cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interaction of chloroplast and nuclear genomes in regulating RuBP carboxylase activity.

Extensive studies of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase/oxygenase have provided much information on its structure, function, biosynthesis, mode of inheritance, and genetic variability (1-3). RuBP carboxylase, which in higher plants has been termed Fraction I protein, is found in all photosynthetic organisms as an oligomeric protein of high molecular weight (1-4). It catalyzes the carboxylation of RuBP, producing two molecules of glycerate 3-phosphate (PGA), the primary product of photosynthesis (3). In the presence of molecular oxygen, RuBP carboxylase can also catalyze the oxidation of RuBP, forming PGA and phosphoglycolate, which can be converted to glycolate, the substrate for photorespiration (3, 5). Since the balance between photosynthetic and photorespiratory processes determines a plant’s maximum yield, the ability of RuBP carboxylase to participate in either process has generated renewed interest in this enzyme.
A STATISTICAL TEST OF FLORISTIC ZONES AS INFERRED FROM THE POLLEN RECORD: SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

This study presents the stratigraphic and floristic interpretations of data collected from a 6.49 m core taken within the Rowley River Marsh, Massachusetts. Twenty-five samples were collected at 28 centimeter intervals from the core in this Holocene coastal marsh. Based on stratigraphic control, the age of the core samples includes a time sequence extending back 4,600 years from the present. Analysis of the core stratigraphic units suggests the environment has essentially been a low energy estuarine system for the past 4,600 years. The 25 samples were also processed for pollen taxa present since 4,600 years B.P. A discriminant function analysis was used to test the floristic zonal similarity of the diagnostic taxa (Picea, Pinus, Carya, Tsuga, Quercus) from the core with those same taxa used to establish the floristic zones for the southern New England region. The results of the analysis demonstrated that 84% of the samples were correctly classified by floristic zone. Although the distribution of diagnosti...
Compute unified device architecture (CUDA) based finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) implementation

Recent developments in the design of graphics processing units (GPUs) have made it possible to use these devices as alternatives to central processor units (CPUs) and perform high performance scientific computing on them. Though several implementations of finite- difference time-domain (FDTD) method have been reported, the unavailability of high level languages to program graphics cards had been a major obstacle for scientists and engineers who would want to develop codes for graphics cards. Relatively recently, compute unified device architecture (CUDA) development environment has been introduced by NVIDIA and made GPU computing much easier. This paper presents an implementation of FDTD method based on CUDA. Two thread-to-cell mapping algorithms are presented. The details of the implementation are provided and strategies to improve the performance of the FDTD simulations are discussed.
Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma. Report of a case and review of the English-language literature.

B-cell lymphomas may involve the skin late in the course of the disease, but only infrequently have primary presentation in the skin. The cutaneous lesions are red-to-violaceous nodules, most often located on the head and neck. Most patients have been treated with radiation alone or combined with surgical excision of the tumors or systemic chemotherapy. In general, patient survival has been poor. The authors report a case of B-cell lymphoma initially confined to the skin and review the clinical characteristics of these lymphomas as reported in the English-language literature.
Ability to discriminate rational responses to items on the irrational beliefs test as a predictor of rationality and trait anxiety.

In this study were examined correlations among irrationality, ability to discriminate rationality, and trait anxiety. The Irrational Beliefs Test with standard instructions was the estimate of subj...
Multicore Space Division Multiplexed Unrepeatered Transmission beyond 100-Tb/s Capacity

The paper describes high capacity unrepeatered transmission using multicore-fiber-based remote optically-pumped amplifier. Recent development on transmission technologies based on multicore space-division-multiplexing is also reviewed.
The Family Tree in E. T. A. Hoffmann's Die Elixiere Des Teufels

It has been generally recognized in critical works which treat Die Elixiere des Teufels that the central event in the story is the revelation of the facts contained in the cryptic document written by Francesko, “der alte Maler.”In this episode, all but a few of the innumerable mysteries which have existed previously in the story are dispelled by this highly concentrated history of Medardus' ancestry. Thus a focal point appears here on which much of the whole novel converges. Hoffmann himself (p. 274) uses this image to describe the role that the manuscript plays in the novel.
Men and women in Boston learn about terrorism differently: gendering the urban values–vulnerability nexus

ABSTRACTThis paper expands the values-vulnerability nexus for studying urban vulnerability to terrorism. Gender is among the most salient social structures affecting a person’s interpretation of risk, and urban geographers have demonstrated that gender also deeply affects the experience of urban life. However, the values that shape urban vulnerability to terrorism have been conceptualized more broadly, usually focusing on the underpinning economic organization of cities that terrorists exploit rather than on concepts such as gender. As a result, the role of gender in understanding societal responses to terrorism—specifically risk perception and preparedness—is underdeveloped, including in the 2008 US National Survey of Disaster and Preparedness, which sought to understand Americans’ responses to terrorism. This paper outlines a gender values–vulnerability nexus for studying terrorism. Using interview data from Boston, Massachusetts conducted before and after the 15 April 2013 Boston Marathon attacks, I de...
Effects of prazosin on forearm resistance and capacitance vessels

The effects of oral prazosin on the peripheral circulation were evaluated in 10 subjects, including 7 patients with chronic congestive failure due to coronary heart disease. To achieve this purpose the actions of 30 to 50 micrograms/kg body weight prazosin were assessed on both the forearm arteriolar and venous beds simultaneously with the use of the limb plethysmographic technique. Prazosin produced marked decline of forearm venous tone (FVT) from 44.5 +/- 12.3 to 14.3 +/- 3.1 mm Hg/ml (p less than 0.01) concomitant with marked decrease in forearm vascular resistance (FVR) from 70.2 +/- 11.4 to 48.4 +/- 4.9 mm Hg/ml/100 gm/min (p less than 0.05) which persisted for at least 60 mins without change in heart rate. These findings, demonstrating that prazosin induces systemic venodilation and peripheral arteriolodilation, indicate potential benefits of the oral drug for relief of pulmonary congestion and elevations of cardiac output in patients with chronic congestive heart failure.
THE “WEIGHT” OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS, RACE/ETHNICITY, AND GENDER: A SYSTEMATIC EXAMINATION OF OBESITY AND ITS CO-MORBIDITIES

OF THE DISSERTATION THE “WEIGHT” OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS, RACE/ETHNICITY, AND GENDER: A SYSTEMATIC EXAMINATION OF OBESITY AND ITS COMORBIDITIES Although extensive research exists on the association between SES and obesity and its patterning across separate gender and racial/ethnic groups, critical gaps remain. In particular, the majority of studies on the SES-BMI association have examined it in additive models without simultaneously considering the influence of gender and race/ethnicity. An additional limitation of the current obesity scholarship concerns the lack of scholarship addressing the interplay between social factors, such as SES, race/ethnicity, gender, and proximate health risk factors, such as BMI, in shaping obesityrelated chronic health outcomes, especially considering that health outcomes may vary in the extent to which they may be controlled by individual behavior. By utilizing the 2011-2014 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (N=19,931), this dissertation addresses key gaps in the literature on the social patterning of obesity and certain obesity co-morbidities – arthritis and indicators of cardiovascular health, namely blood pressure, plasma fasting glucose and HDL cholesterol – across diverse social groups. This research project has been situated in the fundamental social causes of disease (FSCD) theoretical framework, which situates individual risk factors within the larger socio-cultural structures, making this broader context the key mechanism explaining disparities in health outcomes. Research findings uncovered stark gendered racial disparities in overweight and obesity that were not attenuated by high income and education, placing Black American women at an increased risk of having a higher BMI. In addition, results reveal that the influence of different indicators of social status vary across health outcomes. Specifically, social factors did not modify the BMI-arthritis relationship, while the effect of BMI on blood pressure was amplified for Hispanic adults. Further, with respect to fasting plasma glucose and HDL cholesterol, the negative effect of BMI was amplified for White adults. In addition, the effect of BMI on HDL cholesterol was also amplified for individuals with higher educational attainment and household income. Overall, the results from this dissertation provide novel insights on the ways distal social factors interact simultaneously with each other and with more proximal health risk factors to produce variations in individual weight and weight-related health disparities. KEYWORKDS: Obesity, Obesity Co-morbidities, Socioeconomic Status (SES), Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Fundamental Social Causes of Disease (FSCD) Gabriele Ciciurkaite
Increased surfactant internalization by rat type II cells cultured on microporous membranes.

We evaluated the influence of various substrata in maintaining internalization of biosynthesized natural surfactant by type II pneumocytes in primary culture. Cells were incubated for 2 h with 3H, ...
The Originalist Approach

The U.S. Supreme Court adopted an “originalist” approach in deciding, in St. Francis College and Shaare Tefila , respectively, that Congress intended to treat Arabs and Jews as “races” within the meaning of an earlier civil rights statute, the Civil Rights Act of 1866. That is to say, the Court focused on the original intent of the framers of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as well as the public meaning of the statute at the time that it was enacted, in order to determine how the statute’s provisions should be interpreted today. The Court reasoned that Congress and the public considered groups such as Arabs and Jews to be racially distinct at the time when the statute was passed, even though they are generally considered to be Caucasians today. Some jurists support this methodological approach, known as “originalism,” on the ground that it most faithfully applies the terms to which the democratically elected branches agreed when they passed the underlying statute. Both cases instructed that Congress had “intended to protect from discrimination identifiable classes of persons who are subjected to intentional discrimination solely because of their ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” It was this holding that OCR extended in its 2004 policy, when it announced that it would pursue cases of ethnic or ancestral discrimination targeting groups such as Sikhs, Arabs, and Jews. The concept of “ethnic or ancestral discrimination” is somewhat vague, and it seems intuitively to vary somewhat from the idea of “race.” Judge Richard Posner explained the Court’s use of this concept with admirable lucidity: The awkward phrase, which appears in no statute, “ancestral discrimination” is an effort to convey in an inoffensive manner the dual character of anti-Semitism. There is religious anti-Semitism, typified by the attitude of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, and racial anti-Semitism, typified by Hitler. The one objects to Jews because of their religion, the other objects to Jews because they are descended from Jews, even if they are converts to other faiths. Nowadays the use of the term “race” is pretty much limited to the three major racial divisions – Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid – but historically the term was used much more broadly, to denote groups having common ancestry or even a common culture (or, as often, both). And in this sense Jews are members of a distinct race. The civil rights statutes enacted in the period of Reconstruction, in guaranteeing all persons the rights of white citizens, have been held to protect all groups that are “races” in the traditional loose sense, such as Jews and Arabs.
An unsupervised approach to glottal inverse filtering

The extraction of the glottal volume velocity waveform from voiced speech is a well-known example of a sparse signal recovery problem. Prior approaches have mostly used well-engineered speech processing or convex L 1 -optimization methods to solve the inverse filtering problem. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to modeling the human vocal tract using an unsupervised dictionary learning framework. We make the assumption of an all-pole model of the vocal tract, and derive an L 1 regularized least squares loss function for the all-pole approximation. To evaluate the quality of the extracted glottal volume velocity waveform, we conduct experiments on real-life speech datasets, which include vowels and multi-speaker phonetically balanced utterances. We find that the the unsupervised model learns meaningful dictionaries of vocal tracts, and the proposed data-driven unsupervised framework achieves a performance comparable to the IAIF (Iterative Adaptive Inverse Filtering) glottal flow extraction approach.
Obstacles and solutions for chemical synthesis of syndecan-3 (53-62) glycopeptides with two heparan sulfate chains.

Abstract Proteoglycans play critical roles in many biological events. Due to their structural complexities, strategies towards synthesis of this class of glycopeptides bearing well-defined glycan chains are urgently needed. In this work, we give the full account of the synthesis of syndecan-3 glycopeptide (53–62) containing two different heparan sulfate chains. For assembly of glycans, a convergent 3+2+3 approach was developed producing two different octasaccharide amino acid cassettes, which were utilized towards syndecan-3 glycopeptides. The glycopeptides presented many obstacles for post-glycosylation manipulation, peptide elongation, and deprotection. Following screening of multiple synthetic sequences, a successful strategy was finally established by constructing partially deprotected single glycan chain containing glycopeptides first, followed by coupling of the glycan-bearing fragments and cleavage of the acyl protecting groups.
Emergency Department Utilization related to dental conditions and distribution of Dentists, Nebraska 2011-2013.

Abstract Purpose This study aims to provide estimates of hospital-based emergency department (ED) visits due to dental conditions in Nebraska and to examine patient-related characteristics associated with ED charges. In addition, this study provides dental-related ED visits and distribution of dentists by county. Methods For the study, we used the State Emergency Department Database for Nebraska for the years 2011 through 2013 and the Health Resources and Services Administration's Area Health Resource File. All ED visits with dental conditions in Nebraska were selected. The primary outcome variable was hospital-based ED charges. Multivariable linear regression model was used to examine the effects of patient-related factors on ED charges. Results During the study period, a total of 9943 dental-related ED visits occurred. Of these, 55.5% patients aged between 25 and 44 years. Thirty-nine percent of all dental ED visits had patients who were self-financed or uninsured. Twenty counties in Nebraska do not have a dentist, and nine counties had more than 50 ED visits per 10,000 population. Patients residing in urban areas paid significantly higher charges than those living in rural towns, small rural towns, or isolated rural areas. The mean and total ED charges attributed to dental conditions for the entire study period were $934 and $9.3 million, respectively. Conclusion Patients who are uninsured, aged 25-44 years, covered by private insurance, and residing in urban areas are identified to be at high risk. There is a need to develop health policies and programs to improve access to dental care in rural states.
A Novel Mouse Skin Graft Model of Vascular Tumors Driven by Akt1

To investigate whether endothelial Akt1 activation is sufficient to induce vascular tumor formation in the skin, we have developed a skin graft model in which a skin fragment from transgenic donor mice with inducible and endothelial cell-specific overexpression of activated Akt1 (myrAkt1) is grafted into the skin of wild type recipient mice. The donor skin successfully engrafts after two weeks and, more importantly, vascular tumor develops at the site of transgenic skin graft when myrAkt1 expression is turned on. This skin graft model is a novel approach to investigate the biological impact of a key signal transduction molecule in a temporal, localized and organ-specific manner.
World Heritage in Iran: Perspectives on Pasargadae (Heritage, Culture and Identity)

This excellent volume represents an important, sophisticated, and most welcome contribution to approaching an archaeological site in Iran. Containing ten individual chapters, the publication is suc...
Hate in the Classroom

What I want to think about at this moment is the teacher in the classroom, and I want to think about the presence and effect of hate in the classroom. I want to suggest that hate exists there, but not hate as it might be thought of as an emotion that exists irrationally as active antagonism—sometimes violently enacted¾between racial or ethnic or religious groups; or between boys and girls; or even between Packer and Viking fans. That presence I will refer to as rage that stems from anger! Rather, I am going to talk about the important and necessary hate (that also, indeed, stems from anger) that is experienced between teachers and students even as that similar hate necessarily manifests itself between parents and children. In the classroom, teachers exist in relationship with students, and so I think now to explore the nature of that relationship, some of which is obvious and some of which—the part I mean to consider here¾ remains significant but often unacknowledged. Alan Block enters his 28th year in the Department of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout after teaching for eighteen years in the high schools of suburban New York. He has published eight books, numerous articles and book chapters on curriculum and teaching.
Altered states: The effects of media and technology on the creative process in advertising agencies

The media environment has changed dramatically due to the explosion of new channels and technological innovations, which has had important ramifications not only for advertising, but also for adver...
The Political Economy of Pension Policy Reversal in Post-Communist Countries

Why do governments backtrack on major policy reforms? Reversals of pension privatization provide insight into why governments abandon potentially path-departing policy changes. Academics and policymakers will find this work relevant in understanding market-oriented reform, authoritarian and post-communist politics, and the politics of aging populations. The clear presentation and multi-method approach make the findings broadly accessible in understanding social security reform, an issue of increasing importance around the world. Survival analysis using global data is complemented by detailed case studies of reversal in Russia, Hungary, and Poland including original survey data. The findings support an innovative argument countering the conventional wisdom that more extensive reforms are more likely to survive. Indeed, governments pursuing moderate reform - neither the least nor most extensive reformers - were the most likely to retract. This lends insight into the stickiness of many social and economic reforms, calling for more attention to which reforms are reversible and which, as a result, may ultimately be detrimental.
Diagnosis and management of pulmonary infection due to Rhodococcus equi

Abstract Background Rhodococcus equi is a recognized cause of disease in humans, especially in individuals who are immunocompromised. Because diphtheroids are regarded as part of normal respiratory flora, the importance of R. equi as a pulmonary pathogen may not be fully appreciated and its prevalence may be underestimated. Most treatment recommendations for R. equi infection were established before antiretroviral drugs became available for human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS therapy, and therapeutic strategies may need to be updated. Objectives To review the role of R. equi as a cause of pulmonary infection; to highlight its importance for clinicians and microbiologists; and to challenge current approaches to treatment, whether in immunodeficient or immunocompetent individuals. Sources A PubMed search using combinations of the following terms: ‘Rhodococcus (automatically including Corynebacterium) equi’ AND ‘pneumonia’ OR ‘pulmonary’ infection, then cross-checking references in the resulting cases, case series and reviews. Content We provide a review that details the challenges in the diagnosis, microbiology and pathogenesis of pulmonary infection caused by R. equi and the options for treatment. Implications Ten to 14 days of treatment may be effective for pneumonia due to R. equi. Our review suggests that longer courses of therapy are needed for cavitary lesions and lung masses. However, recommendations for excessively prolonged treatment of all pulmonary infections arose during a time when many cases occurred in individuals with AIDS and before effective antiretroviral therapy was available. We suggest that the rationale for prolonged therapy with multiple antibiotics needs to be re-evaluated.
Coping with Chronic Pain: A Stress-Appraisal Coping Model

Estimations of the number of individuals, who are suffering with chronic pain, vary widely from a low of 20% to over 60% (American Pain Foundation [APF], 2006). Chronic pain is the primary contributor to long-term disability for almost 50 million people (Brookoff, 2000). It contributes to over 50 million lost work-days in the United States alone (APF). Thus, it is not surprising that chronic pain has been heralded as the most expensive and burdensome health condition in North America (Harstall & Ospina, 2003), producing high incidences of physical and emotional disability and suffering. Living with intractable chronic pain and the related disability taxes coping resources of even the most stoic individuals. While individuals with chronic pain are desperate for relief, health-care providers are also challenged to “do something,” even though in many instances there is little that can be done biomedically to bring substantial pain-relief. Indeed, usual medical care often fails to meet the needs of many chronically ill individuals, although they require the greatest bulk of care. This may be due in part to the structure of the present U.S. health-care system, which was designed largely to address acute illnesses, rather than to serve as a chronic care system (Wagner et al., 2001). Individuals with chronic pain face the very real problem of long-term management of their condition, and day-to-day care responsibilities fall most heavily on the individuals themselves and their families (Von Korff, Gruman, Schaefer, Curry, & Wagner, 1997). Because many different physical conditions result in chronic pain, this is a difficult, but important chapter to write. Even though there are numerous conditions that contribute to chronic pain syndromes (e.g., arthritis, fibromyalgia, low back pain), the overall treatment model is, for the most part, more similar than different. Because chronic pain is not disease-specific, traditionally it has not been viewed as a disability. However, based upon the prevalence statistics shown above, it is evident that chronic pain disorders are a major contributor to a downward spiral of disability and dysfunction that is experienced by so many individuals with chronic, unrelenting pain.
The global warming visualizer: a scientific visualization environment for education

The new technologies of scientific visualization have had a dramatic impact on the way science is conducted in a wide variety of disciplines. The SciVEE (Scientific Visualization Environments for Education) Project at Northwestern University is engaged in developing scientific visualization environments designed to bring the advantages that scientific visualization provides for scientists to science students. Through its use of color, shape, and motion to represent quantities and processes in nature, scientific visualization enables individuals to capitalize their natural visual processing capabilities to identify patterns in complex data. In addition, it provides a representational medium to facilitate scientific dialogue. Using scientific visualization as a technology to support science learning by students, as opposed to scientists, presents significant challenges. These challenges include the adaptation of complex software for learners and the development of learning activities that take advantage of scientific visualizations unique features. The Global Warming Visualizer and its accompanying Global Warming Learning Activities are being developed to respond to these challenges. The Global Warming Visualizer is a software environment that provides students with access to a portion of the data sets that the scientific community is using to investigate global climatic issues, including global warming. The Global Warming Learning Activities introduce students to the scientific and policy issues associated with the controversies over the possibility of significant, near-term global warming.
Novel Approach to Characterize the Flow Properties of Fine Dry Food Powders

A measurement method was developed by using the powder aeration technique to measure the flow properties of fine powders in terms of fracture strength of “dry powder structure”.
Pediatric surgery in the Renaissance period

The emergence of surgery during the Renaissance marked the birth of surgery as a discipline based on clinical observation and improvement of technical skill. Some of the most experienced surgeons dealing with pediatric problems were Pare, Phaer, Wurtz and, especially, Hildanus, who described more than 150 cases in children. Some minor malformations were curable, and some major anomalies were described for the first time. Renaissance surgeons had no explanations for the etiology of diseases and malformations. In many instances, the “imaginatio” was considered to be responsible.
Our Biological Mind in the Modern Verbal World

A rich body of research shows that our minds have been molded by how our remote ancestors responded to challenges posed by the physical and biological environment and the consequences of their responses. Prominent among these mental legacies of past environments are an ability to comprehend and deal effectively with short-term changes in local conditions but great difficulty comprehending interactions among events at great distances and over long time spans. Our brains are designed to resolve complex events and sensory inputs into polar categories. This facilitates taking action, which usually requires quick, binary (either/or) decisions. Because the consequences of errors associated with responding to a potential hazard are asymmetrical—a false negative is more costly than a false positive—our minds have a strong negativity bias. We have especially powerful negative responses to snakes, the first important vertebrate predators of early primates. We respond strongly to shapes similar to the weapons of dangerous animals, pointed forms, spotted and tessellated patterns. Unfortunately, the autonomic nervous system circuits often respond more strongly to stimuli that were relevant in the past—snakes, and dangerous herbivorous and carnivorous mammals—than to stimuli that are much more important today—weapons, electrical wires, speeding cars. We respond to sounds with a variety of emotions, such as fear, curiosity, and pleasure, that continue to help us as we make decisions in today’s crowded cities. Among the legacies of the distant past is our love of classifying objects, a vital component of the psychological processes by which we seek order in the environment, a goal that is assisted by language and development of appropriate linguistic categories. The emergence during the past 10,000 years of modern society from our hunter/gatherer ancestors was driven by five key innovations—sophisticated weapons, cooking, tapping new sources of energy, increasingly complex social cooperation, and, finally, the evolution of language.
Determination of the Polarization Transfer Coefficient Kyy (0°) For the Break-up Reactions \( ^4He{\left( {\vec d,\vec n} \right)^4}He,p \) and \( D\left( {\vec d,\vec n} \right)D,p \)

The polarization of the continuous neutron distribution produced at θ = 0° by the break-up of vector-polarized deuterons on D and 4He has been measured at 8.7, 11.4, and 14.4 MeV.
Artificial sweeteners in food and beverage products at school.

Objective Experts recommend that products containing artificial sweeteners are not marketed to children or sold at schools. The present study aimed to provide a baseline assessment of the extent to which state laws and local school district wellness policies (LWP) address restrictions on the use of artificial sweeteners in competitive foods and beverages (CFaB) sold at schools. Design A descriptive, cross-sectional study of policies in place for the 2014-15 school year. Setting Data were collected on laws in all fifty states and Washington, DC. LWP were compiled for 496/518 school food authorities (SFA) for which data were collected as part of the US Department of Agriculture's School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study. Subjects State laws and LWP respectively were coded on a 0-3 ordinal scale for the strength of their restrictions on artificial sweeteners in CFaB sold in each of five CFaB venues, separately by grade level. Prevalence of state laws and LWP for SFA nationwide was computed. Results Thirteen states addressed the use of artificial sweeteners. Six states addressed the use of artificial sweeteners in both CFaB. District-level artificial sweetener policies were most frequently addressed for beverages in elementary schools' vending machines. District policies also were more likely to address artificial sweeteners in states with laws addressing artificial sweeteners. Conclusions Most state laws and LWP do not address artificial sweeteners in CFaB. This is not surprising given the Food and Drug Administration has approved eight artificial sweeteners for consumption and the Smart Snacks regulation does not limit artificial sweeteners for CFaB.
UNIT 9.15 Clinical Validity and Clinical Utility of Genetic Tests

In considering the appropriate use of new genetic tests, clinicians and health care policymakers must consider the accuracy with which a test identifies a patient's clinical status (clinical validity) and the risks and benefits resulting from test use (clinical utility). Genetic tests in current use vary in accuracy and potential to improve health outcomes, and these test properties may be influenced by the clinical setting in which the test is used. In addition, the relative importance of clinical validity and utility varies according to the proposed use of the test. This unit defines clinical validity and clinical utility, provides examples, and considers the implications of these test properties for clinical practice. Keywords: Clinical validity; clinical utility; predictive value; penetrance
Blalock-Taussig shunt versus patent ductus arteriosus stent as first palliation for ductal-dependent pulmonary circulation lesions: A review of the literature.

Background Infants with ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow (PBF) often undergo a palliative procedure to provide a stable source of PBF prior to definitive palliation or repair. In the current era, a surgical shunt or ductal stent is used to provide PBF. We aimed to review the current literature comparing ductal stents to surgical shunts. Methods and results Four small, single-center studies and two larger multicenter studies were identified comparing ductal stent to surgical shunt. Combined, these studies showed ductal stent resulted in similar or improved pulmonary artery growth, fewer complications, shorter length of stay, less diuretic use, and improved survival compared to surgical shunt. Despite inherent minor variability among the studies, ductal stent appears to be associated with more frequent reinterventions. Conclusions Surgical shunts remain essential to the care of these patients, but ductal stent is a reasonable alternative, and may provide some advantages in select patients with ductal-dependent PBF.
Improvements in temporal and postural aspects of gait vary following single- and multi-modal training in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

Abstract Introduction Gait deteriorates under dual task conditions in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Therapeutic interventions have the potential to improve dual task performance, although it remains unclear how training affects gait performance under varying cognitive domains. The primary aim of this trial was to determine the effect of an 8-week single- or multi-modal gait and cognitive training intervention on dual task performance across cognitive domains in individuals with PD. Methods Twenty individuals with PD completed a 24-session single-modal training (SMT, n = 10) or multi-modal training (MMT, n = 10). The SMT group performed gait and cognitive training sequentially; the MMT group performed gait and cognitive training simultaneously. Gait was analyzed using motion capture analysis during simultaneous performance of six untrained cognitive tasks. Results Both SMT and MMT resulted in significant improvements in MDS-UPDRS III scores and gait performance. Improvements in arm swing were more prevalent in the less affected extremity, while improvements in the more affected upper extremity favored the MMT group. Temporal aspects of gait (velocity, step length) improved under all dual task conditions, while postural aspects of gait (step width, arm swing) varied by cognitive task. Conclusions Both SMT and MMT were effective in improving motor and dual task performance in PD. Improvements in upper extremity gait variables in the MMT group may indicate that the complexity of the training is be beneficial in PD. The different responses in temporal and postural aspects of gait highlights the need for clinicians to train multiple cognitive domains during behavioral therapy.
Focused blind deconvolution

We introduce a novel multichannel blind deconvolution (BD) method that extracts sparse and front-loaded impulse responses from the channel outputs, i.e., their convolutions with a single arbitrary source. Unlike most prior work on BD, a crucial feature of this formulation is that it does not encode support restrictions on the unknowns, except for fixing their duration lengths. The indeterminacy inherent to BD, which is difficult to resolve with a traditional l1 penalty on the impulse responses, is resolved in our method because it seeks a first approximation where the impulse responses are: “maximally white” over frequency-encoded as the energy focusing near zero lag of the impulse-response temporal autocorrelations; and “maximally front-loaded”-encoded as the energy focusing near zero time of the impulse responses. Hence, we call the method focused BD (FBD). It partitions BD into two separate optimization problems and uses the focusing constraints in succession. The respective constraints in both these problems are removed as the iterations progress. A multichannel BD problem whose physics calls for sparse and front-loaded impulse responses arises in seismic inversion, where the impulse responses are the Green's function evaluations at different receiver locations, and the operation of a drill bit inputs the noisy and correlated source signature into the subsurface. We demonstrate the benefits of FBD using seismic-while-drilling numerical experiments, where the noisy data recorded at the receivers are hard to interpret, but FBD can provide the processing essential to separate the drill-bit (source) signature from the interpretable Green's function.
A Pool Strategy of Microgrid in Power Distribution Electricity Market

This paper discusses a market-based pool strategy for a microgrid (MG) to optimally trade electric power in the distribution electricity market (DEM). The increasing penetration levels of distributed energy resources and MGs in distribution system (DS) stress distribution system operator and require higher levels of coordinated control strategies. The distribution system operator has limited visibility and control over such distributed resources. To reduce the complexity of the system and improve the efficiency of the electricity market operation, we propose a decentralized pool strategy for an MG to integrate with a distribution system through a market mechanism. A market-based interactions procedure between MGs and DS is developed for MGs as price makers to find an optimal bidding/offering strategy efficiently. To achieve a market equilibrium among all entities, we initially cast this problem as a bi-level programming problem, in which the upper level is an MG optimal scheduling problem and the lower level presents a DEM clearing mechanism. The proposed bi-level model is converted to a single mix-integer model, which is easier to solve. Uncertainties associated with MG's rivals’ offers and demands’ bids are considered in this problem. The solution results from a modified IEEE 33-Bus distribution system are presented and discussed. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and examined.
FUN3D and USM3D Analysis of the Propulsion Aerodynamic Workshop 2018 S-Duct Test Case

This work presents the results of Fun3D and USM3D analyses that were performed for the 4th AIAA Propulsion Aerodynamics Workshop (PAW). The PAW workshop is separated into three sections that focus on internal duct flows, nozzle flows and a special topic. This paper focuses on the internal duct flow section of PAW04 while an accompanying paper discusses the analyses performed for the nozzle portion. For the internal duct flow section, the PAW04 participants were provided with the two configurations consisting of an S-duct with and without aerodynamic interface plane (AIP) rake legs modeled. The participants were asked to perform a grid refinement study as well as a turbulence model study for the configuration with the rake legs. The analyses discussed here were performed on custom grids developed under the guidelines of the workshop. Additionally, the paper discusses the development and use of flow controllers for matching the desired flow characteristics. The results show that both solvers do well for predicting internal flow characteristics of the S-duct based on direct comparison with the experimental data. However, the CFD-to-CFD comparison proved to be more challenging due to the localized occurrence of supersonic flow near the rake legs when using the mass flow controller. A turbulence model study was performed to compare the two-equation SST model to the SA-QCR model. The results show that although the turbulence model does affect the solution, it makes a minimal impact on pressure recovery and inlet distortion intensity for this case. Suggestions for future workshops include gridding guidelines similar to those employed for the Drag Prediction Workshop series for the grid refinement study and a time accuracy study.
Overview of efforts within ASA to promote effective communication of science to the public

As the fruits of science and technology have permeated nearly every facet of modern life, and public policy decisions increasingly rely on knowledge created by the scientific process, there is growing concern that a deficiency of scientific literacy contributes to poor decisions in both private and public spheres. The ASA, consistent with its mission "to generate, disseminate, and promote the knowledge and practical applications of acoustics," is working to address this deficiency by facilitating communication between its members and journalists. The Public Relations Committee, together with Education in Acoustics and Student Council, have organized four special sessions since 2011 on the subject of effective communication of science to non-scientists. At the spring 2018 meeting in Minneapolis, Student Council organized a science communication workshop aimed at students and early career members. At the current meeting in San Diego, the Monday Tutorial Session is an active participation workshop, led by media professionals, designed to boost the skills and comfort level of ASA members in effectively communicating technical concepts, as well as the underlying scientific process, to members of the media. A summary of these efforts, and their significance for the Society, will be presented.As the fruits of science and technology have permeated nearly every facet of modern life, and public policy decisions increasingly rely on knowledge created by the scientific process, there is growing concern that a deficiency of scientific literacy contributes to poor decisions in both private and public spheres. The ASA, consistent with its mission "to generate, disseminate, and promote the knowledge and practical applications of acoustics," is working to address this deficiency by facilitating communication between its members and journalists. The Public Relations Committee, together with Education in Acoustics and Student Council, have organized four special sessions since 2011 on the subject of effective communication of science to non-scientists. At the spring 2018 meeting in Minneapolis, Student Council organized a science communication workshop aimed at students and early career members. At the current meeting in San Diego, the Monday Tutorial Session is an active participation workshop, led by me...
Looking forward: the promise and challenge of exascale computing

The demand for HFM development and HPC resources for improved predictive modelling capability for wind energy will continue to grow as industry and government seek solutions to (1) mitigate risk and uncertainty of technology development at multimegawatt-turbine scales, (2) address new requirements driving renewable energy deployment and high -penetration scenarios, (3) understand the impacts of multiple gigawatt-scale plant deployments on microclimatology and grid architectures for both land-based and offshore installation, and (4) evolve the systems and processes needed for the dispatch of renewable energy generation on a national scale supporting a mix of power-generation technologies. When considering the cost of developing a new offshore multimegawatt commercial wind turbine product line or the financial risk of a large offshore wind plant deployment, predictive HPC and HFM simulations that incorporate integrated design, cost analysis, and O&M predictions will become an essential part of the early design and development process.
Greece in Early English Travel Writing, 1596–1682

The first English and Scottish travelers, who sailed through the Greek islands on their way to Constantinople and the Near East or even ventured to the mainland, included merchants, sailors, advent...
The 2020 Pandemic: Economic repercussions and policy responses

Abstract This paper analyses the economic and financial repercussions of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic It argues that the pandemic has inflicted serious injuries to the labor force but has not damaged the physical capital stock Therefore, the resolution policies of this crisis ought to be carefully tailored to supporting structural adjustments to the labor market The analysis asserts that the impact of the pandemic crisis is exacerbated by the identification gap between the unobserved and the officially reported cases of COVID-19 The gap increases financial risks, including market-, credit-, default-, and foreign exchange risks
Patterns and Growth of a Dedicated Pediatric Coagulation Consult Service in a Freestanding Children's Hospital

Introduction: At our freestanding pediatric hospital, a dedicated inpatient coagulation consult service has existed for 15 years. To our knowledge, this type of service is relatively unique in a pediatric hospital and provides an opportunity to objectively evaluate changes in coagulation consults in this patient population. Over the past decade, the increasing rate of thrombosis in hospitalized pediatric patients has been noted and more attention has been placed on preventing the occurrence of hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism. With concern over this increased incidence, more inpatients have been receiving prophylactic anticoagulation. Methods: This is a secondary use of existing clinical care data study, involving review of the patients receiving a consult from the inpatient coagulation consult service. Average daily census was documented via a clinical tracking system. Data collection ranged from May 2011 to May 2020. Since 2013, number of distinct new consults (not repeat patients), and indication for consult have also been documented. These data were analyzed for trends in average census number and indication for consult. Additionally, the service requesting the consult is also reported. Results: From May 2011 to May 2020, the average daily census for the coagulation consult service has increased from 4.5 to 34.4 patients. (Figure 1) The rate of consult request for prophylactic anticoagulation increased from 8 in 2013 to 82 in 2020, while thrombosis and bleeding referrals remained relatively stable. (Figure 2) Since 2013, the service with the most requests for prophylactic anticoagulation over the entire period was orthopedic surgery with 70, followed by the cardiovascular intensive care (31) and medical intensive care (28) units (ICU). There was an increase in the number of prophylactic anticoagulation consults from the ICUs over the course of the study. (Figure 3) In early 2020 a VTE risk stratification was instituted in the CVICU. Conclusions: In this single institution, retrospective study, we noted an increase in number of consults for the coagulation service overall, and a larger increase in requests for consults for prophylactic anticoagulation. Further studies should be done to determine whether this increase in use of prophylactic anticoagulation exists at other pediatric hospitals and the impact on subsequent VTE development. Download : Download high-res image (342KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures Carpenter: CSL Behring: Research Funding; American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genentech, Inc.: Honoraria; Kedrion: Honoraria; Novo Nordisk: Honoraria; Shire: Research Funding; Hemostasis & Thrombosis Research Society: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees; American Academy of Pediatrics: Other: PREP Heme/Onc editorial board.