cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Secondary-School United States History Textbooks

IT IS NOW RATHER COMMONPLACE to decry the poor quality of United States history textbooks at the university and precollegiate levels. Criticisms range from the general to the specific. While the first include such practices as "dumbing down" (that is, the rewriting of texts for a lower reading level than their intended audience should have already attained), the second focus more directly upon content.' Often inspired by well-defined political agendas, these criticisms encompass issues of inclusion or omission of certain topics and the endorsement of particular values or behavior. Special-interest lobbying to change textbook content is well worth the effort, however, since American history textbooks are the single most significant source of information on many vital topics for high-school teachers as well as their students. Textbook treatments of Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican Americans are a case in point. American students are usually introduced to Mexico in primary-school geography and middle-school world history. However, it is secondaryschool United States history textbooks that offer the fullest, most sophisticated and widely disseminated images of Mexico and its peoples.2 At a time when United States relations with Mexico command ever greater attention, when Mexican Americans represent one of the fastest-growing
Abstract 3638: Quantitative assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and immunotherapy outcome in metastatic melanoma

Background: Durable responses to immune checkpoint blockade against programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) are limited to a subset of metastatic melanoma patients, so there is a need for predictive biomarkers. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are the major cellular target of anti-PD-1 therapy, so we hypothesized that pretreatment TIL profiles would be associated with response. Methods: Pretreatment whole-tissue sections from 94 melanoma patients treated with anti-PD-1 therapy (pembrolizumab, nivolumab, or ipilimumab plus nivolumab) from 2011-17 were collected from Yale Pathology archives, and stained to visualize nuclei (DAPI) and melanoma cells (S100 & HMB45) in combination with two multiplex immunofluorescence panels to: (1) perform TIL quantitation of helper T cells by CD4 (SP35, Spring), cytotoxic T cells by CD8 (C8/144B, Dako), and B cells by CD20 (L26, Dako); and (2) assess TIL activation by identifying T cells by CD3 (SP7, Novus), cytolytic activity by GZMB (4E6, Abcam), and proliferation by Ki67 (MIB-1, Dako). Cell phenotyping and counting were performed using inForm software (PerkinElmer) and protein expression was measured by the AQUA method of quantitative immunofluorescence (QIF). Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 were used to classify best overall response as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), or progressive disease (PD). Objective response rate (ORR; CR/PR), disease control rate (DCR; CR/PR/SD), and progression-free survival (PFS) were correlated with TIL parameters measured by both methodologies. Results: Pretreatment lymphocytic infiltration, by cell counts or QIF, was significantly higher in CR/PR than in SD/PD, particularly for CD3 and CD8 (P 3) with PFS independent of age, sex, mutation, stage, treatment, and prior immune checkpoint blockade, which accounted for similar CD3 PFS associations as expected. The favorable predictive performance of CD8 cell count (and QIF) had an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.75 for ORR and 0.78 for DCR, which reached 0.83 (ORR or DCR) for dual therapy (ipilimumab plus nivolumab). Interestingly, in contrast to previous hypothetical classifications, there were a number of responders (CR/PR) in the CD3 or CD8 low (immune desert) category. Conclusions: Pretreatment lymphocytic infiltration, by cell counts or QIF, is associated with anti-PD-1 response in metastatic melanoma. Multiplex analysis of the tumor microenvironment has the potential to be used as a companion diagnostic test for precision immunotherapy. Citation Format: Pok Fai Wong, James W. Smithy, Kim R. Blenman, Harriet M. Kluger, David L. Rimm. Quantitative assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and immunotherapy outcome in metastatic melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3638.
Who’s in conflict? Racialization of Puerto Ricans in relation to other Latinxs in the New York Times, 2010–2015

Puerto Rican migration to the United States has skyrocketed as a result of various political and economic factors faced in Puerto Rico. I focus my attention on how Puerto Ricans are represented in ...
Irenaeus’s Engagement with Rhetorical Theory in his Exegesis of the Johannine Prologue in Adversus Haereses 1.8.5-1.9.3

While scholars have long recognised Irenaeus’s acquaintance with rhetorical theory, the role of rhetorical theory in Irenaeus’s scriptural exegesis has only recently come to light. In the last few years, Lewis Ayres (2015) and Anthony Briggman (2015, 2016) have argued for the central importance of Greco-Roman literary and rhetorical theory to Irenaeus’s approach to scripture. This paper will build on the work of Ayres and Briggman by exploring Irenaeus’s engagement with rhetorical theory in his interpretation of the Johannine prologue in AH 1.8.5-9.3. In this paper, I will argue that Irenaeus’s exegetical strategy in AH 1.8.4-9.3 is best understood in light of the question of authorial intent as formulated in rhetorical handbooks. Specifically, I will argue that Irenaeus presents his argument as a defence of the scriptum of the prologue, and so follows the conventions laid out in rhetorical handbooks for a dispute between scriptum et voluntas .
The Fragility Index in Hand Surgery Randomized Controlled Trials

Purpose Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for comparing clinical interventions. Statistical significance as reported via a P value has been used to determine if a difference between clinical interventions exists in an RCT. However, P values do not clearly convey information about the robustness of a study’s conclusions. An emerging metric, called the fragility index (the number of subjects who would need to change outcome category to raise the P value above the .05 threshold), is an indirect measure of how likely a repeat of the trial would reach the same conclusions. This study addressed the fragility of RCTs using dichotomous outcomes in hand surgery. Methods Using systematic searching of the MEDLINE database, we identified hand surgery RCTs published in 11 high-impact journals published in the last decade (2007–2017). Studies were identified that involved 2 parallel arms, allocated patients to treatment and control in a 1:1 ratio, and reported statistical significance for a dichotomous variable. The fragility index was calculated using Fisher’s exact test, using previously published methods. Results Five hand surgery RCTs were identified for inclusion reporting a range of fragility indices from 0 to 26. Two of the trials (40%) had a fragility index of 2 or less. Two of the trials (40%) reported that the number of patients lost to follow-up exceeded the fragility index, meaning that results of the patients lost to follow-up could theoretically completely reverse the study conclusions. Conclusions The range of fragility indices reported in the recent hand surgery literature is consistent with previous reporting within orthopedic surgery. Clinical relevance The fragility index is a useful metric to analyze the robustness of the study conclusions that should complement other methods of critical evaluation including the P value or effect sizes. Our results emphasize the need for future efforts to strengthen the robustness of RCT conclusions.
Outgroup Machine Learning Approach Identifies Single Nucleotide Variants in Noncoding DNA Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 1 in 59 children. While noncoding genetic variation has been shown to play a major role in many complex disorders, the contribution of these regions to ASD susceptibility remains unclear. Genetic analyses of ASD typically use unaffected family members as controls; however, we hypothesize that this method does not effectively elevate variant signal in the noncoding region due to family members having subclinical phenotypes arising from common genetic mechanisms. In this study, we use a separate, unrelated outgroup of individuals with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a neurodegenerative condition with no known etiological overlap with ASD, as a control population. We use whole genome sequencing data from a large cohort of 2182 children with ASD and 379 controls with PSP, sequenced at the same facility with the same machines and variant calling pipeline, in order to investigate the role of noncoding variation in the ASD phenotype. We analyze seven major types of noncoding variants: microRNAs, human accelerated regions, hypersensitive sites, transcription factor binding sites, DNA repeat sequences, simple repeat sequences, and CpG islands. After identifying and removing batch effects between the two groups, we trained an l1-regularized logistic regression classifier to predict ASD status from each set of variants. The classifier trained on simple repeat sequences performed well on a held-out test set (AUC-ROC = 0.960); this classifier was also able to differentiate ASD cases from controls when applied to a completely independent dataset (AUC-ROC = 0.960). This suggests that variation in simple repeat regions is predictive of the ASD phenotype and may contribute to ASD risk. Our results show the importance of the noncoding region and the utility of independent control groups in effectively linking genetic variation to disease phenotype for complex disorders.
Dual Kidney Transplantation from Donors at the Extremes of Age.

Background The study purpose was to analyze outcomes in recipients of pediatric dual en bloc (PEB) kidneys from small pediatric donors (SPDs, age ≤ 3 years) and dual kidney transplants (KTs) from adult marginal deceased donors (DDs) in the context of the Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI). Study Design This was a single center retrospective review. Recipient selection included primary transplant, low BMI, low immunologic risk, and informed consent. All patients received antibody induction with FK/MPA/± prednisone. Results From 2002 to 2015, we performed 34 PEB and 73 adult dual KTs. Mean donor ages were 17 months for the PEB and 59 years for the dual KTs; mean KDPIs were 73% for PEB and 83% for dual KT, and mean cold ischemia times were 21.0 hours for PEB and 26.5 hours for dual KT. Adult dual KT recipients were older (mean age 38 years for PEB and 60 years for dual KT) and had shorter waiting times (mean 25 months for PEB and 12 months for dual KT). With a mean follow-up of 7.6 years, actual patient survival (88% for PEB and 62% for dual KT) and graft survival (71% for PEB and 44% for dual KT) rates were higher in PEB compared with dual KT. Death-censored kidney graft survival rates were 77% for PEB and 58% for dual KT. Delayed graft function (DGF) rates were 15% for PEB and 23% for dual KT; incidences of DGF in single kidney transplantations from SPDs and adult nonmarginal DDs were 20% and 32%, respectively. Based on actual 5-year graft survival rates, the adjusted KDPIs for dual PEB and dual KTs were 3% and 60%, respectively. Conclusions Acceptable mid-term outcomes are associated with PEB and adult dual KTs, which may expand the donor pool and prevent kidney discard. The KDPI is inaccurate for predicting outcomes from either PEB from SPDs or dual KT from adult marginal DDs, which may prevent acceptance of these organs.
Autonomous Vehicles and Police De-escalation

Several experts predict that autonomous vehicles will become mainstream in the next few decades. Although autonomous vehicles will have massive implications for law enforcement, the technology has received little to no attention in criminal procedure and policing scholarship. This Essay introduces a new vector into the nascent law and policy discourse on autonomous vehicles and policing—de-escalation and officer safety. Although largely overlooked in this discourse, officer safety is a crucial topic given its powerful role in shaping officer training, departmental policies, and Fourth Amendment law. This Essay argues that autonomous vehicles and their included technologies (for instance, sensory technology, real-time HD mapping, and network connectivity systems) have promise to decrease possibilities for escalation during vehicle stops in at least five ways: (1) vehicles will be programmed to follow traffic rules, making traffic stops much less common; (2) sensory technology will prevent vehicles from hitting other vehicles or persons, decreasing motor vehicle assaults against officers; (3) driver’s license requirements could be eliminated, taking the enforcement of driver’s license laws out of the hands of police; (4) DUI law reforms could abolish the need for officers to conduct DUI stops, investigations, or arrests; and (5) sensory technology in vehicles will reduce investigations associated with hit-and-run offenses, and will simplify accident investigations overall. This Essay explores how these potential changes have vast implications for Fourth Amendment law, officer training, and law enforcement policy on motor vehicle stops.
Organizational Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Addressing Fertility Preservation in the Oncology Setting

Recognizing the importance of fertility and family building among adolescents and young adults with cancer, professional organizations have developed guidelines highlighting the need for oncology clinicians to inform patients about the potential risks to fertility from treatment, discuss options for fertility preservation, and refer interested patients to reproductive specialists. Nevertheless, patients continue to report unmet fertility-related informational needs. A number of organizational barriers have been identified by oncology clinicians, making it difficult for them to implement these guidelines in their professional practice. Oncology care settings must respect the challenges clinicians face in discussing fertility with their patients and develop organization-wide strategies to overcome these barriers. Specific strategies include education of oncology clinicians on fertility risks and fertility preservation options, ensuring the availability of patient education resources, establishing a network of collaborating reproductive specialists, promoting multidisciplinary responsibility for fertility discussions, and creating prompts reminding clinicians to address fertility. Success in implementing these strategies within the oncology setting, and ensuring they are institutionalized throughout the organization and sustainable over time, is optimized by using a centralized comprehensive approach.
Calibration and Validation Working Group for Surface Biology and Geology (SBG)

A calibration/validation (cal/val) working group (CVWG) was established as part of a US government study of the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) observing system priority identified in the 2017 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine decadal survey of Earth sciences and applications [1]. The 2017 decadal survey recommended the SBG mission as a designated observable to improve measurements of Earth’s surface characteristics important for habitation, food, water, and many other natural resources. The candidate approach presented in the 2017 decadal survey was an imaging spectrometer spanning the visible and shortwave infrared (VSWIR) wavelength region and multi- or hyperspectral imagery in the thermal infrared (TIR). The SBG study is evaluating the candidate approach and other potential architectures in meeting science and application objectives. The SBG-CVWG, started in late 2018, has begun to identify elements of cal/val related to potential mission architectures. With the input of CVWG members and by engagement with the broader scientific community, other components of a cal/val framework are being defined including, pre-launch characterization and calibration, on-orbit calibration and monitoring, vicarious terrestrial/celestial calibration, data product validation, and intercomparison and potentially inter-calibration when multiple platforms are used.
Image quality in abdominal CT using an iodine contrast reduction algorithm employing patient size and weight and low kV CT technique

BackgroundLow tube potential-high tube current computed tomography (CT) imaging allows reduction in iodine-based contrast dose and may extend the benefit of routine contrast-enhanced CT exams to pa...
Efficacy of dexmedetomidine versus midazolam for prevention of emergence agitation after sevoflurane-based anesthesia in pediatric patients undergoing minor surgery

Objective To compare the efficacy of dexmedetomidine versus midazolam for prevention of the emergence agitation after sevoflurance-based anesthesia in the pediatric patients undergoing minor surgery.Methods Sixty ASA physical status Ⅰ or Ⅱ patients of both sexes,aged 4-8 yr,weighing 15-30 kg,scheduled for elective bilateral tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy,were randomly divided into 2 groups (n =30 each) using a random number table:midazolam group (group M) and dexmedetomidine group (group D).Anesthesia was induced with iv midazolam 0.1 mg/kg and dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg in M and D groups,respectively.Tracheal intubation was performed after induction of anesthesia.Anesthesia was maintained with inhalation of 2％-3％ sevoflurane and remifentanil infusion (0.5 μg· kg-1· min-1).HR and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded before induction of anesthesia (baseline),at the end of operation,at extubation,and at 5 and 10 min after extubation.Riker sedation-agitation scale scores were recorded at extubation and pain was assessed using the Face,Legs,Activity,Cry,Consolability (FLACC) scale at 30 min after extubation.Results Compared with group M,MAP,HR,Riker sedation-agitation scale scores,FLACC scale scores and the incidence of agitation were significantly decreased at extubation and 5 and 10 min after extubation in group D.Conclusion Dexmedetomidine provides better efficacy than midazolam for prevention of the emergence agitation after sevoflurance-based anesthesia in the pediatric patients undergoing minor surgery. Key words: Dexmedetomidine; Midazolam ; Anesthesia recovery period ; Child ; Agitation ; Sevoflurane
Using the PMC Model to Advance Research on Wisdom: A Focus on Coping with Adversity

The enormous amount of information on wisdom gathered and synthesized in the target article provides a strong base for future research on wisdom, and new or refined lines of inquiry will surely fol...
Understanding Deformation Behavior and Compression Speed Effect in Gabapentin Compacts.

Abstract Deformation mechanism and strain rate sensitivity of gabapentin powder was investigated in this work. Heckel analysis, specific surface area and indentation hardness measurements revealed an intermediate yield pressure and brittle fracture as the dominant type of deformation mechanism during consolidation. Strain rate sensitivity of gabapentin was studied by compressing it at 1 mm/min and 500 mm/min compression speeds. Gabapentin demonstrated an atypical strain rate sensitivity in compactibility profile (tensile strength vs. solid fraction). Compacts of gabapentin compressed at fast speed showed an increase in tensile strength when compared with those compressed at slow speed. To understand the effect of compression speed on gabapentin's compactibility, PXRD analysis, surface area analysis, indentation hardness measurements, and consolidation modeling were performed. PXRD analysis carried out on compacts revealed no effect of speed on the physical solid-state stability of gabapentin. Specific surface area of compacts made at fast speed was higher than that of compacts made at slow speed. Indentation measurements performed on gabapentin compacts showed higher values of hardness in the case compacts made at fast speed. It was identified that at the fast compression speed, gabapentin shows greater particle fragmentation and form compacts with smaller pores.
“Jumping the Shark”: An Interdisciplinary Activity for Engaging Students With the Principles of Bivariate Regression:

Background:Student anxiety about statistics may lead to poorer learning outcomes.Objective:The purpose of this study was to evaluate an exercise designed to teach students in an introductory statis...
Approach to the Management of Recently Diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: A User's Guide for Adult and Pediatric Gastroenterologists

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic, progressive, immune-mediated diseases of adults and children that have no cure. IBD can cause significant morbidity and lead to complications such as strictures, fistulas, infections, and cancer. In children, IBD can also result in growth impairment and pubertal delays. IBD is highly heterogenous, with severity ranging from mild to severe and symptoms ranging from mild to debilitating. Delay in IBD diagnosis, especially in Crohn's disease, is common and associated with adverse outcomes. Early diagnosis and prompt institution of treatment are the cornerstones for improving outcomes and maximizing health. Early diagnosis requires a low threshold of suspicion and red flags to guide early specialist referral at the primary provider level. Although the armamentarium of IBD medications is growing, many patients will not respond to treatment, and the selection of first-line therapy is critical. Risk stratification of disease severity, based on clinical, demographic, and serologic markers, can help guide selection of first-line therapy. Clinical decision support tools, genomics, and other biomarkers of response to therapy and risk of adverse events are the future of personalized medicine. After starting appropriate therapy, it is important to confirm remission using objective end points (treat to target) with continued control of inflammation with adjustment of therapy using surrogate biomarkers (tight control). Lastly, IBD therapy extends far beyond medications, and other aspects of the overall health and wellbeing of the patient are critical. These include preventive health, nutrition, and psychobehavioral support addressing patients' concerns around complementary therapy and medication adherence, prevention of disability, and ensuring open communication.
Notes on the natural history of Stillingia aquatica (Euphorbiaceae): with special attention to reproductive biology

Stillingia aquatica, a wetland shrub in the Southeastern U.S., was profiled in Southeast Florida from a natural history standpoint. The stem has exceptionally lightweight wood in common with other periodically root-inundated woody plants. Pseudowhorled tufts of conspicuous yellow leaves subtend the similarly colored spikelike thyrsoid inflorescences. The plants are monoecious, self-compatible, protogynous with respect to inflorescences, and with a mixed mating system. After a pistillate-only phase, pistillate and staminate phases overlap in time, and are positioned in close physical proximity within inflorescences. Then follows a prolonged phase of only staminate flowers plus maturing fruits. The inflorescences attract ants, bees, and especially abundant wasps, switching from mixed bees and wasps in the dry season to essentially just wasps in the wet season. Wind-pollination is minimal to none. Ants are often abundant in the inflorescences and believed to contribute to geitonogamy but are not necessary for fruitset. Agamospermy is none to negligible. The seeds often fail, with the failure rates varying between populations and between individual plants.
The network SEIR model

The network SEIR model is a locally resolved compartment model with four populations, the susceptible, exposed, infectious, and recovered groups S, E, I, and R, at each node of the network. It characterizes the spatio-temporal spreading of infectious diseases along the edges of the network proportional to human mobility. Since the network SEIR model has no analytical solution, we discretize it in space using a weighted Laplacian graph and apply explicit and implicit time integration schemes to solve it. To illustrate the features of the network SEIR model, we simulate the early COVID-19 outbreak in the United States and the European Union using reported case data and air travel statistics. The learning objectives of this chapter on SEIR network modeling are to
At a Different Pace: Evaluating Whether Users Prefer Timing Parameters in American Sign Language Animations to Differ from Human Signers’ Timing

Adding American Sign Language (ASL) versions of information content to websites can improve information accessibility for many people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) who may have lower levels of English literacy. Generating animations from a script representation would enable this content to be easily updated, yet software is needed that can set detailed speed and timing parameters for such animations, which prior work has revealed to be critical for their understandability and acceptance among DHH users. Despite recent work on predicting these parameters using AI models trained on recordings of human signers, no prior work had examined whether DHH users actually prefer for these speed and timing properties to be similar to humans, or to be exaggerated, e.g. for additional clarity. We conducted two empirical studies to investigate preferences of ASL signers for speed and timing parameters of ASL animations, including: sign duration, transition time, differential signing rate, pause length, and pausing frequency. Our first study (N=20) identified two preferred values from among five options for each parameter, one of which included a typical human value for this parameter, and a second study (N=20) identified the most preferred value. We found that while ASL signers preferred pause length and frequency to be similar to those of humans, they actually preferred animations to have faster signs, slower transitions, and less dynamic variation in differential signing speed, as compared to the timing of human signers. This study provides specific empirical guidance for creators of future ASL animation technologies, and more broadly, it demonstrates that it is not safe to assume that ASL signers will simply prefer for properties of ASL animations to be as similar as possible to human signers.
Reaction to the Reactors

1. A comment. I discussed the contents of my paper with colleagues on many different occasions. By their reactions they seem to divide themselves into two camps. One camp takes the stance of: Are you crazy to mention such things in the classroom? We are charged to teach mathematics, and that’s it. Who cares if Einstein never learned to swim? The other camp however takes an opposite stance: Such items are really important for students to know because they help students to think about the lives and times of the men who created the material they are studying; our lessons are richer because of such stories, and are our students are richer too. Obviously I have taken the latter viewpoint, but I am well aware that by simply presenting the topics and tidbits that I do, I am publicly displaying areas and concerns in my own personal belief system. I like to think that I am helping students decide their own stances on such issues, but I am well aware that some tidbits and stories are chosen at the expense of others. When I first heard that Beverly Sills had deaf children who never heard a note their mother had sung, I said to myself, that is an example of tragic irony–and I have used this as my exemplar of tragic irony ever since. And when I first heard that Einstein (and subsequently others) called George David Birkhoff “the biggest anti-Semite in America” I was speechless; but it is a fact that G.D. Birkhoff did his utmost to keep Jews from major universities in America. Saunders Mac Lane, another giant of 20th century mathematics (and a contemporary of Garrett Birkhoff, G.D.’s son who, like his father was also the chairman of the mathematics department at Harvard, but who most definitely held opposite views on this issue than his father) came to G.D.’s defense, but his defense was limp. MacLane said: Look, those were the times; George David simply wanted to give American jobs to Americans. It’s as simple as that. Such a defense is easy to understand, but hard to swallow. Jobs, particularly in the academic world, should go to the most qualified candidate–handing out academic positions on other criteria is a recipe for mediocrity– such is the case today, and such was the case in the 1940’s. There is more to teaching mathematics than the mathematics itself–I am well aware that it is not politically correct these days to point out flaws, foibles, infirmities and ironies in the lives of others–but on the other hand, in some cases it seems wrong to ignore them.
Numerical Study of Effects of Co-transmission by Substance P and Acetylcholine on Synaptic Plasticity in Myenteric Neurons

The biological effect of synaptic co-transmission by substance P (SP) and acetylcholine (ACh) in neurons of the myenteric nervous plexus has been studied numerically. The model, based on known neuroanatomical, biochemical, and pharmacological experimental data about the dynamics of co-transmission of SP and ACh, includes the activation of voltage-dependent ion channels and the second messenger system through the selective binding of neurotransmitters to NK1 and muscarinic receptor subtypes located on the postsynaptic membrane. The simulations reproduce the electrophysiological and pharmacodynamical behaviors that observed in natural experiments.
The Knower, Inside and Out

Adherents of the epistemological position called internalism typically believe that the view they oppose, called externalism, is such a new and radical departure from the established way of seeing knowledge that its implications are uninteresting. Perhaps itis relatively novel, but the approach to knowledge with the greatest antiquity is the one that equates it withcertainty, and while this conception is amenable to the demands of the internalist, it is also a non-starter in the opinion of almost all contemporary epistemologists since obviously it directly implies that we know nothing about the world. Perhaps skepticism is correct, but there are conceptions of knowledge at least as plausible as the certainty equation that do not obviously land us there. It is its promise along these lines that makes the so-called ‘traditional’ conception of knowledge initially interesting. But contrary to popular belief, the traditional conception cannot be claimed by internalists if it is to have any chance at all in avoiding skepticism; to avoid skepticism, I shall argue, it has to have an externalist element. Moreover, each of the departures from the traditional view that appears in the Gettier literature is externalist as well, or at least all of the ones of which I am aware. The only genuine forms of internalism are those held by philosophers who draw a fairly sharp line between knowledge and justified belief, ignore the former, then offer an internalist account of the latter. This approach is very common and very plausible. But it is not as useful as is often thought; in particular, I shall suggest, it must succumb to a form of skepticism.
Tracking Environmental Level Sets with Autonomous Vehicles

We consider a collective motion algorithm for a swarm of homogeneous agents in a stationary environment. The agents cooperatively locate the boundary of a given environmental function in two space dimensions. Applications include tracking oil slicks, algae blooms, and other environmental indicators that occupy a localized area with a well defined boundary. Individual agents are controlled by local rules based on “snake” algorithms from image segmentation. In a previous paper we introduced a method in which the boundary tracking motion was driven by an edge detector for the concentration boundary. In this chapter we consider a simpler method in which the agents find a pre-specified level set of the environmental concentration. We consider performance of the algorithm in the presence of sensor noise.
Calcium-dependent activation of protein kinase C. The role of the C2 domain in divalent cation selectivity

Activation of certain isoforms of protein kinase C (cPKCs) requires Ca2+ and is associated with a conserved C2 domain that is not present in Ca(2+)-independent isoforms (nPKCs). The site(s) of Ca2+ binding and the role of the C2 domain have not been previously identified. We have analyzed phosphatidylserine-dependent Ca2+ binding to fusion proteins expressed in Escherichia coli that carry various modifications in the regulatory region of cPKC beta 1 or nPKC epsilon. Ca2+ is bound mainly to the C1 domain of PKC beta 1, but the C2 domain confers specificity for Ca2+ binding when compared with Mg2+ and Mn2+. We propose that in cPKCs there is selective binding of Ca2+ to a pocket formed by the C1 and C2 domains. This induces a change in conformation that activates the enzyme. In nPKCs, the cation binding pocket is less specific for Ca2+ because it lacks the C2 domain. Therefore, divalent cations like Mg2+ can bind to it, thereby abrogating the requirement of Ca2+ for enzyme activation.
Africans in Spanish Catholic Thought, 1568–1647

In this article I examine the theological milieu of the Society of Jesus during the early modern era. I argue that Spanish Jesuit theologians and chroniclers in the Americas and the Philippine Islands conceptualized Africans, whether enslaved or free, not so much as potential members of the Church but as threats to the Church. By identifying the Jesuits’ latent theology about Africans during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, I attempt to move the scholarly conversation about Jesuit–African interactions beyond hagiographical accounts surrounding Alonso de Sandoval, S.J. and Pedro Claver, S.J.
Solving Low Density Knapsacks

Let al,...,an and s be a set of integers. The knapsack (or subset sum) problem is to find a 0–1 vector (el,...,en) such that Σ eiai = s or to show that such a vector does not exist. The integers al,...,an are sometimes referred to as weights. The general knapsack problem is known to be NP complete [5,6]. Several cryptosystems based on the knapsack problem have been designed [9,12,16]. In April, 1982, Adi Shamir [14] announced a method for breaking the Merkle-Hellman cryptosystem. Since that time there has been a flurry of activity to extend his results to include all of the proposed knapsack based cryptosystems [1,2,3,7,13].
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt

Beginning his book with Rodney King’s sad appeal, “can we all get along?” Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia, pulls together his and his colleagues’ research on rea...
Screening for substance misuse in the dental care setting: findings from a nationally representative survey of dentists

Aims The dental setting is a potentially valuable venue for screening for substance misuse. Therefore, we assessed dentists’ inquiry of substance misuse through their patient medical history forms and their agreement with the compatibility of screening as part of the dentists’ professional role. Design A nationally representative survey of general dentists using a sampling frame obtained from the American Dental Association Survey Center (November 2010–November 2011). Setting United States of America. Participants A total of 1802 general dentists. Measurements A 38-item survey instrument assessing the relationship between dentists’ practice, knowledge, behaviors and attitudes with their query about substance misuse and their belief that such screening is part of their professional role. Findings Dentists who accepted substance misuse screening as part of their professional role were more likely to query about misuse with their patients (85.8%) compared with those who did not accept such screening as part of their role (68.2%) (P < 0.001). Prior experience and knowledge about substance misuse were the strongest predictors of dentists’ inquiry about patient substance use/misuse and acceptance of screening as part of their role in their clinical practice (P < 0.05). Conclusion While more than three-quarters of US dentists report that they ask their patients about substance misuse, two-thirds do not agree that such screening is compatible with their professional role.
Does Ethnicity Matter? Social Workers’ Personal Attitudes and Professional Behaviors in Reporting Child Maltreatment

This study examined differences in the attitudes of professional social workers regarding corporal punishment and the perception and reporting of child maltreatment, according to the worker’s ethnic group membership (Asian, Black American, Black Caribbean, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White). Data were obtained by mailed questionnaires from 808 members of the New York City chapter of NASW. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance. Results indicate that approval of corporal punishment and perception of maltreatment differed according to ethnic group membership. However, ethnicity had no effect on the likelihood of reporting maltreatment. Findings suggest that social work values override personal-culture values in the execution of job-related responsibilities. Implications for education and practice are discussed.
Cognitive interviews for measurement evaluation of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) in smokers with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

People diagnosed with schizophrenia have among the highest known rates of tobacco use. While the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) is the most widely used measure of nicotine dependence, recent research has questioned its applicability for individuals with schizophrenia. The current study employed cognitive interviews to evaluate the FTND with smokers diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, recruited from an acute inpatient psychiatry setting, and a comparison group of smokers recruited from the community. The groups were comparable on tobacco use variables and FTND scores. Detailed qualitative cognitive interviews indicated all subjects understood the FTND items. For both groups, the FTND missed nocturnal smoking, reported as weekly by 80% of patients and 47% of controls. Finishing other people's cigarettes also was under-reported on the FTND. Restrictions to smoking were common across groups. The cognitive interview methodology proved useful for understanding how individuals interpreted and answered the FTND items. Overall, the qualitative findings identified limitations in the FTND for both groups, with the limitations generally more pronounced among patients with schizophrenia.
Infusing Practical Wisdom into Persuasive Performance: Hermeneutics and the Teaching of Sales Proposal Writing:

Sales activities have been understood by some to be negative, one-sided rhetorical encounters. Teachers of technical communication will find it more helpful to view sales proposals as aimed toward ...
Impact of Certification Testing on School Administrators: The Georgia Experience

Widespread competency testing in education has become prevalent throughout the United States. This testing has taken two tracks: the testing of educators and the testing of students. The focus of this article is on the testing of educators prior to certification. Currently 44 states have in place or are in the process of implementing some form of testing for educators prior to certification (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987; Sandefur, 1984). For some states, certification testing is firmly established. In other states, such testing is in various stages of development. For example, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arkansas implemented certification testing programs prior to 1984 (Sandefur, 1984). On the other hand, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Illinois have implemented their program as recently as 1987 and 1988 (Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1987). There are also variations in terms of the type of testing procedure employed. The states of Georgia, Oklahoma, and Alabama, through contracts with the National Evaluation Systems (NES), have developed separate certification tests for most of the areas in which they issue certificates. South Carolina uses some of the National Teachers Examinations (NTE), published by Educational Testing Service (Princeton, N J), and contracts with NES for other tests which are used to cover content fields not available from the NTE series. Other states (e.g., Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Kentucky) use the NTE exclusively. Florida has developed one professional knowledge test that all teachers in all fields must pass in order to be certified (Flippo & Foster, 1984). However, they have also developed
Assessment of CD24 expression on bone marrow neutrophilic granulocytes: CD24 is a marker for the myelocytic stage of development.

The understanding of normal surface maturation pattern of granulocytes plays an essential role in identifying abnormal patterns, which may be of diagnostic or pathogenetic significance in some disorders, such as myclodysplastic syndromes. CD24, which is expressed only on granulocytes and not on monocytes, has not been adequately studied. Surface marker studies on eight control marrows indicate that CD24 is expressed on bone marrow granulocytes in a pattern that is similar to CD11b while much different than the more mature markers, CD16b and CD35. Three sorting experiments show that the majority of CD24(-) cells are promyelocytes. We conclude that CD24 is expressed on the neutrophilic granulocytes at the stage of myelocytes, and hence it could potentially be used to study normal and abnormal maturation of granulocytes.
Pacemaker Dosimetry in Head-and-Neck IMRT: Treatment Plan Versus In Vivo Dosimetry

Purpose/Objective(s): To compare pacemaker maximum doses calculated by TPS versus measurements by in vivo dosimeters in head and neck cancer patients with pacemakers located outside of the treatment volume. Materials/Methods: From July 2011 to July 2013, 6 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were treated with IMRT with a pacemaker device located in their left superior chest. All pacemakers were located near but outside of the planned radiation treatment volume. Each patient was treated to 70 Gy in 35 fractions to the primary tumor with bilateral cervical neck nodal volumes, including left level four. The pacemaker volume was contoured in the TPS covering the device but not including the wires from the device into the atrium or ventricles. Five out of the six patients’ treatment plans were developed for both Tomotherapy and linear accelerator based IMRT; one patient had a linear accelerator IMRT plan only. Eclipse, Tomotherapy, and Pinnacle TPS were used. Dose constraints, for treatment planning purposes, on pacemakers were set to attempt to keep the total pacemaker maximum dose less than 5 Gy. All patients with a Tomotherapy plan were treated with that plan. On the first day of treatment, optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) were placed on the skin over the pacemaker with or without a lead shield with 5mm bolus underneath, as a means of in vivo dosimetry. Analysis of the maximum dose measured by in vivo dosimetry was compared to the maximum dose calculated on the TPS. OSLDs measurements included dose from image guidance: cone-beam computed tomography or megavoltage computed tomography. Results: Six patients’ plans and OSLD results were reviewed. The maximum pacemaker dose in our tomotherapy plans ranged from 1.54 3.58 Gy(mean: 2.28 Gy), the linear accelerator plans ranged from 1.76 7.1 Gy (mean: 3.89 Gy), and the OSLD doses ranged from 2.2-10.4 Gy (mean: 4.67 Gy). OSLD maximum doses were consistently measured higher than those calculated by the TPS with doses ranging from 127 468% higher. Conclusions: Using in vivo OSLD measurements as a surrogate for pacemaker dose showed TPS calculations consistently underestimate the maximum pacemaker dose. Based on these preliminary results, it is recommended that in vivo measurements be performed and compared to the TPS calculated maximum pacemaker dose in order to ensure manufacturer recommendations are not exceeded. Author Disclosure: D.A. Elliott: None. N. Nabavizadeh: None. B. Merz: None. E. Severson: None. P. Cooper: None. J.M. Holland: None. R. Crilly: None.
Randomized detection of extraneous factors

A projection operator of a system of parametric polynomials is a polynomial in the coefficients of the system that vanishes if the system has a common root. The projection operator is a multiple of the resultant of the system, and the factors of the projection operator that are not contained in the resultant are called extraneous factors. The main contribution of this work is to provide a randomized algorithm to check whether a factor is extraneous, which is an important task in applications. A lower bound for the success probability is determined which can be set arbitrarily close to one. This algorithm uses certain matrices rather than Grobner bases and seems to be the first algorithm of this kind for this task.
Degradation of ioxynil to CO2 in soil

Abstract Degradation of ioxynil (4-hydroxy-3,5-diiodobenzonitrile) to CO 2 was detected in a clay loam, high organic matter content soil. The majority of radioactivity was recovered as 14 CO 2 from both ring-labeled and cyano-labeled ioxynil; however, 14 CO 2 was always released from cyano-labeled ioxynil at a much faster initial rate. No 14 CO 2 was released in treated sterile soil, either aerobically or anaerobically. Production of 14 CO 2 from cyanolabeled and ring-labeled ioxynil was greatly inhibited by HgCl 2 (10 −5 M ), and p -chloromercuribenzoate (5 × 10 −5 M ), but slightly inhibited by ferricyanide (10 −4 M ). No 14 CO 2 was evolved from ring-labeled ioxynil under anaerobic conditions. These observations indicated that the degradation of ioxynil to CO 2 in soil was a microbial action and was oxygen dependent. This is consistent with the known mechanism of oxygenases in degrading benzene rings. Anaerobically, a small amount of 14 CO 2 was released from cyano-labeled ioxynil. Thin-layer chromatographic analyses of the culture supernatant revealed that 3,5-diiodo-4-hydroxybenzamide and 3,5-diiodo-4-hydroxybenzoic acid were intermediate metabolites.
Moving Beyond the Agent–Structure Debate

This forum contrasts two perspectives regarding methodology, written by researchers with avowedly opposing epistemologies. Jeffrey Checkel represents the positivist side, with Kevin Dunn advocating post-positivism. To clarify the assumptions underpinning this juxtaposition, Audie Klotz & Cecelia Lynch revisit the characterization of this epistemological divide & suggest that it unduly overshadows significant agreement. Scholars such as Checkel and Dunn, they claim, should be able to see common ground once they understand each others' terminology. To probe this potential, Checkel and Dunn elaborate on how & why they conduct research in particular ways. Their exchange highlights some commonalities but also suggests abiding limits to the reconciliation between analyses based on causal mechanisms & those based on discursive practices. References. Adapted from the source document.