cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Muscarinic Control of MIN6 Pancreatic β Cells Is Enhanced by Impaired Amino Acid Signaling

We have shown recently that the class C G protein-coupled receptor T1R1/T1R3 taste receptor complex is an early amino acid sensor in MIN6 pancreatic β cells. Amino acids are unable to activate ERK1/2 in β cells in which T1R3 has been depleted. The muscarinic receptor agonist carbachol activated ERK1/2 better in T1R3-depleted cells than in control cells. Ligands that activate certain G protein-coupled receptors in pancreatic β cells potentiate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Among these is the M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, the major muscarinic receptor in β cells. We found that expression of M3 receptors increased in T1R3-depleted MIN6 cells and that calcium responses were altered. To determine whether these changes were related to impaired amino acid signaling, we compared responses in cells exposed to reduced amino acid concentrations. M3 receptor expression was increased, and some, but not all, changes in calcium signaling were mimicked. These findings suggest that M3 acetylcholine receptors are increased in β cells as a mechanism to compensate for amino acid deficiency.
Synthesis-driven exploration of pipelined embedded processors

Recent advances on language based software toolkit generation enables performance driven exploration of embedded systems by exploiting the application behavior. There is a need for an automatic generation of hardware to determine the required silicon area, clock frequency, and power consumption of the candidate architectures. In this paper, we present a language based exploration framework that automatically generates synthesizable RTL models for pipelined processors. Our framework allows varied micro-architectural modifications, such as, addition of pipeline stages, pipeline paths, opcodes and new functional units. The generated RTL is synthesized to determine the area, power, and clock frequency of the modified architectures. Our exploration results demonstrate the power of reuse in composing heterogeneous architectures using functional abstraction primitives allowing for a reduction in the time for specification and exploration by at least an order of magnitude.
A Spike in Fatal Medication Errors at the Beginning of Each Month

At the beginning of each month, there is a spike in government payments to individuals, resulting in a beginning-of-the-month spike in purchases of prescription drugs and in increased pharmacy workloads. Studies suggest that pharmacy error rates increase with increased workloads. These facts raise an important and previously unanswered question: is there a spike in fatal medication errors at the beginning of each month? We examined all United States death certificates from 1979-2000 (> 47,000,000 deaths) and showed that medication error deaths for which the decedent was dead on arrival or died in the emergency room or as an outpatient spiked by 25% above normal at the beginning of each month. This beginning-of-the-month spike (25% +/- 4%) was larger than for any other major cause of death. The beginning-of-the-month spike did not vary by socioeconomic status and was not larger for substance abusers than for others. Five explanations for the findings were tested. Evidence suggested that the spike in medication error deaths cannot be solely attributed to a spike in the consumption of alcohol or drugs. An increase in pharmacy error rates might play a role.
The Immunocytochemical Localization of Tyrosine Hydroxylase in the Human Striatum and Substantia Nigra

The synaptic organization of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the synthesizing enzyme for dopamine, is reviewed for the human striatum and substantia nigra (SN). In the striatum, TH-immunoreactivity [TH-i] was present in myelinated and unmyelinated varicose axons. Both varicosities [0.75–1:5µm] and intervaricose segments [0.2–0.3pm] formed synapses with spines and dendrites. Most synapses formed by TH-i profiles were symmetric axospinous (57–62%) or symmetric axodendritic (33–35%). An occasional asymmetric synapse was observed. Synapses formed by TH-i profiles were short in length [0.226µm], and had non-perforated postsynaptic densities. In the SN, TH-i was present in SN pars compacta neurons, which had large somata and vast cytoplasm, in dendrites, and in myelinated axons. Unlabeled axon terminals with varied morphologies formed synapses with TH-i somata and dendrites. The axon terminals varied in size, vesicle packing density, vesicle morphology and the symmetry of the synapse formed with labeled profiles. The general pattern of striatal TH-i was similar, but not identical, to that of other species. The morphological characteristics of dopaminergic nigral neurons and the synapses on them were similar to those of other species.
Evaluation of a new, improved surgical drainage system

A new, improved drainage system has been specifically designed to provide either closed suction drainage for the ambulating patient or sump drainage for the patient confined to bed. This drainage system is made of silicone that has a hydrogel coating with a low coefficient of friction. This coating facilitates removal of the drain from the wound cavity and reduces the adherence of blood clots in the drainage system. A filter assembly is attached to the air vent lumen to remove particulate matter and bacteria from the air. Clinical evaluation of the filtered sump drainage system has confirmed its superiority over closed suction in its efficiency of removing fluids from the wound.
Rethinking child difficulty: the effect of NP type on children's processing of relative clauses in Hebrew.

Children find object relative clauses difficult. They show poor comprehension that lags behind production into their fifth year. This finding has shaped models of relative clause acquisition, with appeals to processing heuristics or syntactic preferences to explain why object relatives are more difficult than subject relatives. Two studies here suggest that children (age 4 ; 6) do not find all object relatives difficult: a corpus study shows that children most often hear and produce object relatives with pronominal subjects. But they are most often tested on ones with lexical-NP subjects (e.g. The nurse thatthe girlis drawing). When tested on object relatives with pronominal subjects (e.g. The nurse thatIam drawing), similar to those they actually hear and produce, Hebrew speakers aged 4 ; 6 show good comprehension (85% accuracy) that matches their production ability. This suggests a different path of relative clause acquisition, one that is sensitive to fine-grained distributional information.
Bayesian entropy estimation for binary spike train data using parametric prior knowledge

Shannon's entropy is a basic quantity in information theory, and a fundamental building block for the analysis of neural codes. Estimating the entropy of a discrete distribution from samples is an important and difficult problem that has received considerable attention in statistics and theoretical neuroscience. However, neural responses have characteristic statistical structure that generic entropy estimators fail to exploit. For example, existing Bayesian entropy estimators make the naive assumption that all spike words are equally likely a priori, which makes for an inefficient allocation of prior probability mass in cases where spikes are sparse. Here we develop Bayesian estimators for the entropy of binary spike trains using priors designed to flexibly exploit the statistical structure of simultaneously-recorded spike responses. We define two prior distributions over spike words using mixtures of Dirichlet distributions centered on simple parametric models. The parametric model captures high-level statistical features of the data, such as the average spike count in a spike word, which allows the posterior over entropy to concentrate more rapidly than with standard estimators (e.g., in cases where the probability of spiking differs strongly from 0.5). Conversely, the Dirichlet distributions assign prior mass to distributions far from the parametric model, ensuring consistent estimates for arbitrary distributions. We devise a compact representation of the data and prior that allow for computationally efficient implementations of Bayesian least squares and empirical Bayes entropy estimators with large numbers of neurons. We apply these estimators to simulated and real neural data and show that they substantially outperform traditional methods.
Kurt Baier on Reason and Morality

The Rational and the Moral Order, a work of sweeping scope and depth, opens with three problems: the Rationality Problem, briefly, is that the following set is inconsistent, although each of its elements seems true: our conduct cannot be rationally justified unless it promotes our own good; moral conduct is rationally justified; but morality often requires that we do things that do not promote our own good. The Motivation Problem distills to this: can something be a reason for someone to do something without its actually motivating him to do so (the so-called “externalist” position), or is being a motivator a necessary condition of being a reason for that person (the “internalist position”)? Finally, the Sanction Problem notes that, although it seems plausible and generally accepted that immorality should be sanctioned, it seems neither plausible, nor is it generally accepted, that irrationality should be. Why this asymmetry? I restrict my attention, in what follows, to aspects of Baier's fascinating discussion on the Rationality Problem and the Motivation Problem.
Enhancement of flip-chip fatigue life by encapsulation

Encapsulation of controlled collapse chip connection (C4) joints, using a filled epoxy resin with a matched coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), has provided a substantial increase in the life of C4 joints in accelerated thermal cycle (ATC) fatigue testing on both low CTE organic and ceramic chip carriers. The C4 joints are encapsulated by dispensing a bead of the resin along an edge of the chip. The encapsulant flows underneath the chip by capillary action and completely fills the gap between the chip and the substrate. Optimization of the filler size distribution and resin rheology to obtain consistent flow under the chip without any bubbles is discussed. The filler size distribution and flow under the chip are shown in cross sections of several different materials, including low alpha emitting encapsulants for memory applications. Encapsulant formulations are tested by videotaping the flow of encapsulant under transparent quartz chips. The formation of bubbles as the encapsulant flows around the C4 joints and irregularities in the surface of the substrate can clearly be seen. Proper C4 encapsulation provides virtually complete coverage around all C4 connections. C4 life testing over various temperature ranges shows a five to ten times improvement for both memory and logic footprints when the C4 joints are encapsulated. The vast improvement in C4 joint reliability provided by encapsulation allows the C4 technology to be extended to much larger chips or to higher service temperature ranges without conventional distance from neutral point (DNP) constraints. >
Commissioning experiments on the 100 TW Sandia laser

We present results from laser-target interaction experiments performed within the 100 TW facility at Sandia National Laboratory. A series of K-alpha images of 25μm thick copper foils reveal an average K-alpha spot diameter of ∼70±10μm and a pointing error of less than 50μm in both the vertical and horizontal directions. 2 omega optical probe pulse shadowgraphy images show front surface plasma growth and transverse focal structure from self-emission. Stacks of radiochromic film (RCF) positioned along the rear normal to the Cu foil indicate an average peak proton energy of 8±2 MeV.
Dynamical systems in nanophotonics: From energy efficient modulators to light forces and optomechanics

We demonstrate novel device concepts based on rigorous design of the dynamics of resonant nanophotonic systems, such as dispersionless resonant switches and energy-efficient modulator architectures, slow-light cells, and nanomechanical photonic devices based on light forces.
Cognitive Abilities of Children at 7 and 12 Years of Age in the Colorado Adoption Project

To test the hypothesis that adopted children are at an elevated risk for learning disabilities, the achievement and WISC-R test scores of a nonclinical sample of adopted and nonadopted (control) children were compared at 7 years of age (n = 108 adopted males, 91 adopted females, 116 control males, 100 control females) and 12 years of age (n = 69 adopted males, 61 adopted females, 56 control males, 44 control females). Although the average Verbal IQ of the adopted children was significantly lower than that of the nonadopted children at both ages, these differences accounted for only about 2% to 4% of the variance. When scores on the individual subtests of the WISC-R were compared, the group difference was significant only for Similarities at age 7, and for Comprehension at age 12. Moreover, with regard to the achievement tests, the proportion of adopted children who scored more than 1.5 standard deviations below expected, based on IQ, was not significantly greater than that of controls. Also, the proportio...
A “very interested” third party intervenes in a divorce settlement

There is no universal formula for dealing with the painful products of a bitter divorce. Mixed motives, distorted perceptions, and irreconcilable differences are all interwoven into an intricate web of confused and conflicting emotions. The web eventually becomes so complex that often tangible issues cannot be pulled apart from intangible ones. Mediation in such situations cannot be seen as a panacea. The individual propensities and dissimilarities that originally lead spouses to separate may obstruct future interaction as well. A third party in such situations may, however, serve a catalytic role in fostering movement toward agreement by identifying the issues, increasing the understanding of the problem, reducing the risk of loss of face, and facilitating the efficient use of communication channels. One goal is to bring conflicting parties to think clearly about their own feelings, expectations, and desires as well as those of their opponent. Striving to achieve superordinate goals and recognizing that common interests often exist beneath the turbulent surface of positional arguments will ultimately move parties closer toward agreement. Resolving the conflict depends not only on the effectiveness of the third party, but on the willingness of the disputants to commit themselves to an exhaustive search for a solution.
Mineralocorticoid receptor inhibits CREB signaling by calcineurin activation

We investigated the interaction of MR with cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) and provide a mechanistic explanation and insights into the cellular relevance. MR → CREB crosstalk was assessed in vascular smooth muscle cells and heterologous expression systems. Experiments were designed in a way that only one variable changed at a time and the respective vehicles served as controls. MR, but not GR, activation (aldosterone or hydrocortisone, IC50, ∼0.3 nM) inhibits CREB transcriptional activity induced by stimulation of β1/2-adrenoceptors and adenylyl cyclase or addition of membrane-permeable cAMP up to 70% within 2 h after addition. The MR DNA-binding domain is not required for this inhibition. cAMP formation is virtually unchanged, whereas MR exerts a robust inhibition of CREBS133 phosphorylation via calcineurin/PP2B activation without changes in PP2B-Aα or β expression. In parallel, the PP2B-sensitive NFaT-pathway is activated. The inhibitory crosstalk attenuates CREB-induced glucose-6-phosphate...
Balancing tourism, conservation, and development: a political ecology of ecotourism on the Galapagos Islands

Thousands of tourists venture to the internationally renowned Galapagos Islands each year to admire the same pristine nature Darwin came upon over 150 years ago. While appreciating the landscape, many visitors fail to understand the interconnectedness of the tourism industry, Galapagos conservation efforts, and development on the inhabited islands of the archipelago. This research stems from 6 weeks of in-depth field research on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos Islands, and demonstrates the ways in which island residents are forced to navigate the complex intersection of tourism, conservation, and development on the most local scale. Conservation political ecology examines the asymmetrical power relations in protected areas. Therefore, to understand the impacts of conservation and tourism on local communities, political ecology frames research findings to illustrate how relationships between conservation, tourism, and development have altered not only the San Cristobal community, but also locals’ perceptio...
Computational methods and grammars in language evolution: a survey

The interest in language evolution by various disciplines, such as linguistics, computer science, biology, etc., makes language evolution models an active research topic and many models have been defined in the last decade. In this work, an overview of computational methods and grammars in language evolution models is given. It aims to introduce readers to the main concepts and the current approaches in language evolution research. Some of the language evolution models, developed during the decade 2003---2012, have been described and classified considering both the grammatical representation (context-free, attribute, Christiansen, fluid construction, or universal grammar) and the computational methods (agent-based, evolutionary computation-based or game theoretic). Finally, an analysis of the surveyed models has been carried out to evaluate their possible extension towards multimodal language evolution.
The Implications of Certain Population Concepts

as possible how the comparison based on his test of Engel's law works out, the frequency distributions of the food costs for the cities of the regions compared are shown in the accompanying chart. This chart shows how very much alike the two regions are in this test. In conclusion then this investigation does not show that it is cheaper to live in t e South, but rather that the costs are the same in the South as in the rest of the United States. We infer then that the popular opinion that it is cheaper to live in the South is based upon false comparisons or unsatisfactory concepts. If a laborer spends less in the South than in the North, it is because he gets less wages and not because it costs less to live there.
Oral Hygiene and Handwashing Practices among Middle School Students in 15 Latin American and Caribbean Countries.

To examine the relationship between infrequent toothbrushing and infrequent handwashing among middle school students from 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay).
Alternate forms of molecular testing

This presentation will describe two groundbreaking techniques validated in our laboratory: Molecular Combing and SOMAmer Diagnosis. Molecular Combing, developed by Genomic Vision, allows the visualisation and size measurement of single DNA molecules for the purposes of molecular diagnostics. I will describe the technology and the validation of a molecular combing for the diagnosis of fascio-scapular-humeral dystrophy (FSHD). Potential future uses of this technology in the hereditary cancer syndromes will also be discussed. Developed by SomaLogic Inc., SOMAmers (slow off-rate modified aptamers) are a new generation of protein-binding aptamers. SOMAmer reagents are nucleic acid molecules of 40-80 bp that are capable of binding to single proteins. Using a proprietary method, high affinity SOMAmer reagents can be isolated for virtually any purified protein. By introducing modified bases, SOMAmer reagents can be selected that bind with high affinity and remain bound to proteins in solution long enough for a quantitative assay. I will discuss the development of the first ever clinical SOMAmer-based assay that measures unbound EGFR in serum. I will present the utility of a SOMAmer-based assay for the purposes of pro-teomics discovery and the translation into a clinical assay.
Self-Organized Formation of Compositionally Modulated ZnSe 1 − x Te x Superlattices

We report the observation of periodic compositional modulation in ZnSe ${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$Te ${}_{x}$ alloys grown by molecular beam epitaxy on vicinal (100) GaAs substrates. The period is highly regular, with typical values between 18 and 32 \AA{}, and is long range in character. X-ray diffraction indicates that the composition varies approximately sinusoidally, resulting in superlattices that are expected to have unique physical properties.
Politicians' Beliefs about Voters

The pattern of communications between representatives and constituents has become a matter of central concern to many students of legislative behavior. As Lewis A. Dexter points out, the statement that a Congressman “represents” his district is only shorthand for the fact that the Congressman “represents his image of the district or of his constituents.” This image is established, according to Dexter, by the communications between representative and constituents: “what he hears from the district as he interprets it.” Miller and Stokes explore directly Congressmen's images of their constituents' opinions. The representative's image of his district is significant because it may constitute part of the explanation for various important types of behavior, such as his roll call voting, the stands he takes on issues of public policy, and the formulation of his campaign strategies.A portion of a representative's image of his district is composed of his beliefs about voters, his explicit or implicit theory of voting behavior. Because his position is contingent upon the approval of a majority of voters in an election, he is likely to consider at least to some degree the effect that various of his decisions might have on election outcomes. In making such judgments, the representative probably makes some assumptions, conscious or not, about the manner in which voters make their choices. If he believes, for example, that voters pay close attention to his actions, he probably feels more constrained by his district's likely opinions than if he does not hold that belief.
Cerebellar fastigial nucleus influence on ipsilateral abducens activity during saccades

To characterize the cerebellar influence on neurons in the abducens (ABD) nucleus, we recorded ABD neurons before and after we inactivated the caudal part of the ipsilateral cerebellar fastigial nucleus (cFN) with muscimol injection. cFN activity influences the horizontal component of saccades. cFN inactivation increased the activity of most ipsilateral ABD neurons (19/22 in 2 monkeys) during ipsiversive (hypermetric) saccades, primarily by increasing burst duration. During contraversive (hypometric) saccades, the off-direction pause of most (10/15) ABD neurons was shorter than normal because of the early resumption of ABD activity. Early ABD firing caused the early contraction of antagonist muscles that reduced eye rotation and made contraversive saccades hypometric. Thus the cerebellum controls ipsilateral ABD activity by truncating on-direction bursts during ipsiversive saccades and extending off-direction pauses during contraversive saccades. We conclude that cFN output keeps saccades accurate by controlling when ABD on-direction bursts and off-direction pauses end.
Ruptured aneurysm of a major aortopulmonary collateral

A 43-year-old woman with unrepaired pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect with multiple aortopulmonary collaterals presented to an outside hospital with acute onset dyspnoea and severe hypoxaemia. She was intubated due to respiratory distress, and transferred to our centre for additional treatment. Computed tomography scan of the chest demonstrated four …
The Application Effect of 3M Transparent Dressing for the Postoperative Wound Care of Pediatric Inguinal Hernia

Objective:To explore the application effect of 3M transparent dressing in pediatric inguinal hernia for postoperative wound care.Method:One thousand six hundred of pediatric patients with indirect inguinal hernia were randomly selected in our hospital of from January 2012 to December 2013.They were divided into two groups(each contained 80 cases).The experimental group was given 6 cm×7 cm 3M transparent dressing for postoperative incision, 9 cm×7 cm 3L pastes were used in the contrl group.The treatment effects were compared between the two groups.Result:The number of application of dressing change times medical consumables incision infection cases in the experimental group were significantly less than the control group(P0.05).Conclusion:Application of 3M transparent dressing can effectively reduce the frequency of changing dressings save medical consumables, prevent the infection of incision, and reduce the workload of nurses.It is worthy of being spreaded.
Considerations on the Implementation, Innovation, and Improvement of Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs

Home visiting as an approach to deliver services to at-risk young children and families, particularly mothers, has grown in visibility and acceptance. Home visiting has been endorsed by many organizations, including those in the business community, and research reviews have found supportive evidence. However, some concerns with the magnitude of home visiting outcomes and with discrepancies in replication research on identified programs in different communities have been found. A recent US federal initiative (Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting [MIECHV]) funds the implementation of evidence-based programs while requiring impacts in outcome areas not necessarily identified in the research studies that supported the programs’ evidence-based designation. There exists a tension between research-identified directions for home visiting and policy-mandated directions. This chapter focuses on this tension between research, policy, and practice and the innovations needed to reduce this tension when implementing programs. The identification of evidence-based practices is discussed along with some cautions. Programs that work with at-risk families can use these research based strategies to incorporate innovative program components as they expand, allowing them to remain true to program fidelity. The goal of this chapter is to provide innovative solutions that can help programs meet required outcomes, for most families, most of the time.
Some Clerical Contributions to Ex Parte Quirin

This article introduces some documents relating to Ex parte Quirin and then explains where they have been for the last 70-plus years. Quirin is the case in which the U.S. Supreme Court – in a hurried summer session in July 1942 – upheld President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s creation of an unusual military commission to try eight Nazi saboteurs under a special set of rules. The documents are memos written to Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone by his senior law clerk, Bennett Boskey, while the Court was hearing and deciding and opining on Quirin.
Surface plasmon resonance spectrometer sensor using super-period metal nano-grating

Periodic metal nanostructures support localized surface plasmon resonances, which has been extensively investigated for biochemical sensing applications. Surface plasmon resonances were previously measured by using optical spectrometers in either transmission or reflection mode. By creating metal nanostructure diffraction gratings, surface plasmon resonance can be measured in the diffraction mode with a linear detector array without using an optical spectrometer. In this talk, I will present a new surface plasmon resonance sensor platform using super-period metal nanostructures. By using super-period metal nanostructures, surface plasmon resonance spectrometer sensor can be built for integrated biochemical sensing. Being able to measure surface plasmon resonances in the diffraction mode opens a new avenue for integrated surface plasmon resonance spectroscopic sensing.
Electing the People's President: The Popular Origins of the Electoral College

The Electoral College is frequently critiqued as an undemocratic relic of an antiquated constitutional system. Such criticism is largely based on the belief that electing the president by a straigh...
(When) Is Science Reporting Ethical? The Case for Recognizing Shared Epistemic Responsibility in Science Journalism

Internal mechanisms that uphold the reliability of published scientific results have failed across many sciences, including some that are major sources of science news. Traditional methods for reporting science in the mass media do not effectively compensate for this unreliability. I argue for a new conceptual framework in which science journalists and scientists form a complex knowledge community, with science news as the interdisciplinary product. This approach motivates forms of collaboration and training that can improve the epistemic reliability of science news.
England and Religious Plurality: Henry Stubbe, John Locke and Islam

The Elizabethan Settlement identified religious conformity with political allegiance. Not unlike the cuius regio eius religio of the 1555 Peace of Augsburg in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1559 onwards subjects in England had to subscribe to the two Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, the first declaring the monarch as head of the state and the second determining worship under the monarch as head of the Church. In such an Anglican monarchy, there could be no legal space for the non-Anglican subject, let alone for the non-Christian. The few Marranos (Jews forcibly converted to Christianity) lived as Portuguese immigrants, at the same time that Protestant Dutch and Walloon traders congregated in stranger churches, and whilst they were allowed to worship in their own languages, they remained outsiders to the English/Anglican polity.
Exploring Colleagues’ Professional Influence on Mathematics Teachers’ Learning:

Background/ContextThis article contributes to the literature on how teachers learn on the job and how schools and districts can support teacher learning to improve student learning and incorporate ...
Use of isavuconazole in a patient with voriconazole‐induced QTc prolongation

A 22-year-old woman with cystic fibrosis developed QTc interval prolongation following lung transplantation in the setting of voriconazole therapy. After the discontinuation of voriconazole and initiation of isavuconazole, her QTc interval normalized. This case highlights the unique property of QTc interval shortening by isavuconazole among the triazole antifungals.
Bribery with Chinese Characteristics? Corruption, Fuzzy Property Rights, and Rapid Growth

This paper addresses the question of whether the way bribery is practiced in China is such that corruption might be compatible with rapid economic growth during the boom years between 2000 and 2007. In particular, it examines whether bribery based on diffuse reciprocity transforms a corrupt relationship from one based on short-term egoistic gains (looting) to one based on long-term gains (profit maximizing), with the assumption that such a form of bribery will lead the parties to maximize total gains and hence will encourage long-term growth rather than short-term predatory looting. More broadly, the paper inquires whether a regime of informal property rights based on bribery and diffuse reciprocity might compensate for the shortcomings of an imperfectly constructed and incomplete set of formal property rights such as has emerged in post-Mao China and thereby improve the prospects for economic growth. The paper concludes that while bribery based on diffuse reciprocity may encourage the parties directly involved in such corrupt exchanges to maximize their total long-term gains, so long as bribery remains a private good and an informal property rights regime based on bribery remains subject to abrupt and catastrophic revision due to its illegal nature, “bribery with Chinese characteristics” cannot be characterized as growth enhancing and thus cannot be a major explanation for why the Chinese economy grew rapidly during the “third boom.”
Robust linear state estimation using multi-level power system models with different partitions

The work in this paper is motivated by the computational challenges in monitoring very large scale interconnected power transmission systems. The main idea is to exploit the robustness property of the recently developed PMU-based linear estimator while eliminating hierarchical computational complexity. It is recognized that state estimation can be implemented for observable islands in an efficient and robust manner as long as the measurement redundancy remains above a certain threshold. When using distributed computational schemes, local redundancy is inadvertently reduced at the area boundaries and additional effort is needed to compensate for this deficiency. In this paper a new approach is proposed where multiple copies of a multi-area estimator run in parallel, making sure that every bus appears as an “internal area” bus in at least one of these copies. The concept and its envisioned implementation will be explained using the IEEE 30-bus test system as an example.
Star Formation in a Density-Wave-Dominated, Cloudy Interstellar Medium

We present a model of the interstellar medium in spiral galaxies. The ISM is simulated by a system of particles, representing gas clouds. It is a probabilistic N-body system in which “cloud” particles orbit ballistically, undergo dissipative collisions with other clouds, and experience velocity-boosting interactions with expanding supernova remnants (SNRs). Associations of protostars may form in clouds following collisions or SNR interactions (thus allowing sequential star formation); these associations take finite times before becoming active and undergoing their own SN events (Roberts and Hausman, 1983; Hausman and Roberts, 1983).
Electronic physician notifications to improve guideline-based anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a randomized controlled trial

Oral anticoagulants reduce the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. However, many patients with atrial fibrillation at elevated stroke risk are not treated with oral anticoagulants. To test whether electronic notifications sent to primary care physicians increase the proportion of ambulatory patients prescribed oral anticoagulants. Randomized controlled trial conducted from February to May 2017 within 18 practices in an academic primary care network. Primary care physicians (n = 175) and their patients with atrial fibrillation, at elevated stroke risk, and not prescribed oral anticoagulants. Patients of each physician were randomized to the notification or usual care arm. Physicians received baseline email notifications and up to three reminders with patient information, educational material and primary care guidelines for anticoagulation management, and surveys in the notification arm. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients prescribed oral anticoagulants at 3 months in the notification (n = 972) vs. usual care (n = 1364) arms, compared using logistic regression with clustering by physician. Secondary measures included survey-based physician assessment of reasons why patients were not prescribed oral anticoagulants and how primary care physicians might be influenced by the notification. Over 3 months, a small proportion of patients were newly prescribed oral anticoagulants with no significant difference in the notification (3.9%, 95% CI 2.8–5.3%) and usual care (3.2%, 95% CI 2.4–4.2%) arms (p = 0.37). The most common, non-exclusive reasons why patients were not on oral anticoagulants included atrial fibrillation was transient (30%) or paroxysmal (12%), patient/family declined (22%), high bleeding risk (20%), fall risk (19%), and frailty (10%). For 95% of patients, physicians stated they would not change their management after reviewing the alert. Electronic physician notification did not increase anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation at elevated stroke risk. Primary care physicians did not prescribe anticoagulants because they perceived the bleeding risk was too high or stroke risk was too low. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02950285
Change Your Service Policies Based on Your Data

Texas A&M University (TAMU) Libraries' free “Get it for me” service is popular and appreciated by its students and faculty alike. Nevertheless, we noticed many items were not picked up after receip...
"How Does a Black Person Speak English?" beyond American Language Norms.

This study draws from World Englishes and a raciolinguistic perspective to examine how seven Black educators used standardized Englishes after their migration to the United States. Findings reflect...
The Milky Way Project second data release: bubbles and bow shocks

Citizen science has helped astronomers comb through large data sets to identify patterns and objects that are not easily found through automated processes. The Milky Way Project (MWP), a citizen science initiative on the Zooniverse platform, presents internet users with infrared (IR) images from Spitzer Space Telescope Galactic plane surveys. MWP volunteers make classification drawings on the images to identify targeted classes of astronomical objects. We present the MWP second data release (DR2) and an updated data reduction pipeline written in PYTHON. We aggregate ∼3 million classifications made by MWP volunteers during the years 2012–2017 to produce the DR2 catalogue, which contains 2600 IR bubbles and 599 candidate bow shock driving stars. The reliability of bubble identifications, as assessed by comparison to visual identifications by trained experts and scoring by a machine-learning algorithm, is found to be a significant improvement over DR1. We assess the reliability of IR bow shocks via comparison to expert identifications and the colours of candidate bow shock driving stars in the 2MASS point-source catalogue. We hence identify highly reliable subsets of 1394 DR2 bubbles and 453 bow shock driving stars. Uncertainties on object coordinates and bubble size/shape parameters are included in the DR2 catalogue. Compared with DR1, the DR2 bubbles catalogue provides more accurate shapes and sizes. The DR2 catalogue identifies 311 new bow shock driving star candidates, including three associated with the giant H II regions NGC 3603 and RCW 49.
Heart Failure Hospitalist Can Reduce Length of Stay, Can Reduce Readmission, and Can Reduce Cost

Heart Failure (HF) is an important health care issue given its high prevalence, mortality, and cost of care. By 2030, greater than 8 million Americans will be living with HF. The projected cost will increase to close to 70 billion with the majority of the cost attributed to hospitalization. Despite numerous evidence-based strategies in the literature to reduce HF readmissions, patients with HF remain at high risk for subsequent hospitalization with 20 to 25% readmitted within 30 days. Most HF admissions are co-managed with hospitalist resident teaching service and cardiologist. Although, prevention of readmissions is an overarching goal, readmissions do happen. With the current care hospital model, HF patients rarely have a consistent provider if readmitted. Lack of consistency reduced the ability to develop trusting relationships which are essential to facilitate goals of care discussions. In addition, even the best clinical documentation is challenged to record patient specific treatment plan successes and failures. To address this health care priority at UPMC Pinnacle with approximately 1,200 HF patients annually, an interdisciplinary HF team created a HF Hospitalist service to support an environment of patient centered care across the continuum by providing continuity of care for HF admission and HF patients admitted for non-HF admissions. The HF Hospitalists provide quality care with frequent daily rounding, optimization of HF medications, patient and family education to improve treatment plan adherence and early discussion of palliative and hospice transition. Furthermore, the HF hospitalist team coordinates care with the HF outpatient center. The goal is early post-hospital provider follow-up to aggressively monitor HF patients. The HF Hospitalist team meets daily with HF Nurse Navigators to support the system's outpatient self-management program which uses an 8-visit template to review action plans, goals of care, medication reconciliation and education. The team also implemented innovative techniques such as Community Paramedicine outpatient visits to carry out intravenous diuretic protocols in the home, virtual/telemedicine visits, and ReDS-VEST technology to monitor for signs of early exacerbation and prevent readmissions. At this community-based health care system, impressive HF Hospitalist outcomes include decreased length of stay by almost 1 day; decreased 30 day all-cause readmission to an impressive 9% (48.5% absolute reduction when compared to non-HF Hospitalist HF admissions as well as national averages), reduced 30 day HF readmissions to 3.13%, as well as transitioning 13% patient to hospice care; all while reducing costs during the first 12 months of the HF Hospitalist service.
Pushing against hegemonic practices: emergent bilinguals respond to children’s literature

There is a need to gain insight into the ways technology positively impacts the literacy development of young children learning English as a new language given public scrutiny about the use of tech...
Patient and Community Organization Perspectives on Accessing Social Resources from the Emergency Department: A Qualitative Study.

Author(s): Samuels-Kalow, Margaret E.; Molina, Melanie F.; Ciccolo, Gia E.; Curt, Alexa; Cleveland Manchanda, Emily C.; de Paz, Nicole C.; Camargo Jr., Carlos A. | Abstract: Introduction: Social risks adversely affect health and are associated with increased healthcare utilization and costs. Emergency department (ED) patients have high rates of social risk; however, little is known about best practices for ED-based screening or linkage to community resources. We examined the perspectives of patients and community organizations regarding social risk screening and linkage from the ED.Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of ED patients and local community organization staff. Participants completed a brief demographic survey, health literacy assessment, and qualitative interview focused on barriers/facilitators to social risk screening in the ED, and ideas for screening and linkage interventions in the ED. Interviews were conducted in English or Spanish, recorded, transcribed, and coded. Themes were identified by consensus.Results: We conducted 22 interviews with 16 patients and six community organization staff. Three categories of themes emerged. The first related to the importance of social risk screening in the ED. The second category encompassed challenges regarding screening and linkage, including fear, mistrust, transmission of accurate information, and time/resource constraints. The third category included suggestions for improvement and program development. Patients had varied preferences for verbal vs electronic strategies for screening. Community organization staff emphasized resource scarcity and multimodal communication strategies.Conclusion: The development of flexible, multimodal, social risk screening tools, and the creation and maintenance of an accurate database of local resources, are strategies that may facilitate improved identification of social risk and successful linkage to available community resources.
Non-governmental organizations, boomerangs, and forest loss: a cross-national analysis

On the one hand, some research finds that higher numbers of domestic non-governmental organizations (NOGs) are related to less forest loss, while others find that higher numbers of international NG...
Treating Home Versus Predialysis Blood Pressure Among In-Center Hemodialysis Patients: A Pilot Randomized Trial

Rationale & Objective Observational studies have reported a U-shaped association between blood pressure (BP) before a hemodialysis session and death. In contrast, because a linear association between out-of-dialysis-unit BP and death has been reported, home BP may be a better target for treatment. To test the feasibility of this approach, we conducted a pilot trial of treating home versus predialysis BP in hemodialysis patients. Study Design A 4-month, parallel, randomized, controlled trial. Settings & Participants 50 prevalent hemodialysis patients in San Francisco and Seattle. Participants were randomly assigned using 1:1 block randomization, stratified by site. Interventions To target home systolic BP (SBP) of 100- Outcomes Primary outcomes were feasibility, adherence, safety. and tolerability. Results 50 of 70 (71%) patients who were approached agreed to participate. All enrollees completed the study except for 1 who received a kidney transplant. In the home BP treatment group, adherence to obtaining/reporting home BP was 97.4% (and consistent over the 4 months). There was no increased frequency of high (defined as SBP>200mm Hg; 0.2% vs 0%) or low (defined as Limitations Small sample size. Conclusions This pilot trial demonstrates feasibility and high adherence to home BP measurement and treatment in hemodialysis patients. Larger trials to test the long-term feasibility, efficacy, and safety of home BP treatment in hemodialysis patients should be conducted. Funders National Institutes of Health, Satellite Healthcare, and Northwest Kidney Centers. Trial Registration Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with study number NCT03459807.
Nivolumab with radiation therapy in a glioblastoma patient with Lynch syndrome

Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder leading to cancer predisposition caused by mutations in mismatch repair genes. There is minimal published experience treating glioblastoma in patients with Lynch syndrome. We report a patient with Lynch syndrome who was initially diagnosed with a left occipital isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) wild-type glioblastoma. After resection, she was treated with chemoradiation, followed by tumour treating fields. Three years after diagnosis, recurrence was resected. After refusing cytotoxic chemotherapy, decision was made to treat with off-label nivolumab concurrently with radiation. She has been maintained on nivolumab without recurrence of her glioblastoma now over 5 years out from her initial diagnosis. This case provides the first report of glioblastoma in a patient with Lynch syndrome responding to nivolumab and concurrent radiation. In patients with Lynch syndrome and glioblastoma, immunotherapy in the form of nivolumab may be an alternative option to standard cytotoxic chemotherapy.
The Challenge of Supporting Emerging Inference-based Decision-making

This chapter addresses the complexities of inference-based decision making and the challenge of supporting such processes. People are often unaware of the cognitive framework that facilitates and biases complex decisions. Inference-based decision making is described as bidirectional reasoning. We show how the decision maker gradually makes sense of and simplifies the decision task, how decision criteria can be modeled, and how criteria change as the decision-maker’s experience increases. It is claimed that the prime way to aid inference-based decision making is to make the process of generating sense explicit, and that experiments constitute an important tool.