cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evolution of Knowledge Management in Business

While investigating the growth of knowledge management in academic literature and in consultancy firms Wilson (2002) in his article “The nonsense of knowledge management”, argues that the fields of information science and information systems, should clearly distinguish between the term “information” and “knowledge” in order to assure their respective importance within organizations.The purpose of this article is to analyze the evolution of the knowledge management as a field of study that clearly differentiates itself from the information system. It investigates the integration of technology in knowledge creation and identifies progress made in KM on the subject of business using information system with the successful utilization of tacit knowledge concepts.The study consists of a systemic review of articles on knowledge management from Web of Science and Esearch databases since 2003. The study used three search strings “knowledge management”, “knowledge management” and “tacit”, and “knowledge management” and “explicit”. This study may not have covered all articles and reports in KM. Yet, based on the chosen research methodology, it seems reasonable to assume that the review process covered a large share of the studies available.The literature concerning the evolution of the Knowledge Management (KM) has highlighted that KM as a strategy and tool is now more in line with the basic definition of knowledge and wisdom. The advancement in Information Technology (IT), has supported knowledge capture process by utilizing the human dimension of KM that emphasize on knowledge context. The main contribution of this study is to confirm the close relationship of dependency of IT and KM.
Reverse engineering concurrent UML state machines using black box testing and genetic programming

This paper presents a technique for reverse engineering, a software system generated from a concurrent unified modeling language state machine implementation. In its first step, a primitive sequential finite-state machine (FSM) is deduced from a sequence of outputs emitted from black box tests applied to the systems’ input interface. Next, we provide an algorithmic technique for decomposing the sequential primitive FSM into a set of concurrent (orthogonal) primitive FSMs. Lastly, we show a genetic programming machine learning technique for discovering local variables, actions performed on local and non-binary output variables, and two types of intra-FSM loops, called counting-loops and while-loops.
Net Neutrality Reloaded

How does net neutrality fit within today's neoliberal politics? In short, it doesn't! Here we use neoliberalism to denote an uncritical vision of unregulated markets, privatization of public assets and resources, and antipathy to public support of social programs that's affiliated with crony rather than laissez-faire capitalism. Under this definition, government largely serves the interests of the power elite and military industrial complex-through corporate welfare (government subsidies/subsidy economics), procorporate tax policies (for example, foreign investment credits), loose monetary policy (for example, quantitative easing), deficit spending, and pro-monopolistic practices-and its legitimacy is measured by its potential contribution to corporate profit. To be sure, this use of the term has what Boas and Gans-Morse call a negative normative valence, as it's also associated with authoritarianism, corporatism, and statism.
East Indian Small Businesses in the U.S.: Perceptions, Problems and Adjustments:

The development of small businesses by nationals of developing countries in a developed country into a successful, viable and profitable enterprises depends upon the perceptions held by these natio...
Scanning Electron Microscopy of Oribatid Mites

Even though the scanning electron microscope has been used to good advantage id studies of a number of acarines, relatively few micrographs have been published of oribatid mites. Sasa, et al. (1971) used the instrument for taxonomy of mites and mosquitoes. Griffiths (1970) showed parts of Acarus siro. By SEM Bernini (1968–69) illustrated some features of Tropacarus brevipilus, Oribatula travei and Zygoribatula exarata. Woolley and Yamamoto (1970), and Woolley (1970) showed some morphology of Oppia coloradensis Woolley, and Tenuiala kurti Woolley and Higgins, respectively. Brody (1970) described the development of integument for O. coloradensis by TEM and SEM. The author has made other studies of oribatids by SEM, some results of which are described and figured in this paper.
Cryohemorrhoidectomy: Indications and complications.

Cryosurgery is well accepted by patients requiring hemorrhoidal surgery. Internal hemorrhoids are easily treated by cryosurgery. Prolapse, small anal tags, and combined hemorrhoidal disease may be treated by cryosurgery. Pruritus ani responds poorly to cryosurgery. Thrombosed and edematous hemorrhoids should be treated by methods other than cryosurgery. Large, thick skin tags and large prolapsing hemorrhoids should be trated by excisional surgery.
Mixed function oxidase enzyme responses to in vivo and in vitro chromate treatment.

Chromium (Cr) is an essential nutrient in humans which aids in the metabolism of cholesterol, glucose and fats. The trivalent state (Cr(III)) is essential in trace doses, while Cr(VI) is toxic to mammals in acute and subchronic doses [Langard and Norseth, 1986] and long term exposure has been associated with respiratory cancer [Chiazze and Wolf, 1980; Langard and Norseth, 1975; Mancuso, 1975]. Unusually high rates of lung cancer have been reported in workers in chrome plating, leather tanning, and other Cr related industries [Chiazze and Wolf, 1980; Langard and Norseth, 1975; Mancuso, 1975]. The mechanisms for the toxic and genotoxic effects of Cr are only partially understood. The differences in toxicity of the two most common oxidation states, Cr(VI) and Cr(III), are due to the relative lack of ability of cationic Cr(III) compounds to cross cell membranes, while Cr(VI) as the chromate anion, crosses biological membranes freely [Aaseth et al., 1982; Wiegand et al., 1985]. The intracellular reduction of Cr(VI) has recently been shown to result in both Cr(V) and Cr(III) production, both of which are putative DNA damaging agents [Goodgame et al., 1982; Jennette, 1982]. Compounds such as glutathione (GSH) [Aaseth et al., 1982; Connett and Wetterhahn, 1983], ascorbate [Connett and Wetterhahn, 1983], and hydrogen peroxide [Cupo and Wetterhahn, 1985] participate in the intracellular reduction of Cr(VI). Reduction takes place both in mitochondria [Alexander et al., 1982], and the endoplasmic reticulum [Gruber and Jennette, 1978]. When GSH is the reductant a toxic glutathionyl radical (GS) may be formed [Wetterhahn, 1990, in press]. Cr(III) binds to nucleophiles including some sulfhydryl (SH) containing enzymes, with some resulting enzyme inhibition. Thus the metabolism of Cr(VI) is important for the interaction of Cr with DNA [Tsapakos and Wetterhahn, 1983], with GSH [Wiegand et al., 1985] and with SH groups on other cellular macromolecules. Previous studies with microsomes have indicated that cytochrome P-450 (P-450), an SH containing enzyme, acts as an electron donor in the microsomal reduction of Cr(VI) [Gruber and Jennette, 1978].
The Past, Present, and Future of Mental Health Courts

Mental health courts (MHCs) are an ever-growing popular solution to a well-documented problem—the overabundance of persons with mental illness in the criminal justice system. MHCs are but one of several types of specialty courts designed to improve the practices and effectiveness of criminal justice. This chapter summarizes what is known about past and present MHCs using the Council of State Governments’ (CSG) Ten Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court as a guiding framework (Thompson et al., Improving responses to people with mental illnesses: The essential elements of a mental health court, 2008). Then, what the next generation of MHCs may look like is forecasted on the basis of the trends, research, and ongoing controversies surrounding these specialty courts. At the end, a preliminary conclusion is offered that based on the progression of the courts—which are criminal justice inventions and entities—regressing back toward a more traditional criminalistic and even adversarial approach is a reasonable expectation. A question that remains to be addressed is whether MHCs and other specialty courts will continue to be “special.” How will they distinguish themselves from traditional courts? As the courts adopt a more legalistic and due process orientation, the challenge will be to retain the features that set them apart from treatment-as-usual in the criminal justice system, features that were created in response to the perceived ineffectiveness of said traditional treatment.
Book Review - Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice

In this brief essay, David Harris reviews Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice, by Alexandra Natapoff (New York University Press, 2009). This excellent new book is long overdue. It exposes the use of informants by American law enforcements in all of its tawdry detail, and explains how these practices exact a substantial cost, working against many of the stated objectives of the justice system. These costs include the loss of respect for police and the law itself, the shredding of the social fabric that binds neighborhoods together, and the fact that snitching allows many criminals to remain free, committing more crimes and continuing to victimize law-abiding citizens. Natapoff makes solid suggestions for reform, including the gathering and dissemination of data that would tell the public just how widespread these practices are.
Alternative Strategies for Mapping ACS Estimates and Error of Estimation

As you may know, the American Community Survey (ACS) is the replacement of the census “Long Form” and the only source of detailed socioeconomic and demographic data for small areas, such as place and tract levels. This paper is about exploring ways to improve communication of the estimates and reliability of ACS estimates in map making and in our published map products, whether in static “printable” form (e.g. a pdf) or in web-based interactive delivery format (html, JavaScript, KML). First, we summarize geo-visualization developments over the past two decades on ways to present uncertain data. Second, we present selected works of others more directly related to the ACS situation—polygons with attributes derived from a continuous monthly sampling activity and updated periodically. Third we present some of our own work at the Cornell Program on Applied Demographics exploring how to communicate simultaneously both the ACS estimates and the margins of error for polygons at the county and sub-county levels of geography.
A Generic Environmental Health Risk Model for Ranking the Toxic By-Products of Energy Systems

This paper describes and illustrates an approach for indexing the long-term health risks of toxic chemicals and radionuclides using crustal chemical cycles. The external environment is expressed in a pathways model which uses a “landscape prism” as a tool for mapping toxic material cycles on and near the crustal surface. Average concentrations in air, water, and food are derived and translated into a collective population dose field expressed as daily intake. The population dose is converted to population risk, expressed as lifetime cancer risk per individual or as a range of blood levels for non-stochastic agents. The models are used to index the health risk added to a hypothetical landscape from additions of arsenic, lead, uranium-238, and radium-226 to groundwater and soil. It is found that each species, by its behavior in the total environment, imposes a hazard that does not correlate to current measures of toxicity, such as drinking water standards.
The heritability of pampiniform plexus vessel size and varicocoele in boars.

Ultrasonography was used to capture a coronal-sagittal image of the veins of the pampiniform plexus (PP) and the testicular artery of 327 maternal-line boars at approximately 6 months of age at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Varicocoele was diagnosed by two methods. Method 1 diagnosed varicocoele when the average vessel area on one side of the scrotum was 1.5 times larger than the average vessel area on the other side of the scrotum. Method 2 diagnosed varicocoele when the average vessel area on one side of the scrotum of a boar was 1.5 times larger than the average vessel on the same side of the scrotum of the boar's cohorts (same population and year). Varicocoele was diagnosed in 23.17% and 15.1% of boars measured using method 1 and method 2, respectively. Ultrasonography showed to be an effective means to measure PP vessel size in boars and may even allow for earlier detection of varicocoele than by using palpation. Animal models were employed to estimate the heritability for: average area of right PP vessels (0.52), average area of the left PP vessels (0.46), varicocoele presence using method 1 (0.26) and varicocoele presence using method 2 (0.25). These heritability estimates suggest that vessel size and varicocoele could be selected against in breeding programmes to potentially improve boar semen quality.
Banking West: Budget Airlines in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

Abstract Budget airlines have expanded in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union along with the region's broader political and economic liberalization. In fact there is a loose correlation in the region between the degree of democratization and the proportion of airline seats accounted for by low-cost carriers (LCCs). LCCs are especially important to young people moving about the European Union, the so-called easyJet Generation or Generation E. Wizz Air illustrates the growth of the region's LCC sector and more specifically its emphasis on connecting eastern and western Europe. Farther east in the region, LCCs are much less significant. Pobeda Airlines is a budget airline subsidiary of Aeroflot, and its story illustrates the continued strong influence of governments upon airlines in some important countries in this region.
Brd4 and P300 Confer Transcriptional Competency during Zygotic Genome Activation.

Summary The awakening of the genome after fertilization is a cornerstone of animal development. However, the mechanisms that activate the silent genome after fertilization are poorly understood. Here, we show that transcriptional competency is regulated by Brd4- and P300-dependent histone acetylation in zebrafish. Live imaging of transcription revealed that genome activation, beginning at the miR-430 locus, is gradual and stochastic. We show that genome activation does not require slowdown of the cell cycle and is regulated through the translation of maternally inherited mRNAs. Among these, the enhancer regulators P300 and Brd4 can prematurely activate transcription and restore transcriptional competency when maternal mRNA translation is blocked, whereas inhibition of histone acetylation blocks genome activation. We conclude that P300 and Brd4 are sufficient to trigger genome-wide transcriptional competency by regulating histone acetylation on the first zygotic genes in zebrafish. This mechanism is critical for initiating zygotic development and developmental reprogramming.
Schauder estimates for degenerate Monge–Ampère equations and smoothness of the eigenfunctions

We obtain \(C^{2,\beta }\) estimates up to the boundary for solutions to degenerate Monge–Ampere equations of the type $$\begin{aligned} \det D^2 u = f~~\text {in}~\Omega , \quad ~f\sim \text {dist}^{\alpha }(\cdot , \partial \Omega )~\text {near}~\partial \Omega ,~\alpha >0. \end{aligned}$$ As a consequence we obtain global \(C^\infty \) estimates up to the boundary for the eigenfunctions of the Monge–Ampere operator \((\det D^2 u)^{1/n}\) on smooth, bounded, uniformly convex domains in \(\mathbb R^n\).
Early Goal Directed Sepsis Management in Patients with Heart Failure and Concomitant Chronic Kidney Disease

Current guidelines recommend for the use of protocolized quantitative fluid resuscitation in patients with sepsis. Limited data is available regarding optimal fluid management in patients with sepsis and concomitant heart failure (HF) and/or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: This is a single center retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with sepsis and concomitant HF and CKD (K-HF) between January of 2015 and December of 2018. The primary outcome includes all cause in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes include length of stay, requirement of intravenous diuretics, need for renal replacement therapy, and 30-day heart failure readmission rate. Results: This cohort of 1116 patients included 621/1116 (55.64%) men with a mean age of 76 ± 14 years (see Table I for baseline characteristics). A total of 383/1116 (34.31%) patients had K-HF and 733/1116 (65.68%) did not have K-HF. Patients with K-HF received an initial bolus intravenous fluid (IVF) administration of 1.63 liters vs. patients with non-K-HF and sepsis who received 1.77 liters (p=0.1766). Mortality was 121/383 (31.93%) for patients with K-HF vs. 199/733 (27.26%) for non-K-HF patients (p=0.1084). 30-day readmission was 56/383(15.73%) in patients with K-HF vs. 112/733 (16.62) in patients with non-K-HF. In patients with sepsis with K-HF 204 (53.54%) developed AKI vs. 327 (44.61%) in non-K-HF patients. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) was required in 90/383 (23.69%) in patients with K-HF vs 327/733(44.61%) in non-K-HF patients. Conclusion: EGDT in patients with sepsis and concomitant HF and CKD shows diverse morbidity, however, with similar mortality in this special population.
Determining the Effect of Diet on Weight Gain and Metabolic Dysfunction in 2 Strains of Mice

Diet has a significant impact on human health, yet it is poorly represented or significantly oversimplified in most preclinical animal studies. A majority of animals used in preclinical studies are...
Predicting Correlated Responses in Quantitative Traits Under Selection: A Linear Algebra Approach

Natural selection on traits within a population leads to evolutionary change by altering the mean trait value from one generation to the next. The amount of that change depends on the strength of the selection and the proportion of variance in the trait that is controlled by genetics. Both of these factors can be quantified and used to predict the outcome of selection. When a suite of traits is linked genetically, selection on one trait can affect the others. Therefore, the relationships between all traits are described using a variance-covariance matrix. Direct selection on each trait is quantified using partial regression coefficients, and is used along with the genetic variance-covariance matrix to predict the outcome of multivariate selection.
Payments for environmental service’s role in landscape connectivity

Creating landscapes with connectivity is vital for protecting biodiversity and meeting the environmental targets embedded in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with connectivity specifically mentioned in Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Targets. Costa Rica created the National Biological Corridor Program (NBCP) in 2006 to enhance connectivity among protected areas. Targeted investments of payments for environmental services (PES) are the main tools used within the designated biological corridors. We conducted spatially explicit analyses to determine whether Costa Rica’s NBCP, using PES, enhanced landscape connectivity within the Paso de las Nubes Biological Corridor. We conducted landscape modelling in order to determine the connectivity held within PES’s properties by developing connectivity resistance surfaces and electrical current models. The results indicate that PES properties established after the NBCP contributed more to areas with intermediate values of connectivity and less to areas with high connectivity values as compared to properties before the NBCP. Although overall connectivity within the corridor has decreased since NBCP establishment, our results confirm the importance of PES properties for landscape connectivity, but emphasize the need for spatially targeted PES in order to improve viable paths of landscape connectivity among protected areas. Future targeted PES investments could contribute greatly to meeting connectivity goals.
Comprehensive Prediction and Interpretation of Viral Protein Subcellular Localization

Determining the subcellular localization of viral proteins is indispensable for understanding the activity of the virus and inferring viral protein functions. Although previous studies about predicting viral protein subcellular localization have been developed, they often have the following disadvantages: (i) only focusing on a part of proteins of a species (ii) not considering the presence of multi-location proteins and (iii) lacking interpretability for the results. To address these problems, this paper is firstly predicting all the subcellular localization of the whole viral proteome in the UniProtKB and is interpretable for the results. This paper gives high prediction accuracy for the single-location and multi-location viral proteins by the FUEL-mLoc predictor. More importantly, we did deeply analysis and interpretation of the subcellular localization of all viral proteins. Finally, we have found some essential GO terms which are interpretable for the results and are significant in predicting the subcellular localization of the viral proteins.
Chapter 4 – Nuclear Reprogramming: Biological and Technological Constraints

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the nuclear reprogramming process and how both the technological parameters of the cloning process and the biological limitation of nuclear reprogramming might relate to the inefficiencies and phenotypes observed during the development of cloned animals. The four key parameters of nuclear transfer technology that influence the development of cloned embryos are the state and nature of the recipient cytoplast; the cell cycle status of the donor cell; the identity, differentiation state, and developmental potency of the donor cell; and the genetic influences on the successful development of cloned embryos. Although a G0 cell cycle state is clearly not necessary for the successful development of cloned embryos, the somatic nucleus has to be in a conformation compatible with nuclear envelope breakdown and chromosome condensation. The most interesting issue in cloning by nuclear transfer is epigenetic reprogramming. For clones to complete development, genes normally expressed during embryogenesis but silent in the somatic donor cell must be reactivated. Nuclei isolated from embryonic stem (ES) cells and embryonic blastomeres generate viable cloned animals with a significantly higher efficiency compared to any somatic donor cell type. During cloning, reprogramming has to occur in the short interval between transfer of the donor nucleus into the egg and the onset of cellular differentiation, a context that is dramatically different from normal fertilization. Because of cloning's inherent inefficiencies, the nuclear transfer experiments using lymphocytes and other terminally differentiated cells as nuclear donors must be carefully designed and carried out.
Randomized clinical trial to evaluate mometasone lavage vs spray for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps who have not undergone sinus surgery.

Background There is no consensus regarding the best route of intranasal delivery of corticosteroids in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The study objective of this work was to compare the impact of mometasone furoate nasal spray (MFNS) vs mometasone nasal irrigation in the management of CRS patients who have not undergone sinus surgery. Methods A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial was conducted in adults with CRS. Individuals with nasal polyps and/or history of sinus surgery were excluded. Patients were randomized to receive 8 weeks of either MFNS or mometasone nasal irrigation. The primary outcome measure was change in the 22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) score between the 2 groups. Secondary outcome measures included patient global response to treatment and Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores. Results A total of 43 participants completed the study (n = 22, MFNS; n = 21,mometasone nasal irrigation). Fourteen (64%) participants in the MFNS group and 17 (81%) in the mometasone lavage group had a clinically meaningful improvement in SNOT-22 scores with a proportion difference of 17% (95% confidence interval [CI], -9% to 44%). The least-squares (LS) mean difference between the 2 groups for SNOT-22 was -8.6 (95% CI, -17.7 to 0.58; p = 0.07), whereas the LS mean difference between the 2 groups for Lund-Kennedy endoscopy scores was 0.16 (95% CI, -0.84 to 1.15; p = 0.75). No adverse events were associated with the study. Conclusion Both MFNS and mometasone nasal irrigations are beneficial in symptom management of CRS. Our study suggests that patients who perform mometasone lavage do better in a clinically meaningful way, but our results are not definitive and further studies are warranted.
Bounds on exceptional Dehn filling

We show that for a hyperbolic knot complement, all but at most 12 Dehn fillings are irreducible with infinite word-hyperbolic fundamental group.
Abstract 13936: Practitioners’ Inaccuracy in Decision-making With Assessing NYHA Functional Class of Patients With Heart Failure

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem and timely evidence-based guideline directed treatment is essential to ensure optimal patient outcomes. New York Heart Association ...
The effect of microscopic gap displacement on the correlation of gaps in dimer systems.

In earlier work we showed that in the bulk, the correlation of gaps in dimer systems on the hexagonal lattice is governed, in the fine mesh limit, by Coulomb's law for 2D electrostatics. We also proved that the scaling limit of the discrete field ${\bold F}$ of average tile orientations is, up to a multiplicative constant, the electric field produced by a 2D system of charges corresponding to the gaps. In this paper we show that in the bulk, the relative change $T_{\al,\be}$ in correlation caused by displacing a hole by a fixed vector $(\al,\be)$ is, in the fine mesh limit, the projection on $(\al,\be)$ of a new field ${\bold T}$, which is also equal up to a multiplicative constant to the electric field of the corresponding system of charges. We also discuss the differences between the fields ${\bold T}$ and ${\bold F}$ and present conjectures for their fine mesh limits in the more general case of a dimer system with boundary. The new field ${\bold T}$ can be viewed as capturing the instantaneous pull on each gap in the surrounding fluctuating sea of dimers. From the point of view of the parallel to physics, the electrostatic force emerges then as an entropic force.
Commentary on Chapter “Case Formulation in Process-Based Therapies”: Process Based CBT as an Approach to Case Conceptualization

This Commentary describes the framework of Process-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PB-CBT). PB-CBT works under the assumption that the symptom is maintained and is also maintaining a network that is maladaptive and resilient for change; PB-CBT aims to help the client replace a maladaptive network with an adaptive one, to strengthen processes that promote well-being and experiences that goes in line with the clients’ values and ambitions. Treatment starts with a collaborative contextual idiographic assessment in which both client and therapist, using their unique personal or professional knowledge, examine a particular context to formulate a shared understanding of the process occurring in that context and to identify targets for intervention. The assessment builds-up toward a functional analysis, conceived as the identification of relevant and controllable functional relations to an individual’s specific behaviors. In PB-CBT case formulation continues as long as treatment is still ongoing. Receiving and discussing the client’s feedback on the intervention is essential in order to decide whether to adapt or change the intervention and conduct it again. Asking individualized, context related questions, using advanced tools for data collection and analysis, organizing the data in a comprehensive working model, and working in a cyclic manner throughout the therapeutic process, are indeed a new way in which case formulation can be delivered.
Research Note: Automated data-driven alignment of near-bit and top-drive vibration sensors for seismic while drilling and beyond

ABSTRACT Downhole near‐bit vibration sensors are used to record the pilot signal for seismic while drilling and identify drilling dysfunctions for drilling optimization. The typical downhole sensor is a memory‐based device with an inexpensive internal clock of limited accuracy that is not synchronized to surface data. Integrating downhole vibrations with other time‐based data such as surface drilling parameters or seismic recordings requires accurate time alignment between all data sets. We present a novel automated two‐step alignment procedure that uses a Global Positioning System‐synchronized top‐drive vibration sensor as a reference. The accuracy of the new method satisfies the most demanding requirements of seismic while drilling. The first step finds the delay time and linear drift using global optimization. The second step estimates nonlinear drift using time‐variant cross‐correlation. Alignment precision of a few seconds after the first step becomes a few milliseconds after the second step, as demanded by seismic‐while‐drilling. The field data example shows that the proposed methodology successfully aligns top‐drive and downhole data using a fully unsynchronized near‐bit vibration data set. After alignment, the near‐bit sensor delivers a usable pilot for seismic‐while‐drilling processing, resulting in better quality correlated seismic data than those obtained with the top‐drive surface pilot.
Age-related Opioid Exposure in Trauma: A Secondary Analysis of the Multimodal Analgesia Strategies for Trauma (MAST) Randomized Trial.

OBJECTIVE Evaluate the effect of age on opioid consumption after traumatic injury. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Older trauma patients receive fewer opioids due to decreased metabolism and increased complications, but adequacy of pain control is unknown. We hypothesized that older trauma patients require fewer opioids to achieve adequate pain control. METHODS A secondary analysis of the multimodal analgesia strategies for trauma Trial evaluating the effectiveness of 2 multimodal pain regimens in 1561 trauma patients aged 16 to 96 was performed. Older patients (≥55 years) were compared to younger patients. Median daily oral morphine milligram equivalents (MME) consumption, average numeric rating scale pain scores, complications, and death were assessed. Multivariable analyses were performed. RESULTS Older patients (n = 562) had a median age of 68 years (interquartile range 61-78) compared to 33 (24-43) in younger patients. Older patients had lower injury severity scores (13 [9-20] vs 14 [9-22], P = 0.004), lower average pain scores (numeric rating scale 3 [1-4] vs 4 [2-5], P < 0.001), and consumed fewer MME/day (22 [10-45] vs 52 [28-78], P < 0.001). The multimodal analgesia strategies for trauma multi-modal pain regimen was effective at reducing opioid consumption at all ages. Additionally, on multivariable analysis including pain score adjustment, each decade age increase after 55 years was associated with a 23% reduction in MME/day consumed. CONCLUSIONS Older trauma patients required fewer opioids than younger patients with similar characteristics and pain scores. Opioid dosing for post-traumatic pain should consider age. A 20 to 25% dose reduction per decade after age 55 may reduce opioid exposure without altering pain control.
Interpretable and tractable models of transcriptional noise for the rational design of single-molecule quantification experiments

To what extent do cell-to-cell differences in transcription rate affect RNA copy number distributions, and what can this variation tell us about biological processes underlying transcription? We argue that successfully answering such questions requires quantitative models that are both interpretable (describing concrete biophysical phenomena) and tractable (amenable to mathematical analysis); in particular, such models enable the identification of experiments which best discriminate between competing hypotheses. As a proof of principle, we introduce a simple but flexible class of models involving a stochastic transcription rate (governed by a stochastic differential equation) coupled to a discrete stochastic RNA transcription and splicing process, and compare and contrast two biologically plausible hypotheses about observed transcription rate variation. One hypothesis assumes transcription rate variation is due to DNA experiencing mechanical strain and relaxation, while the other assumes that variation is due to fluctuations in the number of an abundant regulator. Through a thorough mathematical analysis, we show that these two models are challenging to distinguish: properties like first- and second-order moments, autocorrelations, and several limiting distributions are shared. However, our analysis also points to the experiments which best discriminate between them. Our work illustrates the importance of theory-guided data collection in general, and multimodal single-molecule data in particular for distinguishing between competing hypotheses. We use this theoretical case study to introduce and motivate a general framework for constructing and solving such nontrivial continuous-discrete models.
Establishing correlations in the en-mass migration of dermal fibroblasts on oriented fibrillar scaffolds

Abstract Wound healing proceeds via fibroblast migration along three dimensional fibrillar substrates with multiple angles between fibers. We have developed a technique for preparation of three dimensional fibrillar scaffolds with where the fiber diameters and the angles between adjacent fiber layers could be precisely controlled. Using the agarose droplet method we were able to make accurate determinations of the dependence of the migration speed, focal adhesion distribution, and nuclear deformation on the fiber diameter, fiber spacing, and angle between adjacent fiber layers. We found that on oriented single fiber layers, whose diameters exceeded 1 μm, large focal adhesion complexes formed in a linear arrangement along the fiber axis and cell motion was highly correlated. On multi layered scaffolds most of the focal adhesion sites reformed at the junction points and the migration speed was determined by the angle between adjacent fiber layers, which followed a parabolic function with a minimum at 30°. On these surfaces we observed a 25% increase in the number of focal adhesion points and a similar decrease in the degree of nuclear deformation, both phenomena associated with decreased mobility. These results underscore the importance of substrate morphology on the en-mass migration dynamics. Statement of Significance En-mass fibroblast migration is an essential component of the wound healing process which can determine rate and scar formation. Yet, most publications on this topic have focused on single cell functions. Here we describe a new apparatus where we designed three dimensional fibrillar scaffolds with well controlled angles between junction points and highly oriented fiber geometries. We show that the motion of fibroblasts undergoing en-mass migration on these scaffolds can be controlled by the substrate topography. Significant differences in cell morphology and focal adhesions was found to exist between cells migrating on flat versus fibrillar scaffolds where the migration speed was found to be a function of the angle between fibers, the fiber diameter, and the distance between fibers.
Weiteres über Chromosomen und Vererbung

Wir sahen soeben, das die Mendel Spaltung ihre Ursache darin hat, das die mendelnden Erbfaktoren ihren Sitz in den Chromosomen haben und daher der Verteilung der Chromosomen wahrend der Reifeteilung folgen mussen. Wir sahen ferner, das die Spaltungsgesetze fur mehrere gleichzeitig und unabhangig voneinander mendelnde Erbfaktoren darauf beruhen, das jedes dieser Faktorenpaare seinen Sitz in einem anderen Chromosom hat. Daraus folgte mit zwingender Notwendigkeit, das es bei einem Organismus nur so viele unabhangig spaltende mendelnde Erbfaktoren geben kann, als es Chromosomenpaare gibt. Damit ist nun aber nicht gesagt, das es uberhaupt nur so viele Erbfaktoren geben konne. Tatsachlich ist das Gegenteil wohlbekannt. So kennen wir von dem Lebewesen, dessen Vererbung am genauesten studiert ist, der kleinen Taufliege, bereits uber 400 Erbeigenschaften, davon jede einzelne sich nach Mendels Gesetzen vererbt. Und doch besitzt diese Fliege nur vier Chromosomenpaare. So kennen wir von viel benutzten Versuchstieren und Versuchspflanzen wie Ratten, Mausen, Meerschweinchen, Kaninchen, Huhnern, spanischen Wicken, Lowenmaulchen, Mais eine viel grosere Zahl von mendelnden Eigenschaften, als Chromosomenpaare vorhanden sind. So wissen wir auch vom Menschen, das die Zahl der Erbeigenschaften, deren mendelndes Verhalten mehr oder minder genau bekannt ist, eine sehr viel grosere ist, als die Zahl der Chromosomenpaare, namlich 24. So ist denn der Schlus unabweislich, das in jedem Chromosom viele mendelnde Erbfaktoren gelegen sein mussen.
SU-E-T-452: Identifying Inefficiencies in Radiation Oncology Workflow and Prioritizing Solutions for Process Improvement and Patient Safety

Purpose: Successful radiation therapy requires multi-step processes susceptible to unnecessary delays that can negatively impact clinic workflow, patient satisfaction, and safety. This project applied process improvement tools to assess workflow bottlenecks and identify solutions to barriers for effective implementation. Methods: We utilized the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology, limiting our scope to the treatment planning process. From May through December of 2014, times and dates of each step from simulation to treatment were recorded for 507 cases. A value-stream map created from this dataset directed our selection of outcome measures (Y metrics). Critical goals (X metrics) that would accomplish the Y metrics were identified. Barriers to actions were binned into control-impact matrices, in order to stratify them into four groups: in/out of control and high/low impact. Solutions to each barrier were then categorized into benefit-effort matries to identify those of high benefit and low effort. Results: For 507 cases, the mean time from simulation to treatment was 235 total hours. The mean process and wait time were 60 and 132 hours, respectively. The Y metric was to increase the ratio of all non-emergent plans completed the business day prior to treatment from 47% to 75%. Project X metrics included increasing the number of IMRT QAs completed at least 24 hours prior to treatment from 19% to 80% and the number of non-IMRT plans approved at least 24 hours prior to treatment from 33% to 80%. Intervals from simulation to target contour and from initial plan completion to plan approval were identified as periods that could benefit from intervention. Barriers to actions were binned into control-impact matrices and solutions by benefit-effort matrices. Conclusion: The DMAIC method can be successfully applied in radiation therapy clinics to identify inefficiencies and prioritize solutions for the highest impact.
Review of the Los Alamos FRX-C Experiment

The FRX-C device is a large field-reversed theta pinch experiment with linear dimensions twice those of its FRX-A and FRX-B predecessors. It is used to form field-reversed configurations (FRCs), wh...
Science Plays Defense: Natural Resource Management in the Bush Administration

The Bush administration has been heavily criticized by scientists for its use of science in the policy arena generally, including in natural resource management. The most widely circulated criticisms have accused the administration of politicizing science. The fundamental problem, though, is the opposite, the scientizing of politics. Political actors are often tempted to describe their decisions as scientific, but science is not, and cannot be, the primary driver of most regulatory decisions. The long history of scientific leadership within the conservation community has produced a sense in that community that emphasizing the scientific aspects of natural resource management necessarily works to their advantage. The current administration, however, has shown that the rhetoric of science can also be used defensively, as a barrier to regulation. This paper details several key methods the administration has used to pursue its strategy of defensive science in natural resource management. It concludes with the suggestion that a more normatively defensible, and perhaps also a more politically effective, strategy for conservationists would emphasize the need to bring two key procedural aspects of scientific practice, transparency and a commitment to updating, more strongly into the regulatory arena.
Judicial Discretion and the "Sunk Costs" Strategy of Government Agencies

v\Then a government agency. during the construction of a public works project, has violated a statute, a court may be hesitant to issue an injunction because of the potential "waste" of public funds that haye already been spent. Knowing this, agencies may engage in a "sunk costs" strategy while a decision on enjoining the project is loomingcontinuing to invest money in the project, often at an increased rate, in order to gain adyantage in the equitable balancing used to evaluate the necessity for an injunction. An increase in the amount of irrecoverable public funds itlYested in furtherance of a statutory violation may tilt the judge's balancing in the agency's favor. This Note addresses this sunk costs strategy and concludes that, in light of traditional equitable jurisprudence, the money spent by an agency to take advantage of this balancing cannot be included itl the balancitlg process. Thus, in the midst of the 1Ilud and at the heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor ill his High COllrt of Chancery.!
Inflammatory Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Inflammation is a prominent feature of human and experimental pulmonary hypertension (PH) as suggested by infiltration of various inflammatory cells and increased expression of certain cytokines in remodeled pulmonary vessels. Macrophages, T and B lymphocytes, and dendritic cells are found in the vascular lesions of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) as well as in PAH associated with connective tissue diseases or infectious etiologies such as HIV. In addition, PAH is often characterized by the presence of circulating chemokines and cytokines, increased expression of growth (such as VEGF and PDGF) and transcriptional (e.g., nuclear factor of activated T cells or NFAT) factors, and viral protein components (e.g., HIV-1 Nef), which directly contribute to further recruitment of inflammatory cells and the pulmonary vascular remodeling process. These inflammatory pathways may thus serve as potential specific therapeutic targets. This article provides an overview of inflammatory pathways involving chemokines and cytokines as well as growth factors, highlighting their potential role in pulmonary vascular remodeling and the possibility of future targeted therapy.
Asset mapping for an Asian American community: Informal and formal resources for community building

With the growth of the Asian American population in the Southern region of the United States, mainstream and Asian American community must be aware of both informal and formal supports that are available for the population in order to effectively address needs and allocate resources. This community-based project identified informal and mainstream support that is available to an Asian American community using asset mapping. The asset-based community development framework was used in which the capacities of the local people and their associations are recognized to be essential in building a more powerful community, to helping a community be more self-sustaining, and to developing better relationships among entities. This study provides an inventory of community assets that otherwise may have been ignored and thus has the potential to contribute to a better functioning Asian American community in Jacksonville, Florida. 719 assets were identified as available potential resources for members of the Asian American community with a majority as formal resources. Of the informal assets, a majority are organizations. In general, formal resources are centralized, whereas informal resources are more evenly distributed throughout the city. These results can contribute to the establishment of more culturally accessible services and utilization of services.
Producing & Consuming Processed Foods: A Critical-Thinking Exercise

The goal of this interdisciplinary activity is to encourage students to think critically about the ethical, environmental, and human health consequences of producing and consuming processed foods.
Reduced State Sequence Detection Asynchronous Gaussian Multiple-Access Channels

The problem of coherent multiuser detection is considered for the K-user asynchronous Gaussian Code-Division multiple Access (CDMA) channel. The maximum likelihood sequence detector (MLSD) is asymptotically optimal in that it achieves the highest error exponent of the bit error probability for each user. However, the MLSD can only be implemented by a dynamic programming algorithm whose complexity depends exponentially on K. In order to mitigate the complexity of this scheme, a class of group detection strategies is derived based on optimal statistical inferential procedures. Each member of this class of detectors corresponds to a L group partition of the K users, and consists of a bank of L group detectors, one for demodulating the information symbols of users in each group. Each group detector is a reduced state sequence detector with the dominant complexity determined by the computation of the solution of a combinatorial optimization problem via a forward dynamic programming algorithm. This algorithm has a complexity that is exponential in the number of users in the corresponding group. The overall complexity is determined by the size of the largest group which is a design parameter that can be chosen to be only as large as complexity considerations allow. The performance analysis of the group detection scheme is obtained by deriving asymptotically tight upper and lower bounds on the bit error probability, thereby characterizing its multiuser asymptotic efficiency.
Thickness of patellofemoral articular cartilage as measured on MR imaging: sequence comparison of accuracy, reproducibility, and interobserver variation

Objective Since the thickness of cartilage is an important indicator of the status, progression and response to therapy of articular disorders, assessment of it is desirable. This study was undertaken to assess the accuracy, precision, and reliability of magnetic resonance (MR) measurements of articular cartilage.
A Multiattribute Model of Consumer Choice During Product Learning

The processes of consumer preference formation during product learning are analyzed. A hypothesis about how individuals form attribute expectations is used to derive a dynamic multinomial logit model of individual choice which endogenously recognizes product learning. The model and its underlying assumptions are then tested in the context of an interactive grocery store learning game. The results support most elements of the proposed model structure. An assumption of temporal stationarity in attribute salience, however, could not be supported. Approaches to implementation of the model are discussed, and implications for marketing management and research in individual choice modeling are addressed.