cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of lung fibroblast tropoelastin expression by alveolar epithelial cells.

Epithelial-mesenchymal interactions are of critical importance during tissue morphogenesis and repair. Although the cellular and molecular aspects of many of these interactions are beginning to be understood, the ability of epithelial cells to regulate fibroblast interstitial matrix production has not been extensively studied. We report here that cultured alveolar epithelial cells are capable of modulating the expression of tropoelastin, the soluble precursor of the interstitial lung matrix component elastin, by lung fibroblasts. Phorbol ester-stimulated alveolar epithelial cells secrete a soluble factor that causes a time- and dose-dependent repression of lung fibroblast tropoelastin mRNA expression. This alveolar epithelial cell-mediated repressive activity is specific for tropoelastin, is effective on lung fibroblasts from multiple stages of development, and acts at the level of transcription. Partial characterization of the repressive activity indicates it is an acid-stable, pepsin-labile protein. Gel fractionation of alveolar epithelial cell conditioned medium revealed two peaks of activity with relative molecular masses of ∼25 and 50 kDa. These data support a role for epithelial cells in the regulation of fibroblast interstitial matrix production.
Spectral Semi-Supervised Discourse Relation Classification

Discourse parsing is the process of discovering the latent relational structure of a long form piece of text and remains a significant open challenge. One of the most difficult tasks in discourse parsing is the classification of implicit discourse relations. Most state-of-the-art systems do not leverage the great volume of unlabeled text available on the web–they rely instead on human annotated training data. By incorporating a mixture of labeled and unlabeled data, we are able to improve relation classification accuracy, reduce the need for annotated data, while still retaining the capacity to use labeled data to ensure that specific desired relations are learned. We achieve this using a latent variable model that is trained in a reduced dimensionality subspace using spectral methods. Our approach achieves an F1 score of 0.485 on the implicit relation labeling task for the Penn Discourse Treebank.
Influence of extent of muscle shortening and heart rate on work from frog heart trabeculae.

Shortening, lengthening, and net work done by frog (Rana pipiens) heart trabeculae were measured over a range of strain amplitudes (length change) and cycle frequencies. Net work, the product of mu...
Growing up before their time: The early adultification experiences of homeless young people

Abstract This paper explores the experiences of early adultification among 40 homeless youth aged 19 to 21. Findings from semi-structured, face-to-face interviews revealed the experiences of early adultification among homeless young people. We used both initial and focused coding and the final qualitative themes emerged naturally from the data. Early adultification encompassed the following processes, which were closely tied to prominent descriptions of family conflict and caregiver neglect: premature caregiving, early independence and parenthood. Premature caregiving burdened participants with familial responsibility such as caring for younger siblings prior to their leaving home. Early independence occurred when young people provided for their own needs in the absence of caregiver guidance when they were still residing with family. Parenthood thrust young people into the adult role of caring for an infant once they left home. Early adultification complicated participants' experiences with leaving home by imbuing them with premature independence and familial detachment. Identifying the unique aspects surrounding young people's lives prior to and after leaving home is crucial in preventing residential instability and in alleviating the issues that homeless young adults experience.
Densification of biomass using a pilot scale flat ring roller pellet mill

Abstract The production characteristics from a pilot scale flat ring die pellet mill were evaluated for four different biomass materials (miscanthus, corn stover, switchgrass, and wheat straw) to determine the effect of moisture preconditioning upon pelletization. The moisture content of the material entering the pellet mill was 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% for miscanthus, switchgrass, and wheat straw; while, only 15%, 20%, and 25% moisture content was evaluated for corn stover. For miscanthus, switchgrass, and wheat straw at the highest moisture content (25%), pellet formation was readily achieved with the percentage of pellets produced being 92%, 92%, and 96%, respectively. Corn stover preconditioned to a moisture content of 15% resulted in the highest rate of pellet formation, lowest specific energy requirement, and similar durability to other measured moisture contents. For the differing biomass materials, the specific energy requirements for the flat ring pellet mill was measured and varied between 101 to 324 kWh/Mg depending on the crop and moisture content. With energy consumption being one of the primary costs of pelletization, the on-farm/localized pelletization of biomass using a flat ring die pellet mill may be impaired by the high specific energy requirements of pelletization relative to other pellet mill designs.
Novel heterotricyclic systems: 2,6-dioxa- and 2-oxa-6-thia-10-azatricyclo-[5.2.1.04,10] deeanes; 2,6-dioxa-11-azatricyclo[5.3.1.04,11] undecane; and 9,13-dioxa-14-azatetracyclo[6.5.1.02,7.011,14]tetradeca-2,4,6-triene †

The acid-catalyzed condensation of 2-amino-1,3-propanediols and 1,4-diketones under water-azeotroping conditions has led to the first synthesis of the new tent-like, essentially strain-free heterotricyclic system, 2,6-dioxa-10-azatricyclo[5.2.1.04,10]decane. Over thirty new compounds containing this system are reported. In cases where the aminodiol is unsubstituted or bears a phenyl substituent a mixture of the tricycle and the isomeric pyrrole resulted. These observations indicate alternative pathways in the Knorr-Paal condensation which lead to one, or the other, or both of these products. A scheme postulating common intermediates is presented. Examples of three additional, related, novel heteropolycyclic systems synthesized in analogous fashion are also reported.
The Italian Avant-Garde, 1968–1976, edited by Alex Coles and Catherine Rossi

(2014). The Italian Avant-Garde, 1968–1976, edited by Alex Coles and Catherine Rossi. Design and Culture: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 133-136.
Implications of Electrical Resistivity Data Regarding Ground-Water Lenses on San Salvador Island, Bahamas

Fresh ground-water lenses in the Bahamas may be mapped using electrical resistivity surveys utilizing the large resistivity contrast between fresh-water and salt-water saturated carbonate rock. Ideally, this contrast is a factor of 18 or more; however, porosity variations introduce even larger resistivity variations. The relevant resistivity-porosity relationship determined for surficial rock samples from San Salvador Island is R o = 1.04 R w /Φ 219 , where R o and R w are the resistivities of rock and pore water, and Φ is the porosity. These criteria were used to determine the depth of the fresh-water/salt-water interface of fresh-water lenses in the Sandy Point area of San Salvador Island, based on interactive inversion of vertical electrical sounding (VES) data collected during the past 15 years. The resulting computed resistivity layer models indicate a major fresh-water lens of maximum thickness of approximately 30 m under the peripheral hills of Sandy Point with little or no fresh water in the low-lying interior of the region. Pseudo-depth sections and high-resistivity layers at depth suggest confined fresh-water aquifers at depth beneath brackish near-surface ground water in parts of the interior, with fresh-water recharge from the peripheral hills. A resistivity profiling survey of the interior indicates possible conduits connecting several of the brackish blue holes.
Forbid Using USB Mobile Storage Equipment With VB

Objective Describal some usual methods to forbid using USB Mobil Storage Equipment with VB,which instead complicated hand operation by program.
ON THE MINIMUM CONTROLLABLE STRUCTURE OF SINGULAR SYSTEMS

In this paper, we discuss the minimum controllable structure problems of singular systems, and the minimum structure theorems for the four kinds of main controllability of singular systems are proposed.
Brief communication: A 61-year-old woman with vesicular eruption after varicella zoster vaccination.

BACKGROUND Vesicular rashes are associated with a variety of infectious and noninfectious causes. OBJECTIVE To discuss the differential diagnoses of vesicular rashes. METHODS We present the clinical case of an adult woman who was immunocompetent and who developed several clear fluid-filled vesicles on her upper extremity within days of receiving the varicella zoster vaccine. Over the next several days, the skin eruption generalized, and she developed new lesions in various stages of healing. RESULTS After a detailed history and further studies were obtained, a final diagnosis was made. CONCLUSION In patients who have recently been vaccinated, a high index of suspicion for an adverse vaccine reaction should be maintained.
A controls approach to improve classroom learning using cognitive learning theory and course analytics

The availability of educational technology and new modes of instruction present unprecedented opportunities for improving the educational effectiveness of engineering courses. This paper discusses a controls approach for developing and improving courses over the span of several semesters using a wide array of metrics to monitor student learning. Changes in course content, pacing, and format were introduced to improve consistency across sections and across semesters in terms of metrics such as student performance and student workload. Results are shown for a course that has an annual enrollment of 1100 students and is taught in a blended/flipped format with online components provided by two MOOCs.
Copay Assistance for Expensive Drugs: A Helping Hand That Raises Costs

By reducing patients' out-of-pocket costs for expensive drugs, pharmaceutical companies' copay assistance programs may seem helpful. But the authors of this commentary argue that there are importan...
Waveform Design for MIMO Radar with Space-Time Constraints

We consider the problem of designing waveforms for MIMO-radar, where both the temporal and spatial characteristics of the waveform need to be determined. In other words, we design a set of different waveforms transmitted by different antennas. In previous works design procedures were presented where the resulting waveforms were constrained only by transmit power. Here we extend this work to include arbitrary linear constraints in the form of a space-time basis for the waveforms. We demonstrate that properly selecting and applying these constraints leads to waveforms with better temporal and spatial response (e.g., range response and beam pattern) than using previously proposed design procedures.
IL-1β and Caspase-1 Drive Autoinflammatory Disease Independently of IL-1α or Caspase-8 in a Mouse Model of Familial Mediterranean Fever

Mutations in the gene encoding pyrin are associated with autoinflammatory disorder Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF). A FMF-knock-in mouse strain that expresses chimeric pyrin protein with a V726A mutation ( Mefv V726A/V726A ) was generated to model human FMF. This mouse strain shows an autoinflammatory disorder that is prevented by genetic deletion of IL-1 (IL-1) receptor or apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain (ASC). ASC-mediated cell death leads to the release of IL-1α and IL-1β, both of which signal through IL-1 receptor. Furthermore, caspase-1 and caspase-8 can interact with ASC to mediate secretion of IL-1 cytokines. The specific IL-1 cytokine instigating development of FMF and the enzymatic caspase involved in its secretion currently are unknown. In this study, we show that the autoinflammation observed in Mefv V726A/V726A mice is mediated specifically by IL-1β and not IL-1α. Furthermore, the disorder is dependent on the caspase-1–ASC axis, whereas caspase-8 is dispensable. Concurrently, aberrant IL-1β release by Mefv V726A/V726A monocytes in response to stimulation with lipopolysaccharide also is dependent on the caspase-1–ASC axis. In conclusion, our studies have uncovered a specific role for caspase-1–mediated IL-1β release in the manifestation of FMF.
Optimizing path for kinematically redundant robotic inspection system using Obstacle Based Probabilistic Roadmap and Genetic Algorithm

A new path planner is proposed for redundant robotic inspection system which consisting of 7 degree of freedom. It uses Obstacle Based Probabilistic Roadmap (OBPRM) as path planner and an optimization technique based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) to find an inspection path with shortest cycle time. OBPRM is used to find shortest path in between two inspection points and GA is used to find sequence of these inspection points to obtain minimal cycle time. Different distance metrics used for OBPRM and GA are discussed. Finally using the proposed path planner a 15% reduction in cycle time for inspection was obtained.
NIST Special Database 27 Fingerprint Minutiae From Latent and Matching Tenprint Images

The National Institute of Standards and Technology in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation has developed a new database of grayscale fingerprint images and corresponding minutiae data. The database contains latent fingerprints from crime scenes and their matching rolled fingerprint mates. In all there are 258 latent cases. Each case includes the latent image, the matching tenprint image, and four sets of minutiae that have been validated by a professional team of latent examiners. One set of minutiae contains all minutiae points on the latent fingerprint; the second set contains all minutiae points on the tenprint mate; the other two sets contain the minutiae points in common between the latent fingerprint and tenprint mate. In all there are 27,426 minutiae recorded across the set of tenprints with 5460 minutiae in common with their matching latent fingerprint. All data files are formatted according to the ANSI/NISTITL 1-2000 standard using Type-1, 9, 13, & 14 records. Software utilities are provided to read, write, and manipulate these files. The database can be used to develop and test new fingerprint algorithms, test commercial and research AFIS systems, train latent examiners, and promote the ANSI/NIST file format standard.
Thee-Dimensional Single-Track-Location Shear Wave Elasticity Imaging

Conventional multiple-track-location shear wave elasticity imaging (MTL-SWEI) is a powerful tool for noninvasively estimating tissue elasticity. The resolution and noise levels of MTL-SWEI systems, however, are limited by ultrasound speckle. Single-track-location SWEI (STL-SWEI) is a novel variant which fixes the position of the tracking beam and modulates the push location to effectively cancel out the effects of speckle-induced bias. We present here a 3-D STL-SWEI system, which provides full suppression of lateral and elevation speckle bias for high-resolution volumetric elasticity imaging, and requires no spatial smoothing to make accurate measurements of shear wave speed. We demonstrate and analyze the system’s performance in homogeneous and layered elasticity phantoms.
Identification of Driving Forces in Service Innovations: Mobile Telecommunication Industry

Innovations in services continue to be a vital topic. Compared to product innovation, service innovation has received less attention in the literature. Studying service innovation is as important as ever especially since the world economy is shifting from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. Analytical and detailed discussion about service innovations is only beginning. This study aims to contribute to service innovation field through a theoretical formulation of a research framework supplemented with findings from a qualitative approach. By studying the mobile telecommunication industry, we found that organizations may pursue a complex of service innovations that may target different type of outcomes. Our findings provide new insights that suggest the basis for new discourse on IS for service innovations.
Versatile Low-Cost Volumetric 3-D Ultrasound Platform for Existing Clinical 2-D Systems

Ultrasound imaging has indications across many areas of medicine, but the need for training and the variability in skill and acquired image quality among 2-D ultrasound users have limited its wider adoption and utilization. Low-cost volumetric ultrasound with a known frame of reference has the potential to lower these operator-dependent barriers and enhance the clinical utility of ultrasound imaging. In this paper, we improve upon our previous research-scanner-based prototype to implement a versatile volumetric imaging platform for existing clinical 2-D ultrasound systems. We present improved data acquisition and image reconstruction schemes to increase quality, streamline workflow, and provide real-time visual feedback. We present initial results using the platform on a Vimedix simulator, as well as on phantom and in vivo targets using a variety of clinical ultrasound systems and probes.
Northern Arizona University’s Design 4 Practice Sequence

Introduction of computer technology, changing corporate structures, and global competition have significantly changed modern corporate design contents, placing increasing emphasis on individual problem-solving creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration, and teaming and project management skills. In this paper, we describe a program called Design 4 Practice that explicitly teaches these skills within a novel curriculum centered around a carefully crafted sequence of project-oriented courses. The motivations and goals of these courses are presented, as well as outcomes of program evaluation and a discussion of current efforts to extend the program to allow international teaming.
Medication Barcode Scanning: Code “Moo”: Dead COW

In August 2006, Green Mountain Medical Center (GMMC) kicked off its barcode medication administration (BCMA) project. The decision to implement barcoding was the result of a focus on “closing the loop” in medication management. Closing the loop was a way to ensure the highest possible level of computerized support and safety in the medication process. Ultimately, the goal was to automate the ordering, pharmacy processing, administration, and documentation processes.
The effect of brief subway station noise exposure on commuter hearing.

Objective To demonstrate that brief exposure to subway noise causes temporary threshold shift and is preventable with noise protection. Methods The study was conducted as a randomized crossover trial. Twenty subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, one with hearing protection and one without. Subjects were exposed to subway platform noise for 15 minutes. Pre- and post-exposure pure tone audiometry (PTA) and otoacoustic emissions were compared. After a washout period, subjects switched hearing protection groups and repeated the process. Results A statistically significant reduction in PTA thresholds after subway noise exposure was identified, for subjects with and without hearing protection (P < .001). For exposure without hearing protection, the mean threshold was 5.19 dB pre-exposure and 3.91 dB post-exposure (decrease of 1.28 dB; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.74). For exposure with hearing protection, the mean threshold was 4.81 dB pre-exposure and 3.47 dB post-exposure (decrease of 1.34 dB; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-1.79). Conclusion Brief exposure to subway noise did not cause hearing loss with or without noise protection. Though clinically insignificant, the unexpected finding of reduction in PTA suggests that there are complex heterogeneous short- and long-term cochlear responses to noise exposure that should be further explored. Level of Evidence 1b.
Caching the Internet: A View from a Global Multi-tenant CDN

Commercial Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) employ a variety of caching policies to achieve fast and reliable delivery in multi-tenant environments with highly variable workloads. In this paper, we explore the efficacy of popular caching policies in a large-scale, global, multi-tenant CDN. We examine the client behaviors observed in a network of over 125 high-capacity Points of Presence (PoPs). Using production data from the Edgecast CDN, we show that for such a large-scale and diverse use case, simpler caching policies dominate. We find that LRU offers the best compromise between hit-rate and disk I/O, providing \(60\%\) fewer writes than FIFO, while maintaining high hit-rates. We further observe that at disk sizes used in a large-scale CDN, LRU performs on par with complex polices like S4LRU. We further examine deterministic and probabilistic cache admission policies and quantify their trade-offs between hit-rate and origin traffic. Moreover, we explore the behavior of caches at multiple layers of the CDN and provide recommendations to reduce connections passing through the system’s load balancers by approximately \(50\%\).
Rethinking Periodical Indices to Expand Art Historical Research: A Case Study of Avalanche Magazine Index

Avalanche Magazine, an artist magazine published in the 1970s, is a unique primary source document of the conceptual art scene. Replete with photographs, advertisements, artist interviews, and goss...
Pathology Meets Biology: the New Era of Breast Cancer Staging

Breast cancer is now recognized to be a very heterogeneous disease. This complexity was recently reflected in the newest American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) breast cancer staging, implemented in 2018. Although it seems very daunting, the new staging is based on both the anatomical extent of the disease and the prognostic factors such as hormonal and HER2 status, grade of the tumor, and genomic assays providing information regarding risk of recurrence. The purpose of this review is to illustrate the reasoning for the change in previous, solely an anatomically based breast cancer staging system and to report the updates. The research showed that evaluation of breast cancer through immunohistochemistry and utility of genomic assays provides substantial prognostic information. The combination of anatomic and prognostic factors has a tremendous impact on outcome predictive abilities of the staging system for each affected individual.
Perioperative Medicine Consultation

Surgery is commonly performed every day throughout the world, with a growing number of procedures in medically complex patients. Both surgery and anesthesia have inherent risks, and medicine consultants are often involved in the perioperative evaluation and management of surgical patients to help reduce perioperative risks. Models of perioperative medical care include consultative and co-management, with an increasing number of healthcare systems focusing on co-management services.
Ocular blood flow as a clinical observation: Value, limitations and data analysis

Alterations in ocular blood flow have been identified as important risk factors for the onset and progression of numerous diseases of the eye. In particular, several population-based and longitudinal-based studies have provided compelling evidence of hemodynamic biomarkers as independent risk factors for ocular disease throughout several different geographic regions. Despite this evidence, the relative contribution of blood flow to ocular physiology and pathology in synergy with other risk factors and comorbidities (e.g., age, gender, race, diabetes and hypertension) remains uncertain. There is currently no gold standard for assessing all relevant vascular beds in the eye, and the heterogeneous vascular biomarkers derived from multiple ocular imaging technologies are non-interchangeable and difficult to interpret as a whole. As a result of these disease complexities and imaging limitations, standard statistical methods often yield inconsistent results across studies and are unable to quantify or explain a patient's overall risk for ocular disease. Combining mathematical modeling with artificial intelligence holds great promise for advancing data analysis in ophthalmology and enabling individualized risk assessment from diverse, multi-input clinical and demographic biomarkers. Mechanism-driven mathematical modeling makes virtual laboratories available to investigate pathogenic mechanisms, advance diagnostic ability and improve disease management. Artificial intelligence provides a novel method for utilizing a vast amount of data from a wide range of patient types to diagnose and monitor ocular disease. This article reviews the state of the art and major unanswered questions related to ocular vascular anatomy and physiology, ocular imaging techniques, clinical findings in glaucoma and other eye diseases, and mechanistic modeling predictions, while laying a path for integrating clinical observations with mathematical models and artificial intelligence. Viable alternatives for integrated data analysis are proposed that aim to overcome the limitations of standard statistical approaches and enable individually tailored precision medicine in ophthalmology.
Lack of Evidence for Stereotypical Direction Columns in the Mouse Superior Colliculus

Neurons in the visual system can be spatially organized according to their response properties such as receptive field location and feature selectivity. For example, the visual cortex of many mammalian species contains orientation and direction columns where neurons with similar preferences are clustered. Here, we examine whether such a columnar structure exists in the mouse superior colliculus (SC), a prominent visual center for motion processing. By performing large-scale physiological recording and two-photon calcium imaging in adult male and female mice, we show that direction-selective neurons in the mouse SC are not organized into stereotypical columns as a function of their preferred directions, although clusters of similarly tuned neurons are seen in a minority of mice. Nearby neurons can prefer similar or opposite directions in a largely position-independent manner. This finding holds true regardless of animal state (anesthetized vs awake, running vs stationary), SC depth (most superficial lamina vs deeper in the SC), research technique (calcium imaging vs electrophysiology), and stimulus type (drifting gratings vs moving dots, full field vs small patch). Together, these results challenge recent reports of region-specific organizations in the mouse SC and reveal how motion direction is represented in this important visual center.
Terahertz frequency combs for radiometry and spectroscopy

The unique structure of frequency combs, light sources whose lines are perfectly evenly-spaced, allows for new avenues in the measurement of optical signals. Terahertz quantum cascade laser based combs are attractive options for comb-based sensing, as they have low repetition rates and large powers per comb tooth. We will discuss how computational techniques used in concert with these combs can be used to measure the spectrum of an unknown light source|both phase and amplitude. In particular, we will discuss (a) how frequency combs can be used to recover the spectrum of arbitrary optical signals, even incoherent ones, (b) how Fourier-domain methods can be used to retrieve the phase of arbitrary combs, and (c) how terahertz combs can be used to perform high-speed, high-performance spectroscopy.
I-O Psychology and Management Journal Prestige in Business Schools: Do Institutional Versus Individual Views Differ?

This commentary was motivated by three observations from Highhouse, Zickar, and Melick’s (2020) survey of SIOP members’ perceptions of journal prestige: first, 52% of the 557 respondents (N = 290) were in business schools or schools of labor and industrial relations. Second, Highhouse et al.’s finding that “the most prestigious journals identified in our survey are also dominated by management scholarship, and nearly all of them have chief editors located in business schools”. Third, the authors’ conclusion that “the flight of prominent I-O psychologists from psychology departments to business schools has influenced the nature of the research published in our leading journals as well as the nature of topics pursued by I-O scholars”. Thus, this commentary focuses on the prestige of I-O and management journals in business schools.
Women Refugees’ Media Usage: Overcoming Information Precarity in Germany

This study examines how women refugees in Hamburg, Germany, many arriving either as minors or unaccompanied minors (now young adults), managed to overcome information precarity resulting from limit...
Presentation Slides for Key Performance Indicators as Supplements to Earnings: Incremental informativeness, Demand Factors, Measurement Issues, and Properties of Their Forecasts

The documented decline in the information content of earnings numbers has paralleled the emergence of disclosures, mostly voluntary, of industry-specific key performance indicators (KPIs). We find that the incremental information content conveyed by KPI news is significant for many KPIs, yet it is diminished when details about the computation of the KPI are absent or when the computation of the KPI changes over time. Consistent with analysts responding to investor information demand, we find that analysts are more likely to produce forecasts for a KPI when that KPI has more information content and when earnings are less informative. We also analyze the properties of analysts’ KPI forecasts, and we find that KPI forecasts are more accurate than mechanical forecasts, and their accuracy exceeds that of earnings forecasts. Our study contributes to the literature on the information content of KPIs and increases our understanding of the factors that affect this content. We provide evidence pertinent to the debate on whether and how to regulate KPI disclosures. This study further contributes to research on the properties of analysts’ forecasts. Link to the SSRN version: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2990730
Modern trends in design of Higher educational institutions of Ukraine

The article deals with the problems of architectural and town-planning issues when creating and building buildings of higher educational institutions (hereinafter -HEIs) of Ukraine. The approaches to construction of the functional structure of the external and internal environments of the HEI of the architectural and planning, educational and laboratory blocks, three-dimensional spatial resources are analyzed. Keywords: town-planning, architecture, environment, higher education institutions.
Combining Spiritual Aging and Geropsychological Development

Abstract. Combining some life stories with aspects of my professional career is a task more easily described than accomplished. By illuminating personal connections between spiritual aging and gero...
Value Similarity Extensions for Approximate Computing in General-Purpose Processors

Approximate Computing (AxC) is a popular design paradigm wherein selected computations are executed approximately to gain efficiency with minimal impact on application-level quality. Most efforts in AxC target specialized accelerators and domain-specific processors, with relatively limited focus on General-Purpose Processors (GPPs). However, GPPs are still broadly used to execute applications that are amenable to AxC, making AxC for GPPs a critical challenge. A key bottleneck in applying AxC to GPPs is that their execution units account for only a small fraction of total energy, requiring a holistic approach targeting compute, memory and control front-ends. This paper proposes such an approach that leverages the application property of value similarity, i.e., input operands to computations that occur close-in-time take similar values. Such similar computations are dynamically pre-detected and the fetch-decode-execute of entire instruction sequences are skipped to benefit performance. To this end, we propose a set of lightweight micro-architectural and ISA extensions called VSX that enable: (i) similarity detection amongst values in a cache-line, (ii) skipping of pre-defined instructions and/or loop iterations when similarity is detected, and (iii) substituting outputs of skipped instructions with saved results from previously executed computations. We also develop compiler techniques, guided by user annotations, to benefit from VSX in the context of common Machine Learning (ML) kernels. Our RTL implementation of VSX for a low-power RISC-V processor incurred 2.13% area overhead and yielded 1.19×-3.84× speedup with <0.5 % accuracy loss on 6 ML benchmarks.
Detection of additional primary neoplasms on 18F-Fluciclovine PET/CT in patients with primary prostate cancer.

Rationale: To evaluate the detection rate of incidental second primary neoplasms in patients with prostate cancer on 18F-Fluciclovine PET/CT. Methods: Imaging reports and patient demographic data were retrospectively reviewed from 663 clinical 18F- Fluciclovine PET/CT studies, performed in 601 patients for the assessment of their prostate cancer (643 - recurrence evaluation, 20 - initial staging) from August 2016 to April 2021. Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of the suspected second neoplasms was determined. The results of 18F- Fluciclovine PET/CT were correlated with clinical and radiological studies to determine the nature of the suspected second neoplasms. Results: Fifty-five patients (9.1%) had findings suspicious for a second neoplasm. 39/55 had a known second malignancy diagnosis prior to the PET/CT. An incidental second primary neoplasm was first suspected on 18F- Fluciclovine PET/CT in 16/601 patients (2.7%). Three of the sixteen patients had PET/CT suggestive of a meningioma that was corroborated on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Of the remaining 13 patients, 11 had a tissue diagnosis confirming a malignancy. Second malignancies included renal cell carcinoma (RCC; 5/11; 45.5%), urothelial carcinoma (n = 2), multiple myeloma, chondrosarcoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and lung (n = 1, each; except for one patient with both esophageal and lung carcinomas). Among histopathologic confirmed malignancies, clear-cell RCC had the lowest uptake (SUVmax 3.4), and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma had the highest uptake (SUVmax 13.6). Of the two patients with no histopathologic confirmation, one had ultrasound and MRI findings corroborating the diagnosis of RCC. The other patient had a solitary lung nodule suspicious for primary lung carcinoma and elected to undergo observation. Conclusion: Incidental findings consistent with a second primary neoplasm are not infrequently seen on 18F- Fluciclovine PET/CT performed for assessment of prostate cancer (9.1%). Of the incidentally detected primary cancers, RCC was the most common (45.5%). These findings indicate the need for a careful analysis of 18F-Fluciclovine PET/CT images, due to the broad tumor imaging capabilities of this radiotracer.
The methodological and conceptual basis of environmental policies for children

Abstract The literature on environmental effects on children is pervaded by value‐laden statements. This article stresses careful examination of the factual basis of such statements. Selected research findings on children's health, play behavior, social interactions, and school behavior indicate a need for environmental policies for children. This need is further augmented by children's characteristics regarding their level of development, their decision‐making authority, and their economic position. Four approaches to child‐environment congruence are distinguished. A fable then underscores the importance of basing environmental policies for children on a certain and integral conception of how children's development over time relates to the environment. Space‐time methodology is discussed as one such framework, elucidating contexual considerations that surround research and policies regarding children's environments.
Medical management of serous otitis in children.

Though pediatricians have long been concerned with the problem of fluid in the middle ear as it pertains to infection or temporary conductive hearing loss, it is only recently that they have begun to be aware of the long-term consequences of middle ear fluid. Brannon and Murray,1 for instance, studied language skills in children with hearing impairments and found deficits in five specific areas including total words, words per sentence, total errors, words per corrected sentence, and syntax score. Nation2 studied children of normal intelligence with cleft palate. Even with the exclusion of children with a hearing loss of 30 dB or greater, he found a significant deficiency of vocabulary comprehension and usage in the children with cleft palates, suggesting that even a mild hearing loss may affect vocabulary development. Holm and Kunze3 studied children with fluctuating hearing loss from chronic otitis media. They found problems of deficient vocabulary, articulation skills, ability to receive and express ideas through spoken language, use of grammar, syntax, and auditory memory skills. Since resolution of serous otitis restores normal hearing, early diagnosis is essenhal to prevent persisting long-term behavioral, social, and educational handicaps. In this article we will focus on changes within the ear, Eustachian tube, and nose which predispose to serous otitis, on methods of diagnosing serous otitis, and on options in management. Serous and Secretory Otitis Media When nonsanguinous middle ear effusions are cultured, approximately one fourth to one third will be sterile4 and will not respond to antibiotic therapy. The pediatrician diagnoses this condition as serous otitis media.
Toward a better understanding of dental appointment-keeping behavior.

Objective Broken appointments cause adverse outcomes in healthcare systems: They interrupt continuity of care, waste resources, affect workflow, and reduce population-wide access to care. A better understanding of dental appointment-keeping behavior would support efforts toward designing novel interventions aimed at reducing rates of broken appointments. Methods The authors conducted a conceptual review of quantitative and qualitative research on dental appointment-keeping in the United States. Results Research in this area is limited. Providers tend to use a blunt instrument to improve appointment-keeping: a system of reminder calls. There is evidence that patients with higher rates of broken dental appointments are the very ones who are most in need of care. Appointment-keeping barriers are multifactorial and related to social issues. They can be described as falling into three overlapping categories: psychological barriers, structural barriers, and health literacy barriers. Conclusions Appointment-keeping interventions could simultaneously address social factors that exacerbate illness and improve workflow and finances. There arises an opportunity to design innovative patient-centered interventions tailored to particular barriers.
A new integrated system for three-dimensional echocardiographic reconstruction and ventricular volume measurement

A system has been developed which automatically integrates, a real time, the two-dimensional ultrasound images, electrocardiogram (ECG), and positional data necessary for 3-D reconstruction, with time and storage requirements that are no more than those for an ordinary 2-D echocardiographic study. This system was validated by reconstructing and measuring the volumes of a series of gel-filled ventricular phantoms as well as excised ventricles of known size. Experimental volumes from the reconstruction were derived by integrating the region enclosed by a continuous surface that conforms to the shape of the reconstructed traces. The results agreed well with directly measured cavity volumes (average difference >
Nitric oxide mediates hyporeactivity to vasopressors in mesenteric vessels of portal hypertensive rats.

Abstract Increased levels of circulating vasodilators have been claimed to be the causative factor in the hyporesponsiveness to endogenous vasopressors in portal hypertension. To investigate whether this hyporeactivity to vasopressors is also present in an in vitro system perfused with a synthetic medium, the responsiveness to graded concentrations of norepinephrine, arginine-vasopressin, and potassium chloride was tested in perfused superior mesenteric arterial beds of normal rats and rats with portal hypertension induced by partial portal vein ligation (PVL). The same vasopressors were tested after incubation of vessel preparations with the stereospecific nitric oxide formation inhibitor N ω -nitro-l-arginine (NNA, 10 −4 mol/L). Vessel preparations of PVL compared with normal rats (n = 8 per group and vasopressor) expressed a significant ( P
Altering reality through interactive image and video manipulation

Camera calibration and the acquisition of Euclidean 3D measurements have so far been considered necessary requirements for overlaying three-dimensional graphical objects with live video. We describe an image-based approach to augmented reality that avoids both requirements: it does not use any metric information about the calibration parameters of the camera or the 3D locations and dimensions of the environment's objects. The only requirement is the ability to track across frames at least four feature points that are specified by the user during system initialization and whose world coordinates are unknown. The resulting system allows a user to "augment" a real 3D environment with computer-generated objects by interactively manipulating one or more images of that environment.
Analysis Methods for Vessel Generated Spray

The droplet sizes and velocities contained in vessel generated spray are difficult to quantify. This paper describes three different methods to quantify velocity and size distributions from high speed video of spray from a planing boat. These methods include feature tracking, displacement tracking and video inversion. For the feature tracking method, the images were preprocessed using contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization, and then converted to binary images with a specific intensity cutoff level. Image statistics were then generated from this image, including droplet area and effective diameter. These images were processed using commercial PIV software to obtain velocities. For the displacement tracking method, the images were also converted to binary images with a specific intensity cutoff level. Image statistics were again compiled from this binary image. A droplet filter was then applied using a binary erosion image processing technique, where large droplets were removed because the entire droplet may not be in frame, and small droplets were removed because they might not overlap between frames. Droplets were then tracked by comparing the bounding boxes of two droplets between time frames. The video inversion method consisted of the manipulating the original high speed videos from spatial x-y frames in time space to time-y frames in x-space, where the x-axis is longitudinally along the ship and the y axis is vertical to the ship. From this orientation, the speed of the general spray mass could be determined by summing the pixels in time columns for each × frame. Comparisons of droplet size distribution between the feature and displacement tracking method yield qualitatively similar results, with some disagreement likely due to the different threshold levels. The trend of the distribution curve suggests that both methods are unable to resolve the smallest droplet sizes, due to the processing filters applied as well as the field of view of the camera. The three analysis methods compare well in their spray velocity computation, and are also similar to spray speed predictions found in the literature for a given geometry and vessel speed.
Triterpenoids CDDO-ethyl amide and CDDO-trifluoroethyl amide improve the behavioral phenotype and brain pathology in a transgenic mouse model of Huntington's disease.

Abstract Oxidative stress is a prominent feature of Huntington's disease (HD) due to mitochondrial dysfunction and the ensuing overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This phenomenon ultimately contributes to cognitive and motor impairment, as well as brain pathology, especially in the striatum. Targeting the transcription of the endogenous antioxidant machinery could be a promising therapeutic approach. The NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) signaling pathway is an important pathway involved in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses. Synthetic triterpenoids, which are derived from 2-Cyano-3,12-Dioxooleana-1,9-Dien-28-Oic acid (CDDO) activate the Nrf2/ARE pathway and reduce oxidative stress in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases. We investigated the effects of CDDO-ethyl amide (CDDO-EA) and CDDO-trifluoroethyl amide (CDDO-TFEA) in N171-82Q mice, a transgenic mouse model of HD. CDDO-EA or CDDO-TFEA were administered in the diet at various concentrations, starting at 30 days of age. CDDO-EA and CDDO-TFEA upregulated Nrf2/ARE induced genes in the brain and peripheral tissues, reduced oxidative stress, improved motor impairment and increased longevity. They also rescued striatal atrophy in the brain and vacuolation in the brown adipose tissue. Therefore compounds targeting the Nrf2/ARE pathway show great promise for the treatment of HD.
Recurrent Postoperative Perineal Hernia: Transperineal Redo Mesh Repair

Postoperative perineal hernia is a rare complication after abdominoperineal resection or pelvic exenteration. In this video article, we describe one technique of transperineal mesh repair of recurrent symptomatic perineal hernia after previous transabdominal mesh repair of the hernia developed after abdominoperineal resection. To date, this redo mesh repair is the only report that we could find in the English literature.
Recolonization of intertidal algae: An experimental study

Recolonization of an intertidal coralline algal mat near San Diego, California, was studied under different disturbance (denudation by scraping) shedules. Scraping at different seasons led to different sequences of algal dominants, and there was no predictable sequence of colonizers. The predisturbance dominant, Lithothrix aspergillum, reappeared in all disturbed plots, including those scraped biweekly. Undisturbed areas, which were monitored as controls, underwent a late summer die-back of algae, following the occurrence of hot dry weather, and a late winter pulse in algal growth. Seasonal influences predominated over successional patterns in determining community changes under both disturbed and undisturbed conditions.
Age and Growth of Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata) Verified with LA-ICP-MS Analysis of Vertebrae

Endangered smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) were opportunistically sampled in south Florida and aged by counting opaque bands in sectioned vertebrae (n = 15). Small sample size precluded traditional age verification, but fish collected in spring and summer had translucent vertebrae margins, while fish collected in winter had opaque margins. Trends in Sr:Ca measured across vertebrae with laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry corresponded well to annual salinity trends observed in sawfish estuarine nursery habitats in south Florida, thus serve as a chemical marker verifying annual formation of opaque bands. Based on that finding and assumptions about mean birth date and timing of opaque band formation, estimated age ranged from 0.4 y for a 0.60 m total length (TL) male to 14.0 y for a 4.35 m TL female. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters computed from size at age data were 4.48 m for L∞, 0.219 y−1for k, and −0.81 y for t0. Results of this study have important implications for sawfish conservation as well as for inferring habitat residency of euryhaline elasmobranchs via chemical analysis of vertebrae.