cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Designing a tunable 3D heterocellular breast cancer tissue test system.

It is increasingly recognized that the tissue microenvironment is crucial in cell signaling and regulation of normal and malignant cell function. Components and properties of the microenvironment such as extracellular matrix, adhesion integrins, tissue architectures and tissue modulus regulate growth, differentiation and apoptosis of cells. These properties control cell fate through complex signals that are influenced either by interactions between neighbouring cells or by stimulated cell surface receptors. In this study, we established an in vitro engineered microenvironment: i.e., a tissue test system that combined heterocellular tumour spheroids, polymeric microcarriers and adipocytes, an abundant stromal cell type in breast tissue, to investigate the behaviour of breast cancer cells in response to different environmental stimuli in a more relevant 3D microenvironment. Results showed the engineered microenvironment influenced breast cancer cell proliferation, differentiation and migration through multi-cellular interactions and changes in microenvironmental stiffness and that stromal cells such as adipocytes play a critical role in the breast cancer process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Homologous recombination in human telomerase-positive and ALT cells occurs with the same frequency

Homologous recombination is thought to be the molecular mechanism for maintaining telomere length in alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) cells. We used a recombination reporter system to show that the frequency of homologous recombination is the same for ALT- and telomerase-positive cells, suggesting that if ALT cells have a recombination defect it specifically involves telomeric sequences. We compared internal and telomere-adjacent positions of our reporter construct to investigate if telomeric sequences near an induced double-strand break alter the frequency of recombination between nontelomeric sequences, and found no differences among the different cell lines analysed. Our results indicate that the underlying defect in homologous recombination in ALT cells does not affect sequences independent of their chromosomal location but is likely to be primarily a specific telomeric defect.
Variation and evolution of toxin gene expression patterns of six closely related venomous marine snails

Venoms of predatory marine gastropods of the genus Conus show amazing levels of interspecific diversity and are comprised of a cocktail of peptide neurotoxins, termed conotoxins, that are encoded by large gene families. Conotoxin gene family evolution is characterized by gene duplications and high rates of nonsynonymous substitution among paralogues; yet, what controls the differentiation of venoms among species is not clear. We compared four-loop conotoxin transcripts of six closely related Conus species to examine conotoxin expression patterns among species. The species examined appear to express different numbers of four-loop conotoxin loci and similarity in expression patterns does not seem to correspond with phylogenetic affinity. Moreover, several loci appear to have been independently silenced while others appear to have been revived from previously silenced states. Some loci also appear to exhibit coordinated expression patterns. These results suggest that the evolution of conotoxin expression patterns is incredibly dynamic and the differentiation of venoms of Conus is controlled in part by the evolution of unique conotoxin expression patterns.
The aircraft routing problem with refueling

In this paper, we present, test, and compare two novel methods to solve the aircraft routing problem with aerial refueling with a multicriteria objective function. We present a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) that utilizes a combination of a network transformation and a formulation that creatively decouples refueling decisions from the nodes within the network. We also present a dynamic program (DP) that, when coupled with an alternative network transformation to account for the multiple criteria within the objective function, applies a node-labeling approach based on a modification of Dijkstra’s algorithm. We test and compare these alternative solution methods on a set of 264 synthetically-generated instances representing 66 combinations of network size and the frequency of aerial refueling point availability. Invoking CPLEX using the C++ callable library to solve the MILP and applying the DP in C++, we found that the application of the DP yields a 98.97 % reduction in the required computational effort, on average, relative to the MILP; the MILP fails to find an optimal solution within a 3,600-s time limit for selected instances of networks having at least 80 nodes and for all instances of networks having at least 350 nodes. In contrast, the DP is more robust than the MILP, as it only requires longer than 3,600 s to solve selected instances of networks having more than 3,000 nodes.
Effect of an educational script on postpartum contraceptive use: a randomized controlled trial.

Abstract Objectives Short interpregnancy intervals are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. Increased postpartum use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) could reduce short interpregnancy intervals. Therefore, the primary objective of our study was to evaluate if a postpartum educational script about LARC (LARC script) could increase postpartum LARC utilization at the 6-week postpartum visit. Study design We completed a randomized controlled trial (1:1) of 800 postpartum women in Raleigh, North Carolina. Women were recruited from the postpartum unit and randomized to receive (intervention) or not receive (control) the LARC script prior to hospital discharge. We conducted follow-up phone interviews to assess LARC use after their 6-week postpartum visit. We used Pearson's chi-squared test to compare LARC use between arms. Results Between May 2011 and January 2012, 400 women were randomized to each arm. Three hundred sixty-nine women (92.3%) in each arm were successfully contacted after their 6-week postpartum visit. LARC use was reported by 17.6% and 13.3% of women in the intervention and control arms, respectively (p=.103). Conclusions The LARC script did not increase LARC utilization at the 6-week postpartum visit. Future studies should evaluate interventions that address both educational and systematic barriers to postpartum LARC uptake. Implications Use of a postpartum educational script focused on the intrauterine device and contraceptive implant did not increase their utilization after the 6-week postpartum visit. Future studies should evaluate interventions that address both educational and systematic barriers to postpartum contraceptive uptake.
Have We Dropped the Ball on Water Resources Research

In Peter Rogers’s excellent editorial Rogers 2008 , he suggests three general classes of hypotheses associated with global warming and suggests that adaptation of water resources systems is critical regardless of the hypothesis. How do we plan for adaptation in water management, the necessity for which Peter argues is becoming increasingly apparent? In a recent Science paper, Milly et al. 2008 argue that stationarity, the cornerstone of most of our planning methods, is dead. To those of us in the hydrologic community who came of scientific age in the 1970s, the argument may seem like deja vu all over again, as we remember the contentiousness of the debate over the Hurst phenomenon, which essentially was an argument about the relevance of stationary versus nonstationary statistics to hydrologic time series analysis. Viewed 35 years later, what is apparent is that although the participants in that discussion recognized that water resources systems were susceptible to climate variability and even change, there was presumed to be no prior knowledge as to its direction. Now, at least in some contexts, we have an idea as to the direction of change a particular example is streamflow in the western United States, where most indications are that temperatures have warmed over the past 50 years and seem likely to continue to do so, resulting in shifts in the seasonality of runoff . Furthermore, climate change does not have a corner on the market for nonstationary methods—we now increasingly recognize the role that change in land cover and land use has in hydrologic variables. Certainly the profession has been slow to acknowledge these changes and acknowledge that fundamentally new approaches will be required to address them see also Howe 2008 , as well as the very interesting series of papers in the special issue of the UCOWR Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education that follow his preface . In my experience, the response of those in the water resources planning community populated largely by engineers, meaning our students has been to dig in their heels. Further, they say that there is lots of uncertainty in the planning process; thank you, but all of that uncertainty including that attributable to future hydrologic changes is already dealt with in our traditional planning methods. What I’ve seen happen increasingly is that outside review, often by citizen or political oversight, has asked questions such as “how are you dealing with future climate change in those projections?” although it may be that climate or land cover change is just one of many terms in the uncertainty equation, that perspective is a difficult sell, especially given the widespread visibility afforded to the IPCC process. So the heat is on, so to speak, to develop new approaches that explicitly deal with climate and other types of environmental change. I think that it is reasonable to assert that understanding hydrologic change will be one of the key challenges to the hydrology
Studies on nurse staffing and health care-associated infection: methodologic challenges and potential solutions.

Background Researchers have been studying hospital nurse staffing in relation to health care–associated infections (HAIs) for >2 decades, and the results have been mixed. We summarized published research examining these issues, critically analyzed the commonly used approaches, identified methodologic challenges, proposed potential solutions, and suggested the possible benefits of applying an electronic health record (EHR) system. Methods A scoping review was conducted using MEDLINE and CINAHL from 1990 onward. Original research studies examining relationships between nurse staffing and HAIs in the hospital setting and published in peer-reviewed English-language journals were selected. Results A total of 125 articles and abstracts were identified, and 45 met inclusion criteria. Findings from these studies were mixed. The methodologic challenges identified included database selection, variable measurement, methods to link the nurse staffing and HAI data, and temporality. Administrative staffing data were often not precise or specific. The most common method to link staffing and HAI data did not assess the temporal relationship. We proposed using daily staffing information 2-4 days prior to HAI onset linked to individual patient HAI data. Conclusion To assess the relationships between nurse staffing and HAIs, methodologic decisions are necessary based on what data are available and feasible to obtain. National efforts to promote an EHR may offer solutions for future studies by providing more comprehensive data on HAIs and nurse staffing.
Ethical Cycles and Trends: Evidence and Implications

Recent high-profile corporate scandals are reminiscent of the corporate raider scandals of the 1980s, suggesting that ethical scandals may occur in waves. This article provides a framework for analysis of this question by suggesting that ethical attitudes may be cyclical about long-term secular trends. We provide some empirical evidence from previously published work for the existence of cycles as well as a potential mechanism for their propagation, namely widespread publicity about a particularly salient event, e.g., Enron. Further, we posit that long-run secular trends would be affected through more deliberate, cognitive means, e.g., instruction in business ethics. We also discuss an important research implication, namely that traditional cross-sectional “book-end” studies surveying ethical attitudes at two different points in time may be unable to disentangle short-run cyclical movements from long-term secular trends.
Interpenetrating fibrin-alginate matrices for in vitro ovarian follicle development

In this report, we investigate the fibrin–alginate interpenetrating network (FA-IPN) to provide dynamic cell-responsive mechanical properties, which we apply to the in vitro growth of ovarian follicles. The mechanical properties and polymerization rate of the gels were investigated by rheology, and the fiber structure was imaged by electron microscopy. Using a mouse model, two-layered secondary follicles were encapsulated in FA-IPNs, and growth, morphology, hormone production, fibrin degradation rate and the numbers of competent eggs were assessed. The initial mechanics of the FA-IPN are determined by the composite material, and subsequent degradation of fibrin by the encapsulated cells would produce a material with mechanical properties due to the alginate alone. The rate of meiotically competent oocytes produced by culture in FA-IPN was 82%, which was significantly greater than in alginate alone. This increase in oocyte quality is an important step in identifying 3D culture systems that can provide a fundamental tool to investigate follicle maturation, and may be applied to promote the growth of human follicles, which can be used to provide reproductive options for women facing a cancer diagnosis.
Adjuvant endocrine therapy for postmenopausal women: Type and duration

Postmenopausal women with ER positive breast cancers benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy. Most such patients should consider aromatase inhibitor therapy at some point in their treatment course as there are modest additional risk reductions over tamoxifen therapy, alone. Longer durations of therapy - beyond five years of tamoxifen - with either ongoing tamoxifen or an AI also improve cancer outcomes. Markers of risk for early recurrence are the same as those for late recurrence. Decisions regarding the optimal type and duration of therapy reflect patient preferences in light of well described side effects of tamoxifen and AI therapy, tolerability of treatment, and established clinical, pathological and genomic markers of risk.
Identifying Features, Performance, and Limitations of Dairy Ration Formulation Software: A Comparison of Three Ration Formulation Programs

A method for evaluating and selecting dairy ration formulation software for microcomputers is presented. Information obtained from a survey of practicing nutritionists and from interviews with computer programmers was used to identify users' needs, desired features, and patterns of use. A benchmark problem consisting of 15 activities frequently required in designing dairy rations was developed to evaluate ease of use, ease of learning, and software performance. Ease of use was measured by counting keystrokes and recording time required by a user familiar with these ration formulation programs to complete the benchmark problem. Ease of learning was measured as the amount of help and time needed by users unfamiliar with this software to complete the benchmark problem. Software performance was measured by speed of formulation, ration costs, ingredients and amounts selected, and nutrient content of rations. Evaluation of three commercially available software applications was made using the method developed.
THE EFFECTS OF ENDOTOXIN ON VASCULAR ENDOTHELIUM

This study was undertaken to develop a technique for the preparation of sheets of endothelial cells and to investigate the effects of bacterial endotoxin on large numbers of cells from continuous sheets of vascular endothelium. Rabbits were divided into one control and two experimental groups. The experimental animals received intracardially an LD(50) dose of Escherichia coli endotoxin. 1 and 24 hr postinjection, the vessels of the animals were perfused with glutaraldehyde in Millonig's buffer with methylene blue as a marker. Pieces of mesentery containing arteries were postfixed in buffered glutaraldehyde, dehydrated, and placed in acetone (to remove fat deposits). The surrounding connective tissue was stripped from the mesenteric arteries, and segments of the vessels were slit longitudinally, flattened out, and firmly affixed to a sheet of cork with fine mounting pins. A 3% solution of Formvar in ethylene dichloride was pipetted onto the luminal surfaces of the vessels. The endothelial cells were impregnated with and adhered to the Formvar and, after soaking overnight in 10 N NaOH, could be stripped from the vessel walls as monolayers. Sheets of Formvar-impregnated cells were temporarily mounted on glass slides in aqueous methylene blue and examined by phase and bright-field microscopy. Methylene blue stained the nuclei a deep blue and the cytoplasm faintly, but cell outlines were indistinct. Endothelial sheets from control rabbits had smooth, elliptical nuclei oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cells and irregularly distributed over a smooth background with faint longitudinal striations. Essentially every cell in endothelial sheets from endotoxin-injected animals appeared to be severely damaged. Cell sheets from 24 hr posttreatment animals exhibited the same type of, but more extensive, damage than that observed in 1 hr posttreatment animals. The most prominent features of the damaged endothelium were distorted nuclei, apparent nuclear vacuolization, and missing nuclei. Unstained platelets and plaques were present on the surfaces of the specimens from the experimental animals only. Stained and unstained red blood cells were also dispersed over the luminal surfaces of the endotoxin-treated vessels.
The KPLT: The Kernel as a shared object

Vulnerability amplification is an ever increasing problem in homogeneous large scale networks that operate many instances of the same operating system. Diversification of a process image through techniques such as Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) is a commonly used defense against vulnerability amplification. One approach to diversification of a process image is load-time diversity. This paper presents a Kernel Procedure Linkage Table (KPLT) that allows for a unique diversified kernel layout on a per process basis.
Synthesis and crystal structure of BaRu6O12: An ordered stoichiometric hollandite

Abstract Reaction of BaRuO3, RuO2, and Ru metal at 1250°C in evacuated platinum tubes yields stoichiometric BaRu6O12 (= Ba1.33Ru8O16). These black needles were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The compound exhibits the tetragonal hollandite structure with a tripled c axis, a = 9.838(1) and c = 9.368(1)A, space group P 4 n . The existence of a very narrow compositional range with respect to barium was determined. An ordered barium ion arrangement within the tunnels of the structure was found.
Nonstimulated rabbit phonation model: Cricothyroid approximation.

Objectives/Hypothesis To describe a nonstimulated in vivo rabbit phonation model using an Isshiki type IV thyroplasty and uninterrupted humidified glottal airflow to produce sustained audible phonation. Study Design Prospective animal study. Methods Six New Zealand white breeder rabbits underwent a surgical procedure involving an Isshiki type IV thyroplasty and continuous airflow delivered to the glottis. Phonatory parameters were examined using high-speed laryngeal imaging and acoustic and aerodynamic analysis. Following the procedure, airflow was discontinued, and sutures remained in place to maintain the phonatory glottal configuration for microimaging using a 9.4 Tesla imaging system. Results High-speed laryngeal imaging revealed sustained vocal fold oscillation throughout the experimental procedure. Analysis of acoustic signals revealed a mean vocal intensity of 61 dB and fundamental frequency of 590 Hz. Aerodynamic analysis revealed a mean airflow rate of 85.91 mL/s and subglottal pressure of 9 cm H2O. Following the procedure, microimaging revealed that the in vivo phonatory glottal configuration was maintained, providing consistency between the experimental and postexperimental laryngeal geometry. The latter provides a significant milestone that is necessary for geometric reconstruction and to allow for validation of computational simulations against the in vivo rabbit preparation. Conclusion We demonstrate a nonstimulated in vivo phonation preparation using an Isshiki type IV thyroplasty and continuous humidified glottal airflow in a rabbit animal model. This preparation elicits sustained vocal fold vibration and phonatory measures that are consistent with our laboratory's prior work using direct neuromuscular stimulation for evoked phonation. Level of Evidence N/A. Laryngoscope, 2015
Amino Acid-Based Zwitterionic Poly(serine methacrylate) as an Antifouling Material

A serine-based zwitterionic poly(serine methacrylate) (pSerMA) was developed in this work to be used as a potential antifouling material. A surface-initiated photoiniferter-mediated polymerization (SI-PIMP) method was used to graft polymer brushes on gold surfaces. The pSerMA-grafted samples with different polymer film thicknesses were readily prepared by varying the UV-irradiation time. With the optimal film thickness, the adsorptions from bovine serum albumin, human serum, and human plasma onto the pSerMA-grafted surfaces, as evaluated by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor, were 1.8, 9.2, and 12.9 ng/cm2, respectively, comparable to the traditional antifouling material such as poly(ethylene glycol). The pSerMA-grafted surfaces also strongly resisted adhesion from bovine aortic endothelial cells. This is the first work to develop an amino acid-based zwitterionic polymer as an antifouling material, demonstrating that pSerMA is a promising alternative to the traditional ethylene glycol-based antif...
The relative dominance of form and orientation in discrimination learning by monkeys and children

Eleven nursery school children and nine monkeys were trained to discriminate stimulus figures differing in form and orientation. On two of the four problems, children were superior in the learning of the discrimination. Test trials were given to determine the relative dominance of form and orientation. For both children and monkeys, form was selected significantly more often than orientation.
Influence of Ammonia on Egg White Quality

Abstract Shell eggs may come into contact with ammonia in the laying house where a “built-up” deep litter program is in effect or where manure is permitted to accumulate in the droppings pits for long periods of time. Cotterill and Winter (1953) found concentrations of ammonia in the atmosphere of a laying house as high as 28 mcg. (NH3) per liter of air where this system of management was used. Treating the litter and manure with superphosphate markedly reduced the amount of ammonia in the air. Almquist et al. (1934) observed that storing egg albumen in the presence of ammonia gas caused a marked increase in the transmission of light. The transmission of light was correlated with the percentage of mucin in the albumen and varied with the temperature and pH, which affected the physical condition of the mucin. The changes in the transmission of light due to these factors caused …
Parent-reported outcomes of comprehensive care for children with medical complexity.

The Medical Home Clinic for Special Needs Children (MHCL) at Arkansas Children’s Hospital provides comprehensive care oversight for children with medical complexity (CMC). The objective of this study is to evaluate parent perceptions of health care delivery outcomes after 12 months of enrollment in the MHCL. This is a prospective cohort study of parents of MHCL patients, who completed surveys at initial and 12 months visits. Surveys assessed parent health, child health and function, family stress, and overall satisfaction, using previously validated measures and scales. Paired analyses examined differences in measures between baseline and 12 months. 120 of 174 eligible parents completed the follow-up survey at 12 months. Respondents were 63% white/Caucasian, 90% biological parent, and 48% with family income <$20K. From baseline to 12 months, a greater number of respondents reported having a care plan (53% vs 85%, p<.001); fewer respondents needed help with care coordination (78% vs 31%, p<.001). No changes were seen in reports of having emotional needs met. Parents reported a decline in the physical subscale of the SF-12 Health-Related Quality of Life measure (49.1 vs 46.4, p<.01), with those parents with ≥1 additional child with special needs reporting a marked decline (49.2 vs 42.5, p<.001). No other changes in family impact were found. We conclude that comprehensive care oversight may improve care coordination for parents of CMC, but no association with improved parent health was found. Future studies should identify the factors that influence parental burden and tailor clinical interventions to address such factors.
Discriminating Between Individuals Based on the Parameters of the Enhanced Model of the Human Operator

Acceptable results have been obtained using conventional techniques to model the generic human operator’s control behavior. However, little resear ch has been done in an attempt to identify an indiv idual based on his/her control behavior. The main hypothesis in current study is that different operators ma y exhibit different control behavior when performing a given control task. The inter-person differences might be manifested in the amount and frequency content of the non-linear component of the control behavior. This paper describes two enhancements to the structural models of the human operator, which allow personalization of the modeled control behavior. One of the proposed enhancements accounts for the “testing” control signals, which are introduced by a n operator for more accurate control of the system an d/or to adjust his/ her control strategy. This enha ncement uses the Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which can be fine-tuned to model the “testing” control behav ior of a given individual. ANN is characterized by a set o f weighting coefficients, which will vary for diffe rent operators. In order to further improve the ability of the Hess structural model to simulate the contro l behavior of a given individual, the second enhancem ent is introduced. The design of the latter is insp ired by observation of actual control signals of different operators: there may be a significant variation in levels of power at any given frequency of the control signal depending on an individual. This enhancement took the form of an equiripple filter, which conditions the power spectrum of the control signal before it is p assed through the plant dynamics block. The filter design technique uses Parks-McClellan algorithm, which allows to parameterize the desired levels of power at cert ain frequencies. The hypothesis here is that these levels of power will vary from person to person. In the 2007 MSTC paper on operator modeling (Genetic Algorithm based approach for parameter estimation of the Hess Operator Model), the authors laid the theoretical foundation for the prospectiv e parameter identification technique, which is driven by genetic algorithm. This paper uses an improved version of the method, which makes it possible to i dentify subject specific parameters of the structur al models and their enhancements. Metric to evaluate effectiv eness of the proposed enhancements is based on comparison of power spectrum densities of the simulated control signals against that of the precision model, which stems off the McRuer’s crossover model. It is demonstrated that both ANN and filter significantl y improve the performance of the model when matching an individual control data. Paper also contains det ails of implementation of the proposed model enhancements as well as details of the improved genetic algori thm driven PID technique .
The Cynic's Fetish: Slavoj Žižek and the Dynamics of Belief

Slavoj Žižek's critical examination of today's liberal-democratic capitalist ideology highlights the phenomenon of “cynical distance,” namely, a position where the individual consciously professes disbelief in relation to the status quo system while nonetheless behaving “as if” he/she really accepts the authority of this system. Unconsciously, such cynical subjects, Žižek maintains, are fervent believers in the ideologies that they overtly claim to disregard. Drawing on Marx, Freud, and Lacan, Žižek scrutinizes the structural relations between cynicism, disavowal, and belief in order to show how commodity fetishism and the attribution of one's unconscious beliefs to others enable one to ultimately accept acquiescence to the reigning state of the situation. However, in both decoupling Marx's descriptive-diagnostic discourse on capitalism from his positive prescriptive program as well as basing his own political thought on the Lacanian notion of the Act, Žižek's thought is itself in danger of falling into the trap of cynical distance.
0124 PM2.5 and Heart Disease in a Cohort of Aluminium Workers: An Application of Longitudinal Targeted Maximum Likelihood-based Estimation (TMLE)

Objectives We estimated the effect of cumulative exposure to PM2.5 on the incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in aluminium workers followed for 15 years, adjusting for the healthy worker survivor effect. In previous analyses, higher cumulative exposure was found to be associated with lower mortality in this population. Method We used longitudinal TMLE to estimate the cumulative risk of ischaemic heart disease in the cohort if constantly exposed above an exposure cut-off and compared it to the risk if constantly exposed below. We stratified all analyses by work process because exposures were an order of magnitude higher in smelters than fabrication facilities. Results We selected cut-offs a priori at the median and 10th percentile exposure within each sub-cohort. Among the smelter workers, we estimated an increase in IHD risk of 2.1% (p = 0.22) after 15 years, comparing the always exposed to never exposed cohort using the median cut-off of 1.77 mg/m 3 . The difference was 2.9% (p = 0.01) using the 10th percentile cutoff of 0.10 mg/m 3 . For the fabrication workers, the differences were 0.1% (p = 0.47) using the median cut-off of 0.20 mg/m 3 and 2.5% (p 3 . Results are presented as adjusted survival curves, describing the estimated cumulative risk for each cohort under each exposure regimen. Conclusions The TMLE estimator allows us to observe an association between cumulative PM2.5 exposure and heart disease that was not visible using standard analytical techniques. This work represents the first application of longitudinal TMLE to the field of occupational epidemiology.
356 NEONATAL RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRAL(RSV) INFECTIONS

RSV infection appears to be uncommon in the first 4 weeks of life. If this is due to host immunity, environment or atypical illness is unknown. Nursery outbreaks have been described, but have mostly involved infants aged 3 wks(9) who had more typical respiratory signs. Four (17%) died while shedding RSV, 3 unexpectedly, 2 after discharge. Of 53 staff, 18(34%) contacted RSV and 83% were symptomatic. Infants in rooms with no infected babies, and in all types of beds, got RSV. These findings suggest RSV readily infects neonates, and staff may play a role in its spread. RSV infection in neonates may be missed due to atypical presentation, but may contribute to the morbidity and unexpected mortality in premature and other infants in special care nurseries. The reason for atypical illness in younger infants is unknown, but may be related to maternal antibody or other host immune factors.
THE HYDROXY FATTY ACIDS: ISOLATION, STRUCTURE DETERMINATION, QUANTITATION.

This review and commentary on quantitative methodology of the hydroxy fatty acids covers methods of isolation, structure determination, and quantitative analysis. Individual topics are: methods of liberation from bound form, separation by partition, separation by partition columns, separation by precipitation, separation by adsorption columns, separation by thin-layer chromatography, separation of homologous fatty acids, locating the hydroxyl group, characterization of the optically active hydroxyl group, locating the double bonds, gravimetric determination, colorimetric determination, gas chromatographic determination, infrared absorption, titrimetric determination, and radiometric determination.
Dynamic Change Arcs to Explore Model Forecasts

In many planning applications, a computational model is used to make predictions about the effects of management or engineering decisions. To understand the implications of alternative scenarios, a user typically adjusts one or more of the input parameters, runs the model, and examines the outcomes using simple charts. For example, a time series showing changes in productivity or revenue might be generated. While this approach can be effective in showing the projected effects of changes to the model's input parameters, it fails to show the mechanisms that cause those changes. In order to promote understanding of model mechanics using a simple graphical device, we propose dynamic change arcs. Dynamic change arcs graphically reveal the internal model structure as cause and effect linkages. They are signed to show both positive and negative effects. We implemented this concept using a species interaction model developed for fisheries management based on a system of Lotka-Volterra equations. The model has 10 economically important fish species and incorporates both predation and competition between species. The model predicts that changing the catch of one species can sometimes result in changes in biomass of another species through multi-step causal chains. The dynamic change arcs make it possible to interpret the resulting complex causal chains and interaction effects. We carried out an experiment to evaluate three alternative forms of arcs for portraying causal connections in the model. The results show that all linkage representations enabled participants to reason better about complex chains of causality than not showing linkages. However, none of them were significantly better than the others.
ORION: A simulation environment for spacecraft formation flight, capture, and orbital robotics

The Florida Institute of Technology developed the Orbital Robotic Interaction, On-orbit servicing, and Navigation (ORION) laboratory for the testing of spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control systems for spacecraft proximity maneuvers, and autonomous or telerobotic capture. ORION combines the precise kinematics simulation and large load-bearing capacity of a Cartesian robotic system with the vehicle dynamics simulation capabilities of an air-bearing flat-floor setup, with all vehicles in the simulation being tracked by an optical tracking system. The vehicles can simulate the kinematics and dynamics aspects of three-dimensional formation flight, final approach of uncooperative target objects, and capture. In addition to spacecraft maneuvers, ORION will also serve experiments and tests in the domains of unmanned aerial vehicles and terrestrial robots. This paper describes the design and capabilities of the six degrees of freedom maneuver kinematics simulator of the ORION lab, and the six degrees of freedom air-bearing vehicles for the flat-floor. Furthermore, the paper provides examples of the ongoing research activities: the development and test of capture tools for space debris objects, the project Assessment, Diagnostics, Corrections and Ground Testing of RINGS (Resonant Inductive Near-field Generation Systems), and the development and validation of a distributed virtual sensor for deflection, rate of rotation and acceleration of flexible structures based on fiber Bragg sensor arrays.
On the Structure Sensitivity of Formic Acid Decomposition on Cu Catalysts

Catalytic decomposition of formic acid (HCOOH) has attracted substantial attention since HCOOH is a major by-product in biomass reforming, a promising hydrogen carrier, and also a potential low temperature fuel cell feed. Despite the abundance of experimental studies for vapor-phase HCOOH decomposition on Cu catalysts, the reaction mechanism and its structure sensitivity is still under debate. In this work, self-consistent, periodic density functional theory calculations were performed on three model surfaces of copper—Cu(111), Cu(100) and Cu(211), and both the HCOO (formate)-mediated and COOH (carboxyl)-mediated pathways were investigated for HCOOH decomposition. The energetics of both pathways suggest that the HCOO-mediated route is more favorable than the COOH-mediated route on all three surfaces, and that HCOOH decomposition proceeds through two consecutive dehydrogenation steps via the HCOO intermediate followed by the recombinative desorption of H2. On all three surfaces, HCOO dehydrogenation is the likely rate determining step since it has the highest transition state energy and also the highest activation energy among the three catalytic steps in the HCOO pathway. The reaction is structure sensitive on Cu catalysts since the examined three Cu facets have dramatically different binding strengths for the key intermediate HCOO and varied barriers for the likely rate determining step—HCOO dehydrogenation. Cu(100) and Cu(211) bind HCOO much more strongly than Cu(111), and they are also characterized by potential energy surfaces that are lower in energy than that for the Cu(111) facet. Coadsorbed HCOO and H represents the most stable state along the reaction coordinate, indicating that, under reaction conditions, there might be a substantial surface coverage of the HCOO intermediate, especially at under-coordinated step, corner or defect sites. Therefore, under reaction conditions, HCOOH decomposition is predicted to occur most readily on the terrace sites of Cu nanoparticles. As a result, we hereby present an example of a fundamentally structure-sensitive reaction, which may present itself as structure-insensitive in typical varied particle-size experiments.
Ana’s Voice: It’s All About the Journey

In order to pay homage to the amazing women who have influenced my professional career, I want to first share my own journey. My almost three score and 10 years of living has detoured me down many paths, but a quest for learning has always been both my guide and a factor in my anticipated destination. The journey has had many twists, obstacles, joys, and more than a few surprises.
Aspiring School Administrators' Perceived Ability to Meet Technology Standards and Technological Needs for Professional Development.

AbstractThe merits of technology in general and of educational technology specifically are well documented. The use of educational technology has been shown to improve teaching and learning and the overall educational quality of schools. However, the successful integration of educational technology in schools hinges on school administrators' technology leadership abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate aspiring school administrators' perceived ability to meet technology standards established by ISTE Standards for Administrators (formerly known as the NETS·A) and to determine which standards they wished to pursue for future professional development. Utilizing the ISTE Standards–A as a framework, a survey was created to decipher how aspiring school administrators perceived their own abilities to become leaders with foundational technology leadership skills. The findings showed that (a) the aspiring school administrators were more likely to indicate a need for professional development in tech...
A new approach to multiple testing of grouped hypotheses

Abstract A two-fold loop testing algorithm (TLTA) is proposed for testing grouped hypotheses controlling false discoveries. It is constructed by decomposing a posterior measure of false discoveries across all hypotheses into within- and between-group components, allowing a portion of the overall FDR level to be used to maintain control over within-group false discoveries. Numerical calculations performed under certain model assumption for the hidden states of the within-group hypotheses show its superior performance over its competitors that ignore the group structure, especially when only a few of the groups contain the signals, as expected in many modern applications. We offer data-driven version of the TLTA by estimating the parameters using EM algorithms and provide simulation evidence of its favorable performance relative to these competitors. Real data applications have also produced encouraging results for the TLTA.
When Less is More — Using Restricted Repetition Search in Fast Compressors

In this work we identify a surprising effect by which searching for less repetitions in fast compressors can occasionally gain more compression (may reach up to a 30% improvement). Moreover, when executed on the correct data, restricting the repetition search manages to simultaneously improve both compression ratio and compression and decompression speeds. The rationale behind this phenomena is that for many highly compressible files, resources are "wasted" towards finding the short repetitions and this obscuresfinding longer repetitions. This can be remedied by restricting the attention solely to longer repetitions. Moreover, restricting attention to long repetitions has less interference with benefits of Huffman encoding, interfering only when long and beneficial repetitions are found.Following this observation we face the challenge of identifying the aforementioned data in order to deploy the restricted repetition search on it and doing so in an online manner. The problem is that while some data types can benefit greatly from the restricted search, others data types can suffer compression degradation from it. So being able to identify the data correctly is paramount to achieving an overall improvement. Moreover, since we are targeting high speed compressors, we are restricted to using only methods that are extremely fast and will not degrade the compression speeds for data that is unaffected by this method. Our solution is an adaptive algorithm that tunes the compression to the data at hand in order to reap the benefits on data types where restricted repetition exhibits gains. On other data types the compressor performs on par with the original fast compressor.We implemented our approach on two compressors: The worst is LZ4 [1] where nice improvements could be seen on a few selectfiles (some files showed a 20% improvement on compression ratio), but for the most part gains were limited to 5-7%. The second implementation was for RapidZlib [3] which is Deflate [2] compatible and also combines Huffman encoding on top of the repetition elimination process. The results here were by far better, exhibiting improvements upward of 20% on manyfiles and at times over 30%. We evaluated our adaptive RapidZlib solution on a large collection of data from various types and verified that it improves significantly on the potential files and does not add overheads or degrade on others.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children (MBCT-C) was developed during an intensely uncertain time in history–shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. This chapter outlines the development of MBCT-C and offers a detailed overview of the 12-week group psychotherapy program for children. Mindfulness-based therapies, in contrast, is believed to facilitate “metacognitive awareness” or “decentering,” which describes the ability to perceive thoughts as transitory events in the mind. At the outset, mindfulness-based interventions including mindfulness-based stress reduction, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and MBCT were filling a critical void in the compendium of more traditional cognitive-behavioral treatments. Three main themes are interwoven throughout the program. The first involves the understanding that thoughts, feelings, and body sensations are separate but related entities. The second theme focuses on differentiating between judging and describing. The third theme involves increasing awareness of the present moment by noticing past, present and future thinking.
Dopamine: A Modulator of Circadian Rhythms in the Central Nervous System

Abstract Circadian rhythms are daily rhythms that regulate many biological processes – from gene transcription to behavior – and a disruption of these rhythms can lead to a myriad of health risks. Circadian rhythms are entrained by light, and their 24-hour oscillation is maintained by a core molecular feedback loop composed of canonical circadian (“clock”) genes and proteins. Different modulators help to maintain the proper rhythmicity of these genes and proteins, and one emerging modulator is dopamine. Dopamine has been shown to have circadian-like activities in the retina, olfactory bulb, striatum, midbrain, and hypothalamus, where it regulates, and is regulated by, clock genes in some of these areas. Thus, it is likely that dopamine is essential to mechanisms that maintain proper rhythmicity of these five brain areas. This review discusses studies that showcase different dopaminergic mechanisms that may be involved with the regulation of these brain areas’ circadian rhythms. Mechanisms include how dopamine and dopamine receptor activity directly and indirectly influence clock genes and proteins, how dopamine’s interactions with gap junctions influence daily neuronal excitability, and how dopamine’s release and effects are gated by low- and high-pass filters. Because the dopamine neurons described in this review also release the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA which influences clock protein expression in the retina, we discuss articles that explore how GABA may contribute to the actions of dopamine neurons on circadian rhythms. Finally, to understand how the loss of function of dopamine neurons could influence circadian rhythms, we review studies linking the neurodegenerative disease Parkinson’s Disease to disruptions of circadian rhythms in these five brain areas. The purpose of this review is to summarize growing evidence that dopamine is involved in regulating circadian rhythms, either directly or indirectly, in the brain areas discussed here. An appreciation of the growing evidence of dopamine’s influence on circadian rhythms may lead to new treatments including pharmacological agents directed at alleviating the various symptoms of circadian rhythm disruption.