cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling the Health Effects of Expanding e-Cigarette Sales in the United States and United Kingdom: A Monte Carlo Analysis.

Importance The prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is increasing. Population health effects will depend on cigarette smoking behaviors, levels of dual use with conventional cigarettes, and e-cigarette toxicity. Objective To evaluate potential health effects of various scenarios of increasing promotion and use of e-cigarettes. Design, Setting, and Participants A base case model was developed using data on actual cigarette and e-cigarette use patterns that quantifies transitions from an initial state of no cigarette or e-cigarette use to 1 of 5 final states: never use of cigarettes or e-cigarettes, cigarette use, e-cigarette use, dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes, or quit. Seven scenarios were created that cover a range of use patterns, depending on how the e-cigarette market might develop, as well as a range of possible long-term health effects of e-cigarette use. Scenarios for changes from the base case were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. Separate sets of base case model parameters were evaluated for the US and UK populations. Main Outcomes and Measures We assigned unitless health “costs” for each final state on a scale of 0 to 100. Population health “costs” were compared with the base case (status quo) assuming e-cigarette use health “costs” from 1% to 50% as dangerous as conventional cigarette use health costs. Results Compared with the base case, a harm reduction scenario in which e-cigarette use increases only among smokers who are interested in quitting with more quit attempts and no increased initiation of e-cigarette use among nonsmokers, and another scenario in which e-cigarettes are taken up only by youth who would have smoked conventional cigarettes, had population-level health benefits regardless of e-cigarette health costs in both the United States and United Kingdom. Conversely, scenarios in which e-cigarette promotion leads to renormalization of cigarette smoking or e-cigarettes are used primarily by youth who never would have smoked showed net health harms across all e-cigarette health costs. In other scenarios, the net health effect varied on the basis of the health cost of e-cigarettes. Conclusions and Relevance According to this analysis, widespread promotion of e-cigarettes may have a wide range of population-level health effects, depending on both e-cigarette health risks and patterns of use. Absent the primary effect of e-cigarette promotion being only to divert current or future conventional cigarette smokers to e-cigarette use, the current uncertainty about the health risks of e-cigarettes, increasing e-cigarette use among youth, and the varying health effects at different e-cigarette health costs suggest a potential for harm.
Early to Late Endosome Trafficking Controls Secretion and Zymogen Activation in Rodent and Human Pancreatic Acinar Cells.

Background & Aims Pancreatic acinar cells have an expanded apical endosomal system, the physiologic and pathophysiologic significance of which is still emerging. Phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate [PI(3,5)P2] is an essential phospholipid generated by phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate 5-kinase (PIKfyve), which phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P). PI(3,5)P2 is necessary for maturation of early endosomes (EE) to late endosomes (LE). Inhibition of EE to LE trafficking enhances anterograde endosomal trafficking and secretion at the plasma membrane by default through a recycling endosome (RE) intermediate. We assessed the effects of modulating PIKfyve activity on apical trafficking and pancreatitis responses in pancreatic acinar cells. Methods Inhibition of EE to LE trafficking was achieved using pharmacologic inhibitors of PIKfyve, expression of dominant negative PIKfyve K1877E, or constitutively active Rab5-GTP Q79L. Anterograde endosomal trafficking was manipulated by expression of constitutively active and dominant negative Rab11a mutants. The effects of these agents on secretion, endolysosomal exocytosis of lysosome associated membrane protein (LAMP1), and trypsinogen activation in response to supramaximal cholecystokinin (CCK-8), bile acids, and cigarette toxin was determined. Results PIKfyve inhibition increased basal and stimulated secretion. Adenoviral overexpression of PIKfyve decreased secretion leading to cellular death. Expression of Rab5-GTP Q79L or Rab11a-GTP Q70L enhanced secretion. Conversely, dominant-negative Rab11a-GDP S25N reduced secretion. High-dose CCK inhibited endolysosomal exocytosis that was reversed by PIKfyve inhibition. PIKfyve inhibition blocked intracellular trypsin accumulation and cellular damage responses to supramaximal CCK-8, tobacco toxin, and bile salts in both rodent and human acini. Conclusions These data demonstrate that EE-LE trafficking acutely controls acinar secretion and the intracellular activation of zymogens, leading to the pathogenicity of acute pancreatitis.
Performance of Hard Handoff in 1xEV-DO REV A. Systems with the Presence of Rayleigh and Correlated Lognormal Components

We analyze the performance of the hard handoff algorithm used in the 1xEV-DO Rev. A systems. A theoretical approach is presented to calculate the slot error probability (SEP). The approach enables us to evaluate the effects of filtering, hysteresis as well as the system introduced delay of handoff execution. Unlike previous work the model used considers multiple base stations (BS) and accounts for correlation of shadow fading affecting different signal powers received from different BS's. The theoretical results are verified over ranges of parameters of practical interest using simulations which are also used to evaluate the packet error rate (PER) and the number of handoffs.
Nonlinear optical studies of surfaces

A brief overview on second-harmonic generation and sum-frequency generation as surface analytical tools is given with a discussion on the intrinsic limitations of the techniques often encountered in the applications. The possibly of using nonlinear optical processes for surface studies has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Optical Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG) and Sum-Frequency Generation (SFG), in particular, have been well accepted as viable surface probes [1]. They have many advantages over the conventional techniques. By nature, they are highly surface-specific and has a submonolayer sensitivity. As coherent optical processes, they are capable of in-situ probing of surface in hostile environment as well as applicable to all interfaces accessible by light. With ultrafast pump-laser pulses, they can be employed to study surface-dynamic processes with a subpicosecond time resolution. These advantages have opened the door to many exciting research opportunities in surface science and technology. This paper gives a brief overview of this fast-growing new area of research.
Improvization and Strategic Risk-Taking in Informal Learning with Digital Media Literacy.

The city provides a rich array of learning opportunities for young children. However, in many urban schools, often it can be logistically difficult to get young children out of the building. But when elementary children are encouraged to view the city as a classroom and use digital media to explore and represent their neighborhoods, they can be inspired by the unpredictable events of daily life to ask naive, critical and sometimes troubling questions. This paper presents a case study of a teacher in an informal media literacy learning environment who worked with a group of 9-year olds in Philadelphia. It documents the experience of a novice teacher who, flummoxed by an accidental encounter between her students and a homeless person, transformed an uncomfortable experience into a teachable moment. Children's questions about homelessness became the organizing frame for learning experience, as the instructor helped children make sense of the information on the Internet, analyze popular culture films and news...
The unsolicited ominous diagnosis: legal, moral, and ethical considerations.

From o si Fund Conf CASE SCENARIO A respected physician affiliated with an academic medical center is shopping at a local gift shop with his spouse. The physician is being helped by the owner of the shop, a fair-skinned woman that he estimates to be in her mid-forties. During this interaction, the physician cannot help but notice an asymmetric lesion with variable pigmentation on the woman’s left upper arm. Although this physician is not a dermatologist, he is a general surgeon with experience in excising malignant melanomas and performing sentinel lymph node biopsies. His experience and clinical acumen leads him to be clinically suspicious that this lesion might be a melanoma.
Leveraging Local Intracore Information to Increase Global Performance in Block-Based Design of Systems-on-Chip

Latency-insensitive design is a methodology for system-on-chip (SoC) design that simplifies the reuse of intellectual property cores and the implementation of the communication among them. This simplification is based on a system-level protocol that decouples the intracore logic design from the design of the intercore communication channels. Each core is encapsulated within a shell, a synthesized logic block that dynamically controls its operation to interface it with the rest of the SoC and absorb any latency variations on its I/O signals. In particular, a shell stalls a core whenever new valid data are not available on the input channels or a downlink core has requested a delay in the data production on the output channels. We study how knowledge about the internal logic structure of a core can be applied to the design of its shell to improve the overall system-level performance by avoiding unnecessary local stalling. We introduce the notion of functional independence condition (FIC) and present a novel circuit design of a generic shell template that can leverage FIC. We propose a procedure for the logic synthesis of a FIC-shell instance that is only based on the analysis of the intracore logic and does not require any input from the designers. Finally, we present a comprehensive experimental analysis that shows the performance benefits and limited design overhead of the proposed technique. This includes the semicustom design of an SoC, an ultrawideband baseband transmitter, using a 90-nm industrial standard cell library.
Emesis Following Ingestion of Race Car Fuel in a 7-Year-Old Male

3. Many pathological conditions contribute to elevated serum creatinine.1 Examples of pre-renal etiologies include volume depletion, massive hemorrhage, or systolic heart failure. Intrinsic renal diseases to consider include post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and medication-induced interstitial nephritis or tubular necrosis. Post-renal etiologies, such as vesicoureteral reflux and kidney stones, should also be considered. Long-standing hypertension and diabetes mellitus are common etiologies of chronic renal failure, although these are unlikely causes in a pediatric patient. 4. Most likely diagnosis: False-positive creatinine value. Further investigation revealed that the race car fuel contained nitromethane. This product is reported to interfere with the Jaffe reaction for creatinine.
Pricing mortgages with default and prepayment

This thesis develops a model to price the fixed-rate mortgage with default and prepayment as derivative assets, generally termed the option-pricing approach to mortgage valuation. The problem is considered in a stochastic environment when the house price follows a log-normal diffusion process. A highly accurate numerical scheme is presented to solve the partial differential equation of the value of the mortgage. In order to simplify the method, the interest rate is considered to be a constant within each month. Further, a discount factor is graded to make the model more suitable to current economic situation.
Phenomenological analysis of angular correlations in 7 TeV proton-proton collisions from the CMS experiment

A phenomenological analysis is presented of recent two-particle angular correlation data on relative pseudorapidity ($\ensuremath{\eta}$) and azimuth reported by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Collaboration for $\sqrt{s}=7\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collisions. The data are described with an empirical jetlike model developed for similar angular correlation measurements obtained from heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). The sameside (small relative azimuth), $\ensuremath{\eta}$-extended correlation structure, referred to as the ridge, is compared with three phenomenological correlation structures suggested by theoretical analysis. These include additional angular correlations due to soft gluon radiation in $2\ensuremath{\rightarrow}3$ partonic processes, a one-dimensional sameside correlation ridge on azimuth motivated, for example, by color-glass condensate models, and an azimuth quadrupole similar to that required to describe heavy-ion angular correlations. The quadrupole model provides the best overall description of the CMS data, including the ridge, based on ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{2}$ minimization in agreement with previous studies. Implications of these results with respect to possible mechanisms for producing the CMS sameside correlation ridge are discussed.
Therapy of flea allergy dermatitis (FAD) in dogs and cats: Part 1

This article considers the aims of therapy in the patient with flea allergy dermatitis (FAD), and the range of flea-control products, available for use on the animal and in the environment. Removal of the source of antigenic challenge, the flea, from the patient and the patient's environment should be the ultimate aim of therapy. Whilst this is being achieved, symptomatic antipruritic therapy may be indicated to alleviate clinical signs and reduce discomfort. Insecticides are usually required on the animal and in the surrounding environment. Selection of flea-control products is influenced by the biological and therapeutic characteristics of each insecticide and needs to be customised to individual circumstances.
Analyzing the Performance Bottlenecks of the POWER7-IH Network

In this work we provide an early performance analysis of the communication network in a small-scale POWER7-IH processing system from IBM. Using a set of communication micro-benchmarks we quantify the achievable bandwidth of the communication links available in the system that differ in their peak performance characteristics. We also identify the bottlenecks within the communication network and show that the bandwidth a single node can inject into the network is considerably less than the bandwidth available to the IBM hub chip, that acts as a NIC to the node as well as being an integral part of the P7-IH network. Using a communication pattern that is representative of activities in many scientific applications that have regular communication patterns, we show how the default task-to-core assignment on the P7-IH achieves sub-optimal performance in most cases. We also show that when using a diagonal-cyclic assignment, as developed in this work that takes into account the network topology as well as routing strategy, the communication performance can be improved by up to 75%. We expect even greater improvements in the communication performance on larger P7-IH systems.
Censorship and Casablanca

Casablanca is one of the most researched and analyzed films in scholarship. However, an historical analysis reveals that censorship by the federal government influenced how Warner Brothers shot and edited the film. A review of the federal documents from the Office of War Information, Bureau of Motion Pictures, and the Overseas Bureau forced changes in the film involving the depiction of the French. We consider several parts of the film identified by the censors as problematic and consider how Warner Brothers shot those scenes, including the famous conclusion of the film.
Racial Disparities in Children’s Health: A Longitudinal Analysis of Mothers Based on the Multiple Disadvantage Model

This secondary data analysis of 4373 mothers and their children investigated racial disparities in children's health and its associations with social structural factors, social relationships/support, health/mental health, substance use, and access to health/mental health services. The study drew on longitudinal records for mother-child pairs created from data in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Generalized estimating equations yielded results showing children's good health to be associated positively with mother's health (current health and health during pregnancy), across three ethnic groups. For African-American children, good health was associated with mothers' education level, receipt of informal child care, receipt of public health insurance, uninsured status, and absence of depression. For Hispanic children, health was positively associated with mothers' education level, receipt of substance-use treatment, and non-receipt of public assistance. Implications for policy and intervention are discussed.
Intratubular fluid movement in dog kidney during stop flow.

SummaryThe movement of intratubular fluid during stop flow has been investigated by injecting 2 or more filtration indicators at different intervals during period of ureteral occlusion. Appearance of these indicators in different samples collected upon release of the occlusion demonstrates that appreciable fluid movement takes place during stop flow.
Implementation and Testing of a Compressible Wall-Layer Model on a Flat Plate

Traditional wall functions have been used successfully for decades to decrease the computational cost for obtaining solutions to incompressible flows with equilibrium turbulence. However, these traditional, analytic wall functions are poorly suited for more complex flows. The present work describes an alternative approach named the “diffusion model”. The diffusion model is a subgrid model developed by Blottner and Bond which solves a system of ODEs in the near wall region instead of assuming an analytic profile. The diffusion model has previously been investigated in conjunction with k-ǫ- and k-ω-type two-equation turbulence models and the one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model. This paper documents the implementation and testing of the diffusion model fully coupled with a 3D ReynoldsAveraged Navier-Stokes code, using the Spalart-Allmaras model.
Chlorpyrifos and its oxygen analogue: residues in the body tissues of dipped cattle.

Residues of chlorpyrifos and its oxygen analogue (diethyl 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridyl phosphate) present in the body tissues of cattle and the rate of elimination were determined after multiple dippings in 0.025% emulsion of chlorpyrifos. The residues of chlorpyrifos were preponderantly in the fatty tissues, and the low residues found in other tissues could be attributed to the small amount of fat present. The highest residues in fat occurred 1 week after the 2nd 3rd dippings. No oxygen analogue was detected in any of the tissues.
Effect of Priming Infection on Serologic Response to Whole and Subunit Influenza Virus Vaccines in Animals

Results from studies in humans demonstrated that the serologic responses to A/New Jersey (NJ)/76 virus vaccines varied according to the age of the vaccine and appeared to be related to previous exposure of vaccinees to the different strains and influenza A virus. Experiments in animals were therefore performed to investigate the role of previous infection on responses to A/NJ/76 virus vaccines. Mice were infected with influenza A viruses representative of the major strains (Hsw1N1, H0N1, H2N2, H3N2) and later inoculated with various doses of whole or subunit A/NJ/76 virus vaccines. Results from experiments in mice demonstrated a low antigenicity of the subunit vaccine in unprimed animals compared with that of whole-virus vaccine; however, the antigenicity of both vaccines was enhanced in mice primed by previous infection with H0 and H1 viruses. In hamsters previously infected with an H3N2 virus, however, the response to only the whole-virus vaccine was enhanced by the priming infection. The responses of the mice were qualitatively more similar to those of humans than were the responses of hamsters.
Computational Investigations of Ligand Fluxionality in Fe3(C8H8)3

The recently synthesized tris(μ-1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene)triiron, Fe3(C8H8)3, was investigated by DFT computational studies. In the gas phase, the cluster adopts C3h symmetry and pseudo-η3:η5 hapt...
The First Cubital Cell in Certain Hymenoptera

Dr. T. D. A. Cockerell[1][1] has noticed that the first cubital cell of Geotiphia pachysoma Ckll. corresponds to the combined first cubital and first marginal cells of Megalodontes spissicornis ; and that “even in bees, such as Bombus , the rudiment of the cross-vein in the first cubital cell is plainly visible, and it may be said that these also have two marginals. The bee-venation, as compared with other ‘higher’ Hymenoptera, is very primitive” [1]: #fn-1
The Inevitability of “Standard” English Discursive Constructions of Standard Language Ideologies

Although standard language ideologies have been well researched and theorized, the practices that lead to the reproduction and enactment of these ideologies deserve attention. Specifically, there r...
Space Radiation Environment Testing of Liquid Crystal Phase Shifter Devices

This letter presents a reconfigurable phase shifter based on liquid crystal (LC) technology for use in space applications. A tunable phase shifter for the Ka-band is discussed and described in detail in terms of performance and functionality. The focus of this letter is placed on the performance of liquid crystals in lab-simulated space radiation conditions including surface charging, X-ray, and gamma radiation effects. Test results suggest that liquid crystal is quite resilient to adverse effects from the space radiation environment.
Purinergic Signaling and the Immune Response in Sepsis: A Review.

Abstract Purpose Sepsis remains an unresolved clinical problem with high in-hospital mortality. Despite intensive research over decades, no treatments for sepsis have become available. Here we explore the role of ATP in the pathophysiology of sepsis. ATP is not only a universal energy carrier but it also acts as an extracellular signaling molecule that regulates immune function. ATP stimulates a large family of purinergic receptors found on the cell surface of virtually all mammalian cells. In severe sepsis and septic shock, ATP is released in large amounts into the extracellular space where it acts as a “danger” signal. In this review, we focus on the roles of ATP as a key regulator of immune cell function and as a disruptive signal that contributes to immune dysfunction in sepsis. Methods We summarized the current understanding of the pathophysiology of sepsis, with special emphasis on the emerging role of systemic ATP as a disruptive force that promotes morbidity and mortality in sepsis. Findings Over the past two decades, the discovery that regulated ATP release and purinergic signaling represent a novel regulatory mechanism in immune cell physiology has opened up new possibilities in the treatment of sepsis. Immune cells respond to stimulation with the release of cellular ATP, which regulates cell functions in autocrine and paracrine fashions. In sepsis, large amounts of systemic ATP produced by tissue damage and inflammation disrupt these regulatory purinergic signaling mechanisms, leading to immune dysfunction that promotes the pathophysiologic processes involved in sepsis. Implications The knowledge of these ATP-dependent signaling processes is likely to reveal exciting new avenues in the treatment of the unresolved clinical problem of sepsis.
Time is the enemy: Mortality in trauma patients with hemorrhage from torso injury occurs long before the “golden hour”

Abstract Introduction The concept of the “Golden Hour” has been a time-honored tenet of prehospital trauma care, despite a paucity of data to substantiate its validity. Non-compressible torso hemorrhage has been demonstrated to be a significant cause of mortality in both military and civilian settings. We sought to characterize the impact of prehospital time and torso injury severity on survival. Furthermore, we hypothesized that time would be a significant determinant of mortality in patients with higher Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) grades of torso injury (AIS ≥ 4) and field hypotension (prehospital SBP ≤ 110 mmHg) as these injuries are commonly associated with hemorrhage. Methods Data for this analysis was generated from a registry of 2,523,394 injured patients entered into the National Trauma Data Bank Research Data Set from 2012 to 2014. Patients with torso injury were identified utilizing Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) for body regions 4 (Thorax) and 5 (Abdomen). Specific inclusion criteria for this study included pre-hospital time, prehospital SBP ≤110 mmHg, torso injury qualified by AIS and mortality. Patients with non-survivable torso injury (AIS = 6), severe head injuries (AIS ≥ 3), no signs of life in the field (SBP = 0), interfacility transfers, or those with any missing data elements were excluded. This classification methodology identified a composite cohort of 42,135 adult patients for analysis. Results The overall mortality rate of the study population was 7.9% (3326/42,135); Torso AIS and prehospital time were noted to be strong independent predictors of patient mortality in all population strata of the analysis (P Conclusion In patients with high-grade torso injury, AIS grades ≥4, the degree anatomic disruption is associated with significant hemorrhage. In our study, a precipitous rise in patient mortality was exhibited in this high-grade injury group at prehospital times
feminist online interviewing: engaging issues of power, resistance and reflexivity in practice

This paper is a response to scholars who have called for exploring and interrogating new strategies of data collection and new approaches to more traditional methods, such as interviewing in the context of the internet. Drawing on feminist standpoint theory, ‘reflexive email interviewing’ is proposed as a method for feminist research. The method is illustrated using a recent case study of email interviews with self-identified women who are members of World Pulse, an online community that aims to unite and amplify women’s voices worldwide. Through this case study, issues of power and resistance in the researcher/researched relationship and of participant reflexivity are interrogated. Lastly, criteria for reflexive email interviewing are proposed, including 1) strategies to interrogate and disrupt power hierarchies within the research process, 2) researcher reflexivity as a continuous part of the research process, and 3) continued invitations for participants to directly reflect on and respond to the research process. Reflexive questions are offered for researchers to use during research design and in each phase of their research process to ensure reflexivity is achieved.
Injury-induced gp130 cytokine signaling in peripheral ganglia is reduced in diabetes mellitus

Neuropathy is a major diabetic complication. While the mechanism of this neuropathy is not well understood, it is believed to result in part from deficient nerve regeneration. Work from our laboratory established that gp130 family of cytokines are induced in animals after axonal injury and are involved in the induction of regeneration-associated genes (RAGs) and in the conditioning lesion response. Here, we examine whether a reduction of cytokine signaling occurs in diabetes. Streptozotocin (STZ) was used to destroy pancreatic β cells, leading to chronic hyperglycemia. Mice were injected with either low doses of STZ (5×60mg/kg) or a single high dose (1×200mg/kg) and examined after three or one month, respectively. Both low and high dose STZ treatment resulted in sustained hyperglycemia and functional deficits associated with the presence of both sensory and autonomic neuropathy. Diabetic mice displayed significantly reduced intraepidermal nerve fiber density and sudomotor function. Furthermore, low and high dose diabetic mice showed significantly reduced tactile touch sensation measured with Von Frey monofilaments. To look at the regenerative and injury-induced responses in diabetic mice, neurons in both superior cervical ganglia (SCG) and the 4th and 5th lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were unilaterally axotomized. Both high and low dose diabetic mice displayed significantly less axonal regeneration in the sciatic nerve, when measured in vivo, 48h after crush injury. Significantly reduced induction of two gp130 cytokines, leukemia inhibitory factor and interleukin-6, occurred in diabetic animals in SCG 6h after injury compared to controls. Injury-induced expression of interleukin-6 was also found to be significantly reduced in the DRG at 6h after injury in low and high dose diabetic mice. These effects were accompanied by reduced phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a downstream effector of the gp130 signaling pathway. We also found decreased induction of several gp130-dependent RAGs, including galanin and vasoactive intestinal peptide. Together, these data suggest a novel mechanism for the decreased response of diabetic sympathetic and sensory neurons to injury.
Accessing satellite imagery for disaster response through the International Charter: Lessons learned from the 2011 US Midwestern Floods

Abstract The International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ (“Charter”) is a collaboration among Earth observation satellite owners and operators to provide remotely sensed (RS) data following natural and man-made disasters. Charter members provided post-flood and pre-flood or archived RS data after the April 2011 floods in the Midwestern US. These multispectral and RADAR images provided valuable information to end users and first responders in the flood affected states for their planning and relief efforts. This effort was successful because of the process established by the Charter for soliciting requests, and acquiring and distributing data through a network of international and national agencies, and data vendors. This paper describes the a) role played by the Charter to acquire and distribute RS data through six of its members, b) value of archived satellite data, c) need for image processing experts to process these near real-time data, and transfer them in a timely manner, and d) data acquisition and distribution policies of the Charter. Lessons learned from this response along with the policy recommendations will be helpful in future activations for maximizing the value of RS data and services provided by the Charter.
Nucleation of melting and solidification in confined high aspect ratio thin films

Classical nucleation theory is used to consider the solidification of a melt confined between two planar surfaces. The critical nucleus shapes and the associated nucleation energy barriers are computed as a function of the thickness of the film and the film's relevant bulk and interface energies. The analysis is then repeated for the melting transition, and expressions for the depression and elevation of the melting temperature, relative to the thermodynamic bulk melting temperature of the film material, are found. A nucleus morphology diagram is constructed. This diagram presents the lowest energy morphology of the nuclei, as well as melting points, as a function of the system parameters. Using the nucleus morphology diagram, experimental and system parameters that allow for the desired nucleation behavior can be identified. Furthermore, the nucleus morphology diagram illustrates a region of parameter space where the film is predicted to solidify above its thermodynamic bulk melting temperature, a behavior termed presolidification. The theory is used to predict the temperature at which the nucleation of the solid phase and liquid phase is expected for Ge between two glass substrates. Furthermore, a possible route for controlling the orientation of the film is identified. By controlling the growth temperature, certain orientations may not be able to nucleate, thereby reducing the possible number of orientations within a film.
Characterization of Viral Exposures in United States Occupational Environments

Viruses are considered to be the most abundant biological particles and have the capability to infect all forms of life leading to a variety of diseases. American workers in specific occupational environments are threatened by viral exposures, highlighting the importance to recognize the type and risk of exposure, as well as the preventive measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of exposure. For example, healthcare workers can potentially be exposed to air and blood-borne pathogens, such as hepatitis and the human immunodeficiency virus. These types of exposures have led to the development of preventive equipment and regulations intended to reduce viral exposures in occupational settings. This chapter will discuss the characteristics of viruses and the occupationally relevant viruses of which people in varying occupations can potentially encounter. Regulatory guidelines and protective strategies will also be reviewed.
Does Increased Body Mass Index Influence Outcomes After Rotator Cuff Repair

Purpose To investigate the influence of pre-existing obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30) on outcomes after rotator cuff repair surgery. Methods We collected data on adult patients who underwent surgical repair for symptomatic full-thickness rotator cuff tears confirmed by imaging between 2012 and 2015. The required follow-up was 3 years. At baseline and 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score, Western Ontario Rotator Cuff index, and visual analog scale pain scores were collected. Complications were assessed by a chart review. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 30. Chi-square analysis and Student's t -test examined differences between categorical and continuous variables at baseline. Generalized estimating equations examined the effects of fixed factors on outcome variables longitudinally from baseline to 36 months. Results Thirty-nine percent of 213 subjects were obese (mean BMI = 29.2; range, 16-48; standard deviation, 5.8). There were no statistically significant differences between obese and nonobese subjects in other baseline characteristics. When controlling for covariates, obese subjects reported no differences in Western Ontario Rotator Cuff, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons, or visual analog scale pain scores when compared with nonobese subjects at baseline and over 3 years from surgery. Although obese patients were more likely to have inpatient surgery, there was no difference in the incidence of postoperative complications. Conclusions Contrary to our hypothesis, obese participants who underwent rotator cuff repair reported no difference in functional outcome or pain scores compared with nonobese participants over 3 years. In addition, obesity was not associated with postoperative complications in this study. However, as we hypothesized, obese participants were more likely than nonobese participants to have repair in the inpatient setting. Level of Evidence Level III, retrospective comparative study.
Meat consumption and pancreatic cancer risk among men and women in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort

Prospective cohort studies suggest that red and processed meat consumption is associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer among men, but not women. However, evidence is limited, and less evidence exists for other types of meat. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for the association of meat consumption, by type, with pancreatic cancer risk among 138,266 men and women in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort. Diet was assessed at baseline in 1992, and 10 years earlier, at enrollment into the parent CPS-II mortality cohort. 1,156 pancreatic cancers were verified through 2013. Red meat, processed meat, and fish intake at baseline were not associated with pancreatic cancer risk. However, for long-term red and processed meat consumption (highest quartiles in 1982 and 1992, vs. lowest quartiles), risk appeared different in men [hazard ratio (HR) 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90, 1.95] and women (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.47, 1.10, p heterogeneity by sex = 0.05). Poultry consumption in 1992 was associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.04, 1.55, p trend = 0.01, top vs. bottom quintile). The associations of meat consumption with pancreatic cancer risk remain unclear and further research, particularly of long-term intake, is warranted.
Conceptions and Theories of Learning for Workplace Education

This chapter on conceptions and theories of learning is intended to inform the work of educators about those components of professional education that occur in the practice settings of the workplace, the signature pedagogy in education for the professions. In those milieus, novices experience professional socialization as they enter into a community of practice; develop clinical and professional skills through observation, coaching, mentoring, and supervision; and develop specialized knowledge as the situations of practice provide meaning and motivation for abstract learning. The role of this chapter within this book as a whole is to characterize conceptions and theories of learning that are particularly applicable to learning in the workplace, providing a context for the synthesis of research on pedagogy and best teaching practices in workplace settings and recommendations on assessment and faculty development. The focus of this chapter is on learning in the context of practice situations in the early stages of professional education.
Chemically linked metal-matrix nanocomposites of boron nitride nanosheets and silver as thermal interface materials.

Herein, novel hybrid nanocomposite thermal interface materials (TIMs) relying on the chemical linkage of silver, boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs), and organic ligands are reported. These TIMs were prepared using a co-electrodeposition/chemisorption approach where the electrolytic reduction of silver ions into silver nano-/micro-crystals was coupled with the conjugation of ligand-coated nanosheets onto silver crystals. Furthermore, the influence of the bond strength of silver/nanosheet links on the thermal, mechanical, and structural properties is investigated using a combination of techniques including laser flash analysis, phase-sensitive transient thermoreflectance, nanoindentation, and electron microscopy. The internal nanostructure was found to be strongly dependent on the linker chemistry. While the chemical grafting of 4-cyano-benzoyl chloride (CBC) and 2-mercapto-5-benzimidazole carboxylic acid (MBCA) on BNNSs led to the uniform distribution of functionalized-nanosheets in the silver crystal matrix, the physical binding of 4-bromo-benzoyl chloride linkers on nanosheets caused the aggregation and phase separation. The thermal conductivity was 236–258 W m−1 K and 306–321 W m−1 K for physically and chemically conjugated TIMs, respectively, while their hardness varied from 400–495 MPa and from 240 to 360 MPa, respectively. The corresponding ratio of thermal conductivity to hardness, which is a critical parameter controlling the performance of TIMs, was ultrahigh for the chemically conjugated TIMs: 1.3 × 10−6 m2 K−1 s for MBCA-BNNS and 8.5 × 10−7 m2 K−1 s for CBC-BNNS. We anticipate that these materials can satisfy some of the emerging thermal management needs arising from the improved performance and efficiency, miniaturization, and/or high throughput of electronic devices, energy storage devices, energy conversion systems, light-emitting diodes, and telecommunication components.
A case study exploring international student engagement at small, private colleges

Higher education institutions continue to face increased scrutiny to better monitor student persistence rates and develop better strategies to retain more students through the attainment of a degree. Retention studies on international students are limited and often focused on large public universities. The researcher interviewed students and the international student officers at three small, private four-year colleges in the Southeast United States. The international students were found to be formally and informally engaged in academic and social activities on campus, and engagement was promoted by formal campus sponsored activities, international staff members’ personal involvement, and through faculty and staff interaction. The students became aware of campus resources through college programming, faculty and staff interaction, and peer interaction with other students.
Loss of Chromatin-Remodeling Proteins and/or CDKN2A Associates With Metastasis of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors and Reduced Patient Survival Times

Despite prognostic grading and staging systems, it is a challenge to predict outcomes for patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs). Sequencing studies of PanNETs have identified alterations in death domain-associated protein (DAXX) and alpha-thalassemia/mental retardation X-linked chromatin remodeler (ATRX). In tumors, mutations in DAXX or ATRX and corresponding loss of protein expression correlate with shorter times of disease-free survival and disease-specific survival of patients. However, DAXX or ATRX proteins were lost in only 50% of distant metastases analyzed. We performed whole-exome sequencing analyses of 20 distant metastases from 20 patients with a single nonsyndrome, nonfunctional PanNET. We found distant metastases contained alterations in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) (n = 8), ATRX (n = 5), DAXX (n = 5), TSC2 (n = 3), and DEP domain containing 5 (DEPDC5) (n = 3). We found copy number loss of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) in 15 metastases (75%) and alterations in genes that regulate chromatin remodeling, including set domain containing 2 (SETD2) (n = 4), AT-rich interaction domain 1A (ARID1A) (n = 2), chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 8 (CHD8) (n = 2), and DNA methyl transferase 1 (DNMT1) (n = 2). In a separate analysis of 347 primary PanNETs, we found loss or deletion of DAXX and ATRX, disruption of SETD2 function (based on loss of H3 lysine 36 trimethylation), loss of ARID1A expression or deletions in CDKN2A in 81% of primary PanNETs with distant metastases. Among patients with loss or deletion of at least 1 of these proteins or genes, 39% survived disease-free for 5 years and 44% had disease-specific survival times of 10 years. Among patients without any of these alterations, 98% survived disease-free for 5 years and 95% had disease-specific survival times of 10 years. Therefore, primary PanNETs with loss of DAXX, ATRX, H3 lysine 36 trimethylation, ARID1A, and/or CDKN2A associate with shorter survival times of patients. Our findings indicate that alterations in chromatin-remodeling genes and CDKN2A contribute to metastasis of PanNETs.
Type V osteogenesis imperfecta undergoing surgical correction for scoliosis.

The objective of this article is to report a case of type V osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) undergoing posterior instrumented fusion for scoliosis. Type V OI is a moderately severe dysplasia causing primary defects in endochondral bone ossification or mineralisation. It is characterised by hyperplastic callus (HPC) formation, interosseous membrane calcifications, poor bone quality and spinal deformities including scoliosis. Data on the surgical management of spinal deformities in this patient group are lacking. A 16-year-old patient with a confirmed diagnosis of type V OI presented with a progressive scoliosis. The patient underwent a T3–L4 posterior instrumented correction and fusion utilising pedicle screws, pedicle hooks and sub-laminar wiring. At 4 months after surgery, the pedicle hooks pulled out and required partial metalwork removal after CT scanning confirmed bony union and no evidence of HPC formation. The patient was successfully discharged with satisfactory correction, confirmed bony union, no neurologic complication and absence of any hyperplastic callus formation. Type V OI patients requiring surgical intervention for scoliosis correction can safely undergo posterior instrumented fusion using sublaminar wiring and pedicle hook/screw constructs without apparent risk of HPC formation around neural elements. Surgery in this patient group remains challenging due to the associated poor bone quality. V.
A Recurrent Neural Network Approach for Automated Neural Tracing in Multispectral 3D Images

Neuronal morphology reconstruction in fluorescence microscopy 3D images is essential for analyzing neuronal cell type and connectivity. Manual tracing of neurons in these images is time consuming and subjective. Automated tracing is highly desired yet is one of the foremost challenges in computational neuroscience. The multispectral labeling technique, Brainbow utilizes high dimensional spectral information to distinguish intermingled neuronal processes. It is particular interesting to develop new algorithms to include the spectral information into the tracing process. Recently, deep learning approaches achieved state-of-the-art in different computer vision and medical imaging applications. To benefit from the power of deep learning, in this paper, we propose an automated neural tracing approach in multispectral 3D Brainbow images based on recurrent neural net-work. We first adopt VBM4D approach to denoise multispectral 3D images. Then we generate cubes as training samples along the ground truth, manually traced paths. These cubes are the input to the recur-rent neural network. The proposed approach is simple and effective. The approach can be implemented with the deep learning toolbox "Keras" in 100 lines. Finally, to evaluate our approach, we computed the average and standard deviation of DIADEM metric from the ground truth results to our tracing results, and from our tracing results to the ground truth results. Extensive experimental results on the collected dataset demonstrate that the proposed approach performs well in Brainbow labeled mouse brain images.
On the Glass Transition of Polyacrylamide

The effect of a plasticizer on the glass transition temperature (Tg) of an amorphous polymer is well documented. However, similar behavior of water in synthetic polymers has only recently been recognized. The effect of water content (or thermal history) on the Tg’s of acrylamide polymers has been studied by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetry (TG), Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) and Simultaneous Thermogravimetry — Mass Spectrometry (TG-MS). Commercial samples of polyacrylamide and poly-(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) from several sources were investigated and were found to contain measurable amounts of water. A pronounced plasticizing capability was detected for a relatively low concentration of water. A lowering of the glass transition temperature of the homopolymer by about 70°C was observed with a concentration of less than 8%. A similar effect was also observed for the β transition and a ratio of 0.66 was obtained for Tβ (°K)/ Tg (°K).
Control of Parathyroid Hormone Secretion by Extracellular Ca2

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) plays critical roles in maintaining the nearly constant level of the extracellular ionized calcium concentration (Ca2+ o) that is required for the well-being of complex organisms, including humans. Therefore, an understanding of the factors controlling PTH secretion and the mechanisms by which they do so is essential for a thorough comprehension of this regulatory system. The discussion that follows covers the overall control of PTH secretion by changes in the extracellular calcium concentration (Ca2+ o) by virtue of its regulation of the secretion of preformed hormonal stores, hormonal degradation, biosynthesis of PTH, and parathyroid cellular proliferation. Phosphate, 1,25(OH) 2D3, and fibroblast growth factor (FGF23) also regulate parathyroid function, stimulating it in the case of phosphate and inhibiting it in the case of 1,25(OH)2D3 and FGF23. The regulatory roles of these three factors are covered in Chaps. 6 and 8 and will only be alluded to briefly here.