cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Clinician’s Responsibility for Helping to Improve the Treatment of Tomorrow’s Patients

In addition to using his or her knowledge and skills for treating today's patient, the clinician has a responsibility to strengthen medical knowledge and upgrade the quality of care that will be av...
Nonlinear duration dependence in stock market cycles

Abstract We reexamine duration dependence in stock market cycles using a generalized Weibull model. Recent empirical work by Cochran and DeFina [Cochran, S. J., & DeFina, R. H. (1995). Duration dependence in the U.S. stock market cycle: A parametric approach. Applied Financial Economics, 5, 309–318.], who use a chronology of stock market cycles to estimate a Weibull hazard model, shows duration dependence in stock prices. They find evidence of duration dependence in prewar market expansions and postwar market contractions. We update their postwar sample, then use a more flexible model that finds evidence of duration dependence for all prewar and postwar samples. The generalized Weibull model is shown to be statistically superior to the conventional Weibull model for all samples except prewar expansions.
Teaching project management using Excel

In this paper, we present an application of Excel spreadsheets in teaching the traditional Program Evaluation and Review Technique/Critical Path Method. This spreadsheet approach can be used in class with little cost in time or effort because it eliminates the need for tedious calculations and extensive algebraic manipulations, yet the students can understand and apply the algorithm without the black-box features that characterise most of the commercial project management software. To maintain a direct relationship with the traditional method, the spreadsheet uses the same familiar forward and backward operations required in the traditional manual calculations to find the critical path. Similar spreadsheet models are combined with the Solver in Excel to perform cost analysis by linear programming.
Physical design of a custom 16-bit microprocessor

The physical chip design aspects of a 16-bit, single-chip, custom-macro-designed microprocessor are described. This microprocessor represents the IBM System Products Division's highest-density VLSI FET processor design to date. The chip is a complex arrangement of over 6500 VLSI circuits utilizing a state-of-the-art polysilicon-gate HMOs-I (high-performance MOS) technology. The physical design of this chip required the use of a comprehensive methodology, from conception through completion. The methodology used in the design of the microprocessor was based on a hierarchical approach and is presented in this paper.
Towards efficient on-chip sensor interconnect architecture for multi-core processors

With increasing number of cores in a SoC, the number of on-chip sensors to monitor temperature, voltage and soft errors is growing. Several researchers have suggested that even in multi-core/many-core era, the power and voltage management would still remain centralized. This necessitates an efficient channel to communicate sensor data towards the central control unhindered by the application data traffic or contending with it. Here, we propose an efficient fault tolerant tree based dedicated network to transmit the sensor data. Further, with the proposed architecture, router design becomes much simpler. Fault tolerance has been provided and synthesis results show that such fault tolerance is achieved at a very low area overhead ranging from 2.9% to 14.9% of the router area for the range of network parameters considered in this paper.
Phylogenetic trait conservation in the partner choice of a group of ectomycorrhizal trees

Ecological interactions are frequently conserved across evolutionary time. In the case of mutualisms, these conserved interactions may play a large role in structuring mutualist communities. We hypothesized that phylogenetic trait conservation could play a key role in determining patterns of association in the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis, a globally important trophic mutualism. We used the association between members of the pantropical plant tribe Pisonieae and its fungal mutualist partners as a model system to test the prediction that Pisonieae-associating ectomycorrhizal fungi will be more closely related than expected by chance, reflecting a conserved trait. We tested this prediction using previously published and newly generated sequences in a Bayesian framework incorporating phylogenetic uncertainty. We report that phylogenetic trait conservation does exist in this association. We generated a five-marker phylogeny of members of the Pisonieae and used this phylogeny in a Bayesian relaxed molecular clock analysis. We established that the most recent common ancestors of Pisonieae species and Pisonieae-associating fungi sharing phylogenetic conservation of their patterns of ectomycorrhizal association occurred no more recently than 14.2 Ma. We therefore suggest that phylogenetic trait conservation in the Pisonieae ectomycorrhizal mutualism association represents an inherited syndrome which has existed for at least 14 Myr.
Collapse Behavior of Steel Special Moment Resisting Frame Connections

There is a common perception that seismic detailing can improve the collapse resistance of steel frame buildings. However, the effect on connection performance of the potentially large catenary, i.e., tensile, forces that can develop during collapse has not yet been adequately studied. The objective of this paper is to use computational structural simulation to investigate a number of key design variables that influence formation of catenary action in steel special moment resisting frame subassemblages. The numerical model used in the study employs a calibrated micromechanical fracture model and is validated using existing test data. The simulation results demonstrate the ductility of seismically designed special moment frame connections and their ability to deform in catenary mode. It is shown that connection ductility and strength are adversely influenced by an increase in beam depth and an increase in the yield to ultimate strength ratio and that the beam web-to-column detail plays an influential role in connection response. A number of conclusions with practical implications are drawn from the numerical results.
Special Article Personal Wearable Technologies in Education: Value or Villain?.

AbstractWearable personal learning technologies can gather data from the person wearing the device or from the surrounding environment and enable that data to be transferred to another device or shared via the cloud. Wearable technologies can serve as a valuable asset in the classroom enhancing differentiation of instruction and student engagement. They also can assist students with a variety of physical limitations. Data collection from these wearable personalized learning technologies enables the building of student profiles—leading to a “quantified” self for assessment and instruction. However, the proliferation of wearable devices may also increase concerns about privacy and security of data, dependence on outside vendors for storage and analysis of big data, and access by students of all socioeconomic levels. Addressing these issues in the teacher education curricula suggests added emphasis on affordances for instruction, digital citizenship, and a code of ethics related to data use. Classroom applic...
Adolescent boys' experiences of first sex

There are limited contextual data regarding first sexual experiences of younger adolescent men. Yet these data that are needed to inform sexually-transmitted-infection and early-fatherhood-prevention efforts, particularly in lower-income communities. Using qualitative methods, 14 adolescent men (ages 14-16, all low-income, most African American) from a mid-sized US city were asked about relationships and sexual experiences in a one-hour face-to-face semi-structured interview, with two follow-up interviews at six- to nine-month intervals. Story-telling was encouraged. Descriptions of first sex were identified and then analysed for narrative structure and shared concepts. The dominant narrative of first sex proceeded through three steps: (1) preparation, which involved identification of a sexualised space, mentoring and pre-planning, (2) the event, which involved looking for cues indicating sexual interest and consent from a female partner, feelings of fear/nervousness and first sex itself and (3) afterwards, which involved a return to prior activities, minimal verbal exchange and a general positive feeling, sometimes accompanied by later disappointment. Mentorship, initiation by the female and idealising sex as a romantic experience, played important roles in constructing the context of first sex. These factors should be incorporated in harm-reduction interventions for young men in similar contexts.
Variation of the Heat Flux Between a Slider and the Air Bearing when the Slider Flies Over an Asperity

A quasi steady heat transfer model is introduced to study the mechanism of the variation of the heat flux between a slider and air bearing when the slider flies over an asperity without contact. The simulation results show that the heat flux is related to the air bearing spacing. When a slider flies over an asperity, its flying height fluctuates, which causes the air bearing spacing to fluctuate, and this in turn causes the heat flux between the slider and the air bearing to fluctuate. Corresponding to a decrease of the flying height, the heat flux out of the slider increases and vice versa. The variation of the heat flux causes a variation of the temperature of the Magnetoresistive (MR) transducer, and therefore a variation of the amplitude of the read-back signal.
A model-based approach to integrating security policies for embedded devices

Embedded devices like smartcards can now run multiple interacting applications. A particular challenge in this domain is to dynamically integrate diverse security policies. In this paper we show how a framework based on a concise formal model lets us securely customize a payment card equipped with a programmable chip. We present policy automata, a formal model of computations that grant or deny access to a resource. This model combines defeasible logic with state machines, representing complex policies as combinations of simpler modular policies. We use the model in a framework for specifying, merging and analyzing modular policies. This framework is implemented as Polaris, a tool which analyzes policy automata to reveal potential conflicts or redundancies, and compiles automata into Java Card applets.
White matter tractography using diffusion tensor deflection.

Diffusion tensor MRI provides unique directional diffusion information that can be used to estimate the patterns of white matter connectivity in the human brain. In this study, the behavior of an algorithm for white matter tractography is examined. The algorithm, called TEND, uses the entire diffusion tensor to deflect the estimated fiber trajectory. Simulations and imaging experiments on in vivo human brains were performed to investigate the behavior of the tractography algorithm. The simulations show that the deflection term is less sensitive than the major eigenvector to image noise. In the human brain imaging experiments, estimated tracts were generated in corpus callosum, corticospinal tract, internal capsule, corona radiata, superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, fronto-occipital fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus. This approach is promising for mapping the organizational patterns of white matter in the human brain as well as mapping the relationship between major fiber trajectories and the location and extent of brain lesions. Hum. Brain Mapping 18:306 -321, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Heterocyclic Compounds That Inhibit Rev-RRE Function and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication

A cell-based screening assay was performed to identify compounds that inhibited the postintegration stage of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) life cycle. This assay utilized a cell line that contains the HIV gag and pol genes expressed in a Rev-dependent fashion. The cell line produces about 10 to 15 ng of p24 per milliliter of medium over a 24-h period in the form of viruslike particles. Any compound that inhibits a postintegration step in the HIV life cycle scores in this assay by decreasing particle production. Forty thousand compounds were screened, and 192 compounds were selected from the original screen because they showed more than 50% inhibition at a 10 μM concentration. The cumulative evidence presented in this study strongly suggests that 2 of the 192 compounds work as inhibitors of HIV Rev function. This was determined by a variety of cell-based assays, although the compounds do not interfere with Rev-RRE (Rev response element) binding in vitro. Both compounds inhibit replication of the lab isolate NL4-3 as well as an HIV primary isolate from Brazil (93BR021) and thus are promising leads as therapeutic candidates that target HIV replication through inhibition of Rev function.
Modelling thermal diffusion of scanned and focused laser power on direct overwrite magneto-optical disk

A simple analytical model with three fitting parameters could simulate the thermal diffusion of scanned and focused laser power on a direct overwrite (DOW) magneto-optical (MO) disk. Three different experiments on the disk give the three fitting parameter values. The thin film structure of the DOW-MO disk has no aluminum layer which current MO disks have, so that the total thermal diffusivity of DOW-MO disks is less than that of the current MO disk. However, the thermal response functions of DOW-MO disks and the current MO disk are not greatly different. Accordingly, as well as the current MO disk, the DOW-MO disk is suitable for high data density recording using the technique of thermal interference uniforming (TIU) to make uniform mark edge shifts. Without TIU, the shifts of edges would depend on the pattern of recorded data.
Charged) lepton flavor violation

In light of the discovery of neutrino oscillations, charged-lepton flavor violating (CLFV) processes (like μ → e γ and μ → e -conversion in nuclei) are guaranteed to occur. The rates for such processes, however, depend dramatically on the mechanism behind neutrino masses and on whether there are new degrees of freedom, beyond those of the standard model, at the TeV scale. After discussing CLFV in a model independent way, I briefly explore its connection with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), neutrino masses, leptogenesis and the current unexpected results regarding the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. CLFV observables provide an excellent diagnostics tool for the new physics that may be discovered at the LHC and may prove to be among the ultimate probes of physics beyond the TeV scale.
Rapid 3D printing of anatomically accurate and mechanically heterogeneous aortic valve hydrogel scaffolds

The aortic valve exhibits complex three-dimensional (3D) anatomy and heterogeneity essential for the long-term efficient biomechanical function. These are, however, challenging to mimic in de novo engineered living tissue valve strategies. We present a novel simultaneous 3D printing/photocrosslinking technique for rapidly engineering complex, heterogeneous aortic valve scaffolds. Native anatomic and axisymmetric aortic valve geometries (root wall and tri-leaflets) with 12-22 mm inner diameters (ID) were 3D printed with poly-ethylene glycol-diacrylate (PEG-DA) hydrogels (700 or 8000 MW) supplemented with alginate. 3D printing geometric accuracy was quantified and compared using Micro-CT. Porcine aortic valve interstitial cells (PAVIC) seeded scaffolds were cultured for up to 21 days. Results showed that blended PEG-DA scaffolds could achieve over tenfold range in elastic modulus (5.3±0.9 to 74.6±1.5 kPa). 3D printing times for valve conduits with mechanically contrasting hydrogels were optimized to 14 to 45 min, increasing linearly with conduit diameter. Larger printed valves had greater shape fidelity (93.3±2.6, 85.1±2.0 and 73.3±5.2% for 22, 17 and 12 mm ID porcine valves; 89.1±4.0, 84.1±5.6 and 66.6±5.2% for simplified valves). PAVIC seeded scaffolds maintained near 100% viability over 21 days. These results demonstrate that 3D hydrogel printing with controlled photocrosslinking can rapidly fabricate anatomical heterogeneous valve conduits that support cell engraftment.
Alethopteris ambigua Lesquereux, a Pennsylvanian pteridosperm from Missouri, U.S.A.

Transfers and macerations of Alethopteris ambigua Lesquereux reveal it as axeromorphio plant. The papillose lower epidermis of each pinnule is sheltered by incurved pinnule margins, a bladelike extension of the midvein and by marginal hairs. Preservation is such that cellular outlines are discernible on all but the cuticles of the lower epidermis.
Lower Social Class Does Not (Always) Mean Greater Interdependence Women in Poverty Have Fewer Social Resources Than Working-Class Women

Social resources (i.e., number and nature of relationships with family and friends) are an important, yet largely unrecognized, feature of the sociocultural contexts of social class that influence psychological functioning. To assess the nature and content of social resources, we conducted semistructured interviews with American women living in poverty (n = 21) and working-class (n = 31) contexts. In contrast to previous research, which demonstrates that lower social class contexts foster greater social connection and interdependence than middleclass or upper-class contexts, this study revealed that poverty constitutes a clear cutoff point at which reduced material resources no longer predict higher levels of social connection, but instead social isolation. Our interview data revealed that women in poverty had fewer connections to family and friends, experienced greater difficulty with trust, and reported more challenges involving relationships compared with working-class women. These findings extend psychological theories regarding how social class shapes psychological functioning and have important implications for understanding the maintenance and reproduction of poverty.
The NPMLE for doubly censored current status data

In biostatistical applications interest often focuses on the estimation of the distribution of time T between two consecutive events. If the initial event time is observed and the subsequent event time is only known to be larger or smaller than an observed point in time, then the data is described by the well understood singly censored current status model, also known as interval censored data, case L. Jewell et aL (1994) extended this current status model by allowing the initial time to be unobserved, but with its distribution over an observed interval (A, B) known to be uniformly distributed; the data is referred to as doubly censored current status data. These authors used this model to handle application in AIDS partner studies focusing on the NPMLE of the distribution G of T. The model is a submodel of the current status model, but the distribution G is essentially the derivative of the distribution of interest F in the current status model. In this paper we establish that the NPMLE of G is uniformly consistent and that the resulting estimators for the n112-estimable parameters are efficient. We propose an iterative weighted pool-adjacent-violator-algorithm to compute the estimator. It is also shown that, without smoothness assumptions, the NPMLE of F converges at rate n-215 in L2-norm while the NPMLE of F in the non-parametric current status data model converges at rate n-1/3 in L2-norm, which shows that there is a substantial gain in using the submodel information.
Drawing Children Into Reading: a qualitative case study of a preschool drawing curriculum

This article details a qualitative case study of 24 preschool children engaged with step-by-step drawing instruction provided by five educators as they developed their fine motor skills and drew detailed objects using the Drawing Children Into Reading curriculum (Halperin, W. A. (2011a). Project 50 preschool manual. South Haven, MI: Drawing Children Into Reading. Retrieved from www.drawingchildrenintoreading.com). Although teachers and families reported observing improvement in handwriting and pencil grips, step-by-step drawing instruction was not necessarily the catalyst for such improvement. The author discusses the implications for early childhood educators and provides strategies for handwriting instruction to support students’ overall writing development. Handwriting instruction for early elementary students is a necessity because it impacts students’ reading and writing development. Teachers should begin with drawing lessons that lead to handwriting instruction, which must include explicit teaching ...
The Rugged Individualist Club

This paper explores the impacts of the dominant Hobbesian ontol ogy and the Protestant ethic on individual experience within the United States, connecting the ideas of "disaster capitalism" and the "myth of the Individual" to explore the ways in which individual citizens are isolated, alienated, and subjugated. The paper identifies forms of isolation experienced by individuals in public administra tion, anti-poverty policies, and popular methods of citizen participa tion. Playing off the notion of "hollow government," the paper argues that the Hobbesian ontology of fear and othering, along with Lockean Individualism, creates "hollow Individuals" by negating opportunities for interpersonal exchange of ideas. The paper sug gests that the field of public administration can begin to counteract the paradox of Individualism, in part, by following Stivers' (1994) model of the "listening bureaucrat." It's about race, of course. It's about class, of course. It's about apa thy, of course. It's about a lack of education, of course. It's about bureaucracy and how we do our jobs, and we don't have a concern for people that we would show individually .... You see, we, just in our everyday dealings with each other, we don't show a certain type of humanity and feeling. And dealing with poor people, it's worse.
Discussion: Computer Models and Simulation

[5] McCRACKEN, D. D., A Guide to Fortran Programming, New York, John Wiley and Sons. [6] IBM, General Information Manual FORTRAN, International Business Machines Corporation, 1961. [7] HARL, NEIL E., unpublished research, Iowa State University, 1964. [8] CnoMt, RICHARD J., "Computer Models of Price and Output Determination in the Livestock-Meat Economy," unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Iowa State University. [9] GLICKSTEIN, BABB, FRENCH, AND GREENE, Simulation Procedures for Production Control in an Indiana Cheese Plant, Purdue Agr. Expt. Sta. Res. Bul. 757. [10] MAKI, W1. R., J. R. BARNARD, AND R. E. SUTTOR, "Recursive Economic Systems in Rural-Urban Development," J. Farm Econ., Vol. 46, 1964, pp. 466-474. [11] COHEN, K. J., Computer Models of the Shoe, Leather, Hide Sequence, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1960. [12] SHUBIK, MARTIN, "Simulation of the Industry and the Firm," Am. Econ. Rev., Vol. 50, 1960, pp. 908-920. [13] CYERT AND MARCH, A Behaviorial Theory of the Firm, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1963. DEAN E. MCKEE
Cryopreserved Dermis is an Ideal Substrate for the Engraftment and Maturation of Human Epidermal Keratinocyte Cultures

The ideal replacement for skin damaged by full-thickness injury is the split-thickness autograft. In extensive burns, use of autograft is limited by the availability of uninjured donor skin. This limitation can be overcome by grafting viable cryopreserved cadaveric skin following escharectomy. To preclude immunologic rejection of the allograft, the epidermis is later removed by abrasion and replaced with autologous keratinocyte cultures. The cultures rapidly stratify and within 7 days form a differentiated epidermis of normal thickness. Over several weeks the basement membrane zone reconstitutes normally by several criteria including the presence of a lamina densa and of anchoring fibrils and immunohistochemical demonstration of type IV collagen and laminin. Melanocytes, which are present in small numbers in the keratinocyte cultures. assume their normal position and function in the epidermis of the composite graft. Langerhans cells migrate into the autologous cultured keratinocyte graft. Autologous keratinocytes can be greatly expanded in cell culture and used as grafts to resurface large areas. The functional quality of such grafts however is dependent on the ability of the dermal substrate to support the permanent engraftment of keratinocyte cultures through reconstitution of a normal basement membrane zone.
Update on recent guidelines for the management of urinary tract infections in children: the shifting paradigm.

Purpose of review Recent guidelines on the management of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children have seen a shift from aggressive imaging studies and the use of prophylactic antibiotics to a more restrictive and targeted approach. This review focuses on new additions to the literature on management of UTI from January 2011 to September 2012.
REMEMBRANCES OF THINGS PAST

The author relates an unlikely journey from his rural village in India, through medical school, a prestigious fellowship with Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, and a colourful career in the United Kingdom and the U.S.A., as a clinician and researcher, particularly in the area of vascular disease of the eye and optic nerve.
Argos: An Open Source Application For Building Multi- Touch Musical Interfaces

Argos is a multi-touch graphical user interface builder aimed at applications in musical performance and sound synthesis. The interface builder lets users construct interfaces through a library of existing widgets (e.g. knobs, sliders, buttons), while providing access to an extensible, open-source toolkit for developing new widgets. Argos was designed with platform-independence in mind, enabling it to run on major operating systems in conjunction with many DIY and commercial multi-touch devices.
One-Pot Synthesis of 1,3-Bis(phosphinomethyl)arene PCP/PNP Pincer Ligands and Their Nickel Complexes

A one-pot synthesis of arene-based PCP/PNP ligands has been developed. The reaction of 1,3-bis(bromomethyl)benzene or 2,6-bis(bromomethyl)pyridine with various chlorophosphines in acetonitrile afforded bis-phosphonium salts. These salts can then be reduced by magnesium powder to yield PCP or PNP ligands. In comparison to traditional synthetic methods for making PCP/PNP ligands involving the use of secondary phosphines, this new alternative method allows for the use of chlorophosphines, which are cheaper, safer to handle, and have a broader range of commercially available derivatives. This is especially true for the chlorophosphines with less bulky alkyl groups. Moreover, the one-pot procedure can be extended to allow for the direct synthesis of PCP/PNP nickel complexes. By using nickel powder as the reductant, the resulting nickel halide was found to directly undergo metalation with the PCP or PNP ligand to generate nickel complexes in high yields.
Thalamic Syndrome and Measles Infection

Four young children who presented with acute thalamic syndrome within a few days after onset of measles infection are reported from the University of Catania, Italy.
Lift-off for SIRTF mission

This month sees the launch of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the fourth and final mission in NASA's Great Observatories programme. Following on from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, SIRTF will be the largest infrared telescope ever launched. Its 85cm telescope, together with three cryogenically cooled imaging and spectroscopy instruments, will give astronomers an unprecedented view of the universe at wavelengths between 3 and 180?m.
The Significance of Transportation Rate Policies in the Marketing Problem

The significance of transportation rate policies in the farmer's problem of marketing his products has usually been thought of in terms of the amounts paid for transportation as compared with the amounts paid by the consumer for the product or the amounts received by farmers for it. Considered without analysis of the relationship of the particular area to other areas producing the same products, and of the shares of the various products in paying the whole necessary cost of maintaining the carriers, this sort of consideration has relatively little meaning. The spending of a larger proportion of the gross return as freight charges simply means that it is cheaper to reach out farther and haul the products a longer distance than it is to produce more of the product by more intensive applications of labor and capital in the near-by areas. Because of this, we could expect, as our productive operations became more highly specialized, a somewhat higher proportion of the gross return to be spent for freight charges (assuming no change in the efficiency of carriers). The total amounts going to carriers as related to their total expenses and the relative portions of these amounts assessed against given farm products as compared to those charged on other commodities do present some complex problems of distribution of wealth, and incidence of charges too lengthy to enter into in the short space of this paper. The relationship between price of the product and the payment for transportation does, however, have one important bearing on marketing problems which should be mentioned, though it cannot be developed. Since transportation charges are relatively stable as compared to commodity prices, these, like other semi-fixed charges, are a larger percentage of low prices than of high prices, and the larger the gross charges of this type, the larger will be the percentage fluctuations in the net price to the farmer with given changes in the prices at the central markets. Because of this, those areas which require a large freight charge to reach their markets are subject to larger percentage variations in the prices paid to farmers, a fact which complicates the marketing and farm management
CNS Tumors in Neurofibromatosis

Neurofibromatosis (NF) encompasses a group of distinct genetic disorders in which affected children and adults are prone to the development of benign and malignant tumors of the nervous system. The purpose of this review is to discuss the spectrum of CNS tumors arising in individuals with NF type 1 (NF1) and NF type 2 (NF2), their pathogenic etiologies, and the rational treatment options for people with these neoplasms. This article is a review of preclinical and clinical data focused on the treatment of the most common CNS tumors encountered in children and adults with NF1 and NF2. Although children with NF1 are at risk for developing low-grade gliomas of the optic pathway and brainstem, individuals with NF2 typically manifest low-grade tumors affecting the cranial nerves (vestibular schwannomas), meninges (meningiomas), and spinal cord (ependymomas). With the identification of the NF1 and NF2 genes, molecularly targeted therapies are beginning to emerge, as a result of a deeper understanding of the mech...
Elves Accompanying Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes

This paper reports a modeling study of the optical phenomenon in the lower ionosphere known as elves that may accompany terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs). Recent research has indicated that the in-cloud (IC) discharge processes, termed energetic in-cloud pulses (EIPs), associated with some TGFs can produce a current moment waveform with a peak of hundreds of kA km and a duration of 10 μs. Simulations using the source current moment waveform associated with a Fermi TGF indicate that the radiated electric field at ionospheric altitudes reaches a few times the threshold electric field to excite the optical emissions. A bright elve is therefore induced, with the intensity reaching tens of Megarayleigh, comparable to the brightest elves caused by cloud-to-ground lightning. Because of the strong electromagnetic field radiated, significant blue emissions from the second positive band system of N2 and the first negative band system of N 2+ are excited, besides the dominant red emissions from the first positive band system of N2. The elves caused by EIPs with durations of ∼10 μs are elve doublets. For EIPs of longer durations, for example, 30–40 μs, elve multiplets greater than two can be produced. We conclude that elves can be produced by an IC lightning process previously unconnected to elves and that at least some TGFs should have accompanying optical signatures in the lower ionosphere. In addition, TGFs of short durations are more likely to have accompanying elves, because their source currents vary more rapidly.
ATP-dependent K+ channel activation reduces loss of opioid dilation after brain injury

ATP-dependent K+(KATP) channel function is impaired after fluid percussion brain injury (FPI). Additionally, the nitric oxide (NO) releaser sodium nitroprusside and a cGMP analog elicit pial dilati...
Philanthropy for Military and Veteran Families: Challenges Past, Recommendations for Tomorrow

More than any other generation, the current one aims to support military members, veterans, and their families (Copeland and Sutherland, Sea of goodwill: Matching the donor to the need, 2010). The purpose of this chapter is to describe philanthropic efforts that emerged after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in support of service members, veterans, and their families. It first describes philanthropy’s background, giving historical context on engagement with military families, and explains key events that helped to shape the post-9/11 response. Drawing on the expertise of leaders in the field, the chapter then details military and veteran families’ needs and analyzes the philanthropic response, giving examples of efforts that succeeded as well, those that were less effective. After discussing gaps that remain, the chapter concludes with recommendations for future philanthropic leaders to consider when faced with responding to military and veteran family needs during an era of deployment, conflict, and combat.
Intramembranal disulfide cross-linking elucidates the super-quaternary structure of mammalian CatSpers

CatSper is a voltage-dependent calcium channel located in the plasma membrane of the sperm flagellum and is responsible for triggering hyperactive motility. A homology model for the transmembrane region was built in which the arrangement of the subunits around the pseudo-four-fold symmetry axis was deduced by the pairing of conserved transmembranal cysteines across mammals. Directly emergent of the predicted quaternary structure is an architecture in which tetramers polymerize through additional, highly conserved cysteines, creating one or more double-rows channels extending the length of the principal piece of the mammalian sperm tail. The few species that are missing these cysteines are eusocial or otherwise monogamous, suggesting that sperm competition is selective for a disulfide-crosslinked macromolecular architecture. The model suggests testable hypotheses for how CatSper channel opening might behave in response to pH, 2-arachidonoylglycerol, and mechanical force. A flippase function is hypothesized, and a source of the concomitant disulfide isomerase activity is found in CatSper-associated proteins β, δ and e.
Associations between measures of health-related physical fitness and cardiometabolic risk factors in college students.

Objective: To determine the influence of health-related fitness on cardiometabolic risk factors in college students. Participants: 75 traditional students (33 men and 42 women, 21.8±1.8 years old) ...
Reducing communication in parallel graph search algorithms with software caches

In many scientific and computational domains, graphs are used to represent and analyze data. Such graphs often exhibit the characteristics of small-world networks: few high-degree vertexes connect many low-degree vertexes. Despite the randomness in a graph search, it is possible to capitalize on the characteristics of small-world networks and cache relevant information of high-degree vertexes. We applied this idea by caching remote vertex ids in a parallel breadth-first search benchmark. Our experiment with different implementations demonstrated significant performance improvements over the reference implementation in several configurations, using 64 to 1024 cores. We proposed a system design in which resources are dedicated exclusively to caching and shared among a set of nodes. Our evaluation demonstrates that this design reduces communication and has the potential to improve performance on large-scale systems in which the communication cost increases significantly with the distance between nodes. We al...
The Diversity Intelligent Servant Leader: Developing Leaders to Meet the Needs of a Diverse Workforce:

The ProblemThe ability of organizations to realize diversity remains problematic. To meet the needs of the modern workforce, new diversity and leadership approaches are required.The SolutionDiversi...
Agriculture and Climate Change in the Southeast USA

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Wendy-Lin Bartels (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Kenneth J. Boote (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Norman E. Breuer (University of Miami and University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Davide Cammarano (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Christine C. Fortuin (Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Washington, DC) Clyde W. Fraisse (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Carrie A. Furman (University of Georgia, Griffin, Georgia) Gerrit Hoogenboom (Washington State University, Prosser, Washington) Keith T. Ingram (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) James W. Jones (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) David Letson (University of Miami, Miami, Florida) Brenda V. Ortiz (Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama) Mark Risse (University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia) Fredrick Royce (University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida) Scott D. Shuford (City of Fayetteville, Fayetteville, NC) Daniel Solis (University of Miami, Miami, Florida)
Topology Preservation in Fuzzy Self-Organizing Maps

One of the important properties of SOM is its topology preservation of the input data. The topographic error is one of the techniques proposed to measure how well the continuity of the map is preserved. However, this topographic error is only applicable to the crisp SOM algorithms and cannot be adapted to the fuzzy SOM (FSOM) since FSOM does not assign a unique winning neuron to the input patterns. In this paper, we propose a new technique to measure the topology preservation of the FSOM algorithms. The new measure relies on the distribution of the membership values on the map. A low topographic error is achieved when neighboring neurons share similar or same membership values to a given input pattern.
Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The impact of symptoms characterizing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder on communication is highlighted in this chapter. The chapter emphasizes the potential co-occurrence of an undiagnosed language deficit or a co-occurring communication disorder that complicates both the assessment and intervention process. ADHD is defined, highlighting the criteria for diagnosis as well as the prevalence, possible causes, and cultural differences seen in ADHD.
Donald Turner’s Merger Guidelines as an Antitrust Watershed

The idea of agency-issued guidelines as an effective enforcement tool was novel indeed when Professor Donald F. Turner unveiled it as a priority upon being nominated to be head the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division in 1965. This chapter reviews how Turner and we who were on his team worked to create the Merger Guidelines that were issued on his last day in office in May 1968. It also discusses how Turner’s novel merger guidelines idea has since been widely used in United States and globally.
Midodrine as an Adjuvant to Intravenous Vasopressor Agents in Adults With Resolving Shock: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose:To evaluate the effects of midodrine in addition to intravenous vasopressor therapy on outcomes in adults recovering from shock.Materials and Methods:PubMed, Scopus, Clinicaltrials.gov, and...
Solvent-free synthesis of crystalline ZSM-5 zeolite: Investigation of mechanochemical pre-reaction impact on growth of thermally stable zeolite structures

Abstract In this study, we investigate the synthetic tunability of a solvent-free synthesis of crystalline ZSM-5 zeolite. Conventional zeolite syntheses use hydrothermal reactions to facilitate reagent dissolution and atomic level mixing that lead to zeolite crystallization at moderate temperatures near 200 °C. In solvent-free reactions, a reagent mixing step is very important to a successful synthesis of homogeneous and structurally stable zeolites. Key to synthetic success in our ZSM-5 zeolite syntheses is utilization of extended grinding that facilitates identifiable chemical exchange reactions prior to thermal processing. This mechanochemical pre-reaction step allows several key energy intensive or costly synthetic variables to be reduced and still yield thermally stable ZSM-5 products. A grinding induced exchange reaction yields a strongly basic ammonia environment as paste formed by reagents and released waters of hydration. This locally basic environment likely contributes to formation and assembly of tetrahedral structure building components (MO4 where M = Si, Al) that assemble into extended zeolite pore structures around the amine template. Specific synthetic conditions examined here for their influence on stable crystalline ZSM-5 growth include variation in reaction temperature (120–180 °C), reaction time (4–22 h) and amount of organic template (0–15 wt%). With the appropriate mechanochemical pre-reaction chemistry and reagent intimate mixing, crystalline and thermally robust ZSM-5 is formed at temperatures as low as 160 °C in 10 h with as little as 5 wt% organic template. The as-formed zeolite shows high relative crystallinity and is structurally stable during higher temperature 550 °C air calcination to remove the organic template from the internal pores and yields zeolites with surface areas near 300 m2/g. The decrease in organoamine template content is noteworthy as it is an expensive non-recyclable molecular template and lower template use appears to increase zeolite crystallite size. The synthesized ZSM-5 materials shows expected catalytic activity in biomass conversion of cellulose and glucose into hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Glucose showed higher catalytic degradation (biomass conversion 72–79% with 33–42% yield of HMF) than the cellulose (biomass conversion 55–58% with 33–38% yield of HMF).
Vicious Cycle of Multiple Invasive Treatments in a Hemophilic Inhibitor Positive Child with Resistant Knee Flexion Contracture, A Case Report

Uncontrolled recurrent hemarthrosis can end to contracture, deformity, pain, joint destruction and gait disorders which are disabling. We are going to report a challenge, a unilateral knee flexion contracture in a child with severe hemophilia A and inhibitor who underwent different treatment options with unsatisfactory improvement of knee range of motion. Mismanaging postoperatively, patient and parents irresponsibility in managing self-care, lack of access and affordability to treatment and unavailability of proper treatment can be the reasons of recurrence in addition to the tough nature of a patient with inhibitor.
“Whatever I Can Imagine, We Did It”: Home-Based Parental Involvement Among Low-Income African-American Mothers With Preschoolers Enrolled in Head Start

Researchers are increasingly focusing on the home-based parental involvement experiences of low-income, African American families with young children. These studies document the positive ways that ...
An adaptive test for meta‐analysis of rare variant association studies

Single genome-wide studies may be underpowered to detect trait-associated rare variants with moderate or weak effect sizes. As a viable alternative, meta-analysis is widely used to increase power by combining different studies. The power of meta-analysis critically depends on the underlying association patterns and heterogeneity levels, which are unknown and vary from locus to locus. However, existing methods mainly focus on one or only a few combinations of the association pattern and heterogeneity level, thus may lose power in many situations. To address this issue, we propose a general and unified framework by combining a class of tests including and beyond some existing ones, leading to high power across a wide range of scenarios. We demonstrate that the proposed test is more powerful than some existing methods in simulation studies, then show their performance with the NHLBI Exome-Sequencing Project (ESP) data. One gene (B4GALNT2) was found by our proposed test, but not by others, to be statistically significantly associated with plasma triglyceride. The signal was driven by African-ancestry subjects but it was previously reported to be associated with coronary artery disease among European-ancestry subjects. We implemented our method in an R package aSPUmeta, publicly available at https://github.com/ytzhong/metaRV and will be on CRAN soon.
A population analysis of the bonding in N2O4, B2Cl4, B2F4, C2H4 and C3H4

Population matrices have been calculated from molecular orbital wave functions of N2O4, B2Cl4, and B2F4 in order to understand further the bonding in these molecules which are isoelectronic in valence electrons but different in structure. C2H4 and C3H4 have been included in this study as check cases.
Far-UVC light (222 nm) efficiently and safely inactivates airborne human coronaviruses

A direct approach to limit airborne viral transmissions is to inactivate them within a short time of their production. Germicidal ultraviolet light, typically at 254 nm, is effective in this context but, used directly, can be a health hazard to skin and eyes. By contrast, far-UVC light (207–222 nm) efficiently kills pathogens potentially without harm to exposed human tissues. We previously demonstrated that 222-nm far-UVC light efficiently kills airborne influenza virus and we extend those studies to explore far-UVC efficacy against airborne human coronaviruses alpha HCoV-229E and beta HCoV-OC43. Low doses of 1.7 and 1.2 mJ/cm2 inactivated 99.9% of aerosolized coronavirus 229E and OC43, respectively. As all human coronaviruses have similar genomic sizes, far-UVC light would be expected to show similar inactivation efficiency against other human coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. Based on the beta-HCoV-OC43 results, continuous far-UVC exposure in occupied public locations at the current regulatory exposure limit (~3 mJ/cm2/hour) would result in ~90% viral inactivation in ~8 minutes, 95% in ~11 minutes, 99% in ~16 minutes and 99.9% inactivation in ~25 minutes. Thus while staying within current regulatory dose limits, low-dose-rate far-UVC exposure can potentially safely provide a major reduction in the ambient level of airborne coronaviruses in occupied public locations.
Do Teacher Status, Gender, and Years of Teaching Experience Impact Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement?:

This study explored whether teacher status (full-time vs. substitute) and its interaction with teacher gender and length of work experience had an effect on the linear combination of teacher job sa...