cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Economic Globalization and Democracy: An Empirical Analysis

The theoretical literature presents conflicting expectations about the effect of globalization on national democratic governance. One view expects globalization to enhance democracy; a second argues the opposite; a third argues globalization does not necessarily affect democracy. Progress in explaining how globalization affects democracy requires confronting these theoretical positions with data. We assess empirically the effects of globalization on the level of democracy from 1970 to 1996 for 127 countries in a pooled time-series cross-sectional statistical model. The effects of four national aspects of globalization on democracy are examined: trade openness, foreign direct investment inflows, portfolio investment inflows and the spread of democratic ideas across countries. We find that trade openness and portfolio investment inflows negatively affect democracy. The effect of trade openness is constant over time while the negative effect of portfolio investment strengthens. Foreign direct investment inflows positively affect democracy, but the effect weakens over time. The spread of democratic ideas promotes democracy persistently over time. These patterns are robust across samples, various model specifications, alternative measures of democracy and several statistical estimators. We conclude with a discussion of policy implications.
Degradation and resilience of soils

Debate on global soil degradation, its extent and agronomic impact, can only be resolved through understanding of the processes and factors leading to establishment of the cause-effect relationships for major soils, ecoregions, and land uses. Systematic evaluation through long-term experimentation is needed for establishing quantitative criteria of (i) soil quality in relation to specific functions; (ii) soil degradation in relation to critical limits of key soil properties and processes; and (iii) soil resilience in relation to the ease of restoration through judicious management and discriminate use of essential input. Quantitative assessment of soil degradation can be obtained by evaluating its impact on productivity for different land uses and management systems. Interdisciplinary research is needed to quantify soil degradation effects on decrease in productivity, reduction in biomass, and decline in environment quality throught pollution and eutrophication of natural waters and emission of radiatively-active gases from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere. Data from long-term field experiments in principal ecoregions are specifically needed to (i) establish relationships between soil quality versus soil degradation and soil quality versus soil resilience; (ii) identify indicators of soil quality and soil resilience; and (iii) establish critical limits of important properties for soil degradation and soil resilience. There is a need to develop and standardize techniques for measuring soil resilience.
Methods for survey and diagnosis

This contribution is an overview of current epidemiologic methods used in evaluating organic dust-containing environments for evidence of adverse pulmonary effects. Potential problems include vague diagnostic criteria of “disease” and inadequate tools for definitive diagnosis, as illustrated by asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. The enthusiastic investigator may consider trivial changes indicative of real or potential disease, and add the studied environment to a growing list of menaces of the workplace or of everyday life. Attention to scientific principles is needed lest epidemiology becomes scare-mongering made respectable by sophisticated statistics. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Managing e-commerce catalogs in a DBMS with native XML support

Electronic commerce is emerging as a major application area for database systems. A large number of e-commerce stores provide electronic product catalogs that allow customers to search products of interest and store owners to manage various product information. Due to the constant schema evolution and the sparsity of e-commerce data, most commercial e-commerce systems use the so-called vertical schema for data storage. However, query processing for data stored using vertical schema is extremely inefficient because current RDBMSs, especially its cost-based query optimizer, are specifically designed to deal with traditional horizontal schemas. In this paper, we show that e-catalog management can be naturally supported in IBM's system RX, the first DBMS that truly supports both XML and relational data in their native forms. By leveraging on system RX's hybrid nature, we present a novel solution for storing, managing, and querying e-catalog data. In addition to traditional queries, we show that our solution supports semantic queries as well. Our solution does not require a separate query optimization layer, because query optimization is handled within the hybrid DBMS engine itself
Whole genome association study of brain-wide imaging phenotypes for identifying quantitative trait loci in MCI and AD: A study of the ADNI cohort

A genome-wide, whole brain approach to investigate genetic effects on neuroimaging phenotypes for identifying quantitative trait loci is described. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 1.5 T MRI and genetic dataset was investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and FreeSurfer parcellation followed by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). One hundred forty-two measures of grey matter (GM) density, volume, and cortical thickness were extracted from baseline scans. GWAS, using PLINK, were performed on each phenotype using quality-controlled genotype and scan data including 530,992 of 620,903 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 733 of 818 participants (175 AD, 354 amnestic mild cognitive impairment, MCI, and 204 healthy controls, HC). Hierarchical clustering and heat maps were used to analyze the GWAS results and associations are reported at two significance thresholds (p < 10− 7 and p < 10− 6). As expected, SNPs in the APOE and TOMM40 genes were confirmed as markers strongly associated with multiple brain regions. Other top SNPs were proximal to the EPHA4, TP63 and NXPH1 genes. Detailed image analyses of rs6463843 (flanking NXPH1) revealed reduced global and regional GM density across diagnostic groups in TT relative to GG homozygotes. Interaction analysis indicated that AD patients homozygous for the T allele showed differential vulnerability to right hippocampal GM density loss. NXPH1 codes for a protein implicated in promotion of adhesion between dendrites and axons, a key factor in synaptic integrity, the loss of which is a hallmark of AD. A genome-wide, whole brain search strategy has the potential to reveal novel candidate genes and loci warranting further investigation and replication.
Steroid Contraceptives and Women’s Response: Program Considerations from the Quality of Care Perspective

Women vary not only in their biological response to contraceptives, but also in their assessments of acceptability of method characteristics and the services for providing them. Method discontinuation, while often mainly attributable to unacceptable side effects, may also be caused by unacceptability of the method’s mode of action, route of administration, or poor experience with the service system that provides the method. As biomedical researchers strive to understand biological variability in method response and to help fine tune methods to minimize potential side effects, family planning service systems may simultaneously introduce mechanisms for increasing contraceptive acceptance and continuation by improving routine program operations that increase client satisfaction with methods.
Charting the evolution of approaches employed by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) to address inequities in access to immunization: a systematic qualitative review of GAVI policies, strategies and resource allocation mechanisms through an equity lens (1999-2014).

GAVI’s focus on reducing inequities in access to vaccines, immunization, and GAVI funds, − both between and within countries - has changed over time. This paper charts that evolution. A systematic qualitative review was conducted by searching PubMed, Google Scholar and direct review of available GAVI Board papers, policies, and program guidelines. Documents were included if they described or evaluated GAVI policies, strategies, or programs and discussed equity of access to vaccines, utilization of immunization services, or GAVI funds in countries currently or previously eligible for GAVI support. Findings were grouped thematically, categorized into time periods covering GAVI’s phases of operations, and assessed depending on whether the approaches mediated equity of opportunity or equity of outcomes between or within countries. Serches yielded 2816 documents for assessment. After pre-screening and removal of duplicates, 552 documents underwent detailed evaluation and pertinent information was extracted from 188 unique documents. As a global funding mechanism, GAVI responded rationally to a semi-fixed funding constraint by focusing on between-country equity in allocation of resources. GAVI’s predominant focus and documented successes have been in addressing between-country inequities in access to vaccines comparing lower income (GAVI-eligible) countries with higher income (ineligible) countries. GAVI has had mixed results at addressing between-country inequities in utilization of immunization services, and has only more recently put greater emphasis and resources towards addressing within-country inequities in utilization to immunization services. Over time, GAVI has progressively added vaccines to its portfolio. This expansion should have addressed inter-country, inter-regional, inter-generational and gender inequities in disease burden, however, evidence is scant with respect to final outcomes. In its next phase of operations, the Alliance can continue to demonstrate its strength as a highly effective multi-partner enterprise, capable of learning and innovating in a world that has changed much since its inception. By building on its successes, developing more coherent and consistent approaches to address inequities between and within countries and by monitoring progress and outcomes, GAVI is well-positioned to bring the benefits of vaccination to previously unreached and underserved communities towards provision of universal health coverage.
Small Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder: Case Report and Comprehensive Analysis of Published Cases

Background. Gallbladder small cell carcinoma is a rare and highly aggressive malignancy with no established standard of care treatment. We described here a case report of small cell gallbladder cancer and we then performed a comprehensive review of 72 case reports of this disease. Methods. Published case reports of small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder between 1983 and 2014 were reviewed. Treatment modalities and survival were analyzed for metastatic and localized disease. Results. Median overall survival for all patients was 13 months. Metastatic disease was identified in 72% of cases. Treatment of metastatic disease with chemotherapy showed a significant survival benefit (p < 0.001) compared to no chemotherapy, and the use of platinum doublet with etoposide showed a nonsignificant 4-month improvement in survival compared to other chemotherapy regimens (p = 0.13). Adjuvant therapy did not demonstrate an improvement of median overall survival in local disease (p = 0.78). Conclusion. Given the limited available data, systemic therapy with platinum and etoposide should be considered for patients with metastatic small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder. Adjuvant chemoradiation or chemotherapy for treatment of local disease warrants further investigation.
World on fire: the politics of napalm in the Global Cold War

This essay discusses the ways in which napalm contributed to the militarisation of global landscapes during the 1960s and 1970s, shaped distinctly by the interrelated geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War, decolonisation, and the rise of global public opinion against napalm and other weapons of terror. Using case studies and primary documents from British Archives, I argue that napalm played a significant role in shaping multiple military landscapes during this period, not just in terms of its direct effects on people, places, and the natural environment, but as a result of the moral, cultural, and political consequences of those effects.
Comparison of Aerodynamic Measurements on a Full-Scale NASCAR in Open and Closed Jet Test Sections

This paper reports on an exploratory automotive test which was undertaken in the NASA Langley Research Center 14 by 22 wind tunnel in the Fall of 2003. The test was collaboration between Old Dominion University, who supplied the automotive balance, NASA, who provided wind tunnel time, and Penske Racing South, who provided an instrumented test vehicle. The test generated a rather unique data set, encompassing whole body forces, surface pressures, and floor boundary layer profiles, measured on the same test article, with both an open jet and closed jet test section, utilizing the variable configuration of the 14 by 22. The nominal test velocity was 60 m/s, the nominal blockage was 7.4%, and the yaw angle ranged from -6 to +6 degrees. Results indicate substantial interference effects, as expected, with around 19% higher drag (uncorrected) in the closed configuration, relative to open. The corresponding front and rear downforce values were 14% and 13% higher respectively. A simple blockage correction to dynamic pressure is therefore not sufficient to collapse the two data sets. Detailed analysis of surface pressures and boundary layer profiles provides some insight into the reasons for this discrepancy. To support the analysis, boundary interference assessments are being made, using panel methods. In the open jet case, the current method properly accounts for the effects of jet distortion. It is concluded that relatively sophisticated on-line interference assessment techniques should be employed in tests of this type. The paper reviews both uncorrected and corrected data, the interference assessments, and explores the reasons for the inadequacy of classical blockage corrections.
Sequem: estimating extreme steady-state quantiles via the maximum transformation

This article presents Sequem, a fully sequential procedure for computing point estimators and confidence intervals (CIs) for extreme steady-state quantiles of a simulation output process. The method is an enhancement of the Sequest procedure proposed by Alexopoulos et al. in 2014 for estimating nonextreme steady-state quantiles. Sequem exploits a combination of batching, sectioning, and the maximum transformation technique to achieve the following: (a) reduction in point-estimator bias arising from initial conditions or inadequate simulation run length; and (b) adjustment of the CI half-length to compensate for the effects of skewness or correlation in the corresponding quantile point estimators obtained from nonoverlapping batches. The CIs delivered by Sequem satisfy user-specified requirements related to coverage probability and absolute or relative precision. A preliminary evaluation based on three "stress-testing" processes revealed that Sequem exhibited good performance when used in challenging settings.
Local networks

The rapidly evolving field of local network technology has produced a steady stream of local network products in recent years. The IEEE 802 standards that are now taking shape, because of their complexity, do little to narrow the range of alternative technical approaches and at the same time encourage more vendors into the field. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic, organized overview of the alternative architectures for and design approaches to local networks.The key elements that determine the cost and performance of a local network are its topology, transmission medium, and medium access control protocol. Transmission media include twisted pair, baseband and broadband coaxial cable, and optical fiber. Topologies include bus, tree, and ring. Medium access control protocols include CSMA/CD, token bus, token ring, register insertion, and slotted ring. Each of these areas is examined in detail, comparisons are drawn between competing technologies, and the current status of standards is reported.
Some Aspects of Village Demography

least the over-migration reduced by the intervention of the employment service. And more recently the service has undertaken to work out with employers means of recruiting in distant places that will result in the movement only of such workers as can find employment. If the demand on our labor resources approaches the magnitude that some predict, there will be many problems encountered in mobilizing our available supplies of labor to man all essential defense activities. This will mean not only training millions of workers, but also organizing the labor market on a scale hitherto unknown in this country.
Effect of three adjuvants on coverage, persistence, and efficacy of ground-applied chlorpyrifos for suppression of cotton aphid (Homoptera : Aphididae)

Effects of adjuvants on chlorpyrifos for suppression of cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii (Glover), in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum (L.), were evaluated using four parameters: percentage cotton aphid mortality, spray droplet coverage (percentage area covered) on water-sensitive cards, spray droplet penetration (average spot diameter frequency, distributions) into the cotton canopy, and the rate of disappearance (decay) of chlorpyrifos residues from cotton leaf surfaces. All factors were measured on cotton averaging 171.4 cm in height at three canopy levels (from terminal): upper, 0 cm; middle, 45.7 cm; lower, 76.2 cm. Mortality, of aphids in the upper canopy level (89%) was higher than middle (66%) and lower (57%) levels. Spray coverage, measured as mean percentage area of water-sensitive cards covered by spots, decreased at each lower canopy level as did mean total number of spots per square centimeter. Chlorpyrifos alone generally had a higher proportion of spots per square centimeter in the middle and lower canopy levels relative to the upper level, compared with the adjuvant combinations. No differences in spot diameter frequency distributions were detected among treatments within a canopy level or within a treatment among canopy levels. Initial mean chlorpyrifos deposits on cotton leaf surfaces were highest at the upper canopy level (678 ng/cm2) and decreased by approximately 50% at each descending canopy level. Rate of disappearance of chlorpyrifos from cotton leaf surfaces was significantly reduced at the middle and lower canopy levels compared with the upper level. Adjuvants did not significantly affect chlorpyrifos efficacy, deposition characteristics, or rate of disappearance of chlorpyrifos. Canopy level was important for all three measured criteria.
To identify and evaluate causal relationship between drug and single adverse event

It is very important in safety evaluation to determining causal relationship between drugs and adverse events. Supported by the available literatures, the purpose of this review is to introduce some methods to identify and assess simple adverse event, and some challenges remain need to face to.
Towards a Distributed Infrastructure for Evolving Graph Analytics

Graphs are used to represent a plethora of phenomena, from the Web and social networks, to biological pathways, to semantic knowledge bases. Arguably the most interesting and important questions one can ask about graphs have to do with their evolution. Which Web pages are showing an increasing popularity trend? How does influence propagate in social networks? How does knowledge evolve? In this paper we present our ongoing work on the Portal system, an open-source distributed framework for evolving graphs. Portal streamlines exploratory analysis of evolving graphs, making it efficient and usable, and providing critical tools to computational and data scientists. Our system implements a declarative query language by the same name, which we briefly describe in this paper. Our basic abstraction is a TGraph, which logically represents a series of adjacent snapshots. We present different physical representations of TGraphs and show results of a preliminary experimental evaluation of these physical representations for an important class of evolving graph analytics.
Critical Care Issues in Oncologic Surgery Patients

Significant progress in diagnosing certain cancers at an earlier stage and advances in treatment have both resulted in improvements in survival for many patients with cancer. With greater numbers of immunocompromised cancer patients with preexisting diseases undergoing major surgical procedures with curative or palliative intent, the need for perioperative care and close monitoring in the ICU is only going to increase. This chapter will focus on the major critical care issues that an intensivist will face in caring for select groups of oncologic surgical patients.
Sentiment Lexicon Generation

By now, it should be quite clear that words and phrases that convey positive or negative sentiment are instrumental for sentiment analysis. This chapter discusses how to compile such word lists. In the research literature, sentiment words are also called opinion words, polar words , or opinion-bearing words . Positive sentiment words such as beautiful , wonderful , and amazing are used to express some desired states or qualities while negative sentiment words such as bad , awful , and poor are used to express some undesired states or qualities. In addition to individual words, there are also sentiment phrases and idioms, for example, cost an arm and a leg . Collectively, they are called the sentiment lexicon (or opinion lexicon ). From now on, when we say sentiment words, we mean both individual words and phrases. Sentiment words can be divided into two types, base type and comparative type . All the preceding example words are of the base type. Sentiment words of the comparative type (which include the superlative type) are used to express comparative and superlative opinions. Examples of such words include better, worse, best, worst , and so on, which are comparative and superlative forms of the base adjectives or adverbs such as good and bad . We discuss comparative and superlative sentiment words further in Chapter 8. This chapter focuses on sentiment words of the base type. There are three main existing approaches to compiling sentiment words: manual approach, dictionary-based approach (discussed in Section 7.1), and corpusbased approach (discussed in Section 7.2). The manual approach is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and is thus usually used as a check on automated approaches because automated approaches make mistakes. In Section 7.3, we will also discuss the issue of factual statements implying opinions, which has largely been overlooked by the research community. This chapter is written in a survey style because past research has constructed numerous sentiment lexicons in many languages. Most of them are publicly available (see Section 7.4 for a list of them in English).
Session 3.2: Viral Clearance of Emerging Unit Operations: Membrane Chromatography, Other Methods, Etc.

The goal of Session 3.2 was to present alternative approaches to virus removal or inactivation that could be included as part of a production process for biologics. These approaches could include a new unit operation such as heat inactivation or a variant of solvent/detergent treatment, or the use
Design of p-type cladding layers for tunnel-injected UV-A light emitting diodes

We discuss the engineering of p-AlGaN cladding layers for achieving efficient tunnel-injected III-Nitride ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) in the UV-A spectral range. We show that the capacitance-voltage measurements can be used to estimate the compensation and doping in the p-AlGaN layers located between the multi-quantum well region and the tunnel junction layer. By increasing the p-type doping concentration to overcome the background compensation, on-wafer external quantum efficiency and wall-plug efficiency of 3.37% and 1.62%, respectively, were achieved for the tunnel-injected UV LEDs emitting at 325 nm. We also show that interband tunneling hole injection can be used to realize UV LEDs without any acceptor doping. The work discussed here provides new understanding of hole doping and transport in AlGaN-based UV LEDs and demonstrates the excellent performance of tunnel-injected LEDs for the UV-A wavelength range.
A preconditioning technique based on Singular Value Decomposition and its comparision with the Characteristic Basis Function Method

In this paper, we investigate some matrix preconditioning techniques for handling highly ill-conditioned matrices that often arise in Computational Electromagnetics (CEM). A preconditioning technique based on the use of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is proposed in this work to speed up the convergence of iterative methods when handling such matrices. Following this we review the Characteristic Basis Function Method (CBFM) and compare it to the preconditioner approach to handle similar problems.
1 to 25 GHz vacuum FET distributed amplifier analysis

A proposed state-of-the-art 1-25 GHz, vacuum field emitter triode (FET) distributed amplifier (DA) of 9+or-1 dB maximum gain has been tested in a Touchstone computer simulation. Theoretical analysis reveals that the vacuum FET DA's gain-bandwidth product is limited primarily by microstripline metal interconnect losses and by low device f/sub T/ values, but surprisingly not by the internal device losses. The results suggest that a vacuum FET DA with low loss microstripline interconnect and high device f/sub T/ values is potentially of exceptionally high gain-bandwidth product. An investigation of device enhancement for high-frequency operation compares the relative merits of a lower emitter work function and a greater electric field enhancement factor beta =E/V/sub gc/. >
Unsaturation and regional influences on species richness in ecological communities: A review of the evidence

According to the traditional Volterra-Gause viewpoint, the number of species in ecological communities (local richness) was thought to be controlled mainly by species interactions operating within ...
DataMesh-parallel storage systems for the 1990s

A description is given of DataMesh, a research project with the goal of developing software to maximize the performance of mass storage I/O, while providing high availability, ease of use, and scalability. The DataMesh hardware architecture is that of an array of disk nodes, with each disk having a dedicated 20-MIPS single-chip processor and 8-32 MBytes RAM. The nodes are linked by a fast, reliable, small-area network, and programmed to appear as a single storage server. Phase 1 of the DataMesh project will provide smart disk arrays; phase 2 will expand this to include file systems; and phase 3 will support parallel databases, data searches, and other application-specific functions. The initial target of the work is storage servers for groups of high-powered workstations, although the techniques are applicable to several different problems. >
Milton, the Poetics of Matter, and the Sciences of Reading

Early modern debate about physical matter was vexed and intense; the outcome of these debates was as profound as anything imagined by Copernicus’ astronomy or Vesalius’ anatomy. Challenges to Aristotelian hylomorphism, the excitement about the Renaissance rediscovery of Lucretius, the pressure that conflict between Galenic and Paracelsian medicine put on the conflicting theories of matter that those models implied—these debates were central to early modern science. They were also central to other aspects of early modern life. Distilling ale, eating food, turning lead into gold, writing poems, reading books, creating the universe out of matter ‘unformed and void’: from the mundane to the transcendent, such activities all involved the transformation of matter.
Novel Assessment of Interstitial Lung Disease Using the “Computer-Aided Lung Informatics for Pathology Evaluation and Rating” (CALIPER) Software System in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies

To evaluate the correlation between measurements from quantitative thoracic high-resolution CT (HRCT) analysis with “Computer-Aided Lung Informatics for Pathology Evaluation and Rating” (CALIPER) software and measurements from pulmonary function tests (PFTs) in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD). A cohort of patients with IIM-associated ILD seen at Mayo Clinic was identified from medical record review. Retrospective analysis of HRCT data and PFTs at baseline and 1 year was performed. The abnormalities in HRCT were quantified using CALIPER software. A total of 110 patients were identified. At baseline, total interstitial abnormalities as measured by CALIPER, both by absolute volume and by percentage of total lung volume, had a significant negative correlation with diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO), total lung capacity (TLC), and oxygen saturation. Analysis by subtype of interstitial abnormality revealed significant negative correlations between ground glass opacities (GGO) and reticular density (RD) with DLCO and TLC. At one year, changes of total interstitial abnormalities compared with baseline had a significant negative correlation with changes of TLC and oxygen saturation. A negative correlation between changes of total interstitial abnormalities and DLCO was also observed, but it was not statistically significant. Analysis by subtype of interstitial abnormality revealed negative correlations between changes of GGO and RD and changes of DLCO, TLC, and oxygen saturation, but most of the correlations did not achieve statistical significance. CALIPER measurements correlate well with functional measurements in patients with IIM-associated ILD.
Comparative activity of antimicrobials against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia keratitis isolates

Background/aims Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia are emerging corneal pathogens, which are closely related to Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and have intrinsic resistance to many commonly available antimicrobials. The purpose of this study is to compare the in vitro efficacy of 12 antimicrobial agents against A. xylosoxidans , S. maltophilia and P. aeruginosa isolates recovered from clinical cases of keratitis. Methods Recovered corneal isolates (n=58) were identified and extracted from the Microbiology Data Bank of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. Comparative in vitro minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) susceptibility profiles for fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, beta-lactams and miscellaneous antibiotics were recorded using the E-test methodology. Pharmacodynamic indices (Cmax/MIC) were calculated. Results A. xylosoxidans and S. maltophilia isolates were resistant to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and ceftazidime (susceptibility rate ranging from 0% to 30%) while P. aeruginosa isolates showed a susceptibility rate of 95%–100% to these antimicrobials (P S. maltophilia isolates and Cmax/MIC=10.19. Ninety to 100% susceptibility rates were found for minocycline and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for both A. xylosoxidans and S. maltophilia . One hundred per cent of the A. xylosoxidans isolates were susceptible to piperacillin/tazobactam and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid. Conclusions There is a significant difference in susceptibility patterns between A. xylosoxidans , S. maltophilia and P. aeruginosa . Fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides may not be effective against A. xylosoxidans and S. maltophilia . Antibiotics that are not commercially available as eye drops, such as beta-lactams for A. xylosoxidans , and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and minocycline for both A. xylosoxidans and S. maltophilia should be considered.
An influence of binaural hearing aids on positioning of sound images.

An influence of binaural hearing aids on positioning of sound images produced by signals from two loudspeakers was investigated with normally hearing and hearing-impaired subjects. The image can be...
Consistency versus Realizable H-Consistency for Multiclass Classification

A consistent loss function for multiclass classification is one such that for any source of labeled examples, any tuple of scoring functions that minimizes the expected loss will have classification accuracy close to that of the Bayes optimal classifier. While consistency has been proposed as a desirable property for multiclass loss functions, we give experimental and theoretical results exhibiting a sequence of linearly separable data sources with the following property: a multiclass classification algorithm which optimizes a loss function due to Crammer and Singer (which is known not to be consistent) produces classifiers whose expected error goes to 0, while the expected error of an algorithm which optimizes a generalization of the loss function used by LogitBoost (a loss function which is known to be consistent) is bounded below by a positive constant. We identify a property of a loss function, realizable consistency with respect to a restricted class of scoring functions, that accounts for this difference. As our main technical results we show that the Crammer-Singer loss function is realizable consistent for the class of linear scoring functions, while the generalization of LogitBoost is not. Our result for LogitBoost is a special case of a more general theorem that applies to several other loss functions that have been proposed for multiclass classification.
Ultrafast Optical Generation of Carriers in a DC Electric Field

Recently, several experimental groups have demonstrated that the ultrafast optical excitation of bulk semiconductors and semiconductor microstructures subjected to a DC electric field produces submillimeter electromagnetic radiation.1–5 The fast-changing photocurrent caused by the ultrafast excitation has been identified as a source of such electromagnetic transients.1 However, the theoretical understanding of the photocurrent on femtosecond time scale is still incomplete.
Communication, Technology, Temporality

This paper proposes a media studies that foregrounds technological objects as communicative and historical agents. Specifically, I take the digital computer as a powerful catalyst of crises in communication theories and certain key features of modernity. Finally, the computer is the motor of “New Media” which is at once a set of technologies, a historical epoch, and a field of knowledge. As such the computer shapes “the new” and “the future” as History pushes its origins further in the past and its convergent quality pushes its future as a predominate medium. As treatment of information and interface suggest, communication theories observe computers, and technologies generally, for the mediated languages they either afford or foreclose to us. My project describes the figures information and interface for the different ways they can be thought of as aspects of communication. I treat information not as semantic meaning, formal or discursive language, but rather as a physical organism. Similarly an interface is not a relationship between a screen and a human visual intelligence, but is instead a reciprocal, affective and physical process of contact. I illustrate that historically there have been conceptions of information and interface complimentary to mine, fleeting as they have been in the face of a dominant temporality of mediation. I begin with a theoretically informed approach to media history, and extend it to a new theory of communication. In doing so I discuss a model of time common to popular, scientific, and critical conceptions of media technologies especially in theories of computer technology. This is a predominate model with particular rules of temporal change and causality for thinking about mediation, and limits the conditions of possibility for knowledge production about communication. I suggest a new model of time as integral to any event of observation and analysis, and that human mediation does not exhaust the possibilities within this temporality. In attempting to think past a merely human scale of time, my project interfaces with other non-totalizing, antianthropocentric philosophies, but begins from modernist and humanist understandings of temporality as opposed to subjectivity. Methodologically, my theory of temporality provides a shift in historical narrative, one that eschews famous inventors, threads of technological or epistemological progress, or other teleological constructions. Epistemologically, this temporality indicates that mediation is an event that occurs among various types of organisms of multiple temporalities. This allows precise interrogation of human notions inflected with time: duration, suspension, desire, fear, and imagination. Ethically, scaling time beyond the human gives a novel form of alterity articulated as the different ways in which we use time to capture the other within theories of communication and history.
Vaccines and Pregnancy

This chapter summarizes the recommended use of vaccines during pregnancy in the U.S, as well as the information most relevant to women of child-bearing age for certain vaccines.
Moving Target Detection in Spatially Heterogeneous Clutter Using Distributed MIMO Radar

In this paper, we consider the problem of moving target detection in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar under the assumption of non-homogeneous environment. In particular, we assume the spatial heterogeneous clutter, i.e., clutter reflections from different range bins to be independent and the clutter power changes from one cell to another. Even under the same test cell, the clutter components associated with different transmit-receive pairs are dissimilar due to the azimuth-selective back-scattering of the non-homogeneous clutter. A new method for estimating the non-homogeneous clutter for every transmit-receive pair in a distributed MIMO radar is developed. For each transmit-receive path, the nonhomogeneous clutter is modeled as a linear combination of appropriately selected basis vectors. The clutter component is adaptively estimated based on maximizing the clutter power and maximally rejecting the power associated with target reflections. A generalized-likelihood ratio test (GLRT) for moving target detection is also developed. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the performance improvement of the proposed GLRT over existing techniques.
A Data Driven Method for Prediction of Energy Demand in Commercial Buildings

Modeling energy consumption for large HVAC systems can be complex and expensive. Hard to model interactions among the HVAC sub systems and between the subsystems and the building make the energy estimation problem difficult to derive using thermodynamics equations. This is clearly illustrated when we apply parameter estimation techniques to a physics-based model of a real building. To overcome this problem, we derive a data driven model for the same building using Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks. This model incorporates the building dynamics by using information from the previous time step to forecast the current energy consumption. We employ a unique feature engineering approach to select the parameters of our input-output energy model. As a proof of concept, we conduct a comparative study of the LSTM model with Support Vector Regression and the AdaBoost regression to show its effectiveness in forecasting building energy consumption over a period of time.
Cooling-rate dependent single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition in an organic co-crystal

We investigate a previously unobserved phase transition in an organic co-crystal containing the olefin trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene. The olefin undergoes molecular motion in the crystalline state, and converts from a disordered to ordered phase upon cooling. Ordering causes a unit cell change to occur via a reversible single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) transformation. The ordered phase is only accessed via slow cooling; flash cooling locks the crystal in a kinetically trapped, disordered state, and SCSC reversibility is lost. The common practice of flash cooling may inhibit access to thermodynamic products and unique phases.
Behavioral Health Resource Utilization of Emergency Department Patients Presenting from Mass Gathering Events

Introduction:Behavioral health needs of attendees at mass gathering events who require emergency department (ED) evaluation are poorly understood. Appropriate resource allocation of mental health staff and other behavioral interventions necessary to support this patient population are also unclear.Aim:To describe behavioral characteristics and psychiatric resource utilization of patients presenting to a tertiary academic medical center emergency department from mass gathering events.Methods:Single-center retrospective study evaluating attendees at mass gathering events who presented to a Chicago ED. Electronic medical records for patients presenting between October 13, 2013, and December 31, 2015, were reviewed and descriptive analyses performed.Results:209 distinct records were reviewed. Most patients presented from large outdoor concerts (n = 186, 89%). Forty-two (20.1%) reported a mental health complaint at presentation, including concerns related to pre-existing psychiatric disturbances or onset of new symptoms. Twenty-seven of the total cohort (12.9%) endorsed a prior psychiatric history. Thirty-five (16.7%) reported use of prescribed psychotropic medications, including antidepressants, stimulants, mood stabilizers, and others. Diagnostic testing among the total sample included serum ethanol measurement (31.1%), urinary toxicology (25.4%), acetaminophen (6.2%), aspirin (5.3%), and creatine kinase measurements (11%). Computed brain tomography was ordered for 20 patients (9.6%). Twelve patients (5.7%) received an anxiolytic (lorazepam) and 113 (54.1%) received intravenous fluids. An antipsychotic (olanzapine) was administered to one patient (0.5%). There were no reports of suicidal ideation, but physical restraints for agitation were employed in 13 patients (6.2%). Police consultation occurred in 10 cases (4.8%). No formal psychiatric consultations were requested by ED providers.Discussion:Patients presenting to the emergency department from mass gathering events frequently endorse behavioral complaints requiring directed use of diagnostic and other emergency department resources for their ailments. The need for physical restraints and limited use of anxiolytics and antipsychotics in our sample suggest that psychiatric consultation is underutilized.
Sleep and respiratory outcomes in neonates with Pierre Robin sequence: a concise review

There are no standardized management algorithms for neonates with Pierre Robin sequence. Currently available literature is variable in terms of outcomes assessed across studies. In this paper, we have aimed to summarize the currently available literature on longitudinal sleep and respiratory outcomes in Pierre Robin sequence neonates with a focus on identifying gaps in literature and areas for future research development.
Transcriptional program of memory B cell activation, broadly binding anti-influenza antibodies, and bystander activation after vaccination revealed by single-cell transcriptomics

Antibody memory protects humans from many diseases. Protective antibody memory responses require activation of transcriptional programs, cell proliferation, and production of antigen-specific antibodies, but how these aspects of the response are coordinated is poorly understood. We profiled the molecular and cellular features of the antibody response to influenza vaccination by integrating single-cell transcriptomics, longitudinal antibody repertoire sequencing, and antibody binding measurements. Single-cell transcriptional profiling revealed a program of memory B cell activation characterized by CD11c and T-bet expression associated with clonal expansion and differentiation toward effector function. Vaccination elicited an antibody clone which rapidly acquired broad high-affinity hemagglutinin binding during affinity maturation. Unexpectedly, many antibody clones elicited by vaccination do not bind vaccine, demonstrating non-specific activation of bystander antibodies by influenza vaccination. These results offer insight into how molecular recognition, transcriptional programs, and clonal proliferation are coordinated in the human B cell repertoire during memory recall.
A Galician Family in Peace and War: The Sicherman/Schiff Postcard Collection, 1905–1921

A corner of the vanished world of Galician Jewry emerges from 104 postcards brought to America from Poland by the central figures of this family collection—Jacob and Matylda Schiff Sicherman. World...
Association of Right Ventricular Longitudinal Strain with Mortality in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Background Conventional right ventricular (RV) echocardiographic measurements of systolic function (SF) have demonstrated conflicting results when their association with long-term outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is evaluated. RV free-wall (FW) longitudinal strain (LS) is a novel, single parameter to measure RV SF and may provide a better evaluation than fractional area change, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, and myocardial velocity (S′). The value of RV FW LS in patients undergoing TAVR and its association with 1-year mortality are unknown. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that RV FW LS would be associated with 1-year all-cause mortality in patients undergoing TAVR. Methods Consecutive patients who underwent TAVR between 2007 and 2014 in whom RV FW LS was measurable were included; a subgroup that had 1-year follow-up echocardiographic evaluation of RV FW LS was analyzed. FW LS was derived from speckle-tracking analyses. The standard reference was determined as normal or impaired RV SF, the latter defined as the presence of ≥50% of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion Results Of 612 patients, 334 were included for RV FW LS analysis on pre-TAVR echocardiography (feasibility 55%); exclusion criteria included atrial fibrillation (n = 92 [15%]), pacemaker (n = 73 [12%]), and poor image quality (n = 113 [18%]). Baseline impaired RV SF was present in 19% of cases. RV FW LS did not change significantly at 1-year follow-up, in both the groups with baseline impaired and normal function. Cox regression analysis showed that RV FW LS was associated with all-cause mortality at 1 year (hazard ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01–1.11). For each unit increase in RV FW LS, there was a 6% higher risk for 1-year mortality. Conclusions In a high-risk TAVR population, RV FW LS should be considered a single echocardiographic parameter for the assessment of RV SF. When measurable, RV FW LS is associated with all-cause mortality at 1 year after TAVR.
Marijuana use/nonuse among those aged 50+: comparisons of use-to-nonuse, initiation/reinitiation, and continued use over 24 months

Objectives: To examine: (1) correlates of use-to-nonuse (use 13-24 months ago, but no past-year use), initiation/reinitiation (no use 13–24 months ago, but past-year use), and continued use over a ...