cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimizing pharmaceutical reimbursement: one institution's approach.

Purpose. The importance of understanding the revenue cycle, reviewing the billing system for errors, and collaborating with other health system departments in maximizing pharmaceutical reimbursement, and the approach used at a large academic medical center to justify a reimbursement specialist and achieve this goal are discussed. Summary. Understanding the revenue cycle may enable pharmacy departments to make wise decisions about programs and services that maximize revenue recovery and meet patient needs. Parts of the revenue cycle that pharmacists can have a favorable effect on include claim denials/payment variances, regulatory changes, compliance, contracting, and price setting. Pharmaceutical reimbursement was increased substantially at one institution through a collaborative effort involving multiple departments and a reimbursement specialist who analyzed the revenue cycle, reviewed billing systems, and took steps to avoid or correct billing errors. Conclusion. Collaborating with members of key health system departments can help identify and resolve billing system errors that diminish revenue. Documenting efforts to increase revenue recovery can help justify adding personnel dedicated to reimbursement matters. Analyzing the revenue cycle can contribute to wise decision-making that optimizes pharmaceutical reimbursement.
The Effects of Hot Spots Policing on Crime: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In recent years, crime scholars and practitioners have pointed to the potential benefits of focusing police crime prevention efforts on crime places. Research suggests that there is significant clustering of crime in small places or “hot spots.” A number of researchers have argued that crime problems can be reduced more efficiently if police officers focused their attention to these deviant places. In this article, we update and improve upon a previously completed Campbell Collaboration systematic review of the effects of hot spots policing and crime. Meta-analyses were used to determine the size, direction, and statistical significance of the overall impact of hot spots policing strategies on crime. The results of our research suggests that hot spots policing generates small but noteworthy crime reductions, and these crime control benefits diffuse into areas immediately surrounding targeted crime hot spots. Our analyses find that problem-oriented policing interventions generate larger mean effect sizes w...
Can the Self Survive the Death of its Mind

C. A. Campbell has written: ‘Almost everyone…takes it to be in principle intelligible to ask whether the self can survive the destruction of its body . But it is taken by no one to be in principle intelligible to ask whether the self can survive the destruction of its mind .’ But is it, after all, so clearly nonsense to suppose that a self can survive the destruction of its mind? This at least is the question I shall raise in this paper. The word ‘can’ in my title should thus be understood in its purely logical sense. For the question, really, is whether or not one can intelligibly speak of a self's surviving the destruction of its mind. By the term ‘self’ I refer to that which is supremely unique in what one calls ‘oneself’; to that aspect or element, in other words, which most decisively distinguishes one self-conscious individual from other such individuals. Now the self thus regarded as the source of one's uniqueness on the one hand, and the self conceived of as the source of one's inner unity on the other, would seem to be but two sides of a single coin. For whatever helps to account for an individual's being identical with itself through internal diversity—or for its being a single individual—must also help, and help in an equal degree, to account for its not being identical with any other individual—or for its being a particular individual; and the converse of this seems equally evident.
Oxyhalogen–sulfur chemistry: Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of a Bunte salt 2-aminoethanethiolsulfuric acid by chlorite

Spectrophotometric and 1H NMR methods have been used to study the kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of the Bunte salt, 2-aminoethanethiol sulfuric acid, H2NCH2CH2S-SO3H (AETSA) by chlorite in mildly acidic media. The reaction is characterized by a long quiescent induction period followed by rapid and autocatalytic production of chlorine dioxide. The formation of chlorine dioxide is much more pronounced in stoichiometric excess of chlorite. The stoichiometry of the reaction in excess chlorite just before formation of chlorine dioxide was determined to be: 2ClO2− + H2NCH2CH2S–SO3H → ClNHCH2CH2SO3H + SO4−2 + Cl− + H+, while in excess AETSA the stoichiometry was: 3ClO2− + 2H2NCH2CH2S–SO3H + 2H2O → 2NH2CH2CH2SO3H + 2SO4−2 + 3Cl− + 4H+. Although the products in excess chlorite also included pure taurine and dichlorotaurine, monochlorotaurine was the dominant species at pH 1–3. This Bunte salt showed a facile S–S bond cleavage after a single S-oxygenation step on the inner sulfur atom. The sulfoxide is quite stable but there was no experimental evidence for the existence of the sulfone-sulfonic acid. Sulfate production was almost quantitative for the oxidation of only one of the sulfur atoms. Further reaction of the taurine occurred only on the nitrogen atom with no cleavage of the C–S bond. A 21-reaction kinetics scheme model gave reasonable agreement with experiment.
Mitochondrial Metabolism, Sirtuins, and Aging

The sirtuins are a family of proteins that act predominantly as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylases. In mammals seven sirtuin family members exist, including three members, Sirt3, Sirt4, and Sirt5, that localize exclusively within the mitochondria. Although originally linked to life-span regulation in simple organisms, this family of proteins appears to have various and diverse functions in higher organisms. One particular property that is reviewed here is the regulation of mitochondrial number, turnover, and activity by various mitochondrial and nonmitochondrial sirtuins. An emerging consensus from these recent studies is that sirtuins may act as metabolic sensors, using intracellular metabolites such as NAD and short-chain carbon fragments such as acetyl coenzyme A to modulate mitochondrial function to match nutrient supply.
Implementing a Domain Model for Data Structures

We present a model of the data structure domain that is expressed in terms of the GenVoca domain modeling concepts [Bat91]. We show how familiar data structures can be encapsulated as realms of plug-compatible, symmetric, and reusable components, and we show how complex data structures can be formed from their composition. The target application of our research is a precompiler for specifying and generating customized data structures.
What Does It Take to Become a High-Performing Special Education Planning District? A Study of Indiana's Special Education Delivery Service System

As the NCLB deadline for having all students proficient in reading and math approaches, schools are becoming increasingly anxious to promote success on high stakes tests for their students with disabilities. Embedded in a larger study of the potential effect of governance structures on the achievement of students with disabilities, this study examines how Indiana’s high-performing special education planning districts are able to promote achievement on the part of students with disabilities. Four themes are found in high-performing districts: ownership of student performance, teacher self-efficacy, child centeredness, and belongingness of special education staff.
Infrared Applications Of Diffractive Optical Elements

Diffractive optical elements have the potential to improve the performance of infrared optical systems. An approach to constructing high quality diffractive elements has been developed using standard integrated circuit techniques. It is possible to implement arbitrary phase profiles since the elements are computer generated.
A 4.4–5.4GHz digital fractional-N PLL using ΔΣ frequency-to-digital converter

A phase interpolator (PI) based fractional divider is used to improve the quantization noise shaping properties of a 1-bit ΔΣ frequency-to-digital converter (FDC). Fabricated in 65nm CMOS process, the prototype calibration-free fractional-N Type-II PLL employs the proposed FDC in place of a high resolution TDC and achieves -102dBc/Hz in-band phase noise and 852fs rms integrated jitter (1k-40M) while generating 5.054GHz output from 31.25MHz input.
Orthogonal-like space-time coded CPM with fast demodulation for three and four transmit antennas

The Alamouti's orthogonal space-time block codes are for QAM modulations and two transmit antennas. We have recently generalized it for the continuous phase modulation (CPM) by maintaining the orthogonality (for the fast ML decoding/demodulation) and the phase continuity of two signals from two transmit antennas denoted as OST-CPM. In this paper, we design orthogonal-like space-time coded CPM systems for three and four transmit antennas based on the existing orthogonal and quasi-orthogonal space-time codes in the literature. Although the signals from the transmit antennas in the proposed orthogonal-like space-time coded CPM systems are not orthogonal, the fast decoding/demodulation is maintained as in the two transmit antenna case. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed orthogonal-like space-time coded CPM systems for four transmit antennas is much better than that of the OST-CPM systems for two transmit antennas.
Can psychology become a science

Abstract I am profoundly grateful to Tom Bouchard for helping me learn to think scientifically. Scientific thinking, which is characterized by a set of safeguards against confirmation bias, does not come naturally to the human species, as the relatively recent appearance of science in history attests. Even today, scientific thinking is in woefully short supply in many domains of psychology, including clinical psychology and cognate disciplines. I survey five key threats to scientific psychology – (a) political correctness, (b) radical environmentalism, (c) the resurrection of “common sense” and intuition as arbiters of scientific truth, (d) postmodernism, and (e) pseudoscience – and conclude that these threats must be confronted directly by psychological science. I propose a set of educational and institutional reforms that should place psychology on firmer scientific footing.
Dual-polarization radar measurements and modeling of ice crystals at 95 GHz

There is an increasing number of 95 GHz radars being utilized for the remote sensing of clouds. Identifying ice crystal types is an important part of understanding the microphysics of clouds. This paper presents simulation results and measurements at 95 GHz on polarimetric scattering signatures of stellar crystals. Measurements with the University of Wyoming's airborne 95 GHz radar together with simultaneously obtained two dimensional particle probe data are used to demonstrate the radar signatures. The presentation includes other ice crystal and hydrometeor types.
Not what you thought: how H+ ions combine with taurine or other aminosulfonates to close Cx26 channels.

Gap junctions are aggregates of microscopic channels that connect the cytoplasmic compartments of the coupled cells. A gap junction channel is formed of two hemichannels, one contributed by each cell. Hemichannels can be formed in a post-Golgi compartment and transported to the cell surface in vesicles that fuse with the external membrane (Musil and Goodenough, 1993). Hemichannels then find a hemichannel in an apposed membrane and dock to form a cell–cell channel. For a long time, hemichannels were thought not to open to the exterior and to open only when joined to a hemichannel from an apposed membrane. Electrophysiological measurements showed that the hemichannels forming the first cell–cell channel had not been open to the medium before the channel formed (Bukauskas and Weingart, 1993). A teleological argument was that if hemichannels had the same large diameter pore as in a cell channel, they would have provided a deleterious link with the external medium, allowing loss of K+, ATP, and other metabolites and influx of Ca2+ and Na+. Now it is clear that isolated, unapposed hemichannels can open under specific physiological as well as pathological conditions, and metabolites coming out through hemichannels can mediate paracrine as well as autocrine signaling (Saez et al., 2010). The open probability is generally low, and increased opening can contribute to cell death, as presumed in arguing that the hemichannels should not open.
Analyzing Product-Form Stochastic Networks Via Factor Graphs and the Sum-Product Algorithm

A large number of stochastic networks including loss networks and certain queueing networks have product-form steady-state probabilities. However, for most practical networks, evaluating the system performance is a difficult task due to the presence of a normalization constant. We propose a new framework based on probabilistic graphical models to tackle this task. Specifically, we use factor graphs to model the stationary distribution of a network. For networks with arbitrary topology, we can apply efficient message-passing algorithms like the sum-product algorithm to compute the exact or approximate marginal distributions of all state variables and related performance measures such as blocking probabilities. Through extensive numerical experiments, we show that the sum-product algorithm returns very accurate blocking probabilities and greatly outperforms the reduced load approximation for loss networks with a variety of topologies. The factor graph model also provides a promising approach for analyzing product-form queueing networks.
Critical management issues for implementing RFID in supply chain management

The benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the supply chain are fairly compelling. It has the potential to revolutionise the efficiency, accuracy and security of the supply chain with significant impact on overall profitability. A number of companies are actively involved in testing and adopting this technology. It is estimated that the market for RFID products and services will increase significantly in the next few years. Despite this trend, there are major impediments to RFID adoption in supply chain. While RFID systems have been around for several decades, the technology for supply chain management is still emerging. We describe many of the challenges, setbacks and barriers facing RFID implementations in supply chains, discuss the critical issues for management and offer some suggestions. In the process, we take an in-depth look at cost, technology, standards, privacy and security and business process reengineering related issues surrounding RFID technology in supply chains.
Phosphorylation regulates VCIP135 function in Golgi membrane fusion during the cell cycle

The Golgi apparatus in mammalian cells consists of stacks that are often laterally linked into a ribbon-like structure. During cell division, the Golgi disassembles into tubulovesicular structures in the early stages of mitosis and reforms in the two daughter cells by the end of mitosis. Valosin-containing protein p97–p47 complex-interacting protein, p135 (VCIP135), an essential factor involved in p97-mediated membrane fusion pathways, is required for postmitotic Golgi cisternae regrowth and Golgi structure maintenance in interphase. However, how VCIP135 function is regulated in the cell cycle remains unclear. Here, we report that VCIP135 depletion by RNA interference results in Golgi fragmentation. VCIP135 function requires membrane association and p97 interaction, both of which are inhibited in mitosis by VCIP135 phosphorylation. We found that wild-type VCIP135, but not its phosphomimetic mutants, rescues Golgi structure in VCIP135-depleted cells. Our results demonstrate that VCIP135 phosphorylation regulates its Golgi membrane association and p97 interaction, and thus contributes to the tight control of the Golgi disassembly and reassembly process during the cell cycle.
Public Speaking: Reducing Student Apprehension and Improving Oral Skills

(1990). Public Speaking: Reducing Student Apprehension and Improving Oral Skills. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas: Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 255-258.
Basis Projection for Linear Transform Approximation in Real-Time Applications

This paper aims to develop a novel framework to systematically trade-off computational complexity with output distortion, in linear multimedia transforms, in an optimal manner. The problem is important in real-time systems where the computational resources available are time-dependent. We solve the real-time adaptation problem by developing an approximate transform framework. There are three key contributions of this paper – (a) a fast basis approximation framework that allows us to store signal independent partial transform results to be used in real-time, (b) estimating the complexity distortion curve for the linear transform using a basis set and (c) determining optimal operating points and a meta-data embedding algorithm for images that allows for real-time adaptation. We have applied this approach on the FFT transform with excellent results.
Genomic Analysis Reveals Age-Dependent Innate Immune Responses to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus

The relationship between immunosenescence and the host response to virus infection is poorly understood at the molecular level. Two different patterns of pulmonary host responses to virus were observed when gene expression profiles from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-infected young mice that show minimal disease were compared to those from SARS-CoV-infected aged mice that develop pneumonitis. In young mice, genes related to cellular development, cell growth, and cell cycle were downregulated during peak viral replication, and these transcripts returned to basal levels as virus was cleared. In contrast, aged mice had a greater number of upregulated immune response and cell-to-cell signaling genes, and the expression of many genes was sustained even after viral clearance, suggesting an exacerbated host response to virus. Interestingly, in SARS-CoV-infected aged mice, a subset of genes, including Tnfa, Il6, Ccl2, Ccl3, Cxcl10, and Ifng, was induced in a biphasic pattern that correlated with peak viral replication and a subsequent influx of lymphocytes and severe histopathologic changes in the lungs. We provide insight into gene expression profiles and molecular signatures underlying immunosenescence in the context of the host response to viral infection.
Three Decades of Citation Classics: The Most Cited Articles in the Field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

With the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recently celebrating its 75th anniversary, it is an opportune time to assess the impact and influence that physiatric articles and research have had on the field, as well as the greater scientific community. One useful metric of scientific impact is citation count, which is the most common method for analyzing the magnitude of scientific recognition of an individual article. This study presents 2 reading lists of influential physiatric academic journal articles drawn from the Web of Science index based on citation count. The first list contains the top 25 most-cited articles during the last 3 decades from the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and PM&R. The second list contains the top 10 articles in 20 different physiatric topical areas. This topical list was generated via an expanded search without limitation of time span or journal. This allowed for the identification of influential physiatric articles not found in the field's 3 major publications from the United States. Although citation index is not a direct measure of quality or importance, it offers one form of quantitative assessment of scientific impact. This assessment contributes to the identification of trends, which illustrate the evolution of scope and focus of physiatry research. The lists of most-cited articles presented in this review can be used to provide historical context to physiatry's existing body of research, direct future evidence-based research efforts, and help guide educators as they select resident reading lists or journal club materials.
The Skeleton and its Adaptation to Gravity

The sections in this article are: 1 Evolution and Bone 2 Skeletal Physiology 2.1 Bone Cells 2.2 Skeletal Tissue 3 Musculoskeletal Mechanics 3.1 Gravity and Static Equilibrium 3.2 Activity and Dynamic Equilibrium 3.3 External Loading History 3.4 Muscle and Bone Forces 3.5 Bone Mechanical Properties 3.6 Biological Scaling 3.7 Mathematical Models of Adaptation 3.8 Functional Adaptation to Altered Loading 4 Calcium Metabolism 4.1 Total Body Calcium 4.2 Calcium Kinetics 4.3 Calcium Balance 4.4 Distribution of Mineral in the Skeleton 4.5 Calcium Homeostasis and the Calcium Endocrine System 5 Bone Cellular and Tissue Adaptation 5.1 In Vivo Bone Tissue 5.2 Organ Culture 5.3 Bone Cell Cultures 6 Biomineralization 7 Summary
JUVENILE MOVEMENTS AND POTENTIAL INTER-AGE CLASS ASSOCIATIONS OF RED-BACKED SALAMANDERS

For many taxa, little is known about whether territoriality of adults affects the behavior of juveniles. Laboratory research has shown that aggression of adult territorial red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) decreases with familiarity, but it is not clear whether juveniles are randomly or nonrandomly associated with adult or parental territories. Using data from mark-recapture surveys, we compared the number of captures of first-year juveniles and adults of P. cinereus to ambient meteorological data. We found no evidence for temporal separation of foraging; weather conditions did not affect the proportion of first-year juveniles captured. We then conducted nearest-neighbor analyses to evaluate whether first-year juveniles were spatially associated with or disassociated from adult home ranges. Juveniles were neither closer to nor further away from adults than would be expected by random chance. Nearest-neighbor distances also were not significantly different from the mean radius of adult home ranges. There was no evidence that the distribution of adult home ranges affected the distribution of juveniles, at least after recent rainfall events; there is a possibility that interactions between age classes may occur under drier conditions.
Covered with Oil: Incorporating Realism in Cost Risk Analysis

When Jimmy Buffett sang the words “All of those tourists covered with oil” in his song Margaritaville he probably never imagined that this phrase might apply to crude oil instead of suntan lotion. Both the cost and the environmental impact from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were much worse than anyone had expected or could have predicted. It was, in the words of financial writer, Nassim Taleb, a “black swan”—an unexpected event with tremendous consequences. These types of events, like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the giant tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, and the financial crisis that began in 2007, are all examples of events with huge impacts that were hard to foresee. In the arena of government projects, outsized events, such as the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters, cost billions of extra dollars and are not budgeted against. It may be reasonable to not budget for some events that are outside of the project management’s control, since doing so will likely lead to excess reser...
The dynamics of sovereign debt crises in a monetary union.

Inspired by the European debt crisis of 2010, this paper provides a theoretical framework to analyze the dynamics of sovereign debt crises in a monetary union. I assume that there is a maturity mismatch between the short maturity debt of a country and the long horizon flow of tax revenues, i.e., the need for countries to roll over their debt. A debt crisis can ensue due to doubts about the future ability and willingness for a country to keep rolling over its debt. A monetary union is a collection of such countries with a tragedy-of-the-commons dilemma regarding some common institution, such as a common currency: the default in one country also hurts the other countries in that union, creating an incentive for mutual assistance. Several issues will be addressed. A mechanism for contagion will be proposed and analyzed. The scope for mutual assistance and its ability to prevent a member default will be investigated. Trade offs regarding the participation of the private sector in such rescue operations will be discussed. Implications for the moral hazard on member countries to pursue fiscally prudent policies will be drawn.
Parallel Aligned Treebanks at LDC: New Challenges Interfacing Existing Infrastructures

Parallel aligned treebanks (PAT) are linguistic corpora annotated with morphological and syntactic structures that are aligned at sentence as well as sub-sentence levels. They are valuable resources for improving machine translation (MT) quality. Recently, there has been an increasing demand for such data, especially for divergent language pairs. The Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) and its academic partners have been developing Arabic-English and Chinese-English PATs for several years. This paper describes the PAT corpus creation effort for the program GALE (Global Autonomous Language Exploitation) and introduces the potential issues of scaling up this PAT effort for the program BOLT (Broad Operational Language Translation). Based on existing infrastructures and in the light of current annotation process, challenges and approaches, we are exploring new methodologies to address emerging challenges in constructing PATs, including data volume bottlenecks, dialect issues of Arabic languages, and new genre features related to rapidly changing social media. Preliminary experimental results are presented to show the feasibility of the approaches proposed.
Framing the Ghanaian LGBT rights debate: competing decolonisation and human rights frames

This paper investigates how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movements in Ghana, both anti and pro, framed the debate that captured media attention in 2006 and 2011. Decolonisation and human rights frames were appropriated, challenged, and dominated by opponents of LGBT rights, making it difficult for LGBT activists to use them. The opponents' corruption frame overpowered the LGBT activists' preservation frame. When LGBT activists used a human rights frame (comparing sexual minorities to racial minorities and to persons with disabilities), the countermovement appropriated it in a way that excluded same-sex relations by comparing sexual minorities to “deviants”, persons with mental illnesses, and animals. The interaction between the decolonisation and human rights frames was also problematic: the corruption frame not only rendered the LGBT activists' preservation frame nearly useless, but it also made their use of the human rights frame appear to be cultural imperialism and problematis...
Unmasking the responses of the stem cells and progenitors in the subventricular zone after neonatal and pediatric brain injuries

There is great interest in the regenerative potential of the neural stem cells and progenitors that populate the subventricular zone (SVZ). However, a comprehensive understanding of SVZ cell responses to brain injuries has been hindered by the lack of sensitive approaches to study the cellular composition of this niche. Here we review progress being made in deciphering the cells of the SVZ gleaned from the use of a recently designed flow cytometry panel that allows SVZ cells to be parsed into multiple subsets of progenitors as well as putative stem cells. We review how this approach has begun to unmask both the heterogeneity of SVZ cells as well as the dynamic shifts in cell populations with neonatal and pediatric brain injuries. We also discuss how flow cytometric analyses also have begun to reveal how specific cytokines, such as Leukemia inhibitory factor are coordinating SVZ responses to injury.
The Motion of a Vortex Pair in a Stratified Atmosphere

The movement of a horizontal vortex pair through an inhomogeneous fluid is considered. The problem is formulated first for the case when the ambient fluid is uniform, the fluid moving with the vortex pair has a different density, and the motion is supposed laminar and inviscid. An approximate solution is obtained, which predicts that the distance between the vortices stays constant and the vortices accelerate at a constant rate. This solution is then applied to motion in a stratified atmosphere and it is found that the vortices oscillate vertically with a frequency and amplitude depending on the initial conditions and the stratification. Finally, approximate equations are constructed to describe the effects of turbulent entrainment into the fluid moving with the vortex pair, and an estimate of the damping is obtained.
Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Teacher My Class Inventory–Short Form

Researchers analyzed data from elementary teachers (N = 233) to further establish the psychometric soundness of the Teacher My Class Inventory–Short Form. Supporting previous psychometric research, confirmatory factor analyses findings supported the factorial validity of the hypothesized five-factor solution. Internal reliability estimates were satisfactory for an attitudinal measure. Implications for practice are briefly discussed.
Molecular Genetics of Beauveria bassiana Infection of Insects

Research on the insect pathogenic filamentous fungus, Beauveria bassiana has witnessed significant growth in recent years from mainly physiological studies related to its insect biological control potential, to addressing fundamental questions regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms of fungal development and virulence. This has been in part due to a confluence of robust genetic tools and genomic resources for the fungus, and recognition of expanded ecological interactions with which the fungus engages. Beauveria bassiana is a broad host range insect pathogen that has the ability to form intimate symbiotic relationships with plants. Indeed, there is an increasing realization that the latter may be the predominant environmental interaction in which the fungus participates, and that insect parasitism may be an opportunist lifestyle evolved due to the carbon- and nitrogen-rich resources present in insect bodies. Here, we will review progress on the molecular genetics of B. bassiana, which has largely been directed toward identifying genetic pathways involved in stress response and virulence assumed to have practical applications in improving the insect control potential of the fungus. Important strides have also been made in understanding aspects of B. bassiana development. Finally, although increasingly apparent in a number of studies, there is a need for progressing beyond phenotypic mutant characterization to sufficiently investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying B. bassiana's unique and diverse lifestyles as saprophyte, insect pathogen, and plant mutualist.
Observation of Immune Effect of Hepatitis B Vaccine on Newborn Babies in Linyi City

[Objective]To observe the protective efficacy in preventing maternal-infant transmission of Hepatitis B Virus(HBV) and immune persistence of recombinant yeast derived hepatitis B vaccines(HepB). [Methods]HBsAg,HBeAg and Anti-HBs in blood samples were detected by using RIA method. [Results]The results of the research showed that after 1,3,5,8 and 10 years of immunization,the positive rate of HBsAg was 0.93%,0.98%,0.63%,1.15% and 1.35% respectively,the average value was 0.99%.the positive rate of anti-HBs was 92.13%,81.98%,71.25%,65.58% and 47.17% respectively,the average value was 73.16%.The positive rate of anti-HBs of mother HBsAg single positive group and HBsAg and HBeAg double positive group was 91.11%,90.14% respectively and the protective rate was 97.39%,90.06% respectively. [Conclusion]HepB showed good immunogenicity and immune persistence on newborns,10ug×3 HepB plan can prevent Maternal-infant transmission of HBV effectively.
Corn and sorghum phenotyping using a fixed-wing UAV-based remote sensing system

Recent development of unmanned aerial systems has created opportunities in automation of field-based high-throughput phenotyping by lowering flight operational cost and complexity and allowing flexible re-visit time and higher image resolution than satellite or manned airborne remote sensing. In this study, flights were conducted over corn and sorghum breeding trials in College Station, Texas, with a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carrying two multispectral cameras and a high-resolution digital camera. The objectives were to establish the workflow and investigate the ability of UAV-based remote sensing for automating data collection of plant traits to develop genetic and physiological models. Most important among these traits were plant height and number of plants which are currently manually collected with high labor costs. Vegetation indices were calculated for each breeding cultivar from mosaicked and radiometrically calibrated multi-band imagery in order to be correlated with ground-measured plant heights, populations and yield across high genetic-diversity breeding cultivars. Growth curves were profiled with the aerial measured time-series height and vegetation index data. The next step of this study will be to investigate the correlations between aerial measurements and ground truth measured manually in field and from lab tests.
Collection and Cultivation of Dictyostelids from the Wild

Dictyostelium discoideum is a commonly used model organism for the study of biological processes such as chemotaxis, cell communication, and development. While these studies primarily focus on a single clone, recent work has revealed a host of questions that can only be answered from studies of multiple genetically distinct clones. Understanding intraspecific clone conflict, kin recognition, differential adhesion, and other kinds of interactions likely to occur in the natural soil habitat can only come from studies of multiple clones. Studies of populations of wild isolates are also important for understanding the factors contributing to associations such as species co-occurrences and to observed inter- and intraspecific interactions such as those found between bacteria and D. discoideum. Natural isolates of Dictyostelium are easily found in soil and leaf litter in nearly all habitats. Here we describe a simple and successful method for isolating new wild clones from soil, then isolating single clonal strains, and storing them for future use.
Neonatal transcutaneous bilirubinometry

Measurements of blood pressure are important in the care of the critically ill neonate. Although direct measurement of mean arterial pressure remains the standard, noninvasive methods provide clinically useful estimations of pressure. Clinicians are often faced with situations where measurements of pressure obtained by direct and indirect methods do not agree. Although the explanation for this is not entirely clear, at least two factors are important: first, direct techniques measure pressure while indirect (noninvasive) methods measure flow; second, neither direct or indirect measurements are straightforward and both are subject to error. Of the noninvasive methods, the oscillometric and Doppler devices appear to be most clinically usefUI in the newborn intensive care unit.
Free-Base and Protonated Nicotine in Electronic Cigarette Liquids and Aerosols

As with other tobacco aerosols, nicotine delivery from e-cigarettes (ECIG) depends on the total nicotine and its partitioning between free-base (Nic) and protonated (NicH+) forms. Previous studies ...
The Fullness of Self: Performing Identity in Senior Theatre

This chapter turns more specifically toward the relationship between the performer and the performance of age, delving into the burgeoning Senior Theatre movement. This chapter considers four instances of senior theatre; as elders explore the live onstage moment that remembers the past, senior performers can portray a fullness of self, rather than a diminished self that foregrounds aging as decline. The older body that overtly performs a younger age forces the audience to confront issues of aging and identity construction. As in the memory-oriented plays scrutinized in earlier chapters, the generation-spanning performance of a senior actor reveals a longing for a sense of essential self, a complex claim that the self is stable and recognizable regardless of the passage of time.
Management of Dryland Cropping Systems in the U.S. Great Plains: Effects on Soil Organic Carbon

The expansion and intensification of agroecosystems worldwide has significantly affected the environment at multiple spatial scales (Matson et al., 1997). Agroecosystem effects on atmospheric constituents have altered local, regional, and global environmental quality through windblown soil (Zhang et al., 2001) and emission of particulate matter, reactive N (e.g., NH3 and NOx), volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) (Aneja et al., 2006; Franzluebbers and Follett, 2005). The contribution of agroecosystems to GHG emission, in particular, has received increased international attention given the role of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) to increase radiative forcing of the Earth’s atmosphere (IPCC, 2007), which is the underlying cause of global climate change (Oreskes, 2004; Brown, 2006). Projected changes in climate from elevated concentrations of GHGs in the Earth’s atmosphere include increased mean global temperatures of 1.5 to 4.5°C (Mahlman, 1997), shifts in vegetation zones toward the poles (or disappearance entirely, due to sea level rise), and a more vigorous hydrological cycle (Rosenzweig and Hillel, 1998). Such projections do not portend well for agriculture and will require the development of resilient agroecosystems to meet future demand for food, feed, and fiber. Mitigation of GHG emission from agroecosystems requires increasing soil organic carbon (SOC), decreasing CH4 and N2O emissions, or increasing soil CH4 oxidation (Robertson et al., 2000; Mosier et al., 2003). To date, much emphasis
Tool wear of aluminum/chromium/tungsten/silicon-based-coated solid carbide thread milling cutters in thread tapping of chromium-molybdenum steel

The helical milling method with thread milling cutters in thread tapping is effective against problems associated with tapping chips. In this study, chromium-molybdenum steel (ISO 34CrMo4, AISI 4137) was helical milled with two physical vapor deposition (PVD)-coated cemented carbide end thread milling cutters in order to determine effective tool materials for tapping chromium-molybdenum steel. The coating films used were (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N) and commercial (Al, Cr)N coating films. The inner layer of the (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N) coating system is (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N) coating film, and the outer layer is (Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N) coating film. In order to identify an effective tool material for thread tapping of chromium-molybdenum steel, tool wear was experimentally investigated. The following results were obtained: (1) The critical scratch load measured value by a scratch tester for the (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N) coating film was over 130 N. (2) In thread tapping of chromium-molybdenum steel at a cutting speed of 1.00 m/s, the tool wear width of the (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N)-coated tool was smaller than that of the (Al, Cr)N-coated tool. (3) It was possible for the (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N)-coated thread milling cutter to perform stable tapping for a long period. Therefore, the new (Al60, Cr25, W15)(C, N)/(Al53, Cr23, W14, Si10)(C, N) coating film can be used as a tool material in thread tapping of chromium-molybdenum steel.
Probabilistic Slope Design for Open Pit Mines

Probabilistic Slope Design for Open Pit Mines. Conventional methods of slope design do not allow the economic influence of pit layout to be included in mine planning. One reason is the implication — inherited from civil engineering — that instability of any kind must be avoided. It is not recognized that, in mining, instability will be economically advantageous if any cost incurred — including the cost of ensuring safe working conditions — is offset by the lower cost of waste removal resulting from steeper slopes.
Impact of MRI on changing management of the cervical spine in blunt trauma patients with a ‘negative’ CT scan

Background Owing to the potential risks associated with missed injury, many blunt trauma patients with suspected cervical spine injury undergo some form of imaging technique which has progressed from primarily using plain radiography to relying on CT. Recently, studies have shown that in certain situations, adding MRI may improve the diagnostic accuracy over solely relying on CT. Methods Retrospective study of 3468 adult blunt trauma patients at a level I trauma center of which 94 with an initial negative CT scan underwent subsequent MRI. These 94 patients were classified as reliable or unreliable for examination; coded as either having a positive or negative MRI result; and assessed for a change in management. Results Of the 94 patients in the study population, 69 (73.4%) were deemed reliable and 25 (26.6%) deemed unreliable for examination. Overall, 65 (69.1%) patients had a positive MRI result—49 (71.0%) reliable and 16 (64.0%) unreliable—with some patients testing positive for more than one finding. There was no significant difference in positive MRI rates between reliable and unreliable patients. None of the 29 patients who had negative MRI had a change in management, while 31 of the 65 (47.7%) patients with positive MRI did have a change in management of either continued cervical collar immobilization or neck surgery. Conclusions The use of CT scans should be continued as the primary imaging technique for patients with suspected cervical spine injuries. In cases where obtundation or clinical suspicion exists for a false-negative CT scan, MRI should be considered as a supplement and should not be rejected solely based on the negative result of the CT. Level of evidence Level IV.
Fertility at work: Children and women's labor market outcomes in urban Ghana

Abstract While it is commonly assumed that fertility decreases female labor supply, I show theoretically that fertility can increase female labor supply if returns to financial inputs in children are sufficiently high compared to returns to time investments. Using six rounds of a panel survey from urban Ghana, I find evidence of countervailing effects behind a net zero effect of young children on women's hours of work: labor supply on the extensive margin drops, but women who remain in the labor force increase their hours in response to a child. Women's labor supply particularly increases in response to a young child if there are older siblings or other adults in the household. By contrast, men's labor supply does not change in response to young children.
Trends in open and endoscopic carpal tunnel release utilization in the Medicare patient population

Abstract Background Surgical management of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is performed with an open or endoscopic approach. Current literature suggests that the endoscopic approach is associated with higher costs and a steeper learning curve. This study evaluated the billing and utilization trends of both approaches. Methods A retrospective review of a Medicare database within the PearlDiver Supercomputer (Warsaw, IN) was performed for patients undergoing open carpal tunnel release (OCTR) or endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) from 2005-2012. Annual utilization, charges, reimbursement, demographic data, and compound annual growth rate (CAGR) were evaluated. Results Our query returned 1,500,603 carpal tunnel syndrome patients, of which 507,924 (33.8%) and 68,768 (4.6%) were surgically managed with OCTR and ECTR respectively (remainder treated conservatively). Compound annual growth rate was significantly higher in ECTR (5%) than OCTR (0.9%; P Conclusions ECTR is growing faster than OCTR in the Medicare population. Contrary to previous literature, our study shows that ECTR had lower charges and reimbursed at a higher rate than OCTR.
Tobacco use among lymphoma survivors.

e20608 Background: There is a growing body of literature establishing the risks associated with tobacco use among cancer survivors and benefits from discontinuing this behavior. Smoking behavior am...
Pathogenicity of a human laminin β2 mutation revealed in models of alport syndrome

Pierson syndrome is a congenital nephrotic syndrome with eye and neurologic defects caused by mutations in laminin β2 (LAMB2), a major component of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). Pathogenic missense mutations in human LAMB2 cluster in or near the laminin amino-terminal (LN) domain, a domain required for extracellular polymerization of laminin trimers and basement membrane scaffolding. Here, we investigated an LN domain missense mutation, LAMB2-S80R, which was discovered in a patient with Pierson syndrome and unusually late onset of proteinuria. Biochemical data indicated that this mutation impairs laminin polymerization, which we hypothesized to be the cause of the patient's nephrotic syndrome. Testing this hypothesis in genetically altered mice showed that the corresponding amino acid change (LAMB2-S83R) alone is not pathogenic. However, expression of LAMB2-S83R significantly increased the rate of progression to kidney failure in a Col4a3-/- mouse model of autosomal recessive Alport syndrome and increased proteinuria in Col4a5+/- females that exhibit a mild form of X-linked Alport syndrome due to mosaic deposition of collagen α3α4α5(IV) in the GBM. Collectively, these data show the pathogenicity of LAMB2-S80R and provide the first evidence of genetic modification of Alport phenotypes by variation in another GBM component. This finding could help explain the wide range of Alport syndrome onset and severity observed in patients with Alport syndrome, even for family members who share the same COL4 mutation. Our results also show the complexities of using model organisms to investigate genetic variants suspected of being pathogenic in humans.
Patient and Facility Correlates of Racial Differences in Viral Control for Black and White Veterans with HIV Infection in the Veterans Administration.

Abstract Black persons with HIV are less likely than white persons to experience viral control even while in treatment. We sought to understand whether patient characteristics and site of care expl...
Evaluating a Museum-Based Professional Learning Community as a Model for Art Education Leadership Development

In alignment with the National Art Education Association’s (NAEA) 2015-2020 Strategic Vision, Enid Zimmerman conducted an evaluation of Summer Vision DC (SVDC), an NAEA-sponsored, museum-based art ...
Spacecraft Power System Considerations for the Far Reaches of the Solar System

Reliable and ready power is vital to any spacecraft. Currently, two practical options exist for providing that power, harvesting energy from the Sun or heat generated from a nuclear source. Solar photovoltaics is an excellent way to convert the Sun’s energy to electricity within the inner solar system, Mars and perhaps Jupiter if the mission is designed accordingly. However, long term science investigations to the outer planets, which pose a harsh, dark and cold environment, are well served by nuclear based technology such as a radioisotope power system that would provide not only constant Sun-independent power, but also as important, heat generated by the long-term natural radioactive decay process of plutonium-238. This technology can truly enable missions to the outer solar system and beyond otherwise not achievable.