cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mobile Healthcare and People with Disabilities: Results from a Preliminary Survey

Significant health disparities exist between the general population and people with disabilities, particularly with respect to chronic health conditions. Mobile healthcare – the delivery of healthcare via mobile communication devices – is witnessing tremendous growth and has been touted as an important new approach for management of chronic health conditions. At present, little is known about the current state of mobile healthcare for people with disabilities. Early evidence suggests they are not well represented in the growth of mobile healthcare, and particularly the proliferation of mobile health software applications (mHealth apps) for smartphones. Their omission in mHealth could lead to further health disparities. This article describes our research investigating the current state of mHealth apps targeting people with disabilities. Based on a survey of disabled smartphone users, we confirm that people with disabilities are under-represented in the growth of mHealth. We identify several areas of future research and development needed to support the inclusion of people with disabilities in the mHealth revolution.
Superconductive Analog Electronics For Signal Processing Applications

Superconductivity has many attributes that make it useful in the development of devices and components for signal processing applications. This chapter discusses these attributes with several examples presented to illustrate the use of superconductive components for wideband signal processing. The chapter is organized into four sections. The first section provides a brief overview of generic signal processing as accomplished by linear filters. The following three sections illustrate the use of superconductivity to construct three different types of such filters. All structures described have been developed with a view toward analog signal processing of signals with multigigahertz bandwidths.
Experiences of supervision skill development among new professionals in student affairs

Being ready to supervise is an important entry-level skill for student affairs professionals. This study was conducted to ascertain the level of education student affairs professionals receive prior to their entry into the profession. I sought to understand how new professionals in student affairs learn supervision skills. The participants’ professional functional areas included residence life, academic advising, dean of student’s office, and admissions. A three-interview series approach was used to answer the research questions. The study primarily explored three areas: (a) skill development, (b) student affairs preparation programs, and (c) socialization into student affairs. The participants placed emphasis on how they learned supervision skills from their supervisor. An interesting finding was that, if their supervisor had not been trained or had not had course work on supervision, the entry-level professionals were learning supervision skills from someone who was untrained. What I did not expect was the use of the term “micromanage” as a way to define what supervision is and what it looks like, an area that I will continue to explore. The findings of the study may be used to assist student affairs master’s preparation programs to develop courses that will provide training and skill development in supervision.
Blood Components from Pluripotent Stem Cells

Abstract Limitations in the supply of transfusable blood components can have potentially life-threatening consequences for patients with massive blood loss, or who suffer from diseases that cause severe anemia. The ability of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to divide indefinitely without losing pluripotency and to theoretically differentiate into any cell type in the body makes them highly attractive cell sources for large-scale regenerative medicine purposes. Many researchers have already been able to differentiate hESCs and/or iPSCs into specific mature blood cell types, including erythroid, myeloid, macrophage, megakaryocyte/platelet and lymphoid cell lineages. For example, hESC-derived red blood cells and platelets are functional in tasks such as oxygen delivery and blood clotting, respectively, and may be able to serve as substitutes for their donor-derived counterparts in emergencies. hESC-derived dendritic cells are functional in antigen-presentation and may be used as off-the-shelf vaccine therapies to stimulate antigen-specific immune responses against cancer cells. The ability to create banks of hESC lines with matched or reduced incompatibility could potentially reduce or eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs and/or immunomodulatory protocols altogether, for example, (O) RhD− lines for generation of universal red blood cells. Inasmuch as human iPSCs could potentially be produced from a patient’s own cells, all types of blood cells derived from such iPSC lines would be histocompatible with the patient. For transfusion-dependent patients with unusual or rare blood types, particularly those who are alloimmunized, cells generated in this manner could be an invaluable source of transfusable cells. In this chapter, we highlight the biological functions of mature cells of the blood, clinical conditions requiring the transfusion or stimulation of these cells, and the potential for hESC/iPSC derivatives to serve as functional replacements. However, in vitro differentiation systems used to generate these cells will need further optimization before hESC/iPSC-derived blood components can be used clinically.
Disseminating Educational Research and Implementing Change in Medical Educational Environments

Much of the medical education literature pertaining to change focuses on either descriptive accounts of new educational programs or the outcomes or effects of new programs. In contrast, much less attention has been given to the process of change and to the effective use of specific models and strategies for facilitating innovation implementation. Evidence from the literature suggests that simply disseminating the results of research does not translate into changes in physicians’ practices (Dunn, Norton, Stewart, Tudiver, & Bass, 1994). Change strategies that work in one situation may not work in another and maintaining new programs and practices beyond initial implementation is a persistent challenge (Lindberg, 1998). Individuals respond to and are involved in change from personal perspectives related to specific innovations (e.g. teaching techniques or faculty work processes) within specific contexts (e.g. teaching and learning environments or departments).
Public Perceptions of Clean Elections in Mexico: An Analysis of the 2000, 2006, and 2012 Elections

This study explores how citizens in a newly democratized country with a legacy of electoral fraud and manipulation evaluate the cleanliness of the elections that have taken place since democratization. I argue that citizens in these contexts are more likely to express confidence in the credibility of elections when their electoral preferences are realized, due to the competitiveness of contemporary elections, but more importantly due to the legacy of electoral malpractice. Using panel data collected during the 2000, 2006, and 2012 Mexican elections, the evidence indicates that support for electoral winners is indeed associated with greater confidence in the cleanliness of election-day proceedings, whereas support for electoral losers is associated with less confidence.
The taming of the shrub

Can genomics, functional analysis and genome editing help build the bridge between orphan crops and modern agriculture?
Clinical Considerations for Intravesical Prostatic Protrusion in the Evaluation and Management of Bladder Outlet Obstruction Secondary to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia.

Background: Intravesical prostatic protrusion (IPP) is a manifestation of benign prostatic hyperplasia marked by overgrowth of the prostatic median lobe into the bladder, producing bladder outlet obstruction and related storage and voiding symptoms. Methods: A MEDLINE® database search of the current literature was guided using combination of “prostate” with the following terms: intravesical prostatic protrusion, bladder trabeculation, bladder outlet obstruction, lower urinary tract symptoms, alpha blockers, transrectal ultrasonography, and prostatectomy. Results: Although IPP can be identified via a variety of imaging modalities, it is easily detected via transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS). Failing to detect IPP promptly by TRUS may result in refractory symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, as the condition may not respond to typical α 1 -adrenoceptor antagonist therapy. In addition, depending on grade, IPP can influence outcomes and complications of prostatectomies. Conclusion: Upon report of lower urinary tract symptoms, initial performance of TRUS along with digital rectal examination prevents delay in the appropriate evaluation and management of prostatic diseases.
Systemic Regulation of Bone Marrow Stromal Cytokines After Severe Trauma.

BACKGROUND Traumatic injury generates a prolonged hypercatecholamine state that is associated with reduced growth of bone marrow erythroid progenitors mediated by the bone marrow stroma. The bone marrow stroma is made up of many cells including fibroblasts, which respond to inflammatory stimuli and alter the cytokine profile. We hypothesized that trauma plasma would increase bone marrow stromal fibroblast expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), erythropoietin (EPO), stem cell factor (SCF), and activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells and correlate with injury severity and anemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plasma from 15 trauma patients was cultured with bone marrow fibroblast cells and compared with that from healthy volunteers. At 6, 24, and 48 h, the expression of IL-6, G-CSF, EPO, SCF, and the activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells were measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The influence of trauma plasma on cytokine expression was further stratified by injury severity score (ISS). RESULTS The average hemoglobin significantly decreased from admission to discharge (10.7 ± 2.5 to 9.2 ± 1.1 g/dL, P < 0.04). The discharge hemoglobin significantly decreased by 14% from the admission hemoglobin. After 48 h, trauma plasma significantly increased IL-6, G-CSF, and EPO bone marrow fibroblast expression when compared with normal plasma. When stratified by ISS, IL-6, G-CSF, and EPO, bone marrow fibroblast expression was highest in the trauma plasma ISS 27-41 group and was significantly elevated compared with normal plasma. When SCF expression was stratified by ISS, there was a significant increase in expression in ISS 27-41. Higher ISS was also associated with a larger decrease in hemoglobin despite no difference in total blood transfusions. CONCLUSIONS Severe trauma can systemically increase IL-6, G-CSF, and EPO expression in bone marrow stroma. Increased hematopoietic cytokine expression after traumatic injury correlated with a hypercatecholamine state, anemia, and injury severity.
Robert Wilson Jackson, MD (1932–2010)

This article commemorates the life and contributions of one of the most influential sports surgeons in the history of orthopedic surgery, Dr. Robert Jackson.
Analysis and Modeling of a Non-Isolated Two-Phase Interleaved Boost Converter with Diode-Capacitor Cells in the DCM

In this paper, a two-phase interleaved dc-dc boost converter with two cells of diode-capacitor is analyzed and investigated in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). Furthermore, mathematical modeling with a component selection procedure is discussed in this study. The mentioned converter is used to convert 10 V to 202.08 Vdc, which can be used in many renewable energy applications, such as photovoltaic (PV) and fuel cells. To verify the mathematical analysis and the simulation, a hardware prototype was built and implemented in a laboratory. Also, the experimental results have been compared with the proposed simulated model. The final results show consensus between mathematical expressions, simulated results, and measured results, which verifies the effectiveness of this proposed converter in the DCM.
Architecture for a multilingual Wikipedia

Wikipedia's vision is a world in which everyone can share in the sum of all knowledge. In its first two decades, this vision has been very unevenly achieved. One of the largest hindrances is the sheer number of languages Wikipedia needs to cover in order to achieve that goal. We argue that we need a new approach to tackle this problem more effectively, a multilingual Wikipedia where content can be shared between language editions. This paper proposes an architecture for a system that fulfills this goal. It separates the goal in two parts: creating and maintaining content in an abstract notation within a project called Abstract Wikipedia, and creating an infrastructure called Wikilambda that can translate this notation to natural language. Both parts are fully owned and maintained by the community, as is the integration of the results in the existing Wikipedia editions. This architecture will make more encyclopedic content available to more people in their own language, and at the same time allow more people to contribute knowledge and reach more people with their contributions, no matter what their respective language backgrounds. Additionally, Wikilambda will unlock a new type of knowledge asset people can share in through the Wikimedia projects, functions, which will vastly expand what people can do with knowledge from Wikimedia, and provide a new venue to collaborate and to engage the creativity of contributors from all around the world. These two projects will considerably expand the capabilities of the Wikimedia platform to enable every single human being to freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
The effect of body mass index on outcomes following severe blunt chest trauma

Abstract Introduction Obesity has been described as a significant risk factor for adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients. However, recent literature reports an “obesity paradox”, suggesting that obesity may have a protective effect in a subset of surgical and critically ill patients. The present study assesses the effect of body mass index (BMI) on outcomes following severe isolated blunt chest trauma. Methods This was a TQIP database study including patients with severe isolated blunt chest injury (chest AIS 3–5, extrathoracic AIS 89, death on arrival, facility transfer, or BMI 55. Patients were divided into five groups according to BMI: underweight (BMI Results 28,820 patients met criteria for inclusion in the analysis. After multivariable analysis, underweight patients as well as obesity class 2 and 3 patients had a significantly higher mortality (OR 1.86 [95% CI, 1.12–3.10], OR 1.48 [95% CI, 1.02–2.16], and OR 1.60 [95% CI, 1.03–2.50]), respectively. Underweight patients had significantly higher risk of overall complications as compared to normal weight patients (OR 1.58 [95% CI, 1.34–1.88]). Obesity class 2 and 3 were independently associated with increased respiratory complications (OR 1.60 [95% CI, 1.27–2.01] and OR 1.58 [95% CI, 1.20–2.09], respectively) and all classes of overweight and obese patients were associated with increased risk of VTE complications (OR 1.68 [95% CI, 1.23–2.27], OR 1.98 [95% CI, 1.42–2.77], OR 2.32 [95% CI, 1.55–3.48], OR 2.02 [95% CI, 1.23–3.33], respectively for overweight and obesity class 1, 2, 3). Conclusions The obesity paradox does not extend to severe blunt chest trauma. Underweight and obesity class 2 and 3 patients have worse mortality than normal weight patients. Obesity was independently associated with an increased risk of pulmonary and VTE complications.
Longitudinal management of a patient with severe pulmonary hypertension undergoing complex noncardiac surgery – A study detailing successful, multidisciplinary care

Abstract Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) are known to be at increased risk for perioperative complications, and require extensive preoperative optimization, strict intraoperative management, and involved postoperative care. This study describes the perioperative care of a patient with severe PH undergoing jaw surgery which required the transition of combination therapy oral (PO) PH medications throughout the phases of care. We present this as a framework for how anesthesiologists can drive multidisciplinary planning to minimize risk in these complex patients and produce a successful outcome.
Abstract B22: Cell state and lineage specification are controlled by epigenetic landscapes regulating the core transcriptional regulatory circuitry in pediatric neuroblastoma

Metazoan cell identity and lineage specification are regulated by a small group of super-enhancer-driven transcription factors unique to each cell type, referred to as the core regulatory circuit (CRC). In pediatric neuroblastoma, the survival of transformed neuroblasts is dependent on the activity of an autoregulatory CRC loop that includes HAND2, ISL1, PHOX2B, GATA3, and TBX2. Treatment of adrenergic neuroblastoma cells with all-trans retinoic (ATRA) induced strong morphologic changes and cell cycle arrest concomitant with differentiation and senescence. Tumor-bearing MYCN-transgenic zebrafish treated with retinoic acid exhibited a 70% reduction in tumor size in vivo. During reprogramming of cellular identity with ATRA, neuroblastoma cells exhibited altered expression of most adrenergic CRC transcription factors. The gene expression and protein levels of MYCN, ISL1, PHOX2B, GATA3, and ASCL1 were substantially reduced in ATRA-treated relative to control cells, while the expression of HAND2 was only modestly suppressed. Conversely, the expression levels of TBX2 and TBX3 were increased by more than 2-fold following ATRA treatment. Altered gene expression was frequently associated with loss or enrichment of H3K27ac-modified chromatin within the topologically associating domains regulating these genes. De novo super-enhancers were created over a subset of elevated transcription factors, indicating the emergence of a novel CRC framework that regulates the identity of differentiated neural crest-derived cells. We evaluated several genes, including RARA, MEIS1, and SOX4, by high-throughput ChIP-seq followed by whole-genome alignment and found that a novel autoregulatory loop of ATRA-regulated transcription factors co-opts the MYCN-driven gene expression program leading to both global transcriptional suppression and upregulation of genes and pathways associated with neuronal differentiation. Activation of MYC or MYCN by enhancer hijacking via translocations involving the HAND2 gene locus, which is not repressed by retinoic acid signaling, circumvents ATRA-induced the loss of MYCN expression and stabilizes the oncogenic transcriptome. These results shed light on the essential role of CRC transcription factors in regulating neuroblastoma cell survival and could guide the development of future transcriptionally directed therapeutics. Citation Format: Mark W. Zimmerman, Adam D. Durbin, Brian J. Abraham, Alla Berezovskaya, Shuning He, Felix Oppel, Richard A. Young, A. Thomas Look. Cell state and lineage specification are controlled by epigenetic landscapes regulating the core transcriptional regulatory circuitry in pediatric neuroblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 17-20; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(14 Suppl):Abstract nr B22.
The Prevalence of Nonsyndromic Oral Clefts in Twins Compared to Singletons: The Association With Birth Weight.

Purpose:To examine the prevalence of nonsyndromic oral clefts in twins compared to singletons in the United States and to evaluate the association between birth weight and nonsyndromic oral clefts....
Evaluation of ebselen in resolving a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection of pressure ulcers in obese and diabetic mice

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a source of morbidity in individuals with restricted mobility including individuals that are obese or diabetic. Infection of PUs with pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), impairs ulcers from healing. The present study evaluated ebselen as a topical antibacterial to treat MRSA-infected PUs. Against two different S. aureus strains, including MRSA USA300, resistance to ebselen did not emerge after 14 consecutive passages. Resistance to mupirocin emerged after only five passages. Additionally, ebselen was found to exert a modest postantibiotic effect of five hours against two MRSA strains. Ebselen was subsequently evaluated in MRSA-infected PUs in two models using obese and diabetic mice. In obese mice, topical ebselen (89.2% reduction) and oral linezolid (84.5% reduction) similarly reduced the burden of MRSA in infected PUs. However, in diabetic mice, topical ebselen (45.8% reduction in MRSA burden) was less effective. Histopathological evaluation of ulcers in diabetic mice determined that ebselen treatment resulted in fewer bacterial colonies deep within the dermis and that the treatment exhibited evidence of epithelial regeneration. Topical mupirocin was superior to ebselen in reducing MRSA burden in infected PUs both in obese (98.7% reduction) and diabetic (99.3% reduction) mice. Ebselen's antibacterial activity was negatively impacted as the bacterial inoculum was increased from 105 CFU/mL to 107 CFU/mL. These results suggest that a higher dose of ebselen, or a longer course of treatment, may be needed to achieve a similar effect as mupirocin in topically treating MRSA-infected pressure ulcers.
A continuum membrane model predicts curvature sensing by helix insertion

Protein domains, such as ENTH (Epsin N-terminal homology) and BAR (bin/amphiphysin/rvs), contain amphipathic helices that drive preferential binding to curved membranes. However, predicting how the physical parameters of these domains control this curvature sensing behavior is challenging due to the local membrane deformations generated by the nanoscopic helix on the surface of a large sphere. To overcome this challenge, we here use a deformable continuum model that accounts for the physical properties of the membrane and the helix insertion to predict curvature sensing behavior and is in good agreement with existing experimental data. Specifically, we show that the insertion can be modeled as a local change to the membranes spontaneous curvature,[Formula]. Using physically reasonable ranges of the membrane bending modulus [kcy], and a [Formula] of [~]0.2-0.3 nm-1, this approach provides excellent agreement with the energetics extracted from experiment. For small vesicles with high curvature, the insertion lowers the membrane energy by relieving strain on a membrane that is far from its preferred curvature of zero. For larger vesicles with low curvature, however, the insertion has the inverse effect, de-stabilizing the membrane by introducing more strain. The membrane energy cannot be directly predicted analytically, due to shape changes from surface relaxation around the anisotropic insertion. We formulate here an empirical expression that captures numerically calculated membrane energies as a function of both basic membrane properties (bending modulus [kcy] and radius R) as well as stresses applied by the inserted helix ([Formula] and area Ains). We show that the shape relaxation energy has a similar magnitude to the insertion energy, with a strong nonlinear dependence on [Formula]. We therefore predict how these physical parameters will alter the energetics of helix binding to curved vesicles, which is an essential step in understanding their localization dynamics during membrane remodeling processes.
Digital Staining of Reflectance Confocal Microscopy Images: A Proof of Concept

This preliminary study shows that convolutional neural networks can be trained to recognize and digitally stain cellular patterns within confocal images of the skin.
Symmetry and Steric Effects on Spin States in Transition Metal Complexes

Changes in the magnetic characteristics of transition metal complexes, particularly, their metal spin states, are most commonly achieved by varying the electron donor/acceptor properties of coordinated ligands. In some systems, it is possible to increase the steric bulk of ligands so that intramolecular crowding leads to changes in metal-ligand bond distances; longer bonds produce weaker ligand fields and stabilize high-spin or spin-crossover complexes. Steric effects are also often associated, albeit indirectly, with a mechanism for influencing spin states that relies on modifying the symmetry-based interactions of metal and ligand orbitals. Particular ligand orientations, as in bis(indenyl) compounds [M(R9C7)2], can be changed as the result of interligand steric pressure or crystal packing effects; such differences can alter metal d-orbital energy levels and hence the stability of spin states. Both steric and symmetry effects add to the repertoire of techniques that can be used to control magnetic properties in transition metal complexes. Keywords: spin state; steric bulk; symmetry; solid state structures; transition metal
Environmental sciences: Divided we save

An expanded model for heading off planetary tipping points offers much to both optimists and the apocalyptically inclined, finds Peter Kareiva.
Parameterized maneuvers for autonomous vehicles

This thesis presents a method for creating continuously parametrized maneuver classes for autonomous vehicles. These classes provide useful tools for motion planners, bundling sets of related vehicle motions based on a low-dimensional parameter vector that describes the fundamental high-level variations within the trajectory set. The method follows from a relaxation of nonlinear parametric programming necessary conditions that discards the objective function, leaving a simple coordinatized feasible space including all dynamically admissible vehicle motions. A trajectory interpolation algorithm uses projection and integration methods to create the classes, starting from arbitrary user-provided maneuver examples, including those obtained from standard nonlinear optimization or motion capture of human-piloted vehicle flights. The interpolation process; which can be employed for real-time trajectory generation, efficiently creates entire maneuver sets satisfying nonlinear equations of motion and nonlinear state and control constraints without resorting to iterative optimization. Experimental application to a three degree-of-freedom rotorcraft testbed and the design of a stable feedforward control framework demonstrates the essential features of the method on actual hardware. Integration of the trajectory classes into an existing hybrid system motion planning framework illustrates the use of parametrized maneuvers for solving vehicle guidance problems. The earlier relaxation of strict optimality conditions makes possible the imposition of affine state transformation constraints, allowing maneuver sets to fit easily into a mixed integer-linear programming path planner. The combined scheme generalizes previous planning techniques based on fixed, invariant representations of vehicle equilibrium states and maneuver elements. The method therefore increases the richness of available guidance solutions while maintaining problem tractability associated with hierarchical system models. Application of the framework to one and two-dimensional path planning examples demonstrates its usefulness in practical autonomous vehicle guidance scenarios. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
PROBABILISTIC TIME SCHEDULING

Monte-Carlo simulation provides a project manager with realistic projections of project time duration. The Critical Path Method and other deterministic scheduling techniques tend to yield optimistic projections of project completion. The major cause of these optimistic completion values is a bias resulting from the exclusion during analysis of other potentially critical paths. The proposed methods remove this bias and present the decision maker with information relating to the probable distribution that represents the variability in completion time, and in addition the criticality of each activity in the schedule. A methodology is outlined to eliminate the expense normally incurred with Monte-Carlo types of simulation; the result is a procedure that is both economical and unbiased in the presentation of information to the decision maker. The procedure can be utilized with cost and resource applications in addition to the time evaluation indicated in the paper.
Does Language of Retrieval Affect the Remembering of Trauma

Semantic and episodic bilingual memory has been extensively researched. Research has also been conducted in the area of autobiographical memory. This study investigated traumatic bilingual memories. This study was a preliminary exploration of possible differences in the reporting of the intensity of 3 clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and 5 specific characteristics of traumatic memory in the first versus second languages of bilingual (Spanish-English) individuals who sustained traumatic experiences in childhood. Participants were 19 Spanish-English coordinate bilingual individuals. A repeated measures design examined the prediction that, regardless of the order in which language was presented (whether Spanish-English or English-Spanish), bilingual participants would rate the intensity of specific symptoms and characteristics of traumatic memory higher in their first language. It is hypothesized that the first language is most closely connected to early experience between the self and the first other. Additionally, the relation between affect and first language is different from the relation between affect and second language. P. Janet (1919/1925) and current trauma research suggest that traumatic memories may be encoded differently from ordinary memories. Matching language at the time that traumatic memories were experienced with the later language of retrieval may significantly facilitate the healing process by allowing unique access to traumatic memories through the first language.
Students Attitudes Toward A New Method For Preventing Loafing On The Group Project: The Team Activity Diary

The Team Activity Diary (TAD) is designed to prevent social loafing on the team project. This paper describes the TAD and reports on students’ perceptions of it. Although students appeared fairly indifferent to the TAD, 25% of the students indicated that it increased their contributions to the team project. Moreover, 16% of the students felt the TAD increased the contributions from some of their teammates. The authors present recommendations for use of the TAD and offer suggestions for future researchers.
Status Has Its Privileges: The Psychological Benefit of Status‐Reinforcing Behaviors

Many firms use loyalty programs to stratify their customers into status tiers and reward those with high status with special privileges. This research documents how consumers with high status willingly incur a cost to utilize the exclusive privileges, termed “status-reinforcing behaviors,” that accompany their high status because doing so reinforces their high-status identity. They do so in the absence of threats to their high status or self-worth and also in the absence of an opportunity to conspicuously signal their high status to others through face-to-face interactions. This suggests that the behavior is undertaken neither for compensatory nor conspicuous reasons. Across two studies, results indicate that consumers who hold high status in a loyalty program engage in “status-reinforcing behaviors,” even when doing so offers no material or conspicuous signaling benefit and in fact causes them to incur some costs. Engaging in status-reinforcing behaviors yields a distinct psychological outcome—elevated feelings of prestige. Results indicate that when high status is made salient, individuals demonstrate a greater propensity to engage in status-reinforcing behaviors. However, individuals who have a reinforced sense of status (i.e., already validated their high-status position) are less likely to engage in status-reinforcing behaviors, which suggests that utilizing status privileges does serve as a reinforcing behavior, even in the absence of a status threat.
Acute anticholinergic syndrome from Atropa belladonna mistaken for blueberries.

PurposeTo report the first case in the ophthalmic literature of acute anticholinergic syndrome after ingestion of Atropa belladonna mistaken for blueberries.MethodsA 36-year-old woman presented to ...
Central African Hunter‐Gatherers in a Multidisciplinary Perspective: Challenging Elusiveness

Central African Hunter-Gatherers in. Multidisciplinary Perspective: Challenging Elusiveness. Karen Biesbrouck. Stefan Elders. and Gerda Rossel. eds. Leiden, the Netherlands: CNWS Publications, 1999. 331 pp.
Classification when a priori evidence is ambiguous

This paper describes conditioned Dempster-Shafer (CDS) theory, a probabilistic calculus for dealing with possibly non-Bayesian evidence when underlying a priori knowledge is possibly non-Bayesian. The Dempster-Shafer composition operator can be `conditioned' to reflect the influence of any kind of a priori knowledge which can be modeled as a Dempster-Shafer belief measure. CDS is firmly grounded in probability theory via the theory of random sets. It is also a generalization of the Bayesian theory of evidence to the case when both evidence and a priori knowledge are ambiguous.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Relation of left ventricular shape to volume and mass in patients with minimally symptomatic chronic aortic regurgitation

In 19 male patients with significant but minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic chronic aortic regurgitation, measurements of left ventricular shape, volume, and mass were assessed by cross-sectional echocardiography. End-diastolic volume and mass were significantly larger than normal values. There was a significant negative correlation between the volume-to-mass ratio (VM) and both the end-diastolic (r = −0.70, p < 0.01) and end-systolic (r = −0.73, p < 0.001) long axis-to-minor diameter ratios (LD), suggesting that maintenance of the normal geometry of the left ventricle is in part dependent on the adequacy of hypertrophy, as expressed by a normal VM. Since preoperative volume-to-mass indices have been shown to be important predictors of postoperative course, the LD ratio should be a useful and simple parameter to follow in asymptomatic patients.
An international consortium for wind integration research, education, and workforce development

The panel presentation will discuss the details and the mission of a DOE-funded wind energy consortium for the promotion of research, education, and workforce development.
Exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise in children with increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol

Arterial vascular responses are characteristically altered with hypercholesterolemia: conduit vessels manifest increased stiffness, and conduit and resistance vessels demonstrate impaired endothelium-dependent dilation and augmented vasoconstriction to neurohumoral stimulation. These changes should be reflected in an exaggerated blood pressure increase in response to exercise. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared the blood pressure response to treadmill exercise in children with hypercholesterolemia and children with normal lipid levels. In a preliminary retrospective study, 15 hypercholesterolemic boys 10 to 18 years old underwent treadmill exercise testing, and their blood pressure results were compared with those of 32 normolipidemic children in the same age group who had undergone treadmill exercise electively in the same time period. In the second phase, 10 hypercholesterolemic boys and 10 normolipidemic age-matched boys were evaluated prospectively according to the same protocol. Treadmill exercise involved a modified Bruce protocol with heart rate and blood pressure measured before exercise, immediately after exercise, and throughout recovery. Office blood pressures were normal in all children, with no significant difference between groups. With treadmill exercise, all subjects achieved >95% of predicted maximum heart rate and endurance times, maximum oxygen consumption, and maximum respiratory ratio did not differ between groups. Results of the retrospective and prospective groups were similar and were therefore combined. Children with increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures immediately before treadmill exercise (systolic 120 +/- 13 mm Hg vs 113 +/- 13 mm Hg, p < 0.03; diastolic 68 +/- 8 mm Hg vs 63 +/- 9 mm Hg, p < 0.01). After exercise, blood pressures were again significantly higher in the subjects with high LDL cholesterol (systolic 182 +/- 20 mm Hg vs 160 +/- 23 mm Hg, p < 0.0003; diastolic 77 +/- 12 mm Hg vs 72 +/- 9 mm Hg, p < 0.03). At the end of recovery, systolic blood pressures remained significantly higher in subjects with high LDL cholesterol (120 +/- 9 mm Hg vs 112 +/- 12 mm Hg, p < 0.005). In this study, children with severely increased LDL cholesterol had an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise when compared with normolipidemic control subjects. The study findings suggest that control of arterial vascular tone may already be altered in children with hypercholesterolemia.
Di-μ-carbonyl-bis­[bis­(triphenyl­phos­phane)rhodium(0)](Rh—Rh) acetone disolvate

The dirhodium complex, [Rh(2)(C(18)H(15)P)(4)(CO)(2)]·2(CH(3))(2)CO, has crystallographic twofold symmetry and the Rh-Rh distance is 2.6266 (8) A. The four atoms proximate to each Rh atom [Rh-P = 2.3222 (7) and 2.3283 (8) A, and Rh-C = 1.961 (3) and 2.045 (3) A] form a distorted tetra-hedron with large deviations from the putative tetra-hedral angles [r.m.s. deviation = 23 (1)°]. The six angles more closely approximate those of a trigonal bipyramid [r.m.s. deviation = 14 (1)°] with one missing equatorial ligand. The two bridging carbonyl ligands are much more linearly coordinated to one Rh [Rh-C O = 151.0 (2)°] than to the other [127.0 (2)°], and the two Rh(2)CO planes form a dihedral angle of 45.43 (5)°. The two acetone solvent mol-ecules are disordered, and their estimated scattering contribution was subtracted from the observed diffraction data using the SQUEEZE routine in PLATON [Spek (2009 ▶). Acta Cryst.D65, 148-155].
Structural changes at synapses after delayed perfusion fixation in different regions of the mouse brain

We recently showed by electron microscopy that the postsynaptic density (PSD) from hippocampal cultures undergoes rapid structural changes after ischemia-like conditions. Here we report that similar structural changes occur after delay in transcardial perfusion fixation of the mouse brain. Delay in perfusion fixation, a condition that mimics ischemic stress, resulted in 70%, 90%, and 23% increases in the thickness of PSDs from the hippocampus (CA1), cerebral cortex (layer III), and cerebellar cortex (Purkinje spines), respectively. In step with PSD thickening, the amount of PSD-associated alpha-calcium calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (alpha- CaMKII) label increased more in cerebral cortical spines than in Purkinje spines. Although the Purkinje PSDs thickened only slightly after delayed fixation, they became highly curved, and many formed sub-PSD spheres approximately 80 nm in diameter that labeled for CaMKII. Delayed perfusion fixation also produced more cytoplamic CaMKII clusters ( approximately 110 nm in diameter) in the somas of pyramidal cells (from hippocampus and cerebral cortex) than in Purkinje cells. Thus a short delay in perfusion fixation produces cell-specific structural changes at PSDs and neuronal somas. Purkinje cells respond somewhat differently to delayed perfusion fixation, perhaps owing to their lower levels of CaMKII, and CaMKII binding proteins at PSDs. We present here a catalogue of structural changes that signal a perfusion fixation delay, thereby providing criteria by which to assess perfusion fixation quality in experimental structural studies of brain and to shed light on the subtle changes that occur in intact brain following metabolic stress.
1st ACT global trajectory optimisation competition: Results found at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract Results obtained at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the 1st ACT global trajectory optimisation competition are presented and the methods used to obtain them are described. The search for the globally optimal, low-thrust, gravity-assist trajectory for maximally deflecting an asteroid is performed in two steps. The first step involves a rough global search of the global search space, which has, however, been somewhat bounded based on prior mission-design experience, intuition, and energy arguments. A shape-based method is used to represent the low-thrust arcs, while the ballistic portions are searched almost exhaustively. The second step involves local optimisation of trajectories which stand out from the rough global search. The low-thrust optimisation problem is turned into a parameter optimisation problem by approximating the continuous thrusting as a series of impulsive manoeuvres. Of the many trajectories found, three optimal trajectories are reported and compared, including the one submitted for the competition. The best one employed a double-Venus, quadruple-Earth, Jupiter–Saturn–Jupiter gravity-assist sequence. The trajectory submitted for the competition used one less Venus flyby and one less Earth flyby.
Antimicrobial Peptides in 2014

This article highlights new members, novel mechanisms of action, new functions, and interesting applications of antimicrobial peptides reported in 2014. As of December 2014, over 100 new peptides were registered into the Antimicrobial Peptide Database, increasing the total number of entries to 2493. Unique antimicrobial peptides have been identified from marine bacteria, fungi, and plants. Environmental conditions clearly influence peptide activity or function. Human α-defensin HD-6 is only antimicrobial under reduced conditions. The pH-dependent oligomerization of human cathelicidin LL-37 is linked to double-stranded RNA delivery to endosomes, where the acidic pH triggers the dissociation of the peptide aggregate to release its cargo. Proline-rich peptides, previously known to bind to heat shock proteins, are shown to inhibit protein synthesis. A model antimicrobial peptide is demonstrated to have multiple hits on bacteria, including surface protein delocalization. While cell surface modification to decrease cationic peptide binding is a recognized resistance mechanism for pathogenic bacteria, it is also used as a survival strategy for commensal bacteria. The year 2014 also witnessed continued efforts in exploiting potential applications of antimicrobial peptides. We highlight 3D structure-based design of peptide antimicrobials and vaccines, surface coating, delivery systems, and microbial detection devices involving antimicrobial peptides. The 2014 results also support that combination therapy is preferred over monotherapy in treating biofilms.
A study of black aurora from aircraft-based optical observations and plasma measurements on FAST

[1] Black aurora was observed on 30 January 1998 in a narrow-field camera forty seconds before and a minute after the magnetic footprint of the FAST satellite passed the magnetic zenith of the camera. Electron energy flux measured by FAST provided strong evidence that FAST passed over black aurora. This region was characterized by small-amplitude wave and DC electric fields (<10 mV m−1) and small upward current densities (∼0.2μA m−2). The electron energy flux dropouts associated with black aurora were associated with spatially restricted regions in which the strong pitch angle diffusion is suppressed at energies greater than ∼2 keV. These dropouts were surrounded by hot (∼1.8 keV) plasma sheet electrons exhibiting strong pitch angle diffusion at all measured energies. Analyzing the electron spectra from six different nights of optical and satellite conjugate data demonstrates a surprising prevalence of electron distributions that showed the suppression of strong pitch angle diffusion at energies above ∼2 keV. What made the electron signature on the night of the black aurora observations unique were the large spatial regions of strong pitch angle diffusion at all energies (corresponding to the diffuse aurora) with only very narrow spatial regions of the partially empty loss cones (corresponding to the black aurora). We suggest that the pitch angle diffusion surrounding the black aurora is due to electron cyclotron waves (ECH) strongly scattering electrons into the loss cone at energies less than ∼2 keV and oblique, upper band whistler mode chorus waves scattering electrons at all measured energies in the plasma sheet. We further suggest that the scattering by the chorus waves is suppressed in localized regions leading to the black auroral features observed.
WOODSTOCC: Extracting Latent Parallelism from a DNA Sequence Aligner on a GPU

An exponential increase in the speed of DNA sequencing over the past decade has driven demand for fast, space efficient algorithms to process the resultant data. The first step in processing is alignment of many short DNA sequences, or reads, against a large reference sequence. This work presents WOODSTOCC, an implementation of short-read alignment designed for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) architectures. WOODSTOCC translates a novel CPU implementation of gapped short-read alignment, which has guaranteed optimal and complete results, to the GPU. Our implementation combines an irregular trie search with dynamic programming to expose regularly structured parallelism. We first describe this implementation, then discuss its port to the GPU. WOODSTOCC's GPU port exploits three generally useful techniques for extracting regular parallelism from irregular computations: dynamic thread mapping with a work list, kernel stage decoupling, and kernel slicing. We discuss the performance impact of these techniques and suggest further opportunities for improvement.
Single-strip triangulation of manifolds with arbitrary topology

This video illustrates a new method for subdividing the surface of a triangulated 3d polyhedron, without changing the geometry of the model, so that the triangles of the subdivided mesh can be ordered into a single triangle strip. Our method guarantees that the subdivided mesh has at most 3/2 the original number of triangles, and in practice performs much better. Our strips can be used not only for efficient rendering, but also for other applications including the generation of space filling curves.
Building a solid understanding of mechanical ventilation.

Learn how to determine if your patient is adequately oxygenated, and what to do if he isn't.