cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Wisconsin outcomes experience: baseline outcomes of the WISCVPR Web-based Outcomes Project.

PURPOSE The measurement of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (OCR) outcomes is now considered common practice. Unfortunately, because of the costs involved in purchasing outcomes tracking software, many programs are not able to participate in pooled outcomes analysis and benchmarking. The purpose of this report is to describe the current OCR outcomes data in the state of Wisconsin using a web-based model for outcomes data collection, data pooling, and benchmarking. METHODS Participating OCR programs collected individual patient outcomes according to protocols developed by the Wisconsin Society for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation's Outcomes Committee. Programs analyzed their data quarterly and submitted the values to a database via an Internet web site. Aggregate outcomes data from 34 programs were collected over a 27-month period. RESULTS Aggregate data representing 5235 OCR patients are presented. The mean age for the men was 64 +/- 5 years (N = 3612; 69% of the sample). The mean age for the women was 67 +/- 6 years (N = 1623; 31% of the sample). The completion rate for the group was 89% (95%CI, 86-91). The average number of OCR sessions per patient was 22 +/- 6 over 9 +/- 3 weeks. The clinical and behavioral outcomes for this sample ranged from a median value of 88% for the percentage of patients meeting the blood pressure goal (95%CI, 87-91) to less than 5% for the percentage of patients receiving formal psychosocial counseling (95%CI, 0). The major cardiovascular event rate was 0.17 per 10,000 patient-hours. CONCLUSION This report describes the baseline OCR outcomes obtained via a state affiliate-sponsored outcomes management program. These data show that this model of OCR outcomes measurement, collection, and interprogram analysis produces data that are comparable with those of published, controlled studies. Determining baseline characteristics of OCR outcomes data will be important in the development of benchmarks and best practice guidelines.
The Aero-Optical Environment Around a Helicopter Computed using the Compressible Vorticity Confinement Method

The methodology and results of a computational investigation into the nearfield aerooptic effects on a helicopter-borne optical system are presented. The approach investigated in the study was to incorporate a vorticity-confinement method into a commerciallyavailable CFD code, thereby allowing the rotor wake to be modeled in a less computationally-expensive manner with a higher degree of accuracy. This method is expected to produce more-accurate vortex dynamics, including vortex interactions and other secondary effects, thus leading to improved information regarding the aero-optic environment encountered by an optical system mounted on a helicopter.
Etiological study on an influenza outbreak

Objective:To isolate,identify and study the molecular epidemiology of etiological agents that caused an influenza outbreak in a factory at Longgang District in Shenzhen city in the early of June,2007.Methods:Nasopharyngeal swabs from fever patients and acute patient sera were collected and diagnosed by real time quantitative RT-PCR method.Throat specimens from patients were isolated and cultured in MDCK cells.HA1 genes of influenza viruses isolated were performed sequencing and analyzed the antigens.The serum antibodies of patients were also detected.Results:Seventeen of 27 nasopharyngeal swabs were positive by real time RT-PCR method,the positive rate was 63.0%(17/27).Two H3N2 influenza viruses were isolated from two nasopharyngeal swab specimens by MDCK cell culture,the positive rate was 7.4%(2/27).Results of six patients by two serological assays showed antibodies at the recovery stage increased 4-fold or more than that at the acute stage.The sequence of HA1 gene of one strain was compared with a national representative strain and the vaccine strains in years 2006 and 2007 recommended by WHO and found some amino acid variations in A,B or C antigenic determinant regions of HA protein.That showed that antigenic drift was present in influenza viruses isolated.Conclusion:This influenza outbreak may be caused by H3N2 influenza viruses undergoing the antigenic drift.
Multidisciplinary intervention to improve albuterol inhaler utilization among patients with asthma.

ABSTRACTObjective: The goal of this study was to examine the impact of a multidisciplinary intervention designed to improve appropriate albuterol inhaler utilization among patients with asthma. Methods: This was a pre–post retrospective analysis. The study intervention included written information sent directly to patients, educated prescribers, and enhanced pharmacist training on appropriate albuterol inhaler utilization. Eligible study patients had a diagnosis of asthma and purchased at least two albuterol inhalers between 07/12/2012 and 06/30/2013 (pre-period) and 7/01/2013 to 06/30/2014 (post-period). The primary outcome was a comparison between study periods of the count of albuterol inhalers purchased per patient per month (PPPM). Results: The median age of included patients was 41 years, 53% were females, and allergic rhinitis was the most common comorbidity. The median albuterol inhalers purchased PPPM decreased from 0.60 (interquartile range [IQR] = 0.39–0.87) to 0.37 (IQR = 0.26-0.53) from the p...
Renal fossa recurrence after nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma: prognostic features and oncological outcomes

OBJECTIVES To describe the clinicopathological features associated with increased risk of renal fossa recurrence (RFR) after radical nephrectomy (RN) and to describe the prognostic features associated with cancer-specific survival (CSS) among patients with RFR treated with primary locally directed therapy, systemically directed therapy or expectant management. PATIENTS AND METHODS The records of 2 502 patients treated with RN for unilateral, sporadic, localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC) between 1970 and 2006 were reviewed. CSS after RFR was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Associations with the development of RFR and CSS after RFR were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression models. RESULTS A total of 33 (1.3%) patients developed isolated RFR (iRFR) and 30 (1.2%) patients developed RFR in the setting of synchronous metastases after RN (study cohort, N = 63). The median follow-up for the series was 9.0 years after RN and 6.0 years after RFR diagnosis. On multivariable analysis, advanced pathological stage (pT2: hazard ratio [HR] 4.36, P = 0.004; pT3/4: HR 4.39, P = 0.003) and coagulative necrosis (HR 2.71, P = 0.006) were independently associated with increased risk of iRFR. The median time to recurrence was 1.5 years after RN among the 33 patients with iRFR, and 1.4 years among all patients. Overall, the median CSS was 2.5 years after diagnosis of iRFR, 1.3 years after RFR in the setting of synchronous metastases, and 2.2 years overall. After primary locally directed therapy (surgery, ablation or radiation), systemic therapy or expectant management, the 3-year CSS rates among patients with iRFR were 63%, 50% and 13% (P = 0.001) and were 64%, 50% and 28% (P = 0.006) among all patients, respectively. On multivariable analysis, when compared with observation, locally directed therapies were associated with a significantly decreased risk of death from RCC (HR 0.26, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Renal fossa recurrence is a rare event after RN for RCC and portends a poor prognosis, even in the absence of synchronous metastases. Development of iRFR is associated with advanced stage and aggressive tumour biology. Patients who underwent primary locally directed therapy had superior CSS compared with those treated with expectant management, supporting the use of aggressive local treatment in carefully selected patients with RFR. Future research is needed to determine the optimum role and sequencing of combined therapy in patients with this rare entity.
Evaluation of Commercial Chlorophyllin Copper Complex Preparations by Liquid Chromatography with Photodiode Array Detection

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (LC) system with photodiode array detection was used to analyze chlorophyllin copper complex (CCC). Analysis revealed significant differences In the porphyrin compositions of CCC samples from 5 industrial sources. Copper isochlorin e 4 was identified as a major component in most commercial materials. Copper complexes of chlorin e 6 and pheophorbide a and unidentified porphyrins with either chlorin- or non-chlorin-type spectra were found in some samples. The variability of porphyrin compositions in commercial preparations may affect the medicinal efficacy of CCC; therefore, analysis of porphyrin composition is important for CCC quality control.
Inhibition of Bacterial Transformation by Nucleic Acid-Specific Antibodies

Shortly after the successful production of antisera that react with DNA and synthetic polynucleotides (Plescia et al., 1964, 1965; Plescia and Braun, 1967) it was decided to determine the influence of such sera on a system in which the biological activity of DNA can be assayed with relative ease. Transformation in bacteria represents such a system in which it is possible to determine quantitatively the ability of naked DNA to transfer information from one cell population to related, but geno-typically slightly different, recipient cells (cf. Schaeffer, 1964; Braun, 1965; Spizizen et al., 1967). Accordingly, studies were initiated with Diplococcus pneumoniae and B. subtilis (Braun et al., 1965), two species in which methods for assaying transformation have been well standardized. The early tests revealed that antisera against DNA and against synthetic polynucleotides can indeed inhibit transformation in pneumococci and B. subtilis. The early tests also showed that an antiserum reacting only with two of the four bases in DNA (anti-poly dAT) inhibited different non-linked markers to a different extent. This implied that the inhibition may depend on the relative frequency of a given nucleotide in the region with which the information of the marker under scrutiny is associated.
Would This Be Rational Suicide

Formal psychiatric diagnostic criteria do not recognize the entity of rational suicide. However, there have been discussions of it in the health-care field, particularly about providing assistance or aid in dying for terminally ill patients. Several sets of criteria have been developed. Most require the decision to kill oneself be voluntary, well considered, and stemming from a terminal or irreversibly debilitated condition for it to be considered rational. In this chapter, we apply a set of criteria for rational suicide to an actual patient and examine them from multiple perspectives. Although the criteria are clearly stated and easily understood, the patient is not so easily comprehended. Applying these criteria to humans with their ambivalence, internal conflicts, and multiple changing motivations and moods may raise more questions than are answered.
Innovation search dynamics in new domains: An exploratory study of academic founders' search for funding in the biotechnology industry

Abstract Previous studies have emphasized the role of experience in shaping the mental models and theories that guide search, but offered minimal insight into how individuals navigate domains for which their experience provides no problem-relevant schemata. To explore how search unfolds in such new domains (ND), we study first time academic founders' quest for early-stage funding, a critical step in the innovation process. We observe that these founders differentially recombine institutional, intellectual, social, and spatial facets of their OD (academic research) knowledge to search in the ND (funding a nascent business venture). We identify four distinctive recombinative patterns of OD knowledge facets, and propose that these are associated with differences in the founders' orientation to the ND, a reflection of their agenda for, and intellectual and affective engagement with the entrepreneurial endeavor in general and particularly their search for funding. We propose that ND orientation influences how individuals rely upon OD knowledge facets to anchor and filter their ND search. We extend the literature on innovation search dynamics by concurrently addressing how individuals recombine OD knowledge in a ND search and proposing ND orientation as a reason why individuals might do so differentially. (192)
Arthroplasty treatment of proximal humerus fractures: 14-year trends in the United States.

ABSTRACTObjectives: Proximal humerus fractures are a common injury in the elderly population that can usually be managed non-operatively. However, arthroplasty has become increasingly utilized for complex fractures and poor bone quality. We evaluated national trends in treatment, specifically looking at the adoption of reverse total shoulder arthroplasty.Methods: The incidence of proximal humerus fractures was calculated from the Nationwide Emergency Department Database (NEDD) from 2006 to 2012. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was used to select patients from 2000 to 2013 with proximal humerus fractures treated with open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA), reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RSA), and hemiarthroplasty (HSA). RSA and TSA shared the same ICD-9 code until 2010.Results: The incidence of proximal humerus fracture was stable from 2006 to 2012. Hemiarthroplasty was the majority treatment choice for arthroplasty in the early 2000’s. However, in 2008, ...
Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Consensus Control of Multi-Agent Systems with Actuator Faults

This paper presents an adaptive fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme for leader-follower consensus control of uncertain mobile agents with actuator faults. A local FTC component is designed for each agent in the distributed system by using local measurements and certain information exchanged between neighboring agents. Each local FTC component consists of a fault detection module and a reconfigurable controller module comprised of a baseline controller and an adaptive fault-tolerant controller activated after fault detection. Under certain assumptions, the closed-loop system stability and leader-follower consensus properties of the distributed system are rigorously established. A simulation example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the FTC method.
Are Disagreements in Caregiver and Patient Assessment of Patient Health Associated with Increased Caregiver Burden in Caregivers of Older Adults with Cancer

BACKGROUND As patients age, caregivers increasingly provide essential support and patient information. We sought to determine if patient-caregiver assessments of patient health differ and if differences contribute to burden in caregivers of older adults with cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred patients, aged ≥65, and their caregivers independently assessed patient function, comorbidity, nutrition, social activity, social support, and mental health. Caregivers completed the Caregiver Strain Index (CSI). Patient-caregiver assessments were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and paired t test. Association between caregiver burden and differences between patient-caregiver assessments was examined using generalized linear regression. RESULTS Median patient age was 70 (range 65-91) and 70% had advanced disease. Sixty percent of patients reported requiring help with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs); most had good social support (median Medical Outcomes Study [MOS]-Social Support Survey score 92) and mental health (median Mental Health Inventory score 85).Caregivers were a median age of 66 (range 28-85), 73% female, 68% spousal caregivers, and 79% lived with the patient. Caregivers rated patients as having poorer physical function (more IADLs dependency [p = .008], lower Karnofsky Performance Status [p = .02], lower MOS-Physical Function [p < .0001]), poorer mental health (p = .0002), and having more social support (p = .03) than patients themselves. Three-quarters of caregivers experienced some caregiver burden (mean CSI score 3.1). Only differences in patient-caregiver assessment of the patient's need for help with IADLs were associated with increased caregiver burden (p = .03). CONCLUSION Patient-caregiver assessments of patient function, mental health, and social support differ. However, only differences in assessment of IADLs dependency were associated with increased caregiver burden. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE As patients age, there is a higher incidence of frailty and cognitive impairments. As a result, caregivers play an increasingly vital role in providing information about patient health to healthcare providers, which is used to help healthcare providers tailor treatments and optimize patient health. These findings highlight that caregiver reporting in older adults with cancer may not replace patient reporting in those older adults who are otherwise able to self-report. Furthermore, clinicians should check for caregiver burden in caregivers who report providing more help with instrumental activities of daily living than patients themselves report and provide appropriate support as needed.
Pesticide and growth regulator residues in pineapple

Early in the history of pineapple cultivation in Hawaii, pesticides were employed to control the many insects, nematodes, fungi, and weeds prevalent in this mild tropical climate which allows continuous growth of most organisms throughout the year. In more recent years, the application of growth regulators was initiated to control flowering and promote fruit enlargement.
Air Travel-Related Spontaneous Pneumothorax in Diffuse Cystic Lung Diseases.

Spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) is a common manifestation of patients with diffuse cystic lung diseases (DCLDs) such as lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (PLCH), and Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome (BHD). Air travel may pose an additional risk for the development of SP. Here, we summarize the literature pertaining to air travel-related SP in DCLDs in order to assist patients and clinicians in appropriate decision-making with regard to air travel. Several recent studies have estimated that the per-flight risk of SP in patients with DCLDs is approximately 1%, with disease-specific risk estimates of 1.1–2.6% in LAM, 0–0.63% in BHD, and 0.37% in PLCH. In general, it should be safe for most patients with DCLDs to undertake air travel. Patients should be counseled to seek medical attention and not board the airplane in the presence of sudden/new onset chest pain and/or dyspnea prior to boarding the plane.
Response of microbial populations regulating nutrient biogeochemical cycles to oiling of coastal saltmarshes from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Abstract Microbial communities play vital roles in the biogeochemistry of nutrients in coastal saltmarshes, ultimately controlling water quality, nutrient cycling, and detoxification. We determined the structure of microbial populations inhabiting coastal saltmarsh sediments from northern Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA to gain insight into impacts on the biogeochemical cycles affected by Macondo oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon well blowout two years after the accident. Quantitative PCR directed toward specific functional genes revealed that oiled marshes were greatly diminished in the population sizes of diazotrophs, denitrifiers, nitrate-reducers to ammonia, methanogens, sulfate-reducers and anaerobic aromatic degraders, and harbored elevated numbers of alkane-degraders. Illumina 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that oiling greatly changed the structure of the microbial communities, including significant decreases in diversity. Oil-driven changes were also demonstrated in the structure of two functional populations, denitrifying and sulfate reducing prokaryotes, using nirS and dsrB as biomarkers, respectively. Collectively, the results from 16S rRNA and functional genes indicated that oiling not only markedly altered the microbial community structures, but also the sizes and structures of populations involved in (or regulating) a number of important nutrient biogeochemical cycles in the saltmarshes. Alterations such as these are associated with potential deterioration of ecological services, and further studies are necessary to assess the trajectory of recovery of microbial-mediated ecosystem functions over time in oiled saltmarsh sediment.
Alliances and Joint Ventures: Organizational

Alliances are voluntarily initiated and enduring relationships between two or more organizations that involve the sharing, exchange, or codevelopment of resources. Joint ventures are a type of alliances in which two or more partners create a new entity in which they both hold equity. The article highlights the study of all such interorganizational ties from a sociological perspective and stresses the importance of the social networks in which firms are embedded on subsequent ties they enter. It discusses three core issues associated with such ties: formation—which firms enter ties and with whom do they partner, governance—what factors influence the governance structure firms use to formalize their ties, and performance—what factors influence the performance of ties and of the firms entering such ties. The structural embeddedness perspectives that introduced offers many promising directions for future research on the dyadic, network, and societal level evolution and performance of such interorganizational partnerships.
Some Perspectives on the Molecular Mechanism of In Vitro Transformation and In Vivo Leukemogenesis by HTLV

Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV) is a family of related T-cell lymphotropic retroviruses isolated from man. The first HTLV isolates, now called HTLV-I, have been obtained from patients with an aggressive form of T-cell malignancy now collectively called adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). In addition, HTLV isolates have been obtained from T-cell variants of hairy cell leukemia (see Robert-Guroff et al., this volume), called HTLV-II, and from patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), called HTLV-III (Wong-Staal and Gallo 1985). HTLV-I and HTLV-II have the capacity of immortalizing and “transforming” normal human T-cells in vitro (Markham et al. 1983; Miyoshi et al. 1981; Popovic et al. 1983), while HTLV-III is cytopathic. In this chapter, we will not deal with HTLV-III, but will attempt to define the mechanism of in vitro transformation and in vivo leukemogenesis by HTLV-I and HTLV-II, using several approaches: 1. Comparative analyses of different isolates to look for DNA sequences (genes?) that are in common or divergent and to correlate these findings with known biological activities and disease potential of these viruses. 2. Analyses of the integration and expression of viral genetic information in primary leukemic cells and in vitro transformed cells. 3. Examination of the mode of expression of cellular genes that may be relevant in T-cell transformation.
Models and Materials for Topological Insulators

Abstract In the chapter, we review two proto-type models of topological insulators, namely the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model for HgTe quantum wells and the four band model for Bi 2 Se 3 family of materials. Based on these two simple models, we discuss helical edge/surface states of topological insulators, as well as their exotic physical properties, including total angular momentum, spin and orbital textures, topological stability, and topological response of the surface states. Moreover, we summarize the basic principle to search for topological insulators from these two models and discuss the related topological materials.
The Structure and Energetics of Transient Disturbances in the Northern Hemisphere Wintertime Circulation

Abstract The hemispheric distributions of wintertime circulation statistics derived from the forecast fields of vertical motion are presented. The dominant features in the pattern for time-mean vertical velocity are consistent with the existence of thermally direct meridional circulations over the entrance regions of the principal jet streams, and thermally indirect circulations over the jet exit regions. Rising motions in the transient disturbances are seen to display positive temporal correlations with temperature and geopotential height over the major oceanic storm track regions. On the other hand, the western portion of the continents and the adjacent oceanic areas are characterized by downward eddy transports of geopotential energy at 850 and 500 mb, as well as much reduced temporal correlations between the vertical motion and temperature fields. The vertical phase structure of the transient disturbances at various geographical locations is studied by performing a cross-spectral analysis of the time ...
“We’re Walking Proud and Talking Loud Because We’re the New Black Joes!”: Community Leadership and Tenants Rights in Asheville’s 1968 Rent Strike:

In 1967, black residents of Asheville’s public housing complexes issued a challenge to the Asheville Housing Authority. Proclaiming “we are human and we want our freedom,” tenants demanded a new re...
Using multiple environmental proxies and hydrodynamic modeling to investigate Late Holocene climate and coastal change within a large Gulf of Mexico estuarine system (Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA)

Abstract A high degree of uncertainty exists for understanding and predicting coastal estuarine response to changing climate, land-use, and sea-level conditions, leaving geologic records as a best-proxy for constraining potential outcomes. With the majority of the world's population focused in coastal regions, understanding how local systems respond to global, regional, and even local pressures is key in developing mitigation, adaptation, and management plans. The geomorphology of Mobile Bay in southeast Alabama (USA) has evolved considerably (e.g., bayhead delta back-stepping) over the late Holocene in response to global and regional sea-level and climate change. Smaller-scale geomorphic changes (e.g., spit and beach ridge development) have also had a significant influence on the evolution of the estuary. Organic matter characteristics, inorganic sediment geochemistry, benthic microfossils, and pollen in a ~ 3500 cal yr BP sediment sequence recovered in a gravity core (20GC) from Bon Secour Bay, a small sub-bay in the southeast corner of Mobile Bay, record time-varying marine influence. Increases in marine influence during ~3500 to 2300 cal yr BP and 1930 to 1160 cal yr BP are defined as zones with high-density and pre-dominantly calcareous foraminiferal species, abundant sand (>10%) and more marine-like geochemical signatures, which contrast the low-density and pre-dominantly agglutinated foraminiferal and more terrestrially influenced estuarine muds observed in other intervals of the sedimentary record (2300–1930 and 1160–400 cal yr BP) and the modern bay. Hydrodynamic models constrained by geomorphic boundary conditions for the time ~ 3500 cal yr BP, consistent with the most prominent marine-influenced sediment, provide insight to potential coastal configuration that might have permitted such marine water intrusion into the bay. Of several scenarios evaluated, a breach in Morgan Peninsula produces tidal circulation within the basin supportive of persistent marine incursions in the bay between ~3500 to 2300 cal yr BP. The findings show that slight variations in coastal configuration can have broad-scale effects on bays and estuaries with consequences that may relate to water quality, vertebrate and invertebrate habitat, and coastal vulnerability to episodic events like (extra)tropical storms.
The silent majority

Abstract This paper presents a simple model illustrating how a silent group would arise in equilibrium. The members of a silent group choose not to publicly express their opinions in the face of social pressure from norm deviation. The silent group can be either the majority or the minority depending on the comparison between the strength of social pressure and the psychological cost of dispossession. The social norm, which is the average opinion of the vocal group, can be on either the left or the right side of the political spectrum. Moreover, multiple vocal and silent groups can coexist.
Peak Your Frequency: Advanced Search of 3D CAD Files in the Fourier Domain

An ever-increasing number of industries are adopting additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing , to their production lifecycles for manufacturing parts. A computer aided design (CAD) model is used to manufacture the part. The capability for efficient search and retrieval of the CAD models from the database has become an essential need for designers and users. However, traditional search techniques perform poorly in the context of searching CAD designs. In this paper, we propose Fourier Fingerprint Search (FFS), a retrieval framework for 3D models that deduces and leverages critical shape characteristics for search. FFS introduces a novel search methodology that incorporates these characteristics and uses two advanced matching techniques that operate at different granularities and take into account unique patterns associated with each design. In addition, FFS supports both exact and partial matching in order to provide helpful and robust search results for any scenario. We investigate a diverse set of features and enhancements for search that allows for high adaptability in all situations, such as dividing shapes into smaller parts, surface interpolation, and two different types of rotation. We evaluate FFS using the FabWave CAD dataset with approximately 3000 manufacturing models with different configurations. Our experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and high accuracy of our approach for both exact and partial matching, rendering FFS a powerful framework for CAD model search.
Politics and the Pedagogue of Late Antiquity

The introductory essay serves to situate this special issue in its original context: a workshop on "Politics, Pedagogy, and the Profession," hosted in November 2017 at Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions for graduate students and teachers of pre-modernity. The workshop marked the beginning of a collaborative project, whose products thus far include, inter alia, a shared database of pedagogical resources, conference sessions to extend discussions of teaching politically-charged subjects to a wider audience, and the contributions to the issue at hand. The introductory essay provides readers with background information concerning the project's aims and initial findings, including a discussion of instructors' motivations for addressing contemporary political considerations; the risks and rewards teaching politically-charged topics; and the institutional and disciplinary resources available to instructors. The essay also provides an introductory preview of the articles gathered in this special issue.
Specific Ion Effects on Adsorbed Zwitterionic Copolymers

We report direct measurements of interactions, dimensions, and solution behavior of adsorbed nonionic and zwitterionic triblock copolymers as a function of aqueous [NaCl] and [MgSO4] in the range 0...
Concise Review of the Rationale for Pulmonary Embolism Treatment and Endovascular Device Therapies.

In the ever-changing landscape of device therapy for pulmonary embolism, it is important to understand the rationale behind the ongoing explosion in the development of new device therapies. There needs to be an in-depth understanding of risk stratification in pulmonary embolism and indications for therapy. Selecting the ideal device for a particular pulmonary embolism subset remains elusive and poorly defined. Knowledge of the risks, bene-fits, capabilities, and potential limitations of each device is crucial.
Fracturing the Exodus, as Told by Edward Everett Horton

The Exodus was a fable inspired by possible events of Israel’s past although its historical genesis will be as irretrievable to us as will be its original narrators. It is important to understand that the text’s modern discussants to not wield the tools necessary to confront the epistemological challenges that we face. The true question is: “What do we need to know in order to know what we want to know?” Faced with storytellers and their audiences who contributed historical detritus while adding artistic value to the story, the subject’s sole value is to recover the story’s magic: to understand Israel’s modes of social thought over time and the culture that immortalized the Exodus.
Atlas of Spectral Lines

It is theoretically possible using the equations and data in Chapter III to predict the most sensitive transitions for each element. It is unfortunate that much of the information required for this theoretical exercise is woefully lacking in accuracy, (See Table III.B.1 for instance)thus rendering the theoretical prediction of analysis lines of marginal value. For this reason, it was decided to tabulate the most commonly used analytical transitions for the elements. It should be recognized that common is defined as “vulgar„ not necessarily “intelligent.„ The transitions listed in Tables II.A.1–3 are generally the most sensitivity; however, they are not always the “best„ for a particular matrix and/or specific experimental set-up or procedure.
Online, Dynamic, and Distributed Embeddings of Approximate Ultrametrics

The theoretical computer science community has traditionally used embeddings of finite metrics as a tool in designing approximation algorithms. Recently, however, there has been considerable interest in using metric embeddings in the context of networks to allow network nodes to have more knowledge of the pairwise distances between other nodes in the network. There has also been evidence that natural network metrics like latency and bandwidth have some nice structure, and in particular come close to satisfying an i¾?-three point condition or an i¾?-four point condition. This empirical observation has motivated the study of these special metrics, including strong results about embeddings into trees and ultrametrics. Unfortunately all of the current embeddings require complete knowledge about the network up front, and so are less useful in real networks which change frequently. We give the first metric embeddings which have both low distortion and require only small changes in the structure of the embedding when the network changes. In particular, we give an embedding of semimetrics satisfying an i¾?-three point condition into ultrametrics with distortion (1 + i¾?)logn+ 4and the property that any new node requires only O(n1/3) amortized edge swaps, where we use the number of edge swaps as a measure of "structural change". This notion of structural change naturally leads to small update messages in a distributed implementation in which every node has a copy of the embedding. The natural offline embedding has only (1 + i¾?)logndistortion but can require i¾?(n) amortized edge swaps per node addition. This online embedding also leads to a natural dynamic algorithm that can handle node removals as well as insertions.
Innovators, Esq.: Training the Next Generation of Lawyer Social Entrepreneurs

Today’s law school graduates need to be entrepreneurial to succeed, but traditional legal education tends to produce lawyers who are “strange bedfellows” with entrepreneurs. This article begins by examining the innovative programs at many law schools that ameliorate this tension, including the programs offered by our Innovation Practice Institute (IPI) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Although these programs train law students to represent entrepreneurs and to be entrepreneurial in law-related careers, few (if any) law schools train law students to be “business” entrepreneurs. Drawing on our own experiences and the writings of Bill Drayton, the lawyer who pioneered the field of social entrepreneurship, we discuss how some lawyers have applied their legal education to be successful “social” entrepreneurs. Finally, we outline the IPI’s three-year law school program explicitly designed to train law students to be social entrepreneurs.
Computational Analysis of Viscoelastic Properties of Crosslinked Actin Networks

Mechanical force plays an important role in the physiology of eukaryotic cells whose dominant structural constituent is the actin cytoskeleton composed mainly of actin and actin crosslinking proteins (ACPs). Thus, knowledge of rheological properties of actin networks is crucial for understanding the mechanics and processes of cells. We used Brownian dynamics simulations to study the viscoelasticity of crosslinked actin networks. Two methods were employed, bulk rheology and segment-tracking rheology, where the former measures the stress in response to an applied shear strain, and the latter analyzes thermal fluctuations of individual actin segments of the network. It was demonstrated that the storage shear modulus (G') increases more by the addition of ACPs that form orthogonal crosslinks than by those that form parallel bundles. In networks with orthogonal crosslinks, as crosslink density increases, the power law exponent of G' as a function of the oscillation frequency decreases from 0.75, which reflects the transverse thermal motion of actin filaments, to near zero at low frequency. Under increasing prestrain, the network becomes more elastic, and three regimes of behavior are observed, each dominated by different mechanisms: bending of actin filaments, bending of ACPs, and at the highest prestrain tested (55%), stretching of actin filaments and ACPs. In the last case, only a small portion of actin filaments connected via highly stressed ACPs support the strain. We thus introduce the concept of a 'supportive framework,' as a subset of the full network, which is responsible for high elasticity. Notably, entropic effects due to thermal fluctuations appear to be important only at relatively low prestrains and when the average crosslinking distance is comparable to or greater than the persistence length of the filament. Taken together, our results suggest that viscoelasticity of the actin network is attributable to different mechanisms depending on the amount of prestrain.
Behavior of lithium and its isotopes during weathering of Hawaiian basalt

[1] We examined the pedogenic behavior of lithium (Li) and its isotopes in Hawaii by sampling same-age lava flows under mean annual rainfall ranging from 18 to 300 cm. Lithium concentrations in these soils vary from 1 to 29 ppm. Whereas Na, K, and Ca are completely leached from the soil at the most humid and severely weathered site, Li, Mg, Si, and Al show significant retention due to their association with secondary clay minerals. In these soils, allochthonous Li delivered in marine and mineral aerosol mixes with basalt-derived Li, modifying the isotopic composition of the Li pool. The ability of soil to retain Li is related to its effective cation exchange capacity, which in turn is governed by rainfall and leaching intensity and their resulting effect on mineralogy. Lithium isotope ratios have a large range (δ7Li of −0.4 to 14‰), well beyond the intershield or temporal variation of the lavas of Hawaiian volcanoes (2.5 to 5.7‰). The most unweathered samples have δ7Li (∼5–6‰) comparable to that of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa lavas. The Li concentrations and isotope ratios together suggest that in arid to subhumid sites there is a net addition of isotopically heavier lithium from marine aerosol but that under greater rainfall there is a net loss of Li, and isotopically light Li is preferentially retained. Thus, during incongruent weathering of primary minerals, Li, especially 6Li, is adsorbed and sequestered by the clay mineral fraction of high cation exchange capacity soils in drier regions but lost from highly weathered, low cation exchange capacity acidic soils in the wetter regions.
San Joaquin Salt Balance: Future Prospects and Possible Solutions

The San Joaquin River Basin in California is presently in a state of salt imbalance with salt loads derived by natural inflow, importations, and accretions within the basin exceeding the loads carried from the basin by hydrologic outflow and extrabasin transfers. Trends in the rates of accretion and excretion parallel the development of the basin’s water resources for agricultural use. Accompanying this development there has been a progressive depletion of the natural outflow of the San Joaquin River, a principal tributary of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta estuarine system, and degradation of the quality of water available to users dependent upon the main stem of the river as a primary source of supply. In the lower river, this degradation has been mitigated in recent years by releases of high quality water impounded by New Melones Dam on the Stanislaus River. Supplies for water quality control from this source are limited and may not be sufficient to meet quality and flow targets in the future in the face of competing demands and continuing degradation of quality in the San Joaquin River. This chapter traces the historical development of salt loading in the basin from 1930 to 1989 by means of a basinwide salt balance accounting of principal accretions and excretions. Alternative scenarios of water quality control, and including reallocation of yield from east side reservoirs, seasonal storage of saline drainage in ground-water systems, and control of imported salt loads, are explored.
Environment Objects: A Novel Approach for Modeling Privacy in Pervasive Computing

Maintaining user privacy is a well-known challenge and obstacle to the acceptance of pervasive computing. Privacy has been researched from various perspectives by social science, legislative, and technological communities resulting in an information-centric approach that regulates of the collection and use of personal information. However, through the actuation of devices and objects in the user's physical environment, pervasive computing also introduces other significant challenges to a user's physical privacy. Our research introduces an environment-centric approach to modeling user privacy and regulating intrusions to physical privacy. We introduce four principles to guide the construction of physical privacy policies and demonstrate how existing information privacy models can be extended to address these aspects of physical privacy.
Further Investigations of Movement Time between Brake and Accelerator Pedals in Automobiles

This report presents the results of continued studies into the nonoptimality of the positional relationship of brake and accelerator pedals in contemporary automobiles. Ten female subjects were tes...
Molluscum Contagiosum: To Treat or Not to Treat? Experience with 170 Children in an Outpatient Clinic Setting in the Northeastern United States

Despite the high prevalence of molluscum contagiosum (MC) in children, epidemiologic data on this common self-limited viral infection is limited. In this report we review our experience with the demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, management, and time to resolution of MC in 170 children. A retrospective medical chart review and telephone survey were conducted on children younger than 16 years of age evaluated for MC in the Division of Pediatric Dermatology at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, Maryland, from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2011. Of 170 children with MC, 51.8% were female and 77.1% were Caucasian. The median age at diagnosis was 5 years and 46.5% had a history of atopic dermatitis (AD). Children with AD had significantly more MC lesions than those without (p < 0.05); 72.9% of children did not receive any treatment. MC lesions completely cleared within 12 months in 45.6% of treated and 48.4% of untreated children and within 18 months in 69.5% of treated and 72.6% of untreated children. Treatment (if any), sex, race, diagnosing physician, number of lesions at diagnosis, number of anatomic locations, or history of AD did not predict time to resolution of MC lesions. MC lesions completely resolved in approximately 50% of children within 12 months and in 70% within 18 months. Treatment did not shorten the time to resolution.
U.S. Army High Energy Laser (HEL) technology program

The US Army is investing in Solid State Laser (SSL) technology to assess counter rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) and counter unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) capabilities of solid state based HEL systems, as well as other potential applications for HELs of interest to the Army. The Army HEL program thrust areas are systematically moving the technology forward toward weaponization, including solid state laser technologies, advances in beam control technology, and conducting major demonstrations. The High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HELMD) will be a major step toward demonstrating HEL weapon capability to the soldier. The US Army will continue to pursue technologies that enable more compact systems compatible with, for example, a Stryker tactical vehicle as a crucial part of our strategy to provide a capability to the warfighter that can maneuver with the force.
Phase separation dynamics of model thin films

We numerically study the dynamics of a finite, binary film quenched to temperatures at which a single phase does not exist in bulk. Within the scope of the time-dependent, Landau-Ginzburg equation, our calculations monitor the density order parameter from a homogeneous, high-temperature initial state to the final equilibrium density profile in one dimension. We also obtain partial solutions in two dimensions. The presence of confining boundaries causes the one-dimensional (i.e., noiseless two- or three-dimensional) Landau-Ginzburg equation to approach equilibrium in a stepwise fashion. During each step, the order-parameter profiles vary negligibly in time. We demonstrate that the addition of noise and a second dimension accelerates the relaxation toward equilibrium for thick enough films while for thin films, relaxation still proceeds in a stepwise manner.
What you need to know about ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament to optimize cervical spine surgery: A review.

What are the risks, benefits, alternatives, and pitfalls for operating on cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL)? To successfully diagnose OPLL, it is important to obtain Magnetic Resonance Images (MR). These studies, particularly the T2 weighted images, provide the best soft-tissue documentation of cord/root compression and intrinsic cord abnormalities (e.g. edema vs. myelomalacia) on sagittal, axial, and coronal views. Obtaining Computed Tomographic (CT) scans is also critical as they best demonstrate early OPLL, or hypertrophied posterior longitudinal ligament (HPLL: hypo-isodense with punctate ossification) or classic (frankly ossified) OPLL (hyperdense). Furthermore, CT scans reveal the “single layer” and “double layer” signs indicative of OPLL penetrating the dura. Documenting the full extent of OPLL with both MR and CT dictates whether anterior, posterior, or circumferential surgery is warranted. An adequate cervical lordosis allows for posterior cervical approaches (e.g. lamionplasty, laminectomy/fusion), which may facilitate addressing multiple levels while avoiding the risks of anterior procedures. However, without lordosis and with significant kyphosis, anterior surgery may be indicated. Rarely, this requires single/multilevel anterior cervical diskectomy/fusion (ACDF), as this approach typically fails to address retrovertebral OPLL; single or multilevel corpectomies are usually warranted. In short, successful OPLL surgery relies on careful patient selection (e.g. assess comorbidities), accurate MR/CT documentation of OPLL, and limiting the pros, cons, and complications of these complex procedures by choosing the optimal surgical approach. Performing OPLL surgery requires stringent anesthetic (awake intubation/positioning) and also the following intraoperative monitoring protocols: Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), motor evoked potentials (MEP), and electromyography (EMG).