cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Laissez Faire and Free Enterprise

THE TERM laissez faire came into use during the eighteenth century, in the decades preceding the American Revolution, as a label for the economic philosophy then rising in public esteem. This philosophy was a function of the emergence of England as a dominant financial and naval power. Preceding generations had witnessed a long duel between England and France. During this period business could not safely develop the division of labor that operates through international trade. Industry therefore was restrained by tariffs and other governmental controls, such as are consonant with an intermittent state of war. But in 1763 England appeared to have won the duel, and international trade under its leadership seemed feasible. The expansion of trade, in turn, stimulated a significant series of inventions which marked, in terms of materialistic progress, perhaps the most important turning point in the history of mankind. This was the transition from handicrafts to power machinery. The new era of power machinery was ushered in by small businessmen who were farsighted enough to introduce the new techniques. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was their bible. As they grew in wealth and power, the more successful merged with old aristocracies and rejuvenated them. But on the wide expanse of Anglo-Saxon frontiers the laissezfaire ideology long remained dominant. Thus it will be seen that in the older centers the laissezfaire system gradually outgrew itself. Essentially it was a theory of natural business growth, with only minor governmental supervision. This supervision was to be devoted
ELECTRON BOMBARDMENT OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS : II. THE RATE OF DEATH OF FUNGUS SPORES BOMBARDED IN VACUUM WITH CATHODE RAY BEAMS FROM 4 KV.-15 KV.

A study has been undertaken of the rate of inactivation of spores of the ascomycete fungus Aspergillus niger when bombarded in vacuum, with homogeneous beams of cathode rays of energies from 4 to 15 electron kv. and current densities of 1 x 10–7 to 3 x 10–6 amperes per square cm. These velocities and densities are in the range of those of showers of secondary electrons produced in biological materials irradiated with moderately soft x-rays, and so may be made to serve as quantitative indicators of the mechanics of x-ray action. Four qualitative effects are described.
Implementing Assessment in an Outcome-Based Marketing Curriculum

This article describes the development and implementation of assessment in a new outcome-based marketing curriculum that was developed using a zero-based approach. Outcomes for the marketing curric...
Are Published IDEA Hearing Officer Decisions Representative

The authors of this study examined published hearing officer decisions under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to determine whether they were representative of the frequency and outcomes for the larger group consisting of published decisions and the much greater number of unpublished decisions. An empirical analysis of the fully adjudicated hearing officer cases in six randomly selected states revealed that the published sample was variably and, in general, questionably representative of the overall group of such decisions in terms of frequency and outcomes across time. More specifically, in terms of frequency, the representativeness of the published decisions, although moderate for the nation, varied widely from one state to another and was markedly limited for most individual states on a year-by-year basis. In terms of outcomes, the representativeness of the published sample also varied from state to state and was particularly suspect on a year-by-year basis within most states. On a collap...
Treatment of Insulin Hypoglycemia in Diabetic Campers: A Comparison of Glucagon (1 and 2 mg.) and Glucose

The change in concentration of blood glucose in hypoglycemic diabetic boys and girls after treatment with glucagon (1 or 2 mg. given subcutaneously) or glucose (20 gm. orally) was determined. Following glucagon, at both dose levels, the concentration of blood glucose was increased after five minutes, was within the physiologic range by fifteen minutes and did not return to hypoglycemic levels during one hour. Symptoms of hypoglycemia were relieved in ten minutes in each instance. The time course of change in the concentration of blood glucose was identical at both dose levels of glucagon. With glucose orally a similar response was noted during the first fifteen minutes but the concentration of blood glucose was lower at thirty and at sixty minutes. It is concluded that the hyperglycemic response to glucagon in hypoglycemic diabetic boys and girls was identical with a 1 or 2 mg. dose.
Particle mixing in rotating fluidized beds: Inferences about the fluidized state

Particle motion in a rotating fluidized bed was studied by observing the mixing of two layers of particles of different colors. The particles in the two layers were either nearly identical, except for their color, or were of different density and size distribution. All of the particles were in the Geldart-A classification for conventional fluidized beds. After fluidization, but before mixing, the bed exhibited some fluid-like behavior, that is, the inner surface became radially uniform. For particle layers of the same material, mixing occurred after U{sub mfc} was reached, with bubbles observed at the mixing velocity. No experimental difference between U{sub mb} and U{sub mfc} could be discerned; they either coincided or were nearly equal. Bubbles appeared to be responsible for particle motion and mixing. When the denser particles are placed on the distributor, the mixing behavior was similar to that observed for layers of the same material. However, when the less dense particles are placed on the distributor, mixing is dominated by differences in density and occurs before bubbles are visible.
Wild type N-ras displays anti-malignant properties, in part by downregulating decorin

Previously, we have shown that wild type N-ras (wt N-ras) harbors an anti-malignant effect against mutated Ras and in tumors without Ras mutations. To investigate the molecular bases of this anti-malignant activity, we have studied the potency of this anti-malignant effect in a model system against SV40 large T antigen (SV40T). We show that wild-type N-ras (wt N-ras) counteracts the effects of SV40T in NIH3T3 cells as seen by a decrease in proliferation, anchorage independence and changes in migration. We also show that wt N-ras elicits the same anti-malignant effects in some human tumor cell lines (HT1080 and MDA-MB-231). Through mRNA and microRNA (miRNAs) expression profiling we have identified genes (decorin) and miRNAs (mir-29A, let-7b) modulated by wt N-ras potentially responsible for the anti-malignant effect. Wt N-ras appears to mediate its anti-malignant effect by downregulating some of the targets of the TGFβ pathway and decorin, which are able to reverse the inhibition of migration induced by wt N-ras. Our experiments show that the molecules that mediate the anti-malignant effect by wt N-ras appear to be different from those modulated by transforming N-ras. The components of the pathways modulated by wt N-ras mediating its anti-malignant effects are potential targets for therapeutic intervention in cancer.
The influence of biofilm formation and multidrug resistance on environmental survival of clinical and environmental isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii.

Background Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative, opportunistic pathogen. Its ability to form biofilm and increasing resistance to antibiotic agents present challenges for infection control. A better understanding of the influence of biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance on environmental persistence of A baumannii in hospital settings is needed for more effective infection control. Methods A baumannii strains isolated from patients and the hospital environment were identified via Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (Bruker Daltonics, Bellerica, MA), repetitive extragenic palindromic polymerase chain reaction genotyped, and antibiotic resistance was determined using Vitek 2 (bioMerieux, Inc, Durham NC). Biofilm mass was quantified via microtiter plate method and desiccation tolerance determined up to 56 days. Results High biofilm forming, clinical, multidrug-resistant- (MDR) positive strains were 50% less likely to die of desiccation than low biofilm, non-MDR strains. In contrast, environmental, MDR-positive, low biofilm forming strains had a 2.7 times increase in risk of cell death due to desiccation compared with their MDR-negative counterparts. MDR-negative, high biofilm forming environmental strains had a 60% decrease in risk compared with their low biofilm forming counterparts. Conclusion The MDR-positive phenotype was deleterious for environmental strains and the high biofilm phenotype was critical for survival. This study provides evidence of the trade-off between antibiotic resistance and desiccation tolerance, driven by condition-dependent adaptation, and establishes rationale for research into the genetic basis of the variation in fitness cost between clinical and environmental isolates.
Prevention of cervical cancer: journey to develop the first human papillomavirus virus-like particle vaccine and the next generation vaccine

In 2006, the first human papillomavirus (HPV) virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine was licensed. Gardasil(®), the quadrivalent HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 recombinant VLP vaccine (4vHPV), developed by Merck demonstrated remarkable efficacy in prevention of important clinical pre-cursors to cervical cancer and genital warts. The vaccine was designed to protect against HPV 16 and 18 that cause ∼70% of cervical cancers and HPV 6 and 11 that cause ∼90% of genital warts. Initially, Gardasil(®) was indicated in the United States for women 9-26 years of age for the prevention of HPV 16 and 18-related cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancer, HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18-related genital intraepithelial neoplasia and the prevention of HPV 6 and 11-related genital warts. Subsequently, a bivalent HPV 16 and 18 VLP vaccine, Cervarix (2vHPV) developed by GlaxoSmithKline was licensed. Since the original licensures, the indications for Gardasil(®) have been expanded to include males and a vaccine with extended HPV coverage, Gardasil 9 (9vHPV), licensed in 2014.
A Liquid Reinforcement Dish for Profoundly Retarded Children

In studies concerned with operant conditioning of profoundly retarded or schizophrenic children i t is often necessary to use food (dining hall meals) as reinforcers. The meals are difficult to dispense, measure, or balance. Liquids such as Metrecal and Nutrament provide a balanced diet and can be easily measured and dispensed with the device described. In addition, liquids form a class of durable reinforcers (e.g., Kool-Aide, Tang, and chocolate milk) . The device illustrated in Fig. 1 is a rugged and easy to clean human liquid reinforcement dish. The dish is designed for use with a Davis liquid pump (Model LR-132-100 cc. Syringe).' The dish, Fig. 1, was cut from a Plexiglas plate 3.8 in. wide, 4.7 in. long, and 1.0 in. thick. The Plexiglas plate was cut to the configuration shown in Fig. 1 on a band saw and the depression was cut out with a small hand-held electric router and grinder. The cup is elliptical in shape (major axis 1.0 in., minor axis 0.7
Parameter Identification and System Modeling of Hydroelectric Generation Speed Control System

The operation of hydroelectric generation speed control system has influence on unit response to power grid order and fluctuation as well as power grid operation.According to test in a power plant,simulation test is conducted.The result show that the paprameters of system modeling are correct.
Social capital in media societies: The impact of media use and media structures on social capital

Social capital refers to the resources inherent in social relationships; it is considered the foundation of economic, political, and social development. To explore the media’s impact on social capi...
Folding and Catalysis of the glmS Ribozyme Riboswitch Studied at the Single-Molecule Level

We present findings from optical trapping experiments performed on the glmS ribozyme riboswitch. Found in the glmS gene in many bacteria, the glmS riboswitch down-regulates GlmS expression in the presence of the cell wall precursor—and enzymatic product of GlmS—glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN6P). In response to GlcN6P, the riboswitch site-specifically cleaves itself near its 5ʹ end, which targets the mRNA for subsequent degradation1. We performed single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments on the ribozyme catalytic core, unfolding and refolding the glmS RNA under controlled mechanical loads. The force-extension curves (FECs) reveal that folding and unfolding occur through a series of intermediate states, and we observe a striking hysteresis between unfolding and refolding of the ribozyme. Analysis of the FEC data leads to a model for the major unfolding pathway, involving the sequential unfolding of a series of discrete substructures. We’ve also begun to characterize the folding energy landscape of the catalytic core, using a series of constant-force measurements. We performed self-cleavage assays with optically trapped ribozyme molecules in the presence of the enzymatic cofactor GlcN6P and its catalytically inactive analog, glucose 6-phosphate. These assays demonstrate that our experimental construct, consisting of aminimal ribozyme sequence, is enzymatically active and strictly dependent upon the presence of GlcN6P. Self-cleavage measurements under controlled loads allow us to determine the profile of the catalytic activity in response to destabilizing forces. We observe an intermediate destabilization regime where the ribozyme remains active, but displays a partial loss of function.Footnotes1 Collins, J.A., Irnov, I., Baker, S., and Winkler, W.C. (2007) Genes Dev21(24), 3356-68.
Mobility and Service Innovation: A Critical Examination of Opportunities and Challenges for the Canadian Public Sector

This article examines the Canadian public sector's efforts to devise mobile service capacities predicated upon efficiency, engagement, and innovation, and how such capacities are intertwined with both the advent of Gov 2.0 and the inertia of traditional public administration. The author's primary focus is on the federal government Government of Canada, with some additional consideration of provincial governments and inter-governmental dynamics as appropriate. Through three typologies of public sector governance traditional public administration, new public management, and public value management, the author seeks to better understand these aforementioned tensions-and formulate fresh insights into how governments can pursue the leveraging of mobility as a basis for not only more efficient service delivery but also wider opportunities for public engagement and service innovation.
Development of a remote laboratory architecture for Mission Critical Operations instruction

In order to support the remote training of Mission Critical Operators, a standard interface and interconnection architecture had to be developed. While many others have created schemes for remote operation of equipment, many tend to either be customized to a target hardware, lack the requisite security protocols, or not be scalable. We have created such an architecture, leveraging existing commercial or open source hardware and software, and creating customizations where necessary to integrate the parts into an entire system. The result is an experience that connects students with industrially relevant hardware and software in a manner that approximates an industrial operator involved in remotely troubleshooting or configuring a networked remote resource.
Impact of Pharmacist-Provided Medication Therapy Management on Healthcare Quality and Utilization in Recently Discharged Elderly Patients.

Background The optimization of medication use during care transitions represents an opportunity to improve overall health-related outcomes. The utilization of clinical pharmacists during care transitions has demonstrated benefit, although the optimal method of integration during the care transition process remains unclear.
Late DNA Damage Mediated by Homologous Recombination Repair Results in Radiosensitization with Gemcitabine.

Gemcitabine (dFdCyd) shows broad antitumor activity in solid tumors in chemotherapeutic regimens or when combined with ionizing radiation (radiosensitization). While it is known that mismatches in DNA are necessary for dFdCyd radiosensitization, the critical event resulting in radiosensitization has not been identified. Here we hypothesized that late DNA damage (≥24 h after drug washout/irradiation) is a causal event in radiosensitization by dFdCyd, and that homologous recombination repair (HRR) is required for this late DNA damage. Using γ-H2AX as a measurement of DNA damage in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, we demonstrate that 10 or 80 nM dFdCyd alone produced significantly more late DNA damage compared to that observed within 4 h after treatment. The combination of dFdCyd treatment followed by irradiation did not produce a consistent increase in DNA damage in the first 4 h after treatment, however, there was a synergistic increase 24–48 h later relative to treatment with dFdCyd or radiation alone. RNAi sup...
Tumor-associated macrophage expression of PD-L1 in implants of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma: A comparison of matched primary and metastatic tumors

Abstract Objective Data on PD-L1 expression in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is mixed. Some studies report robust tumor staining and others identify expression limited to tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). TAM PD-L1 expression is induced in HGSOC metastatic implants from patients who have undergone chemotherapy. However, it is unclear whether TAM acquisition of PD-L1 plays a role in treatment naive tumors. We investigated PD-L1 expression in primary ovarian tumors and matched metastatic implants from predominantly treatment-naive HGSOC. Methods Sixty one primary HGSOC were evaluated with PD-L1 and CD68 IHC: 40 on TMA and 21 on whole section. Whole section cases were matched to a metastatic implant. TAM were delineated by CD68. Membranous PD-L1 staining was scored separately for tumor cells and TAM. Results Eight percent of primary HGSOC demonstrated PD-L1 expression. In contrast, 74% showed PD-L1+ TAM. In the 16 treatment naive cases, 13 (81.3%) demonstrated fidelity in intratumoral PD-L1 expression between the primary and metastatic site. Of the 21 matched pairs, only one case (4.8%) did not exhibit PD-L1 positive TAM in the metastatic implant and 19 (90.5%) showed fidelity across both locations. Intratumoral and immune infiltrate PD-L1 expression was not different in cases who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to treatment naive cases. Conclusions PD-L1+ TAM are common in both primary and metastatic HGSOC however tumoral PD-L1 staining is rare. There was high fidelity of PD-L1 expression when comparing primary tumors and metastatic implants in treatment naive specimens. Clinical trials are needed to determine whether tumor-associated staining correlates with clinical response to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition.
Analysis and comparison of DDR3/DDR4 clock duty-cycle-distortion (DCD) for UDIMM and discrete SDRAM component configurations

In this paper, the clock duty cycle distortion (DCD) jitter will be investigated and the results will be compared for two channel configurations: using a general UDIMM topology and using discrete SDRAM component topology. These channel configurations will be simulated and analyzed for ISI effects, such as channel loss and reflection. The outcome of this investigation will show the primary factors that contribute to on-clock DCD in a most common DDR channel configurations. After analysis and comparison, the simulated differential clock DCD data will be provided while changing channel impedance corners due to the substrate manufacturing tolerance for package and PCB in a reflective discrete DRAM component and lossy UDIMM configurations. Finally, the simulation model-to-hardware correlation will be performed for each configuration. The simulated clock waveforms will be correlated with the measured waveforms for each configuration and the simulated differential DDR clock DCD analysis will be verified with the measured clock DCD jitter amount in actual system configurations.
Structural and compositional characterization of single crystal uranium dioxide thin films deposited on different substrates

Abstract Uranium dioxide thin films were deposited on single crystal TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , YSZ, ZnO and NdGaO 3 substrates to optimize conditions for the growth of high quality single crystal films. X-ray diffraction results show that all the films have one growth direction and well defined peaks in the specular scans with the expected symmetry for each growth orientation. The UO 2 /Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , and ZnO films have high concentration of misfit dislocations that increase with the lattice mismatch. The UO 2 film on YSZ is found to be in registry with the substrate. The film has narrow mosaic component that is imposed upon a broader component arises from the diffuse scattering due to defects in the film. Meanwhile, UO 2 /NdGaO 3 film shows a splitting of the X-ray diffraction peaks which is attributed to the in-plane asymmetry of the orthorhombic substrate.
CoGS: Enabling distributed network functions with global states

Network Functions (NFs) are deployed in networks for a variety of purposes, e.g. monitoring, security, or performance optimization. During packet processing, NF maintains the states of processed packets and/or manipulates packets based on these states. Some of these states are per-flow states while others are multi-flow states. With the emerging of network function virtualization (NFV), it is common to deploy an NF across multiple middleboxes for high processing capability. In this case, per-flow states can be maintained by each middlebox as its local states. The multi-flow states are global states that are shared among middleboxes. We propose a network function framework, Coordinator for Global States (CoGS), to scale a network function with global states across distributed middleboxes. A coordinator is adopted to manage global states for middleboxes. Meanwhile, each middlebox is able to access the states and process packets based on the global states. Our evaluation shows that the CoGS coordinator can handle more than 1 million state operations per second. With CoGS to manage the global states, the distributed NF achieves nearly linear scalability with a dozen of middleboxes.
Embryo development in reciprocal crosses of Phaseolus vulgaris L. and P. coccineus Lam.

Embryo development was examined in reciprocal crosses of Phaseolus vulgaris cv. ‘Great Northern’ and P. coccineus cv. ‘Scarlet Runner’. The formation of abnormal (shrunken and underdeveloped) embryos constituted the primary crossing barrier between the two species when P. coccineus was the female parent. Plants of P. coccineus X P. vulgaris were obtained by embryo culture. Although the P. vulgaris X P. coccineus cross resulted in normal seed development, the fertility of the resulting hybrids was much lower (27%) than that of the reciprocal hybrids (81%). Three classes of F2 embryos, normal, shrunken, and underdeveloped were formed on reciprocal F1s and the frequencies did not differ between reciprocal populations. Thus, the interactions between embryo and endosperm and/or maternal parent rather than cytoplasmic-nuclear effects seem to be important in the determination of the extent of embryo growth. The examination of pollen fertility of F2 plants and the development of F2 and F3 embryos suggests that the formation of abnormal embryos and reduced male fertility are independent events. The P. vulgaris — P. coccineus crosses may be useful in studying the possible involvement of interspecific differences in hormonal metabolism in the development of hybrid embryos.
Effects of Karlovitz Number on Flame Surface Wrinkling in Turbulent Lean Premixed Methane-Air Flames

Direct numerical simulations are carried out to study the effects of the Karlovitz number (Ka) on the surface wrinkling of lean methane-air flames of equivalence ratio 0.5 and non-dimensional turbu...
Early effects of 16O radiation on neuronal morphology and cognition in a murine model

Abstract Astronauts exposed to high linear energy transfer radiation may experience cognitive injury. The pathogenesis of this injury is unknown but may involve glutamate receptors or modifications to dendritic structure and/or dendritic spine density and morphology. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, where it acts on ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors located at the presynaptic terminal and in the postsynaptic membrane at synapses in the hippocampus. Dendritic spines are sites of excitatory synaptic transmission, and changes in spine structure and dendrite morphology are thought to be morphological correlates of altered brain function associated with hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. The aim of the current study is to assess whether behavior, glutamate receptor gene expression, and dendritic structure in the hippocampus are altered in mice after early exposure to 16O radiation in mice. Two weeks post-irradiation, animals were tested for hippocampus-dependent cognitive performance in the Y-maze. During Y-maze testing, mice exposed to 0.1 Gy and 0.25 Gy radiation failed to distinguish the novel arm, spending approximately the same amount of time in all 3 arms during the retention trial. Exposure to 16O significantly reduced the expression of Nr1 and GluR1 in the hippocampus and modulated spine morphology in the dentate gyrus and cornu Ammon 1 within the hippocampus. The present data provide evidence that 16O radiation has early deleterious effects on mature neurons that are associated with hippocampal learning and memory.
“Ist es nicht ein finsterer Wald, in den wir gerieten?”. Waldgänge und Waldgänger in Maja Haderlaps Roman «Engel des Vergessens»

This essay examines the literary portrait of the forested Southern Carinthian border region as a place of Austrian Slowenian historical experience and cultural memory in Maja Haderlap’s novel Engel des Vergessens . The autobiographical and documentary novel published in 2011 asks what it means to live on in a landscape contaminated by historical violence. At issue here is the novel’s representation of individual and collective Austrian Slowenian history in its depiction of the narrator’s forest walks as a child and the Carinthian Slowenian par­tisans’ life in the woods.
A study of alternative metal particle structures and mixtures for dental amalgams based on mercury additions.

The perception that mercury in dental amalgam is toxic to the human organism has prompted worldwide efforts by the scientific community to develop alternative amalgam-like materials that utilize little or no mercury. In this investigation, an attempt is made to develop a new dental alloy system by adding liquid mercury to silver-coated Ag4Sn intermetallic particles in lesser amounts than are used in conventional amalgam alloys. An effort to precipitate the important eta-prime (Cu6Sn5) phase was made by adding pure Cu and Sn powders to the alloy formulation during trituration. Tytin a popular Ag-Sn-Cu single-composition, spray-atomized conventional dental alloy was used as the control to obtain baseline data for comparisons of microstructures and mechanical properties. Amalgamation of the coated particles with mercury, with or without the addition of Cu and Sn powders, mostly produced specimens with chemically non-coherent microstructures that were relatively weak in compression. These results were due, in part, to mercury's inability to chemically wet the Ag-coated particles and Cu and Sn powders because of naturally occurring surface oxide films. The strongest specimens tested had silver dendritic coatings, resulting in compression strength values up to 40% of the control's. Their higher strength is attributed to mechanical interlocking at the particle/matrix interfaces.
Addressing Scalability and Robustness in Security Games with Multiple Boundedly Rational Adversaries

Boundedly rational human adversaries pose a serious challenge to security because they deviate from the classical assumption of perfect rationality. An emerging trend in security game research addresses this challenge by using behavioral models such as quantal response (QR) and subjective utility quantal response (SUQR). These models improve the quality of the defender’s strategy by more accurately modeling the decisions made by real human adversaries. Work on incorporating human behavioral models into security games has typically followed two threads. The first thread, scalability, seeks to develop efficient algorithms to design patrols for large-scale domains that protect against a single adversary. However, this thread cannot handle the common situation of multiple adversary types with heterogeneous behavioral models. Having multiple adversary types introduces considerable uncertainty into the defender’s planning problem. The second thread, robustness, uses either Bayesian or maximin approaches to handle this uncertainty caused by multiple adversary types. However, the robust approach has so far not been able to scale up to complex, large-scale security games. Thus, each of these two threads alone fails to work in key real world security games. Our present work addresses this shortcoming and merges these two research threads to yield a scalable and robust algorithm, MIDAS (MaxImin Defense Against SUQR), for generating game-theoretic patrols to defend against multiple boundedly rational human adversaries. Given the size of the defender’s optimization problem, the key component of MIDAS is incremental cut and strategy generation using a master/slave optimization approach. Innovations in MIDAS include (i) a maximin mixed-integer linear programming formulation in the master and (ii) a compact transition graph formulation in the slave. Additionally, we provide a theoretical analysis of our new model and report its performance in simulations. In collaboration with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), we consider the problem of defending fishery stocks from illegal fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and use MIDAS to handle heterogeneity in adversary types (i.e., illegal fishermen) in order to construct robust patrol strategies for USCG assets.
Music for patients with hematological malignancies undergoing bone marrow biopsy: a randomized controlled study of anxiety, perceived pain, and patient satisfaction.

Objective To examine the impact of random assignment to music versus usual care on anxiety, perceived pain level and patient satisfaction in patients undergoing bone marrow biopsies.
Use of prescription opioid and other drugs among a cohort of persons with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: A retrospective study.

Against the backdrop of increased opioid prescribing in the United States and the associated high rate of side effects, dependence, and addiction, our study examined how opioids and other medications are being used among persons with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). EDS is a set of heritable connective tissue disorders with high symptom burden, including chronic pain. Prescription medication use among persons with EDS was compared to a cohort of matched controls using 10 years of administrative claims data from a large database of privately insured patients (2005-2014). Our dataset included 4,294 persons with EDS, ages 5-62 years old. In both adults and children, we found that the percentage of persons with a prescription drug claim was higher in the EDS cohort for all prescription drug classes examined. Among children, opioid use was double in the EDS cohort compared to the control group (27.5% vs. 13.5%); in adults, it was nearly double in EDS patients (62% vs. 34.1%). Among persons who were prescribed opioids, those with EDS had higher cumulative dosages over a 2-year time period versus controls. Our study aids in understanding opioid and prescription drug use patterns in a vulnerable population with high symptom burden and chronic pain that is often severe.
Detection of respiratory pathogens in clinical samples using metagenomic shotgun sequencing.

Purpose. In this pilot study, we used shotgun metagenome sequencing (SMS) strategy on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples from hospitalized patients with suspected ventilate-associated pneumonia (VAP) in order to explore its potential for improving detection of ventilator-associated-pneumonia (VAP) etiology. Methodology. In total, 67BAL samples from patients with VAP were tested with SMS strategy for detection of respiratory pathogens. Results of SMS and routine respiratory culture were compared. Results. SMS detected all pathogens recovered by cultivation approaches. In addition, putative pathogens other than the organisms recovered by culture were detected by SMS in culture-positive samples. In 40 of 45 (89 %) culture-negative samples, a potential pathogen was detected by SMS. Conclusion. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that SMS is able to detect bacterial, fungal and viral organisms in BAL, including culture-negative cases.
A Computer System for Requesting and Reporting Radiologic Examinations, Verifying Receipt of Reports by Referring Physicians, and Tracking Patients with Significant Abnormal Findings

Verification of the receipt of a report by the referring physician when significant abnormalities are seen on an imaging examination, and the timely follow-up of these patients are not only good medical practices, but have recently been deemed a duty of the Radiologist by several courts in the United States1. This paper describes a computer system developed several years ago at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Anaheim, which fulfills these needs. In addition to many other functions, the system can track the 160, 000 imaging studies per year performed at the hospital and at eight (8) outlying clinics (the furthest one being 26 miles), print reports at all these locations in the offices of the referring physicians, track timely interpretation of all examinations, attach acknowledgement letters to reports containing significant abnormal findings which the referring physician is expected to sign and return, track these acknowledgement letters, and track patients with these abnormal findings so that they are not “lost” to follow-up. To increase patient satisfaction a “normal” letter is mailed to patients with normal examinations. It also tracks the ordering practices of the referring physicians, and provides them with feedback so that resources are utilized optimally.
A Pragmatic Trial for Emergency Medical Service Providers’ Prehospital Response to Suidality: Consent Is Not Essential, but Limited Patient Engagement May Be Meaningful

This case focuses on the role of and need for informed consent in a pragmatic trial of prehospital triage for patients with suicidal ideation (Wilfond, Zabrowski, and Johnson 2016). As proposed, th...
Emmetropia Is Maintained Despite Continued Eye Growth From 16 to 18 Years of Age.

Purpose To examine, in Norwegian adolescents, to what degree emmetropia and low hyperopia were maintained from 16 to 18 years of age, and if this was the case, whether it was associated with continued coordinated ocular growth. Methods Cycloplegic autorefraction and ocular biometry, including crystalline lens thickness, were measured in 93 Norwegian adolescents (mean age: 16.7 ± 0.3 years; 63.4% females) and repeated after 2 years. Crystalline lens power was determined by ray tracing over a 1-mm pupil, based on the Gullstrand-Emsley model. Serum vitamin D3 concentration was measured at follow-up. Results Emmetropia and low hyperopia (-0.50 diopters [D] < spherical equivalent refractive error [SER] < +2.00 D) were present in 91.4% at baseline and 89.2% at follow-up. The emmetropes and low hyperopes who maintained their refractive error exhibited continued ocular axial growth (+0.059 ± 0.070 mm) together with a decrease in crystalline lens power (-0.064 ± 0.291 D) and a deepening of the anterior chamber (+0.028 ± 0.040 mm). Thinning of the crystalline lens was found in 24%. Overall, the negative change in SER was larger in those with the most negative SER at baseline (R2 = 0.178, P < 0.001), and was associated with increases in vitreous chamber depth and in crystalline lens power (R2 = 0.752, P < 0.001), when adjusted for sex. There was no difference in vitamin D3 level between those who exhibited negative versus positive changes in refractive error. Conclusions The results show that emmetropic and low hyperopic eyes were still growing in late adolescence, with refractive errors being maintained through a coordinated decrease in crystalline lens power.
Pain in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Is Not Improved During Hospitalization: The Impact of Opioids on Pain and Healthcare Utilization

Most patients with IBD experience pain, especially during acute disease exacerbations. Opioid use continues to be more prevalent in IBD than any other chronic gastrointestinal condition, and the majority of IBD patients consume narcotics during hospitalization despite the risks of infection and death. We performed a retrospective review of 57 subjects aimed at quantifying pain and opiate consumption for IBD-related admissions over a 3-month period. For each patient, the average and maximum of each day’s pain scores were used to measure changes in pain from admission to discharge using mixed model regression, with opiate use as a time-dependent covariate. The daily average pain score over the entire hospitalization was 4.23 ± 2.09, and the maximum pain score was 8.28 ± 1.75. Among opioid users (n = 51), the daily average pain score was 4.65 ± 2.16 and the maximum pain score was 7.53 ± 2.56. Across all cases from admission to discharge, there was less than a 1-point change in daily average pain (− 0.96 ± 2.03, p = 0.0009), and no change in maximum pain (− 0.89 ± 3.59, p = 0.0671). Opioid users, a subset of the overall cohort, had a similar less than one-point drop in daily average pain (− 0.94 ± − 0.29, p = 0.0024) and no change in daily maximum pain scores (− 0.81 ± − 0.47, p = 0.0914). Patients on average used 20 ± 25 mg morphine equivalents per day. Opioid-naive patients used similar doses to those who used opioids prior to admission (PTA). Almost half of all cases (47%) were discharged with an opioid prescription, the majority (71%) of whom were not on opioids PTA. Pain in IBD is not well controlled through hospitalization, with less than a 1-point change from admission to discharge, despite significant opioid consumption. Alternative analgesic methods should be explored, given the significant impact of narcotics on long-term outcomes including mortality and quality of life.
Minimally invasive and transcatheter approaches for mitral valve surgery

Mitral valve surgery has evolved through the ages, in response to prevalent epidemiology of mitral pathologies. In the modern era, advances in technology has allowed physicians to help a wider spectrum on increasingly sicker patients. This review summarises these advances and its associated evidence base for safety and efficacy.
Guiding Engineering Student Teams' Ethics Discussions with Peer Advising.

This study explores how peer advising affects student project teams’ discussions of engineering ethics. Peer ethics advisors from non-engineering disciplines are expected to provide diverse perspectives and to help engineering student teams engage and sustain ethics discussions. To investigate how peer advising helps engineering student teams’ ethics discussions, three student teams in different peer advising conditions were closely observed: without any advisor, with a single volunteer advisor, and with an advising team working on the ethics advising project. Micro-scale discourse analysis based on cognitive ethnography was conducted to find each team’s cultural model of understanding of engineering ethics. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) analysis was also conducted to see what influenced each team’s cultural model. In cultural model, the engineering team with an ethics advising team showed broader understanding in social implications of engineering. The results of CHAT analysis indicated that differences in rules, community, and division of labor among three teams influenced the teams’ cultural models. The CHAT analysis also indicated that the peer advisors working on the ethics advising project and the engineering team working on engineering design project created a collaborative environment. The findings indicated that collaborative environment supported peer ethics advising to facilitate team discussions of engineering ethics.
Synergistic effect of soil pathogenic fungi and nematodes reducing bioprotection of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the grass Leymus arenarius

We examined the role ofarbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in thebioprotection of the sand dune grass Leymus arenarius against soil fungi andnematodes. Six soil fungi (Fusariumnivale, Fusarium sp., Cladosporiumherbarum, Cladosporium sp., Phomasp., Sporothrix sp.) and four species ofnematodes (Pratylenchoidesmagnicauda, Paratylenchusmicrodorus, Rotylenchus goodeyi, Merlinius joctus) were isolated from a coastalsand dune in Iceland where a population of L. arenarius was declining in vigour. Acommercial AMF inoculum (Microbio Ltd. England)containing Glomus caledonium, G.fasciculatum, and G. mossae was used.Seedlings of L. arenarius were grownunder controlled conditions in sterile sand andsubjected to the following treatments: (1)control, (2) + AMF, (3) + AMF + soil fungi, (4)+ AMF + nematodes, (5) + AMF + nematodes + soilfungi, (6) + soil fungi, (7) + soil fungi +nematodes, (8) + nematodes. Mycorrhizal plantshad significantly the highest root dry weightof all treatments. Mycorrhizal plants hadsignificantly higher leaf dry weight thanplants in other treatments, with the exceptionof AMF inoculated plants exposed to nematodes. Mycorrhizal plants exposed to soil fungi andnematodes had significantly higher growthparameters except total number of leaves thanAMF inoculated plants exposed to both soilfungi and nematodes. Mycorrhizal plantssubjected to a dual application of soil fungiand nematodes did not vary significantly in anygrowth parameters from plants without AMF thatwere exposed to a dual application of soilfungi and nematodes. This suggests asynergistic effect of soil fungi and nematodesthat break down the protection of AMF againstpathogens. The results are discussed inrelation to plant dynamics of sand duneecosystems.
CHAPTER 9 – Population Forecasting

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses population forecasting. Population figures are easily interpreted and assimilated by considering changes or growth rates. A population is said to have a growth rate of 5% if for every 100 people alive at the start of the year, there are 105 alive at the end. It can be shown that if a population has a growth rate of g% and this continues every year, then the population will double in 69/g years. To produce good population forecasts, future fertility rates need to be forecast. There are different methods of forecasting—(1) trend fitting and time series modeling, producing forecasts based just on previous rates, (2) anticipations data, and (3) causal models. However, until satisfactory answers are found to the question of what makes fertility rates change, high quality long-range population forecasts will not be possible.
3 – Proposal Review

Publisher Summary In most study sections, each proposal is assigned to a primary reviewer, one or occasionally two additional reviewers, and a discussant. They must read the proposal in detail and, excepting the discussant, write a two to four or more page review that follows a standard format. The chairperson calls up each proposal at the beginning of the meeting and asks the reviewers if it is competitive. If all reviewers agree that it is not competitive, it is triaged, and the written reviews are given to the scientific review administration for incorporation into the summary statement. If even one reviewer puts the proposal in the top half, it is not triaged. After removal of the triaged proposals, the rest are reviewed in order. The written reviews follow a set pattern. Following presentation of the research problem and the methods to be used, usually lifted largely from the specific aims or abstract of the proposal, a critique is presented stressing its strengths, weaknesses, and innovation. This is followed by a short review of the research environment, and the qualifications of the research team. The secondary reviewers may write only a critique section. One should assume that only the assigned reviewers read proposal. Most of the members look at a given proposal carefully for the first time as it is presented in the meeting. Their scrutiny is superficial to say the least, and is limited to about 10 minutes while the reviews are being read. Their scores, in aggregate, carry five to six times more weight than the informed scores of the assigned reviewers. They base their scores largely on what they hear, but they are influenced strongly by the factors: general appearance, a reasonable budget, strong biosketch, and effectiveness of the specific aims.
Systematic review of microvascular coupling devices for arterial anastomoses in free tissue transfer.

Background Coupling devices have become commonplace in performing venous anastomoses during microvascular free tissue transfer (FTT). However, arterial anastomoses are still most commonly performed using traditional microvascular suture techniques. Objective To describe the safety and feasibility of using microvascular coupling devices for free flap arterial anastomosis. Methods A systematic review of English language literature was performed for studies that investigated the use of an arterial coupler for microvascular FTT in human patients. A comprehensive search of MEDLINE (January 1948 to August 2018), EMBASE (January 1974 to August 2018), and Web of Science was performed. Results Fifteen studies were included. All studies were retrospective case series. A combined total of 395 arterial anastomoses were attempted with a coupling device. All studies except for one used the 3M Unilink/Synovis coupling device. One study used a novel absorbable coupling device. The coupling device was aborted and converted to a suture technique in 8.4% of attempted anastomoses. Rupture of the anastomotic device was reported in only 1 patient (0.3%). Thrombosis was also infrequent at 1.9%. The quality assessment showed a high risk of bias in all studies. Conclusion In selected patients, coupling devices for arterial anastomoses have a good success rate with low rates of thrombosis based on limited quality evidence.