cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Iterative design and information communication technology for community development

The goal of the Development Clearinghouse (DevClear) is to facilitate social networking between stakeholders in development assistance. These stakeholders include communities in need of essential human services (EHS), non-governmental organizations (NGO) that provide development assistance to communities, and funding agencies (FA) that provide financial, and other support for development assistance to communities in need. Essential human services are defined as access to; water, sanitation, shelter, household energy, clean indoor air, food, and personal security. A developing community is one that lacks the capability to provide at least one EHS to its members from its own resources. This project seeks to give voice to the need for EHS in developing communities, particularly communities that are low-income, rural, and/or comprised primarily of indigenous people. These communities generally have the greatest unmet need for EHS, and the least ability to communicate with the development aid community. The goal of this project is to create an internet- and short message service (SMS) based platform to allow for timely, multilateral communication between NGOs, communities in need, FAs, and other related entities. The team was asked to develop a means of connecting stakeholders in developing communities in the most effective manner. Each stakeholder would use DevClear to address a community's needs, as well as share information about their respective needs or available services with others. The preceding Capstone team determined that SMS was the most viable technology to satisfy these requirements. Ideally, the final design will have two interconnected parts, the web interface and SMS component. This Capstone team has been working to implement this technology into DevClear. As soon as a functional prototype is ready, the team will begin testing it. fully functioning prototype is expected by May 2014, with field testing planned for Siuna, Nicaragua in July 2014.
Lipoxin Generation in Human Whole Blood: Monitoring by Electron-Capture NICI GC/MS

Mammalian lipoxygenase-derived products of arachidonic acid were first identified with cells of hematopoietic origins (reviewed in ref. 1). Products of these enzymatic pathways (e.g. leukotrienes) play critical roles in a wide range of physiologic responses (2). The lipoxins (LX) are an addition to the established family of bioactive eicosanoids. Members of the LX series contain a conjugated tetraene structure, can be generated by the interactions of individual lipoxygenases or by cell-cell interactions, and display a profile of bioactions unique among eicosanoids (reviewed in 2,3). Results from several laboratories now show that lipoxin A4 can block the proinflammatory actions of leukotriene B4 and the hemodynamic effects of leukotriene D4. LXA4 may also play an intracellular role in its cell of origin, since it activates isolated protein kinase C and has been found to inhibit IP3 formation (recently reviewed in ref. 3). Thus, as is the case with other bioactive eicosanoids, the availability of appropriate quantitative methods will play a critical role in assessing the temporal association between lipoxin formation and their potential involvement in both physiologic and pathophysiologic events.
Multiple regions-of-interest analysis of setup uncertainties for head-and-neck cancer radiotherapy

Purpose: To analyze three-dimensional setup uncertainties for multiple regions of interest (ROIs) in head-and-neck region. Methods and Materials: In-room computed tomography (CT) scans were acquired using a CT-on-rails system for 14 patients. Three separate bony ROIs were defined: C2 and C6 vertebral bodies and the palatine process of the maxilla. Translational shifts of 3 ROIs were calculated relative to the marked isocenter on the immobilization mask. Results: The shifts for all 3 ROIs were highly correlated. However, noticeable differences on the order of 2–6 mm existed between any 2 ROIs, indicating the flexibility and/or rotational effect in the head-and-neck region. The palatine process of the maxilla had the smallest right-left shifts because of the tight lateral fit in the face mask, but the largest superior-inferior movement because of in-plane rotation and variations in jaw positions. The neck region (C6) had the largest right-left shifts. The positioning mouthpiece was found effective in reducing variations in the superior-inferior direction. There was no statistically significant improvement for using the S-board (8 out of 14 patients) vs. the short face mask. Conclusions: We found variability in setup corrections for different regions of head-and-neck anatomy. These relative positional variations should be considered when making setup corrections or designing treatment margins.
Shared responsibility of the mentally retarded--one approach to the prevention of institutionalism.

When the state guarantees life-long care, the community develops resources and the family assumes as much responsibility as it can for itself and its retardate member, when the responsibility is shared, life-long institutionalization can be prevented in many cases.
Effects of age and divided attention on memory components derived for the category exemplar generation task.

ABSTRACT Age differences in memory performances on a conceptually driven task, the category exemplar generation (CEG) test, were investigated. Thirty-six younger adults and 36 healthy older adults studied word lists in full and divided attention conditions. Recall was tested with category names. The process-dissociation procedure was used to derive estimates of controlled and automatic memory. Old-old adults (70–84 years) exhibited poorer conscious recollection than both younger (18–24) and young-old adults (59–69). In contrast, no age differences were found in estimates of automatic memory. For the younger and older adults, the divided encoding manipulation reduced both the consciously controlled and automatic estimates of memory. The results suggest that the few prior findings of age deficits in priming on the CEG may have been an artifact of contamination from conscious retrieval processes. They also indicate that the opportunity for greater semantic processing enhances the conceptual priming of both y...
Home Bias, an Academic Puzzle

Only 23% of all empirical studies published in the top journals in the field of Finance examine non-U.S. markets, a fraction that is well below measures that reflect their economic importance. This “home bias” fluctuates across years over the last two decades but with no discernible trend in any direction. There is also a “foreign bias” in which some non-U.S. countries are more frequently the subject of published papers than others. I am unable to explain much of either the home-bias or the foreign-bias puzzles in Finance research using a variety of supply factors (number of published authors affiliated with non-U.S. universities, number of Ph.D. students graduating from non-U.S. programs), demand factors (market returns, volatilities, portfolio flows), and other factors that have been shown to explain the home- and foreign-bias phenomenon in international portfolio holdings. I discuss the implications of these findings.
The Laboratory Course Assessment Survey: A Tool to Measure Three Dimensions of Research-Course Design

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are increasingly being offered as scalable ways to involve undergraduates in research. Yet few if any design features that make CUREs effective have been identified. We developed a 17-item survey instrument, the Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (LCAS), that measures students' perceptions of three design features of biology lab courses: 1) collaboration, 2) discovery and relevance, and 3) iteration. We assessed the psychometric properties of the LCAS using established methods for instrument design and validation. We also assessed the ability of the LCAS to differentiate between CUREs and traditional laboratory courses, and found that the discovery and relevance and iteration scales differentiated between these groups. Our results indicate that the LCAS is suited for characterizing and comparing undergraduate biology lab courses and should be useful for determining the relative importance of the three design features for achieving student outcomes.
Nutrition of Juvenile and Adult Fish

For marine fish farming to be feasible, foods that produce adequate growth and survival at an acceptable cost are necessary. It is useful to group fish into five feeding categories: pelagic carnivores, demersal carnivores, demersal omnivores, demersal herbivores, and planktivores. With few exceptions (e.g., milkfish, ayu, tilapia, striped mullet), most mariculture candidates fall into the first three groups. Requirements vary broadly among categories and on a finer scale among species within categories. Needs also are affected to a degree by factors such as age, size, growth rate, developmental stage, density, food quality, water quality, temperature, salinity, pH, photoperiod, stress, and health. Availability of feed ingredients varies among regions, and will influence the composition of least-cost formulas. High quality trash fish sometimes is used for grow-out of carnivorous and omnivorous marine fish, but unless it is very fresh, such a diet can carry pathogens and toxins, or be nutritionally deficient (Taniguchi, 1983a, 19836; Nakagawa et al., 1984). In Japan and Europe, some commercial feeds are available, but in other Far Eastern countries, the Middle East, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere, development of feeds for non-salmonid marine fish is relatively recent. Some of the earlier literature on feeding marine fish was reviewed by New (1986). This chapter reviews research on nutrition of representative cultured marine fish and makes some suggestions on fulfilling their requirements.
THE HOBART OPERATION

While it is felt that the modified Nicola operation is adequate for most cases, the author believes that in those cases in which the patients are subjected to severe trauma, as in football, etc., its combination with the Clairmont operation is more likely to insure permanent reduction. A combination of the two operations has been employed in two cases with success. Its successful use in further cases is, of course, necessary to prove this operation reliable.
Abstract 16723: Complementation of Mutant Embryos Demonstrates a Cell Autonomous Requirement of Etv2

Our previous studies have demonstrated that the disruption of Etv2 , a gene encoding an Ets related transcription factor, resulted in the absence of the endothelial/endocardial lineages. Etv2 is unique in that it has a limited window of expression from E7 to E9. It is unknown whether all endothelial/endocardial progenitors require Etv2 expression or whether this is only a requirement for the initial vasculogenic progenitor/stem cells. We hypothesized that complementation of Etv2 mutant embryoid bodies (EBs) or embryos with wildtype embryonic stem cells (ESCs) would rescue the endothelial defect in a cell autonomous manner and mutant cells would not contribute to vessel development. To address this hypothesis, we co-differentiated mouse wildtype and mutant ESCs with EYFP-labeled wildtype ESCs. We observed that differentiation of wildtype EYFP-ESCs resulted in contributions to the endothelial lineage. Further, co-differentiation of Etv2 mutant and EYFP-labeled ESCs resulted in endothelial cells derived solely from the wildtype EYFP-labeled cells, indicating that the rescue event is cell autonomous. We further addressed this hypothesis using blastocyst complementation in vivo . We interbred mice hemizygous for two distinct Etv2 gene disruptions and harvested blastocysts at E3.5. EYFP-labeled ESCs were injected into the blastocoele cavity and transferred into pseudopregnant mice. At E10.5, a day after the death of Etv2 mutant embryos, the developing embryos were analyzed for chimerism and the contribution of EYFP-labeled ESCs to various cell lineages. We observed that the EYFP-labeled ESCs contributed randomly to all lineages in the wildtype or heterozygous Etv2 embryo. However, when the recipient was an Etv2 mutant blastocyst, the EYFP-labeled cells preferentially gave rise to endothelial lineages. These wildtype ES cells rescued the phenotype of mutant embryos in direct correlation with the degree of chimerism. Furthermore, this was a cell autonomous event as unlabeled mutant cells were unable to give rise to endothelium. We conclude that all endothelial progenitors during embryogenesis require Etv2 expression.
Relationship between ambient ultraviolet radiation and Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes in the United States.

There are few modifiable risk factors for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), the most common cancer among young adults in Western populations. Some studies have found a reduced risk with exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), but findings have been inconsistent and limited to HL as a group or the most common subtypes. We evaluated UVR and incidence of HL subtypes using data from 15 population-based cancer registries in the United States from 2001 to 2010 (n=20 021). Ground-based ambient UVR estimates were linked to county of diagnosis. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for UVR quintiles using Poisson regression models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, diagnosis year, and registry. Hodgkin lymphoma incidence was lower in the highest UVR quintile for nodular sclerosis (IRR=0.84, 95% CI=0.75–0.96, P-trend<0.01), mixed cellularity/lymphocyte-depleted (IRR=0.66, 95% CI=0.51–0.86, P-trend=0.11), lymphocyte-rich (IRR=0.71, 95% CI=0.57–0.88, P-trend<0.01), and nodular lymphocyte predominant HL (IRR=0.74, 95% CI=0.56–0.97, P-trend<0.01), but ‘not otherwise specified’ HL (IRR=1.19, 95% CI=0.96–1.47, P-trend=0.11). This is the largest study of UVR and HL subtypes covering a wide range of UVR levels; however, we lack information on personal UVR and other individual risk factors. These findings support an inverse association between UVR and HL.
Menstrual Migraine in Adolescents

The relationship between migraines and the menstrual cycle in prepubertal and pubertal girls was analyzed retrospectively in 896 girls, aged 9 to 18 years (mean age 14.3 years), attending a pediatric Headache Center at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, OH.
Quantitative genetic background effects on the Antennapaedia phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetic background variation influencing expression of the Antennapaedia homeotic phenotype was examined by crossing the Antp73b allele of the Antennapaedia locus reciprocally into seven isogenically derived wild type strains of Drosophila melanogaster and their genetically heterogeneous parent strain, Dover. The parent Antp73b strain's Antennapaedia phenotype shows a small patch of untransformed antennal tissue remaining on the homeotic femur. The size of this patch was used as an assay for background variation influencing expression of the Antp73b homeotic mutation. Patch size varied approximately six-fold across the different genetic backgrounds. Effects of maternal parent, sex, and sex-linkage were also observed.
Thoreau on Poverty and Magnanimity

In Walden and his other mature writings Thoreau often approaches the social problem of poverty not through the directly assertive rhetoric of the Transcendentalist reformers, but by associating certain poor men with the Aristotelian quality of “greatness of soul”. This American, democratic, magnanimous hero lives quietly close to nature, but he is “a prince in disguise”, reincarnating “the worthies of antiquity”, the gods and heroes of classical mythology and history. Walden contains both a sharp awareness of how the Protestant ethic leads to economic hypocrisy in the New Englander's attitude toward the poor and a highly imaginative art of characterization, through which Thoreau transforms the innocent poor into heroes like those of contemporary American romances. But his political essays of the 1850's, particularly those on slavery and the heroic revolutionary activities of John Brown, reveal the limitations of Thoreau's art. His mythopoeic characterization of Brown comes too easily, emerging from a simplistic, abstract, merely polemical response to evil. “Magnanimity” becomes sheer brute force. Thoreau's characters thus lack the dimension of tragic magnanimity; his account of Brown has none of the mysterious innocence of Melville's Billy Budd, whose life and death present striking parallels to Brown's.
In Situ Measurement of Block Copolymer Ordering Kinetics during the Drying of Solution-Cast Films Using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering

The ordering of a poly(styrene-b-butadiene) block copolymer solution into hexagonally packed cylinders during the extraction of a neutral solvent from a solution-cast film was studied in real time ...
Authoritarian avoidance of ambiguity.

Authoritarian people can be expected to manifest intolerance of ambiguity in the autokinetic situation by responding in ways that are consistent with their own prior responses, and reporting movement of the autokinetic light sooner. 30 Ss receiving high scores on the California Fascism Scale formed the authoritarian group; 30 Ss receiving low scores formed the nonauthoritarian group. No sex differences were found. Both expectations were supported by the data, discussed in terms of authoritarians' avoidance of stimulus ambiguity, responding in terms of available anchorage points.
The Case of the Premature Departure: The Trans-Mississippi West and American History Textbooks

In America: Past and Present, Robert A. Divine and his coauthors tell a story about the "eastern provincialism" of presidential candidate Al Smith in 1928: "When reporters asked him about his appeal in the states west of the Mississippi, he replied, 'What states are west of the Mississippi?' "1 Writers of the current crop of American history textbooks have a certain amount in common with the ill-fated Smith. A few of them run into moments of trouble in keeping these big, square, evidently interchangeable states straight. Wyoming is the state most commonly injured. In These United States, Irwin Unger moves the Fetterman massacre from Wyoming to Nebraska, and in The Pursuit of Liberty, R. Jackson Wilson and his collaborators remove the Union Pacific Railroad from its accustomed route through Wyoming and send it south across Colorado.2 Such bloopers, however, are nothing new to westerners, who find it an equal challenge to keep the tiny states of the East Coast in some semblance of named order. The textbooks, more often than not, put western states in their proper geographical place; indeed, the maps are sometimes more illuminating than the written narrative. The problem arises, instead, with the place of the trans-Mississippi West in national history. Laboring under their own version of Al Smith's eastern provincialism, nearly all the authors are content to let their point of view, as well as most of their narrative, rest in the eastern United States. When some of them use the phrase "the Far West" to describe Utah, Oregon, New Mexico, or California, no one has to ask, "Far from what?" In other sections of these books, intellectual revolutions have taken place. In the writing of colonial, southern, African-American, and labor history, the texts keep
The relationship between marital quality and coronary artery bypass graft surgery as experienced by 3 couples.

PURPOSE: Marital quality is a key factor in the lived experiences of couples in which one of the partners has undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Previous research about marital quality has been largely quantitative, and few studies have explored more holistically the marital couple and their experience of a major medical procedure. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between marital quality and the ongoing dynamic of a couple's experience of bypass surgery. METHODS: The study used the descriptive phenomenological-psychological method. The sample (N = 6) included 3 couples recruited from the Cardiac Wellness Institute of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were married, and one of the partners had undergone CABG surgery in the last 2 years. Two face-to-face interviews were conducted with each couple; the transcribed data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. All variables about the marital relationship that arose in the interviews were used as the data for analysis. RESULTS: A single structure was developed that describes the marital couple and their lived experience of this major medical procedure. The invariant meanings of the structure highlighted areas such as the impact of long-standing relational patterns and levels of marital satisfaction on a couple's postoperative adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that marital quality functioned as a major contributor (input) to couples' psychosocial recovery post-CABG surgery; conversely, bypass surgery highlighted existing levels of marital quality (output) and exacerbated weaknesses in the dyadic relationship.
Flicker/voltage fluctuation response of modern lamps including those with dimmable capability and other low voltage sensitive equipment

The key objective of the work presented in this paper is to gain improved and updated understanding of the flicker performance of the latest lighting technologies. The work presented in this paper summarizes the detailed testing that has been performed to characterize the response of modern lighting to voltage fluctuations in the supply. The test plan was devised to capture the flicker response over a broad frequency range from 5 to 25 Hz. The modulation signal parameters were also varied to allow the study of the impact of amplitude and wave shape. Then, the impact of the operation of dimmers on the flicker performance of dimmable lighting technologies was evaluated. Finally, the impacts of excessive voltage fluctuations on other sensitive low voltage (LV) equipment were also investigated. The information in this paper should prove useful to decision makers in industry standard groups. (4 pages)
FREQUENCY AND PHASE MODULATION

This chapter focuses on frequency and phase modulation. A non-stereo, single-channel receiver consists of a discriminator, envelope detector, and low pass filter. The chapter reviews the flexibility of frequency modulation (FM) broadcast systems. The flexibility occurs because the bandwidth of an FM signal depends upon more than the bandwidth of the information signal. In broadcast amplitude modulation (AM), the only way stereo is possible is by going to single sideband or by broadcasting the second channel on another station. Some AM stations are able to obtain two adjacent station assignments. The bandwidth of an FM wave can be determined as the frequency of the information signal. The bandwidth of the modulated waveform is dependent upon the highest frequency component of the information signal. In the case of narrowband or wideband FM waveforms, the transform of the modulated waveform is band limited to some range of frequencies around the carrier frequency.
Genetic Approaches to Health Disparities

Abstract Purpose This chapter explores the rise in genetic approaches to health disparities at the turn of the twenty-first century. Methodology/approach Analysis of public health policies, genome project records, ethnography of project leaders and leading genetic epidemiologists, and news coverage of international projects demonstrates how the study of health disparities and genetic causes of health simultaneously took hold just as the new field of genomics and matters of racial inequality became a global priority for biomedical science and public health. Findings As the U.S. federal government created policies to implement racial inclusion standards, international genome projects seized the study race, and diseases that exhibit disparities by race. Genomic leaders made health disparities research a central feature of their science. However, recent attempts to move toward analysis of gene-environment interactions in health and disease have proven insufficient in addressing sociological contributors to health disparities. In place of in-depth analyses of environmental causes, pharmacogenomics drugs, diagnostics, and inclusion in sequencing projects have become the frontline solutions to health disparities. Originality/value The chapter argues that genetic forms of medicalization and racialization have taken hold over science and public health around the world, thereby engendering a divestment from sociological approaches that do not align with the expansion of genomic science. The chapter thus contributes to critical discussions in the social and health sciences about the fundamental processes of medicalization, racialization, and geneticization in contemporary society.
Masculine Ideology, Sexual Communication, and Sexual Self-Efficacy Among Parenting Adolescent Couples.

This study examined the relationship between traditional masculine role norms (status, toughness, anti-femininity) and psychosocial mechanisms of sexual risk (sexual communication, sexual self-efficacy) among young, low-income, and minority parenting couples. Between 2007 and 2011, 296 pregnant adolescent females and their male partners were recruited from urban obstetrics clinics in Connecticut. Data regarding participants' beliefs in masculine role norms, frequency of general sex communication and sexual risk communication, and sexual self-efficacy were collected via computer-assisted self-interviews. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were used to test for actor effects (whether a person's masculine role norms at baseline influence the person's own psychosocial variables at 6-month follow-up) and partner effects (whether a partner's masculine role norms at baseline influence an actor's psychosocial variables at 6-month follow-up). Results revealed that higher actor status norms were significantly associated with more sexual self-efficacy, higher actor toughness norms were associated with less sexual self-efficacy, and higher actor anti-femininity norms were significantly associated with less general sex communication, sexual risk communication, and sexual self-efficacy. No partner effects were found. These results indicate a need for redefining masculine role norms through family centered approaches in pregnant or parenting adolescent couples to increase sexual communication and sexual self-efficacy. Further research is needed to understand partner effects in the context of a relationship and on subsequent sexual risk behavior.
Commuting to Another World: Spaces of Transport and Transport Maps in Urban Fantasy

In fantasy and science fiction more than any other genres of fiction, mapping is an essential supplement, and often a precursor, to the standard creative process of character development and plotting. This chapter examines a particular kind of mapping, the particular kinds of spaces it maps, and the peculiar imaginary surrounding it: the urban transport system and its relationship to the contemporary sub-genre of urban fantasy with which it has emerged. The chapter considers a range of texts by writers including China Mieville, Neil Gaiman, Laurence Leonard, Michael de Larrabeiti, Neal Shusterman, Suzanne Collins, and Lauren Beukes. It concludes with a brief analysis of Michael Moorcock’s Mother London (1988) and Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day (2006).
Evaluation of physicochemical and physical habitat associations for Cambarus callainus (Big Sandy crayfish), an imperilled crayfish endemic to the Central Appalachians

1. Crayfish represent one of the most imperilled animal groups on the planet. Habitat degradation, destruction and fragmentation, introduction of invasive crayfishes, and a lack of applied biological information have all been identified as agents thwarting crayfish conservation. 2. Cambarus callainus was warranted federal protection by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in April, 2016. As part of the USFWS listing procedure, a survey for C. callainus in the Big Sandy River catchment was conducted to determine points of occurrence with a secondary objective of determining reach level physical habitat and physicochemical correlates of C. callainus presence and absence. 3. At each site, physicochemical and physical habitat data were collected to determine the influence of abiotic covariates on the presence of C. callainus. Cambarus callainus presence or absence and associated site covariates were modelled using logistic regression. 4. Survey results recorded C. callainus at 39 sites in the Upper Levisa Fork (ULF) and Tug Fork (TF) drainages of the Big Sandy River; no C. callainus were collected in the Lower Levisa Fork (LLF). An additive effects model of physical habitat quality (Basin + Boulder presence/embeddedness) was the only model selected, supporting an association of C. callainus with slab boulders, open interstitial spaces, and moderate to no sedimentation. All sites lacking C. callainus were experiencing some degree of sedimentation. Physicochemical covariates were not supported by the data. 5. Results indicated that good quality habitat was lacking in the LLF, but was present in the ULF and TF catchments, with ULF supporting the most robust populations and most suitable habitat. Effective conservation for C. callainus should focus on efforts that limit sedimentation as well as restore good quality instream habitat in the greater Big Sandy catchment.
Human Tumor Antigens Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

The question of whether human tumors express antigens that can be recognized by the immune system has been answered with a resounding YES. Most were identified through spontaneous antitumor humoral and cellular immune responses found in cancer patients and include peptides, glycopeptides, phosphopeptides, viral peptides, and peptides resulting from common mutations in oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes, or common gene fusion events. Many have been extensively tested as candidates for anticancer vaccines. More recently, attention has been focused on the potentially large number of unique tumor antigens, mutated neoantigens, that are the predicted products of the numerous mutations revealed by exome sequencing of primary tumors. Only a few have been confirmed as targets of spontaneous immunity and immunosurveillance, and even fewer have been tested in preclinical and clinical settings. The field has been divided for a long time on the relative importance of shared versus mutated antigens in tumor surveillance and as candidates for vaccines. This question will eventually need to be answered in a head to head comparison in well-designed clinical trials. One advantage that shared antigens have over mutated antigens is their potential to be used in vaccines for primary cancer prevention. Cancer Immunol Res; 5(5); 347–54. ©2017 AACR .
Framing of customer engagement opportunities and renewable energy integration by electric utility representatives

Abstract Distributed and renewable energy technologies are changing the electricity sector and altering traditional relationships between electric utilities and their customers. This analysis involving focus groups with fourteen electric utilities in seven U.S. states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Texas, and Vermont) demonstrates divergence in framing among utility representatives in terms of how they characterize customer engagement opportunities and renewable energy integration. This research is among the first qualitative studies comparing utility representatives’ discourse across the United States. Utilities in Texas and Vermont are particularly divergent especially in their framing of customer engagement opportunities during this time of energy transition.
Surface charge of rare earth phosphate (monazite) in aqueous solutions

Abstract The surface charge mechanisms of monazite were studied using electrokinetic tests, solution equilibrium calculations, crystal structure characterization, and electrostatic model predictions. The isoelectric point (IEP) of a natural monazite sample was found to occur at pH 6.0. To allow a theoretical study of the surface charge on monazite, fundamental values associated with cerium monazite (CePO 4 ) were utilized to quantify the isoelectric point (IEP) and point of zero charge (PZC) using solution equilibrium calculations and electrostatic models. The IEP and PZC of the cerium monazite were determined to be equal with a pH value of 7.2. Hydroxyl and hydrogen were found to be potential determining ions and preferential hydrolysis of the lattice ions played a minor role. The findings support the hypothesis that the charge of monazite surfaces in water is a result of protonation/deprotonation reactions. The difference in the IEP values obtained for the natural monazite and cerium monazite along with the wide range of values reported in literature may be partially explained by the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in solution. When equilibrating with carbon dioxide at 10 –3.5 atm partial pressure, the IEP of the cerium monazite shifted to a solution pH value of 4.5.
Portable Six-Port Reflectometer for Determining Moisture Content of Biomass Material

A portable six-port reflectometer for determining moisture content of biomass material is proposed for the first time in this paper. The proposed system consists of a 5.13-GHz reflectometer used with an open-ended half-mode substrate-integrated waveguide sensor. The complex permittivity of biomass (sawdust) was measured, and a dielectric-properties-based algorithm for moisture determination was developed. The reflectometer performance was verified by comparing the measured complex permittivity to results obtained with a commercial automatic network analyzer. Finally, the predicted moisture content was compared with the standard oven drying method.
Evaluating School Counseling Programs: Retrospect and Prospect

Evaluation of school counseling programs has been characterized by an emphasis on experimental, descriptive, and case study approaches. These kinds of studies have yielded useful data in extending ...
Comparison of outcomes with surgical cut-down versus percutaneous transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement: TAVR transfemoral access comparisons between surgical cut-down and percutaneous approach.

OBJECTIVES The objective is to compare the short-term (30 days) and late (12 months) vascular adverse events in patients undergoing transfemoral (TF)-transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) by surgical cut-down (SC) vs. percutaneous (PC) approaches. BACKGROUND Programs continue to utilize both approaches in TF-TAVR. There are limited data comparing outcomes by SC vs. PC approaches and long-term effects of endovascular intervention facilitated hemostasis on late vascular adverse events. METHODS A total of 146 men and women aged 79.7 ± 10.0 years with severe aortic stenosis deemed extreme or high risk for surgery underwent TAVR via TF access. 61 had SC and 85 had PC approaches. Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC-2) outcomes were assessed at an average of 12.1 months after TAVR. RESULTS Hospital length of stay (LOS) post-TAVR was shorter for the PC group compared to the SC group (5.1 ± 3.9 vs. 8.2 ± 6.6 days; P < 0.001). More patients were discharged directly to home in the PC than the SC group (85.9% vs. 68.9%, P < 0.05). At 30 days, there were 13/61 (21.3%) and 16/85 (18.8%; P < 0.05) of any vascular events, and 2/61 (3.3%) and 2/85 (2.4%; P = 0.73) major vascular events in the SC and PC groups, respectively. There was no difference in all-cause mortality between the SC (14/61; 23%) and PC groups [17/85 (20%); P = 0.34]. There was no difference in any [4/33 (12%) vs. 3/43 (7%); P = 0.84] or major vascular adverse events [1/33 (3%) vs. 1/43 (2%); P = 0.79] in subjects that underwent adjunctive endovascular intervention compared to those who did not, respectively. There were no statistically significant univariate or multivariate predictors of any vascular event at 12 months when comparing SC to PC groups. CONCLUSION For TF TAVR, the PC approach, when compared to the SC approach, is associated with a shorter hospital LOS and higher rate of direct discharge to home with similar risk of vascular complications, late vascular adverse events, and all-cause mortality at 12 months.
Imaging Biomaterial–Tissue Interactions

Modern biomedical imaging has revolutionized life science by providing anatomical, functional, and molecular information of biological species with high spatial resolution, deep penetration, enhanced temporal responsiveness, and improved chemical specificity. In recent years, these imaging techniques have been increasingly tailored for characterizing biomaterials and probing their interactions with biological tissues. This in turn has spurred substantial advances in engineering material properties to accommodate different imaging modalities that was previously unattainable. Here, we review advances in engineering both imaging modalities and material properties with improved contrast, providing a timely practical guide to better assess biomaterial–tissue interactions both in vitro and in vivo .
OpenNotes and shared decision making: a growing practice in clinical transparency and how it can support patient-centered care.

Objective Prior studies suggest inviting patients to read their visit notes (OpenNotes) has important benefits for patient engagement. We utilized survey data to investigate our hypothesis that patients who read more notes would report greater shared decision making (SDM). Materials and methods Our survey focused on the safety and quality implications of OpenNotes. 24 722 patients at an urban healthcare organization were invited to complete the survey, which included an item assessing the number of notes read and the CollaboRATE scale to measure SDM. We used log-binomial regression to estimate the relative probability of top CollaboRATE scores across number of notes read while controlling for several covariates. Results 6913 patients responded (28% response rate). Patients reading 4+ clinical notes in the past 12 months were 17% more likely to have top CollaboRATE scores when compared to patients who had not read a note in the previous 12 months (RR: 1.17, 95%CI: 1.04-1.32). Discussion There is a clear relationship between what SDM requires and the transparency OpenNotes provides. Access to clinicians' notes can support the SDM model, which relies on efficient information exchange between clinicians and well-informed patients. Conclusion Our study showed evidence of a relationship between note reading and perceived SDM. Implementation of SDM is likely to expand, given its association with improved patient satisfaction, adherence, and medical decision making. Findings from this study highlight OpenNotes as a policy that institutions can implement as a facilitator of SDM and a manifestation of their commitment to patient autonomy and transparency.
Kinetics of the OH + CH3SH reaction under atmospheric conditions

The pulsed laser photolysis-pulsed laser-induced fluorescence technique has been employed to study the kinetics of OH reactions with CH/sub 3/SH (k/sub 1/) and CD/sub 3/SH (k/sub 2/) in N/sub 2/, air, and O/sub 2/ buffer gases. They find that k/sub 1/ and k/sub 2/ are independent of O/sub 2/ concentration. Measured k/sub 1/ values are in excellent agreement with previous flash photolysis-resonance fluorescence studies, all of which employed reaction mixtures containing no O/sub 2/. However, the observation of no O/sub 2/ dependence is in marked disagreement with a number of relative rate studies where NO/sub x/-containing species were employed as photolytic precursors for OH and olefins were used as the reference compound. k/sub 2/ is found to be approx. 13% slower than k/sub 1/, suggesting the occurrence of a minor methyl hydrogen abstraction channel. In the course of investigating complications which result from photolysis of the mercaptan reactants, they found that 266-nm photolysis of either CH/sub 3/SH or CD/sub 3/SH in the presence of O/sub 2/ (but in the absence of other OH photolytic precursors) results in production of OH.
CAFTL: a content-aware flash translation layer enhancing the lifespan of flash memory based solid state drives

Although Flash Memory based Solid State Drive (SSD) exhibits high performance and low power consumption, a critical concern is its limited lifespan along with the associated reliability issues. In this paper, we propose to build a Content-Aware Flash Translation Layer (CAFTL) to enhance the endurance of SSDs at the device level. With no need of any semantic information from the host, CAFTL can effectively reduce write traffic to flash memory by removing unnecessary duplicate writes and can also substantially extend available free flash memory space by coalescing redundant data in SSDs, which further improves the efficiency of garbage collection and wear-leveling. In order to retain high data access performance, we have also designed a set of acceleration techniques to reduce the runtime overhead and minimize the performance impact caused by extra computational cost. Our experimental results show that our solution can effectively identify up to 86.2% of the duplicate writes, which translates to a write traffic reduction of up to 24.2% and extends the flash space by a factor of up to 31.2%. Meanwhile, CAFTL only incurs a minimized performance overhead by a factor of up to 0.5%.
Force of Words: The Role of Threats in Terrorism

This article builds a new theoretical framework to understand the role of threats in terrorism. Interviews of IRA members give rise to a speech/kinetic action model of terrorism, in which threats a...
Revealing the Rate-Limiting Li-Ion Diffusion Pathway in Ultrathick Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries

Increasing the loading of active materials by thickening the battery electrode coating can enhance the energy density of a Li-ion cell, but the trade-off is the much reduced Li+ transport kinetics. To reach the optimum energy and power density for thick electrodes, the effective chemical diffusion coefficient of Li+ (DLi) must be maximized. However, the diffusion of Li+ inside an electrode is a complex process involving both microscopic and macroscopic processes. Fundamental understandings are needed on the rate-limiting process that governs the diffusion kinetics of Li+ to minimize the negative impact of the large electrode thickness on their electrochemical performance. In this work, lithium Ni–Mn–Co oxide (NMC) cathodes of various thicknesses ranging from 100 to 300 μm were used as a model system to study the rate-limiting diffusion process during charge/discharge. The rate-limiting diffusion coefficient of Li+ was investigated and quantified, which was correlated to the electrochemical performance deg...
Severe Necrotizing Myopathy Associated with Pembrolizumab for Urothelial Carcinoma (P3.456)

Objective: To describe a case of pembrolizumab-associated myopathy in a patient with urothelial carcinoma (UC). Background: Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are emerging treatment options with expanding applications. Pembrolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody with immune-checkpoint inhibitory and antineoplastic properties against non-small cell lung cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and metastatic melanoma. Approval was recently granted for the treatment of advanced and metastatic UC. There are limited data on the neurologic side effects of pembrolizumab. Design/Methods: Case report Results: A 76-year-old man with metastatic UC presented to his oncologist for a two-week history of dyspnea and progressive weakness. He had received two cycles of pembrolizumab (last 15 days prior). Labs were remarkable for CK 3617 and aldolase 92.4. Examination was notable for tachypnea and obvious use of accessory respiratory muscles, right ptosis, bifacial weakness, nasal voice, and impaired cough. There was symmetric proximal weakness of all extremities. EMG showed diffusely increased insertional activity and mildly myopathic motor units. Muscle biopsy of the right vastus lateralis revealed multifocal necrosis and regeneration with no inflammatory infiltrate, consistent with a necrotizing myopathy. The remainder of ancillary testing, including myasthenic antibodies and neuroimaging were unremarkable. High dose steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin were given. There was subjective improvement in muscle strength and serial bedside spirometry showed gradual improvement in respiratory parameters. He was ultimately discharged home on a steroid taper with plans for biweekly IVIG infusions. Unfortunately, rapid worsening of symptoms occurred and he was re-hospitalized for acute hypoxic respiratory failure and ultimately expired. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is one of the first reports of necrotizing myopathy associated with pembrolizumab specifically for urothelial cancer. Our patient’s fulminant course and rapid progression to death despite IVIG and steroids underscores the importance of early recognition and treatment by neurologists and oncologists. Respiratory involvement in these myopathies may be especially problematic. Study Supported by: N/A Disclosure: Dr. Gill has nothing to disclose. Dr. Borys has nothing to disclose. Dr. Jacobson has nothing to disclose.
Medical therapy for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in patients with myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery

Abstract Background Myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) is a common post-operative cardiovascular complication and is associated with short and long-term mortality. The objective of this study was to describe the contemporary management of patients with and without MINS after total joint and spine orthopedic surgery at a large urban health system in the United States. Methods Adults admitted for total joint and major spine surgery from January 2013 through December 2015 with ≥1 cardiac troponin (cTn) measurement during their hospitalization were identified. MINS was defined by a peak cTn above the 99th percentile of the upper reference limit. Demographics, medical comorbidities, and admission and discharge medications were reviewed for all patients. Results A total of 2561 patients underwent 2798 orthopedic surgeries, and 236 cases of MINS were identified. Patients with MINS were older (71.9 ± 10.9 vs. 67.0 ± 10.0, p Conclusions The proportion of patients with MINS who were prescribed medical therapy for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease was low. Additional efforts to determine optimal management of MINS are warranted.
Bubbles and Machines: Gender, Information and Financial Crises

Are financial crises embedded in IT? Can gender studies offer insights into financial reporting? Feminist theories and Science and Technology Studies (STS) can enrich a critique of financial crises in capitalism as the author argues their critical, political economic approaches to communication can help in understanding because they historicize technology and economy and how these are materially embedded. Current literature has neglected finance and capital’s gendered aspect – even – the ideology of a ‘crisis’. This book develops four themes: women as resources in financial markets and as producers of values; gender ideology and unequal distribution; machine production and distribution of financial information and the varied actuality of markets. Working with case histories of tulipmania, microcredit, Wall Street reporting and the role of ‘screens’, Bubbles and Machines argues that rather than calling financial crises human-made or inevitable they should be recognized as technological.
Piperacillin/Tazobactam versus Tobramycin-Based Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Type III Open Fractures.

Background: Type III open fractures are associated with an infection rate as high as 50%. The optimal antibiotic for open fracture prophylaxis remains unclear, and the literature comparing the safe...