Energy + Information \u3c Energy

There is sufficient scientific evidence to indicate that global warming is due to the rise of atmospheric CO2 resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (Pacala & Socolow, 2004)?. This is one of several significant environmental issues facing every human. We also need to address the degradation of the oceans (The Economist, 2008)?, biodiversity loss (Díaz, Fargione, Chapin, & Tilman, 2006)? , and declining fresh water sources (United Nations, 2006)?. Asteroid strikes have previously resulted in high levels of species extension because of the abrupt climate change created by atmospheric dust (Crowley & North, 1988)?. We could potentially have the same impact as an asteroid if we don’t develop sustainable practices at the individual, organizational, and societal level. We all need to adopt green practices. Scientists and engineers are investigating several solutions to these immense problems (e.g., electric cars, solar panels). Information systems, the greatest force for productivity improvement in the last half century, must play its part in this global problem. We have changed human behavior greatly in the last few decades (e.g., consider the Web, personal computers, and cell phones), and we have the potential to support the shift to a sustainable society. As well as using information systems to improve the efficiency of energy distribution and consuming systems, we can also think of using information systems to change human behavior in a green direction. This panel examines the potential of IS to promote green practices. In particular, we want to introduce the notion that by adding information to energy distribution and consumption systems we can reduce the amount of energy that such systems need to operate. Some new initatives to improve IS management practices in this area will also be described

A Prison Education Counternarrative: “Mock Citizenship” in a Women’s Prison

In this article, we develop a perspective on the purposes and possibilities of education in prison through the stories of the first author, a prison educator and critical pedagogue. In the context of today’s prisons, we complicate universalist notions of citizenship by weaving theories of citizenship into the story of education. We share the daily concerns of a prison educator and explore the transformative possibilities that women convict students try on. We question how to shape educational practices in prison and contemplate the construction of a new “mock citizenship” informed by the realities of felony disenfranchisement. Our hope is to bring to the conversation something that has been lacking when discussions of incarceration occur: insight into the ways incarcerated students perform the role of citizen and how the purpose of prison education must extend beyond job readiness toward the creation of full citizens able to participate in the democratic process

LMDA Review, volume 8, issue 2

Contents include: Head to Head 1997 Annual Conference, LMDA\u27s Statement of Principle Regarding Rent Lawsuit, A Letter from Canada, My Involvement with Rent, A Dramaturg Changes Hats: Tim Sanford on Career Flexibility, Regional News, The Advocacy Caucus Needs You, Mid-Atlantic/D.C. Metropolitan Regional Report, Dramaturgy Northwest, New York Regional, Regional Vice Presidents.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1016/thumbnail.jp

LMDA Review, volume 8, issue 2

Contents include: Head to Head 1997 Annual Conference, LMDA\u27s Statement of Principle Regarding Rent Lawsuit, A Letter from Canada, My Involvement with Rent, A Dramaturg Changes Hats: Tim Sanford on Career Flexibility, Regional News, The Advocacy Caucus Needs You, Mid-Atlantic/D.C. Metropolitan Regional Report, Dramaturgy Northwest, New York Regional, Regional Vice Presidents.https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1016/thumbnail.jp

Practice patterns and outcomes of equivocal bone scans for patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer: Results from SEARCH.

ObjectiveTo review follow-up imaging after equivocal bone scans in men with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and examine the characteristics of equivocal bone scans that are associated with positive follow-up imaging.MethodsWe identified 639 men from five Veterans Affairs Hospitals with a technetium-99m bone scan after CRPC diagnosis, of whom 99 (15%) had equivocal scans. Men with equivocal scans were segregated into "high-risk" and "low-risk" subcategories based upon wording in the bone scan report. All follow-up imaging (bone scans, computed tomography [CT], magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], and X-rays) in the 3 months after the equivocal scan were reviewed. Variables were compared between patients with a positive vs. negative follow-up imaging after an equivocal bone scan.ResultsOf 99 men with an equivocal bone scan, 43 (43%) received at least one follow-up imaging test, including 32/82 (39%) with low-risk scans and 11/17 (65%) with high-risk scans (p = 0.052). Of follow-up tests, 67% were negative, 14% were equivocal, and 19% were positive. Among those who underwent follow-up imaging, 3/32 (9%) low-risk men had metastases vs. 5/11 (45%) high-risk men (p = 0.015).ConclusionWhile 19% of all men who received follow-up imaging had positive follow-up imaging, only 9% of those with a low-risk equivocal bone scan had metastases versus 45% of those with high-risk. These preliminary findings, if confirmed in larger studies, suggest follow-up imaging tests for low-risk equivocal scans can be delayed while high-risk equivocal scans should receive follow-up imaging

Effective Viscosity of Dilute Bacterial Suspensions: A Two-Dimensional Model

Suspensions of self-propelled particles are studied in the framework of two-dimensional (2D) Stokesean hydrodynamics. A formula is obtained for the effective viscosity of such suspensions in the limit of small concentrations. This formula includes the two terms that are found in the 2D version of Einstein's classical result for passive suspensions. To this, the main result of the paper is added, an additional term due to self-propulsion which depends on the physical and geometric properties of the active suspension. This term explains the experimental observation of a decrease in effective viscosity in active suspensions.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Biolog

Sales of over-the-counter products containing codeine in 31 countries, 2013-2019: a retrospective observational study

ABSTRACTIntroductionOpioid prescribing trends have been investigated in many countries. However, the patterns of over-the-counter purchases of opioids without a prescription, such as codeine combinations, are mostly unknown.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess national sales and expenditure trends of over-the-counter codeine-containing products purchased in countries with available data over six years.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study using electronic point-of-sale data from the human data science company, IQVIA, for countries that had such data, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the UK, and the USA. We calculated annual mean sales (dosage units per 1000 of the population) and public expenditure (GBP, £ per 1000 population) for each country between April 2013 and March 2019 and adjusted for data coverage reported by IQVIA. We quantified changes over time and the types of products sold.Results31.5 billion dosage units (adjusted: 42.8 billion dosage units) of codeine, costing £2.55 billion (adjusted: £3.68 billion), were sold over-the-counter in 31 countries between April 2013 and March 2019. Total adjusted sales increased by 11% (3911 dosage units/1000 population in 2013 to 4358 in 2019) and adjusted public expenditure increased by 72% (£263/1000 in 2013 to £451/1000 in 2019). Sales were not equally distributed; South Africa sold the most (36 mean dosage units/person), followed by Ireland (30 mean dosage units/person), France (20 mean dosage units/person), the UK (17.2 mean dosage units/person), and Latvia (16.8 mean dosage units/person). Types of products (n=569) and formulations (n=12) sold varied.ConclusionIn many parts of the world, substantial numbers of people may be purchasing and consuming codeine from over-the-counter products. Clinicians should ask patients about their use of over-the-counter products, and public health measures are required to improve the collection of sales data and the safety of such products.Study protocol pre-registrationhttps://osf.io/ay4mcThe pre-print version of this work is available on medRxiv:https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.21.21255888Key pointsCodeine is one of the most accessible pain medicines available worldwide, yet data on its use as an over-the-counter drug has been limited.We found that total sales and expenditure of over-the-counter products containing codeine increased from April 2013 to March 2019, but there was substantial variation in mean sales between countries and the coverage of data reported by IQVIA, with South Africa, France, Japan, the UK, and Poland accounting for 90% of all sales data.In countries with access to over-the-counter codeine products, sales data should be collected, made available, and reviewed to inform regulatory decisions and public health measures to ensure safety.</jats:sec

Machine learning using digitized herbarium specimens to advance phenological research

Machine learning (ML) has great potential to drive scientific discovery by harvesting data from images of herbarium specimens—preserved plant material curated in natural history collections—but ML techniques have only recently been applied to this rich resource. ML has particularly strong prospects for the study of plant phenological events such as growth and reproduction. As a major indicator of climate change, driver of ecological processes, and critical determinant of plant fitness, plant phenology is an important frontier for the application of ML techniques for science and society. In the present article, we describe a generalized, modular ML workflow for extracting phenological data from images of herbarium specimens, and we discuss the advantages, limitations, and potential future improvements of this workflow. Strategic research and investment in specimen-based ML methods, along with the aggregation of herbarium specimen data, may give rise to a better understanding of life on Earth

Polyantigenic Interferon-γ Responses Are Associated with Protection from TB among HIV-Infected Adults with Childhood BCG Immunization

Surrogate immunologic markers for natural and vaccine-mediated protection against tuberculosis (TB) have not been identified. HIV-infected adults with childhood BCG immunization entering the placebo arm of the DarDar TB vaccine trial in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were assessed for interferon gamma (IFN-γ) responses to three mycobacterial antigen preparations--secreted Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens 85 (Ag85), early secretory antigenic target 6 (ESAT-6) and polyantigenic whole cell lysate (WCL). We investigated the association between the number of detectable IFN-γ responses at baseline and the subsequent risk of HIV-associated TB. During a median follow-up of 3.3 years, 92 (9.4%) of 979 placebo recipients developed TB. The incidence of TB was 14% in subjects with no detectable baseline IFN-γ responses vs. 8% in subjects with response to polyantigenic WCL (P = 0.028). Concomitant responses to secreted antigens were associated with further reduction in the incidence of HIV-associated TB. Overall the percentage of subjects with 0, 1, 2 and 3 baseline IFN-γ responses to mycobacterial preparations who developed HIV-associated TB was 14%, 8%, 7% and 4%, respectively (P = 0.004). In a multivariate Cox regression model, the hazard of developing HIV-associated TB was 46% lower with each increment in the number of detectable baseline IFN-γ responses (P<0.001). Among HIV-infected adults who received BCG in childhood and live in a TB-endemic country, polyantigenic IFN-γ responses are associated with decreased risk of subsequent HIV-associated TB. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0052195

A case-only study to identify genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers

Peer reviewedPublisher PD