cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PROBABILISTIC NEURAL NETWORKS: IN OR OUT OF EQUILIBRIUM?

The long-term behavior of neural networks following exposure to external stimuli is central to attempts at modeling brain activity and to the design of physical systems imitating biological mechanisms of memory storage and recall. A set of stimuli all eliciting the same final operating condition of the network defines an equivalence class of experiences which are said to be associated with the same stored memory. A given network may exhibit one, several, or many such attractors, while a given attractor may correspond to a fixed point, a terminal cycle, multiperiodic motion, or chaos. If the dynamical law by which the system updates its state is probabilistic rather than deterministic, one considers an ensemble rather than a particular system. The initial preparation of the system attendant to the imposition of a temporary stimulus is reflected in the specification of an initial probability distribution {p i , (0){ over microscopic system states i. One is then concerned with the behavior of the state occupation probabilities p i (t) at asymptotically large times t.
Mechanisms of acute lung injury. What have we learned from experimental animal models

Studies have shown that there are at least two broad categories of acute lung injuries: those that require polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and those that do not. Knowledge from animal experiments is very incomplete, and the relevance of animal models to human disease is unknown. Specific therapy appears to be a distant goal, because there is no single underlying mechanism of lung injury, and because there is no way to precisely identify what injured the lung or to make a clinical diagnosis early enough in lung injury. Many possibilities for therapy are based on interfering with inflammation, and may therefore increase susceptibility to infection. Considerable progress is being made, but there is much left to learn.
To buy, or not to buy: factors associated with the purchase of nongroup, private health insurance.

BACKGROUND: Employment-based health insurance coverage is declining in the United States. Many recent efforts to increase coverage have promoted the individual purchase of insurance, with or without subsidies. OBJECTIVES: To study the associations of factors including minority group membership, education, income, wealth, and health status with the voluntary purchase of nongroup, private health insurance. DESIGN: Analysis of the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES). SUBJECTS: Adult respondents to the NMES who were younger than 65 years of age in 2,574 health-insurance eligibility units (HIEUs) and who either were uninsured or who purchased nongroup, private health insurance for all of 1987. MEASURES: Adjusted odds ratios and marginal effects for the associations of minority group membership, educational attainment, income, and wealth with the purchase of nongroup insurance. RESULTS: Lower-income and less-wealthy HIEUs were much less likely to purchase insurance than higher-income and wealthier HIEUs, with income and wealth measures having relatively independent effects. With simultaneous adjustment for income, wealth, and other factors, members of minority groups had less than half the odds of non-Hispanic whites and persons with less than a high school education had less than half the odds of college graduates of purchasing nongroup insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Minorities and the less educated are much less likely to buy their own health insurance, even after adjustment for income and wealth. Programs encouraging the voluntary purchase of health insurance are likely to widen coverage gaps between historically disadvantaged groups and others.
Scanning Tunneing Microscope Study of Cadmiun Telluride

Layered samples of cadmium telluride grown epitaxially on gallium arsenide substrates have been investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The surface geometric and electronic structures are both of interest. Techniques were developed to remove the native oxide by etching, or to create a fresh surface by cleaving, and to protect them from oxidation by employing mineral or paraffin oil media. STM studies were conducted within the protective medium. These techniques were adapted and tested for both etched and cleaved samples of Si, CdTe and HgTe. The current-voltage characteristics of the CdTe surface were investigated during dynamic changes of the tunnel current and barrier height while the probe-to-sample separation (gap) was static. Recorded values are shown for current versus bias for several constant gap values. A range of bias values has been employed to test a possible solution for the problem of interference between the contributions from geometric and electronic structure factors.
G115(P) Use of mTOR inhibitors in children with tuberous sclerosis complex for renal angiomyolipomatosis – does it have secondary benefits on seizures and adenoma sebaceum?

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of mTOR inhibitors [Sirolimus and Everolimus] in the treatment of renal angiomyolipomatosis [AML] in a cohort of children with tuberous sclerosis complex [TSC] and its effect on epilepsy and adenoma sebaceum. Methods All children with TSC presenting to a tertiary paediatric hospital, who met criteria for treatment of renal AML with mTOR inhibitors were identified. Demographic information, clinical features at presentation and follow up, seizure burden, anti-epileptic drug [AED] use, co-morbidities, and response to medication were reviewed. Results 6 children with TSC on treatment for renal AML were identified. [6 females-Age range 11–17 at last clinical review]. All children had seizures as their first presenting symptom-3 with infantile spasms and 3 with focal seizures. 5 children had severe developmental delay, learning difficulties and challenging behaviour, 2 of whom had autism. All children commenced on mTOR inhibitors between the ages of 7–16 years. 5 children showed typical multiple subcortical tubers on MRI scan. None of them had subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). All children had stable renal disease during the period of observation. 2 children with adenoma sebaceum reported improvement in appearance. No side effects were noted due to medication. 4 children were seizure free at the start of mTOR inhibitors and maintained seizure freedom until last clinical review despite early onset intractable epilepsy requiring multiple AEDs. AEDs were completely withdrawn in two of these children uneventfully. One child with medically refractory multifocal epilepsy showed a dramatic improvement since commencing mTOR inhibitors and has started to wean AEDs. Follow up information was incomplete in one child. All children were reported to be brighter and have improved alertness. Conclusion mTOR inhibitors stopped progression of renal AML and induced stable renal disease and in some AML regressed somewhat during therapy. 2 children with adenoma sebaceum reported improvement in appearance indicating its regression. There was also an observed benefit on epilepsy with one child showing dramatic improvement in epilepsy and others showing continued seizure freedom enabling withdrawal of anticonvulsants which is unusual in children who previously had intractable epilepsy. This may indicate that mTOR inhibitors may be effective agents in controlling epilepsy.
Pesticide exposure and liver cancer: a review.

To review the epidemiologic literature examining pesticide exposure and liver cancer incidence. A search of the MEDLINE and Embase databases was conducted in October 2015. Eligibility criteria included examining hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or primary liver cancer, pesticides as an exposure of interest, and individual-level incidence. The review was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Forty-eight papers were assessed for eligibility and 15 studies were included in the review. The majority of studies were conducted in China and Egypt (n = 8), used a case–control design (n = 14), and examined HCC (n = 14). Most studies showed no association between self-reported and/or occupational exposure to pesticides and liver cancer risk. Six studies demonstrated statistically significant positive associations, including three biomarker-based studies (two using pre-diagnostic sera) that reported higher serum levels of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) were associated with increased HCC risk. Studies indirectly measuring pesticide exposure using self-reported exposure, occupation, job-exposure matrices, or geographic residence demonstrated inconsistent results. These studies were limited by exposure assessment methods, lack of confounder information, minimal case confirmation, selection bias, and/or over-adjustment. There is mixed evidence suggesting a possible association between specific pesticides and HCC risk, with the strongest evidence observed in biomarker-based studies. In particular, organochlorine pesticides, including DDT, may increase HCC risk. Future research should focus on improved pesticide exposure assessment methods, potentially incorporating multiple approaches including biomonitoring while considering the chemicals of interest, historical exposure to address latency periods, and examining specific chemicals and exposure pathways.
Use of Schistosomes for Pharmacological Research

Human schistosomiasis is an illness that infects and debilitates in excess of 200 million people in more than 70 countries in the tropical areas of the world. It is small wonder that massive amounts of money and time are consumed in seeking means to treat, control, and prevent this widespread scourge upon mankind. Economic conditions in the areas of the world where this condition is most prevalent are such that there is a constant search for less costly, more effective means of treatment. One aspect of that research is the seeking out of new target systems within the schistosomes which may be vulnerable to chemotherapy and, hence, provide another means of attack upon this agent. To date, chemotherapeutic attack has focused on three primary targets in the causative organism: portions of the glycolytic pathway, egg formation, and the nervous system (see Senft, 1969, and Cheng, 1977 for reviews). However, the exact mechanisms by which most drugs affect the particular target systems are not well understood, and are, for the most part, empirical in that effects have been widely observed but only sketchily explained.
Satisficing and learning cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma

The prisoner's dilemma is a useful model for studying the balance between self-interest and group-interest in multi-agent systems. Although many stratergies have been developed that perform well, most of these stratergies make strong assumptions about the information available to the agent. It is in this context that we describe a satisficing learning stratergy for the prisoner's dilemma and present evidance that stable outcomes other than the Nash equilibrium are possible. In addition, we offer emperical evidence that under typical circumstances, mutual cooperation is the most likely outcome and identify conditions under which two satisficing agents will learn to cooperate.
A nanoporous, ultrahydrophobic aluminum-coating process with exceptional dropwise condensation and shedding properties

Author(s): Brockway, Lance; Taylor, Hayden | Abstract: Many studies have shown that dropwise condensation can enhance air-side heat transfer coefficients by at least an order of magnitude relative to filmwise condensation. However, among the hundreds of superhydrophobic surface-modification processes previously reported, there remains a lack of coating methods that enable stable dropwise condensation and can be applied to aluminum—by far the most common material for the air side of heat exchangers, e.g. in air conditioning. Here we present a bottom-up synthesis technique to grow zinc oxide-based films on to aluminum with tunable nanoporosity and strongly re-entrant surface features. These surfaces exhibit exceptional static water contact angles of up to 178° with a hysteresis less than 3° and a slide angle of 1°. We have further characterized the surfaces in the presence of six different liquids, and show that our optimal surface can repel even dipropylene glycol with a contact angle of 124°, even though its surface tension is less than half that of water. Crucially, we have also tested our films under water-condensing conditions in flowing air, characterizing the droplet-shedding behavior, and we have understood how to tune the growth process to deliver stable droplet-shedding instead of flooding. The process uses inexpensive reagents, can operate below 100 °C via immersion in an aqueous bath, and takes 1–3 h to complete, making it readily scalable to areas of many square meters and complex geometries.
NanoString-based breast cancer risk prediction for women with sclerosing adenosis

Sclerosing adenosis (SA), found in ¼ of benign breast disease (BBD) biopsies, is a histological feature characterized by lobulocentric proliferation of acini and stromal fibrosis and confers a two-fold increase in breast cancer risk compared to women in the general population. We evaluated a NanoString-based gene expression assay to model breast cancer risk using RNA derived from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) biopsies with SA. The study group consisted of 151 women diagnosed with SA between 1967 and 2001 within the Mayo BBD cohort, of which 37 subsequently developed cancer within 10 years (cases) and 114 did not (controls). RNA was isolated from benign breast biopsies, and NanoString-based methods were used to assess expression levels of 61 genes, including 35 identified by previous array-based profiling experiments and 26 from biological insight. Diagonal linear discriminant analysis of these data was used to predict cancer within 10 years. Predictive performance was assessed with receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) values estimated from 5-fold cross-validation. Gene expression prediction models achieved cross-validated ROC-AUC estimates ranging from 0.66 to 0.70. Performing univariate associations within each of the five folds consistently identified genes DLK2, EXOC6, KIT, RGS12, and SORBS2 as significant; a model with only these five genes showed cross-validated ROC-AUC of 0.75, which compared favorably to risk prediction using established clinical models (Gail/BCRAT: 0.57; BBD-BC: 0.67). Our results demonstrate that biomarkers of breast cancer risk can be detected in benign breast tissue years prior to cancer development in women with SA. These markers can be assessed using assay methods optimized for RNA derived from FFPE biopsy tissues which are commonly available.
Die Idee der Phänomenologie

Betrachtet man die Geschichte des Begriffs ›Phanomenologie‹, ist nicht auf den ersten Blick klar, was darunter zu verstehen ist. Wie Schuhmann (1984) herausgearbeitet hat, tritt dieser Begriff in der Philosophiegeschichte auf, noch lange bevor Edmund Husserl sich ihn zu eigen machte, um sein eigenes philosophisches Projekt zu beschreiben. Auch hinderte Husserls Versuch, diesen Begriff fur die Beschreibung seines eigenen einmaligen Projekts zu beanspruchen, seine Zeitgenossen (z. B. Pfander, Reinach, Stein) keineswegs daran, denselben Begriff ebenfalls zur Beschreibung ihrer jeweiligen Projekte und Methoden zu verwenden.
OpenCSF: An Online Interactive Textbook for Computer Systems Fundamentals (Abstract Only)

The goal of the OpenCSF project is to develop an on- line, interactive textbook focused on the Computer Systems Fundamentals (CSF) Core Tier 1 teaching objectives of the ACM 2013 Computing Curriculum. This area includes material that would traditionally be taught in courses such as Computer Organization, Operating Systems, Computer Networks, and Parallel & Distributed Systems. The CSF Knowledge Area highlights the most vital concepts and themes for these courses, emphasizing that this material should be core for all CS graduates. OpenCSF is built on the OpenDSA framework. This framework includes built-in capabilities for interactive activities designed to assess student reading comprehension. Furthermore, as a web-based resource, the intention of OpenCSF is to use HTML5 features to support interactive illustrations and exercises embedded along with the readings. Additionally, the OpenDSA framework supports integrating these activities with the Canvas Learning Management System to track student reading completion; this feature is not currently enabled in OpenCSF. At the time of this writing, drafts of five chapters have been written: Processes and OS Basics; Concurrency with IPC; Multithreading; Synchronization Primitives; Synchronization Problems. The goals for this lightning talk are to demonstrate these initial chapters, to discuss plans for future interactive components, and to gather feedback from those present. OpenCSF is publicly available at https://opencsf.org/.
Emotion Regulation Deficits and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Prospectively Predict Suicide Ideation in Adolescents

Background The relationship between emotion regulation deficits and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is well established. Many studies have documented the strong relationship between NSSI and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The relationship between emotion regulation deficits and suicide is less understood, but recent studies indicate a moderate association. This study aimed to examine the relationship between emotion regulation deficits, NSSI behavior, and suicide ideation in an unselected community sample of adolescents. It was expected that NSSI history would moderate the relationship between emotion regulation and future suicide ideation. Methods Data were collected from 367 unselected, community adolescents (mean age = 13). Self-report questionnaires assessed NSSI behavior, emotion regulation deficits, and suicide ideation at two time points, 6 months apart. Results After controlling for suicide ideation at baseline, emotion regulation deficits (experiential avoidance and interoceptive deficits) significantly predicted suicide ideation severity at follow-up, and interactions with NSSI engagement showed support for moderation. Conclusions Results of this study provide insight into the mechanisms of these relationships and have significant clinical implications for the identification of adolescents at risk for suicide behaviors.
The Knowledge Garden and Content Management at J.D. Edwards

From 1995 to 2003, J.D. Edwards instituted three innovative approaches to managing knowledge and content. The evolution of each started with a grassroots team effort and grew to become an institutionalized enterprise application. With limited resources, J.D. Edwards built a global website community, a sophisticated intranet/extranet called the Knowledge Garden®, and a content management application (called Content Manager) that enabled the company to reuse multilingual technical documents drawn from a “single source” location.
Volume II: Physico-Chemical Processes and Non-Equilibrium Flows — An Introductory Survey

This volume contains 72 papers on physico-chemical processes and non-equilibrium flows presented at the 19th ISSW, Marseille, July 26–30, 1993. These papers are divided herein into groups concerned with chemical kinetics (22), combustion kinetics (12), non-equilibrium flows (24), and plasmas/astrophysics (14). This introduction attempts to place all this work in the context of current knowledge and practice in the application of shock waves to the observation of chemical and physical processes. As such, it begins with a brief consideration of this context, the history and current status of the field, and then considers the present papers in light of this context.
Sepsis, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and Glucocorticoid Resistance

Morbidity and mortality in sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome result from dysregulated systemic inflammation with persistent elevation of circulating inflammatory cytokines over time. A decreased target-tissue effect of endogenous cortisol on glucocorticoid receptor-mediated activity is a key pathogenetic mechanism for the impaired downregulation of systemic inflammation, an acquired condition potentially reversible with quantitatively adequate and prolonged glucocorticoid supplementation.
Troponin C — Troponin I Interactions and Molecular Signalling in Cardiac Myofilaments

This chapter describes a current perception of the molecular interactions regulating myofilament activity in heart cells. The focus is on the interaction between troponin-C (TnC), the Ca2+-receptor and troponin I (TnI), an inhibitory protein. It is this interaction that appears to form a molecular switch that turns on the thin filament. It will be seen that control of the actin-myosin reaction is not only through Ca2+-binding to TnC, but also through steric, cooperative and allosteric processes involving all of the main myofilament proteins-actin, myosin, tropomyosin (Tm), troponin T (TnT), TnC, and TnI. The process is modulated by covalent and non-covalent mechanisms. The process is altered in diverse myopathies and pathologies of the heart and is a target for pharmacological manipulation by a new class of inotropic agents, the “Ca2+-sensitizers”.
Opportunity related absorptive capacity and entrepreneurial alertness

Extending the conceptualization of absorptive capacity, we propose the concept of opportunity related absorptive capacity, defined as an entrepreneur’s absorptive capacity during the opportunity development phase. Alertness, as an entrepreneurial schema bridging internal knowledge-building activities with external opportunity-related knowledge, could be positively associated with opportunity related absorptive capacity. In this exploratory study based on a sample of 93 Swedish entrepreneurs who had at least one patent associated with their venture, alertness is positively associated with opportunity related absorptive capacity.
Female sex reduces the risk of hospital-associated acute kidney injury: a meta-analysis

Female sex has been included as a risk factor in models developed to predict the development of AKI. In addition, the commentary to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes Clinical Practice Guideline for AKI concludes that female sex is a risk factor for hospital-acquired AKI. In contrast, a protective effect of female sex has been demonstrated in animal models of ischemic AKI. To further explore this issue, we performed a meta-analysis of AKI studies published between January, 1978 and April, 2018 and identified 83 studies reporting sex-stratified data on the incidence of hospital-associated AKI among nearly 240,000,000 patients. Twenty-eight studies (6,758,124 patients) utilized multivariate analysis to assess risk factors for hospital-associated AKI and provided sex-stratified ORs. Meta-analysis of this cohort showed that the risk of developing hospital-associated AKI was significantly greater in men than in women (OR 1.23 (1.11,1.36). Since AKI is not a single disease but instead represents a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by an acute reduction in renal function, we performed subgroup meta-analyses. The association of male sex with AKI was strongest among studies of patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery. Male sex was also associated with AKI in studies which included unselected hospitalized patients and in studies of critically ill patients who received care in an intensive care unit. In contrast, cardiac surgery-associated AKI and radiocontrast-induced AKI showed no sexual dimorphism. Our meta-analysis contradicts the established belief that female sex confers a greater risk of AKI and instead suggests a protective role.
Hamstring Autograft Too Small: How Much Allograft Do You Need to Supplement to a Desired Hybrid Graft Size?

Purpose To determine a simple rule for choosing supplemental allograft size for hybrid anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using mathematical and cadaveric models. Methods Mathematical and cadaveric models were used to determine the rule. The mathematical model required application of the geometric Pythagorean theorem to add areas of circles. Cadaveric semitendinosus and gracilis tendons were combined in multiple quadrupled hamstring size combinations and then sized using standard surgical techniques to confirm the mathematical model. Results Geometric measurement, not simple addition, of graft diameters was required to determine the final graft size. Direct comparison of cadaveric and mathematical models showed close relations. If a final graft size of 7 mm is desired, an added diameter of all grafts of approximately 9.5 mm is needed. If a final graft size of 8 mm is desired, an added diameter of all grafts of approximately 11 mm is needed. If a final graft size of 9 mm is desired, an added diameter of all grafts of approximately 12.5 mm is needed. If a final graft size of 10 mm is desired, an added graft diameter of approximately 14 mm is needed. Cadaveric hamstring measurements were similar to the mathematical model. Conclusions By use of mathematical and cadaveric models, simple rules for determining the additional size of allograft diameter needed to supplement undersized hamstring autograft were created. Clinical Relevance With the increasing availability of allograft types and sizes, surgeons currently have no guidelines on the size of allograft that is required to supplement an undersized hamstring autograft. Simple rules were created for determining the amount of allograft supplementation required for undersized hamstrings and are easily applied to clinical situations.
Continuously capturing circulating cancer cells

A wearable apheresis device allows for continuous and specific capture of circulating tumor cells.
Does Sex of the Victim Matter? A Comparison of Rape Scripts Involving a Male or Female Victim

Abstract Much of the previous research on rape scripts suggests that the “typical” rape script involves a female victim and a male perpetrator. The idea of a male victim, therefore, is missing from...
Telecommand/Telemetry Ranging for Deep-Space Applications

Conventional two-way pseudonoise (PN) ranging relies on measuring the time delay between a PN signal transmitted to the spacecraft, and a corresponding synchronized PN signal transmitted from the spacecraft and received on the ground. Recently, we introduced a two-way ranging method ([1]–[3]) which eliminates the need for the downlink PN ranging signal. In this telemetry ranging scheme, the requisite timing measurements are obtained from a data-bearing downlink telemetry signal. In the present paper, we extend the telemetry ranging concept by also eliminating the uplink PN signal, which is replaced by a data-bearing telecommand signal. We describe the architecture and concept of such a system, and describe the fundamental limitations of tracking the timing of uplink telecommand signals when demod-remod correlation techniques are employed via Cramer-Rao bounds. An end-to-end performance analysis shows that in typical scenarios, ranging performance comparable to conventional PN ranging can be achieved.
Renal Dysfunction in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: Insights From the RELAX Trial.

ABSTRACT Background Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) represent a high-risk phenotype. The Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibition to Improve Clinical Status and Exercise Capacity in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (RELAX) trial enrolled a high proportion of CKD participants, allowing investigation into differences in HFpEF by CKD status. Methods and Results Among 212 participants, we investigated the associations of CKD with biomarkers, cardiac structure, and exercise capacity, and identified predictors of change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over trial follow-up. CKD participants (eGFR ≤60 mL/min/1.73m2) were older, had more comorbidities, and had worse diastolic function. Lower eGFR was associated with higher levels of endothelin-1, N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide, aldosterone, uric acid, and biomarkers of fibrosis (P Conclusion Renal dysfunction in HFpEF is characterized by echocardiographic and biomarker profiles indicative of more advanced disease, and reduced hemoglobin is a strong mediator of the association between renal dysfunction and low exercise capacity. Sildenafil therapy was associated with worsening of renal function in RELAX.
Triggered Palliative Care Consults: A Systematic Review of Interventions for Hospitalized and Emergency Department Patients.

Abstract Context Palliative care improves the quality of care and may reduce utilization, but delays or the absences of such services are common and costly in inpatient and emergency department settings. Triggered palliative care consults (PCCs) offer one way to identify patients who would benefit from palliative care and to connect them with services early in their course. Consensus reports recommend use of triggers to identify patients for PCC, but no standards exist to guide trigger design or implementation. Objectives To conduct a systematic review of published trigger tools for PCC. Methods Studies included quality improvement and prospective analyses of triggers for PCC for adults in the emergency department and inpatient settings since 2008. Paired reviewers evaluated the studies for inclusion criteria and extracted data related to study demographics, trigger processes, trigger criteria, and study bias. Results The search yielded 5773 citations. Twenty studies were included for final analysis with more than 17,000 patients represented. Trigger processes and composition were heterogeneous, although frequently used categories, such as cancer, dementia, and chronic comorbidities, were identified. Three-quarters of the studies were deemed to have moderate or high risk of bias. Conclusion We present a range of trigger tools spanning different hospital settings and patient populations. Common themes in implementation and content arose, but the limitations of these studies are notable, and further rigorous randomized comparisons are needed to generate standards of care. In addition, future studies should focus on developing triggers that identify patients requiring primary-level vs. specialty-level palliative care.
A Computational Study of Liquid Shock Absorption for Prevention of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), more colloquially known as concussion, is common in contact sports such as American football, leading to increased scrutiny of head protective gear. Standardized laboratory impact testing, such as the yearly National Football League (NFL) helmet test, is used to rank the protective performance of football helmets, motivating new technologies to improve the safety of helmets relative to existing equipment. In this work, we hypothesized that a helmet which transmits a nearly constant minimum force will result in a reduced risk of mTBI. To evaluate the plausibility of this hypothesis, we first show that the optimal force transmitted to the head, in a reduced order model of the brain, is in fact a constant force profile. To simulate the effects of a constant force within a helmet, we conceptualize a fluid-based shock absorber system for use within a football helmet. We integrate this system within a computational helmet model and simulate its performance on the standard NFL helmet test impact conditions. The simulated helmet is compared with other helmet designs with different technologies. Computer simulations of head impacts with liquid shock absorption predict that, at the highest impact speed (9.3 m/s), the average brain tissue strain is reduced by 27.6% ± 9.3 compared to existing helmet padding when tested on the NFL helmet protocol. This simulation-based study puts forth a target benchmark for the future design of physical manifestations of this technology.
Critical integrative argumentation: Toward complexity in students’ thinking

Collaborative argumentation in education, where students work together to construct and critique arguments, is an important social practice in many disciplines and can also develop conceptual under...
JA:2021-37. Perspectives and Concerns on Agricultural Safety among Community College Students

Purpose: Community colleges are academic institutions that often prepare students in associate degree programs such as agricultural sciences. The program develops students for many professional car...
In Defense of the Quasimolecular Ion

The term quasimolecular ion has been used to describe ions comprising a molecule and weakly bound positive or negative ion or an ion formed by the loss of a proton from a molecule. This term was used in mass spectrometry from the late 1960s after the development of chemical ionization but has been deprecated in recent terms recommendations due to what is perceived as its overly broad use. This letter argues that the term is well defined and has a long history of use in mass spectrometry and other fields and should be considered as a recommended term.
Fuel cycle considerations for uranium, plutonium and minor actinide partitioning and transmutation

Abstract This paper is written in memorial of the authors’ past collaborations with Max Salvatores in the area of advanced nuclear fuel cycle evaluation. In this regard, a summary is provided of the results from two international studies led by Max Salvatores in which the authors participated: (1) the expert group on Homogeneous versus Heterogeneous Recycling of Transuranics in Fast Nuclear Reactors, and (2) the expert group on Potential Benefits and Impacts of Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles with Actinide Partitioning and Transmutation. Both of these studies presented the authors with the opportunity to contribute the results of past and ongoing research in the U.S., facilitating engagement and discussion on these subjects with researchers from other countries and organizations, resulting in the creation of broad international views on the relative benefits and challenges of transuranic recycle (NEA, 2012a; NEA, 2012b), a testament to the leadership and capabilities of Max Salvatores.
Design and Construction of UHPC Link Slabs

The installation of UHPC link slabs provides a highly durable, minimally intrusive retrofitting technique that eliminates problematic deck joints from non-continuous bridge superstructures. UHPC link slabs can also be used on new bridges to eliminate deck joints where superstructure continuity is not desirable for structural reasons. The New York State Department of Transportation has developed an innovative UHPC link slab design methodology. The governing design parameter is that the link slab must provide continuity of the deck slab yet offer negligible resistance against the girder’s end rotation in order to retain the bridges simple span structural behavior. This is accomplished by using a partial depth UHPC slab between spans with the center portion debonded as a means to limit strains, induced by girder end rotation, to a manageable level. Our design utilizes a strain based analysis where the extreme fiber tensile strain in the UHPC is determined by the amount of girder end rotation under the assumption of linearly elastic flexural behavior. Using stress-strain relationships, the location of the neutral axis is found through an iterative algorithm. Upon convergence of the assumed and calculated neutral axis location, the tensile strain and compressive stress in the UHPC, along with the stress in the longitudinal steel reinforcement, is computed and compared to allowable values. New York State has constructed numerous UHPC link slabs on a wide range of bridge types and configurations. This presentation will cover the design methodology of UHPC link slabs, and construction details and procedures. Our construction procedures include surface preparation, form work, casting, curing, maturity testing, and final surface treatments.
Three-dimensional self-attention conditional GAN with spectral normalization for multimodal neuroimaging synthesis.

Purpose To develop a new 3D generative adversarial network that is designed and optimized for the application of multimodal 3D neuroimaging synthesis. Methods We present a 3D conditional generative adversarial network (GAN) that uses spectral normalization and feature matching to stabilize the training process and ensure optimization convergence (called SC-GAN). A self-attention module was also added to model the relationships between widely separated image voxels. The performance of the network was evaluated on the data set from ADNI-3, in which the proposed network was used to predict PET images, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity maps from multimodal MRI. Then, SC-GAN was applied on a multidimensional diffusion MRI experiment for superresolution application. Experiment results were evaluated by normalized RMS error, peak SNR, and structural similarity. Results In general, SC-GAN outperformed other state-of-the-art GAN networks including 3D conditional GAN in all three tasks across all evaluation metrics. Prediction error of the SC-GAN was 18%, 24% and 29% lower compared to 2D conditional GAN for fractional anisotropy, PET and mean diffusivity tasks, respectively. The ablation experiment showed that the major contributors to the improved performance of SC-GAN are the adversarial learning and the self-attention module, followed by the spectral normalization module. In the superresolution multidimensional diffusion experiment, SC-GAN provided superior predication in comparison to 3D Unet and 3D conditional GAN. Conclusion In this work, an efficient end-to-end framework for multimodal 3D medical image synthesis (SC-GAN) is presented. The source code is also made available at https://github.com/Haoyulance/SC-GAN.
Space and Place: A Daoist Perspective

To argue for a natural approach to space and place is to evade the widely-practiced social-political approaches in the study of space and place in human geography. And yet, that is what this article attempts to do: To integrate space and place as well as humans and things in a unified approach of nature (derived from ziran 自然) from a Daoist perspective. I connect space with concepts of Dao (道) and emptiness, and place with concepts of de (德) and wuwei (無為), and present space as potential and generative, and place as productive and creative, highlighting the importance of non-striving attitudes and actions and the cultivation of the self’s mind and body. This paper concludes with a call to find space in place for a nurturing and natural living.
Insider Trading and Speed of Information Dissemination

I extend the Kyle (1985) model of strategic trading to a case in which the public announcement arrives at a random time. The insider does not perfectly observe the true value of the security, but he continues to hone his knowledge by using private source of information. Two types of equilibrium emerges from this model. In one type, the insider chooses a deterministic stopping time T, before which he trades smoothly like in a Kyle model with known terminal time. By time T, the insider has revealed all his private information and the market price is at its full efficiency. After this time, by trading in large volumes, the insider uses his incoming new information to continually wash out the mispricings caused by uninformed traders, an as a consequence keeps the prices efficient. If he does not expect to have enough time before the public announcement, or if his initial private information about the asset value is precise enough, the second type of equilibrium emerges. In this type, the insider trades excessively patiently and the market efficiency is reached only asymptotically.
Evaluating the Reliability of MQTT with Comparative Analysis

With the growing interest in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, a number of communication protocols have been developed to support a variety of IoT use cases. One promising communication paradigm that has been widely adopted in the IoT is the publish-subscribe pattern, which is supported by a number of messaging protocols such as MQTT, AMQP, and XMPP. Due to the diversity of IoT device types, an IoT application may communicate with IoT devices using a variety of messaging protocols, software frameworks, and strategies. To this extent, it becomes critical to determine the robustness of components responsible for message delivery (i.e., message brokers). We conduct a comparative study of the MQTT protocol's performance in this paper, comparing performance variables across a range of payload sizes and security levels. Preliminary results indicate that when the payload size remains small, using higher security levels does not result in significant latency overheads. Additionally, we discovered that implementing mutual authentication via Transport Layer Security (TLS) has no effect on MQTT response times in persistent connections when compared to using the default security level, which authenticates only the server.
Decision Analysis in Medicine: Methods and Applications

First Published in 1979, this book offers a full, comprehensive guide to making the right decisions in diagnoses and treatment in medicine. Carefully compiled and filled with a vast repertoire of notes, diagrams, and references this book serves as a useful reference for students of medicine, and other practitioners in their respective fields.
A dendritic GABAA-mediated IPSP regulates facilitation of NMDA-mediated responses to burst stimulation of afferent fibers in piriform cortex

Studies in a number of cortical systems have shown that the NMDA component of the EPSP is strongly regulated by GABAA-mediated inhibition. The present study explored the possibility that specificity in inhibitory circuitry could allow such regulation to occur during normal function without increasing the propensity for epileptiform bursting, which occurs with indiscriminate GABAA blockade. Specifically, the hypothesis was tested that a dendritic GABAA-mediated IPSP is present which strongly modulates the NMDA component and can be activated independently of the somatic IPSP. The experiments were performed on slices of piriform cortex in which the NMDA component of the EPSP was pharmacologically isolated by bath-applied 6,7- dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione. A facilitation of NMDA responses to burst stimulation of afferent fibers is described, which required GABAA blockade and served as an assay for the presence of a functionally significant GABAA input. When bicuculline was applied focally in the somatic region, the feedback IPSP was blocked with little or no increase in the NMDA component of the response to burst stimulation of afferent fibers. In contrast, when bicuculline was applied focally in the dendritic region, the NMDA-mediated response to burst stimulation was facilitated with minimal effect on the somatic IPSP, confirming the hypothesis.
Income Taxes, Interest Rate Parity, and the Allocation of International Savings in Industrial Countries

The internationalization of the financial markets of the industrial countries has greatly increased the mobility of financial capital and has made the concept of interest rate parity one of more than just theoretical significance. Given interest rate parity, decisions concerning the generation, distribution, and utilization of the international pool of financial savings should all be made in relation to the international level of the rate of interest. The paper shows what happens to this idealized picture when interest incomes are taxed and interest expenses are deductible as they are in industrial countries.
Modularization of engineering courses using HTML content

For courses having a strong "hands-on" component, HTML presentation of lecture material allows class meetings to be used for in-class exercises. When students in the class have divergent vocational interests, this approach (HTML readings plus structured exercises) is amenable to exercises tailored to the interests of the individual that also meet overall class goals. A mathematical modeling course taught with all requisite material available in HTML can be so structured. Care must be taken to ensure that in-class exercises remain truly parallel.
A Multi-Cellular Distributed Model for Nitric Oxide Transport in the Blood

Abstract In this work, a multi-cellular, spatially distributed model, that describes the production, transport and consumption of Nitric Oxide (NO) in blood vessels and the surrounding tissue, is developed. In contrast to previous modeling efforts, such as continuum and single-cell models, the current model accounts explicitly for the presence of, and interactions among, a population of red blood cells (RBCs) inside the blood vessel. Using mainly experimentally derived parameters, the model equations, subject to the appropriate boundary conditions, are solved for the NO concentration profile using an efficient finite-element algorithm.
Expanded circulating transitional B cells in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

B-cell development begins in the bone marrow and results in the generation of immature transitional B cells that leave the bone marrow and enter the spleen, where they complete their maturation into mature B cells. Transitional B cells undergo intense selection, resulting in the survival and entry of only a small fraction into the mature B-cell pool. The possibility that abnormalities in transitional B-cell biology might contribute to the development of autoimmunity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) stimulated an examination of the phenotype and immunoglobulin repertoire of transitional B cells in patients with SLE. Initially, we sought to identify human transitional B cells phenotypically, as this had not previously been done in humans. This was facilitated by the identification of an unusual patient with SLE and transient hypogamma-globulinemia. This patient had a very large population of IgD+ CD27- naive B cells, which included an expanded population of what we identified as transitional B cells. These were comparable in phenotype with transitional B cells that we found in normal human bone marrow. These were small, CD19+ CD20hi IgDlo IgMhi CD21- CD23- CD10+ CD24hi CD38hi CD44locells. This population was expanded in this SLE patient and also in children compared with normal adults. Immunoglobulin heavy chain genes were completely unmutated in this population and the repertoire differed significantly from that found in normal adult mature B cells. These results suggest that abnormalities in transitional B-cell biology may contribute to the development of autoantibodies in SLE.
The essentiality of histidine in the catalytic action of subtilisin. Covalent modification by a specific reagent.

Abstract The inactivation of the bacterial protease, subtilisin BPN', has been achieved with a substrate-like reagent, the bromomethyl ketone derived from benzyloxycarbonyl-l-phenylalanine. Loss of hydrolytic function accompanied the alkylation of N-3 of a single histidine residue. The bacterial enzyme has thus been shown to have a catalytic mechanism similar to that of mammalian pancreatic proteolytic enzymes.