cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Empirically Defined Framework for Designing Customer Feedback Systems

© 1999, ASQ It may seem obvious that companies should require a return on investments in customer feedback systems. Collecting and analyzing customer feedback costs time and money, but often the return or impact on the bottom line is not clear. This study discusses the customer feedback investment, and presents a framework for utilizing customer feedback to advance quality at various parts of an organization—consistent with the total quality management idea. The framework begins by identifying goals and objectives for customer feedback systems, which lead to issues of instrument design, feedback solicitation methods, and data analysis and use. Within the framework, illustrations are presented from an extensive field study of feedback instruments in actual use. This study is intended to serve as a reference to managers and students of management interested in developing customer feedback systems that make a definite contribution to quality management efforts.
Influence of Dense Array EEG Cap on fMRI Signal

Dense-array (>64 channel) electroencephalography (EEG) systems are increasingly being used in simultaneous EEG–functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. However, with increasing channel count, dense-array EEG caps can induce more severe signal dropout in the MRI images than conventional systems due to the radiofrequency shielding effect of the denser wire bundle. This study investigates the influence of a 256-channel EEG cap on MRI image quality and detection sensitivity of blood oxygen level dependent fMRI signal. A theoretical model is first established to describe the impact of the EEG cap on anatomic signal, noise, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast-to-noise ratio of blood oxygen level dependent signal. Seven subjects were scanned to measure and compare the T2*-weighted image quality and fMRI detection sensitivity with and without the EEG cap using an auditory/visual/sensorimotor task. The results show that the dense-array EEG cap can substantially reduce the anatomic signal in the brain areas (visual cortex) near the conducting wires (average percent decrease ≈ 38%). However, the image signal-to-noise ratio with and without the EEG cap was comparable (percent decrease < 8%, not statistically significant), and there was no statistically significant difference in the extent of blood oxygen level dependent activation. This suggests that the ability to detect fMRI signal is nearly unaffected by dense-array EEG caps in simultaneous EEG–fMRI experiments. Magn Reson Med, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Overwhelming infection in a cancer patient caused by Arizona hinshawii: Its relation to snake pill ingestion

Infec t ion con t inues to be a f r equen t and of ten fatal c o m p l i c a t i o n in c ance r pa t ien t s . 1' 2 The causa t ive o rgan i sms have changed dur ing the past two decades as more effect ive an t ib io t ic t h e r a p y has b e c o m e avai lab le . Recent ly , a wide s p e c t r u m of unusua l o rgan i sms such as Corynebacterium spp., Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus spp., which are cons ide red nonpa thogenic, are caus ing d i s s emina t ed disease in these severe ly c o m p r o m i s e d pa t ien t s . Arizona hinshawii is a g r am-nega t i ve baci l lus tha t can p roduc e a wide s p e c t r u m of disease in humans . a-5 It is c o m m o n l y found as pa r t of the no r ma l flora in reptiles.6' 7 A pa t i en t w i th poor ly d i f fe ren t ia ted l y m p h o c y t i c l y m p h o m a , who was taking snake pills o ra l ly for t r e a t m e n t of his ma l ignancy , deve loped r e c u r r e n t overw h e l m i n g infec t ion and sep t i cemia due to A. hinshawii, which u l t i m a t e l y caused his dea th .
“I Don't Want to Hear That!”: Legitimating Whiteness through Silence in Schools

In this article, I examine the ways in which silences around race contribute to the maintenance and legitimation of Whiteness. Drawing on ethnographic data from two demographically different schools, I highlight patterns of racially coded language, teacher silence, silencing students’ race talk, and the conflating of culture with race, equality with equity, and difference with deficit. These silences and acts of silencing create and perpetuate an educational culture in which inequities are ignored, the status quo is maintained, and Whiteness is both protected and entrenched.[silence, Whiteness, race]
Synergistic self-assembly of scaffolds and building blocks for directed synthesis of organic nanomaterials

Surfactants and hydrophobic monomers spontaneously assemble into vesicles containing monomers within the bilayer. The joint action of monomers and surfactants is essential in this synergistic self-assembly. Polymerization in the bilayer formed hollow polymer nanocapsules.
Where Health Disparities Begin: The Role Of Social And Economic Determinants—And Why Current Policies May Make Matters Worse

Health disparities by racial or ethnic group or by income or education are only partly explained by disparities in medical care. Inadequate education and living conditions—ranging from low income to the unhealthy characteristics of neighborhoods and communities—can harm health through complex pathways. Meaningful progress in narrowing health disparities is unlikely without addressing these root causes. Policies on education, child care, jobs, community and economic revitalization, housing, transportation, and land use bear on these root causes and have implications for health and medical spending. A shortsighted political focus on reducing spending in these areas could actually increase medical costs by magnifying disease burden and widening health disparities.
Toward the design of robust interdomain routing protocols

The border gateway protocol, the interdomain routing protocol for the Internet, allows for a wide variety of routing policies that may interact in unintended and unstable ways. Recent work on BGP and related protocols has begun to incorporate formal protocol models, which have enabled rigorous descriptive analyses of BGP. More recently, such models have been used to give prescriptive guidelines for the design of new protocols. These guidelines include both sufficient conditions for good routing behavior and limitations on what can be achieved without coordination between routers. Here we review potential routing problems, various formal protocol models, and the design guidelines they have been used to prove.
A Note on the Distribution of Atmospherically Ducted Signal Power Near the Earth's Surface

Interference fields caused by low-level atmospheric ducts are of concern at UHF frequencies and above. This note develops a long-term median distribution of received signal power during ducting conditions from observations taken on a 175 km, 5 GHz path in New Jersey in 1966. A simple worst case estimate for the received signal power during ducting is also derived.
Topoisomerase II-Mediated Breaks in Spermatozoa Cause the Specific Degradation of Paternal DNA in Fertilized Oocytes

Abstract We have demonstrated that mouse spermatozoa can cleave their DNA into 50-kb fragments when treated with Triton X-100, MnCl2, and CaCl2. This cleavage, which is termed sperm chromatin fragmentation (SCF), is mediated by topoisomerase IIB (TOP2B) following stimulation by a factor in the epididymal fluid, most likely a nuclease, and can be at least partially religated by EDTA. When the protamines are removed, this DNA breakage is followed by digestion of the DNA by a nuclease(s). We tested whether the oocyte could repair TOP2B-induced sperm DNA breaks and whether partial religation by EDTA would allow spermatozoa to fertilize the oocytes normally. Oocytes injected with untreated spermatozoa developed normally. However, oocytes injected with spermatozoa treated with MnCl2 and CaCl2 to induce SCF, with or without subsequent EDTA treatment, failed to develop. In both of these treatment groups, the maternal pronuclei developed normally and replicated their DNA. However the paternal pronuclei did not rep...
Birth Talk in Second Stage Labor

In this secondary analysis of videotape data, we describe birth talk demonstrated by caregivers to women during the second stage of labor. Birth talk is a distinctive verbal register or a set of linguistic features that are used with particular behaviors during specific situations, has a particular communication purpose, and is characterized by distinctive language features. Birth talk is found cross-culturally among speakers of diverse languages. Our findings show that birth talk occurred mainly during contractions and co-occurred with two general styles of caregiving: "directed toward forced bearing down" and "supportive of physiologic bearing down." We also describe talk that occurred during rest periods, which was similar across the two styles. Caregivers' use of language tended to be either procedural (giving directions, instructions) or comfort related (encouraging and supporting). Linguistic features of the talk consisted of utterances of short duration, level pitch patterns with no sudden pitch shifts, and a restricted pitch range.
Coinfection Modulates Inflammatory Responses and Clinical Outcome of Helicobacter felis and Toxoplasma gondii Infections

The host immune response plays a critical role in determining disease manifestations of chronic infections. Inadequate immune response may fail to control infection, although in other cases the specific immune response may be the cause of tissue damage and disease. The majority of patients with chronic infections are infected by more than one organism yet the interaction between multiple active infections is not known, nor is the impact on disease outcome clear. Using the BALB/c strain of mice, we show that Toxoplasma gondii infection in a host infected with Helicobacter felis alters the natural outcome of T. gondii infection, allowing uncontrolled tachyzoite replication and severe organ damage. Survival rates decrease from 95% in T. gondii infection alone to 50% in dual-infected mice. In addition, infection with T. gondii alters the specific H. felis immune response, converting a previously resistant host to a susceptible phenotype. Gastric mucosal IFN-γ and IL-12 were significantly elevated and IL-10 substantially reduced in dual-infected mice. These changes were associated with severe gastric mucosal inflammation, parietal cell loss, atrophy, and metaplastic cell changes. These data demonstrate the profound interactions between the immune response to unrelated organisms, and suggest these types of interactions my impact clinical disease.
Environmental Contingency in Life History Strategies: The Influence of Mortality and Socioeconomic Status on Reproductive Timing

Why do some people have children early, whereas others delay reproduction? By considering the trade-offs between using one’s resources for reproduction versus other tasks, the evolutionary framework of life history theory predicts that reproductive timing should be influenced by mortality and resource scarcity. A series of experiments examined how mortality cues influenced the desire to have children sooner rather than later. The effects of mortality depended critically on whether people grew up in a relatively resource-scarce or resource-plentiful environment. For individuals growing up relatively poor, mortality cues produced a desire to reproduce sooner—to want children now, even at the cost of furthering one’s education or career. Conversely, for individuals growing up relatively wealthy, mortality cues produced a desire to delay reproduction—to further one’s education or career before starting a family. Overall, mortality cues appear to shift individuals into different life history strategies as a function of childhood socioeconomic status, suggesting important implications for how environmental factors can influence fertility and family size.
"Russian electrical stimulation": putting this perspective into perspective

Ever since the early introduction in the late 1970s of “Russian currents” to the vernacular of those who use electrotherapeutic modalities, the name Yakov Kots has surfaced as the primary person behind the development of and early experimental work in this area. His original work, however, never surfaced in a full-length, peer-reviewed format and was instead relegated to fragmented interpretations of early translations of his lectures delivered at Concordia University in 1977. On the following pages, we publish a manuscript by Ward and Shkuratova, who say that they (1) offer a more complete version of the work of Kots, including a review of the original work that was published in the Russian language, and (2) compare his work with more recent literature and perhaps, therefore, place that work in a different perspective. What is missing from the article, however, is the designation of Kots as an author, which would …
Economic Dependency and Gender Differences in Labor Force Sectoral Change in Non-Core Nations

This study examines two versions of how economic dependency has affected relative gender positioning in non-core nations' labor forces since the 1960s. A “new dependency” version asserts that multi...
Introducing Programming In The AIS Course: Creating And Coding An Expert System Using Visual Basic.NET

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a stand-alone, introductory tutorial exercise that can be used to give AIS students a very basic understanding of Visual Basic.NET. The tutorial demonstrates Visual Basic.NET in the context of developing a simple expert system to evaluate loans, thus giving the student exposure to expert systems concepts and design as well. This paper provides a discussion of the potential reasons for including an introduction to programming in the AIS course, gives more detail about the tutorial and provides guidance for its use in the classroom.
The Ames dwarf mutation attenuates Alzheimer's disease phenotype of APP/PS1 mice

APP/PS1 double transgenic mice expressing human mutant amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin-1 (PS1) demonstrate robust brain amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide containing plaque deposition, increased markers of oxidative stress, behavioral dysfunction, and proinflammatory gliosis. On the other hand, lack of growth hormone, prolactin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone due to a recessive mutation in the Prop 1 gene (Prop1df) in Ames dwarf mice results in a phenotype characterized by potentiated antioxidant mechanisms, improved learning and memory, and significantly increased longevity in homozygous mice. Based on this, we hypothesized that a similar hormone deficiency might attenuate disease changes in the brains of APP/PS1 mice. To test this idea, APP/PS1 mice were crossed to the Ames dwarf mouse line. APP/PS1, wild-type, df/+, df/df, df/+/APP/PS1, and df/df/APP/PS1 mice were compared at 6 months of age through behavioral testing and assessing amyloid burden, reactive gliosis, and brain cytokine levels. df/df mice demonstrated lower brain growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 concentrations. This correlated with decreased astrogliosis and microgliosis in the df/df/APP/PS1 mice and, surprisingly, reduced Aβ plaque deposition and Aβ 1-40 and Aβ 1-42 concentrations. The df/df/APP/PS1 mice also demonstrated significantly elevated brain levels of multiple cytokines in spite of the attenuated gliosis. These data indicate that the df/df/APP/PS1 line is a unique resource in which to study aging and resistance to disease and suggest that the affected pituitary hormones may have a role in regulating disease progression.
A comparison of methods used for the microbiological examination of poultry carcasses.

Abstract CONSIDERABLE variation exists in the methods used for obtaining samples and culturing bacteria from poultry carcasses. Gunderson et al. (1954), Ayres et al. (1956), Mallmann et al. (1958), and Fromm (1959) have performed experiments demonstrating the relative merits of various methods used for removing bacterial samples from poultry carcasses. However, none of these workers reported the effect of swabbing areas of different sizes from carcasses with different microbial loads. A brief classification of the methods used by various laboratories for culturing bacteria was made from data obtained by a review of the literature. Seven groups incubated plates in the range of 0–10°C. for 7 days, 9 incubated plates from 10–20°C. for 3–4 days, 9 others incubated plates at 20–30°C. for 2–4 days, and 3 groups incubated plates at 37°C. for 1–2 days. Tryptone-glucose-extract agar (TGEA) was the culture media used by 6 laboratories, nutrient …
Statistical Distribution Laws for Metallic Mineral Deposit Sizes

Given that expanding industrial societies rely on the continuing supply of metallic raw materials, it is of interest to be able to generate estimates of the likely magnitude of undiscovered metal resources. Statistical predictions of this kind require that one knows the frequency distribution of the metal content (or tonnage) of mineral deposits. The distribution of metal content among deposits of different sizes may be treated empirically (i.e., without explicit formulation of a density function), or formally, starting from a density function that is known to represent the distribution of metal in known deposits. The empirical approach has been applied to the prediction of undiscovered resources of some metals, most notably copper. The focus here is on the formal approach, which may be simpler and more general than the empirical one. It has long been suspected that the distribution of metal tonnages is heavy-tailed, in the sense that a relatively few very large deposits are likely to contain much of the metal endowment. There is, however, uncertainty about the precise nature of the distribution of metal tonnages. Lognormal and power law models have been proposed. Under some conditions, which are examined here, the choice of one or the other of these two models may result in widely diverging estimates of the likely magnitude and distribution of undiscovered resources. However, a detailed statistical analysis of the available deposit tonnage data for 20 metals reveals that it is not possible to decide between the two models. Using conservative significance levels, both models fit the data equally well. Two different procedures are used to attempt to decide whether either of the two models is more plausible: likelihood ratio tests and power law fits to lognormally distributed synthetic data sets that mimic the natural data sets. Neither of the two procedures can detect any preference for one or the other of the two models, for any of the metals discussed here. This uncertainty may arise from the relatively small sizes of the samples available, which are limited to known and reasonably well-characterized metallic mineral deposits. There is at present no statistical justification to choose between a lognormal and a power law description of metal distribution in mineral deposits. This uncertainty should be kept in mind when preparing, and interpreting, estimates of the magnitude of undiscovered mineral resources.
Application of multi-slice CT in the diagnosis of esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula in neonate

Objective:To study the value of multi-slice CT (MSCT) in the diagnosis of esophageal atresia and tracheoe- sophageal fistula(EA-TEF) in neonate. Methods: Twelve patients suspected to have EA-TEF were examined by MSCT. Multi- planar reformation(MPR), minimum intensity projection(MinIP), volume-rendered image(VR), and virtual endoscope(VE) were re- constructed at workstation. Two experienced radiologists overviewed the images and were related measurements. Results: There were 11 cases of type Ⅲ EA-TEF (including 1 case of type Ⅲa, 10 cases of type Ⅲb) and 1 case of type Ⅳ. Six patients had 6 types of congenital malformations. Conclusions: MSCT and reconstruction images has great value in diagnosing, typing, searching fistula of EA-TEF disease and could evaluate lung condition and related malformations.
Quantitative structure-retention relationships studies of polychlorinated dibenzofurans on gas chromatographic stationary phases of varying polarity

Abstract Regression equations modeling gas chromatographic retention behavior of polychlorinated dibenzofurans were generated for non-polar, moderately polar, and polar stationary phases. Topological, electronic and geometrical structure-based descriptors were calculated and related to the molecules' retention behavior by using a variety of linear regression techniques. Descriptors focusing on the bridgehead carbons were also evaluated. Model validation techniques and outlier detection methods were intergrated into the analyses. Two models with R > 0.999 and relative standard error of 0.5 and 1.2% were developed for the non-polar stationary phase DB-5. Two other non-polar stationary phase, OV-101 and SE-54, yielded models with R > 0.99 and relative standard error 1.0%. A moderately polar column, OV-1701, yielded a two-descriptor model with R = 0.988 and relative standard error 1.8%. The polar stationary phase, SP-2330, yielded a model R = 0.987 and relative standard error = 3.8%.
Legal geography III: New worlds, new convergences

In the past year scholars have extended the reach of legal geography to a number of previously neglected areas of interest. Among these are non-Western, non-common law places; the sphere of the int...
Neuron-intrinsic inhibitors of axon regeneration: PTEN and SOCS3

Our understanding of how axon regeneration is controlled in both the peripheral and central nervous systems remains fragmentary. Research into the regenerative capacity of adult neurons has elucidated PTEN and SOCS3 as distinctive but complementary arms of the regenerative program. These molecules act as negative regulators of major signaling pathways and impact the processes occurring in the cell body, such as protein translation and transcription, and in the axons, such as cytoskeleton assembly. In this review, we summarize the role of PTEN and SOCS3 in limiting axon regeneration and discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying their growth-inhibitory effects.
Investigating MBA degrees earned by women: A decade of change

ABSTRACTThe authors examined master of business administration (MBA) degrees earned by women at U.S. higher education institutions at three specific years spanning a decade: 2003, 2008, and 2013 to determine whether there was a significant difference in the percentage of MBA degrees earned by women based on the independent variables of institutional type, specialized business accreditation body, institutional Carnegie classification, and U.S. News & World Report part-time MBA ranking quartile. Results found statistically significant differences for all variables examined. Women earn a significantly lower percentage of MBA degrees at Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited institutions, “very high” and “high” Research Carnegie classification institutions, public institutions, and top U.S. News & World Report part-time MBA ranking quartile institutions.
U.S. Call Centers: The Undiscovered Country

The phrase “the death of distance” provokes in the minds of many the idea that electronically mediated commerce has overcome the bounds and limits of geography that have traditionally constrained business. This essay argues that these notions are incorrect, and that, in fact, geography is as relevant as ever. It demonstrates the importance of geographical concepts by examining an information technology-dependent industry, the U.S. call center industry.
Synthesis of MnOx Water Oxidation Catalyst on Fluorine‐Doped Tin Oxide with a Dual‐Series Cyclic Voltammetry Method

This Communication reports a new method for synthesizing manganese-based water oxidation catalysts in situ in aqueous media. The method provides powerful tunability of the electrodeposition process to enable independent control over the morphology of the catalytic film and the oxidation state of the catalyst. Our results show that the first cyclic voltammetry (CV) series produces a film with a nanoscale fibrous structure, whereas the second CV series improves its catalytic performance by enhancing the oxidation state of the film without damaging the existing surface morphology. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the morphology of the MnOx film, CV was used to assess the catalyst functionality, and long-term amperometry was used to assess the stability.
Computationally efficient event-based simulation of switched power systems and AC machinery

Switched power systems are inherently difficult to simulate, due to the significant sensitivity of the simulation algorithm to the timing of the switching events as well as the potentially complex dynamics of the components. Numerical simulation techniques, while flexible, are not well suited for large time scale simulation of such systems. Methods for increasing the accuracy of numerical simulation techniques increase the computational complexity of the solution, resulting in an obstacle for adoption into time-sensitive applications such as model-based design optimization and hardware-in-the-loop simulation. This paper presents a method and development framework for a computationally efficient method for analyzing the behavior of switched power systems via piece-wise analytical solutions to differential equations. Enhancements of the method to expand the utility are also presented.
Frontal Keyhole Craniotomy for Resection of Low- and High-Grade Gliomas

Background Minimally invasive techniques are increasingly being used to access intra-axial brain lesions. Objective To describe a method of resecting frontal gliomas through a keyhole craniotomy and share the results with these techniques. Methods We performed a retrospective review of data obtained on all patients undergoing resection of frontal gliomas by the senior author between 2012 and 2015. We describe our technique for resecting dominant and nondominant gliomas utilizing both awake and asleep keyhole craniotomy techniques. Results After excluding 1 patient who received a biopsy only, 48 patients were included in the study. Twenty-nine patients (60%) had not received prior surgery. Twenty-six patients (54%) were diagnosed with WHO grade II/III tumors, and 22 patients (46%) were diagnosed with glioblastoma. Twenty-five cases (52%) were performed awake. At least 90% of the tumor was resected in 35 cases (73%). Three of 43 patients with clinical follow-up experienced permanent deficits. Conclusion We provide our experience in using keyhole craniotomies for resecting frontal gliomas. Our data demonstrate the feasibility of using minimally invasive techniques to safely and aggressively treat these tumors.
ICOS protects against mortality from acute lung injury through activation of IL-5+ ILC2s

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive lung disease causing irreversible lung scarring and loss of pulmonary function. IPF Patients suffer from a high rate of pulmonary infections and acute exacerbations of disease that further contribute to pulmonary decline. Low expression of the inducible T-cell costimulatory molecule (ICOS) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells predicts decreased survival of IPF patients, but the mechanisms by which ICOS protects are unclear. Using a model of bleomycin-induced lung injury and fibrosis, we now demonstrate that ICOS expression enhances survival from lung injury rather than regulating fibrogenesis. Of ICOS-expressing cells, type 2 innate lymphocytes (ILC2s) are the first to respond to bleomycin-induced injury, and this expansion is ICOS dependent. Interestingly, a similar decrease in ICOS+ ILCs was found in lung tissue from IPF patients. Interleukin (IL)-5, produced primarily by ILC2s, was significantly reduced after lung injury in ICOS-/- mice, and strikingly, treatment with IL-5 protected both ICOS-/- and wild-type mice from mortality. These results imply that low ICOS expression and decreased lung ILC2s in IPF patients may contribute to poor recovery from infections and acute exacerbation and that IL-5 treatment may be a novel therapeutic strategy to overcome these defects and protect against lung injury.
Food reinforcement for nonhungry nonthirsty rats: Conditioned reinforcement or manipulatory behavior?

Two studies were done to test the assertion that food is rewarding for satiated rats because of food’s manipulatory value rather than its secondary reinforcing value. In Experiment I, satiated Ss ran faster to food pellets in a goal box than to either wood replicas of food pellets or an empty goal box. In Experiment II, satiated Ss ran faster to familiar food than to either an unfamiliar food or an empty goal box, but the differences were not statistically significant. It was concluded that the results favored a secondary reinforcement interpretation rather than a manipulatory one.
Diagnostic Accuracy of 3 Physical Examination Tests in the Assessment of Hip Microinstability.

Background:Hip microinstability is a diagnosis gaining increasing interest. Physical examination tests to identify microinstability have not been objectively investigated using intraoperative confi...
Localization of L-band RFI sources from SMAP data

RFI (Radio-Frequency Interference) in the 1400–1427 MHz band degrades the quality of measurements made by satellite missions such as SMAP (Soil Moisture Active/Passive), Aquarius and SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity). A technique is presented here to estimate the location on the ground of RFI sources using SMAP measurements. The results of this technique have been validated against data derived by other means.
Self-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles: Ab ovo*

There are numerous remarkable studies related to the self-organization of polymers, coordination compounds, microscale particles, biomolecules, macroscale particles, surfactants, and reactive molecules on surfaces. The focus of this paper is on the self-organization of nanoscale inorganic particles or simply nanoparticles (NPs). Although there are fascinating and profound discoveries made with other self-assembling structures, the ones involving NPs deserve particular attention because they (a) are omnipresent in Nature; (b) have relevance to numerous disciplines (physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, Earth sciences, and others); (c) embrace most of the features, geometries, and intricacies observed for the self-organization of other chemical species; (d) offer new tools for studies of self-organization phenomena; and (e) have a large economic impact, extending from energy and construction industries, to optoelectronics, biomedical technologies, and food safety. Despite the overall success of the field it is necessary to step back from its multiple ongoing research venues and consider two questions: What is self-assembly of nanoparticles? and Why do we need to study it? The reason to bring them up is to achieve greater scientific depth in the understanding of these omnipresent phenomena and, perhaps, deepen their multifaceted impact.
Backlash or a Positive Response?: Public Opinion of LGB Issues After Obergefell v. Hodges.

Following Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage remains controversial and anti-LGBT state legislation has been passed, which raises questions about whether the Supreme Court’s ruling may have cre...
Factors associated with poor sleep during menopause: results from the Midlife Women's Health Study.

Abstract Background Poor sleep is one of the most common problems reported during menopause, and is known to vary throughout the menopause transition. The objective of this study was to describe the dynamics of poor sleep among participants of the Midlife Women's Health Study and to identify risk factors associated with poor sleep during the menopausal transition. Methods Annual responses to surveys that included questions about the frequency of sleep disturbances and insomnia were analyzed to determine the likelihood of persistent poor sleep throughout the menopausal transition and the correlation of responses to the different sleep-related questions, including frequency of restless sleep during the first year of the study. Responses to questions about a large number of potential risk factors were used to identify risk factors for poor sleep. Results Poor sleep in premenopause was not predictive of poor sleep in perimenopause, and poor sleep in perimenopause was not predictive of poor sleep in postmenopause. Frequencies of each of the measures of poor sleep were highly correlated. For all sleep outcomes, high frequency of depression was related to a high frequency of poor sleep. Vasomotor symptoms were also significantly related with a higher frequency of all poor sleep outcomes. A history of smoking was also associated with higher frequencies of insomnia and sleep disturbances. Conclusions The risk factors identified for poor sleep, depression and vasomotor symptoms, were consistently associated with poor sleep throughout the menopausal transition. The likelihood of these risk factors changed from premenopause, through perimenopause, and into postmenopause, however, which could explain changes in sleep difficulties across the menopausal transition. Treatment of these risk factors should be considered when addressing sleep difficulties in menopausal women.
Correction to: Life cycle assessment of oilseed crops produced in rotation with dryland cereals in the inland Pacific Northwest

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Figure 12 was incorrect. The correct Fig. 12 is given below:
The Spliced Messenger RNAs of Adenovirus-2

Adenovirus-2 (Ad2) messenger RNAs are composed of RNA segments transcribed from noncontiguous regions of the Ad2 genome. In the case of late mRNAs, sequences encoded at map positions 16.6, 19.6, and 26.6 become joined to form a common leader sequence at the 5′-end of the major mRNAs. One of these, that from which the major structural protein fiber is translated, has been studied in detail. A possible start point for the fiber protein has been located and sequences extremely close to this start point are implicated as the junction between the leader segment and the main body of fiber mRNA. A theory is presented which may help to understand the nature and the evolution of RNA splicing.
27. Laparoscopic Adrenalectomy

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is now the standard approach to adrenal tumors, including pheochromocytoma, adrenal Cushing syndrome, and aldosteronoma. This chapter reviews adrenal anatomy and indications for laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Detailed description of operative approaches, including lateral transabdominal and retroperitoneal endoscopic adrenalectomy, is provided.
Multilevel-Coded Pulse-Position Modulation for Covert Communications

We develop a low-complexity coding scheme to achieve covert communications over binary symmetric channels. We circumvent the impossibility of covert communication with linear codes by introducing non-linearity through the use of pulse-position modulation (PPM) and multilevel coding (MLC). We show that the MLC-PPM scheme exhibits many appealing properties, in particular, the channel at a given index level remains the same as the number of level increases, which allows one to use families of capacity- and resolvability-achieving codes to concretely instantiate the covert communication scheme.
A Single-Loop High-Order Sliding Mode Controller for a Missile Interceptor

The guidance and control (G&C) on a missile interceptor orchestrate the vehicle's functional subsystems to minimize miss distance. In contrast to the traditional cascaded G&C loop structure that handles the guidance and control separately, a single-loop and single control law govern the fin actuation. The high relative degree of a missile engagement scenario makes controller design more difficult. The use of higher order sliding mode differentiators mitigates the problem. The objective of this work is to develop a robust, high-order sliding mode controller that intercepts maneuvering targets using minimal information. Nonlinear pitch plane engagement kinematics and linear pitch plane missile dynamics are defined for controller development and simulation purposes. Through simulation the control law is shown to be simple and intuitive, only requiring relative normal velocity for state feedback, meaning it can work in a GPS-denied environment.
2439 Depression, anxiety, and planning for the future: Associations with advance care planning

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Millions of diverse, older adults live with serious and chronic illness for which they will face complex, ongoing medical decisions. Advance care planning (ACP) has been conceptualized as a health behavior that supports adults in understanding and sharing their values, goals, and preferences for future medical care. Depression and anxiety are known barriers to participation in health behaviors. It is unknown whether depression and anxiety are associated with ACP participation or with patients’ values for future medical care. Understanding whether depression and anxiety are associated with ACP would be important to tailor ACP interventions. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In total, 908 English-speaking and Spanish-speaking participants ≥55 years of age were recruited from a San Francisco county hospital. We measured depression (Patient Health Questionnaire 8-item scale) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale), dichotomized into none-to-mild Versus moderate-to-severe. We measured ACP engagement using a validated survey of Behavior Change Processes (e.g., knowledge, self-efficacy, readiness; 5-point Likert) and Action Measures (e.g., ask, discuss, and document one’s wishes; yes/no). We elicited values concerning life extension categorized as “life is always worth living no matter the health situation” Versus “some health situations would make life not worth living.” To explore associations, we usedχ2, Mann-Whitney tests, linear and logistic regressions. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Mean participant age was 64 years±6, 80% were non-White, 40% had limited literacy, 45% were Spanish-speaking, and the prevalence of depression and anxiety was 12% and 10%, respectively. Depression and anxiety were not associated with ACP Engagement, p>0.05. However, participants with depression had an increased odds of reporting “some health situations would make life not worth living” than those not depressed, p=0.02. In multivariate linear and logistic regression, controlling for age, gender, literacy, and health status, having depression increased the odds of not valuing life extension OR 2.9 (CI: 1.7–4.9). Anxiety was not associated with values concerning life extension, p>0.05. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Depression and anxiety were not associated with prior ACP engagement suggesting engaging patients in ACP does not increase these conditions. However, depression was associated with an increased odds of not valuing life extension and, therefore, may influence treatment choices. Longitudinal randomized controlled trials of an ACP intervention are currently underway to investigate these associations further.
Listening towards decolonisation

In Modernity’s Ear, Roshanak Kheshti argues that a specific aurality – that of affluent white women – is both the subject and object of over a century of recordings made of “the other”. As she puts...
Adolescents Values Clarification and Development: A Model for Group Counseling

Youths involved with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems report higher rates of early initiation of sexual intercourse, more sexual partners, and lower rates of condom use compared with ...
Integrating Design for Reliability into Project Management Processes

This paper discusses Reliability Management from the Project Lifecycle perspective. The Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide (PMBOK ® Guide) (ANSI/PMI 99-0012017) [1]’s five project management process groups are the backbone in the paper to accommodate Reliability as a proposed new knowledge area in a project lifecycle. Three proposed processes in the Reliability knowledge area are created based on the two nowadays mostly referenced Reliability Standards: Reliability Program Standard for Systems Design, Development, and Manufacturing (ANSI/GEIA-STD-00092008) [2] and Reliability Program Standard (SAE JA1000-1) [3]. [2] and [3] are the popular Design for Reliability standards.
The Surgery of Posterior Fossa Arteriovenous Malformations

Arteriovenous malformations of the posterior fossa are relatively rare yet form a surprisingly heterogeneous array of clinical problems. The shared vascular supply with critical brain stem centers and the intimate proximity of these lesions to eloquent neural tissue and cranial nerves mandate a somewhat different philosophical and technical approach than with the more common supratentorial malformations. Superselective embolization procedures have proven to be extremely helpful surgical adjuncts and have been employed in nearly half of our cases.
U-net-based deformation vector field estimation for motion-compensated 4D-CBCT reconstruction

Purpose For four-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (4D-CBCT), its image quality is usually degraded by insufficient projections at each respiratory phase after phase-sorting. Recently, we developed a simultaneous motion estimation and image reconstruction (SMEIR) technique, which can improve lung 4D-CBCT reconstruction quality by incorporating an interphase motion model generated as deformation vector fields (DVFs). Simultaneous motion estimation and image reconstruction uses an intensity-driven two-dimensional (2D)-three-dimensional (3D) deformation technique to estimate these DVFs by intensity-matching 2D projections. However, 2D-3D deformation may fail to generate accurate intra-lung DVFs, since the motion of intricate, small lung structures only leads to subtle intensity variations on 2D projections that are insufficient to drive accurate DVF optimization. This study is to develop convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods to fine-tune the 2D-3D deformation DVFs to improve the efficiency and accuracy of 4D-CBCT reconstruction. Methods We built two U-net-based architectures for this study. The first architecture (U-net-3C) uses 2D-3D deformation-estimated DVFs (in three cardinal directions) as the input with three channels (3C), and outputs are fine-tuned DVFs. For the second architecture (U-net-4C), the reference phase CBCT image reconstructed by SMEIR was added as an additional input channel (4C) to represent patient-specific heterogeneous properties of the lung. The output fine-tuned high-quality DVFs of both models were input again into the SMEIR workflow, as an optimized motion model, to generate the final 4D-CBCT. Both methods were evaluated on 11 lung patient cases, using fivefold cross-validation. We also reconstructed 4D-CBCTs by the original SMEIR and the SMEIR-Bio (SMEIR with biomechanical modeling) algorithms for comparison. The 4D-CBCT accuracy was quantitatively assessed through metrics including root-mean-square-error (RMSE), universal quality index (UQI), and normalized cross-correlation (NCC). The DVF accuracy was evaluated by manually tracked lung landmarks. We also evaluated our proposed methods on the SPARE challenge dataset based on reconstructed 4D-CBCT quality using the above metrics. Results The average (±standard deviation) residual DVF errors of SMEIR-U-net-3C, SMEIR-U-net-4C, SMEIR-Bio, and SMEIR were 3.88 ± 3.12 mm, 3.71 ± 2.90 mm, 3.75 ± 3.40 mm, and 5.73 ± 4.61 mm, respectively. The SMEIR-U-net-3C and SMEIR-U-net-4C generated images of generally improved RMSE, UQI, and NCC as compared to the other methods. Compared with SMERI-U-net-3C, SMEIR-U-net-4C has slightly higher 4D-CBCT reconstruction and DVF estimation accuracy. For the SPARE dataset, the UQI for SMEIR-U-net-3C, SMEIR-U-net-4C, SMEIR-Bio, and SMEIR were 0.96, 0.97, 0.96, and 0.94. Conclusion The CNN-based models can achieve fast (~10 s) and accurate DVF fine-tuning to improve the efficiency and accuracy of 4D-CBCT reconstruction.
Uncovering waste in US healthcare: Evidence from ambulance referral patterns

There is widespread agreement that the US healthcare system wastes as much as 5% of GDP, yet much less agreement on the source of the waste. This paper uses the effectively random assignment of patients to ambulance companies to generate comparisons across similar patients treated at different hospitals. We find that assignment to hospitals whose patients receive large amounts of care over the three months following a health emergency have only modestly better survival outcomes compared to hospitals whose patients receive less. Outcomes are related to different forms of spending. Patients assigned to hospitals with high levels of inpatient spending are more likely to survive to one year, while high levels of outpatient spending result in lower survival. In particular, we discovered that downstream spending at skilled nursing facilities (SNF) is a strong predictor of mortality. Our results highlight SNF admissions as a quality measure to complement the commonly used measure of hospital readmissions and suggest that in the search for waste in the US healthcare, post-acute SNF care is a prime candidate.
The Possible Role of Viral Variants in Pathogenesis

Many different kinds of coxsackievirus (CV) variants have been described and studied with the goal of trying to relate a set of characteristics of a given variant to its pathogenicity in cell cultures or in animal models. In reading about studies about a particular variant, one must remember that any virus stock represents a genotypically heterogeneous population from which phenotypic expression of a dominant variant(s) is observed and measured. Murine models of CV diseases offer exciting possibilities for determining the molecular basis of virulence in these viruses.
Resilient Physics-Based Traffic Congestion Control

This paper offers a new physics-based approach to model and resiliently control traffic congestion. We model the traffic congestion as a mass conservation problem and provide discussions and proofs for the feasibility of the conservation- based traffic dynamics. The paper spatially discretizes the governing continuity equation by using a directed graph with the nodes classified as (i) interior nodes, (ii) boundary inlet nodes, (iii) boundary outlet nodes, and (iv) anomalous nodes. At the interior nodes, the traffic dynamics is modeled as a probabilistic process. At the inlet boundary nodes, the traffic inflow rates can be planned and controlled but they must satisfy certain equality and inequality constraints. This paper assumes that the traffic inflow and outflow rates are identical at the outlet boundary nodes, which in turn implies that outlet boundary nodes have no dynamics. Furthermore, the traffic coordination cannot be controlled at the anomalous nodes and they are modeled as disturbance sources. We apply the model predictive control approach to effectively control the traffic congestion through the inlet boundary nodes in the presence of anomalies. The objective of the control problem is to assign the boundary traffic inflow rate such that traffic density is uniformly distributed across the traffic nodes. The boundary control inputs are assigned as the solution of a constrained quadratic programming problem.
Ion Adsorption at Solid/Water Interfaces: Establishing the Coupled Nature of Ion–Solid and Water–Solid Interactions

Understanding the thermodynamics of ion adsorption at solid/water interfaces is essential for all energy- and membrane-based applications involving electrolytes. At any solid/water interface, the i...