cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Code Selection and Shifting in Guyana.

Creolists have been showing that the use of codes in Creole societies is linguistically motivated, but these scholars have neglected the social principles informing the use of language varieties in these societies. This paper takes the position that the use of Creole and English varieties in Guyana is socially motivated. The typical Guyanese speaker uses linguistic items which are socially appropriate or mandated in the social context or cultural milieu he finds himself in, and uses items from both English and Creole. The speaker's use of linguistic forms seems to be related more to his conscious or subconscious social intentions than to linguistic principles which inhere in the basilect to acrolect continuum model with which many creolists work. The linguistic behavior of nine groups of individuals from three communities in Guyana is examined within a theoretical framework proposed by R. B. LePage (1972, 1973, 1977). This framework allows us to see these groups, and individuals within them, as exploiting the codal resources of their society to their social advantage. (Sociolinguistics, Creole linguistics, language contact)
Satellite geodesy: Data acquisition

After more than a decade of satellite observations, the data acquired during the past quadrennium have been the catalyst needed to bring about great achievements in satellite geodesy. Unlike earlier solutions our present determinations include very elaborate gravitational models containing hundreds of terms, precise worldwide positions good to ±10 meters, and our new tracking systems suggest the fact that submeter geodesy in the next quadrennium is possible. In addition to these achievements, we can expect further advancements in geodesy owing to the completion of two major worldwide geometric programs: the 36-station Army Secor equatorial trilateration belt and the 44-station Department of Defense-Department of Commerce BC-4 camera Pageos triangulation network. Both of these programs represent the first optimally designed networks encircling the globe specifically undertaken for geometric satellite geodesy.
Acute Cytotoxic Effects of Photoimmunotherapy Assessed by 18F-FDG PET

UNLABELLED We have recently developed a cancer-specific therapy, photoimmunotherapy, which uses an antibody-IR700 (phototoxic phthalocyanine dye) conjugate to bind to the cell membrane and near-infrared light to induce immediate and highly specific tumor killing in vivo. For monitoring the acute cytotoxic effects of photoimmunotherapy before the tumor begins to shrink, we used (18)F-FDG PET before and after this intervention in mice. METHODS Photoimmunotherapy was performed by binding panitumumab (anti-HER1)-IR700 to HER1-positive tumor cells (A431), followed by near-infrared light irradiation in vitro and in vivo. The uptake of (18)F-FDG in the tumor after photoimmunotherapy was evaluated in cellular uptake studies and PET imaging studies. Serial histologic analyses were conducted after photoimmunotherapy. RESULTS The in vitro cellular uptake of (18)F-FDG was reduced as the dose of light increased, and at high light dose (2 J/cm(2)) the uptake was reduced by more than 99% within 1 h after photoimmunotherapy. In vivo (18)F-FDG PET imaging showed that the accumulation of radioactivity in the treated tumors decreased 76% at 75 min after photoimmunotherapy and did not change for 24 h. In contrast, no significant changes were demonstrated in nontreated tumors. None of tumors changed size within 24 h after photoimmunotherapy, although diffuse necrosis was observed in photoimmunotherapy-treated tumors. CONCLUSION Immediate cytotoxic effects induced by photoimmunotherapy were clearly detected by decreased glucose uptake using (18)F-FDG PET even before changes in tumor size became evident. (18)F-FDG allows the clinical assessment of the therapeutic effects of photoimmunotherapy earlier than anatomic methods that rely on tumor size.
Requirements' Role in Mobilizing and Enabling Design Conversation

Requirements play a critical role in a design conversation of systems and products. Product and system design exists at the crossroads of problems, solutions and requirements. Requirements contextualize problems and solutions, pointing the way to feasible outcomes. These are captured with models and detailed specifications. Still, stakeholders need to be able to understand one-another using shared design representations in order to mobilize bias and transform knowledge towards legitimized, desired results. Many modern modeling languages, including UML, as well as detailed, logic-based specifications are beyond the comprehension of key stakeholders. Hence, they inhibit, rather than promote design conversation. Improved design boundary objects (DBO), especially design requirements boundary objects (DRBO), need to be created and refined to improve the communications between principals. Four key features of design boundary objects that improve and promote design conversation are discussed in detail. A systems analysis and design case study is presented which demonstrates these features in action. It describes how a small team of analysts worked with key stakeholders to mobilize and guide a complex system design discussion towards an unexpected, yet desired outcome within a short time frame.
Modeling Participant Flows in Human Service Programs

ABSTRACT Participants flow into, through, and out of human service programs in complex ways: into a program's screening process and out again without receiving services (ineligibility); from one internal state of receiving services to another (advances and setbacks); and out of and back into the program (repeating). Drawing on the traditions of the information systems field, we propose a methodology for defining and graphically modeling participant flows. The methodology, Status-Transition-Cycle (STC) mapping, assists in systems analysis and simultaneously suggests a data model convention for client-tracking systems.
Phase Transformation and Magnetic Hardening in Isolated FePt Nanoparticles

Isolated monodisperse L10 FePt nanoparticles coated by carbon were obtained by adding enough surfactants that decomposed into carbon after the chemical synthesis and postannealing of the A1 FePt nanoparticles. The effect of isolation between FePt nanoparticles on the phase transition temperature and magnetic properties has been studied systematically by thermal, magnetic, and structural characterizations and analyses. It was found that the A1 to L10 phase transition temperature is dependent sensitively on the amount of isolation medium. The transition temperature shift reaches 150-200degC from nonisolated particle assemblies to completely isolated particles, which may be attributed to the high activation energy of the phase transformation for the isolated particles.
How You Can Improve the Delivery of Enteral Nutrition in Your PICU

Dr. Mehta and colleagues 1 have provided an excellent opportunity for those of us who treat critically ill infants and children to examine and improve enteral nutrition (EN) delivery to our patients. Future research aimed at elucidating effective nutrition strategies to improve patient outcomes depends on early initiation and subsequent maintenance of optimal EN. If we are unable to reliably reach and sustain target intakes of EN, we will be unable to determine effects of specific EN therapies on patient outcomes. Many basic research questions in need of answers revolve around enteral feeding in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). When should we start EN? How should we administer EN? Are there advantages or disadvantages to specialized enteral formulas? Should initiation of EN be delayed until medical paralytic and vasoactive agents have been discontinued? What is the optimal amount of EN needed for trophic gastrointestinal effects? How is EN tolerance defined, and how can it be improved? When is the transpyloric route indicated? How do we define appropriate enteral intake targets? When should the goal rate be achieved? Which strategies will reduce intake deficits and ensure patients meet calorie and protein goals? How can we minimize the risks associated with enteral feeding? What nutrition and outcome benefits can be pursued through provision of optimal EN? Once we provide EN as an imperative therapy and use it to its fullest potential in the PICU, we can begin to examine the associated outcome benefits. 2 Other groups have reported their experiences with the inadvertent inadequate nourishment of PICU patients. 3-8 This publication is unique in that it focuses on a PICU population with a wide variation of ages and diagnoses (as is commonly encountered in a moderate- to large-sized PICU), exclusively looking at preventable obstacles to optimal EN during a 4-week period. What can you do to improve EN delivery in your PICU? Many of us who read the article by Mehta et al 1
Neisseria gonorrhoeae Uses Two Lytic Transglycosylases To Produce Cytotoxic Peptidoglycan Monomers

Peptidoglycan fragments released by Neisseria gonorrhoeae contribute to the inflammation and ciliated cell death associated with gonorrhea and pelvic inflammatory disease. However, little is known about the production and release of these fragments during bacterial growth. Previous studies demonstrated that one lytic transglycosylase, LtgA, was responsible for the production of approximately half of the released peptidoglycan monomers. Systematic mutational analysis of other putative lytic transglycosylase genes identified lytic transglycosylase D (LtgD) as responsible for release of peptidoglycan monomers from gonococci. An ltgA ltgD double mutant was found not to release peptidoglycan monomers and instead released large, soluble peptidoglycan fragments. In pulse-chase experiments, recycled peptidoglycan was not found in cytoplasmic extracts from the ltgA ltgD mutant as it was for the wild-type strain, indicating that generation of anhydro peptidoglycan monomers by lytic transglycosylases facilitates peptidoglycan recycling. The ltgA ltgD double mutant showed no growth abnormalities or cell separation defects, suggesting that these enzymes are involved in pathogenesis but not necessary for normal growth.
Performance characteristics of a third order adaptive Volterra filter

Examines the stability and convergence properties of third order adaptive Volterra filters. The authors consider two forms: a full polynomial implementation, and a reduced complexity implementation, with a significantly lower computational requirement. In both cases, it is shown that for input signals with samples drawn from symmetric densities, the mean convergence proceeds independently for the even and odd order terms of the polynomial expansion. For independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) Gaussian inputs the eigenvalue structure of the corresponding correlation matrices is investigated, and it is shown that the even and odd components differ significantly. This leads to distinct stability limits for the even and odd components of the adaptive filter. As a consequence of the eigenvalue disparity, these third order adaptive Volterra filters suffer from nonuniform convergence even when supplied with i.i.d. inputs. >
Migratory response of Echinostoma caproni (Digenea: Echinostomatidae) to feeding by ICR mice.

Abstract: The migratory response of Echinostoma caproni to host feeding was examined in female ICR mice. Thirty-six mice were each infected with 20 metacercariae of E. caproni. Twenty-eight days post-infection, food, but not water, was withheld for 24 hr. Mice were haphazardly divided into 4 groups of 9, and each group received one of the following treatments: (1) 0.25 g glucose, (2) access to standard lab chow, (3) 0.5 ml saline, and (4) continued fasting. Three mice from each treatment group were killed 1, 2, and 4 hr post-treatment. The intestine of each mouse was removed, flash-frozen, and stored in a conventional freezer for later examination. Intestines were partially thawed, measured, and opened longitudinally, and the position of each worm, or worm cluster was measured. The intestine was divided into equal 5% segments based on the initial measurement and locations of worms, and worm clusters were recorded from the appropriate section of the intestine for analysis. There was no significant effect o...
Optimal rate allocation in kinematically-redundant manipulators-the dual projection method

A coordination algorithm for optimal solution of the rate allocation problem in kinematically redundant manipulators is presented. This solution follows from exploring the projection properties of orthogonal surfaces characterized by the velocity kinematics of the redundant system. It is shown that, using the dual projection theorems between the row and the null spaces to be derived, a commonly used, general solution can be reformulated into a computationally efficient form. This method, known as the dual projection method, offers an equivalent but more efficient alternative to the conventional pseudo-inverse based, gradient projection technique, and is applicable to any linear systems with redundancy. To demonstrate its effectiveness, an analytic example using a spatial manipulator with one degree of redundancy is presented. Discussions of computational efficiency based on numbers of arithmetic operations are included. >
Immigrants as Fellow Citizens

The paper proposes a theory of citizenship policy that incorporates politicians' incentives to maximize their returns generated by the differences between rights and responsibilities of citizens and non-citizens. The theory is illustrated by a case study of the changes in Germany's citizenship laws in the 1990s.
An infectious disease outbreak simulator based on the cellular automata paradigm

In this paper, we propose the use of Cellular Automata paradigm to simulate an infectious disease outbreak. The simulator facilitates the study of dynamics of epidemics of different infectious diseases, and has been applied to study the effects of spread vaccination and ring vaccination strategies. Fundamentally the simulator loosely simulates SIR (Susceptible Infected Removed) and SEIR (Susceptible Exposed Infected Removed). The Geo-spatial model with global interaction and our approach of global stochastic cellular automata are also discussed. The global stochastic cellular automata takes into account the demography, culture of a region. The simulator can be used to study the dynamics of disease epidemics over large geographic regions. We analyze the effects of distances and interaction on the spread of various diseases.
A Culturally Appropriate Self-Management Program for Hispanic Adults With Type 2 Diabetes and Low Health Literacy Skills

Purpose: This study assessed the feasibility of adapting a patient-centered educational intervention for type 2 diabetes (T2D) self-management for a Hispanic population with low health literacy skills. Design: A descriptive qualitative study design and phenomenological analyses were used. Nine Hispanic adults with T2D recruited from a rural community health center participated in an educational program that instructed on low glycemic food choices, meaningful glucose self-monitoring, and physical activity to decrease blood glucose spikes. Participants’ feedback was recorded during four 2-hour focus group sessions. Findings/Results: Participants’ feedback clustered around four themes: information and knowledge, motivation and barriers to change, experiences with new behaviors, and personal responsibility. Discussion/Conclusions: Data support the feasibility of adapting an established health-enhancing approach for promoting self-management of T2D to a low health literacy Spanish-speaking population. Implicat...
Measurement of Photochemical and Non-photochemical quenching: Correction for turnover of PS2 during steady-state photosynthesis

An empirical expression that could be used to predict the quantum efficiency of PS 2 during steady-state photosynthesis from measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence quenching was proposed by Weis and Berry [1], and several subsequent papers have presented evidence corroborating this approach [2–7]. However, there is disagreement between studies regarding the form of the relationship (i.e. linear or non-linear) and the value of empirical constants, making it difficult to address the fundamental underlying mechanisms. We note that this analysis is very sensitive to the reliability of measurements of the coefficients for photochemical and non-photochemical quenching (q p and q N , respectively), and in this paper, we describe an alternative method for estimating these coefficients.
MECHANISMS OF WITTIG REACTIONS; A NEW POSSIBILITY FOR SALT-FREE REACTIONS

Abstract Spin paired diradicals have been implicated as unstable intermediates in a wide variety of reaction mechanisms. A critical evaluation of the available sterochemical. kinetic and spectroscopic data is found to be consistent, for some Wittig reactions, with a mechanism that involves the intermediacy of a spin paired diradical. The proposed mechanism not only addresses the major stereochemical considerations around the phosphorus atom during the course of the Wittig reaction, but also provides a rational accounting of the observed cis olefin stereospecificity.
Line broadening of the 3 s 2 − 2 p n laser transitions of neon

Doppler and collision broadening were studied on six $2{p}^{5}5s\ensuremath{-}2{p}^{5}3p$ transitions of Nei. Line-broadening parameters were extracted using the method of least squares in the computer analysis of spontaneous emission profiles transmitted through a scanning plane-parallel Fabry-Perot interferometer. $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$-$^{4}\mathrm{He}$ and $^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$-$^{20}\mathrm{Ne}$ Lorentz broadening parameters are tabulated, and their temperature dependence summarized.
Effects of Corticosterone In Vivo and In Vitro on Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Production by Corticotropin Releasing Factor-Stimulated Leukocytes

AbstractCorticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and corticosterone have been shown to affect immune cell function. Previously, we have shown that CRF stimulates immunoreactive adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) production by leukocytes. In this study, splenic leukocytes from corticosterone-injected chickens failed to show a CRF-induced increase in ACTH production. In addition, corticosterone in vitro inhibited the production of leukocyte ACTH as well as the stimulatory effect of CRF on splenic leukocyte ACTH production. These findings show that, as with anterior pituitary ACTH production, CRF-stimulated leukocyte ACTH production is inhibited by glucocorticoids.
Factors Affecting Rate of Honeydew Deposition by Therioaphis maculata (Buck.) and Toxoptera graminum (Rond.)

Various factors affecting the rate of honeydew deposition by the greenbug ( Toxoptera graminum (Rond.)) and the spotted alfalfa aphid ( Therioaphis maculate (Buck.)) were studied and the reactions of the two species compared. A method was developed whereby honeydew droplets from one aphid feeding for a '24-hour period on a plant part were caught on the bottom or sides of plastic cages. The rate of honeydew deposition was affected significantly in both the greenbug and the spotted alfalfa aphid by: (1) changes in temperatures; (2) different plant parts as feeding sites (leaf, stem, petiole); (8) different varieties of plants; and (4) the amount of light reaching the host plant and feeding site. The following factors were found to affect significantly the rate of honeydew deposition by the greenbug: (1) the area of feeding on a Reno barley leaf; (2) feeding on leaves yellowed by age; (8) reduced moisture to host plant. Changes in the following factors or conditions did not affect significantly the rate of honeydew deposition by the spotted alfalfa aphid: (1) reduced moisture to host plant or (!t) distance of leaves from growing point. The rate of honeydew deposition on Reno and Dicktoo barley and Pawnee wheat exceeded that found on the alfalfa varieties studied. This implies that the problems resulting from honeydew might be as great on barley and wheat as on alfalfa if it were not for the different methods in cultivation and harvesting time. The rate of honeydew deposition was found to be influenced almost directly in proportion to the known amount of resistance found in the host plants used. This condition suggests the possibility that the rate of honeydew deposition by aphids may be used to measure the degree of resistance of host plants to aphids, the rate of ingestion of plant material, and to serve as a crude measure of the metabolic activity of the insect.
Review: The Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China by Qinghua Guo

Qinghua Guo . The Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China . Brighton, Portland, Toronto: Sussex Academic Press: 2010, 206 pp., 8 color and 330 b/w illus. $99.95, ISBN 9781845193218 Qinghua Guo's The Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China is a study of an intriguing and important aspect of Chinese architecture and burial practice that has never been fully understood. Mingqi is a complex term referring to objects of almost any variety placed in Chinese tombs. The subset of Han grave goods discussed in this book are pottery works shaped like buildings. More architectural mingqi are found in Han (206 BCE–220 CE) tombs than in earlier or later periods; thousands survive and hundreds are illustrated in the book. Guo tells the reader at the outset that she will not attempt to discuss the origins or evolution of mingqi . Rather, her purpose is to "present salient points of an architectonic nature . . . from the standpoint of architectural representation" (1). Still, Guo must begin with a definition of this Chinese term, which comprises two characters, ming and qi . Turning to the primary definitions of the characters in modern Mandarin, Guo chooses "spirit articles" as the English translation, which was earlier proposed by Wu Hung for mingqi of the Warring States period (ca. 475–221 BCE).1 Guo also writes that mingqi "can be defined as specially manufactured articles moulded on objects of daily life for the dead to use in the afterlife" (1). She tells us thus that she will argue that these burial goods, made in the shape of buildings, are based on actual structures. Guo also lays out her other beliefs about mingqi in the introduction. She postulates that they were symbolic rather than ritual objects; that those of the second century BCE …
What is the relationship between food shopping and daily mobility? A relational approach to analysis of food access

Recent research on food access has increasingly focused on how individuals’ daily mobility, much of it based on activity spaces created from GPS data. In this paper, we expand this research through an analysis of a large transit survey (n = 21,298 households) from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. We do this using relational approach focused on the topological connections found in household travel patterns rather than measures of exposure based on geographic distance. Our exploratory data analysis analyzes both grocery shopping and eating out across the metropolitan area, focusing on the position of utilized food sources relative to home and work locations, utilized modes of transit, and other daily activities often combined with food shopping. Households often used food sources located outside their residential neighborhoods, usually moving toward the central city to do so. Eating out occurred farther from home than grocery shopping, though in many cases close to work. Automobile use was most common for grocery shopping trips, but less so in the lowest income households and in the central city. Our findings show that a relational approach can identify distinctive patterns in everyday food provisioning by emphasizing the connections between food shopping and other everyday household activities.
A photo-electric oxyhemograph; a continuous method for measuring the oxygen saturation of the blood.

The demand for a reliable procedure for continuously recording the oxygen saturation of the blood has led to the publication of several photo-electric methods. ' "•° These methods use the well-known color variation of the blood as an indication of changing oxygen content and provide instrumental means, as a supplement to visual observations, for quantitatively measuring this color change. A more specific statement of the operating principle of these devices is that in the red region of the spectrum (above 650 mix) reduced hemoglobin absorbs a greater amount of light than oxyhemoglobin, and thus a variation of red light absorption indicates a change in the ratio of oxygenated to reduced hemoglobin. The design of equipment for this purpose has varied in such features as type of photocell, site of application and method of indication. One of the limiting factors in this earlier work was the inadequacy of amplification methods. Conventional D.C. amplifiers are subject to instability. On the other hand, if no amplification is used, the indicating instrument is delicate and generally unsuited for continuous recording. I t is the purpose of this presentation to describe a bichromatic photo-electric method of measuring blood oxygen saturation, as registered through the ear, a unique feature of the method being the amplification by means of a "contact modulated" D.C. amplifier which is both stable and sensitive and allows the making.of a permanent record on a rugged D.C. recording milliammeter. The use of this special amplifier was suggested by Mr. C. F. Kettering to Dr. R. D. McClure-as a means of improving the amplification applied in our older models. Although the first photo-electric estimation of oxyhemoglobin is attributed to Nicolai, the fundamental work in blood oximetry was performed by Kramer,' 10 and Matthes' n in 1934 and 1935, each working independently. Kramer recorded variations in oxyhemoglobin in vitro and in vivo, using a method based on the spectral differences of hemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin in the red wave length region (620-770 m/u)He showed that Beer's law of optical absorption may be applied to hemoglobin solutions and hemoglobin in the red cell. Matthes' contribution was the continuous optical registration of light absorption in different spectral regions, using red light for oxygen content and green light for the total hemoglobin. Kramer's method for closed blood vessels in the experimental
Healthcare Finance and Financial Management: Essentials for Advanced Practice Nurses and Interdisciplinary Care Teams

Few health care finance texts are written for clinical professionals such as advanced practice nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists who are involved in team-based practice. This work is intended to serve as the text for a graduate course on health care finance for such clinicians. Nurse educator Mary A. Paterson has organized the book into seven sections that are further subdivided into chapters. Each chapter features chapter objectives, a list of chapter concepts, fairly rigorous discussion questions, and bibliographic references. Each section includes case studies specific to the chapters. Case study examples range from prison health care spending to estimating project costs for a new electronic records system. The book is illustrated with some simple but well-designed tables and charts. The index is a scant three pages, but the table of contents is fairly detailed, and the book is short enough to skim through easily. The author also provides an instructor's manual (not seen) that supplements this text with sample syllabi, problem set solutions, and instructional slides. Health professions students and practitioners who are interested in learning more about health care financing in general and ambulatory care practice management financing in particular will appreciate this work. This readable and well-organized book is recommended for health sciences libraries that support graduate programs for various health professionals.
Treatment of allergic rhinitis in infant

Objective To discuss the treatment of allergic rhinitis in infant.Methods 267 infant patients with allergic rhinitis were divided into three groups.GroupⅠwas comprised of 76 patients with accumulated nasal secretion sucked via sputum suction tube before trials,GroupⅡwas comprised of 75 patients with accumulated nasal secretion not sucked before trials,and Group Ⅲ was comprised of 116 patients with no accumulated nasal secretion.Budesonide was inhaled into nasal cavity with pump type atomizer in spray inhalation manner in all the three groups.Spray inhalation was made every other day,Budesonide 0.25 mg(for those younger than one year) or 0.5 mg(for those older than one year) was inhaled for each time,6 times in total.Then,curative effect and changes of body weight and height before and after treatment were observed.Results The curative effect of groupⅠand Ⅲ was better than that of group Ⅱ,with statistically significant differences.Low dose of inhaled Budesonide was able to improve the symptoms and inflammation of the patients,while the secretion in nasal cavity had an impact on efficacy of Budesonide because of its inhibition of absorption.The differences of changes of body weight and height of patients who received healthy physical examination before and after treatment were insignificant(P0.05).Conclusion Spray inhalation of Budesonide via nasal cavity has obvious curative effect for infant allergic rhinitis,and it has no adverse effect on near growth and development of infants.If there is ecretion accumulated in nasal cavity,it should be sucked firstly to obtain satisfactory curative effect.
Biogeophysics:Geophysical characterization of biogeochemical processes in the subsurface

Microorganisms are involved in a variety of geologic processes that change the physical and chemical properties of their environment.Understanding the microbial interactions with geologic media is very important to successful implementation of near-surface applications such as remediation of soils and groundwater contaminations.Geophysical imaging techniques have the potential to measure and characterize not just the physiochemical properties in the subsurface as already well established,but also microbes,microbial processes,and microbe-mineral interactions.Biogeophysics is an emerging sub-discipline of exploration geophysics focusing on the geophysical signatures resulting from microbial interactions with geologic media that integrates microbiology,biogeoscience,and geophysics(Atekwana and Slater 2009).Biogeophysicsresearch performed over the past decade has shown the unique characteristics of geophysical methods(e.g., minimal invasion,spatiotemporal continuity,and broad scales)and has confirmed the potential of geophysical methods to investigate microbial activities in subsurface environments over diverse spatial and temporal scales.This review provides the background and development of biogeophysics and the current key topics in this field.We first outline a range of geophysical methods that have been used effectively in biogeophysics research,such as self-potential,electrical resistivity,induced polarization,ground penetration radar,electromagnetics,and seismic.Then we review the alternations of petrophysical properties induced by microorganisms and the associated geophysical responses.Finally,we conclude by discussing opportunities,challenges,and potential new applications of biogeophysics.
Effects of okadaic acid and intracellular Cl- on Na(+)-K(+)-Cl- cotransport

The Na(+)-K(+)-Cl- cotransporter of the squid giant axon requires ATP and is inhibited by intracellular Cl- (Cli-) in a concentration-dependent manner ([Cl-]i > or = 200 mM completely inhibits the cotransporter). In the present study we address the question of whether inhibition of cotransport by Cli- is due to a Cl(i-)-induced increase of protein phosphatase activity. Intracellular dialysis was used to apply the phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OKA) under conditions of [Cl-]i at 0, 150, or 300 mM during measurement of cotransporter-mediated unidirectional Cl- influx into axons. At 0 mM [Cl-]i, the application of 250 nM OKA had no effect on the cotransport-mediated Cl- influx when axons were dialyzed with the normal intracellular ATP concentration ([ATP]i = 4 mM). Reduction of [ATP] to 50 microM resulted in a significant decrease of the bumetanide-sensitive CL- influx, which could be partially reversed by OKA treatment. Similarly, in ATP-limited axons with [Cl-]i at 150 mM, cotransporter influx was partially stimulated by treatment with OKA. However, axons dialyzed with 300 mM [Cl-]i ([ATP]i = 50 microM) had no measurable cotransport influx, nor was subsequent treatment with OKA able to induce a cotransport-mediated Cl- influx. We conclude that the inhibition of cotransport caused by Cli- is not the result of an increase in the OKA-sensitive protein phosphatase activity.
Development of operating mode distributions for different types of roadways under different congestion levels for vehicle emission assessment using MOVES.

ABSTRACTThe Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) quantifies emissions as a function of vehicle modal activities. Hence, the vehicle operating mode distribution is the most vital input for running MOVES at the project level. The preparation of operating mode distributions requires significant efforts with respect to data collection and processing. This study is to develop operating mode distributions for both freeway and arterial facilities under different traffic conditions. For this purpose, in this study, we (1) collected/processed geographic information system (GIS) data, (2) developed a model of CO2 emissions and congestion from observations, (3) implemented the model to evaluate potential emission changes from a hypothetical roadway accident scenario. This study presents a framework by which practitioners can assess emission levels in the development of different strategies for traffic management and congestion mitigation.Implications: This paper prepared the primary input, that is, the operating...
Reproducibility of the 6-Minute-Walk Test in Older Women

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the reproducibility of the 6-min-walk test (6MWT) in older women. A secondary purpose was to document heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in response to the 6MWT. Twenty-eight women with an average age of 80.0 years (±5.2) participated. They performed 2 trials of the 6MWT on 3 separate days, for a total of 6 trials. Heart rate, BP, RPE, and the total distance walked were recorded for each trial. The results indicated a significant increase from Trial 1 to Trial 2, with no differences between Trials 2–6, F(5, 131) = 7.02, p = .000. HR and BP were consistent across the 6 trials, and RPE was higher for the second trial on the second day of testing, F(5, 131) = 2.72, p = .023. The intraclass correlation coefficient for distance walked was .94. After the initial trial, performance on the 6MWT appears to be stable in older women.
Orchestrated Informal Care Coordination: Designing a Connected Network of Tools in Support of Collective Care Activities for Informal Caregivers

Often, family caregivers experience difficulties in coordinating older adults' health care because it requires not only a lot of time but also a diverse set of responsibilities to coordinate care for their loved ones. While many can reduce their individual burden by sharing care tasks with other family members, there are still many challenges to overcome in maintaining the quality of care when they work together. As they increase their informal care network, it becomes more difficult for them to stay informed and coordinated. Coordination breakdowns caused by having multiple caregivers who are cooperating to care for the same care recipient result in reduced quality of care. I explored opportunities for "Internet of Things (IoT)" technologies to help informal caregivers better coordinate and communicate care with each other for their loved ones. Based on identified design opportunities, I propose the concept of CareBot, a smart home platform consisting of interactive tools in support of collective care activities of family caregivers. \
Evaporation reduction from tritiated water pools

Spent-fuel storage and disassembly basins at heavy water reactor facilities have maximum allowable temperature and tritium activity levels to protect personnel from exposure to radiation from the t...
Fungal Pneumonia in Patients with Hematologic Malignancy and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Fungal pneumonias cause unacceptable morbidity among patients with hematologic malignancies (HM) and recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The high incidence of fungal pneumonias in HM/HSCT populations arises from their frequently severe, complex, and persistent immune dysfunction caused by the underlying disease and its treatment. The cytopenias, treatment toxicities, and other immune derangements that make patients susceptible to fungal pneumonia frequently complicate its diagnosis and increase the intensity and duration of antifungal therapy. This article addresses the host factors that contribute to susceptibility, summarizes diagnostic recommendations, and reviews current guidelines for management of fungal pneumonia in patients with HM/HSCT.
Forensics as a Service: Three-Tier Architecture for Cloud Based Forensic Analysis

Digital forensics is becoming very challenging because of three main reasons: 1) Highly distributed systems under multiple jurisdictions, 2) Big Data handling and 3) Lack of forensic services, in a cloud computing environment. Due to these obstacles, all the digital investigations are becoming time consuming that makes the solutions more expensive. Cloud computing is capable of handling these challenges, but it lacks an architectural level support for forensic analysis that can meet all the legal requirements. Cloud service providers cannot provide solutions to these challenges by offering forensics tools on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. In this paper, we propose a multi-tier cloud architecture for Forensics-as-a-Service (FaaS) capable of handling the aforementioned challenges and introducing a new infrastructure-level forensic support from cloud providers. We will also discuss the improvement in time and cost efficiency of the overall investigation process.
Impact of Scribes on Physician Satisfaction, Patient Satisfaction, and Charting Efficiency: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE Scribes are increasingly being used in clinical practice despite a lack of high-quality evidence regarding their effects. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of medical scribes on physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction, and charting efficiency. METHODS We conducted a randomized controlled trial in which physicians in an academic family medicine clinic were randomized to 1 week with a scribe then 1 week without a scribe for the course of 1 year. Scribes drafted all relevant documentation, which was reviewed by the physician before attestation and signing. In encounters without a scribe, the physician performed all charting duties. Our outcomes were physician satisfaction, measured by a 5-item instrument that included physicians’ perceptions of chart quality and chart accuracy; patient satisfaction, measured by a 6-item instrument; and charting efficiency, measured by time to chart close. RESULTS Scribes improved all aspects of physician satisfaction, including overall satisfaction with clinic (OR = 10.75), having enough face time with patients (OR = 3.71), time spent charting (OR = 86.09), chart quality (OR = 7.25), and chart accuracy (OR = 4.61) (all P values CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, we have conducted the first randomized controlled trial of scribes. We found that scribes produced significant improvements in overall physician satisfaction, satisfaction with chart quality and accuracy, and charting efficiency without detracting from patient satisfaction. Scribes appear to be a promising strategy to improve health care efficiency and reduce physician burnout.
Marketing and Testosterone Treatment in the USA: A Systematic Review

Abstract Context Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for classic hypogonadism, although off-label indications have resulted in a dramatic expansion in prescriptions in the USA. Marketing may significantly affect prescriber behavior. Objective To systematically review all available evidence on marketing and TRT in the USA. Evidence acquisition PubMed, Embase, and Scopus were searched up to July 2017 for all relevant publications reporting on assessments of the TRT market size, economic costs associated with hypogonadism, trends in TRT prescriptions, drug discontinuation rates, and advertising and sales efforts in the USA. Evidence synthesis Twenty retrospective studies were included in the final analysis. The market size for hypogonadism constitutes 5.6–76.8% of men in the USA, with the lower end of the range representing the strictest criteria for diagnosis. Men with a diagnosis of hypogonadism consume $14 118 in direct and indirect costs to the payer. Over the last 2 decades, TRT prescriptions have increased between 1.8- and 4-fold. After 1 yr, 80–85% of men discontinue TRT. There is an association between direct-to-consumer advertising and testosterone testing, TRT prescriptions, and TRT without testosterone testing. There is a high prevalence of misinformation on Internet advertising. Conclusions Off-label indications have driven the dramatic expansion of TRT prescriptions over the last 2 decades. Direct-to-consumer advertising poses a unique challenge in the USA. Overtreatment can be avoided by applying strict diagnostic criteria for hypogonadism, which limits the addressable market for TRT. Patient summary In this report, we reviewed the relationship between marketing and testosterone therapy in the USA. We found that many patients are prescribed testosterone without an appropriate diagnosis of hypogonadism, which may be related to the marketing efforts for off-label prescribing.
High male sexual investment as a driver of extinction in fossil ostracods

Sexual selection favours traits that confer advantages in the competition for mates. In many cases, such traits are costly to produce and maintain, because the costs help to enforce the honesty of these signals and cues1. Some evolutionary models predict that sexual selection also produces costs at the population level, which could limit the ability of populations to adapt to changing conditions and thus increase the risk of extinction2–4. Other models, however, suggest that sexual selection should increase rates of adaptation and enhance the removal of deleterious mutations, thus protecting populations against extinction3, 5, 6. Resolving the conflict between these models is not only important for explaining the history of biodiversity, but also relevant to understanding the mechanisms of the current biodiversity crisis. Previous attempts to test the conflicting predictions produced by these models have been limited to extant species and have thus relied on indirect proxies for species extinction. Here we use the informative fossil record of cytheroid ostracods—small, bivalved crustaceans with sexually dimorphic carapaces—to test how sexual selection relates to actual species extinction. We show that species with more pronounced sexual dimorphism, indicating the highest levels of male investment in reproduction, had estimated extinction rates that were ten times higher than those of the species with the lowest investment. These results indicate that sexual selection can be a substantial risk factor for extinction. Ostracod species (small, bivalved crustaceans) with high sexual dimorphism, and therefore high male investment, had markedly higher extinction rates than low-investment species, indicating that sexual selection can be a substantial risk factor for extinction.
The Disobeying 'Soldier': Use of an Achiral Group to Modulate Chiral Induction in PNA Duplexes.

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a synthetic analogue of DNA in which the natural nucleobases A, G, C, and T are linked to an achiral, charge neutral, pseudopeptide backbone. PNA strands can form double helices similar to DNA whose helical sense can be modulated by applying the 'sergeants-and-soldiers' principle. Attachment of a chiral amino acid (sergeant) at the C-terminus of PNA leads to the amplification of chirality of the sergeant onto the achiral PNA monomers (soldiers), resulting in an enantiomeric excess of either left- or right-handed PNA duplexes. In the present study we looked at the effect of an achiral N-terminal terpyridine (soldier) on the helicity of the double helix that contains L-lysine. We have found that terpyridine interferes with the chiral induction effect of the L-lysines, an effect that can be reverted upon coordination of Cu2+ ions to terpyridine.
Preliminary examination of the helium permeability of pyrocarbon coatings

Helium permeability of pyrocarbon (PyC) coatings of Biso fuel particles is evaluated by measuring helium content of fuel particles after heat treatment in a helium atmosphere. Fuel particles were annealed in a vacuum at 1800/sup 0/C (2073 K) to remove any process helium before being annealed in a helium atmosphere. Helium release was monitored as the particles were individually broken in a vacuum chamber connected to a mass spectrograph sensitive to 10/sup -14/ mole of helium. Typical particles annealed in helium at atmospheric pressure contained 10/sup -10/ mole of gas. The inert gas content of the buffer layer is completely released when the PyC layer is cracked. Helium permeability was strongly temperature dependent and varied considerably with the properties of the PyC coating resulting from deposition conditions.
The Use of Land Snails from Prehistoric Sites for Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

Much of recent archaeology has stressed the intimate relationship between environment and human culture and behavior, encouraging the development of new methodologies for the reconstruction of past environments. One of the findings of those engaged in developing these methodologies is that no class of remains holds a privileged position as the single data set that best can be used to infer past environmental conditions. Rather, all of the data sets—pollen, land snails, foraminifera, ostracods, macrobotanical remains, and the rest—have their strengths and weaknesses, each is better or worse for the investigation of a particular aspect of environment or for a particular set of conditions. This paper discusses the potential for using one of these classes of data, land snails, in environmental reconstruction.
Meteor Radio Afterglows: HF and VHF Radio Emission from Meteor Trails

TPID5178169. These transient events, referred to as meteor radio afterglows (MRAs), last for 10s to 100s of seconds after the ablation of a meteor, and only occur for meteors or portions thereof above ∼ 90 km. Light curves typically follow a fast rise and slow decay, and the spectra have been shown to follow a steep frequency dependent power law, getting brighter at lower frequencies. This discovery and further followup studies were made possible by advancements in many element HF/VHF radio telescopes, specifically the all-sky imaging capabilities of the LWA telescopes. In this paper we summarize the past and ongoing research on this new topic.
POP-UP: University and Community Collaborations Towards Addressing Youth Substance Misuse

This presentation shares the process and findings of a funded interdisciplinary project involving researchers engaging in the difficult integrative dialogues to incorporate findings from diverse areas of research and practice. This interdisciplinary project, part of the Pop-Up Institute initiative at UT Austin, brought together researchers, community partners, peers, and students for one year to foster the kind of collaborative deconstruction of silos that is essential to the progression of the addiction recovery field. Results, lessons learned, and future directions gleaned from the Pop-Up Institute's year of activities will be discussed during this presentation.