cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The demographics of playground equipment injuries in children.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: There have been many different studies of injuries owing to playground equipment but none that have looked in detail using large nationwide databases. It was the purpose of this study to investigate injuries owing to playground equipment using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database and further understand their demographics. METHODS: Detailed NEISS injury data from 2002 through 2004 for slides, monkey bars, and swings were analyzed. Appropriate statistical analyses were performed; because of the many analyses on this large data set, P < .01 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: There were 22728 emergency department visits owing to playground equipment injuries recorded by NEISS between 2002 and 2004; 83.9% were owing to monkey bars, swings, and slides, and the 5 most common diagnoses were fractures (39.3%), contusions/abrasions (20.6%), lacerations (16.6%), strains/sprains (9.9%), and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) (8.5%). There were 9487 boys (54.3%) and 7995 girls (45.7%). The average age was 6.5 +/- 3.0 years. The injuries occurred at school in 38.9%; at a recreation/sporting facility, in 35.5%; and at home, in 25.6%. Most were treated and released (94.4%). Amerindian children were 2 times more likely than blacks to be admitted; compared to contusions, fractures were 9.8 times, and TBIs, 4.7 times more likely to be admitted. Injuries on monkey bars were 1.2 times more likely to be admitted than those on swings or slides. Fractures were 1.9 times more likely to occur on a monkey bar compared with swings or slides. Traumatic brain injuries were 1.4 times more likely to occur on a swing compared to slides or monkey bars. CONCLUSION: Swings at school are the most common mechanism of injury for TBIs, and the seasonal data would suggest that increased supervision of children using swings during school hours might reduce the occurrence of TBIs. Monkey bars are the most common cause of fracture, and fracture is the most common cause of admission. Prevention strategies to reduce the number of fractures should be directed at monkey bar equipment and landing surfaces. The trend in playground equipment injury also indicates that monkey bars are problematic because the number of injuries per year per capita owing to monkey bars is stable, whereas those from swings and slides is decreasing. Language: en
NPP-16/Nup50 Function and CDK-1 Inactivation Are Associated with Anoxia-induced Prophase Arrest in Caenorhabditis elegans

Oxygen, an essential nutrient, is sensed by a multiple of cellular pathways that facilitate the responses to and survival of oxygen deprivation. The Caenorhabditis elegans embryo exposed to severe oxygen deprivation (anoxia) enters a state of suspended animation in which cell cycle progression reversibly arrests at specific stages. The mechanisms regulating interphase, prophase, or metaphase arrest in response to anoxia are not completely understood. Characteristics of arrested prophase blastomeres and oocytes are the alignment of condensed chromosomes at the nuclear periphery and an arrest of nuclear envelope breakdown. Notably, anoxia-induced prophase arrest is suppressed in mutant embryos lacking nucleoporin NPP-16/NUP50 function, indicating that this nucleoporin plays an important role in prophase arrest in wild-type embryos. Although the inactive form of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK-1) is detected in wild-type–arrested prophase blastomeres, the inactive state is not detected in the anoxia exposed npp-16 mutant. Furthermore, we found that CDK-1 localizes near chromosomes in anoxia-exposed embryos. These data support the notion that NPP-16 and CDK-1 function to arrest prophase blastomeres in C. elegans embryos. The anoxia-induced shift of cells from an actively dividing state to an arrested state reveals a previously uncharacterized prophase checkpoint in the C. elegans embryo.
Characteristics of the Cellular Receptor Influence the Intracellular Fate and Efficiency of Virus Infection

The intracellular fate of internalized virus-receptor complexes is suspected of influencing the efficiency of virus infection. However, direct evidence of a link between infection and the fate of internalized virus has been difficult to obtain. To directly address this question, we generated human 293 cell lines stably expressing comparable cell surface levels of three different members of the somatostatin receptor family (SSTR) which have natural differences in intracellular trafficking. Utilizing a glycoprotein that recognizes SSTR, we found that distinctive receptor subtype-specific destinations correlated with observable differences in the level of infection. Infection via SSTR-2 and -3 is restricted at a point after receptor binding and endocytosis but prior to penetration into the host cytoplasm. In contrast, entry via SSTR-5 featured a slower internalization with greater dependence on cholesterol. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that virus bound to SSTR-5 was directed to an intracellular environment that allowed near-wild-type (WT) levels of penetration, possibly due to a more favorable complement of host cell proteases, whereas SSTR-2 and -3 directed virions to a degradative compartment in which cytosol penetration was less efficient. Taken together, the results support that the superior receptor capacity of SSTR-5 results from its internalization into a cellular compartment that is more favorable to the cytoplasmic penetration of viral cores and reverse transcription. They suggest that the intracellular destination of internalized complexes is an important characteristic of a virus receptor and may have exerted a selective pressure on the choice of an entry receptor during evolution of viral glycoproteins.
Intermediate filament proteins participate in signal transduction

How timely transport of chemical signals between the distal end of long axonal processes and the cell bodies of neurons occurs is an interesting and unresolved issue. Recently, Perlson et al. presented evidence that cleavage products of newly synthesized vimentin, an intermediate filament (IF) protein, interact with mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases at sites of axon injury. These IF fragments appear to be required for the transport of these kinases to the cell body along microtubule tracks. The truncated vimentin is instrumental in signal propagation as it provides a scaffold that brings together activated MAP kinases (such as Erk 1 and Erk2), as well as importin β and cytoplasmic dynein. The authors propose that this all-in-one transport complex has the extraordinary ability to travel towards the cell body and enter the nucleus where the kinases activate and influence gene expression so that a neuron can generate a timely response to injury.
Micron-scale coherence in interphase chromatin dynamics

Chromatin structure and dynamics control all aspects of DNA biology yet are poorly understood, especially at large length scales. We developed an approach, displacement correlation spectroscopy based on time-resolved image correlation analysis, to map chromatin dynamics simultaneously across the whole nucleus in cultured human cells. This method revealed that chromatin movement was coherent across large regions (4–5 µm) for several seconds. Regions of coherent motion extended beyond the boundaries of single-chromosome territories, suggesting elastic coupling of motion over length scales much larger than those of genes. These large-scale, coupled motions were ATP dependent and unidirectional for several seconds, perhaps accounting for ATP-dependent directed movement of single genes. Perturbation of major nuclear ATPases such as DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase II, and topoisomerase II eliminated micron-scale coherence, while causing rapid, local movement to increase; i.e., local motions accelerated but became uncoupled from their neighbors. We observe similar trends in chromatin dynamics upon inducing a direct DNA damage; thus we hypothesize that this may be due to DNA damage responses that physically relax chromatin and block long-distance communication of forces.
Completing the Pain Circuit: Recent Advances in Imaging Pain and Inflammation beyond the Central Nervous System

This review describes some of the recent developments in imaging aspects of pain in the periphery. It is now possible to image nerves in the cornea non-invasively, to image receptor level expression and inflammatory processes in injured tissue, to image nerves and alterations in nerve properties, to image astrocyte and glial roles in neuroinflammatory processes, and to image pain conduction functionally in the trigeminal ganglion. These advances will ultimately allow us to describe the pain pathway, from injury site to behavioral consequence, in a quantitative manner. Such a development could lead to diagnostics determining the source of pain (peripheral or central), objective monitoring of treatment progression, and, hopefully, objective biomarkers of pain.
Revisiting "Collaboration" Under Conditions of "Mobility"

With the modern day imperative of individuals being perennially on the move in order to keep pace with their work and business lives, the notion of "mobile collaboration" has come to assume a great deal of importance, both among scholars and practitioners. While the literature continues to extol the promises and virtues of mobility, there have been few illustrations on what collaboration means under conditions of mobility, and how it actually occurs. This paper takes a preliminary step toward clarifying the notion of mobile collaboration and developing a set of integrative themes capturing its essence
Strange bedfellows? The diffusion of convergence in four news organizations

This study examines newsroom convergence—a combination of technologies, products, staffs and geography among the previously distinct provinces of print, television and online media—through the framework of diffusion of innovations theory. Convergence is becoming a global trend as media companies continue to expand their holdings beyond their original core products. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from case studies of four US newsrooms, it is suggested that, despite culture clashes and other issues of compatibility, journalists see clear advantages in the new policy of convergence. Journalists perceive experience in a converged newsroom as a career booster, say they enjoy working with colleagues whose strengths differ from their own, and admit that convergence has led to respect for people in other parts of the news organization. At the same time, the diffusion of convergence within the newsroom may be hindered by cultural and technological differences in approaches to newsga...
Time domain analysis of linear networks using modified nodal formulation

A method of obtaining the time-domain response of a linear network is given. In this method, the circuit equations are formulated using the simple modified nodal approach. The method requires the calculations of the initial conditions X(0/sup +/) for the variables of interest. A simple algorithm for finding the initial conditions from the circuit description is proposed, and the results of the time-domain simulation of two example networks, using the resulting initial conditions, are provided. >
Competitive sorption between glyphosate and inorganic phosphate on clay minerals and low organic matter soils

Inorganic phosphate may influence the adsorption of glyphosate to soilsurface sites. It has been postulated that glyphosate sorption is dominatedby the phosphoric acid moiety, therefore, inorganic phosphate could competewith glyphosate for surface sorption sites. We examine sorption of glyphosatein low organic carbon systems where clay minerals dominate the available adsorptionsites using 32P-labeled phosphate and 14C-labeled glyphosateto track sorption. We found glyphosate sorption strongly dependent on phosphateadditions. Isotherms were generally of the L type, which is consistent witha limited number of surface sites. Most sorption on whole soils could be accountedfor by sorption observed on model clays of the same mineral type as foundin the soils.
Algorithms for Assigning Substrate Network Resources to Virtual Network Components

Recent proposals for network virtualization provide a promising way to overcome the Internet ossification. The key idea of network virtualization is to build a diversified Internet to support a variety of network services and architectures through a shared substrate. A major challenge in network virtualization is the assigning of substrate resources to virtual networks (VN) efficiently and on-demand. This paper focuses on two versions of the VN assignment problem: VN assignment without reconfiguration (VNA-I) and VN assignment with reconfiguration (VNAII). For the VNA-I problem, we develop a basic scheme as a building block for all other advanced algorithms. Subdividing heuristics and adaptive optimization strategies are then presented to further improve the performance. For the VNA-II problem, we develop a selective VN reconfiguration scheme that prioritizes the reconfiguration of the most critical VNs. Extensive simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithms can achieve good performance under a wide range of network conditions.
Noise-Induced Instability in the ENSO Recharge Oscillator

The conceptual El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) recharge oscillator model is used to study the linear stability of ENSO under state-dependent noise forcing. The analytical framework developed by Jin et al. is extended to more fully study noise-induced instability of ENSO. It is shown that in addition to the noise-induced positive contribution to the growth rate of the ensemble mean (first moment) evolution of the ENSO cycle, there is also a noise-induced instability for the ensemble spread (second moment). These growth rates continue to increase as the strength of the multiplicative noise increases. In both the analytical solution and the numerical model, the criticality threshold for instability of the second moment occurs at a lower value of the parameter that measures multiplicative forcing than the threshold for the first moment. The noise-induced instability not only enhances ENSO activity but also results in a large ensemble spread and thus may reduce the effectiveness of ENSO prediction. As in the additive noise forcing case, the low-frequency variability in the forcing is the important part for forcing El Nino events and the high-frequency forcing alone cannot effectively excite ENSO.
Enabling smooth and scalable dynamic 3d visualization of discrete-event construction simulations in outdoor augmented reality

Visualization is a powerful method for verifying, validating, and communicating the results of a simulated model. Lack of visual understanding about a simulated model is one of the major reasons inhibiting contractors and engineers from using results obtained from discrete-event simulation to plan and design their construction processes and commit real resources on the job site. The fast emerging information technology makes the use of modern visualization applications more appealing to engineers and scientists in different domains. This paper presents the design and implementation of an augmented reality (AR) visualization application together with an authoring language that allows the creation of outdoor AR animated scenes of simulated operations while featuring complete user involvement and interaction. The application is based on the concept of scene graphs. It also uses a unique general purpose data transmission method to communicate with hardware components of the system.
Electromagnetic simulation of quantum well structures

We present an auxiliary differential equation Finite-difference Time-domain (ADE-FDTD) approach to numerically model the wave propagation within a gain or absorbing medium such as quantum well structures. Start from traditional quantum electronics theory, the macroscopic susceptibility of the semiconductor is derived and expressed by a multiple-Lorentz-like model based on Prony’s method. With the auxiliary differential equation method each Lorentz-like model can be simulated in the time domain and the induced polarization is then determined by summing all the models. By incorporating the induced polarization into the time-domain Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic wave propagation in the quantum well medium can be accurately modeled using the FDTD method.
Linear optical properties of gold nanoshells

A metal nanoshell consists of a nanometer-scale dielectric core surrounded by a thin metallic shell. The plasmon resonance of metal nanoshells displays a geometric tunability controlled by the ratio of the core radius to the total radius. For gold-coated Au2S this ratio varies from 0.6 to 0.9, yielding a plasmon resonance tunable from 600 to greater than 1000 nm. Mie scattering theory for the nanoshell geometry quantitatively accounts for the observed plasmon resonance shifts and linewidths. In addition, the plasmon linewidth is shown to be dominated by electron surface scattering.
Crystal Chemistry of Alkali Thorium Silicates Under Hydrothermal Conditions

An investigation into the crystal chemistry of the alkali thorium silicates resulted in the formation of five novel materials by hydrothermal synthesis. Of these, Rb4Th2Si12O30, and K2ThSi4O10F2 are new structure types crystallizing in space groups P1 and Pnma, respectively. The structure of Rb4Th2Si12O30 reveals a silicate sheet structure with eight-, six-, five-, and four-membered silicate rings. Crystals of a related composition, Cs2ThSi6O15, were also synthesized. They crystallize in space group Cmc21 and have a silicate sheet containing eight-, six-, and four-membered silicate rings. The structure of K2ThSi4O10F2 consists of a tubular silicate column comprised of eight-, six-, and four-membered silicate rings and features chains of fluorine-bridged Th atoms. Two new wadeite analogues Cs2ThSi3O9 and Rb2ThSi3O9 were also discovered and constitute the first actinide representatives in this mineral family. All products were crystallized from reactions of ThO2 and silica with alkali fluorides or hydroxid...
The Importance of Trophic-Level Interactions to the Abundance and Species Composition of Algae in Lakes

The thesis is presented that the quantitative and qualitative responses of water bodies to nutrient inputs are affected greatly by the structures of their biotic communities. Evidence is given to show that in addition to the thesis being correct intuitively, it can be supported by field experiments and by observations even on such well-known lakes as L. Washington, L. Norrviken, L. Trummen, and L. Mendota. Emphasis is on the roles of herbivorous zooplankters in controlling algal blooms and their apparent capacity to bring about the dominance of such algae as Aphanizomenon. It is suggested that, because of the extreme sensitivity of Daphnia to pesticides, agricultural, or other pesticide-containing runoff, is particularly important in bringing about the symptoms of eutrophication.
JARID1D Is a Suppressor and Prognostic Marker of Prostate Cancer Invasion and Metastasis

Entire or partial deletions of the male-specific Y chromosome are associated with tumorigenesis, but whether any male-specific genes located on this chromosome play a tumor-suppressive role is unknown. Here, we report that the histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) demethylase JARID1D (also called KDM5D and SMCY), a male-specific protein, represses gene expression programs associated with cell invasiveness and suppresses the invasion of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We found that JARID1D specifically repressed the invasion-associated genes MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, MMP7, and Slug by demethylating trimethyl H3K4, a gene-activating mark, at their promoters. Our additional results demonstrated that JARID1D levels were highly downregulated in metastatic prostate tumors compared to normal prostate tissues and primary prostate tumors. Furthermore, the JARID1D gene was frequently deleted in metastatic prostate tumors, and low JARID1D levels were associated with poor prognosis in prostate cancer patients. Taken together, these findings provide the first evidence that an epigenetic modifier expressed on the Y chromosome functions as an anti-invasion factor to suppress the progression of prostate cancer. Our results also highlight a preclinical rationale for using JARID1D as a prognostic marker in advanced prostate cancer.
Power Integrations, Inc

In this case, students must create a launch plan for a new integrated circuit that reflects the complexities of the adoption process and the power supply value chain. Power Integrations, Inc., is the world's leading supplier of integrated circuits for switching power suppliers. In 2002 the company is preparing to launch LinkSwitch, a new analog power conversion chip designed for products requiring less than 3 watts of power. Potential applications include electrical chargers for cell phones, cordless phones, PDAs, digital cameras, and portable audio devices. Advantages of the new chip included reduced weight and energy efficiency.
The Quality of Recent Studies in Content- Area Writing in Secondary Classrooms

Situated within the historical and current state of writing and adolescent literacy research, we conducted a systematic literature review in which we screened 2,871 articles to determine the preval...
Identifying DC bias conditions for maximum DC current in digitally-assisted analog design

We propose a novel methodology for maximizing DC current in digitally-assisted analog circuit. The proposed methodology identifies a set of analog bias voltages and digital mode selection signals that maximizes the DC current through either a particular wire segment or the power/ground bus. This technique enables sensitization of EM related faults. First, a channel-connected graph is built from a mixed signal transistor circuit, then the current activation condition is formulated as satisfiability constraints annotated in the channel-connected graph. This results in a weighted constraint satisfaction(WCS) formulation. To the best of author's knowledge, this problem has not been previously studied.
Sex differences in adrenocortical structure and function

The cytological aspects of sexual dimorphism in the rat adrenal cortex and its relationship to the gonads have been investigated. The adrenal glands of mature female rats were heavier than those of males, and morphometry showed that this was almost exclusively due to conspicuous differences in the volume of cells of the zona fasciculata (ZF) and zona reticularis (ZR). Stereology demonstrated that the volume of the mitochondrial and lipid droplet compartments, as well as the surface area per cell of mitochondrial cristae and smooth endoplasmic reticulum tubules, were markedly higher in the ZF and ZR cells of female animals. Orchiectomy increased and ovariectomy decreased the adrenal weight, by eliciting hypertrophy and atrophy, respectively, of ZF and ZR cells; these effects of gonadectomy were reversed by the appropriate gonadal hormone replacement. It is suggested that the sexual dimorphism of the rat adrenal cortex may depend upon the inhibitory action of testosterone and the stimulatory effect of estradiol on the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-adrenal axis.
Two Ecotypes of Neurospora Intermedia

Neurospora intermedia is found on burned substrates in all tropical and subtropical areas that have been sampled in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Cultures from burned substrates are salmon ...
Facilitating Multiple-Objective Decision-Making for Advanced Manufacturing: A Knowledge Representation and Computational Active Learning-Based Simulation Framework

Due to the rapid development of information technology and the impetus for more efficient and adaptive manufacturing processes, the concept of advanced manufacturing has become an increasingly prominent research topic across academia and industry in recent years. One critical aspect of advanced manufacturing is how to optimally cope with the complexities of multiple-objective decision-making to implement advanced manufacturing technologies with currently available enterprise resources and the realistic manufacturing conditions of a company. Generally, to successfully fulfill an advanced manufacturing plan, decision-makers must align short-term objectives with long-term strategies. In addition, the decision-making process usually has to prioritize multiple-objective goals under a considerable number of uncertainties. This requirement presents new challenges for both planning and implementing advanced manufacturing technologies, and thus calls for new approaches for to better support such tasks. This paper proposes a knowledge representation and computational active learning-based framework for dealing with complex, multiple-objective decision-making problems for advanced manufacturing under realistic conditions. Through this study, we hope to shed light on using a simulation framework for multiple-objective decision support, thereby providing an alternative for manufacturing enterprises, which could lead to an acceptable optimal decision with reasonable cost and accuracy. First, we describe the scope of an advanced manufacturing system for industrial manufacturing. Next, we introduce systematic analysis of the complexities of the decision-making to implement advanced manufacturing. Finally, we propose a simulation model for the decision-making and formulate a computational active learning-based framework to efficiently compute goal priorities for multiple-objective decision-making. We validate the framework by presenting a simulation of decision-making.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Recognition Matters!: UN State Status and Attitudes toward Territorial Compromise

Does international recognition of statehood affect support for territorial compromise among groups engaged in struggles for self-determination? We show that, contrary to skepticism about the impact...
Research on Kernel Parameter Optimization of Support Vector Machine in Speaker Recognition

In the SVM-based speaker recognition system study,it is important to obtain a ideal recognition rate.SVM kernel function is one of the most critical factors that affect the recognition rate.The key technology improves the system recognition rate is the SVM kernel function and parameter optimization.So,based on the characteristics of three kernel functions,it selects the optimal parameters with the grid search method to achieve the training and recognition of the speaker recognition.The current optimized parameters can achieve recognition rate≥ 99.9% and recognition time 0.1 s.
The synthetic analysis of shear lag,aberration and restricted torsion for concrete box girders of high-speed railway

Based on the traditional parsing theory of thin-wall box girders,the authors establish a general calculation parsing mode of high-speed railway box girders.Compared with the results for some cross sections of a real example by means of calculation programme of finite element,it shows some distributing rules of stress in cross sections of concrete box girders of high-speed railway and some influencing factors.
An electrophoretic analysis of proteins of cellular sap in normal and hybrid frog embryos

The degree of abnormality found in amphibian interspecies hybrids varies from one species pair to another, and may also differ between reciprocal matings (Moore, 1955). Although some general ideas exist about the mechanism of arrest and the course of abnormal development, our knowledge is far from complete. One major aspect of development which has received attention only at the gross level is the nature and diversity of those proteins which compose the greater part of the cytoplasmic sap, the ‘soluble’ proteins in the sense of this paper (see below). This paper reports the results of studies on the development of normal ( Rana pipiens ) and gastrula-arrested hybrid ( R. pipiens ♀ × R. sylvatica ♂) amphibian embryos. The present work was undertaken (i) to provide a detailed survey of the salinesoluble proteins in R. pipiens during the embryonic period, and (ii) to apply the same techniques to the gastrula-arrested hybrid with R. sylvatica .
Fault Detection for Photovoltaic Systems Based on Multi-Resolution Signal Decomposition and Fuzzy Inference Systems

This paper presents a detection scheme for DC side short-circuit faults of photovoltaic (PV) arrays that consist of multiple PV panels connected in a series/parallel configuration. Such faults are nearly undetectable under low irradiance conditions, particularly, when a maximum power point tracking algorithm is in-service. If remain undetected, these faults can considerably lower the output energy of solar systems, damage the panels, and potentially cause fire hazards. The proposed fault detection scheme is based on a pattern recognition approach that employs a multiresolution signal decomposition technique to extract the necessary features, based on which a fuzzy inference system determines if a fault has occurred. The presented case studies (both simulation and experimental) demonstrate the effective and reliable performance of the proposed method in detecting PV array faults.
Painting between the lines: the Cape Verdean community of Colonial Dakar, 1920-1945

AbstractFrom the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, Cape Verdean immigrants to Dakar, colonial capital of French West Africa, became a small but important community in terms of significance in both the urban economy and the colonial framework of race and identity. They occupied important labor niches valuable to the colonizer such as painting and domestic work and attached those fields to a unique identity to which only they belonged. Able to capitalize on the ambiguity inherent to colonial race and identity policies, Cape Verdeans bridged categories common to state policies – particularly “foreign” and “native” – in ways not adequately captured by the concept of intermediaries often employed in examinations of immigrant populations to West Africa. Their insertion in Dakar reveals the permeability of such colonial concepts as well as the opportunities immigrants made in town.
The Mechanics of Motivated Reasoning

Whenever we see voters explain away their preferred candidate’s weaknesses, dieters assert that a couple scoops of ice cream won’t really hurt their weight loss goals, or parents maintain that their children are unusually gifted, we are reminded that people’s preferences can affect their beliefs. This idea is captured in the common saying, “People believe what they want to believe.” But people don’t simply believe what they want to believe. The psychological mechanisms that produce motivated beliefs are much more complicated than that. Personally, we’d like to believe that our contributions to the psychological literature might someday rival those of Daniel Kahneman, but, try as we might, the disparity in citations, prizes, invitations—you name it—makes holding such a belief impossible. People generally reason their way to conclusions they favor, with their preferences influencing the way evidence is gathered, arguments are processed, and memories of past experience are recalled. Each of these processes can be affected in subtle ways by people’s motivations, leading to biased beliefs that feel objective (Gilovich and Ross 2015; Pronin, Gilovich, and Ross 2004). As Kunda (1990) put it, “people motivated to arrive at a particular conclusion attempt to be rational and to construct a justification of their desired conclusion that would persuade a dispassionate observer. They draw the desired conclusion only if they can muster up the evidence necessary to support it” (p. 482–83). Motivated reasoning is constrained.
Assessment of Barriers to Providing Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) in the Hospital Setting

Objectives: The primary objective of the study is to identify the barriers to providing Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) in the hospital setting. Methods: Potential barriers to IPPEs were identified via literature review and interviews with current IPPE preceptors from various institutions. Based on this information, an electronic survey was developed and distributed to IPPE preceptors in order to assess student, preceptor, logistical and college or school of pharmacy related barriers that potentially exist for providing IPPE in the hospital setting. Results: Sixty-eight of the 287 eligible survey respondents (24%) completed the electronic survey. Seventy-six percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that available time was a barrier to precepting IPPE students even though a majority of respondents reported spending a third or more of their day with an IPPE student when on rotation. Seventy-three percent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that all preceptors have consistent performance expectations for students, while just 46% agreed or strongly agreed that they had adequate training to precept IPPEs. Sixty-five percent of respondents agreed that IPPE students have the ability to be a participant in patient care and 70% of preceptors believe that IPPE students should be involved in patient care. Conclusions: Conducting IPPEs in the institutional setting comes with challenges. Based on the results of this study, experiential directors and colleges/schools of pharmacy could make a positive impact on the quality and consistency of IPPEs by setting student expectations and training preceptors on appropriate and consistent expectations for students. Type: Original Research
Inverse heat transfer analysis for design and control of a micro-heater array

A non-linear inverse heat source identification problem is described and solved. The inverse problem analysis is used in the design of an embedded micro-heater array and to estimate the required control settings, which are the input currents to each heating element, to generate as close as possible to a prescribed temperature profile on the surface of a thin copper film. The purpose of the micro-heater array is to control the local copper microstructure through control of the local temperature field. A finite element model of the micro-heater system is used to define a discrete set of non-linear equations used as a basis for the inverse problem solution. Two methods are explored to solve the inverse problem, a direct minimization method with Tikhonov regularization and a passivity-based feedback control algorithm. A uniform and a linear temperature distribution could be attained in the central region above the micro-heater array, but the temperatures near the edges of the domain could not be controlled du...
Impact of step-based tutoring on student learning in linear circuit courses

A step-based tutoring system is being developed to improve student learning in elementary linear circuit analysis courses. The approach is based on the known importance of viewing worked examples or solutions in alternation with problem-solving exercises of the same type, to avoid excessive cognitive loads when learning a new skill. The system can generate an unlimited supply of circuit problems (with randomly varying topologies) similar to those in textbooks and corresponding fully explained solutions for both DC, AC, and transient analysis. Solution methods and topics include voltage and current division, node and mesh analysis, superposition, Thevenin and Norton equivalents, Bode plots, and Laplace analysis. Special pedagogical devices are used to reduce extraneous cognitive load when using the system, such as color-coding nodes and equation terms. Qualitative conceptual topics such as series and parallel connections are given special emphasis. The system has been used to date by over 2860 students in 71 class sections at 10 different colleges and universities of widely varying types, with generally very favorable student ratings. Evaluation has included a series of randomized, controlled trials in both laboratory and classroom settings to rigorously assess student learning gains as well as the impact of the materials on student motivation and preferences. Learning improvements of 0.72 std. deviations are found in comparison to a publisher-based homework system for node analysis, and 0.97 std. deviations for identification of elements in series and parallel compared to paper exercises.
Fabrication of a Highly Aligned Neural Scaffold via a Table Top Stereolithography 3D Printing and Electrospinning .

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a rapidly emerging technique in the field of tissue engineering to fabricate extremely intricate and complex biomimetic scaffolds in the range of micrometers. Such customized 3D printed constructs can be used for the regeneration of complex tissues such as cartilage, vessels, and nerves. However, the 3D printing techniques often offer limited control over the resolution and compromised mechanical properties due to short selection of printable inks. To address these limitations, we combined stereolithography and electrospinning techniques to fabricate a novel 3D biomimetic neural scaffold with a tunable porous structure and embedded aligned fibers. By employing two different types of biofabrication methods, we successfully utilized both synthetic and natural materials with varying chemical composition as bioink to enhance biocompatibilities and mechanical properties of the scaffold. The resulting microfibers composed of polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer and PCL mixed with gelatin were embedded in 3D printed hydrogel scaffold. Our results showed that 3D printed scaffolds with electrospun fibers significantly improve neural stem cell adhesion when compared to those without the fibers. Furthermore, 3D scaffolds embedded with aligned fibers showed an enhancement in cell proliferation relative to bare control scaffolds. More importantly, confocal microscopy images illustrated that the scaffold with PCL/gelatin fibers greatly increased the average neurite length and directed neurite extension of primary cortical neurons along the fiber. The results of this study demonstrate the potential to create unique 3D neural tissue constructs by combining 3D bioprinting and electrospinning techniques.
Increased Testosterone Decreases Medial Cortical Volume and Neurogenesis in Territorial Side-Blotched Lizards (Uta stansburiana).

Variation in an animal’s spatial environment can induce variation in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in spatial cognitive processing. Specifically, increased spatial area use is correlated with increased hippocampal attributes such as volume and neurogenesis. In the side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana), males demonstrate alternative reproductive tactics and are either territorial - defending large, clearly defined spatial boundaries - or non-territorial - traversing home ranges that are smaller than the territorial males’ territories. Our previous work demonstrated cortical volume (reptilian hippocampal homologue) correlates with these spatial niches. We found that territorial holders have larger medial cortices than non-territory holders, yet these differences in the neural architecture demonstrated some degree of plasticity as well. Although we have demonstrated a link among territoriality, spatial use, and brain plasticity, the mechanisms that underlie this relationship are unclear. Previous studies found that higher testosterone levels can induce increased use of the spatial area and can cause an upregulation in hippocampal attributes. Thus, testosterone may be the mechanistic link between spatial area use and the brain. What remains unclear, however, is if testosterone can affect the cortices independent of spatial experiences and whether testosterone differentially interacts with territorial status to produce the resultant cortical phenotype. In this study, we compared neurogenesis as measured by the total number of doublecortin-positive cells and cortical volume between territorial and non-territorial males supplemented with testosterone. We found no significant differences in the number of doublecortin-positive cells or cortical volume among control territorial, control non-territorial, and testosterone-supplemented non-territorial males, while testosterone-supplemented territorial males had smaller medial cortices containing fewer doublecortin-positive cells. These results demonstrate that testosterone can modulate medial cortical attributes outside of differential spatial processing experiences but that territorial males appear to be more sensitive to alterations in testosterone levels compared with non-territorial males.
What Aspects of the Design of an Observational Study Affect Its Sensitivity to Bias from Covariates That Were Not Observed

In discussing observational or nonrandomized studies of treatment effects in his president’s address to the Royal Society of Medicine, Austin Bradford Hill (1965) asked: Our observations reveal an association between two variables, perfectly clear-cut and beyond what we would care to attribute to the play of chance. What aspects of that association should we especially consider before deciding that the most likely interpretation of it is causation? (p. 295) If Hill were correct, if there were actually aspects of association pertinent to judging evidence about causation, then a natural goal for the design of observational studies would be to ensure that these aspects are present in a decisive form.
Prognostic Significance of Circulating RET M918T Mutated Tumor DNA in Patients With Advanced Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma

Context Interpretation of calcitonin measurement to predict the prognosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) requires multiple measurements over an extended time period, making it an imperfect biomarker for evaluating prognosis or disease behavior. Single circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) values have been shown to be a valuable prognostic marker for several solid tumors. Objective We tested the hypothesis that cfDNA containing the RET M918T mutation could be detected in the blood of patients with advanced MTC whose tumor harbored an M918T mutation and would be able to predict overall survival more reliably than calcitonin. Design The level of cfDNA containing RET M918T mutation was measured in the plasma of patients with MTC via droplet digital polymerase chain reaction. Patients Patients had a confirmed sporadic MTC diagnosis, a serum calcitonin measurement >100 pg/mL, and tumor tissue biopsy results providing RET M918T mutation status. There were 75 patients included in this study, 50 of whom harbored an RET M918T mutation by tissue biopsy. Results RET M918T cfDNA was detected in 16 of 50 patients (32%) with a positive tissue biopsy. The detection of RET M918T cfDNA strongly correlated with worse overall survival and more accurately predicted a worse outcome than calcitonin doubling time. Conclusions Liquid biopsy is able to detect RET M918T mutations in patient plasma with high specificity but low sensitivity. In patients with established somatic RET M918T mutations, the allelic fraction of circulating tumor DNA is prognostic for overall survival and may play a role in monitoring response to treatment.
Metallothionein expression in slow- vs. fast-twitch muscle fibers following 4 weeks of streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is known to cause an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and elevated intracellular glucose levels. We investigated the metallothionein I and II (MT I+II) antioxidants ...
Informing Adolescents of Perinatally Contracted HIV.

Adolescents who contracted HIV perinatally should be told of their disease status. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Multicriterion Optimization in Resources Planning

Resource planning problems present many excellent examples of why multicriterion optimization (MCO) can be so useful in practice. These problems virtually always involve a public decision-making process, and they virtually never can be characterized as having a single criterion. The protection of the environment—a particular kind of resource planning problem—is by its very nature a multicriterion problem: the environment is being “protected from” economic activities. Thus, problems in environmental control are born out of conflict between criteria: economic development and environmental preservation. Resource problems, in general, exhibit these criteria and others, such as equity in the distribution of benefits and costs—the classic upstream-downstream conflict in water resource problems—and risk to human health.
Clinical utility of prone imaging in patients with suspected respiration motion artifacts and claustrophobia

1168 Objectives The objective of this study was to compare prone and supine imaging in patients with suspected respiratory motion artifact on attenuation corrected (AC) myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS). Methods Seventy pts referred for indicated MPS with Tc-99m perfusion tracers were evaluated with AC SPECT. Imaging was performed using standard parallel hole collimation with a Siemens Symbia T16 SPECT/CT. SPECT was performed over 180° contoured orbits at 3° increments for 15-20 sec per view into 128x128 matrices and 4.8 mm pixels in the prone and supine positions. Study time was 15-20 min and images were attenuation corrected using CT images acquired immediately before MPS. 28 pts were low likelihood normals and 14 pts had document coronary heart disease (CHD). Images including raw data cine and sinogram displays were review for respiratory and patient motion. Images were scored both respiratory and patient motion from 0 (no motion) to 4 (severe motion). Standard long and short axis displays were compared for quality, normalcy and correlation with angiography. Standard 17 segment scoring and blackout polarmap analyses were employed (Corridor4DM). Results Assessment of raw data cine displays demonstrated significantly lower scores for prone images (0.8±1.0 prone as 1.5±1.2 supine, p Conclusions In patients with suspected respiratory motion artifacts and claustrophobia, prone imaging is a useful alternative to supine imaging demonstrating improved image quality and accuracy
Sensor Data Fusion in Robotic Systems

ABSTRACT Many types of sensors may be used to gather information on the surrounding environment. It may be noted that different sensors possess distinct characteristics, are designed based on differing physical principles, operate in a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and are geared toward a variety of applications. A single sensor operating alone provides a limited sensing range, and is inherently unreliable due to operational errors. However, a synergistic operation of many sensors provides a rich body of information on the sensed environment from a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this paper, we present a brief survey of the techniques/systems for sensor data fusion. We first address sensor data fusion in mobile robotics applications. Since mobile robots operate in an uncertain and constantly changing environment, a steady stream of rich and reliable information on the environment is needed for navigation and path planning. We discuss the feasibility of a few sensors in such applications and present several sensor data fusion techniques for road following and terrain analysis. Next, we review techniques for fusing data from visual, thermal, tactile, and structured-lighting sensors and discuss several general frameworks for sensor data fusion.