cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Returning to Our Roots: Immigrant Populations at Work.

This introductory article to the special issue on immigrants and work provides a historical context of the career development profession. Beginning with Parsons and the early reformers of the 1900s, the authors contend that the field was founded on principles of social justice and multiculturalism with an aim toward societal change. Just as helping professionals assisted the new immigrants of the previous century, there is a need and opportunity to be of service to the immigrants of the 21st century. Unique career-related issues for immigrant clients are discussed. An overview of the six pieces in this volume is briefly described along with common themes.
Curriculum-Based Measurement: An Alternative To Traditional Screening, Referral, and Identification

Curriculum-based measurement of academic performance is an alternative to traditional referral and assessment models in psychoeducational evaluation. This study contrasted a screening and referral procedure that used weekly measurement of performance in reading, spelling, and written expression with a traditional teacher-referral procedure. Students referred by the 2 methods were compared with respect to referral rate, cognitive functioning, achievement level, social behavior, sex differences, and identification as learning disabled. The number of students referred through curriculum-based measurement was similar to the number referred by teachers. In addition, the results indicated that academic achievement was almost the sole criterion used in teacher referral, although teacher-referred students were more likely to be rated as behavior problems. Finally, students referred through weekly achievement measurement were as likely to have an aptitude-achievement discrepancy as were students referred by teachers.
Fruit flies as a minihost model for studying drug activity and virulence in Aspergillus

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in profoundly immunosuppressed patients. The mediocre efficacy of antifungals for IA in clinical practice and an incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of IA contribute to its overall poor prognosis. Although logistically difficult for large scale use, conventional animal models of IA provide valuable information regarding both antifungal drug efficacy and Aspergillus mutant virulence. However, in the era of introduction of molecular biology techniques for studying Aspergillus and increasing antifungal options, the existing in vivo models of IA might be well complemented by nonvertebrate minihost models such as the Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Drosophila may offer the distinct advantage of performing fast, inexpensive high-throughput screening of compounds for anti-Aspergillus activity and putative Aspergillus mutants for their role in Aspergillus virulence.
Speculative Energy Scheduling for LDPC Decoding

This paper presents a low-power LDPC decoder design based on speculative scheduling of energy necessary to decode dynamically varying data frame in fading channels. The proposed scheme pre-analyzes each received data frame to estimate the maximum number of necessary iterations for the frame convergence. The results are then used to dynamically adjust decoder frequency and switch between multiple-voltage levels; thereby energy use is minimized. This is in contrast to the conventional fixed-iteration decoding schemes that operates at a fixed voltage level regardless the quality of data received. The result is a decoder implementation that provides a judicious trade-off between power consumption and coding gain
Our History … Mega Projects West Coast … Conferences …

In April of 1961, Engineering News-Record, in its Obituaries column, announced the death of Thomas A. Scott (1877–1961), retired chairman of the board for Merritt-Chapman & Scott. Scott was a renowned constructor who began his career as a blacksmith’s helper in his father’s company. His father, Thomas Albertson Scott (1830–1907), but known to all as Captain Scott, had gone to sea at age 15 and had by 1855 obtained an ownership interest in a schooner. But Captain Scott sold that interest after only a few years and moved his family to Coytesville, New Jersey, where he opened a general store. Within two years he abandoned storekeeping and took a contract to salvage the cargo from a steamer sunk near Fort Lee, New Jersey. After that he was employed by Francis Hopkinson Smith, who had a contract to construct the Race Rock Lighthouse located at the west end of Fishers Island and at the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound. So in the early 1870s the elder Scott moved his family to New London, Connecticut, so they would be with him during the construction of the Lighthouse, a 67-ft-high granite tower. Quoting from the Web site eastendlighthouses.org/rRock, “The construction on the ‘Boulder’ (really a ledge that is 3 to 13 feet below water) required 7 years, thousands of tons of riprap, numerous acts of courage and amazing persistence.” The work was completed in 1878, and the family remained in New London as the Captain continued to be engaged in marine salvage and construction work. As a credit to the quality of the construction, it must be noted that the Race Rock Lighthouse is still in service. The Captain’s firm was incorporated in 1903, under the name of T. A. Scott Company, Inc., and Thomas A. Scott—who had worked as a seaman, ship’s captain, salvage officer, and operations manager—became president. Under his leadership the firm turned increasingly to construction but continued to be extensively involved in marine salvage operations. Design/build is not such a new thing, because in 1904 T. A. Scott Company designed and built a plant to manufacture bichromate of potash and soda for the Mutual Chemical Company in Jersey City, New Jersey. The T. A. Scott Company greatly expanded its salvage operations during World War I but the Navy drew Scott away from the company. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander and
A Framework for Incorporating Minority Stress Theory into Treatment with Sexual Minority Clients

Empirical research has consistently demonstrated the negative mental health consequences of minority stress among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations; however, there is little understanding of how minority stress should be addressed in the actual clinical situation. This article discusses how to incorporate minority stress theory into clinical practice with LGB clients. A proposed framework begins with a two-part clinical assessment. The first part, based on Meyer's (2003) minority stress model, examines the effects of prejudice events, stigma, internalized homophobia, and sexual orientation concealment. The second part, grounded in Hatzenbuelher's (2009) work, examines the client's coping/emotional regulation, social/interpersonal, and cognitive processes, which can be elevated by minority stress. Following the assessment process, the framework suggests using a LGB-affirmative treatment approach. To demonstrate the clinical utility of the framework it will be applied to the treatment of a client...
Prevalence and Turnover of Peptidylglycineα-amidating Monooxygenase mRNA in Atrial Cardiomyocytes

Abstract Peptidylglycineα-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), the enzyme responsible for theα-amidation of neuroendocrine peptides, is more prevalent in the atrium of the heart than in pituitary or brain. RNase protection assays indicate that PAM transcripts account for approximately 0.5 % of the mRNA in the neonatal atrium and 0.06 % of the mRNA in the neonatal ventricle. In primary atrial cardiomyocyte cultures PAM mRNA turns over slowly, with a half-life of approximately 20 h. Levels of PAM mRNA in primary atrial cardiomyocytes are increased to 165 % of control upon treatment with dexamethasone and decreased to 63 % of control upon treatment with thyroid hormone.
Adaptive prior variance calibration in the Bayesian continual reassessment method

The use of the continual reassessment method (CRM) and other model-based approaches to design Phase I clinical trials has increased owing to the ability of the CRM to identify the maximum tolerated dose better than the 3 + 3 method. However, the CRM can be sensitive to the variance selected for the prior distribution of the model parameter, especially when a small number of patients are enrolled. Although methods have emerged to adaptively select skeletons and to calibrate the prior variance only at the beginning of a trial, there has not been any approach developed to adaptively calibrate the prior variance throughout a trial. We propose three systematic approaches to adaptively calibrate the prior variance during a trial and compare them via simulation with methods proposed to calibrate the variance at the beginning of a trial. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Basic algebra of BK products of relations in t-norm fuzzy logics

Relational computing structures make it possible to perform knowledge representation as well as all the computations in intelligent systems in a unified way. When crisp computations are replaced by fuzzy relational computations, it is possible to improve significantly handling of indeterminacy and incompleteness of information. Fuzzy computational structures in which cuts commute with closures over relational properties, provide in addition the means for significant data compression, resulting in significant speedup of computations. BK-relational products provide axiomatics necessary for constructive computational procedures that rigorously satisfy the above formulated requirements. This paper provides the mathematical overview of concepts needed for fuzzy relational computations and the rigorous mathematical proofs of inequalities relating triangle BK-products to standard t-norm based compositions of relations. The proofs of correctness of these crucial computational relationships is performed in basic logic of Hajek (1996, 1998), which is the fuzzy predicate logic axiomatization of t-norm based residuated fuzzy logics. The paper concludes with a survey of the use of BK-products in scientific, medical, engineering and business applications, information retrieval, automated reasoning, etc.
Characterization of the dispersion of a Rotman lens

The dispersion of a Rotman lens is quantified by the distortion that a particular Rotman lens would introduce into various pulses. The lens is characterized by broadband measurement of its transfer function. Then this function is numerically applied to the spectrum of a simulated pulse. Aside from a few complications, the resulting function is the Fourier transform of the distorted pulse. It is concluded that, although the Rotman lens is a true time-delay device, practical implementations exhibit dispersion that can be characterized by the method described. The dispersion produces distortion that is probably not significant except in spread-spectrum pulses. For chirped pulses, amplitude distortion may be significant, but it can likely be reduced carefully designing the lens to avoid mismatch reflections. >
Free and steady state vibration of non‐linear structures using a finite element–non‐linear eigenvalue technique

The problem of free vibration of non-linear structures is considered initially. It is shown that this problem can be represented as a non-linear eigenvalue problem. Variational principles for non-linear eigenvalue problems are defined. These variational principles are implemented with finite element models to define numerical approximations for the free vibration problem. The solution of these approximate equations provides a set of non-linear modal vectors and natural frequencies which vary with the amplitude of the solution. The non-linear eigenvalue parameters can be used in modal expansion approximations for the non-linear transient or steady state response of structural systems. To demonstrate the proposed techniques the free vibration and steady state vibration characteristics of a geometrically non-linear circular plate are determined.
Quasiperiodic oscillation and possible Second Law violation in a nanosystem

Abstract Simulation of a virus-like particle reveals persistent oscillation about a free-energy minimizing structure. For an icosahedral structure of 12 human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 protein pentamers, the period is about 70 picoseconds and has amplitude of about 4 A at 300 K and pH 7. The pentamers move radially and out-of-phase with their neighbors. As temperature increases the amplitude and period decrease. Since the dynamics are shown to be friction-dominated and free-energy driven, the oscillations are noninertial. These anomalous oscillations are an apparent violation of the Second Law mediated by fluctuations accompanying nanosystem behavior.
On the role of middleware in architecture-based software development

Software architectures promote development focused on modular functional building blocks (components), their interconnections (configurations), and their interactions (connectors). Since architecture-level components often contain complex functionality, it is reasonable to expect that their interactions will be complex as well. Middleware technologies such as CORBA, COM, and RMI, provide a set of predefined services for enabling component composition and interaction. However, the potential role of such services in the implementations of software architectures is not well understood. Furthermore, components adhering to one middleware standard cannot readily interact with those adhering to another. In order to understand the role and tradeoffs among middleware technologies in implementing architectures and enable component interoperability across middleware platforms, we have investigated a set of techniques and conducted preliminary case studies involving a particular architectural style, C2, and its implementation infrastructure. In particular, by encapsulating middleware functionality within C2's explicit software connectors, we have been able to couple C2's existing benefits such as component interchangeability, substrate independence, and structural guidance with new capabilities of multi-lingual, multi-process, and distributed application development in a manner that is transparent to architects. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the utility of our connector-based approach in enabling components implemented on top of different middleware platforms to interoperate. Though several details of our approach derive from the characteristics of the C2 style, we believe that a number of lessons learned are more generally applicable. We argue that these lessons can help form a broader research agenda for coupling the modeling power of software architectures with the implementation support provided by middleware.
Prioritizing Pro-Poor Policy Instrument to Reduce Poverty in Liberia Using Nonparametric Mokken Scale Analyses

Implementing a mix of micro and macroeconomics policy instruments to reduce poverty is fundamental for all developing countries. In this study, we engage Liberians in ranking of potential pro-poor policy instruments to reduce poverty and promote entrepreneurial spirit. A purposeful survey was conducted in six markets in Monrovia and her vicinity using a structured questionnaire. In each single day, these markets attract diverse individuals from all over Liberia. Respondents were asked to rank twenty five pro-poor macroeconomics policies on a five-point Likert scale. The responses were analyzed using a nonparametric Mokken scale model. Results indicate that the survey instrument was well scaled. The respondent’s first three priorities were on agricultural research; export promotion and post primary education on entrepreneurship. The three low ranked instruments were: agricultural input subsidies; market access to small businesses; and primary education. However, the government of Liberia is currently promoting investment in roads, primary education, and health services. These outcomes emphasize the bottom-up approach in identifying and prioritizing pro-poor policy instruments in Liberia.
Sexual Complementarity in Traditional Ghanaian Society

Christine Oppong's 1983 edition is a forceful reminder that the contemporary intellectual challenge for those who have studied African women is to take a more ethnographic, focused and integrated approach in our work. Rather than focus on macro-political and economic problems and how these are reflected in the experiences of women, Oppong and the other authors have chosen to look at detailed realities and day-to-day interactions between males and females. I agree with the major point raised by the collection, which is that those approaches which portray women in isolation from domestic and public interactions with men are methodologically weak. Therefore, it is refreshing to see the four thematic approaches of this book: (i) male / female complementarity; (2) sexual bargaining and conflicts; (3) male bias; and (4) female autonomy. The attempts of our authors to provide comparative and case-study data to facilitate an integrated look at informal male / female relations in West Africa must be congratulated. In adopting this sociological and process-oriented approach, the contributors have left it to the individual case-studies to raise particular issues of significance to certain countries. Since most of these studies deal with Ghana, there is a specific country focus against which other areas can be compared. This too is quite appropriate. The opening chapters of this valuable book provide an overview of the divergence between male and female life cycles based on such cultural assumptions as: age differences at marriage and length of married-life; patterns of work involvement at specific stages in the life cycle of males and females; and the socio-economic and cultural supports for male longdistance and female short-distance migration patterns. Moreover, it is quite clear is that the degree of Islamicization in a particular country has a major impact on female health and mortality, sexuality and marriage, literacy, labor force, and domestic participation.
HIV Self-Testing: a Review of Current Implementation and Fidelity

Oral HIV self-testing is an innovative and potentially high-impact means to increase HIV-case identification globally. As a screening test, oral HIV self-testing offers the potential for increased adoption through greater convenience and privacy, and the potential to increase the proportion of the population who test regularly. Research on how best to translate the innovation of oral self-testing to high-risk populations is underway. Currently only one oral HIV self-test kit is FDA-approved (OraQuick In-Home HIV Test) and available for retail sale. In the present report we review recent studies on the dissemination, adoption, and implementation of oral HIV testing. Prior work has focused primarily on adoption, but recent studies have begun to identify methods for improving dissemination and problems associated with self-implementation. At present a major barrier to wider adoption is the relatively high retail cost of the oral HIV test kit. Significant but minor barriers are represented by overly complex instructional materials for some population segments, and dissemination programs of unknown efficacy. Theoretical and practical suggestions for conducting research on dissemination, adoption, and implementation of oral HIV testing are discussed.
ANTIGENICITY OF THE PEPTIDE CHAINS ISOLATED FROM HUMAN HEMOGLOBINS A AND F.

Summaryα, β, and γ polypeptide chains isolated from human hemoglobins A and F elicit the production of specific antibodies in rabbits. Antigen-antibody reactions, visualized by the Ouchterlony method, demonstrated that these antibodies form insoluble complexes only with their specific antigens and with the hemoglobins containing the peptide antigens.
Partition of Lipids between Chylomicrons and Chylomicron-Free Lymph of the Dog Fed Corn Oil with or without Cholesterol

SummaryDogs were fed for 2 days skim milk formulas containing corn oil with or without added cholesterol. Chylomicrons and chylomicron-free lymph, as well as plasma, were examined for triglyceride, phospholipid, and free and esterified cholesterol. None of the plasma lipids nor the triglyceride or phospholipid of chylomicrons or chylomicron-free lymph showed significant changes as a result of cholesterol feeding. The cholesterol content of lymph chylomicrons increased much more than that of the chylomicron-free lymph. In the chylomicron fraction of the cholesterol-fed animals, the esterified cholesterol was primarily responsible for the increase in cholesterol content, whereas in the chylomicron-free lymph, free and esterified cholesterol increased equally.
Motivational Self-Regulation in the Work Domain: Congruence of Individuals’ Control Striving and the Control Potential in Their Developmental Ecologies

Individual agents are most effective in shaping their development if their goal engagement is congruent with their control opportunities. This proposition is examined using the Midlife in the United States longitudinal study. We find that individuals whose high levels of work-related primary control striving are congruent with their work-related perceived control report the most positive work and health outcomes. Individuals who invest high work-related primary control striving under conditions of low work-related perceived control attained upward career mobility, but their low control opportunities undermined the sustainability of strong primary control striving and led to detrimental mental and physical health effects.
Cardiac performance during reperfusion improved by pretreatment with oxygen free-radical scavengers

We studied the effects of oxygen free radicals on cardiac performance during reperfusion of ischemic myocardium. The pig heart, isolated in situ, was subjected to 60 minutes of regional ischemia at normothermia by occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery followed by 60 minutes of hypothermic cardioplegic arrest and 60 minutes of normothermic reperfusion. The oxygen free-radical scavengers, superoxide dismutase and catalase, were administered before occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery in the experimental group. The generation of free radicals in the untreated group, estimated by the measurement of malondialdehyde in the perfusate, was significant during reperfusion and was associated with a corresponding increase in creatine kinase. Superoxide dismutase and catalase significantly slowed the appearance of malondialdehyde and the release of creatine kinase during reperfusion. Superoxide dismutase and catalase did not alter coronary flow and myocardial oxygen extraction or consumption during occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery; however, coronary flow and oxygen consumption were significantly higher (p less than 0.05) during reperfusion in hearts treated with antioxidants. Left ventricular developed pressure and its maximum first derivative were measured under isovolumic conditions. In the untreated group, left ventricular developed pressure and its maximum first derivative declined to 61.1% and 57.1% of baseline values, respectively, after 60 minutes' occlusion of the left anterior descending, and to 45% of baseline values after 15 minutes of reperfusion. The decline in left ventricular developed pressure and its maximum first derivative during reperfusion was significantly (p less than 0.05) inhibited by superoxide dismutase and catalase, but left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was not significantly altered. These results implicate oxygen-derived free radicals in the injury resulting from reperfusion of ischemic myocardium and suggest that oxygen free-radical scavengers effectively protect against such injury.
Advancing Declarative Query in the Long Tail of Science.

Relational databases remain underused in the long tail of science, despite a number of significant success stories and a natural correspondence between scientific inquiry and ad hoc database query. Barriers to adoption have been articulated in the past, but spreadsheets and other file-oriented approaches still dominate. At the University of Washington eScience Institute, we are exploring a new “delivery vector” for selected database features targeting researchers in the long tail: a web-based query-as-a-service system called SQLShare that eschews conventional database design, instead emphasizing a simple Upload-Query-Share workflow and exposing a direct, full-SQL query interface over “raw” tabular data. We augment the basic query interface with services for cleaning and integrating data, recommending and authoring queries, and automatically generating visualizations. We find that even non-programmers are able to create and share SQL views for a variety of tasks, including quality control, integration, basic analysis, and access control. Researchers in oceanography, molecular biology, and ecology report migrating data to our system from spreadsheets, from conventional databases, and from ASCII files. In this paper, we will provide some examples of how the platform has enabled science in other domains, describe our SQLShare system, and propose some emerging research directions in this space for the database community.
Monitoring neurotoxins in industry: development of a neurobehavioral test battery

To facilitate the early detection of neurotoxicity in workers exposed to hazardous substances, we assembled a set of noninvasive neurobehavioral tests designed to assess memory, verbal concept formation, visuomotor performance, and mood. The tests were administered to an unexposed reference population and multivariate prediction equations were developed to control for effects of age, gender, and education. To define the briefest test set with appropriate sensitivity and specificity, we applied factor analysis and stepwise logistic regression to data from our referents and a group of lead-exposed workers. As a result, we have identified a comprehensive set of tests that can be administered in less than 40 minutes by trained medical technicians on plant premises and used to detect the early effects of neurotoxic substances on exposed workers. Guidelines for applying this technique to common work-place exposures, including other metals and organic solvents, are discussed.
The Business School in a Time of Transition

The first new faculty chairs endowed under a technopolis initiative tend to be in the engineering and biosciences departments. Then the university’s Patent and Licensing Office is beefed up with lawyers and brokers. The business school, as some techno-regions have proved, may be relegated to hind teat or excluded from the banquet altogether. This may be the fault of university administrators who underestimate the b-school’s potential contributions, or of engineer-entrepreneurs who have not yet learned to respect marketing. But it may just as possibly be a result of the b-school failing to show interest and initiative.
Stochastic optimal power flow formulation to achieve emissions objectives with energy storage

With increasing environmental awareness, strategies that include energy storage and emissions constraints or costs in the dispatch algorithm have been proposed. However, the problem is challenging because the real-time ancillary service dispatch signal is stochastic. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimal power flow formulation with energy storage that ensures emissions objectives are met. To achieve this, we propose a stochastic formulation which includes (i) uncertainties in reserve actions; (ii) re-dispatch reserves to manage state of charge of energy storage; (iii) an emissions constraint. We investigate methods to solve this problem via chance constraints. We also use this new formulation to study costs/emissions trade-offs associated with energy storage integration. We find that energy storage may not always be the economically and environmentally preferable option for providing reserves; factors that affect the dispatch results include demand level, supply-demand mismatch characteristics, energy storage round trip efficiency, and cost of re-dispatch reserves.
STRUCTURE OF THE Si-SiO2 INTERFACE BY INTERNAL PHOTOEMISSION

ABSTRACT Details of the SiO2 conduction band near the Si-SiO2 interface were examined by the technique of field-dependent internal photoemission. From a measurement of the threshold Φ(E) for internal photoemission for fields up to 8.17 × 106 V/cm, the conduction band bottom ϕ(x), as a function of position x in the SiO2 was determined to within approximately two lattice units of the interface. In calculating the effective potential, corrections were made for the effects of the photon induced tunneling. The results of the threshold measurements show only small deviations from the flat band model, about 0.06 eV ± 0.03 eV, up to a distance 4.5a from the silicon surface. There is no indication of a large ionic charge or of a greatly reduced SiO2 bandgap to within about two lattice units of the interface.
Women of Color Advancing to Senior Leadership in U.S. Academe

The question of why there are so few women of color at the highest level of administration in U.S. academe concerns scholars and policy makers in higher education. Literature has documented the slow growth of diversifying the leadership pool, but attempts to understand why women lag behind in status, representation, and leadership are not well understood. This chapter is based on a research study of individual case studies of nine women of color at nine U.S. higher education institutions. Nine participants were selected: three African Americans, two Asian American Pacific Islanders, two Latinas, and two American Indian women at a doctoral or a baccalaureate granting university. Women of color cited parental and partner influences, mentoring and leadership preparation as pivotal to their ascending to senior leader positions in academe. The findings also reveal women of color benefited from strong teaching from their parents to disregard external influences and to listen to internal knowledge of their sense of self.
Mechanically-prestressed bistable composite laminates with weakly coupled equilibrium shapes

Abstract Fiber-reinforced asymmetric laminates fabricated at elevated temperatures may exhibit bistability at room temperature. The magnitude of deformation in each shape depends primarily on the curing temperature. This paper presents a novel asymmetric bistable laminate that is fabricated at room temperature and whose stable shapes are analogous to those of a thermally cured fiber-reinforced polymeric composite. The proposed laminate is composed of a stress-free isotropic core layer sandwiched between two asymmetric, mechanically-prestressed, fiber-reinforced elastomeric layers. Its stable shapes can be independently tuned by varying the prestress in each elastomeric layer. The mechanics of the laminate are studied using an analytical laminated-plate model that includes the geometric and material nonlinearities associated with large deformations caused by highly-strained elastomers. The effects of core modulus, core thickness, elastomer-core width ratio, and laminate size are examined through a parametric study. Laminate samples are fabricated in the 90°/core/0° configuration for model validation. The simulated stable shapes of the laminate are in agreement with the measured shapes. The dynamic response of the laminate during shape transition is measured using a motion capture system.
Herpes Zoster During Phototherapy

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a sporadic disease caused by reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) from the dorsal root ganglia, characterized by a unilateral vesicular rash in a dermatomal distribution often associated with severe pain. Although phototherapy calms inflammation and may have an effect to reduce immune activity in the skin, studies have not shown a clear increased risk of developing HZ during phototherapy. When a patient has an outbreak of HZ, the general region of the HZ lesions should be covered with a gown or towel and phototherapy to the rest of the body can be continued. The area affected by HZ should be covered during phototherapy sessions until the lesions completely resolve.
Does Transferring Patients to Stroke Centers Increase Length of Stay (P2.313)

Background: Due to geographic disparities in stroke care, many acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients are transferred to stroke centers for treatment with intravenous (IV) tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or for post-tPA care. Debate exists regarding the benefit of transferring stable, post-tPA patients to stroke centers, while advances in stroke treatment have improved patient outcomes and decreased hospital length of stay (LOS). Objective: Determine whether post-tPA patients transferred to our stroke center have longer LOS than those presenting to our emergency department (ED). Methods: In a retrospective chart review from 2/14 - 5/15, we identified 400 patients who received tPA and were treated at our facility. Nine patients with in-hospital stroke were excluded. Baseline characteristics and clinical variables were abstracted. We compared the LOS (days - admit to discharge) of those presenting to our ED with those who were transferred to our facility. The baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results: Of the 391 patients included, 181 (46.3[percnt]) received tPA after presenting to our ED, and 210 (53.7[percnt]) patients were treated with tPA and transferred to our facility. The median length of stay was the same for the two groups (p=0.43). There was no difference in most baseline characteristics or clinical outcome variables, though arrival NIHSS was slightly lower in the transferred group (9 vs 11, p<0.05). Conclusions: There was no difference in LOS or any clinical outcomes between the ED and transferred patients. Additionally, transferred patients did not receive more advanced procedures such as intra-arterial therapy or hemicraniectomy. Further studies exploring non-tPA patients and transient ischemic attack patients would be informative, as well as non-home, discharge location relative to the patient’s residence. Disclosure: Dr. Cossey has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bozorgui has nothing to disclose. Dr. Jagolino has nothing to disclose. Dr. Vahidy has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wu has received personal compensation for activities with Genentech. Dr. Savitz has received research support from NIH T32 grant.
Insecurity as confinement: The entrenched politics of staying put in Delhi and Mumbai:

A growing literature on contested urban politics has revealed the political agency of seemingly marginal urban residents, including those experiencing the threat of eviction. Yet with much of this ...
Coercive control in intimate partner violence

Abstract The construct of coercive control has been central to many conceptualizations of intimate partner violence (IPV), yet there is widespread inconsistency in the literature regarding how this construct is defined and measured. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on coercive control in regards to conceptualizations, definitions, operationalization, and measurement; and attempts to provide a synthesis and recommendations for future research. A summary and critique of measures used to assess coercive control in IPV is provided. At least three facets of coercive control are identified: 1) intentionality or goal orientation in the abuser (versus motivation), 2) a negative perception of the controlling behavior by the victim, and 3) the ability of the abuser to obtain control through the deployment of a credible threat. Measurement challenges and opportunities posed by such a multifaceted definition are discussed.
Genesis and Humanity’s Dominion

C. S. Lewis thought often about the meaning of humanity’s “dominion” over the earth and its animals (Genesis 1:26), and he insists it does not indicate a dispassionate, heavy-handed conquest of other creatures. Instead, he articulates a gentler vision of humanity’s role in Creation. This chapter examines ways the Victorian author George MacDonald informed Lewis’s thinking on this topic, and then examines various selections illustrating the improper and proper exercise of authority.
Implications of Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy Perfusion-Related Hyperglycemia.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) administration can be associated with hyperglycemia during perfusion. Little is known about this effect, and no previous studies have examined patient characteristics associated with perfusion-related hyperglycemia. We retrospectively identified consecutive patients at a single institution treated with HIPEC from 8/2003 to 10/2016 who had intraoperative blood glucose measured. Hypertonic 1.5% dextrose-containing peritoneal dialysate was used as carrier solution in all patients. Comparisons were made using parametric [Student’s t test, analysis of variance (ANOVA)], and nonparametric tests (χ 2, Kruskal–Wallis) where appropriate. There were 85 patients identified, with average age of 53 ± 12 years, 69 (81%) with appendiceal or colorectal peritoneal cancer. Most patients were perfused with mitomycin C (69%) or oxaliplatin (24%). Intraoperative hyperglycemia (> 180 mg/dL) affected the majority of patients (86%), with values up to 651 mg/dL. Insulin was required for treatment in 66% of patients. Peak hyperglycemia occurred within an hour of perfusion in 91%, and resolved by postoperative day one in 91% of patients. Glucose > 309 mg/dL (highest quartile) was associated with longer operating time (p = 0.03) and with use of oxaliplatin compared with mitomycin C (p = 0.01). No association was found with other comorbidities, peritoneal carcinomatosis index score, or postoperative outcomes. Most patients experience hyperglycemia during HIPEC. This is not clearly associated with patient factors, and may be due to use of dextrose-containing carrier solution. Since perioperative hyperglycemia has potential negative impact, use of dextrose-containing carrier solution should be questioned and is worth investigating further.
Improving culture media for the isolation of Clostridium difficile from compost.

Abstract This study was to optimize the detection methods for Clostridium difficile from the animal manure-based composts. Both autoclaved and unautoclaved dairy composts were inoculated with a 12-h old suspension of a non-toxigenic C. difficile strain (ATCC 43593) and then plated on selected agar for vegetative cells and endospores. Six types of enrichment broths supplemented with taurocholate and l -cysteine were assessed for detecting a low level of artificially inoculated C. difficile (ca. 5 spores/g) from dairy composts. The efficacy of selected enrichment broths was further evaluated by isolating C. difficile from 29 commercial compost samples. Our results revealed that using heat-shock was more effective than using ethanol-shock for inducing endospore germination, and the highest endospore count (p l -cysteine, 7% defibrinated horse blood, and cycloserine-cefoxitin (CDA-CYS-H-CC agar) was the best medium (p l -cysteine, cycloserine-cefoxitin, and 0.1% sodium taurocholate (BHIA-YE-CYS-CC-T agar) media were not significantly different from each other (p > 0.05). Overall, enrichment of inoculated compost samples in broths containing moxalactam-norfloxacin (MN) produced significantly higher (p
Microsystems in health care: Part 4. Planning patient-centered care.

Article-at-a-Glance Background Clinical microsystems are the essential building blocks of all health systems. At the heart of an effective microsystem is a productive interaction between an informed, activated patient and a prepared, proactive practice staff. Support, which increases the patient's ability for self-management, is an essential result of a productive interaction. This series on high-performing clinical microsystems is based on interviews and site visits to 20 clinical microsystems in the United States. This fourth article in the series describes how high-performing microsystems design and plan patient-centered care. Planning patient-centered care Well-planned, patient-centered care results in improved practice efficiency and better patient outcomes. However, planning this care is not an easy task. Excellent planned care requires that the microsystem have services that match what really matters to a patient and family and protected time to reflect and plan. Patient self-management support, clinical decision support, delivery system design, and clinical information systems must be planned to be effective, timely, and efficient for each individual patient and for all patients. Conclusion Excellent planned services and planned care are attainable today in microsystems that understand what really matters to a patient and family and have the capacity to provide services to meet the patient's needs.
Variability in anthropometric traits in twins and their families.

Studies of twins and their families can provide important insight into the nature of the factors responsible for observed phenotypic variation in anthropometric traits as well as for differences in risk for multifactorial disorders. Classical twin studies afford an incisive means for determining whether or not genetic factors contribute to observed differences in the occurrence of a trait or disorder. The kinships of twins are particularly valuable for differentiating between genetic, environmental and maternal effects and the causes of sex differences in gene expression because of the unusually large number of informative genetic and environmental relationships that are contained within each extended pedigree. This approach is especially productive when dealing with traits, such as blood pressure, which could be influenced by a number of different factors. While there has been general agreement that genetic differences are responsible for at least some of the observed variation in normal blood pressure, there is less consensus as to the relative magnitude of this effect. Thus in different studies genetic factors have been both implicated in (Moll et al., 1983; Morton et al., 1980; Annest et al., 1979; Ewell et al., 1978), and absolved of (Iselius et al., 1983; Harburg et al., 1977; Chakraborty et al., 1977) being the primary causal determinant of variation in blood pressure.
DIAGNOSIS OF HIGH-DENSITY IMPLOSIONS OF LASER FUSION TARGETS USING HIGH-SENSITIVITY NUCLEAR TRACK DETECTORS

ABSTRACT Using high-sensitivity nuclear track detectors, techniques are being developed for the diagnosis of fusion experiments. The two primary objectives are to be able to image thermonuclear burns and to be able to measure the density thickness product (ρR) of either the fuel itself or of the pusher material.
A Cluster-Profile Representation of Emotion Using Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering

The proper representation of emotion is critical to automatic classification systems. In previous research, we demonstrated that emotion profile (EP) based representations are effective for this task. In EP-based representations, emotions are expressed in terms of underlying affective components from the subset of anger, happiness, neutrality, and sadness. The current study explores cluster profiles (CP), an alternate profile representation in which the components are no longer semantic labels, but clusters inherent in the feature space. This unsupervised clustering of the feature space permits the application of a systemlevel semi-supervised learning paradigm. The results demonstrate that CPs are similarly discriminative to EPs (EP classification accuracy: 68.37% vs. 69.25% for the CP-based classification). This suggests that exhaustive labeling of a representative training corpus may not be necessary for emotion classification tasks.
METAL CATION TRANSPORT STUDIES COMPARING DIBENZO-18-CROWN-6 (DB18C6) WITH N, N, N', N'-TETRAKIS (N-PROPYL)-2,3-NAPHTHALENEDIOXYDIACETAMIDE (NPR)

The previously synthesized3,6-dioxa-4,5-disubstitutedoctanedicarboxamides including NPr bind cationsin methanol in the order: Ca2+ > Sr2+ >Ba2+ > Mg2+ > Na+,K+. These compounds also extract Group II cations better thanGroup I cations from water to dichloromethane. In contrast, thesediacetamides were found by W. Simon et al., to sense Na+ >Ca2+ when they were incorporated into ion-selective electrodesusing a low dielectric constant solvent. It was of interest to determine theorder of Group I and Group II cation transport rates of these compoundsusing a three-phase system with a liquid organic phase of low dielectricconstant. We now report that NPr transports thiocyanates in such a systemusing dichloromethane in the order K+ (7.2) >Ca2+ (6.6) > Ba2+ (5.8) > Na+(1). The transport rate for KSCN with DB18C6 is 20.5 times faster than withNPr.
Effects of foliar application of zinc sulfate and zinc nanoparticles in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants.

Abstract A greenhouse study comparing the physiological responses and uptake of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plants to foliar applications of zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) and zinc nano-fertilizer (ZnO NPs) was conducted with the aim to understand their effects on plant physiology. One-year old coffee plants were grown in greenhouse conditions and treated with two foliar applications of 10 mg/L of Zn as either zinc sulfate monohydrate (ZnSO4 ‧ H2O) or zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NPs 20% w/t) and compared to untreated control plants over the course of 45 days. ZnO NPs positively affected the fresh weight and dry weight (FW and DW) of roots and leaves, increasing the FW by 37% (root) and 95% (leaves) when compared to control. The DW increase was 28%, 85%, and 20% in roots, stems, and leaves, respectively. The net photosynthetic rate increased 55% in response to ZnO NPs treatment at the end of experiment when compared to control. ZnO NPs-treated leaves contained significantly higher amounts of Zn (1267.1 ± 367.2 mg/kg DW) when compared to ZnSO4-treated plants (344.1 ± 106.2 mg/kg DW), while control plants had the lowest Zn content in the leaf tissue (53.6 ± 18.9 mg/kg DW). X-ray micro-analyses maps demonstrated the increased penetrance of ZnO NPs in coffee leaf tissue. Overall, ZnO NPs had a more positive impact on coffee growth and physiology than conventional Zn salts, which was most likely due to their increased ability to be absorbed by the leaf. These results indicate that the application of ZnO NPs could be considered for coffee systems to improve fruit set and quality, especially in areas where Zn deficiency is high.
PacBio Genome Sequences of Eight Escherichia albertii Strains Isolated from Humans in the United States

ABSTRACT Escherichia albertii is an emerging pathogen that is closely related to Escherichia coli and can carry some of the same virulence genes as E. coli. Here, we report the release of Illumina-corrected PacBio sequences for eight E. albertii genomes. Two of these strains carry Shiga toxin 2f.
Direct correlation spectrometer using polarized light

Measuring a target’s radial velocity is usually achieved using high-resolution spectroscopy; however, higher signal to noise ratios can be obtained using direct correlation spectrometers (DCSs). In our system, a liquid crystal spatial light modulator serves as the mask against which the incident spectrum is correlated, and the polarization is controlled to enable both in- and out-of-band light to be captured simultaneously. This offers enhanced performance against atmospheric scintillation and may also enable single-shot radial velocity measurements. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of our polarization-DCS and experimental validation is performed by acquiring radial velocity measurements of Venus.
Does Volume Matter? Public Comments, Agency Responses and the Time to Finalize a Regulation

As the regulatory process moves to the Internet, many are expecting the volume of public comments to increase, perhaps dramatically. What would the impact of such an increase be on agency decisionmaking. This paper examines nine rules from two agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services and evaluates the impact of a high volume of comments on agency changes to proposed rules and the time an agency takes to finalize a proposed rule. I find that agencies are most likely to be affected by a high volume of comments on highly complex rules that are not very politically salient. Highly complex rules are also likely to take a long time to finalize when there are many public comments however, that it is often other factors that caused a long delay between proposed and final rules.