cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Imprint Control of BaTiO3 Thin Films via Chemically Induced Surface Polarization Pinning

Surface-adsorbed polar molecules can significantly alter the ferroelectric properties of oxide thin films. Thus, fundamental understanding and controlling the effect of surface adsorbates are crucial for the implementation of ferroelectric thin film devices, such as ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Herein, we report an imprint control of BaTiO3 (BTO) thin films by chemically induced surface polarization pinning in the top few atomic layers of the water-exposed BTO films. Our studies based on synchrotron X-ray scattering and coherent Bragg rod analysis demonstrate that the chemically induced surface polarization is not switchable but reduces the polarization imprint and improves the bistability of ferroelectric phase in BTO tunnel junctions. We conclude that the chemical treatment of ferroelectric thin films with polar molecules may serve as a simple yet powerful strategy to enhance functional properties of ferroelectric tunnel junctions for their practical applications.
Romantic relationship involvement as a minority stress buffer in gay/lesbian versus bisexual individuals

ABSTRACTThis study examined romantic relationship involvement as a moderator of the associations between discrimination/victimization and depression/anxiety in gay/lesbian versus bisexual individuals. Data from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions were used. Analyses were conducted separately for gay/lesbian versus bisexual individuals (N = 577 lesbian, gay, or bisexual individuals). For gay/lesbian individuals, the only significant association was a positive association between discrimination and anxiety. For bisexual individuals, there were significant positive associations between discrimination and depression/anxiety for those who were single, but not those who were partnered. There was also a significant association between victimization and anxiety, but this association was not moderated by relationship involvement. Findings provide partial support for relationship involvement as protective for bisexual individuals. Promoting the benefits of relationships may...
Kimball Young on Founders of the Chicago School

Editors' Introduction: In 1968, former president of the American Sociological Association Kimball Young (1893–1972) gave a seminar at Arizona State University that was attended by both editors. The...
Biology in Germany Today

The Introduction points out that Germany lost its preeminent position in biology after World War I. Now, for training in the newer fields of the past twenty years (modern genetics, microbiology, virology, etc.) young men must be sent abroad-and many of them do not return because there are not enough institutions with appropriate facilities and acceptable positions. Even the traditional fields are being continually depleted by the emigration of trained personnel. The Memorandum, then, addresses itself to the question of what can be done to improve the situation.
EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO TEMPERATURE II. THERMAL NICHES OF EXPERIMENTAL LINES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI.

Groups of replicated lines of the bacterium Escherichia coli were propagated for 2,000 generations at constant 32, 37, or 42°C, or in an environment that alternated between 32 and 42°C. Here, we examine the performance of each group across a temperature range of 12-44°C measuring the temperatures over which each line can maintain itself in serial dilution culture (the thermal niche). Thermal niche was not affected by selection history: average lower and upper limits remained about 19 and 42°C for all groups. In addition, no significant differences among groups were observed in rate of extinction at more extreme temperatures. Within the thermal niche, we measured the mean fitness of the evolved groups relative to their common ancestor. Increases in mean fitness were temperature specific, with the largest increase for each group occurring near its selected temperature. Thus, the temperature at which mean fitness relative to the ancestor was greatest (the thermal optimum) diverged by about 10°C for the groups selected at constant 32°C versus constant 42°C. Tradeoffs in relative fitness (decrements relative to the ancestor elsewhere within the thermal niche) did not necessarily accompany fitness improvements, although tradeoffs were observed for a few of the lines. We conclude that adaptation in this system was quite temperature specific, but substantial divergence among groups in thermal optima had little effect on the limits of their thermal niches and did not necessarily involve tradeoffs in fitness at other temperatures.
Translating Dyslexia Across Species

Direct relationships between induced mutation in the DCDC2 candidate dyslexia susceptibility gene in mice and changes in behavioral measures of visual spatial learning have been reported. We were interested in determining whether performance on a visual-spatial learning and memory task could be translated across species (study 1) and whether children with reading impairment showed a similar impairment to animal models of the disorder (study 2). Study 1 included 37 participants who completed six trials of four different virtual Hebb-Williams maze configurations. A 2 × 4 × 6 mixed factorial repeated measures ANOVA indicated consistency in performance between humans and mice on these tasks, enabling us to translate across species. Study 2 included a total of 91 participants (age range = 8-13 years). Eighteen participants were identified with reading disorder by performance on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Participants completed six trials of five separate virtual Hebb-Williams maze configurations. A 2 × 5 × 6 mixed factorial ANCOVA (gender as covariate) indicated that individuals with reading impairment demonstrated impaired visuo-spatial performance on this task. Overall, results from this study suggest that we are able to translate behavioral deficits observed in genetic animal models of dyslexia to humans with reading impairment. Future studies will utilize the virtual environment to further explore the underlying basis for this impairment.
Economic Evaluation Method for ID Fan Driven Mode Selection

Considering the unit heat consumption and power generation amount,the paper compared the 2 ID configuration schemes(driven by electromotor and steam turbine)for payback terms of investment and sensitivity analysis by means of conventional common economical evaluation.Therefore,it can offer economic criterion for rational selection of ID fan driven modes.The economic evaluation method can also be applied to comparison of homogeneous equipment.
Assessing Model for Dynamic Risk of Natural Disasters Based on Multi-Agent System

This paper discusses Multi-Agent System(MAS) as a new method of assessing natural hazard dynamic risk.The difference from the static risk assessment model is risk assessment model based on multi-agent focus on the relationship among the elements in the multi-risk scenario.From bottom to top,by simulating the state change of disaster system,MAS assesses the hazard risk dynamically.In this paper,using the theory of MAS,an overall model was designed and a structure of the key agent in the hazard risk system was built.Finally,the advantages of model based on multi-agent applying to hazard risk assessment were discussed.
Vitamin D deficiency and osteomalacia in the elderly.

Unless the physician is alert to the fact that vitamin D deficiency is not rare among the elderly, it will most likely remain unrecognized. The condition is so much more common among the aged than is generally believed, is so readily identified, and is so easily treated that it should be routinely considered in all older patients with vague complaints of pain and weakness.
Predicting Peptide-MHC Binding Affinities with Imputed Training Data

Predicting the binding affinity between MHC proteins and their peptide ligands is a key problem in computational immunology. State of the art performance is currently achieved by the allele-specific predictor NetMHC and the pan-allele predictor NetMHCpan, both of which are ensembles of shallow neural networks. We explore an intermediate between allele-specific and pan-allele prediction: training allele-specific predictors with synthetic samples generated by imputation of the peptide-MHC affinity matrix. We find that the imputation strategy is useful on alleles with very little training data. We have implemented our predictor as an open-source software package called MHCflurry and show that MHCflurry achieves competitive performance to NetMHC and NetMHCpan.
The policing of domestic violence in rural and urban areas: The voices of battered women in Kentucky

Two main lacunae in the literature on domestic violence and its policing set the stage for our research. The first is the absence of the “voices of women” and the publication of their opinions and perceptions of police performance at domestic disputes. The second is the failure to address rural domestic violence and its policing. Using ethnographic research as a starting point, we formulate two propositions that guide the current research project. This project involved conducting 510 structured interviews with a random sample of battered women residing in spouse abuse shelters in Kentucky. Findings indicate that when battered women present visible injuries to police officers, rural and urban women report few differences in the immediate provision of police services such as transporting women to shelters and arresting the abuser. In terms of rating police handling of domestics in their areas, urban battered women consistently evaluate police more highly. Finally, both urban and rural women rate the overall...
Protolith carbon isotope ratios in cordierite from metamorphic and igneous rocks

Cordierite commonly contains H 2 O and CO 2 in the channels formed by its ring structure. In many studies cordierite has been shown to have volatile contents and carbon isotope ratios consistent with high-temperature equilibrium, suggesting preservation of protolith carbon isotope ratios and motivating this survey of carbon isotopes in cordierite CO 2 . Cordierite CO 2 from pelitic country rocks in the Etive aureole have δ 13 C values of −20.70 ± 1.27‰ (n = 10) that are unaffected by a ca. 150°C thermal gradient and fluid-saturated and undersaturated regimes. These δ 13 C values are consistent with expected carbon isotope ratios of organic carbon in protolith sediments. Similar lithologies from the Cooma and Huntly aureoles show more variable behavior in a more limited data set, with some rocks preserving organic carbon δ 13 C values and others that may have been affected by externally derived fluids. In cordierite-gedrite gneisses, carbon isotopes of cordierite (Crd) are distinct from those of cordierite in pelites; when excluding one outlier new data plus those from the literature average δ 13 C(Crd) = −12.51 ± 2.45‰ (n = 17). These isotope ratios are higher than those of cordierite in typical metasedimentary protoliths and are similar to published carbon isotope ratios of trace carbonate in altered submarine volcanic rocks, which are likely analogs for protoliths of many cordierite-gedrite rocks. Igneous cordierite from granitic plutons have δ 13 C = −23.61 ± 2.08‰ (n = 13), which is interpreted as reflecting a magmatic carbon budget dominated by organic carbon from sedimentary source rocks. In contrast, small pegmatites reported in the literature have δ 13 C(Crd) = −10.20 ± 3.06‰ (n = 6), which may indicate derivation from orthogneiss source materials. These new data show that carbon isotopes in cordierite can be used to help understand the protolith of even carbon-poor metamorphic rocks, and can also shed light on carbon in the sources of magmatic rocks. This latter approach has the potential for helping constrain the source rocks of peraluminous granitoids, which is controversial. Determining the extent to which organic carbon δ 13 C is preserved in granitoids is important for understanding the deep carbon cycle, and could serve as an important constraint in the search for low-δ 13 C graphite inclusions in Hadean detrital zircons, which have been reported as a potential biosignature for the early Earth.
Understanding planktonic vs. benthic algal response to manipulation of nutrients and light in a eutrophic lake

ABSTRACTSteinman A, Abdimalik M, Ogdahl ME, Oudsema M. 2016. Understanding planktonic vs. benthic algal response to manipulation of nutrients and light in a eutrophic lake. Lake Reserve Manage. 32:402–409.We examined the environmental factors influencing the growth of benthic and planktonic algae in Lake Macatawa, a hypereutrophic lake located in west Michigan. Turbidity may limit planktonic growth in the main body of the lake, despite high P concentrations, whereas shallow water depths in the littoral regions of the lake may allow benthic algal growth. We experimentally amended nutrients to benthic algae using nutrient diffusing substrates near the sediment surface and to phytoplankton using nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) spikes into 10 L carboys suspended from a PVC-constructed frame near the water surface to test how nutrient and light regimes influence these potentially competing autotrophic communities. Benthic algae were co-limited by N and P, whereas phytoplankton were P-limited. The N-only treatm...
3D position sensing on UltraPeRL CdZnTe detectors

Experimental results of depth and lateral position sensing on UltraPeRL pixellated CdZnTe detectors using signal ratios are presented. Each detector employs one CdZnTe crystal of 20 mm times 20 mm times 5 mm with 8 times 8 pixel electrodes fabricated on the anode surface. The anode pixel pitch is 2.4 mm. The signal ratios are calculated using the signals induced on the collecting pixel and the eight neighboring pixels. The signal on each collecting pixel is then corrected for depth of interaction using the signal ratios. We obtained 7.6%, 4.2% and 2.5% FWHM energy resolution at 122 keV, 356 keV and 662 keV, respectively.
3D FEA model for quantifying bound/free microbubble: Displacement, stress, and resonance frequencies

Molecularly targeted ultrasound contrast agents provide for the potential to form an image responsive to early expression of molecular pathology in vivo and ex vivo. While 1D models are routinely employed to estimate the dynamics of the microbubbles for imaging and therapeutic applications, these models are incapable of capturing asymmetric microbubble behavior or space-variant mechanical properties of microbubble's shell. Additionally, information arising from asymmetric boundary conditions may provide insight into multiple microbubble interaction, and microbubble cavitation limits. In this work, we apply a previously reported 3D FEA model to quantify the difference between free/adherent microbubbles behavior and propose a shell stress/strain bounds hypothesis for estimating the free/adherent microbubble cavitation threshold. From 3D FEA simulations and high-speed camera experiments, it is concluded that linear and nonlinear temporal variation in shell stress/strain (as a function of insonation pressure) is an indicator of stable and unstable microbubble oscillation regime. Furthermore, it is also inferred that adherent microbubbles have higher thresholds for unstable cavitation than free microbubbles. Additionally, adherent microbubbles are predicted to possess higher natural resonance frequencies than free microbubbles of similar sizes.
Baby Boomers and Rational Suicide

In the coming decades, clinicians treating older adults will have Baby Boomers as patients. This cohort is so large that it will profoundly affect how the elderly live and die in our society. As a result we will have to modify our clinical approach to older adults. In late life, a significant minority of Baby Boomers will consider suicide to be an intelligent and rational act in the face of an irreversible worsening in the quality of life. Many will not consider rational suicide to be an outlier act of questionable morality, but an option for having the kind of death suitable for their needs and wishes. This chapter will focus on why this is the case and provide a useful background for treating these patients.
Using Supramolecular Chemistry to Build Quantum Logic Gates

In this issue of Chem , Winpenny and colleagues report the results of detailed simulations performed on a promising supramolecular candidate for an √iSWAP quantum logic gate.
Preventing hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism: Improving patient safety with interdisciplinary teamwork, quality improvement analytics, and data transparency

BACKGROUND Hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (HA-VTE) is a potentially preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Despite high rates of venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in accordance with an institutional guideline, VTE remains the most common hospital-acquired condition in our institution. OBJECTIVE To improve the safety of all hospitalized patients, examine current VTE prevention practices, identify opportunities for improvement, and decrease rates of HA-VTE. DESIGN Pre/post assessment. SETTING/PATIENTS Urban academic tertiary referral center, level 1 trauma center, safety net hospital; all patients. INTERVENTION We formed a multidisciplinary VTE task force to review all HA-VTE events, assess prevention practices relative to evidence-based institutional guidelines, and identify improvement opportunities. The task force developed an electronic tool to facilitate efficient VTE event review and designed decision-support and reporting tools, now integrated into the electronic health record, to bring optimal VTE prevention practices to the point of care. Performance is shared transparently across the institution. MEASUREMENTS Harborview benchmarks process and outcome performance, including patient safety indicators and core measures, against hospitals nationally using Hospital Compare and Vizient data. RESULTS Our program has resulted in >90% guideline-adherent VTE prevention and zero preventable HA-VTEs. Initiatives have resulted in a 15% decrease in HA-VTE and a 21% reduction in postoperative VTE. CONCLUSIONS Keys to success include the multidisciplinary approach, clinical roles of task force members, senior leadership support, and use of quality improvement analytics for retrospective review, prospective reporting, and performance transparency. Ongoing task force collaboration with frontline providers is critical to sustained improvements. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016;11:S38–S43. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for sickle cell disease: The changing landscape

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only curative therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD); however, its use is limited by lack of suitable human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched donors and decreased application in older patients with significant morbidity. Myeloablative, HLA-identical sibling transplantation in children with SCD offers excellent long-term survival, with overall and event-free survival rates of 95% and 92%, respectively. However, the risk of graft-versus-host-disease, infections, infertility, and other long-term transplant complications, further limits its widespread use. Recent approaches using reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) are associated with lower toxicity, allowing extension of this modality to children and adults with significant morbidity; however, these approaches are also associated with increased risk of graft failure. The optimal RIC regimen that strikes the optimal balance between maximizing the rate of stable engraftment while minimizing transplant-related morbidity and mortality is unknown. Alternative donor transplants, most prominently, partial HLA-mismatched related transplants (haploidentical), are being investigated with promising initial results. This review will discuss long-term results of HLA-matched sibling HSCT for SCD, and recent updates on HLA-matched unrelated donor and unrelated umbilical cord blood HSCT for SCD.
Un modo de traducción: Las instalaciones-performance de Joan Jonas

This paper considers Joan Jonas’ s translations of her works from performance to installation through a focus on one specific but crucial work: her 1976 performance, turned multi-channel video installation, Mirage . Throughout her career Jonas has worked fluidly across media, cultivating transformations among motifs as they traverse two and three dimensions, still and moving images, and return in various works over time. As introduced within the context of Jonas’s 1994 retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, installation forms a relatively new component in this matrix, but not a fundamentally different approach. This paper argues that to recognize that continuity is to appreciate Jonas’s performances and installations not as dichotomous but rather as integrated within a cohesive practice that encompasses her multifaceted artistic concerns. At the same time, to recognize the new emphasis that Jonas placed on installation at a crucial historical juncture in the 1990s suggests an interpretation of her practice as historiographical, the artist’s active shaping of her work’s legacy in the future. With close attention, Jonas’s actions demonstrate her conceptualization of her performances and their potential relationships to other art forms—information vital to broader histories of performance art and the integration of performance within museum collections.
Preventing Mass Atrocities in Africa: The Case of the Two Sudans

This chapter argues that preventing mass atrocities in Africa requires addressing the root causes of conflicts. It focuses on the experience of Sudan–South Sudan, which is, in many ways, a microcosm of Africa. The chapter argues that a crisis of identity lies at the heart of conflicts in the two Sudans, reflecting their failure to manage diversity constructively. As in all such conflicts, the root cause is not the mere existence of differences, but the policy implications of those differences. Political, economic, social, and cultural practices have created a dichotomy between “in-groups”, who enjoy the full rights of citizenship, and “out-groups”, who are marginalised and denied, or perceive themselves to be denied, these rights. The chapter argues that peaceful and sustainable conflict resolution in the divided Sudan—as in other countries facing identity conflicts—must seek, therefore, to ensure inclusivity, equality, and human dignity for all, without any discrimination.
Interference hypothesis for recombination suppression in chromosomal inversion heterozygotes: A formal genetics analysis in Drosophila melanogaster

Suppressed recombination in chromosomal inversion heterozygotes is a well-known but poorly understood phenomenon. Recombination suppression is the result of at least four different regional effects of inversion heterozygosity; surprisingly, this includes areas outside inversions where there are no barriers to normal pairing, synapsis, double strand break formation, or recovery of crossover products. The interference hypothesis of recombination suppression proposes heterozygous inversion breakpoints possess chiasma-like properties such that recombination suppression extends from breakpoints in a process analogous to crossover interference. This hypothesis is qualitatively consistent with chromosome-wide patterns of recombination suppression, unifying the various regional effects under a single mechanism. The present study generates quantitative predictions for this hypothesis using a probabilistic model of crossover interference as a stationary renewal point process with gamma-distributed interarrival distances. These predictions were tested with formal genetic data (>40,000 meioses) on crossing-over in intervals external and adjacent to four cosmopolitan inversions of Drosophila melanogaster . The decay of recombination suppression differs for each of the four cosmopolitan inversions, with a strong dependence on proximity to the centromere. Counterintuitively, greater than expected recombination was observed in centromeric regions for the most proximally placed inversions. Structural features of chromosomes are discussed as potentially confounding variables in modelling recombination suppression. The true form of the decay function is not currently known and will require high-resolution mapping of rare crossover events in regions immediately adjacent to inversion breakpoints. A simple extension of the present experimental system can be conducted as a genetic screen for those rare crossover events.
Telomere length regulation through epidermal growth factor receptor signaling in cancer

Length of the telomere (TL), a structure at the tip of chromosome that protects and ensures stability, is determined by multi-protein complexes such as telosome/shelterin and telomerase. Earlier studies from our laboratory show that longer TL has potential to be positive predictive biomarker of clinical outcome to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody therapy in patients with KRAS WT metastatic colorectal cancer. Although there is extensive literature suggesting the role of shelterin and telomerase, not much literature exists that describes the role of EGFR and KRAS pathway in regulating TL. This detailed review focuses on an insight into various components, including proteins, enzymes and transcription factors, interlinking between EGFR pathways and telomerase that regulate TL.
Ionizing photon interactions in a material induce modulation of its optical properties at a femtosecond time scale: A new direction to improve timing for ToF-PET

In this paper, we take insight from the nascent field of ultrafast X-ray science at free electron lasers (xFELs) and prove the ultrafast nature of ionizing radiation photon induced refractive index modulation process, which can potentially be used for annihilation photon detection with significantly improved coincidence time resolution (CTR) for time-of-flight positron emission tomography (ToF-PET) systems. At the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the arrival time of X-ray pulses with photon energies between 0.5-10keV are detected with 10fs time resolution using an optical readout field. In this work, we used similar interferometric method with spectrum encoded timing information to observe the ionization charge induced refractive index modulation process in yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) and bismuth silicon oxide (BSO) crystal samples. By using the ultrafast X-ray pulses with 50fs duration from LCLS, we have proved that the refractive index modulation induced by ionizing radiation photons indeed occurs within 50fs time scale for all crystal samples. This shows the potential of adopting the interferometric detection method and using the mechanism of refractive index modulation for annihilation photon detection, in order to dramatically improve PET CTR. Since our proposed method does not depend on optical scintillation as the readout mechanism, we are free to explore non-scintillation and nontraditional detection materials.
Change in Organizational Search Behaviors as a Response to Environmental Change

How do firms change search behaviors as a response to environmental change? There are two competing streams of thoughts; organizational ecology and organizational learning. Based on these perspecti...
Military Veterans and Their PTSD Service Dogs: Associations Between Training Methods, PTSD Severity, Dog Behavior, and the Human-Animal Bond

Introduction. Psychiatric service dogs are increasingly being sought out by military veterans as a complementary intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After receiving a service dog, many veterans continue training their service dog at home. Our objective was to explore the associations between training methods, PTSD severity, service dog behavior, and the veteran-service dog bond in a population of military veterans with PTSD. Methods. Post-9/11 military veterans with PTSD who had received a psychiatric service dog were recruited from a national service dog provider. A total of 111 veterans (M=40.1 ± 8.3 years, 80% male) participated in an online survey regarding frequency of training methods, PTSD symptom severity, service dog behavior, and the human-animal bond. Service dogs were predominately Labrador Retriever purebreds or mixes of various breeds (66% male) and mostly obtained from shelters or rescues (58%). Training methods were divided into five categories: positive reinforcement (e.g. physical praise), negative punishment (e.g. ignoring the dog), positive punishment (e.g. verbal correction), dominance (e.g. alpha roll), and bond-based (e.g. co-sleeping). Data were analyzed using general linear models. Results. Veterans self-reported using all five categories of training methods at least once a month. More frequent use of positive punishment was associated with less closeness with their service dog (p=0.02), more fear (p=0.003), less eye contact (p<0.0001), and less trainability (p=0.04). More frequent use of positive reinforcement was associated with higher closeness to their service dog (p=0.002) and perceived increased attachment behavior (p=0.002) and playfulness (p=0.002). More frequent use of bond-based methods was associated with higher closeness to their service dog (p=0.02). PTSD severity was not significantly associated with reported dog behavior, temperament, or veteran-service dog closeness. Conclusion. Military veterans with PTSD service dogs reported using many training methods that were associated with different outcomes. In general, the reported use of positive reinforcement or bond-based training methods were associated with reporting more positive outcomes while the reported use of positive punishment was associated with reporting more negative outcomes. Educating service dog organizations and recipients about the impacts of training methods could be beneficial for service dog efficacy and welfare.
IoT Safety: State of the Art

Reports on safety issues relating to the Internet of Things (IoT). Users, developers, managers, and other stakeholders are concerned that the heterogeneity and complexity of this technology, essentially composed of systems of systems, may open the door to security breaches on an unprecedented scale. There is, however, another important system property, which is not very often brought up as an imminent concern, but is equally important. This is device safety, the violation of which may cause severe harm to the environment in which the device operates.
Escoin: Efficient Sparse Convolutional Neural Network Inference on GPUs

Deep neural networks have achieved remarkable accuracy in many artificial intelligence applications, e.g. computer vision, at the cost of a large number of parameters and high computational complexity. Weight pruning can compress DNN models by removing redundant parameters in the networks, but it brings sparsity in the weight matrix, and therefore makes the computation inefficient on GPUs. Although pruning can remove more than 80% of the weights, it actually hurts inference performance (speed) when running models on GPUs. Two major problems cause this unsatisfactory performance on GPUs. First, lowering convolution onto matrix multiplication reduces data reuse opportunities and wastes memory bandwidth. Second, the sparsity brought by pruning makes the computation irregular, which leads to inefficiency when running on massively parallel GPUs. To overcome these two limitations, we propose Escort, an efficient sparse convolutional neural networks on GPUs. Instead of using the lowering method, we choose to compute the sparse convolutions directly. We then orchestrate the parallelism and locality for the direct sparse convolution kernel, and apply customized optimization techniques to further improve performance. Evaluation on NVIDIA GPUs show that Escort can improve sparse convolution speed by 2.63x and 3.07x, and inference speed by 1.43x and 1.69x, compared to CUBLAS and CUSPARSE respectively.
Vibration Induced Proprioceptive Modulation in Surface-EMG Based Control of a Robotic Arm

Sense of body movement and posture known as proprioception helps us move and complete motor tasks without heavily relying on visual feedback. Vibration induced proprioceptive modulation has been studied in past and analogues illusions based on vibration of specific muscle groups have been reported. The aim of this study was to establish reproduction of vibration induced proprioceptive modulation in a consistent manner and utilize that as feedback to improve robotic arm control. A system of vibration motors is designed to validate the proprioceptive modulation for single degree of freedom, forearm flexion and extension. To study the efficacy of proprioceptive feedback for development of a tele-operation system, a robotic arm control system mimicking the elbow joint movement using surface EMG is developed. The results of this study conveyed that it is possible to develop vibration systems that could be used for inducing illusion of elbow flexion and extension consistently. It was also found that the proprioceptive feedback helped the user develop an association with robotic arm without any visual feedback which could help develop more immersive and easier to use systems.
Moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk for relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia: a review of clinical considerations

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare mature B cell leukemia. Purine analogs are the mainstay of treatment of HCL, but relapse after purine analog therapy is common. Outcomes of treatment of relapsed/refractory HCL typically diminish with each successive line of therapy. Moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk is a novel recombinant immunotoxin approved for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory HCL who have received at least two prior therapies, including a purine analog. This article reviews HCL treatment, focusing on moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk, its place in therapy, considerations for preparation and administration, and strategies for prevention and management of toxicities. A literature search was conducted in the PubMed database from inception to January 2019, using the following terms: moxetumomab, hairy cell leukemia, relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia, immunotoxin, and CD22. The package insert and available posters and abstracts were also reviewed. FDA approval of moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk was based on a phase III single-arm, open-label trial in 80 patients. Treatment with moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk yielded a durable complete response rate of 30% with a median duration of response that had not yet been reached at a median follow-up of 16.7 months. The objective response rate was 75% based on blinded independent central review. The most common adverse reactions were infusion-related reactions, edema, nausea, fatigue, headache, pyrexia and anemia. Serious adverse events include capillary leak syndrome and hemolytic uremic syndrome. Clinicians providing care for patients receiving moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk should be aware of the strategies required for safe administration, including the management of serious adverse events.
Evaluating World Bank support for building the capacity of the state and its accountability to citizens in Afghanistan 1

An evaluation looked at the results of World Bank assistance in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2011. This chapter focuses on one key area of support: building the capacity of the state and its accountability to citizens. There were two main dimensions to this assistance. First, the World Bank supported core financial systems. The results include a relatively strong framework of public financial management, including improvements in budgeting and spending efficiency at line ministries. However, challenges remain, including weak capacity for processing procurement and implementation delays due to security issues. Second, the World Bank helped build and improve core administrative and judicial institutions at the national and subnational levels. Results include adopting new laws and regulations, more transparent recruitment and pay and grading reforms. However, corruption is rampant, and there is little evidence of improved administrative performance except by a “second civil service” of contracted specialists paid with unsustainable donor funds. The chapter draws on a few subsequent assessments of more recent World Bank support to get a sense of the progress and sustainability of these reforms since 2012. However, much more intensive study would be needed to get a full update on the present situation and the emerging risks.
A Cognitive Architecture Safety Design for Safety Critical Systems

Abstract This research is presented as a safety analysis of a cognitive architecture with an intelligent decision support model (IDSM) that is embedded into an autonomous non-deterministic safety-critical system. Cognitive technology is currently simulated within safety-critical systems in order to highlight variables of interest, interface with intelligent technologies, and provide an environment that improves the system's cognitive performance. In this research, the safety of the architecture was analyzed on an actual safety-critical system, an unmanned surface vehicle (USV). The safety analysis was conducted in both a simulated and a real world nautical based environment. The objective was to define the safety design of a cognitive architecture. The input to the safety design was provided through an approach that identified and mitigated hazards associated with a USV controlled by a cognitive architecture. This analysis provided a structured, task-oriented approach for the dissemination of information concerning safety requirements. This approach was necessary to achieve a safe execution of the USV's capabilities through a design that reduces the potential for injury to personnel and damage to equipment. Other real time applications that would benefit from advancing the safety of cognitive technologies are unmanned platforms, transportation technologies, and service robotics. The results will provide cognitive science researchers with a reference for safety engineering of artificially intelligent safety-critical systems.
Autoimmunity and ovarian failure

Abstract The incidence of ovarian autoantibodies in 55 patients with various forms of complete and partial ovarian failure, including spontaneous premature menopause, gonadal agenesis, luteal phase defect, and various other forms of secondary amenorrhea was determined. In addition, antibodies against thyroglobulin and the cytoplasm of thyroid follicle cells, parietal cells, and adrenal cortical cells were investigated. Specificity was evaluated with the use of differential adsorption. Ovarian cytoplasmic antibodies were found in 8 patients, all in a group of 16 patients with premature menopause and associated immune disorders. Antiovarian antibodies against nuclei were demonstrated in a ninth patient, 1 of 11 with a luteal phase defect. These antinuclear antibodies were adsorbed out of the serum by extracts of all the tissues used. A high incidence of autoantibodies to other tissue antigens was found in patients with complete ovarian failure, even in the absence of associated overt immune disorders. A possible role of an as yet undefined generalized autoimmune diathesis is postulated as a potential factor in the development of at least some cases of premature menopause.
Improving HPC System Performance by Predicting Job Resources via Supervised Machine Learning

High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems are resources utilized for data capture, sharing, and analysis. The majority of our HPC users come from other disciplines than Computer Science. HPC users including computer scientists have difficulties and do not feel proficient enough to decide the required amount of resources for their submitted jobs on the cluster. Consequently, users are encouraged to over-estimate resources for their submitted jobs, so their jobs will not be killing due insufficient resources. This process will waste and devour HPC resources; hence, this will lead to inefficient cluster utilization. We created a supervised machine learning model and integrated it into the Slurm resource manager simulator to predict the amount of required memory resources (Memory) and the required amount of time to run the computation. Our model involves using different machine learning algorithms. Our goal is to integrate and test the proposed supervised machine learning model on Slurm. We used over 10000 tasks selected from our HPC log files to evaluate the performance and the accuracy of our integrated model. The purpose of our work is to increase the performance of the Slurm by predicting the amount of require jobs memory resources and the time required for each particular job in order to improve the utilization of the HPC system using our integrated supervised machine learning model.Our results indicate that for larger jobs our model helps dramatically reduce computational turnaround time (from five days to ten hours for large jobs), substantially increased utilization of the HPC system, and decreased the average waiting time for the submitted jobs.
The Molybdenum K-shell X-ray Emission Spectrum.

We present newly measured spectra of the X-ray emission of a molybdenum metal anode subject to electron bombardment, using a very high dispersion silicon double-crystal spectrometer. The measurement includes the dipole-allowed KL, KM, and KN emission lines, based on an energy scale traceable to the Systeme International (SI) definition of the meter with a systematic uncertainty below ΔE/E = 10-6. The data are presented as parametrized multi-Lorentzian fits to the results, and as supplementary data with the complete spectrum of each line group, corrected for instrumental effects. The MoKL3 (Kα1) line energy was in complete statistical agreement with published measurements, and it showed no asymmetry. Other lines showed varying discrepancies with the literature which lie outside the bounds of probable experimental errors.
Are we doing too many non-therapeutic laparotomies in trauma? An analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank.

Exploratory laparotomy (EL) has been the definitive diagnostic and therapeutic modality for operative abdominal trauma in the US. Recently, many trauma centers have started using diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) in stable trauma patients in an effort to reduce the incidence of non-therapeutic laparotomy (NL). We aim to evaluate the incidence of NL in the trauma population in the US and compare the outcomes between DL and NL. Using ICD-9 codes, the National Trauma Data Bank (2010–2015) was queried for patients undergoing any abdominal surgical intervention. Patients were divided into two groups: diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) and exploratory laparotomy (EL). Hemodynamically unstable patients on arrival and patients with abbreviated injury score (AIS) > 3 were excluded. Patients in EL group without any codes for gastrointestinal, diaphragmatic, hepatic, splenic, vascular, or urological procedures were considered to have undergone NL. After excluding patients who were converted to open from the DL group, multivariate regression models were used to analyze the outcomes of DL vs NL group with respect to mortality, length of stay, and complications. A total of 3197 patients underwent NL vs 1323 patients who underwent DL. Compared to DL group, the NL group were older (mean age: 35 vs. 31, P < 0.01). Rate of penetrating injury was 77% vs 86% for patients in NL vs DL. On multivariate analysis, NL was associated with increased mortality (OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.1–9.7), higher rate of complications (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.4–3.3), and a longer hospital stay (OR 2.7, 95% CI 2.1–3.5). NL was also associated with higher rates of pneumonia, VTE, ARDS, and cardiac arrest. With increasing experience in minimally invasive surgery, DL should be a part of the armamentarium of trauma surgeons. This study supports that in well-selected trauma patients DL has favorable outcomes compared to NL. These findings warrant further investigation.
Seasonal and Annual Changes of the Regional Tropical Belt in GPS-RO Measurements and Reanalysis Datasets

AbstractThe width of the tropical belt has been analyzed with a variety of metrics, often based on zonal-mean data from reanalyses. However, constraining the global and regional tropical width requ...
Acceptability and Appropriateness of a Perinatal Depression Preventive Group Intervention: A Qualitative Analysis

Perinatal depression is a prevalent public health concern. Although preventive interventions exist, there is limited literature on the acceptability and appropriateness of these interventions, especially those delivered by paraprofessionals. The Mothers and Babies Program (MB) is a group-based perinatal depression preventive intervention delivered prenatally. A cluster-randomized controlled trial examined the acceptability, appropriateness, and effectiveness of MB delivered by mental health professionals compared to paraprofessional staff from home visiting programs. The full study enrolled 874 pregnant women. Fifty-three facilitators were trained and delivered the MB intervention to women in one of seven states in the United States. Semi-structured interviews were attempted with a randomly-selected subset of the full sample of pregnant women who received the MB intervention and with all facilitators. Specifically, interviews were conducted with 88 women who received the MB group intervention (45 in the paraprofessional-led arm and 43 in the mental health professional-led arm) and 46 women who facilitated the groups (27 home visiting staff and 19 mental health professionals). Interviews were conducted over the phone in English or Spanish and audio recorded. The recordings were translated into English, as needed, and transcribed. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVIVO to identify key themes related to intervention acceptability and appropriateness. Similarities and differences between study arms were explored. Clients and facilitators found the MB content and group format acceptable. Challenges included maintaining group attendance, transportation issues, and managing group discussion. Overall, facilitators found the intervention appropriate for pregnant clients with some challenges presented for clients in crisis situations, experiencing housing instability, and with literacy and learning challenges. Participants provided suggestions for improvement, both for the course content and implementation. There were no significant differences found between study arms. Overall, clients and facilitators enjoyed MB irrespective of study arm, and facilitators found the intervention appropriate for the population. These findings add to the qualitative literature on perinatal depression preventive interventions, specifically those delivered by paraprofessionals. This trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Initial post: December 1, 2016; identifier: NCT02979444).