cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of two ventilatory strategies in elderly patients undergoing major abdominal surgery

Background ‘Open lung’ ventilation is commonly used in patients with acute lung injury and has been shown to improve intraoperative oxygenation in obese patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. The feasibility of an ‘open lung’ ventilatory strategy in elderly patients under general anaesthesia has not previously been assessed. Methods ‘Open lung’ ventilation (recruitment manoeuvres, tidal volume 6 ml kg−1 predicted body weight, and 12 cm H2O PEEP) (RM group) was compared with conventional ventilation (no recruitment manoeuvres, tidal volume 10 ml kg−1 predicted body weight, and zero end-expiratory pressure) in elderly patients (>65 yr) undergoing major open abdominal surgery with regard to oxygenation, respiratory system mechanics, and haemodynamic stability. We also monitored the serum levels of the interleukins (IL)-6 and IL-8 before and after surgery to determine whether the systemic inflammatory response to surgery depends on the ventilatory strategy used. Results Twenty patients were included in each group. The RM group tolerated open lung ventilation without significant haemodynamic instability. Intraoperative Pa o 2 improved in the RM group (P o 2 was similar in both groups. The RM group had improved breathing mechanics as evidenced by increased dynamic compliance (36%) and decreased airway resistance (21%). Both IL-6 and IL-8 significantly increased after surgery, but the magnitude of increase did not differ between the groups. Conclusions A lung recruitment strategy in elderly patients is well tolerated and improves intraoperative oxygenation and lung mechanics during laparotomy.
Continuity in self-report measures of maternal anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms from pregnancy through two years postpartum

This study examined stability and change in maternal anxiety, stress and depression both during the second half of pregnancy and from pregnancy to six weeks and two years postpartum. Self-report measures included those designed to measure mood and state as well as more persistent attributes. Longitudinal data were collected from 137 women during pregnancy, 120 at six weeks, and 97 at two years. There was significant individual stability in scores on specific measures during pregnancy (range in Pearson rs = 0.30–0.86) and from pregnancy through two years postpartum (rs = 0.30–0.74). Comparable levels of convergence among measures of different constructs both within pregnancy and over time were also demonstrated, suggesting lack of precision in measurement instruments designed for specific constructs. Despite intra-individual stability, changes in mean levels were also observed over time with somewhat different patterns for each variable. However, maternal parity was an important contributor to both level a...
Raman scattering in superconductors

Two types of excitation in superconductors can be usefully studied by Raman scattering: (1) phonons made anomalous by strong electron-phonon interactions and (2) quasi-particle pairs (gap excitations). Phonon examples include the Eg mode in some A15 compounds and charge-density wave (CDW) modes in NbSe2. Gap excitations were first seen in NbSe2, where they are coupled to CDW modes. Direct scattering from gap excitations was seen in Nb3Sn and V3Si. A BCS-based theory fits well and shows that Raman scattering is sensitive to the anisotropy of the energy gap.
Special Issue on Critical Reliability Challenges and Practices [Guest Editorial]

The six papers in this special issue address various research challenges in the reliability-related areas including optimization, software reliability and measurements, network reliability, software quality, semisupervised learning, Bayesian approach, statistical anomaly detection, flooding attacks, genetic algorithms, multistate systems, system redundancy, service reliability, multiparadigm modeling, heuristic algorithms, and grid and distributed computing. The selected papers are briefly summarized.
Monte Carlo simulation of equilibrium reactions at modified vapor-liquid interfaces.

The equilibrium conversion of a chemical reaction is known to be affected by its local environment. Various factors may alter reaction equilibria, including shifts in pressure or temperature, solvation, adsorption within porous materials, or the presence of an interface. Previously, reactive Monte Carlo simulations have been used to predict the equilibrium behavior of chemical reactions at vapor−liquid interfaces. Here, a route is tested for tuning the interfacial conversion of a Lennard-Jones dimerization reaction by adding surfactants to the vapor−liquid interface. Several temperatures are explored as well as several different surfactant models. Even with the addition of a small concentration of surfactants, the simulations predict significant shifts in the conversion at the interface. In general, the shifts in the conversion tend to be related to the values of the interfacial tension.
Morphological Responses Of Cells To Exogenous Ionic Currents

In the presence of an exogenous, spatially uniform DC electrical current, cells have been observed to align with their long axes oriented perpendicular to the direction of current flow. Statistical analysis of this alignment reveals that its rate is proportional to field intensity in a saturating fashion, that it progresses at a constant rate, and that it has characteristics similar to those of galvanotaxis, or directed motion in reponse to application of an exogenous electrical current.
CrowdHelp: application for improved emergency response through crowdsourced information

Emergency resources are often insufficient to satisfy fully the demands for professional help and supplies after a public disaster. Furthermore, in a mass casualty situation, the emphasis shifts from ensuring the best possible outcome for each individual patient to ensuring the best possible outcome for the greatest number of patients. In the past several years, an ongoing movement among crisis management organizations is the incorporation of ubiquitous Web 2.0 tools into their practices for the improvement of their critical situations response. In unison with this trend and the latest discoveries in crowdsourcing, we have developed a system, called CrowdHelp, for real time patient assessment which uses mobile electronic triaging accomplished via crowdsourced and sensor-detected information. With the use of our system, emergency management professionals receive most of the information they need for preparing themselves to perform a timely and accurate treatment of their patients even before dispatching a response team to the event.
Hemostatic indices in healthy foals from birth to one month of age.

Hemostatic indices were determined in 45 healthy light breed foals, from birth to 1 and in 20 healthy adult ( >2 years of age) light breed horses. Blood samples were obtained from ages: 1) < 24 hours, 2) 4-7 days, 3) 10-14 days, and 4) 25-30 days. The following hemostatic indices were determined: platelet count; prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin times; activity concentrations of protein C, antithrombin III, plasminogen, alpha-2 antiplasmin, tissue plasminogen activator, and plasminogen activator inhibitor- 1; plasma protein C antigen and fibrinogen concentrations; and serum fibrin degradation products concentration. Prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin times were significantly longer at birth than in older foals. The plasma concentrations of the following were significantly lower at birth than in older foals: antithrombin III, plasminogen and tissue plasminogen activator activities, protein C antigen, and fibrinogen. Concentrations of the following were significantly higher at birth than in older foals: protein C and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 activities and fibrin degradation products. These results indicate that he- mostatic indices of neonatal foals differ significantly from those of older foals and adults. With the exceptions of antithrombin III and tissue plasminogen activator activities, all hemostatic indices measured in foals at 1 month of age were equivalent to adult values. month of each foal
The Need for a Coupled Human and Natural Systems Understanding of Agricultural Nitrogen Loss

Reactive nitrogen loss from agricultural fertilizer use remains a crucial environmental problem in the United States, contributing to ecosystem degradation and global climate change. This intractable problem requires a coupled human and natural systems approach that combines biophysical, sociological, and economic knowledge into an integrative analysis. Much is known about the biogeochemistry of nitrogen and agricultural nitrogen loss; however, much is not known about how soil variability and climate change will affect farmer decisionmaking. Although it is widely understood that personal values and beliefs, social norms, economics, and policies influence farmer decisionmaking, very little is known about decisionmaking specific to fertilizer management. In addition, little is known about the socioeconomic influences on decisionmaking across scales and how ecological change is perceived and responded to. Combining sociological, economic, and biophysical knowledge can provide key insights regarding how these factors interact and can support more effective strategies to address this persistent problem.
Does Similarity Matter? The Case of Answer Extraction from Technical Discussion Forums

Extracting question‐answer pairs from social media discussions has garnered much attention in recent times. Several methods have been proposed in the past that pose this task as a post or sentence classification problem, which label each entry as an answer or not. This paper makes the first attempt at the following two‐fold objectives: (a) In all classification based approaches towards this direction, one of the foremost signals used to identify answers is their similarity to the question. We study the contribution of content similarity specifically in the context of technical problem‐solving domain. (b) We introduce hitherto unexplored features that aid in high‐precision extraction of answers, and present a thorough study of the contribution of all features to this task. Our results show that, it is possible to extract answers using these features with high accuracy, when their similarity to the question is unreliable.
Sidekick agents for sequential planning problems

Effective AI sidekicks must solve the interlinked problems of understanding what their human collaborator's intentions are and planning actions to support them. This thesis explores a range of approximate but tractable approaches to planning for AI sidekicks based on decision-theoretic methods that reason about how the sidekick's actions will effect their beliefs about unobservable states of the world, including their collaborator's intentions. In doing so we extend an existing body of work on decision-theoretic models of assistance to support information gathering and communication actions. We also apply Monte Carlo tree search methods for partially observable domains to the problem and introduce an ensemble-based parallelization strategy. These planning techniques are demonstrated across a range of video game domains. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - docs@mit.edu)
Examining Academic Support After Concussion for the Adolescent Student-Athlete: Perspectives of the Athletic Trainer

Context: Student-athletes may require cognitive rest and academic support after concussion. Athletic trainers (ATs) in secondary schools are uniquely positioned to provide medical care and to colla...
Lock allocation

We introduce lock allocation, an automatic technique that takes a multi-threaded program annotated with atomic sections (that must be executed atomically), and infers a lock assignment from global variables to locks and a lock instrumentation that determines where each lock should be acquired and released such that the resulting instrumented program is guaranteed to preserve atomicity and deadlock freedom (provided all shared state is accessed only within atomic sections). Our algorithm works in the presence of pointers and procedures, and sets up the lock allocation problem as a 0-1 ILP which minimizes the conflict cost between atomic sections while simultaneously minimizing the number of locks. We have implemented our algorithm for both C with pthreads and Java, and have applied it to infer locks in 15K lines of AOLserver code. Our automatic allocation produces the same results as hand annotations for most of this code, while solving the optimization instances within a second for most programs.
Synthesis of (+)-phenserine using an interrupted Fischer indolization reaction.

A concise synthesis of the Alzheimer’s therapeutic (+)-phenserine is described. The approach features an interrupted Fischer indolization to construct the pyrrolidinoindoline core, in addition to a classical resolution to arrive at phenserine in enantioenriched form.
Chinese Migrant Women in the Sex Industry: Exploring Their Paths to Prostitution

Rapidly growing migration and entertainment industry in China since the 1980s have resulted in numerous rural migrant women working as prostitutes. Previous studies have identified a number of fact...
Interaction of molecular gases with pulsed optical lattices in collisional regime

The impact of high intensity optical lattices on atomic and molecular gases in continuum o w regime is studied. A two-step kinetic/continuum approach is applied. The kinetic step uses the DSMC method to model the gas-lattice interaction over the pulse period. The continuum step based on the solution of Navier-Stokes equations utilizes the kinetic solution as initial condition, and predicts the gas evolution at spatial and temporal scales larger than those associated with the optical lattice. The numerical approach is applied to analyze the propagation of an acoustic signal created by the lattice, the energy deposition from lattice to gas, and gas mixing.
Selection Environment Influences on Feed and Water Intake of Japanese Quail Following Long-Term Selection for 4-Week Body Weight

Abstract Four trials were conducted to investigate feed and water intake of three Japanese quail lines reared under different nutritional environments. The P-line quail were established by long-term selection for high 4-week body weight on a 28% protein diet, T-line quail were similarly established on a 20% protein diet containing .2% thiouracil (TU), and C-line quail were from a randomly mated control population maintained under a separate environment from the P and T lines. Through 6 days of age feed intake of T-line quail under the 28% protein environment was significantly higher than feed intake of P-line quail. This difference did not exist from 6 to 14 days of age. Feed intake of T-line quail under 20% protein environments was always numerically higher than feed intake of P-line quail. Water intake of T-line quail was higher than water intake of P-line quail under all environments. The P-line quail tended to have higher feed efficiencies regardless of environment. The ability of quail selected under a 20% protein + .2% TU environment to perform well when placed under a 28% protein environment, was primarily due to increases in feed and water intake rather than changes in feed efficiency. Conversely, the poor performance of quail selected under a 28% protein environment when placed under, a 20% protein + .2% TU environment was due to their inability to maintain adequate feed intake.
Nutrition status among rural primary and middle school students in Baoshan

Objective To know nutritional healthy behavior,nutritional status and dietary structure among rural primary and middle school students in Longyang District,Baoshan city,and to provide a reference basis for better implementation plan. Methods Nutritional healthy behaviors were examined through questionnaire survey. The 24 h dietary review method was applied to investigate individual food intake in 3 consecutive days. Results Middle school students had much more nutrition-related knowledge and high preparation of having breakfast than primary students. Types of breakfast were monotonous. The proportion of drinking pure water or mineral water was higher in middle school students than that of primary school students. Rural students did not get enough daily nutrient intakes. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus was 1 ∶ 2. 6. Students were consuming excessive carbohydrates, comparing with inadequate fat. Conclusion The students' intake of nutrients and dietary structure are not reasonable in rural area in Baoshan.The results indicate a need for rural primary and middle school students to improve their dietary habits. Students need more nutritional information about healthy nutritional habits and adequate intake of nutrients.
Influence of estradiol-17β on the acetylcholine content of the lung in the rabbit neonate

The influence of estradiol-17 β on the acetylcholine content of the lungs was studied in rabbit neonates born to oophorectomized mothers. It was found that 10μg of crystalline estradiol-17 β administered subcutaneously to newborn rabbits doubled the acetylcholine content of their lungs as compared to littermate controls. These findings suggest a mechanism whereby estradiol-17 β may affect the degree of vasodilatation in the vessels of the lungs.
Estimating uncertainties in the newly developed multi‐source land snow data assimilation system

The snow simulations from the recently developed multivariate land snow data assimilation system (SNODAS) for the Northern Hemisphere are assessed with regard to uncertainties in atmospheric forcing, model structure, data assimilation technique, and satellite remote sensing product. The SNODAS consists of the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART) and the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4). A series of experiments are conducted to estimate each of the above uncertainty sources. The experiments include several open-loop model cases and data assimilation cases that assimilate the snow cover fraction (SCF) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the terrestrial water storage (TWS) from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). The atmospheric forcing uncertainty in terms of precipitation and radiation is found to be the largest among the various uncertainty sources examined, especially over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and most of the mid- and high-latitudes. Model structure and choice of data assimilation technique are also two big sources of uncertainty in SNODAS. The uncertainty of model structure is represented by two different parameterizations of SCF. The density-based SCF scheme (as used in CLM4) generally results in better snow simulations than does the stochastic SCF scheme (as in CLM4.5) within the data assimilation framework. The choice of TWS products retrieved from GRACE has relatively the least impact on the snow data assimilation.
Embracing the Unusual: Feeling Tired and Happy is Associated With Greater Acceptance of Atypical Ideas

Three studies examined the hypothesis that feeling tired along with feeling happy might be linked to the acceptance of atypical ideas. Consistent with this hypothesis, across 3 studies and using 2 different measures of accepting atypical ideas, feelings of happiness and tiredness interacted. When people were high in tiredness, as happiness increased, so too did acceptance of atypical ideas (choosing more unusual exemplars and suggesting more unusual solutions to the gestalt completion test). When people were low in tiredness, happiness had no effect on acceptance of atypical ideas. The studies also examined whether differences in sensation-seeking (Studies 1 & 2) and acquiescence (Study 3) mediated the effect, but neither consistently did so. This work suggests that the combination of feeling tired and happy may enhance acceptance of atypical or unusual ideas, which could potentially help creative thought.
Changes in Urinary Microbiome Populations Correlate in Kidney Transplants With Interstitial Fibrosis and Tubular Atrophy Documented in Early Surveillance Biopsies

An unbalanced microbiome may lead to disease by creating aberrant immune responses. A recent association of cellular rejection with the development of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) suggests the role of immune-mediated tissue injury. We hypothesized that developing IFTA correlates with altered urinary tract microbiomes (UMBs). UMBs at two serial time points, 1 and 6-8 months posttransplant, were assessed by 16S microbial ribosomal gene sequencing in 25 patients developing biopsy-proven IFTA compared to 23 transplant patients with normal biopsies and excellent function (TX) and 20 healthy nontransplant controls (HC). Streptococcus, the dominant genera in HC males, was lower in IFTA and TX males at 1 month compared to HCs. At 6-8 months, Streptococcus was further decreased in IFTA males, but normalized in TX. IFTA males and females had increases in number of genera per sample at 6-8 months. UMB composition varied substantially between individuals in all groups. Despite the wide variation in UMBs between individuals, IFTA was associated with a loss in dominant resident urinary microbes in males, and a parallel increase in nonresident, pathogenic bacteria in males and females. UMB changes may contribute to IFTA development by alteration of the host immune response.
A novel hardware hash unit design for modern microprocessors

Historically, microprocessor instructions were designed in order to obtain high performance on integer and floating point computations. Today's applications, however, demand high performance for cloud computing, web-based search engines, network applications, and social media tasks. Such software applications involve an extensive use of hashing in their computation. Hashing can reduce the complexity of search and lookup from O(n) to O(n/k), where k bins are used. In modern microprocessors hashing is done in software. In this paper, we propose a novel hardware hash unit design for use in modern microprocessors. We present the design of the Hash Unit (HU) at the micro-architecture level. We simulate the new HU to compare its performance with a software-based hash implementation. We demonstrate a significant speed-up (up to 12×) for the HU. Furthermore, the performance scales elegantly with increasing database size and application diversity, without increasing the hardware cost.
An Introduction to Globalization, Lawyers, and Emerging Economies: The Case of India

This book is the first in a series by the Project on Globalization Lawyers and Emerging Economies (GLEE). GLEE examines how globalization is reshaping the market for legal services in important emerging economies such as India, Brazil, and China and how these developments are in turn contributing to the transformation of the political economy in these countries and the reshaping of the global legal services market. In this first book of the GLEE project, we present original empirical research documenting how India’s legal profession is being transformed by the “global shift” that the world’s largest democracy embarked on in 1991 when it began the process of moving from an essentially closed state-controlled economy to one that is still state-led, but also increasingly open to foreign investment and influence. As the book’s 20 empirical studies demonstrate, this shift in India’s economy has produced a new “corporate legal hemisphere” that is playing an increasingly important role in the Indian legal profession, the development of the Indian economy, the elaboration of its administrative state, and in India’s capacity to exert its influence in the new global order. Together with the GLEE project’s current work in Brazil and China, and the forthcoming expansion of the project to the Middle East, Africa, and the CIS states of the former Soviet Union, this book begins an important and largely unexplored debate about how the creation of a “corporate legal hemisphere” in emerging economies is contributing to the broader processes of globalization.
How did they do that

The study by DiDiodato and McAthur1 describes work to improve the care of patients admitted to hospital with community-acquired pneumonia. They compare length of stay of patients after the implementation of an antimicrobial stewardship programme that was initially led by an infectious disease-trained pharmacist and then transitioned to a ward-based pharmacist. To estimate the impact on length of stay, they used a stepped-wedge design, where the transition to a ward-based pharmacist in four medical wards was staggered in 2 monthly intervals over an 8-month period. This quasi-experimental approach allowed the investigators to create reasonable comparator groups and meant that all wards eventually received the intervention. Consequently, DiDidato and colleagues provided a compelling estimate of the impact of transitioning to a ward-based pharmacist indicating a 19.4% relative reduction in length of stay for patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia. Such efforts to design improvement work in a way that allows an estimate of the impact relative to a comparison group remain uncommon in the published improvement field. DiDiodato and colleagues should …
Implicit Policy for Reinforcement Learning.

We introduce Implicit Policy, a general class of expressive policies that can flexibly represent complex action distributions in reinforcement learning, with efficient algorithms to compute entropy regularized policy gradients. We empirically show that, despite its simplicity in implementation, entropy regularization combined with a rich policy class can attain desirable properties displayed under maximum entropy reinforcement learning framework, such as robustness and multi-modality.
Episodes of care for chest pain: a preliminary report from MIRNET. Michigan Research Network.

Background Although intensively studied in hospital and emergency settings, chest pain has remained largely unstudied in primary care, where it is associated with considerable diagnostic uncertainty and high utilization of medical resources. Methods We employed an established primary care research network to prospectively collect detailed information on episodes of care for chest pain. Over a 12-month period, Michigan Research Network (MIRNET) clinicians prospectively collected demographic, clinical, and clinician decision-making information for all patients seen in their offices with the complaint of chest pain. Results Three hundred ninety-nine complete episodes were collected and used for analysis. Episodes were well distributed among urban, rural, academic, and private sites. The average episode length was 1.53 visits. Musculoskeletal chest pain accounted for 20.4% of all diagnoses, followed by reflux esophagitis (13.4%) and costochondritis (13.1%). Stable angina pectoris was the primary diagnosis in only 10.3% of episodes, unstable angina or possible myocardial infarction in 1.5%. Most of the ancillary services used were directed toward finding or excluding cardiac disease. Conclusion A practice-based network can be used to study episodes of care. Resource use during episodes of chest pain in primary care are directed toward exclusion of cardiac disease, despite the surprisingly low frequency of cardiac diagnoses.
Pseudo-Anosov Flows and Incompressible Tori

We study incompressible tori in 3-manifolds supporting pseudo-Anosov flows and more generally Z ⊕ Z subgroups of the fundamental group of such a manifold. If no element in this subgroup can be represented by a closed orbit of the pseudo-Anosov flow, we prove that the flow is topologically conjugate to a suspension of an Anosov diffeomorphism of the torus. In particular it is non singular and is an Anosov flow. It follows that either a pseudo-Anosov flow is topologically conjugate to a suspension Anosov flow, or any immersed incompressible torus can be realized as a free homotopy from a closed orbit of the flow to itself. The key tool is an analysis of group actions on non-Hausdorff trees, also known as R-order trees – we produce an invariant axis in the free action case. An application of these results is the following: suppose the manifold has an R-covered foliation transverse to a pseudo-Anosov flow. If the flow is not an R-covered Anosov flow, then it follows that the manifold is atoroidal.
Behavioral and Metabolic Factors in Childhood Obesity

Obesity is one of the most prevalent nutritional disorders in America today. Epidemiological studies report that from 25 to 45% of adult American men and women suffer from overweight or obesity (Ten State Nutrition Survey, 1972).1 In spite of the number and variety of approaches to weight reduction, including special diets, exercise, behavior modification, and pharmacological intervention, obesity remains intractable (Bray, 1978; Stunkard & McLaren-Hume, 1959). The major failures of treatment lie not in the ineffectiveness of various procedures to produce weight reduction but in the inability to sustain the weight loss. For example, hospitalization accompanied by severe or total caloric restriction leads to dramatic but short-lasting weight loss. Within three years following hospitalization, over 90% of the patients have regained the lost weight (Drenick, 1973).
Ubiquinol promotes retinal ganglion cell survival and blocks the apoptotic pathway in ischemic retinal degeneration.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) protects retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in experimental retinal ischemia and glaucoma by scavenging reactive oxygen species. We tested whether a diet supplemented with ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, promotes RGC survival and blocks the apoptotic pathway in ischemic mouse retina induced by acute high intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation. Ubiquinol (1%) treatment significantly promoted RGC survival at 2 weeks after ischemia/reperfusion. The ubiquinol treatment significantly blocked activation of astroglial and microglial cells in the ischemic retina at 2 weeks. While the ubiquinol treatment significantly decreased active Bax protein expression in the ischemic retina, phosphorylation of Bad at serine 112 and Bcl-xL protein expression were preserved in the ubiquinol-treated ischemic retina at 12 h. Consistently, the ubiquinol treatment prevented apoptotic cell death by blocking caspase-3 cleavage. These results suggest that the ubiquinol enhances RGC survival by modulating the Bax/Bad/Bcl-xL-mediated apoptotic pathway in the ischemic retina. Ubiquinol has therapeutic potential for ameliorating elevated IOP-induced ischemic retinal degeneration.
The CSUF unmanned utility ground robotic vehicle

The goal for the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Unmanned Utility Ground Robotic Vehicle (UUGRV) project is to create a fully autonomous multi-functional modular robotic platform to experiment various possible applications in the area of ground based robotics. To achieve full automation in both indoor and outdoor environment, the robot is equipped with Differential Global Positioning System, Inertial Measurement Unit, Laser Measurement Scanner, and a X-box Kinect for indoor application. The robot's mechanical design features two independently driven wheels and pivoting casters to achieve differential drive. Speed reduction is achieved by using chain drives to allow flexibility in gear ratio for different applications. Currently, the robot is being constructed as an autonomous lawn mower and has won the 2012 ION (Institute of Navigation) robotic lawn mower competition in the static category. In the future, more hardware and software for different applications will be developed on this platform.
Doing More with Less: Bricolage and Social Innovation

This study examines social innovation across three countries (Brazil, South Africa and the US) and contrasts bricolage-type and ingenieur-type of processes used in growing these ventures. We find t...
Reducing Transfer of Salmonella and Aerobic Mesophilic Bacteria on Melon Rinds Surfaces to Fresh Juice by Washing With Chlorine: Effect of Waiting Period Before Refrigeration of Prepared Juice

Cantaloupes, honeydew melons and watermelons inoculated with Salmonella cocktail at 4.5 log10 CFU/cm2, 3.810 log CFU/cm2 and 3.2 log10 CFU/cm2, respectively were sanitized with 200 ppm chlorine before rinds removal, cutting and juice preparation. Efficacy of 200 ppm chlorine in reducing transfer of Salmonella, aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeast and mold, and Pseudomonas from the melon surfaces to freshly prepared fruit juice was investigated including the effect of waiting period before refrigeration of the juices. The melon juice filtrates were refrigerated immediately or stored at room temperature (~22oC) for 3 and 5 h before refrigeration. Average Salmonella bacteria recovered in fresh melon juice prepared from unwashed whole cantaloupes, watermelon and honeydew melons was 1.4 log10 CFU/ml, 0.5 log10 CFU/ml and 0.4 log10 CFU/ml, respectively. Juices from unwashed inoculated melons had the highest bacterial populations and storage at an abusive temperature of 10oC led to proliferation. Holding these juices at room temperature for 5 h before refrigeration allowed Salmonella bacteria to increase by 0.5-0.8 log in cantaloupe juice and 0.3-0.5 log in watermelon and honeydew juices. No Salmonella bacteria was determined in fresh juices prepared from melons washed with chlorinated water. The results of this study showed that washing melons with 200 ppm chlorine before juice preparation and immediately refrigerating the juice will minimize the chances of Salmonella proliferation.
Acculturation of Indian Immigrants to the United States: Technology as a Coping Mechanism: An Abstract

This study examines how ethnic Indians use technology in the acculturation process to enhance their subjective well-being. In brief, this study attempts to address two major research questions: (1) does acculturation impact the usage of technology and (2) does technology help alleviate the stress and enhance the well-being of an ethnic group who left their home country. From these research questions, a series of research hypotheses are developed and empirically tested with data from a convenience/snowball sample of 173 ethnic Indians residing in the United States.
The rhetoric of widening participation in higher education: ending the barriers against disabled people

The Rhetoric of Widening Participation in Higher Education: Ending the Barriers Against Disabled People offers a critical and analytical investigation into the institutional exclusion and oppressio...
Heterospecific aggression differs predominately by species, rather than sex, in Lake Malawi cichlid fish

ABSTRACT Because of their striking diversity, Lake Malawi cichlid fish have been well studied for male aggression, particularly among dominant males of closely related sister species within the framework of mate-choice and speciation. However, aggression in females has been largely ignored, and variation in aggressive behaviors between more distantly-related taxa is not well understood despite its potential impact in a complex community structure. To better understand variation in patterns of aggression between species, we presented males and females from five species of Lake Malawi cichlid with a non-predator intruder and recorded all movement and aggressive acts. Additionally, we measured excreted cortisol levels the day after the intruder assay to evaluate one physiological aspect of stress response. We identified species-specific patterns in both specific aggressive acts, and overall level of aggression. Additionally, we found that sexual dimorphism in aggressive acts varies by species and act, where the species with the most aggressive males also has aggressive females. Additionally, cortisol levels vary by taxa, and are associated with restless behavior in the intruder assay, but not levels of aggression. These findings have bearing on understanding sex differences in aggression and their impact on community structure in this important model of rapid evolution.
A human-centered design approach to evaluating factors in residential solar PV adoption: A survey of homeowners in California and Massachusetts

Abstract The adoption rate of residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the US has grown exponentially in the past two decades. However, from a human-centered design perspective, there is a lack of clear understanding of what current users need and want from solar PV systems and from the experience of installing solar. In this study, we interviewed 18 solar stakeholders and conducted surveys of 1,773 homeowners including both solar adopters and non-adopters in California and Massachusetts. We analyzed the data using discrete choice theory and showed that cost savings, solar system reliability, installer warranty, and reviewer ratings of the installer were the most important factors when these homeowners considered purchasing a solar system. Preference differences were discovered between adopters and non-adopters, and with state, age, and income. Via surveys of current solar adopters’ experiences of installing residential solar panels, we found that solar owners ranked installer reliability as even more important than price. The findings are intended to inform designers, engineers, and manufacturers as they create more compelling residential solar PV systems and to inform installers in designing better installation services. The ultimate goal is to promote renewable energy technology and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
The common source of entropy increase

Abstract The phenomenon of entropy increase was first discovered by Clausius after he found that irreversible cycles would yield an uncompensated transformation. There is a notion that the second law and the phenomenon of entropy increase is related to the irreversibility of natural processes. Various processes may lead to a production of entropy. Examples include heat transfer, pressure drop, free expansion, mixing, combustion, and flow of electric current against a resistance. The main task of this chapter is to illuminate that only those irreversible processes that involve a heat effect may lead to an entropy increase. For this, we will examine some of the common irreversible processes, including pressure drop, expansion of an ideal gas, and mixing. It will be shown through these examples why entropy generation is directly connected to thermal effect.
DNA damage response in peripheral mouse blood leukocytes in vivo after variable, low-dose rate exposure

Environmental contamination and ingestion of the radionuclide Cesium-137 (137Cs) is a large concern in fallout from a nuclear reactor accident or improvised nuclear device, and highlights the need to develop biological assays for low-dose rate, internal emitter radiation. To mimic low-dose rates attributable to fallout, we have developed a VAriable Dose-rate External 137Cs irradiatoR (VADER), which can provide arbitrarily varying and progressive low-dose rate irradiations in the range of 0.1–1.2 Gy/day, while circumventing the complexities of dealing with radioactively contaminated biomaterials. We investigated the kinetics of mouse peripheral leukocytes DNA damage response in vivo after variable, low-dose rate 137Cs exposure. C57BL/6 mice were placed in the VADER over 7 days with total accumulated dose up to 2.7 Gy. Peripheral blood response including the leukocyte depletion, apoptosis as well as its signal protein p53 and DNA repair biomarker γ-H2AX was measured. The results illustrated that blood leukocyte numbers had significantly dropped by day 7. P53 levels peaked at day 2 (total dose = 0.91 Gy) and then declined; whereas, γ-H2AX fluorescence intensity (MFI) and foci number generally increased with accumulated dose and peaked at day 5 (total dose = 2.08 Gy). ROC curve analysis for γ-H2AX provided a good discrimination of accumulated dose < 2 Gy and ≥ 2 Gy, highlighting the potential of γ-H2AX MFI as a biomarker for dosimetry in a protracted, environmental exposure scenario.
In situ clearance of a proximal shunt malfunction in a child with hydrocephalus post cerebral arteriovenous malformation rupture noted intraoperatively.

Background Hydrocephalus shunt malfunctions remain treated with surgical intervention only. Despite efforts at identifying or preventing CSF shunt obstruction, no evidence currently exists to restore CSF flow following proximal occlusion, non-invasively. Case Description We present direct intraoperative evidence in the case of a 5-year-old male who developed hydrocephalus subsequent to hemorrhagic presentation post cerebral arteriovenous malformation rupture. After weeks of externalized CSF diversion for clearance of CSF red blood cells, he was taken to the operating room for removal of the external ventricular drain and placement of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt for hydrocephalus. At conclusion of placing his ventriculoperitoneal shunt with ReFlow flusher assist device, his shunt valve reservoir was noted to not refill. Following manual depression of the ReFlow flusher, we identified clearance of debris from the obstructed ventricular catheter allowing reestablished CSF flow through the shunt system under live intraoperative ultrasonography. Subsequently, there was return of brisk refill to the shunt valve reservoir. Conclusion Observations here demonstrate a potentially useful technical strategy toward clearance of proximal shunt obstructions, in situ.
ESSAY REVIEW Disappointing “documentary” about Loch Ness Monsters (“Nessies”) (Can good documentaries be made about such subjects?)

“About the show:Professor Neil Gemmell uses cutting-edge environmental DNA science to unravel the mystery of the Loch Ness monster. Neil’s high-tech monster hunt opens a new chapter in the search for Nessie as he puts the leading theories to the ultimate scientific test.” [i]This description misleads in every important respect. The mystery is not unraveled; the leading theory is not even mentioned, and Gemmell’s reason for embarking on this project — namely, to spread awareness of the potential benefits that can accrue from research on environmental DNA (eDNA) — is not well served, because there is no useful explanation of what eDNA science does, what it can and cannot accomplish, and why [ii]. That lack is all the sadder because the results in this case with respect to Nessies are not only incomplete, they are inconclusive and probably even wrong in an important respect.[i] https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/loch-ness-monster-new-evidence[ii] That eDNA work is not easy or infallible is pointed out in a comment on Roland Watson’s informative and reliable blog: “as with any tests that involve biologicals, there are error rates. And eDNA is not immune to these errors. . . . eDNA testing is also affected by seasonal changes — of how creatures operate in their environment, as well as the quality of the effluent at different times of the year, and so on. . . . [F]or eDNA testing to detect creatures properly there would have to be such testing throughout Loch Ness on a quarterly basis over probably at least two years, and probably have close to 350 to 450 sampling points — and doing this at least at five or six different consistent depths. I think that Roland correctly pointed out that nothing was taken way down deep, and there probably should have been. Also, eDNA actually lasts much, much longer in soils than in water. So taking samples off the Loch bottom might be a fruitful endeavor.” Indeed, there are several clues indicating that Nessies spend most of their time down deep, possibly in the two basins known to be deeper than 200 m (Shine & Martin 1988).
Asymptomatic intrapetrous carotid artery stenosis after a gunshot to the head.

An 11-year-old girl was accidently hit by a gunshot. Immediately after the injury, she developed a transient headache, vomiting, and a reduced level of consciousness. The neurologic examination was otherwise normal. A cerebral CT angiography showed the parenchymal course of the bullet from the right parietal region to the right petrous apex, without bleeding. The cervical, intrapetrous, and intracavernous segments of the internal carotid artery showed a residual concentric lumen of 1–2 mm, indicating a plausible mechanism of posttraumatic dissection, secondary to the energy transference from the bullet to surrounding structures (figure). After 6 months, the patient was neurologically normal. This case shows an exceptional, but potentially lethal event.1,2 Three-dimensional neuroradiologic rendering was helpful in evaluating the neurovascular relationships of the bullet (video 1).
As If By Design: How Creative Behaviors Really Evolve

The eureka moment is a myth. It is an altogether naive and fanciful account of human progress. Innovations emerge from a much less mysterious combination of historical, circumstantial, and accidental influences. This book explores the origin and evolution of several important behavioral innovations including the high five, the Heimlich maneuver, the butterfly stroke, the moonwalk, and the Iowa caucus. Such creations' striking suitability to the situation and the moment appear ingeniously designed with foresight. However, more often than not, they actually arise 'as if by design.' Based on investigations into the histories of a wide range of innovations, Edward A. Wasserman reveals the nature of behavioral creativity. What surfaces is a fascinating web of causation involving three main factors: context, consequence, and coincidence. Focusing on the process rather than the product of innovation elevates behavior to the very center of the creative human endeavor.
Monetary Policy Implementation and Volatility Transmission Along the Yield Curve: The Case of Kenya

This paper analyzes the degree to which volatility in interbank interest rates leads to volatility in financial instruments with longer maturities (e.g., T-bills) in Kenya since 2012, year in which the monetary policy framework switched to a forward-looking approach, relative to seven other inflation targeting (IT) countries (Ghana, Hungary,Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, and Uganda). Kenya shows strong volatility transmission and high persistence similar to other countries in transition to a more forward-looking monetary policy framework. These results emphasize the importance of a strong commitment to an interbank rate as an operational target and suggest that the central bank could reduce uncertainty in short-term yields significantly by smoothing out the overnight interest rates around the policy rate.
Estimates of brain age for gray matter and white matter in younger and older adults: Insights into human intelligence

Aging entails a multifaceted complex of changes in macro- and micro-structural properties of human brain gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) tissues, as well as in intellectual abilities. To better capture tissue-specific brain aging, we combined volume and distribution properties of diffusivity indices to derive subject-specific age scores for each tissue. We compared age-related variance between younger and older adults for GM and WM age scores, and tested whether tissue-specific age scores could explain different effects of aging on fluid (Gf) and crystalized (Gc) intelligence in younger and older adults. Chronological age was strongly associated with GM (R2 = 0.73) and WM (R2 = 0.57) age scores. The GM age score accounted for significantly more variance in chronological age in younger relative to older adults (p < 0.001), whereas the WM age score accounted for significantly more variance in chronological age in older compared to younger adults (p < 0.025). Consistent with existing literature, younger adults outperformed older adults in Gf while older adults outperformed younger adults in Gc. The GM age score was negatively associated with Gf in younger adults (p < 0.02), whereas the WM age score was negatively associated with Gc in older adults (p < 0.02). Our results provide evidence for differences in the effects of age on GM and WM in younger versus older adults that may contribute to age-related differences in Gf and Gc.