cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Collaborative rationality as a strategy for working with wicked problems

Abstract In this essay we argue that while classical modern planning cannot solve wicked problems, collaborative rationality can successfully move beyond them and develop useful and innovative strategies. We then outline the characteristics of a collaboratively rational planning process, which we have developed on the basis of decades of research and practice and Habermas' concept of communicative rationality. We show how it offers a model for the second generation systems-approach which Rittel and Webber called for. We talk about the practicalities of getting such processes organized and close with commentary of what planner's roles are in them.
Response to strict and liberalized specific carbohydrate diet in pediatric Crohn's disease.

AIM: To investigate the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) as nutritional therapy for maintenance of remission in pediatric Crohn’s disease (CD). METHODS: Retrospective chart review was conducted in 11 pediatric patients with CD who initiated the SCD as therapy at time of diagnosis or flare. Two groups defined as SCD simple (diet alone, antibiotics or 5-ASA) or SCD with immunomodulators (corticosteroids and/or stable thiopurine dosing) were followed for one year and compared on disease characteristics, laboratory values and anthropometrics. RESULTS: The mean age at start of the SCD was 11.8 ± 3.0 years (range 6.6-17.6 years) with five patients starting the SCD within 5 wk of diagnosis. Three patients maintained a strict SCD diet for the study period and the mean time for liberalization was 7.7 ± 4.0 mo (range 1-12) for the remaining patients. In both groups, hematocrit, albumin and ESR values improved while on strict SCD and appeared stable after liberalization (P-value 0.006, 0.002, 0.002 respectively). The majority of children gained in weight and height percentile while on strict SCD, with small loss in weight percentile documented with liberalization. CONCLUSION: Disease control may be attainable with the SCD in pediatric CD. Further studies are needed to assess adherence, impact on mucosal healing and growth.
Toward Extensible Spatio-Temporal Databases: An Approach Based on User-Defined Aggregates

The need for spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal databases is ubiquitous and touches several application domains, including geographical information systems, autonomous navigation, tracking, medical imaging, and many others. To answer this need, database researchers have proposed many approaches that cover a wide spectrum of data models and query languages: a very incomplete list include [7, 15, 3, 11]. The number and variety of alternative solutions proposed reflect the complexity of technical problems and the diversity of applications and requirements encountered in the field, whereby a solution proposed for a certain spatio-temporal application might not satisfy the requirements of another. To solve this problem, we propose an approach whereby the primitives built in the system can be further customized and extended by the end-users via the query language itself —native extensibility— rather than the writing and importation of foreign functions defined in an external procedural language.
Abstract 2318: Discovery and validation of a novel checkpoint target preferentially expressed in the tumor microenvironment

Immunotherapeutic approaches targeting a single immune checkpoint, programmed death ligand 1, have resulted in unprecedented response rates and survival benefit across multiple cancer histologies. The efficacy of PD-1 blockade is augmented when delivered in combination with other immune checkpoints, specifically anti-CTLA-4, despite a significant increase in toxicity. The current challenge is identification of novel immunomodulatory targets with equivalent efficacy to PD1 blockade as monotherapy, and which can be applied in combination with anti-PD1 with a superior therapeutic index. As the majority of autoimmune toxicity occurs in healthy, non-malignant tissue, we developed a novel high throughput RNA screen to identify new immune checkpoint targets preferentially expressed in the tumor microenvironment. Across numerous tumor types including tumors targeted by monoclonal antibodies (Abs), ie rituximab, trastuzumab, among others, the screen reproducibly identified a list of novel targets for immunotherapy which through a secondary screen were refined for cell surface expression. By this approach we selected a novel type II transmembrane glycoprotein (TIITG) with dual function as an ectoenzyme and in signal transduction. Further experiments in-vitro and ex-vivo from tumor biopsies confirmed upregulation of the target on tumor-infiltrating, activated, immune cells including but not limited to innate immune effectors. In-vitro and in-vivo murine models using agonistic antibodies to the TIITG demonstrated (1) augmentation of natural killer cell spontaneous and antibody-dependent cytotoxicity, (2) inhibition of myeloid derived suppressor cell and regulatory T cell function, and (3) enhancement in depth and breadth of the adaptive response including post vaccination. Antagonistic Abs had minimal to no effect on the immune response, while agonistic Abs augmented type 1-cytokines (IFNg and TNFa) and cytotoxic markers, including CD107a, perforin, and granzyme. Surprisingly, in a murine autoimmune toxicity model established with prior immune checkpoint agonists, agonists of the TIITG elicited no apparent adverse effects, autoimmune or otherwise. Finally, human xenograft models support antitumor activity across over a dozen tumor histologies as monotherapy in addition to synergy with anti-PD1. In summary, using a novel screening technique we uncovered promising immune targets for cancer therapy. The first of which, TIITG, has completed lead selection and is being prepared to enter a first-in-human clinical trial. Citation Format: Narendiran Rajasekaran, Amani Makkouk, Russel K. Pachynski, Aruna Azameera, Cariad Chester, Xing Zhao, Atsushi Yonezawa, Holbrook E. Kohrt. Discovery and validation of a novel checkpoint target preferentially expressed in the tumor microenvironment. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2318.
Isolation and in vivo Transfer of Antigen Presenting Cells

As a percentage of total mononuclear cells, an average spleen contains approximately 1–3% myeloid dendritic cells (DCs). In absolute numbers, this translates to approximately 0.6–1.8×106 DCs. To enhance the number of DCs in spleen, mice were injected subcutaneously with cells from a cultured melanoma cell line (B16.Flt3L) which has been engineered to express the fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L) (Mach et al., 2000). This protein is a growth factor homologous to colony stimulating factor-1 and plays a critical role in the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells. Administration of this protein into mice as a purified protein results in the expansion of both CD8αPos and CD8αNeg DC subsets in multiple organs. Similar expansion is also seen in mice that have been implanted with tumor cells overexpressing this protein (Mach et al., 2000). In our experience, up to 60% of the total mononuclear cells in a spleen from a mouse with a palpable B16.Flt3L tumor can be CD11c positive dendritic cells, thereby giving a total yield of up to 5 × 107 DCs per mouse. A schematic illustrating the cell enrichment protocol is included in Figure 1, and representative data on purity of cell populations obtained with this protocol is shown in Figure 2. Figure 1 Scheme of cell enrichment protocol Figure 2 Pre- and post-enrichment analysis of splenic subsets
Constitutional Patriotism and the Right to Privacy: A Comparison of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights

This chapter examines attitudes towards national diversity in one piece of the emerging European constitution-the right to privacy. There is a thick constitutional culture of privacy in Europe. The familiar debate of how to balance the right to privacy against freedom of expression, the market, and public security can be heard in many places: before the Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, in the European Parliament and the European Council, and before Europe's numerous data privacy ombudsmen. And in these places, the less familiar problem of tolerance of diversity within Europe, among Europe's different national communities, also arises. These communities all recognize a private sphere that sometimes deserves to be protected and that sometimes must give way to the demands of others. Yet these same communities also differ in their definition of the private sphere and the circumstances under which this private sphere must be sacrificed for the sake of other values such as freedom of expression. Thus the right to privacy poses squarely the dilemma of constitutional patriotism: can a right that is common to all of Europe nonetheless acknowledge and accommodate national diversity?
Chronic suppurative lung disease in adults

Chronic suppurative lung disease (CSLD), characterized by a bronchiectasis-like syndrome in the absence of bronchial dilatation, is well described in the pediatric literature. In some patients, it may be a precursor of bronchiectasis. In adults, this syndrome has not been well described. We present four adult patients without obvious causative exposures who presented with prolonged cough and purulent sputum. Sputum cultures revealed a variety of Gram negative bacteria, fungi and mycobacteria. High resolution CT scanning did not reveal bronchiectasis. Evaluation revealed underlying causes including immunodeficiency in two, and Mycobacterium avium infection. One patient subsequently developed bronchiectasis. All patients improved with therapy. CSLD occurs in adults and has characteristics that distinguish it from typical chronic bronchitis. These include the lack of causative environmental exposures and infection with unusual pathogens. Evaluation and treatment of these patients similar to bronchiectasis patients may lead to clinical improvement.
More E-Books, Less Print?—What Does Usage Data Tell Us?

As academic libraries transform their buildings to provide more study space, librarians may consider increasing e-book acquisitions as a space saving strategy. However, to what extent a library's e-book collection is used remains a central question. Using two subject collections as examples, this case study analyzes one academic library's usage data for both electronic and print books over a 5-year period (2011–2015) in order to gain insights into usage patterns, trends, user preferences, and behaviors between print and electronic format. Based on the sample data, the study finds that not only was the library's e-books collection substantively used, but also the e-book usage was noticeably higher than print. In fact, there was a gradual shift in user preferences from print to electronic format. In addition, the study shows that newer publications had higher usage regardless of format. In conclusion, the authors recommend expanding e-books acquisition programs and shifting the focus of future collection de...
Intelligent Vision System for ASD Diagnosis and Assessment

ASD diagnose and assessment make use of medical protocol validated by the scientific community that is still reluctant to new protocols introducing invasive technologies, as robots or wearable devices, whose influence on the theraphy has not been deeply investigated. This work attempts to undertake the difficult challenge of embedding a technological level into the standardized ASD protocol known as Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2). An intelligent video system is introduced to compute, in an objective and automatic way, the evaluation scores for some of the tasks involved in the protocol. It make use of a hidden RGB-D device for scene acquisition the data of which feed a cascade of algorithmic steps by which people and objects are detected and temporally tracked and then extracted information is exploited by fitting a spatial and temporal model described by means of an ontology approach. The ontology metadata are finally processed to find a mapping between them and the behavioral tasks described in the protocol.
A socio-cognitive strategy to address farmers' tolerance of high risk work: Disrupting the effects of apprenticeship of observation.

Abstract Introduction Why do generations of farmers tolerate the high-risk work of agricultural work and resist safe farm practices? This study presents an analysis inspired by empirical data from studies conducted from 1993 to 2012 on the differing effects of farm safety interventions between participants who live or work on farms and those who don't, when both were learning to be farm safety advocates. Both groups show statistically significant gains in knowledge and behavioral change proxy measures. However, non-farm participants' gains consistently outstripped their live/work farm counterparts. Method Drawing on socio-cultural perspectives, a grounded theory qualitative analysis focused on identifying useful constructs to understand the farmers' resistance to adopt safety practices. Findings Understanding apprenticeships of observation and its relation to experiential learning over time can expose sources of deeply anchored beliefs and how they operate insidiously to promote familiar, albeit unsafe farming practices. The challenge for intervention-prevention programs becomes how to disrupt what has been learned during these apprenticeships of observation and to address what has been obscured during this powerful socialization process. Practical applications Implications focus on the design and implementation of farm safety prevention and education programs. First, farm safety advocates and prevention researchers need to attend to demographics and explicitly explore the prior experiences and background of safety program participants. Second, farm youth in particular need to explore, explicitly, their own apprenticeships of observations, preferably through the use of new social media and or digital forms of expression, resulting in a story repair process. Third, careful study of the organization of work and farm experiences and practices need to provide the foundations for intervention programs. Finally, it is crucial that farm safety programs understand apprenticeships of observation are generational and ongoing over time, and interventions prevention programs need to be ‘in it’ for the long haul.
Evaluating the Temporal Location of Feedback: Providing Feedback Following Performance vs. Prior to Performance

ABSTRACTIn order to make feedback as effective as possible, it is important to understand its function in the three-term contingency (TTC) and the impact of various factors involved in delivering feedback. Timing of feedback is one factor that can affect the impact of feedback on learner’s behavior. An analysis of timing of feeback may help us getting closer to better understanding how feedback functions in the TTC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of feedback at different temporal locations. Specifically, feedback was provided either immediately (a) after a teaching session or (b) before the following teaching session, on teaching performance of undergraduate psychology students. The results indicated that feedback provided before the teaching session was more effective in improving teaching skills than feedback that was provided after the session. These findings suggest that feedback may function primarily as an antecedent to future performance and not necessarily as a consequence f...
Spillway Design for Pacific Northwest Projects

Design criteria and characteristics for spillways in five Pacific Northwest Projects which include Chief Joseph, McNary, The Dalles, Detroit, and Cougar dams; spillway crests for Chief Joseph and The Dalles are underdesigned to 75% of maximum heads; model studies were used extensively in design of four of five spillways described.
Plasticine: A Reconfigurable Architecture For Parallel Paterns

Reconfigurable architectures have gained popularity in recent years as they allow the design of energy-efficient accelerators. Fine-grain fabrics (e.g. FPGAs) have traditionally suffered from performance and power inefficiencies due to bit-level reconfigurable abstractions. Both fine-grain and coarse-grain architectures (e.g. CGRAs) traditionally require low level programming and suffer from long compilation times. We address both challenges with Plasticine, a new spatially reconfigurable architecture designed to efficiently execute applications composed of parallel patterns. Parallel patterns have emerged from recent research on parallel programming as powerful, high-level abstractions that can elegantly capture data locality, memory access patterns, and parallelism across a wide range of dense and sparse applications.We motivate Plasticine by first observing key application characteristics captured by parallel patterns that are amenable to hardware acceleration, such as hierarchical parallelism, data locality, memory access patterns, and control flow. Based on these observations, we architect Plasticine as a collection of Pattern Compute Units and Pattern Memory Units. Pattern Compute Units are multi-stage pipelines of reconfigurable SIMD functional units that can efficiently execute nested patterns. Data locality is exploited in Pattern Memory Units using banked scratchpad memories and configurable address decoders. Multiple on-chip address generators and scatter-gather engines make efficient use of DRAM bandwidth by supporting a large number of outstanding memory requests, memory coalescing, and burst mode for dense accesses. Plasticine has an area footprint of 113 mm2 in a 28nm process, and consumes a maximum power of 49 W at a 1 GHz clock. Using a cycle-accurate simulator, we demonstrate that Plasticine provides an improvement of up to 76.9x in performance-per-Watt over a conventional FPGA over a wide range of dense and sparse applications.
Descriptive analysis of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest-An ELSO registry study

Abstract Aim Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) is an emerging therapy for refractory cardiac arrest. The purpose of this study was to analyze and report characteristics and outcomes of adult patients treated with ECPR after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in a large international registry. Methods The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization’s Extracorporeal Life Support Registry was queried for adult cardiac arrests with arrest location of “EMT Transport” or “Outside Hospital.” Results From 2010–2016, 217 cases of ECPR following OHCA were reported in Europe (47%), Asia-Pacific (29%), and North America (24%). The median age was 52 years (IQR 45–62, range 18–87); 73% were male. The median duration of ECPR was 47 h (IQR 17–94, range 0–711). Reported complications included hemorrhage (31.3%), limb complications (11.1%), circuit complications (8.8%), infection (7.4%), and seizures (5.5%). The rate of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was higher in Europe (35.6%) and Asia-Pacific (25.8%) than North America (9.4%; p Conclusion This international analysis of ECPR for refractory OHCA reveals a survival rate of 27.6%, demonstrates association of male gender with mortality, and highlights regional differences in PCI utilization. These results will help inform implementation and research of this potentially life-saving strategy for refractory OHCA.
Left caudal middle frontal gray matter volume mediates the effect of age on self-initiated elaborative encoding strategies

Aging is associated with decreased self-initiated use of effective elaborative encoding strategies. Little is currently known regarding what factors drive age differences in self-initiated encoding strategies. The present research investigated whether age differences in prefrontal gray matter integrity contribute to age differences in self-initiated elaborative encoding strategies. The relationships between age, prefrontal regional gray matter volumes, and overall use of self-initiated elaborative encoding strategies were examined in healthy younger and older adults. Gray matter volume was calculated from structural MRI scans using Freesurfer. Encoding strategy use was assessed by retrospective item-by-item strategy self-reports given after a verbal intentional encoding task. Left caudal middle frontal gray matter volume mediated the effect of age on overall self-initiated use of elaborative encoding strategies. This suggests that age-associated declines in prefrontal gray matter integrity significantly contribute to age-associated declines in effective encoding strategies.
Empirical examination of the theory of disaster marathon: A case study of the local television coverage following the 2014 Ludian, China earthquake

Disaster marathon was proposed by media communication scholars to differentiate the genre of disaster television broadcasting from media events. However, its theoretical framework is limited by its...
Changing Energy Prices and State Revenue

There has been much discussion in recent years about the relationship between changing energy prices and state economic development. The affect of rising energy prices on shifts of income, employment and firms from energy deficit to energy surplus states has been debated in the literature. This chapter focuses upon state revenue changes among energy surplus and deficit states over the period 1967–80. It is found that revenues are sensitive to the type of fuel which comprises a state’s energy balance.
The Hyperbolic Plane

The last chapter showed us what we can say if we assume the first four postulates of Euclid while maintaining a neutral attitude toward the fifth postulate. There are two possibilities: the Euclidean case, where every triangle is Euclidean, and the hyperbolic case, where every triangle has a positive angular defect. In this chapter, we consider properties of the plane in the latter case.
Global Neurology: Navigating Career Possibilities

Neurology has not typically been associated with international relief work; however, with the growth of chronic cardiovascular disease and stroke associated with unhealthy eating and sedentary ways, the appearance of “new” neurologic diseases, such as the Zika and West Nile viruses, and the high numbers of seizure disorders resulting from neuroinfectious diseases, more opportunities are arising for international and globally oriented neurologists. Multiple opportunities exist for developing a global clinician–educator career pathway, including private institutions, nongovernmental organizations, government-funded opportunities such as Medical Education Partnership Initiative, Fogarty and Fulbright Scholarships, and the American Academy of Neurology's Global Health Section. Furthermore, increasing research capacity in developing countries and increased funding opportunities for global health research have led to new opportunities for neurologists to establish global health research careers. These opportunities could not have come at a better time, as many faculty members have noted a particularly strong interest in global neurology from medical students and residents. Career categories and opportunities for neurologists desiring to work globally are discussed along with the emerging “global neurologist” academic pathway.
A multiobjective Bayesian networks approach for joint prediction of tumor local control and radiation pneumonitis in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for response-adapted radiotherapy.

Purpose Individualization of therapeutic outcomes in NSCLC radiotherapy is likely to be compromised by the lack of proper balance of biophysical factors affecting both tumor local control (LC) and side effects such as radiation pneumonitis (RP), which are likely to be intertwined. Here, we compare the performance of separate and joint outcomes predictions for response-adapted personalized treatment planning. Methods A total of 118 NSCLC patients treated on prospective protocols with 32 cases of local progression and 20 cases of RP grade 2 or higher (RP2) were studied. Sixty-eight patients with 297 features before and during radiotherapy were used for discovery and 50 patients were reserved for independent testing. A multiobjective Bayesian network (MO-BN) approach was developed to identify important features for joint LC/RP2 prediction using extended Markov blankets as inputs to develop a BN predictive structure. Cross-validation (CV) was used to guide the MO-BN structure learning. Area under the free-response receiver operating characteristic (AU-FROC) curve was used to evaluate joint prediction performance. Results Important features including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), micro RNAs, pretreatment cytokines, pretreatment PET radiomics together with lung and tumor gEUDs were selected and their biophysical inter-relationships with radiation outcomes (LC and RP2) were identified in a pretreatment MO-BN. The joint LC/RP2 prediction yielded an AU-FROC of 0.80 (95% CI: 0.70-0.86) upon internal CV. This improved to 0.85 (0.75-0.91) with additional two SNPs, changes in one cytokine and two radiomics PET image features through the course of radiotherapy in a during-treatment MO-BN. This MO-BN model outperformed combined single-objective Bayesian networks (SO-BNs) during-treatment [0.78 (0.67-0.84)]. AU-FROC values in the evaluation of the MO-BN and individual SO-BNs on the testing dataset were 0.77 and 0.68 for pretreatment, and 0.79 and 0.71 for during-treatment, respectively. Conclusions MO-BNs can reveal possible biophysical cross-talks between competing radiotherapy clinical endpoints. The prediction is improved by providing additional during-treatment information. The developed MO-BNs can be an important component of decision support systems for personalized response-adapted radiotherapy.
Projective Personality Assessment of Anxiety: A Critical Appraisal

Projective personality assessment is widely considered a major method of evaluation for numerous psychological conditions. Anxiety remains a central feature of the psychodynamic model. This chapter provides a critical appraisal of projective methods of assessment. The existing data on reliability and validity for projective measures does not generally support the use of projective methods for assessing and treatment planning for anxiety disorders.
Electrical stimulation inactivates muscle acetyl-CoA carboxylase and increases AMP-activated protein kinase

Muscle malonyl-CoA decreases during exercise or electrical stimulation, the exercise-induced decline being accompanied by changes in the kinetic properties [maximal velocity (Vmax), activation cons...
Why good government matters

In this relatively short (225 pages) but very ambitious book, the Swedish political scientist Bo Rothstein begins with a somewhat abstract, formalist criterion of “quality of government” (or QoG, as he calls it) and proceeds to describe the many implications and important results—both theoretical and practical—of accepting this criterion of QoG. Readers of this journal may be especially interested in Rothstein’s book because corruption is one of the most serious factors that undermine QoG. Rothstein’s theory of good governance helps to illuminate what corruption is, how pervasive are the harms it generates, and why it is so difficult to prevent or eradicate. But Rothstein goes further in an attempt to show how quality of government affects levels of trust within societies and how levels of trust determine whether countries are or are not capable of supporting welfare state institutions that have the potential to provide significant benefits to their citizens. In developing his views, Rothstein employs a wide array of research methods and strives to meet high standards of methodological rigor. Among the various social science methods he employs are large scale correlation studies, scenario experiments, historical case studies, and game theory. For value and conceptual questions, he draws on and responds to the theories and arguments of political philosophers. Because the book contains discussions of so many important topics, I cannot do justice to it by attempting a crude overview. Instead, I will briefly describe the main focus of each chapter. In Chapter 1, Rothstein presents his criterion for determining the quality of government (QoG). His basic idea is that the level of quality of a government is determined by the extent to which its officials implement laws and policies in an impartial way. Impartiality is the central value. By implementing laws and policies impartially, governments avoid cronyism, nepotism, and other corrupt practices that channel valuable resources and special treatment toward favored individuals or groups. The ideal of the “rule of law” is one aspect of this impartiality. Crime Law Soc Change (2013) 60:107–114 DOI 10.1007/s10611-013-9438-x
Information flow containment: a practical basis for malware defense

Security threats have escalated rapidly in the past decade. “Zero-day attacks,” delivered via web pages, pictures or documents, have become significant threats. Malware is rampant, being installed using phishing, software vulnerability exploits, and software downloads. With the emergence of a lucrative black market in cyber crime, even ordinary users are becoming targets of sophisticated malware attacks.
Orthoplastic extremity reconstruction – From replantation to transplantation

For more than a half century, the use of the operating microscope for extremity surgery has led to remarkable advances in the management of orthopaedic trauma, tumours, infections and congenital differences. The microsurgical reconstructive ladder ascends from basic microsurgical procedures such as digital artery or nerve repair, to more complex procedures such as autologous tissue transplantation (free tissue transfer). Tissue transfers have also become more sophisticated with the evolution from simple myocutaneous flaps to perforator-based flaps. Functional muscle transfers, toe-to-hand transfers, and recently vascularised composite allotransplantation make up the highest rungs on this ladder. The development of the orthoplastic approach simultaneously integrates principles and practices of both orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery for optimal care of extremities based heavily on the application of microsurgical techniques. We will describe our contributions and innovations in orthopaedic clinical practice using microsurgical techniques as well as highlight our clinical, anatomic and basic science research in reconstructive microsurgery that have led to improvements in limb salvage, reconstruction and restoration during the last 25 years.
Subsampling variance for input uncertainty quantification

In stochastic simulation, input uncertainty refers to the output variability arising from the statistical noise in specifying the input models. This uncertainty can be measured by a variance contribution in the output, which is estimated commonly via the bootstrap. However, due to the convolution of the simulation noise and the input noise, the computation effort required in the existing bootstrap schemes are typically substantial. This paper investigates a subsampling framework as a computation saver. We demonstrate the strengths of our subsampled bootstrap in terms of theoretical computation requirements, and substantiate them with numerical illustrations.
Error Correction in Transient Electromagnetic Field Measurements Using Deconvolution Techniques

It is difficult to make an accurate transient measurement on electromagnetic pulses in the pico-second domain because of the limitations of measurement components. In this paper, we present a two-step deconvolution routine to compensate for the measurement distortions in our short electromagnetic pulse (EMP) exposure facility for studying biological effects. As depicted in Figure 1, the facility mainly consists of a pulse generator and a GTEM cell. The measurement system includes a Tektronix SCD 5000 transient digitizer (4.5 GHz bandwidth), connection cables, and two Asymptotic Conical Dipole (ACD) D-dot (dD/dt) sensors: ACD-1(A), which is mounted on the top ground wall of the cell and utilized for real time monitoring during exposures, and ACD-1(R), which is used to map the field on the bottom ground wall of the cell where the specimens are placed.
Clarifying the diagnosis of post-inflammatory pulmonary fibrosis: a population-based study.

Patients with post-inflammatory pulmonary fibrosis were found to be a heterogeneous population, and the vast majority did not have IPF or any form of interstitial lung diseasehttp://bit.ly/2wcqepC
The joint effects of obesity and pregestational diabetes on the risk of stillbirth.

Objective: Obesity and pregestational diabetes (PGDM) may interact to further increase the risk of stillbirth than either risk factors independently. The objective of this study was to determine th...
Haemodynamic responses to simulated long working hours in different age groups.

Objectives This study aimed to clarify haemodynamic responses of different age groups to simulated long working hours. Methods Men of three age groups participated in this study (16 in their 30s (mean 33.9±2.7 years old), 15 in their 40s (45.5±2.9) and 16 in their 50s (54.1±2.7)). All participants conducted 12 45-min personal computer-based tasks from 09:00 to 22:00. Nine 10-min to 15-min breaks between task periods, a 1-hour break at noon, and a 50-min break in the evening were provided. Haemodynamic responses were measured during task periods. All participants had normal resting systolic blood pressure (SBP Results No haemodynamic indices were significantly different among groups at baseline. Compared with baseline, SBP was almost unchanged for the 30s group but increased for the 40s and 50s groups during task periods. The 50s group showed higher SBP compared with the 30s group especially in the latter half of the working hours (p Conclusion The 50s group showed higher SBP and TPR responses than the 30s group, especially in the latter half of working hours. These results suggest that older workers might suffer more cardiovascular damage related to long working hours.
Clostridium Difficile: Reducing Infections Using an Evidence-Based Practice Initiative.

Background Nosocomial Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections are adverse incidents that affect immunocompromised hospitalized patients. High-touch surface areas within the patient's environment are frequently overlooked and are a source of microscopic bacterial transmission. Objectives This article examines whether the use of a standardized protocol for cleaning high-touch surface areas would reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired C. difficile infection. Methods The initiative targeted five high-touch surfaces, and nurses were educated about these findings. Baseline data on the C. difficile infection rate was collected from four specialty medical-surgical oncology units. A pilot period of the Five by Five initiative evaluated C. difficile infection rates after staff cleaning of these high-touch surfaces. Findings This initiative accounted for a statistically significant reduction in C. difficile infections. The use of a standardized cleaning initiative was effective in reducing C. difficile infections. Nursing staff perceived that the education was easy to remember and supported efficient implementation.
Formation and hydrolysis of gas‐phase [UO2(R)]+: R═CH3, CH2CH3, CH═CH2, and C6H5

The goals of the present study were (a) to create positively charged organo-uranyl complexes with general formula [UO2 (R)]+ (eg, R═CH3 and CH2 CH3 ) by decarboxylation of [UO2 (O2 C─R)]+ precursors and (b) to identify the pathways by which the complexes, if formed, dissociate by collisional activation or otherwise react when exposed to gas-phase H2 O. Collision-induced dissociation (CID) of both [UO2 (O2 C─CH3 )]+ and [UO2 (O2 C─CH2 CH3 )]+ causes H+ transfer and elimination of a ketene to leave [UO2 (OH)]+ . However, CID of the alkoxides [UO2 (OCH2 CH3 )]+ and [UO2 (OCH2 CH2 CH3 )]+ produced [UO2 (CH3 )]+ and [UO2 (CH2 CH3 )]+ , respectively. Isolation of [UO2 (CH3 )]+ and [UO2 (CH2 CH3 )]+ for reaction with H2 O caused formation of [UO2 (H2 O)]+ by elimination of ·CH3 and ·CH2 CH3 : Hydrolysis was not observed. CID of the acrylate and benzoate versions of the complexes, [UO2 (O2 C─CH═CH2 )]+ and [UO2 (O2 C─C6 H5 )]+ , caused decarboxylation to leave [UO2 (CH═CH2 )]+ and [UO2 (C6 H5 )]+ , respectively. These organometallic species do react with H2 O to produce [UO2 (OH)]+ , and loss of the respective radicals to leave [UO2 (H2 O)]+ was not detected. Density functional theory calculations suggest that formation of [UO2 (OH)]+ , rather than the hydrated UV O2+ , cation is energetically favored regardless of the precursor ion. However, for the [UO2 (CH3 )]+ and [UO2 (CH2 CH3 )]+ precursors, the transition state energy for proton transfer to generate [UO2 (OH)]+ and the associated neutral alkanes is higher than the path involving direct elimination of the organic neutral to form [UO2 (H2 O)]+ . The situation is reversed for the [UO2 (CH═CH2 )]+ and [UO2 (C6 H5 )]+ precursors: The transition state for proton transfer is lower than the energy required for creation of [UO2 (H2 O)]+ by elimination of CH═CH2 or C6 H5 radical.
A case of multiple aggressive osseous hemangiomas on bone scan.

Abstract A 49-year-old male with worsening back and right leg pain was referred for bone scan imaging. Bone scan demonstrated multifocal expansile osteoblastic bony lesions, atypical for benign osseous hemangiomas, which are commonly cold on bone scan. Multisite bone biopsies were compatible with the diagnosis of multifocal osseous hemangiomas. This case illustrates that aggressive osseous hemangiomas, a rare subtype of hemangiomas, may have variable osteoblastic activity on bone scan, ranging from mild to severe uptake.
Trends in Research Techniques of Prognostics for Gas Turbines and Diesel Engines

Research techniques of prognostics for gas turbines and diesel engines have advanced in recent years. An analysis of trends in these techniques would benefit researchers assessing growth in the field and planning future research efforts. Prognostics research techniques were identified in 1,734 published papers dated 1997-2016 from both the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society and papers identified by CiteSeerx that were published at venues other than the PHM Society. In order to categorize papers by research technique, a taxonomy of prognostics was created. Additionally, the papers were categorized into two topics: gas turbines and diesel engines. In a large proportion of papers, trends in research techniques of prognostics for gas turbines and diesel engines reflected improvements in the speed of multi-core computer processors, the development of optimized learning methods, and the availability of large training sets. The variety of prognostics research techniques that were identified in this review demonstrated the growth in prognostics research and increased use of this knowledge in the field. This systematic analysis of trends in research techniques of prognostics for gas turbines and diesel engines is useful to assess growth and utilization of knowledge in the larger field, and to provide a rationale (i.e., strategy, basis, structure) for planning the most effective use of limited research resources and funding.
Application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and left ventricular assist device in fulminant myocarditis

Fulminant myocarditis is a myocarditis of acute hemodynamic disorder as the main performance, with rapid progression and high mortality.There is no specific medicine for this disease currently, which is treated with symptomatic and supportive therapy in general.The application of mechanical support is an effective measure for the treatment of acute fulminant myocarditis in recent years.In this article, we made a review on the application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and left ventricular assist device in fulminant myocarditis at present. Key words: Fulminant myocarditis; Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; Left ventricular assist device
A Study of the Correlation between Enhanced LHR, VLF Turbulences and Earthquakes

Lower Hybrid Resonance (LHR) frequency in the ionosphere is influenced by the plasma density and the temperature. Variations in the same two governing factors are indicators of earthquakes. Hence, observing the variations of LHR is important as an indirect precursor of earthquakes. At the same time some correlations were observed with the earthquakes and ionospheric Very Low Frequency (VLF) turbulences. In this work we analyze data collected by the Radio Receiver Instrument (RRI) on the enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e-POP) for LHR and VLF turbulences and compare our records with the United States Earthquake database.
Coupling the in vivo performance to the in vitro characterization of PLGA microparticles.

Abstract The main objective of the study was to determine if rodent housing conditions, specifically housing climate, could impact the in vivo performance of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres through temperature modification of the subcutaneous space. Vivitrol®, a once monthly naltrexone injectable suspension, was chosen as a model PLGA microparticle formulation for this study. Two lots of Vivitrol were used to ascertain any potential differences that may exist between the batches and if in vitro characterization techniques could delineate any variation(s). The pharmacokinetics of the naltrexone-PLGA microparticles were determined in the rodent model under two different housing climates (20 vs. 25 °C). The results demonstrate that such difference in housing temperature resulted in a change in subcutaneous temperature but actually within a narrow range (36.31–36.77 °C) and thus minimally influenced the in vivo performance of subcutaneously injected microparticles. The shake-flask method was used to characterize the in vitro release at 35, 36, and 37 °C and demonstrated significant differences in the in vitro release profiles across this range of temperatures. Minimal differences in the in vitro characterization of the two lots were found. While these results did not provide statistical significance, the local in vivo temperature may be a parameter that should be considered when evaluating microparticle performance. The IVIVCs demonstrate that in vitro release at 37 °C may not accurately represent the in vivo conditions (i.e., subcutaneous space in rodents), and in certain instances lower in vitro release temperatures may more accurately represent the in vivo microenvironment and provide better correlations. Future studies will determine the extent temperature and specifically co-housing, may have on the relative impact of the in vivo performance of injectable polymeric microparticles based upon the significant differences observed in the in vitro release profiles across the range of 35–37 °C.
Uncertainty Reduction for Model Error Detection in Multiphase Shock Tube Simulation

Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is an important step in the verification and validation of scientific computing. Validation can be inconclusive when uncertainties are larger than acceptable ranges for both simulation and experiment. Therefore, uncertainty reduction (UR) is important to achieve meaningful validation. A unique approach in this paper is to separate model error from uncertainty such that UR can reveal the model error. This paper aims to share lessons learned from UQ and UR of a horizontal shock tube simulation, whose goal is to validate the particle drag force model for the compressible multiphase flow. First, simulation UQ revealed the inconsistency in simulation predictions due to the numerical flux scheme, which was clearly shown using the parametric design of experiments. By improving the numerical flux scheme, the uncertainty due to inconsistency was removed, while increasing the overall prediction error. Second, the mismatch between the geometry of the experiments and the simplified 1D simulation model was identified as a lack of knowledge. After modifying simulation conditions and experiments, it turned out that the error due to the mismatch was small, which was unexpected based on expert opinions. Last, the uncertainty in the initial volume fraction of particles was reduced based on rigorous UQ. All these UR measures worked together to reveal the hidden modeling error in the simulation predictions, which can lead to a model improvement in the future. We summarized the lessons learned from this exercise in terms of empty success, useful failure, and deceptive success.
No Shame, No Blame: The Art of Talking With Breastfeeding Mothers.

Think back for a minute to your first week of clinical training. Your patient load is overwhelming. You are constantly getting interrupted to answer questions. It is hard to even think straight. Midway into the first overnight, your visions of being the perfect doctor morph into “Just don’t let me kill anyone!” prayers. During rounds, you report hundreds of details only to have others highlighting things you missed. You feel deflated. Defeated. Breastfeeding initiation leaves some mothers feeling the same way. A mother’s ideals for breastfeeding the imagined infant often differ from her experience feeding the real infant. Bumps in the road are encountered. Setbacks happen. This is where support should kick in. But when we use words to encourage, instruct, or advise, we need to choose them well. Words can do harm. In my nursery work over the past 25 years, I have found the following approaches helpful. There is a subtle but important difference between “Could you get her to latch?” and “Was she able to latch?” The first question assesses the mother’s ability. The second assesses the infant. Even if the problem is a maternal one, the focus can still be on helping the infant do better. Examples of mother-oriented and infant-oriented language are presented in Table 1. View this table: TABLE 1 A Comparison of Mother- and Infant-Oriented Language A critique of the mother’s positioning (which she may not know how to change) or a negative assessment of her anatomy (which she cannot change) can erode the mother’s confidence in her own abilities. Lack of maternal confidence contributes to early cessation of breastfeeding, so our words should be identifying strengths, offering solutions, and celebrating successes rather …
How Will Rebalancing Demand Change Production in the Asia Pacific

Rebalancing expenditures among and within surplus and deficit countries has emerged as a key global policy priority. This paper examines the implications of rebalancing expenditure categories in 10 Asia Pacific economies for the structure of production. An aggressive rebalancing scenario is constructed (based on 2007 current account data, since more recent imbalances are smaller) and its detailed production implications are analyzed using a large international input-output system. The changes associated with eliminating excessive international imbalances are found to be modest relative to major expenditure categories in the Asia Pacific. Moreover, significant overlaps in the production induced by different types of expenditures dampen the output effects of shifts among them. This does not mean that rebalancing will be easy to accomplish - spending reallocations are politically difficult - but the need to "reinvent" Asia's growth model appears to be overstated.
A new species of Allopathes (Cnidaria: Antipatharia) from the eastern Atlantic

A new species of antipatharian coral, Allopathes denhartogi, is described from the eastern Atlantic. The species is distinguished from the two other species in the genus by spines that are larger, less dense and not arranged in verticils. Furthermore, the colony appears to reach a smaller size and has relatively fewer ramifications compared to the other species.