cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Wind and Rain Backscatter Model Derived From AMSR and SeaWinds Data

The SeaWinds scatterometer was originally designed to measure wind vectors over the ocean by exploiting the relationship between wind-induced surface roughening and the normalized radar backscatter cross section. Rain can degrade scatterometer wind estimation; however, the simultaneous wind/rain (SWR) algorithm was developed to enable SeaWinds to simultaneously retrieve wind and rain rate data. This algorithm is based on colocating data from the Precipitation Radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and SeaWinds on QuikSCAT. This paper develops a new wind and rain radar backscatter model for SWR using colocated data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) and SeaWinds aboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite II. This paper accounts for rain height in the model in order to calculate surface rain rate from the integrated rain rate. The performance of SWR using the new wind/rain model is measured by comparison of wind vectors and rain rates to the previous SWR algorithm, AMSR rain rates, and National Center for Environmental Prediction numerical weather prediction winds. The new SWR algorithm produces more accurate rain estimates and improved winds, and detects rain with a low false alarm rate.
Mouse Models of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Reveal a Complex Pathogenesis

The mammalian immune system is remarkable in that it can respond to an essentially infinite number of foreign antigens. The ability to mount a long-lasting (adaptive) immune response against foreign antigen requires the participation of cells selected from an enormously diverse population of B and T cells. Because the B and T cell receptors expressed by these cells are generated at random, a significant percentage of B and T cells are invariably directed against self-antigen. Under normal circumstances, autoreactive B and T cells are eliminated, reprogrammed, or inactivated in the primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Despite these checks and balances, a small but significant number of people and animals still develop autoimmune disease. One such autoimmune disease-systemic lupus erythematosus-is characterized by the loss of B- and T-cell tolerance to self-antigens (principally nuclear), culminating in multisystemic inflammation. Multiple genetic defects, drug exposure, infectious agents, and environmental factors can contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. Loss of B- and T-cell tolerance precipitates activation of plasmacytoid and myeloid dendritic cells; collectively, these cells cooperate to form a complex positive feedback loop, continually stimulated by the persistence of self-antigen. Novel treatment strategies now focus on specific inhibition of various aspects of the feedback loop. These specific inhibitors have the potential to be more effective and lack the side effects associated with generalized immunosuppression.
External fixation of distal radius fractures. Indications and technical principles.

SUMMARY External fixation of unstable intra-articular fractures of the distal radius has become an effective tool in the management of these difficult injuries. Careful assessment of the fracture pattern, appropriate patient selection, meticulous surgical technique, the appropriate choice of fixation device and pins, recognition of the need for augmentation with limited internal fixation or bone grafting, and aggressive postoperative rehabilitation provide the foundation for successful management of these fractures while minimizing complications. The surgeon must remember that the pinbone interface is the link between the patient and the fixator. He or she must ensure a stable environment for this interface by providing a clean, tight purchase of the pin in bone with minimal damage to the bone and its surrounding soft tissues at the time of operation. Postop- eratively, the surgeon must convey to the patient the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for this pin-bone interface. An appropriately chosen external fixation device can be expected to provide overall stability while maintaining length as well as angular and rotational alignment. However, it cannot be expected to provide precise small fragment control and restoration of articular congruity. This must be achieved by precise reduction and limited internal fixation using Kirschner wires while prevention of late collapse is afforded by subarticular bone grafting of the metaphyseal defect. Adherence to these principles should provide a satisfactory outcome with a significant reduction in the rate of complications when external fixation is used for the management of complex fractures of the distal radius.
The ARTSI Alliance: Using Robotics and AI to Recruit African-Americans to Computer Science Research

The mission of the ARTSI (Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact) Alliance, a consortium of 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 9 major research universities (R1s), is to enlarge the nation’s engineering and science talent pool by increasing the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue advanced training in computer science. ARTSI is one of several alliances funded by the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Computing Program. ARTSI focuses specifically on institutions serving African Americans and uses robotics education to attract and engage students. In this paper we describe the activities comprising ARTSI, our vision of a robotics curriculum for CS undergraduates, and ways to integrate robotics modules into existing CS courses.
Evidence of autogrooming as a mechanism of honey bee resistance to tracheal mite infestation.

SUMMARYInfestations of tracheal mites (Acarapis woodi) were measured in honey bees (Apis mellifera) whose autogrooming ability was compromised by having legs or segments of legs amputated. Bees of two stocks, one more resistant (Buck-fast) and one more susceptible to tracheal mite infestation, were tested by performing amputations on uninfested, young (0–24 h) adult bees, exposing the treated bees to mites in infested colonies, then retrieving and dissecting the bees to measure parasitism. In both stocks, bees that had mesothoracic legs amputated had greatly increased mite abundances. However, the relative increase in infestation was greater in resistant bees. Mite infestation increased as more (0 vs. 1 vs. 2) mesothoracic legs were removed. In bees with only one leg removed, mite infestations were greater on the treated side. In subsequent tests with resistant stock bees only, removing the mesotarsi resulted in infestations equalling those found when entire mesothoracic legs were removed, but amputating ...
Communities and Their Partners: Governance and Community-based Forest Management

A number of agencies closely associated with community-based forest management have recently commissioned reviews to assess the impacts of opening the arena for decision making and benefit sharing in forest management to a wider spectrum of players. This article draws on the findings of a set of reviews commissioned by the Ford Foundation and on an interactive process in which partners in activities supported by the Foundation had opportunities to respond to the conclusions drawn by the reviews. It analyses how governance is emerging as a central concern of all the partners involved in efforts to forge new relationships between government agencies, forest communities and intermediaries such as NGOs that work with them. All those involved in the process considered that the scientific bureaucratic model that has dominated forest management since the nineteenth century and earlier has reached an impasse marked by conflict between a spectrum of stakeholders, and by questions about the biological or ecological sustainability of current harvesting and production practises. Community-based forest man­agement will not in itself resolve these tensions and conflicts, but it does have the potential to play an important role in sustainable natural resources management strategies if there is a realignment of relations between households, community and government. The reviews, therefore, call for more emphasis on crafting in­clusive, equitable and accountable mechanisms to articulate and mediate relations between partners from the national and even international level to the local.
Establishing a Process Utilizing Community Leaders as Mentors to Undergraduate Students

Mentoring has long been a method for passing experience from one generation to the next. This report outlines the creation, development, and application of a mentoring program linking undergraduate business students with community professionals. The goal of the program is to enhance career opportunities of students and to garner community support for the university. In addition, with the increased need from accrediting bodies to show impact of the educational processes, mentoring may be a useful tool for assessment of program impact as well as a tool for enhancing alumni and community relations and financial support.
Science in the marketplace: Acnotabs and the Food and Drug Administration

Though acne is not a life-threatening condition, it is a highly emotionally charged one, particularly for teenagers. In the early 1960s, when the Pannett Company used medical and scientific claims to convince adolescents to purchase their product, Acnotabs, their amazing advertising claims attracted the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration. Typically the Agency seized a product it considered mislabelled in terms of its ingredients or its efficacy; and most companies, not willing to face a potentially expensive fight, did not object to the action. In effect, they allowed the courts to issue a condernnation order by default. The Pannett Company, however, resisted the FDA's seizure and decided to present their case for Acnotabs in court. The Company insisted that their tests had demonstrated the usefulness of Acnotabs in treating the skin condition. The FDA claimed that there was no evidence for the effectiveness of Acnotabs and, moreover, that scientific and medical theory denied that the ingred...
A Precision Method for Reliability Cost and Benefit Analysis and Its Application in Distribution Network Planning

A precision method for the reliability cost-benefit analysis is proposed by analyzing the cost and benefit of distribution network reliability.By decomposing the marginal reliability cost-benefit curve into different curves,the most economical and rational scheme is obtained for targeting a certain reliability value.The proposed precision analysis method is applied to evaluating and optimizing the distribution network planning for four typical areas in Nanjing during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.Adoption of the optimal scheme obtained has yielded obvious economic benefits.
Training 21st-Century Workers: Facts, Fiction and Memory Illusions.

Technological achievements require complex skills for the workplace, along with creativity, communication, and critical thinking. To compete effectively in the global economy, governments must provide their citizens with relevant education and training. To help close the skills gap, international agencies often advise governments of developing countries to de-emphasise basic knowledge and focus instead on complex cognition and systemic improvements. However, the donors’ advice may be due to memory biases of highly educated people. Such training strategies would fail most students, because complex skills are built by combining and automatising shorter chains of thoughts or behaviours. An effective training process requires much practice, feedback and rearrangement of subcomponents over time. Execution of various tasks must become automatic and effortless to avoid using up too much of the very limited capacity of what is termed the “working memory”. Marketable skills are those skills which are fluently performed without excessive cognitive load. To provide complex skills for all, including non-cognitive skills, curricula should therefore first ensure detailed instruction and practice of basic components which can then be strung together and applied to new tasks. Policy advisers seem unaware of these scientific insights, so they are not taken into account. The article reviews the essential neurocognitive functions involved in the acquisition and execution of skills chains. The author concludes that to improve the skills of economically disadvantaged populations, donors and governments must acquire expertise and offer advice on the basis of cognitive science.
Early Adolescents' Unique Perspectives of Maternal and Paternal Rejection: Examining Their Across-Dyad Generalizability and Relations with Adjustment 1 Year Later.

Parental rejection is linked to deep and enduring adjustment problems during adolescence. This study aims to further clarify this relation by demonstrating what has long been posited by parental acceptance/rejection theory but never validated empirically-namely that adolescents' unique or subjective experience of parental rejection independently informs their future adjustment. Among a longitudinal, multi-informant sample of 161 families (early adolescents were 47 % female and 40 % European American) this study utilized a multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis to isolate for each early adolescent-parent dyad, the adolescent's distinct view of parental rejection (i.e., the adolescent unique perspective) from the portion of his or her view that overlaps with his or her parent's view. The findings indicated that adolescents' unique perspectives of maternal rejection were not differentiated from their unique perspectives of paternal rejection. Also, consistent with parental acceptance-rejection theory, early adolescents' unique perspectives of parental rejection were associated with worse adjustment (internalizing and externalizing) 1 year later. This study further demonstrates the utility and validity of the multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis approach for identifying and examining adolescent unique perspectives. Both conceptually and analytically, this study also integrates research focused on unique perspectives with a distinct but related line of research focused on discrepancies in perspectives.
Plastic Time: Time and the Visual Arts

In his Elements of Criticism, published in 1761, Henry Home, Lord Kaimes, advanced the view that “a picture is confined to a moment of time, and cannot take in a succession of incidents.”1 A few years later, Lessing, an admirer of Kaimes, drew a sharp distinction between the arts of time—poetry, above all—and the arts of space—painting and sculpture. “. . . Succession of time,” Lessing wrote in Laocoon, “is the province of the poet just as space is that of the painter.”2 A few innocent incursions of one of these two sorts of art into the territory of the other might be tolerated, but the integrity of each finally depends on its keeping within its own bounds. Thus painting, if it seeks to include time at all, must present only a single moment of a body or bodies in action; and poetry, if it intends to paint a word-picture of an object whose features exist simultaneously in space, must do so by describing the temporally extended action by which the object came into being, as Homer did in the case of Achilles’ shield.
Locomotor activity and tissue levels following acute administration of lambda- and gamma-cyhalothrin in rats

Pyrethroids produce neurotoxicity that depends, in part, on the chemical structure. Common behavioral effects include locomotor activity changes and specific toxic syndromes (types I and II). In general these neurobehavioral effects correlate well with peak internal dose metrics. Products of cyhalothrin, a type II pyrethroid, include mixtures of isomers (e.g., λ-cyhalothrin) as well as enriched active isomers (e.g., γ-cyhalothrin). We measured acute changes in locomotor activity in adult male rats and directly correlated these changes to peak brain and plasma concentrations of λ- and γ-cyhalothrin using a within-subject design. One-hour locomotor activity studies were conducted 1.5h after oral gavage dosing, and immediately thereafter plasma and brains were collected for analyzing tissue levels using LC/MS/MS methods. Both isomers produced dose-related decreases in activity counts, and the effective dose range for γ-cyhalothrin was lower than for λ-cyhalothrin. Doses calculated to decrease activity by 50% were 2-fold lower for the γ-isomer (1.29mg/kg) compared to λ-cyhalothrin (2.65mg/kg). Salivation, typical of type II pyrethroids, was also observed at lower doses of γ-cyhalothrin. Administered dose correlated well with brain and plasma concentrations, which furthermore showed good correlations with activity changes. Brain and plasma levels were tightly correlated across doses. While γ-cyhalothrin was 2-fold more potent based on administered dose, the differences based on internal concentrations were less, with γ-cyhalothrin being 1.3- to 1.6-fold more potent than λ-cyhalothrin. These potency differences are consistent with the purity of the λ-isomer (approximately 43%) compared to the enriched isomer γ-cyhalothrin (approximately 98%). Thus, administered dose as well as differences in cyhalothrin isomers is a good predictor of behavioral effects.
Control Mechanisms and Agile Methodology Use: Data from the Industry

This research investigates the relationship between the degree of agile methodology use and four types of control mechanisms that are widely used in the management of a software project and its per...
Predicting Spatiotemporal Impacts of Weather on Power Systems Using Big Data Science

Due to the increase in extreme weather conditions and aging infrastructure deterioration, the number and frequency of electricity network outages is dramatically escalating, mainly due to the high level of exposure of the network components to weather elements. Combined, 75% of power outages are either directly caused by weather-inflicted faults (e.g., lightning, wind impact), or indirectly by equipment failures due to wear and tear combined with weather exposure (e.g. prolonged overheating). In addition, penetration of renewables in electric power systems is on the rise. The country’s solar capacity is estimated to double by the end of 2016. Renewables significant dependence on the weather conditions has resulted in their highly variable and intermittent nature. In order to develop automated approaches for evaluating weather impacts on electric power system, a comprehensive analysis of large amount of data needs to be performed. The problem addressed in this chapter is how such Big Data can be integrated, spatio-temporally correlated, and analyzed in real-time, in order to improve capabilities of modern electricity network in dealing with weather caused emergencies.
A two-dimensional microporous metal–organic framework for highly selective adsorption of carbon dioxide and acetylene

Abstract Solvothermal reaction of 3-aminoisonicotinic acid (Haina) and Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ·2.5H 2 O gave a novel two-dimensional (2D) microporous metal–organic framework, [Cu(aina) 2 (DMF)]·DMF ( 1 , DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide). Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic study of compound 1 revealed that Cu(II) ions are linked by aina − ligands forming square grid-like layers, which stack together via multiple hydrogen bonding interactions. The solvent-free framework of 1a displayed considerable porosity (void = 46.5%) with one-dimensional (1D) open channels (4.7 A × 4.8 A) functionalized by amino groups. Gas sorption measurements of 1 revealed selective carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) adsorption over methane (CH 4 ) and nitrogen (N 2 ) at ambient temperature.
Distributed Parameter State Estimation Algorithms and Applications - A Survey

Abstract A brief survey of the field of distributed parameter state estimation is presented with an emphasis on providing a guide for the potential user of these techniques. The theoretical results for both linear and non linear systems are summarized, and a wide range of real world examples are discussed. Based on recent experimental and numerical work, one must conclude that the practical application of these techniques to process control, environmental monitoring, and energy recovery problems shows real promise.
Band Offset Enhancement of a-Al 2 O 3 /Tensile-Ge for High Mobility Nanoscale pMOS Devices

The band alignment properties of amorphous Al2O3 on strain-engineered biaxial tensile-strained epitaxial Ge, grown in situ by molecular beam epitaxy on InxGa1–xAs virtual substrates, are presented. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigation demonstrated an increase in the valence band offset of the Al2O3/strained Ge system with increasing tensile strain. For Ge strain-states of 1.14%, 1.6%, and 1.94%, the corresponding valence band offsets were found to be 4.43 ± 0.1 eV, 3.95 ± 0.1 eV, and 4.55 ± 0.1 eV, respectively, demonstrating a ~0.8 eV increase as compared with Ge grown on GaAs. The observed enhancement in the valence band discontinuity between tensile-strained Ge and Al2O3 offers a unique and novel path for the simultaneous improvement of hole mobility (via strain) and hole confinement (via a larger valence band offset) in future low-power and high-performance Ge-based nanoscale pMOS devices.
Hypogenic Versus Epigenic Aspects of the Black Hills Caves, South Dakota

The Black Hills contain several extensive maze caves in the early Carboniferous Madison Limestone. They include Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, which are among the world’s longest and most complex. Their origin is debated, with diverse hypotheses ranging from artesian conditions to rising thermal water. Recent evidence indicates a polygenetic origin including early Carboniferous diagenesis and paleokarst; deep burial by Carboniferous–Cretaceous strata; re-exposure of the limestone by the Laramide Orogeny (early Paleogene); and major cave enlargement in the late Paleogene along old paleokarst zones. Cave enlargement depended mainly on diffuse recharge through overlying sandstone, mixing with lateral inflow through carbonate outcrops. Only a few of these processes were hypogenic, but recognizing them all helps to clarify the limits of that process.
Immunity of Listeria monocytogenes

The bacterium Listeria monocytogenes was originally isolated as the disease-causing agent from the livers, spleens, and myocardia of clinically ill rabbits and guinea pigs by Murray et al. (1926). The finding that it causes a very pronounced monocytosis when inoculated into rabbits is responsible for its specific name. It has been known for many years that Listeria is responsible for economically important outbreaks of disease in sheep flocks and cattle herds. Indeed, there is little doubt that the veterinary profession is more familiar with the organism than the medical profession is, in spite of the steadily increasing number of reported cases of listeriosis in humans.
Contractive metrics for nonsmooth evolutions

Given an evolution equation, a standard way to prove the well posedness of the Cauchy problem is to establish a Gronwall type estimate, bounding the distance between any two trajectories. There are important cases, however, where such estimates cannot hold, in the usual distance determined by the Euclidean norm or by a Banach space norm.
Role of Na+/Ca2+ Exchange in Contraction and Relaxation in Immature Ventricular Myocytes

Transient changes in Ca2+ activity within the cytosol are important determinants of myocardial contraction and relaxation. The cellular processes responsible for regulation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration undergo major changes during maturation of the heart. The immature rabbit heart relies on transsarcolemmal Ca2+ entry and efflux via the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger for contraction and relaxation. Exchanger activity and amounts of immunoreactive protein and mRNA are increased in immature rabbit hearts compared to adults. Further support for the importance of Na+/Ca2+ exchange in the immature heart comes from observations that exchanger current density in newborn is about four fold higher than adult rabbit myocytes and exchanger activity is sufficient for normal contraction and relaxation in neonatal myocytes. Thus, in contrast to the well described role of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in mature myocardium, the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger appears to be the predominate pathway for calcium transport to and removal from the contractile elements in immature ventricular myocytes.
An Examination of the Former Centrally Planned Economies 25 Years after the Fall of Communism

This report analyzes the changes in economic freedom, political institutions, and performance of 25 former centrally planned (FCP) economies following the collapse of communism. The degree of economic freedom among these countries varied considerably. The FCP countries with higher levels of economic freedom in 2015 as measured by the Economic Freedom of the World summary ratings tended to grow more rapidly, achieve larger increases in international trade, and attract more foreign direct investment than their counterparts with less economic freedom. Differences among the FCP countries in the protection of civil liberties, democratic political institutions, and administration of government with less corruption are also identified and analyzed. A regression model of economic growth during 1995-2015 for 122 countries was developed and used to examine the determinants of growth and the performance of the FCP economies relative to high-income and other developing countries throughout the world. Regression analysis was also used to analyze the life satisfaction measure of the World Values Survey. The regression analysis indicates that economic freedom exerts a strong positive impact on both the growth of per capita GDP and the life satisfaction of individuals. Finally, the economic freedom area ratings were used to identify strengths and weaknesses of the FCP economies. Most of the FCP countries registered substantial increases in economic freedom in the areas of size of government, access to sound money, international trade, and regulation. But they have failed to improve their legal systems, and several FCP countries have even experienced recent deteriorations in this area. While the FCP countries achieved impressive growth and closed the income gap relative to high-income countries during 1995-2015, without improvements in the legal area, it is unlikely that this progress will continue. The addendum provides additional details for ten countries that have made the transition from communism to markets most successfully.
Autonomous Vision-based Target Detection Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In this paper, a vision-based target detection system using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is developed to execute a mission plan. The mission plan is to autonomously take off to a specified altitude, fly to a waypoint with a predefined GPS coordinate, locate the target displayed by an AprilTag, hover above the target, then descend and land near the target. Our result shows that AprilTag is highly viable in UAV vision-based target detection.
Black Lives Matter & Music: Protest, Intervention, Reflection

The Black Lives Matter movement—a diffuse alliance of activists created as #BlackLivesMatter by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors following George Zimmerman’s July 13, 2013 acquittal i...
Method for Supporting Platinum on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for a Selective Hydrogenation Catalyst

We have prepared a novel material, consisting of Pt particles supported on purified single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), representing the first reported metal-loaded SWNT material. The material contains 10 wt % Pt on entangled SWNT bundles consisting of 20−100 nanotubes each. The average Pt particle size is 1−2 nm. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) observations combined with electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) indicate chemical bonding between Pt and the SWNT surfaces. This bonding is accomplished presumably by ion exchange on carboxylic acid sites created on the nanotube surfaces by slow wet oxidation in dilute HNO3. In addition, a simple SWNT purification scheme requiring no filtration was developed for the preparation of this material. The purification results in a well-defined structure for the metal support useful for investigating the role of this material as a heterogeneous catalyst and the effects of metal−support interactions (MSI). Preliminary kinetics measurements...
Regression to the Mean in the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.

Importance Excess 30-day readmissions have declined substantially in hospitals initially penalized for high readmission rates under the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Although a possible explanation is that the policy incentivized penalized hospitals to improve care processes, another is regression to the mean (RTM), a statistical phenomenon that predicts entities farther from the mean in one period are likely to fall closer to the mean in subsequent (or preceding) periods owing to random chance. Objective To quantify the contribution of RTM to declining readmission rates at hospitals initially penalized under the HRRP. Design, Setting, and Participants This study analyzed data from Medicare Provider and Analysis Review files to assess changes in readmissions going forward and backward in time at hospitals with high and low readmission rates during the measurement window for the first year of the HRRP (fiscal year [FY] 2013) and for a measurement window that predated the FY 2013 measurement window for the HRRP among hospitals participating in the HRRP. Hospital characteristics are based on the 2012 survey by the American Hospital Association. The analysis included fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older with an index hospitalization for 1 of the 3 target conditions of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and who were discharged alive from February 1, 2006, through June 30, 2014, with follow-up completed by July 30, 2014. Data were analyzed from January 23, 2018, through March 29, 2019. Exposures Hospital Readmission Reduction Program penalties. Main Outcome and Measures The excess readmission ratio (ERR), calculated as the ratio of a hospital’s readmissions to the readmissions that would be expected based on an average hospital with similar patients. Hospitals with ERRs of greater than 1.0 were penalized. Results A total of 3258 hospitals were included in the study. For the 3 target conditions, hospitals with ERRs of greater than 1.0 during the FY 2013 measurement window exhibited decreases in ERRs in the subsequent 3 years, whereas hospitals with ERRs of no greater than 1.0 exhibited increases. For example, for patients with heart failure, mean ERRs declined from 1.086 to 1.038 (−0.048; 95% CI, −0.053 to −0.043;P Conclusions and Relevance Most of the decline in readmission rates in hospitals with high rates during the measurement window for the first year of the HRRP appeared to be due to RTM. These findings seem to call into question the notion of an HRRP policy effect on readmissions.
Universal Mental Health Prevention for Adolescents: Real-world Implications.

The effectiveness of universal mental health prevention has been well established, with a demonstrated return on investment seen for a number of models.1 The importance of prevention is highlighted by some concerning statistics. In the United States, 22% of teenagers have experienced a mental illness, and half of all lifetime mental illness starts by age 14. Yet only 50% of youth with a mental health disorder receive treatment.2 Thus, universal prevention strategies have significant potential for reducing the burden of pediatric mental illness on children and adolescents, their families, and society. In “Adolescent Mental Health Program Components and Behavior Risk Reduction: A Meta-analysis,” Skeen et al3 note that past reviews of prevention models have focused on single-issue interventions and outcomes. By contrast, their meta-analysis of universal prevention models for adolescents sought to identify common practice components in proven interventions across multiple outcomes. This was done with the express intent of developing a universal model to affect multiple outcomes as part of the Helping Adolescents Thrive initiative sponsored by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund. This is … Address correspondence to Glenn Thomas, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 700 Childrens Dr, Columbus, OH 43205. E-mail: glenn.thomas{at}nationwidechildrens.org
Effects of Glutamine Supplementation on Broiler Performance and Intestinal Immune Parameters During an Experimental Coccidiosis Infection

SUMMARY The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of glutamine supplementation on performance and intestinal immune parameters of broilers during an experimental coccidiosis infection. There were 3 glutamine supplementation levels in this study: 0, 0.5, and 1.0%. At 14 d of age, each bird was given an oral gavage of 20X dose of Coccivac B52 suspended in distilled water. IFN-γ mRNA levels were downregulated 11.8- and 2.0-fold in the jejunum and 8.1- and 7.9-fold in the cecal tonsils of birds supplemented with 0.5 and 1.0% glutamine at 21 d, respectively, compared to that in the birds fed 0% supplemental glutamine (P = 0.06 and P = 0.01, respectively). At 21 d of age, IL-10 mRNA levels were downregulated in the jejunum of the birds supplemented with 0.5 and 1.0% having a 25.3- and a 1.5-fold lower level, respectively (P 0.05) were observed on any performance parameter or T-cell population percentages. This study shows that glutamine supplementation upregulated tight junction protein gene expression, improved intestinal morphology, and downregulated pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine gene expression. In conclusion, these results indicate that dietary glutamine supplementation can improve intestinal health in birds challenged with an experimental coccidiosis infection.
New targets and therapeutics for neuroprotection, remyelination and repair in multiple sclerosis

Immunotherapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) significantly decrease the risk of new relapses. However, the chronic compartmentalized inflammation and neurodegeneration that define progressive MS are...
Nanocomposites of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO)-based epoxy (DGEBA) blends and clay platelets: cured with methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride crosslinker

The effect of Closite C93A nanoclay on the mechanical, thermal properties of diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) bioepoxy blend at various wt.% (10, 20...
Developing Kinesthetic Classrooms to Promote Active Learning

The use of kinesthetic movement in the classroom toward improving health and educational outcomes among youth has been a topic of discourse in recent years. School initiatives that have infused mov...
Designing electrolytes with polymerlike glass-forming properties and fast ion transport at low temperatures.

In the presence of Lewis acid salts, the cyclic ether, dioxolane (DOL), is known to undergo ring-opening polymerization inside electrochemical cells to form solid-state polymer batteries with good interfacial charge-transport properties. Here we report that LiNO3, which is unable to ring-open DOL, possesses a previously unknown ability to coordinate with and strain DOL molecules in bulk liquids, completely arresting their crystallization. The strained DOL electrolytes exhibit physical properties analogous to amorphous polymers, including a prominent glass transition, elevated moduli, and low activation entropy for ion transport, but manifest unusually high, liquidlike ionic conductivities (e.g., 1 mS/cm) at temperatures as low as −50 °C. Systematic electrochemical studies reveal that the electrolytes also promote reversible cycling of Li metal anodes with high Coulombic efficiency (CE) on both conventional planar substrates (1 mAh/cm2 over 1,000 cycles with 99.1% CE; 3 mAh/cm2 over 300 cycles with 99.2% CE) and unconventional, nonplanar/three-dimensional (3D) substrates (10 mAh/cm2 over 100 cycles with 99.3% CE). Our finding that LiNO3 promotes reversibility of Li metal electrodes in liquid DOL electrolytes by a physical mechanism provides a possible solution to a long-standing puzzle in the field about the versatility of LiNO3 salt additives for enhancing reversibility of Li metal electrodes in essentially any aprotic liquid electrolyte solvent. As a first step toward understanding practical benefits of these findings, we create functional Li||lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in which LFP cathodes with high capacity (5 to 10 mAh/cm2) are paired with thin (50 μm) lithium metal anodes, and investigate their galvanostatic electrochemical cycling behaviors.
Approach to Monoarticular Arthritis

Monoarticular arthritis is common and can involve both emergent (septic arthritis) and chronic (osteoarthritis) causes. This teaching script provides a systematic and rational approach to patients who present with joint inflammation, emphasizing common etiologies and how to use the history, examination, and synovial fluid analysis to determine the likely cause.
Improvements in methods for measuring the volume conductivity of electrically conductive carbon powders

Abstract Electrically conductive carbon powders are commonly used as filler materials in polymers to create electrically semi-conductive composite materials for use in battery electrodes and anti-static applications. Current methods for characterizing the conductivity of these powders use two pistons to compress the powders. Two-piston methods are known to underestimate conductivity. This study develops a guard-electrode method based on ASTM D257 to better characterize the bulk conductivity and impedance spectra of electrically conductive powders. The conductivity and impedance spectra of a highly conductive powder (copper powder) and a low conductivity powder (cellulose) were used to bound the conductivity of carbon black, graphite, and biochar. Powders were measured through a full range of compression with both the two-piston and the guard-electrode method. In all cases, measurements using the guard-electrode method have higher conductivity and lower impedance than the same powders measured using the two-piston method. The grain conductivity of the particles is obtained through fitting the relationship of conductivity versus packing fraction using the GEM equation. The guard-electrode method is shown to be more similar to established conductivity values as measured via a four-probe technique for copper and graphite then the two-piston method.
Fishing for Feedback: Discussing Individual Competencies and Strengths in Teams:

Management students conduct much of their coursework in teams, as they should. We teach them where teams can fail and how teams can become high performing. But too often, the team experience for st...
Grids and the Virtual Observatory

We consider several projects from astronomy that benefit from the Grid paradigm and associated technology, many of which involve either massive datasets or the federation of multiple datasets. We cover image computation (mosaicking, multi-wavelength images, and synoptic surveys); database computation (representation through XML, data mining, and visualization); and semantic interoperability (publishing, ontologies, directories, and service descriptions).
Association of hospitalizations for asthma with seasonal and pandemic influenza

Background and objective Although influenza has been associated with asthma exacerbations, it is not clear the extent to which this association affects health care use in the United States. The first goal of this project was to determine whether, and to what extent, the incidence of asthma hospitalizations is associated with seasonal variation in influenza. Second, we used influenza trends (2000–2008) to help predict asthma admissions during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Methods We identified all hospitalizations between 1998 and 2008 in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project during which a primary diagnosis of asthma was recorded. Separately, we identified all hospitalizations during which a diagnosis of influenza was recorded. We performed time series regression analyses to investigate the association of monthly asthma admissions with influenza incidence. Finally, we applied these time series regression models using 1998–2008 data, to forecast monthly asthma admissions during the 2009 influenza pandemic. Results Based on time series regression models, a strong, significant association exists between concurrent influenza activity and incidence of asthma hospitalizations (P-value < 0.0001). Use of influenza data to predict asthma admissions during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic improved the mean squared prediction error by 60.2%. Conclusions Influenza activity in the population is significantly associated with asthma hospitalizations in the United States, and this association can be exploited to more accurately forecast asthma admissions. Our results suggest that improvements in influenza surveillance, prevention and treatment may decrease hospitalizations of asthma patients.
Sulfuric Acid Emissions from an Oxidation-Catalyst Equipped Vehicle

A 1973 Ford Torino with 1975 emission controls including monolithic noble metal catalysts was used to examine the effects of vehicle operating variables on sulfuric acid exhaust emissions. At 60 mph, 36 percent of the fuel sulfur was emitted as H2SO4. On the 1975 FTP driving cycle, the figure was 10 to 24 percent depending on prior operating history, with small differences between cold and hot-start and between transient and stabilized phases of the cycle. Sulfur storage in the converter was minor. The emitted H2SO4 was composed primarily of droplets smaller than 0.3 without catalysts, emission of H2SO4 is less than 1 percent of the fuel sulfur. /GMRL/
PRECOCIOUS MEIOTIC CENTROMERE SEPARATION OF A NOVEL YEAST CHROMOSOME

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a reciprocal translocation between chromosome II and a linear plasmid carrying a centromere (CEN6) has split chromosome II into two fragments: one, approximately 530 kilobase pairs (kbp) in size, has the left arm and part of the right arm of chromosome II; the other, a telocentric fragment approximately 350 kbp in size, has CEN6 and the rest of the right arm of chromosome II. A cross of this yeast strain with a strain containing a complete chromosome II exhibits a high frequency of precocious centromere separation (separation of sister chromatids during meiosis I) of the telocentric fragment. Precocious centromere separation is not due to the position of the centromere per se, since diploids that are homozygous for both fragments of chromosome II segregate the telocentric fragment with normal meiotic behavior. The precocious centromere separation described here differs from previously described examples in that pairing and synapsis of this telocentric chromosome seem to be normal. One model of how centromeres function in meiosis is that replication of the centromere is delayed until the second meiotic division. Data presented in this paper indicate that replication of the centromere is complete before the first meiotic division. The precocious separation of the centromere described here may be due to improper synapsis of sequences flanking the centromere.
Ground-motion prediction from tremor

[1] The widespread occurrence of tremor, coupled with its frequency content and location, provides an exceptional opportunity to test and improve strong ground-motion attenuation relations for subduction zones. We characterize the amplitude of thousands of individual 5 min tremor events in Cascadia during three episodic tremor and slip events to constrain the distance decay of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV). We determine the anelastic attenuation parameter for ground-motion prediction equations (GMPEs) to a distance of 150 km, which is sufficient to place important constraints on ground-motion decay. Tremor PGA and PGV show a distance decay that is similar to subduction-zone-specific GMPEs developed from both data and simulations; however, the massive amount of data present in the tremor observations should allow us to refine distance-amplitude attenuation relationships for use in hazard maps, and to search for regional variations and intrasubduction zone differences in ground-motion attenuation.
Esophageal dilations in eosinophilic esophagitis: A single center experience

AIM: To diagnose the clinical and histologic features that may be associated with or predictive of the need for dilation and dilation related complications; examine the safety of dilation in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). METHODS: The medical records of all patients diagnosed with EoE between January 2002 and July 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Esophageal biopsies were reexamined by an experienced pathologist to confirm the diagnosis (≥ 15 eos/hpf per current guidelines). Patients were divided into 2 groups: patients who did not receive dilation therapy and those who did. Demographics, clinical history, the use of pharmacologic therapy, endoscopic and pathology findings, and the number of biopsies and dilations carried out, if any, and their locations were recorded for each patient. The dilation group was further examined based on the interval between diagnosis and dilation, and whether or not a complication occurred. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients were identified with EoE and 22 (36%) of them underwent esophageal dilations for stricture/narrowing. The peak eos/hpf was significantly higher in patients who received a dilation (P = 0.04). Four (18% of pts.) minor complications occurred: deep mucosal tear 1, and small mucosal tears 3. There were no cases of esophageal perforations. Higher peak eos/hpf counts were not associated with increased risk of complications. CONCLUSION: Esophageal dilation appears to be a safe procedure in EoE patients, carrying a low complication rate. No correlation was found between the peak of eosinophil count and complication rate. Complications can occur independently of the histologic features. The long-term outcome of EoE treatment, with or without dilation, needs to be determined.
Associations of coping processes with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in national guard/reserve service members deployed during the OEF-OIF era

Studies have identified coping processes as one potential factor influencing PTSD in veterans. This study examined the associations between coping, combat exposure, and PTSD among 218 National Guard veterans deployed overseas since 2001. Problem-focused coping was unrelated to combat exposure and PTSD symptoms. In contrast, increased levels of emotion focused coping (EFC) were found in veterans who reported higher levels of combat exposure. Moreover, the severity of combat was a curvilinear moderator of the relation between coping process and PTSD, such that EFC was unrelated to PTSD symptom severity at low levels of combat, associated with higher symptom severity at moderate levels of combat, and associated with lower symptom severity at high levels of combat. These findings indicate that the type and severity of trauma may moderate the association of coping and psychological outcomes, and that these associations might not be linear.
The Aggregate Behavior of Branch Points - Modeling Parameters

This paper continues a series discussing branch points. In creating a wave optical model of our experiments, we found unexpected dependencies in the branch point distributions. This paper discusses these dependencies.