cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Guidelines for Clinical Practice Management of Colorectal Polyps

A major task of the physician, and, arguably, the gastroenterologist's most important public obligation, is the diagnosis of colorectal neoplasia. Colorectal cancer is responsible for approximately 10% of cancer deaths in the United States, and cancer, itself, is the second most common cause of death in this nation, after heart diseases (1). Most colorectal cancers arise from benign, neoplastic polyps: precursor lesions found in the colons of 30% of people over age 60 (2, 3). It is the gastroenterologist who often diagnoses colorectal polyps and formulates a plan for treatment and follow-up of patients with these lesions in the hope of preventing the future development of colorectal cancer. An immense amount of clinical research has been done during the past 50 years to answer questions about the appropriate management of colorectal polyps and to provide guidance to the physicians responsible for their identification and removal. Issues addressed have included the efficient, early diagnosis of polyps, the characterization of polyps that ought to be removed to minimize morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer, the techniques for removal of polyps at different stages in their development, and the surveillance of patients to identify recurrent or new lesions. In conjunction with the study of these issues, expensive medical technology has been devised to facilitate discovery and removal of colorectal polyps. The decision to apply this technology (and often its actual use), guided by an understanding of the best way to manage the problem of colorectal polyps, is left, in many instances, to the gastroenterologist. Thus, as frequently occurs in medicine, physi-
Vermont and Healthcare Reform Organizing: Human Rights Promise and Praxis

The human rights framework represents an important foundation of global activism for universalized healthcare. In the United States, in the state of Vermont, activists have recently centered on human rights claims in their efforts to pass successful, though tenuous, health reform legislation. This research, which examines singlepayer and universal healthcare campaigns across the United States in the wake of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, centers on these recent social movement innovations in Vermont. We present the results of 36 in-depth interviews with state and national leaders in the single-payer movement and consider how the human rights framework has entered into their strategic organizing, and how they interpret Vermont’s experiences. This analysis of organizing efforts in Vermont reveals a deeply complex understanding of and engagement with human rights. Key organizations and activists in Vermont have undertaken a new approach to utilizing not just the ‘Healthcare Is a Human Right’ frame, but also an ethic of rights-based powerbuilding in their organizing approach. At the same time, not all actors or organizations have coalesced around this frame or this approach, creating some tensions within the movement, most notably between perceptions of activism led by elite policy experts versus grassroots actors. It has also contributed to broader speculation about what might lead to success for the single payer movement in a post-Affordable Care Act health policy landscape. The findings highlight significant understandings of both the value and vulnerabilities of human rights organizing toward universal healthcare in the US context, in Vermont and beyond.
A New Hybrid PWM Technology Used in the VSC-HVDC Transmission System

For HVDC transmission system based on two-level voltage source converter(VSC),in order to decrease switching frequency and improve transient control ability as possible while the two-level VSC attains better harmonic characteristic,in this paper a hybrid PWM technology that combines selective harmonic elimination pulse width modulation(SHEPWM) with third harmonic injected SPWM is proposed.By use of power sums theory,an algorithm to solve two-level SHEPWM nonlinear transcendental equations is put forward which can reduce computational burden greatly.By means of constructing steady-state control unit,state detector,transient control unit and selector,the objective of hybrid modulation is implemented well and validated by simulation.Simulation results show that such a hybrid PWM technology can improve efficiency,reliability and economy of VSC-HVDC.
Lacustrine Deposits In the Karheen Formation Fortify Links Between Alaska's Alexander Terrane and the Old Red Sandstone Continent In the Late Silurian–Early Devonian

The Karheen Formation of southeastern Alaska (Alexander terrane) is an 1800-m-thick redbed molasse sequence that formed during the Late Silurian–Early Devonian in the wake of the Klakas orogeny. Previous research interpreted thin, platy limestone in the Karheen Formation as marine in origin. We describe new evidence, including a lack of marine fossils, which indicates that the rhythmically laminated limestone formed in deep, stratified lakes. Intercalated siliciclastic, lake-margin facies record cycles of lake expansion and contraction. Comparative analysis with coeval Lake Orcadie deposits in Scotland shows that the Karheen Formation is strikingly similar in age, thickness, lithology, paleontologic characteristics, and tectonic setting to the Old Red Sandstone. Together with other published geologic data from southeastern Alaska, the Karheen's lacustrine deposits strengthen paleogeographic connections between the Alexander terrane and the N. Atlantic–Caledonide region in the mid-Paleozoic.
Recruitment Strategies and Participation in a Study of Childhood Hunger

ABSTRACTFood insecurity affects one fifth of U.S. households with children and tends to be associated with low income, minority race/ethnicity, and low educational attainment—difficult groups to recruit to population-based studies. We present successful recruitment strategies and participation data after enrolling 544 participants encompassing 3 food security categories from 4 types of food venues throughout South Carolina. Eligible persons were most likely to participate if they had lower food security, lived in an urban area, and were recruited over the phone. In multivariate logistic models, participation predictors were screening mode and recruitment site, with the highest yield at family-oriented emergency food assistance sites.
Casting a Wider Net: Data Driven Discovery of Proxies for Target Diagnoses

BACKGROUND The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) introduced in October 2012 as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ties hospital reimbursement rates to adjusted 30-day readmissions and mortality performance for a small set of target diagnoses. There is growing concern and emerging evidence that use of a small set of target diagnoses to establish reimbursement rates can lead to unstable results that are susceptible to manipulation (gaming) by hospitals. METHODS We propose a novel approach to identifying co-occurring diagnoses and procedures that can themselves serve as a proxy indicator of the target diagnosis. The proposed approach constructs a Markov Blanket that allows a high level of performance, in terms of predictive accuracy and scalability, along with interpretability of obtained results. In order to scale to a large number of co-occuring diagnoses (features) and hospital discharge records (samples), our approach begins with Google's PageRank algorithm and exploits the stability of obtained results to rank the contribution of each diagnosis/procedure in terms of presence in a Markov Blanket for outcome prediction. RESULTS Presence of target diagnoses acute myocardial infarction (AMI), congestive heart failure (CHF), pneumonia (PN), and Sepsis in hospital discharge records for Medicare and Medicaid patients in California and New York state hospitals (2009-2011), were predicted using models trained on a subset of California state hospitals (2003-2008). Using repeated holdout evaluation, we used ~30,000,000 hospital discharge records and analyzed the stability of the proposed approach. Model performance was measured using the Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) metric, and importance and contribution of single features to the final result. The results varied from AUC=0.68 (with SE<1e-4) for PN on cross validation datasets to AUC=0.94, with (SE<1e-7) for Sepsis on California hospitals (2009 - 2011), while the stability of features was consistently better with more training data for each target diagnosis. Prediction accuracy for considered target diagnoses approaches or exceeds accuracy estimates for discharge record data. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents a novel approach to identifying a small subset of relevant diagnoses and procedures that approximate the Markov Blanket for target diagnoses. Accuracy and interpretability of results demonstrate the potential of our approach.
Tutorial 2: semantic B2B integration - concepts, architecture, implementation and deployment

This tutorial will give an introduction to the field of business-to-business (B2B) integration from a technical viewpoint with the focus on semantic integration aspects. The set of B2B integration concepts is introduced as well as their implementation in form of a technical semantic B2B integration architecture. A mix of examples is taken illustrating the problems that need to be solved in semantic B2B integration projects. The tutorial enables the audience to identify semantic B2B integration problems as well as to determine the benefits and deficiencies of various technical integration architecture approaches or B2B integration technologies.
Clinical Trials with Oncolytic Measles Virus: Current Status and Future Prospects

Attenuated Edmonston lineage measles virus (MV-Edm) vaccine strains can preferentially infect and lyse a wide variety of cancer cells. Oncolytic MV-Edm derivatives are genetically engineered to express the human carcinoembryonic antigen (MV-CEA virus) or the human sodium iodide symporter (MV-NIS virus) and are currently being tested in clinical trials against ovarian cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, multiple myeloma, mesothelioma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. This review describes the basic and preclinical data that facilitated the clinical translation of MV-Edm strains, and summarizes the clinical results of this oncolytic platform to date. Furthermore, we discuss the latest clinically relevant MV-Edm vector developments and creative strategies for future translational steps.
Adsorption of methylene blue and its N-demethylated derivatives on the (111) face of coinage metals: The importance of dispersion interactions

The adsorption of methylene blue and its N-demethylated derivatives on the (111) surface of three coinage metals is investigated using density functional theory with and without the inclusion of dispersion interactions. It is shown that the adsorption of these dye molecules on the metal surfaces can be largely classified as physisorption as the adsorption energy is dominated by dispersion interactions. While the molecules are found to adsorb on Au and Ag parallel to the surface with molecular geometries basically unaltered, the adsorption on Cu(111) features a butterfly configuration, accompanied by the largest adsorption energies among the three metal surfaces. The significant covalent character on Cu(111) is analyzed from the perspective of electronic structure.
How do they learn from the past? The effect of founder prior experience on new venture formulation

This study explores how founders’ prior career experiences affect the extent to which their new ventures are formally structuralized at the founding stage, and discusses how the origin of funding s...
Preface and Overview

Arguably, “culture”—comprehending it, theorizing it, defending its importance—defines anthropology’s object. Similarly, “desire”—its ontology, its forms, its influence on human life—lies at the core of psychoanalytic thought. Anthropology possesses a long but ambivalent, sometimes vexed, relation to psychoanalysis—a relationship characterized by endemic skepticism as to whether any theory regarding unconscious psychodynamic processes specific to individuals can or could explain or even illuminate collective or social forms—that is, “culture.
Applications to Cardiology and Neuroscience

The applications of trajectory analysis to health and medicine have been most pronounced in the disciplines of experimental cardiology and neuroscience. The cardiology work over several decades has involved the modeling/simulation of cardiac disturbances, most notably fibrillation and arrhythmias, and the attempted restoration of normal cycles as applied to in vitro studies of beating, cultured myocytes. Simulated body systems have been translated to animal studies and to several human cardiac stimulation interventions, mostly involving arrhythmias.
Teaching Victorian Poetry with Twenty-First-Century Psychology

I use Victorian poetry in my interdisciplinary class entitled Literature and Psychology, a general education class that caters primarily to non-English majors. In the course, students use concepts from contemporary psychology to analyze literary works from a variety of genres, cultures, and time periods. This interdisciplinary approach blends social sciences with humanities, enabling students to connect two aspects of their liberal arts education and enhancing their appreciation of both fields. Approaching literature through psychology adds greatly to students’ understanding of literary creation and consumption, while also teaching them about social dynamics and human motivations. Throughout the semester, my students and I consider how authors create their identities, how literary works change our ways of thinking, and how the exchange between literature and psychology increases our understanding of human nature. The course promotes critical thinking through class discussions and written projects, while encouraging enhanced creativity, self-awareness, and empathy for others.
Activity and Passivity

Actions and emotions have long been supposed to fall on either side of the distinction between what we do and what happens to us.1 The motivation for drawing the active/passive distinction and applying it in this way is two-fold. We have the sense that what we do is typically in our control, as what we feel is not. This is reflected in the appropriateness of commanding a person to perform an action, the inappropriateness of commanding a person to have an emotion. Also, the distinction appears to explain why we are generally taken to be responsible for the actions we perform, as we are not for the emotions we have, and why we are assessed accordingly.
Global H4 acetylation analysis by ChIP-chip in systemic lupus erythematosus monocytes

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a polygenic disorder affecting approximately 1 in 1000 adults. Recent data have implicated interferons (IFN) in the pathogenesis, and the expressions of many genes downstream of IFNs are regulated at the level of histone modifications. We examined H4 acetylation (H4ac) and gene expression in monocytes from patients with SLE to define alterations to the epigenome. Monocytes from 14 controls and 24 SLE patients were used for analysis by chromatin immunoprecipitation for H4ac and gene expression arrays. Primary monocytes treated with alpha-IFN were used as a comparator. Data were analyzed for concordance of H4ac and gene expression. Network analyses and transcription factor analyses were conducted to identify potential pathways. H4ac was significantly altered in monocytes from patients with SLE. In all, 63% of genes with increased H4ac had the potential for regulation by IFN regulatory factor (IRF)1. IRF1 binding sites were also upstream of nearly all genes with both increased H4ac and gene expression. alpha-IFN was a significant contributor to both expression and H4ac patterns, but the greatest concordance was seen in the enrichment of certain transcription factor binding sites upstream of genes with increased H4ac in SLE and genes with increased H4ac after alpha-IFN treatment.
Isolation and preparation of single mouse cardiomyocytes for confocal microscopy

Myofibril degeneration is a common hallmark of cardiomyopathies leading to cardiac failure. However, information regarding myofibrillar organization in histologic analysis of sectioned tissue is limited by both large size and variable orientation of the cardiomyocytes. In order to observe individual cardiomyocytes from a single mouse heart, we have developed a new procedure for ‘trapping’ dissociated cardiomyocytes on a polyester mesh. Cells can then be visualized by fluorescence confocal microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction of cells can be performed without distortion of intracellular organization resulting from cytofugation. Since the cells are trapped between the mesh and coverslip, the mesh is not seen in reconstructed images. Sarcomeric protein organization in cardiomyocytes can now be conveniently studied using this procedure. Furthermore, individual atrial or ventricular cardiomyocytes are easily identified in the preparation and decreased expression of α-myosin heavy chain protein expression is apparent in propythiouracil (PTU) treated mice. This procedure will be a valuable asset in the analysis of intracellular changes occurring within the hearts of cardiomyopathic mice.
Travel Queries on Cities in the United States: Implications for Search Engine Marketing in Tourism

Given the growing importance of online search in travel planning, marketers need to better understand the behavioural aspect of travel planning using search engines. The goal of this study is to identify patterns in online travel-related queries across tourist destinations. Utilizing transaction log files from a number of search engines, the analysis indicates both commonalities and differences in online queries about different cities in the United States. The ratio of travel queries among all queries about a specific city seems to associate with the levels of “touristic” of that city. Also, keywords in travellers’ queries reflect the images of the city and those of its competitors. This paper offers insights into the way tourism destinations are searched online and implications for search engine marketing in tourism.
The Initial Chemistry of Taste

From the discussion set forth in Chapter 9, it is clear that the acidophore, halophore, glycophore, and picrophore for substances that elicit sour, salty, sweet, and bitter tastes have potential for different chemical functions. This chapter explores the extent to which the case for different induction chemistry mechanisms may account, at the outset, for the sour, salty, sweet and bitter taste modalities. It will also explore varying taste potency (Section 1.3.1), and temporal aspects of taste.
Post-soliton quantum mechanics

The theory of solitons in quantum systems is plagued by it.s semi-classical character. Indeed, to walk through the theory solitons is to venture into the semi-classical world of Schrodinger’s Cat. 3 As nonstationary states in quantum mechanics, solitons should, with the passage of time, evolve into a wave packets that are in some sense superpositions of possible soliton futures, yet the bulk of prevailing theory does not reproduce this quantum property. So how are we to understand the quality of semi-classical results, and how are we to make use of them in circumstances that require a greater consistency with quantum orthodoxy?
Implementation of the sepsis risk score for chorioamnionitis-exposed newborns.

To prevent early onset sepsis (EOS), ~10% of neonates receive antibiotics based on CDC recommendations regarding chorioamnionitis exposure. A sepsis risk score (SRS) predicts EOS and spares unnecessary evaluation and treatment. Chorioamnionitis-exposed neonates utilize significant resources. An SRS algorithm was implemented to decrease resource utilization in chorioamnionitis-exposed neonates ≥35 weeks’. Outcome measures included antibiotic exposure, time in NICU, laboratory evaluations, and length of stay (LOS). Balancing measures were missed cases of EOS and readmissions. Data were assessed using run charts. Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were utilized to process map, implement and reinforce the algorithm. A number of 356 patients met inclusion criteria. After algorithm implementation, antibiotic exposure reduced from 95 to 9%, laboratory evaluation from 96 to 22%, NICU observation from 73 to 10%. LOS remained unchanged. No missed cases of EOS, nor sepsis readmissions. Algorithm implementation decreased antibiotic and resource utilization without missing cases of EOS.
A Thematic Trend Analysis of Relationships Among Organizational Behavior Constructs

Drawing from previous trend analyses made in the discipline of organizational behavior, this paper focuses on the examination of relationships between constructs from the literature published withi...
Cyberattack to Cyber-Physical Model of Wind Farm SCADA

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in wind power penetration into the power system. As a result, the behavior of the power system has become more dependent on wind power behavior. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems responsible for monitoring and controlling wind farms often have vulnerabilities that make them susceptible to cyberattacks. These vulnerabilities allow attackers to exploit and intrude in the wind farm SCADA system. In this paper, a cyber-physical system (CPS) model for the information and communication technology (ICT) model of the wind farm SCADA system integrated with SCADA of the power system is proposed. Cybersecurity of this wind farm SCADA system is discussed. Proposed cyberattack scenarios on the system are modeled and the impact of these cyberattacks on the behavior of the power systems on the IEEE 9-bus modified system is investigated. Finally, an anomaly attack detection algorithm is proposed to stop the attack of tripping of all wind farms. Case studies validate the performance of the proposed CPS model of the test system and the attack detection algorithm.
Bioactive Properties of Carotenoids in Human Health.

Research shows that certain bioactive compounds in our diet have beneficial effects on human health [...]
Who's Responsible Here? Establishing Legal Responsibility in the Fissured Workplace

The nature of work is changing, with workers enduring increasingly precarious working conditions without any safety net. In response, this Article proposes a new “Concentric Circle framework” which would improve workers’ access to civil, labor, and employment rights. Many businesses, including app-based platforms, have restructured toward “fissured workplace” business models. They treat workers like employees (specifying behaviors and closely monitoring outcomes) but they classify workers as independent contractors (engaging them at an arms-length and cutting them off from rights and benefits tied to employment). These arrangements confound legal classifications of “employment” and expose deficiencies with existing workplace protections, which are based on “employment relationships.” As a result, a growing number of workers lack both bargaining power and critical workplace rights and benefits. We propose a Concentric Circle framework to better govern workers’ rights in the modern era. At the core, we maintain that certain rights and protections should not be tethered to an employment relationship, but to work itself. Thus, the right to be compensated for work and paid a minimum wage; freedom from discrimination and retaliation; access to a safe working environment, and the right to associate and engage in concerted activity should belong to all workers, not just employees. Second, as a middle circle, we argue for a rebuttable presumption of employment to address those rights that remain exclusive to employees (and not independent contractors), and we propose an updated legal test of employment. Finally, at the outer ring of the framework, we suggest policies that could enhance workers’ access to benefits that promote worker mobility and social welfare. Other scholarship has focused exclusively on either independent contractors or employees, or it has proposed a new category of worker altogether. We contend that this comprehensive framework better assigns rights, responsibilities, and protections in the modern workplace than do current legal doctrines or alternative proposals.
Running as a Woman? Candidate Presentation in the 2018 Midterms:

The record high number of women who ran for the U.S. Congress during the midterm elections led many journalists to proclaim 2018 as another “Year of the Woman.” Although not every female candidate ...
Abstract IA07: Potential benefits of and obstacles to use of urine-based tumor markers

There are many potential uses of urine-based tumor markers in improving detection and surveillance of bladder cancer. Prior to incorporation of urine markers into clinical care, it is important to demonstrate improved efficacy over standard clinical tools. The main areas where urine markers may improve care is in triaging patients with hematuria who need evaluation, reducing frequency of cystoscopy in patients with low-grade disease, improving detection of high-grade patients, and improving prediction of outcomes in patients with bladder cancer. There are currently limitations in white light cystoscopy, especially in detection of carcinoma in situ (CIS). Also, the most widely used urine marker, cytology, has low sensitivity for detecting low-grade cancer and can miss up to 40% of high-grade bladder cancer. Most urine markers have improved sensitivity over urine cytology but reduced specificity. The prevalence of disease impacts the positive and negative predictive values of these tests. For hematuria, the prevalence of cancer is very low in microhematuria patients; as such, the positive predictive value of urine markers is low. Clinicians need markers to provide clinically useful information by either having a high positive predictive value or high negative predictive value (NPV). In the context of microhematuria, many patients are not adequately evaluated and this can result in delays in diagnosis. A urine marker with a high NPV could reduce need for cystoscopy for low-risk patients and enrich the cohort of patients more likely to have cancer. For surveillance, the sensitivity of urine markers has not been sufficient to replace cystoscopy. It is possible that replacing some cystoscopy procedures by alternating a marker with cystoscopy for patients with low-grade disease may be possible, but trials are needed to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of this approach. In high-grade patients, there is need for improved detection of recurrent tumors, especially CIS, since white light cystoscopy has been shown to miss tumors compared to enhanced cystoscopy. A high-performing urine marker could improve detection, but appropriate studies need to be performed to demonstrate sufficient PPV to justify modifying clinical care. There is also a potential role for using markers to improve management of patients with atypical cytology or cystoscopic findings. They could also improve prediction of outcomes in patients with high-grade disease, especially in those patients treated with intravesical therapies. In order for urine markers to be incorporated into guidelines, it is important to develop appropriate trials to validate their utility. There is also a need to consider overall cost of care and patient perspectives. Citation Format: Yair Lotan. Potential benefits of and obstacles to use of urine-based tumor markers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Bladder Cancer: Transforming the Field; 2019 May 18-21; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(15_Suppl):Abstract nr IA07.
Supplier relationship strategies and outcome dualities: An empirical study of embeddedness perspective

Abstract In buyer-supplier settings, paradoxical (or dualistic) outcomes are often observed. In this paper, we seek to demystify why such puzzling phenomena occur and discourse how firms can better manage their supplier relationships. We argue that any set of dualistic outcomes is basically two manifestations of the same thing—what we refer to as a supplier's learned behavioral pattern. Depending on the buyer's specific relationship strategy, the supplier would learn to behave in a certain way, as it faces two separate—and often competing—business environments: the focal dyad and its extended ties. Adopting the embeddedness lens, we theorize buyer-supplier dyadic embeddedness (BSE) to ascertain the primary (intended) and incidental (unintended) outcomes of buyer strategies toward suppliers. We conceptualize BSE in social and economic dimensions and develop four basic BSE states, dividing each dimension into low and high. Then, we identify four archetypal supplier relationship strategies that correspond with the four basic BSE states and the outcome duality for each strategy type: stability strategy (high social-high economic BSE) inducing relational stability and supplier rigidity, exploitation strategy (low social-high economic) inducing lack of synergy and supplier opportunism, leverage strategy (low social-low economic) inducing relational ambiguity and supplier flexibility, and laissez-faire strategy (high social-low economic) inducing lack of control and supplier innovation. We model each outcome duality mechanism on seemingly unrelated regression (SUR). The empirics come from the survey data collected from a major global automaker and its North American supply base.
Pain During COVID-19: A Comprehensive Review and Guide for the Interventionalist.

Background Chronic pain, the leading cause of disability in the world, imposes limitations on activities of daily living and diminishes quality of life leading to unnecessary patient suffering. The personal and socioeconomic costs of chronic pain cannot be overstated. Physicians are at the crux of the pandemic and must attempt to limit the spread of the virus while maintaining their professional responsibility to their patients and staff members. Objective The aim of this review is to analyze the existing literature to develop consensus recommendations for treating pain during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Relevant literature was located via computer-generated citations between the months of March and May of 2020. Online computer searches of multiple databases including Google Scholar, CINAHL, PubMed, and Cochrane Review were conducted in conjunction with a thorough review of local, state, national, and international governmental and organizational websites to locate research on the area of interest. Results The guidelines in this review are meant to offer a framework to pain practitioners and organizations for providing highly effective, ethical, and safe care to patients while maintaining their commitment to mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific areas addressed include general and interventional-specific treatment and mitigation recommendations. Conclusions We believe that the recommendations in this review, if used in conjunction with evolving recommendations of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and federal, state, and local governing bodies, provides a path to not only mitigate the spread of the pandemic but also limit the adverse impact of pain and suffering in chronic pain patients.
Cultural Sensitivity and Learning About Healthcare Equity for the Underserved: Experiential Learning in a Student-Run Free Clinic.

With increased diversity in the USA comes a growing need to educate medical students on how best to manage diverse patient populations. Medical students on the board of a student-run free clinic (SRFC) were surveyed to determine how such a leadership experience might alter students’ cultural sensitivity as it relates to healthcare equity. Forty-six students (42.2% response) reported their experiences helped them better understand patient’s needs (4.37, 0.64; mean, SD), cultural barriers (4.44, 0.55), and racial/ethnic disparities (4.27, 0.70). Thus, service on the board of a SRFC improves cultural sensitivity.
Extended-Ensemble Docking to Probe Evolution of Ligand Binding Sites in Proteins Undergoing Large-Scale Structural Changes for Their Function

Abstract Proteins can sample a broad energetic landscape as they undergo conformational transition between different functional states. As key players in almost all cellular processes, proteins are important drug targets. Considering the different conformational states of proteins is therefore central for a successful drug-design strategy. Here we introduce a novel docking protocol, termed as extended-ensemble docking, pertaining to proteins that undergo large-scale (global) conformational changes during their function. In its application to multidrug ABC-transporter P-glycoprotein (Pgp), extensive non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations employing system-specific collective variables capturing the alternate access mechanism of Pgp, are first used to construct the transition cycle of the transporter. An extended set of conformational states representing the full transition between the inward- and the outward-facing states of Pgp, is then used to seed high-throughput docking calculations of a set of known substrates, non-substrates, and modulators of the transporter. Large differences are observed in the predicted binding affinities in the conformational ensemble, with compounds showing stronger binding affinities in intermediate conformations compared to the starting crystal structure. Hierarchical clustering of the individual binding modes of the different compounds shows all ligands preferably bind to the large central cavity of the protein, formed at the apex of the transmembrane domain (TMD), whereas only small binding populations are observed in the previously described R and H sites present in the individual TMD leaflets. The central cavity is further clustered into two major subsites: first subsite preferably binds transported substrates and high-affinity inhibitors, whereas the second subsite shows preference for larger substrates and low-affinity modulators. These central sites along with the low-affinity interaction sites present in the individual TMD leaflets may respectively correspond to the proposed high- and low-affinity binding sites in Pgp. We propose further optimization strategy for developing more potent inhibitor of Pgp, based on increasing its specificity to the extended-ensemble of the protein instead of using a single protein structure, as well as its selectivity for the high-affinity binding site. In contrast to earlier in-silico studies using single static structures of Pgp, our results show good correlation with other experimental studies, pointing to the importance of incorporating the global conformational flexibility of proteins in future drug-discovery endeavors.
Developing Cost-Effective Ultrathin Reliable High Power White LED Emitters

A packaging approach for cost-effective and ultrathin high-power phosphor-based white light-emitting-diode (WLED) emitters with outstanding reliability is presented. By removing the encapsulant in the conventional method, the new approach employs a single silicone-phosphor thin layer instead of multiple phosphor layers in chip-scale package (CSP) WLED for both encapsulations, as well as wavelength conversion. It is demonstrated that the presented WLEDs exhibit superior optical and thermal performance and lifetime durability. Accordingly, the present work offers a high reliability, cost-effective alternative approach for ultrathin high power WLED emitters with significant advantages over the conventional packaging structure and chip-scale packaging methods.
Ad Recommendation Systems for Life-Time Value Optimization

The main objective in the ad recommendation problem is to find a strategy that, for each visitor of the website, selects the ad that has the highest probability of being clicked. This strategy could be computed using supervised learning or contextual bandit algorithms, which treat two visits of the same user as two separate independent visitors, and thus, optimize greedily for a single step into the future. Another approach would be to use reinforcement learning (RL) methods, which differentiate between two visits of the same user and two different visitors, and thus, optimizes for multiple steps into the future or the life-time value (LTV) of a customer. While greedy methods have been well-studied, the LTV approach is still in its infancy, mainly due to two fundamental challenges: how to compute a good LTV strategy and how to evaluate a solution using historical data to ensure its "safety" before deployment. In this paper, we tackle both of these challenges by proposing to use a family of off-policy evaluation techniques with statistical guarantees about the performance of a new strategy. We apply these methods to a real ad recommendation problem, both for evaluating the final performance and for optimizing the parameters of the RL algorithm. Our results show that our LTV optimization algorithm equipped with these off-policy evaluation techniques outperforms the greedy approaches. They also give fundamental insights on the difference between the click through rate (CTR) and LTV metrics for performance evaluation in the ad recommendation problem.
Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

The study of systems of quasilinear hyperbolic equations that result from the balance laws of continuum physics was initiated more than a century ago yet, despite considerable progress in recent years, most of the fundamental problems in the analytical theory remain unsolved. From the outset the student of the subject encounters obstacles such as the nonexistence of globally defined smooth solutions, as a reflection of the physical phenomenon of breaking of waves and development of shocks, and the nonuniqueness of (weak) solutions in the class of discontinuous functions. Furthermore, no strong a priori estimates have yet been discovered for systems of more than one equation so that the subject is not amenable to the functional analytic techniques that have swept through the theory of partial differential equations of other types. It is only now that a functional analytic treatment of these systems is emerging, based on the delicate theory of compensated compactness which relies upon weak a priori estimates. The reader may find an account of these interesting recent developments in the article by L. Tartar in this volume.
Lipoprotein(a): New insights into mechanisms of atherogenesis and thrombosis

Lipoprotein(a) (Lp[a]) continues to be a controversial molecule regarding its role in human vascular disease. Although the physiologic role of this molecule is still unclear, novel discoveries within the last few years have suggested numerous mechanisms whereby Lp(a) may contribute to atherosclerosis and its complications in human subjects. These effects may differentially occur in vascular tissue and circulating blood compartments. A complex interplay between tissue-specific effects is probably more relevant to the pathogenicity of this molecule than one single effect alone. This review briefly describes the structure of Lp(a) in relation to its biochemical function, summarizing the current literature on various pathophysiologic mechanisms of Lp(a)-induced vascular disease and the role of cell and tissue-specific effects in promoting atherogenesis and thrombosis.
Democracy, Anxiety, and Freedom: A Reply to Richard Amesbury

I am grateful to Richard Amesbury for his careful reading of my book Faith, Fallibility, and the Virtue of Anxiety and for the thoughtful response to it that he has provided here. And I am honored by the company in which he has placed the book, in his estimation of its overall contribution to the field, even as he has offered a forceful and well-articulated critique of some of my main conclusions. Amesbury is sympathetic to the broad anthropological and epistemological dimensions of my account of anxiety, and he seems to embrace some version of my general conception of ‘‘Socratic anxiety’’ as an important epistemic virtue in the context of democratic-discursive political society (I take it his version of this virtue would be more narrowly bounded than mine in terms of its moral and political implications). But he is skeptical that the fallibilist defense of classic liberaldemocratic norms that I develop in conjunction with this understanding of anxiety can do the necessary work of justifying these norms. Amesbury suggests that some of the persuasive force that accrues to my argument against moral coercion in the reader’s mind, as I proceed to explicate my understanding of the normative consequences entailed by human fallibility, derives not from the general epistemic and moral principles that I am espousing but, rather, from the particular epistemic and moral dynamics involved in the specific examples that I use to illustrate my meaning. So, for example, he points to my use of legal prohibitions against gay marriage as an example of the sort of imposition of religiously particularistic moral norms that violates the existential autonomy of those who do not voluntarily embrace those norms for themselves, which he believes draws strength covertly from ‘‘the fact that many of [Malone-France’s] readers are likely to take ourselves to have good reasons to doubt the correctness of this imagined [anti-gay marriage] activist’s beliefs’’ (4). He then asserts,
Inhibitory and activating functions for MAPK Kss1 in the S. cerevisiae filamentous- growth signalling pathway

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades are conserved signalling modules that regulate responses to diverse extracellular stimuli, developmental cues and environmental stresses. A MAPK is phosphorylated and activated by a MAPK kinase (MAPKK), which is activated by an upstream protein kinase, such as Raf, Mos or a MAPKK kinase. Ste7, a MAPKK in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is required for two developmental pathways: mating and invasive (filamentous) growth. Kss1 and Fus3, the MAPK targets of Ste7, are required for mating, but their role in invasive growth has been unclear. Because no other S. cerevisiae MAPK has been shown to function in invasive growth, it was proposed that Ste7 may have non-MAPK targets. We show instead that Kss1 is the principal target of Ste7 in the invasive-growth response in both haploids and diploids. We demonstrate further that Kss1 in its inactive form is a potent negative regulator of invasive growth. Ste7 acts to relieve this negative regulation by switching Kss1 from an inhibitor to an activator. These results indicate that this MAPK has a physiologically important function in its unactivated state. Comparison of normal and MAPK-deficient cells indicates that nitrogen starvation and activated Ras stimulate filamentous growth through both MAPK-independent and MAPK-dependent means.
Stability of ribosomes and ribosomal ribonucleic acid from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

After heating at 65 C, ribosomes isolated from Bacillus stearothermophilus were strikingly more heat-stable than comparable preparations from Escherichia coli when tested for ability to support polyuridylic acid-directed phenylalanine incorporation at 37 C. The stability of ribosomes was also determined by measurements of hyperchromicity at 259 mμ while heating them from 25 to 90 C. In standard buffer containing 0.01 m Mg++, the Tm (temperature at the midpoint of total hyperchromicity) of E. coli and B. stearothermophilus ribosomes was 71 and 81 C, respectively. In a magnesium-free buffer, the Tm of E. coli and B. stearothermophilus ribosomes was 44 and 64 C, respectively. Putrescine (0.01 m) was more effective in stabilizing ribosomes from B. stearothermophilus than those from E. coli. Spermidine (0.001 m), on the other hand, was more effective in stabilizing ribosomes from E. coli than those from B. stearothermophilus. Melting curves of total ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) from E. coli and B. stearothermophilus revealed Tm values of 50 and 60 C, respectively. Putrescine stabilized thermophile rRNA, but had no effect on E. coli rRNA. Sucrose density gradients demonstrated that thermophile 23S ribonucleic acid was degraded during storage at −20 C; the 23S component from E. coli was stable under these conditions. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanism of ribosome heat stability and the role of the ribosome in governing the temperature limits for bacterial growth.
GTE Union Organization A Case Study

On November 19, 1993 the following notice was sent to the office of the general manager of GTE Supply Company in Tampa, Florida: Gentlemen: A petition for certification as collective bargaining representative of certain of your employees has been filed with this office, pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act, as amended. A copy of the petition is enclosed. Should you desire further information before a Board Agent communicates with you, telephone or write the office to which the case is being assigned, referring to the above case name and number" (United States of America, 1993). This letter was the beginning of the final phase of long-term labor unrest at GTE Supply. The labor conflict began over five years earlier, and culminated in a third union representation election in January 1994.
FRI: Failure-Resistant Induction in RRL

We have described briefly a proof manager called FRI, which supports the cover set induction method of RRL. We believe that FRI makes the cover set method more powerful and applicable to a wider class of equational theories for automating inductive proofs. Without FRI, we could not obtain a proof of the Chinese Remainder theorem [9].
Reliable decentralized stabilization via extended linear matrix inequalities and constrained dissipativity

SUMMARY This paper considers the problem of reliable decentralized stabilization with multicontroller configurations when some of the controllers are faulty in the sense that they fail to act optimally or do not function in the way that they were originally intended to function. Specifically, we introduce a solution concept that requires controllers to respond optimally (i.e. in the sense of best-response correspondences) to the nonfaulty controllers regardless of the identity or actions of the faulty controllers. At any time, we assume that the nonfaulty controllers know only that there can be at most one faulty controller in the system, but they know neither the identity of the faulty controller nor how this faulty controller behaves. We present a design framework using an extended linear matrix inequality technique for deriving reliable stabilizing state-feedback gains; whereas a set of filters whose estimation-error dynamics satisfy certain quadratic integral constraints is used as decentralized observers within the subsystems for extending the result to the output-feedback case. Moreover, a sufficient condition for solvability of the problem is provided in terms of the minimum-phase condition of the subsystems. We also present an application of the results to a power system problem. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dimensionless parameters for the design of optical traps and laser guidance systems

Optical traps are routinely used for the manipulation of neutral particles. However, optical trap design is limited by the lack of an accurate theory. The generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT) solves the scattering problem for arbitrary particle size and predicts radial forces accurately. Here we show that the GLMT predicts the observed radial and axial forces in a variety of optical manipulators. We also present a dimensionless parameter β for the prediction of axial forces. Coupled with our correlation for radial escape forces, we now have a set of two simple correlations for the practical design of radiation-force-based systems.