cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
IBD-Groupon: an efficient method for detecting group-wise identity-by-descent regions simultaneously in multiple individuals based on pairwise IBD relationships

Motivation: Detecting IBD tracts is an important problem in genetics. Most of the existing methods focus on detecting pairwise IBD tracts, which have relatively low power to detect short IBD tracts. Methods to detect IBD tracts among multiple individuals simultaneously, or group-wise IBD tracts, have better performance for short IBD tracts detection. Group-wise IBD tracts can be applied to a wide range of applications, such as disease mapping, pedigree reconstruction and so forth. The existing group-wise IBD tract detection method is computationally inefficient and is only able to handle small datasets, such as 20, 30 individuals with hundreds of SNPs. It also requires a previous specification of the number of IBD groups, or partitions of the individuals where all the individuals in the same partition are IBD with each other, which may not be realistic in many cases. The method can only handle a small number of IBD groups, such as two or three, because of scalability issues. What is more, it does not take LD (linkage disequilibrium) into consideration. Results: In this work, we developed an efficient method IBD-Groupon, which detects group-wise IBD tracts based on pairwise IBD relationships, and it is able to address all the drawbacks aforementioned. To our knowledge, our method is the first practical group-wise IBD tracts detection method that is scalable to very large datasets, for example, hundreds of individuals with thousands of SNPs, and in the meanwhile, it is powerful to detect short IBD tracts. Our method does not need to specify the number of IBD groups, which will be detected automatically. And our method takes LD into consideration, as it is based on pairwise IBD tracts where LD can be easily incorporated. Contact: moc.mbi.su@ehd
“Dwelling in the Past”: The Role of Rumination in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Prolonged exposure, a cognitive behavioral therapy including both in vivo and imaginal exposure to the traumatic memory, is one of several empirically supported treatments for chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this article, we provide a case illustration in which this well-validated treatment did not yield expected clinical gains for a client with PTSD and co-occurring major depression. After providing an overview of the literature, theory, and treatment protocol, we discuss the clinical cascade effect that underlying ruminative processes had on the treatment of this case. Specifically, we highlight how ruminative processes, focusing on trying to understand why the traumatic event happened and why the client was still suffering, resulted in profound emotional distress in session and in a lack of an “optimal dose” of exposure during treatment.
Optimal contract design for outsourcing: saving time and money

We consider a company, or a buyer, that outsources her works to a supplier in order to reduce costs and time-to-market. A game theoretic model is used to design the optimal contracts between the buyer and the supplier under two types of information scenario. Under the full information case, the buyer shares her private cost information with the supplier. Under the asymmetric information case, the buyer does not share her private cost information with the supplier. In both cases, we find the optimum outsourcing price, outsourcing time, and retail price.
Stratway: A Modular Approach to Strategic Conflict Resolution

In this paper we introduce Stratway, a modular approach to finding long-term strategic resolutions to conflicts between aircraft. The modular approach provides both advantages and disadvantages. Our primary concern is to investigate the implications on the verification of safety-critical properties of a strategic resolution algorithm. By partitioning the problem into verifiable modules much stronger verification claims can be established. Since strategic resolution involves searching for solutions over an enormous state space, Stratway, like most similar algorithms, searches these spaces by applying heuristics, which present especially difficult verification challenges. An advantage of a modular approach is that it makes a clear distinction between the resolution function and the trajectory generation function. This allows the resolution computation to be independent of any particular vehicle. The Stratway algorithm was developed in both Java and C++ and is available through a open source license. Additionally there is a visualization application that is helpful when analyzing and quickly creating conflict scenarios.
Nicotine increases the collagen-degrading ability of human gingival fibroblasts

Background and Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects that nicotine and the combination of nicotine and Porphyromonas gingivalis supernatant have on human gingival fibroblast-mediated collagen degradation. Material and Methods: Human gingival fibroblasts were cultured with 25–500 µg/ml of nicotine in collagen-coated six-well plates. On days 1–5, the conditioned media was collected for zymography and western blot analyses of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). The cells were then removed and the collagen cleavage visualized by Coomassie blue staining. To examine the combined effect, 250 µg/ml of nicotine and 10% v/v culture supernatant of P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 were added to the human gingival fibroblasts. The mRNA levels of multiple MMPs and TIMPs were monitored. Results: Nicotine increased the human gingival fibroblast-mediated collagen cleavage. The MMP-14 and MMP-2 produced by the nicotine-treated human gingival fibroblasts more readily underwent zymogen activation. Nicotine treatment resulted in TIMP-2 redistribution to the cell surface. The mRNAs of multiple MMPs and TIMPs were unaltered by nicotine. An additive collagen cleavage effect was observed when the human gingival fibroblasts were treated with both nicotine and P. gingivalis. Conclusion: Nicotine increased human gingival fibroblast-mediated collagen degradation, in part through the activation of membrane-associated MMPs. Nicotine and P. gingivalis had an additive effect on human gingival fibroblast-mediated collagen degradation.
Upper extremity nerve blocks.

Regional anesthesia for upper extremity surgery is close to the ideal match for anesthetic and surgical procedure for patient, anesthesiologist, surgeon, and hospital administrator. For the patient having upper extremity surgery, regional anesthesia can provide a combination of minimal systemic impairment and excellent localized postoperative analgesia. For the anesthesiologist, the anatomy of the upper extremity is well suited for local anesthetic blockade because a single, accessible plexus of nerves associated with reliable landmarks innervates the entire arm. For the surgeon, regional anesthesia allows dense anesthesia completely isolated to the peripheral site of the surgery (Fig. 1). For the hospital administrator, regional anesthesia minimizes costs8 because conduct of the anesthetic itself generates little cost, and operating room (OR) time can be reduced by placing the block preoperatively, whereas recovery from the anesthetic facilitates early ambulatory patient discharge11 (see article by R. Greengrass elsewhere in this issue). Realizing these benefits requires a working knowledge of upper extremity anatomy as well as a host of methods useful in decreasing block latency, the means to increase block duration appropriately, and a familiarity with the common approaches and techniques useful for regional anesthesia of the upper extremity.
Tethered Coulomb Structure Applied to Close Proximity Situational Awareness

DOI: 10.2514/1.A32212 A unique tether application for situational awareness at geosynchronous altitudes is investigated. The relative dynamics between a small sensor platform tethered to a large host spacecraft is examined. Charging both craft to j30j kV holds the relative dynamics fixed in the presence of gravitational and solar radiation forces. Numerical simulations illustrate that the use of multiple tether connections increases the stiffness and allows 10 m separated craft to yield relative shape variations less than 50 mm in translation and 5 deg in attitude. It is also shown that in nominal plasma conditions less than 20 W of power along with only grams of propellant are required to maintain spacecraft potentials.
Antibiotic Use in Neonatal Intensive Care

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that >2 million people in the United States become ill every year due to antibiotic-resistant infections, and at least 23 000 die as a result.1 In India, newborn infants develop bacterial infections that are resistant to most known antibiotics; such infections led to the deaths of 58 000 infants in 2013.2 These problems seem distant to your typical NICU here in the United States. However, in this month’s issue of Pediatrics , Schulman et al3 demonstrate that there is fertile ground for the United States to also experience such a disaster. Our understanding of the negative effects of antibiotic exposure is expanding. New techniques for studying the human microbiome, as well as traditional epidemiologic studies, raise concerns about the negative effects antibiotics may have by altering healthy bacterial colonization.4 Connections have been made between antibiotic exposure and risk of necrotizing enterocolitis and nosocomial infection in neonates,5 as well as an understanding that alterations in the gut microbiome may be linked to longer term outcomes such … Address correspondence to Roger F. Soll, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont Medical Center, 111 Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT 05401. E-mail: roger.soll{at}uvmhealth.org
System design optimization for MCM-D/flip-chip

Many performance/cost advantages can be gained if a chip-set is optimally redesigned to take advantage of the high wire density, fast interconnect delays, and high pin-counts available in MCM-D/flip-chip technology. Examples are given showing for what conditions the cost of the system can be reduced through chip partitioning and how the performance/cost of a computer core can be increased. >
Population‐level influence of a recurring disease on a long‐lived wildlife host

Despite a heightened interest regarding the role of infectious diseases in wildlife conservation, few studies have explicitly addressed the impacts of chronic, persistent diseases on long-term host population dynamics. Using mycoplasmal upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) within natural gopher tortoise Gopherus polyphemus populations as a model system, we investigated the influence of chronic recurring disease epizootics on host population dynamics and persistence using matrix population models and Markov chain models for temporally autocorrelated environments. By treating epizootics as a form of environmental stochasticity, we evaluated host population dynamics across varying levels of outbreak duration (r), outbreak recurrence (f ), and disease-induced mortality (m). Baseline results indicated a declining growth rate (l) for populations under unexposed or enzootic conditions (lEnzootic  0.903, 95% CI: 0.765–1.04), and a median time to quasiextinction of 29 years (range: 28–30 years). Under recurring epizootics, stochastic growth rates overlapped with baseline growth rates, and ranged between 0.838–0.902. Median quasi-extinction times under recurring epizootics also overlapped for most scenarios with those of baseline conditions, and ranged between 18–29 years, with both metrics decreasing as a function of f and m. Overall, baseline (enzootic) conditions had a greater impact on l than epizootic conditions, and demographic vital rates were proportionately more influential on l than disease- or outbreak-associated parameters. Lower-level elasticities revealed that, among disease- and outbreak-associated parameters, increases in m, force of infection (φ), and f negatively influenced l. The impact of disease on host population dynamics depended primarily on how often a population underwent an epizootic state, rather than how long the epizootic persisted within the exposed population. The modeling framework presented in this paper could be widely applied to a range of wildlife disease systems in which hosts suffer from persistent recurring diseases.
Pitt–Hopkins Syndrome: intellectual disability due to loss of TCF4-regulated gene transcription

TCF4 (transcription factor 4; E2-2, ITF2) is a transcription factor that when haplo-insufficient causes Pitt–Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS), an autism-spectrum disorder that is associated with pervasive developmental delay and severe intellectual disability. The TCF4 gene is also a risk factor with highly significant linkage to schizophrenia, presumably via overexpression of the TCF4 gene product in the central nervous system. This review will present an overview of the clinical manifestations of PTHS and relate those clinical attributes to the underlying molecular genetics of TCF4. In order to provide a molecular biological context for the loss of function of TCF4 in PTHS, the review will also present a brief overview of the basic biochemistry of TCF4-mediated regulation of cellular and neuronal gene expression. In the final section of this review, I will discuss and speculate upon possible roles for the TCF4 transcription factor in neuronal function and comment upon how understanding these roles may give new insights into the molecular neurobiology of human cognition.
The first seriatim study of human growth and middle aging

The serial record of growth and recumbent length and stature for one individual during nearly 50 years is presented, together with increments derived from these data.
Multiscale, resurgent epidemics in a hierarchical metapopulation model.

Abstract Although population structure has long been recognized as relevant to the spread of infectious disease, traditional mathematical models have understated the role of nonhomogenous mixing in populations with geographical and social structure. Recently, a wide variety of spatial and network models have been proposed that incorporate various aspects of interaction structure among individuals. However, these more complex models necessarily suffer from limited tractability, rendering general conclusions difficult to draw. In seeking a compromise between parsimony and realism, we introduce a class of metapopulation models in which we assume homogeneous mixing holds within local contexts, and that these contexts are embedded in a nested hierarchy of successively larger domains. We model the movement of individuals between contexts via simple transport parameters and allow diseases to spread stochastically. Our model exhibits some important stylized features of real epidemics, including extreme size variation and temporal heterogeneity, that are difficult to characterize with traditional measures. In particular, our results suggest that when epidemics do occur the basic reproduction number R 0 may bear little relation to their final size. Informed by our model's behavior, we suggest measures for characterizing epidemic thresholds and discuss implications for the control of epidemics. math model population structure
SIDE EFFECTS OF INCIDENTAL COMPUTER USE: INCREASED CONFIDENCE '

Summary.-100 students were administered a pretesr based on two of Chickering's 1990 seven vecrors of educational development. 67 participated in one of two management classes which required use of compurers. 33 acted as a control group with no in-class compurer use. Analyses indicate thar in addiuon to intended gains in learning, students also showed related developmental effects including increased confidence in using computers. Changes in scores on perceived Auronomy, controlling for prior compurer use and outside exposure to computers, were not significant. Results show some effects from using computers in the classroom to augment insrrucuon. Educators are increasingly using computers in the classroom to provide students with a richer educational experience. The increase in exposure to computers is partially in response to calls for increased integration of computer use into the curriculum (Porter & Mclbbin, 1988; Savage & Sterry, 1991; Smalley, 1988; Waetjen, 1991; Wicklein, 1993). This study investigated whether use of computers to enhance instruction in the classroom might have concomitant developmental benefits as well. Two of Chickering's (1990) seven educational development vectors or areas in which adolescents display progress toward maturity were selected as potentially being affected by the increased use of computers in the classroom. These two, Confidence and Autonomy, were operationalized in a survey. Changes in students' responses over the course of a semester were evaluated using a treatment-group, control-group format while controhg for the effects of prior computer experience and concurrent enrollment in computer classes. METHOD
The Convective Evolution and Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Earl (2010)

AbstractThe relationship between an inner-core (r < 100 km) lightning outbreak and the subsequent rapid intensification (RI) of Hurricane Earl (2010) is examined using lightning strikes recorded by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) and in situ observations from various aircraft missions. Moderate (8.4 m s−1) northeasterly deep-layer (850–200 hPa) vertical wind shear, caused by outflow from Hurricane Danielle, existed over Earl at the beginning of a prolonged period of RI. Over 70% of the lightning strikes within a 500-km radius occurred downshear, with a preference toward downshear right in the outer rainbands, in agreement with previous studies.The location of inner-core strikes in Earl differed markedly from previous studies. The inner-core lightning activity precessed from left of shear to upshear, an extremely rare event, beginning just prior to the onset of RI. Diagnosis of the vortex tilt midway through the lightning precession showed this convection was occurring downtilt in the ups...
Hypothalamic radial glia function as self-renewing neural progenitors in the absence of Wnt/β-catenin signaling

The vertebrate hypothalamus contains persistent radial glia that have been proposed to function as neural progenitors. In zebrafish, a high level of postembryonic hypothalamic neurogenesis has been observed, but the role of radial glia in generating these new neurons is unclear. We have used inducible Cre-mediated lineage labeling to show that a population of hypothalamic radial glia undergoes self-renewal and generates multiple neuronal subtypes at larval stages. Whereas Wnt/β-catenin signaling has been demonstrated to promote the expansion of other stem and progenitor cell populations, we find that Wnt/β-catenin pathway activity inhibits this process in hypothalamic radial glia and is not required for their self-renewal. By contrast, Wnt/β-catenin signaling is required for the differentiation of a specific subset of radial glial neuronal progeny residing along the ventricular surface. We also show that partial genetic ablation of hypothalamic radial glia or their progeny causes a net increase in their proliferation, which is also independent of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Hypothalamic radial glia in the zebrafish larva thus exhibit several key characteristics of a neural stem cell population, and our data support the idea that Wnt pathway function may not be homogeneous in all stem or progenitor cells.
Research in the Medical Setting

Clinical psychology has been unique among the health care professions in adopting a model of training that requires competency in both research methodology and clinical practice (Strickland, 1988). Clinical psychologists are most often trained in university-based graduate schools and receive a Ph.D. to signify the attainment of journeyman skills in the profession. The Ph.D. requires the completion of a doctoral dissertation. The satisfactory completion of dissertation research requires knowledge in the fundamentals of research: experimental methodology, design, and statistical analysis. A Ph.D. in clinical psychology also requires competency in the basic skills of the profession and additional development of these skills during a one year full-time clinical internship. This model of training, which combines research and clinical training, has come to be known as the scientist-practitioner model.
Increased Risk of Oral Cancer in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Background & Aims Epidemiology studies have consistently found an increased risk of oral malignancies in organ transplant recipients, patients with graft-versus-host disease, and people with human immunodeficiency virus infection. We assessed the risk of oral cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Methods We collected data on 7294 patients with IBD (3785 women) seen at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, from 2000 through 2011. The expected incidence of oral cancer was calculated for each sex-specific and 5-year age-specific stratum by specific incidence rates using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 18 registry data (2000–2011), adjusted for age to the 2000 United States population (census P25-1130). Results Eleven patients (7 men) were found to have biopsy-proven oral cancer. Six patients had cancer of the tongue; 2 patients had cancer of the hard palate; and the remaining 3 had tonsillar, buccal, or mandibular sarcoma. Before the cancer diagnosis, IBD had been treated in 4 patients with azathioprine or mercaptopurine, in 1 patient with infliximab, and 3 in patients with combination of biologic agents and azathioprine; 4 of the patients had not been treated for IBD. The age- and sex-adjusted standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for oral cancer in patients with IBD was 9.77 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.14–16.98). In women, the SIR was 12.07 (95% CI, 3.84–29.11), and in men the SIR was 8.49 (95% CI, 3.71–16.78). The age-adjusted SIR for tongue cancer was 18.91 (95% CI, 7.66–39.33): 17.06 for men (95% CI, 5.42–41.15) and 22.10 for women (95% CI, 3.70–73.01). Conclusions We found patients with IBD to be at increased risk for oral cancers, especially tongue cancer. Women are at higher risk than men.
Herd Behaviour in the Pension Fund Administrators in Chile: A Correlation and Cointegration Analysis

This study analyses the performance of pension funds in Chile and the characteristics of the market of Pension Fund Administrators, incorporating the effect of the 2008 financial crisis, also known as the subprime crisis. The Chilean market shows asymmetric information for the people paying into pension funds, herding and extraordinary earnings to a degree that can be characterized as an oligopoly market. These conditions demonstrate that it is a relatively fragile market in the face of negative perturbations and that it is inefficient at providing results to its members. In order to obtain these conclusions, a benchmark method is applied using passive indices and an alternate instrument. Herding is shown through a correlationand cointegration analysis. Concentration is measured using the usual indices, IHH and Dominance, and normal earnings in accordance with international parameters adjusted to the conditions of emerging economies, these indices are then compared with the real values obtained. It is concluded that there are systemic problems originating from regulations aimed at protecting contributors, such as the maximum deviation in average profitability of the system. A series of implications and conclusions relative to public policies are also described.
Tuning the Gate Opening Pressure of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for the Selective Separation of Hydrocarbons

Separation of hydrocarbons is one of the most energy demanding processes. The need to develop materials for the selective adsorption of hydrocarbons, under reasonable conditions, is therefore of paramount importance. This work unveils unexpected hydrocarbon selectivity in a flexible Metal–Organic Framework (MOF), based on differences in their gate opening pressure. We show selectivity dependence on both chain length and specific framework–gas interaction. By combining Raman spectroscopy and theoretical van der Waals Density Functional (vdW-DF) calculations, the separation mechanisms governing this unexpected gate-opening behavior are revealed.
Contributions of Dr . Juan Rosai to the pathology of cutaneous vascular proliferations : A review of selected lesions

Vascular proliferations in the skin have been thoroughly studied over the past 35 years, and a great deal of knowledge has been accrued regarding their pathobiological features. Dr. Juan Rosai has been a consistent contributor to the literature on this topic throughout most of his career, and this article reviews selected cutaneous endothelial lesions that he helped to characterize. They include histiocytoid-epithelioid hemangioma, targetoid-hobnail hemangioma, acquired tufted hemangioma, glomeruloid hemangioma, spindle cell hemangioma, retiform hemangioendothelioma, and angiosarcoma. Two potential simulants of angiosarcoma-papillary intravascular endothelial hyperplasia and cutaneous rudimentary meningocele-meningothelial hamartoma-are also considered.
Effect of Comprehensive Nursing Intervention on Reducing the Unplanned Extubation of Pediatric Tracheal Intubation in ICU

Objective To investigate the effect of comprehensive nursing intervention on reducing the unplanned extubation of pediatric tracheal intubation in ICU. Methods 140 cases of children with tracheal intubation admitted to our hospital from May 2014 to March 2015 were selected and divided into observation group and control group according to random number table, with 70 cases in each group. The control group was given routine nursing, the observation group was given comprehensive nursing intervention. The occurrence and reasons of unplanned extubation of two groups were observed. Results The incidence of unplanned extubation of observation group was1.43%(1/70), significantly lower than 11.73%(8/70) of control group, with statistical difference(P 0.05). The reasons of unplanned extubation included sputum airway obstruction leading to laryngeal spasm and extubation in 2 cases, insufficient sedative drugs leading to children's irritability and extubation in 4 cases, pipeline off caused by nurses helped children turn over in 2 cases, and loose fixation catheter leading to pipeline off in one case. Conclusions The application of comprehensive nursing intervention in ICU children with tracheal intubation can effectively reduce the risk of unplanned extubation, and ensure the safety of children.
Management of Acute Strokes

Situations in which the surgeon is commonly consulted for an acute or unstable stroke include (1) suspected carotid artery disease, (2) postarteriography, and (3) postcarotid endarterectomy. The management of these problems is discussed in detail.
The S(e)oul of Hip-Hop: Locating Space and Identity in Korean Rap

It is a rainy Sunday afternoon in July 2012—the middle of South Korea’s monsoon season—and a large parking lot inside a building in Hongdae is completely filled with high school and university students. It is close to 4:40 p.m. and the occupied space is echoing with noise, or rather large excitement. Three young men with staff badges rush in to organize the crowd. Soon after, people are lined in a big square spiral that coils like the contours of a maze. Each person now has a stamp on the wrist. Excitement does not die down in this basement where some parts are so dark that cell phones are used as flashlights to check off names on the ticketing list. Most have come in pairs, or groups of threes and fours. Three girls in line are guessing which songs will be performed by their favorite artist who is one of the dozen performers tonight. By 5:07 p.m., the crowd is inside and a third of the audience—roughly 150 people—are standing in front of the DJ who is getting ready on the elevated stage. The rest are seated in rows. At 5:10 p.m., Fana opens the third Boxer Show, one of the many series of underground hip-hop shows that are held in Hongdae on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Portals

This chapter identifies and describes nine key issues that will impact the future of portal development and its potential to become the preferred tool to discover quality information resources. The chapter notes the lack of consistency in how libraries currently define a portal. Key issues include metasearching, content and service description, electronic resource management, librarian/user expectations and current product functionality, single product or separate components, uniform view versus links to proprietary interfaces, open source versus proprietary software, workflow integration, and personalization and contextualization. The chapter references the Scholars Portal Project as one example of portal implementations in research libraries and how the seven libraries in the project are addressing the issues described in the article.
Sometimes, It’s Just Black and White: Dark Urine and Pallor in a 2-Year-Old Boy

A 2-year-old Chinese boy was admitted to the hospital after 2 days of pallor and fatigue and 1 day of dark urine. There was no recent history of illness, although his mother reported a 1-week history of intermittent, subjective fevers. There was no history of recent travel, no history of recent trauma, no sick contacts, no pertinent family history, no changes in diet, and no medications. His past medical history was significant for self-limited nosebleeds, which had increased in frequency over the few days before admission. On examination, the patient was afebrile and tachycardic, with an oxygen saturation of 88% on room air. He was pale and tired-appearing on arrival. He was in no respiratory distress, and there was no hepatosplenomegaly or lymphadenopathy. His skin examination was notable for jaundice, but there were no bruises, petechiae, or rash. He was noted to pass cola-colored urine while in the hospital. His chest radiograph was normal. Laboratory evaluation revealed a normal serum electrolyte level and normal serum urea nitrogen and creatinine levels. A complete blood count (CBC) revealed the following: a white blood cell count of 20,700 per μL with normal differential, hemoglobin of 4.1 g/dL, hematocrit of 11.8%, a platelet count of 365 000 per μL, a mean corpuscular volume of 88.2 femtoliters, and a red cell distribution width of 20.5%. ### Question What Are the Current Recommendations for the Evaluation of Anemia in the Pediatric Population? ### Discussion Anemia is estimated to affect up to 20% of the American population during childhood.1 It can be defined on the basis of age- and sex-specific percentile criteria for hemoglobin concentration. The …
A method for generating a synthetic spectrum within Zemax

A method using non-sequential Zemax to produce a pixelated synthetic spectrum is described. This simulation was developed for the Keck Planet Finder (KPF) instrument, and will prove useful for engineering performance analyses (stability, stray light, order cross-talk, distortion, etc.). It has also provided a set of synthetic spectra to be used during the development of the data pipeline. Various aspects concerning the construction of the spectrum are described, including: converting a model from sequential to non-sequential Zemax, the creation of Zemax coating files for echelle blaze functions, and the generation of spectrum source files (solar, thorium-argon, incandescent, Fabry-Perot etalon and laser frequency comb).
The Effects of Tai Chi on Sleep Quality in Chinese American Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Pilot Study

Objective: This pilot study evaluated the effects of Tai Chi training on sleep quality (primary outcomes), and depression and social functioning levels (secondary outcomes) among patients with depression. Participants: Sixteen depressed Chinese patients. Methods: Participants received 1-hr Tai Chi training sessions 2 times per week for 10 weeks. Patients’ subjective sleep quality ratings, objective sleep quality measurements, and depression and social functioning levels were measured before, during, and after the intervention. Results: Sleep quality and depression outcomes improved significantly. Patients reported improved Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores (9.6 ± 3.3 to 6.6 ± 5.2, p = 0.016), and cardiopulmonary coupling (CPC) analysis of electrocardiogram (ECG) showed decreased stable sleep onset latency (75.7 ± 100.6 to 20.9 ± 18.0, p = 0.014), increased stable sleep percentages (31.5 ± 18.7 to 46.3 ± 16.9, p = 0.016), and decreased unstable sleep percentages (45.3 ± 20.1 to 30.6 ± 16.5, p = ...
Some Relevant Microeconomics

Maybe you are beginning your study of economics with macro. Maybe you have studied microeconomics in the past, but it was a while ago, and you could use a refresher. Or maybe, whatever and whenever you did with micro, it didn’t leave much residue. If you fall into any of these categories, this chapter is for you. If you are confident of your knowledge in microeconomics, however, you can skip this and go right on to Chap. 3.
Variation in Care of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Patients in Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Partners: Role of Gastroenterologist Practice Setting in Disease Outcomes and Quality Process Measures.

BACKGROUND As variation in care has previously been linked to quality, we aimed to describe variations in inflammatory bowel diseases care by gastroenterology (GI) practice setting. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study within the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Partners and used bivariate analyses to compare patient characteristics by GI practice setting (GI-academic [GIA], GI-private, or GI-other). Regression models were used to describe the effects of provider type on steroid use, disease activity, and the quality of life. RESULTS The study included 12,083 patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (7576 with Crohn's disease [CD] and 4507 with ulcerative colitis [UC]). Nearly 95% reported visiting a GI provider annually. Also, CD patients seen by GIA were younger, better educated, used less 5-aminosalicylate agents, and had higher biologic and immunomodulator use (P < 0.001 for all). On multivariate analysis of CD patients, GIA used less steroids when compared with GI-private (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.67-1.06) or GI-other (odds ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.49-0.89). GIA patients were more likely to be in remission, have flu vaccine, and have better quality of life. UC patients seen by GIA were younger, had more hospitalizations, and previous surgery (P < 0.001 for all). No differences existed for steroid use, remission, flu vaccine, or quality of life for UC care on bivariate or multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS Significant variations in care patterns and quality measures exist for CD across GI provider types, without similar variation in UC care. Interventions to reduce variations in care could improve the quality of care in CD.
Ethnic Identity Attachment and Motivation for Weight Loss and Exercise Among Rural, Overweight, African-American Women

Rural and minority women are disproportionately impacted by the obesity epidemic; however, little research has studied the intersection of these disparity groups. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of racial identity on motivation for weight loss and exercise among rural, African-American women with an obesity-linked chronic disease. A total of 154 African-American women were recruited from the patient population of a Federally Qualified Health Center in the rural South to complete a questionnaire battery including the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and separate assessments of motivation for weight loss and exercise. Multivariate analyses, controlling for age, education status, insurance status, and body mass index revealed that attachment to ethnic identity was predictive of motivation for exercise but not for weight loss. Our findings suggest that attachment to ethnic identity may be an important factor in motivation for change among African-American women, particularly with respect to exercise, with direct implications for the development of culturally and geographically tailored weight loss interventions.
Indies and Outliers

While comic book movies are a big business, dominated on the whole by multinational conglomerates, there are also films that don’t really fit into the overall scheme of things—films that take additional chances that the majors are generally afraid to do. As viewers become more acclimated to these hyper-charged morality tales, they’ve moved to the center of mainstream cinema, and for the present, they show no sign of going away. Such films as The Crow (1994), Men in Black (1997), Ghost World (2001), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), Sin City (2005), Bulletproof Monk (2003), and many others show that nontraditional comic book films can also attract audiences, and also please critics.
Food Insecurity, Self-rated Health, and Obesity among College Students

ABSTRACTBackground: The prevalence of food insecurity among college students ranges from 14% to 59%. Most of the research to date has examined the determinants of food insecurity. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between food insecurity and self-rated health and obesity among college students living off campus. Methods: An online survey was sent to students 19 years of age or older. Food security status was measured using the Adult Food Security Survey Module. Health status, height, and weight were self-reported. Two logistic regression analyses assessed the associations between food insecurity and the 2 dependent variables, health status and overweight/obesity. Results: A sample of 351 students provided valid responses to the questions used in these analyses. Food insecurity was not associated with obesity. Food insecure students had significantly higher rates of fair/poor health when compared to their food secure counterparts (odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, 95% confidence inte...
Thermal noise in microfabricated AlGaAs structures

Multilayer crystalline AlGaAs stacks have the potential to reduce coating thermal noise in future gravitational-wave interferometers. The results of direct measurements of thermal noise in microfabricated AlGaAs structures will be presented.
Examining the role of Girl Effect in contributing to positive education ideologies for girls in Ethiopia

Gendered cultural ideologies limit access to education for girls in Ethiopia. Practices like child marriage, a disproportionate work burden for girls, early pregnancy, and social isolation, inhibit...
The lethal osteochondrodysplasias.

Achondrogenesis was first described in 1936 by Parenti (1936). Lethal cases of osteogenesis imperfecta have been known since Vrolik’s (1849) description. Achondroplasia (formerly chondrodystrophy) was the only other diagnosis for all other dwarfed newborns until thanatophoric dysplasia was recognized as a separate entity (Maroteaux et al., 1967).
MANIFOLDS MODELLED ON THE DIRECT LIMIT OF HILBERT CUBES

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the manifolds modeled on the direct limit of Hilbert cubes. It presenst that if M is a Q ∞ -manifold then the projection map p: M×Q ∞ →M is a near homeomorphism. A corollary of this result is that any homotopy equivalence between Q ∞ - manifolds is homotopic to homeomorphism. Q ∞ - manifolds can be triangulated. A corollary of this result is that any Q ∞ - manifold is homeomorphic to U× R ∞ , where U is an open subset of the Hilbert cube and R ∞ =dir lim R n , R the reals. M embeds as an open subset of Q ∞ . The projection map p: M×Q ∞ →M is a near homeomorphism.
Prophylaxis of Infection in Granulocytopenic Patients

Most reviews of infectious complications in granulocytopenic patients stress the critical role of infection as a primary cause of death, and in influencing the outcome of therapy of the underlying disease. Aside from documented infections, fever almost invariably occurs in neutropenic patients when their functioning neutrophil count plunges below 500/mm3 and this usually prompts the initiation of systemic antimicrobial therapy, in spite of the fact that the microbial cause of fever often remains undocumented.
Manipulating Plant Viral RNA Transcription Signals

Positive-strand (+) RNA plant viruses have genomes composed of messenger sense RNA, and do not utilize a DNA intermediate in any stage of their life cycle. Consequently, RNA viruses do not transcribe in the classical sense. However, many RNA viruses make partial copies or transcripts from their RNA genomes that serve primarily as translational templates. This process is termed viral RNA transcription. This chapter will discuss the most recent findings regarding the mechanisms of viral RNA transcription, as well as the implications of this process for plant biotechnology.
Design of MobIle Digit Assistive System (MIDAS): A Passive Hand Extension Exoskeleton for Post Stroke Rehabilitation

Stroke often causes flexor hypertonia as well as weakness of finger extension. This limits functionality of the hand degrading independent ability to perform upper limb activities of daily living (ADL’s). Hand rehabilitation post stroke is vital to regaining functionality in the affected limb, leading to improved independence and quality of living. In this paper the development of DigEx and MIDAS passive arm orthoses are detailed. A quick-change cam system is implemented featuring one-handed cam swapping. This provides the ability to vary assistance levels to improve usability and independence for the user. Pulleys and bearings are added to reduce friction caused by mechanical contacts and material failure. Initial tests with the prototype are promising.
Heme Dissociation from Myoglobin in the Presence of the Zwitterionic Detergent N,N-Dimethyl-N-Dodecylglycine Betaine: Effects of Ionic Liquids

We have investigated myoglobin protein denaturation using the zwitterionic detergent Empigen BB (EBB, N,N-Dimethyl-N-dodecylglycine betaine). A combination of absorbance, fluorescence, and circular dichroism spectroscopic measurements elucidated the protein denaturation and heme dissociation from myoglobin. The results indicated that Empigen BB was not able to fully denature the myoglobin structure, but apparently can induce the dissociation of the heme group from the protein. This provides a way to estimate the heme binding free energy, ΔGdissociation. As ionic liquids (ILs) have been shown to perturb the myoglobin protein, we have investigated the effects of the ILs 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMICl), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIAc), and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIBF4) in aqueous solution on the ΔGdissociation values. Absorbance experiments show the ILs had minimal effect on ΔGdissociation values when compared to controls. Fluorescence and circular dichroism data confirm the ILs have no effect on heme dissociation, demonstrating that low concentrations ILs do not impact the heme dissociation from the protein and do not significantly denature myoglobin on their own or in combination with EBB. These results provide important data for future studies of the mechanism of IL-mediated protein stabilization/destabilization and biocompatibility studies.
Assessing the impact of sleep time on truck driver performance using a recurrent event model

Driver fatigue is a major safety concern for commercial truck drivers and is directly related to the total hours of sleep prior to a working shift. To evaluate changes in driving performance over a long on-duty driving period, we propose a mixed Poisson process recurrent-event model with time-varying coefficients. We use data from 96 commercial truck drivers whose trucks were instrumented with an advanced in situ data acquisition system. The driving performance is measured by unintentional lane deviation events, a known performance deterioration related to fatigue. Driver sleep time and other activities are extracted from a detailed activity register. The time-varying coefficients are used to model the baseline intensity and difference among three cohorts of shifts in which the driver slept less than 7 hours, between 7 to 9 hours, and more than 9 hours prior to driving. We use the penalized B-splines approach to model the time-varying coefficients and an expectation-maximization algorithm with embedded penalized quasi-likelihood approximation for parameter estimation. Simulation studies show that the proposed model fits low and high event rate data well. The results show a significantly higher intensity after 8 hours of on-duty driving for shifts with less than 7 hours of sleep prior to work. The study also shows drivers tend to self-adjust sleep duration, total driving hours, and breaks. This study provides crucial insight into the impact of sleep time on driving performance for commercial truck drivers and highlights the on-road safety implications of insufficient sleep and breaks while driving.
Enabling chloride salts for thermal energy storage: implications of salt purity

Molten salts for use as heat transfer fluids in concentrated solar or nuclear power plants have experienced a resurgence over the past decade with a special focus on chloride-based salt mixtures, particularly for use in concentrating solar power and fast-spectrum nuclear reactors. Salt purification, specifically oxide removal, is required even for high purity commercial salts and can be achieved using many different methods. Carbochlorination, however, proves most effective according to thermodynamics and produces a gaseous byproduct easily removed from the salt. A variety of carbochlorinating reagents and reagent combinations were evaluated for thermodynamic favorability in the removal of common impurities in MgCl2-based feedstock or coverage gases used in industrial systems. Carbon tetrachloride exhibited superior purification thermodynamics above the melting point of common MgCl2-based salt compositions. Salt with composition of 68 : 32 mol% KCl : MgCl2 was purified on the kilogram scale by sparging with carbon tetrachloride, reducing dissolved oxide to trace levels (42 μmol MgO/kg salt). Interestingly, the lower purity salts exhibited magnesium and oxygen presence along grain boundaries in the corrosion layers while the purified salts did not, highlighting the need for decreased oxide content. The lessened corrosivity of the highly purified salt suggests a proper salt treatment may reduce dependence on specialized materials for use with molten salts.