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While ChatGPT has recently become very popular, AI has a long history and philosophy. This paper intends to explore the promises and pitfalls of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) AI and potentially future technologies by adopting a speculative methodology. Speculative future narratives with a specific focus on educational contexts are provided in an attempt to identify emerging themes and discuss their implications for education in the 21st century. Affordances of (using) AI in Education (AIEd) and possible adverse effects are identified and discussed which emerge from the narratives. It is argued that now is the best of times to define human vs AI contribution to education because AI can accomplish more and more educational activities that used to be the prerogative of human educators. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink the respective roles of technology and human educators in education with a future-oriented mindset.

Background: Liver fibrosis is closely related to abnormal liver function and liver cancer. Accurate noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis is of great significance for preventing disease progression and treatment decisions. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a non-invasive predictive model for the assessment of significant fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods: Information on all participants for 2017-2018 was extracted from the NHANES database. The eligible patients with significant fibrosis (n=123) and nonsignificant fibrosis (n=898) were selected to form the original dataset. Variable selection was performed using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regression, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to develop a prediction model. The utility of the model is assessed in terms of its discrimination, calibration and clinical usability. Bootstrap-resampling internal validation was used to measure the accuracy of the prediction model. Results: This study established a new model consisting of 9 common clinical indicators and developed an online calculator to show the model. Compared with the previously proposed liver fibrosis scoring system, this model showed the best discrimination and predictive performance in the training cohort (0.812,95% CI 0.769-0.855) and the validation cohort (0.805,95% CI 0.762-0.847), with the highest area under curve. Specificity (0.823), sensitivity (0.699), positive likelihood ratio (3.949) and negative likelihood ratio (0.366) were equally excellent. The calibration plot of the predicted probability and the actual occurrence probability of significant fibrosis shows excellent consistency, indicating that the model calibration is outstanding. Combined with decision curve analysis, this model has a great benefit in the range of 0.1-0.8 threshold probability, and has a good application value for the diagnosis of clinical significant fibrosis. Conclusion: This study proposes a new non-invasive diagnostic model that combines clinical indicators to provide an accurate and convenient individualized diagnosis of significant fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity is an important risk factor for heart failure (HF). Hypothesis: Visceral adiposity index (VAI) is a simple metric for assessing obesity; however, the association between VAI and risk for HF has not been studied. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 28 764 participants =18 years of age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2009-2018, in the United States was performed. VAI was calculated using body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. VAI was analyzed as a continuous and categorical variable to examine its association with HF. Subgroup analysis was also performed. Results: The highest VAI (fourth quartile [Q4]) was found among males, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, WC, hypertension, diabetes, liver disease, coronary heart disease, smoking, total cholesterol, and TG. More participants in Q4 took ß-receptor blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II receptor blockers/angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor, calcium channel blockers, and antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic medications. Participants with HF exhibited greater VAI. A per-unit increase in VAI resulted in a 4% increased risk for HF (odds ratio [OR] 1.04 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.05]). After multivariable adjustment, compared with the lowest quartile, the OR for Q3 was 1.55 (95% CI 1.24-1.94). Subgroup analysis revealed no significant interactions between VAI and specific subgroups. Conclusion: VAI was independently associated with the risk for HF. As a noninvasive index of visceral adiposity, VAI could be used for a "one shot" assessment of HF risk and may serve as a novel marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling the spread of an infectious disease depends critically on the general public’s adoption of preventive measures. Theories of health behavior suggest that risk perceptions motivate preventive behavior. The supporting evidence for this causal link is, however, of questionable validity. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a rare opportunity to examine how risk perceptions, preventive behavior, and the link between them develop in a fast-changing risky environment. In a 4-wave longitudinal study conducted in the United States and China, we found that for Chinese participants, there was little relationship between risk perceptions and preventive behavior. This may be a result of the Chinese government’s strict control and containment policies and a collectivistic culture that encourages conforming to norms—both of which limit individuals’ nonconformist behavior. For U.S. participants, risk perceptions did motivate preventive behavior in the early stage of the pandemic; however, as time went by and the risk of COVID-19 persisted, preventive behavior also led to perception of higher infection risk, which in turn further motivated preventive behavior. Thus, instead of the presumed unidirectional influence from perception to behavior, our results indicate that the two could mutually reinforce each other. Overall, our findings suggest that risk perceptions—at least in the context of a dynamic health hazard—may only motivate preventive behavior at specific stages and under specific conditions. They also highlight the importance of early interventions in promoting preventive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether female board representation and firms' financial performance are related and whether the relationship differs for firms located in more prejudicial environments. As a proxy for prejudicial environment, we use two geographical indicators: (1) whether a firm is headquartered in a conservative "red" state (which tends to vote for Republican candidates) or in a liberal "blue" state (which tends to vote for Democratic candidates) and (2) whether the firm is located in regions where residents possess more stereotypical attitudes about gender equality. We find that both financial performance and female board representation are lower for firms headquartered in red states when compared to those in blue states, and we find similar results for firms located in regions where residents hold more gender-stereotypical views. However, financial performance improves when female directors are present regardless of the firm's location. Evidence also shows that the incremental improvement in performance measured by Tobin's q is greater in red-state than in blue-state companies and in regions where residents hold more gender-stereotypical views. The overall results imply that gender stereotyping holds back financial performance and that female directors help improve financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of Chinese teaching and learning in the U.S. Topics covered include the relationship between the development of Chinese education in the U.S. and the development of the Chinese community and Chinese American history, the categories of Chinese language education and the role of nongovernmental organizations in the Chinese teaching field. Also mentioned is the support provided by communities to teachers and students of Chinese.

This study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of health promotion practices among college students and the relationship of stress and the practice of various health behaviors. Method: In Fall 2008, 319 students from a mid-size university participated in a cross-sectional survey utilizing the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile H (HPLP II). Findings: This study identified a group of health-related behaviors and ways of thinking that may protect students from stress. In addition, a dose response was suggested. Specifically, lower stressed students (PSS mean = 16.96 S.D. =4.05) were more likely than higher stressed students (PSS mean = 28.95, S.D. =4.21) to routinely practice 14 of 52 health-promoting behaviors or ways of thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents conceptual and empirical analyses of discretionary accrual reversal in the earnings management context. We specifically focus on the extent that income-increasing (decreasing) discretionary accruals initiated in a prior period reverse to become income-decreasing (increasing) accruals in the current period. The analysis suggests that the extent that such reversals constrain the ability to manage toward earnings objectives depends on both the magnitude of past accrual-based earnings management and the reversal speed of past discretionary accruals. To demonstrate the empirical implications of the analysis, we consider discretionary accrual reversal speed as an additional determinant of the balance sheet constraint on earnings management (Barton and Simko 2002). We show that, conditional on the magnitude of net operating asset overstatement, the probability of achieving quarterly earnings forecasts varies inversely with reversal speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments were carried out in a pilot-scale pulverized coal combustor at the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) burning a Powder River Basin (PRB) subbituminous coal. A scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and an electrical low-pressure impactor (ELPI) were used to measure the particle size distributions (PSDs) in the range of 17 nm to 10 μm at the inlet and outlet of the electrostatic precipitator (ESP). At the ESP inlet, a high number concentration of ultrafine particles was found, with the peak at approximately 75 nm. A trimodal PSD for mass concentration was observed with the modes at approximately 80-100 nm, 1-2 μm, and 10 μm. The penetration of ultrafine particles through the ESP increased dramatically as particle size decreased below 70 nm, attributable to insufficient or partial charging of the ultrafine particles. Injection of nanostructured fine-particle sorbents for capture of toxic metals in the flue gas caused high penetration of the ultrafine particles through the ESP. The conventional ESP was modified to enhance charging using soft X-ray irradiation. A slipstream of flue gas was introduced from the pilot-scale facility and passed through this modified ESP. Enhancement of particle capture was observed with the soft X-ray irradiation when moderate voltages were used in the ESP, indicating more efficient charging of fine particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crude oil and gas are strategic commodities for U.S. national energy security. The demand for fossil fuel energy will continue to grow amid dwindling global supply. Other energy sources, such as oil sands and heavy oil production, are expected to provide a significant portion of the anticipated shortfall with diversity. The drive towards economic oil sands recovery has become a focal point in the pursuit of low-cost, bulk production methods for competitive oil sands production. The hopper-attached belt-wagon (HAB) system is one of the potential economic haulage systems being pursued towards this strategic goal. The use of this technology will introduce unique dynamic, design, and implementation problems that must be articulated, modeled, and solved via advanced research. The HAB system kinematics and dynamics have been modeled as a planar mechanism of six-bar linkages using the Newton-Euler formulation. A virtual HAB prototype model has been developed and simulated in the automatic dynamic analysis of mechanical systems software environment. The computational simulation results show that the required joint torques vectors vary with time and the HAB system has good operating characteristics. The main novelty of this research is the application of the Newton-Euler-Kutzbach formulation and virtual engineering for creating efficient equipment-formation models toward economic haulage of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet can make markets more competitive, but whether this holds for on-line price levels and price dispersion is unclear, perhaps because the maturity, or level of development, of Internet markets has not been widely studied. This paper explores how the maturity of an Internet market affects on-line market pricing in relation to types of products and retailers. It analyzes the pricing differences between pure on-line retailers (e-tailers) and hybrid retailers (multichannel retailers) for three categories of products (books, CDs, digital cameras) in two countries with different levels of Internet maturity (China and the United States). The results show that (1) e-tailer price dispersion is lower in the United States than in China, (2) price levels in the two countries vary with product types, and (3) in both countries, e-tailers have lower price levels and price dispersion than hybrid retailers. These findings suggest that the maturation of Internet markets may lead to lower prices and price dispersion, but with variations dependent on type of product and retailer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the acceptance of the "Journal of Diabetes" in MEDLINE which is the bibliographic database of articles related to life sciences of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The authors say that such acceptance indicates the importance of the journal in researches concerning diabetes, the development of effective therapeutics, and diabetes education. Moreover, the authors mention that the journal accepts comparative research studies on basic aspects of diabetes and manuscripts.

The effects of temperature, salt concentration, and formamide concentration on the emission characteristics of commonly used fluorescent labels were evaluated on DNA microchips. The emission intensities of different fluorophores without hybridization were observed to vary, each to a different extent, to mainly temperature changes. Rhodamine red, TAMRA (tetramethylrhodamine), and dyes from the carbocyanide group exhibited the largest variations, and Texas Red and Oregon Green exhibited the smallest variations. This temperature dependency was shown to affect results obtained during melting curve analysis in DNA microarray studies. To minimize the bias associated with the temperature-dependent emission of different fluorescent labels, a normalization step was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate the association between levels of active transport and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) with C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, body mass index, waist circumference, and lipids in a large representative sample of adults residing in the United States., Methods: Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Adjusted multinomial logistic regressions were carried out to quantify associations between levels of self-reported active transport (or LTPA) and quintiles of anthropometric measures and serum markers., Results: A total of 3248 adults were included. For serum inflammatory biomarkers, the authors observed a lower likelihood of being in the top quintile groups of circulating C-reactive protein (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40-0.90) and white blood cell count (aOR: 0.65; 95% CI, 0.44-0.95) with engaging in low to medium levels of active transport but not with high levels of active transport. Higher levels of LTPA were associated with lower likelihood of having high levels of serum inflammatory biomarkers (aOR: 0.60; 95% CI, 0.42-0.86 in the top C-reactive protein group and aOR: 0.58; 95% CI, 0.39-0.87 in top white blood cell group)., Conclusions: Promoting active transport and/or LTPA may be a beneficial strategy to improving some, but not all, cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Rationale and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between BRAF V600E mutation, the American College of Radiology (ACR) thyroid imaging, reporting and data system (TI-RADS) on ultrasound and clinicopathological characteristics in patients with a solitary papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC)., Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 397 patients with a solitary PTC, proved pathologically. BRAF V600E mutation status was detected in postoperative samples by real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction. Associations of BRAF V600E mutation with the ACR TI-RADS and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed., Results: In this study, the incidence of BRAF V600E mutation was 81.4% (323/397) in patients with a solitary PTC. Univariate analyses showed that BRAF V600E mutation was significantly associated with margin, higher ACR TI-RADS point scores, and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In multivariate analyses, lobulated or irregular margin was independently associated with BRAF V600E mutation in total solitary PTC. Furthermore, both in total solitary PTC and papillary thyroid microcarcinoma, BRAF V600E mutation was associated with ACR TI-RADS point scores, which was positively correlated with the risk of BRAF V600E mutation. There was no significant relationship between BRAF V600E mutation and ACR TI-RADS point scores in PTC >10 mm. In addition, Hashimoto's thyroiditis had a significant negative association with BRAF V600E mutation., Conclusion: A lobulated or irregular margin of the thyroid nodule is independently associated with BRAF V600E mutation in patients with PTC. In addition, higher ACR TI-RADS point scores is an independent risk factor for BRAF V600E mutation, and ACR TI-RADS point scores is positively associated with the risk of BRAF V600E mutation in solitary PTC, especially in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma. Our findings may be helpful for preoperative identification and medical management of PTC patients with BRAF V600E mutation., (Copyright © 2018 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The health education profession has made significant advances throughout the past few decades. However, health education is still described as an emerging profession. This article suggests strategies to move health education from its status as an emerging profession into that of an acknowledged profession. The authors assert that actively seeking direct third-party reimbursement will advance health education's emergence as a profession as well as increase its legitimacy in the eyes of other professions. The benefits of direct third-party reimbursement, experiences of the nursing profession's pursuit of direct third-party reimbursement, and the current status of health education are discussed. The article concludes by offering strategies for pursuing direct third-party reimbursement.