cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interpersonal Features and Functions of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

Etiological models of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) suggest interpersonal features may be important to understand this behavior, but social functions and correlates have not been extensively studied. This study addresses existing limitations by examining interpersonal correlates and functions of NSSI within a stratified random sample of 1,243 predominantly Caucasian college students (mean age = 21.52, SD = 4.15 years). Participants completed an anonymous online survey assessing NSSI features, perceived social support, and disclosure experiences. Approximately 15% of the students endorsed NSSI. Interpersonal reasons were endorsed proportionally more often for initiating rather than repeating the behavior. Individuals with repetitive NSSI reported significantly lower perceived social support from family members and fewer individuals to seek advice from than single-act and control participants. Fifty-nine percent had disclosed their NSSI, but rarely to mental health professionals. Conversations with others about NSSI were rated as being mostly unhelpful. These results emphasize the importance of interpersonal features and functions of NSSI, suggesting treatments should focus on strengthening interpersonal bonds alongside emotion regulation. Improving responses to disclosures of NSSI is needed to promote communication about this behavior and perceived helpfulness of such conversations.
Effects of medicare part d on disparity implications of medication therapy management eligibility criteria.

The Medicare Part D program was implemented in 2006 according to the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA).1 Medication therapy management (MTM) services were established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of the Part D benefit. MTM services may be furnished by a pharmacist or by other healthcare providers to “ensure that covered Part D drugs prescribed to targeted beneficiaries…are appropriately used to optimize therapeutic outcomes.”1 The core components of MTM are the formulation of a medication treatment plan and integration of the plan with all health services provided to patients.2 In consideration of limited resources, the MMA restricted MTM services to Medicare beneficiaries meeting all 3 criteria, including (1) having multiple chronic conditions, (2) using multiple Part D drugs, and (3) being likely to exceed a drug cost threshold of $4000.1,3 For the year 2010 and onward, CMS required the eligibility thresholds to be lowered to no more than 3 chronic conditions, 8 drugs, and $3000 in annual drug costs.3 Of note, 2 of the 3 eligibility criteria depend significantly on the utilization of medications by the beneficiary, whereas multiple studies on medication use patterns have shown that racial and ethnic minorities use fewer medications and incur lower drug costs compared with nonminorities.4–9 Therefore, as Wang and colleagues have found, minorities may be less likely to meet the Medicare MTM eligibility criteria.10 Furthermore, in a recent study, Wang and colleagues found that non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to report self-perceived good health status, and that there were greater racial and ethnic disparities among the MTM-ineligible than MTM-eligible beneficiary population before the implementation of Part D based on the 2006 and 2010 MTM eligibility criteria.11 This suggests that MTM eligibility criteria perpetuate the existing racial and ethnic disparities in health status. The purpose of this present study was to determine the effects of Part D implementation on the health implications of Medicare MTM eligibility across racial and ethnic groups. If this study found that Part D implementation was not associated with reductions in greater racial and ethnic disparities in the MTM-ineligible than the MTM-eligible individuals, the urgency for modifying MTM eligibility criteria would be even greater than established by the previous studies by Wang and colleagues.10,11
Concomitant pulmonary tuberculosis and leprosy

Concomitant tuberculosis and leprosy is uncommon, even in endemic countries. We report a patient with borderline lepromatous leprosy and type 1 reversal reaction initially diagnosed while the patient was undergoing treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. The diagnosis was on the basis of characteristic histopathology and Fite-Farraco stain.
Modeling market power in Korea's emerging power market

Abstract The Korean power market is being formed from the unbundled generation, transmission and distribution assets of Korea Electric Power Corporation. The KEPCO generation has been allocated to six independent gencos with a combined generating capacity of 46,629 MW in 2002. This gave an 11% margin over the peak load that year (41,921 MW). One of the concerns for any power market is whether individual participants can increase profits (and prices) by withholding generation from the market. To address this concern, a Cournot-based model of Korean power system was created and applied to a set of loads representing the load duration curve for Korea's system loads in 2002. Our simulation results show a strong possibility for exercise of market power to increase market price in Korean market. Under tight market conditions, even 1 GW of withholding can cause a large increase in market price. If loads unexpectedly grow faster than the 5% recent experience, the gencos will have the collective ability and incentive to spike prices further. Vesting contracts can reduce the incentive to act strategically. Requiring that the gencos offer 50% of their capacity in long-term forward contracts greatly reduces the payoff to act strategically, and requiring vesting for 75% of their capacity results in prices that are essentially the same as the competitive equilibrium. Depending on the price for the vesting contracts, this policy can reduce the incentives to add new generation by gencos or the competitive fringe. Another approach to reducing the effects of market power is establishing demand–response programs, simulated here by increasing the elasticity of overall demand. These programs can reduce the incentives to withhold capacity, but to a lesser degree than vesting contracts. The genco with the greatest ability to influence prices through withholding is the largest, KNHP. However, acting on its own, without the support of the other gencos, its ability to raise prices is limited. This applies even more for the other gencos; alone their ability to run up prices by withholding is limited. Only when they reinforce each other's withholding by further withholding do we see the extreme prices of the Cournot equilibrium. In the long run, the high prices from the Cournot equilibrium create a strong incentive for entry of new generating capacity. While the gencos that do the most withholding in the Cournot solution do not gain by adding new generation, several of the gencos that do relatively less withholding would gain net revenues from adding capacity that is likely to exceed the cost of new capacity. For participants on the competitive fringe, the incentives to add new generating capacity are much stronger. They do not have a stake in maintaining the high Cournot solution prices and benefit from increased withholding by the incumbent gencos. The projected net revenues from new baseload and peaking capacity greatly exceed the thresholds needed to recover investment costs. With freedom for new entrants to add capacity, the Cournot equilibrium prices cannot be sustained.
Review of Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using Stata, Second Edition, by Long and Freese

This article reviews Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables Using Stata, Second Edition, by Long and Freese.
Methadone reduces sexual performance and sexual motivation in the male Syrian golden hamster

The debilitating effect of opiate drugs on sexual function has been known clinically for hundreds of years but has become a topic of experimental investigation only recently. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of the opiate drugs methadone and the opiate blocking drug naltrexone on the sexual behavior of male hamsters. Methadone, administered at dosages of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 mg/kg, was found to cause a dose related decline in measures of both sexual performance and sexual motivation, with measures of sexual performance being the more sensitive to the drug. The debilitating effect of methadone was judged to be highly selective for sexual behavior since, for example, at 16 mg/kg of methadone, sexual behavior was eliminated but ambulatory activity was unaffected. Pretreatment with naltrexone blocked the effects of methadone and posttreatment reversed the effects, thereby indicating that the methadone was inhibiting sexual behavior by acting on specific opiate receptors. The results demonstrate that the male hamster is an excellent small animal model for use in studying the mechanisms of opiate induced sexual dysfunction and further support the hypothesis that the endogenous opiates may be involved in the regulation of sexual behavior.
Measured Thermal Dynamics of the Haystack Radome and HUSIR Antenna

In 2010 the Haystack 37 meter reflector was replaced with a new antenna. This work presents measurements of the spatial and temporal thermal behavior of the antenna and its radome under diurnal and seasonal forcing. Values for thermal capacity and resistance of the antenna structure and radome are derived. The convective heat transfer coefficient acting on the aluminum antenna backstructure is found to be 2 to 5 W/m $^{2}$ -K for all instrumented member geometries. Modeling with a simple lumped-thermal-element representation is presented, which accurately matches observed temperatures. The heat and ventilation equipment and controls are demonstrated to be sufficient to keep modeled antenna gain reductions due to thermally-induced distortions ${ dB more than 90% of the time during heating season. Gain reductions during summer will be dominated by vertical stratification of air in the radome, which is shown to be associated with daylight hours and outside temperature ${>}15^{\circ}$ C.
Masticatory Exercise as an Adjunctive Treatment for Hyperdivergent Patients

Abstract Objective: This retrospective study was designed to evaluate the morphologic effects of masticatory muscle exercise as an adjunctive therapy for hyperdivergent patients treated with fixed orthodontic appliances. Materials and Methods: Three samples of 50 subjects were selected, including one sample treated with orthodontics combined with exercise, one sample treated with orthodontics only, and an untreated control sample. Subjects were matched on the basis of age, sex, mandibular plane angle (MPA), treatment duration, and treatment rendered. Patients in the treated exercise sample were instructed to clench their teeth together as hard as possible for 15 seconds and to repeat this process at least four times for a total of one minute; this one-minute exercise was to be performed as often as possible throughout the day. Morphologic data was derived from pre- and posttreatment lateral cephalograms. Results: Exercise with orthodontics produced significant (P < .05) increases in overbite compared to o...
Testing Measurement Invariance and Comparing Latent Factor Means Within a Confirmatory Factor Analysis Framework

Researchers commonly compare means and other statistics across groups with little concern for whether the measure possesses strong factorial invariance (i.e., equal factor loadings and intercepts/thresholds). When this assumption is violated, inaccurate inferences associated with statistical and practical significance can occur. This manuscript emphasizes the importance of testing for measurement invariance (MI) and provides guidance when conducting these tests. Topics discussed are potential causes of noninvariant items, the difference between measurement bias and invariance, remedies for noninvariant measures, and considerations associated with model estimation. Using a sample of 491 teachers, a demonstration is also provided that evaluates whether a newly constructed behavior and instructional management scale is invariant across elementary and middle school teachers. Analyses revealed that the results differ slightly based on the estimation method utilized although these differences did not greatly in...
Self-Generated Versus Other-Generated Statements and Impressions in Computer-Mediated Communication A Test of Warranting Theory Using Facebook

The warranting principle pertains to impression formation in Internet communication. It posits that perceivers' judgments about a target rely more heavily on information which the targets themselves cannot manipulate than on self-descriptions. Two experiments employed mock-up profiles resembling the Internet site, Facebook, to display self-generated clues and to display other-generated clues about a Facebook user. The first experiment (N = 115) tested perceptions of extraversion. Although warranting was supported, rival explanations (negativity and additivity) also pertained. The second experiment (N = 125) tested perceptions of physical attractiveness. Friends' comments overrode self-comments, supporting warranting theory exclusively. Implications concern boundary-setting research for warranting, and potential effects of social comments on a variety of new information forms.
A study of space-tapered arrays

Previous works on nonuniformly spaced arrays are first critically reviewed, then an exhaustive study of a few small arrays is made. The results reveal that among a large number of possible element arrangements, only very few yield reasonably low sidelobe level. Although the majority of these few arrays are characterized by space-tapering, an overwhelming number of space-tapered arrays do not have low sidelobe level. Some statistical studies are made in order to relate the sidelobe level to the element arrangement. Finally, in the light of rather complete information of these arrays, a comparative study is made on some designs which are proposed by a few authors. The results show that none of them are truly optimum.
Mining and Modeling Relations between Formal and Informal Chinese Phrases from Web Corpora

We present a novel method for discovering and modeling the relationship between informal Chinese expressions (including colloquialisms and instant-messaging slang) and their formal equivalents. Specifically, we proposed a bootstrapping procedure to identify a list of candidate informal phrases in web corpora. Given an informal phrase, we retrieve contextual instances from the web using a search engine, generate hypotheses of formal equivalents via this data, and rank the hypotheses using a conditional log-linear model. In the log-linear model, we incorporate as feature functions both rule-based intuitions and data co-occurrence phenomena (either as an explicit or indirect definition, or through formal/informal usages occurring in free variation in a discourse). We test our system on manually collected test examples, and find that the (formal-informal) relationship discovery and extraction process using our method achieves an average 1-best precision of 62%. Given the ubiquity of informal conversational style on the internet, this work has clear applications for text normalization in text-processing systems including machine translation aspiring to broad coverage.
THE STRUCTURE OF HOUSEHOLD SPENDING IN SOUTH AMERICAN CITIES: INDEXES OF DISSIMILARITY AND CAUSES OF INTER‐CITY DIFFERENCES

Household budget data collected in 1966–1971 in eleven cities in six South American countries are used to define individual mean budget structures (means of budget shares across households). These structures are then compared by indexes of dissimilarity, calculated for the entire budget and also for major components: food, animal protein foods, nonfood, and housing and clothing. Differences among cities in real income account for much of the difference in the share of the consumer budget devoted to food, which in turn is a principal source of overall budget dissimilarity. Within the food and nonfood budgets separately, income is of somewhat less importance; prices and preferences become more significant. Budget structures tend for this reason to be similar for cities in the same country. The structure of nonfood spending also varies markedly between coastal and interior cities, largely because of differences in housing costs. The available price data account for dissimilarities which depend on the price of a single large category of spending, but they do not help explain structural differences involving many categories: prices seem more important for nonfood than for food expenditures. Regression analysis is used to weigh the importance of each variable contributing to dissimilarity.
Dilute solution properties of poly(dimethyldiallylammonium chloride) in aqueous sodium chloride solutions

SYNOPSIS MW fractions of poly(dimethyldial1ylammonium chloride) (PDMDAAC) were prepared by preparative size-exclusion chromatography and characterized by static and dynamic light scattering, viscometry, size-exclusion chromatography, and electrophoretic light scattering, in 0.50M NaCl solution. The behavior of fractions with MW < 2 X lo5 was as expected for a strong polyelectrolyte in a good solvent, with a Mark-Houwink exponent of ca. 0.8, and MW-dependencies of the hydrodynamic radius and the radius of gyration of corresponding magnitude. At higher MW, curvature appears in the MW-dependencies, which can be best explained by the presence of branching. While this notably lowers the intrinsic viscosity at high MW, the electrophoretic mobility is unchanged regardless of molar mass. Thus, the branched polymers display the electroporetic free-draining behavior characteristic of linear polyelectrolytes. 0 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Prevention in the year 2002: some news, some issues

As we move into the new century, we continue to focus on ways to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life. We have made enormous strides in some arenas, including deaths from infectious diseases caused by mass immunization, improved sanitation, better nutrition, heart disease caused by risk factor modification, and some cancers caused by smoking cessation and screening for early detection. Although we have made progress, many challenges remain.
The Evaluation of Motivation for Sexual Health Among Women

This study conducted a psychometric evaluation of the construct validity of the Health Self-Determinism Index-Sexual (HSDI-S). The instrument was modified to measure motivation related to sexual health rather than motivation of general health in the Health Self-Determinism Index (HSDI). The HSDI-S was completed by 260 conveniently selected women (between the ages of 18 and 44) attending primary-care clinics in the southeastern United States. Confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL did not validate the four subscales of the original HSDI. Subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis isolated a single-factor model composed of eight items: four judgment items and four external/internal cues items. This finding is suggestive that changes in wording appear to have shifted the responses from motivation for sexual health to that of women's perception of their role in intimate relationships. The eight extrinsically worded items isolate a single-factor model of social and cultural influences of child-bearing-age women's intimate relationships.
Relational Active Learning for Joint Collective Classification Models

In many network domains, labeled data may be costly to acquire—indicating a need for relational active learning methods. Recent work has demonstrated that relational model performance can be improved by taking network structure into account when choosing instances to label. However, in collective inference settings, both model estimation and prediction can be improved by acquiring a node's label—since relational models estimate a joint distribution over labels in the network and collective classification methods propagate information from labeled training data during prediction. This conflates improvement in learning with improvement in inference, since labeling nodes can reduce inference error without improving the overall quality of the learned model. Here, we use across-network classification to separate the effects on learning and prediction, and focus on reduction of learning error. When label propagation is used for learning, we find that labeling based on prediction certainty is more effective than labeling based on uncertainty. As such, we propose a novel active learning method that combines a network-based certainty metric with semi-supervised learning and relational resampling. We evaluate our approach on synthetic and real-world networks and show faster learning compared to several baselines, including the network based method of Bilgic et al. (2010).
An effect of linguistic experience :Auditory Word Discrimination by Native and Non-Native Speakers of English

In this study, the effect of linguistic experience on the auditory discrimination of words has been examined. 18 subjects, including 6 native and 12 non-native speakers of English, were tested with CID auditory test W-22 in quiet and in the presence of white noise at the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios of +12, +6 and 0 dB. The non-native speakers of English included 6 with 1 year of experience and 6 with 3-4 years of experience speaking Enligsh in the USA. In the absence of noise, the results were essentially equivalent for all three groups. As noise level increased, word discrimination deteriorated for all three groups with non-native speakers of English obtaining results significantly poorer than native speakers of English. Linguistic experience and noise levels were significant at the 0.001 level fo confidence. It appears that at 0 dB S/N, individual variability of non-native speakers of English, regardless of their original linguistic background, was much smaller than that found for native speakers of English. The results of the study tend to indicate that a limited linguistic experience results in a persistent deterioration of auditory word discrimination under impoverished conditions of audition.
Liquid jet delivery method featuring S100A1 gene therapy in the rodent model following acute myocardial infarction

The S100A1 gene is a promising target enhancing contractility and survival post myocardial infarction (MI). Achieving sufficient gene delivery within safety limits is a major translational problem. This proof of concept study evaluates viral mediated S100A1 overexpression featuring a novel liquid jet delivery (LJ) method. Twenty-four rats after successful MI were divided into three groups (n = 8 ea.): saline control (SA); ssAAV9.S100A1 (SS) delivery; and scAAV9.S100A1 (SC) delivery (both 1.2 × 10¹¹ viral particles). For each post MI rat, the LJ device fired three separate 100 μl injections into the myocardium. Following 10 weeks, all rats were evaluated with echocardiography, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and overall S100A1 and CD38 immune protein. At 10 weeks all groups demonstrated a functional decline from baseline, but the S100A1 therapy groups displayed preserved left ventricular function with significantly higher ejection fraction %; SS group (60 ± 3) and SC group (57 ± 4) versus saline (46 ± 3), P < 0.05. Heart qPCR testing showed robust S100A1 in the SS (10,147 ± 3993) and SC (35,155 ± 5808) copies per 100 ng DNA, while off-target liver detection was lower in both SS (40 ± 40), SC (34,841 ± 3164), respectively. Cardiac S100A1 protein expression was (4.3 ± 0.2) and (6.1 ± 0.3) fold higher than controls in the SS and SC groups, respectively, P < 0.05.
Redefining Interfaith Discourse: Applying Invitational Rhetoric to Religion

There exists a peculiar, reoccurring loss in religious conversations held between rhetors of differing religious beliefs—that is, the building up of the person-to-person relationship. This article, however, proposes that invitational rhetoric, as offered by Sonja K. Foss and Cindy L. Griffin, will provide the rhetor with a more sympathetic, even empathetic, means of discussing the subject matter of religion. While this essay focuses on the individual spiritual quest, religious rhetoric is herein examined with the intent of arriving at a juncture that will allow one to go beyond the usual conflicts by nurturing what might be considered an unusual, but effectual, respect.
RF Performance Implications of Wideband HF Waveforms

Emerging approaches to HF communications aim to increase the range of missions and applications HF can support by using higher bandwidths to achieve higher on-air data rates and/or improved communications robustness. Current proposals achieve this in either of two ways: by (i) increasing the bandwidth allocated to a single-carrier modulated waveform, to up to 24 kHz (or possibly higher), or (ii) using existing modulation formats to simultaneously modulate up to 16 carriers in noncontiguous 3 kHz channels. Each of these approaches has inevitable consequences for both radio system performance and spectrum utilization and availability. Both the US Department of Defense and NATO have standards documents (respectively, MIL-STD-188-141C and STANAG 4203) intended to specify the performance and spectral occupancy characteristics of military HF radios. However, these standards have been primarily focused on operation on traditional 3 kHz channels, and do not fully address either of the two proposed Wideband HF (WBHF) approaches. This paper analyzes some key performance impacts of the two WBHF approaches, uses a simple system model to predict the spectrum occupancy and efficiency of the two approaches, and provides recommendations for new and revised requirements to address Wideband HF systems in the applicable US and NATO standards.
How We Do It: CT Urogram

(2003). How We Do It: CT Urogram. Critical Reviews in Computed Tomography: Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 177-181.
Understanding Disorders of Defiance, Aggression, and Violence: Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Antisocial Personality Disorder in Males

Key areas of research in the neurosciences have produced evidence supporting the neurobiological underpinnings of the group of antisocial disorders characterized by externalization, aggression, and violent behavior. Studies utilizing neuroimaging methods have identified structural and functional deficits in frontal, temporal, and subcortical regions in antisocial children and adults—findings which are echoed to a large degree in neurological studies of brain injury in various types of antisocial individuals. Research utilizing neuropsychological approaches has revealed deficits in verbal, spatial, and executive abilities in adults and children characterized by antisocial behavior, and risk factors early in childhood appear to predict later forms of antisociality. Studies in endocrinology have focused on hormones such as cortisol and testosterone. A number of investigations from across the neuroscientific disciplines have recently begun to focus upon gender differences in the presentations of neurobiological deficits associated with the disorders of antisociality.
Oligopoly under Rivalrous Consonance: An Exploration of Phantom Objective Functions and some Algorithmic Considerations

In economic theorizing economic agents are generally depicted as optimizing objective functions based on narrow self-interest, with global or social variable values emerging from the interaction of the individual optimization procedure. An interesting question is whether there exists a ‘phantom’ objective function whose optimization would yield the same solutions as the set of interacting optimizing decisions does. For example, to cite a famous case, in a purely competitive capitalistic general equilibrium model, is there a social welfare function whose optimization would yield the same solutions for the model as those obtained from solving the whole set of first-order conditions of the conventional model?
A Chromatin-Associated Histone H3 Dementhylase Promotes the Immortalization of MEFs and the Cycling of HSC-Like Cells in Culture.

Abstract A common integration site, cloned from MoMuLV-induced rat T cell lymphomas was mapped immediately upstream of Ndy1, a gene expressed primarily in ES cells, hematopoietic stem cells, testis, spleen and thymus. Ndy1 encodes a chromatin-associated nuclear protein. Ndy1 and its homolog Ndy2, which is also a target of provirus integration in retrovirus-induced lymphomas, encode proteins that were recently shown to possess JmjC-dependent histone H3 demethylase activity. Mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) engineered to express Ndy1 or Ndy2 undergo immortalization in the absence of replicative senescence via a JmjC domain-dependent process. Knock down of endogenous Ndy1 or expression of JmjC domain mutants of Ndy1 promotes senescence, suggesting that Ndy1 is a physiological inhibitor of senescence in dividing cells. Infection of bone marrow cells with a high titer MigR1/Ndy1 retrovirus led to the reproducible isolation of immortalized cultures that have the phenotypic characteristics of hematopoietic stem cells. We conclude that Ndy-mediated demethylation of histone H3, promotes cell immortalization, oncogenesis and the cycling of stem cells.
Mucosal Langerhans Cells Promote Differentiation of Th17 Cells in a Murine Model of Periodontitis but Are Not Required for Porphyromonas gingivalis–Driven Alveolar Bone Destruction

Periodontitis is a chronic oral inflammatory disease affecting one in five individuals that can lead to tooth loss. CD4(+) Th cells activated by a microbial biofilm are thought to contribute to the destruction of alveolar bone surrounding teeth by influencing osteoclastogenesis through IL-17A and receptor activator for NF-κB ligand effects. The relative roles of mucosal Ag presentation cells in directing Th cell immune responses against oral pathogens and their contribution to destruction of alveolar bone remain unknown. We tested the contribution of mucosal Langerhans cells (LCs) to alveolar bone homeostasis in mice following oral colonization with a well-characterized human periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis We found that oral mucosal LCs did not protect from or exacerbate crestal alveolar bone destruction but were responsible for promoting differentiation of Th17 cells specific to P. gingivalis. In mice lacking LCs the Th17 response was suppressed and a Th1 response predominated. Bypassing LCs with systemic immunization of P. gingivalis resulted in a predominantly P. gingivalis-specific Th1 response regardless of whether LCs were present. Interestingly, we find that in vivo clonal expansion of P. gingivalis-specific Th cells and induced regulatory T cells does not depend on mucosal LCs. Furthermore, destruction of crestal alveolar bone induced by P. gingivalis colonization occurred regardless of the presence of mucosal LCs or P. gingivalis-specific Th17 cells. Our data indicate that both LCs and Th17 cells are redundant in contributing to alveolar bone destruction in a murine model of periodontitis.
Educating physicians: are we doing enough?

The context for the above question is the Spirituality/ Medicine Interface Project of this journal, ie, the humanistic aspects of becoming and being a physician. Taking the knowledge and skills aspects of professional competence for granted, I focus in this essay on the person of the physician, ie, professional identity, integrity and responsibility manifested in observable attitudes and values. The Project assumes that religiosity, spirituality and morality are relevant and contributory to the latter. The question is, whether sufficient emphasis has been put on these dimensions of what it is to be a physician, particularly during medical school and residency training. The views expressed are mine, but they incorporate and build on the contributions of many others.
Democracy as a Consumer Good

The previous chapter established that democracy, rather than ameliorating the problems that citizens have with their governments, may actually make them worse. In this chapter we offer a possible explanation for the continued existence of democracies. The hypothesis examined is that democracy is desired in and of itself, that is, as a consumer good. People like to participate in government for its own sake, even if this participation results in no other benefit to them. The evidence for this view is the strong relationship between levels of income and the “democrativeness of society.”2
Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness as Motivators of Graduate Teaching Assistants

Background Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play critical roles in undergraduate education. Past studies have examined various programs developed for GTAs, but little work exists that examines GTAs' personal experiences and perceptions in engineering education. To develop teaching environments and training programs that foster positive motivation in GTAs for teaching and improve the quality of their teaching, we need to better understand the factors that motivate them. Purpose Situated in self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of our study was to examine graduate students' motivation to teach by answering the research question, “What factors contribute to GTAs' competence, autonomy, and relatedness with regard to teaching?” We scoped the study broadly to include perceptions of events, occurrences, people, institutional structures, and demographics as potential factors. Design/Method We employed exploratory interview methods influenced by critical realism to understand GTAs' experiences. Our sample contained 12 participants from five different universities. We used a combination of a priori codes and open coding to determine the factors. Results We identified five factors that affect the needs posited by SDT: training, previous experience, appointment structure, students, and teaching colleagues. Each factor uniquely contributed to a GTA's teaching motivation. Conclusions GTAs are teachers, but they are also students. We recommend that faculty and administrators consider the five factors we identified and their unique individualized effects on GTAs as students and teachers when designing teaching experiences. This focus will lead to increased motivation in teaching and, with time, increases in the quality of teaching in engineering.
Safety and Effectiveness of Retrograde Arterial Access for Endovascular Treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia.

Background Retrograde arterial access (RA) of the popliteal, tibial, or pedal arteries may facilitate endovascular treatment of complex infrainguinal lesions in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Here, we assess the safety and efficacy of this technique. Methods A retrospective review of prospectively collected institutional data (consecutive M2S entries) was performed to identify patients with CLI undergoing peripheral vascular intervention from February 2012 through December 2017. Demographics, comorbidities, procedural characteristics, and outcomes were analyzed, and comparisons were made between outcomes of patients undergoing RA and those undergoing a standard antegrade access (SA) approach. Results Five hundred sixty-six patients were identified, of whom 26 (4.6%) underwent RA. Of these, 4 were accessed via the popliteal artery (15.4%), 13 via the tibial vessels above the ankle (50.0%), and 9 via pedal vessels (34.6%). RA facilitated procedural success in 96.2% of cases. There were no instances of distal embolization, perforation, or loss of distal target with RA. Primary, primary assisted, and secondary patency rates were consistently lower for RA patients than for SA patients, as was limb salvage and amputation-free survival. No difference was seen in overall survival. Conclusions RA represents a viable and safe option for revascularization when SA fails. Although outcomes are poorer than SA, this technique can be useful in CLI patients, especially when open surgical revascularization is not an option.
Eutectoid transformations in Fe-Si Alloys for thermoelectric applications

Abstract Semiconducting β-FeSi2 is a candidate thermoelectric material whose constituents are abundant and eco-friendly, but significant improvements in the relevant properties are needed. This work investigates eutectoid decomposition, α-FeSi2 → β-FeSi2 + Si, as a means to modify microstructure and control thermal transport. Process conditions are adjusted to strongly affect both the microstructural lengthscales and morphology, and hence the thermal conductivity. Low temperature annealing of a hypoeutectic sample produces cooperatively-grown Si lamellae, which then decompose into Si nanowires by Rayleigh instability upon further aging. We show that nucleation of eutectoid colonies occurs preferentially on cracks, while at smaller undercooling, nucleation also occurs on eutectic Si particles. The growth velocity, v, and interlamellar spacing, λ, of the pearlitic colonies obey a relation of the type vλn = f(T). This sets the bounds of the activation energy for the diffusion mechanism, although the exact mechanism cannot be specified. Nanostructuring of eutectoid Si increases heterointerface density by 40x, with a concomitant reduction in thermal conductivity of 2x. The thermal boundary conductance is determined for the β-FeSi2/Si heterointerface, which shows that this interface only weakly scatters phonons.
The modelling of molecular structure and ion transport in sulfonic acid based ionomer membranes

One of the areas in which progress is to be made if the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is to become the replacement for the internal combustion engine is the development of new materials (catalysts and membranes) that demonstrate improved performance characteristics accompanied by acceptable manufacturing costs. Many of these newer materials are sulfonated polymers, however, membranes with sulfonimide functionals are faced with limitations similar to those of Nafion(R) a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer which is the central component of the proton exchange membrane. Nafion is costly, has a low maximum operating temperature and various problems associated with the transport of water and fuel. Another group of advanced membranes include (1) and (4) the complexation of basic polymers with oxo-acids aromatic backbone polymers such as polyetherketones (PEEKK and PEEK), (2) the inclusion of small inorganic particles like silica or zirconium phosphates within the membrane (3) acid-base blending of covalent crosslinking of polymers, which offer definite cost and stability advantages over Nafion membranes, but exhibit substantially lower conductivity at the lower water contents. The membranes in (2) and (3) exhibit increased thermal stability, up to 140 degrees C, reduced swelling and methanol and water crossover, but at a penalty in terms of conductivity and mechanical stability. At the same time, membranes with immobilized acid demonstrate conductivities as high as those seen in the hydrated systems, but with drastically reduced methanol crossover. This paper represents the second stage of a modelling effort to overcome some of these problems. The work is based on computation of the proton friction and diffusion coefficients within the PEM pore using a nonequilibrium statistical mechanical framework. Taken together, the molecular and transport modeling studies provide the means of connecting the molecular scale information of the polymer with the macroscopic transport properties of the membrane. It is important to note the bridging of the different length and time scales was accomplished without resorting to any 'fitting' or adjustable parameters. 37 refs., 5 tabs., 6 figs.
Electrodeposition of vertically standing Ag nanoplates and nanowires on transparent conductive electrode using porous anodic aluminum oxide template

We report fabricating vertically standing Ag nanoplates and nanowires on a transparent conductive substrate of indium tin oxides (ITO) with the assistance of a porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. Two-dimensional Ag nanoplates can be electrodeposited onto an AAO covered ITO surface without using an adhesion layer. Ag nanoplates obtained using AAO templates have 3 × {222} superlattice fringes, different from the 3 × {422} superlattice fringes reported in the previous study. Ag nanowires can be electrodeposited onto ITO which is initially covered with an AAO template through a conductive polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). The coverage, diameter, and thickness of Ag nanoplates are strongly dependent on the electrodeposition time. These Ag nanoplates and nanowires are used for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and the influence of their shape, size, and coverage on SERS enhancement is studied.
Variation in Research Designs Used to Test the Effectiveness of Dissemination and Implementation Strategies: A Review.

Background: The need for optimal study designs in dissemination and implementation (DI had a comparison by group and/or time; and used ≥1 quantitative measure. Several design elements were extracted: design category (e.g., randomized); design type (e.g., cluster randomized controlled trial); data type (e.g., quantitative); DI levels of treatment assignment, intervention, and measurement; and country in which the research was conducted. Each protocol was double-coded, and discrepancies were resolved through discussion. Results: Of the 404 protocols reviewed, 212 (52%) studies tested one or more implementation strategy across 208 manuscripts, therefore meeting inclusion criteria. Of those studies included, 77% utilized randomized designs, primarily cluster RCTs. The use of alternative designs (e.g., stepped wedge) increased over time. Fewer studies were quasi-experimental (17%) or observational (6%). Many study design categories (e.g., controlled pre-post, matched pair cluster design) were represented by only one or two studies. Most articles proposed quantitative and qualitative methods (61%), with the remaining 39% proposing only quantitative. Half of protocols (52%) reported using a theoretical framework to guide the study. The four most frequently reported frameworks were CFIR and RE-AIM (n=16 each), followed by PARIHS and Theoretical Domains Framework (n=12 each). Conclusions: While several novel designs for D&I research have been proposed (e.g., stepped-wedge, adaptive designs), the majority of the studies in our sample employed RCT designs. Alternative study designs are increasing in use but may be underutilized for a variety of reasons, including preference of funders or lack of awareness of these designs. Promisingly, the prevalent use of quantitative and qualitative methods together reflects methodological innovation in newer D&I research.
Estimating upper stem diameters and volume of Douglas-fir and Western hemlock trees in the Pacific northwest

Volume and taper equations are essential for obtaining estimates of total and merchantable stem volume. Taper functions provide advantages to merchantable volume equations because they estimate diameter inside or outside bark at specific heights on the stem, enabling the estimation of total and merchantable stem volume, volume of individual logs, and a height at a given diameter. Using data collected from 1218 trees (1093 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco) and 125 western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)), we evaluated the performance of one simple polynomial function and four variable-exponent taper functions in predicting upper stem diameter. Sample trees were collected from different parts of the states of Oregon, Washington, and California. We compared inside-bark volume estimates obtained from the selected taper equation with estimates obtained from a simple logarithmic volume equation for the data obtained in this study and the equations used by the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the Pacific Northwest (FIA-PNW) in the state of California and western half of the states of Oregon and Washington. Variable exponent taper equations were generally better than the simple polynomial taper equations. The FIA-PNW volume equations performed fairly well but volume equations with fewer parameters fitted in this study provided comparable results. The RMSE obtained from taper-based volume estimates were also comparable with the RMSE of the FIA-PNW volume equations for Douglas-fir and western hemlock trees respectively. The taper equations fitted in this study provide added benefit to the users over the FIA-PNW volume equations by enabling the users to predict diameter at any height, height to a given diameter, and merchantable volume in addition to cubic volume including top and stump (CVTS) of Douglas-fir and western hemlock trees in the Pacific Northwest. The findings of this study also give more confidence to the users of FIA-PNW volume equations.
Mn2CrGa-based Heusler alloys with low net moment and high spin polarization

Mn2CrGa-based Heusler compounds combining small magnetization with high spin polarization, fabricated by Fe and Pt substitution for Cr, are investigated experimentally and discussed in terms of sublattice site occupancies. X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction indicate that the parent alloy and Mn2Cr0.6Fe0.4Ga are normal cubic Heusler alloys with substantial chemical disorder, whereas Mn2Cr0.6Pt0.4Ga crystallizes in the tetragonal D022 structure. Magnetization measurements indicate that the spin structure of the parent alloy is essentially ferrimagnetic, but alloying with Fe or Pt reduces the net magnetization per formula unit from 0.40 µ B in the parent alloy to nearly zero in the Fe case. The Curie temperature, the magnetoresistance, and the Andreev-reflection transport-spin polarization are less affected by the substitutions, the last changing from 65% in Mn2CrGa to 60% and 61% in the Fe- and Pt-substituted alloys, respectively. The properties of these alloys are favorable for spintronics applications.
Shortly Branched, Linear Dextrans as Efficient Binders for Silicon/Graphite Composite Electrodes in Li-Ion Batteries

Dextran was evaluated as a binder material for graphite electrode, silicon electrode, and Si/graphite composite electrode in Li-ion cells. The performance was also compared with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) binder or lithium salt of poly(acrylic acid) (LiPAA) binder. A graphite-rich Si/graphite composite electrode shows a reversible capacity of about 525 mAh g–1 at a C/5 rate and has an excellent cycling stability. An interface study using impedance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and postmortem scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that the superior performance is due to the formation of a solid–electrolyte interface (SEI) layer that completely covers the surfaces of silicon and graphite. This could be attributed to a strong interaction between dextran through the shortly branched one-dimensional structure and silicon surface as evidenced by attenuated total reflection–infrared spectroscopy. This along with its low cost and environmentally friendly nature makes it an attractive ...