cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Methods for d-/q-axis saturation stator-to-rotor mutual inductance of salient-pole synchronous machine

To calculate the d-/q-axis stator-to-rotor mutual inductances considering the saturation and magnetic field distribution, two improved methods are developed, one using the product of the per-pole fundamental flux times the effective turns to get the mutual flux linkage; the other obtaining the mutual flux linkage from integral of the element magnetic potential in the range of corresponding winding. Then the mutual inductance will be obtained by the mutual flux linkage over the corresponding current in every step of time-stepping finite-element method (TSFEM). Both the methods are implemented in a 10 KW experimental salient-pole synchronous machine. The calculation results of two methods are close to each other by comparing in aspect of the harmonic-components of flux density and mutual flux linkage. The magnetizing inductances of the machine calculated by one of the methods are closer to the experimental data than the design values in unsaturation and saturation, to prove the methods.
Value-Based Payment Models

The concept of value-based purchasing (VBP) refers to performance-based payment strategies that link financial incentives to health-care provider performance, within a set of defined measures, in order achieve better value by driving improvements in quality and by slowing the growth in health-care spending. These types of models include Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), hospital value-based purchasing (VBP) programs, bundled payments, and clinically integrated networks (CINs). Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are groups of physicians, hospitals, and other health-care service providers who are aligned with a purpose to integrate care and promote accountability for a defined patient population. A clinically integrated network (CIN) is a network of providers who continuously evaluate and modify their clinical practices in accordance with agreed-upon protocols to control costs and improve quality. Value-based purchasing (VBP) is a health-care reimbursement mechanism that is based on hospital performance and improvement in three areas: quality of care, adherence to best clinical practices, and patient experience. To stabilize rising costs while improving population health, a concerted effort to reduce the duplication of services and assist patients in navigating the care system is needed, and value-based purchasing models seek to incent and reward this approach.
Structural Characterization of Pristine and Defective [Zr12(μ3-O)8(μ3-OH)8(μ2-OH)6]18+ Double-Node Metal–Organic Framework and Predicted Applications for Single-Site Catalytic Hydrolysis of Sarin

Periodic PBE-D3 and M06-L calculations predict the lowest-energy proton topology of a [Zr6(μ3-O)4(μ3-OH)4(μ2-OH)3]2 ZrIV–MOF (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 7004–7011), which has a unique double-node structure, to be 73.4 and 64.2 kcal/mol more stable than that originally proposed. Mono- and bidefective Zr12 secondary building units derived from this topology and built by removing one and two bridging terphenyldicarboxylate linkers and saturating the remaining open ZrIV metal sites with hydroxyl and aqua groups, are predicted to exhibit higher reactivity for the hydrolysis of sarin nerve agent than other coordinatively unsaturated Zr6-based MOFs reported to date.
Validated Approaches for Quantification of Bone Mineral Crystallinity Using Transmission Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) FT-IR, and Raman Spectroscopy.

Bone mineral crystallinity is an important factor determining bone quality and strength. The gold standard method to quantify crystallinity is X-ray diffraction (XRD), but vibrational spectroscopic...
Redefining Racism: A Deviance/Responsibility Intervention Model

This paper considers a unique and direct approach to combating racism. The objective is to make racism deviant behavior. The authors believe that racism needs to be made as unnacceptable as drinking and driving or cigarette smoking. An intervention that considers the macro, meso, and micro level is discussed.
Teaching and Learning in a Social Software Development Tool

The best practices in the education of software developers require substantial interactions between educator and student, and between students in team projects. Because many students are remote, and colocated students often have different work schedules, their educational needs mirror the needs of distributed software developers. These needs include collaboration tools that replicate the benefits of face-to-face meetings, support real-time tasks such as pair programming, and facilitate asynchronous project-focused communication among team members. Software researchers have invented various development tools that integrate collaborative features. Unfortunately, most of the available collaborative tools have specialized capabilities, such as source-code editing, and developers face numerous collaboration and communication challenges in working with each other.
A SYNTAX-DIRECTED GRAPHICS EDITOR

When editing information in graphics form, where the graphics are governed by a graphics syntax, the user should not be required to draw the graphics representation, but only to specify the information that is to be represented. The editor should then use the syntax rules to convert that information to its graphics form automatically. This not only ensures that syntactically correct graphics are produced, but also frees the user from the time-consuming task of drawing. To put it another way, a graphics editor which incorporates a knowledge of the syntax of the graphs to be drawn should provide many of the advantages that syntax-directed structure editors provide to software developers. These considerations guided the design of CGEDIT, a syntax-directed editor for composition graphs.
Compressive response of hybrid 3D woven textile composites (H3DWTCs): An experimentally validated computational model

Abstract The compressive response of hybrid 3D woven textile composites (H3DWTCs) is studied experimentally and the results obtained are used to motivate the development of a mechanics model, implemented computationally. The H3DWTCs considered consist of carbon, glass and kevlar fiber tows and a polymer matrix material. The novelty of the modeling approach is to include the in-situ geometric imperfections of the microstructural level composite architecture, measured using high resolution Micro-CT methods, in the micromechanics model and to carefully relate the details of the macroscopic response to the microstructure. A detailed Micro-CT study of the failed specimens reveals details of the dominant failure mechanisms which include multiple and progressive kink banding and matrix damage, responsible for limiting compressive strength. In the numerical predictive model development, the Mohr–Coulomb (MC) criterion is used to model matrix compressive failure in combination with the smeared crack approach (SCA) in the surrounding matrix outside of fiber tows. The fiber tow is modeled as macroscopically homogeneous, but a two-scale method is developed that uses an analytical closed-form micromechanics model at each integration point of the homogenized fiber tow which allows to calculate the fiber and matrix stress states within a tow. The experimental results suggest that carbon fiber compressive strength dictates the initiation of kink banding failure in carbon tows, while glass fiber tow compressive strength dictates the maximum load attainable. This suggests that different aspects of the compressive response are related to constituent structural properties. The experimental results and observations are predicted by the computational model which is useful for structural applications where damage tolerance and strength allowables dictate the boundaries of the design envelope.
Wide Resection and Iliac Crest Arthrodesis for Multiply Recurrent Giant Cell Tumor of First Metatarsal.

Case. Giant cell tumor of bone is a benign, aggressive neoplasm commonly arising in the femur, tibia, and distal radius and less commonly in the hands and feet. We describe a 22-year-old woman who underwent wide resection of multiply recurrent first metatarsal giant cell tumor and reconstruction with iliac crest arthrodesis. Conclusion. To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of managing multiply recurrent giant cell tumor of the first metatarsal. The patient was without pain and exercising without difficulty 18 months following surgery. This method appears useful for reconstructing the foot following multiply recurrent giant cell tumor of the metatarsal.
Automated detection of erythema migrans and other confounding skin lesions via deep learning.

Abstract Lyme disease can lead to neurological, cardiac, and rheumatologic complications when untreated. Timely recognition of the erythema migrans rash of acute Lyme disease by patients and clinicians is crucial to early diagnosis and treatment. Our objective in this study was to develop deep learning approaches using deep convolutional neural networks for detecting acute Lyme disease from erythema migrans images of varying quality and acquisition conditions. This study used a cross-sectional dataset of images to train a model employing a deep convolutional neural network to perform classification of erythema migrans versus other skin conditions including tinea corporis and herpes zoster, and normal, non-pathogenic skin. Evaluation of the machine's ability to classify skin types was also performed on a validation set of images. Machine performance for detecting erythema migrans was further tested against a panel of non-medical humans. Online, publicly available images of both erythema migrans and non-Lyme confounding skin lesions were mined, and combined with erythema migrans images from an ongoing, longitudinal study of participants with acute Lyme disease enrolled in 2016 and 2017 who were recruited from primary and urgent care centers. The final dataset had 1834 images, including 1718 expert clinician-curated online images from unknown individuals with erythema migrans, tinea corporis, herpes zoster, and normal skin. It also included 116 images taken of 63 research participants from the Mid-Atlantic region. Two clinicians carefully annotated all lesion images. A convenience sample of 7 non-medically-trained humans were used as a panel to compare against machine performance. We calculated several performance metrics, including accuracy and Kappa (characterizing agreement with gold standard), as well as a receiver operating characteristic curve and associated area under the curve. For detecting erythema migrans, the machine had an accuracy (95% confidence interval error margin) of 86.53% (2.70), ROCAUC of 0.9510 (0.0171) and Kappa of 0.7143. Our results suggested substantial agreement between machine and clinician criterion standard. Comparison of machine with non-medical expert human performance indicated that the machine almost always exceeded acceptable specificity, and could operate with higher sensitivity. This could have benefits for prescreening prior to physician referral, earlier treatment, and reductions in morbidity.
Opening the Door for More: Assessing the Impact of Sentencing Reforms on Commitments to Prison Over Time

Since the early 1970s, U.S. states have adopted a series of sentencing reforms that have substantially altered sentencing and release policies by limiting discretion of judges, parole boards, and/or prison administrators. The current study assesses shifts in year-to-year changes in new commitments and parolees returned to prison within all 50 states from the years 1972 to 2008. The study tests the theory that sentencing reforms resulted in increased commitments to prison due to changes in the structures of sentencing and not due to increased crime. Data was analyzed using panel regression with robust standard errors, fixed effects, and conditional change scores. By treating six main sentencing reforms as dynamically interacting, the results suggest that certain combinations of sentencing reforms significantly increase new commitments while the number of parolees returned to prison was not meaningfully affected. The analysis further indicates that the combinations that the reforms appear in at the state-level influence the magnitude of the impacts of reforms.
Calmodulin-Sensitive Adenylate Cyclase Activity

Adenylate cyclase activity in mammalian brain differs from that in many peripheral tissues in that it can be stimulated by Ca2+. The stimulation by Ca2+ is mediated by the endogenous Ca2+ -binding protein, calmodulin (CaM) [3,6]. In the striatum, several studies suggest a relationship between dopaminergic activity and the content and activity of CaM [7–9,12,15]. Rats treated chronically with antipsychotic drugs developed supersensitivity of dopamine (DA)-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity as well as increased CaM content in striatal membranes [20]. Similarly, Hanbauer et al [11] found that striatal slices treated with amphetamine exhibited a decrease in both sensitivity of adenylate cyclase to DA and membrane content of CaM. We found that CaM increased adenylate cyclase sensitivity to DA in striatal membranes [10]. Thus, both in vivo and in vitro evidence suggests that CaM affects DA-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in rat striatum.
Identifying Learning Trajectories in Self-Directed Programming

Many children begin to learn to code in a self-directed context, such as by creating an animation, game or phone app. Recent research has begun to investigate and evaluate the results of this process: children's projects. However, little is known about the different trajectories novices have during the long-term process of self-directed programming learning. Our aim is to identify the existing types of trajectories and be able to determine a specific child's trajectory. If that trajectory does not lead to significant progress or continued motivation, we might be able to nudge them toward a different trajectory.We hypothesized that there may be several main types of trajectories. To explore this, we clustered children's programming progression in order to identify trends. We used a data set of Scratch programs for its large sample size and diverse population [1,3]. We used Dr. Scratch's scoring of computational thinking skills as our initial feature set [2]. Our clustering analysis identified two main groups of users. The first group, 55.8% of users, generally progressed upward over time in their computational thinking skill score. The second group, 44.2% of users, showed little to no improvement over time.These preliminary results raise many questions about these two high-level groupings of trajectories of computational thinking skill demonstration in Scratch projects. In the future we want to further explore the trajectory clusters and what they could mean for supporting self-directed learning of programming.
Faith Community Nursing: A Professional Specialty Nursing Practice

Faith Community Nursing as a specialty within the profession of nursing has a history of making a difference in the lives of people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This difference impacts the way in which individuals understand health. This chapter will provide an overview of the characteristics of a profession and specialization of faith community nursing. Early research and identification of nursing interventions essential to the practice will be presented. The chapter will ground the reader in the basic understanding of the professional dimensions of faith community nursing today and more deeply, the contribution to changing the understanding of health.
Accessibility Evaluation of Automated Vending Machines

Electronic vending machines are a wide-spread system for delivering and accessing goods: the possibility of operating in a completely automated fashion and independently from business hours makes them extremely convenient for serving public and private locations. However, they fail their purpose in serving individuals with special needs: their lack of accessibility prevents users who are blind or have severe visual impairments from autonomously purchasing products. In this paper, we focus on the ergonomics of electronic vending machines and their automatic payment systems: we discuss their human factors and, specifically, usability to individuals who have severe low vision. Furthermore, we present a user experience analysis of their components and we detail the results of a study that evaluated the performance of different common types of commercially-available vending machines in the three steps of a purchase, that is, product selection, payment, and collection. Our results demonstrate that poor design, lack of tactile information, and absence of non-visual feedback have a significant impact on accessibility and prevent most customers who are blind from being able to independently select, pay, and collect a product.
Integrating Institutional and Culturo-Behavioral Analyses in the Management of Common Pool Resources: Application to an Inland Lake in Michigan

The “tragedy of the commons” describes the depletion of resources when appropriated by a group of people acting individually. Since the phenomenon was described by Hardin (1968, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Science, 162, 1243–1248), scholars have agreed that the only ways to avoid depletion of resources are private ownership and external governmental control. Elinor Ostrom (2005, Understanding Institutional Diversity, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press) identified a 3rd solution to the tragedy of the commons. She analyzed multiple small communities lasting hundreds and even thousands of years in which the appropriators themselves managed their common pool resources without external governmental control or privatization. Later, Ostrom developed additional principles to analyze more complex social systems. We integrate behavioral and cultural selection perspectives with her work. We analyze appropriators’ management of common pool resources in terms of metacontingencies and macrocontingencies operating within larger systems. As an illustration, we applied the integration of Ostrom’s institutional framework and culturo-behavioral selection perspectives to appropriators’ management of invasive species in an inland lake in Michigan. The appropriators were residents who formed part of a nonprofit association dedicated to sustaining the welfare of their lake. We concluded that the 2 perspectives are complementary and helpful in the management of common pool resources.
The effects of neurectomy and hibernation on bone properties and the endocannabinoid system in marmots (Marmota flaviventris).

Abstract Hibernators have adapted a physiological mechanism allowing them to undergo long periods of inactivity without experiencing bone loss. However, the biological mechanisms that prevent bone loss are unknown. Previous studies found meaningful changes, between active and hibernating marmots, in the endocannabinoid system of many tissues, including bone. Cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) have divergent localization in bone. CB1 is predominately found on sympathetic nerve terminals, while CB2 is more abundant on bone cells and their progenitors. This study aimed to determine the contribution of innervation on endocannabinoid regulation of bone properties in hibernating (during torpor) and non-hibernating yellow-bellied marmots. Neurectomy, a model for disuse osteoporosis, was performed unilaterally in both hibernating and active marmots. Endocannabinoid concentrations were measured in bone marrow, cortical, and trabecular regions from fourth metatarsals of both hindlimbs using microflow chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry. Trabecular bone architectural properties of fifth metatarsals were evaluated using micro-computed tomography. There were ligand-specific increases with neurectomy in active, but not hibernating, marmots. Trabecular bone architectural properties were not affected by neurectomy during hibernation, but did show some minor negative changes in active marmots. These findings suggest protection from bone loss in hibernating rodents is peripherally rather than centrally regulated. Furthermore, findings suggest even active marmots with normal metabolism are partially protected from disuse induced bone loss compared to laboratory rodents. Understanding the mechanism hibernators use to maintain bone density may guide development for novel bone loss prevention therapies.
No evidence of attentional bias to food words among non-clinical female restrained eaters

Past research has demonstrated mixed findings on attentional biases toward food and body words among non-clinical restrained eaters (Brooks, S., Prince, A., Stahl, D., Campbell, I. C., & Treasure, J. (2011). A systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive bias to food stimuli in people with disordered eating behavior. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(1), 37–151. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.09.006 ; Dobson, K. S., & Dozois, D. J. (2004). Attentional biases in eating disorders: A meta-analytic review of Stroop performance. Clinical Psychology Review, 23(8), 1001−1022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2003.09.004 ; Francis, J. A., Stewart, S. H., & Hounsell, S. (1997). Dietary restraint and the selective processing of forbidden and nonforbidden food words. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21(6), 633–646. doi:10.1023/A:1021804207132). Addressing previous methodological issues, this study examined college female restrained eaters’ attentional bias to food words. We used 120 college females – 20 were classified as restrained eaters by the Restrained Eating subscale of Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (Van Strien, T., Frijters, J. E., Bergers, G. P., & Defares, P. B. (1986). The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional, and external eating behavior. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5(2), 295–315. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-108X(198602)5:2 3.0.CO;2-T ). Using a computer-based program called MouseTracker for a Stroop test (Freeman, J. B., & Ambady, N. (2010). MouseTracker: Software for studying real-time mental processing using a computer mouse-tracking method . Behavior Research Methods, 42(1), 226–241. doi:10.3758/BRM.42.1.226), attentional bias indicators of both process (i.e., what happens while attention is captured and directed; Area under the Curve and Maximum Deviation) and outcome (i.e., the end results of attention captured by certain stimuli; Reaction Time and Percentage of Errors) were measured to forbidden (i.e., unhealthy) and unforbidden (i.e., healthy) food words over animal words (i.e., used as control condition). Word stimuli were matched on frequency and syllables between conditions (Francis, J. A., Stewart, S. H., & Hounsell, S. (1997). Dietary restraint and the selective processing of forbidden and nonforbidden food words. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21(6), 633–646. doi:10.1023/A:1021804207132). No evidence of attentional bias to food words was found among non-clinical restrained eaters. Based on the results in the current study, non-clinical restrained eaters with no accompanying overeating may not show attentional bias to food words. Future studies could compare clinical and non-clinical restrained eaters with and without overeating symptoms on attentional bias to food versus body stimuli.
Critical Race Media Literacy for These Urgent Times

Tara J. Yosso reflects on the genealogies of her research on visual microaggressions and the future directions for critical race media literacy scholarship. She identifies a need for sustained attention in three areas: (1) intentionality of racial imagery, and recognition of media as pedagogy; (2) the role of history and the continuities of racial scripts applied against different groups; and (3) contestations of the White supremacist project across generations.
Using Auto-Segmentation to Reduce Contouring and Dose Inconsistency in Clinical Trials: The Simulated Impact on RTOG 0617

Purpose Contouring inconsistencies are known but understudied in clinical radiation therapy trials. We applied auto-contouring to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0617 dose escalation trial data. We hypothesized that the trial heart doses were higher than reported due to inconsistent and insufficient heart segmentation. We tested our hypothesis by comparing doses between deep-learning (DL) segmented hearts and trial hearts. Methods and Materials The RTOG 0617 data were downloaded from The Cancer Imaging Archive; the 442 patients with trial hearts and dose distributions were included. All hearts were resegmented using our DL pipeline and quality assured to meet the requirements for clinical implementation. Dose (V5%, V30%, and mean heart dose) was compared between the 2 sets of hearts (Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Each dose metric was associated with overall survival (Cox proportional hazards). Lastly, 18 volume similarity metrics were assessed for the hearts and correlated with |DoseDL – DoseRTOG0617| (linear regression; significance: P ≤ .0028; corrected for 18 tests). Results Dose metrics were significantly higher for DL hearts compared with trial hearts (eg, mean heart dose: 15 Gy vs 12 Gy; P = 5.8E-16). All 3 DL heart dose metrics were stronger overall survival predictors than those of the trial hearts (median, P = 2.8E-5 vs 2.0E-4). Thirteen similarity metrics explained |DoseDL – DoseRTOG0617|; the axial distance between the 2 centers of mass was the strongest predictor (CENTAxial; median, R2 = 0.47; P = 6.1E-62). CENTAxial agreed with the qualitatively identified inconsistencies in the superior direction. The trial’s qualitative heart contouring score was not correlated with |DoseDL – DoseRTOG0617| (median, R2 = 0.01; P = .02) or with any of the similarity metrics (median, Rs = 0.13 [range, –0.22 to 0.31]). Conclusions Using a coherent heart definition, as enabled through our open-source DL algorithm, the trial heart doses in RTOG 0617 were found to be significantly higher than previously reported, which may have led to an even more rapid mortality accumulation. Auto-segmentation is likely to reduce contouring and dose inconsistencies and increase the quality of clinical RT trials.
Voltammetry measurements in lithium chloride-lithium oxide (LiCl–Li2O) salt: An evaluation of working electrode materials

Abstract Instrumentation to provide process monitoring (PM) and safeguards for the oxide reduction (OR) step in the electrochemical processing of used oxide nuclear fuel is necessary to ensure equipment is operated as declared. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) has been proposed for real-time monitoring of the operation of an OR process for safeguards purposes. In this study, 316L stainless steel (SS), tantalum (Ta), molybdenum (Mo), tungsten (W), platinum (Pt), and iridium (Ir) were evaluated as potential working electrode (WE) materials based on their chemical inertness, corrosion resistance, and sensitivity in detecting lithium oxide (Li2O) and other chloride salts in the OR electrolyte. Of the electrodes evaluated, 316L SS, Ir, and Pt all performed reasonably well in the lithium chloride-lithium oxide (LiCl-Li2O) electrolyte. SS was operated in the cathodic potential, had reasonable corrosion resistance, and is relatively inexpensive. Ir could be operated in both the cathodic and anodic potentials and was the most corrosion-resistant of the materials evaluated. Pt is limited to the anodic potential range, had reasonable corrosion resistance, and was the most sensitive to Li2O concentrations in the salt. In the development of a stand-alone safeguards instrumentation, our recommendation is a CV probe fitted with both Ir and Pt WEs. The results of this study may also be helpful for anode material selection in other electrometallurgy industries, such as molten salt electrolysis.
A survey of fault detection and identification methods for Photovoltaic systems based on I-V curves

Photovoltaic systems (PVS), like all energy production systems, must be monitored in order to be able to detect failures in near real-time so that they will maintain their performance to an optimum level, thus achieving the greatest possible reliability. There are several algorithms for identifying faults during the operation of a PVS based on I-V curves. These algorithms can be applied to PVS telemetry data either locally or remotely. Implementations can be simple like the recording and comparing measurements, but they can also be more advanced like the use of neural networks to detect PV faults. In the present paper, fault detection and identification methods based on I-V curves are presented. The discussed methods are selected according to the recent literature, are presented and analyzed so that their differences, advantages, and limits are pointed out.
When Silence Said Everything: Reconceptualizing Trauma through Critical Disability Studies

Reading X Gonzalez’s, March 24, 2018, “March For Our Lives” speech—their words and silences—as an entry point into what I term a crip theory of trauma, this essay argues that the dominant narratives about and around Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) say more about the compulsivity of the “proper” citizen subject than they do the actual embodied experience and debilitation of trauma itself. The text reconceptualizes trauma narratives, like Gonzalez’s, through critical disability studies to argue that certain cripistemologies—or crip ways of knowing—trauma arise that are not otherwise available or readily accessible. Most notably, by rejecting dominant pathologizing forces and embracing crip ways of knowing, this analysis brings forth a new working definition of trauma, as an embodied, affective structure. These ways of knowing offer crucial insights for efforts to grapple with the ongoing forms of trauma enacted and perpetuated across the globe, and are particularly urgent against a political and cultural landscape that, as my reading of Gonzalez’s speech makes clear, in many ways refuses to hear, see, and learn from the knowledge that trauma produces.
Utah prairie dog population dynamics on the Awapa Plateau: precipitation, elevation, and plague

Utah prairie dogs (UPDs, Cynomys parvidens) are colonial, herbivorous rodents listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened. Little is known about UPD population dynamics at higher elevations in the species' range. From 2013 through 2016, we studied UPDs on five colonies at 2,645 to 2,873 m elevation on the Awapa Plateau, Utah, USA. Primary production increases with precipitation and precipitation increases with elevation on the plateau. We hypothesized that UPD body condition, reproduction, survival, and population growth all would vary directly with precipitation and elevation. Each year, we live-trapped UPDs from late-Jun through Aug, weighing each UPD, aging it as adult or pup, measuring its right hind foot, marking it for unique identification, and releasing it at point of capture. Fleas from live-trapped UPDs and opportunistically collected rodent carcasses, and rodent carcasses themselves, were tested for the agent of sylvatic plague (Yersinia pestis), a lethal invasive pathogen. Adult UPD body condition (mass:foot) increased with elevation. In addition, UPD reproduction (pups:adults) and population growth (λ) increased with precipitation. Annual survival declined from 0.49 in 2013–2014 to 0.24 in 2015–2016. We captured 421 UPDs in 2013 but only 149 in 2016. Sylvatic plague may have contributed to population declines. Notwithstanding, plague detection (yes/no by colony and year) had no statistical effect on population growth or annual survival, raising suspicion about the predictive value of binary plague detection variables. Generally speaking, efforts to conserve UPDs may benefit from the restoration and preservation of large colonies at mesic sites.
Guided Ion Beam Studies of the Energetics of Organometallic Species

Dissociation energies for a variety of bonds between transition metals and simple ligands comprised of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen have been measured by using the technique of guided ion beam mass spectrometry. For species that form covalent bonds with the metals, the bond energies are found to correlate with the energy necessary to promote the bare metal atom or ion into an electron configuration suitable for bonding. The trends in the bond energies of M+ to isoelectronic series of ligands, CH3, NH2 and OH or CH2, NH and 0, are used to quantify the contributions of covalent and dative bonding for these ligands. The strength of the dative interactions is found to depend on the number of electron lone-pairs on the ligands and the number of empty or half-filled d orbitals on the metal. The concept of an intrinsic metal-ligand bond energy is defined and used to consider the strengths of bonds in coordinatively saturated metal-ligand compounds. Initial studies that address the metal-ligand bond energies in such species more directly include measurements of the sequential bond energies of M(CO)X + (x = 1–6), M(H20)x + (x = 1–4) and M(CH4)X + (x = 1–4). Variations in these bond energies as the number of ligands increases are interpreted by considering how the valence electrons on the metal reorganize to accommodate the ligand shell. Finally, studies of the thermochemistry of proposed reactive intermediates for the reactions of Fe+ and Co+ with small alkanes are discussed with an emphasis on understanding the potential energy surfaces for C-H and C-C bond activation processes.
Abstract IA15: Circulating tumor DNA

The development of noninvasive methods to detect and monitor tumors continues to be a major challenge in oncology. We used digital polymerase chain reaction–based technologies to evaluate the ability of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect tumors in 640 patients with various cancer types. We found that ctDNA was detectable in >75% of patients with advanced pancreatic, ovarian, colorectal, bladder, gastroesophageal, breast, melanoma, hepatocellular, and head and neck cancers, but in less than 50% of primary brain, renal, prostate, or thyroid cancers. In patients with localized tumors, ctDNA was detected in 73, 57, 48, and 50% of patients with colorectal cancer, gastroesophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and breast adenocarcinoma, respectively. ctDNA was often present in patients without detectable circulating tumor cells, suggesting that these two biomarkers are distinct entities. In a separate panel of 206 patients with metastatic colorectal cancers, we showed that the sensitivity of ctDNA for detection of clinically relevant KRAS gene mutations was 87.2% and its specificity was 99.2%. Finally, we assessed whether ctDNA could provide clues into the mechanisms underlying resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor blockade in 24 patients who objectively responded to therapy but subsequently relapsed. Twenty-three (96%) of these patients developed one or more mutations in genes involved in the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Together, these data suggest that ctDNA is a broadly applicable, sensitive, and specific biomarker that can be used for a variety of clinical and research purposes in patients with multiple different types of cancer. Citation Format: Luis A. Diaz. Circulating tumor DNA. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment; May 18-21, 2014; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(13 Suppl):Abstract nr IA15.
Novel chromatographic separation and carbon solid-phase extraction of acetanilide herbicide degradation products.

One acetamide and 5 acetanilide herbicides are currently registered for use in the United States. Over the past several years, ethanesulfonic acid (ESA) and oxanilic acid (OA) degradation products of these acetanilide/acetamide herbicides have been found in U.S. ground waters and surface waters. Alachlor ESA and other acetanilide degradation products are listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 1998 Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List. Consequently, EPA is interested in obtaining national occurrence data for these contaminants in drinking water. EPA currently does not have a method for determining these acetanilide degradation products in drinking water; therefore, a research method is being developed using liquid chromatography/negative ion electrospray/mass spectrometry with solid-phase extraction (SPE). A novel chromatographic separation of the acetochlor/alachlor ESA and OA structural isomers was developed which uses an ammonium acetate-methanol gradient combined with heating the analytical column to 70 degrees C. Twelve acetanilide degradates were extracted by SPE from 100 mL water samples using carbon cartridges with mean recoveries >90% and relative standard deviations < or =16%.
The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor mediates the induction of CYP4A6, a cytochrome P450 fatty acid omega-hydroxylase, by clofibric acid.

Abstract Gene transfer experiments indicate that induction by the peroxisome proliferators, clofibric acid and WY-14,643, of luciferase expression driven by the promoter and 5'-flanking sequences of the rabbit cytochrome P450 4A6 gene (CYP4A6) is dependent on cotransfection of expression plasmids for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, PPAR. Activation by PPAR is observed in the absence of the inducers. However, a mutant, PPAR-G (Glu282----Gly) activated luciferase expression only in the presence of peroxisome proliferators. Deletion analysis has localized a response element to a 34-base pair segment located 677 base pairs upstream of the CYP4A6 transcription start site that is similar to an element that regulates the response of the rat fatty acyl-CoA oxidase gene to peroxisome proliferators and that binds PPAR.
A psychosomatic study of eight children with Sydenham's chorea.

A psychosomatic study was made of eight children with Sydenham9s chorea. The children ranged in age from 7 to 16 years. Three patients had a history of rheumatic fever and three had no evidence of rheumatic disease; in two patients the evidence for rheumatic fever was equivocal, one probably having had it and the other probably not. The eight children were found to be emotionally quite disturbed. Their personality structure was characterized by a triad of (a) marked passivity, (b) schizoid withdrawal from people, with two of the children being frankly schizophrenic, and (c) much underlying anxiety. Obsessive, phobic and depressive features were separately present in some of the children. In five cases the onset of Sydenham9s chorea closely followed an episode of marked emotional stress, and in two others the correlation of chorea with emotional stress was equivocal. The literature was reviewed, and it was pointed out that in over half of all reported cases of Sydenham9s chorea evidence of rheumatic fever could not be found. It is felt that Sydenham9s chorea can be understood only as a psychosomatic illness potentially caused by a number of agents acting individually or jointly, and varying in their respective importance from case to case. Severe personality disorder and rheumatic fever are two such etiologic agents which may be operative in Sydenham9s chorea. The importance of further psychosomatic study and experimental psychotherapy in the comprehensive medical study and management of children with this disorder is emphasized.
Developing knowledge structures: a comparison of a qualitative-response model and two machine-learning algorithms

Abstract Many unstructured decision-making problems are too complex to be solved by existing analytical methods. Organizations commonly rely on human expertise to solve such problems. Human expertise is presumed to utilize specialized knowledge structures, and recent research in artificial intelligence has sought to devise machine-learning procedures that can derive knowledge structures from sets of data that represent problem-domain exemplars. Concurrently, research in statistical methods has resulted in the development of qualitative-response models that can be applied to some of the same kinds of problems addressed by machine-learning models-especially those that involve a classification decision. Using a difficult audit decision problem requiring expertise, this paper reports on a study comparing performance of two machine-learning algorithms and logistic regression, a widely-used qualitative-response method for classification analysis. A recently-developed machine-learning algorithm, NEWQ, is found to yield the best performance characteristics.
IS THERE A FUTURE FOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS? AND SHOULD THERE BE? A POLEMICAL ESSAY

Of the holy trinity—collecting, preserving, and making accessible precious books, manuscripts, and other special materials—preservation takes precedence. 1 Following are three brief prefatory notes that will be helpful in understanding this essay. First, readers should note that the word polemical appears in the essay’s title. I ask the reader’s indulgence in understanding that I mean this word literally. The essay is a polemic. Intended to be serious, it is not therefore also intended to be “balanced” or “fair.” In addition, it is an essay, not a paper; and its informality of style is intended to reflect a difference between these two . . .
The Project Method in Historical Context

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been a long tradition in America’s public schools, extending back to the 19th century to the work of Francis W. Parker and John Dewey. As a method for general education, the idea of project-based classroom instruction was co-opted from agriculture and the industrial arts and, after first being applied in the elementary schools, was extended to all grade levels. Initially focused on “real-world” problems with tangible, measurable outcomes, the project method was quickly adopted and applied to any activity of interest to students, however transient and/or insignificant. The lack of a succinct definition for the project method has prevented the assessment of its success, regardless, the “method” became the “current” model of instruction in all subjects for all students, often failing to meet the needs of children, teachers, or society. The project method, as a descriptive term for school practice, was replaced with child-centeredness and the activity curriculum. After a period of near obscurity, PBL has been reclaimed by educators to educate 21stcentury students.
Combined Josephson and Charging Behavior of the Supercurrent in the Superconducting Single-Electron Transistor

Measurements of two ultrasmall Josephson junctions connected in series show a supercurrent with magnitude much greater than previously reported for similar devices. The dependence of the supercurrent on gate charge shows agreement with predictions made by Averin and Likharev that are based on a conjugate relationship between the junction phase and charge variables. The transport of Cooper pairs through the two junctions makes the devices behave effectively as a single junction whose critical current is modulated by the gate charge.
Reflexive Subalgebras of AF Algebras

Abstract A subalgebra T of a von Neumann algebra is reflexive if T = Alg Lat T . This notion of reflexivity is in general not well-suited for subalgebras of C *-algebras, since a C *-algebra may not contain enough projections. For subalgebras of simple AF algebras, we consider another natural notion of reflexivity which does not rely on projections. In this setting Ref T , the reflexive algebra generated by T , is contained in Alg Lat T , and usually the containment is proper. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for these algebras to coincide. In particular, if Lat T is a maximal nest then Ref T = Alg Lat T . We show that analytic subalgebras must be either reflexive or transitive and that reflexive analytic algebras are trivially analytic. In addition, a strongly maximal algebra is semisimple if and only if it is transitive.
Temporally-Specific Modification of Myelinated Axon Excitability In Vitro Following a Single Ultrasound Pulse

Single, short-duration, low-energy pulses of ultrasound were found to elicit distinct modifications of the electrical excitability of myelinated frog sciatic nerve in vitro in a window extending 40–50 ms after pulse termination. These modifications include both enhancement and suppression of relative excitability, the sequence of which generally follows one of two distinct temporal response patterns. The ultrasound pulses were focused, 2–7 MHz, of 500-μs duration, and of peak intensities of 100–800 W/cm2. Total absorbed pulse energies were generally less than 100 mJ/g, corresponding to local temperature rises of the nerve trunk of no more than 0.025°C per pulse, thereby precluding bulk heating as a basis of this effect. The observed effects cannot be elicited using either a subthreshold square wave or RF electrical prestimulus, suggesting a unique form of receptivity of the nerve trunk to mechanical perturbation. We present evidence that the low-frequency radiation pressure transient accompanying the envelope of the acoustic pulse is the active parameter in this phenomenon, and postulate that it may act by the gating of stretch-sensitive channels, which have been recently reported in a variety of cell membranes. These results may demonstrate that stretch-sensitive channels in neural membrane can serve to functionally modulate neuro-electric signals normally mediated by voltage-dependent channels, a finding which could suggest new clinical applications of high peak-power, low-total-energy pulsed ultrasound.
Advanced Wavefront Sensing and Control Testbed (AWCT)

The Advanced Wavefront Sensing and Control Testbed (AWCT) is built as a versatile facility for developing and demonstrating, in hardware, the future technologies of wavefront sensing and control algorithms for active optical systems. The testbed includes a source projector for a broadband point-source and a suite of extended scene targets, a dispersed fringe sensor, a Shack-Hartmann camera, and an imaging camera capable of phase retrieval wavefront sensing. The testbed also provides two easily accessible conjugated pupil planes which can accommodate active optical devices such as fast steering mirror, deformable mirror, and segmented mirrors. In this paper, we describe the testbed optical design, testbed configurations and capabilities, as well as the initial results from the testbed hardware integrations and tests.
Nitric oxide and superoxide transport in a cross section of the rat outer medulla. II. Reciprocal interactions and tubulovascular cross talk.

In a companion study (Edwards A and Layton AT. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00680.2009), we developed a mathematical model of nitric oxide (NO), superoxide (O2−), and total pero...