cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intensive swine production and pork safety.

Abstract Major structural changes in livestock production in developed countries, particularly intensive confinement production and increases in herd and flock sizes, have raised several societal concerns about the future directions and implications of livestock food production, including the safety of meat products. This review of the major parasitic and bacterial foodborne pathogens associated with pork production indicates that pork safety in the United States has improved demonstrably over recent decades. Most notably, changes in swine production methods have been associated with virtual elimination of risk of the foodborne parasites Taenia solium, Trichinella spiralis, and Toxoplasma gondii from pigs reared on modern intensive farms. This represents a substantial public health achievement that has gone largely unheralded. Regulatory changes have led to demonstrably lower prevalence of Salmonella on pork carcasses, but control of bacterial foodborne pathogens on farms remains a significant challenge. ...
An Integrative Model of Legitimacy Judgments

I develop a theoretical framework that specifies the content underlying legitimacy judgments and a model of the process by which these judgments develop and change. I argue that individual-level legitimacy judgments are based on evaluations that fall along three dimensions (instrumental, relational, and moral). I specify three stages of the legitimacy judgment process and two modes by which judgments may be developed or revised (evaluative and passive). I end by discussing implications for the study of institutional change.
Universal Machine Modeling for the Representation of Rotating Electric Machinery in an Electromagnetic Transients Program

This paper describes the theory, development and practical application of a new universal machine module, which can be used for the transient analysis of motor/generator phenomena in large and complex power networks. In the general case, doubly-fed electric machines with an arbitrary number of coils and magnetic saturation can be represented. Included are all of the major classes which are of common industrial interest: synchronous and induction machines of 1, 2, or 3 phases, and dc machines. A procedure for maximizing the flexibility of the machine-network interface is explained. Computer implementation has been variably- dimensioned, so that any number of motors or generators can be interconnected with mechanical systems and electric networks of arbitrary size and configuration. Universal machine modeling is now a standard feature of the BPA Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP), which is widely used on numerous different computers.
Leadership for Social Justice and Equity: Evaluating a Transformative Framework and Andragogy

Purpose: This study explores the effects of an alternative, transformative andragogy (i.e., the art and science of helping others to learn) designed to be responsive to the challenges of preparing ...
A Stochastic Framework for Solar Irradiance Forecasting Using Condition Random Field

Solar irradiance volatility is a major concern in integrating solar energy micro-grids to the mainstream energy power grid. Accounting for such fluctuations is challenging even with supplier coordination and smart-grid structure implementation. Short-term solar irradiance forecasting is one of the crucial components for maintaining a constant and reliable power output. We propose a novel stochastic solar prediction framework using Conditional Random Fields. The proposed model utilizes features extracted from both cloud images taken by Total Sky Imagers and historical statistics to synergistically reduce the prediction error by \(25\)-\(40\%\) in terms of MAE in \(1\)-\(5\) minute forecast experiments over the baseline methods.
Selected aspects of "safety culture" in hospitals of the Czech Republic.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Patient safety is a strategic goal of managers of all health care facilities in the Czech Republic. The development of a safety culture in the facility helps to ensure high quality health care. GOAL OF THE SURVEY was to assess the safety culture with regard to patient safety and team cooperation. A partial goal was to confirm the hypothesis that team cooperation among health care staff significantly influences patient safety. METHODOLOGY 772 nurses took part in a quantitative survey. The respondents were nurses working shifts in inpatient departments of hospitals in the Czech Republic. RESULTS Patient safety was described as excellent by 17.5% of nurses. It is described as very good by 60.2% of nurses and described as acceptable by 20.5% nurses. 78% of respondents agreed with the statement that patient safety was never neglected at the expense of increased workload. More than 10% of nurses reported that there were problems with patient safety. 19.8% of respondents were reported that efforts to prevent errors were not practiced at their clinic, and, therefore, and only chance had prevent more errors from occurring. According to 64.9% of respondents, the staff on the wards supported each other and a similar number of respondents reported that they showed respect for each other (60.2%). Respondents reported that intra-ward support increased the degree of patient safety. CONCLUSION Results from the survey show that team cooperation is a precondition for providing safe patient care, which cannot be underestimated and must be refined and improved through good hospital management.
Handling OOV Words in Dialectal Arabic to English Machine Translation

Dialects and standard forms of a language typically share a set of cognates that could bear the same meaning in both varieties or only be shared homographs but serve as faux amis. Moreover, there are words that are used exclusively in the dialect or the standard variety. Both phenomena, faux amis and exclusive vocabulary, are considered out of vocabulary (OOV) phenomena. In this paper, we present this problem of OOV in the context of machine translation. We present a new approach for dialect to English Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) enhancement based on normalizing dialectal language into standard form to provide equivalents to address both aspects of the OOV problem posited by dialectal language use. We specifically focus on Arabic to English SMT. We use two publicly available dialect identification tools: AIDA and MADAMIRA, to identify and replace dialectal Arabic OOV words with their modern standard Arabic (MSA) equivalents. The results of evaluation on two blind test sets show that using AIDA to identify and replace MSA equivalents enhances translation results by 0.4% absolute BLEU (1.6% relative BLEU) and using MADAMIRA achieves 0.3% absolute BLEU (1.2% relative BLEU) enhancement over the baseline. We show our replacement scheme reaches a noticeable enhancement in SMT performance for faux amis words.
Timeliness of Recommended Follow-Up After an Abnormal Finding on Diagnostic Chest CT in Smokers at High Risk of Developing Lung Cancer.

Abstract Purpose Diagnostic chest CT frequently results in abnormal findings that require follow-up. We assessed the timeliness of follow-up after CT abnormalities were identified in symptomatic smokers at high risk for developing lung cancer. Methods In an academic primary care network, we identified current smokers aged 55-79 years who received a diagnostic chest CT to evaluate symptoms during 2012. Medical chart abstraction identified radiologist recommendations and follow-up care. The outcome was the proportion of patients who received timely follow-up (within 30 days of recommendation) after an abnormal chest CT. We assessed for predictors of compliance with recommended follow-up. Results Of 3,257 eligible smokers, 446 (14%) had a chest CT during 2012. We excluded 70 patients who already had lung cancer, died, had imaging done elsewhere, or left the practice. Of the remaining 376 patients, 337 (90%) had abnormal chest CT findings, and 184 (55%) had a specific follow-up recommendation. Among those with recommended follow-up, only 102 of 184 (55%) had timely follow-up. Those who had a CT performed to evaluate pulmonary disease and those receiving care in community health centers were more likely to receive timely follow-up. Of 27 patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer, 18 (67%) had their first oncology visit within 30 days of diagnosis. Conclusions Among patients undergoing diagnostic chest CTs, most received follow-up for abnormal findings, but it was often delayed. Systems to support patients in obtaining recommended follow-up are needed to ensure that the benefits of lung cancer screening translate into usual clinical practice.
The history of psychiatry : An opportunity for self-reflection and interdisciplinary dialogue

"Can you recommend a good one volume history of psychiatry?" I am often asked this question, being a psychiatric and psychoanalytic clinician who has also been deeply involved in the history of psychiatry, as a writer and as a teacher. "Single authored or multiple authored?" I ask in return and explain that if single authored the answer is no; if multiple authored I respond, "You have to await the publication of the huge encyclopedic volume(s), edited by John Gach and Edwin Wallace, sometime in the next few years. That 'definitive' work will not be definitive for very long; neither will it be inexpensive nor light reading, either in heft or in style." "What about Zilboorg's History of Medical Psychology?-I remember it as readable, portable, and quotable," my student or colleague continues. To that I reply, "Definitely worth reading, but you will have to do a lot of other reading to fill in the important omissions, to correct the errors of fact and interpretation, and to understand the author's unquestioned assumptions and biases." "Erwin Ackernecht's Short History of Psychiatry?" "Good book, amazing what's packed into it, but it really is short. If you read German very well, there is Der Wahnsinn by Leibbrand and Wettley, which would serve you better, but that is a huge book with small print, and for that too you would have to do a lot of extra reading to fill in gaps and to understand their biases."
Cognitive flexibility deficits in children with specific reading comprehension difficulties

Abstract Substantial research indicates decoding difficulties are a primary contributor to reading comprehension problems. Yet, far less is known about sources of reading comprehension problems when readers' decoding abilities are appropriate for grade level (i.e., specific reading comprehension difficulties; RCD). Executive functioning contributes uniquely to RCD beyond traditional predictors, such as decoding ability and vocabulary. However, of the three core executive functions, working memory and inhibition have received relatively more research attention than cognitive flexibility, even though readers with RCD typically focus inflexibly on decoding processes without attention to meaning. Two studies assessed the contribution of cognitive flexibility to RCD. Study 1 employed a matched sampling approach to examine general and reading-specific cognitive flexibility in 24 readers with RCD and 24 typically developing readers (from a pool of 140 students) at the end of 1st and 2nd grades. Readers with RCD were significantly lower in reading-specific cognitive flexibility than typically developing peers, even when decoding, verbal ability, nonverbal matrix reasoning ability, and vocabulary were controlled; a similar, though not significant, difference emerged for general, color-shape cognitive flexibility. Study 2 revealed a teacher-delivered cognitive flexibility intervention produced significant improvements in reading comprehension for students with RCD (n = 18) who had not shown significant growth prior to intervention; after intervention, their reading comprehension growth was comparable to typically developing controls (n = 21).
Use of intraoperative monitoring in children.

The holy grail of intraoperative monitoring is accurate correlation of electrophysiological changes and postoperative neurological changes. Ideally, feedback provided to the surgeon in real time would allow for an alteration in technique and thus the opportunity to prevent or reverse neurological deficits. While intraoperative neuromonitoring modalities continue to evolve, the perfect predictive value of this tool remains elusive. Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring is essentially the standard of care for adults harboring intramedullary tumors.5–7 Less information is available in the pediatric population, perhaps given the rarity of these lesions.2–4 Cheng et al.1 report on their experience using both transcranial motor evoked potentials (TcMEPs) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) in a retrospective series of 12 patients. Overall, they found that intraoperative electrical changes predicted postoperative neurological outcomes. They correlated changes in TcMEP and SSEP monitoring with specific intraoperative maneuvers, including traction on the spinal cord and tumor resection via the cavitational ultrasonic surgical aspirator. They also used dorsal column mapping to accurately predict where to perform a midline myelotomy, novel information in the pediatric population. Several patients in the series had intraoperative changes in their monitoring, which correlated with new postoperative deficits. Not all of these deficits resolved, and the correlation between intraoperative changes and postoperative dysfunction was not perfect. While the use of intraoperative monitoring in children undergoing intramedullary spinal cord tumor resection appears to be useful, the results of this study must be interpreted with some caution. The study is retrospective in nature with only 12 patients, 5 of whom did not undergo dorsal column mapping. Data were collected over a period of 8 years, and the last patient in the series underwent surgery a decade ago. Moreover, D-wave monitoring,8–10 a more recent advance in the intraoperative assessment of motor function, was not utilized. Nevertheless, the data contribute to our understanding of spinal cord tumor resection in the pediatric population. The authors noted that raising the blood pressure above normal was not helpful in reversing SSEP changes and that releasing traction proved the most reliable maneuver for correcting the first SSEP change. Finally, the provided data offer some guidance in the intraoperative balancing act faced by every surgeon regarding how aggressive the tumor resection should be to avoid tumor recurrence, while doing no harm in preserving neurological function. (http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2013.9.PEDS13439)
The role of the distal histidine in H2O2 activation and heme protection in both peroxidase and globin functions.

The distal histidine mutations of dehaloperoxidase-hemoglobin A (DHP A) to aspartate (H55D) and asparagine (H55N) have been prepared to study the role played by the distal histidine in both activation and protection against oxidation by radicals in heme proteins. The H55D and H55N mutants of DHP A have ∼6-fold and ∼11-fold lower peroxidase activities than wild type enzyme toward the oxidation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) to yield 2,6-dichloroquinone (DCQ) in the presence of H2O2. The origin of the lower rate constants may be the solvent-exposed conformations of distal D55 and N55, which would have the dual effect of destabilizing the binding of H2O2 to the heme iron, and of removing the acid–base catalyst necessary for the heterolytic O–O bond cleavage of heme-bound H2O2 (i.e., compound 0). The partial peroxidase activity of H55D can be explained if one considers that there are two conformations of the distal aspartate (open and closed) by analogy with the distal histidine. We hypothesize that the dista...
ENTRAINMENT, AXIS SWITCHING, AND ASPECT-RATIO EFFECTS IN RECTANGULAR FREE JETS

Results of numerical simulations of low aspect-ratio rectangular jets are used to relate unsteady entrainment and fluid dynamics in the transitional regime, to examine their basic topological features and the role of aspect ratio effects. Two qualitatively different flow topologies for rectangular jets are demonstrated, with non-unity AR rectangular jets being characterized by single streamwise (rib) vortices aligned with comer regions — in contrast with pairs of counter rotating ribs aligned with corners for square jets. An overview of our present understanding of axis-switching phenomena for these jets is presented, and the important role of braid vortices is discussed in this context.
The Fixing and Staining of Liriodendron Tulepifera Root Tips and their Mycorrehizal Fungus

Root tips of Liriodendron Tulipifera forming with a fungus of the Mycelium Radicis group an endotrophic mycorrhiza, were subjected to several different fixations in which the action of cationic chromium and anionic chromium were compared. Anionic chromium in the form of chromic acid was combined with several substituted benzene compounds while cationic chromium in the form of chromic sulfate (Cr2(SO4)3·15 H2O) in 4% formaldehyde (HCHO) was used with the same ring compounds. In addition, several fixatives not containing chromium were tested.Five percent chromic sulfate (Cr2(SO4)2·15 H2O) in 4% formaldehyde (HCHO) or in 1% osmic acid with saturated aqueous salicylic and/or picric acid preserved the histological and cytological details of the mycorrhiza, as was clearly demonstrated when followed by staining in 3% acetic acid saturated with orseillin BB and counterstained with 1% crystal violet in clove oil.Two percent ferric chloride (Fe Cl3) in 4% formaldehyde showed the relationship of the tannin contents ...
Black hole ringing, quasinormal modes, and light rings

Modeling of gravitational waves from binary black hole inspiral has played an important role in the recent observations of such signals. The late-stage ringdown phase of the gravitational waveform is often associated with the null particle orbit (``light ring'') of the black hole spacetime. With simple models we show that this link between the light ring and spacetime ringing is based more on the history of specific models than on an actual constraining relationship. We also show, in particular, that a better understanding of the dissociation of the two may be relevant to the astrophysically interesting case of rotating (Kerr) black holes.
Die Zahl Neun

Wir kommen nun zur Zahl 9, der letzten in diesem Buch. Dabei werden wir Querverbindungen zu verschiedenen bereits behandelten Themen wie Primzahlen, Packungen und Potenzen entdecken. Die Heegner-Zahlen mit ihren uberraschenden Verbindungen konnten Sie voranbringen. Und, nein, die neun Leben einer Katze brauchen Sie dazu sicher nicht.
The Self-Aware Matching Measure for stereo

We revisit stereo matching functions, a topic that is considered well understood, from a different angle. Our goal is to discover a transformation that operates on the cost or similarity measures between pixels in binocular stereo. This transformation should produce a new matching curve that results in higher matching accuracy. The desired transformation must have no additional parameters over those of the original matching function and must result in a new matching function that can be used by existing local, global and semi-local stereo algorithms without having to modify the algorithms. We propose a transformation that meets these requirements, taking advantage of information derived from matching the input images against themselves. We analyze the behavior of this transformation, which we call Self-Aware Matching Measure (SAMM), on a diverse set of experiments on data with ground truth. Our results show that the SAMM improves the performance of dense and semi-dense stereo. Moreover, as opposed to the current state of the art, it does not require distinctiveness to match pixels reliably.
Working Together: Building Successful Policy and Program Partnerships for Immigrant Integration

Supporting and investing in the integration of immigrants and their children is critically important to US society. Successful integration contributes to the nation's economic vitality, its civic a...
Achieving high-fidelity single-qubit gates in a strongly driven silicon-quantum-dot hybrid qubit

Performing qubit gate operations as quickly as possible can be important to minimize the effects of decoherence. For resonant gates, this requires applying a strong ac drive. However, strong driving can present control challenges by causing leakage to levels that lie outside the qubit subspace. Strong driving can also present theoretical challenges because preferred tools such as the rotating wave approximation can break down, resulting in complex dynamics that are difficult to control. Here we analyze resonant $X$ rotations of a silicon-quantum-double-dot hybrid qubit within a dressed-state formalism, obtaining results beyond the rotating wave approximation. We obtain analytic formulas for the optimum driving frequency and the Rabi frequency, which are both affected by strong driving. While the qubit states exhibit fast oscillations due to counter-rotating terms and leakage, we show that they can be suppressed to the point that gate fidelities above $99.99%$ are possible, in the absence of decoherence. Hence decoherence mechanisms, rather than strong-driving effects, should represent the limiting factor for resonant-gate fidelities in quantum dot hybrid qubits.
Cytocone Procedure: Conservative Repair of a Buccal Plate Dehiscence in Preparation for Implant Placement

In type II sockets, the soft-tissue level is at or coronal to the cementoenamel junction, and part of the buccal plate is missing. In the esthetic zone, a patient with this type of situation often is not a good candidate for immediate implant placement until the osseous defect is repaired. Therefore, use of a conservative regenerative procedure to repair such a defective socket would be advantageous. The Cytocone procedure utilizes a nonresorbable dense polytetrafluorethylene (d-PTFE) barrier and modifies the classic "ice cream cone" technique to restore a buccal osseous defect without raising a labial flap. This article describes and illustrates the Cytocone procedure.
Applications of X-Ray Nanochemistry in Sensing, Radiolysis, and Environmental Research

Three application areas of radiolysis, sensing and remediation research connected to X-ray nanochemistry are discussed in this chapter. Basic principles are briefly reviewed, followed by review of literature in these three areas. Radiolysis includes catalytic decomposition of molecules in solution. Several new sensing methods are presented. One particular remediation example is given.
Neurophysiology during middle ear, mastoid and parotid surgery

Publisher Summary This chapter explores that intraoperative monitoring during middle ear, mastoid, and parotid surgery with the equipment and the techniques currently used is a fairly recent phenomenon. It discusses some outcomes using intraoperative monitoring as well as briefly reviews the techniques and pitfalls specific to middle ear, mastoid, and parotid surgery. It reviews that while both auditory and facial nerve monitoring accomplish many of the goals stated at the beginning of the chapter, both types of monitoring are not yet ideal. Neither type of monitoring is considered the standard of care and, while the use of facial nerve monitoring may be increasing among surgeons, there continues to be considerable resistance toward making it a standard of care. The difficulty of delivering a constant auditory stimulus to the ear, while simultaneously working through the ear canal, must be overcome for auditory monitoring. The noise and artifact during both types of monitoring must also be overcome. The chapter concludes that facial nerve monitoring is no substitute for the knowledge of facial nerve anatomy and good surgical technique. The use of a facial nerve monitor will not prevent facial nerve injury just as the use of auditory monitoring will not prevent a poor hearing outcome.
Psychosocial issues for patients with AIDS-related cancers.

The social and psychological aspects of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are almost as complex and challenging as the biological. Its onset affects every aspect of a patient’s life; it may cause serious problems for those with whom the patient has personal, intimate familial, or occupational ties; it produces difficult patient management issues for health care institutions and community agencies; and it raises basic ethical issues for the health care community as long as the contagious potential of the disease remains. The complexity of problems confronting people with AIDS and the terror it invokes set this disease apart from virtually every other contemporary public health problem.
A Geographical Perspective on Coca/Cocaine Impacts in South America

Coca is the common name of a shrub, Erythroxylum coca, domesticated millennia ago in the Andes Mountains of South America. Its leaves are picked and transformed into various products, one of which is cocaine. The result is to spatially link the locations of coca cultivation in South America to the places in the world where demand for cocaine exists. There are only a handful of plants that directly affect both the welfare of millions of people and the world economy, including food species such as rice, wheat, and maize. The two globally significant plants that are transformed into important illicit drugs are poppy and coca. In this essay, I present a geographical perspective on the negative impacts associated with the latter.
Resources, Resourcing, and Ampliative Cycles in Organizations

H1) This chapter presents an overview of resourcing theory, comparing it with other perspectives such as resource dependence and the resource based view of the firm. After developing an understanding of the basic tenets of resourcing theory, the chapter goes on to explicate three mechanisms of resourcing in context that arise from recent empirical research and are likely to be of value to positive organizational scholars. The chapter concludes with an exploration of how the endogenous nature of resourcing and the potential for ampliative cycles can support positive spirals, a subject of vital interest to those studying positive organizational scholarship.
Clinical Reasoning: A man with rapidly progressive weakness and respiratory failure

A 70-year-old man presented in late summer with rapidly progressive weakness and respiratory failure. He was in his usual state of health until 1 week prior to presentation, when he developed malaise, headache, and fevers, followed by right leg weakness, prompting admission to a local hospital. Over the next 3 days, his weakness progressed to involve his right arm, then his extraocular, facial, and bulbar muscles, followed by his left arm and leg. On the fourth day of hospitalization (2 weeks after the onset of constitutional symptoms), he was intubated due to an inability to clear oral secretions and was transferred to our institution.
Candida glabrata Fungemia Following Robotic Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy and Bilateral Salpingo-oophorectomy in a Patient with Recurrent Vulvovaginitis: A Case Report.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is a common gynecologic diagnosis that can be treated empirically with fluconazole. We present a patient that developed post-operative Candida glabrata (C. glabrata) fungemia after being empirically treated for vulvuovaginal candidiasis with fluconazole multiple times throughout the year prior to robotic total laparoscopic hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. C. glabrata is becoming increasingly resistant to azole antimycotic therapy. It is likely that this patient had undertreated fluconazole-resistant C. glabrata vulvovaginitis prior to surgery, and that the pelvic infection was the source of fungemia.
The Problem Domain

This text considers the space of architectures which fit the description of scalable, general purpose parallel computers. The term PARALLEL COMPUTER denotes a collection of computing resources, specifically, some number of identical, asynchronously operating processors, some number of identical memory units, and some means for intercommunication, assembled for the purpose of cooperating on the solution of problems1. Such problems are decomposed into communicating parts which are mapped onto the processors. GENERAL PURPOSE means simply that such computers can exploit parallelism, when present, in any program, without appealing to some specific attribute unique to some specific problem domain. SCALABILITY implies that, given sufficient program parallelism, adding hardware resources will result in higher performance without requiring program alteration. The scaling range is assumed to be from a single processor up to a thousand processors2. Parallelism significantly beyond this limit demands yet another change in viewpoint for both machines and languages.
Sampling by Reversing The Landmarking Process

Variations of the commonly applied landmark sampling are presented. These samplings are "forward" landmarking such that each stack of data is created by first selecting landmarks and then including the subsequent observations of the selected landmarks. Unlike these forward landmarking samplings, a "backward" or "reverse" landmarking is proposed with a flexible "progressive" weighting on selecting different types of events and non-events. The backward landmark sample is compared with those forward landmark samples with a real world mortgage data. Results show that the backward landmark sample has smaller sampling errors than of those forward landmark samples.
Data Capture and Analyses from Conversational Devices in the Homes of the Elderly

Conversational devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home represent more than a way to tap into the behavioral surplus of consumers. They provide an opportunity to address societal problems by examining data streams produced by these devices. In this paper, we describe usage patterns and problems related to the use of Amazon Echo devices at home by one specific demographic: the elderly. We rely on a pilot project to collect usage data over multiple months based on deployment of these devices in the homes of eight elderly individuals who either live alone or with a spouse. The paper describes methods used to ensure confidentiality, data collection and analysis procedures, and our findings. We find that the use of conversational devices remains restricted to single commands instead of conversations, making yourself understood remains a problem, sustained use remains a challenge, and the interaction rarely goes beyond simple commands. We interpret the results, and point to the potential for such devices in the lives of the elderly, specifically for health-related problems. The paper also describes lessons learned for capture and analysis of data from such conversational devices.
Emergency Action Plans in Secondary Schools: Barriers, Facilitators, and Social Determinants Affecting Implementation

Context Secondary schools (SSs) inconsistently adopt emergency action plans (EAPs) for athletics. Objective To describe the barriers, facilitators, and social determinants influencing EAP adoption ...
Experimental Single-Platform Approach to Enhance the Functionalization of Magnetically Targetable Cells

Magnetic guidance shows promise as a strategy for improving the delivery and performance of cell therapeutics. However, clinical translation of magnetically guided cell therapy requires cell functionalization protocols that provide adequate magnetic properties in balance with unaltered cell viability and biological function. Existing methodologies for characterizing cells functionalized with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) produce aggregate results, both distorted and unable to reflect variability in either magnetic or biological properties within a preparation. In the present study, we developed an inverted-plate assay allowing determination of these characteristics using a single-platform approach, and applied this method for a comparative analysis of two loading protocols providing highly uniform vs. uneven MNP distribution across cells. MNP uptake patterns remarkably different between the two protocols were first shown by fluorimetry carried out in a well-scan mode on endothelial cells (EC) loaded with BODIPY558/568-labeled MNP. Using the inverted-plate assay we next demonstrated that, in stark contrast to unevenly loaded cells, more than 50% of uniformly functionalized EC were captured within 5 min over a broad range of MNP doses. Furthermore, magnetically captured cells exhibited unaltered viability, substrate attachment, and proliferation rates. Conducted in parallel, magnetophoretic mobility studies corroborated the markedly superior guidance capacity of uniformly functionalized cells, confirming substantially faster cell capture kinetics on a clinically relevant time scale. Taken together, these results emphasize the importance of optimizing cell preparation protocols with regard to loading uniformity as key to efficient site-specific delivery, engraftment, and expansion of the functionalized cells, essential for both improving performance and facilitating translation of targeted cell therapeutics.
How does temporal diffusion affect the ongoing precedence effect

In room acoustic scenarios, listeners' localization is often dominated by the sound propagating directly from the its source despite numerous reflections that present different spatial cues only milliseconds later. This is called the precedence effect (PE). Most studies have simulated the PE by presenting one sound (the lead) followed by a copy of the lead that is delayed and presented with different interaural cues (the lag). These simulations assume that reflective surfaces are flat, yet interior surfaces are often far more complex and variable, resulting in spatially and temporally diffuse reflections. The effect of the temporal aspect of this diffusion on listeners' localization of lead/lag, 200-ms duration, noise stimuli filtered to 100–900 Hz and presented over headphones is investigated. Lag stimuli are convolved with a Hanning-windowed 2-ms noise burst to simulate temporal effects of uneven reflective surfaces. Results show that listeners' localization is dominated by the interaural cues of the lead, even when gating onsets/offsets are windowed out. Modeling analyses based on those in Pastore and Braasch (2019) suggest that interaural time differences in the ongoing stimulus portion can be extracted from rising slopes of the envelopes of neural output, even when lead and lag envelopes are decorrelated.
Transfer of Research through Academic Publishing and the Use of OA Resources: A Survey

The cycle of scholarly communication is perpetuated by those who create, evaluate, disseminate, and consume research. This paper distinguishes that the stakeholders most directly involved in this p...
Reentry in non-uniformly anisotropie ventricular myocardium — Simulation and visualization in a computer model

We tested the hypothesis that non-uni-formly anisotropie coupling combined with variation in recovery properties provides the substrate for reentry by simulating a 22 × 8 mm sheet of myocardium as a grid of 17,600 elements obeying Beeler-Reuter kinetics. Barrier lines of relative transverse uncoupling defined a conducting isthmus. In separate experiments, we varied barrier resistivity, length and width. Membrane ionic properties were uniform throughout, except at the mouth of the isthmus where abnormal recovery properties were specified. We found that regional variation in cellular recovery properties allows for unidirectional block of premature extrastimuli and initiation of reentry, while-transverse uncoupling, when of the proper geometry, allows for perpetuation of tachycardia. Graphical visualization tools were developed to assist in interpreting the large amount of data produced by the computer model.
Twitter Users’ Displays of Affect in the Global Warming Debate:

This article engages with recent discussions in the field of technical communication that call for climate change research that moves beyond the believer/denier dichotomy. For this study, our resea...
The Perils of Naming: On Donald Trump, Jews, and Antisemites

Antisemitism, which has been called the “longest hatred,” appeared to be on a sharp decline in the United States in the early years of the new century. Over the past five years, antisemitism has su...
Student, Faculty, and Coach Perspectives on Why Athletes Excel in Medical School: A Qualitative Analysis

Medical schools are tasked with selecting applicants who will excel in a rigorous curriculum and successfully perform as future physicians. While many studies have assessed quantitative prematricul...
Pre-Surgical Tear Characteristics and Estimated Shear Modulus as Predictors of Repair Integrity and Shoulder Function One Year After Rotator Cuff Repair

Abstract Background Although rotator cuff repair provides pain relief for many patients, retears are relatively common and affect approximately 20-70% of patients after repair. Although MRI offers the ability to assess tissue characteristics such as tear size, retraction, and fatty infiltration, it provides little insight into the quality of the musculotendinous tissues the surgeon will encounter during surgery. However, shear wave elastography (SWE) could provide an indirect assessment of quality (i.e., stiffness) by measuring the speed of shear waves propagating through tissue. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which estimated shear modulus predicts repair integrity and functional outcomes 1-year after rotator cuff repair. Methods Thirty-three individuals scheduled to undergo arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were enrolled in this study. Prior to surgery, shear modulus of the supraspinatus tendon and muscle was estimated using ultrasound SWE. MRIs were obtained before and 1-year after surgery to assess tear characteristics and repair integrity, respectively. Shoulder strength, range of motion, and patient-reported pain and function were assessed pre- and post-surgery. Functional outcomes were compared between groups and across time using a two-factor mixed model ANOVA. Stepwise regression with model comparison was used to investigate the extent to which MRI and shear modulus predicted repair integrity and function at 1-year post-surgery. Results At 1-year post surgery, 56.5% of patients had an intact repair. No significant differences were found in any demographic variable, pre-surgical tear characteristic, or shear modulus between patients with an intact repair and those with a recurrent tear. Compared to pre-surgical measures, patients in both groups demonstrated significant improvements at 1-year post-surgery in pain (p 0.16) nor shear modulus (p>0.52) were significantly different between groups at 1-year post-surgery. Finally, pre-surgical shear modulus generally did not improve the prediction of functional outcomes above and beyond that provided by MRI variables alone (p>0.22). Conclusion While SWE remains a promising modality for many clinical applications, this study found that SWE-estimated shear modulus did not predict repair integrity or functional outcomes at 1-year post-surgery, nor did it add to the prediction of outcomes above and beyond that provided by traditional pre-surgical MRI measures of tear characteristics. Therefore, it appears that further research is needed to fully understand the clinical utility of SWE for musculoskeletal tissue and its potential use for predicting outcomes after surgical rotator cuff repair.
Dissipationless Formation of Elliptical Galaxies

Dissipationless formation mechanisms envisage elliptical galaxies as arising from the collective relaxation of an aggregate of stars. Their key ingredients are thus a set of initial conditions derived from consideration of prior evolution, and a treatment of the relaxation process. I review numerical studies of violent relaxation carried out over the last decade and purely theoretical treatments going back twice as far. Relaxation is always incomplete, and as a result the final structure of a “galaxy” depends sensitively on the initial conditions assumed. The viability of dissipationless formation thus rests on the identification of plausible stellar initial conditions which relax to the present structure. I discuss the extent to which such initial conditions are compatible with current ideas on the origin of structure in the universe.
The Mechanism of the Inhibition of Plasmin Activity by ε-Aminocaproic Acid

Abstract The streptokinase-induced conversion of human plasminogen to plasmin is inhibited by concentrations of e-aminocaproic acid which stimulates the esterolytic activity of plasmin on the synthetic substrate, tosyl-l-arginine methyl ester. The inhibitory effect of e-aminocaproic acid decreases as its concentration is decreased and is eliminated upon incubation of plasminogen with streptokinase, regardless of the presence of e-aminocaproic acid. At increased levels, e-aminocaproic acid further functions as a competitive inhibitor of plasmin activity on tosyl-l-arginine methyl ester with a Ki of 0.32 m. In the presence of concentrations of e-aminocaproic acid (0.05 m) sufficient to nearly saturate its inhibitory effect on the plasminogen to plasmin conversion, the sedimentation coefficient (S020,w) of plasminogen decreases from a native value of 5.0 ± 0.1 S to 3.8 ± 0.1 S without a decrease in molecular weight suggesting a gross conformational change in plasminogen induced by e-aminocaproic acid. This conformational alteration is also evidenced in circular dichroism measurements. The effect of e-aminocaproic acid on the conformation of plasminogen is readily reversible and restoration of the native structure is apparent after dialysis. A mechanism for the inhibition of the plasminogen to plasmin conversion by e-aminocaproic acid is postulated involving the formation of a plasminogen-e-aminocaproic acid complex, which due to the altered conformation of plasminogen, is not acted upon by streptokinase. This inactive complex is rapidly reversible, yielding a fully streptokinase reactive plasminogen.
Presenting Hypermedia Concepts Using Hypermedia Techniques

The hypermedia technique is well suited as a basic presentation aid. In this paper the use of hypermedia for presentations is illustrated in an example of a lecture about hypermedia presented to computer science students. Advantages and disadvantages of the hypermedia presentation technique are discussed in comparison with more conventional presentation techniques. Conclusions about the strength and limitations of hypermedia for presentations are made from the practical experiences collected in the example lecture.
An adaptive FEC with QoS provisioning for real-time traffic in LEO satellite networks

This paper presents an adaptive forward error correction (AFEC) protocol that provides a reliable communication service for real-time traffic over low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. In time-varying wireless links, such as LEO satellite networks. A reliable channel estimation scheme with an appropriate code selection technique is essential for adaptive error-control systems. This paper proposes a new channel estimation scheme that uses receiver-initiated messages (ACKs, NAKs, and INCs). These messages feed back to the transmitter which then selects the code rate for sending packets. In addition, the scheme uses the concept of a dynamic transmittable code set by adjusting the maximum code rate in the set of possible codes from which the transmitter can select. In terms of throughput (from network provider's viewpoint) and packet error rate (from subscriber's viewpoint), performance results show that the proposed scheme guarantees the quality of service (QoS) requirements of real-time applications.
Social context, stress, and plasticity of aging

Positive social contact is an important factor in healthy aging, but our understanding of how social interactions influence senescence is incomplete. As life expectancy continues to increase because of reduced death rates among elderly, the beneficial role of social relationships is emerging as a cross-cutting theme in research on aging and healthspan. There is a need to improve knowledge on how behavior shapes, and is shaped by, the social environment, as well as needs to identify and study biological mechanisms that can translate differences in the social aspects of behavioral efforts, relationships, and stress reactivity (the general physiological and behavioral response-pattern to harmful, dangerous or unpleasant situations) into variation in aging. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide a genetic model in sociobiology, behavioral neuroscience, and gerontology that is uniquely sensitive to social exchange. Different behavioral contact between these social insects can shorten or extend lifespan more than 10-fold, and some aspects of their senescence are reversed by social cues that trigger aged individuals to express youthful repertoires of behavior. Here, I summarize how variation in social interactions contributes to this plasticity of aging and explain how beneficial and detrimental roles of social relationships can be traced from environmental and biological effects on honey bee physiology and behavior, to the expression of recovery-related plasticity, stress reactivity, and survival during old age. This system provides intriguing opportunities for research on aging.
Dietary Supplementation of High Levels of Saturated and Monounsaturated Fatty Acids to Ewes during Late Gestation Reduces Thermogenesis in Newborn Lambs by Depressing Fatty Acid Oxidation in Perirenal Brown Adipose Tissue

We hypothesized that dietary supplementation of (n-6) plus (n-3) PUFA during late gestation would increase uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) gene expression and thereby increase thermogenic capacity of newborn lambs. Thirty twin-bearing ewes were fed rumen-protected fat (2, 4, or 8%) high in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SMFA) or high in (n-6) and (n-3) PUFA. Lambs (n = 7-10 per ewe treatment group) were placed in a cold chamber at 0 degrees C for 2 h. Rectal temperature was higher at birth and increased more with cold exposure in lambs from ewes fed 2 or 4% supplemental fat than in lambs from ewes fed 8% SMFA (fat type x fat level interaction, P = 0.001). Cytochrome c oxidase activity was greatest in brown adipose tissue (BAT) lambs from ewes fed 2% SMFA or 4% PUFA (fat type x fat level interaction, P = 0.01). BAT of lambs from ewes fed 2 or 4% PUFA had nearly 7-fold more (P = 0.05) UCP1 mRNA than BAT of lambs from ewes fed 8% PUFA. UCP1 expression decreased by over 80% by 24 h of age. Supplementation of 8% fat tended to depress palmitate esterification into lipids (P = 0.07) and decreased palmitate oxidation (P = 0.003) in lamb BAT in vitro, especially in those lambs from ewes fed 8% SMFA. Thus, supplementing the diets of ewes with 8% SMFA depressed cold tolerance in newborn lambs, which was reflected in their decreased ability to oxidize fatty acids in vitro.
Do countries catch cold when trading partners sneeze? Evidence from spillovers in the Baltics

How do countries respond to shocks from their major trading partners? This paper addresses the question in the context of the observed shifts in trade linkages between the Baltic countries and their major trading partners. Vector autoregression (VAR) models were used to examine the magnitude and sources of growth spillovers to the Baltics from key trading partners, as well as shocks from the real effective exchange rate (REER). Our results show there are significant cross-country spillovers to the Baltics, with spillovers from the EU outweighing those from Russia. Shocks to the REER generally depress growth in the Baltics, and this effect rises over time. We also find that financial and trade linkages are the dominant transmission channels of spillovers to the region, which explains the current realization of downside risks to the Baltics from the global slowdown. In general, therefore, these results suggest that the Baltics are susceptible to shocks from their key trading partners.