cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bilateral multiligament injury of knee caused by entangled dupatta

We report a rare case of bilateral multiligament knee injury in an 18-year-old female employed in garment industry. Patient was wearing salwar kameez and dupatta while operating an electric laundry machine. In this case we discuss a peculiar mechanism of injury caused due to wearing dupatta near working site and suggest simple preventive measures.
The Haemophilus Cryptic Genospecies Cha Adhesin Has at Least Two Variants That Differ in Host Cell Binding, Bacterial Aggregation, and Biofilm Formation Properties

The Haemophilus cryptic genospecies (HCG) causes genital tract infections in pregnant and postpartum women and respiratory infections in neonates. The major surface adhesin in HCG is called Cha, which mediates bacterial adherence to cultured human epithelial cells. In this study, we report that there are two antigenically distinct variants of Cha, dubbed Cha1 and Cha2. These variants are encoded by the same genetic locus in diverse strains and have nearly identical N-terminal export and C-terminal surface anchoring domains but significantly different internal adhesive domains. Based on the comparison of derivatives of a laboratory strain of Haemophilus influenzae expressing either surface-associated Cha1 or surface-associated Cha2, Cha1 mediates a higher level of adherence to cultured human epithelial cells and Cha2 mediates a higher level of adherence to abiotic surfaces. We hypothesize that variation in the Cha1 and Cha2 internal region results in changes in binding specificity or binding affinity and may be associated with adaptation to different host environments during colonization and disease.
Naloxone-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in suspected central adrenal insufficiency.

ABSTRACT The authors studied 15 patients at risk for central adrenocortical insufficiency to evaluate the role of naloxone in establishing the integrity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Each patient was admitted to the General Clinical Research Center for 2 days. Naloxone, 125 μ g/kg body weight, was administered intravenously, and plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and Cortisol concentrations were measured at − 15, 0, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Metyrapone, 30 mg/kg body weight, was administered orally at 11 PM on the second day of hospitalization. Plasma ACTH, Cortisol, and 11-deoxycortisol concentrations were measured at 8 AM pre- and postmetyrapone. The results of the metyrapone test were used to distinguish patients who had central adrenal insufficiency from those who were normal. In 11 patients who had a normal metyrapone test, the plasma ACTH level increased from 6 ± 1 pmol/L at baseline to 11 ± 2 pmol/L 30 minutes after naloxone administration. The plasma Cortisol increased from 191 ± 21 nmol/L at baseline to 379 ± 47 nmol/L 45 minutes after naloxone administration. In four patients with central adrenal insufficiency, the plasma ACTH and Cortisol concentrations did not increase after naloxone administration. Reliance solely on the individual ACTH and Cortisol responses to naloxone would have permitted a correct decision regarding glucocorticoid replacement therapy in 14 (93%) of 15 patients. Naloxone stimulation testing may have a role in the clinical evaluation of patients with suspected central adrenocortical insufficiency.
The effect of various intensities of physical activity and chronic inflammation in men and women by diabetes status in a national sample

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has been shown to be inversely associated with C-reactive protein (CRP); however, the association between light intensity physical activity (LPA), and CRP is unknown. Our findings suggest that focusing on increasing MVPA, relative to LPA, may have a greater impact on inflammation regardless of diabetes status.
Comparison of energy-based indicators used in life cycle assessment tools for buildings

Abstract Traditionally, building rating systems focused on, among others, energy used during operational stage. Recently, there is a strong push by these rating systems to include the life cycle energy use of buildings, particularly using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), by offering credits that can be used to achieve higher certification levels. As LCA-based tools are evolving to meet this growing demand, it is important to include methods that also quantify the impact of energy being used by ecosystems that indirectly contribute to building life cycle energy use. Using a case-study building, this paper provides an up-to-date comparison of energy-based indicators in tools for building assessment, including those that report both conventional life cycle energy and those that also include a wider systems boundary that captures energy use even further upstream. This paper applies two existing LCA tools, namely, an economic input–output based model, Economic Input–Output LCA, and a process-based model, ATHENA® Impact Estimator, to estimate life cycle energy use in an example building. In order to extend the assessment to address energy use further upstream, this paper also tests the Ecologically based LCA tool and an application of the emergy methodology. All of these tools are applied to the full service life of the building, i.e., all stages, namely, raw material formation, product, construction, use, and end-of-life; and their results are compared. Besides contrasting the use of energy-based indicators in building life cycle tools, this paper uncovered major challenges that confront stakeholders in evaluating the built environments using LCA and similar approaches.
Influence of infiltration on overland flow

Abstract A mathematifcal model of overland flow with constant rainfall intensity but with varying infiltration rate is presented. The flow is described by the kinematic wave equations and the infiltration by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service storage-depletion process. The outflow hydrograph is determined for various infiltration conditions and compared with measured hydrographs. The influence of infiltration on the time of concentration is also indicated.
The Signal from the Initiation of Meiotic Recombination to the First Division of Meiosis

Two of the unique events that occur in meiosis are high levels of genetic recombination and the reductional division. Our previous work demonstrated that the REC102, REC104, REC114, and RAD50 genes, required to initiate meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are needed for the proper timing of the first meiotic (MI) division. If these genes are absent, the MI division actually begins at an earlier time. This paper demonstrates that the meiotic recombination genes MER2/REC107, SPO11, and MRE2 and the synaptonemal complex genes HOP1 and RED1 are also required for the normal delay of the MI division. A rec103/ski8 mutant starts the MI division at the same time as in wild-type cells. Our data indicate no obvious correlation between the timing of premeiotic S phase and the timing of the first division in Rec− mutants. Cells with rec102 or rec104 mutations form MI spindles before wild-type cells, suggesting that the initiation signal acts prior to spindle formation. Neither RAD9 nor RAD24 is needed to transduce the signal, which delays the first division. The timing of the MI division in RAD24 mutants indicates that the pachytene checkpoint is not active in Rec+ cells and suggests that the coordination between recombination and the MI division in wild-type cells may occur primarily due to the initiation signal. Finally, at least one of the targets of the recombination initiation signal is the NDT80 gene, a transcriptional regulator of middle meiotic gene expression required for the first division.
Review of Upper and Lower Extremity Musculoskeletal Pain Problems

This article reviews common causes of upper and lower extremity pain problems, including bone pain, osteoarthritis, tendinopathy, and muscle pain problems. These common conditions affect many areas of the body; knowledge of their diagnosis and treatment guides the rehabilitation of many patients who have musculoskeletal complaints.
Storing scientific workflows in a database

The use of workflow models to integrate intelligently complex experimental and analytical processes is becoming more and more critical to support scientific discovery. Storing and providing querying capabilities to retrieve, import, re-use, adapt, and reason about workflows are becoming necessary components to workflow architectures supporting collaborative and translational research. We report on the evaluation of ProtocolDB a database that supports workflow design and storage conducted at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
A novel wet etch for patterning lead zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin-films

Abstract Little is reported in the literature on the wet etching of PZT and all wet etch recipes described use high concentrations of hydrofluoric acid (HF). Here, a novel recipe which operates in a new regime of extremely low HF concentration is used to wet etch thin film PZT. The recipe provides excellent etch control, minimizes undercut and does not attack photoresist. Unlike most wet PZT etchants it does not leave a lead-rich residue, and the etchant is selective over SiO2 and ZrO2. The recipe and preliminary etching results for 5 micron-thick sol-gel deposited PZT films are described in this paper.
Symmetric wavelet edge detector of the minimum length

In this paper the wavelet-based edge detection problem is investigated. Symmetrical wavelets of infinite support are studied which possess many desirable properties for edge localization in images. A design method for the digital filters that compute the wavelet transform is presented. These filters provide the minimum length under a given truncation error specification. Our method leads to an improved result for edge detection and a reduced computational cost.
Online medical teaching case database

Case-based teaching allows for the study of medicine through records of patient encounters. These cases, used for teaching purposes, are variably collected by clinicians as hard copies of patient files and radiology films. Currently, a single repository of thorough, multi-disciplinary, medical teaching cases that can be uniformly accessed, shared, and searched comprehensively by all medical professionals does not exist. An Internet accessible database (iCORD) that focuses on graphical, audio-visual information along with text has been created. Users may create their own teaching case records to organize their files and share them with others. Case submissions are executed through a non-platform-specific application securely connected to the iCORD database. This submission tool and connector module, was developed using Java and XML-related technologies. The data storage medium, which is an extensible SQL database primarily used for storing patient case information, is exposed using IIS 5.0 and XML-based transformation tools to allow dynamic content delivery to PC's and handheld devices. Usage statistics, distributable teaching files, and user-centric information, which are compiled in the iCORD database, allow development of useful case search algorithms. The prototype database of 400 otolaryngology clinical cases is fully searchable using Boolean logic by parameters including age, gender, diagnosis, medical history, clinical keywords, pathology keywords, and more. The database can be used as a teaching tool during conferences and as a case authoring tool for physicians.
A molecular view of DNA-conjugated nanoparticle association energies

Nanoparticles functionalized with short sequences of DNA represent a promising platform for customizable self assembly. Though much recent research has focused on the phase behavior and assembly of these structures, little has been done to precisely characterize the pairwise interaction between particles. Here we present a detailed calculation of the association between DNA–nanoparticle conjugates using 3SPN.2, a coarse-grained model of DNA that accounts for molecular structure and base-pairing. We compare our results to those obtained experimentally using μm sized particles and analyze the free energy surfaces that characterize interparticle hybridization. Next, we study the importance of three-body effects and their impact on particle association and melting. Lastly, we explore the observation by Park et al. [Nature, 451, 553 (2008)] that DNA–nanoparticle crystallization can be inhibited by the deletion of a single nucleotide. Using our model, we suggest that the role of this nucleotide is to disrupt frustration.
Wave steering to integrate logic and physical syntheses

Wave steering is a unified logic and physical synthesis scheme that algorithmically generates high-throughput circuits with fast turn-around times. Binary decision diagram (BDD)-type structures are altered to satisfy certain electrical constraints, embedded in silicon with pass transistor logic (PTL), and pipelined to very fine granularity using a novel two-phase clocking scheme. This direct PTL mapping of a logic representation provides good electrical estimations to a front-end tool like the logic synthesizer at an early phase of the design cycle. We apply our wave steering technique to high throughput computation-intensive datapath combinational circuits. We achieve an average speedup of 4.2 times compared to standard cell (SC) implementations of high performance arithmetic circuits at the cost of only about 76% average increase in area. The results look extremely encouraging; all the more so, considering that we also achieve an average reduction of 27% in latency and 15% in power compared to SC circuits.
The Effect of Technical Default Cost on Discretionary Accounting Decisions

In this study, we investigate whether the variation in the expected costs of technical default provides insights into whether managers manipulate earnings in periods prior to technical default as well as in the fiscal year in which avoidance of technical default is unlikely. We argue that managers have private information about the expected costs and consequences of default, and that, prior to default, managers condition their decisions about accounting choice and accounting (accrual) discretion on these expectations. We provide evidence on the endogeneity of two forms of discretion in accounting choices (i.e., choice of accounting methods and discretion in accounting accruals) in the context of testing the debt covenant hypothesis. Controlling for the endogeneity of the two forms or earnings management, we document that both forms of earnings management are associated with a lower cost of technical default and the use of either form of earnings management tends to reduce the use of the other. Our findings also suggest that earnings management is less likely when the expected cost of technical default is low, and that, managers appear to benefit from earnings management as such decisions are associated with a lower default cost for firms that enter technical default.
Emitter wrap-through solar cell

The authors present a new solar cell concept (emitter wrap-through or EWT) for a back-contact cell. The cell has laser-drilled vias to wrap the emitter on the front surface to contacts on the back surface and uses a potentially low-cost process sequence. Modeling calculations show that efficiencies of 18 and 21% are possible with large-area solar-grade multi- and monocrystalline silicon EWT cells, respectively. >
Focusing the international personnel performance appraisal process

Performance appraisal for managers assigned to overseas Positions is an extremely difficult task. The diversity of environments, differences in cultural backgrounds of managers, the geographic separation of raters and managers, and a host of technical measurement issues need to be addressed in an international appraisal Process. This article develops an evaluation Process for home, host, and third country nationals working in a variety of international envitronments.
Managed agroforests, swiddening, and the introduction of pigs in Pohnpei, Micronesia: Phytolith evidence from an anthropogenic landscape

Abstract Phytolith analysis is increasingly contributing to archaeological studies, especially in the context of agriculture in tropical regions. Plant remains from archaeological sites provide key information on such topics as site function, settlement, past dietary patterns, migrations, and landscape formation. However, in the humid tropics, where good preservation of organic materials is uncommon, identifiable plant macroremains are relatively rare. The inorganic nature of phytoliths makes them a useful tool in Pacific environments. In this study, we analyze phytolith remains from garden features in archaeological context from a western Pacific volcanic island, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. To understand the manipulation of floral environments, especially agricultural practices, we examine hypotheses regarding how agricultural landscapes were impacted by changes in social and economic systems during the island's late prehistoric and early historic periods; these changes include elaboration of chiefly feasting and the introduction of pigs in the 19th century. Previous research on Pohnpei (e.g. Haun, 1984; Ayres and Haun, 1985, 1990; Ayres et al., 2009; Athens and Stevenson, 2012) has examined Pohnpeian agriculture and sociopolitical change through the study of archaeological features and pollen cores. This project is one of the first, to our knowledge, to examine phytolith data from archaeological contexts on the island. Samples from archaeological gardening contexts document how agricultural landscape shows a response to swiddening, landscape succession patterns, and introduced animals within the managed agroforest. However, phytolith analysis alone is not sufficient and must be used in conjunction with other archaeological data in hypothesis testing.
Changing my mind: one professor’s story of rethinking psychotropic medication

Over the past few years, I have reconsidered the evidence base for psychotropic medications. Although not widely publicized or recognized, persuasive evidence suggests that psychotropic medications are less effective and more harmful than most believe. This is an emotionally charged topic that threatens the professional identity and livelihood of many individuals, leading to cognitive dissonance and cognitive biases of which we may be unaware. Personally, I experienced distress and cognitive dissonance in response to this new information, and I have begun to change my research goals and other professional activities as a result. I encourage others to: (a) examine divergent bodies of research literature and your reactions to this literature; and (b) be empathic when discussing and writing about these topics. If we can engage in open-minded, critical self-assessment and discourse, then we may ultimately improve how we care for each other during times of distress and suffering.
"It's So Important to Talk and Talk": How Gay Adoptive Fathers Respond to Their Children's Encounters with Heteronormativity

Little is known about how gay fathers support their children as they navigate the challenges of heteronormativity. This article, based on phenomenological interviews with gay adoptive fathers from 20 families (one interview per family), discusses how gay fathers help their children manage the complexities of being adopted, not having a mother, and having gay fathers. Using a social constructionist lens, the article shows how fathers, in empathically responding to these challenges, nurture emotional connections with their children and deepen their sense of being parents. Focusing on how gay fathers provide security to their children in the face of societal stigma expands knowledge about the intimate family lives of gay fathers, resiliencies of families headed by same-sex parents, and the social fabric of heteronormativity.
Segmented flow sampling with push–pull theta pipettes

We report development of a mobile and easy-to-fabricate theta pipette microfluidic device for segmented flow sampling. The theta pipettes were also used as electrospray emitters for analysis of sub-nanoliter segments, which resulted in delivery of analyte to the vacuum inlet of the mass spectrometer without multiple transfer steps. Theta pipette probes enable sample collection with high spatial resolution due to micron or smaller sized probe inlets and can be used to manipulate aqueous segments in the range of 200 pL to tens of nanoliters. Optimized conditions can enable sampling with high spatial and temporal resolution, suitable for chemical monitoring in biological samples and studies of sample heterogeneity. Intercellular heterogeneity among Allium cepa cells was studied by collecting cytoplasm from multiple cells using a single probe. Extracted cytoplasm was analyzed in a fast and high throughput manner by direct electrospray mass spectrometry of segmented sample from the probe tip.
MATING BEHAVIOR IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER SELECTED FOR ALTERED LONGEVITY.

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Assessment of Nitrate Exposure in Beijing Residents via Consumption of Vegetables

To know the nitrate contents in vegetables and nitrate exposure in Beijing residents,341 samples of various vegetables in season were collected and analyzed during Mar.-May,2006.Nitrate contents were analyzed according to GB/T 5009.33—2003.Daily consumption of vegetables was calculated by the method of food accountant and then daily intake of nitrate was calculated.The content of nitrate in vegetables was arranged in the following descendent order:leafy vegetables root and stem vegetables onions and garlic melonslegumes flower vegetables egg plants.The contents of nitrate in different species differed greatly,which implied that they were cultivated in different places under different conditions.According to the results of the assessment,the median daily intake of nitrate via vegetables was 328.21 mg(median)among Beijing residents.The results indicate that the exposure of nitrate,only via vegetables,exceeds the ADI established by JECFA,and development of measures to monitor and control it is urgently needed.
Mixed convection flow with non-uniform heat source/sink in a doubly stratified magnetonanofluid

In this study, we explore the unsteady flow of viscous nanofluid driven by an inclined stretching sheet. The novelty of the present study is to account for the effect of a non-uniform heat source/sink in a thermally and solutally stratified magnetonanofluid. Governing system of nonlinear partial differential equations is converted into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Solution of the transformed system is obtained using RK4 method with shooting technique. It is observed that increase in the values of thermal and mass stratification parameter reduce the velocity profile and increase in the values of variable thermal conductivity parameter and non-uniform heat source/sink parameters enhance the temperature distribution. Moreover, skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are discussed. Obtained results are displayed both graphically and in tabular form to illustrate the effect of different parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles. Numerical results are compared with previous published results and found to be in good agreement for special cases of the emerging parameters.
Abstract 4062: Human mammary tumor virus (HMTV) is a breast cancer pathogen

Human mammary tumor virus (HMTV) a betaretrovirus 90-98% homologous to Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV), the causative agent for breast cancer in mice, has been detected in approximately 40% of American women9s breast cancers. Mouse DNA contamination has been definitively excluded by contamination-free guarantee techniques. In Western European countries and their former colonies, age standardized rates (ASR) of breast cancer incidence (47 to 92 per 100,000 per year) are higher than Asian incidence (29 to 43 ASR/y). This difference could be explained by excess HMTV-related breast cancer incidence. In 7 West European, American and Oceania countries, 30 to 60% contain HMTV, while in 5 Asian nations HMTV associated breast cancers range from 0 to 22%. Different indigenous murine species with disparate MMTV burdens parallel these findings: mus domesticus in the West with much MMTV in its genome, and mus castaneus or mus musculus in the East with less. HMTV is found in cells in milk of 8% of unselected American mothers and in milks of 21% of women previously biopsied for unconfirmed cancer suspicion. HMTV isolated from primary cultures of metastatic breast cells is able to infect In vitro, human mammary epithelial cells, B and T lymphocytes and dendritic cells. MCF10A breast cell line infected with HMTV shows molecular changes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition, such as up-regulation of vimentin, and down-regulation of E-cadherin. HMTV sequences were also shown to be more prevalent in inflammatory, gestational and familial breast cancers than in unselected sporadic samples, consistent with association with more aggressive breast cancer phenotypes. To establish a direct connection between the presence of HMTV sequences and metastatic breast cancer, we have found HMTV sequences in 94% of primary cultures of metastatic breast cells obtained directly from effusion fluids. HMTV present in primary breast tumors has been demonstrated in their metastatic axillary nodes. Taken together the results suggest an association between the presence of HMTV sequences and breast cancer aggressiveness. HMTV poses a new and challenging dimension in breast cancer research involving causation, diagnosis, molecular mechanisms, epidemiology, therapy and prevention. Citation Format: James F. Holland, Stella Melana, Teiko Nartey, Joseph Tripodi, Shabnam Jaffer, Anupna Nayak, Beatriz GT Pogo. Human mammary tumor virus (HMTV) is a breast cancer pathogen. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4062.
Online job allocation with hard allocation ratio requirement

The problem of allocating jobs to appropriate servers in cloud computing is studied in this paper. We consider that jobs of various types arrive in some unpredictable pattern and the system is required to allocate a certain ratio of jobs. In order to meet the hard allocation ratio requirement in the presence of unknown arrival patterns, one can increase the capacity of servers by expanding the size of data centers. We then aim to find the minimum capacity needed to meet a given allocation ratio requirement. We propose two online job allocation policies with low complexity. We prove that, given a hard allocation ratio requirement, these two policies can achieve the requirement with the least capacity. We also derive a closed-from expression for the amount of capacity needed to achieve any given requirement. Two other popular policies are studied, and we demonstrate that they need at least an order higher capacity to meet the same hard allocation ratio requirement. Simulation results demonstrate that our policies remain far superior than the other two when jobs arrive according to some random process.
First-principles assessment of CO2 capture mechanisms in aqueous piperazine solution.

Piperazine (PZ) and its blends have emerged as attractive solvents for CO2 capture, but the underlying reaction mechanisms still remain uncertain. Our study particularly focuses on assessing the relative roles of PZCOO− and PZH+ produced from the PZ + CO2 reaction. PZCOO− is found to directly react with CO2 forming COO−PZCOO−, whereas PZH+ will not. However, COO−PZCOO− appears very unlikely to be produced in thermodynamic equilibrium with monocarbamates, suggesting that its existence would predominantly originate from the surface reaction that likely occurs. We also find production of H+PZCOO− to be more probable with increasing CO2 loading, due partly to the thermodynamic favorability of the PZH+ + PZCOO− → H+PZCOO− + PZ reaction; the facile PZ liberation may contribute to its relatively high CO2 absorption rate. This study highlights an accurate description of surface reaction and the solvent composition effect is critical in thermodynamic and kinetic models for predicting the CO2 capture processes.
Coda: Marketers and Martians

The ending of The War of the Worlds is quoted. It shows that the Martians were defeated by the common bacteria found everywhere in the world—but not found in Mars. The different ways that Americans have developed ways to avoid advertising are explored. It is asserted that human irrationality, irritability, inattentiveness, and invincible ignorance saves Americans from being completely dominated by marketers and advertisers. The matter of marketers helping create new products (such as the iPhone) is explored. The iPhone is an example of a product people didn’t know they needed until it was created. Once created and then marketed and advertised, people wondered how they lived without it.
A meta-analysis of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of depression.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an emerging potential treatment for depression, but the data supporting its efficacy have not been systematically reviewed. The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of rTMS trials in the treatment of depression. A search for all published and unpublished sham-controlled studies of left or right prefrontal cortical rTMS in the treatment of depression evaluated by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) was conducted using no language restrictions. Fixed- and random-effects meta-analyses were performed on 12 studies comparing the decrease in HDRS scores achieved with rTMS and sham stimulation. Initial results with a fixed-effects analysis failed homogeneity testing; thus, a random-effects analysis was used to calculate all results. In 12 studies (16 individual effect sizes), the weighted mean effect size was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.42-1.20, P 50%, and the number of responders to rTMS (defined as a > 50% decrease in HDRS scores) across studies was relatively small (13.7% with rTMS versus 7.9% with sham stimulation). rTMS is statistically superior to sham stimulation in the treatment of depression, showing a moderate to large effect size. However, the clinical significance of these results is modest. The differences in response to rTMS across studies are not clearly explained, and, therefore, more research is needed.
Heavy-traffic limit for the initial content process

To understand the performance of a queueing system, it can be useful to focus on the evolution of the content that is initially in service at some time. That necessarily will be the case in service systems that provide service during normal working hours each day, with the system shutting down at some time, except that all customers already in service at the termination time are allowed to complete their service. Also, for infinite-server queues, it is often fruitful to partition the content into the initial content and the new input, because these can be analyzed separately. With i.i.d service times having a non-exponential distribution, the state of the initial content can be described by specifying the elapsed service times of the remaining initial customers. That initial content process is then a Markov process. This paper establishes a many-server heavy-traffic (MSHT) functional central limit theorem (FCLT) for the initial content process in the space &#x1d53b;&#x1d53b;, assuming a FCLT for the initial age process, ...
Flibanserin: From Bench to Bedside

Abstract Introduction The process of approval for flibanserin (trade name Addyi) has been associated with controversy since before its approval on August 18, 2015. This argument centered on challenges to the validity of the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women and the safety and efficacy of the drug. Aim To explore the process of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for flibanserin and delve further into the research, concerns, and various roadblocks to its approval. Methods A literature review was undertaken using the terms flibanserin and hypoactive sexual desire disorder and relevant commentary from supporters and critics regarding the medication and difficulties leading up to approval. Main Outcome Measures Review of the process of FDA approval of a medication to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder and research published exploring the efficacy and safety of flibanserin. Results Before flibanserin, there were no drugs approved to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder, which has a reported estimated incidence of 10% of women. For studying the effectiveness of flibanserin, the FDA required satisfying sexual events as the primary end point, although this end point does not measure level of desire or the associated distress. The satisfying sexual event measurement was significant across all three flibanserin trials in premenopausal women, as was an increase in desire according to the Female Sexual Function Index desire domain and a decrease in distress as recorded with the Female Sexual Distress Scale–Revised, Item 13. Safety concerns centered on the incidence of sedation, syncope, hypotension, and the interaction of flibanserin with alcohol and CYP3A4 inhibitors. Additional targeted challenge studies were mandated by the FDA. Conclusion The process of approval of flibanserin was lengthy. This was due in part to it being the first drug in its class and one with no clear guidance on study design from the FDA or roadmap for development and approval. Dooley EM, Miller MK, Clayton AH. Flibanserin: From Bench to Bedside. Sex Med Rev 2017;5:461–469.
Question Difficulty – How to Estimate Without Norming, How to Use for Automated Grading

Question difficulty estimates guide test creation, but are too costly for small-scale testing. We empirically verify that Bloom’s Taxonomy, a standard tool for difficulty estimation during question creation, reliably predicts question difficulty observed after testing in a short-answer corpus. We also find that difficulty is mirrored in the amount of variation in student answers, which can be computed before grading. We show that question difficulty and its approximations are useful for automated grading, allowing us to identify the optimal feature set for grading each question even in an unseen-question setting.
The Unforeseen Consequences of Extended Deterrence: Moral Hazard in a Nuclear Client State:

Do “nuclear umbrellas” create a moral hazard that can increase the risk of war? In this article, we investigate whether situations of extended deterrence in which a nuclear patron makes a defensive...
Motivating Students to Pursue Transportation Careers: Implementation of Service-Learning Project on Transit

General lack of awareness of the transportation profession and of its diversity of content has been cited as critical issues affecting transportation workforce recruitment. University engineering programs have a crucial role in recruitment and training of the next generation of transportation professionals, but in focusing mostly on automobile travel, undergraduate transportation engineering courses do not properly introduce students to the multimodal, environmental, and public service facets of the profession. Moreover, several surveys have cited that engineering students aspire to careers in which they can make a difference in the world, improve the lives of others, and better the natural environment. Service learning is one way to link course content better with students’ motivation to study a subject while introducing nontraditional transportation engineering concepts in an effort to increase students’ awareness of the diverse nature of the profession. This paper showcases how a transit feasibility st...
Friendless Adolescents: Do Perceptions of Social Threat Account for Their Internalizing Difficulties and Continued Friendlessness?

Adolescents who lack friends at school are at risk of internalizing difficulties. This study examined a social-cognitive mechanism underlying friendlessness and internalizing difficulties (i.e., depressive symptoms, social anxiety, low self-esteem). We tested whether perceived social threat (i.e., peer victimization, sense of unsafety, and peer misconduct) mediates the association between friendlessness and increased internalizing difficulties across middle school. Latent variable structural equation modeling was used to test the model among an ethnically diverse sample of 5,991 (52% female) adolescents. The results demonstrate that friendless sixth-grade students perceived their school environment as more threatening by seventh grade, which in turn, increased internalizing difficulties from sixth to eighth grade. Perceptions of threat also predicted friendlessness at the end of middle school.
Sampled — Data Model

The control system which enables us to move our eyes and follow a moving target has been investigated from the servomechanism point of view. The ability to identify measurable quantities as input, output, and error variables justifies such an approach; the input is the angular position of an object of interest (the target) with respect to some reference fixed to the head; the output is the angle of the line of gaze with respect to this same reference; and the error, defined as input minus output, is therefore the angular difference between the direction of the target and the direction in which the subject is actually looking. Using these measurable quantities as a basis, the analysis methods of control theory have been applied to the eye movement system to yield transfer functions for the system which should be of value to the human engineer, physiologist, and control engineer [79–81].
Urban/rural disparities in stage at presentation of colorectal cancer among young adults in the United States, 2007-2015.

3598Background: The overall incidence rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) has declined in recent decades but is rising in young adults (YA). Disparities also exist in CRC presentation and geographical ...
Response awareness and instructional self-efficacy: influences on intent

This paper aims to examine the influence of response awareness on behavioral intent, and introduces instructional self-efficacy, a construct rarely examined within the context of information security (ISec).,A Web-based survey was conducted and a total of 211 valid responses were analyzed. The relationships among response awareness, instructional self-efficacy and behavioral intent were examined through a three-phase structural equation modeling analysis.,The results indicate that even at low levels, response awareness has a strong influential effect on the behavioral intent to perform the secure response and on the self-efficacy to instruct others to perform the response. Instructional self-efficacy was also found to be a significant predictor of behavioral intent to perform the response. Finally, evidence was found indicating instructional self-efficacy fully mediates the response awareness to the behavioral intent relationship.,Because of the characteristics of the population, the focus on a single ISec response and the dependent variable of behavioral intent rather than actual behavior, the generalizability of the findings is impacted.,The results contribute to practice by confirming the importance of response awareness and of instructional self-efficacy within an ISec context. Specific implications include the indication that informal communications about ISec issues among peers should be encouraged and that instructional self-efficacy should be targeted within ISec awareness training programs.,This paper’s parsimonious model defined response awareness as vicarious experience with a response and presented instructional self-efficacy, a construct novel to ISec studies that was found to be a significant influence within the relationship between response awareness and behavioral intent.
Contributions of university lab schools to behavior analysis

Lab schools provide a means to expand state-of-the-science advances in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). As an example, Walden School is showcased as a comprehensive intervention program, which aims...
Risk assessments of forest management workers in areas of hazardous minerals

Recent increases in the frequency and extent of wildland fires in the USA has focused attention on the hazards of forest management personnel, especially firefighters. While considerable resources have been expended to assess the obvious risks of physical hazards and smoke inhalation during firefighting, there has also been some studies that have evaluated potential exposures to mineral components of soils and rocks, including asbestos and related minerals, erionite and crystalline silica (quartz) during forest management activities. These studies are reviewed.
Modeling Needs for Power Semiconductor Devices and Power Electronics Systems

As energy systems move towards wide-spread electrification, penetration of power semiconductor devices and power electronics continue to grow at a rapid pace. This paper attempts at reviewing the state-of-the-art in power semiconductor modeling and the existing state of modeling in general on the design of devices and systems. The modeling needs for semiconductor devices vary depending on the end-goal, and the level of abstraction needed towards model formulation also changes with the size and complexity of the system to be designed. Finally, key aspects of thermal design and modeling for power electronics are also discussed.
The Utility of Stereotactic Ablative Radiation Therapy for Palliation of Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma.

Abstract Purpose Our purpose was to report the outcome of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) to the primary tumor for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Methods and Materials We examined the records of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with SABR to the primary tumor between 2002 and 2018. Toxicities were graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.03. Pain intensity pre- and post-SABR was scored according to the Stanford Pain Scale as reported by the patient. Time-to-events were calculated from the date of end of SABR delivery. Results In total, 27 patients were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen (63%) patients received single fraction SABR with a median dose of 25 Gy (range, 12.5-25), and 10 (37%) patients were treated in 5 fractions with a median dose of 33 Gy (range, 25-40). Before the start of SABR, 17 (63%) patients reported having abdominal pain, with a median intensity of 5 in the 0 to 10 pain scale (range, 1-9), 11 (41%) of them needing continuous opioid use. The median follow-up was 6 months (range, 0-18). Median overall survival was 7 months (95% confidence interval, 3-10), with a cumulative incidence of local failures at 1 year of 25% (95% confidence interval, 10-44). After SABR, there was a significant reduction in the mean intensity of pain (P = .01), and a 46% relative reduction in continuous opioid use. Only 2 patients (7%) presented a grade 3 toxicity that could be attributed to treatment. Conclusions In this small series, SABR was a safe and effective option for the local palliation of metastatic pancreatic cancer, with measurable improvements in abdominal pain and the need for opioids.
Portable Poll Workers: Eliminating Precinct Requirements in U.S. Elections

Given that poll workers play an important role in the voting process by disseminating ballots, checking signatures, and answering voter queries, having a sufficient quantity of poll workers is impe...
Homotopy Equivalence in Finite Digital Images

For digital images, there is an established homotopy equivalence relation which parallels that of classical topology. Many classical homotopy equivalence invariants, such as the Euler characteristic and the homology groups, do not remain invariants in the digital setting. This paper develops a numerical digital homotopy invariant and begins to catalog all possible connected digital images on a small number of points, up to homotopy equivalence.
Risk scoring models fail to predict pulmonary embolism in trauma patients.

Abstract Background We aimed to identify risk factors and risk scoring models to help identify post-traumatic pulmonary embolisms (PE). Methods We performed a retrospective review (2014–2019) of all adult trauma patients admitted to our Level I trauma center that received a CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) for a suspected PE. A systematic literature search found eleven risk scoring models, all of which were applied to these patients. Scores of patients with and without PE were compared. Results Of the 235 trauma patients that received CTPA, 31 (13%) showed a PE. No risk scoring model had both a sensitivity and specificity above 90%. The Wells Score had the highest area under the curve (0.65). After logistic regression, no risk scoring model variables were independently associated with PE. Conclusions In trauma patients with clinically suspected PE, clinical variables and current risk scoring models do not adequately differentiate patients with and without PE.
Variation in Employment in Healthcare Occupations and County-Level Differences in COVID-19 Cases in the United States of America.

Objective To study how county-level differences in employment in healthcare occupations contributes to county-level differences in COVID-19 cases. Method The number of active COVID-19 cases were gathered from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center weekly between April 22, 2020 and July 1, 2020. Data for the number of workers employed in healthcare occupations were collected at the county-level from the American Community Survey. These data were combined to explore the association between employment patterns and rates of COVID-19 cases. Result Counties with more employment in healthcare-related occupations experienced higher rate of COVID-19. This association was strongest in April and May compared to later months of the pandemic. Conclusion Employment in healthcare occupations may contribute to the spread of COVID-19. Intervention to protect workers may help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.