cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Minimal Clinically Important Differences in COPD Lung Function

The FEV1 is widely used by physicians in the diagnosis, staging, treatment, monitoring, and establishing prognosis for patients with COPD. The MCID is the smallest difference which patients perceive as beneficial and which would mandate a change in patient management. A precise MCID for FEV1 has not been established. In attempt to establish a MCID for predose or trough FEV1, several limitations need to be addressed. There are issues such as reproducibility, repeatability, acceptability, variability, placebo effect, and equipment effects. Patient factors, such as baseline level of FEV1, albuterol reversibility, diurnal variation, influence the results. Nonetheless, using anchoring techniques, a change in pre dose FEV1 of about 100 mL can be perceived by patients, correlates with fewer relapses following exacerbations and is in the range usually achieved with bronchodilators approved for COPD. In the future, consistent reporting of spirometric variables, such as a predose FEV1 and other outcomes, can be incorporated into a more quantitative effort to establish the MCID. Also distributional/statistical methods may be useful in determining the MCID FEV1.
Modeling the contribution of phonotactic cues to the problem of word segmentation

How do infants find the words in the speech stream? Computational models help us understand this feat by revealing the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies that infants might use. Here, we outline a computational model of word segmentation that aims both to incorporate cues proposed by language acquisition researchers and to establish the contributions different cues can make to word segmentation. We present experimental results from modified versions of Venkataraman's (2001) segmentation model that examine the utility of: (1) language-universal phonotactic cues; (2) language-specific phonotactic cues which must be learned while segmenting utterances; and (3) their combination. We show that the language-specific cue improves segmentation performance overall, but the language-universal phonotactic cue does not, and that their combination results in the most improvement. Not only does this suggest that language-specific constraints can be learned simultaneously with speech segmentation, but it is also consistent with experimental research that shows that there are multiple phonotactic cues helpful to segmentation (e.g. Mattys, Jusczyk, Luce & Morgan, 1999; Mattys & Jusczyk, 2001). This result also compares favorably to other segmentation models (e.g. Brent, 1999; Fleck, 2008; Goldwater, 2007; Johnson & Goldwater, 2009; Venkataraman, 2001) and has implications for how infants learn to segment.
Differential permeability of the BBB in acute EAE: enhanced transport of TNT-alpha

Impairment of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) has been frequently attributed to disruption, without much consideration of saturable transport processes. In mice with EAE, we studied the permeability of the BBB to radioactively labeled albumin and sucrose, markers of BBB disruption, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a cytokine transported across the BBB by a saturable system and thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of EAE. Permeation of the BBB was increased to all three substances during the acutely ill stage, was greatest in the lumbar spine, and returned to normal with recovery. The change in BBB permeability to sucrose was greater than to the larger albumin and is consistent with a partial disruption of the BBB. The enhanced permeability to TNF-alpha was comparable to that for sucrose, even though TNF-alpha is similar in size to albumin. This paradoxically high uptake of TNF-alpha could be explained by an enhancement of its endogenous saturable transport system. Thus the changes in BBB function during EAE extend beyond disruption to include changes in the saturable transport systems for substances involved in the disease process.
Better bug reporting with better privacy

Software vendors collect bug reports from customers to improve the quality of their software. These reports should include the inputs that make the software fail, to enable vendors to reproduce the bug. However, vendors rarely include these inputs in reports because they may contain private user data. We describe a solution to this problem that provides software vendors with new input values that satisfy the conditions required to make the software follow the same execution path until it fails, but are otherwise unrelated with the original inputs. These new inputs allow vendors to reproduce the bug while revealing less private information than existing approaches. Additionally, we provide a mechanism to measure the amount of information revealed in an error report. This mechanism allows users to perform informed decisions on whether or not to submit reports. We implemented a prototype of our solution and evaluated it with real errors in real programs. The results show that we can produce error reports that allow software vendors to reproduce bugs while revealing almost no private information.
Transition and change during the implementation of a computer-based manufacturing process planning system: an analysis using the equity implementation model

Implementing changes in technologies, systems, work practices and organizational structures is vitally important for the survival of organizations in today's competitive environments. However, introducing changes in organizations is not easy. Employees often resist changes. This paper presents a case study of the implementation of a computer-based manufacturing process planning system in an automotive assembly plant. The paper employs an equity implementation model to understand resistance to the system by zone supervisors and quick acceptance by plant engineers, two major employee groups who were affected by this change. Factors affecting employee reactions to the change are identified and analyzed on the basis of the equity implementation model. The paper concludes that the equity implementation model provides a useful framework for understanding and explaining resistance and acceptance behavior of employees. The model can also be useful in assessing the job-related impacts of a system or technology implementation. The paper also discusses suggestions for implementers in developing successful change implementation strategies.
Architectural support for low overhead detection of memory violations

Violations in memory references cause tremendous loss of productivity, catastrophic mission failures, loss of privacy and security, and much more. Software mechanisms to detect memory violations have high false positive and negative rates or huge performance overhead. This paper proposes architectural support to detect memory reference violations in inherently unsafe languages such as C and C++. In this approach, the ISA is extended to include "safety" instructions that provide compile-time information on pointers and objects. The microarchitecture is extended to efficiently execute the safety instructions. We explore optimizations, such as delayed violation detection and stack-based handling of local pointers, to reduce the performance overhead. Our experiments show that the synergy between hardware and software results in this approach having less than 5% average performance over-head, while an exclusively software mechanism incurs 480% impact for the same benchmarks.
Morphologic development of the fetal trisomy 19 mouse

Trisomy 19 mice show a characteristic pattern of delayed morphologic development when compared with normal littermates during the second half of gestation. Examinations of the external phenotype and sectioned fetuses, and skeletal maturation at later days, suggest that trisomy 19 has little recognizable effect on morphogenesis prior to 10 days. Trisomic conceptuses collected at subsequent 24-hour intervals show a 1-day lag in weight gain and begin to show a progressive and uniform delay in differentiation so that 14- and 15-day animals resemble 13- and 14-day normal fetuses, respectively. There is no further recognizable increase in this delay through term. There was no striking change in numbers of viable trisomic conceptuses collected throughout the period from 10 days to birth. These observations suggest that most trisomies surviving at 10 days will develop to term, with the major effect of the aneuploid genome being to delay the otherwise normal-appearing growth and development of the affected conceptuses. In all cases, the litters were from crosses between mice doubly heterozygous for the (5.19) and (9.19) Robertsonian translocation chromosomes.
Latin hypercube designs with controlled correlations and multi-dimensional stratification

Various methods have been proposed to construct Latin hypercube designs with small correlations. Orthogonal arrays have been used to construct Latin hypercube designs with multi-dimensional stratification. To integrate these two ideas, we propose a method to construct Latin hypercube designs with both controlled correlations and multi-dimensional stratification. For numerical integration, the constructed designs not only filter out lower-dimensional variance components as effectively as ordinary orthogonal array-based Latin hypercube designs, but also filter out bilinear terms more effectively. The proposed construction method entails no iterative searches. Sampling properties of the constructed designs are derived. Examples are given to illustrate the proposed construction method and the theoretical results.
Treatment of Base of Tongue Cancer With Paclitaxel, Ifosfamide, and Cisplatinum Induction Chemotherapy Followed by Chemoradiotherapy†

Objectives/Hypothesis: To assess the efficacy of paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and cisplatinum induction chemotherapy plus concurrent chemoradiation in the treatment of stage III and IV base of tongue cancer. Study Design: Subgroup analysis of patients with base of tongue cancer enrolled in a single-institution prospective phase II trial, evaluating an organ-preservation approach in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer. Methods: Eighteen patients with tumors ranging from stage T2–T4, any N, or M0 were treated with a protocol of induction chemotherapy, with Taxol, ifosfamide, cisplatin every 21 days for up to three cycles. If the primary tumor exhibited a complete or partial response, patients were treated with radiation and weekly taxol and carboplatin for 7 weeks. Surgery was used for those with less than partial response or disease progression. Neck dissection was performed in cases with clinical or radiological evidence of persistent disease in the neck 6 to 8 weeks after completion of treatment. Results: Sixteen patients were male and two were female; the average age was 55 years (range, 43–65). Fifteen patients had stage IV disease and three had stage III disease. Of the 18 patients initially enrolled, 17 patients had a complete response. All 17 patients had no evidence of loco-regional disease at a median follow-up of 29.6 months. Only 1 of them developed distant metastases 30 months after completion of treatment. Three patients required permanent percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes because of severe dysphagia associated with concurrent chemoradiation. Conclusions: The treatment regimen studied is remarkably effective in stage III and IV base of tongue cancer with 100% of patients completing the protocol alive to date. Although some patients required persistent percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy use, no patient experienced significant enough toxicity during the protocol to delay or withdraw from treatment.
Room for a view: on the metaphysical subject of personal identity

Sydney Shoemaker leads today’s “neo-Lockean” liberation of persons from the conservative animalist charge of “neo-Aristotelians” such as Eric Olson, according to whom persons are biological entities and who challenge all neo-Lockean views on grounds that abstracting from strictly physical, or bodily, criteria plays fast and loose with our identities. There is a fundamental mistake on both sides: a false dichotomy between bodily continuity versus psychological continuity theories of personal identity. Neo-Lockeans, like everyone else today who relies on Locke’s analysis of personal identity, including Derek Parfit, have either completely distorted or not understood Locke’s actual view. Shoemaker’s defense, which uses a “package deal” definition that relies on internal relations of synchronic and diachronic unity and employs the Ramsey–Lewis account to define personal identity, leaves far less room for psychological continuity views than for my own view, which, independently of its radical implications, is that (a) consciousness makes personal identity, and (b) in consciousness alone personal identity consists—which happens to be also Locke’s actual view. Moreover, the ubiquitous Fregean conception of borders and the so-called “ambiguity of is” collapse in the light of what Hintikka has called the “Frege trichotomy.” The Ramsey–Lewis account, due to the problematic way Shoemaker tries to bind the variables, makes it impossible for the neo-Lockean ala Shoemaker to fulfill the uniqueness clause required by all such Lewis style definitions; such attempts avoid circularity only at the expense of mistaking isomorphism with identity. Contrary to what virtually all philosophers writing on the topic assume, fission does not destroy personal identity. A proper analysis of public versus perspectival identification, derived using actual case studies from neuropsychiatry, provides the scientific, mathematical and logical frameworks for a new theory of self-reference, wherein “consciousness,” “self-consciousness,” and the “I,” can be precisely defined in terms of the subject and the subject-in-itself.
Coronary-coronary free internal thoracic artery graft on a single, distal, left anterior descending artery lesion

A free short segment of left internal thoracic artery (ITA) has been used to bypass a single distal lesion on a large left anterior descending artery (LAD) running well over the cardiac apex. In our opinion this technique occasionally might be an attractive approach for bypassing very distal lesions of large coronary arteries (combined with regular arterial or venous grafting if there has also been proximal stenosis in the targeted artery). The proximal remnant of the left ITA can be easily used as an in situ graft.
Variation in the functional power of human sweat glands.

A method has been worked out for the measurement of the volume of sweat produced by individual glands. A special paper, impregnated with iodine, absorbs water in a uniform way and shows the area of wetting by a sharply defined blue dot. Indirect calibrations showed that 1 cm.3 of water would form a spot of 700 cm.2 area, and that this relation of volume to area was a constant one over a wide range. The actual volumes encountered in prints of the sweat glands were from 5 x 10–9 to 4 x 10–6 cm.3. The relative activity of glands at any instant of time can be expressed by the statistical distribution of log diameter of the dots on the print. This distribution, which might at first sight seem rather artificial, has the advantage of being unaffected by a proportionate change in the output of water from each gland. Thus it is independent of the duration of contact between print paper and skin, and of changes in the average flow from the field as a whole. It is sensitive only to changes in the activity of glands relative to each other. The methods of printing and statistical analysis were used to study the relative activity of glands in a field of 22 mm. diameter. Glands of the forearm and back were studied both under direct stimulation with mecholyl and under the reflex stimulation of environmental heat, similar results being obtained with the two kinds of stimuli. Glands of the abdomen and leg, stimulated with mecholyl, were studied in one experiment. Detailed comparison of the dots in consecutive prints showed that the large dots remained large and the small dots continued to be small. These persistent differences in the outflow of water from adjacent glands were interpreted as being due to differences in the functional power of the glands. Repeated prints of the glands during a period of 75 minutes, in which the sweat flow was declining, showed that the relative activity of the glands remained constant. This meant that the set of glands, although differing greatly in power, varied together as a functional unit. Different regions of the body show not only the variation of glandular power within each small area, but also marked differences in the average power of glands belonging to the different regions. Glands of the back, for instance, show a much greater outflow than glands of the forearm when stimulated equally with a local injection of mecholyl. Equal rates of outflow, therefore, do not mean equal states of functional activity, unless the regions being compared are of equal functional power.
Multi-spacer technique for low-voltage, high-aspect-ratio lateral electrostatic actuators

This paper presents low-voltage, high-aspect-ratio scaled lateral electrostatic actuators based on a four-mask multi-spacer process. The set of TEOS spacers, polysilicon hardmask, and buffer LTO layer is chosen as masking materials, resulting in a multi-spacer of LTO-TEOS and a stack of LTO-polysilicon hardmask. These mask sets with a photoresist mask are then transferred to an underlying polysilicon layer, creating high-aspect-ratio (>5∶1) polysilicon structures with sublithographic beam width and gap size. Two types of scaled actuators have been successfully designed and actuated with more than an order of magnitude reduction in actuation voltage compared to the regular process: coupled and decoupled designs of springs and movable electrodes.
Relationships of ultrasonic backscatter with ultrasonic attenuation, sound speed and bone mineral density in human calcaneus

Ultrasonic attenuation and sound speed have been investigated in trabecular bone by numerous authors. Ultrasonic backscatter has received much less attention. To investigate relationships among these three ultrasonic parameters and bone mineral density (BMD), 30 defatted human calcanei were investigated in vitro. Normalized broadband ultrasonic attenuation (nBUA), sound speed (SOS), and logarithm of ultrasonic back- scatter coefficient (LBC) were measured. Bone mineral density was assessed using single-beam dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). The correlation coefficients of least squares linear regressions of the three individual ultrasound (US) parameters with BMD were 0.84 (nBUA), 0.84 (SOS) and 0.79 (LBC). The 95% confidence intervals for the correlation coefficients were 0.69 - 0.92 (nBUA), 0.68 - 0.92 (SOS) and 0.60 - 0.90 (LBC). The correlations among pairs of US variables ranged from 0.63- 0.79. Variations in nBUA accounted for r 2 5 62% of the variations in LBC. Variations in SOS accounted for r 2 5 40% of the variations in LBC. These results suggest that ultrasonic backscattering properties may contain substantial information not already contained in nBUA and SOS. A multiple regression model including all three US variables was somewhat more predictive of BMD than a model including only nBUA and SOS. © 2000 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.
Dynamic Plastic Response of Circular Plates With Transverse Shear and Rotatory Inertia

Abstract : The response of a simply supported circular plate made from a rigid perfectly plastic material and subjected to a uniformly distributed impulsive velocity is developed herein. Plastic yielding of the material is controlled by a yield criterion which retains the transverse shear force as well as bending moments and the influence of rotatory inertia is included in the governing equations. Various equations and numerical results are presented which may be used to assess the importance of transverse shear effects and rotatory inertia for this particular problem. (Author)
Agriculture Afforestation for Carbon Sequestration Under Carbon Markets in the United States: Leakage Behavior from Regional Allowance Programs

This study quantifies how leakage behavior from afforesting agricultural land affects the intensification of agricultural production. In particular, we examine the leakage percentage from carbon offset allowance at specific southern regions in the United States as a part of a carbon market. We use the Forest and Agriculture Sector Optimization Model-Greenhouse Gases model to examine responses between sectors as part of the regional afforestation policy analysis. Regional characteristics and a policy's time frame are found to play important roles in achieving net gains, in terms of greenhouse gases stored, from such regional policies. In some cases, however, leakage greater than 100% is evident.
Discriminant validity testing in marketing: an analysis, causes for concern, and proposed remedies

The results of this research suggest a new mandate for discriminant validity testing in marketing. Specifically, the authors demonstrate that the AVE-SV comparison (Fornell and Larcker 1981) and HTMT ratio (Henseler et al. 2015) with 0.85 cutoff provide the best assessment of discriminant validity and should be the standard for publication in marketing. These conclusions are based on a thorough assessment of the literature and the results of a Monte Carlo simulation. First, based on a content analysis of articles published in seven leading marketing journals from 1996 to 2012, the authors demonstrate that three tests—the constrained phi (Joreskog 1971), AVE-SV (Fornell and Larcker 1981), and overlapping confidence intervals (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)—are by far most common. Further review reveals that (1) more than 20% of survey-based and over 80% of non-survey-based marketing studies fail to document tests for discriminant validity, (2) there is wide variance across journals and research streams in terms of whether discriminant validity tests are performed, (3) conclusions have already been drawn about the relative stringency of the three most common methods, and (4) the method that is generally perceived to be most generous is being consistently misapplied in a way that erodes its stringency. Second, a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to assess the relative rigor of the three most common tests, as well as an emerging technique (HTMT). Results reveal that (1) on average, the four discriminant validity testing methods detect violations approximately 50% of the time, (2) the constrained phi and overlapping confidence interval approaches perform very poorly in detecting violations whereas the AVE-SV test and HTMT (with a ratio cutoff of 0.85) methods perform well, and (3) the HTMT.85 method offers the best balance between high detection and low arbitrary violation (i.e., false positive) rates.
DIVERGENCE IN ALLOPATRY: MOLECULAR AND MORPHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN SEA URCHINS SEPARATED BY THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.

How rapidly do populations separated by a geographic barrier diverge? The question is important to evolutionary biology, because differentiation between such isolates is held to result in the formation of new species (Mayr, 1963; Dobzhansky, 1970; Bush, 1975; Lewontin, 1975). However, there is a lack of direct evidence relevant to the problem because of the difficulties involved in assessing the efficacy of a suspected barrier to genetic exchange. The obstacle to migration, in addition to being nearly absolute, must have been erected recently enough to allow the study of changes at the level of populations rather than major taxonomic groups. It must have also remained in place to the present day so that the populations have not had a chance to either fuse (if reproductive isolation has not developed) or evolve in response to each other (if they have become different species). A geological event that fulfills these conditions is the Pleistocene emergence of a land bridge between North and South America, which fractionated the range of neotropical marine species sometime between 2 and 5.7 million years ago (Woodring, 1966; Emiliani et al., 1972; Saito, 1976; Webb, 1978). The closure of the portals connecting the tropical Atlantic and Pacific oceans has set the stage for an "evolutionary experiment"; it provides the opportunity to assess the consequences of independent evolutionary development of populations that have remained isolated for a defined period of time. Many genera, belonging to various marine taxa, are rep-
HIGH QUALITY CPR COMBINED WITH CARDIOPULMONARY BYPASS AS A BRIDGE TO TRANS-CATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT

During induction of anesthesia, the management of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) can be challenging as hypotension is poorly tolerated and cardiopulmonary resuscitation is thought to less successful. We present a dramatic case of successful resuscitation of cardiac arrest during
Systemic Effectiveness of Insecticides against Boll Weevil Larvae and Other Cotton Pests

Bayer 31757 (4-ehloro-2-nitro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-diphenylamine), Bayer 30749 ( O -ethyl O -( p -ethylsulfinylphenyl) methylphosphonothioate), Gen. Chem. 3583 (2-chloro-1-(2,5-diehlorophenyl) diethyl phosphate), and Gen. Chem. 4072 (2-chloro-l-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)vinyl diethyl phosphate) applied to the foliage of cotton plants at. 4 pounds technical per acre were quite effective in controlling boll weevil ( Anthonomus grandis Boheman) larvae in infested cotton squares. However, these materials were not highly effective against natural infestations of boll weevil adults or the bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie). Several organophosphates were effective against the spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval), for 5 to 7 weeks after application to the foliage or to the soil surrounding cotton plants.
Limitless Integrals and a New Definition of the Logarithm

We show by a clever choice of the evaluation points in the partition intervals used to define the Riemann sums for these integrals that we can arrange for these sums to agree exactly with the value of the integral. Thus the integrals can be evaluated without having to take limits. We also show how the inequalities used here lead to a new definition of the natural logarithm that does not involve limits, series or integrals, or even the exponential function. A Riemann sum for the integral in (1) is
ANALYSIS OF 42-TON DOLOS MOTIONS AT CRESCENT CITY

Photogrammetry has been applied to make precise measurements of post-construction displacements of 38.2-metric ton (42-ton) dolosse on the outer breakwater at Crescent City, California. Data from two storm seasons are currently available from this monitoring program which was initiated in November 1986 and which is expected to continue at least through the next three winters. Supplemented by conventional land surveys, wave measurements, aerial inspections, and side scan sonar underwater imagery, observations from the photogrammetric monitoring have led to several preliminary conclusions regarding regions of relatively large dolos movement, dolos nesting, the dependency on breakwater slope of uprush or drawdown dominated armor unit movement, and the relative importance of armor unit movement and boundary conditions in dolos breakage. This paper describes the methods used for, and results obtained from, this monitoring effort along with the application of these results to a Corps study (Howell, 1988) Whose objective is to develop structural design criteria for the dolos concrete armor unit.
Emergence Behavior and Rhythms in the Carpenterworm Moth, Prionoxystus robiniae

Before it pupated at the innermost part of the gallery, the larva of Prionoxystus robiniae Peck (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) partially straightened the sides of an initially crooked entrance passage to facilitate pupal movement to the exit. Moth emergence began in April, peaked in late May or early June, and ended in late June or early July. The average emergence period lasted 2% months. Females emerged slightly earlier than males. Temperature summation provided a good prediction of seasonal patterns. Moths emerged earliest from trees of small diameter. Male emergence began during early morning, peaked during late morning, and declined during the afternoon. Female emergence began around noon, peaked during midafternoon, and ended before dark.
Water Use in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS): Geology of U.S. Stimulation Projects, Water Costs, and Alternative Water Source Policies

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), geothermal energy generation in the United States is projected to more than triple by 2040 (EIA 2013). This addition, which translates to more than 5 GW of generation capacity, is anticipated because of technological advances and an increase in available sources through the continued development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs) and low-temperature resources (EIA 2013). Studies have shown that air emissions, water consumption, and land use for geothermal electricity generation have less of an impact than traditional fossil fuel?based electricity generation; however, the long-term sustainability of geothermal power plants can be affected by insufficient replacement of aboveground or belowground operational fluid losses resulting from normal operations (Schroeder et al. 2014). Thus, access to water is therefore critical for increased deployment of EGS technologies and, therefore, growth of the geothermal sector. This paper examines water issues relating to EGS development from a variety of perspectives. It starts by exploring the relationship between EGS site geology, stimulation protocols, and below ground water loss, which is one of the largest drivers of water consumption for EGS projects. It then examines the relative costs of different potential traditional and alternativemore » water sources for EGS. Finally it summarizes specific state policies relevant to the use of alternative water sources for EGS, and finally explores the relationship between EGS site geology, stimulation protocols, and below ground water loss, which is one of the largest drivers of water consumption for EGS projects.« less
"Death-telling" research project.

An unexpected death is a traumatic event for everyone affected by it, especially family members. The manner in which a family is told that a death has occurred has a profound effect on their grief and bereavement process. The task of the health care professional working with these patients and their families is to assist their healing by being skilled in the "death-telling" process. This article focuses on the project that developed a teaching tool and videotape used to educate individuals about the proper way to inform families of the death of a loved one.
Malignant Penile Horn

AbstractThe fifth case of carcinoma within a penile horn is reported in a patient who also had erythroplasia of Queyrat of the glans penis. Penile horns should be considered as pre-malignant lesions, since a third of them undergo malignant change and they may be associated with a pre-malignant condition of the glans penis.
Building Compliance and Security Reference Architectures (CSRA) for Cloud Systems

Appealing features of cloud services motivate consumers to migrate their core businesses to them. However, there are challenges about security, privacy, and compliance. Building compliant systems is difficult because of the complex nature of regulations and cloud systems. In addition, the lack of reference architectures (RAs) makes compliance even harder. RAs should be complete, precise, abstract, vendor neutral, platform independent, with no implementation details, however, their levels of detail and abstraction are still debatable and there is no accepted definition about what an RA should contain. Existing approaches used to build RAs lack structured templates and systematic procedures. In addition, most approaches do not take full advantage of patterns and best practices that promote architectural qualities such as modularity, reusability, flexibility and usability. We propose here a five-step approach to build an RA that can improve the quality of the concrete architectures derived from it and from which we can derive more specialized RAs. These RAs take advantage of patterns and best practices that promote software quality.
SU-F-T-253: Volumetric Comparison Between 4D CT Amplitude and Phase Binning Mode

Purpose: Motion artifact in 4DCT images can affect radiation treatment quality. To identify the most robust and accurate binning method, we compare the volume difference between targets delineated on amplitude and phase binned 4DCT scans. Methods: Varian RPM system and CT scanner were used to acquire 4DCTs of a Quasar phantom with embedded cubic and spherical objects having superior-inferior motion. Eight patients’ respiration waveforms were used to drive the phantom. The 4DCT scan was reconstructed into 10 phase and 10 amplitude bins (2 mm slices). A scan of the static phantom was also acquired. For each waveform, sphere and cube volumes were generated automatically on each phase using HU thresholding. Phase (amplitude) ITVs were the union of object volumes over all phase (amplitude) binned images. The sphere and cube volumes measured in the static phantom scan were Vsphere=4.19cc and Vcube=27.0cc. Volume difference (VD) and dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of the ITVs, and mean volume error (MVE) defined as the average target volume percentage difference between each phase image and the static image, were used to evaluate the performance of amplitude and phase binning. Results: Averaged over the eight breathing traces, the VD and DSC of the internal target volume (ITV) between amplitude and phase binning were 3.4%±3.2% (mean ± std) and 95.9%±2.1% for sphere; 2.1%±3.3% and 98.0% ±1.5% for cube, respectively.For all waveforms, the average sphere MVE of amplitude and phase binning was 6.5% ± 5.0% and 8.2%±6.3%, respectively; and the average cube MVE of amplitude and phase binning was 5.7%±3.5%and 12.9%±8.9%, respectively. Conclusion: ITV volume and spatial overlap as assessed by VD and DSC are similar between amplitude and phase binning. Compared to phase binning, amplitude binning results in lower MVE suggesting it is less susceptible to motion artifact.
The Perfect in Peruvian Spanish

The focus of this chapter is to provide a general characterization of the perfect as represented in some varieties of Peruvian Spanish, with special attention devoted to discerning those contexts that favor perfective functions. This description, as in the previous chapter, is developed in accordance with the feature typology proposed in Chapter 2. Further included with the data summary will be a group of examples that have been claimed to epitomize the so-called ‘innovative’ uses of the perfect in this group of dialects (Escobar 1997, Sanchez 2004). Analysis of this set of examples along with those gathered from various corpus sources will provide new insight into the heretofore poorly understood factors influencing the distribution of the Peruvian present perfect.
Data Generation and Multi-Modal Analysis for Recorded Operatic Performance

Commercial recordings of live opera performance are only sporadically available, mostly due to various legal protections held by opera houses. The resulting onsite, archive-only access for them inhibits analysis of the creative process in "live" environments. Based on a technique I developed for generating performance data from copyright protected archival recordings, this paper presents a means of interrogating the creative practice in individual operatic performances and across the corpus of a recorded performance history. My analysis uses "In questa Reggia" from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot as performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera. The first part of my analysis builds on tempo mapping developed by the Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music. Given the natural relationship in which performances of the same work exist, statistical and network analyses of the data extracted from a corpus of performances offer ways to contextualize and understand how performances create a tradition to which and through which they relate to varying degrees.
Transcobalamin 776C→G polymorphism is associated with peripheral neuropathy in elderly individuals with high folate intake.

BACKGROUND The 776C→G polymorphism of the vitamin B-12 transport protein transcobalamin gene (TCN2) (rs1801198; Pro259Arg) is associated with a lower holotranscobalamin concentration in plasma. This effect may reduce the availability of vitamin B-12 to tissues even when vitamin B-12 intake is adequate. Clinical outcomes associated with vitamin B-12 insufficiency could potentially be worsened by high folate intake. OBJECTIVE We determined the association of the TCN2 776C→G polymorphism and folate intake with peripheral neuropathy in elders with normal plasma concentrations of vitamin B-12. DESIGN Participants in this cross-sectional study (n = 171) were from a cohort of community-based, home-bound elderly individuals aged ≥60 y who underwent an evaluation by physicians including an assessment for peripheral neuropathy. Participants were administered food-frequency and general health status questionnaires, anthropometric measurements were taken, and a fasting blood sample from each subject was collected. RESULTS Odds of neuropathy were 3-fold higher for GG genotypes than for CC genotypes (OR: 3.33; 95% CI: 1.15, 9.64). When folate intake was >2 times the Recommended Dietary Allowance (800 μg), GG genotypes had 6.9-fold higher odds of neuropathy than CC genotypes (OR: 6.9; 95% CI: 1.31, 36.36). There was no difference between the genotypes in the odds of peripheral neuropathy when folate intake was ≤800 μg (OR: 1.5; 95% CI: 0.18, 12.33). CONCLUSION The TCN2 776C→G polymorphism is associated with increased odds of peripheral neuropathy in the elderly, even with a normal vitamin B-12 status, especially if their folate intake is >2 times the Recommended Dietary Allowance.
The relationship among salesperson appearance, employee-organization identification, job involvement, and job performance in the context of an apparel retail store

vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter Overview 1 Background 1 Purpose 4 Methodology 4 Significance 5 Definitions 6 Organization of Dissertation 7 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 9 Chapter Overview 9 Employee-Organization Identification and Perceived Organizational Identity 9 Evidence of Employee-Organization Identification within Retail Contexts 15 Employees' Appearance at Work 16 Symbolic Interaction Theory 20 Antecedents of Employee-Organization Identification 23 Attractiveness, person-organization fit, and perceived organizational identity 23 Consequences of Employee-Organization Identification 26 Job involvement 26 Job performance 27 Relationship between employee-organization identification, job involvement, and job performance 28 Objectives 30 Research Question, Hypotheses, and Proposed Model 30 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 33 CHAPTER 4: METHOD AND FINDINGS FOR PHASE 1 : INTERVIEWS FOR ITEM GENERATION 36 Chapter Overview 36 Method 36 Data collection 36 Participant characteristics 37 Data analysis 39 Findings: Principal Emergent Themes from Phase 1 of the Study 39 Identification as congruency between employee self-image and store image 40
Molecular Neuropathology and the Ontogeny of Malignant Gliomas

Contemporary diagnostic neuropathology is a critical field within the multidisciplinary management of brain tumor patients and plays an integral part in an evolving paradigm shift in the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of malignant gliomas. Significant advances in molecular genetics led to the identification of distinct profiles for various types of malignant gliomas and contributed to a refinement of the standard classification scheme. This is reflected in the revised 2016 WHO classification of tumors of the central nervous system, which deviates from traditional diagnostic principles and merges morphology with molecular information to develop an ‘integrated’ approach for the characterization of gliomas.
Depression and Survival in a 17-Year Longitudinal Study of People With HIV: Moderating Effects of Race and Education.

Objective The prevalence of clinically significant depressive symptoms is 3 times higher in people living with HIV (PLWH) than in the general population. While studies have shown that depression predicts worse course with HIV, few have investigated its relationship with mortality, and none have had a 17-year follow-up period and been conducted entirely during the time since the advent of protease inhibitors.
Epidemiology, risk factors, and outcomes of infections in patients undergoing liver transplantation for hilar cholangiocarcinoma

The epidemiology of infection after liver transplantation for hilar cholangiocarcinoma has not been systematically investigated. In this study of 124 patients, 255 infections occurred in 105 patients during the median follow-up of 4.2 years. The median time to first infection was 15.1 weeks (IQR 1.6 – 62.6). The most common sites were the abdomen, bloodstream and musculoskeletal system. Risk factors for any post-transplant infection were pre-transplant VRE colonization (Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.9, p=0.002), living donor transplantation (HR 6.6, p<0.001), longer cold ischemia time (HR 1.05 per 10 min, p<0.001), donor CMV seropositivity (HR 2.2, p<0.001), hepatic artery thrombosis (HR 2.6, p=0.005), biliary stricture (HR 3.8, p=0.002), intra-abdominal fluid collection (HR 4.2, p<0.001), and re-operations within 1 month after transplantation (HR 1.7, p=0.020). Abdominal infections were independently associated with hemodialysis requirement within 1 month after transplantation (HR 5.6, p=0.006), hepatic artery thrombosis (HR 3.3, p=0.007), biliary stricture (HR 5.2, p<0.001) and abdominal fluid collection (HR 3.7, p=0.0002). Bloodstream infections were independently associated with allograft ischemia (HR 17.8, p<0.001), biliary stricture (HR 6.5, p=0.005) and recipient VRE colonization (HR 4, p<0.001). Abdominal infections (HR 2.3, p=0.02) and Clostridium difficile infections (HR 4.6, p=0.01) were independently associated with increased mortality. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Placing Facebook: “Trending,” “Napalm Girl,” “fake news” and journalistic boundary work

Facebook is challenging professional journalism. These challenges were evident in three incidents from 2016: the allegation that Facebook privileged progressive-leaning news on its trending feature; Facebook’s removal of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Napalm Girl” photo from the pages of prominent users; and the proliferation of “fake news” during the US presidential election. Using theoretical concepts from the field of boundary work, this paper examines how The Guardian, The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review and Poynter editorialized Facebook’s role in these three incidents to discursively construct the boundary between the value of professional journalism to democracy and Facebook’s ascendant role in facilitating essential democratic functions. Findings reveal that these publications attempted to define Facebook as a news organization (i.e., include it within the boundaries of journalism) so that they could then criticize the company for not following duties traditionally incumbent upon news orga...
Deep learning of quasar spectra to discover and characterize damped Lyα systems

We have designed, developed, and applied a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture using multi-task learning to search for and characterize strong HI Lya absorption in quasar spectra. Without any explicit modeling of the quasar continuum nor application of the predicted line-profile for Lya from quantum mechanics, our algorithm predicts the presence of strong HI absorption and estimates the corresponding redshift zabs and HI column density NHI, with emphasis on damped Lya systems (DLAs, absorbers with log NHI > 20.3). We tuned the CNN model using a custom training set of DLAs injected into DLA-free quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), data release 5 (DR5). Testing on a held-back validation set demonstrates a high incidence of DLAs recovered by the algorithm (97.4% as DLAs and 99% as an HI absorber with log NHI > 19.5) and excellent estimates for zabs and NHI. Similar results are obtained against a human-generated survey of the SDSS DR5 dataset. The algorithm yields a low incidence of false positives and negatives but is challenged by overlapping DLAs and/or very high NHI systems. We have applied this CNN model to the quasar spectra of SDSS-DR7 and the Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS, data release 12) and provide catalogs of 4,913 and 50,969 DLAs respectively (including 1,659 and 9,230 high-confidence DLAs that were previously unpublished). This work validates the application of deep learning techniques to astronomical spectra for both classification and quantitative measurements.
Alleviation of copper toxicity in germinating pea seeds by IAA, GA3, Ca and citric acid

The ameliorating effects of four exogenous effectors were investigated in germinating pea seeds exposed to copper excess. The results showed that the application of IAA, GA3, Ca or citric acid alle...
Racial disparities in refusal of stroke thrombolysis in Chicago

Objective To evaluate race differences in tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) refusal among eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in Chicago. Methods Using the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke registry data from 15 primary stroke centers between January 2013 and June 2015, we performed a retrospective analysis of patients with AIS presenting to the emergency department within 4.5 hours from symptom onset. Patient or proxy refusal was captured as a reason for nonadministration of tPA to eligible patients in the registry. We assessed whether tPA refusal differed by race using logistic regression. Results Among 704 tPA-eligible patients with AIS, tPA was administered to 86.2% (black race, 82.5% vs nonblack race, 89.5%; p p = 0.004). In multivariable analysis, the following were associated with tPA refusal: black race (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3–4.6), self-pay status (adjusted OR 3.23, 95% CI 1.2–8.71), prior stroke (adjusted OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.14–3.90), age (adjusted OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02–1.07), and NIH Stroke Scale score (adjusted OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90–0.99). Conclusions Among tPA-eligible patients with AIS in Chicago, over 7% refused tPA. Refusal was more common in black patients and accounted for the apparent lower rates of tPA use in black vs nonblack patients. Further research is needed to understand barriers to consent and overcome race–ethnic disparities in tPA treatment for AIS.