cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Innovative Methods of Hospital Disinfection in Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections

The purpose of this review is to give the reader an update on recent studies and developments regarding the hospital environment role in transmission of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), and novel strategies to obtain a cleaner, safer patient environment. Hospital patient rooms are increasingly recognized as a reservoir of multi-drug-resistant organisms that contribute to HAIs. In simulated environments, surfaces can easily be adequately disinfected of pathogenic bacteria. However, translation into real healthcare settings has been less reliable and efficacious, with barriers to implementation of best practices. In this review, we describe and compare new and evolving technologies for enhancing room disinfection, such as UV-C, hydrogen peroxide vapor, ozone, and chlorine. We also review recent studies examining antimicrobial surfaces such as copper and silver and introduce a novel transdisciplinary human factors, systems engineering, and infection prevention approach to improve manual room cleaning. We highlight outstanding questions, including additional benefit of no touch technology in a human factors-optimized manual cleaning setting, and cost-effectiveness of optimized manual cleaning vs additional of no touch technology. There are evolving technologies and strategies to enhance patient room cleaning and decrease risk of HAI transmission. It is important for the infection prevention community to keep up to date with, and understand the implications of, these developments so as to best inform hospital HAI reduction strategy.
Fire resistant polyphenols based on chemical modification of bio-derived tannic acid

Abstract Utilization of renewable materials for the development of safer and nontoxic flame retardants has been of interest from environmental safety and sustainability perspective. Tannic acid (TA) is an abundantly available bio-based polyphenol that exhibits good intumescence and char forming characteristics upon being subjected to heat. Intumescence and char formation are important prerequisites for certain types of effective flame retardant (FR) additives. However, the potential for utilizing TA as an FR has been limited by its poor thermal stability. A single step chemical modification process that overcomes the limitations of TA while allowing the utilization of its beneficial properties is reported here. TA was crosslinked using interfacial polycondensation with terephthaloyl chloride to yield tannic acid terephthalate (TAT). The complex structure of TAT necessitated the synthesis of several model compounds based on methyl gallate (MG) to facilitate the complete structural characterization of TAT using FTIR and 1 H NMR. TAT is thermally stable up to 230 °C (less than 3% weight loss) and shows 30% higher char yield and extremely low heat release capacity (
Evaluation of lung shunting from Tc-99m MAA imaging and its effect to Y-90 microsphere treatment dose

2126 Objectives : Yttrium 90 (Y-90) microspheres have been used as therapeutic agents for various types of liver metastases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate methods of calculation and region definition on accuracy of the lung shunting from Tc-99m MAA imaging and its effect to the Y-90 microsphere treatment dose. Methods : Patients with nonresectable hepatic metastases or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) not responding to polychemotherapy and/or other local treatment were treated with Y-90 microspheres. A pre-treatment Tc-99m macro aggregated albumin (MAA) planar lung imaging is acquired on patients using a dual-head SPECT camera to estimate Tc-99m MAA distribution to predict a Y-90 microsphere distribution for dosimetry. Data analysis was performed on a Siemens e.soft workstation. Patient images were reviewed and regions of interest (ROI) were redrawn due to variance in previous ROI9s to exam methods of calculation and possible error in the shunting ratio, which may impact patient dose. The shunting ratios were calculated using a standard formula (lung to liver ratio) and a modified formula (lung to whole body ratio). We also compared the ratio and dose with that using whole body image with lung counts subtracted. The percentage of geometric mean of the lung shunting was used to estimate therapy dose using the TheraSphere (MDS, Nordion) treatment planning protocol. Results : The lung shunting ratios from liver to lungs, whole body to lungs and whole body with lung counts subtracted changed within 3%. Differences in the treatment dose (120 Gy) from the modified formula and from the standard formula demonstrated an average of 2.8 Gy standard deviation -0.6 Gy and t Test 0.89. Conclusions : The use of the whole body image in comparison to liver only image in shunting ratios did not change the therapy dose significantly. Significant error in Yttrium-90 microsphere treatment dose did occur if the ROIs were not defined properly in the lung shunting calculation from Tc-99m MAA imaging.
Patient Selection and Counseling

When selecting patients for total knee replacement, it is important to assess both the chronological and the physiological patient age to gage longevity of the implant as well as perioperative co-morbidity risk. The severity of clinical and radiographic disease can factor into postoperative functional status and can also direct the surgeons in their implant selection. The number of potential complications has been reduced in recent years by optimizing the patient’s health prior to surgery. Interventions such as preoperative antibiotics and aggressive postoperative DVT prophylaxis have also reduced the risk of complication. The surgeon considering total knee replacement in a patient needs to spend time with that patient to let him or her know about the expectations postoperatively as well as to summarize the risks of surgery.
774 Carotid Endarterectomies for Strokes and Transient Ischaemic Attacks: Comparison of Results of Early vs. Late Surgery

A total of 774 carotid endarterectomies were done; 363 (47%) for completed strokes and strokes with unstable neurological status and 411 (53%) for transient ischaemic attacks. One hundred eight emergency carotid endarterectomies were done in the stroke group for either recurrent strokes or where the lumen of the internal carotid was less than 0.5 mm. Eighty-four emergency carotid endarterectomies were done in the transient ischaemic attack group for either recurrent T.I.A.s or T.I.A.s with carotid lumen less than 0.5 mm. There were 14 (3.8%) deaths in the stroke group and 3 (0.7%) in the transient ischaemic attack group. In the stroke group, the lowest mortality of 1.6% (4 deaths) was in 246 carotid endarterectomies done in the first week, while 87 done in the second week had 3.4% mortality (3 deaths) and 30 done in the third week or later had 23.3% mortality (7 deaths). The highest mortality was in patients with recurrent strokes during the same admission before surgery and in whom surgery was delayed until the third week or later. Primary cause of death was myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism but not neurological.
Biosynthesis and mechanism of action of nerve growth factor.

Publisher Summary Cells require one or more growth factors or hormones before they can express and maintain their fully differentiated function. This chapter describes the biosynthesis and mechanism of action of nerve growth factor. Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays roles that are important throughout the life cycle of the responsive neurons. The growth of axons from developing sensory and sympathetic neurons in vivo and the maintenance of the differentiated state of these neurons require NGF. There is also growing evidence that NGF may have a chemotactic role in guiding the direction of growth of axons. This chapter discusses the ability of NGF to induce morphological differentiation of sensory and sympathetic neurons or of PC 12 cells. It also describes briefly the biochemistry of the NGF proteins and discusses how knowledge of their structure has led to a model for the biosynthesis of the biologically active NGF dimer.
Career maturity of college seniors as a function of gender, sex-role identification, and choice of major

Development of identity was examined as reflected in the ability to establish and clarify purpose and develop academic autonomy, combined as Career Maturity. Each variable was related to gender sex-role identification (androgynous, masculine-identified, feminine-identified, and undifferentiated), choice of major (male-dominated, femaledominated), and sex-appropriateness of major (sex-appropriate, sex-inappropriate). Three-hundred-ninety-six seniors completed the BEM Sex Role Inventory and the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory. Students were enrolled in engineering and business (male-dominated), or education and family and consumer sciences (female-dominated). Students clustered in majors that were sex-appropriate for them. Females in sexappropriate majors described themselves as more feminine than females in sexinappropriate majors. Masculinity did not differ for males by sex-appropriateness of major. Seniors were evenly represented in the four sex-role identification categories. Students in male-dominated majors were primarily masculine-identified and undifferentiated, whereas students in female-dominated majors were primarily androgynous and feminine-identified. The masculine-identified group scored higher than the undifferentiated group on all three career maturity variables. For Establishing and Clarifying Purpose the androgynous group scored higher than undifferentiated, feminine-identified, and masculine-identified groups. On Career Maturity the androgynous group scored higher than undifferentiated and feminine-identified groups.
MOG antibody–associated encephalomyelitis/encephalitis:

Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody disease is a rare autoimmune disorder with antibodies against the MOG predominantly involving the optic nerve and spinal cord leading to vision loss and paralysis. When MOG antibody disease involves the brain, the phenotype is similar to acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). In this review, we discuss MOG-positive cases presenting with encephalitis, encephalopathy, or ADEM-like presentation based on recently published series.
Ecofeminist Activism and the Greening of Native America

Ancient female-centered Native American myths reveal pre-colonial attitudes about gender, gender roles, and sexuality as well as about human persons’ essential relations with the non-human world. Girls and women in these stories variously function as creators, embodiments of the sacred, and culture-bringers. After settler colonialism, the subsistence contract embodied in these women-centered myths was broken. On Native lands, unparalleled ecological disaster followed. Since then, Native people and their lands have suffered. Women and girls have doubly suffered from the colonizing culture and its patriarchal institutions as well as from their own cultures’ adopted misogyny. But in the last few decades, Native girls and women have taken the lead in rejecting the false choice between prosperity and sustainability. Their ecofeminist activism has spread throughout Native America, perhaps most successfully in the Southwest with the Hopi and Navajo Black Mesa Water Coalition and in North Dakota with the Water Protectors encampment on the Standing Rock Reservation to block the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. This essay details those two inspirational projects that, in the words of Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz, bear witness to “a spring wind / rising / from Sand Creek.”
Infant Brain Structural MRI Analysis in the Context of Thoracic Non-cardiac Surgery and Critical Care.

Objective: To determine brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and whole brain volume of full-term and premature infants following surgical treatment for thoracic non-cardiac congenital anomalies requiring critical care. Methods: Full-term (n = 13) and pre-term (n = 13) patients with long-gap esophageal atresia, and full-term naive controls (n = 19) < 1 year corrected age, underwent non-sedated brain MRI following completion of thoracic non-cardiac surgery and critical care treatment. Qualitative MRI findings were reviewed and reported by a pediatric neuroradiologist and neurologist. Several linear brain metrics were measured using structural T1-weighted images, while T2-weighted images were required for segmentation of total CSF and whole brain tissue using the Morphologically Adaptive Neonatal Tissue Segmentation (MANTiS) tool. Group differences in absolute (mm, cm3) and normalized (%) data were analyzed using a univariate general linear model with age at scan as a covariate. Mean normalized values were assessed using one-way ANOVA. Results: Qualitative brain findings suggest brain atrophy in both full-term and pre-term patients. Both linear and volumetric MRI analyses confirmed significantly greater total CSF and extra-axial space, and decreased whole brain size in both full-term and pre-term patients compared to naive controls. Although linear analysis suggests greater ventricular volumes in all patients, volumetric analysis showed that normalized ventricular volumes were higher only in premature patients compared to controls. Discussion: Linear brain metrics paralleled volumetric MRI analysis of total CSF and extra-axial space, but not ventricular size. Full-term infants appear to demonstrate similar brain vulnerability in the context of life-saving thoracic non-cardiac surgery requiring critical care as premature infants.
The potential for microwave technology and the ideal profile method to aid in salt reduction

This study was the first to evaluate the influence of the combination strategies of flavor addition and microwave-assisted thermal sterilization (MATS) processing for salt reduction implications. In freshly prepared mashed potatoes, a 30% and 50% salt reduction (w/w) in comparison to a 100% salt sample with three flavor variations (no additional flavor, garlic, and pepper) were investigated. Also, using the ideal profile method (IPM), the influence of MATS versus retort processing, in comparison to a freshly prepared sample, and flavor addition on mashed potato sensory properties and acceptance was investigated. Chemical characterization using the electronic tongue for nonvolatile compounds and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME)/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for volatile analysis was completed. IPM revealed the ideal data were consistent at both the panel and consumer levels from a sensory and hedonic perspective. Results demonstrated the ideal mashed potato product would remain low in bitterness but have more intense pepper and potato aromas and flavors than the current samples evaluated. The salt level could be reduced by 50% while still maintaining flavor and overall acceptance in freshly prepared samples, but this was accompanied by a loss in saltiness intensity perception. The saltiness intensity was not different from the freshly prepared samples when processed via MATS but was different when processed by the retort. For chemical characterization, the electronic tongue showed a high discrimination index (>89%) and correlated highly (>0.8) with many sensory attributes. As salt concentration in the mashed potatoes decreased, the recovery of volatile compounds decreased. The present work contributes to the understanding of product reformulation for the purpose of salt reduction. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Product developers need strategies to bring salt down to target levels while maintaining consumer acceptance. The combination strategies of flavor addition and MATS processing may allow for a new strategy to assist product developers in reaching salt reduction targets. Furthermore, developers should bear in mind that noticeable intensity differences may not alter the preference for the product. Thus, intensity differences that result in changes in acceptance should be the focus of quality insurance rather than utilizing just noticeable differences.
The demand for money in developing countries: Assessing the role of financial innovation

Traditional specifications of money demand have commonly been plagued by persistent overprediction, implausible parameter estimates, and highly autocorrelated errors. The authors argue that some of these problems stem from the failure to account for the impact of financial innovation. They estimate money demand for ten developing countries, using various proxies for financial innovations. They also assess the relative importance of this variable, finding financial innovation can be better modeled as a stochastic (random-walk) trend rather than a deterministic (time) trend. Financial innovation plays an important role in determining fluctuations of the demand for money. The importance of this role increases with the rate of inflation.
Will the present younger adults become future orbital space tourists

Technological advancements significantly reduce the cost of space travel, thereby making many other activities in space technologically feasible and financially affordable for a larger number of pe...
In Vivo Targeting of Xenografted Human Cancer Cells with Functionalized Fluorescent Silica Nanoparticles in Zebrafish

Developing nanoparticles capable of detecting, targeting, and destroying cancer cells is of great interest in the field of nanomedicine. In vivo animal models are required for bridging the nanotechnology to its biomedical application. The mouse represents the traditional animal model for preclinical testing; however, mice are relatively expensive to keep and have long experimental cycles due to the limited progeny from each mother. The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model system for developmental and biomedical research, including cancer research. In particular, due to its optical transparency and rapid development, zebrafish embryos are well suited for real-time in vivo monitoring of the behavior of cancer cells and their interactions with their microenvironment. This method was developed to sequentially introduce human cancer cells and functionalized nanoparticles in transparent Casper zebrafish embryos and monitor in vivo recognition and targeting of the cancer cells by nanoparticles in real time. This optimized protocol shows that fluorescently labeled nanoparticles, which are functionalized with folate groups, can specifically recognize and target metastatic human cervical epithelial cancer cells labeled with a different fluorochrome. The recognition and targeting process can occur as early as 30 min postinjection of the nanoparticles tested. The whole experiment only requires the breeding of a few pairs of adult fish and takes less than 4 days to complete. Moreover, zebrafish embryos lack a functional adaptive immune system, allowing the engraftment of a wide range of human cancer cells. Hence, the utility of the protocol described here enables the testing of nanoparticles on various types of human cancer cells, facilitating the selection of optimal nanoparticles in each specific cancer context for future testing in mammals and the clinic.
Hippocampal seed connectome-based modeling predicts the feeling of stress.

Although the feeling of stress is ubiquitous, the neural mechanisms underlying this affective experience remain unclear. Here, we investigate functional hippocampal connectivity throughout the brain during an acute stressor and use machine learning to demonstrate that these networks can specifically predict the subjective feeling of stress. During a stressor, hippocampal connectivity with a network including the hypothalamus (known to regulate physiological stress) predicts feeling more stressed, whereas connectivity with regions such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (associated with emotion regulation) predicts less stress. These networks do not predict a subjective state unrelated to stress, and a nonhippocampal network does not predict subjective stress. Hippocampal networks are consistent, specific to the construct of subjective stress, and broadly informative across measures of subjective stress. This approach provides opportunities for relating hypothesis-driven functional connectivity networks to clinically meaningful subjective states. Together, these results identify hippocampal networks that modulate the feeling of stress. Although the feeling of being stressed is ubiquitous and clinically significant, the underlying neural mechanisms are unclear. Using a novel predictive modeling approach, the authors show that functional hippocampal networks specifically and consistently predict the feeling of stress.
The Effect of a Paired Lab on Course Completion and Grades in Nonmajors Introductory Biology.

Students who take introductory biology labs have better lecture course outcomes than students who do not take a lab. However, this analysis finds that much of the difference in student performance ...
Complete Genome Sequence of Bdellovibrio sp. Strain KM01, a Predatory Bacterium Isolated from Soil.

ABSTRACT We report the complete genome sequence of the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio sp. strain KM01, isolated from soil collected near a pond. The genome is 3,961,288 bp long with 45.5% GC content. Comparative genomics among Bdellovibrio strains will help us understand how genotypic differences affect differences in predatory phenotypes.
Why the Fed Should Issue a Policy Framework for Credit Policy

The Federal Reserve has long used policy frameworks to both explain and inform its policymaking. These policy frameworks typically explain what the Fed is seeking to achieve in a given domain and how it plans to achieve its desired aims. Two prominent examples are the Fed’s use of Bagehot’s dictum when acting as a lender of last resort and its monetary policy framework issued in 2012 and revised in 2020. In both instances, the framework provides a foundation for informed debate among Fed policymakers, Congress, and the public, enhancing both efficacy and accountability. Since the onset of the Covid crisis, the Fed has entered into a new domain of credit policy, but it has yet to provide a cohesive policy framework explaining what it is seeking to achieve and how it plans to accomplish given aims. This has made it far harder to assess whether the myriad new credit facilities that the Fed has created have in fact achieved desired aims and the drawbacks of those facilities. Just as importantly, it contributed to a disconnect between what Congress expected when it gave the Fed and Treasury $454 billion in the CARES Act and Fed and Treasury’s failure to use more than a fraction of those funds despite ongoing economic headwinds. Developing a cohesive framework for credit policy may not be an easy task, but the challenges embedded in the task are precisely what make it so important.
Non-Informative Tests of the Unbiased Forward Exchange Rate

This paper reexamines a familiar but unsettling result in the foreign exchange literature: that the forward rate is not an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate. The paper outlines why some frequently used tests of unbiasedness are non-informative in the sense that they are incapable of correctly testing the hypothesis. Specifically, many of these tests are based on regressions that suffer from simultaneity bias, resulting in biased and inconsistent esti? mators. This is true whether the tests are conducted using stationary or non-stationary data. We demonstrate this point both analytically and with simulations. Tests of co-integration, which are not subject to the critique presented in the paper, generally fail to reject unbi? asedness.
An optimization problem for maximum vibration suppression in reconfigurable one dimensional metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials have already been shown to be effective for vibration reduction and control. Local resonances in the metamaterial cause waves at frequencies within band gaps to become evanescent, thus preventing wave propagation through the material. Active and adaptable local resonances enables the band gaps to be shifted in frequency and increased in bandwidth. Since metamaterial local resonances are usually composite, methods to specify optimal component configurations are helpful for passive metamaterials and almost necessary for adaptable metamaterials, where the metamaterial must be reconfigured for optimal performance at various frequency ranges. To assess band gap locations and bandwidths for metamaterials, a wavenumber spectrum is commonly computed. Commonly, a parameter study of adaptable unit cell variables will be performed to assess optimal configurations of adaptable metamaterials. In this paper, the complex wavenumber is proposed as a direct optimization objective for reconfiguration of active adaptable acoustic metamaterials for maximum vibration suppression at a frequency range of choice. By directly maximizing the imaginary part of the wavenumber, associated with wave attenuation, the unit cell configuration maximum vibration suppression can be obtained for an operating frequency of choice. Additionally, since the optimization problem requires constraints for feasible solutions and the example active piezoelectric metamaterial system shown here is electrically unstable at some configurations, we also explore an experimental method for bounding the optimization problem. Numerical results of the optimization problem are presented.
Edge Computing in 5G Networks

We have already acknowledged multiple times in this book that a great advantage of MEC technology is to access agnostic, as the multi-access edge computing architecture (and the related ETSI MEC standard) doesn’t depend on the specific underlying network access technology.
Understanding Circadian Mechanisms of Sudden Cardiac Death: A Report From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Workshop, Part 1: Basic and Translational Aspects.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD), the unexpected death due to acquired or genetic cardiovascular disease, follows distinct 24-hour patterns in occurrence. These 24-hour patterns likely reflect daily chan...
Thermo-Oxidative Degradation of Irradiated Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene

The thermal oxidative degradation of the semicrystalline thermoplastic polymer, ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), used for electrical insulation was studied as a function of radiation (1.5 MeV electrons), temperature, and contact with a metal surface. The radiation, whose total dose varied from 0 to 48 MRads, produces two effects: (1) cross-linking which enhances the high-temperature mechanical properties of the polymer and (2) degradation which reduces its high-temperature lifetime. Modified wires were constructed by replacing the original silver-plated copper conductor with tin-plated copper to ascertain the effect of metal surface on the degradation process. The rates of degradation of insulation (no conductor), original wires, and modified wires were measured by weight loss and by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The primary degradation products were identified by evolved gas mass spectrometry. A simple model in which the rate of decomposition as a function of temperature, degree of conversion, and radiation dose was developed. The lifetime of the insulation in a thermal oxidative environment is a strong function of the composition of the electrical conductor it surrounds. Silver over copper was a much more effective catalyst in promoting the thermal oxidative degradation of the ETFE than tin over copper. The rate of degradation was a strong functionmore » of the total radiation dose regardless of conductor.« less
Grundlagen des informatisierten Liefernetzwerkes

Der Einsatz von RFID-Systemen unterstutzt die Informatisierung des Liefernetzwerkes. Zur Ermittlung der Auswirkungen und eines moglichen Mehrwerts fur das SCM verwendet die Dissertation einen interdisziplinaren Forschungsansatz, der verschiedene Erkenntnisse aus der BWL, insb. aus der Wirtschaftsinformatik, verwendet. Hierzu gehoren die in den folgenden Abschnitten beschriebene Koordinationstheorie zur Behandlung von Koordinationsproblemen zwischen Systemen, das Informationsmanagement (IM), das Modelle und Methoden zur Informationsversorgung von Geschaftsprozessen bereitstellt, und das SCM mit besonderer Berucksichtigung des IT-Einsatzes. In diesem Zusammenhang beschreibt der letzte Abschnitt des Kapitels die Eigenschaften von RFID-Systemen im Vergleich zu anderen Auto-ID-Technologien.
Left Colectomy for Cancer

Whereas malignancies of the proximal three-quarters of the transverse colon require the excision of the right and transverse colon, cancers of the distal transverse colon, splenic flexure, descending colon, and sigmoid are treated by left hemicolectomy (see Chap. 26).
2012 SRSA Fellows Address: A Tale of Two Shale Plays

This paper offers insights into the role for regional science and regional scientists in analyzing shale-energy development. The stories described are drawn from popular press accounts of the Bakken Basin in North Dakota and the dry-gas-producing counties of the Marcellus Shale in Northern and Central Pennsylvania. The comparison of the two shale plays highlights housing, labor market, and fiscal issues for these two locations.
Actuation Constraints and Artificial Physics Control

Swarm systems for multiagent control rely on natural models of behavior. Such models both predict simulated natural behavior and provide control instructions to the underlying agents. These two roles can differ when, for example, controlling nonholonomic robots incapable of executing some control suggestions from the system. We consider a simple physicomimetics system and examine the effects of actuation constraint on that system in terms of its ability to stabilize in regular formations, as well as the impact of such constraints on learning control parameters. We find that in the cases we considered, Physicomimetics is surprisingly robust to certain types of actuation constraint.
Rule induction for semantic query optimization

Semantic query optimization can dramatically speed up database query answering by knowledge intensive reformulation. But the problem of how to learn required semantic rules has not previously been solved. This paper describes an approach using an inductive learning algorithm to solve the problem. In our approach, learning is triggered by user queries and then the system induces semantic rules from the information in databases. The inductive learning algorithm used in this approach can select an appropriate set of relevant attributes from a potentially huge number of attributes in real-world databases. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach can learn sufficient background knowledge to reformulate queries and provide a 57 percent average performance improvement.
"Technical" Defenses: Ethics, Morals, and the Lawyer as Friend

This essay examines the question of lawyer-client counseling on the issue of raising “technical” defenses, such as statutes of limitations. Cochran & Shaffer challenge the prevailing notion of American lawyers that technical defenses raise no moral issue worthy of dialogue between lawyers and clients. Looking at the history of legal ethics and modern treatment in European law, they suggest that questions of limitations do raise moral issues. They go on to explore how those moral issues ought to be discussed and decided between lawyers and clients, using the framework of lawyers as godfathers, hired guns, gurus, and friends that they laid out in their book, Lawyers, Clients, and Moral Responsibility. They conclude by questioning whether these questions are different in a poverty law context and conclude that although the moral questions are not different, the poverty law context suggests a need for sensitivity to the power imbalance between the lawyer and client and the level of intensity of moral persuasion.
Glutamate Inhibits GABA Excitatory Activity in Developing Neurons

In contrast to the mature brain, in which GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, in the developing brain GABA can be excitatory, leading to depolarization, increased cytoplasmic calcium, and action potentials. We find in developing hypothalamic neurons that glutamate can inhibit the excitatory actions of GABA, as revealed with fura-2 digital imaging and whole-cell recording in cultures and brain slices. Several mechanisms for the inhibitory role of glutamate were identified. Glutamate reduced the amplitude of the cytoplasmic calcium rise evoked by GABA, in part by activation of group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Presynaptically, activation of the group III mGluRs caused a striking inhibition of GABA release in early stages of synapse formation. Similar inhibitory actions of the group III mGluR agonist L-AP4 on depolarizing GABA activity were found in developing hypothalamic, cortical, and spinal cord neurons in vitro, suggesting this may be a widespread mechanism of inhibition in neurons throughout the developing brain. Antagonists of group III mGluRs increased GABA activity, suggesting an ongoing spontaneous glutamate-mediated inhibition of excitatory GABA actions in developing neurons. Northern blots revealed that many mGluRs were expressed early in brain development, including times of synaptogenesis. Together these data suggest that in developing neurons glutamate can inhibit the excitatory actions of GABA at both presynaptic and postsynaptic sites, and this may be one set of mechanisms whereby the actions of two excitatory transmitters, GABA and glutamate, do not lead to runaway excitation in the developing brain. In addition to its independent excitatory role that has been the subject of much attention, our data suggest that glutamate may also play an inhibitory role in modulating the calcium-elevating actions of GABA that may affect neuronal migration, synapse formation, neurite outgrowth, and growth cone guidance during early brain development.
Synthesis of L-ascorbic-4-3H acid

A method is presented for preparation of L-xyloascorbic-4-3 H acid 9.5μC/mg by the exchange of 8 M dipotassium ascorbate in tritiumlabeled water by heating 20 hours at 100°C The data confirms the assumptions of Brenner (8), that alkaline isomerization of ascorbic acid proceeds through a carbanion on carbon-4. A study of the radiation stability of crystalline ascorbic acid indicates that it is not unusually radiation sensitive.
Promoting communication and inclusiveness in the IT classroom

The demographics of the IT industry have changed dramatically during the last decade with a significant reduction of women and minority representation in the IT field. Additionally, employers of IT graduates have repeatedly requested that educators place an increased emphasis on soft skills, such as speaking, writing, teamwork, interpersonal communication, and intercultural sensitivity. The challenge for IT Educators is to create classrooms that are inclusive of all students and emphasize critical soft skills without sacrificing technical content. By adopting a pedagogical approach based on a model for intercultural sensitivity and adapted to specifically address the IT classroom, IT Educators can model the very soft skills that we wish to instill in our students. This paper recommends strategies for encouraging these communication skills and creating an inclusive environment.
StoryCubes: connecting elders in independent living through storytelling

One's home is often a place that reflects and affirms one's identity, but when an elderly person moves to a group living environment, they must re-assert themselves and make new social connections in a place that may inadvertently frame them in terms of their disabilities. We present StoryCubes, a system that helps residents of independent living communities make connections through sharing stories, and express their identity in terms of their unique background, interests, and values. StoryCubes centers around the creation and sharing of tangible paper objects which display and contain the stories of residents using QR code technology. StoryCubes can be displayed together, where residents and visitors can listen to stories within any cube that piques their interest. By giving residents a way to discover and share stories, they are able to gain a greater understanding of their fellow residents, helping them to better appreciate and become more comfortable in their shared living experience.
Changes to JFLAP to increase its use in courses

JFLAP is software for experimenting with formal languages and automata theory. In this Tips and Techniques session we describe the recent changes to JFLAP to make it more usable in an automata theory course.
Exact Field Solution for Diffraction Limited Laser Pulses

The electromagnetic fields reflected from on- and off-axis parabolas are derived exactly for arbitrary F/#. Solutions are presented for Gaussian and super-Gaussian incident beams and compared to the standard TEM00 mode.
Adenosine Promotes Tumor Metastasis

An early step in tumor metastasis is a reduction in cell-cell adhesion to enable cell scattering. Contacts between cells are stabilized by accumulation in the plasma membrane of the small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rap1B. The membrane localization of Rap1B is increased when it is posttranslationally modified by prenylation of its C-terminal Cys-Ala-Ala-X motif. A new study shows that Rap1B prenylation and plasma membrane localization were reduced when Rap1B was phosphorylated by protein kinase A (PKA). In some tumors, high adenosine production and an abundance of Gs-coupled adenosine A2B receptors would be expected to cause persistent PKA signaling and reduced Rap1B prenylation. These findings suggest that adenosine signaling reduces prenylation and plasma membrane localization of Rap1B, resulting in enhanced tumor cell scattering and invasiveness.
On Randomly Excited Hysteretic Structures

Approximate probability distributions of certain response variables are obtained for hysteretic systems under Gaussian white-noise excitations. The approximate method used is a generalization of a dissipation-energy-balancing procedure. The method is applicable to either bilinear or smooth-type hysteresis without the restriction that the response be a narrow-band process or the energy dissipation be small
Coupled electrorotation of polymer microspheres for microfluidic sensing and mixing.

We show that coupled electrorotation (CER) of microscopic particles using microfabricated electrodes can be used for localized sensing and mixing. The effective use of microelectromechanical systems and micro total analysis systems requires many types of control. These include the ability to (1) manipulate objects within microchannels by noncontact means, (2) mix fluids, and (3) sense local chemical parameters. Coupled electrorotation, in which the interactions between induced electric dipoles of adjacent particles lead to particle rotation, addresses aspects of all three challenges simultaneously. CER is a simple means of controlling the rotation of dielectric objects using homogeneous external radio frequency electric fields. CER is sensitive to several chemical and physical parameters such as the solution conductivity, pH, and viscosity. As a step toward integrating CER devices into microfluidic systems, a simple chip was designed to induce local mixing and to detect local changes in salt concentration...
Student perceptions of pedagogy and associated persistence in calculus

There is a clear need to increase student persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM). Prior analyses have shown that students who change their Calculus II intention (a proxy for STEM intention) report being less engaged during class than students who persist onto Calculus II. This led us to ask: Are these students in different classes, or are they in the same classes but experiencing them differently? We present descriptive and univariate analyses of the relationship of calculus persistence to student demographics, background characteristics, and reported instruction for 1,684 STEM intending students and 330 non-STEM intending students enrolled in introductory calculus in Fall 2010 in the United States. We then develop regression models that control for the group effect of course enrollment to understand how perceiving low levels of various pedagogical activities within a class is associated with calculus persistence. These analyses show that different student perceptions of the frequency of a number of pedagogical activities, and thus different ways of experiencing the same class, are related to students’ decision to continue studying calculus. Specifically, among initially STEM intending students, there was a relationship between persistence and the perceived frequency of the instructor showing students how to work specific problems, preparing extra material to help students understand calculus concepts or procedures, holding a whole-class discussion, and requiring students to explain their thinking on exams. Among initially non-STEM intending students, there was a relationship between persistence and the perceived frequency of being required to explain thinking during class.
Hydrocarbon Accumulation in Pennsylvanian-Age Ten Sleep Sandstone: The Trapper Creek Tar Sand Deposit, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming: ABSTRACT

Preliminary investigations indicate a potential tar sand accumulation in the Trapper Creek deposit of more than 2.13 million tons of mineralized material with a yield of 0.92 bbl per ton of 5.2° API oil for an approximate resource of 1.96 million bbl of recoverable petroleum. Remote sensing data suggest that the accumulation is in part controlled by two major and four minor lineaments which traverse the area. Stratigraphic and lithologic criteria can be used to infer a Minnelusa-type mode of occurrence. Ancillary stream sediment and outcrop geochemistry data yield locally anomalous but uneconomic concentrations of Mg, Ca, Ti, Mn, Ag, Cu, Mo, V, K, and Si, which may have significance in the identification of similar hydrocarbon accumulations along the west flank of th Bighorn Mountains. End_of_Article - Last_Page 419------------
Hydrodynamic simulations of integrated experiments planned for the OMEGA/OMEGA EP laser systems

Integrated fast-ignition experiments on the combined OMEGA/OMEGA EP laser systems have been simulated with the multidimensional hydrodynamic code DRACO. The OMEGA laser system provides up to 30 kJ of compression energy, and OMEGA EP will provide two short-pulse beams, each with energies up to 2.6 kJ. In the electron transport model included in DRACO, the relativistic electrons are introduced at the pole of a two-dimensional (2D) simulation and transported in a straight line toward the target core. The electron's energy is calculated from the laser irradiance using a semi-empirical formula. An OMEGA cryogenic DT target designed to reach a one-dimensional fuel ρR of 0.5 g cm−2 has been simulated in 2D, with and without non-uniformities, to assess the sensitivity to energy, timing, and irradiance of the Gaussian fast-ignitor beam. For the uniform case, the neutron yield is predicted to be in excess of 1015 (compared to ~1014 without an ignitor beam) over a synchronization range of ~80 ps. Implosions with the ignitor beam show little decrease in the neutron yield with increasing inner-ice non-uniformity, in contrast to implosions without the ignitor beam, which show a significant decrease in neutron yield with increasing non-uniformity.
Optimal sanctions and differences in individuals' likelihood of avoiding detection

Gary Becker (1968) argued that society can economize on enforcement resources by reducing the probability of apprehension while increasing sanctions, thereby maintaining the same deterrent effect at reduced cost. The implication is that optimal sanctions are maximal. This insight has been explored and qualified in a variety of subsequent work.’ This paper considers the implications for optimal enforcement policy of the possibility that individuals are not all equally easy to apprehend. Upon reflection, it seems clear that the probability of apprehension will depend not only on enforcement effort, but also on particular characteristics of the actor and the situation. For example, experienced actors may be more difficult to detect because of their expertise or easier to identify because of their track record (e.g., fingerprints on file), and an act may have been committed in front of witnesses who know the actor or when no one else was present. The factors that make an individual easy or difficult to apprehend may be known to the individual but not to the government, particularly before the government expends some enforcement effort or apprehends the individual. Thus, when choosing its level of enforcement effort for a given act, the government may not know the experience of the actor or the identity of witnesses (if any). In such cases, it will not know in advance the effectiveness of a given level of enforcement effort. Rather, it will know, based on experience, only the portion of all committing such an act who will be apprehended. As a result, individuals committing acts that appear the same to the government will face different probabilities of apprehension. We analyze op-
Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma in AIDS

A 34-year-old man presented to the hospital with a productive cough, dyspnea, subjective fever, chills, and myalgias. Fever, tachycardia, tachypnea, and severe hypoxemia were noted on arrival. Examination revealed a frail, diaphoretic man in considerable respiratory distress, with diffuse bilateral rales and rhonchi; a violaceous, raised rash over the limbs and trunk was also noted. Findings on chest radiography were suggestive of multilobar pneumonia. A rapid oral antibody test for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) returned a positive result. Computed tomography of the chest showed striking flame-shaped opacities and spicular thickening of the bronchovascular bundles in all lobes (panels A, B, and C, arrows). These findings are characteristic of pulmonary Kaposi sarcoma (KS).1 In our patient, the diagnosis was confirmed by bronchoscopy and skin biopsy. Computed tomographic features of KS are extremely helpful in guiding the initial management of HIV-infected patients presenting with symptoms of pneumonia. Kaposi sarcoma in HIV-infected patients is diagnostic of AIDS. The goals of therapy in AIDS-associated pulmonary KS are prevention of progression and reduction of tumor burden. Initial management consists of highly active antiretroviral therapy, as this is associated with lesion regression and prolonged survival.2 After optimizing highly active antiretroviral therapy, systemic chemotherapy can be initiated for pulmonary KS. Single-agent chemotherapy can include liposomal doxorubicin, liposomal daunorubicin, paclitaxel, or etoposide. Various combination chemotherapy regimens have been studied and may provide higher response rates compared with single agents.3 Immunosuppression remains a major concern with the use of these agents in patients with AIDS-associated KS. Antiviral therapy directed against human herpesvirus 8 have shown variable success.4 Agents such as interleukin 12 and a variety of angiogenesis inhibitors are under investigation as potential therapies. Our patient initially received noninvasive positive pressure ventilation. He subsequently had worsening respiratory failure and required endotracheal intubation. Until the diagnosis of KS was confirmed, the patient was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics for severe community-acquired pneumonia as well as coverage for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. Highly active antiretroviral therapy, in the form of emtricitabine, tenofovir, and efavirenz was administered after stabilization. The patient's respiratory status improved over the following days, and he was successfully extubated and transferred to the medical floor. He experienced a prolonged hospital course that was complicated by suspected immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome and hospital-acquired pneumonia. Eventually, he was given valganciclovir, doxorubicin, and vinblastine for treatment of KS, but he died after developing overwhelming sepsis.