cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Example of a Remediation Program

In this chapter, the authors briefly describe a clinical skills remediation program that developed as a result of the introduction of a comprehensive clinical skills exam for students at the end of their core clerkship year. They describe the diagnostic framework that guides their work, discuss lessons learned, and explore the impact of this remediation program on their institution. They place their work within the context of published literature on remediation in medical education and discuss experience-based best practices for developing new clinical skills remediation programs.
Partial Oxidation of CH4, C2H6, and C3H8 on Monoliths at Short Contact Times

The autothermal production of partial oxidation products including synthesis gas (CO and H2) and C2H4 from CH4, C2H6, and C3H8 in the presence of air or O2 at atmospheric pressure has been examined over monoliths coated with various metals at residence times between 10-4 and 10-2 seconds. Experiments are carried out in an autothermal reactor operating between 800 and 1200°C Rh gives the highest selectivity to syngas; while Pt forms more H2O, Pd forms solid carbon, Ir sinters, and Ni volatilizes. Carbon formation is suppressed under conditions where graphite formation is predicted on some metals, but forms readily on others. Ethylene production is also observed under fuel rich conditions for reactions of C2H6 and C3H8. Pt gives the highest selectivity to C2H4; while Rh and Pd form solid carbon. Causes of selectivity variations and coke formation will be discussed.
A Multi-Teraflop Constituency Parser using GPUs

Constituency parsing with rich grammars remains a computational challenge. Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have previously been used to accelerate CKY chart evaluation, but gains over CPU parsers were modest. In this paper, we describe a collection of new techniques that enable chart evaluation at close to the GPU’s practical maximum speed (a Teraflop), or around a half-trillion rule evaluations per second. Net parser performance on a 4-GPU system is over 1 thousand length30 sentences/second (1 trillion rules/sec), and 400 general sentences/second for the Berkeley Parser Grammar. The techniques we introduce include grammar compilation, recursive symbol blocking, and cache-sharing.
Prices matter: Analysis of food and energy competition relative to land resources in the European Union☆

We advance a conceptual framework to put the debate about food versus fuel in the European Union into perspective. We show that many of the problems identified for the food and bioenergy production in the European Union have been priced via several rules and regulations, including water use, fertilizer and pesticide use, and protection of habitats. Therefore, products produced at lower costs (including environmental costs) require fewer resources and can be considered more environmentally friendly. Our results suggest that, from a resource efficiency point of view, the European Union should consider importing more biofuels and biofuel feedstocks from other countries.
Observations on the Immature Stages of Cordilura (Achaetella) deceptiva and C. (a.) varipes

The life cycles and immature stages of these 2 Nearctic species are similar. Eggs are laid on the developing culms of Carex spp. Larvae of C. (A.) deceptiva Malloch (Diptera : Anthomyiidae) live as miners in the culms of only Carex stricta while C. (A.) varipes (Walker) larvae have been found in the culms of 10 species of Carex Both anthomyiids overwinter as pupae in puparia which remain within the hollowed-out culm base. Adults emerge in late spring and early summer; a 2nd generation of adults appears in late summer and early fall. Morphology of larvae and life history data confirm the placement of these species within the genus Cordilura , but similarities of the immature stages and differences in adult morphology make it difficult to sustain Achaetella as a distinct subgenus in Cordilura . Details of the C. (A.) deceptiva egg chorion are given. The outer and inner surfaces of the chorion permit a plastron respiration by the developing embryo as it is subjected to wet and dry periods.
Treatment of amebiasis. Results with diodoquin and carbarsone.

(This paper and the two which follow report on studies being conducted by the Veterans Administration on parasitic infestation in veterans.)
Engagement In Hospital Health Information Exchange Is Associated With Vendor Marketplace Dominance

Health information exchange (HIE) is intended to enable better, more efficient health care by electronically transferring patient data across provider organizations. Many policy makers, including members of Congress, are concerned that some electronic health record (EHR) vendors may be impeding this effort by making cross-vendor HIE difficult. We used national data to assess how market dominance by EHR vendors was related to hospitals’ engagement in HIE in 2012 and 2013. Across all levels of vendor market dominance, hospitals using EHR systems supplied by the dominant vendor engaged in an average of 45 percent more HIE activities than hospitals not using the dominant vendor. However, when the dominant vendor controlled a small proportion—20 percent—of the market, hospitals using the dominant vendor engaged in 59 percent more HIE activities than hospitals using a different vendor. Conversely, when the dominant vendor controlled 80 percent of the market, hospitals using that vendor engaged in only 25 percen...
Valproic Acid-Induced Hair Curling

A 47-year-old white female patient treated with valproic acid (VPA) 500mg 3xd, at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, developed curling of the hair which gradually resolved over 5 years continuous therapy, with blood levels ranging from 97 to 146 mg/L.
Disparity in neural and subjective responses to food images in women with obesity and normal-weight women.

Objective Self-reports tend to differ from objective measurements of food intake, particularly in adults with obesity; however, no studies have examined how neural responses to food (an objective measure) and subjective ratings of food differ by BMI status. This study tested normal-weight women (NWW) and women with obesity (OBW) for group differences in neural indices of attention towards food pictures, subjective ratings of these pictures, and the disparity between objective and subjective measurements. Methods Twenty-two NWW (21.8 ± 1.7 kg/m2) and 22 OBW (37.0 ± 5.7 kg/m2) viewed food and flower pictures while late positive potential amplitude, an event-related potential, was recorded. Participants rated pictures for arousal and valence. Results Late positive potential amplitude was larger toward food than flower pictures. OBW self-reported flower pictures as more pleasant than food; NWW showed no difference for pleasantness. There were no significant main effects or interactions for arousal. Standardized scores showed that only on subjective, but not objective, measures did OBW compared with NWW disproportionately indicate food pictures as less pleasant than flowers. Conclusions Compared with NWW, OBW showed larger discrepancies between neural and subjective reports of attention towards food. Inaccurate self-reports of attention towards food may reduce the efficiency of health interventions.
Axon Termination, Pruning, and Synaptogenesis in the Giant Fiber System of Drosophila melanogaster Is Promoted by Highwire

The ubiquitin ligase Highwire has a conserved role in synapse formation. Here, we show that Highwire coordinates several facets of central synapse formation in the Drosophila melanogaster giant fiber system, including axon termination, axon pruning, and synaptic function. Despite the similarities to the fly neuromuscular junction, the role of Highwire and the underlying signaling pathways are distinct in the fly's giant fiber system. During development, branching of the giant fiber presynaptic terminal occurs and, normally, the transient branches are pruned away. However, in highwire mutants these ectopic branches persist, indicating that Highwire promotes axon pruning. highwire mutants also exhibit defects in synaptic function. Highwire promotes axon pruning and synaptic function cell-autonomously by attenuating a mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway including Wallenda, c-Jun N-terminal kinase/Basket, and the transcription factor Jun. We also show a novel role for Highwire in non-cell autonomous promotion of synaptic function from the midline glia. Highwire also regulates axon termination in the giant fibers, as highwire mutant axons exhibit severe overgrowth beyond the pruning defect. This excessive axon growth is increased by manipulating Fos expression in the cells surrounding the giant fiber terminal, suggesting that Fos regulates a trans-synaptic signal that promotes giant fiber axon growth.
Chicanos and the Border Cities: An Interpretive Essay

The research for this paper was made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation. 'As used in this work, the term "border" refers to the line of demarcation separating Mexico and the United States and to the narrow land strips immediately adjacent to that line on both sides and extending to the limits of the U.S. counties and Mexican municipalities within the zone. In the historiography of the U.S.-Mixico border, the greatest emphasis is placed on international conflict and diplomatic relations between the two countries. Although listed in a broader multidisciplinary context, references to historical works dealing with the border may be found in Charles C. Cumberland, "The United States-Mexican Border: A Selective Guide to the Literature of the Region," Supplement to Rural Sociology, XXV (June 1960); and Ellwyn R. Stoddard, ed., "The Status of U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Studies: A Multidisciplinary Symposium," Social Science Journal, combined double issue, XII-XIII (1975-1976), 3-112. 2Attracted by the area's rapid population growth, increased urbanization, and incipient economic development, sociologists, economists, and geographers have accelerated their border research since the mid-1960s. Important works published in the last decade include William V. D'Antonio and William H. Form, Influentials in Two Border Cities: A Study of Community Decision Making (Notre Dame, 1965); David North, The Mexican Border Crossers: People Who Live in Mexico and Work in the United States (Washington, D.C., 1970); C. Daniel Dillman, "Urban Growth along Mexico's Northern Border and the Mexican National Border Program," Journal of Developing Areas, IV (1970), 487-508; Donald W. Baerresen, The Border Industrialization Program of Mexico (Lexington, Mass., 1971); Julian Samora, Los Mojados (Notre Dame, 1971); John A.
POSTER: Cutting the Fat: Speeding Up RBM for Fast Deep Learning Through Generalized Redundancy Elimination

Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) is the building block of Deep Belief Nets and other deep learning tools. Fast learning and prediction are both essential for practical usage of RBM-based machine learning techniques. This paper presents a concept named generalized redundancy elimination to avoid most of the the computations required in RBM learning and prediction without changing the results. It consists of two optimization techniques. The first is called bounds-based filtering, which, through triangular inequality, replaces expensive calculations of many vector dot products with fast bounds calculations. The second is delta product, which effectively detects and avoids many repeated calculations in the core operation of RBM, Gibbs Sampling. The optimizations are applicable to both the standard contrastive divergence learning algorithm and its variations. In addition, the paper presents how to address some complexities these optimizations create for them to be used together and for them to be implemented efficiently on massively parallel processors. Results show that the optimizations can produce several-fold (up to 3X for training and 5.3X for prediction) speedups.
Community Development, Stewardship Activities, and Volunteerism: The Evolution of Human “Connectedness” and Interdependency

In this chapter the role and impact of community service work, volunteerism, and stewardship activities is addressed in relation to how community members may perceive and experience a greater sense of “connectedness” with each other and to the community itself. Additionally, evidence is explored (i.e., Buss, Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind, 2015) in addressing how cooperative and altruistic behaviors may have evolved to strengthen communities and improve resiliency among human development. Research addressing the viability of superordinate and interdependent goals (i.e., Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robber’s Cave Experiment, 1961) as effective processes in overcoming ethnic conflict and extremism is presented.
Orientalizing Socialism: Architecture, Media, and the Representations of Eastern Europe

After two decades of being ignored, the architecture of the so-called ‘former East’ has recently been discovered by global mass media. The photographs of Soviet sanatoria, Bulgarian resorts, Central Asian bus stops, and Yugoslav war memorials can now be seen in print publications, in music videos, and even in sci-fi movies, as well as endlessly circulating within social networks. The phenomenon contradicts the previous negative stereotypes of socialist architecture—the overblown monumentality of the Stalinist period and the drabness of prefabricated mass housing—introducing the formerly adventurous structures of the 1970s and 1980s as objects of genuine fascination. Presented through the seemingly objective medium of photography, however, these buildings are nevertheless firmly inscribed into the old ideological framework inherited from the Cold War that reduced all agency under state socialism to totalitarian control. Contradicting recent scholarship that has revealed a great deal of complexity in the construction of the socialist built environments, these new media representations constitute a novel form of Orientalism. Its object is still coincidentally located in the East—Europe’s own East—but this time around the alleged otherness rests on ideological rather than cultural or racial grounds. The paper analyzes two widely known projects responsible for this neo-Orientalist turn, Jan Kempenaers’ Spomenik and Frederic Chaubin’s Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed, which pose fundamental questions for the historians of European architecture: Who should have the right to shape the public perception of architectural history? How is architectural history used to maintain the geopolitical divisions and hierarchies within Europe itself?
Role of ionic strength in the retention and initial attachment of Pseudomonas putida to quartz sand.

Biofilms in soil can offer solutions to many geotechnical problems. Controlling biofilm formation in soil requires a fundamental understanding of how bacterial cells interact with soil under relevant environmental conditions. Here, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to quantify the adhesion forces acting between a model soil microbe, Pseudomonas putida, and a model of quartz sand under a range of ionic strengths (ISs; 0.02M–0.52M) that bracket common environmental conditions present in soil. AFM forces were decoupled into specific and nonspecific components following the established Poisson statistical analysis method. The experimental nonspecific forces were compared to theoretical forces calculated using the soft-particle analysis of the Derjaguin, Landau, Verwie, and Overbeek theory of colloidal interactions. Their data indicated that both specific and nonspecific forces increased as the IS increased with specific forces being 37% higher on average than nonspecific forces. The AFM findings were validated by measuring the transport of P. putida in sand columns kinetically as a function of IS. Collected breakthrough curves were modeled using one-dimensional colloidal filtration theory. Their nanoscale AFM measurements of bacterial adhesion correlated positively with the bacterial macroscale sticking collision efficiencies with both increasing as the IS increased. Collectively, their results suggest that applying biofilms for bioclogging applications is suitable in sandy, hydrophobic environments with elevated ISs where specific forces such as hydrogen bonds or hydrophobic interactions may have a critical role in promoting bacterial adhesion.Biofilms in soil can offer solutions to many geotechnical problems. Controlling biofilm formation in soil requires a fundamental understanding of how bacterial cells interact with soil under relevant environmental conditions. Here, atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to quantify the adhesion forces acting between a model soil microbe, Pseudomonas putida, and a model of quartz sand under a range of ionic strengths (ISs; 0.02M–0.52M) that bracket common environmental conditions present in soil. AFM forces were decoupled into specific and nonspecific components following the established Poisson statistical analysis method. The experimental nonspecific forces were compared to theoretical forces calculated using the soft-particle analysis of the Derjaguin, Landau, Verwie, and Overbeek theory of colloidal interactions. Their data indicated that both specific and nonspecific forces increased as the IS increased with specific forces being 37% higher on average than nonspecific forces. The AFM findings were val...
Decay of 108 Ag

The 2.41 min ground state decay of108Ag has been studied with a Ge(Li) detector. Twelve transitions are observed of which seven have not been reported previously. Five of the new transitions are placed in the level scheme which includes the second 2+, 930.4 keV level and a new level at 1539.4 keV in108Pd.
The Evaluation of Ligamentous Knee Joint Instability in the Gait Laboratory

In normal daily life, with the exception of sport activities, ligamentous knee instability may be sufficiently compensated for by muscles and osseous structures. Where residual or recurrent instability following one or several operative interventions persists, the indication for a further procedure is difficult to determine. The examination of the patient’s gait can help the physician to judge the functional importance of the impairment and is a valuable reference for further planning and assessment of treatment.
The Birds and the Bees and the Bank: Talking with Families About Future Fertility Amidst a Cancer Diagnosis

There are many reasons why discussions about fertility preservation may be difficult after a cancer diagnosis, though it is critical that these discussions occur prior to the start of cancer treatment in order to give patients the greatest chance of successfully having children in the future. There are many educational materials available and several new online tools that can connect patients with the information they need to make a decision about their fertility; however, face-to-face communication with health-care providers is a more effective way to convey complex information regarding cancer treatment and fertility. This chapter describes recent research into the beliefs and attitudes of adolescents and young adults regarding their fertility and how clinicians can more effectively conduct discussions about fertility with cancer patients within the difficult context of a recent cancer diagnosis.
Very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and rod cell structure and function.

The gene encoding Elongation of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids-4 (ELOVL4) is mutated in patients with autosomal dominant Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy Type 3 (STDG3). ELOVL4 catalyzes the initial condensation step in the elongation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) containing more than 26 carbons (26C) to very long chain PUFA (VLC-PUFA; C28 and greater). To investigate the role of VLC-PUFA in rod photoreceptors, we generated mice with rod-specific deletion of Elovl4 (RcKO). The mosaic deletion of rod-expressed ELOVL4 protein resulted in a 36 % lower amount of VLC-PUFA in the retinal phosphatidylcholine (PC) fraction compared to retinas from wild-type mice. However, this reduction was not sufficient to cause rod dysfunction at 7 months or photoreceptor degeneration at 9 or 15 months.
Municipal policy priorities in three coastal communities in the Northeastern United States recognize effects of global climate change

Abstract Coastal areas are confronted with a wide range of challenges stemming from their location at the land-sea interface. These challenges exist at a variety of spatial scales, and fall under the jurisdiction of governance authorities with responsibilities at different levels ranging from local to international. This study focuses on coastal environmental issues identified specifically at the municipal level. A policy landscape analysis of three communities in the Northeastern United States based on stakeholder interviews and review of local media, management plans, and government documents revealed several common challenges, including fisheries management, nutrient loading, and shoreline management. Despite these similarities, the relative importance of different issues varied from place to place. Major effects of climate change, such as sea level rise and increasing water temperatures, were not identified explicitly as priority issues by any of the three communities; however, climate change either directly causes or exacerbates many of the issues identified during the policy landscape analysis. Therefore, our study demonstrates that coastal communities in the region are already facing and addressing issues related to climate change. Our methodology provides an expedient approach for others to identify issues of coastal environmental concern in other communities. This can help determine the extent to which the similarities and differences in identified issues are common across broader geographic scales, and in particular whether effects of climate change are pervasive in coastal communities.
Active Range and Bearing-based Radiation Source Localization

3D radiation source localization is a common task across applications such as decommissioning, disaster response, and security, but traditional count-based sensors struggle to efficiently disambiguate between symmetries in sensor, source, and environment configurations. Recent works have demonstrated successful passive source localization using a bearing sensor called the Compton gamma camera that can image radiation. This paper first presents an approach to mapping the spatial distribution of radiation with a gamma camera to estimate source locations. An active source localization framework is then developed that greedily selects new waypoints that maximize the Fisher Information provided by the camera's range and bearing observations for source localization. Finally the common assumption of a static step size in between waypoints is relaxed to allow step sizes to adapt online to the observed information. The proposed radiation mapping approach is evaluated in 5×4 m2 and 14×6 m2 laboratory environments, where multiple point sources were localized to within an average of 0.26 m or 0.6% of the environment dimensions. The active source localization approach is evaluated in simulation and an adaptive step size yields a 27% decrease in the localization time and a 16% decrease in the distance traveled to localize a source in a 15×15×15 m3 environment.
Perceptions of School Climate Among Students Self-Identifying as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual:

The purpose of the current study was to examine perceptions of school climate among youth identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) using the Georgia Brief School Climate Inventory (GaBSCI). C...
“My Eyes Have Been Opened”: Pre-Service Secondary Teachers Exploring Behavior Management through a Microteaching Project

One of the primary concerns of pre-service secondary teachers is negotiating student behavior and classroom management, and novice teachers cite this as one of the reasons why they leave the profes...
PC Builder Hero: An Immersive Computer Building Workshop Experience in Virtual Reality

In this paper, we describe PC Builder Hero, an immersive virtual reality (VR) game, which takes the user through building a custom personal computer (PC) from scratch. The main motivation is to raise awareness and inspire curiosity about the inner components and working mechanisms of computers in a safe environment where mistakes aren't costly. We aim to teach users how to build a PC experientially with a hands-on game, leveraging the immersiveness of VR. The user picks virtual computer components and monitors the price of the built computer and the accumulated static over time. The user's goal is to find a balance between the specifications of the components and the overall price, while complying with the proper handling procedures of building a PC. This paper includes the design and implementation details of the high-fidelity prototype along with the results and implications of an informal early testing.
Plasma Agouti-Related Protein Levels in Acromegaly and Effects of Surgical or Pegvisomant Therapy.

CONTEXT GH activates agouti-related protein (AgRP) neurons, leading to orexigenic responses in mice. The relationship between serum GH and plasma AgRP, which has been shown to reflect hypothalamic AgRP, has not been evaluated in humans. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that central stimulatory actions of GH on hypothalamic AgRP could be reflected in plasma AgRP in acromegaly. METHODS We studied 23 patients with active acromegaly before and for ≤2 years after surgical (n = 13) or GH receptor antagonist therapy with pegvisomant (n = 10), and 100 healthy subjects with morning fasting blood samples for AgRP, leptin, GH, and IGF-1 and anthropometric measurements. RESULTS The plasma AgRP levels were higher in those with active acromegaly than in the matched healthy subjects [median, 100 pg/mL; interquartile range (IQR), 78 to 139 pg/mL vs median, 63 pg/mL; IQR, 58 to 67 pg/mL; P < 0.0001]. Plasma AgRP decreased from before to after surgery (median, 102 pg/mL; IQR, 82 to 124 pg/mL vs median, 63 pg/mL; IQR, 55.6 to 83 pg/mL; P = 0.0024) and from before to during pegvisomant therapy (median, 97 pg/mL; IQR, 77 to 175 pg/mL vs median, 63; IQR, 61 to 109 pg/mL; P = 0.006). The plasma AgRP level correlated with GH (r = 0.319; P = 0.011) and IGF-1 (r = 0.292; P = 0.002). In repeated measure analysis, AgRP was significantly associated with IGF-1. CONCLUSIONS Our data have provided evidence of a stimulatory effect of GH on plasma AgRP in humans. The levels were greater in active acromegaly and decreased in parallel with GH and IGF-1 decreases with acromegaly treatment. Data from mice suggest that AgRP may mediate some of the known effects of GH on energy metabolism. This warrants further study in patients with acromegaly and other populations.
War, state and society in Ukraine

ABSTRACTThis collection of papers examines the impact of revolution and war on the development of the Ukrainian state and its sovereignty since 2014. Comparative literature on the state shows that ...
Spinal Cord Injury Creates Unique Challenges in Diagnosis and Management of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and influences the quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Objectives: This clinical review aims to highlight the unique surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, and management challenges of CAUTI in the SCI population. Methods: Narrative review of the current literature on catheter use in persons with SCI was conducted to determine gaps in knowledge and opportunities for improvement. Results: Surveillance of CAUTI is challenging in the SCI population as the ability to detect symptoms used to diagnose CAUTI (ie, suprapubic pain, dysuria) is impaired. In terms of prevention of CAUTI, current strategies refocus on appropriate catheter insertion and care and early removal of catheters, which is not always feasible for persons with SCI. Prophylactic antibiotics, nutraceuticals, and coated catheters show limited efficacy in infection prevention. Diagnosing CAUTI after SCI is challenging, often resulting in an overdiagnosis of CAUTI when truly asymptomatic bacteriuria exists. In the management of CAUTI in patients with SCI, the use of multiple antibiotics over time in an individual increases the rate of multidrug-resistant organisms; therefore, the exploration of novel non-antibiotic treatments is of importance. The patient experience should be at the center of all these efforts. Conclusion: Better diagnostic tools or biomarkers are needed to define true CAUTI in people with SCI. SCI-specific evidence to inform catheter management and CAUTI treatment guidelines is needed, with the goal to minimize catheter-related harm, reduce antibiotic resistance, and improve satisfaction and overall quality of life for SCI patients.
Trauma, Assessment, and Management in Sexual Offender Contexts

Sexual offenders represent a heterogeneous group of individuals that are heavily regulated by complex federal and state laws. The main psycholegal questions pertaining to sexual offenders are recidivism and dangerousness, assessing for mitigating factors at sentencing, and evaluations to determine appropriate management and treatment services in the community. This chapter will provide an overview of relevant laws, tools to assess risk for recidivism, and treatment. These items will be placed in the context of trauma within this population, with the emphasis being on adult male offenders. This chapter will focus on antecendent childhood trauma, and the impact of trauma incurred from incarceration, commitment, and legislation regulating sex offender management in the community.
Avalanches and power law behavior in aortic dissection propagation

Aortic dissection is a devastating cardiovascular disease known for its rapid propagation and high morbidity and mortality. The mechanisms underlying the propagation of aortic dissection are not well understood. Our study reports the discovery of avalanche-like failure of the aorta during dissection propagation that results from the local buildup of strain energy followed by a cascade failure of inhomogeneously distributed interlamellar collagen fibers. An innovative computational model was developed that successfully describes the failure mechanics of dissection propagation. Our study provides the first quantitative agreement between experiment and model prediction of the dissection propagation within the complex extracellular matrix (ECM). Our results may lead to the possibility of predicting such catastrophic events based on microscopic features of the ECM.
History of bacteriology in the intestine

Abstract The bacteriology of the intestine has a relatively short history. It started with the observations of smudges by Leuwenhoek in the 19th century and now into the recent magnitude of the vast realm of the microbiota. The microbiota consists of at least as many cells as in the body with hundreds of species. In the initial history, Pasteur identified disease with organisms, but the era of Koch identified details of infection. Koch’s work became the leadership philosophy as evidenced by his work in tuberculosis. This led to the era of realization that anaerobic organisms predominated in the intestine. We now appreciate that anaerobes predominate in humans.
Climate benchmarks and input parameters representing locations in 68 countries for a stochastic weather generator, CLIGEN

Abstract. This dataset contains input parameters for 12 703 locations around the world to parameterize a stochastic weather generator called CLIGEN. The parameters are essentially monthly statistics relating to daily precipitation, temperature, and solar radiation. The dataset is separated into three sub-datasets differentiated by having monthly statistics determined from 30-, 20-, and 10-year record lengths. Input parameters related to precipitation were calculated primarily from the NOAA GHCN-Daily network. The remaining input parameters were calculated from various sources including global meteorological and land-surface models that are informed by remote sensing and other methods. The new CLIGEN dataset includes inputs for locations in the US, which were compared to a selection of stations from an existing US CLIGEN dataset representing 2648 locations. This validation showed reasonable agreement between the two datasets, with the majority of parameters showing less than 20 % discrepancy relative to the existing dataset. For the three new datasets, differentiated by the minimum record lengths used for calculations, the validation showed only a small increase in discrepancy going towards shorter record lengths, such that the average discrepancy for all parameters was greater by 5 % for the 10-year dataset. The new CLIGEN dataset has the potential to improve the spatial coverage of analysis for a variety of CLIGEN applications and reduce the effort needed in preparing climate inputs. The dataset is available at the National Agriculture Library Data Commons website at https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/international-climate-benchmarks-and-input-parameters-stochastic-weather-generator-cligen (last access: 20 November 2020) and https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1518706 (Fullhart et al., 2020a).
The Gittins Policy is Nearly Optimal in the M/G/k under Extremely General Conditions

The Gittins scheduling policy minimizes the mean response in the single-server M/G/1 queue in a wide variety of settings. Most famously, Gittins is optimal when preemption is allowed and service requirements are unknown but drawn from a known distribution. Gittins is also optimal much more generally, adapting to any amount of available information and any preemption restrictions. However, scheduling to minimize mean response time in a multiserver setting, specifically the central-queue M/G/k, is a much more difficult problem. In this work we give the first general analysis of Gittins in the M/G/k. Specifically, we show that under extremely general conditions, Gittins's mean response time in the M/G/k is at most its mean response time in the M/G/1 plus an O(log(1/(1 - ρ))) additive term, where ρ is the system load. A consequence of this result is that Gittins is heavy-traffic optimal in the M/G/k if the service requirement distribution S satisfies E[S2(log S)+] To prove our results, we combine properties of the Gittins policy and Palm calculus in a novel way. Notably, our technique overcomes the limitations of tagged job methods that were used in prior scheduling analyses.
A Note on Leases

This technical note explains how to account for leases under Accounting Standards Codification 842. This new addition to US generally accepted accounting principles became effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. The note provides broad treatment for how a lessee will account for a short-term, operating, and financing lease, and how a lessor will account for short-term and sales-type leases with and without manufacturing profit. The intent is to provide a brief overview of lease accounting. As such, it is most appropriate for MBA or finance students who need to understand the broad effects of leases on the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. Excerpt UVA-C-2439 May 28, 2020 A Note on Leases Background As you may have seen from your own personal experience, leases are contracts where the lessee obtains the right to use an asset (such as an apartment, vehicle, or other) in exchange for a series of regular payments to the lessor. While common in practice, these arrangements have caused challenges for standard setters and analysts. The big question is who owns the asset after the arrangement—the lessee, the lessor, or both? In the past (generally fiscal years 2018 and prior), many firms that leased assets were able to structure the lease in a way that made it appear that they were borrowing the asset for a short term. Therefore, the balance sheet did not include the asset or corresponding liability for the lease payments. Firms were motivated to structure leases in this manner in order to appear less levered. They could simply renew the short-term lease and continue operating the asset over long horizons without ever recording the asset and liability on the balance sheet. . . .
A smart point-of-care compliance monitoring solution for brace treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients

Abstract Scoliosis is a medical condition which occurs in adolescents, where an individual's spine develops curvature. A Thoracolumbosacral orthosis (TLSO) is a type of brace used as a long term treat-ment method to control the lateral curvature of the spine in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However, compliance of the daily prescribed duration and tightness of the brace is a big challenge, which plays a significant role in the success of brace treatment. In this paper, we designed and de-veloped a wearable multi-modal sensor solution, which is embedded into the AIS patient's brace. The custom-designed hardware consists of a sensor board, a force sensor & housing, a miniature triaxial accelerometer and gyroscope sensor. The force sensor records the force being exerted by the patient's brace padding, while the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors capture upper trunk movements, providing cues to determine the patient's activities and lifestyle to help with more accurate estimation of the two key parameters, including 1) the in-brace tightness level 2) the duration of the brace wear, in an unsupervised manner. Furthermore, we presented a signal pro-cessing and data analytic methodology to identify the duration and tightness of the brace wear, in addition to identifying various patient activities based on the fusion of continuous force and iner-tial motion sensor recordings. We, specifically, derived a signal processing activity identification method using power spectral density estimation of the sensor data recordings. Then, we evaluate of the effectiveness of brace treatment in a pervasive manner. The proposed method evaluates the duration of brace wear through the process of segmentation and calculates the tightness level of the brace by estimating the baseline force per segment of data. This analysis is done when the patient performs activities including sitting, standing, climbing, walking, running and lying. We investigated an experimental scenario in which the patient performs a series of pre-defined activ-ities at home during day-long segments of brace wear. All analysis is performed using pervasive sensor data recordings. The experimental results demonstrated that we achieved an overall accu-racy of 99.8%, 100% and 99.9% for patients 1, 2 and 3 respectively for semi-supervised activity detection. We continued our compliance study for approximately a month. The level of tight-ness of brace-fit gradually reduced over a period of 2 weeks by 30% as the compliance of brace treatment increased from 7% to 90% on average. Given our experimental results and objective observations, our proposed system is capable of arranging for re-fitting sessions automatically so that the physician can adjust the brace tightness levels for a more effective brace treatment.
Humane Design for Inclusion

The positive and negative consequences of engineering and technical decisions are unequally distributed across the population. Members of marginalized groups are uniquely vulnerable to the negative consequences while having little structural power to alter policy. As a discipline, Human Factors Engineering occupies a unique position within the engineering and decision-making sciences when it comes to assessing and addressing the ramifications of intentionally and unintentionally exclusionary designs. This paper focuses on how person-centered design philosophies and human factors engineering practices can be used to design humane services that minimize negative consequences.
Antiviral properties of select carbon nanostructures and their functionalized analogs

Abstract The antiviral properties of nanocarbons namely, carbon nanotubes (CNT), graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), hybrid GO-CNT, rGO-CNT and CNTs functionalized with carboxylic (CNT-COOH), phenol (CNT-phenol), silver (CNT-Ag) are presented. Escherichia coli MS2 bacteriophage was the model virus. All the nanocarbons showed antiviral activities and the activity increased with increase in concentration. CNT-phenol showed the highest antiviral activity (97.1%) at 0.3mg/mL followed by CNT-Ag (90%), GO-CNT (85.5%), rGO-CNT (83.5%), CNT-COOH (82.5%), CNT (78%), GO (45.6%) and rGO (39.5%) at the same concentration. At 0.05 mg/ml, compared to pure CNTs, those functionalized with silver and phenol showed 270% and 200% higher removal efficiencies respectively. GO and rGO were less efficient by themselves, but with the CNTs, namely GO-CNT and rGO-CNT, their activities enhanced by factors of 650 and 950% respectively. The antiviral activity of the nanocarbons was quantified based on both the concentration of nanocarbons needed to reach a 50 percent deactivation (LD50) and the rate of deactivation. CNT-Phenol was the most effective antiviral nanocarbon studied here, it’s LD50 was 1400 times lower than the pure CNTs even though it had similar rate of deactivation as the latter, The antiviral efficiency of GO and rGO were relatively lower compared to the other nanocarbons, however they improved by 92% and 89% for GO and rGO when combined with the CNTs in a hybrid form. From the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, it was observed that the CNTs entangled the viruses which probably led to physical damage to their structure while the functional groups attached to CNTs such as phenol and Ag further enhanced toxicity due to their own properties.
Gene Transfer of the Runx2 Transcription Factor Enhances Osteogenic Activity of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells in Vitro and in Vivo

Marrow stromal cells (MSCs) have the potential to differentiate into multiple mesenchymal cell types. To harness the power of MSCs for bone regeneration, methods must be developed to direct their differentiation selectively to the osteoblast lineage. The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of using ex vivo Runx2 gene transfer to enhance the osteogenic activity of MSCs. Primary MSCs isolated from C57BL6 mice were transduced with adenoviral vectors encoding β-galactosidase or Runx2. Cells transduced with Ad-Runx2 expressed Runx2 protein and underwent osteoblast differentiation as measured by increases in alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralization. Time-course studies revealed that Runx2 protein was highest 1 day after transduction and declined below the limits of detection by 15 days. Osteoblast marker mRNA expression paralleled Runx2 levels. In contrast, Runx2-dependent mineralization persisted for the duration of the experiment. To assess in vivo osteogenic activity, Ad-Runx2-transduced and control MSCs were adsorbed to two different carrier scaffolds and subcutaneously implanted into C57BL6 mice. In both cases, MSCs expressing Runx2 formed substantially more bone than cells transduced with control virus. Taken together, these studies indicate that Runx2 gene transfer may be an effective route to enhance the osteogenic potential of MSCs.
Role of Leisure in Humanizing Learning Cities

This chapter considers leisure as a powerful agent for social change alongside the field of adult education in bringing to life the idea of learning cities.
Coenzyme a Metabolism in Pantothenic Acid-Deficient Rats

The pantothenic acid (PA) and coenzyme A (CoA) content of various organs of rats maintained on a PA-deficient diet were determined. The PA content of heart, kidney, gastrocnemius and testes of rats fed the PA-deficient diet was reduced by greater than 90%, and liver PA was reduced by 70%. However, these low PA levels were sufficient to maintain tissue CoA at control levels. Although CoA levels were maintained, the PA-deficient rats did not grow at normal rates suggesting that low PA may effect growth rate by mechanisms other than by depressed CoA. PA-deficient rats were subjected to fasting and alloxan-diabetes to determine if increased CoA synthesis occurred as in normal animals. Both fasting and diabetes resulted in elevations in myocardial and liver CoA, which were comparable in rats fed a PA-deficient diet or a regular diet. The source of the PA used for the increase in tissue CoA in PA-deficient rats has yet to be determined.
Vertical spectrum sharing via distributed asynchronous interference avoidance in cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we study the problem of distributed spectrum allocation under a vertical spectrum sharing scenario in a cognitive radio network. The secondary users share the spectrum licensed to the primary user by observing the activity statistics of the primary users, and regulate their transmission strategy in order to abide by the spectrum sharing etiquette. When the primary user is inactive in a subset of the available frequency bands, the secondary users share the spectrum using the recently proposed GADIA algorithm [1]. In this paper, we present analytical and numerical results on the performance of the GADIA algorithm in conjunction with the above-mentioned vertical spectrum sharing scenario. These results reveal near-optimal performance guarantees for the overall vertical spectrum sharing scenario.
Pharmacotherapy of PTSD in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: diagnostic- and symptom-guided drug selection.

Background Although increasing numbers of war veterans are seeking treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), information on the role of psychotropic pharmacotherapy in their treatment has not been available. Method Records of psychotropic prescriptions for all VA patients diagnosed with ICD-9 PTSD (N = 274,297) in fiscal year 2004 (October 1, 2003, to September 30, 2004) were examined. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify veteran characteristics and measures of service use that were associated with receipt of any psychotropic medication and, among users of such medications, with use of each of 3 medication classes: antidepressants, anxiolytics/sedative-hypnotics, and antipsychotics. Results Most veterans diagnosed with PTSD received psychotropic medication (80%), and among these, 89% were prescribed antidepressants, 61% anxiolytics/sedative-hypnotics, and 34% antipsychotics. Greater likelihood of medication use was associated with greater mental health service use and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Among comorbidities, medication-appropriate comorbid diagnoses were the most robust predictors of use of each of the 3 medication subclasses, i.e., depressive disorders were associated with antidepressant use, anxiety disorders with anxiolytic/sedative-hypnotic use, and psychotic disorders with antipsychotic use. Use of anxiolytics/sedative-hypnotics and antipsychotics in the absence of a clearly indicated diagnosis was substantial. Conclusions Diverse psychotropic medication classes are extensively used in the treatment of PTSD in the VA. While disease-specific use for both PTSD and comorbid disorders is common, substantial use seems to be unrelated to diagnosis and thus is likely to be targeted at specific symptoms (e.g., insomnia, anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks) rather than diagnosed illnesses. A new type of efficacy research may be needed to determine symptom responses to psychotropic medications as well as disorder responses, perhaps across diagnoses.
Relative Permeabilities at Simulated Reservoir Conditions

Les permeabilites relatives des carottes de gres sont mesurees dans des conditions de temperatures et de pression simulant une profondeur de 1200 m (3940 Ft). L'influence de la pression capillaire sur les mesures de permeabilite est discutee