cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new clustering strategy with stochastic merging and removing based on kernel functions

With hierarchical clustering methods, divisions or fusions, once made, are irrevocable. As a result, when two elements in a bottom-up algorithm are assigned to one cluster, they cannot subsequently be separated. Also, when a top-down algorithm separates two elements, they can't be rejoined. Such greedy property may lead to premature convergence and consequently lead to a clustering that is far from optimal. To overcome this problem, we propose a new Stochastic Message Passing Clustering (SMPC) method based on the Message Passing Clustering (MPC) algorithm introduced in our earlier work. SMPC, as a generalized version of MPC, extends the clustering algorithm from a deterministic process to a stochastic process, adding two major advantages. First, in deciding the merging cluster pair, the influences of all clusters are quantified by probabilities, estimated by kernel functions based on their relative distances. Secondly, clustering can be undone to improve the clustering performance when the algorithm detects elements which don't have good probabilities inside the cluster and moves them outside. The test results on colon cancer gene-expression data show that SMPC performs better than the deterministic MPC or hierarchical clustering method.
Studies in solution sampling

We introduce novel algorithms for generating random solutions from a uniform distribution over the solutions of a boolean satisfiability problem. Our algorithms operate in two phases. In the first phase, we use a recently introduced SampleSearch scheme to generate biased samples while in the second phase we correct the bias by using either Sampling/lmportance Resampling or the Metropolis-Hastings method. Unlike state-of-the-art algorithms, our algorithms guarantee convergence in the limit. Our empirical results demonstrate the superior performance of our new algorithms over several competing schemes.
Did R&D Firms Used to Patent? Evidence from the First Innovation Surveys

he extent to which firms use patents to protect their intellectual property rights is a central issue in the economics of innovation. It informs our understanding of how firms appropriate the returns to research and development (R&D) and how policymakers think about patent systems as a mechanism for stimulating innovation. To address these issues, scholars have frequently used innovation surveys of firms to examine the link between R&D and patents in the United States, Europe and Japan. While each survey has given rise to nuanced results, the main findings from each suggest that patents are a relatively unimportant means by which firms seek to protect their knowledge assets, and that the use of patents varies strongly across industries. A large and influential
Social Movements: An Analytical Exploration of Organizational Forms

A review of the literature on social movement organizations yields two key organizational variables: 1) the nature of the goals (instrumental-specific or expressive-diffuse); 2) the nature of membership requirements (exclusive or inclusive). These variables are cast in a paradigm which includes as other conceptual components: the kinds of membership incentives (solidary or purposive); the degree to which the social movement organization is detached from its community of concern; the leadership styles (directing, persuading, mixed); and the kinds of memberships (homogeneous; heterogeneous). The paradigm yields nine possible types of social movement organizations which in turn can be divided into congruent or non-congruent types. The paradigm is illustrated with data and observations from studies of social movements.
Animal Foraging and the Evolution of Goal‐Directed Cognition

Foraging- and feeding-related behaviors across eumetazoans share similar molecular mechanisms, suggesting the early evolution of an optimal foraging behavior called area-restricted search (ARS), involving mechanisms of dopamine and glutamate in the modulation of behavioral focus. Similar mechanisms in the vertebrate basal ganglia control motor behavior and cognition and reveal an evolutionary progression toward increasing internal connections between prefrontal cortex and striatum in moving from amphibian to primate. The basal ganglia in higher vertebrates show the ability to transfer dopaminergic activity from unconditioned stimuli to conditioned stimuli. The evolutionary role of dopamine in the modulation of goal-directed behavior and cognition is further supported by pathologies of human goal-directed cognition, which have motor and cognitive dysfunction and organize themselves, with respect to dopaminergic activity, along the gradient described by ARS, from perseverative to unfocused. The evidence strongly supports the evolution of goal-directed cognition out of mechanisms initially in control of spatial foraging but, through increasing cortical connections, eventually used to forage for information.
LaRA-2002: results of the airborne laser and radar altimeter campaign over Greenland, Svalbard, and Arctic sea ice

The primary objectives of LaRA-2002 were to assemble measurements of land and sea ice with simultaneous observations from a low-altitude aircraft by laser and radar altimeters. Data from the mission was expected to illustrate similarities and differences between these two very different means of measuring surface height. These objectives were met. This paper provides an overview of the project, and includes highlights of the results.
On Ergodic Secrecy Rate for Gaussian MISO Wiretap Channels

A Gaussian multiple-input single-output (MISO) wiretap channel model is considered, where there exists a transmitter equipped with multiple antennas, a legitimate receiver and an eavesdropper, each equipped with a single antenna. We study the problem of finding the optimal input covariance that maximizes the ergodic secrecy rate subject to a power constraint, where only statistical information about the eavesdropper channel is available at the transmitter. This is a non-convex optimization problem that is in general difficult to solve. Existing results address the case in which the eavesdropper or/and legitimate channels have independent and identically distributed Gaussian entries with zero mean and unit variance, i.e., the channels have trivial covariances. This paper addresses the general case in which the eavesdropper and legitimate channels have nontrivial covariances. A set of equations describing the optimal input covariance matrix are proposed along with an algorithm to obtain the solution. Based on this framework, it is shown that when full information on the legitimate channel is available to the transmitter, the optimal input covariance has always rank one. It is also shown that when only statistical information on the legitimate channel is available to the transmitter, the legitimate channel has some general non-trivial covariance and the eavesdropper channel has trivial covariance, the optimal input covariance has the same eigenvectors as the legitimate channel covariance.
INFLAMMATORY MARKERS ASSOCIATED WITH TRAUMA AND INFECTION IN RED-TAILED HAWKS (BUTEO JAMAICENSIS) IN THE USA

Changes in inflammatory marker concentrations or activity can be used to monitor health and disease condition of domestic animals but have not been applied with the same frequency to wildlife. We measured concentrations or activity of six inflammatory markers (ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, mannan-binding lectin-dependent complement [MBL/complement], unsaturated iron-binding capacity (UIBC) and total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and plasma iron) in apparently healthy and sick or injured Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis). Haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin activities were consistently elevated in sick or injured hawks (2.1 and 2.5 times higher, respectively), and plasma iron concentrations decreased (0.46 times lower), relative to those of healthy birds. There were no differences between healthy and unhealthy hawks in TIBC and UIBC concentrations or MBL/complement activity. Therefore, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, and plasma iron would be useful inclusions in a panel of inflammatory markers for monitoring health in raptors.
Convergence Of Market Shares In The U.S. Cigarette Industry

Many studies examine the degree of rivalry in an industry by utilizing measures of market share instability, with greater (lesser) volatility of market shares coinciding with greater (lesser) rivalry. This short paper extends this line of research by addressing long run instability of market shares. In particular, we test for the convergence of market shares in the U.S. cigarette industry using unit root procedures. Our finding that market shares for pairs of firms rarely converge suggests that market shares are unstable in the long run. Hence, rivalry has remained quite intact in the cigarette industry.
Abstract WP277: Aggressive Blood Pressure Management: A Perceived Contraindication to IV-tPA

Background: Our recent poll of US Primary Stroke Centers demonstrated that 23% of practitioners perceived the need for blood pressure (BP) management by means of a continuous dihydropyridine calciu...
Reading as a language event of the self: In conversation with Bertau, Lipari, and Karsten:

This commentary explores selected ideas presented in the special issue on language and the self and considers them in terms of reading. Bertau’s notions of the in-between and sharedness, Lipari’s description of the polychronic, polymodal, and polyphonic qualities of language events, and Karsten’s description of the cross chronotope relationships between self-positions during writing are discussed. Using a case analysis of a young child’s wordless picture book reading, this set of ideas is used to illuminate reading as a dialogic, relational event of the self, one that depends on the use of social imagination as a critical part of the meaning-making process.
Thromboprophylaxis and Outcomes for Total Joint Arthroplasty in Congenital Bleeding Disorders A Single-Center Experience

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) improves the quality of life for patients with end-stage osteoarthritis but is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), thus pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis is recommended for most patients. Patients with congenital bleeding disorders may develop severe arthropathies due to repeated hemarthroses and derive similar benefit from TJA as the general population. No guidelines for pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis in this population exist, however, as the risks and benefits are not well defined. We undertook the current study to assess the safety and efficacy of pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis in patients with congenital bleeding disorders undergoing TJA. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with bleeding disorders who underwent TJA at our academic institution between 1987 and 2012. We identified 28 patients who underwent 38 TJA procedures. Low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) was administered in 29 procedures (76%) and was discontinued early in 3 procedures (2 patients) due to nonjoint bleeding. No symptomatic VTE was identified, and no joint or deep wound infections were seen. Twenty-two patients accounting for 31 procedures were contacted to discuss their experience with TJA. All reported decreased pain, and 97% reported improved function after the surgery. Impressively, 97% stated that they would choose to have the surgery again. These results confirm the benefit of TJA in patients with congenital bleeding disorders and end-stage arthropathies and suggest that LMWH thromboprophylaxis is safe. No patient in our cohort developed symptomatic VTE, whether or not thromboprophylaxis was administered, thus necessity of thromboprophylaxis remains an unanswered question.
Survey on knowledge about prevention of hand-foot-mouth disease among parents of preschool children in Xi'an

Objective To investigate the cognition about hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD) of parents of preschool children and discuss the effective measures of preventing this disease. Methods Random cluster sampling method was adopted to select parents of children from 6 classes in 3 nurseries for the survey in Xi'an, and a total of 212 parents completed valid questionnaires. The survey results were statistically analyzed. Results After analysis of the 212 questionnaires returned, it was found that 95.8% of the subjects knew HFMD, 96.2% of them knew HFMD was one of the infectious diseases, and the awareness rate of basic symptoms was 90.6%.The parents had lower awareness about the HFMD pathogens, transmission, and availability of vaccine. 52.8% of the subjects obtained knowledge about HFMD from TV, and 50.5% of the subjects wished to receive more knowledge about HFMD from teacher;The most trusted access to HFMD was the local health department(70.8%); The most wanted information was the development of the epidemic situations(71.7%). Conclusion The parents play an important part in the key link of HFMD prevention. Parents' knowledge about HFMD is still insufficient in Xi'an. Therefore, it is vitally important to promote long-term and effective health education about HFMD to parents.
Using aquatic vegetation to remediate nitrate, ammonium, and soluble reactive phosphorus in simulated runoff

Abstract Within the agriculturally-intensive Mississippi River Basin of the United States, significant conservation efforts have focused on management practices that reduce nutrient runoff into receiving aquatic ecosystems. Only a small fraction of those efforts have focused on phytoremediation techniques. Each of six different aquatic macrophytes were planted, in monoculture, in three replicate mesocosms (1.2 m × 0.15 m × 0.65 m). Three additional unvegetated mesocosms served as controls for a total number of 21 mesocosms. Over two years, mesocosms were amended once each summer with sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and potassium phosphate dibasic to represent nitrogen and phosphorus in agricultural runoff. System retention was calculated using a simple aqueous mass balance approach. Ammonium retention in both years differed greatly, as Panicum hemitomon and Echinodorus cordifolius retentions were significantly greater than controls in the first year, while only Myriophyllum aquaticum and Typha latifolia were significantly greater than controls in the second year. Greater soluble reactive phosphorus retention was observed in T. latifolia compared to controls in both years. Several other significant differences were observed in either the first or second year, but not both years. In the first year’s exposure, P. hemitomon was significantly more efficient than the control, Saururus cernuus, and T. latifolia for overall percent nitrate decrease. Results of this novel study highlight inherent variability within and among species for nutrient specific uptake and the temporal variations of species for nutrient retention. By examining this natural variability, scientists may design phytoremediation systems with greater impact on improving agricultural runoff water quality.
The Effect of Hemodialysis on the Expression of Platelet Glycoproteins Ib, IIb/IIIa and P-Selectin.

UNLABELLED To determine the effect of hemodialysis on expression of platelet receptors in patients with chronic renal failure. DESIGN Blood sampling performed in chronic HD patients prior to the dialysis session, then 15 and 180 minutes into HD. Both dialysis machine inlet and outlet samples were taken at 15 minutes. Control subjects had a single blood sample taken. PATIENTS Thirteen adult males on chronic hemodialysis and 20 age and sex matched healthy controls. MEASUREMENTS Flow-cytometric analysis of platelet GP-Ib, GP-IIb/IIIa, and P-selectin. Plasma vWF multimers were analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. RESULTS Mean channel fluorescence (MCF) for GP lb was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in pre-dialysis patients compared to controls and decreased further 3 hours into the dialysis session compared to the start of the dialysis treatment (P < 0.01). MCF for GP IIb/IIIa between predialysis patients and controls was similar, but decreased after a single dialysis session (P < 0.01). MCF for P-selectin on platelets was similar in patients and controls, but fewer platelets from the patients expressed P-selectin compared to controls (P < 0.05). Qualitative multimeric analysis of the vWF in patients, pre- and post-HD was unchanged. CONCLUSIONS Alterations in platelet surface expression of GPIb, GPIIb/IIIa, and P-selectin may, partially contribute to the changes in platelet function seen in patients on hemodialysis. It is unlikely that alterations in the surface expression of these receptors alone can adequately account for the complex platelet and hemostatic changes associated with uremia and the HD procedure.
Effects of Diet and Mating on Sickle Cell Disease Murine

Abstract Patients experiencing chronic and/or recurrent pain show a correlative decline in health and lifespan. In turn, declining health and sensory effects may contribute to persistent pain and poor response to analgesia. We therefore hypothesized that dietary alterations to improve health and stress reduction by mating may reduce chronic pain in male sickle mice. Methods. We used male HbSS-BERK (sickle) mice, which show hyperalgesia as compared to and HbAA-BERK (control) mice (Kohli et al., Blood 2010). Breeders and pups up to 12 wks of age were fed Sickle Mouse Diet (59M3, TestDiet) and 18% Protein Rodent Diet (2018, Harlan), thereafter, called ‘sickle’ and ‘rodent’ diet. Sickle diet contained 26.4% Protein, 11.1% fat and 27.5% and 26% kcal/g of each, respectively. Rodent diet contained 18.6% protein and 6.2% fat, and 24% and 18% kcal/g of each, respectively. Vitamins were about 2-fold higher in sickle as compared to rodent diet. Sickle mice showing hyperalgesia were recruited and treated as follows: [A] Rodent diet without mating (RD/M-); [B] Sickle diet with mating (SD/M+); [C] Rodent diet with mating (RD/M+); [D] Sickle diet without mating (SD/M-) and [E] mice on SD and mating for 4 weeks, were deprived of SD and mating and fed RD. Control mice which do not show hyperalgesia were fed RD without mating. Sensory testing was performed at baseline (BL) at recruitment and weekly, to evaluate mechanical hyperalgesia with von Frey filaments, thermal hyperalgesia in response to heat/cold and grip force for musculoskeletal/deep tissue hyperalgesia. Following the treatments, release of cytokines from skin biopsies was analyzed by cytokine arrays as described by us earlier (Vincent et al., Blood 2013), and spinal cords were analyzed for nociceptive signaling. Results. We did not observe difference in the body weight of mice between different groups at any time. White blood cell counts and spleen weight were significantly increased in group E following the withdrawal of SD and mating as compared to group C on SD/M+ (p Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Difficult Pediatric Diagnoses: Bruising and Bleeding

An approach to the evaluation of a child who presents to the pediatrician with bruising is outlined. Important clues in the history and physical examination that suggest disorders of platelet number and function or coagulation abnormalities are presented. A scheme for using screening tests of coagulation and platelet function is followed by a brief summary of currently available therapies appropriate for bleeding episodes in children.
Minerva: enabling low-power, highly-accurate deep neural network accelerators

The continued success of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) in classification tasks has sparked a trend of accelerating their execution with specialized hardware. While published designs easily give an order of magnitude improvement over general-purpose hardware, few look beyond an initial implementation. This paper presents Minerva, a highly automated co-design approach across the algorithm, architecture, and circuit levels to optimize DNN hardware accelerators. Compared to an established fixed-point accelerator baseline, we show that fine-grained, heterogeneous datatype optimization reduces power by 1.5×; aggressive, inline predication and pruning of small activity values further reduces power by 2.0×; and active hardware fault detection coupled with domain-aware error mitigation eliminates an additional 2.7× through lowering SRAM voltages. Across five datasets, these optimizations provide a collective average of 8.1× power reduction over an accelerator baseline without compromising DNN model accuracy. Minerva enables highly accurate, ultra-low power DNN accelerators (in the range of tens of milliwatts), making it feasible to deploy DNNs in power-constrained IoT and mobile devices.
Recycling to discover something new: the role of autophagy in kidney disease.

This year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his groundbreaking work in dissecting the mechanisms of autophagy, a cellular process resulting in the organized degradation of cytoplasmic components. Ohsumi's work paved the way for subsequent studies that demonstrated critical roles for autophagy in modulating both acute and chronic kidney injury. This work may lead to future therapeutic approaches that target the autophagy system to prevent or treat kidney diseases.
Education and Reputation: Anna Maria van Schurman and Margaret Cavendish

Chapter 5 explores education and learning, which can lead to a public presence for women but can also be situated in the private realm of cultivation and elegance. The topic is approached by looking at works by two women writers who are not usually discussed in tandem: Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, and Anna Maria van Schurman. The author concentrates on Cavendish’s play The Female Academy and Van Schurman’s Dissertatio Logica, examining how elite status and constructions of courtly femininity trouble their arguments for female learning. Both women end up cultivating their reputations for eccentricity and singularity as a way around these contradictions. The chapter includes an analysis of non-textual ways in which these two writers presented themselves publicly, Cavendish through her frontispieces and Van Schurman through her self-portraits. The author shows that both women offered their readers a dynamic representation of women as withdrawn within the private sphere and emerging on occasion in eccentric guises to influence the public at large. Retirement from public view for these two writers did not equate to insignificance or a lack of public presence, but helped them achieve a measure of control over their own reputations.
Reporting of Effect Size and Confidence Intervals in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Importance Effect sizes and confidence intervals (CIs) are critical for the interpretation of the results for any outcome of interest. Objective To evaluate the frequency of reporting effect sizes and CIs in the results of analytical studies. Design, Setting, and Participants Descriptive review of analytical studies published from January 2012 to December 2015 in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery . Methods A random sample of 121 articles was reviewed in this study. Descriptive studies were excluded from the analysis. Seven independent reviewers participated in the evaluation of the articles, with 2 reviewers assigned per article. The review process was standardized for each article; the Methods and Results sections were reviewed for the outcomes of interest. Descriptive statistics for each outcome were calculated and reported accordingly. Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes of interest included the presence of effect size and associated CIs. Secondary outcomes of interest included a priori descriptions of statistical methodology, power analysis, and expectation of effect size. Results There were 107 articles included for analysis. The majority of the articles were retrospective cohort studies (n = 36 [36%]) followed by cross-sectional studies (n = 18 [17%]). A total of 58 articles (55%) reported an effect size for an outcome of interest. The most common effect size used was difference of mean, followed by odds ratio and correlation coefficient, which were reported 17 (16%), 15 (13%), and 12 times (11%), respectively. Confidence intervals were associated with 29 of these effect sizes (27%), and 9 of these articles (8%) included interpretation of the CI. A description of the statistical methodology was provided in 97 articles (91%), while 5 (5%) provided an a priori power analysis and 8 (7%) provided a description of expected effect size finding. Conclusions and Relevance Improving results reporting is necessary to enhance the reader’s ability to interpret the results of any given study. This can only be achieved through increasing the reporting of effect sizes and CIs rather than relying on P values for both statistical significance and clinically meaningful results.
Iron Sulfide Formation on Iron Substrates by Electrochemical Reaction in Anoxic Conditions

Electrodeposition has been widely used for the low-cost formation of large-area thin films of various crystalline materials. In this work, we use thermodynamic calculations to guide electrochemical experiments, in which we conduct a systematic investigation of crystalline iron sulfides formation on electrically poised iron substrates in H2S aqueous solutions. Whereas thermodynamic calculations predict the formation of iron pyrite (FeS2) films at the conditions tested, the principal iron–sulfur mineral phases observed were mixtures of mackinawite (Fe1+xS) and cubic iron sulfide (phase identification and characterization included X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy). These data suggest that the phases formed are determined kinetically, not thermodynamically, across all tested electrodeposition conditions. The results are compared with the formation of iron sulfides produced by the “sour corrosion” of iron and steels, and in addition the e...
"For the sake of the children": trials and tribulations of child psychiatry-liaison service

This paper describes the development of a child psychiatry liaison service to pediatrics in a university hospital setting and discusses the authors' preference for the liaison type of relationship over strictly consultative psychiatry.The success of the liaison service in promoting comprehensive pediatric care can be related to an effective team approach which includes a pediatric social worker and a child psychiatry nurse specialist. In addition to the usual methods of handling consultation requests for psychiatric services, weekly teaching conferences on the pediatric wards were established to draw the house officers' attention to a bio-psycho-social approach to pediatric care, to allow ventilation of intradepartmental conflicts, and to enable nurses and residents to express their feelings freely about difficult patient problems such as the chronically ill and the dying child.The common lack of continuity of house officers and attendings on the pediatric wards hampers efforts to provide well planned and...
Chimeric antigen receptors with human scFvs preferentially induce T cell anti-tumor activity against tumors with high B7H6 expression

B7H6 is emerging as a promising tumor antigen that is known to be expressed on a wide array of tumors and is reported to stimulate anti-tumor responses from the immune system. As such, B7H6 presents a good target for tumor-specific immunotherapies. B7H6-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) based on a murine antibody showed successful targeting and elimination of tumors expressing B7H6. However, mouse single chain variable fragments (scFvs) have the potential to induce host anti-CAR responses that may limit efficacy, so human scFvs specific for B7H6 were selected by yeast surface display. In this study, we validate the functionality of these human scFvs when formatted into chimeric antigen receptors. The data indicate that T cells expressing these B7H6-specific human scFvs as CARs induced potent anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo against tumors expressing high amounts of B7H6. Importantly, these human scFv-based CARs are sensitive to changes in B7H6 expression which may potentially spare non-tumor cells that express B7H6 and provides the foundation for future clinical development.
Modelling Earthquake Ground Motions in Seismically Active Regions Using Parametric Time Series Methods

ABSTRACT Strong motion accelerograms can be efficiently modelled using time series analysis. Because of the nonstationarity of accelerograms, transformations must first be applied to stabilize the variance and frequency content. An ARMA model can then be fit to the stabilized series. By analyzing a large number of accelerograms in California, these ARMA and transform parameters have been related to physical variables. Thus it is possible to generate simulated ground motions in the area studied. The validity of the modelling process is measured by comparing the simulations and their frequency spectra to actual records.
Correction to: Development and characterization of a spring hexaploid wheat line with no functional VRN2 genes

In the original version of this article, PCR fragments and digestion product sizes for the VRN-B2 and VRN-D2 markers were not accurate. The corrected sizes are detailed below.
Compression Techniques and Standards

This chapter covers multimedia compression techniques and standards: (a) JPEG compression standard for full-color still image applications, (b) H.261 standard for video-based communications, and (c) MPEG standard for intensive applications of full-motion video, such as interactive multimedia. We describe all the components of these standards including their encoder and decoder architectures. Experimental data are also presented.
Low-mobility sperm phenotype in the domestic turkey: Impact on sperm morphometry and early embryonic death

The sperm mobility assay measures the ability of sperm to swim through a dense layer of Accudenz® , and the sperm mobility phenotype has been shown to predict fertility and other sperm performance traits in roosters and turkeys. In this study, we examined turkey sperm morphometry and rates of early embryonic death associated with high- and low-mobility semen. We also assessed whether the hypo-osmotic stress test, which evaluates the structural integrity of the sperm plasma membrane, may be used as a faster and simpler assay for sperm mobility and viability. We confirmed previous work that found that high-mobility sperm are faster and swim more linearly than low-mobility sperm, and that mobility traits were repeatable within males. In contrast to previous studies, we did not find higher rates of fertility, but low-mobility sperm was associated with higher rates of early embryonic death, though this trend was not significant. High-mobility sperm had longer sperm heads, explained by longer nuclei, despite shorter acrosomes. Although these sperm were faster, midpiece length and flagellum length did not differ between high- and low-mobility sperm. Finally, mobility was not found to be associated with sperm performance in the hypo-osmotic stress test.
Identifying and Comparing Writing Process Patterns Using Keystroke Logs

There is a growing literature on the use of process data in digitally delivered assessments. In this study, we analyzed students’ essay writing processes using keystroke logs. Using four basic writing performance indicators, writers were grouped into four clusters, representing groups from fluent to struggling. The clusters differed significantly on the mean essay score, mean total time spent on task, and mean total number of words in the final submissions. Two of the four clusters were significantly different on the aforementioned three dimensions but not on typing skill. The higher scoring group even showed signs of less fluency than the lower scoring group, suggesting that task engagement and writing efforts might play an important role in generating better quality text. The four identified clusters further showed distinct sequential patterns over the course of the writing session on three process characteristics and, as well, differed on their editing behaviors during the writing process.
A Highly Efficient Broadband mm-Wave 24-32.5 GHz SiGe PA for Potential 5G Applications

We present in this work a highly efficient broadband millimeter-wave power amplifier (mm-wave PA) design in a 90nm SiGe technology for potential 5G applications. The post-layout extraction simulations suggest that the PA achieves broadband power-added efficiency (PAE) >31.4%, gain >8.5 dB, and P OUT,sat >13.3 dBm across 24-32.5 GHz, with peak PAE of 40.2% at 26 GHz. The PA shows good linearity with 16-QAM LTE 250 MHz modulated signal input, obtaining ACLR1 of -38.6/-37.3 dBc at 26 GHz with P OUT,avg of 6.4 dBm. The PA is also robust against variation in bias V B = 0.83-0.85 V and supply V CC = 1.0-1.4 V and can be applicable toward multi-band 5G applications.
Multiobjective economic and environmental optimization of global crude oil purchase and sale planning with noncooperative stakeholders

Abstract The petrochemical supply chain is a worldwide undertaking, where final products will often travel thousands of miles from oil well to gas station pump. Within the crude oil supply chain, various entities compete and attempt to maximize their profits by exploiting the demands and needs of the other companies within the supply chain. Each company or player in the crude oil industry has its own objective, and it will compete against other players trying to pursue their respective objectives. Due to the non-cooperative structure of the crude oil supply chain, the decisions that maximize profit often do not coincide with decisions that minimize environmental impact, as a reduction in environmental impact usually correlates with a reduction in profit. In this work, the crude oil supply chain from oil well to refinery is modelled as a mixed-integer bilevel linear program that accounts for conflicting objectives and interactions between different stakeholders. The composition, pricing, transportation distances, and environmental impacts of the different crude oils are taken into consideration in the model. In the bilevel problem, the crude oil producers aim to maximize their own profits from the sale of their crude oil, while the crude oil refiner has the dual objectives of both maximizing the profit made from the sale of distilled products to the market and minimizing the life cycle environmental impact of the refinery products, which is determined by the type of crude oil purchased by the refinery. The resulting model is then applied to two case studies, both based on a U.S. refinery purchasing oil from various crude oil-producing countries. Both case studies produce a set of pareto-optimal decisions for the refiner that display the inherent trade-offs between minimizing “cradle-to-gate” environmental impact and maximizing profit. At the trade-off point in the first case, a 4.4% decrease in profit leads to a 3.0% decrease in the kilograms of CO2 per megajoule of energy produced. Meanwhile, the trade-off point selected in the second case displays a 7.5% reduction in the total environmental impact while decreasing total profit by only 5.9%. Furthermore, the refiner’s profit at the trade-off point in the second case is $2.148 M, which is situated between the worst-case deterministic profit of $1.558 M and the best-case deterministic profit of $2.652 M.
Survival After Heart Transplantation in Patients Bridged With Mechanical Circulatory Support

Abstract Background The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) heart allocation policy designates patients on ECMO or with nondischargeable, surgically implanted, nonendovascular support devices (TCS-VAD) to higher listing statuses. Objectives This study aimed to explore whether temporary circulatory support-ventricular assist devices (TCS-VAD) have a survival advantage over extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge to transplant. Methods The UNOS database was used to conduct a retrospective analysis of adult heart transplants performed in the United States between 2005 and 2017. Survival analysis was performed to compare patients bridged to transplant with different modalities. Results Of the 24,905 adult transplants performed, 7,904 (32%) were bridged with durable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), 177 (0.7%) with ECMO, 203 (0.8%) with TCS-VAD, 44 (0.2%) with percutaneous endovascular devices, and 8 (0.03%) with TandemHeart (LivaNova, London, United Kingdom). Unadjusted survival at 1 and 5 years post-transplant was 90 ± 0.4% and 77 ± 0.7% for durable LVAD, 84 ± 3% and 71 ± 4% for all TCS-VAD types, 79 ± 9% and 73 ± 14% for biventricular TCS-VAD, and 68 ± 3% and 61 ± 8% for ECMO. After propensity-matched pairwise comparisons were made, survival after all TCS-VAD types continued to be superior to ECMO (p = 0.019) and similar to LVAD (p = 0.380). ECMO was a predictor of post-transplant mortality in the Cox analysis compared with TCS-VAD (hazard ratio 2.40; 95% confidence interval: 1.44 to 4.01; p = 0.001). Conclusions Post-transplant survival with TCS-VAD is superior to ECMO and similar to LVAD in a national database.
Laboratory-Scale Replication of Deposit-Induced Degradation of High-Temperature Turbine Components

This study investigated the linkages between deposit chemistry and degradation morphology of field-exposed aero-turbine parts and the associated development of effective laboratory-scale replication testing procedures. Inductively coupled plasma-optimal emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analysis indicated that the water-soluble deposit constituents were mainly Na-rich, Ca-rich or a mix of these, with the relative amounts having a dependence on geographic region in which a given part was mainly exposed. Degradation of the field-exposed parts was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and revealed unconventional hot-corrosion attack. Microstructures included duplex oxide scales, Ca-containing oxide, internal oxidation, sulfidation, and nitridation. Degradation mechanisms elucidated by replication testing were deposit-induced selective depletions at high-temperature and low-temperature oxidation. Field degradation was replicated when considering the thermal dependences of both stages. Replication of a chromide-coated field part required calcium chromate liquid formation during high-temperature testing. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) of the coating subsurface revealed extensive Cr depletion after exposure to CaO above the calcium chromate eutectic temperature. Oxidation temperature also contributed to replicating field degradation microstructures. Specifically, matching degradation was observed after the depleted superalloy or chromide coating was oxidized in air at an intermediate temperature.
Bacterial Cell Wall Quality Control during Environmental Stress

Single-celled organisms must adapt their physiology to persist and propagate across a wide range of environmental conditions. The growth and division of bacterial cells depend on continuous synthesis of an essential extracellular barrier: the peptidoglycan cell wall, a polysaccharide matrix that counteracts turgor pressure and confers cell shape. Unlike many other essential processes and structures within the bacterial cell, the peptidoglycan cell wall and its synthesis machinery reside at the cell surface and are thus uniquely vulnerable to the physicochemical environment and exogenous threats. In addition to the diversity of stressors endangering cell wall integrity, defects in peptidoglycan metabolism require rapid repair in order to prevent osmotic lysis, which can occur within minutes. Here, we review recent work that illuminates mechanisms that ensure robust peptidoglycan metabolism in response to persistent and acute environmental stress. Advances in our understanding of bacterial cell wall quality control promise to inform the development and use of antimicrobial agents that target the synthesis and remodeling of this essential macromolecule.IMPORTANCE Nearly all bacteria are encased in a peptidoglycan cell wall, an essential polysaccharide structure that protects the cell from osmotic rupture and reinforces cell shape. The integrity of this protective barrier must be maintained across the diversity of environmental conditions wherein bacteria replicate. However, at the cell surface, the cell wall and its synthesis machinery face unique challenges that threaten their integrity. Directly exposed to the extracellular environment, the peptidoglycan synthesis machinery encounters dynamic and extreme physicochemical conditions, which may impair enzymatic activity and critical protein-protein interactions. Biotic and abiotic stressors-including host defenses, cell wall active antibiotics, and predatory bacteria and phage-also jeopardize peptidoglycan integrity by introducing lesions, which must be rapidly repaired to prevent cell lysis. Here, we review recently discovered mechanisms that promote robust peptidoglycan synthesis during environmental and acute stress and highlight the opportunities and challenges for the development of cell wall active therapeutics.
Response in breast vs axilla after neoadjuvant treatment and implications for nonoperative management of invasive breast cancer.

Improved imaging and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAT) have led to higher pathologic complete response rates (pCR) in patients with invasive breast cancer. This has questioned the necessity of surgery and axillary lymph node (ALN) dissection in these patients. Prospective clinical trials are implementing extensive core biopsies of the tumor bed of patients with clinical complete response as a means to identify and spare them breast surgery. In addition, it is anticipated that patients with pCR are most likely going to have no or minimal disease in ALN as well. To verify the feasibility of these trials, we performed a pathologic analysis of all our patients who have undergone NAT from 2009 to present. Using pathology data base, we identified 362 patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery. Clinical and pathologic information including gross and microscopic descriptions as well as biomarker status was collected. pCR was 50% for patients with negative ALN pretreatment but only 28% for patients with positive ALN at diagnosis. Despite achieving pCR in the breast, up to 10% of patients with positive ALN and 1% with negative ALN had persistent disease. Eight percent of patients that were presumed to have no ALN disease either clinically and or by imaging were found to have metastatic carcinoma in ALN. The metastases were predominantly (80%) <5 mm, and not palpable on physical examination and or due to biopsy sampling error. pCR in breast and ALN directly correlated with tumor size, ALN disease, and Her2 positive and triple negative receptor phenotype. In breast cancer patients who are node positive at time of diagnosis with pCR in the breast after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, residual lymph node disease was very uncommon. Further study is warranted to select patients who may avoid breast and axillary surgery post neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Gentrification and the Shifting Geography of Male Same-Sex Couples

The changing geography of male same-sex couples over the last decade has important implications for LGBTQ families and communities. While recent scholarship clearly documents that male same-sex couples are becoming more geographically diffuse, less clear is what locational factors drive this change. Some explanations center on the increased cost of housing in established “gayborhoods.” Others point to increasing social acceptance of same-sex couples opening up new residential opportunities. This paper explores these explanations in a spatial regression model that uses neighborhood attributes to predict change in the neighborhood concentration of male same-sex couples, while also accounting for spatial spillover effects from neighboring areas. Data come from the 2009–2013 and 2014–2018 American Community Surveys for four metropolitan areas: New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Results suggest that gentrification of gayborhoods is generally associated with declining concentrations of male same-sex couples in these areas. But across the four metropolitan areas, there are notable differences in whether same-sex concentrations are more sensitive to housing values, rental costs, or the supply of affordable housing units. Outside of gayborhoods, increasing housing costs are generally associated with increasing same-sex concentrations. These findings add nuance to our understanding of gentrification’s impacts on same-sex couples and affirm that housing affordability is a key concern among same-sex populations. We discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges of continued study in this area.
Fast Method for Accelerating Convergence in Iterative Solution of Frequency-Domain Partial Differential Equation Methods

In this work, we find that the matrix representing the curl-curl operator in a partial differential equation solver can be analytically decomposed into a gradient divergence operator and a Laplacian operator, both of which can be constructed from mesh information without any need for computation. The singular curl-curl operator can hence be replaced by the Laplacian operator that is well-conditioned, when operating on the full-wave component of the field solution since the component is orthogonal to the gradient space. As a result, the convergence of an iterative solution can be significantly accelerated. As a validation of this method, we develop a fast iterative solution for solving large-scale integrated circuits where dielectric and conductor loss co-exist, and both static and full-wave components are important. Fast convergence on a number of realistic integrated circuit structures demonstrates its performance.
Probabilistic Solar Power Forecasting: A Review and Comparison

The renewable energy use in power systems is growing during recent years. While renewable energy resources provide cheap energy and much lower levels of pollution, their addition introduces new problems to the power system. One of the important issues is their unreliability. There are many studies aimed at resolving this issue specifically by generating accurate forecasts to predict the power output in the future. Photo Voltaic (PV) units are one of the most common renewable energy resources in power systems. Many studies have explored solar power forecasting in recent decades. Recently, instead of point forecasts, the focus is shifted towards probabilistic forecasts which provide more information to the power system operators and equip them with more tools to manage the power system. This study explores different methods applied to probabilistic forecasting in solar power area. We also implement the forecasting methods for solar power prediction and compare the results using different metrics to find the most effective method for probabilistic forecasting.
Managing multiple myeloma during COVID-19: an ongoing saga.

“The show must go on” Proverbial—initially applied to the United States 1876 centennial celebrations and originally printed in The Morning Republican (Scranton, PA) on 13 December 1875. No other ti...