cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bispectral measurements in turbulence computations

Bispectral measurements have been used to experimentally study spectral energy transfer due to wavenumber interactions in turbulent flows. Very similar results are obtained for both atmospheric boundary layer and grid turbulence data. The very limited results indicate that most of the transfer of energy is fairly localized in wavenumber space, involving wavenumbers differing at most by a factor of three or four. The data are consistent with the idea of a continuous cascade of energy to higher wavenumbers developed originally by A. N. Kolmogorov (1941). Further progress may depend upon comparison with bispectral computations carried out for numerical simulations of turbulence. Such simulations could yield valuable information about interactions which are difficult or impossible to study experimentally. The results, when compared with available experiments, would also provide a fundamental test of any direct simulation or turbulence model.
Evidence of drought-induced stress on biotic crust moss in the Mojave Desert

Widespread bleaching (chlorosis) of patches of the dominant desert moss Syntrichia caninervis was observed across the northern Mojave Desert in the winter of 2002‐03 following an extended period of drought interrupted by small rain events. These rain events were more frequent during the warmer months just prior to the appearance of chlorosis. We hypothesized that the patches were experiencing physiological stress due to partial hydration/rapid dehydration cycling during the warmer months. Compared to unbleached (green) shoots, chlorotic shoots exhibited significantly reduced photochemical performance, photosynthetic pigments, regenerational potential, sex expression, and lower rates of growth and productivity. However, agespecific analyses revealed older leaves from chlorotic shoots did not show the typical decline in vigour, suggesting that stress may primarily affect younger tissues. It is concluded that this chlorosis phenomenon is indicative of physiological stress presently occurring in the Mojave Desert, and is likely due to exposure to a higher than normal frequency of light rain events ( < 3.5 mm), which serve to partially hydrate moss patches that then rapidly desiccate .
Key safety considerations when administering epidural steroid injections

SUMMARY Neurological and other complications of epidural steroid injections have been widely discussed in recent years. Consequently, the US FDA issued a warning about serious neurological events, some resulting in death, and consequently is requiring label changes. Neurological adverse events numbering 131, including 41 cases of arachnoiditis, have been identified by the FDA, and 700 cases of fungal meningitis following injection of contaminated steroids. A review of the literature reveals an overwhelming proportion of the complications are related to transforaminal epidural injections, with the majority of them to cervical transforaminal epidural injections. This perspective describes the prevalence of administering epidural injections, complications, pathoanatomy, mechanism of injury and various preventive strategies.
Evidence for Mechanisms Linking Obstructive Sleep Apnea to Cardiovascular Disease

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is exceedingly prevalent in the USA. OSA has been associated with numerous cardiovascular conditions including hypertension, coronary heart disease, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, stroke, and sudden death. Although the specific mechanisms to explain the individual associations (noted above) have not been fully demonstrated, plausible mechanisms that contribute to an overall increased vascular risk in the setting of underlying OSA have been investigated. They include (but are not limited to) sympathetic activation, metabolic dysregulation, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and autonomic dysfunction. In this chapter, we review the current evidence on mechanisms that link OSA to cardiovascular disease (CVD). In particular, we cover the following mechanisms: (1) metabolic dysregulation, (2) sympathetic activity, (3) systemic inflammation, (4) endothelial dysfunction, (5) oxidative stress, (6) cardiovascular variability/autonomic dysfunction, and (7) platelet dysfunction. For each mechanism, we highlight key studies that have investigated the relationship between OSA and the mechanism of interest. We then review studies that have assessed the impact of treatment of OSA on the mechanism of interest including non-randomized and randomized clinical trials.
An overview of molded underfill in flip chip packaging applications

Flip chip packaging is a wide-spread process used in high frequency, high IO count IC devices. It consists of joining the IC chip with the substrate using solder alloys or Cu pillars to form a continuous interconnection for the electronic signals to travel through. However, because during operation these devices dissipate heat, the temperature at the bumps interface rise and drop in cycles which cause thermal stress to build up due to the different thermal expansion of the materials. If left unchecked, these stresses will weaken and eventually cause fatigue failures. Therefore, stress absorbers are dispensed or underfilled to fill the gap between the substrate and the die. Underfills, as these materials are commonly known, are typically dispense as liquids using a variety of techniques like spraying, jetting, injection dispense, etc. In this paper we'll discuss the benefits and challenges of a new type of process that integrates the overall encapsulation of the package with the underfill process in one si...
Modeling Mathematical Programs with Equilibrium Constraints in Pyomo

We describe new capabilities for modeling MPEC problems within the Pyomo modeling software. These capabilities include new modeling components that represent complementar- ity conditions, modeling transformations for re-expressing models with complementarity con- ditions in other forms, and meta-solvers that apply transformations and numeric optimization solvers to optimize MPEC problems. We illustrate the breadth of Pyomo's modeling capabil- ities for MPEC problems, and we describe how Pyomo's meta-solvers can perform local and global optimization of MPEC problems.
Life History Studies of Mycosphaerella Tassiana and M. Typhae

(1958). Life History Studies of Mycosphaerella Tassiana and M. Typhae. Mycologia: Vol. 50, No. 4, pp. 501-513.
Institutionalization and Evangelization in the Argentine Church: Córdoba Under Zenón Bustos, 1905-1919

To the dismay of today's social progressives, the Argentine Catholic church addresses the moral situation of its people but also shies away from specific political positions or other hint of secular involvement. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the church set out to secure its place in national leadership by strengthening religious institutions and withdrawing clergy from politics. The church struggled to overcome a heritage of organizational weakness in order to promote evangelization, that is, to extend its spiritual influence within Argentina. The bishop of the central city of Cordoba, Franciscan Friar Zenon Bustos y Ferreyra (1905-1925), reinforced pastoral care, catechesis, and education. After 1912, as politics became more heated, Bustos insisted that priests abstain from partisan activities and dedicate themselves to ministry. The church casts itself in the role of national guardian, not of the government, but of the faith and morals of the people.
Direct Simulation of Monte Carlo in Microchannel Couette Gas Flow

this paper discusses the micro channel Couette flow in vary Ma and Kn number using DSMC method.The slip velocity near plates increases by Kn number,and the gas temperature and pressure will increase remarkably along with the increasing of the plate velocity.In transition flow region,the velocity's amplification is kept back by Kn layer,the velocity becomes uniform distribution when approaching free molecule flow;the distributions of temperature and pressure in micro channel is high in the middle and low near the plates,and uniform when approaching free molecule flow region.
Nystagmus in Pediatric Age Group: Clinical Features and Management

The purpose of this chapter is to review the clinical features of commonly encountered ocular oscillations in the pediatric age group. The three most common forms of nystagmus in childhood present in the first year of life and include fusion maldevelopment nystagmus syndrome, infantile nystagmus syndrome, and spasmus nutans syndrome. Neurologic signs and symptoms usually accompany nystagmus related to central nervous system abnormalities. Eye movement recordings in the clinical setting can be very helpful in the diagnosis and management of ocular oscillations. A variety of medical and surgical treatment options are available to improve the ocular oscillation of nystagmus and associated abnormalities such as anomalous head positions.
11 The Rhodes Radical and Triangularizability

In this chapter we provide a correspondence between nilpotent bi-ideals and a certain class of congruences on a finite monoid. We characterize the largest nilpotent bi-ideal, which is called the Rhodes radical because it was first described by Rhodes [Rho69b] in the case of an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. For simplicity, we only give complete details in characteristic zero. As an application, we characterize those monoids with a faithful representation by upper triangular matrices over an algebraically closed field \(\mathbb{k}\) (the general case will be left to the reader in the exercises). These are precisely the monoids with a basic algebra over \(\mathbb{k}\) and so it also characterizes these monoids. Our treatment of these topics is based, for the most part, on that of Almeida, Margolis, the author, and Volkov [AMSV09].
From Turtles to Topatoco: A Brief History of Comic Book Production in the Pioneer Valley

On January 22, 2012, The Comics Journal published a short web article titled “Northampton, MA Scene Report.” The piece was written by Colin Panetta, a resident of the area as well as the author self-published mini-comics like Dead Man Holiday. In painting a picture of the Northampton comics scene, Panetta offered the following account:
On the L1-Norm Approximation of a Matrix by Another of Lower Rank

In the past decade, there has been a growing documented effort to approximate a matrix by another of lower rank minimizing the L1-norm of the residual matrix. In this paper, we first show that the problem is NP-hard. Then, we introduce a theorem on the sparsity of the residual matrix. The theorem sets the foundation for a novel algorithm that outperforms all existing counterparts in the L1-norm error minimization metric and exhibits high outlier resistance in comparison to usual L2-norm error minimization in machine learning applications.
National In-Hospital Outcomes of Pregnancy in Women With Single Ventricle Congenital Heart Disease

Most patients with single ventricle (SV) congenital heart disease are expected to survive to adulthood. Women with SV are often counseled against pregnancy; however, data on pregnancies in these women are lacking. We sought to evaluate in-hospital outcomes of pregnancy in women with SV. We used nationally representative data from the 1998 to 2012 National Inpatient Sample to identify women ≥18 years of age admitted to the hospital with International Classification of Diseases-9th Revision codes for an intrauterine pregnancy and a diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, tricuspid atresia, or common ventricle. A matched comparison group without a diagnosis of congenital heart disease or pulmonary hypertension was identified from the database. National estimates of hospitalizations were calculated. Length of stay, hospital charges, and complications were analyzed and compared between groups. Charge data were adjusted to 2012 dollars. There were 282 admissions of pregnant women with SV (69% with deliveries) and 1,405 admissions in the control group (88% with deliveries). Vaginal delivery was more common in SV (74% vs 71%, p
Photonic nanojet properties of dielectric microcylinders

In recent years, it has been demonstrated that micron-scale dielectric spheres and cylinders can form an intense sharply focused photon beam, termed a photonic nanojet. The photonic nanojet effect can be used in a broad range of biomedical and photonics applications, including super-resolution microscopy, optical endoscopy, spectroscopy, and nanolithography. In this work, by means of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulation, we studied the nanojet properties of dielectric microcylinders over a wide range of diameters (4λ-20λ) and refractive indices (1.5-2.0), where λ is the wavelength of light. We studied how the nanojet beam size, intensity, and focal distance vary as a function of size and refractive index of the microcylinders, and refractive index contrast between the microcylinders and the background medium surrounding them.
Modes of Intervention

The objective of this article is to provide an overview of various modes of psychosocial intervention by presenting the reader brief descriptions and highlighting key aspects of evidence-based intervention approaches for several of the most common psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems encountered in adolescent populations. Here, we define mode as an intervention package or therapeutic strategies that, through empirical evidence drawn from randomized trials, have demonstrated efficacy in adolescent populations. We focus on interventions delivered on outpatient basis and describe interventions delivered in individual, family, and group formats. First, summaries are provided for treatments of internalizing disorders, including cognitive-behavioral therapies for anxiety and depression and interpersonal therapy for depressed adolescents. Next, description of treatments for externalizing disorders are provided, including multisystemic therapy and multidimensional treatment foster care for adolescents with severe disruptive behaviors, and cognitive-behavioral and family-based interventions for substance-abusing teens. Finally, new directions of treatment research are discussed.
Classroom to Community: Field Studies for Exercise Science Students.

The field of kinesiology has seen growth in terms of the number of highly specialized subdisciplines, such as exercise physiology, motor learning, biomechanics, sport and exercise psychology, and fitness management. While some undergraduate students may be comfortable with a chosen concentration, others may enter the kinesiology curriculum lacking knowledge about these subdisciplines. This article establishes a rationale for field studies, or abbreviated out-of-class experiences, that can address this problem. Strategies for implementation are also provided.
Experimental and Theoretical Insights Into the Potential of V2O3 Surface Coatings for Hydrogen Permeable Vanadium Membranes

A grand challenge of vanadium-based H2 permeable membranes is the development of effective, cheap, and stable catalysts to facilitate H2 dissociation and recombination. This work investigates a fac...
Dynamics of body time, social time and life history at adolescence

Recent opposing trends towards earlier physical maturation and later social maturation present a conundrum of apparent biological-social mismatch. Here we use life history analysis from evolutionary ecology to identify forces that drive these shifts. Together with findings in developmental science, our life history analysis indicates that adolescence is a distinctive period for biological embedding of culture. Ethnographic evidence shows that mass education is a novel feature of the globalizing cultural configurations of adolescence, which are driven by transformations in labour, livelihood and lifestyle. Evaluation of the life history trade-offs and sociocultural ecologies that are experienced by adolescents may offer a practical basis for enhancing their development.
Options and Advances in Breast Reconstruction

Women at high risk for developing breast cancer are increasingly turning to risk reduction surgery, and the majority of these women will pursue breast reconstruction. Therefore, to fully understand the surgical management of high-risk women, one must be aware of the reconstructive options available including prosthetic and autologous modalities. Each of these procedures has distinct advantages and disadvantages, which are discussed in the following chapter. The key aspects of these procedures and their outcomes are also reviewed.
Measuring the Effect of Treatment on Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia

This paper reviews utility-based measures of health-related quality-of-life outcomes that might be used in clinical trials involving patients with schizophrenia. Utility-based quality-of-life data can facilitate decision-making regarding allocation of shrinking resources. Comprehensive measures can help evaluate treatments that may provide benefits in one dimension of quality of life, while providing no benefit or having negative effects in other dimensions of quality of life. This review suggests that the measurement of outcome in mental health clinical trials should include utility-based measures (e.g. the Quality of Well-Being scale, EuroQOL) which integrate a variety of outcome dimensions and combine them into a single preference weighted index.
Respiratory failure in the hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipient

The number of patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is rapidly rising worldwide. Despite substantial improvements in peri-transplant care, pulmonary complications resulting in respiratory failure remain a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in the post-transplant period, and represent a major barrier to the overall success of HSCT. Infectious complications include pneumonia due to bacteria, viruses, and fungi, and most commonly occur during neutropenia in the early post-transplant period. Non-infectious complications include idiopathic pneumonia syndrome, peri-engraftment respiratory distress syndrome, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, pulmonary veno-occlusive disease, delayed pulmonary toxicity syndrome, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. These complications have distinct clinical features and risk factors, occur at differing times following transplant, and contribute to morbidity and mortality.
Effects of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement Versus Social Support on Negative Affective Interference During Inhibitory Control Among Opioid-Treated Chronic Pain Patients: A Pilot Mechanistic Study.

Background Among opioid-treated chronic pain patients, deficient response inhibition in the context of emotional distress may contribute to maladaptive pain coping and prescription opioid misuse. Interventions that aim to bolster cognitive control and reduce emotional reactivity (e.g., mindfulness) may remediate response inhibition deficits, with consequent clinical benefits. Purpose To test the hypothesis that a mindfulness-based intervention, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), can reduce the impact of clinically relevant, negative affective interference on response inhibition function in an opioid-treated chronic pain sample. Methods We examined data from a controlled trial comparing adults with chronic pain and long-term prescription opioid use randomized to either MORE (n = 27) treatment or to an active support group comparison condition (n = 30). Participants completed an Emotional Go/NoGo Task at pre- and post-treatment, which measured response inhibition in neutral and clinically relevant, negative affective contexts (i.e., exposure to pain-related visual stimuli). Results Repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that compared with the support group, participants in MORE evidenced significantly greater reductions from pre- to post-treatment in errors of commission on trials with pain-related distractors relative to trials with neutral distractors, group × time × condition F(1,55) = 4.14, p = .047, η2partial = .07. Mindfulness practice minutes and increased nonreactivity significantly predicted greater emotional response inhibition. A significant inverse association was observed between improvements in emotional response inhibition and treatment-related reductions in pain severity by 3-month follow-up. Conclusions Study results provide preliminary evidence that MORE enhances inhibitory control function in the context of negative emotional interference.
Luxury brands in the digital age: perceived quality and gender difference

This study examined gender difference in relation to actual luxury consumers’ perceptions of luxury fashion retail website quality associated with customer satisfaction. The total number of respond...
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Outcomes Can be Predicted within 90 Days Following Pediatric Allogenic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (AlloHCT)

Risk factors associated with progression of AKI to CKD in pediatric AlloHCT recipients is not well described. We investigated the association between AKI and progression to CKD. A retrospective observational study of 275 patients post-AlloHCT age 1-21 years was performed with longitudinal follow up of three years. KDIGO staging for AKI and CKD universally applied by nephrologists to assess renal function was used. AKI defined as >0.3mg/dl increase from baseline creatinine. CKD defined as GFR 3months. GFR analyzed 90 days from the initial AKI episode was termed CKD90. Among patients that developed CKD90, CKD incidence and risk factors were analyzed 1 and 3 years post-AlloHCT. Univariate model for CKD risk factors included pre-transplant characteristics, infections, nephrotoxic agents and AKI parameters; risk factors with p Median age of 9.5±6 years, 99.6% patients had AKI. The median time to AKI was 34 days (92.8±206). Incidence of Grade 1, 2 and 3 AKI was 43%, 41% and 15%, respectively.GFR of 76.4% (210/274) met criteria for CKD (≥ stage 2) (Table 1). Majority of CKD90 patients were stage 2 CKD (35.7%) followed by stage 3 CKD (22.9%) (Table 1). Among the CKD90 patients who met criteria for CKD 1-year post AlloHCT, CKD stage 2 andCKD stage 3 were 37.1% and 16.9%, respectively (Figure 1). Upon multivariable analysis of risk factors for development of CKD at 1 and 3 year- CKD90, estimated baseline GFRand proteinuria were associated with progression to CKD (Table 2). Common factors associated with AKI in 1st 100 days of AlloHCT, such as bacterial and viral infections, tacrolimus levels >15ng/dl, vancomycin levels >20ng/dl, exposure to ganciclovir, foscarnet, cidofivir and ambisome were individually not associated with progression to CKD, indicating the possibility of multi-factorial contribution. Estimated baseline GFR, GFR at 90 days from the time of initial AKI episode and proteinuria can identify children at risk for CKD 1 year and 3 years post-AlloHCT.
Quality of life in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: importance of obesity, functional capacity, and physical inactivity.

Aims Patient-reported quality of life (QOL) is a highly prognostic and clinically relevant endpoint in patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The relationships between QOL and different markers of HF severity remain unclear, particularly as they relate to functional capacity and directly measured activity levels. We hypothesized that QOL would demonstrate a stronger relationship with measures of exercise capacity and adiposity compared to other disease measures. Methods and results This is a secondary analysis of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored RELAX, NEAT-HFpEF and INDIE-HFpEF trials to determine the relationships between QOL (assessed by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire) and different domains reflecting HF severity, including maximal aerobic capacity (peak oxygen consumption), submaximal exercise capacity (6-min walk distance), volume of daily activity (accelerometry), physician-estimated functional class, resting echocardiography, and plasma natriuretic peptide levels. A total of 408 unique patients with chronic HFpEF were split into tertiles of QOL scores defined as QOLworst, QOLintermediate , QOLbest . The QOLworst HFpEF group was youngest, with a higher body mass index, greater prevalence of class II obesity and diabetes, and the lowest N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels. After adjustment for age, sex and body mass index, poorer QOL was associated with worse physical capacity and activity levels, assessed by peak oxygen consumption, 6-min walk distance and actigraphy, but was not associated with NT-proBNP or indices from resting echocardiography. QOL was similarly reduced in patients with and without prior HF hospitalization. Conclusions Quality of life in HFpEF is poorest in patients who are young, obese and have diabetes, and is more robustly tied to measures reflecting functional capacity and daily activity levels rather than elevations in NT-proBNP or prior HF hospitalization. These findings have major implications for the understanding of QOL in HFpEF and for the design of future clinical trials targeting symptom improvement in HFpEF. Clinical trial registration RELAX, NCT00763867; NEAT-HFpEF, NCT02053493; INDIE-HFpEF, NCT02742129.
Identification of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant genomes

Abstract Viral recombination has the potential to bring about viral genotypes with modified phenotypic characteristics, including transmissibility and virulence. Although the capacity for recombination among Betacoronaviruses is well documented, SARS-CoV-2 has only been circulating in humans for approximately 8 months and thus has had a relatively short window of opportunity for the occurrence of recombination. The ability to detect recombination has further been limited by the relatively low levels of genetic diversity in SARS-CoV-2. Despite this, two studies have reported recombinants among SARS-CoV-2 strains. Here we first revisit these findings with a new analysis approach, arguing that neither presents a clear case of within-SARS-CoV-2 recombination. Applying this same approach to available SARS-CoV-2 sequences, we then identify five recombinant genomes. Each of these genomes contain phylogenetic markers of two distinct SARS-CoV-2 clades. Further, the predicted parent clades of these recombinant genomes were, with one exception, documented to be co-circulating in the country of infection in the two weeks prior to the sample being collected. Our results indicate that recombination among SARS-CoV-2 strains is occurring, but is either not widespread or often remains undetectable given current levels of viral genetic diversity. Efforts to monitor the emergence of new recombinant genomes should therefore be sustained.
Trends in hydrocodone combination product exposures reported to California Poison Control System (CPCS) following DEA rescheduling

On October 6, 2014, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) implemented a regulatory change for hydrocodone combination products (HCPs), moving them from Schedule III to II, in an e...
Predictive Validity of the Student Risk Screening Scale-Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) Scores:

Schools have become the most common setting for youth to receive additional supports—including access to mental health services serving as an entry point for identification and subsequent provision...
Using Cinematographic Tools for Historic House Digital Restorations

Digital architectural restorations, sometimes called virtual restorations, are three-dimensional computer models that are designed to reconstruct a historic structure in much the same way a physical restoration would. Using the existing architectural fabric and archival research, both methods speculate the structure and finishes of the original space. They can create wholly immersive environments that are populated with period furnishings, ephemera, people, and atmosphere in cases where original structures and objects which have been lost or destroyed, or where subsequent construction has altered the building. Computer software which is readily available and relatively inexpensive can be combined with the cinematographic techniques to produce visually dynamic re-created scenes that illustrate architectural spaces from the past for substantially smaller budgets.
Geodesic Disparity Compensation for Inter-View Prediction in VR180

The VR180 format is gaining considerable traction among the various promising immersive multimedia formats that will arguably dominate future multimedia consumption applications. VR180 enables stereo viewing of a hemisphere about the user. The increased field of view and the stereo setting result in extensive volumes of data that strongly motivate the pursuit of novel efficient compression tools tailored to this format. This paper’s focus is on the critical inter-view prediction module that exploits correlations between camera views. Existing approaches mainly consist of projection to a plane where traditional multi-view coders are applied, and disparity compensation employs simple block translation in the plane. However, warping due to the projection renders such compensation highly suboptimal. The proposed approach circumvents this shortcoming by performing geodesic disparity compensation on the sphere. It leverages the observation that, as an observer moves from one view point to the other, all points on surrounding objects are perceived to move along respective geodesics on the sphere, which all intersect at the two points where the axis connecting the two view points pierces the sphere. Thus, the proposed method performs inter-view prediction on the sphere by moving pixels along their predefined respective geodesics, and accurately captures the perceived deformations. Experimental results show significant bitrate savings and evidence the efficacy of the proposed approach.
The First Amendment as a Check on Copyright Rights

In this article, I consider whether copyright law’s idea/expression dichotomy and fair use doctrine adequately protect First Amendment interests, or whether there need to be additional First Amendment limits on copyright law.
Pharmacy students' personal and professional use of social media.

Abstract Introduction Current literature does not describe behaviors or the overarching opinion of pharmacy students on the use of different types of social media for personal and professional purposes. The objectives of this study were to identify predominant beliefs among pharmacy students regarding use of social media for professional and personal purposes, characterize pharmacy students' opinions on the effects of social media on their professional career, and determine pharmacy students' perceptions of using social media as tools for learning and discovery. Methods A self-administered questionnaire was administered to pharmacy students at Auburn University (N = 450) and Lipscomb University (N = 212). Linear regression was performed to predict students' perceptions of the importance of social media to their future professional life. Results The leading platforms commonly used by students for personal reasons were Facebook (92.5%), Instagram (70.5%), and Snapchat (70.5%). The most popular platforms used for professional reasons included LinkedIn (40.4%), Facebook (35.4%), and YouTube (29.2%). About 50% of respondents perceived social media to be important to their future professional life as pharmacists. Most students used YouTube and Wikipedia while studying or learning. The regression model predicting students' perceptions of the importance of social media to their future professional life was significant. Conclusions Pharmacy students most commonly use Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat for personal reasons, and LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube for professional reasons. Educators may leverage YouTube and wikis to support the education of pharmacy students. Pharmacy students appear to be more aware and active with security settings than previously reported.
A unicellular walker embodies a finite state machine

Cells are complex biochemical systems whose behavior emerges from interactions among myriad molecular components. The idea that cells execute computational processes is often invoked as a general framework for understanding cellular complexity. However, the manner in which cells might embody computational processes in a way that the powerful theories of computation, such as finite state machine models, could be productively applied, remains to be seen. Here we demonstrate finite state machine-like processing embodied in cells, using the walking behavior of Euplotes eurystomus, a ciliate that walks across surfaces using fourteen motile appendages called cirri. We found that cellular walking entails a discrete set of gait states. Transitions between these states are highly regulated, with distinct breaking of detailed balance and only a small subset of possible transitions actually observed. The set of observed transitions decomposes into a small group of high-probability unbalanced transitions forming a cycle and a large group of low-probability balanced transitions, thus revealing stereotypy in sequential patterns of state transitions. Taken together these findings implicate a machine-like process. Cirri are connected by microtubule bundles, and we find an association between the involvement of cirri in different state transitions and the pattern of attachment to the microtubule bundle system, suggesting a mechanical basis for the regularity of state transitions. We propose a model where the actively controlled, unbalanced transitions establish strain in certain cirri, the release of which from the substrate causes the cell to advance forward along a linear trajectory. This demonstration of a finite state machine embodied in a living cell opens up new links between theoretical computer science and cell biology and may provide a general framework for understanding and predicting cell behavior at a super-molecular level.
Understanding the effects of inclusive strategic decision-making on embodiment of organisational values

This teaching case study examines strategic decisions made at a non-profit organisation to elevate staff and improve morale following voluntary employee turnover. A values survey administered before, and after, implementation of strategic decisions provides insight regarding personal and organisational values centred on collaboration, empowerment, accountability, and embracing change. Analysis of employee ratings across the two time periods revealed employees' views of the organisation had changed following employee turnover. Further analysis of the perceived rationale for ratings was used to explain how recent efforts to reorganise resulted in the collective embodiment of organisational values.
Image-based cell subpopulation identification through automated cell tracking, principal component analysis, and partitioning around medoids clustering.

In vitro cell culture model systems often employ monocultures, despite the fact that cells generally exist in a diverse, heterogeneous microenvironment in vivo. In response, heterogeneous cultures are increasingly being used to study how cell phenotypes interact. However, the ability to accurately identify and characterize distinct phenotypic subpopulations within heterogeneous systems remains a major challenge. Here, we present the use of a computational, image analysis–based approach—comprising automated contour-based cell tracking for feature identification, principal component analysis for feature reduction, and partitioning around medoids for subpopulation characterization—to non-destructively and non-invasively identify functionally distinct cell phenotypic subpopulations from live-cell microscopy image data. Using a heterogeneous model system of endothelial and smooth muscle cells, we demonstrate that this approach can be applied to both mono and co-culture nuclear morphometric and motility data to discern cell phenotypic subpopulations. Morphometric clustering identified minimal difference in mono- versus co-culture, while motility clustering revealed that a portion of endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells adopt increased motility rates in co-culture that are not observed in monoculture. We anticipate that this approach using non-destructive and non-invasive imaging can be applied broadly to heterogeneous cell culture model systems to advance understanding of how heterogeneity alters cell phenotype.
Concrete Individuals and the Failure of the Trope Bundle Solution

What account can we give of the nature of the individuality of concrete particulars that allows many properties to inhere in them? Campbell argues that concrete particulars are bundles of tropes, or of instances of qualities. It is argued that we should individuate tropes spatiotemporally, as Schaffer suggests we should, and that such a spatiotemporal individuation principle makes Campbell’s model require that the Identity of Indiscernibles be a necessary truth, which he rejects. The problem of concrete individuals is the problem of how many distinct properties inhere in one, single individual. What account can we give of the nature of the individuality of concrete particulars that allows many properties to inhere in them? Before putting forward his own solution to this problem, Campbell speaks of a proposed solution, the universal bundle theory. This solution states that for some concrete particular, a, if we list all the universals which a instantiates—say F, G, and H—then the bundle of F, G, and H will be a itself. However, says Campbell, there could be some concrete particular, b, which also instantiates all and only F, G, and H. Thus, on this view, b would be identical by definition with the very same bundle with which a is identical, merely on the basis that a and b instantiate the very same universals—in other words, on the basis of the indiscernibility of a and b. But, as Campbell points out, this solution makes the Identity of Indiscernibles a necessary truth, while in reality it is no such thing. Campbell’s own solution is that concrete individuals are bundles, not of universals, but of tropes—more specifically, bundles of all and only compresent tropes. While the Res Cogitans (2015) 6 Fishman | 8
Word separation in handwritten legal amounts on bank cheques based on spatial gap distances

This paper presents an efficient method of separating words in handwritten legal amounts on bank cheques based on the spatial gaps between connected components. Currently all typical existing gap measures suffer from poor performance due to the inherent problem of underestimation and overestimation. In order to decrease such burden, a modified version for each of those existing measures is explored. Also, a new method of combining three different types of distance measures based on 4-class clustering is proposed to reduce the errors generated by each measure. In experiments on real bank cheque database, the modified distance measures show about 3% of better separation rate than their original counterparts. In addition, by applying the combining method, further improvement in word separation was achieved.
Optically active aromatic chromophores—V : Circular dichroism studies of β-aryl-carboxylic acids

Abstract Circular dichroism (CD) data in the spectral region from 300 to ca. 200-nm are reported for a series of β-aryl-α-amino acids and for (−)-β-(5-imidazolyl)lactic acid. The aromatic amino acids examined are (−)-phenylalanine, (−)-tyrosine, (−)-3-hydroxytyrosine, (−)-tryptophan, (−)-5-hydroxytryptophan, and (−)-histidine, all of the l -configuration. In the case of the amino acids the longest wavelength Cotton effect is positive and can be correlated with the absolute configuration. Compounds containing the benzene and indole chromophores exhibit positive Cotton effects in the 260–290 and 215–225 nm regions. The other members of the series have positive Cotton effects between 205 and 220 nm. Substitution of a OH group in the 3-position of tyrosine and the 5-position of tryptophan was found to exert a relatively small effect on the CD spectrum. The results for (−)-histidine and (−)-β-(5-imidazolyl)lactic acid indicate the possibility of two over-lapping optically active transitions in the region above 200-nm.
SOME METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE HISTORIC AND CURRENT ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM COMMUNITIES

Drawing on, but expanding and altering mutatis mutandis some principles enunciated by the greatest Byzantine liturgical historian writing today, Robert F. Taft (emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome), this paper will propose some methodological considerations for the study of the encounters and relations between Eastern Christian and Muslim communities from the seventh century to the present day.
Radiation effects on polymers

Here is the most extensive resource on polymer radiation effects to be available in more than a decade. This new volume reviews the fundamental chemistry and physics of polymer-radiation interaction and examines recent progress in most major areas of the field. Its 38 chapters, written by leading experts from around the world, cover: fundamentals of polymer radiation chemistry; technological applications of radiation to polymers (including radiation processing; radiation curing; sterilization; cross-linking, polymerization, grafting, X-ray resists, and others); and degradation of stabilization of irradiated polymers (including nuclear plants, scintillation detectors for particle physics, and others).
Early embryonic development of Xenopus laevis.

Publisher Summary This chapter provides a practical guide to understanding and manipulating the early development of Xenopus laevis , the African clawed frog. It describes the structure of the embryo and the locations, movements, and changes in shape and position of the major prospective tissues through the blastula, gastrula, and neurula stages. The chapter also illustrates these phenomena with diagrams and video micrographs to show how specific features of the embryo will appear in the investigator's own stereomicroscope. This chapter builds on the detailed description of the normal development and the staging of Xenopus . Cleavage and structure of the blastula is further discussed. The first cleavage follows fertilization by about 100 minutes (23°C) and begins with a meridional cleavage, followed by second cleavage that is meriodional and perpendicular to the first, and a third that is horizontal and the same distance above the equator. Although the first cleavage passes through the SEP and future dorsal side, it bears a nearly random relationship to these features and does not define the future plane of bilateral symmetry. Pregastrular movements are also examined in the chapter.
Inpatient management of atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease that is generally managed on an outpatient basis. However, a significant percentage of patients may develop complications severe enough to require inpatient treatment. The most common complications of AD that may require hospital admission include erythroderma, eczema herpeticum, and systemic bacterial infection. Hospital admission can also be useful for chronic and severe disease that has not responded to standard therapy or in situations where nonadherence is suspected as the cause of treatment failure. In these cases, inpatient treatment can offer an opportunity for caretaker education and allow for an objective evaluation of a patient's response to a structured treatment plan. This article will review the indications for inpatient management of AD and the therapies that can be used to acutely manage severe disease and associated complications.
Issues in the implementation of an indirect adaptive control system

Techniques for addressing the various issues relevant to the implementation of an indirect adaptive control system are presented. The sufficiency of these techniques is demonstrated by implementation onboard a small autonomous underwater vehicle. The control system is organized into two layers: the standard adaptive control algorithms and the supervisory logic. Modeling and implementation issues involved in the design of the basic adaptive control loop are described. The design of supervisory logic to address insufficiency of excitation, identification under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions, and the guarantee of appropriate control actions during periods when the parameter estimates are inaccurate is discussed. Results from in-water demonstrations are presented. >
Ant colonies for Temporal Logic falsification of hybrid systems

The Extended Ant Colony Optimization (EACO) metaheuristic is applied to the problem of Metric Temporal Logic (MTL) falsification of nonautonomous hybrid systems. The goal of the MTL falsification problem is to detect operating conditions and input signals that will generate system trajectories that do not satisfy a user provided specification in MTL. A new method for parameterizing the input space using splines and Hermitian polynomials is introduced and the performance of the new algorithm is compared against Monte Carlo testing techniques. It is envisioned that this work will help practitioners in designing complex control or mixed-signal systems.
Internalized racism's association with African American male youth's propensity for violence.

Youth Violence in African American communities is still considered to be at epidemic proportions. The traditional risk factors for youth violence (i.e. delinquent friends, poverty, drug use, carrying a weapon etc.) do not account for the disproportionate overrepresentation of African American males. This study sought to better understand the propensity for violence among African American males ages 14-19 years (N=224) from four different programmatic sites: A Philadelphia high school, an African-centered charter high school, a youth detention facility, and a program that serves youth who are on probation or parole. The findings indicate that internalized racism enhances the variance explained above the variables typically explored in the delinquency and criminology literature. If further research can replicate these findings, this has implications for the content and direction of prevention approaches with African American male youth.
Role of ERK 1/2 signaling in neuronal differentiation of cultured embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells represent an ideal source for cell engraftment in the damaged central nervous system (CNS). Understanding key signals that control ES cell differentiation may improve cell type-specific differentiation that is suitable for transplantation therapy. We tested the hypothesis that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 phosphorylation is an early signaling event required for the neuronal differentiation of ES cells. Cultured mouse ES cells were treated with an all-trans-retinoic-acid (RA) protocol to generate neurally induced progenitor cells. Western blot analysis showed a dramatic increase in ERK 1/2 phosphorylation (p-ERK 1/2) 1-5 days after RA induction, which was attenuated in the presence of the p-ERK 1/2-specific inhibitor UO126. Phospho-ERK 1/2 inhibition significantly reduced the number of NeuN-positive cells and the expression of associated cytoskeletal proteins. In differentiating ES cells, there was increased nuclear translocation of STAT3 and decreased protein expression levels of GDNF, BDNF and NGF. STAT3 translocation was attenuated by UO126. Finally, caspase-3 activation was observed in the presence of UO126, suggesting that the ERK pathway also contributes to the survival of differentiating ES cells. These data indicate that ERK 1/2 phosphorylation is a key event required for early neuronal differentiation and survival of ES cells.
Anaphylactic reaction in tumor-bearing (mastocytoma) mice☆

Abstract Large amounts of 5-HIAA are found in urine of mice with an actively growing mastocytoma. This tumor, secreting serotonin in relatively large amounts, was no more lethal to pertussis-inoculated mice than it was to uninoculated control animals. Presence of the tumor was without effect on anaphylactic reaction or on sensitivity to histamine and serotonin. The LAF 1 strain of mouse becomes sensitive to serotonin but not to histamie following pertussis treatment.