage at an average rate of 12.9%. In a transmission experiment, 40% of naive mice exposed to a single infected nymph developed viable infections, as compared with 87% of mice fed upon by 2–3 infected nymphs. Transmission of B. mayonii by one or more feeding infected nymphs was uncommon up to 48 h after attachment (one of six mice developed viable infection) but occurred frequently when nymphs were allowed to remain attached for 72–96 h or feed to completion (11 of 16 mice developed viable infection). Mice infected via tick bite maintained viable infection with B. mayonii , as determined by ear biopsy culture, for at least 28 weeks. Our results demonstrate that I. scapularis is capable of serving as a vector of B. mayonii . This finding, together with data showing that field-collected I. scapularis are infected with B. mayonii , indicate that I. scapularis likely is a primary vector to humans of this recently recognized Lyme borreliosis spirochete.
Experimental determination of a double-valued drag relationship for glacier sliding

The contribution of glaciers to sea-level rise and their effects on landscape evolution depend on the poorly known relationship between sliding speed and drag at the ice/bed interface. Results from experiments with a new rotary laboratory device demonstrate empirically for the first time a double-valued drag relationship like that suggested by some sliding theories: steady drag on a rigid, sinusoidal bed increases, peaks and declines at progressively higher sliding speeds due to growth of cavities in the lee sides of bed undulations. Drag decreases with increased sliding speed if cavities extend beyond the inflection points of up-glacier facing surfaces, so that adverse bed slopes in contact with ice diminish with further cavity growth. These results indicate that shear tractions on glacier beds can potentially decrease due to increases in sliding speed driven by weather or climate variability, promoting even more rapid glacier motion by requiring greater strain rates to produce resistive stresses. Although a double-valued drag relationship has not yet been demonstrated for the complicated geometries of real glacier beds, both its potential major implications and the characteristically convex stoss surfaces of bumps on real glacier beds provide stimulus for exploring the effects of this relationship in ice-sheet models.
How Often Do Children Lie About Being Sexually Abused

The question of the child’s veracity regarding sexual abuse can arise in several contexts. Parents can wonder about their children’s allegations or lack thereof (e.g., given other children’s allegations or worrying signs such as genital rashes). Law enforcement facing decisions about arrest and prosecution also can want to understand this question. Forensic interviewers can be concerned about either about the child’s allegations or lack of allegations. Child protective services facing decisions about removal of children and the safety of children can also wonder about the answer to this question.
How Not to Arm a State: American Guns and the Crisis of Governance in Mexico, Nineteenth and Twenty-First Centuries

Today’s “Iron River of Guns” flowing from the United States into Mexico has a long backstory. From Mexico’s independence movement in the early nineteenth century through its early twentieth-century revolution, the international arms trade in general and arms transfers from the U.S. in particular have often confounded the project of national governance. The vagaries of global arms markets, the dangers of arming the state on credit, the difficulties of maintaining government arsenals, and the misfortune of sharing land borders with major arms producers all shaped Mexico’s first independent century in surprising and neglected ways. This history offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary crisis and the policy debate surrounding it.
Aspirin and folate binding: In vivo and in vitro studies of serum binding and urinary excretion of endogenous folate

To clarify the effect of aspirin on folate balance, we studied serum concentration, protein binding, and urinary excretion of endogenous folate. A healthy woman twice followed an 11-day protocol of constant diet, blood sampling twice daily, collection of all urine, and 650 mg of aspirin by mouth every 4 hours on the middle 3 days. As determined by equilibrium dialysis and Lactobacillus casei assay, aspirin induced a brisk, significant but reversible fall in total and bound serum folate and a small but insignificant rise in urinary folate excretion. Aspirin in vitro also displaced significant amounts of bound serum folate. Thus, aspirin in therapeutic doses can contribute to subnormal serum folate values, and if it increases urinary folate excretion even slightly, may impair folate balance.
Low-resistance CVD W plug on Ti silicide for advance CMOS applications

Summary form only given. A novel approach is used to form a selective CVD (chemical-vapor-deposited) W plug on a Ti silicide surface by adding a nucleation layer in the contact hole. The technique is called SANIC (self-aligned nucleation layer formation in the contact). The process sequences of SANIC are described and the process latitude of the SANIC technique is examined. The SANIC process has been demonstrated on 1- mu m (drawn) CMOS SRAM and ring oscillators. The CMOS device characteristics and the corresponding gate delays of ring oscillators are shown. >
Hepatitis A Virus

Hepatitis A is an acute, self-limiting infection of the liver by an enterically transmitted picornavirus, hepatitis A virus (HAV). The genetic diversity of HAV has been investigated by determining the partial genomic nucleotide sequences of numerous human HAV strains recovered from various human or simian sources and geographic areas. Antigenic variants of HAV that resist neutralization by neutralizing monoclonal antibodies have been selected in cell culture by continued passage of cell culture-adapted virus in the presence of these antibodies. The marked effectiveness of universal early childhood vaccination has been described in settings where the prevaccine-era hepatitis A incidence was moderately high. Since the licensure of hepatitis A vaccine and the implementation of a national childhood immunization strategy, hepatitis A rates in the United States have fallen dramatically. Host factors reportedly associated with an increased risk of fulminant hepatitis include old age and underlying chronic liver disease. Prolonged jaundice in hepatitis A, often associated with fever and pruritus, is an indication of cholestatic hepatitis. Therefore, decisions to use vaccine or immune globulin (IG) should take into account the potential for severe manifestations of hepatitis A, including patient age and the presence of chronic liver disease. Screening of contacts for immunity before administering postexposure prophylaxis is not recommended because screening would result in delay.
Pathways for plant‐mediated negative feedback to insect herbivores: accounting for non‐linear effects of larval density on plant quality and quantity

Changes in plant traits induced by herbivore damage can produce a negative feedback to increasing herbivore densities. Several aspects of these plant-mediated feedbacks are predicted to influence herbivore population dynamics, but the degree to which feedbacks are non-linear, whether their strength varies among plant genotypes, and whether they occur via changes in the quality of plant tissue or the amount of tissue available have rarely been examined. In this study, we damaged five genotypes of the perennial weed Carolina horsenettle, Solanum carolinense L. (Solanaceae), with eight densities of the false potato beetle, Leptinotarsa juncta (Germar) (Coleoptera: Chysomelidae, Chrysomelini). To account for plant quantity available to beetles, we measured the leaf area of each plant after imposing larval density treatments. We then measured the oviposition preference of L. juncta adults for damaged vs. undamaged plants and the relative growth rate (RGR) of L. juncta larvae on each plant, as well as plant trypsin proteinase inhibitor (tryPI) expression. We found that L. juncta females strongly preferred to oviposit on undamaged S. carolinense, and that preference for a plant decreased as the density of damaging larvae increased. In addition, we found decreased larval RGR and increased production of tryPIs with greater initial larval density. Effects of larval density on insect preference, performance, and tryPI expression were linear and did not vary among plant genotypes. Larval density effects were not solely due to reduced plant quantity, as plant leaf area had no effect on oviposition preference or larval performance. This suggests that effects were most likely due to changes in the quality of plant tissue. Thus, negative feedback on increasing larval density can be mediated by the effects of induced resistance on both oviposition preference and larval performance. Published models suggest that the linear, quality-mediated feedbacks observed in this experiment are predicted to stabilize herbivore population dynamics.
The Role of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy and Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Sepsis

In this article, we will look at the role of continuous renal replacement therapy, therapeutic plasma exchange, and adsorptive therapies in the treatment of severe sepsis. We will examine the evidence behind providing these forms of extracorporeal support in severe sepsis and discuss the important factors when considering these therapies in critically ill children.
Inequality, Ethnic Divisions, and the Democratic Process

Chapter 4 described how ethnic and class identities could be integrated into a distributive theory of elections, where parties form and compete in response to social structure. The central insight from the chapter concerned the interaction of the number of nonrich ( n NR ) and the number in the majority group ( n A ). As the party representing the smaller of these two groups has an advantage, whether a class-based or ethnic party wins should be influenced by the relative sizes of these two groups. This chapter uses the theoretical model to develop substantive expectations about electoral competition and policy outcomes, but I first take up the question of whether it makes sense to treat the number of nonrich as exogenous in the first place. Why can't the winning party simply use policy to determine the number of “nonrich” voters following an election (e.g., by setting an income-based threshold for receiving benefits)? The answer to this question provides part of the answer to a second question posed in this chapter, which concerns measuring the number of nonrich. I argue that the Gini coefficient is an appropriate substantive measure because it emerges analytically from the parameters in the model and because it is related to the types of policies that a class-based party could be expected to implement if elected. If the Gini is a reasonable proxy for the number of nonrich, what is a reasonable proxy for n A , the size of the majority group? I argue that “ethnic polarization” (EP) is the most appropriate measure of ethnic diversity, with ethnic polarization decreasing as n A increases. Ethnic polarization is preferable to the main alternative, ethnolinguistic fractionalization (ELF), because it more clearly taps the degree to which the size of a majority ethnic coalition departs from a bare majority. With the Gini coefficient of inequality and ethnic polarization as measures of the central parameters in the model, it is possible to state the main substantive elements of the argument in terms of ethnic diversity and inequality. The interaction of these two variables should be related to the nature of electoral competition, and in particular the importance of income and ethnic identity in voting. And the variables should also be related to the extent to which government policy should redress inequality.
Plbsearch: Growing with Linkedin

This case is used in Darden's "Digital Marketing" course elective. It explores the experience of a niche search firm whose founder attributed her ability to open her recruiting firm to LinkedIn and the new model of recruiting it created. LinkedIn Corporation had been one of the most successful companies in the digital media space, with more than 4,000 employees and a market capitalization of over $25.5 billion in August 2013. But few people knew how LinkedIn had grown and how it had become profitable. LinkedIn had multiple unique aspects to explore: its focus on professional--not simply personal--social interaction, the company's B2B components, and also its marketing positioning from user experience to targeting and growth strategy. Excerpt UVA-M-0858 Rev. Feb. 18, 2015 PLBsearch: Growing with LinkedIn Friday, August 2, 2012, was a hot summer afternoon in Washington, DC. Pepper Lunsford Binner updated her LinkedIn profile before clearing out the office for a beach vacation. She indicated that her employment as a recruiter at Korn/Ferry International had ended. She entered the name of her new firm: PLBsearch. By Saturday morning, she had four clients. She hadn't even bought her own laptop yet. (See Exhibit 1 for sample messages.) Before leaving her previous employer to open her own shop, Binner had prepared several things. She had budgeted for a drop in household income; she had planned for office space and the administrative needs of her own firm; she had also established a corporate identity and paid a marketing company $ 900 to prepare an announcement e-mail that she would send to her contacts when she and her family returned from vacation. She never sent the announcement e-mail. By simply updating her own employment status on LinkedIn, Binner had more clients than she was ready to take on. She remembered, “I was building this ship and flying it at the same time.” And Binner attributed her ability to open her own boutique recruiting firm to the very tool she used to announce her firm's founding. LinkedIn had transformed the recruiting process for everyone in the industry. Although Binner was a recruiter, she didn't take advantage of all of the features LinkedIn had designed for search firms. Even after operating her business for a full year, she still hadn't purchased LinkedIn's premium online tools. She had started a niche firm—and, at least so far, LinkedIn was serving her niche very affordably. The sales team contacted Binner at least once every quarter to upsell her, but wasn't having success. . . .
EXAMPLES OF UNCERTAINTY IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS

A physicist and a mathematician do reason along different lines. The mathematician builds a theory upon a set of axioms and pursues his construction work to the most extreme limits. A physicist chooses a theory that supplies him with an acceptable model and allows him to represent empirical facts in a certain field and according to certain orders of magnitude. Any theory is subject to these limitations. It is valid as long as it checks with experiments; pursued further, it leads to absurdities. The rational mechanics is completely deterministic. One can easily forget to add that this determinism demands that the absolutely accurate measurement of the given data is possible. As soon as inevitable errors in measurements are taken into account, determinism collapses. This weakness is particularly serious for all cases of instability corresponding to Poincare's conditions.
A matched-filter algorithm to detect amperometric spikes resulting from quantal secretion.

Abstract Background Electrochemical microelectrodes located immediately adjacent to the cell surface can detect spikes of amperometric current during exocytosis as the transmitter released from a single vesicle is oxidized on the electrode surface. Automated techniques to detect spikes are needed in order to quantify the spike rate as a measure of the rate of exocytosis. New method We have developed a Matched Filter (MF) detection algorithm that scans the data set with a library of prototype spike templates while performing a least-squares fit to determine the amplitude and standard error. The ratio of the fit amplitude to the standard error constitutes a criterion score that is assigned for each time point and for each template. A spike is detected when the criterion score exceeds a threshold and the highest-scoring template and the time of peak score is identified. The search for the next spike commences only after the score falls below a second, lower threshold to reduce false positives. The approach was extended to detect spikes with double-exponential decays with the sum of two templates. Results Receiver Operating Characteristic plots (ROCs) demonstrate that the algorithm detects >95% of manually identified spikes with a false-positive rate of ∼2%. Comparison with existing methods ROCs demonstrate that the MF algorithm performs better than algorithms that detect spikes based on a derivative-threshold approach. Conclusions The MF approach performs well and leads into approaches to identify spike parameters.
Bandwidth preemption for data transfer request with higher priority

In this paper, we study the bandwidth preemption on one link of a scheduling HPN for one bandwidth reservation request with higher priority following two different constraints: (i) minimize the number and then the total bandwidth of existing bandwidth reservations to be preempted, and (ii) minimize the total bandwidth and then the number of existing bandwidth reservations to be preempted. We prove above two problems are NP-complete, and propose two heuristic algorithms. Extensive simulation results show the improved heuristic algorithm has much better preemption performance than a basic algorithm.
Global Distribution of Snow Precipitation Features and Their Properties from 3 Years of GPM Observations

AbstractUsing a 3-yr Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Ku-band Precipitation Radar (KuPR) dataset, snow features (SFs) are defined by grouping the contiguous area of nonzero solid precipitation. The near-surface wet bulb temperatures calculated from ERA-Interim reanalysis data are used to verify that SFs are colder than 1°C to omit snowfall that melts before reaching the surface. The properties of SFs are summarized to understand the global distribution and characteristics of snow systems. The seasonal and diurnal variations of SFs and their properties are analyzed over Northern and Southern Hemispheric land and ocean separately.To quantify the amount of snow missed by the GPM KuPR and the amount of snow underestimated by the CloudSat Cloud Profiling (CPR), 3-yr KuPR pixel-level data are compared with 4-yr CloudSat CPR observations. The overall underestimation of snowfall during heavy snow events by CPR is less than 3% compared to the combined CPR and KuPR estimates. KuPR underestimates about 52% of weak...
Abdominal fat depots, insulin resistance, and incident diabetes mellitus in women with and without HIV infection.

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the associations between visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) mass with homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and incidence of diabetes mellitus in women with and without HIV infection. Design Cross-sectional design for associations between abdominal fat and HOMA-IR; longitudinal design for associations between abdominal fat and incident diabetes. Methods We assessed associations between dual X-ray absorptiometry scan-derived VAT and SAT with HOMA-IR in a subsample from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (n = 226 with and n = 100 without HIV) using linear regression. We evaluated associations of VAT, SAT and HOMA-IR with incident diabetes mellitus using Cox proportional hazards models. Results VAT mass was positively associated with log HOMA-IR in fully adjusted linear regression models stratified by HIV serostatus, including adjustment for SAT. During median follow-up of 10.6 years, incidence of diabetes was 1.63 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.15-2.31] and 1.32 [95% CI 0.77-2.28] cases per 100 person-years in women with and without HIV (P = 0.52). In a fully adjusted model, baseline VAT (hazard ratio 2.64 per kg; 95% CI 1.14-6.12; P = 0.023) and SAT (hazard ratio 1.34 per kg; 95% CI 0.73-2.45; P = 0.35) were associated with incident diabetes, but the latter was not statistically significant. Conclusion VAT mass was independently associated with HOMA-IR in women with and without HIV and was independently associated with future development of diabetes.
Privacy, obfuscation, and propertization:

As our digital wake ripples out, big data is standing by to ride it, applying its analytics to make unnerving inferences about our characters, preferences, and future behavior. This paper addresses the challenge that big data presents to privacy. I examine what are perhaps the two most promising attempts to repel big data’s attack on privacy: obfuscation and the “propertization” of personal information. Obfuscation attempts to throw data collectors off our digital trail by confusing or misleading them. Propertization calls for treating personal information as intellectual property and would require that data holders compensate data subjects for any secondary use. I try to show that both defenses largely fail. I conclude that privacy is a lost cause and that we should call off the attempts to defend it from the moral point of view. I close with some thoughts about what this all means for libraries.
Gauss’s law and the source for Poisson’s equation in modified gravity with Varying G

We have recently shown that the baryonic Tully–Fisher and Faber–Jackson relations imply that the gravitational ‘constant’ G in the force law varies with acceleration a as G ∝ 1/a and vice versa. These results prompt us to reconsider every facet of Newtonian dynamics. Here we show that the integral form of Gauss’s law in spherical symmetry remains valid in G(a) gravity, but the differential form depends on the precise distribution of G(a)M(r), where r is the distance from the origin and M(r) is the mass distribution. We derive the differential form of Gauss’s law in spherical symmetry, thus the source for Poisson’s equation as well. Modified Newtonian dynamics and weak-field Weyl gravity are asymptotic limits of G(a) gravity at low and high accelerations, respectively. In these limits, we derive telling approximations to the source in spherical symmetry. It turns out that the source has a strong dependence on surface density M/r(exp -2) everywhere in a-space except in the deep Newton–Weyl regime of very high accelerations.
Health service design with conjoint optimization

Health service providers have been under increasing pressure to consider user preferences in designing their programmes. Some organisations have met this challenge using stated preference methods. ...
Quartiles in Elementary Statistics

The calculation of the upper and lower quartile values of a data set in an elementary statistics course is done in at least a dozen different ways, depending on the text or computer/calculator pack...
Racist Fake News in United States’ History: Lessons for Public Administration

This article explores the relationship between fake news and administrative racism using post-Reconstruction U.S. history. Administrative racism is when public organizations severely harm people of...
Outside the lines: the added value of a generalist practitioner: Dr Ian McWhinney Lecture, 2019.

> We study history not to know the future, but to widen our horizons. To understand that our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable. And that we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we imagine. > > Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens Canadian and US educators worry that
Striving for interrater reliability with a patient counseling assessment rubric: Lessons learned.

Abstract Background Providing effective patient counseling is an essential pharmacist skill to ensure patients understand how to take medications, prevent medication-related errors, and meet requirements of federal law. This study sought to develop a new patient counseling assessment rubric to minimize interrater variability, deliver a consistent summative competency assessment, and provide students with formative, actionable feedback. Impact A first attempt to achieve statistically significant interrater reliability was not successful due to incorporation of too many variables into study design and the subjective nature of patient counseling. After reducing study variables (number of different medications, number of evaluators, and number of videos) and consulting a statistician, a second attempt was made to analyze interrater reliability for the rubric. However, even with variables minimized, this attempt did not lead to statistically significant agreement. Recommendations The faculty team identified four recommendations (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990): conduct a norming session for graders prior to the assessment (Rantucci, 2006), conduct a post-hoc analysis after grading to reduce interrater variability and increase consistency (Taitel et al., 2012), simplify the rubric to reduce subjectivity and clarify the intent of rubric elements, and (Saranagam et al., 2013) rubrics can be utilized differently in separate courses to target specific learning objectives. Discussion Although the goal of creating a rubric with statistically significant interrater reliability was not achieved, we did learn important lessons about evaluating student pharmacist performance with less subjectivity and more consistency. The authors hope the results and lessons learned will be valuable to our colleagues at other institutions as patient counseling content and rubrics are developed.
Experimental study on ablation of polymer foreign bodies on high-voltage transmission lines by CW laser in rain and fog

High-voltage and ultra-high-voltage power transmission grids are exposed to natural environment all the year round, which often makes plastic and other non-metallic foreign bodies overlap on cables, towers, insulators and other power grid facilities. It will lead to poor insulation between high voltage power cables, which has become one of the major threats to the normal operation of power system. Laser, as a new light source, with its high energy, strong monochromaticity and good coherence, has a good application prospect in the removal of non-metallic foreign bodies such as plastic polymers. The use of laser to remove non-metallic foreign bodies winding transmission lines has the advantages of fast, efficient and safe, and has been widely used in the removal of foreign bodies in high voltage and ultra-high voltage power grids. Atmospheric environment will affect the actual use of laser, which can cause the attenuation of laser energy and seriously affect its effect of ablation. In order to accurately obtain the attenuation of laser propagation in rain and fog, the attenuation model of laser propagation in rain and fog is established, and the transmittance of laser in rain and fog is analyzed. An experimental platform for laser attenuation in rain and fog was set up in this article. When the rainfall intensity and transmission distance change, the ablation effect of polymer plastics on high voltage transmission lines with different laser power is studied experimentally. The results show that the effect of laser ablation is largely affected by rainfall intensity and transmission distance. When the rainfall is 40mm/h, the maximum distance of ablating polymer plastics with 100W laser power is 60m, and the maximum distance of ablating polymer plastics with 300W laser power is 120m. When the rainfall is 60mm/h, the maximum distance of ablating polymer plastics with 100W laser power is 30m, and the maximum distance of ablating polymer plastics with 300W laser power is 90m.
Stability Characteristics of Wing Span and Sweep Morphing for Small Unmanned Air Vehicle: A Mathematical Analysis

Morphing aircraft are the flight vehicles that can reconfigure their shape during the flight in order to achieve superior flight performance. However, this promising technology poses cross-disciplinary challenges that encourage widespread design possibilities. This research aims to investigate the flight dynamic characteristics of various morphed wing configurations that can be incorporated in small-scale UAVs. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of in-flight wing sweep and wingspan morphing on aerodynamic and flight stability characteristics. Longitudinal, lateral, and directional characteristics were evaluated using linearized equations of motion. An open-source code based on Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) assuming quasi-steady flow was used for this purpose. Trim points were identified for a range of angles of attack in prestall regime. The aerodynamic coefficients and flight stability derivatives were compared for the aforementioned morphing schemes with a fixed-wing counterpart. The results indicated that wingspan morphing is better than wing sweep morphing to harness better aerodynamic advantages with favorable flight stability characteristics. However, extension in wingspan beyond certain limits jeopardizes the advantages. Dynamically, wingspan and sweep morphing schemes behave in an exactly opposite way for longitudinal modes, whereas lateral-directional dynamics act in the same fashion for both morphing schemes. The current study provided a baseline to explore the advanced flight dynamic aspects of employed wing morphing schemes.
Oncologist- versus hospitalist-led service: Differences in hospital utilization for solid tumor patients.

53Background: Hospitalists have been practicing alongside oncologists to provide high quality care for hospitalized cancer patients. We examined the differences in hospital utilization and outcomes...
Greater Socioeconomic Disadvantage is Associated with Worse Symptom Severity at Initial Presentation in Patients Seeking Care for Lumbar Disc Herniation.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective, observational study. OBJECTIVE To determine the association of patient socioeconomic disadvantage, insurance type, and other characteristics on presenting symptom severity in patients with isolated lumbar disc herniation. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Little is known of the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage and other patient characteristics on the level of self-reported symptom severity when patients first seek care for lumbar disc herniation. METHODS Between April 2015 and December 2018, 734 patients newly presenting for isolated lumbar disc herniation who completed the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Physical Function (PF), Pain Interference (PI), and Depression Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) were identified. Socioeconomic disadvantage was determined using the Area Deprivation Index, a validated measure of socioeconomic disadvantage at the census block group level (0-100, 100 = highest socioeconomic disadvantage). Bivariate analyses were used. Multivariable linear regression was used to determine if there was an association between socioeconomic disadvantage, insurance type, and other patient factors and presenting patient-reported health status. RESULTS Significant differences in age, insurance type, self-reported race, marital status, and county of residence were appreciated when comparing patient characteristics by socioeconomic disadvantage levels (all comparisons, P < 0.01). In addition, significant differences in age, insurance type, marital status, and county of residence were appreciated when comparing patient characteristics by self-reported race (all comparisons, P < 0.01). Being in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged cohort was associated with worse presenting Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System scores (Physical Function: β = -3.27 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -4.89 to -1.45), P < 0.001; Pain Interference: β = 3.20 (95% CI: 1.58-4.83), P < 0.001; Depression: β = 3.31 (95% CI: 1.08-5.55), P = 0.004. CONCLUSION The most socioeconomically disadvantaged patients with symptomatic lumbar disc herniations present with worse functional limitations, pain levels, and depressive symptoms as compared to patients from the least socioeconomically disadvantaged cohort when accounting for other key patient factors.Level of Evidence: 3.
Fuzzy Dark Matter and the 21cm Power Spectrum

We model the 21cm power spectrum across the Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) in fuzzy dark matter (FDM) cosmologies. The suppression of small mass halos in FDM models leads to a delay in the onset redshift of these epochs relative to cold dark matter (CDM) scenarios. This strongly impacts the 21cm power spectrum and its redshift evolution. The 21cm power spectrum at a given stage of the EoR/Cosmic Dawn process is also modified: in general, the amplitude of 21cm fluctuations is boosted by the enhanced bias factor of galaxy hosting halos in FDM. We forecast the prospects for discriminating between CDM and FDM with upcoming power spectrum measurements from HERA, accounting for degeneracies between astrophysical parameters and dark matter properties. If FDM constitutes the entirety of the dark matter and the FDM particle mass is 10-21eV, HERA can determine the mass to within 20 percent at 2-sigma confidence.
Cochlear Implantation in Meniere's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Objectives/hypothesis Meniere's disease (MD) is a debilitating condition characterized by hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus. The objective of this study was to systematically investigate outcomes in MD after cochlear implantation (CoI), with and without labyrinthectomy. Study design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods A systematic review of articles in Medline and Embase was performed to identify all studies of patients with MD who underwent CoI. This analysis evaluates outcomes of speech recognition, pure tone audiometry, vertigo, tinnitus, and quality of life. Results Of 321 studies identified, 37 were included, involving 216 patients. Mean age at implantation was 61.4 years (range 27-85 years) with average length of follow-up at 1.7 years (range 0-9 years). Forty-four (20.4%) patients underwent labyrinthectomy. Meta-analysis demonstrated significant improvements in audiometric outcomes following CoI. There was a statistically significant improvement in Hearing in Noise Test performance, with a mean difference improvement of 44.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] [8.8, 80.6]) at 6 months and 60.1 (95% CI [35.3, 85.0]) at 12 months. The Freiburger Monosyllabic Test (FMT) and Consonant-Nucleus-Consonant (CNC) also improved significantly, with mean difference improvements of 46.2 (95% CI [30.0, 62.4]) for FMT and 19.3 (95% CI [8.1, 30.4]) for CNC. There was a statistically significant decrease in tinnitus, as measured by a mean difference reduction of 48.1 (95% CI [1.0, 95.2]) in the Tinnitus Handicap Index. Conclusions CoI with and without simultaneous labyrinthectomy is a viable treatment option for patients with MD, yielding high rates of tinnitus suppression and vertigo control. Post-CoI MD patients demonstrate similar postoperative speech perception outcomes to non-MD implant recipients. Laryngoscope, 131:1845-1854, 2021.
Structured Data Capture for Oncology

Lack of interoperability is one of the greatest challenges facing healthcare informatics. Recent interoperability efforts have focused primarily on data transmission and generally ignore data capture standardization. Structured Data Capture (SDC) is an open-source technical framework that enables the capture and exchange of standardized and structured data in interoperable data entry forms (DEFs) at the point of care. Some of SDC's primary use cases concern complex oncology data such as anatomic pathology, biomarkers, and clinical oncology data collection and reporting. Its interoperability goals are the preservation of semantic, contextual, and structural integrity of the captured data throughout the data's lifespan. SDC documents are written in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and are therefore computer readable, yet technology agnostic-SDC can be implemented by any EHR vendor or registry. Any SDC-capable system can render an SDC XML file into a DEF, receive and parse an SDC transmission, and regenerate the original SDC form as a DEF or synoptic report with the response data intact. SDC is therefore able to facilitate interoperable data capture and exchange for patient care, clinical trials, cancer surveillance and public health needs, clinical research, and computable care guidelines. The usability of SDC-captured oncology data is enhanced when the SDC data elements are mapped to standard terminologies. For example, an SDC map to Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) enables aggregation of SDC data with other related data sets and permits advanced queries and groupings on the basis of SNOMED CT concept attributes and description logic. SDC supports terminology maps using separate map files or as terminology codes embedded in an SDC document.
Optimizing virus protection in lung transplant recipients: Don't drop the ball.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has brought the threat of viral infections to the fore. Even seemingly healthy, young individuals can die if they contract the virus, and immunocompromised individuals may be at greater risk of a fatal outcome should they become infected. But many other viruses pose potential threats to the well-being of solid organ transplant recipients. Chief among viral threats to lung transplant recipients are cytomegalovirus and community-acquired respiratory viruses. Fortunately, we have developed strategies to prevent or blunt the impact of CMV on lung transplant recipients, but a high degree of vigilance must be maintained to screen and prevent the passage of transmissible viruses from donor to recipient.
Venous thromboembolism in patients on check point inhibitors.

e14582Background: Checkpoint inhibition (CPI) therapy, including PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 inhibition strategies, has significantly improved the prognosis for patients with advanced malignancies. Antic...
Human Molecular Genetics and the long road to treating cystic fibrosis.

The causative gene in cystic fibrosis (CF) was identified in 1989, 3 years before the publication of the first issue of Human Molecular Genetics. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene was among the first underlying a common inherited disorder to be cloned, and hence, its subsequent utilization toward a cure for CF provides a roadmap for other monogenic diseases. Over the past 30 years, the advances that built upon knowledge of the gene and the CFTR protein to develop effective therapeutics have been remarkable, and yet, the setbacks have also been challenging. Technological progress in other fields has often circumvented the barriers. This review focuses on key aspects of CF diagnostics and current approaches to develop new therapies for all CFTR mutations. It also highlights the major research advances that underpinned progress toward treatments and considers the remaining obstacles.