cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Role of sialyloligosaccharide binding in Theiler's virus persistence.

Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis viruses (TMEVs) belong to the Picornaviridae family and are divided into two groups, typified by strain GDVII virus and members of the TO (Theiler’s original) group. The highly virulent GDVII group causes acute encephalitis in mice, while the TO group is less virulent and causes a chronic demyelinating disease which is associated with viral persistence in mice. This persistent central nervous system infection with demyelination resembles multiple sclerosis (MS) in humans and has thus become an important model for studying MS. It has been shown that some of the determinants associated with viral persistence are located on the capsid proteins of the TO group. Structural comparisons of two persistent strains (BeAn and DA) and a highly virulent strain (GDVII) showed that the most significant structural variations between these two groups of viruses are located on the sites that may influence virus binding to cellular receptors. Most animal viruses attach to specific cellular receptors that, in part, determine host range and tissue tropism. In this study, atomic models of TMEV chimeras were built with the known structures of GDVII, BeAn, and DA viruses. Comparisons among the known GDVII, BeAn, and DA structures as well as the predicted models for the TMEV chimeras suggested that a gap on the capsid surface next to the putative receptor binding site, composed of residues from VP1 and VP2, may be important in determining viral persistence by influencing virus attachment to cellular receptors, such as sialyloligosaccharides. Our results showed that sialyllactose, the first three sugar molecules of common oligosaccharides on the surface of mammalian cells, inhibits virus binding to the host cell and infection with the persistent BeAn virus but not the nonpersistent GDVII and chimera 39 viruses.
Nonstationary traffic models for mobile satellite communications systems

Two models for nonstationary traffic analysis of mobile satellite communications systems are developed. First, a cell associated with a satellite footprint is modeled as the M/M/c/c loss system. The corresponding birth-and-death equations yield a differential equation for the system state dynamic evolution in time. Examining the channel holding times distribution in more detail shows that its exponential feature is very doubtful. A more general model following the M/G/c/c system is proposed. In order to match the mean and variance of the actual service time we adopt a method of stages consisting in decomposing the service time distribution into a collection of distributions provided by exponential servers in series. Both proposed models are validated by means of extensive simulations.
Engineering Solution of a Basic Call-Center Model

An algorithm is developed to rapidly compute approximations for all the standard steady-state performance measures in the basic call-center queueing modelM/GI/s/r+GI, which has a Poisson arrival process, independent and identically distributed (IID) service times with a general distribution,s servers,r extra waiting spaces and IID customer abandonment times with a general distribution. Empirical studies of call centers indicate that the service-time and abandon-time distributions often are not nearly exponential, so that it is important to go beyond the MarkovianM/M/s/r+M special case, but the general service-time and abandon-time distributions make the realistic model very difficult to analyze directly. The proposed algorithm is based on an approximation by an appropriate MarkovianM/M/s/r+M(n) queueing model, whereM(n) denotes state-dependent abandonment rates. After making an additional approximation, steady-state waiting-time distributions are characterized via their Laplace transforms. Then the approximate distributions are computed by numerically inverting the transforms. Simulation experiments show that the approximation is quite accurate. The overall algorithm can be applied to determine desired staffing levels, e.g., the minimum number of servers needed to guarantee that, first, the abandonment rate is below any specified target value and, second, that the conditional probability that an arriving customer will be served within a specified deadline, given that the customer eventually will be served, is at least a specified target value.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament–Injured Subjects Have Smaller Anterior Cruciate Ligaments Than Matched Controls A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Background: Very few studies examining the predisposing anatomical factors leading to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries have examined the ACL itself, and none of these directly examined the difference in ACL properties between injured and matched control subjects.Hypothesis: The ACL total volume in people who have experienced a noncontact ACL injury is smaller than that of matched controls.Study Design: Case control study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods: Contours of the ACL were manually identified in sagittal magnetic resonance images, and volumes were calculated for 27 contralateral, healthy knees of individuals after noncontact ACL injury and for 27 control subjects matched for gender, height, age, and weight. Validation of this method was performed on 5 porcine knees. Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine the difference in ACL volume between injured and control subjects while considering gender, height, weight, and age as potential covariates.Results: Contralateral ACL volume for in...
When spoken words fail.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in her third year of medical school, the author found that spoken words often failed to capture what she longed to communicate. She instead turned to the creation of the visual art pieces that are the subject of this article. Though the author explored meaning making, art therapy, and art works done by professional artists and lay people illustrating their personal experiences with cancer, she longed for artwork that conveyed the landmarks of diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and recovery. She designed a visual exploration of these cancer landmarks, informed by her experience as a patient and as a medical student, with the goal of creating a common landscape for medical professionals, cancer patients, and their loved ones. She chose box constructions and found object assemblage as narrative modalities because of their three-dimensionality, communication of insularity, and capacity to draw observers near. The resulting seven art pieces are explained and displayed in this article.
The Cytology of the S913 Leukemia

The S913 leukemia, a transplantable X-ray induced tumor maintained in C57B1/10 mice, is a hypertriploid tumor with a wide range in chromosome numbers (40-80) and readily recognizable marker chromosomes.
Introducing cryptography course in computer science undergraduate curricula

With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, Information Assurance (IA) has become very important and crucial. To ensure the security of information in increasingly prevalent e-commerce, e-business, and to protect private data from hackers and saboteurs, professionals should have sound knowledge in the area of information assurance. Among the others, cryptography is one of the key techniques that ensure confidentiality and integrity of information. It is essential to establish a cryptography course, as part of the information assurance curricula to provide computer science majors such knowledge.Traditionally, courses in cryptography have been heavily mathematical in nature and are usually offered in the graduate level. This paper proposes the introduction of cryptography course in Computer Science at undergraduate level as part of our Information Assurance curricula. To make the proposed course suitable for the undergraduate majors, we skip some complicate mathematical theory and algorithms and include more cryptography protocols, techniques, and applications. This course will provide students majoring in computer science a broad background in Cryptography for Information Assurance, which has become an essential part of software development in the present day insecure world.
Minimal Delay in Controlled Mobile Relay Networks

We consider a network in which a set of vehicles is responsible for picking up and delivering messages that arrive according to Poisson process with pickup and delivery location distributed in certain region uniformly at random. The vehicles are required to pickup and deliver the messages so that the average delay is minimized. In our previous work, we examined the benefits of vehicle control on the message delay. Specifically, we obtained optimal delay scaling where each message was required to be picked up and delivered by the same vehicle. Motivated by application to wireless networks, in this paper we remove this restriction and allow the vehicles to relay message between them. Specifically, we consider two relay methods. The first requires vehicles to relay messages directly to each other using a synchronous rendezvous schedule while the other utilizes an infinite capacity depot to store relayed messages. Under both relay models, we characterize the minimal delay scaling which demonstrates that relaying helps in reducing delay further. Surprisingly, the optimal delay scaling is achieved with only one relay per message. We note that our results naturally apply to the classical vehicle routing setup as well as to a wireless communication network. Specifically, our results suggest that the delay reduction can be very significant in a controlled relay network.
Effects of pH and acetic acid on homoacetic fermentation of lactate by Clostridium formicoaceticum

Clostridium formicoaceticum homofermentatively converts lactate to acetate at 37 degrees C and pH 6.6-9.6. However, this fermentation is strongly inhibited by acetic acid at acidic pH. The specific growth rate of this organism decreased from a maximum at pH 7.6 to zero at pH 6.6. This inhibition effect was found to be attributed to both H(+) and undissociated acetic acid. At pH values below 7.6, the H(+) inhibited the fermentation following non-competitive inhibition kinetics. The acetic acid inhibition was found to be stronger at a lower medium pH. At pH 6.45-6.8, cell growth was found to be primarily limited by a maximum undissociated acetic acid concentration of 0.358 g/L (6mM). This indicates that the undissociated acid, not the dissociated acid, is the major acid inhibitor. At pH 7.6 or higher, this organism could tolerate acetate concentrations of higher than 0.8M, but salt (Na(+)) became a strong inhibitor at concentrations of higher than 0.4M. Acetic acid inhibition also can be represented by noncompetitive inhibition kinetics. A mathematical model for this homoacetic fermentation was also developed. This model can be used to simulate batch fermentation at any pH between 6.9 and 7.6.
Salamander UV cone pigment: sequence, expression, and spectral properties.

The visual pigment from the ultraviolet (UV) cone photoreceptor of the tiger salamander has been cloned, expressed, and characterized. The cDNA contains a full-length open reading frame encoding 347 amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis indicates that the highest sequence homology is to the visual pigments in the S group. The UV opsin was tagged at the carboxy-terminus with the sequence for the 1D4 epitope. This fusion opsin was expressed in COS-1 cells, regenerated with 11-cis retinal (A1) and immuno-purified, yielding a pigment with an absorbance maximum (λmax) of 356 nm which is blue shifted from the absorption of retinal itself. The transducin activation assay demonstrated that this pigment is able to activate rod transducin in a light-dependent manner. Regeneration with 11-cis 3,4-dehydroretinal (A2) yielded a pigment with a λmax of 360 nm, only 4 nm red shifted from that of the A1 pigment, while bovine rhodopsin generated with A2 showed a 16-nm red shift from the corresponding A1 pigment. These results demonstrate that the trend for a shorter wavelength pigment to have a smaller shift of λmax between the A1 and A2 pigments also fits UV pigments. We hypothesize that the small red shift with A2 could be due to a twist in the chromophore that essentially isolates the ring double bond(s) from conjugation with the rest of the polyene chain.
BRAIN DEATH AND THE ANENGEPHALIC NEWBORN

We will set the stage for our analysis by reviewing selected medical aspects of anencephaly, outlining the history of the use of anencephalics as organ sources, and summarising the results of an important study recently completed at Loma Linda University. We will then employ some of the arguments and justifications underlying the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) to claim that anencephaly is morally equivalent to brain death, i.e., the reasons for considering brain-dead patients to be dead also apply to anencephalics. Finally, we will critique our proposal and discuss its implications.
Horizontal Mergers in Multitier Decentralized Supply Chains

The well-known economic theory predicts that consumer price will fall after a horizontal merger when the amount of marginal cost reduction from operating synergies exceeds the premerger markup of a merging firm. However, when a horizontal merger occurs in a multitier decentralized supply chain where a finite number of firms compete at each tier, we show that this result holds only when a merger occurs at the tier that acts as the leader in the supply chain. In this supply chain, a horizontal merger at any other tier will decrease consumer price when the cost reduction exceeds a certain threshold that is larger than the premerger markup. Moreover, this threshold is increasing as the supply chain gets longer and can be substantially larger than the premerger markup. When accounting for subsequent entry after a merger in long-run equilibrium, contrary to a common belief, a larger synergy from a merger does not necessarily benefit consumers more. This paper was accepted by Yossiv Aviv, operations management.
Reactions to Medical Abortion Among Providers Of Surgical Abortion: An Early Snapshot

termination using methotrexate started to appear in both the medical and popular literature. 3 Interest in this method grew rapidly within the community of abortion providers. In spring 1996, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) devoted its annual postgraduate symposium to medical abortion, including both mifepristone and methotrexate, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced its intention to conduct trials of methotrexate abortions on some 2,500 patients. Moreover, NAF now lists some 97 individuals and clinics as providers of
Intraepithelial carcinoma, dysplasia, and exfoliation of cancer cells in the vaginal mucosa

Abstract One hundred and fifty-one women had positive cancer smears among a selected group of 663 who were carefully followed. Although apparently cured of cervicouterine disease, uncompleted study of the 151 women has already disclosed 15 cases of vaginal intraepithelial carcinoma and 12 of dysplasia. Exfoliation of cancer cells frequently ceased after punch biopsy and partial vaginectomy. This unexpected frequency of positive vaginal smears and tissue suggests these vaginal neoplasms have a low invasion potential and supports the field theory of carcinogenesis.
Comprehensive Analysis of the Android Google Play’s Auto-update Policy

Google Play provides a large Android application repository and the companion service application handles the initial installation and update processes. For the ease of management effort, a recent policy change by Google allows users to configure auto-update for installed applications based on permission groups, rather than individual permission. By analyzing the effects of the new auto-update policy on Android permission system with an emphasis on permission groups and protection levels, we find a new privilege escalation attack vector. Then 1200 Android applications are evaluated to identify potential privilege escalation candidates, and 1260 malware samples are investigated to study how the new attack vector could be utilized by the malware to increase the chance of distribution without users’ attention. Based on the evaluation results, we confirm that such new policy can be easily manipulated by malicious developers to gain high privileged permissions without users’ consent. It is highly recommended that users of the new auto-update feature carefully review permissions obtained after each update via global setting, or simply turn off the feature.
Ea Superstitione: Christian Martyrdom and the Religion of Freelance Experts.

This paper situates Roman actions undertaken against Christians amidst an unofficial pattern of measures employed throughout the imperial period to manage the expanding influence of freelance religious experts. Questions about the historical circumstances of martyrdom or persecution tend to proceed from the assumption that Christians were perceived and dealt with as a distinct religious community. However, the penalties alleged by writers such as Paul and Justin were more commonly issued against self-authorized individuals (magi, astrologers, prophets, diviners, philosophers, and so forth) than against undifferentiated religious groups. Thus, I propose that Roman motivations for investigating and punishing Christians, at least in the first and second centuries, are best understood in relation to the wider phenomenon of freelance expertise and the range of concerns that it engendered.
Testing for seasonal means in time series data

The statistician often needs to test whether or not a time series has a seasonal first moment. The problem often arises in environmental series, where most time-ordered data display some type of periodic structure. This paper reviews the problem, proposing new statistics in both the time and frequency domains. Our new time domain statistic has an analysis of variance form that is based on the one-step-ahead prediction errors of the series. This statistic inherits the classic traits of the F-distribution arising in one-way analysis of variance tests, is easy to use, and is asymptotically equivalent to the likelihood ratio test. The statistics asymptotic distribution is quantified when time series parameters are estimated. In the frequency domain, a statistic modifying Fisher's classical test for a sinusoidal mean superimposed on independent and identically distributed Gaussian noise is devised. The performance and comparison of these statistics are studied via simulation. Implementation of the methods merely requires sample means, autocovariances, and periodograms of the series. Application to a data set of monthly temperatures from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is given. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Role of Online Social Networks in Political Polarization of Elite Politicians

Based on repeated expressions and the peer influence literatures, we tested the impact of elite politicians’ online social networking behaviors on their partisanship behavior. We constructed a panel data for 414 Members of The 113th U.S. House of Representatives across a period of 9 months. To construct this panel, data from Twitter (website), The Library of Congress (THOMAS), U.S. Census Bureau, voteview (website), and cookpolitical (website) were collected. First, our findings suggest that posting party-preferred political tweets by Representatives is associated with higher levels of partisanship behavior by them. Second, following friends who frequently post party-preferred political tweets is associated with representatives’ partisanship behavior. Third, the effect of following friends who frequently post party-preferred political tweets is larger than the effect of frequent postings of party-preferred tweets by Representatives themselves.
Effects of risk as a within-subject variable in probability learning

Levels of risk were varied within Ss in a two-choice probability learning experiment. Contrary to the results of studies where risk was varied between Ss, the probability of predicting the more frequent event, P(A1), was significantly greater at high than at low risk. A second finding was that P(A1) was significantly higher for male than for female Ss, regardless of risk level.
Implementation of an Autonomous Surveillance Quadrotor System

A quadrotor is a 4-rotor vertical takeoff and landing vehicle that has the maneuvering abilities of traditional helicopters with significantly lower mechanical complexity. This low complexity increases dependability while reducing the cost of manufacturing, operation, and maintenance. Quadrotors are therefore becoming a promising option for various unmanned military and civilian applications. This paper describes the design and implementation of a complete autonomous quadrotor system for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The aerial vehicle is a custom magnesium, carbon fiber, and steel structure stabilized by a dual processor avionics and control system. The vehicle is capable of autonomous path navigation and data exchange with a ground station. The ground station is based on an open source autopilot project that was modified to interface to the quadrotor avionics. The quadrotor is outfitted with a fisheye video camera that provides real-time video to the system operator through a graphical user interface on the ground. The presented system successfully competed at the 2008 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Competition and placed fifth.
Enhanced Fluorescence Properties of Poly(phenylene ethynylene)-Conjugated Polyelectrolytes Designed to Avoid Aggregation

A new class of nonaggregating conjugated polyelectrolytes exhibits efficient fluorescence in aqueous solution. Analysis by optical spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy reveals a unique structure–property correlation between oxygen substitution and aggregation.
Ice flow dynamics and mass loss of Totten Glacier, East Antarctica, from 1989 to 2015

Totten Glacier has the largest ice discharge in East Antarctica and a basin grounded mostly below sea level. Satellite altimetry data have revealed ice thinning in areas of fast flow. Here we present a time series of ice velocity measurements spanning from 1989 to 2015 using Landsat and interferometric synthetic-aperture radar data, combined with ice thickness from Operation IceBridge, and surface mass balance from Regional Atmospheric Climate Model. We find that the glacier speed exceeded its balance speed in 1989–1996, slowed down by 11 ± 12% in 2000 to bring its ice flux in balance with accumulation (65 ± 4 Gt/yr), then accelerated by 18 ± 3% until 2007, and remained constant thereafter. The average ice mass loss (7 ± 2 Gt/yr) is dominated by ice dynamics (73%). Its acceleration (0.6 ± 0.3 Gt/yr2) is dominated by surface mass balance (80%). Ice velocity apparently increased when ocean temperature was warmer, which suggests a linkage between ice dynamics and ocean temperature.
The System Safety Perspective

Publisher Summary This chapter intends to contribute a “systems perspective” in aviation system but, given the often varied and vague use of the term, it starts by examining its definition. First, note the word “group”—the chapter does not focus on an individual aspect of technology or human performance, but instead discusses the process of identifying the set of most relevant aspects. Second, note the emphasis on “interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements”—beyond assembling a “grab-bag” of separate aspects the systems perspective represents how they relate to each other. Third, aviation systems definitely comprise “a complex whole,” which can only be comprehended by its human participants if the “system perspective” serves as a lens illuminating the most meaningful representations. Finally, examining the etymology of “system,” note the emphasis on action—an effective systems perspective is defined by its ability to improve design.
Lions, Tigers and Bears: The Global Trade in Animals

On 20 August 1994, an international uproar was caused by an incident involving a female African elephant who went on a rampage in Honolulu, Hawaii.1 The animal, Tyke, was ‘performing’ during an event for Circus International when, before hundreds of horrified spectators, she grabbed her trainer, thrashed him about and killed him before turning on her groomer and goring him. She then ran from the arena and escaped to city streets, where for 30 minutes she caused havoc and threatened the public before police shot her almost 100 times. It took her two hours to die.2
Interoperator Opportunistic Spectrum Sharing in LTE-Unlicensed

Extending long-term evolution (LTE) to unlicensed bands, termed LTE-unlicensed, is gaining significant interest recently. The coexistence of LTE-unlicensed with the current users of unlicensed bands (such as Wi-Fi) and the interference among LTE-unlicensed users themselves are the two challenges for the success of this new technology. In this paper, we propose a novel distributed online algorithm for opportunistic sharing of unlicensed bands among LTE-unlicensed base stations (BSs) while guaranteeing the quality of service (QoS) of user equipment (UE). We first derive a Lyapunov optimization-based algorithm for BSs to evaluate the true value of unlicensed spectrum, guarantee a maximum delay, and minimize the packet drop rate. We then develop a distributed auction mechanism to maximize the social welfare in each auction and enable optimal spectrum reuse. We prove that BSs bid truthfully with the proposed algorithm, while UEs’ QoS requirements on delay and packet drop rate can be guaranteed with bounded optimality gaps. We also reveal an interesting tradeoff between the delay and packet drop rate. The proposed algorithm is validated with simulations.
The dependence of Ammonium-Nitrate Fuel-Oil (ANFO) detonation on confinement

Abstract As detonation is a coupled fluid-chemical process, flow divergence inside the detonation reaction zone can strongly influence detonation velocity and energy release. Such divergence is responsible for the diameter-effect and failure-diameter phenomena in condensed-phase explosives and particularly dominant in detonation of nonideal explosives such as Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFO). In this study, the effect of reaction zone flow divergence on ANFO detonation was explored through variation of the inert confinement and explosive diameter in the rate-stick geometry with cylinder expansion experiments. New tests are discussed and compared to prior experiments. Presented results include the detonation velocity as a function of diameter and confinement, reaction zone times, detonation product isentropes and energies, as well as sonic surface pressures and velocities. Product energy densities and isentropes were found to increase with detonation velocity, indicating more complete chemical reaction with increased detonation velocity. Detonation reaction zone times were found to scale with the acoustic transit time of the confiner wall and used to show that the ANFO diameter effect scaled with the reaction zone time for a particle along the flow centerline, regardless of the confinement. Such a result indicates that the ANFO reaction mechanisms are sufficiently slow that the centerline fluid expansion timescale is a limiting factor controlling detonation velocity and energy release.
From isolation to interaction?: network-based professional development and patterns of teacher communication

As on-line professional development opportunities increase, interest in better understanding the possibilities these experiences have for teacher learning and professional growth also increases. While an overarching goal of many network-based professional development opportunities is to support teacher learning through peer dialogue, not enough is known about what factors best support such communication. Indeed, even though teachers are central to the successful use of technology for student learning, we know relatively little about their use of technology for their own communication and learning. As a recent OTA report noted, "Most research about educational technology has focused on the impact of technology on students; little attention has been given to its impact on teachers" [OTA 1995, p. 51].
Drosophila models of FOP provide mechanistic insight

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare bone disease characterized by episodic events of heterotopic ossification (HO). All cases of FOP have been attributed to mutations in the ACVR1 gene that render the encoded BMP type I ALK2 receptor hypersensitive, resulting in the activation of BMP signaling, at inappropriate times in inappropriate locations. The episodic or sporadic nature of HO associated with FOP rests with the occurrence of specific 'triggers' that push the hypersensitive ALK2-FOP receptor into full signaling mode. Identification of these triggers and their mechanism of action is critical for preventing HO and its devastating consequences in FOP patients. Models of FOP, generated in Drosophila, are shown to activate the highly conserved BMP signaling pathway in both Drosophila cell culture and in developing tissues in vivo. The most common FOP mutation, R206H, in ALK2 and its synonymous mutation, K262H, in the orthologous Drosophila receptor Sax, abolish the ability of wild type receptors to inhibit BMP ligand-induced signaling and lead to ubiquitous pathway activation in both cases but with important differences. When expressed in Drosophila, human ALK2R206H exhibits constitutive signaling. SaxK262H on the other hand can elicit excessive signaling similar to that observed for ALK2R206H in mammalian systems in vivo. For example, hyperactive signaling mediated by SaxK262H is triggered by an increase in ligand or in type II receptors. Interestingly, while the constitutive nature of ALK2R2026H in Drosophila requires activation by the type II receptor, it does not require its ligand binding domain. The differences exhibited by the two Drosophila FOP models enable a valuable comparative analysis poised to reveal critical regulatory mechanisms governing signaling output from these mutated receptors. Modifier screens using these Drosophila FOP models will be extremely valuable in identifying genes or compounds that reduce or prevent the hyperactive BMP signaling that initiates HO associated with FOP.
The viability and adoptability of presidential line-item veto: the perceptions of professional experts

This study examines public budgeting experts' perception on the viability and adoptability of the proposed line-item veto. The study reveals that: (1) the line-item veto is not considered by the experts as the most favored budgetary reform idea from both measurements of viability and adoptability; (2) the experts believe that the line-item veto may not be adopted in the near future even though they agree it is a viable idea; and (3) there are no significant correlations between the experts' views and their personal characteristics.
School Security Measures and Longitudinal Trends in Adolescents’ Experiences of Victimization

Although school security measures have become a common fixture in public schools across the United States, research on the relationship between security and adolescent victimization is mixed, with very few studies examining trends in adolescent victimization across time. Using two waves of data from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (N = 7659; 50.6% female; 56.7% White, 13.3% Black, 13.5% Hispanic, 11.3% Asian American, 5.4% other race), results from a series of multi-level models demonstrate that adolescents in schools with more security measures report higher odds of being threatened with harm, and no difference in odds of being in a physical altercation or having something stolen over time. Although prior research has established racial disparities in using school security measures, results demonstrate inconsistent patterns in the extent to which adolescents' race conditions the relationship between security and victimization. The findings are discussed in light of existing theoretical and empirical work, and implications for both research and practice are offered.
The American Community College

The community college has become a fixture in the American higher education landscape. From the very beginning, community colleges have had to serve multiple constituencies: they have been expected to provide academically rigorous programs, offer initial vocational education, help underprepared students, provide lifelong learning for all community members, and engage in specified industry training all while serving as a focal point of the community and being open to all students desirous of a college education. This chapter describes community colleges in terms of social roles, students, student services, programs, leadership, finances, and faculty members. It further explains how all these different parts of the college are affected by and deal with the complex college mission and how community colleges can respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Migrating Processes from Physical to Virtual Environments: Process Virtualization Theory

Increasingly, processes that have relied on physical interaction between people, and between people and objects are being migrated to virtual environments in which physical interaction is not available. For example, medical processes that have traditionally relied on physical interaction between physician and patient are conducted virtually through telemedicine, and shopping processes that have traditionally relied on physical interaction between shoppers and products are conducted virtually via electronic commerce. I refer to this migration as process virtualization. Although the pace of process virtualization is accelerating, some processes have proven more suitable for virtualization than others. Process virtualization theory is a recently proposed theory designed to explain this variance. This chapter describes the theory by defining terms, discussing the constructs and relationships of the theory that explain and predict how suitable a process is to being conducted virtually, and discussing how the theory fits into the Information Systems discipline.
Otitis externa kann auch tragisch enden

Der 72-jahrige Gunther S. sucht seinen Hausarzt Dr. L. wegen zunehmender rechtsseitiger Ohrenschmerzen auf. „Herr Doktor, ich habe solche Schmerzen, und mein Horgerat bringe ich auch nicht mehr ins Ohr. Das teure Teil hat gar keinen Wert mehr!“
Prolonged-Release vs Immediate-Release Tacrolimus Capsules in Black vs White Kidney Transplant Patients: A Post Hoc Analysis of Phase III Data.

Abstract Background Black kidney transplant patients experience inferior outcomes compared with other ethnicities. Because scrutiny is required when immunosuppressant drugs are used in such at-risk populations, we report the first large-scale clinical efficacy data assessing prolonged-release tacrolimus (PR-T) in black de novo kidney transplant patients. Methods and materials We used logistic regression and proportionate hazards to compare a composite outcome measure (biopsy-proven acute rejection, graft loss, mortality, and loss to follow-up) in black and white patients in treatment groups longer than 24 weeks, from 3 large Phase III randomized controlled trials. Secondary endpoints included tacrolimus trough concentration, dose, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Results The study included 2162 patients whose treatments belonged to two categories (immediate-release tacrolimus: 77 black patients, 721 white patients; and PR-T: 87 black patients, 1277 white patients). Despite demographic factors generally predictive of worse outcomes, efficacy failure among black patients who received PR-T was non-inferior to that among white patients who received either therapy. Compared with immediate-release tacrolimus, black patients who received PR-T achieved stable tacrolimus concentrations 2.5 times faster (21 vs 56 days, P = .04), and more achieved stable target concentrations (76.7% vs 69.3%). Treatment-emergent adverse events were consistent with those reported separately in pivotal trials. Conclusions Overall, black patients who received PR-T achieved non-inferior outcomes compared to white patients, despite higher pretransplant risk among black patients. Moreover, PR-T improved the time to achieve, and the likelihood of reaching, stable therapeutic concentrations among black patients, suggesting that PR-T could improve the consistency of tacrolimus exposure in this patient population.
Influence of CdS Morphology on the Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is currently mainly synthesized by chemical bath deposition, vacuum evaporation, spray deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition, sol-gel, solvothermal, radio frequency sputtering, and hydrothermal process. In this paper, CdS was synthesized by hydrothermal process and used with a mixture of titanium dioxide anatase and rutile (TiO2(A+R)) to build the photoanode, whereas the counter electrode was made of nanocomposites of conductive polymer polyaniline (PANI) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) deposited on a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate. Two morphologies of CdS have been obtained by using hydrothermal process: branched nanorods (CdSBR) and straight nanorods (CdSNR). The present work indicates that controlling the morphology of CdS is crucial to enhance the efficiency of DSSCs device. Indeed, the higher power conversion energy of 1.71% was achieved for a cell CdSBR-TiO2(A+R)/PANI-MWCNTs under 100 mW/cm2, whereas the power conversion energy of 0.97 and 0.83% for CdSNR-TiO2(A+R)/PANI-MWCNTs and TiO2(A+R)/PANI-MWCNTs, respectively. Therefore, by increasing the surface to volume ratio of CdS nanostructures and the crystallite size into those structures opens the way to low-cost chemical production of solar cells.
Revisit the Personality-Entrepreneurship Relationship: Level Effects vs. Pattern Effects

This study examines the effect of personality on entrepreneurial intention and success. Previous research has focused on why individuals become entrepreneurs and why some are more successful than o...
Liposomal Bupivacaine Local Infiltration for Buccal Mucosal Graft Harvest Site Pain Control: A Single-blinded Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract Objective To assess efficacy and safety of liposomal bupivacaine (LB) infiltration of the buccal mucosal graft (BMG) harvest site in alleviating pain by evaluating the postoperative narcotic usage, pain score, and morbidities. Patients and Methods Single-blinded randomized controlled trial of 43 adult patients for BMG substitution urethroplasty between January 2015 to June 2017 (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03720223). A computer-generated allocation scheme randomized patients to control group (n = 22) no further local anesthetic infiltration aside from that of used in the hydrodissection for BMG harvest, and to intervention group with additional infiltration of LB to BMG harvest site (n = 21). We assessed postoperative cumulative narcotic use on post-op day 1 and 2 (24- and 48-hour total intravenous [IV] morphine equivalents in milligrams). A self-reported 10-point numeric rating scale survey was administered to assess postprocedural oral pain, oral conditions, and morbidity on days 1-3, and at 1-month follow-up. Fisher's exact test and independent T test were performed to assess differences between treatment groups. Linear regression was used to determine adjusted effect estimates of intervention. Results Compared to controls, a significantly lower narcotic use was noticed among the LB treatment group on post-op day 1 (IV morphine equivalent mean difference 8.58 mg; 95% confidence interval 1.59, 15.56, P =.017), while no significant difference was noticed on post-op day 2. There was no significant difference between treatment groups with regards to postprocedural oral pain score or oral morbidities. Conclusion Our study showed that LB infiltration of the BMG harvest site is safe and associated with lower 24-hour narcotic use only at post-op day 1.
Imatinib Dose Can Be Safely Reduced after Complete Cytogenetic Response (CCyR) in Patients (pts) with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) in Early Chronic Phase (CP) Treated with High-Dose Imatinib.

Background Imatinib (standard dose, SD, 400mg/d) is standard therapy in CP CML. Several observations suggest that initial therapy with high-dose (HD) imatinib might be more effective. We previously reported that HD imatinib (800mg/d) leads to significantly better rates of complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), major molecular response (MMR) and complete molecular response (CMR), and improved event-free survival compared to SD. However, HD imatinib is associated with more frequent grade 3–4 hematological toxicity compared to SD. In addition, 36% pts required dose reduction due to toxicities. We investigated the outcome of pts who were maintained on 800mg/d compared to those whose dose was reduced from 800mg/d. Methods Pts enrolled in 3 sequential trials using imatinib for frontline therapy for CP CML were analyzed: 208 treated with HD and 50 with SD. Primary end points were event-free survival (EFS) and transformation-free survival (TFS). Results The median age was 48 years (range 17–84 years). Median follow up was 49 months. 4 year event-free survival (EFS) and transformation-free survival (TFS) were significantly better for pts treated with HD imatinib compared to SD (EFS: 92% vs. 77%, p=0.01; TFS: 98% vs. 89%, p=0.0045). Among pts treated with HD, 100 (48%) had a dose reduction at any time [600mg/d (n=50), 400mg/d (n=38), 300mg/d (n=12)]. Of them, 45 (45%) were dose-reduced after achieving CCyR including 26 (26%) after MMR. The median time to dose reduction was 3 months (range 1–60 months). For pts starting with HD imatinib, there was no difference between pts continuing with HD and those with a dose reduction in terms of EFS at 4 years (92% in both groups, p=0.65) and TFS at 4 years (98% vs. 97%, respectively, p=0.36). However, EFS at 4 years was significantly worse if the dose reduction was done prior to achievement of CCyR (84% vs. 100%, p=0.02). Similarly, patients who were dose-reduced before MMR had significantly worse 4 year EFS (88% vs. 100%, p=0.02). EFS curve for patients who had dose reduction done prior to CCyR was similar to that of pts treated with SD imatinib (p=0.59). Conclusions These results indicate that pts treated with HD imatinib can be safely dose reduced once they have achieved CCyR (preferably MMR) without having any impact on EFS or TFS. Such dose reduction may help decrease side effects as well as cost of the treatment. A prospective evaluation of this approach is warranted.
Pharmacologic management of HCV treatment in patients with HCV monoinfection vs. HIV/HCV coinfection: Does coinfection really matter?

Introduction Sustained virologic response (SVR) rates in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) monoinfection and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV coinfection treated with direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy are similar in clinical trials. The objective of this study was to examine differences in patient characteristics, drug-drug interactions, and treatment pathways between these groups in a real-world clinical setting. Methods We performed an ambispective review of patients prescribed DAA therapy between September 2015 and April 2018 at a tertiary academic center. The primary endpoint was time from a decision to treat to treatment initiation. Secondary endpoints included patient characteristics; frequency and type of DAA medication interactions; frequency, type, and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) changes; and treatment outcomes. Results Three hundred and twelve patients were included. Almost half (43%) were HIV/HCV coinfected. Patients with HIV/HCV coinfection were more likely to be African American (p<0.001), have a diagnosed psychiatric disorder (p<0.001) and have a higher pill burden (p = 0.014). Patients with HIV/HCV coinfection were more likely to report an alcohol abuse history (p<0.001), injection drug use history (p<0.024), or active use of illicit substances (p = 0.019). In a multivariable regression model assessing the primary endpoint, time to treatment initiation was increased in patients requiring a change in ART therapy (OR = 9.2, p < 0.001) or a non-ART medication adjustment (OR = 2.4, p = 0.003), and in patients with Medicaid (OR = 6.7, p < 0.001). After controlling for all these factors, HIV/HCV coinfection still significantly impacted time to treatment initiation (OR = 1.7, p = 0.020). The groups had similar rates of drug interaction frequency, treatment completion, observed SVR, and side effects. Conclusions Patients with HIV/HCV coinfection are more likely to have a variety of factors that add complexities to HCV treatment. In addition to these challenges, patients with HIV/HCV coinfection experience a longer time to treatment initiation while patients with HCV monoinfection were more frequently lost to care. Care delivery models may incorporate this data to improve patient engagement, access, and outcomes.
A randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy

Background "Energy drinks" are heavily marketed to the general public, across the age spectrum. The efficacy of decaffeinated energy drinks in enhancing subjective feelings of energy (s-energy) is controversial. Objective The authors sought to test the efficacy of the caffeine-free version of a popular energy drink compared with a placebo drink. Methods This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in 223 healthy men and women aged 18-70 y with intention-to-treat and completers analysis. Participants were randomly assigned to consumption of either the decaffeinated energy drink or a placebo drink on testing day 1, and the other drink a week later. A battery of computer-based mood and cognitive tests to assess s-energy was conducted at baseline and at 0.5, 2.5, and 5 h post-ingestion. The main outcome measures were 1) mood, which was assessed by using a General Status Check Scale and the Profile of Mood States 2nd edition brief form, and 2) cognitive measures, including the N-back task (reaction time and accuracy), Reaction Time test, Flanker task (distraction avoidance), and Rapid Visual Information Processing test. Results No statistically significant or meaningful benefits were observed for any outcome measure, including mood and cognitive measures. Analyses of mean differences, slopes, and median differences were consistent. Conclusions No differences were detected across a range of mood/cognitive/behavioral/s-energy-level tests after consumption of the energy drink compared with a placebo drink in this diverse sample of adults. Thus, we found strong evidence that the energy drink is not efficacious in enhancing s-energy levels, nor any related cognitive or behavioral variables measured. In light of federal regulations, these findings suggest that labeling and marketing of some products which claim to provide these benefits may be unsubstantiated. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02727920.