cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
Creators: name: Komatsu, Eiichiro
name: Bennett, Charles L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) mapped the distribution of temperature and polarization over the entire sky in five microwave frequency bands. These full-sky maps were used to obtain measurements of temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background with the unprecedented accuracy and precision. The analysis of two-point correlation functions of temperature and polarization data gives determinations of the fundamental cosmological parameters such as the age and composition of the universe, as well as the key parameters describing the physics of inflation, which is further constrained by three-point correlation functions. WMAP observations alone reduced the flat $Λ$ cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) cosmological model (six) parameter volume by a factor of >68,000 compared with pre-WMAP measurements. The WMAP observations (sometimes in combination with other astrophysical probes) convincingly show the existence of non-baryonic dark matter, the cosmic neutrino background, flatness of spatial geometry of the universe, a deviation from a scale-invariant spectrum of initial scalar fluctuations, and that the current universe is undergoing an accelerated expansion. The WMAP observations provide the strongest ever support for inflation; namely, the structures we see in the universe originate from quantum fluctuations generated during inflation.
description: 26 pages, 9 figures, invited review for Special Section "CMB Cosmology" of Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (PTEP). (v2) New ns-r figure added. Accepted for publication
title: Effect of Oligopeptide Orientation on Polymer-based DNA Delivery
Creators: name: Parelkar, Sangram S.
name: Letteri, Rachel
name: Ellis, Jayne
name: Elder, Robert
name: Jayaraman, Arthi
name: Emrick, Todd S.
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Non-viral synthetic gene therapy reagents offer excellent structural and chemical versatility within non-immunogenic delivery systems, coupled with high therapeutic gene carrying capacity and long shelf life, making them attractive alternatives to viral systems. The success of non-viral transfection using polymers hinges on efficient nuclear uptake of nucleic acid cargo and overcoming intra- and extracellular barriers. This poster will describe the integration of the PKKKRKV heptapeptide (the Simian virus SV40 large T-antigen nuclear localization sequence, NLS) onto a polymer backbone, and the resultant high reporter gene expression in mice when administered by intramuscular ultrasound-mediated delivery. These novel polymers afforded protein expression higher than JetPEI™ in vivo, and in cell culture outperformed commercial reagents JetPEI™ and Lipofectamine 2000™, the latter being notorious for coupling high transfection efficiency with cytotoxicity. The orientation of the NLS peptide grafts relative to the polymer backbone markedly affected transfection performance both in vitro and in vivo. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) studies on transfected cells showed that polymers having the NLS attached at the valine residue afforded higher nuclear translocation, and subsequently higher protein expression, relative to those having the NLS groups attached in the opposite orientation. Besides nuclear uptake, the superior binding characteristics of these comb polymers compared to linear polylysine, as judged by atomistic and coarse grain simulations as well as polymer-DNA binding experiments, contributes to their enhanced transfection performance. Polyplexes formed from these comb polymer structures exhibit low cytotoxicity and high transfection efficiency both in vitro and in vivo, demonstrating the therapeutic promise of these novel gene therapy reagents.
title: Structure-based Design of Broadly Neutralizing HCV Antibody and Vaccine
Creators: name: Pierce, Brian G.
name: Boucher, Elisabeth N.
name: Smith, Heidi L.
name: Thomas Jr., William D.
name: Weng, Zhiping
name: Wang, Yang
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically infects nearly 200 million people worldwide. Antibodies have the potential to prevent establishment of chronic HCV infection in individuals exposed to the virus. Several broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies capable of binding HCV surface glycoproteins have been identified, including HCV1 identified by MassBiologics at UMMS, which targets a highly conserved linear epitope. We utilized the recently solved structure of the HCV1-bound epitope to identify regions of the antibody that could be modified to potentially improve binding to a mutation (N415K) which facilitates escape from neutralization. Based on systematic in silico mutagenesis of HCV1 residues in the Rosetta protein modeling program, a number of single or double antibody mutants were selected for in vitro evaluation. The mutated antibodies were synthesized and their ability to neutralize HCV pseudoviruses expressing either wild-type epitope sequence or the N415K variant was evaluated. Antibodies with mutations on the heavy chain, R65Q and V50L, demonstrated improved neutralizing activity against the N415K escape mutant without impacting their ability to neutralize wild type virus. We also sought to design a novel HCV vaccine that could focus the response to a small conserved neutralizing epitope of the virus defined by HCV1. The HCV1 epitope structure was used to search a large dataset of known protein structures from the Protein Data Bank, resulting in designs of scaffolds that were predicted to stably accommodate the epitope. These epitope-presenting scaffold proteins have been made and will be screened in animal studies to determine their potential as vaccine candidates for HCV prevention.
Fisher Exponent from Pseudo-$ε$ Expansion
Creators: name: Sokolov, A. I.
name: Nikitina, M. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Critical exponent $η$ for three-dimensional systems with $n$-vector order parameter is evaluated in the frame of pseudo-$ε$ expansion approach. Pseudo-$ε$ expansion ($τ$-series) for $η$ found up to $τ^7$ term for $n$ = 0, 1, 2, 3 and within $τ^6$ order for general $n$ is shown to have a structure rather favorable for getting numerical estimates. Use of Padé approximants and direct summation of $τ$-series result in iteration procedures rapidly converging to the asymptotic values that are very close to most reliable numerical estimates of $η$ known today. The origin of this fortune is discussed and shown to lie in general properties of the pseudo-$ε$ expansion machinery interfering with some peculiarities of the renormalization group expansion of $η$.
description: 14 pages, 4 tables, 1 figure; figure added, one number in Table IV corrected
title: Ovariectomy Induces Early Changes in Cardiac Fibrosis and Angiotensin II Gene Expression
Creators: name: Patel, Anisha
name: Spangenburg, Espen E.
name: Witkowski,  Sarah
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Postmenopausal women have an increased risk for heart disease. Ovariectomized mouse models show changes in body weight, adipose tissue, and systemic inflammation within 8-12 weeks following ovariectomy. These pathological changes may contribute to cardiac dysfunction after menopause. However, early changes in cardiac markers that may lead to dysfunction and disease remain unclear. Objective: To evaluate differences in cardiac gene expression between 8-week post-ovariectomy and control mice. Methods: Myocardial RNA was isolated from ovariectomized (OVX, n=10) and sham surgery (SHAM, n=10) adult mice 8 weeks following surgery. Fetal gene program, fibrosis, and angiotensin II gene expression were determined via RT-PCR. Differences between groups were analyzed using two sample t-tests. Results: Compared to SHAM, OVX mice exhibited a fetal gene expression pattern similar to that observed in failing hearts including increased B-type natriuretic peptide (p=0.02), atrial natriuretic peptide (p=0.06) and alpha skeletal actin (p=0.01) and decreased alpha and beta myosin heavy chain isoform expression (p=0.05, p=0.02, respectively). Expression of fibrotic genes vimentin (p=0.01), fibronectin (p=0.02), collagen1 (p=0.04), and collagen3 (p=0.03) were greater in OVX compared with SHAM. Lastly, angiotensin II was also significantly greater in OVX (p=0.001). Conclusion: Ovariectomized mice begin to exhibit maladaptive gene expression within 8 weeks after surgery, indicating that ovarian hormone loss initiates a pathological response in the heart at early time points that may be related to angiotensin II-induced cardiac fibrosis.
Non-perturbative corrections to the one-loop free energy induced by a massive scalar field on a stationary slowly varying in space gravitational background
Creators: name: Kalinichenko, I. S.
name: Kazinski, P. O.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The explicit expressions for the one-loop non-perturbative corrections to the gravitational effective action induced by a scalar field on a stationary gravitational background are obtained both at zero and finite temperatures. The perturbative and non-perturbative contributions to the one-loop effective action are explicitly separated. It is proved that, after a suitable renormalization, the perturbative part of the effective action at zero temperature can be expressed in a covariant form solely in terms of the metric and its derivatives. This part coincides with the known large mass expansion of the one-loop effective action. The non-perturbative part of the renormalized one-loop effective action at zero temperature is proved to depend explicitly on the Killing vector defining the vacuum state of quantum fields. This part cannot be expressed in a covariant way through the metric and its derivatives alone. The implications of this result for the structure and symmetries of the effective action for gravity are discussed.
description: 46 pp; some misprints corrected, elucidations added
A new catalogue of head-tail radio galaxies from LoTSS DR1
Creators: name: Pal, Sabyasachi
name: Kumari, Shobha
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The unique morphology of head-tail (HT) radio galaxies suggests that radio jets and their intra-cluster medium interact strongly. We conducted a systematic search for HT radio galaxies using the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey first data release (LoTSS DR1) at 144 MHz. In this paper, a catalogue of fifty-five new HT radio galaxies is presented, ten of which are narrow-angle tailed sources (NATs) and forty-five of which are wide-angle tailed sources (WATs). NATs are characterised by tails that are bent like a narrow `V' shape with a less than 90 degree opening angle. The opening angle between jets in WAT radio galaxies is greater than ninety degrees, exhibiting wide `C'-like morphologies. We found that thirty out of fifty-five HT radio galaxies reported in this article are associated with known galaxy clusters. Most of the sources presented in the current paper have redshifts $<$ 0.5. The various physical properties and statistical studies of these HT radio galaxies are presented.
description: Published in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Energy Release Rate, the crack closure integral and admissible singular fields in Fracture Mechanics
Creators: name: Piccolroaz, Andrea
name: Peck, Daniel
name: Wrobel, Michal
name: Mishuris, Gennady
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Geophysics (physics.geo-ph)
subject: Numerical Analysis (math.NA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 74R10, 74B05, 74-10, 76D08, 86-10,

description: One of the assumptions of Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics is that the crack faces are traction-free or, at most, loaded by bounded tractions. The standard Irwin's crack closure integral, widely used for the computation of the Energy Release Rate, also relies upon this assumption. However, there are practical situations where the load acting on the crack boundaries is singular. This is the case, for instance, in hydraulic fracturing, where the fluid inside the crack exerts singular tangential tractions at its front. Another example of unbounded tractions is the case of a rigid line inclusion (anticrack) embedded into an elastic body. In such situations, the classical Irwin's crack closure integral fails to provide the correct value of the Energy Release Rate. In this paper, we address the effects occurring when square-root singular tractions act at the boundary of a line defect in an elastic solid and provide a generalisation of Irwin's crack closure integral. The latter yields the correct Energy Release Rate and allows broad applications, including, among others, hydraulic fracturing, soft materials containing stiff inclusions, rigid inclusions, shear bands and cracks characterized by the Gurtin-Murdoch surface stress elasticity. We present the results in the most general form, where six Stress Intensity Factors are present: three of them are classical SIFs corresponding to the modes I-II-III and computed under the assumption of homogeneous boundary conditions at the defect surfaces, while the other three SIFs are associated with singular admissible tractions (those that lead to a finite ERR value). It is demonstrated that this approach resolves an ambiguity in using the same SIF's terminology in the cases of open cracks and rigid inclusions, among other benefits.
description: 22 pages 2 pictures
title: Differential Burden of Musculoskeletal Pain in Blacks and Whites at the Time of Total Joint Replacement Surgery
Creators: name: Porter, Anthony
name: Harrold, Leslie R.
name: Noble, Philip C.
name: Ayers, David C.
name: Franklin, Patricia D.
name: Allison, Jeroan
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Introduction: The existence of racial disparities in total knee (TKR) and hip (THR) replacement outcomes is well established. The role of musculoskeletal co-morbidities among black and white TKR patients at the time of surgery were investigated in a prospective cohort enrolled in the FORCE-TJR consortium of 131 surgeons in 22 US states. Materials & methods: Descriptive analyses were performed on 3,306 TKR and 2,439 THR patients. Data included sociodemographic factors (age, sex, race), BMI, comorbid conditions using the modified Charlson comorbidity scores, burden of musculoskeletal disease using the Knee/Hip injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS/HOOS) in both knees and hips, emotional health based on the Short Form 36 (SF-36) Mental Component Score (MCS) and physical function based on the Physical Component Score (SF-36 PCS). Factors associated with pre-operative surgical joint pain and function were examined using multivariate stepwise linear regression models. Results: Compared to Whites, Blacks (143 hips and 201 knees) reported worse surgical joint pain (mean pain: 39.3 vs. 49.2 (hip); 43.4 vs. 53.2 (knee)), poorer surgical joint function (mean function: 38.9 vs. 45.7 (hip); 45.9 vs. 53.4 (knee)), poorer global function (mean PCS: 30.0 vs. 31.6 (hip); 31.3 vs. 33.1 (knee)), and more non-operative joints pain. (All p<0.03). In adjusted multivariable models, differences at the time of surgery in surgical joint symptoms and global function were explained by differences in musculoskeletal pain in the hips, knees, and low back. Conclusion: Greater burden of musculoskeletal pain explains differences in pre-operative pain and function between Blacks and Whites and likely impacts rehabilitation and subsequent TJR outcomes.
OPOS
Creators: name: Matyasfalvi, Gyorgy
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2018

description: This dissertation describes OPOS, a C++ software library and framework for developing massively parallel continuous optimization software. We show that classical iterative optimization algorithms such as gradient projection and augmented Lagrangian methods can be parallelized to run efficiently on distributed memory machines using OPOS.In Chapter 1 we provide some background on general optimization software and algorithms, as well as parallel software for LASSO and stochastic programming problems. Chapter 2 introduces OPOS’s software development methodology. We start out by describing a set of optimization-domain-specific C++ classes and routines that embody the building blocks of OPOS. The main goal of these classes and routines is to allow the user to code efficient, reusable, maintainable, and readily parallelizable optimization algorithms. OPOS enables the optimization software developer to build optimization algorithm classes that are independent of the problem structure as well as the program’sdesired execution. Details of a spectral projected gradient algorithm by Birgin and Martı́nez and its implementation, OPSPG, are discussed in Chapter 3. Initially, we review the optimization algorithm and OPSPG’s code. Next we describe an application to the LASSO problem, and a novel data distribution technique which achieves an even load balance. Followed by implementation details of objective function and gradient evaluations given our data distribution. We close the chapter by presenting computational results. Chapter 4 introduces the basic theory behind augmented Lagrangian algorithms and a specific version called ALGENCAN, which was developed by Birgin and Martı́nez. Then we discuss the building blocks of our object-parallel augmented Lagrangian software OPAL, which is based on ALGENCAN. OPAL is applied to solve linear stochastic programming problems. We describe a scenario-based data distribution technique using PySP, a python-based modeling software for stochastic programs. This is followed by implementation details of objective function, constraint and gradient evaluations given our data distribution. At the end of the chapter, we demonstrate our computational results.  Chapter 5 summarizes findings of our work and discusses future research opportunities for both LASSO and stochastic programming problems.
Audio declipping performance enhancement via crossfading
Creators: name: Záviška, Pavel
name: Rajmic, Pavel
name: Mokrý, Ondřej
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Audio and Speech Processing (eess.AS)
subject: Sound (cs.SD)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Some audio declipping methods produce waveforms that do not fully respect the physical process of clipping, which is why we refer to them as inconsistent. This letter reports what effect on perception it has if the solution by inconsistent methods is forced consistent by postprocessing. We first propose a simple sample replacement method, then we identify its main weaknesses and propose an improved variant. The experiments show that the vast majority of inconsistent declipping methods significantly benefit from the proposed approach in terms of objective perceptual metrics. In particular, we show that the SS PEW method based on social sparsity combined with the proposed method performs comparable to top methods from the consistent class, but at a computational cost of one order of magnitude lower.
A new solar fluorine abundance and a fluorine determination in the two open clusters M 67 and NGC 6404
Creators: name: Maiorca, E.
name: Uitenbroek, H.
name: Uttenthaler, S.
name: Randich, S.
name: Busso, M.
name: Magrini, L.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a new determination of the solar fluorine abundance together with abundance measurements of fluorine in two Galactic open clusters. We analyzed a sunspot spectrum, observed by L. Wallace and W. Livingston with the FTS at the McMath/Pierce Solar Telescope situated on Kitt Peak and spectra of four giants in the old cluster M 67 ($\sim$4.5 Gyr) and three giants in the young cluster NGC 6404 ($\sim$0.5 Gyr), obtained with the CRIRES spectrograph at VLT. Fluorine was measured through synthesis of the available HF lines. We adopted the recent set of experimental molecular parameters of HF delivered by the HITRAN database, and found a new solar fluorine abundance of $A(F) = 4.40\pm 0.25$, in good agreement with the M 67 average fluorine abundance of $A(F) = 4.49\pm 0.20$. The new solar abundance is in a very good agreement with the meteoritic value. The used modern spectrosynthesis tools, the agreement with the meteoritic value and with the results in open cluster M67, known to be a solar analogue, make our solar determination very robust. At the same time, the fluorine measurement in the above-mentioned open clusters is the first step in the understanding of its evolution during the last $\sim$10 Gyr in the Galactic disk. In order to develop this project, a larger sample of open clusters is required, so that it would allow us to trace the evolution of fluorine as a function of time and, in turn, to better understand its origin.
description: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (updated version)
title: Pharmaceutical Pain Management among Older Adults with Cancer in Nursing Homes
Creators: name: Pimentel, Camilla B.
name: Briesacher, Becky A.
name: Lapane, Kate L.
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Background: In the mid-1990s, 29.4% of nursing home (NH) residents with cancer suffered from daily pain, and among them 26% failed to receive analgesic medication. Improvements in cancer pain management in NHs have not been re-evaluated since the implementation of pain management quality indicators.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using nationwide data on NH resident health from the Minimum Data Set (version 2.0) linked to all-payer pharmacy dispensing records (February 2006–June 2007). Prevalence of pain (daily, less than daily, horrible/excruciating, moderate) and receipt of non-opioid and opioid analgesics were calculated. We used multinomial logistic regression to evaluate resident-level correlates of pain and binomial logistic regression to identify correlates of untreated pain.

Results: 8,094 newly-admitted, Medicare-eligible residents had cancer. 65.6% had any pain (28.3% daily, 37.3% less than daily), among whom 13.5% had severe and 61.3% had moderate pain. Women, residents who were bedfast and those with compromised activities of daily living, depressed mood, indwelling catheter, or terminal prognosis were more likely to report pain. More than 17% of residents in daily pain (95% confidence interval [CI], 15.8–18.9%) and 14.2% with horrible/excruciating pain (95% CI, 11.7–16.8%) received no analgesics. Analgesic treatment was negatively associated with age >85 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=0.67, 95% CI: 0.55–0.81 versus aged 65–74), impaired cognition (aOR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.61–0.82), presence of feeding tube (aOR=0.75, 95% CI: 0.58–0.97), and use of restraints (aOR=0.50, 95% CI: 0.31–0.81).

Conclusion: Untreated pain is still common among NH residents with cancer, and persists despite pain management quality indicators.
title: Point-of-Care Diabetes Monitoring via Breath Acetone Detection
Creators: name: Priefer, Ronny
name: Rust, Michael
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Purpose: Diabetes can be a life-long disease which requires continuous blood-glucose monitoring. Currently technology, albeit good, does have its draw-backs; in particular that it is an invasive technique which causes discomfort to the individual. Therefore, low compliance can ultimately lead to other health issues. Approaches are underway to develop a portable, hand-held, noninvasive monitoring device to detect the biomarker, acetone, found in the breath of diabetics. By creating films of poly(4-vinylbenzeneboronic acid) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride), acetone can react with these via a Petasis reaction. This alters the physicochemical nature of the film, providing a quantification of acetone, and thus hopefully blood-glucose levels, in a non-invasive manner.

Methods: UV-transmitting poly(methyl methacrylate) slides are coated with a system of PAH/PVBBA at differing pH values and are then exposed to acetone/water vapor. Concentrations of acetone evaluated are 0.1–10 ppm. The slides are next subjected to the light emitted by a diode with a peak wavelength of 300 ± 5 nm. The transmitted light is detected by a UV-photosensor with an integrated transimpedance amplifier that produces a voltage output as a function of absorption.

Results: We have successfully synthesized poly(4-vinylbenzeneboronic acid) and multilayered with poly(allylamine hydrochloride). We have been able to cross-link these two polymers using only acetone vapor and are developing a hand-held device. Analyzing the difference in output voltage from exposed to unexposed slides at varying acetone concentrations, provides is a linear relationship up to 2500 ppb, which is above the high point for breath acetone concentration.

Conclusions: We have been able to develop a technology that accurately detects acetone vapor. We are engineering a hand-held breathalyzer device to detect acetone in the breath of diabetic individuals and are attempting to optimize its capabilities.
The impact of mandatory influenza vaccination in child care centers in New Jersey
Creators: name: McHugh, Lisa
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2018

description: Introduction: Preschool-aged children are at increased risk for severe influenza-related illness and complications. Congregate child care settings facilitate influenza transmission among susceptible children. To protect against influenza transmission in these settings, New Jersey (NJ) became, in 2008, the first state to implement regulations requiring that all children aged 6–59 months receive at least 1 dose of influenza vaccine each year to attend a licensed child care program. To date, no studies have been performed to evaluate the impact of the New Jersey mandate on influenza vaccination coverage. The purpose of this study was to assess influenza vaccination coverage before and after the mandates’ implementation using New Jersey Immunization Information System (NJIIS) and the National Immunization Survey (NIS); to assess demographic and socioeconomic factors which alter vaccination coverage; and to assess changes in hospitalization and mortality rates after the mandates’ implementation. Methods: Coverage rates for influenza, measles mumps and rubella (MMR) and pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) vaccine were calculated from the NJIIS and NIS systems. Coverage was evaluated over time, at different geographic regions (i.e., New Jersey vs. United States) and by select demographic factors. Changes in population-based morbidity and mortality rates were also evaluated for New Jersey (NJ), the Northeast and the United States (US). Results: The findings demonstrated that after the mandates’ implementation an increase in influenza vaccine coverage in NJ was observed in both data systems analyzed. Substantial gains in vaccination coverage were not observed in the US for other childhood vaccinations evaluated. Similarly, NJ did not see gains in MMR vaccine but some gains in coverage for PCV vaccine were observed. Overwhelming difference in rates of influenza- associated hospitalizations and influenza-associated deaths were not observed after the mandates’ implementation. Conclusion: The findings of this dissertation provide evidence that the mandate likely contributed to the increases in influenza vaccine coverage in New Jersey. While increases in vaccine coverage were noted, changes in rates of morbidity and mortality were not observed.
title: Gene Expression Profiles Identify Features Common to Lobular and Ductal Premalignant Breast Lesions
Creators: name: Roberts, Amy L.
name: Jerry, D. Joseph
name: Gauger, Kelly J.
name: Schneider, Sallie S.
name: Crisi, Giovanna M.
name: Makari-Judson, Grace
name: Khan, Ashraf
name: Simin, Karl
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Premalignant lesions have been identified in both the ductal and lobular units of the breast epithelium. These lesions have a 4-fold increase in risk of progression to invasive breast cancer, but 80% will remain indolent. This may be due, in part, to the uncertainty of diagnoses as inter-observer reproducibility is poor. When treated with prophylactic hormone therapies blocking the estrogen receptor, up to 40% of women still develop tumors. Therefore the challenge is to develop diagnostic tests that identify the subset of high-risk lesions and provide appropriate prophylactic therapies. We undertook genome-wide expression studies to define sets of genes that show reproducible alterations in atypical hyperplastic lesions. Patients with sporadic atypical hyperplasias and no evidence of breast cancer for at least 2 years following the initial biopsy were selected. RNA quality from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) was assessed using the ratio of 150 and 500 bp amplicons of B-actin determined by RT-qPCR. A total of 23 patients were included with diagnoses of pure flattened epithelial atypia (FEA, n=2), atypical lobular lesions (n=9), and atypical ductal lesions (n=12). The atypical lesions and histologically normal breast epithelium were microdissected separately from 6 um thick tissue sections from each patient. RNA was amplified linearly, labeled and hybridized to Affymetrix ST1.0 arrays. Genes differentially expressed by >2-fold between the lesion and normal epithlium within each patient were used to identify gene expression signatures of atypical hyperplasias. Hierarchical clustering of a 512 gene signature yielded 3 major groupings: Benign, Intermediate, Atypia. These results reveal that atypia of the lobular and ductal structures share common underlying transcriptional features. The gene profile provides markers that can improve the reproducibility of diagnoses of atypia. Expression profiling of individuals who subsequently progress to invasive carcinoma will provide biomarkers of high-risk premalignancies and assist selection of therapeutic choices.
$T$-convex $T$-differential fields and their immediate extensions
Creators: name: Kaplan, Elliot
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Logic (math.LO)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Primary 03C64, Secondary 12H05, 12J10

description: Let $T$ be a polynomially bounded o-minimal theory extending the theory of real closed ordered fields. Let $K$ be a model of $T$ equipped with a $T$-convex valuation ring and a $T$-derivation. If this derivation is continuous with respect to the valuation topology, then we call $K$ a $T$-convex $T$-differential field. We show that every $T$-convex $T$-differential field has an immediate strict $T$-convex $T$-differential field extension which is spherically complete. In some important cases, the assumption of polynomial boundedness can be relaxed to power boundedness.
description: 26 pages
AstudyonpotentialshiftfrompopularfooddeliveryAppstootheralternatives-1-1.pdf
Creators: name: Matha, Rajesh
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2023
Subjects: classificationCode: 359999
subject: Other commerce, management, tourism and services not elsewhere classified
classificationCode: 350608
subject: Marketing theory
classificationCode: 350601
subject: Consumer behaviour

description: The advancement of technology has fundamentally altered how consumers view the goods and
services they need, and also how industry started seeing customer preference and that is high
especially in the service industry. Online ordering and delivery of food is very common because
it links customers with establishments. Through the use of a mobile phone application, a
consumer searches for a restaurant, narrows down the menu items and cuisines, and orders
delivery. Some of the major online food delivery channels in India such as Swiggy, Zomato,
Foodpanda, Uber eats, and so on. Most customers prefer the services provided by Swiggy or
Zomato because they are available across the country. In spite of all these factors still there is
a reason popular service provider like Swiggy and Zomato are facing potential customer shift
to other alternatives. This research paper's major goal is to investigate the factors that can cause
users to switch from a well-known meal delivery service to an alternative. For this purpose,
with help of simple random sampling method with more than 500 responds collected through
structured questionnaire we carried out the research that gave some insights about significant
relationship between features and choosing a food delivery app and also mainly to segment the
customer and to evaluate the reason for shifting and its potential.
Batebit Controller: Popularizing Digital Musical Instruments Development Process
Creators: name: Calegario, Filipe
name: Tragtenberg, João
name: Cabral, Giordano
name: Ramalho, Geber
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Sound (cs.SD)
subject: Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC)
subject: Audio and Speech Processing (eess.AS)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: In this paper, we present an ongoing research project related to popularizing the mindset of building new digital musical instruments. We developed a physical kit and software intended to provide beginner users with the first grasp on the development process of a digital musical instrument. We expect that, by using the kit and the software, the users could experiment in a short period the various steps in developing a DMI such as physical structure, electronics, programming, mapping, and sound design. Our approach to popularizing the DMI development process is twofold: reducing the cognitive load for beginners by encapsulating technical details and lowering the costs of the kit by using simple components and open-source software. In the end, we expect that by increasing the interest of beginners in the building process of digital musical instruments, we could make the community of new interfaces for musical expression stronger.
description: 2 pages, 2 figures, 17th Brazilian Symposium on Computer Music
Critical Exponents of Superfluid Helium and Pseudo-$ε$ Expansion
Creators: name: Sokolov, A. I.
name: Nikitina, M. A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: High Energy Physics - Lattice (hep-lat)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Pseudo-$ε$ expansions ($τ$-series) for critical exponents of 3D XY model describing $λ$-transition in liquid helium are derived up to $τ^6$ terms. Numerical estimates extracted from the $τ$-series obtained using Padé-Borel resummation technique, scaling relations and seven-loop ($τ^7$) estimate for the Fisher exponent $η$ are presented including those for exponents $α$ and $ν$ measured in experiments with record accuracy. For the exponent $α$ the procedure argued to be most reliable gives $α= -0.0117$. This number is very close to the most accurate experimental values differing appreciably from the results of numerous lattice and field-theoretical calculations. It signals that the pseudo-$ε$ expansion is a powerful tool robust enough to evaluate critical exponents with very small absolute error. The arguments in favour of such a robustness are presented.
description: 11 pages, 4 tables; numerical estimates revised, text rewritten
Modeling effect of GABAergic current in a basal ganglia computational model
Creators: name: Njap, Felix
name: Claussen, Jens Christian
name: Moser, Andreas
name: Hofmann, Ulrich G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: Electrical high frequency stimulation (HFS) of deep brain regions is a method shown to be clinically effective in different types of movement and neurological disorders. In order to shed light on its mode of action a computational model of the basal ganglia network coupled the HFS as injection current into the cells of the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Its overall increased activity rendered a faithful transmission of sensorimotor input through thalamo-cortical relay cells possible. Our contribution uses this model by Rubin and Terman (J Comput Neurosci, 16, 211-223, 2004) as a starting point and integrates recent findings on the importance of the extracellular concentrations of the inhibiting neurotransmitter GABA. We are able to show in this computational study that besides electrical stimulation a high concentration of GABA and its resulting conductivity in STN cells is able to re-establish faithful thalamocortical relaying, which otherwise broke down in the simulated parkinsonian state.
Bounding Information Leakage in Machine Learning
Creators: name: Del Grosso, Ganesh
name: Pichler, Georg
name: Palamidessi, Catuscia
name: Piantanida, Pablo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR)
subject: Machine Learning (stat.ML)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Recently, it has been shown that Machine Learning models can leak sensitive information about their training data. This information leakage is exposed through membership and attribute inference attacks. Although many attack strategies have been proposed, little effort has been made to formalize these problems. We present a novel formalism, generalizing membership and attribute inference attack setups previously studied in the literature and connecting them to memorization and generalization. First, we derive a universal bound on the success rate of inference attacks and connect it to the generalization gap of the target model. Second, we study the question of how much sensitive information is stored by the algorithm about its training set and we derive bounds on the mutual information between the sensitive attributes and model parameters. Experimentally, we illustrate the potential of our approach by applying it to both synthetic data and classification tasks on natural images. Finally, we apply our formalism to different attribute inference strategies, with which an adversary is able to recover the identity of writers in the PenDigits dataset.
description: Published in [Elsevier Neurocomputing](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2023.02.058)
Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident
Publisher: name: Online Ethics Center
Year: 2021
Subjects: Public Health and Safety
Social Responsibility
Catastrophes, Hazards, Disasters
Risk

description: The accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania on March 28, 1979 was one of the most serious in the history of the U.S. nuclear industry. It not only brought to light the hazards associated with nuclear power, but also forced the industry to take a closer look at the operating procedures used at the time. What makes the TMI-2 accident such an interesting case study is the series of events which led up to the partial meltdown of the reactor core. It was a combination of human error, insufficient training, bad operating procedures and unforeseen equipment failure that culminated in a nuclear accident that could have easily been prevented.
title: Application of Diarylhydrazones, Schiff-bases and Their Saturated Derivatives as Multifunctional Inhibitors of Amyloid Self-Assembly
Creators: name: Schafer, Christian
name: Ghosh, Sanjukta
name: Torok, Marianna
name: Torok, Bela
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: A new class of multifunctional small molecule inhibitors of amyloid self-assembly is described. Several compounds, based on the diarylhydrazone scaffold were designed. Forty-four substituted derivatives of this core structure were synthesized using a variety of benzaldehydes and phenylhydrazines and were characterized. The inhibitor candidates were evaluated in multiple assays, including the inhibition of A fibrillogenesis and the disassembly of preformed fibrils. The hydrazone scaffold showed strong activity in inhibiting the amyloid beta self-assembly. The structure-activity relationship revealed that the substituents on the aromatic rings had considerable effect on the overall activity of the compounds. In order to identify possible functional moieties responsible for the strong effect further related compounds (Schiff-bases and their hydrogenated product, secondary amines) were synthesized and tested in the inhibition of fibril formation by Thioflavin-T Fluorescence spectroscopy and the fibril morphology was followed by Atomic Force Microscopy. The data indicated that the N-N linkage appears important while the importance of the conjugation in the inhibitors could not be confirmed.
William LeMessurier - The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis: A Lesson in Professional Behavior
Publisher: name: Online Ethics Center
Year: 2021
Subjects: Catastrophes, Hazards, Disasters
Social Responsibility
Public Well-being

description: William LeMessurier served as design and construction consultant on the innovative Citicorp headquarters tower, which was completed in 1977 in New York. The next year, after a college student studying the tower design had called him to point out a possible deficiency, LeMessurier discovered that the building was indeed structurally deficient. LeMessurier faced a complex and difficult problem of professional responsibility in which he had to alert a broad group of people to the structural deficiency and enlist their cooperation in repairing the deficiency before a hurricane brought the building down.
title: The Health Effects of Increased CVD Medication use Varies by CVD Status of Medicare Beneficiaries
Creators: name: Fouayzi, Hassan
name: Ash, Arlene
name: Rosen, Allison B.
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: Background/Aims: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of increased utilization of CVD medications on MI, stroke, and all-cause mortality among different CVD risk subgroups.

Methods: We used 1999-2009 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data to identify 26,903 non-institutionalized, fee-for-Service Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older who were users of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE), angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), other antihypertensive medications, and statin. These beneficiaries contributed a total of 61,741 person-years. For each study drug, we used logistic regression models to estimate the effect of additional prescription fills on MI, stroke, and all-cause mortality; stratified according to presence of CVD and, in those without CVD, level of CVD risk (high versus low).

Results: Additional prescription fills of ACE, ARB, other antihypertensives, or statin did not affect MI occurrence among high CVD risk individuals; while in those with CVD, significant effects of ACE and statin were found: OR per 6 additional fills: 0.76 (95% CI= 0.59, 0.98) and 0.74 (CI= 0.60, 0.92) respectively. Additional drug fills did not affect stroke in either subpopulation except fills of other antihypertensives in the CVD subgroup (OR of 6 additional fills: 0.93 (CI= 0.89, 0.98). In both subgroups, an inverse relationship between increased use of the study drugs and all-cause mortality was generally found although insignificant. For those at lower CVD risk, events were generally too few to allow multivariate analyses.

Conclusions: We found inverse relationships between increased use of some CVD medications; and MI, stroke, and mortality (although some were not significant) for some subpopulations but not others. Future research is needed to confirm this to justify the need to eliminate or reduce copays for these drugs for some subgroups that may benefit most from them.
title: Modified Hatch Score Predicts 6-Month Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation after Pulmonary Vein Isolation: Data from the University Of Massachusetts Atrial Fibrillation Registry
Creators: name: Shaikh, Amir Y.
name: Maan, Abhishek
name: Esa, Nada
name: Kinno, Menhel
name: Floyd, Kevin C.
name: Rosenthal, Lawrence S.
name: Browning, Clifford
name: McManus, David D.
Publisher: name: eScholarship@UMMS
Year: 2014

description: AIMS: Pre-procedural identification of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who will benefit most from pulmonary vein isolation remains challenging. The HATCH score [Hypertension x1 + Age≥75 x1 + Thrombo-embolic event x2, COPD x1, Heart failure x2] has been associated with progression of AF and recently with adverse outcomes after catheter ablation. However, data regarding the HATCH score are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of a modified HATCH scoring system, including pre-procedural obstructive sleep apnea as an additional risk element, compared to the CHADS risk score as a predictor of AF recurrence after an index pulmonary vein isolation procedure for AF.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Seventy eight patients (48 men, mean age 60 ± 1.1 years) with paroxysmal or persistent AF underwent an index pulmonary vein isolation procedure between 2010 and 2014 using either radiofrequency (n=64) or cryoballoon (n = 14). Over a 6-month follow-up period, 35 patients had recurrence (44.9%) when monitored using Holter monitoring and in-office ECGs. The modified HATCH score was associated on univariate testing with AF recurrence. In multivariate logistic regression analyses including factors known to be associated with AF recurrence, the modified HATCH score (p: 0.03) was independently associated with AF recurrence and showed superior test characteristics using ROC curve analysis (C statistic = 0.64 for modified HATCH vs. 0.55 for CHADS2). The difference between the modified HATCH and the CHADS2 scores in predicting recurrence was not statistically significant (p = 0.8).

CONCLUSIONS: AF recurred in 44% of patients over a 6-month follow-up. A modified HATCH including OSA successfully identified individuals at risk for 6-month recurrence. Further research is needed including larger cohorts of patients undergoing ablation and followed for more extended periods to further validate the performance of the modified HATCH score.