cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heart Transplantation in Children after a Fontan Procedure: Better than People Think

Previous studies have reported that children with a prior Fontan procedure have decreased survival after heart transplantation. We examined 273 primary pediatric heart transplants. Since 1988, 33 (12.1%) of 273 children <18 years old undergoing primary heart transplantation had a Fontan procedure 3.7 ± 4.3 years before transplantation. Compared with 240 (87.9%) non-Fontan primary transplants, the Fontan patients were older (8.8 ± 5.2 vs 6.6 ± 5.9 years; P = .023), but were similar in presensitization and pre-transplant clinical status. More Fontan patients had prior operations (100% vs 51.7%; P < .0001) and needed pulmonary artery reconstruction (100% vs 21.7%; P < .0001). Thirteen (39%) had protein-losing enteropathy. Donor ischemic times (213 ± 73 vs 177 ± 57 minutes; P = .0013) and cardiopulmonary bypass times (199 ± 86 vs 125 ± 53 minutes; P < .0001) were greater in the Fontan group, as were durations of ventilator support (4.4 ± 6.0 vs 2.5 ± 4.3 days; P = .035) and hospital stay (18.6 ± 16.1 vs 14.7 ± 13.1 days; P = NS). The Fontan group had one 30-day mortality. One-year actuarial survival (84.8% vs 86.9%, Fontan vs non-Fontan) and 5-year actuarial survival (70.8% vs 70.3%, Fontan vs non-Fontan) were similar, as was rejection incidence at 1 year (2.0 ± 2.0 vs 1.7 ± 1.9 episodes/patient; P = .3972). Five Fontan patients (18.5%) required retransplantation 4.9 ± 3.6 years post-transplant, compared with 22 non-Fontan patients (9.2%) retransplanted 5.2 ± 3.4 years post-transplant. Contrary to prior reports, we did not identify any early or mid-term disadvantage for children undergoing heart transplantation after a previous Fontan procedure, despite more complex transplant operations. We contend that carefully selected children with a failing Fontan circulation can do as well as other children with heart transplantation.
Tuning Energy Level Alignment At Organic/Semiconductor Interfaces Using a Built-In Dipole in Chromophore–Bridge–Anchor Compounds

A chromophore–bridge–anchor molecular architecture is used to manipulate the molecular level energy position, with respect to the band edges of the substrate, of a chromophore bound to a surface via an anchor group. An energy shift of the chromophore’s frontier orbitals is induced by the addition of an oriented molecular dipole into the bridge part of the compound. This principle has been tested using three Zinc Tetraphenylporphyrin derivatives of comparable structure: two of which possess a dipole, but pointing in opposite directions and, for comparison, a compound without a dipole. UV–vis absorption and emission spectroscopies have been used to probe the electronic structure of the compounds in solution, while UV photoemission spectroscopy has been used to measure the relative position of the molecular levels of the chromophore with respect to the band edges of a ZnO(11–20) single crystal substrate. It is shown that the introduction of a molecular dipole does not alter the chromophore’s HOMO–LUMO gap, a...
Exploring Electrostatic Effects on the Hydrogen Bond Network of Liquid Water through Many-Body Molecular Dynamics

To probe the dynamic nature of the hydrogen bond network in water, linear and nonlinear infrared spectra of dilute HOD in H2O are computed from many-body molecular dynamics simulations with the MB-pol potential, which have been shown to accurately predict the properties of water from the gas to the condensed phase. The effects of various approximations to the many-body expansion of the dipole moment surface on the OD-stretch absorption line shapes are analyzed at different levels of theory. The interplay between effects associated with the variation of the HOD dipole moment and instantaneous nuclear configurations causes qualitative differences in the absorption profiles, which are traced back to how induction contributions are treated within the many-body formalism. Further analysis of the multidimensional infrared spectra demonstrates that the spectral diffusion of the OD stretching frequencies depends explicitly on the level of truncation in the many-body expansion of the dipole moment in the short-tim...
Analysis on background extraction technology of traffic information

In order to accurately extract the traffic background information,this paper analyzed the characteristics of traffic background information,and proposed the advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm.Based on this,updating algorithm implementation process was proposed,and designed the experiment.The results show that: information extraction technology can meet the demand of traffic information data timeliness,diversity,complexity of processing requirements;based on the optical flow field extraction algorithm in the traffic stream video applications to extract the background image effect is unstable,mixed-Gaussian background extraction algorithm can extract the ideal background image,to meet the application requirements.
Abstract B35: Concurrent use of alisertib and vaccinia virus demonstrate increased in vitro efficacy against breast cancer models with elevated numbers of cancer stem-like cells

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that breast cancer progression, resistance to therapies and development of metastasis are driven by cancer cells with stem cell-like characteristics. The increased numbers of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) have been reported in triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs). Therefore, novel methods for targeting CSC population are needed. Aurora-A kinase (AURKA) has been shown to play a key role in acquisition of stem cell-like properties by breast cancer cells. Furthermore, the CSCs have been demonstrated to have increased sensitivity to AURKA specific inhibitor, MLN8237 (Alisertib). Our group has previously reported that oncolytic vaccinia virus (OVV) preferentially infects CSCs. Therefore we hypothesize that the combined treatment of OVV and AURKA inhibitor will result in overall enhanced anti-tumor activity due to improved elimination of CSCs. Results: We confirmed that AURKA overexpression in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line (MCF-7 AURKA) resulted in increased number of CSCs as shown by upregulation of CD44 antigen and decreases in expression of CD24 antigen. The MCF-7 and MCF-7 AURKA cells were subsequently infected with 0.1 pfu/cell of OVV expressing EGFP (OVV-EGFP). After 72h of incubation, viral replication was analyzed by fluorescent microscopy and standard plaque-forming assay. The analysis revealed over 2-fold increases in viral replication in MCF-7 AURKA cells as compared to the parental counterparts. The enhanced viral replication resulted in decreased viability of MCF-7 AURKA cells when compared to OVV-treated MCF-7 (64% vs 81%, p Conclusions: Combination therapy of alisertib and OVV has a significantly higher anti-cancer cell activity in vitro than either agent used alone, and it is particularly applicable for treatment of cells with CSC phenotype. In vivo studies are currently in progress. The combined treatment of alisertib and OVV represents novel therapeutic approach in treating breast cancer with increased numbers of CSCs, resistance to standard therapies and worse clinical outcomes. The results present a novel treatment approach with high translational potential. Citation Format: Malgorzata Gil, Marcin Komorowski, Danuta Kozbor, Mateusz Opyrchal. Concurrent use of alisertib and vaccinia virus demonstrate increased in vitro efficacy against breast cancer models with elevated numbers of cancer stem-like cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research; Oct 17-20, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(2_Suppl):Abstract nr B35.
Recovery of 13C in breath from NaH13CO3 infused by gut and vein: effect of feeding

Estimates of substrate oxidation obtained from appearance of 13C or 14C from tracers in breath must be corrected for retention of labeled carbon in the body. We aimed to determine the effect of a defined experimental diet and metabolic status on recovery of infused Na [13C]bicarbonate in breath. Six healthy male subjects consumed an experimental diet for 7 days before receiving a continuous infusion of formula without tracer on day 8 and received either an intragastric (ig) or intravenous (iv) infusion of Na [13C]bicarbonate on day 9 or 11 during a 4-h postabsorptive (PA), 4-h continuously fed period. A trend toward increasing PA breath enrichment during the first 7 diet days approached statistical significance (P = 0.051), whereas breath enrichments measured 3 h postbreakfast were consistently higher than PA values throughout and did not change over the 7-day period. Breath enrichments during a 4-h continuous ig infusion of formula without tracer on day 8 rose 2.0 +/- 0.5 atom percent excess (APE).10(-3) above base line (P less than 0.001, ANOVA). In the tracer studies, breath enrichments were similar for the ig and iv routes of tracer infusion. For the ig infusion the fraction of infused Na [13C]bicarbonate recovered in breath as 13CO2 was 0.74 +/- 0.02 for the PA period and 0.79 +/- 0.02 for the fed period. For the iv infusion the fraction recovered was 0.70 +/- 0.04 for the PA period and 0.82 +/- 0.03 for the fed period. Fractional recoveries were not significantly different for ig and iv routes of administration but were different for PA and fed periods (P less than 0.0001, 2-way ANOVA). The fractional recoveries for the fed period obtained here were similar to the value 0.81 reported in a number of other studies. Recovery of tracer in breath increased linearly with O2 uptake and CO2 production, suggesting that factors affecting respiratory gas exchange may alter recovery. We conclude that the primary factor determining label recovery is the immediate and recent nutritional status of the host.
DBOD-DS: distance based outlier detection for data

Data stream is a newly emerging data model for applications like environment monitoring, Web click stream, network traffic monitoring, etc. It consists of an infinite sequence of data points accompanied with timestamp coming from external data source. Typically data sources are located onsite and very vulnerable to external attacks and natural calamities, thus outliers are very common in the datasets. Existing techniques for outlier detection are inadequate for data streams because of its metamorphic data distribution and uncertainty. In this paper we propose an outlier detection technique, called Distance-Based Outline Detection for Data Streams (DBOD-DS) based on a novel continuously adaptive probability density function that addresses all the new issues of data streams. Extensive experiments on a real dataset for meteorology applications show the supremacy of DBOD-DS over existing techniques in terms of accuracy.
Genetic control of specific immune responses.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the genetic control of specific immune responses. The chapter reviews the recent important findings concerning “immune response genes” to antigenic determinants of different amino acids. The immune response to a specific antigen is a complex process that must involve genetic control at various levels. The fact that genetic factors are involved in the response to antigenic stimulus has long been known. The use of synthetic polypeptide antigens played a major role in elucidating the multiple genes that are described in the chapter. The intriguing question of at what level in the immune response these genes act remain to be determined. Genetic and structural analysis of normal immunoglobulins, myeloma proteins, and antibodies has produced a great deal of information about the genetic basis of antibody structure but has not yet given a clear picture of the genetic basis of antibody specificity. Structural analysis of myeloma proteins has led to a similar conclusion for the human and mouse light chain. The chapter summarizes the characteristic features common to the various genetic systems and analyzes the functions controlled by “immune response genes.”
CHAPTER 71 – Gene Therapy for Platelet Disorders

Abstract There has been an exciting evolution in the development of new strategies for correcting inherited platelet defects that are designed specifically to further our knowledge of the use of hematopoietic stem cells for genetic therapy of hemorrhagic disorders. New information gained from successful gene correction of uncontrolled bleeding within a canine large-animal model for Glanzmann thrombasthenia utilized clinically relevant strategies that may be directly applicable for gene therapy trials to correct humans with inherited platelet disorders (e.g., Glanzmann thrombasthenia, Bernard-Soulier syndrome). Recent findings indicate that targeting synthesis of molecules within platelets that are not normally produced in megakaryocytes may provide therapeutic benefit for other disorders that affect thrombosis and hemostasis. This chapter specifically addresses three issues: (1) Can bone marrow stem cells be given sufficient genetic information to induce abnormal megakaryocytes to synthesize transgene products leading to the participation of newly formed platelets in normal hemostasis? (2) Can the newly synthesized molecule be maintained as a platelet-specific protein at therapeutic levels for a reasonable period of time? (3) Will newly expressed proteins be tolerated by the immune system or become a target for B- and T-cell mediated immunity, resulting in the premature destruction and clearing of the genetically altered megakaryocytes and platelets? Answers to these questions will indicate the feasibility of targeting platelets with genetic therapies that could ultimately enable better management of patients with disorders affecting platelets.
Photonic systems for compressive sensing of high-speed RF signals

We review photonic systems for undersampling and compressive sensing of GHz-band RF signals. We focus on methods for performing the compressive measurement and on the properties of RF signals amenable to such sampling.
PATTERNS OF PLANT INVASIONS AT SITES WITH RARE PLANT SPECIES THROUGHOUT NEW ENGLAND

Although rare plant species are widely regarded as threatened by invasive plant species, few concrete data document the actual prevalence of invasives at sites with rare plant species. Data from comprehensive Conservation and Research Plans produced by the New England Wild Flower Society for 81 species of state listed plants in New England provide quantitative information on the biogeographic distribution of invasive species where rare plants occur; their associations with multiple habitat variables and other threats; and hypothesized correlations with declines of rare plant populations. Eighteen invasive species were identified as co occurring with rare plants; Lythrum salicaria was the most frequent and widespread. The spatial distribution of invasive species at rare plant sites paralleled large-scale patterns of both rare and invasive species richness and frequency throughout the region. However, invasive species occurred at only a subset of rare species sites, principally clustered along major rivers in New England. Connecticut reported the highest frequency and diversity of invasives, which declined with latitude. Invasives co-occurred with 38 (47%) of 81 rare species at 10.4% of 820 rare plant populations studied. For affected rare taxa, invasive species posed threats to a mean of 37.7% of their New England populations. Paired comparisons of invaded and uninvaded rare plant populations revealed a significant association of invasives with roads and with other anthropogenic threats. Populations of rare taxa in proximity to invasives showed higher (but statistically insignificant) rates of decline; classification analysis indicated that decline was best explained by the same habitat variables that were associated with invasive species presence, rather than by the presence of invasives alone. Thus, invasive species are both a direct threat and a symptom of larger landscape variables that influence the persistence of rare species.
Turkey and the Palestinian Question: The Shift of Roles in Foreign Policy

For Turkey, which was seeking a leading role in the Middle East, the Palestinian Question became a priority in its foreign policy during the late 1990s. In this article, it is argued that the role Turkey primarily espoused in the resolution of the Palestinian Question in the period 2000–2009 has mainly been that of a communicator. Nonetheless, in times of crises between Palestine and Israel, Ankara lost its neutrality and credibility to some extent, as it shifted to the role of guardian of Palestinians and proponent of Palestine, thereby undermining its communicator role. Finally, this dilemma in Turkish foreign policy in the Palestinian Question was the fundamental impediment to Turkey's sustainable and constructive contribution to the settlement of the problem in the examined period.
Focus on Middle School: Learning From Experience: Transforming Traditional Field Trips Into Meaningful Learning Experiences

While I learned many hard lessons in the first years of my career as a middle school science and math teacher, the most important lesson I learned was that structure, high expectations, and consist...
HISTOCOMPATIBILITY STUDIES IN A CLOSELY BRED COLONY OF DOGS III. GENETIC DEFINITION OF THE DL-A SYSTEM OF CANINE HISTOCOMPATIBILITY, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE COMPARATIVE IMMUNOGENICITY OF THE MAJOR TRANSPLANTABLE ORGANS

The segregation of the canine DL-A leukocyte group antigen(s) b, c, d, e, f, g, h, k, l, and m has been traced in 141 consecutive matings in the Cooperstown Colony of beagles. All of the leukocyte antigen(s) were regularly transmitted en bloc from parent to offspring, with no instance of independent segregation. A total of 23 haplotypes, including six different DL-A antigen patterns (gl, bkhfm, bkcd, e, be, fgl) was observed. 31 different DL-A phenotypes were observed in a population of 100 mongrel dogs. A number of statistically significant positive and negative associations between individual DL-A antigenic components occurred in this population. The results support the concept of the DL-A system as a complex immunogenetic system governed by a single region (or locus) of an autosomal pair of chromosomes. Studies of skin, kidney, heart, and liver allografts in the Cooperstown Colony indicated that the longest allograft survivals occur under genetically and serologically defined conditions of donor-recipient DL-A compatibility. Skin and renal allografts generally behaved in parallel fashion, while cardiac allografts survived for longer periods of time (MST = 47.1 days) than kidneys (MST = 28.1 days) or skin (MST = 25.1 days) under conditions of DL-A identity. Heart transplants were rejected at a more rapid rate than kidney, however, in DL-A-incompatible donor-recipient combinations. Liver transplants were accorded the longest survival time (MST = 76.2 days) under conditions of DL-A identity, but were rejected at a rapid rate (MST = 5 days) in DL-A-incompatible nonlittermate donor-recipient pairs. The results provide further evidence that the DL-A system is the principal system of histocompatibility in the canine species. The differences in survival of different organs under similar conditions of donor-recipient DL-A compatibility suggest, however, the existence of a number of unknown variables which may also be capable of significantly affecting allograft behavior.
A multi-level bi-directional buck-boost converter using GaN devices for electric vehicle applications

A modular multi-level bi-directional diode-clamped DC-DC converter based on enhancement Gallium Nitride (eGaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) is proposed as a plugin charger for electric vehicles (EVs). The eGaN HEMT can switch efficiently even in hard switching, but their problem is that they cannot tolerate voltage stresses higher than 650V. The proposed multilevel topology reduces the voltage stress across the switches which enables utilizing eGaN HEMT technology in the powertrain of the EVs. Simulations were carried out in PSpice environment using the eGaN equivalent circuit provided by the manufacturer. The simulation results prove that the performance of the proposed converter complies with the theoretical analysis.
The path toward an HIV-1 vaccine☆

HIV is responsible for millions of deaths around the world and in the absence of available treatment capable of a cure, only the vaccine can offer protection against this virus. However, and after three decades of research, such a vaccine remains elusive. Here, I attempt to explain the major challenges on the development of an anti-HIV immunogen, and how the three-dimensional pictures of antibodies interacting with this virus can guide us to the design of a successful vaccine.
Two-level text summarization from online news sources with sentiment analysis

People tend to read multiple news articles on a topic since a single article may not contain all important information. A summary of all the articles related to topic will save the time and energy. Text Summarization is a way of minimizing a textual document to a meaningful summary. In this research, an extractive-based approach is used to generate a two-level summary from online news articles. News topics covered include politics, sports health, science and movie reviews from Fox News from USA, NZ Herald from New Zealand, Hindustan Times from India, BBC from UK, etc. The first-level summary generates the summary of each article on all these topics. Sentiment Analysis is performed on the first-level summary to understand the variation in related news articles from different news agencies. The second-level summary generates the summary of the combined first-level summaries of two/three related articles on a topic. The ROUGE metric is used to evaluate the performance of summarization.
Abstract 15536: Crispr-mediated in vivo Confirmation of Rare Variants in Vinculin and Tropomysin1 Act Combinatorially to Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background: The genetic basis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is poorly understood. We identified a family in which multiple members have DCM and novel variants encoding the costameric protein VINCULIN ( VCL c.659dupA (p.Asn220fs (p.N220fs), termed VFS ) and the sarcomeric regulatory protein TROPOMYOSIN 1 ( TPM1 c.97G>A (p.Glu33Lys (p.E33K), termed TEK ). Sequencing of 31 family members showed the combination of VFS and TEK cosegregated significantly with all members diagnosed with DCM across 3 generations (Beta Hypothesis: Novel variants in VCL and TPM1 act combinatorially to predispose individuals to develop DCM. Methods: CRISPR-mediated editing was used to introduce patient-specific nucleotide variants into the mouse genome. Single and double-allelic variant mice were investigated under basal and hemodynamic stress (produced by Transverse Aortic Constriction (TAC)), with echocardiography, morphometry and histology. Results: Left ventricular (LV) contractility of VFS /+ and TEK /+ mice were normal at 15 and 34 weeks (w). At 58w doubly-heterozygous mice ( TV-Dhet ) but not VFS /+ or TEK /+ exhibited significantly decreased LV contractility (%fractional shortening (FS)) (Fig.1A) vs. WT mice. However, TV-Dhet did not display LV dilation, or alterations in morphometric values (e.g. Heart Weight /Tibia Length). Since family members with TV-Dhet variants exhibit variable DCM penetrance and expressivity, we investigated whether environmental stress induced by TAC, would mediate disease susceptibility in the complex genetic background. TV-Dhet mice provoked by TAC showed stigmata of DCM including a significant reduction in %FS (Fig.1B), increased LV dimensions and normalized mass. Conclusion: Novel variants in VCL and TPM1 combinatorially predispose to the development of DCM in a 3-generation family, as replicated in gene-edited mouse models. These results further our understanding of the complexity of multi-allelic DCM.
How I learned to Swede (and you can, too!): in praise of amateur aesthetics

The terms sweding and sweded were first used in the film Be Kind Rewind (2008), but the impulse to adapt texts in similar ways has a much longer history in the performing arts. In this article, I c...
Amygdala activity for the modulation of goal-directed behavior in emotional contexts.

Choosing valuable objects and rewarding actions is critical for survival. While such choices must be made in a way that suits the animal’s circumstances, the neural mechanisms underlying such context-appropriate behavior are unclear. To address this question, we devised a context-dependent reward-seeking task for macaque monkeys. Each trial started with the appearance of one of many visual scenes containing two or more objects, and the monkey had to choose the good object by saccade to get a reward. These scenes were categorized into two dimensions of emotional context: dangerous versus safe and rich versus poor. We found that many amygdala neurons were more strongly activated by dangerous scenes, by rich scenes, or by both. Furthermore, saccades to target objects occurred more quickly in dangerous than in safe scenes and were also quicker in rich than in poor scenes. Thus, amygdala neuronal activity and saccadic reaction times were negatively correlated in each monkey. These results suggest that amygdala neurons facilitate targeting saccades predictably based on aspects of emotional context, as is necessary for goal-directed and social behavior.
The Biochemistry of Ozone Attack on the Plasma Membrane of Plant Cells

Substantial research effort is currently being undertaken towards assessing the impact of oxidant air pollutants (generally, ozone) on economically important agricultural crops.1 Many of these studies rely on vast numbers of field trials in order to determine the minimum level of ozone which affects agricultural productivity. While these data provide regulatory agencies with numbers to set air quality standards, these investigations generate little predictive information. Too many variables of the field and crops prevent complete understanding. Air pollution studies need predictive models but we are painfully short of them. This paper will address the initial site of ozone injury to cells in the hope that the process of model building can begin.
Inevitability of Illusions

This chapter primarily concerns a very general constraint on brains: that they take time to compute things. This simple fact has profound consequences for the brain, and vision in particular. I will put forth evidence that it is the visual system’s attempting to deal with this computing delay that explains why we experience the classical geometrical illusions. Figure 2.1 shows a sample such illusion; basically, the illusions are those found in any introductory Psychology course. I will also, along the way, briefly discuss a general approach to modeling brain computation: that approach is decision theory, wherein the brain, or some portion of it, is modeled as an ideal rational agent acting to maximize its expected utility on the basis of probabilities concerning the nature of the uncertain world. This is referred to as the Bayesian framework for visual perception, and with it researchers have made some important breakthroughs. We will need to understand it, and its shortcomings, to understand how the visual system copes with the time it takes to compute a percept. I also discuss the difficulties of one of the older and more established inference-based theories of the geometrical illusions. Before proceeding, it is important to understand why there may be computing delays in perception.
The Crisis of Federalism in Education… and what might be done about It

The following essay is a transcript of a speech delivered by Samuel Halperin at the special symposium on British and American education at Boston University during summer term, 1976.
Echocardiographic Guidance During Neonatal and Pediatric Jugular Cannulation for ECMO.

Abstract Background Internal jugular vein extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) cannula position is traditionally confirmed via plain film. Misplaced cannulae can result in need for repositioning and increased morbidity. Echocardiography (ECHO) may be used during cannulation as a more accurate means of guiding cannula position. This study reviews the effect of a protocol encouraging the use of ECHO at cannulation. Methods and materials Single institution retrospective review of patients who received ECMO support using jugular venous cannulation. We compared those who underwent ECHO (ECHO+) at the time of cannulation with those who did not (ECHO−). Results Eighty-nine patients were included: 26 ECHO+, 63 ECHO−. Most ECHO+ patients underwent dual-lumen veno-venous (VV) cannulation (65%); 32% of ECHO− patients had VV support (P = 0.003). There was no difference in the rate of cannula repositioning between the two groups: 8% ECHO+ and 10% ECHO−, P = 0.78. In the VV ECMO subgroup, ECHO+ patients required no repositioning (0/17), while 20% (4/20) of ECHO− VV patients did (P = 0.10). After cannulation, there were 0.58 ECHO studies per patient to verify cannula position in the ECHO+ group compared with 0.22 in the ECHO− group (P = 0.02). Each group had a major mechanical complication: atrial perforation from a guidewire during cannulation in ECHO+ and late atrial perforation from a loose cannula in ECHO−, and there was no difference in minor complications. Conclusions ECHO guidance during neonatal and pediatric jugular cannulation for ECMO did not decrease morbidity or reduce the need for cannula repositioning. ECHO may still be a useful adjunct for precise placement of a dual-lumen VV cannula and during difficult cannulations.
Dual-Radio Configuration for Flexible Communication in Flocking Micro/Miniature Aerial Vehicles

This paper presents an overview of a new dual-radio autopilot and ground station platform used in hierarchical, micro aerial vehicle flocks to improve communication flexibility and performance. Flocks of micro/miniature aerial vehicles flying in close proximity are often used in scenarios of hazard detection and tracking. Micro aerial vehicle's small size grants a number of benefits, such as improved maneuverability and reduced cost, but also results in sometimes severe resource constraints. To help alleviate these restrictions, as well as to improve overall communication flexibility, this paper proposes the use of a hierarchical, dual-radio autopilot flock configuration. Interflock communication is facilitated by low-power radios, whereas an elected flock leader relays important communications to a ground station via a long-range, high-power radio. Additionally, the diversity provided by the dual-radio system provides inherent redundancy while improving flock communication adaptability for varying data sizes and transmit distances. An energy efficiency model for this dual-radio configuration is also presented and verified by autonomous, multi-vehicle flight tests.
Analytic expressions of the Transmission, Reflection, and source function for the community radiative transfer model

Abstract The phase matrix in scalar radiative transfer is symmetric that grants reciprocity principle in radiative transfer. The reciprocity principle is so useful that one may compute a single transmission matrix and a single reflection matrix for a homogeneous medium regardless of in upward or downward direction. The symmetric phase matrix is also important as one only needs to solve for a real eigensolution. An eigensolution is often used in a radiative transfer solver because of its high computational efficiency. However, the phase matrix in vectorized radiative transfer is generally not symmetric which challenges the reciprocity principle and forces us to deal with a complex eigensolution that requires a major effort in computational coding tangent-linear and adjoint models. This paper introduces an approach to retain the reciprocity principle in radiative transfer and applies a Taylor expansion of analytic transmittance and reflection matrices for a base optical depth together with a doubling-adding method beyond the base in the vectorized Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM). The value of the base optical depth depends on the maximum absolute value of the phase matrix elements. In comparison with other forward radiative transfer models, the extended vectorized CRTM agrees well with those models. The computational efficiency among the CRTM and those models is comparable. The tangent-linear and adjoint modules of the vectorized CRTM can be used for assimilating microwave, infrared, visible and ultraviolet sensor radiances.
Impact of oral oncolytic initiation on medication adherence for pre-existing comorbid chronic conditions.

PurposeOral oncolytics have improved survival in hematological cancers like chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, and multiple myeloma; however, it is u...
Optical Flow, Positioning, and Eye Coordination: Automating the Annotation of Physician-Patient Interactions

The widespread adoption of electronic health records within clinical settings has renewed interest in understanding physician-patient interactions. Previous work analyzing clinical interactions has mostly coupled patient surveys with manually annotated video interactions provided by human coders. Physician gaze is among the components of the non-verbal interaction which has been found to impact patient outcomes. The work described in this paper illustrates an automated system for multi-video labeling of patient-physician interactions and shows that image features (in the form of body positioning coordinates and optical flow) can provide important visual aids for learning physician gaze with over 90% accuracy. While our approach focuses on physician gaze, it can be extended to capture other clinical human-human and human-technology interactions as well as connect these interactions to patient ratings of clinical interactions.
“We called that a behavior”: The making of institutional data:

Predictive uses of data are becoming widespread in institutional settings as actors seek to anticipate people and their activities. Predictive modeling is increasingly the subject of scholarly and ...
When Technical Solutions Are Not Enough: Engaging Everyone in Improving Health Care

This chapter discusses the relational and communicative aspects of patient safety with a focus on healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The author presents two concrete strategies grounded in complexity theory to encourage widespread engagement in improving care.
Safety and efficacy of teriparatide treatment for severe osteoporosis in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Osteoporosis is a major concern in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In this novel study of teriparatide treatment in 6 patients with severe osteoporosis, bone health (fractures, vertebral morphometry, and DXA) remained stable, with no adverse events. These findings will help inform future osteoporosis research in this challenging population. Despite standard therapy with vitamin D and bisphosphonates (BP), many patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) continue to sustain fragility fractures due to long-term glucocorticoid treatment and limited mobility. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of teriparatide for the treatment of severe osteoporosis in adolescent and young adult patients with DMD. We prospectively treated 6 patients with DMD who had severe osteoporosis with teriparatide 20 mcg subcutaneously daily for 1–2 years. Inclusion criteria were long-term glucocorticoid therapy, and severe osteoporosis despite treatment with BP, or intolerance to BP. We examined long bone and vertebral fracture outcomes, including vertebral morphometry measures, bone mineral density and content, bone formation markers, safety indices, and adverse events. The mean age at teriparatide start was 17.9 years (range 13.9–22.1 years). All 6 patients were on daily glucocorticoids (mean ± SD; duration 10.9 ± 2.5 years) and 5 were non-ambulatory. Five patients had been treated with BP for 7.9 ± 4.2 years. All had vertebral and a history of long bone fragility fractures at baseline. Vertebral heights and Genant fracture grading remained stable. Long bone fracture rate appeared to decrease (from 0.84/year to 0.09/year); one patient sustained a long bone fracture at 6 months of treatment. Trajectories for change in bone mineral density and content were not different post- vs. pre-teriparatide. Procollagen type 1 amino-terminal propeptide (P1NP) increased, while laboratory safety indices remained stable and non-concerning. No adverse events were observed. In six patients with DMD treated with teriparatide for severe osteoporosis, we observed stable bone health and modest increases in P1NP, without safety concerns. Further studies are needed to better understand teriparatide efficacy for treatment of osteoporosis in patients with DMD.
NATO Security Challenges

NATO is at a crossroads. Its future role as well as the degree of its efficiency will depend on the ability of allies to find common ground for action in a changing world. The challenges to transatlantic partnership stem from or are [in]directly related to the cohesion of the alliance and its ability to agree on a modus operandi and the ability to form a strategy that covers divergent needs and priorities. This will allow allies to preserve their common identity and revitalize a partnership that has changed the image of world politics and safeguarded the collective interest of the West. To achieve this goal, NATO allies should be able to energize an adaptive dynamic that covers aspects related to both the internal and external security dimension of its members.
Creative Polymathy and the COVID-19 Crisis

It is increasingly argued that polymathy-vocational and avocational pursuits in multiple domains-is deeply associated with creativity and innovation, and that its development enables the creation of important bridges between otherwise fragmented, dispersed sets of knowledge. Nevertheless, the dominant culture in both industry and academia is still that of narrow specialization. In this paper, we argue that in the context of COVID-19 crisis, with its wicked and transdisciplinary nature, the disciplinary approach of specialization is ill-suited to solve our increasingly complex problems, and that polymathic thinking can be a crucial asset in this regard. Drawing on different literature strands, we first examine the interplay between polymathy and other well-developed constructs in personality and temperament research. We then advance theoretical predictions regarding the relationship between trait polymathy and resilience in the COVID-19 crisis. After that, we discuss learnable strategies that can be used in complex, uncertain and adverse situations, which are associated with development of a more polymathic (broader, deeper and more integrated) set of knowledge. Later, we discuss how it may be possible to better capitalize on the key features of polymathic thinking at the societal level. Finally, we conclude with a reflection on the adequacy of our current institutions for dealing with complex problems, and we underscore the crucial role of polymathic thinking in an increasingly complex and interrelated world.
Function essentialism about artifacts

Much recent discussion has focused on the nature of artifacts, particularly on whether artifacts have essences. While the general consensus is that artifacts are at least intention-dependent, an equally common view is function essentialism about artifacts, the view that artifacts are essentially functional objects and that membership in an artifact kind is determined by a particular, shared function. This paper argues that function essentialism about artifacts is false. First, the two component conditions of function essentialism are given a clear and precise formulation, after which counterexamples are offered to each. Second, ways to handle the counterexamples suggested by Randall Dipert and Simon Evnine are considered and rejected. Third, I then consider the prospects for restricting function essentialism to so-called technical artifacts, as Lynne Baker does, and argue that this, too, fails. This paper thereby consolidates the scattered literature on function essentialism and shows that, despite the seeming plausibility of the thesis, it should be rejected as an account of artifact essences.
Design and Implementation of a Haptic Measurement Glove to Create Realistic Human-Telerobot Interactions

Although research indicates that telepresence robots offer a more socially telepresent alternative to conventional forms of remote communication, the lack of touch-based interactions presents challenges for both remote and local users. In order to address these challenges, we have designed and implemented a robotic manipulator emulating a human arm. However, contact interactions like handshakes with a robotic manipulator may feel awkward and unnatural to local users. In this work, we present the design of a wearable haptic measurement glove (HMG) and use it to collect force and inertial data on handshakes in human-human and humanrobot interactions in the interest of developing intelligent shared control algorithms for natural, human-like contact interactions in human-robot interactions.
Toward an Ungraded CS50

In 2010, we proposed to eliminate letter grades in CS50 at Harvard University in favor of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SAT/UNS), whereby students would instead receive at term's end a grade of SAT in lieu of A through C- or UNS in lieu of D+ through E. Albeit designed to empower students without prior background to explore an area beyond their comfort zone without fear of failure, that proposal initially failed. Not only were some concentrations on campus unwilling to grant credit for SAT, the university's program in general education (of which CS50 was part) required that all courses be taken for letter grades. In 2013, we instead proposed, this time successfully, to allow students to take CS50 either for a letter grade or SAT/UNS. And in 2017, we made SAT/UNS the course's default, though students could still opt out. The percentage of students taking the course SAT/UNS jumped that year to 31%, up from 9% in the year prior, with as many as 86 of the course's 671 students (13%) reporting that they enrolled because of SAT/UNS. The percentage of women in the course also increased to 44%, a 29-year high. And 19% of students who took the course SAT/UNS subsequently reported that their concentration would be or might be CS. Despite concerns to the contrary, students taking the course SAT/UNS reported spending not less but more time on the course each week than letter-graded classmates. And, once we accounted for prior background, they performed nearly the same. We present the challenges and results of this 10-year initiative. We argue ultimately in favor of SAT/UNS, provided students must still meet all expectations, including all work submitted, in order to be eligible for SAT.
Barrier heights of polymer-electrode interfaces measured via photo injection current method

Abstract The metal-polymer contact interface plays a major role in the conduction and breakdown process in flexible dielectrics. Enhancing barrier heights has been investigated for effectively blocking the charge injection and thus impeding the degradation of the dielectrics in the field. However, the electronic band structure at the metal-dielectric interface and its relationship with the electrical insulation properties are still not well understood due to the complex morphological details of the interfacial region. Here, we determine the barrier height profiles of various sets of metal electrodes and dielectric polymers systems by utilizing the photo injection current method. Our results reveal that all aromatic polymers tend to have lower barrier heights than aliphatic polymers, and thus we believe that the chemical structure plays a prominent role in determining the barrier heights. Additionally, an important trend for aromatic polymers/metal configurations has been found that those aromatic polymers with higher glass transition temperatures feature however lower injection barrier heights. The correlations uncovered in this work unveil an effective approach of rational modifying the chemical structure to build polymers that can efficiently block charge injection for reliable insulation performance at elevated temperatures.
Symmetry-Preserving Paths in Integrated Gradients.

We provide rigorous proofs that the Integrated Gradients (IG) attribution method for deep networks satisfies completeness and symmetry-preserving properties. We also study the uniqueness of IG as a path method preserving symmetry.
Wind-Induced Displacement Analysis for a Traffic Light Structure Based on a Low-Cost Doppler Radar Array

This study is concerned with the analysis of the displacement measurements simultaneously retrieved from multiple Doppler radars placed at different positions of a traffic light’s mast. Currently, the structural health monitoring (SHM) works based on portable Doppler radars consider primarily methods for the extraction of displacement measurements. However, other measurements in the form of instantaneous natural frequencies and mode shapes can also be calculated with the use of Doppler radars arranged as an array. In this article, the wind-induced vibration displacement analysis based on a low-cost Doppler radar array is proposed. The sensitivity of the proposed array to changes in the instantaneous natural frequencies is evaluated. In addition, the structural modal analysis based on a Doppler radar array operating in the passive backscattering mode is demonstrated. The accuracy of the measurements obtained from the radars’ demodulated data is compared with the accelerometer-based measurements. The ability of the proposed array to provide instantaneous natural frequency measurements and structural modal analysis is validated by the experimental results.
Associations between farmers' market shopping behaviors and objectively measured and self-reported fruit and vegetable intake in a diverse sample of farmers' market shoppers: a cross-sectional study in New York City and rural North Carolina.

OBJECTIVE To examine cross-sectional associations between farmers' market shopping behaviors and objectively measured and self-reported fruit and vegetable (FV) intake among rural North Carolina (NC) and New York City (NYC) shoppers. DESIGN Cross-sectional intercept surveys were used to assess self-reported FV intake and three measures of farmers' market shopping behavior: (1) frequency of purchasing FV, (2) variety of FV purchased, and (3) dollars spent on FV. Skin carotenoids, a non-invasive biomarker for FV intake, were objectively measured using pressure-mediated reflection spectroscopy. Associations between farmers' market shopping behaviors and FV intake were examined using regression models that controlled for demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, race, smoking status, education, income, and state). SETTING Farmers' markets (n=17 markets) in rural NC and NYC. PARTICIPANTS A convenience sample of 645 farmers' market shoppers. RESULTS Farmers' market shoppers in NYC purchased a greater variety of FV and had higher skin carotenoid scores compared to shoppers in rural NC. Among all shoppers, there was a positive, statistically significant association between self-reported frequency of shopping at farmers' markets and self-reported as well as objectively assessed FV intake. The variety of FV purchased and farmers' market spending on FV also were positively associated with self-reported FV intake, but not skin carotenoids. CONCLUSION Those who shop for FV more frequently at a farmers' markets, purchase a greater variety of FV, and spend more money on FV have higher self-reported, and in some cases higher objectively measured FV intake. Further research is needed to understand these associations and test causality.