cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lacrimal Gland Tumors

This chapter outlines the clinical presentation and management of tumors that affect the lacrimal gland. Lacrimal gland tumors can be categorized as lymphoproliferative lesions, benign epithelial tumors, and malignant epithelial tumors. Lymphomas are the most common primary cancers of the orbit in adults, and the lacrimal gland is a frequent site of involvement. Benign epithelial tumors of the lacrimal gland include pleomorphic adenomas, oncocytomas, and spindle cell myoepitheliomas. Adenoid cystic carcinoma is the most common primary malignant epithelial tumor of the lacrimal gland; others include mixed tumor, adenocarcinoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, oncocytoma, and acinic cell carcinoma. The American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system, which is used to classify many malignant epithelial tumors of the head and neck, can provide objective criteria for staging of lacrimal gland tumors. Because tumor stage at presentation may be associated with prognosis, it should be considered when treatment is planned.
Unilateral localized cystic kidney: Question

A previously healthy 14-year-old boy came to our clinic for the evaluation of recurrent, painless gross hematuria of 2-weeks duration. The patient denied abdominal or back pain, had no dysuria, fatigue, or fever, and a complete review of systems was unremarkable except for the bright red urine. There was no antecedent history of trauma, sore throat, sinusitis, no symptoms or evidence of other infections, and no history of bleeding diathesis. The patient denied ever having been sexually active. His past medical history was unremarkable with no history of urinary tract infections and no previous episodes of hematuria. He had been a full-term normal delivery and his mother recalled there being no issues with his antenatal ultrasound. The patient came to the clinic with both parents who denied a history of hematuria or cystic kidney disease in any members of the family. The patient’s father had been recently diagnosed with hypertension and was on medication. Upon physical examination, the patient was greater than the ninety percentile for height and weight with an athletic build. Vital signs were unremarkable and blood pressure was normal for height and age at 88/64 mmHg. Physical examination was normal with no evidence of bruising or rashes, absence of hepatosplenomegaly, no palpable renal masses, and a normal genital exam. Blood work showed a slightly low platelet count (133,000/l), which likely represents a normal variant. He had a normal hemoglobin (16 mg/dl) and white blood count (5,700/l). His electrolytes were normal and his blood urea nitrogen was 14 mg/dl with a creatinine of 1 mg/dl. The coagulation profile was unremarkable: partial thromboplastin time (PTT) was 28 s (normal range 22–37 s), the prothrombin time (PT) was 12.1 s (normal range 12–15 s) and the international normalized ratio (INR) was 1.2 (normal range 0.86–1.14). Urine analysis had a specific gravity of 1.025, 3+ blood, 1+ protein, many eumorphic red blood cells, three to five white blood cells per high-power field, one to two hyaline casts. Urine culture was negative. Complements were normal (C3 was 89 mg/dl with normal in our laboratory being 75– 180 mg/dl and C4 was 19 mg/dl, with normal in our
White Collar Crime in a Nutshell, 4th Ed.

This nutshell is intended to provide to students a general overview of this growing area. It is hoped that this book will assist in providing a structure to a basically unstructured body of law. Because of the general focus of this book, it is not recommended as a source for deciding a specific legal issue. Cases were selected for this book to be illustrative, rather than comprehensive of each area being discussed. Specific crimes were selected to provide a sampling of the wide array of crimes encompassed within this enormous body of law. This book focuses on white collar crime in the federal criminal context, and does not delve into developments at the state and local level. The book covers general principles of white collar crime, including discussion of corporate criminality. It covers specific offenses such as mail, wire, and bank fraud, securities fraud, obstruction of justice, bribery and extortion, RICO, false statements, perjury, tax crimes, currency reporting crimes, environmental crimes and computer crimes. The book also provides an overview of procedural considerations in this area of the law, including grand jury and agency investigations. It includes discussion of the attorney-client privilege and the work-product privilege. It concludes with a section on punishment that discusses the federal sentencing guidelines for both individuals and organizations.
A natural classification system for social work literature and knowledge

A classification system for social work knowledge requires a number of critical decisions, for example, on the "things" to be classified, their relationships to each other, an empirical or conceptual ap proach, and other "choice-points. " These are illustrated with refer ences to the physical and biologi cal sciences. The author proposes a natural system of classification based on the concept that social work focuses on the interface be tween person and environment.
A Time to Focus on Compliance

When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, there is no shortage of topics upon which the nation can disagree. As patients lobby to make medical services a constitutional right, providers share a much different perspective on modern American health care. To practitioners and non-clinical professionals alike, participation in government sponsored health care programs is in many ways akin to joining the freemasons or pledging a fraternity, the exclusion from which is nothing less than a modern day blackballing by the not-so-secret society known as the Office of the Inspector General ('OIG'). Now more than ever is a time for health care providers to focus on compliance.
Detection and Characterization of Cracks in Beams via Chaotic Excitation and Statistical Analysis

Vibration-based damage detection methods are widely used to identify hidden damages in beam or structural components. This chapter presents a novel approach to detect and characterize cracks in beam type structures. Specifically, a chaotic signal is used to excite a beam and statistical properties of the resulting time series of beam response are analyzed to detect and characterize the crack. Initially, a single degree of freedom (SDOF) approximation of the beam with opening and closing crack is analyzed to establish that salient statistical parameters, e.g., standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis are strongly influenced by crack properties. Next, using a finite element model of a cracked cantilever beam, spatio-temporal responses are produced for chaotic excitation and different crack characteristics. An extensive numerical study reveals that, as in the case of SDOF model, standard deviation and kurtosis of response data can yield information about the location and severity of crack. Finally, an experimental study is performed to systematically collect responses corresponding to the SDOF approximation of the cantilever beam with a crack of varying depth at a fixed location. This experimental study validates the results of the numerical study. Specifically, a careful analysis of the experimental data validates that statistical parameters such as standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis can accurately predict crack severity.
Forest Stand Susceptibility to the Gypsy Moth (Lepidoptera: Lyman triidae): Species and Site Effects on Foliage Quality to Larvae

In the northeastern United States, forest stands on xeric sites, such as ridgetops and steep upper slopes, generally experience more gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), defoliation than those on mesic lowland sites. To address whether foliage quality from a site could contribute to forest stand susceptibility, we reared gypsy moth larvae on chestnut oak, Quercus prinus (L.), and northern red oak, Quercus rubra (L.), foliage collected from two xeric and two mesic forest sites. Food quality of foliage was measured as protein and phenolics (hydrolyzable and condensed tannins, total phenolics and protein binding capacity) and was related to measures of gypsy moth success. Chestnut oak foliage had greater measures of phenolics than red oak and produced heavier male and female pupae and more fecund females. Foliage from xeric sites was likely to have greater measures of phenolics, but only male pupal weights were greater for larvae reared on xeric site foliage. Larval development times (days to pupation) were shorter on chestnut oak foliage than on red oak foliage for females and shorter on foliage from mesic sites than from xeric sites for males. Female pupal weights and fecundities were negatively correlated with measures of red oak hydrolyzable tannins, but there was no relationship between chestnut oak phenolics and gypsy moth success. The greater frequency of gypsy moth outbreaks on xeric sites may be more a function of tree species composition than site induced differences in foliage quality.
Bayesian Methods for Nonignorable Dropout in Joint Models in Smoking Cessation Studies

ABSTRACTInference on data with missingness can be challenging, particularly if the knowledge that a measurement was unobserved provides information about its distribution. Our work is motivated by the Commit to Quit II study, a smoking cessation trial that measured smoking status and weight change as weekly outcomes. It is expected that dropout in this study was informative and that patients with missed measurements are more likely to be smoking, even after conditioning on their observed smoking and weight history. We jointly model the categorical smoking status and continuous weight change outcomes by assuming normal latent variables for cessation and by extending the usual pattern mixture model to the bivariate case. The model includes a novel approach to sharing information across patterns through a Bayesian shrinkage framework to improve estimation stability for sparsely observed patterns. To accommodate the presumed informativeness of the missing data in a parsimonious manner, we model the unidentifi...
Log, Stock and Two Simple Lotteries. Technical Supplement

These supplemental materials include technical details on the algorithm for decision-making under risk utilized in the main paper, as well as a concise review of neural foundations underlying the main paper's theoretical framework. Several peripheral extensions to the main work are also placed here.You may find the paper "Log, Stock and Two Simple Lotteries" at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2763959.
Relevance of biological properties of progestogen of oral contraceptives in treatment of androgen excess symptoms.

Combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives (OCs) are of proven therapeutic benefit to postpubertal females with androgen excess syndromes. Combined OCs stimulate sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) synthesis through their estrogen effect thereby increasing testosterone binding capacity and decreasing free testosterone concentrations. They further produce decreased ovarian and/or adrenal androgen production. The steroids with the most pronounced effects on androgenic activity are DL-norgestrel norethindrone and norethindrone acetate. Recent research suggests that the low-dose OCs and equally as effective as earlier formulations in decreasing free or total testosterone levels or androstenedione levels and increasing SHBG. Several studies of the effects of low-dose levonorgestrel-containing triphasic OCs have produced conflicting findings in terms of SHBG rises in women with acne. When androgenic progestogens are combined with estrogen at low dosages the androgenic properties of progestogen may not become expressed Clearly there is a need for more clinical and biochemical research on the efficacy and safety of treatment with low-dose OCs containing significant androgenic biopotency. It is important to keep in mind however that alleviation of androgen excess symptoms by OC use is only a temporary measure. The goal is to produce a more precise and lasting therapy through definition of the primary pathogenic mechanism of either excess androgen production or idiopathic androgenic symptoms.
A review of Global Perspectives on Gender and Space: Engaging Feminism and Development Edited by Ann M. Oberhauser and Ibipo Johnston-Anumonwo

Since the 1970s, feminist inquiries into global development processes and practices have grown and shifted in diverse and interesting ways. In this latest collection of work, Ibipo Josnton-Anumonwo...
Acellular Injectable Biomaterials for Treating Cardiovascular Disease

In the last decade, the field of tissue engineering has emerged as a potential therapeutic strategy for the regeneration and/or repair of various tissues afflicted by cardiovascular disease, such as myocardial infarction (MI) or peripheral artery disease (PAD). Among the different tissue engineering strategies, injectable hydrogels have been extensively studied and show encouraging results in both small and large animal models. An injectable hydrogel provides a favorable microenvironment for endogenous regeneration or repair, and depending on the material’s design can be used either alone or as a carrier to deliver therapeutic molecules or stem cells. The type of injectable biomaterial is key for a successful hydrogel-based treatment, and in this chapter, we will focus on acellular injectable biomaterial approaches for both MI and PAD.
Addenda to Terrell’s A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound

(1988). Addenda to Terrell’s A Companion to the Cantos of Ezra Pound. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews: Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 142-143.
Counting Economics Phds: How Many New Graduates Do U.S. Universities Produce?1:

This is the first paper that seeks to reconcile the large and persistent differences across data sources in the number of new economics PhDs that U.S. universities produce. During 1997–2006, the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) reported 11,524 such degrees in all specialties, compared to 10,812 degrees by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and 8,862 dissertations listed in the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL). The comparable estimates in general economics (GE) were 9,504, 8,534, and 7,856, respectively. Such differences can lead to problematic assessments of the balance between supply and demand in the market for new PhDs. The study finds that the SED picks up the most new economics PhDs, but it also attracts an unknown number of graduates of business schools and interdisciplinary programs. IPEDS has the most detailed classification framework of specialty degrees, but undercounts graduates of larger GE programs and misclassifies some GE programs. The JEL's annual lists provide...
Rank Estimation of Log-Linear Regression with Interval-Censored Data

Interval-censored data arise in a wide variety of research and application fields such as cancer and AIDS studies. In this paper, we study a log-linear regression model when data are subject to interval censoring. We use a U-statistic based on ranks to estimate regression coefficients and establish large sample properties of the estimator. We illustrate the performance of the proposed estimate with simulations and a numerical example.
Medical Facility Infrastructure Considerations

The process for identifying pediatric patients, evaluating their health status, and ultimately treating their conditions has grown into a most complex endeavor and requires a vast array of infrastructural considerations. In the United States, more than one-third of patients are referred to a specialist each year. Despite the frequency of referrals and the importance of the specialty referral process, the process itself has been a long-standing source of frustration among both primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists. Academic medical centers, traditionally tertiary and quaternary care centers housed within a centralized medical facility and associated with a medical school, have been viewed as slightly more integrated models of care. However, many of these centers receive transfers and referrals from outside community hospitals. Linking pediatric patients to specific care has been a major area of focus for the last two decades. Coordination would maximize utilization of co-location, comanagement, and networking/information sharing—these would help use existing resources more effectively and improve the quality of care by reducing barriers to care; promoting early referral, linkage, and follow-up; promoting cross-discipline problem-solving and family-centered care; and reducing duplication and fragmentation of services. Centers providing evaluation and treatment of pediatric cardiac and congenital issues must at a minimum possess a wide array of resources involving technological investments and a broad group of highly specialized personnel. Optimal and highly organized care would allow initial evaluation with multiple specialists all in one centralized setting.
Sound analysis in smart cities

This chapter introduces the concept of smart cities and discusses the importance of sound as a source of information about urban life. It describes a wide range of applications for the computational analysis of urban sounds and focuses on two high-impact areas, audio surveillance, and noise pollution monitoring, which sit at the intersection of dense sensor networks and machine listening. For sensor networks we focus on the pros and cons of mobile versus static sensing strategies, and the description of a low-cost solution to acoustic sensing that supports distributed machine listening. For sound event detection and classification we focus on the challenges presented by this task, solutions including feature design and learning strategies, and how a combination of convolutional networks and data augmentation result in the current state of the art. We close with a discussion about the potential and challenges of mobile sensing, the limitations imposed by the data currently available for research, and a few areas for future exploration.
Epigenetic variation in clonal stands of aspen

Epigenetic mechanisms can affect ecologically important traits, even in the absence of genetic variation. Environmental factors can influence gene regulation through chemical modifications, such as DNA methylation, resulting in acclimation that can be transferred to subsequent cell generations both mitotically and meiotically. Clonal plants such as Populus tremuloides (aspen) show considerable promise as model species for the long-term in situ study of ecological epigenetics. The common replication of identical genotypes across heterogeneous environments permits within- and between-genotype comparisons while controlling for genetic makeup. With a long lifespan and limited natural selection resulting from sexual recombination, it is conceivable that epigenetic acclimation plays an important role in the long-term ecological success of aspen. This case study is the first in a series investigating the role of epigenetics in aspen ecology. We have established long-term permanent plots of aspen, identified (genotyped) clones and established the baseline epigenetic structure. Here we report the in situ epigenetic structure of two aspen stands. We find considerable epigenetic variation and significant differences within and among genotypes and sites, suggesting both genotype and environment influence the epigenotype.
Determining the Historicity of Three Astronomical Almanacs in the Madrid Codex

L'objectif de cet article est de demontrer, grâce a un exemple specifique (le Codex de Madrid), comment les techniques d'extraction et d'integration des donnees d'interet astronomique des codices mayas, contribuent a l'etude du savoir astronomique et de sa place dans la culture maya precolombienne. Afin que les chercheurs non specialistes puissent clairement comprendre la methodologie employee, les auteurs proposent dans un premier temps quelques informations de base sur le calendrier maya, sur les codices pre-colombiens, sur les tables astronomiques et les almanachs contenus dans ces livres et sur quelques-unes des conventions iconographiques et epigraphiques employees dans ces documents
Properties of Derivates and Some Applications

In this chapter, we generalize the concept of derivates, defined recently in the literature, to maps defined on a topological space. The derivate of a map has some interesting properties and applications to optimization problems. For example, it is closely related to various notions of tangent spaces of the range of the map. It strengthens the necessary condition (Fermat’s theorem) for an extremum point to a sufficient condition.
Development and evaluation of rotating multi-segment variable-angle slant-hole SPECT

551 Objectives: Previously we developed a SPECT technique using rotating multi-segment slant-hole (RMSSH) collimator that provides much higher (~3×) detection efficiency than the parallel-hole collimator with the same spatial resolution at the cost of limited common-volume-of-view (CVOV). The goal of this study is to develop and evaluate the performance of a new rotating multi-segment variable-angle slant-hole (RMSVASH) collimator for SPECT that gives a larger CVOV with minimum decrease in detection efficiency. Methods: Unlike RMSSH collimator where each segment consists of parallel holes slanted at a fixed angle, the collimator holes in each segment of a RMSVASH collimator are slanted at variable angle to form planar diverging-beam geometry. Analytical formulas were derived to theoretically calculate geometry parameters and performance characteristics. Iterative OS-EM reconstruction algorithm for RMSVASH SPECT was developed by incorporating the slanted planar diverging-beam geometry in the rotating-shearing projector-backprojector pair, which modeled the photon attenuation and collimator-detector response (CDR) effects in attenuation (AC) and CDR compensations, respectively. To evaluate the performance of RMSVASH SPECT, we used myocardial perfusion and breast SPECT projection data generated from the 3D NCAT phantom using analytical projectors. Projections were reconstructed using OS-EM algorithm with compensations. Results: Compared to RMSSH collimator with the same collimator thickness and hole-size, RMSVASH collimator provides a CVOV that is 110% larger in volume for a decrease of 40% in detection efficiency at the center of the CVOV. The reduced detection efficiency is still 1.7 times higher than parallel-hole collimator with the similar resolution. For both without and with CDR compensation, RMSVASH SPECT images showed an increased CVOV with reduced image artifact. The increased CVOV is particularly important in breast SPECT to image the lesions in the entire chest wall. Conclusions: We developed a new SPECT imaging technique with RMSVASH collimator that has a significantly larger CVOV with a minimum decrease in detection efficiency as compared to RMSSH collimator. The increased CVOV of RMSVASH collimator allows SPECT imaging of the breast that includes the entire chest wall and of large hearts with easier patient positioning. Research Support (if any): R01-EB1983
Analysis of the use of low-pass filters with high-gain observers

Abstract: High-gain observers play an important role in the design of feedback control for nonlinear systems. One challenge in the use of high-gain observers is the effect of measurement noise. It is shown in the literature that the presence of measurement noise puts a constraint on how high the observer gain could be, which forces a trade-off between the fast convergence of state estimates and the error due to measurement noise. A number of techniques have been proposed in the literature to attenuate the effects of measurement noise on systems utilizing a high-gain observer. In experimental applications of high-gain observers, it is quite common to use a low-pass filter to filter out the high-frequency components of the noise before feeding the measurement into the observer. In this paper we analyze effect of measurement noise on high-gain observers when low pass filters are used.
The prospects of evidentialism

This is a collection of sixteen essays, mostly written by well-established epistemologists, providing insightful criticism and constructive recommendations on Earl Conee and Richard Feldman’s epistemology. The essays are organized under the following topics: disagreement; virtue critique; skepticism; knowledge; internalism; evidence; and synthesis with other accounts. Each paper comes with a response from Conee and Feldman. Overall the collection provides a useful, although somewhat jumbled picture of issues facing evidentialism. Whether one is favorable to the position or not, these essays are important reading for any philosopher struggling with epistemic justification. The collection starts with a very useful historical-conceptual introduction to evidentialism from the editor Trent Dougherty. He draws on the most recent formulations from Conee and Feldman who articulate their position in several ways. The most commonly cited is from their book Evidentialism:
Fiber Deflection Probe Uncertainty Analysis for Micro Holes

We have recently reported on a new probe, the Fiber Deflection Probe (FDP), for diameter and form measurement of large aspect ratio micro-holes (100 qm nominal diameter, 5 mm deep). In this paper, ...
The Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Alcohol and Marijuana Use Outcomes Among Concurrent Users: A Motivational Model of Substance Use.

Background College students with more social anxiety symptoms are particularly vulnerable to problematic alcohol and marijuana use given their susceptibility for elevated anxiety symptoms in social settings combined with the normative nature of substance use. Existing research has established substance use as coping motivated for these students when examining alcohol and marijuana use problems separately. The next step is to determine whether students with more social anxiety who use both substances do so for similar or different reasons. The current study tested a comprehensive (i.e., all variables in the same model) motivational model of alcohol/marijuana use in a sample of college students from 10 universities across the United States who endorsed both past-month alcohol and marijuana use. Methods College students were recruited through psychology department participant pools and completed an online survey assessing mental health symptoms, substance use motives, and substances use behaviors. Current sample comprised concurrent alcohol/marijuana users (n = 2,034), 29.6% of whom endorsed clinically indicated levels of social anxiety and nearly one-fourth exceeded the cutoff for hazardous drinking (23.2%) and hazardous marijuana use (21.9%). Results Across both substances, coping motives significantly mediated the positive relationship between social anxiety symptoms and substance use problems. Unique to alcohol, conformity motives mediated the association between social anxiety symptoms and alcohol-related problems. Conclusions Taken together, students with more social anxiety who are focused on anxiety management may use either alcohol or marijuana; however, these students may experience more alcohol-related problems when drinking to fit in with peers.
On the relative ease of speciation with periodic gene flow

Abstract Common models of speciation with gene flow consider constant migration or admixture on secondary contact, but earth’s recent climatic history suggests many populations have experienced cycles of isolation and contact over the last million years. How does this process impact the rate of speciation, and how much can we learn about its dynamics by analyzing the genomes of modern populations? Here we develop a simple model of speciation through Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities in the face of periodic gene flow and validate our model with forward time simulations. We then use empirical atmospheric CO2 concentration data from the Vostok Ice Cores to simulate cycles of isolation and secondary contact in a tropical montane landscape, and ask whether they can be distinguished from a standard isolation-with-migration model by summary statistics or joint site frequency spectrum-based demographic inference. We find speciation occurs much faster under periodic than constant gene flow with equivalent effective migration rates (Nm). These processes can be distinguished through combinations of summary statistics or demographic inference from the site frequency spectrum, but parameter estimates appear to have little resolution beyond the most recent cycle of isolation and migration. Our results suggest speciation with periodic gene flow is a common force in generating species diversity through Pleistocene climate cycles, and highlight the limits of current inference techniques for demographic models mimicking the complexity of earth’s recent climatic history.
Trustworthy Power Assistance in Object Manipulation with a Power Assist Robotic System

A 1-DOF power assist robotic system is developed for grasping and lifting objects tied with it by human operator. The dynamics of object manipulation with the system is derived, and a simple admittance-type feedback position control for the system is developed. Human operator’s cognition in the form of weight perception is reflected when determining the control parameters. A computational model of power assistance provided by the system in object manipulation is proposed. Another computational model of operator’s trust in the power assistance is also proposed. Then, the tradeoff between power assistance and trust is determined through experimentation. Results show that higher power assistance does not always generate higher trust of the operator in the robotic system. Instead, the tradeoff follows a special pattern. The reasons behind such tradeoff are analyzed. The results can be used to develop human-friendly intelligent power assist robotic systems for heavy object manipulation in different industries especially manufacturing and assembly.
Pastoral care of cancer patients: Defining utilization of services at a comprehensive cancer center.

e24171Background: Addressing the religious/spiritual needs of patients is an important component of comprehensive cancer care. Patients often report that providers infrequently engage them about th...
Impact of tetraplegia vs. paraplegia on venoarteriolar, myogenic and maximal cutaneous vasodilation responses of the microvasculature: Implications for cardiovascular disease

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality in persons with SCI. While macrovascular remodeling and function after SCI is well documented, changes in the microvascular s...
A space exploration algorithm for multiparametric programming via Delaunay triangulation

We present a novel parameter space exploration algorithm for three classes of multiparametric problems, namely linear (mpLP), quadratic (mpQP), and mixed-integer linear (mpMILP). We construct subsets of the parameter space in the form of simplices through Delaunay triangulation to facilitate identification of the optimal partitions that describe the solution space. The presented exploration strategy prioritizes identifying volumetrically larger critical regions compared to existing methods. We demonstrate the exploration algorithm on an illustrative example, and compare the volumetrically identified parameter space against existing solvers on randomly generated problems in all three classes.
Targeted therapy with phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors in patients with pulmonary hypertension due to heart failure and elevated pulmonary vascular resistance: a systematic review:

Pulmonary Hypertension due to left heart disease is the most common type of Pulmonary Hypertension. Morbidity and mortality significantly increase once Pulmonary Hypertension is present. Treatment ...
Reanimating the Body: Comics Creation as an Embodiment of Life with Cancer

Cancer is regarded as a disease that redefines an individual’s life and relationships. The medicalization and reclamation of the individual’s sense of body, self, and social life have been long examined by psychiatry and anthropology alike. We argue that creating comics is a form of artistic narrative that affirms and proclaims the existence of a past and future possibilities for individuals diagnosed with cancer. Despite the interconnections among lived experience and meaning making, little attention has been paid to the potential therapeutic effects of comics creation. Individuals diagnosed with cancer were recruited for ten weekly comics making workshops. Data include qualitative interviews and workshop observations. Six women who were diagnosed with cancer consented to participate. Meaning making themes included (1) slowing down to process their experiences, (2) expressing frustration with medical encounters, and (3) reflecting on traumatic relationships. The process of redefining their cancer experience connects the sufferer’s individual and social context. We find that the physical act of ‘making’ comics works to create meaning and an embodied expression of meaning. Creating comics, for our participants, offered multiple entry points and perspectives for redefining their stories that provided new insights and paths to explore their medical traumas and reanimating their bodies.
Visions and Voices on Emerging Challenges in Digital Business Strategy

This section is a collection of shorter “Issue and Opinions” pieces that address some of the critical challenges around the evolution of digital business strategy. These voices and visions are from thought leaders who, in addition to their scholarship, have a keen sense of practice. They outline 27 through their opinion pieces a series of issues that will need attention from both research and practice. These issues have been identified through their observation of practice with the 30 eye of a scholar. They provide fertile opportunities for scholars in information systems, strategic management, and organizational theory.
FLASH Proton Pencil Beam Scanning Irradiation Minimizes Radiation-Induced Leg Contracture and Skin Toxicity in Mice

Ultra-high dose rate radiation has been reported to produce a more favorable toxicity and tumor control profile compared to conventional dose rates that are used for patient treatment. So far, the so-called FLASH effect has been validated for electron, photon and scattered proton beam, but not yet for proton pencil beam scanning (PBS). Because PBS is the state-of-the-art delivery modality for proton therapy and constitutes a wide and growing installation base, we determined the benefit of FLASH PBS on skin and soft tissue toxicity. Using a pencil beam scanning nozzle and the plateau region of a 250 MeV proton beam, a uniform physical dose of 35 Gy (toxicity study) or 15 Gy (tumor control study) was delivered to the right hind leg of mice at various dose rates: Sham, Conventional (Conv, 1 Gy/s), Flash60 (57 Gy/s) and Flash115 (115 Gy/s). Acute radiation effects were quantified by measurements of plasma and skin levels of TGF-β1 and skin toxicity scoring. Delayed irradiation response was defined by hind leg contracture as a surrogate of irradiation-induced skin and soft tissue toxicity and by plasma levels of 13 different cytokines (CXCL1, CXCL10, Eotaxin, IL1-beta, IL-6, MCP-1, Mip1alpha, TNF-alpha, TNF-beta, VEGF, G-CSF, GM-CSF and TGF- β1). Plasma and skin levels of TGF-β1, skin toxicity and leg contracture were all significantly decreased in FLASH compared to Conv groups of mice. FLASH and Conv PBS had similar efficacy with regards to growth control of MOC1 and MOC2 head and neck cancer cells transplanted into syngeneic, immunocompetent mice. These results demonstrate consistent delivery of FLASH PBS radiation from 1 to 115 Gy/s in a clinical gantry. Radiation response following delivery of 35 Gy indicates potential benefits of FLASH versus conventional PBS that are related to skin and soft tissue toxicity.
Informality and the fight for rights to the city in Masvingo city, Zimbabwe

The urbanisation of poverty has seen ballooning livelihoods of the poor in contemporary cities as shown by proliferation of urban informality. These livelihoods are mushrooming against a background of repressive city regulatory frameworks that are aimed to stunt the development of urban informality. These repressive regulations have been denying the urban informality their right to the city. However, urban informality in the city of Masvingo has been growing despite these restrictive regulatory frameworks. The study examined how urban informality in the city of Masvingo has been asserting their right to the city in a city that has very hostile regulatory framework. The study utilised a qualitative approach to the inquiry, where in-depth interviews and field observations were employed. The study found out that the city of Masvingo has several instruments that are disenfranchising urban informality of their right to the city. These have been employed to remove informal traders from the city centre. However informal traders are also fighting from various fronts to assert their right to the city. They make use of political influence, employ militant ways, organise themselves into groups for taking over underutilized spaces in the city. The research therefore recommends that the city of Masvingo should employ pro-poor and inclusive urban development policies that should see the integration of urban informality in their mainstream economy. This should result in participation of informal traders in the development of the city and allow them to enjoy right to the city. This study will contribute to the growing scholarly work on the informal urbanism, especially the various ways they are using to assert their right to the city. Urban informality is known in many cities of the global South, for their exclusion in development cities, but this study is showing how informal traders are asserting their right to the city.
AlphaD3M: Machine Learning Pipeline Synthesis.

We introduce AlphaD3M, an automatic machine learning (AutoML) system based on meta reinforcement learning using sequence models with self play. AlphaD3M is based on edit operations performed over machine learning pipeline primitives providing explainability. We compare AlphaD3M with state-of-the-art AutoML systems: Autosklearn, Autostacker, and TPOT, on OpenML datasets. AlphaD3M achieves competitive performance while being an order of magnitude faster, reducing computation time from hours to minutes, and is explainable by design.
Chapter 10 – Carbon Dynamics of Mixed- and High-Severity Wildfires: Pyrogenic CO2 Emissions, Postfire Carbon Balance, and Succession

Among the concerns raised by climatic change is the potential for the additional release of carbon dioxide as a result of biomass combustion. Most of the carbon emissions from wildfires are from the combustion of litter, duff, and small woody debris, whereas most, if not all, of the biomass stored in the boles of large trees is not combusted. Consequently, most of the carbon stored in forests remains unconsumed, even by high-severity wildfires. Thus the application of fuel reduction treatments, while sometimes effective in reducing fire severity and carbon emissions, nearly always result in a net reduction in carbon storage. Postfire carbon emissions from the decomposition of fire-killed biomass can continue for decades, but effects of forest regrowth can exceed the losses of carbon from biomass combustion and the decomposition of fire-killed biomass within 5-50 years, depending on the ecosystem.
Surface Interaction: A Paradigm for Object Communication

When real objects interact, they directly alter each other’s state. In graphical user interfaces, users “directly” alter the state of objects in an information system. It is difficult to model “natural” interaction using the techniques of conventional object-oriented programming and systems. This paper proposes a model of object interaction which more closely follows the principles of natural interaction. A uniform treatment of object interaction offers benefits in the description, design and implementation of distrbuted, multi-user, graphical applications.
Accountability revisited: The arrival of client outcome evaluation

Abstract In the past few years, “accountability” for public mental health programs has become differentiated in the minds of not only program evaluators, but also program managers and funders, including state and local-level legislators. Increasingly, these officials are becoming concerned with more than just the numbers and targets of services delivered, and the cost involved, and are looking for evidence of positive outcome or impact on clients to justify program implementation and maintenance. This represents a significant move beyond the two accountability models that most recently seemed to be the focus of most formal accountability efforts—performance measurement and quality assurance. Pressures for implementing these two alternatives seem to have been reduced somewhat by the new federal Administration, but even prior to its advent there had been a rapid escalation in awareness of and concern for client outcome measurement among important audiences, including state and local mental health policy-makers and the U.S. Congress. This presents a major new opportunity and challenge for program evaluators as this new accountability focus continues to gather momentum.
Maximum Kirkman Signal Sets for Synchronous Uni-Polar Multi-UserCommunication Systems

A unipolar signaling system transmits using intensity or amplitude in multiple dimensions. Typical examples arise in optical transmission or radio communication using MT-MFSK as both the signaling and the modulation technique. There are v dimensions which represent pulses or tones. Each codeword consists of a selection of k of these tones with unit intensity. Each user is assigned m of these binary codewords. In a synchronous multi-user environment, two codewords assigned to a single user have distance 2k, while two codewords assigned to different users have distance at least 2k-2. Such an assignment of codewords to users is called a Kirkman signal set when the number of users accommodated is the maximum. In this paper, the existence of Kirkman signal sets with k=3 and m as large as possible is settled for all values of v.
Atomic-beam alignment of inorganic materials for liquid-crystal displays

The technique used to align liquid crystals—rubbing the surface of a substrate on which a liquid crystal is subsequently deposited1,2,3—has been perfected by the multibillion-dollar liquid-crystal display industry. However, it is widely recognized that a non-contact alignment technique would be highly desirable for future generations of large, high-resolution liquid-crystal displays. A number of alternative alignment techniques have been reported4,5,6,7, but none of these have so far been implemented in large-scale manufacturing. Here, we report a non-contact alignment process, which uses low-energy ion beams impinging at a glancing angle on amorphous inorganic films, such as diamond-like carbon. Using this approach, we have produced both laptop and desktop displays in pilot-line manufacturing, and found that displays of higher quality and reliability could be made at a lower cost than the rubbing technique. The mechanism of alignment is explained by adopting a random network model of atomic arrangement in the inorganic films. Order is induced by exposure to an ion beam because unfavourably oriented rings of atoms are selectively destroyed. The planes of the remaining rings are predominantly parallel to the direction of the ion beam.
Functional residual capacity and lung clearance index in infants treated for esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula.

Abstract Background Newborn babies with esophageal atresia/tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) are prone to respiratory tract disorders. Functional residual capacity (FRC) and lung clearance index (LCI) are commonly considered useful and sensitive tools to investigate lung function and early detecting airways diseases. The aim of the present study is to report the first series of EA/TEF infants prospectively evaluated for FRC and LCI. Methods Prospective observational cohort study of all patients treated for EA/TEF. Lung volume and ventilation inhomogeneity were measured by helium gas dilution technique using an ultrasonic flow meter. Babies were studied both in assisted controlled ventilation (sedated) and in spontaneous breathing (quiet sleep). Three consecutive FRC and LCI measurements were collected for each test at three different time points: before surgery (T0), 24hours after surgery (T1) and after extubation (T2). Results 16 EA newborns were eligible for the study between December 2011 and July 2013. Three were excluded because of technical problems. At T0 FRC values were in the normal range regardless the presence of TEF but worsened afterwards at T1, with a subsequent recovering after extubation; a significant improvement after surgery was observed concerning LCI while no differences were found in tidal volume. Conclusion Helium gas dilution technique is a suitable method to measure the effect of surgery on lung physiology, even in ventilated infants with EA. The changes observed could be related to the ventilatory management and lung compression during surgical procedure.
Negotiating at the Interface of Power & Law: The Crime of Aggression

Delegates recently convened in Kampala, Uganda to lay the groundwork for the International Criminal Court’s eventual prosecution of the crime of aggression. This achievement caps decades of negotiations that began in the post-World War II period. From virtually the beginning of the negotiations, it was argued that an aggression prosecution should not go forward absent some definitive showing that a state had committed a predicate act of aggression. Delegations diverged on which body — the Security Council or the court itself — should be empowered to determine whether a predicate act of aggression had occurred and whether it was necessary for the putative aggressor state(s), the victim state(s), or both, to have consented to the court’s jurisdiction before a prosecution could proceed. The end product was an unimpeachable regime of state consent that completely insulates the nationals of non-party states from prosecution and allows States Parties to opt out of the crime entirely. The results achieved in Kampala have subtly eroded the primacy of the Security Council, as states revealed a preference for a consent-based regime and a willingness to extend international criminal jurisdiction to their own nationals and over their own foreign policies. Indeed, the aggression amendments may have actually diminished the efficacy of the Council’s pre-existing referral power and created the potential for greater conflict between the Council and the court. The outcome in Kampala thus presents a microcosm of the continual thinning of state sovereignty and the indelible shift in the balance between power and law in international relations. This Article examines the aggression amendments and the process by which they were adopted, concluding with a discussion of the way in which the negotiations and the final amendments invoked and rebalanced the central themes of power politics, state consent and judicial independence within public international law.