cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reconciling cross-sectional with longitudinal observations on annual decline

In summary, numerous factors may contribute to observed differences between longitudinally and cross-sectionally derived measures of annual decline in lung function. The direction and magnitude of these differences appear hard to predict. Furthermore, although these differences can be minimized by careful modeling of the data, they cannot, in general, be completely avoided. It seems plausible, however, that both types of studies should give similar qualitative comparisons of risk factor effects if appropriately modeled. Longitudinal studies are likely to provide the most accurate and reliable estimates of lung function decline for both individuals and populations. Such data may be especially useful in identifying individuals with accelerated declines in lung function but who still have "normal" lung function as measured cross-sectionally. However, such studies require careful attention to quality control and typically require at least 4 years of follow-up before the noise in the data settles down. Multiple measurements, preferably four or more, are also necessary to reliably detect and adjust for survey effects. Cross-sectional studies, on the other hand, are simpler, cheaper, and quicker to conduct than are longitudinal studies. They may be particularly useful as a screening tool for identifying potentially affected or high-risk subjects (e.g., those with low levels of lung function) who may require further medical follow-up and/or ongoing monitoring. Both types of studies have a role in population-based occupational health hazard assessments.
Therapeutic alternatives in metastatic neuroendocrine tumors.

In the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors that cannot be resected for cure two goals must be addressed: (1) the control of symptomsrelated to hormonal hypersecretion and (2) the prolongation of survival by destruction of tumor of the limitation of its growth. Clinical approaches, medical and surgical, have been developed in recent years to meet these goals. Surgical options in the face of metastatic disease include resection of hepatic metastases, cryoab- lation, and liver transplantation. Medical therapy includes treatment of symptomatic hypersecretory states and systemic chemotherapeutic and immunomodulatory regimes. Hepatic artery chemoembolization has also been used successfully in the treatment of hepatic metastases of neuroendocrine tumors.
Cotton QTLdb: a cotton QTL database for QTL analysis, visualization, and comparison between Gossypium hirsutum and G. hirsutum × G. barbadense populations

Key message A specialized database currently containing more than 2200 QTL is established, which allows graphic presentation, visualization and submission of QTL.
Affect, emotion, and decision making

This article reviews research on affect, emotion, and decision making published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes from the 1990s onward. The review is organized around four topical areas: the influence of incidental mood states and discrete emotions on decision making, the influence of integral affect on decision making, affect and emotion as a consequence of decision making, and the role of regret in decision making. Some potential limitations of extant work on affect, emotion, and decision making are discussed. Lastly, particularly promising directions for future research are elaborated including intuition and decision making, ethical decision making, and affect and emotion over time and decision making.
Acute Post-Operative Seizures as Predictors of Long-Term Seizure Outcome after Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery: A Meta-Analysis (P3.248)

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis was performed to determine the prognostic value of acute post-operative seizures for long-term seizure outcomes after pediatric epilepsy surgery. BACKGROUND: Epilepsy surgery has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment option for children with drug-resistant epilepsy, with the primary goal of long-term seizure-freedom. Some patients may experience seizures immediately after surgery called acute post-operative seizures (APOS). These seizures can raise concerns about surgical failure. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies reporting APOS, defined as seizures occurring ≤30 days post-operatively, and epilepsy surgery outcomes in patients ≤18 years old. Data from studies reporting the rate of seizure freedom in patients with and without APOS were extracted. A pooled Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio (OR) with 95[percnt] confidence interval (CI) was calculated using a random effects meta-analysis for long-term seizure-freedom in patients with and without APOS. Heterogeneity was explored using τ2 and I2 statistics, and publication bias was assessed using funnel plots. RESULTS: Six studies were included in the analysis, representing 763 patients who underwent epilepsy surgery. The pooled prevalence of APOS was 25.82[percnt] (95[percnt] CI 18.31[percnt]-33.33[percnt]). A significantly greater proportion of patients without APOS compared to those with APOS were seizure-free at long-term follow-up. Among the patients without APOS, 77.14[percnt] (95[percnt] CI 68.79[percnt]-85.49[percnt]) were seizure free at ≥1 year compared to 35.94[percnt] (95[percnt] CI 19.95[percnt]-51.93[percnt]) of patients with APOS (OR 5.71, 95[percnt] CI 3.32-9.80, p<0.0001). This result demonstrated moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 50[percnt]). Additionally, no significant publication bias was observed from the funnel plot. CONCLUSIONS: Children who do not have APOS after epilepsy surgery have 5.71 greater odds of remaining seizure-free than patients who have APOS. These results interpreted in the appropriate clinical context can help care teams counsel patients and their families after epilepsy surgery. Study Supported by: AAN Disclosure: Dr. Giridharan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Horn has nothing to disclose. Dr. Greiner has nothing to disclose. Dr. Holland has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mangano has nothing to disclose. Dr. Arya has nothing to disclose.
The impact of rigid body workpiece displacement on the geometric errors of milled surfaces

Spherical–tipped locators and clamps are often used to restrain workpieces during machining. For structurally rigid workpieces, contact region deformation, slip and lift–off are the predominant modes of workpiece displacement. Experimental evidence obtained thus far indicates that this displacement is a significant source of geometric error. This paper describes a model that predicts the impact of clamp actuation and the end milling process on rigid body workpiece displacement and the geometric errors that result. This paper also describes an experimental study that was used to validate this model, and determine the impact of clamping induced workpiece displacement on the geometric errors of milled surfaces.
Managing Stress and Staying Healthy

Graduate training is undoubtedly a time of increased stress, which often lasts for many years. Beyond graduate training, finding and settling into a career may also prove to be a time of uncertainty and increased workload. It is impossible to avoid stress, but certain practices in predicting, managing, and navigating the effects of stress can prove helpful in avoiding long-term, negative effects and can aid in maintaining a balanced and rewarding life. Clinical health psychologist Lindsay Bira discusses tips, tricks, and recommended practices that will set you up well to juggle roles and responsibilities effectively. Read more to learn about how to practice prestress conditioning, maintain self-care, properly utilize social support, effectively communicate, maintain realistic thinking, and trust in the process along the way.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Residential Provisions of the 2015 IECC for Indiana

The 2015 IECC provides cost-effective savings for residential buildings in Indiana. Moving to the 2015 IECC from the 2009 IECC base code is cost-effective for residential buildings in all climate zones in Indiana.
Generalized Reich-Moore R-matrix approximation

A conventional Reich-Moore approximation (RMA) of R -matrix is generalized into a manifestly unitary form by introducing a set of resonant capture channels treated explicitly in a generalized, reduced R -matrix. A dramatic reduction of channel space witnessed in conventional RMA, from N c × N c full R -matrix to N p × N p reduced R -matrix, where N c = N p + N γ , N p and N γ denoting the number of particle and γ-ray channels, respectively, is due to N p γ . A corresponding reduction of channel space in generalized RMA (GRMA) is from N c × N c full R -matrix to N × N , where N = N p + N , and where N is the number of capture channels defined in GRMA. We show that N = N λ where N λ is the number of R -matrix levels. This reduction in channel space, although not as dramatic as in the conventional RMA, could be significant for medium and heavy nuclides where N γ . The resonant capture channels defined by GRMA accommodate level-level interference (via capture channels) neglected in conventional RMA. The expression for total capture cross section in GRMA is formally equal to that of the full N c × N c R -matrix. This suggests that GRMA could yield improved nuclear data evaluations in the resolved resonance range at a cost of introducing N (N − 1)/2 resonant capture width parameters relative to conventional RMA. Manifest unitarity of GRMA justifies a method advocated by Frohner and implemented in the SAMMY nuclear data evaluation code for enforcing unitarity of conventional RMA. Capture widths of GRMA are exactly convertible into alternative R -matrix parameters via Brune tranform. Application of idealized statistical methods to GRMA shows that variance among conventional RMA capture widths in extant RMA evaluations could be used to estimate variance among off-diagonal elements neglected by conventional RMA. Significant departure of capture widths from an idealized distribution may indicate the presence of underlying doorway states.
Elevating financial capability in child welfare services: Early efforts in the Grand Challenge

ABSTRACTThe great majority of families involved in the child welfare system are economically vulnerable, have limited incomes, and face a high risk of financial exploitation. Limited opportunities to participate meaningfully in the financial sector, along with poor decision making, can lead to overwhelming debt, eviction, and poverty that compromise child safety and wellbeing and can cripple efforts to reunify families. This article discusses the need to elevate financial capability–which scholars and practitioners define as knowledge of financial matters and means to exercise that knowledge. It addresses nascent research examining financial capability and asset building, the expanding role of the topic in human services, and efforts in Missouri to integrate an understanding of financial capability in work with families involved in the child welfare system. Such integration holds the promise of fulfilling the safety, permanence, and wellbeing goals of the child welfare system; involving a wider set of com...
Chapter 3 – Dispersion Theory, Sum Rules, and Their Application to the Analysis of Optical Data*

Publisher Summary The basic optical properties of solids, despite being greatly diverse are strictly limited by nature. These limitations take the form of sum rules and dispersion relations that reflect the physical laws governing the dynamics of matter and its interaction with light. The sum rules provide a useful means of testing optical measurements, particularly wide-range composite data, both against theoretical constraints and independently measured quantities. This chapter introduces sum rules with emphasis on the underlying physics and applications. Besides giving insight into the mathematical structure of the optical functions, the various sum rules also provide a means of relating different physical properties without model fits to spectra and are valuable as self-consistency tests. In the case of anisotropic media or symmetry-breaking external fields, the individual dielectric tensor elements should be treated separately. The best-known optical sum rule is the f sum rule, which can be written in a variety of forms useful in optical analysis.
Investigating the testing effect: Retrieval as a characteristic of effective study strategies

Abstract Presently, the most common approach to examining the testing effect is using a free recall form of retrieval practice. In this experiment, we compared free recall to other retrieval-based study strategies including practice quizzing, test-generation, and keyword. We also examined the possible benefit of coupling these retrieval-based strategies with free recall. A total of 338 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of the nine conditions: a repeated retrieval (study-test) learning condition paired with one of the four retrieval-based strategies, a single retrieval (study-study) learning condition paired with a retrieval-based strategy, or a rehearsal (study-study-study) condition. Following a 7-day delay, students completed a test assessing retention of information learned. There was a significant interaction between learning condition (repeated vs. single retrieval practice) and type of retrieval-based strategy. Free recall and practice quizzing were the most effective types of retrieval practice, and coupling testgeneration and practice quizzing with free recall led to significant benefits in performance.
Auger Recombination in Mid-Infrared Active Regions

We study strain effects on Auger recombination in GalnAsSb/GaSb multiple quantum well structures emitting ∼3 μm using differential reflection pump-probe and photoluminescence spectroscopy; results suggest increasing strain decreases Auger and increases radiative recombination strength.
Ion channel defects in primary electrical diseases of the heart

Publisher Summary The chapter focuses on the ionic basis of cardiac arrhythmia. Abnormal function or expression of cardiac ion channels has the potential for triggering arrhythmia that can result in sudden death. Although most arrhythmias are associated with structural heart diseases, some have been attributed to primary electrical diseases in which malfunctions associated with ion channels play an important role. Correlations between ion channel dysfunction and pathogenesis are made simpler in heart than in nervous system because of well-established relationships between various ionic current components and the cardiac action potential, and between the action potential waveform and rhythmicity; and the identification of specific ion channel genes with observed ionic currents has facilitated the elucidation of genetic components of these disorders. Long-QT syndrome (LQTS) is a serious cardiac disorder that causes loss of consciousness and sudden death in otherwise healthy individuals. A number of inherited defects in cardiac K+ and Na+ channels have been identified as the underlying causes of long QT syndrome, a disease in which malignant ventricular arrhythmia is associated with delayed repolarization phase of the cardiac action potential. The chapter describes the clinical aspects, basic mechanisms, genetic linkages, experimental models, and unresolved issues of LQTS. It highlights the importance of HERG, KvLQT1, LQT2, LQT3, minK, and SCN5A genes in this form of arrhythmia. The chapter briefly describes idiopathic ventricular fibrillation, an aion channel disorder that does not involve reporatization abnormalities.
Integration Through Narrative

The purpose of this paper is to test the proposition that narrative contains an inherent power for integration of faith, life, and learning of business principles. This is done by a process of reviewing assertions from selected disciplines with the revealed will of God in Scripture. To accomplish this, the paper explores narrative in the context of cultural anthropology, education, business, and religion. From these fields, several parallels can be seen, and several values of narrative for the university business school classroom emerge. The concluding thoughts suggest how instructors can use stories for faith, life, and learning integration.
Tumors of the Cranial Vault in Children

A wide variety of mass lesions may occur in the cranial vault in children. They are not especially common, and, because they may present to a wide variety of specialists (pediatricians, neurosurgeons, otolaryngolo-gists, pediatric surgeons), most reports represent small numbers of patients. The most common lesions of the cranial vault, such as epidermoid, dermoid, and isolated eosinophilic granuloma, are benign [2, 8, 12]. Although benign lesions are more common, invasive, malignant lesions certainly can occur.
TIMING 2.0: high-throughput single-cell profiling of dynamic cell-cell interactions by time-lapse imaging microscopy in nanowell grids.

Motivation Automated profiling of cell-cell interactions from high-throughput time-lapse imaging microscopy data of cells in nanowell grids (TIMING) has led to fundamental insights into cell-cell interactions in immunotherapy. This application note aims to enable widespread adoption of TIMING by (i) enabling the computations to occur on a desktop computer with a graphical processing unit instead of a server; (ii) enabling image acquisition and analysis to occur in the laboratory avoiding network data transfers to/from a server and (iii) providing a comprehensive graphical user interface. Results On a desktop computer, TIMING 2.0 takes 5 s/block/image frame, four times faster than our previous method on the same computer, and twice as fast as our previous method (TIMING) running on a Dell PowerEdge server. The cell segmentation accuracy (f-number = 0.993) is superior to our previous method (f-number = 0.821). A graphical user interface provides the ability to inspect the video analysis results, make corrective edits efficiently (one-click editing of an entire nanowell video sequence in 5-10 s) and display a summary of the cell killing efficacy measurements. Availability and implementation Open source Python software (GPL v3 license), instruction manual, sample data and sample results are included with the Supplement (https://github.com/RoysamLab/TIMING2). Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
An Improved Analytical Model for the Estimation of Blocking Probability in WDM Networks with First-Fit Wavelength Assignment

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) optical networks are often operated using first-fit (FF) wavelength assignment algorithms. These FF algorithms have the advantage of reducing wavelength fragmentation in the network fiber links. Unfortunately, analytically quantifying the blocking probability due to fragmentation and lack of wavelength availability is a challenging problem when using a FF wavelength assignment algorithm. Contributing to the model complexity are two factors: the traffic peakedness which is wavelength dependent, and the strong dependency of wavelength availability between link pairs. The former is caused by the incoming lightpath requests which overflow from wavelength to wavelength in the order chosen by the FF algorithm. The latter is caused by the wavelength continuity constraint, which must be satisfied in order to avoid the use of costly wavelength converters. In this paper, the authors present an improved approximate analytical model, which takes both factors into consideration while estimating the blocking probability in WDM networks that operate with fixed routing scheme, FF wavelength assignment algorithm, and wavelength continuity constraint. The results show that the model can accurately estimate the blocking probability in relatively small WDM networks with less than ten wavelengths. The model is then applied to estimate the performance gap between two fixed routing schemes, one minimizing the lightpath hop count, and the other maximizing the lightpath signal to noise ratio at the receiver.
Physical constraints on accuracy and persistence during breast cancer cell chemotaxis.

Directed cell motion in response to an external chemical gradient occurs in many biological phenomena such as wound healing, angiogenesis, and cancer metastasis. Chemotaxis is often characterized by the accuracy, persistence, and speed of cell motion, but whether any of these quantities is physically constrained by the others is poorly understood. Using a combination of theory, simulations, and 3D chemotaxis assays on single metastatic breast cancer cells, we investigate the links among these different aspects of chemotactic performance. In particular, we observe in both experiments and simulations that the chemotactic accuracy, but not the persistence or speed, increases with the gradient strength. We use a random walk model to explain this result and to propose that cells’ chemotactic accuracy and persistence are mutually constrained. Our results suggest that key aspects of chemotactic performance are inherently limited regardless of how favorable the environmental conditions are.
Blunt aortic injuries in the new era: radiologic findings and polytrauma risk assessment dictates management strategy

Blunt aortic injuries (BAI) have historically been considered an indication for emergent surgical intervention. Nevertheless, the observation that the outcome of the concomitant traumatic injuries has a major impact on prognosis and the rise of thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) as an effective therapy for BAI have significantly changed in recent years the treatment algorithm of this condition. Our objective was to identify findings associated with the aortic injury which would be the best predictor of prognosis, with the objective of guiding the decision-making process for selecting the optimal timing of aortic repair. We reviewed blunt aortic injuries from 3 Level I Trauma Centers from July 2008 to December 2016. We analyzed overall and BAI-related 30-day mortality in relation to: hemodynamics, timing of treatment, TEVAR vs open repair, and aortic injury grade as defined by the Society for Vascular Surgery. Based on computed tomographic angiography (CT scan) imaging, we selected the radiologic aortic findings most indicative of high mortality risk, which we defined as “Radiographic Severe Injury” (RSI): (1) total/partial aortic transection, (2) active contrast extravasation, or (3) the association of 2 of more of the following: contained contrast extravasation > 10 mm, periaortic hematoma, and/or mediastinal hematoma with thickness > 10 mm, or significant left pleural effusion. Of a total of 76 consecutive patients, 50 (66%) underwent immediate repair, 24 (31%) delayed aortic repair, and 2 (3%) died prior to repair. 58 patients (76%) had TEVAR, while 16 (24%) had open repair. Overall mortality was 18% and BAI-related mortality was 13%. In BAI-related mortalities, 70% of patients had RSI. Patients with high risk of overall mortality had hypotension and tachycardia (SBP < 100, HR ≥ 100), high ISS, and required vasopressors. Factors only associated with BAI-related mortality included RSI. CT scan findings suggestive of RSI are predictive of mortality associated with BAI. Radiologic assessment of the severity of the aortic injury with characterization for the presence of RSI may represent the key factors to determine the optimal timing of treatment of the aortic injury and guide the overall treatment strategy. IV.
Improving Secrecy Capacity and Energy Efficiency of Wireless Cognitive Radio Networks with Cooperative Relaying and Jamming

Recently, security and energy efficiency for wireless communication has attracted great attention due to the economic, environmental and military concern. We investigated the secrecy capacity and energy efficiency of the wireless cognitive radio networks (CRNs) in the presence of multiple primary users and multiple malicious eavesdroppers. The secrecy capacity and energy efficiency of the CRNs have studied, where the primary and secondary users cooperate with each other. Especially we proposed a system model to enhance the secrecy capacity and energy efficiency. We proposed a cooperative model, in which the secondary user acts as both a relay node to relay packet for the primary user and a jammer against the eavesdropper to create artificial interference. For the relay selection, we used a relay selection algorithm to enhance the energy efficiency of the network. To further improve the secrecy capacity of the network, we used the cooperative jamming technique and proposed an algorithm to interfere the eavesdropping channels. The validity of our proposed algorithm is investigated through simulation, and it significantly increases the energy efficiency and the secrecy capacity of the networks.
Individual differences in response to attributional praise in an online learning environment

This study investigated how gender and beliefs about ability moderate the effects of attributional praise feedback on college students’ task motivation and performance in an online environment. We conducted a 3 (praise type: ability vs. effort vs. none) × 2 (gender: male vs. female) × 2 (belief about ability: entity vs. incremental) between-subjects factorial experiment with 196 college students. Analysis of variance of the data detected significant interactions between praise and gender on the main outcome variables. Overall, praise feedback had significantly positive impact on male participants’ task performance, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation; whereas for female participants, praise feedback had no significant effects on these variables. Additionally, there is a trend (albeit non-significant) interaction between praise type and belief type on task effort, indicating that for entity-belief group, ability praise feedback tended to positively influence task effort whereas for incremental-belief group, effort praise feedback tended to positively impact task effort. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.
Mind the Gap: Strategies to Bridge the Research-to-Practice Divide in Early Intervention Caregiver Coaching Practices:

While caregiver coaching approaches in early intervention have a comprehensive literature base, the field continues to experience a research-to-practice gap in the implementation of capacity-buildi...
Design and Development of IoT based System for Retrieval of Agrometeorological Parameters

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the ability to transform agriculture industry. Smart farming based on IoT technologies will help farmers to increase yields and better crop management. The objective of this research is to design and develop a near real-time web-based weather and soil monitoring system capable of increasing the crop yield with the help of study of different weather and soil parameter values. This implementation resulted in a monitoring system that can collect the current air temperature, humidity, dew point, heat index, air pressure, rain intensity, soil moisture and soil temperature. The system provides current updates of soil and weather parameters as well as historical values of those parameters. The result obtained in this research is used for computing heat index and monitoring environmental effect on crops. This study demonstrates the ability of data acquisition in the near real-time and remote location accurately and efficiently.
The Past as Spread

The etymology of “etymology” is “the study of the true,” as in the true sense of a word, which, truthfully, is a bit misleading. Few etymologies are definite, especially when one pushes a word back...
Beyond Revision Surgery: Work‐Up and Interventional Treatments for the Painful Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty is a common and successful treatment modality for knee arthritis that is refractory to conservative management strategies. Over 600,000 arthroplasties are performed per year in the United States, and this number is expected to increase in the coming years. Unfortunately, 8% to 34% of patients experience chronic pain after having a total knee arthroplasty. These patients should undergo an appropriate work-up by the orthopedic surgeon, but many times a surgical problem is not uncovered. In these situations, a thorough and specific plan for pain management should be sought. In this article, we outline the work-up of a painful total knee arthroplasty. Then we provide a thorough review of interventional pain management strategies and highlight the pertinent literature. Lastly, we hypothesize future developments in the field that may provide better outcomes for patients suffering from painful total knee arthroplasty.
Synchrotron radiation-based spatial methods in environmental biogeochemistry

Abstract A grand challenge in environmental biogeochemistry research is to integrate analytical information from different spatial scales to maximize our ability to understand and manage these complex natural systems. The goal of this chapter is to intellectually challenge the scientific community to develop better ways to integrate information from synchrotron radiation (SR) and other spatio-analytical techniques to have greater scientific and management impacts across disciplines. We describe a variety of synchrotron-based techniques and outline challenges related to scaling analytical information in biogeochemistry. These SR techniques have led to major scientific advances in environmental biogeochemistry, but understanding the advantages and overcoming limitations of these techniques in the context of spatial scaling should lead to even greater impacts. Awareness of scaling issues will help to improve the integration of research being done from atomic to global scales.
Pineal region tumors: an entity with crucial anatomical nuances

Intra-axial “pineal region” tumors include pineal, tectal, and aqueductal tumors. All three tumor subgroups cause obstruction of the aqueduct; however, they differ in radiological nuances, pathology, differential diagnosis, and treatment. The goal of this manuscript is to describe the radiological, clinical, and pathological nuances that differentiate between these subgroups. All patients with intra-axial pineal region tumors were analyzed retrospectively, including demographics, radiological characteristics, pathology, treatment, and outcome. Forty-nine patients (1–69 years of age) were included: 19 pineal, 10 tectal, 10 aqueductal, 4 periaqueductal, and 6 complex. The 3 main subgroups differed in various radiological and anatomical nuances. Age and gender did not differ between groups. Other factors that did not differ between groups included T1 and T2 signals, presence of blood products, a normally located (non-displaced) tectum, anterior tectal displacement, thalamic involvement, and presence of hydrocephalus. The pathological spectrum differed between the 3 main subgroups, as well as the surgical treatment, and outcome. Despite sharing a close anatomical location, as well as all causing obstruction of the aqueduct with secondary hydrocephalus, the differential diagnosis, diagnostic methods, and possible treatment and surgical options differ between the various subgroups. Anatomical nuances are described to better delineate the various tumor subgroups and recommend specific treatment approaches.
Acid-Modulated Synthesis of High Surface Area Amine-Functionalized MIL-101(Cr) Nanoparticles for CO2 Separations

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been gaining significant interest for separations involving CO2. In this study, amine-functionalized MIL-101(Cr) (i.e., MIL-101(Cr)-NH2) MOFs with sub-20 nm par...
Bioengineered elastin- and silk-biomaterials for drug and gene delivery

Advances in medical science have led to diverse new therapeutic modalities, as well as enhanced understanding of the progression of various disease states. These findings facilitate the design and development of more customized and exquisite drug delivery systems that aim to improve therapeutic indices of drugs to treat a variety of conditions. Synthetic polymer-based drug carriers have often been the focus of such research. However, these structures suffer from challenges with heterogeneity of the starting material, limited chemical features, complex functionalization methods, and in some cases a lack of biocompatibility. Consequently, protein-based polymers have garnered much attention in recent years due to their monodisperse features, ease of production and functionalization, and biocompatibility. Genetic engineering techniques enable the advancement of protein-based drug delivery systems with finely tuned physicochemical properties, and thus an expanded level of customization unavailable with synthetic polymers. Of these genetically engineered proteins, elastin-like proteins (ELP), silk-like proteins (SLP), and silk-elastin-like proteins (SELP) provide a unique set of alternatives for designing drug delivery systems due to their inherent chemical and physical properties and ease of engineering afforded by recombinant DNA technologies. In this review we examine the advantages of genetically engineered drug delivery systems with emphasis on ELP and SLP constructions. Methods for fabrication and relevant biomedical applications will also be discussed.
Primary radiation therapy for squamous cell vulvar cancer: a survivor analyis

Objectives: To compare overall survival, progression-free survival, and complication rate for women with squamous cell cancer of the vulva treated with curative intent radiation therapy compared to primary surgery. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) members diagnosed with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva between 2008-2018 who were treated with either primary surgery (PS) or primary radiation therapy (PRT). Additional analyses were included for patients who underwent surgery alone (PS alone) vs surgery with adjuvant radiation (PS+RT). Exclusion criteria were synchronous primary cancer, palliative treatment, and lapse of KPNC membership during primary therapy. Women were identified using an internal cancer registry and variables were extracted through chart review. Bivariate analysis was completed using Kaplan Meier curves and Chi-square tests to compare 1- and 3-year overall and progression-free survival. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age, stage (FIGO 2009), Charlson comorbidity index, and smoking status. Results: 202 women were included in the analysis. Median follow-up was 3.3 years. 59 women (29.2%) underwent PRT, of whom 47 (79.7%) received concurrent chemotherapy. 143 women (70.8%) underwent PS, of whom 33 (23.1%) received adjuvant radiation with or without chemotherapy. 83.0% of PRT patients were stage II-IV, whereas 77.6% of PS patients were stage I (p Download : Download high-res image (93KB) Download : Download full-size image Conclusions: Women with vulvar cancer treated with PRT at a large, managed care organization over a 10-year period were higher stage and had worse 1- and 3-year overall survival than women treated with PS, although survival was not significantly different when adjusting for stage. Women requiring adjuvant radiation following PS had similar 1- and 3-year survival to patients who underwent PRT. Overall complication rate was highest in women who received PS+RT, with the rate of lymphedema double that of PS alone and quadruple that of PRT. These data suggest that PRT may be an acceptable alternative to PS in women who have a high likelihood of need for adjuvant therapy.
Preparing for the quantum revolution: what is the role of higher education?

Quantum sensing, quantum networking and communication, and quantum computing have attracted significant attention recently, as these quantum technologies could offer significant advantages over existing technologies. In order to accelerate the commercialization of these quantum technologies, the workforce must be equipped with the necessary skills. We present the results of a qualitative study of the quantum industry, where we conducted a series of interviews with 21 U.S. companies in the quantum industry. The aim of these interviews was to profile the types of jobs that exist and describe the variety of skills valued across the quantum industry. This has allowed us to identify the current routes into the quantum industry, providing a picture of the current role of higher education in training the quantum workforce. Additionally, we enquired about the training and hiring challenges the quantum industry is facing and how higher education may optimize the important role it is currently playing.
Chemical fractionations in meteorites - X. Ureilites

An investigation involving the measurement of 17 trace elements in 4 ureilites was conducted with the objective to obtain information for the characterization of the two components of the ureilites. The groundmass of the mineral is an olivine-clinopyroxene rock which is presumably the residue left after partial melting of a more primitive precursor. This ultramafic rock is permeated by a network of veins containing diamond, graphite, nickel-iron, and primordial noble gases. Attention is given to the vein material, the origin of the vein material, the 'constant' siderophile component and ultramafic rock, and questions concerning the origin of ureilites.
Rubrene untwisted: common density functional theory calculations overestimate its deviant tendencies

The exceptionally high carrier mobility of rubrene derives from the combination of its intrinsic electronic properties and favorable crystal packing that facilitates charge transport. Unlike the planar conformations adopted by rubrene single crystals, however, many rubrene derivatives crystallize with a twisted tetracene core and exhibit poor carrier mobility. Typical density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the twisted conformation is preferred by ∼10–14 kJ mol−1 or more in the gas phase. However, the present work shows that those calculations overestimate the twisting energy by several kJ mol−1 due to density-driven delocalization error, and that the twisting energies are actually only ∼8–10 kJ mol−1 for typical rubrene derivatives when computed with higher-level correlated wave function models. This result has two significant implications for crystal engineering with rubrene derivatives: first, DFT calculations can erroneously predict polymorphs containing twisted rubrene conformations to be more stable, when in fact structures with planar conformations are preferred, as is demonstrated here for perfluororubrene. Second, the smaller twisting energies make it more likely that solid form screening could discover new planar-core polymorphs of rubrene derivatives that have previously been crystallized only in a twisted conformation. These in turn might exhibit better organic semiconducting properties.
The Role of Intelligent Software Agents in Advanced Information Systems

The paper presents an information architecture consisting of the information interface, management and gathering layers. Intelligent active services are discussed for each layer, access scenarios are presented, and the role of knowledge rovers is discussed. Knowledge rovers represent a family of cooperating intelligent agents that may be configured to support enterprise tasks, scenarios, and decision-makers. These rovers play specific roles within an enterprise information architecture, supporting users, maintaining active views, mediating between users and heterogeneous data sources, refining data into knowledge, and roaming the Global Information Infrastructure seeking, locating, negotiating for and retrieving data and knowledge specific to their mission.
Survival versus years of healthy life: which is more powerful as a study outcome?

Abstract Studies of interventions that are intended to improve patients’ health are often evaluated with survival as the primary outcome, even when a measure adjusted for quality of survival, such as years of healthy life (YHL), would seem more appropriate. The purpose of this article is to determine whether studies based on survival are more or less powerful than studies based on YHL in clinical trials where either measure might be appropriate. We used data from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) to estimate the sample size that would be needed in studies of 156 different health conditions, for the two outcome measures. The median sample size for a 5-year study was 687 if survival was the endpoint and 484 for YHL. YHL usually required lower sample sizes than survival, although survival was more powerful for some health conditions. We also found that lengthy studies, and studies with many follow-up measures per person, did not have appreciably higher power than less intensive studies. We conclude that clinical investigations in which the goal is to improve health may often be performed more efficiently with YHL rather than survival as the primary outcome measure. Such studies can be short in duration, with relatively few measures per person of health status. Control Clin Trials 1999;20:267–279
Reconstructing historical snow depth surfaces to evaluate changes in critical demographic rates and habitat components of snow‐dependent and snow‐restricted species

Summary 1. Climate change models consistently predict snow depth declines across the Northern Hemisphere. Snow depth has been linked to the demography of numerous species, and snow depth reduction is expected to affect the demography of some northern species. As many demographic studies depend on long-term population data that extend back beyond available sources of spatially continuous snow depth data, reliable hindcasting of snow depth surface maps is needed. 2. We developed a two-stage regression modelling approach to reconstructing historic snow depths using an existing and readily available spatiotemporal data set of daily meteorological variables across a large, heterogeneous landscape in North America from 1982 to 2003. The final model accounted for ecoregional differences and predicted snow depth as a function of elevation and total snowfall accumulation. 3. Model validations showed that the estimated snow depths were spatially and temporally accurate. 4. We demonstrate how to apply this model with ArcGIS to hindcast monthly and yearly sequences of high-resolution, spatially continuous surfaces of historic snow depths. We also illustrate the utility of the modelled snow depth surfaces for informing predictions of how changes in snow depth may influence the demography and habitats of snow-dependent and snow-restricted species by assessing the spatiotemporal stochasticity of snow conditions that potentially benefit wolverine Gulo gulo and the winter ranges, net energy costs and population growth of mule deer Odocoileus hemionus. 5. This model can be used to hindcast snow depth surfaces across similar regions; our simple two-stage modelling approach can be applied to other regions where equivalent climate data are available. The resulting spatiotemporal snow depth surfaces estimated from this model can be linked to existing long-term wildlife population data sets to investigate the extent to which snow depth declines may regulate or limit populations.
A Study of a Monoglyceride-hydrolyzing Enzyme of Intestinal Mucosa

Abstract An enzyme present in the microsomes of small intestinal mucosa cells was partially purified by a combination of several conventional methods: solubilization with deoxycholate, (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, diethylaminoethyl Sephadex column chromatography, carboxymethyl Sephadex treatment, and finally starch zone electrophoresis. The purified enzyme preparation had a specific activity 300 times that of the starting homogenate. The enzyme showed little if any hydrolytic activity on long chain di- and triglycerides, cholesterol esters, lecithin, and acetylcholine. It hydrolyzed all medium and long chain monoglycerides tested, except monostearin, and a variety of short chain esters including mono-, and di-, triglycerides as well as methyl and ethyl esters. The substrate specificity pattern indicates that this enzyme acts on soluble substrates and might be considered an esterase proper rather than a lipase. However, since this enzyme has been previously referred to as "monoglyceride lipase" together with the fact that the most probable physiological substrates are long chain monoglycerides, this designation might be preferable.
The patient with reactive airways disease.

T HE term "reactive airways disease" is considered to be synonymous with asthma. However, airway reactivity is also increased in allergic rhinitis, bronchitis, emphysema, and respiratory viral infections. The airways of such patients have exaggerated constrictive responses to different physical, chemical, and environmental stimuli. While the asthmatic patients have chronic hyper-reactivity of the airways, patients with upper respiratory tract infection (URI) have acute airway reactivity which may last up to six weeks following the recovery from the initial viral infection) These patients often engender anxiety among even the most experienced anaesthetists because of the possibility of severe bronchospasm in the perioperative period. Indeed, the ASA Closed Claims Study reported that 2% of all respiratory claims were related to bronchospasm and 70% of these claims were for subsequent death: Therefore, it is important to understand the epidemiology, aetiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of the reactive airway diseases.
Symmetries and statistical behavior in fermion systems

Our subject has been spectral distribution and group symmetries though we have been able to refer to only a few papers in each domain. We have stressed that group theory constructions enter in a particularly elegant way when many-body problems are treated via spectral distributions; and by the same token, many-body results shed some new light on problems in group theory.
Application of flow network modeling and CFD to computer system design

This paper describes the air flow design of a computer system using commercially available flow network modeling (FNM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and proposes a new Hybrid approach that combines the best features of both. The basis of the proposed approach lies in the recognition that air flow within different regions of a computer system can be divided into two categories. One category, consisting of regions or subsystems through which the flow direction is well defined (e.g. Channels formed between card arrays, power supplies, an array of disk drives etc.) is well modeled using a flow impedance component in a FNM representation whereas the second type of region where the flow pattern is poorly defined (e.g. Air flow plenums) and highly dependent on the characteristics of adjoining subsystems requires CFD to model adequately. The FNM model of the sample design problem provides quick results and allows many design alternatives to be assessed but at the inevitable cost of oversimplifying the second type of region. The full system CFD model is large in size, requires a large computational time and significant post processing effort to understand the results. These issues are addressed by the Hybrid method whose key attributes and implementation within FNM and CFD codes is described. A CFD model is used to illustrate the proposed approach and demonstrate that, for the specific design problem used here, the method yields good accuracy while achieving 14/spl times/ reduction in model size and 30/spl times/ reduction in simulation time compared to the full CFD model.
Solution of the Vibration Equations

It was shown in the preceding chapter that the application of Newton’s second law to study the motion of physical systems leads to second-order ordinary differential equations. The coefficients of the accelerations, velocities, and displacements in these differential equations represent physical parameters such as inertia, damping, and restoring elastic forces. These coefficients not only have a significant effect on the response of the mechanical and structural systems, but they also affect the stability as well as the speed of response of the system to a given excitation. Changes in these coefficients may result in a stable or unstable system, and/or an oscillatory or nonoscillatory system.