cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A review of Reitumetse Mabokela & Zine Magubane, Hear Our Voices: Race, Gender and the Status of Black South African Women in the Academy

Reitumetse Mabokela and Zine Magubane (2004) Hear Our Voices: Race, Gender and the Status of Black South African Women in the Academy, University of South Africa Press, Pretoria. ISBN 1579220959. 1...
Crisis planning systems: tools for intelligent action

The characteristics of intelligent organizations are discussed. Organizational crises are defined, and their effects are discussed. A framework for crisis management is presented, and the crisis planning systems are described; these are based on a group decision-support environment and a set of crisis planning tools. The use of the tools is illustrated by means of a crisis planning case. >
Evidence for a conducting strand in Early Silurian (Llandoverian) plants; implications for the evolution of the land plants

Macerations of fragmented plant compressions of Silurian (Llandoverian) age yield sheets of organic material bearing ridges and depressions (interpreted as corresponding to surficial dimensions of cells), fragments of smooth walled tubular elements, and fragments of tubular elements with differentially thickened walls ("banded tubes"). A fragment of tissue (1.2 mm long), consisting of smooth walled tubes (17 + 6.9 Am in diameter), surrounding 2-3 larger (18.8 + 2. 1 Am in diameter) banded tubes, was isolated from an irregularly shaped, relatively large (1 x 3 mm) compression. Comparisons between (1) fragments of tubular cell types, not organized into strands, isolated from 122 compressions, and (2) dispersed tubular cell types previously reported from the Massanutten Formation and other Silurian formations (Tuscarora and Clinton), reveal no significant morphologic differences. Comparisons between the organization of smooth-walled and banded tubular cell types found in the tissue strand and the organization of cell types in nematophytic plants (Nematothallus, Nematoplexus, Prototaxites) indicate a similarity in construction (tubular) but a lack of correspondence in organization. The strand of tissue is interpreted as representing part of the internal anatomy of a nonvascular land plant of unknown taxonomic affinity. On the basis of analogy with present-day embryophytes, the strand of tubular cell types is inferred to have functioned as a conductive tissue. The significance of "banded tubes" in Silurian strata is discussed, and it is concluded that, until more is known about the anatomy, morphology, and biochemistry of the parent plant(s), the habitat and systematic affinity of these organisms are conjectural.
MULTIWAVE: a multiresolution wavelet-based ECG data compression algorithm

MULTIWAVE is a multiresolution wavelet-based algorithm for data compression of ECG signals. ECG signals are decomposed into coarse and fine components. Decomposition is carried out by a pyramidal algorithm that analyzes the signal at successive scales by convolution with an orthonormal set of filters, followed by decimation (discarding the alternate samples). Data compression rates of 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, and so on are obtained at each successive scale. Four records each of normal sinus rhythm (NSR), supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), and ventricular tachycardia (VT) are analyzed. The performance of the MULTIWAVE algorithm is found to be superior to that of the TURNING POINT algorithm at all compression rates for all ECG records. >
Just-In-Time: Case Studies Of Supplier Relationships Across Industries

Just-in-time (JIT) is a well-established philosophy that seeks to sustain a competitive advantage and result in greater overall returns through waste elimination and variability reduction. One component of the philosophy is the relationships with suppliers. These relationships are vital to the success of organizations regardless of the industry. The automotive, electronic, healthcare, and steel industries engage in JIT practices in differing fashions but all seek the same goal of sustaining a competitive advantage over the competition. The automotive and electronic industries rely heavily on information sharing. A critical component of the healthcare industry is seeking out long-term contracts with suppliers in order to assure quality and timeliness of deliveries. The steel industry has elements of the JIT philosophy but has been forced to vertically integrate many of its productions due to the rising costs of raw materials. Depending on the industry a firm competes in, and the relationship it has with its suppliers determines the manner in which it practices the JIT philosophy.
Methods for the determination of adipose cell size in man and animals

Four methods for the sizing of adipose cells in small samples of human or animal adipose tissue are compared. These methods depend on the preparation of cell suspensions by incubation of the tissue with collagenase or by prolonged fixation with osmium tetroxide and separation of the fixed cells. A Coulter electronic counter was used to count and size the suspended cells and a Zeiss particle size analyzer for the sizing of cells in photomicrographs. The use of the Coulter counter to count cells in a suspension derived from a known amount of tissue and subjected to osmium tetroxide fixation is recommended for accuracy and general applicability to adipose cells of all sizes in man and animals.
Effect of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 envelope glycoprotein gp160 on cytokine production from cord-blood T cells

We have recently demonstrated that the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein gp160 enhances the in vitro differentiation of hematopoietic myeloid progenitor cells derived from cord blood by inducing secretion of colony-stimulating factor(s) (CSF) in T cells, presumably through the interaction of gp160 with CD4 molecules. In this study, we investigated the gp 160-induced humoral CSFs in cord blood by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by polymerase chain reaction on reverse-transcribed mRNA (RT-PCR). We demonstrate that gp160 can induce interleukin (IL)-3, IL-6, and granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) protein secretion only in purified cord-blood T cells (CB-T) and not in detectable amounts in whole cord blood cells (WCB); cytokine mRNA induction occurred in purified CB-T and WCB, but was significantly greater in the former. Treatment of gp160 with soluble CD4 (sCD4) abolished the secretion of all three cytokines in CB-T cells, which suggests that interaction of gp160 with CD4 molecules is required for the secretion of these cytokines from CB- T cells. However, in WCB cells, sCD4 treatment of gp160 resulted in inhibition of only IL-3 and GM-CSF mRNA, whereas IL-6 secretion was enhanced. Purified cord-blood monocytes secreted only IL-6 in response to gp160, and the gp160-induced IL-6 secretion by monocytes was also further increased by gp160 + sCD4 complex. Furthermore, monocyte culture supernatants suppressed gp160-induced IL-3 secretion from CB-T cells. These findings indicate that (1) CB-T cells are a potent source of gp160-induced hematopoietic cytokines, and (2) that different mechanisms are involved in the induction of IL-6 by gp160 in the T- and non-T-cell fractions of cord blood. The ability of HIV gp160 to induce hematopoietic CSFs in cord blood may be important in HIV pathogenesis.
Photo-Cross-Linked Anion Exchange Membranes with Improved Water Management and Conductivity

Robust, cross-linked anion exchange membranes (AEMs) were prepared from solvent-processable polyisoprene-ran-poly(vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride) (PI-ran-P[VBTMA][Cl]) ionomers via photoinitiated thiol–ene chemistry. Two series of membranes were prepared choosing two dithiol cross-linkers, 1,10-decanedithiol and 2,2′-(ethylenedioxy)diethanethiol, selected for their different hydrophobicities. A strong correlation was found between the choice of dithiol cross-linker, water uptake, morphology, and the ion conductivity of the membranes. Results were compared with previous findings of thermally cross-linked AEMs from analogous random copolymers. Comparably high chloride ion conductivities were obtained at low to moderate ion exchange capacities (IECs) with significantly low water uptake values. It was shown that by choosing a hydrophilic cross-linker ion cluster formation may be suppressed and ion conduction improved. This study highlights that it is possible to promote ion conductivities for low IEC m...
FUNCTION BASED ARCHITECTURE DESIGN SPACE DEFINITION AND EXPLORATION

Tools and processes were developed which facilitate the definition and exploration of a function-based architectural design space. These include functional decomposition, functional induction, dynamic morphology, adaptive functional mapping, reconfigurable mission definition, and concept level system installation. The Architecture Design Environment (ADEN) was built to manage the complex interrelationships which can occur between architectural elements, guide the architect in the architecture definition, provide a framework for trades between architecture alternatives, and facilitate the definition of physics-based models in evaluating the performance of candidate architectures. This process and toolset for architectural definition extends beyond the scope of commercial aircraft design, and can be applied to the design of any complex system
Characterization of Gas Reburning-Sorbent Injection Technology By-Products

Three samples of fly ashes from pilot-scale tests of gas reburning and sorbent injection (GR-SI) technology were characterized physically, chemically, and mineralogically. Texturally, the samples consist of approximately 97% by weight of silt-size particles. Total chemical analysis showed that Al, Ca, C, Fe, Si, and S were the major elements, making up 56% of the total mass of the sample on average. Approximately 3% of the sample mass consisted of the elements Cl, Mg, P, K, Na, and Ti, and 0.4% consisted of trace elements. Major crystalline compounds found in these samples were lime (CaO), anhydrite (CaSO4), and calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Calculations show that these compounds constituted from 56 to 76% of the mass of the samples. The morphology and chemistry of particles in GR-SI samples were similar to those of particles in conventional coal fly ashes. The particles in the GR-SI samples consisted of fragments and spheres of varying sizes. Most of the particles were calcareous. Silicate and alumino-silicate particles were fewer in number, and iron-rich particles were rare. The EP test indicated that extract concentrations of Ag, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Se were well below the EPA regulatory levels. Predictions of leachate compositions from these types of fly ashes, if disposed of as a landfill at a midwestern U.S. site indicate, that during the first ten years the concentrations of Ca, SO4, Na, B, and OH would remain high. The concentrations of minor constituents (As, Ba, Cd, Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Se) in the leachate are predicted to be at trace levels.
PATTERNS OF LEFT VENTRICULAR HYPERTROPHY AND ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN LIVER TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS WITHOUT HISTORY OF HYPERTENSION

Little is known about the prevalence and prognosis of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with liver failure. We included 589 consecutive patients without known hypertension (HTN) who had liver transplant at a tertiary medical center between 1994 and 2014. Based on pre-transplant
Understanding Disciplinary Disproportionality: Stereotypes Shape Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Black Boys’ Behavior

The disproportionate discipline of Black male students is a pervasive problem in U.S. schools. To examine the role of stereotypes in disciplinary disproportionality, pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a defiant student. Those who read a vignette about a Black student believed that the student was more likely to misbehave in the future, compared with those who read a vignette about a White student. These findings suggest that some teachers attribute the misbehavior of Black male students to more stable causes, which may lead them to alter their behavior toward these students.
A new species of Plectromerus Haldeman (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) from Dominican amber with notes on the fossil Plectromerus tertiarius Vitali

A new species, Plectromerus grimaldii (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Curiini), from Dominican amber (Oligo-Miocene) is described. Features distinguishing the new species from its congeners are presented. A discussion of the comparison of this new species to another Plectromerus fossil, P. tertiarius Vitali, is also presented.
Task Dependency Risk Visualisation using DSMs

Where task dependencies are sufficiently complex, process-architecture or task-based Design Structure Matrices (DSMs) can be used to visualize, analyse and optimize those dependencies. Traditionally, this is done without consideration of task dependency risk. This paper explores a new way to visualize task dependency risk using DSMs. Both feedback path and feedforward path task dependencies are considered with a view to risk rating reduction and risk rating enhancement respectively. By taking task dependency risk rating into consideration, a more optimized taskbased DSM sequence, from an overall schedule risk perspective, may be determined.
Computer Acquisition of Nuclear Medicine Images

Objective: The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive description of computer acquisition modes in nuclear medicine. Methods: The paper discusses each acquisition mode in detail, explaining when use of each mode is justified. Results: The effects of each acquisition mode on the resulting images are discussed. Conclusion: Knowledge of acquisition modes and competence in acquiring digital images is a vital skill for nuclear medicine technologists.
Facile Preparation of Stable Antibody–Gold Conjugates and Application to Affinity-Capture Self-Interaction Nanoparticle Spectroscopy

Protein-nanoparticle conjugates are widely used for conventional applications such as immunohistochemistry and biomolecular detection as well as emerging applications such as therapeutics and advanced materials. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to reproducibly prepare stable protein-nanoparticle conjugates with highly similar optical properties. Here we report an improved physisorption method for reproducibly preparing stable antibody-gold conjugates at acidic pH using polyclonal antibodies from a wide range of species (human, goat, rabbit, mouse, and rat). We find that gold particles synthesized using citrate alone or in combination with tannic acid are similar in size but display variable colloidal stability when conjugated to polyclonal antibodies. The variability in conjugate stability is due to differences in the pH and composition of the original gold colloid, which prevents reproducible preparation of stable antibody conjugates without additional purification of the particles prior to conjugation. Sedimentation-based purification of gold particles synthesized using different methods enabled reproducible generation of antibody-gold conjugates with high stability and similar plasmon wavelengths. We also find that antibody conjugates prepared using our improved procedure display excellent performance when applied to a high-throughput immunogold assay (affinity-capture self-interaction nanoparticle spectroscopy, AC-SINS) for identifying monoclonal antibodies with low self-association, high solubility, and low viscosity. The stable antibody conjugates prepared with various types of gold colloid result in robust and reproducible AC-SINS measurements of antibody self-association using extremely dilute (microgram per mL) and unpurified antibody solutions. We expect that this improved methodology will be useful for reproducibly preparing stable antibody-gold conjugates for diverse applications.
Spectral entropy-based quantization matrices for H.264/AVC video coding

In transform-based compression schemes, the task of choosing, quantizing, and coding the coefficients that best represent a signal is of prime importance. As a step in this direction, Yang and Gibson [1] have designed a coefficient selection scheme based on Campbell's coefficient rate and spectral entropy [2]. Building on their coefficient selection mechanism, we develop a method to allocate bits amongst the chosen coefficients that can outperform the classical method under certain conditions. We then design quantization matrices (QMs) based on the proposed bit allocation scheme. Results show that the newly designed QMs perform better than the default QMs for H.264/AVC encoding in terms of both peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). The proposed method entails delay but is not computationally intensive.
Intraclass Correlation Coefficients for Designing Cluster-Randomized Trials in Sub-Saharan Africa Education.

Objective:Over the past two decades, the lack of reliable empirical evidence concerning the effectiveness of educational interventions has motivated a new wave of research in education in sub-Saharan Africa (and across most of the world) that focuses on impact evaluation through rigorous research designs such as experiments. Often these experiments draw on the random assignment of entire clusters, such as schools, to accommodate the multilevel structure of schooling and the theory of action underlying many school-based interventions. Planning effective and efficient school randomized studies, however, requires plausible values of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the variance explained by covariates during the design stage. The purpose of this study was to improve the planning of two-level school-randomized studies in sub-Saharan Africa by providing empirical estimates of the ICC and the variance explained by covariates for education outcomes in 15 countries.Method:Our investigation drew on...
Resting-state theta band connectivity and graph analysis in generalized social anxiety disorder

Background Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) resting-state studies show generalized social anxiety disorder (gSAD) is associated with disturbances in networks involved in emotion regulation, emotion processing, and perceptual functions, suggesting a network framework is integral to elucidating the pathophysiology of gSAD. However, fMRI does not measure the fast dynamic interconnections of functional networks. Therefore, we examined whole-brain functional connectomics with electroencephalogram (EEG) during resting-state.
Orchards of Eden: White Bluffs on the Columbia 1907-1943

The community development process begins with the collective vision and commitment of a group of people that makes a certain geographic location their home. For these “place committed” residents, processes once initiated take on a course impacted by circumstances, large and small that result in consequences, not quite predictable, but easily generalized for other situations. The Orchards of Eden story is a quick read, albeit almost 500 pages, and gives us important insights on community infrastructure and community involvement.
Liberty or Death: The French Revolution: McPhee, Peter, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press 468 pp., $35.00, ISBN 978-0-300-18993-3 Publication Date: May 2016

With Liberty or Death, Peter McPhee has produced a stylish and engaging narrative of the French Revolution, from the prerevolutionary era until Napoleon's 1799 Brumaire coup. Although specific them...
Interdependence of Hormones and Growth Factors in Lobulo-Alveolar Development of the Mammary Gland and in Tumorigenesis

In normal breast development, two major pathways for cell growth regulation act in parallel. One is the positive pathway, generally believed to involve growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-a), insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I and IGF-II), fibroblast growth factors (FGF) [1], and possibly platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) [2]. The other is the negative pathway involving agents such as members of the transforming growth factor beta family (TGF-b1, -b2, and -b3) [3], a putative c-erbB2 ligand [4], mammostatin [5], and products of the retinoblastoma (Rb) [6] and p53 antioncogenes [7]. Both of these pathways are influenced both positively and negatively by the classical hormones such as estrogen (E), progesterone (P), and prolactin (Prl). These same hormones and growth factors are also intertwined in their action in the development and promotion of breast cancer (Fig 1). Increased response to, or overexpression of, positive factors and/or loss of response to, or decreased expression of, negative factors contribute to tumor development.
Abstract 366: Disruption of TCF7L1 mediated transcriptional repression promotes pancreatic tumorigenesis

While phenotypic studies demonstrate Wnt/β-catenin signaling is critical for the initiation and progression of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDA), the downstream transcriptional effectors tied to its effects are largely unknown. Previous work from our group has identified differential patterns of LEF/TCF expression linked to variations in Wnt activation and function in PDA, including reduced TCF7L1 (aka TCF3) message and protein levels in pancreatic tumors with elevated Wnt pathway activity. Consistent with this observation, we found TCF7L1 protein levels rapidly diminished in PDA lines after Wnt pathway activation mediated by either Wnt3A ligand or GSK3β inhibitor. RNAi-mediated knockdown of TCF7L1 in PDA lines phenocopied most of the pro-tumorigenic effects seen with Wnt3A ligand treatment. Because TCF7L1 commonly represses transcription and is rapidly downregulated in PDA upon Wnt activation, we explored its transcriptional derepression as a potentially important mechanism through which Wnt signaling promotes pancreatic tumorigenesis. Candidate genes linked to TCF7L1-mediated transcriptional repression in PDA were identified by RNA-sequencing of MiaPaCa-2 and PANC1 lines following RNAi-mediated knockdown of TCF7L1. A total of 196 genes upregulated at least 1.5-fold in both cell lines were identified, representing potential direct targets of TCF7L1-mediated transcriptional repression. Gene ontology analysis among these 196 upregulated genes revealed enrichment of categories including small GTPase-mediated signal transduction, RAS protein signal transduction, regulation of axon extension, and regulation of synaptic plasticity. Among top upregulated genes was prostaglandin E synthase (PTGES), an enzyme catalyzing the isomerization of prostaglandin H2 to prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) as the final step in PGE2 synthesis from arachidonic acid. Notably, PGE2 stimulates pancreatic cancer proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis. Validation experiments in TCF7L1-expressing PDA lines confirmed PTGES message and protein levels rapidly increased in response to TCF7L1 depletion and were associated with a corresponding increase in PGE2 production as measured by ELISA. PGE2 increased Wnt reporter activity in PDA cell lines, a potentially important feedforward mechanism whereby Wnt signaling may be reinforced upon its activation. In conclusion, TCF7L1 represses target genes with known roles in PDA, while reduction in TCF7L1 through Wnt pathway activation or alternative means is apparently tied to a program of transcriptional derepression linked to the promotion of pancreatic tumorigenesis. Citation Format: Kathleen M. Kershaw, Bridgette T. Ho, Missael I. Vasquez, Anna R. Lay, David W. Dawson. Disruption of TCF7L1 mediated transcriptional repression promotes pancreatic tumorigenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 366. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-366
The Effect of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus-Induced Immunosuppression on Vaccination Against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus.

SUMMARY Poor efficacy of avian influenza virus (AIV) vaccines in chickens has been documented in the field in spite of good results in experimental settings. Although the causes are multifactorial and complex, one contributing factor may be prior infection with immunosuppressive viruses. In an effort to evaluate the role of immunosuppressive agents on AIV pathogenesis and vaccine efficacy, the effect of prior infection with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), a ubiquitous immunosuppressive virus of chickens, was evaluated. Specific-pathogen-free white Plymouth Rock chickens were exposed to variant E IBDV at 1 day of age and were subsequently vaccinated with an inactivated H7 AIV vaccine 2 wk later. Vaccinated chickens exposed to IBDV had a geometric mean antibody titer to AIV of 1:1.7 by hemagglutination inhibition assay compared to a geometric mean titer of 1:47.5 from chickens that were vaccinated but not exposed to IBDV. Three weeks postvaccination, the chickens were challenged with one of six diff...
Comparison of performance of ward systems' neural networks applied to a multifont recognition problem

Results of performance comparison of the three Ward Systems proprietary neural network architectures and a simple, three-layer, backpropagation neural network applied to a simplified pattern recognition problem are presented and discussed. The varying parameters are the size of the input data and the number of nodes in the hidden layer slabs.
Polynomial Systems Arising From Discretizing Systems of Nonlinear Differential Equations

This article is an extended abstract of the ISSAC 2018 talk "Polynomial systems arising from discretizing systems of nonlinear differential equations" by Andrew Sommese.
Influence of left ventricular dysfunction on the role of atrial contraction: an echocardiographic-hemodynamic study in dogs.

AbstractOBJECTIVESThe purpose of this study was to understand the significance of an effective atrial systole and the interactions between atrial and ventricular function.BACKGROUNDThe significance...
A RAT by Another Name: 21st Century Cures Act and Stem Cell Therapies.

Regenerative medicine (“RM”) is a 21st century technology whose regulation has badly needed a 21st century cure. It is not clear that the 21st Century Cures Act (“Cures Act”) is that cure, but it has not been a poison. For some months prior to the passage of the Cures Act it seemed that it might be a catalyst for really endangering the field by allowing a flood of untested therapies to continue to enter the market. That, fortunately, did not happen. Thus far, the Cures Act has been a useful tonic; its effect on RM has been largely symbolic. But it has allowed the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to redirect resources, and it demanded the quick adoption of guidance. That has allowed the Agency to finalize a regulatory framework that has been sorely needed. The evidentiary flexibility within the Cures Act is extremely important for the development of technologies that do not fit easily into the traditional approval rubric.
A diagnostic checklist for generalized dermatitis

Purpose Generalized dermatitis (defined as histological spongiotic dermatitis affecting more than three anatomical areas of the skin surface) has many potential causes that mimic atopic dermatitis and contact dermatitis. If a treatable cause is missed, the patient may be treated with chronic immunosuppressive therapy that carries more risk than specific treatment for a disease mimicking dermatitis. Checklists have been shown to improve patient safety, primarily in procedural contexts. This work assessed the utility of a diagnostic checklist for subacute and chronic generalized dermatitis in patients who had not improved after at least 1 month of avoidance of contact allergens identified by comprehensive patch testing, if indicated. Patients and methods Designed as a quality improvement project using Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) guidelines, a diagnostic checklist was used by the principal investigator for 1 year in a tertiary referral dermatitis clinic for patients without a confirmed cause for the dermatitis after two to three visits with the investigator. All patients had had diagnostic patch testing if indicated. Almost all had undergone skin biopsy by their referring provider. Fifteen patients met the criteria for inclusion in this study. Outcome measures included provider and patient perception of efficiency and/or confusion caused by the checklist. Length of time from the initiation of use of the checklist to final diagnosis was recorded. Additional diagnoses considered that were not included in the initial checklist were added to the checklist during the course of the study. Results The checklist was useful in improving diagnostic efficiency (prompting consideration of diagnoses not otherwise considered upon initiation of the visit that resulted in a final plan of care) in these complex cases of recalcitrant dermatitis. Open utilization of the checklist by the investigator during the clinical encounter was well accepted by patients and families. Conclusion Checklists can be useful for complex cognitive diagnostic work. Irb approval status University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Institutional Review Board # 11-15-34.
Post Qualitative Inquiry, the Refusal of Method, and the Risk of the New:

This article is a slight revision of a keynote lecture presented at the 15th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in Illinois in 2019. It argues that to experiment and create the “new” in ...
Building an Ecosystem of Strategic Partners for New Baccalaureate Programs in Information Technology

Strategic partnerships with local organizations such as businesses, non-profit organizations, and neighboring educational institutions provide students with a rich set of learning opportunities, while also benefiting the partner organization. In this lightning talk, learn how effective partnerships are formed and sustained, from both the academic program and the partners' perspective.
Collaborative Ranking Tags and Items via Cross-domain Recommendation

Tag and item recommendation are both important tasks in recommender systems. Item recommendation, learning user-item rating patterns, helps users to discover a list of items that are more likely to match their interests. On the other hand, tag recommendation, exploiting relationships of user-tag-item, assists users to find a personalized list of tags that can precisely describe their experience on items. Existing methods often consider these two tasks independently. However, these two tasks are inherently related because they both use information from same groups of users and items. In other words, it is the same users who give ratings and annotate tags to the same set of items. Tags may explain why a user purchase an item. For instance, customers on Yelp not only give a five star rating for a restaurant but also leave comments/tags to express their positive sentiments. Users with similar interests might give similar ratings and post similar tags to certain items. The co-occurrence of users, items and tags motivates us to jointly perform item and tag recommendation to better model users’ behavior by leveraging their personalized items and tags. In this work, we propose a cross-domain learning method that seamlessly integrates tag and item recommendation into one unified framework. In particular, we utilize the knowledge transferred between two tasks to collaboratively rank items and tags for users through coupled tensor-matrix factorization. We also provide a principled way to incorporate additional auxiliary information about users (e.g., users’ relationships in a social network) and items (e.g., descriptions of items in Wikipedia) to improve recommendation accuracy for both tasks. Empirical results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed model.
High-temperature dielectric polymer nanocomposites with interposed montmorillonite nanosheets

Abstract Over the past decades, energy densities have always been considered as the key factors for realizing compact and highly efficient dielectric polymer capacitors. However, high-energy-density polymer dielectrics are limited by insurmountable drawbacks of high energy loss and low charge-discharge efficiency, which are far behind the industrial requirement for application under high temperature/voltage working conditions. Herein, a versatile method to suppress the energy loss of polymer dielectrics is presented, whereby two-dimensional montmorillonite nanosheets are interposed at the interfaces of a sandwich-structured barium titanate/polyamideimide film. The anisotropic electrical conductivity of the nanosheets provides paths to relationally regulate the charges transport along the in-plane direction while suppressing the through-plane conduction. As a result, nearly 50% of the energy loss can be eliminated with an applied electric field of 400 MV m−1 at 150 °C, thus leading to a ~100% enhancement of energy density (3.6 J cm−1), accompanied with a high charge-discharge efficiency of 70%, which outperforms all commercial high-temperature polymers. This work uncovers an effective and scalable pathway to enable high-density dielectric energy storage applicable to a wide range of polymer dielectrics at harsh operating conditions while promoting mechanism understanding of interfaces for interfacial engineering of high-performance dielectrics.
Optical clock recovery

A scheme for high speed clock and data recovery using an electroabsorption modulated laser and a semiconductor optical amplifiers arranged in an optical-electrical-optical (OEO) loop has been demonstrated. By injecting the 80Gb/s optical data into the OEO ring, the 10GHz clock tone is traced and amplified in the loop. A 10GHz electrical clock and, a 10 GHz optical clock are recovered simultaneously.
How Does the Minimum Wage Affect Child Maltreatment and Parenting Behaviors? An Analysis of the Mechanisms

Children in low socioeconomic status (SES) families are five times more likely to experience child maltreatment relative to children in high SES families. To determine whether increasing the wages of working poor families can prevent maltreatment, we examine whether changes in the local minimum wage (MW) affect child well-being and parenting behaviors. Using data from a representative, longitudinal survey, we use a lagged dependent variable model to compare parenting behaviors in localities where the MW changed to localities where the MW did not change relative to before the MW change took place. We also explore heterogeneity by child’s age and a variety of potential mechanisms. We find that increasing the minimum wage reduces spanking by both mothers and fathers, as well as physical and psychological aggression by mothers. These results appear to be driven by changes in maternal employment; whereby mothers reduce their employment and change their weekend shifts. We find no significant effects for positive parenting behaviors, household income, or maternal mental health. Finally, older children exhibit fewer externalizing behaviors as a result of increases in the minimum wage. The results of this study help inform the conversation about income supports and employment policies with regard to their effects and pathways to child well-being.
Application of HRIS in Public Organizations

There are many HRIS software solutions for public and non-profit organizations that have different capabilities. HRIS’s importance and usefulness will vary from organization to organization due to technical capabilities or limitations of the system and personnel. HRIS enterprise software is not as critical to small public and non-profit organizations as it would be to a major municipality, for example. The additional requirements that public and non-profit organizations will need for an HRIS system to be effective will depend upon what type of reporting is required by each entity at the federal, state and local levels for compliance purposes.
VEGF and Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for Prevention of Brain Metastases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background and Objectives We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in preventing the development of brain metastases (BMs). Methods We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Database, and Google Scholar between January 1, 2000, and June 1, 2020. Included studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of adults with systemic cancer that reported the incidence of BMs treated with and without VEGF inhibitors, as well as observational studies of adults with systemic cancer that reported the incidence of BMs treated with and without ICIs (no RCTs addressed the ICI question). Pooled relative risks (RR) were computed with a binary random-effects model. Results A search for VEGF and incidence of new BMs revealed 7 studies (6,212 patients with breast, colon, and non–small-cell lung cancer). Meta-analysis showed a lower incidence of new BMs compared to control (RR 0.71, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.56–0.89, p = 0.003). A search for ICIs and incidence of new BMs yielded 8 studies (732 patients with non–small-cell lung cancer or metastatic melanoma) in which ICIs were used as an adjunct to radiosurgery. Meta-analysis showed a lower incidence of out-of-treatment-field BMs with ICIs compared to controls at 1 year (RR 0.65, 95% CI 0.49–0.88, p = 0.005). The overall Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations score for the evidence evaluating the role of bevacizumab and ICIs was high and moderate, respectively. Discussion VEGF and ICIs may have a role in prophylaxis against BM in patients with solid tumors.
Isotopic Analysis of the In-Zinerator Actinide Management System

Efficient burn up of minor actinides is one of the most promising alternatives for minimizing waste in advanced nuclear fuel cycles. This work examines the concept of employing Z-pinch driven fusion source in a sub-critical transmutation reactor designed to burn up actinides and generate constant power. Its fuel cycle is designed to allow on-line fission product removal and fuel replenishment. The variation of the actinide inventory is an essential quantity used to calculate the energy multiplications and neutron spectrum, as well as to design an appropriate reactivity control mechanism. In this paper we develop a method to calculate time-dependent isotopic distributions, fuel feeding rate and fission product removal rate necessary to obtain a constant power level. The calculation is performed by using both MCise, a Monte Carlo isotopic inventory code, and MCNP5. An important feature of MCise for this system is the ability to simulate the on-line removal of fission products from the actinide mixture. In addition to reporting the actinide inventory and burn rates, the impact of the actinide inventory on the fission/fusion energy multiplication will be examined.
Propagation of Flood Waves in Open Channels

Using the method of characteristics, the equations of motion and continuity were numerically solved for the case of a sinusoidal flood wave in a long rectangular open channel. The effects of various parameters, such as the friction coefficient, slope, distance of propagation, initial amplitude of the flood wave, etc., on the damping of the flood wave were studied. It was revealed that the maximum dimensionless discharge and depth are exponential functions of the distance traveled. An empirical formula relating the damping coefficient and other flow parameters was derived. A slight nonlinear relationship between the initial flood amplitude and that at a downstream section was noted.
From video to computation of biological fluid–structure interaction problems

This work deals with the techniques necessary to obtain a purely Eulerian procedure to conduct CFD simulations of biological systems with moving boundary flow phenomena. Eulerian approaches obviate difficulties associated with mesh generation to describe or fit flow meshes to body surfaces. The challenges associated with constructing embedded boundary information, body motions and applying boundary conditions on the moving bodies for flow computation are addressed in the work. The overall approach is applied to the study of a fluid–structure interaction problem, i.e., the hydrodynamics of swimming of an American eel, where the motion of the eel is derived from video imaging. It is shown that some first-blush approaches do not work, and therefore, careful consideration of appropriate techniques to connect moving images to flow simulations is necessary and forms the main contribution of the paper. A combination of level set-based active contour segmentation with optical flow and image morphing is shown to enable the image-to-computation process.
The Nine Choirs

Invisible, unapproachable, unaffected by our needs, they came with God's Word, all light and radiance, to roll back the stone from the tomb, cast the millstone into the sea, capable of anything although they had no bodies, making me whisper my brother had been raped, that my other brother was in a far country, leaping from planes. Reaching out my hands to either side, I tried to touch my Angel of Wickedness, my Angel of Justice, willing to side with the one who helped, willing to curse and swear, to drink the holy wine before serving mass, willing to call upon Blackness itself those early Saturday mornings I held Christ's blood, three times circling the coffin. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, I called them up, and the fourth, unsanctified, one we weren't supposed to know, Uriel, the angel with the sharpest sight,
Interference statistics in a random mmWave ad hoc network

Wireless communication at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies is attractive for cellular, local area, and ad hoc networks due to the potential for channels with large bandwidths. As a byproduct of directional beamforming and propagation differences, some studies have claimed that mmWave networks will be noise rather than interference limited. This paper presents a derivation of the instantaneous interference-to-noise ratio (INR) distribution of a mmWave ad hoc network. Random network model of transmitters represented by a Poisson point process with a narrowband channel model is used to derive an approximation of the INR distribution. The analysis shows that the shape of the INR distribution is determined largely by the line-of-sight interferers, which depends on the overall network density and building blockage. A main conclusion drawn is that even with highly directional beamforming, interference can only sometimes be neglected in an ad hoc network. With a reasonable choice of system parameters, the interference is nearly always stronger than the noise power in dense networks.
Path Analysis and Renaming for Predicated Instruction Scheduling

Increases in instruction level parallelism are needed to exploit the potential parallelism available in future wide issue architectures. Predicated execution is an architectural mechanism that increases instruction level parallelism by removing branches and allowing simultaneous execution of multiple paths of control, only committing instructions from the correct path. In order for the compiler to expose and use such parallelism, traditional compiler data-flow and path analysis needs to be extended to predicated code. In this paper, we motivate the need for renaming and for predicates that reflect path information. We present Predicated Static Single Assignment (PSSA) which uses renaming and introduces Full -Path Predicates to remove false dependences and enable aggressive predicated optimization and instruction scheduling. We demonstrate the usefulness of PSSA for Predicated Speculation and Control Height Reduction. These two predicated code optimizations used during instruction scheduling reduce the dependence length of the critical paths through a predicated region. Our results show that using PSSA to enable speculation and control height reduction reduces execution time from 12 to 68%.
Different modulation of the binding to two phencyclidine (PCP) receptor subtypes: Effects of N-methyl-d-aspartate agonists and antagonists

Abstract Neurochemical studies have indicated that the dissociative anesthetics, phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine, act as non-competitive antagonists at the excitatory amino acid, N- methyl- d -aspartate (NMDA), receptor-gated ion channel. Since the binding of PCP and related psychotomimetics, i.e. (+)-N-allylnormetazocine ((+)-SKF 10047), in mammalian brain is associated with multiple receptor subtypes, their modulation by NMDA agonists and antagonists was investigated. Binding of the potent PCP analog, [3H]PCP-3-OH to the high-affinity sigma/PCP (σp) site and (+)-[3H]SKF 10047 to the sigma/haloperidol sensitive (σh) site in rat brain membranes was not affected by l -glutamate and NMDA, nor by the competitive NMDA antagonists d -2-amino-5-phosphovaleric acid (AP-5), d -2-amino-7-phosphoheptanoic acid (AP-7). However, binding of [3H]PCP-3-OH to the low-affinity PCP-selective site was enhanced by 4- to 5-fold in the presence of glutamate or NMDA and reduced in a competitive manner by AP-5. The non-competitive NMDA antagonist, MK-801, was however a potent inhibitor of the binding to both σp and PCP sites labeled with [3H]PCP-3-OH. The present results indicate that the high (σp) and low-affinity (PCP) sites, that are distinct from the σh site, are affected differently by NMDA agonists and antagonists, and thus may represent different receptor domains.
Reuter Centrifugal Air Sampler: Measurement of Effective Airflow Rate and Collection Efficiency

Incorrect calculation of effective air sampling rate and disregard of differences in collection efficiency among samplers can lead to false conclusions about the usefulness of samplers for measuring concentrations of airborne microorganisms.
Sterilization: A Review and Update

Sterilization is a frequently used method of contraception. Female sterilization is performed 3 times more frequently than male sterilization, and it can be performed immediately postpartum or as an interval procedure. Methods include mechanical occlusion, coagulation, or tubal excision. Female sterilization can be performed using an abdominal approach, or via laparoscopy or hysteroscopy. When an abdominal approach or laparoscopy is used, sterilization occurs immediately. When hysteroscopy is used, tubal occlusion occurs over time, and additional testing is needed to confirm tubal occlusion. Comprehensive counseling about sterilization should include discussion about male sterilization (vasectomy) and long-acting reversible contraceptive methods.
Dimension calculations in a minimal embedding space: Low-dimensional attractors for human electroencephalograms

Reconstructing an attractor in the Broomhead-King basis makes dimension calculations less sensitive to noise and require smaller embedding spaces. Use of this procedure to study human EEG's confirm earlier results that EEG's may indeed be characterizable by small attrctor dimensions, and continue to offer the possibility that dimensions or similar quantitative measures of chaotic activity of EEG's might be used to track changes in cognitive activity or pathological conditions.
Knowing and Reasoning in College: Gender-Related Patterns in Students' Intellectual Development

UNDERSTANDING GENDER-RELATED PATTERNS IN KNOWING. Studying Ways of Knowing. Gender-Related Patterns in Knowing. Absolute Knowing: Receiving and Mastering Knowledge. Transitional Knowing: Interpersonal and Impersonal Patterns. Independent Knowing: Embracing and Subordinating Others' Ideas. Contextual Knowing: Integrating One's Own and Others' Ideas. Relating the Patterns to Diverse Student Populations. IMPLICATIONS FOR ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS. Teaching Responsively to Different Ways of Knowing. Developing Students in the Classroom. Supporting Patterns of Knowing in the Cocurriculum. Promoting Cocurricular Learning. Becoming Responsive to Ways of Knowing in Higher Education. Resources: A. Context of the Study: Miami University. B. Design and Methods Used in the Study. C. Study Interview and Questionnaire.