cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Increases and decreases in network synchrony associated with local population extinction and recolonization

Abstract Synchronous population dynamics, a positive correlation in growth rates among populations, is of interest from basic and applied perspectives. Synchronous dynamics are ubiquitous in nature thus understanding the mechanisms producing synchrony is fundamental. Population networks with synchronous dynamics have shorter persistence times than asynchronous networks, thus understanding its sources may aid conservation. Previous research has shown that the extinction and recolonization of local populations within a spatial population network produces a decrease in synchrony; however, models investigating extinction alone have shown increases in synchrony and the potential for increased network wide extinction risk. Here, I investigated these contrasting results. At low population growth rates, r = 1.1, the extinction and recolonization of a local population increased the synchrony of surrounding populations. Also in contrast to previous results, at higher growth rates, r > 2.1, extinction–recolonization dynamics resulted in a range of results – increasing, decreasing, and no change in synchrony. In all cases, the impact of extinction and recolonization dynamics on synchrony depended on whether dispersal was local or global, the population growth rate, the emigration rate, and the amount of local stochasticity. Results indicate that there is a high potential for positive feedback of local extinction and recolonization on network-wide extinction risk for patchy populations of species with low intrinsic growth rates.
Characterization of human sperm plasma membrane: Glycolipids and polypeptides

The plasma membranes from ejaculated human spermatozoa were removed by nitrogen cavitation (600 PSI for 10 min) and isolated by centrifugation followed by a discontinuous sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Glycolipid analysis of the plasma membrane revealed a three-fold enrichment in gangliosides: GM3 and GD1a/GD1b and neutral glycolipids: globoside and sulfatide as compared to that of whole human sperm. Two dimensional electrophoresis of human sperm plasma membranes revealed about 75 polypeptides. Several of these polypeptides were similar in migration and in display of shape and color to that found in boar sperm plasma membranes.
Management of extensor mechanism rupture after TKA

Disruption of the extensor mechanism in total knee arthroplasty may occur by tubercle avulsion, patellar or quadriceps tendon rupture, or patella fracture, and whether occurring intra-operatively or post-operatively can be difficult to manage and is associated with a significant rate of failure and associated complications. This surgery is frequently performed in compromised tissues, and repairs must frequently be protected with cerclage wiring and/or augmentation with local tendon (semi-tendinosis, gracilis) which may also be used to treat soft-tissue loss in the face of chronic disruption. Quadriceps rupture may be treated with conservative therapy if the patient retains active extension. Component loosening or loss of active extension of 20° or greater are clear indications for surgical treatment of patellar fracture. Acute patellar tendon disruption may be treated by primary repair. Chronic extensor failure is often complicated by tissue loss and retraction can be treated with medial gastrocnemius flaps, achilles tendon allografts, and complete extensor mechanism allografts. Attention to fixing the graft in full extension is mandatory to prevent severe extensor lag as the graft stretches out over time.
Technology Potential of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Systems in Federal Facilities

Thermal energy storage (TES) reduces electric costs by shifting chilling activities to off-peak times. Water is chilled or ice is made during the night to either replace or augment operation of cooling equipment during the day. Off-peak demand and consumption rates produce significant dollar savings. TES requires favorable electric rate structures, available space to house the associated equipment, and either variation in buildings cooling loads or favorable climatic conditions. TES can be implemented anywhere cooling loads can be shifted to off-peak housrs with the best applications being office buildings, hospitals, and schools. Most TES projects are implemented inconjunction with an existing cooling system expansion, replacement of older cooling equipment, or new construction, thus reducing energy costs, consumption, and demand.
Telecommunications, CES production function

The note points out the deficiencies of previously estimated production functions of telecommunication systems. Another functional form, a variant of the CES Function, is suggested. The empirical estimation uses prior information on technological change and its adoption rate. None of the estimated parameters is inadmissible and the implied economic variables are very similar to those actually observed. Since the estimation is done under the assumption of profit maximization, the good results cast some doubts on the argument of a ‘regulated industry’.
Process mining based modeling and analysis of workflows in clinical care - A case study in a chicago outpatient clinic

The United States currently spends over 17% of its gross domestic product on healthcare and this expenditure will continue to rise in the next few decades. Improving the performance and the efficiency of the United States healthcare system is of practical value to lowering such expenditure. Discrete event modeling, which can capture the complex behaviors of healthcare systems and provide statistical estimations of ‘what if’ scenarios, is one of the most powerful and cost-effective methods for healthcare system improvement. It involves creating an abstract-level workflow model with an accurate view of the patient flow while considering the dynamic nature of healthcare processes. In this paper, an outpatient clinic in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is used as a case study to illustrate a process mining based method for healthcare processes management and improvement. This method is able to discover meaningful knowledge, i.e., the workflow, of the clinical care processes by mining event logs. Based on the results from process mining, a discrete event simulation model is proposed to quantitatively analyze the clinical center. Sensitivity analyses have also been carried out to investigate the care activities with limited resources such as doctors and nurses. The results suggest that this methodology is a useful and flexible tool for healthcare process performance improvement.
Coastal Hazards and Barrier Beach Development

Barrier beaches along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are some of the most popular recreational areas and most expensive real estate in the United States. For those people who take vacations, more than 70 percent will visit a beach (www.aaa.com). According to insurance industry reports, there is more than $3.1 trillion at risk to coastal storms (Institute for Business and Home Safety).
The Target Cells for Inhaled Mineral Dusts

Several inhaled minerals, such as silica and asbestos, cause interstitial fibrotic lung disease in humans and experimental animals (Selikoff et al. 1978). The basic pathobiological mechanisms through which the inhaled particles cause disease remain largely unknown. To elucidate such mechanisms, it is essential to define the initial deposition sites of the inhaled dust and to establish the earliest responses of so-called “target cells” at these sites of deposition.
Garlic Influences Gene Expression In Vivo and In Vitro

There is a large body of preclinical research aimed at understanding the roles of garlic and garlic-derived preparations in the promotion of human health. Most of this research has targeted the possible functions of garlic in maintaining cardiovascular health and in preventing and treating cancer. A wide range of outcome variables has been used to investigate the bioactivity of garlic, ranging from direct measures of health status such as cholesterol concentrations, blood pressure, and changes in tumor size and number, to molecular and biochemical measures such as mRNA gene expression, protein concentration, enzyme activity, and histone acetylation status. Determination of how garlic influences mRNA gene expression has proven to be a valuable approach to elucidating the mechanisms of garlic bioactivity. Preclinical studies investigating the health benefits of garlic far outnumber human studies and have made frequent use of mRNA gene expression measurement. There is an immediate need to understand mRNA gene expression in humans as well. Although safety and ethical constraints limit the types of available human tissue, peripheral whole blood is readily accessible, and measuring mRNA gene expression in whole blood may provide a unique window to understanding how garlic intake affects human health.
Abstract 503: A Within-Subject Repeatability Coefficient Assessment of Snoring on Carotid Artery Velocities

Objectives: Vascular surgeons use duplex ultrasound (US) to evaluate carotid stenoses as a means to determine stroke risk. An under-appreciated risk factor is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Although the mechanism is unknown, preliminary studies suggest snoring may play a role. The goals were to determine 1) daily carotid artery velocity variability within subjects and 2) the effect of simulated snoring on carotid artery velocities. Methods: 44 bilateral carotid artery US exams were performed on 11 subjects by 2 RVTs (4 exams/subject, 7 subjects/RVT A, 4 subjects/RVT B). Steps were taken to ensure measurements were made at identical sites under similar parameters for subsequent exams. PSV and EDV were measured at 8 locations at rest and during a simulated snore. For each location, limits of agreement was used to calculate PSV and EDV repeatability coefficients, which are the limits within which 95% of the differences will lie for two measurements made on the same subject. Repeatability coefficients were then used to determine significance for observed velocity changes in carotid arteries with and without stenosis during simulated snoring, at 3 locations. They were also used to assess velocity variability in CEA candidates. All US exams were performed in an IAC vascular testing accredited laboratory by RVTs. Results: Repeatability coefficients for RVT A ranged from 26 to 40cm/s for PSV and 11 to 20cm/s for EDV. For RVT B they ranged from 30 to 65 and 8 to 19cm/s for PSV and EDV, respectively. Maximum values occurred in the ICA ostia and ECA for RVT A, and in the ICA ostia and proximal for RVT B. In non-stenosed arteries, snoring most frequently caused a change in the PSV of the proximal ICA where it occurred in 17% of the arteries (4/24). However, the effect of snoring was greatest in stenosed arteries. In 75% of these arteries (6/8) there was a significant velocity change. 38% of proximal ICA PSVs and EDVs were affected. Conclusion: Repeatability coefficients can be used to determine significant changes in carotid artery velocities within diagnostic stenosis categories as measured by US. There is a possible connection between snoring, carotid velocities and stenosis which warrants further investigation to determine if it is part of the mechanism by which OSA increases stroke risk.
Reduce New Product Failures: Measure Needs as well as Purchase Interest:

Present market research may deceive us to introduce products with limited potential because consumers may be favorably disposed to a new brand yet have no need for it. This paper presents an approa...
Calendars: Representational homogeneity and heterogeneous time

Calendars and almanacs are objects designed to allow users to gain information about time that results from complicated calculations and observations, and to do so without having to replicate these...
THE BIRDS OF THE REVILLA GIGEDO ISLANDS, MEXICO

The Revilla Gigedo Archipelago consists of a group of four volcanic, oceanic islands that lies southwest of Baja California, Mexico. The archipelago is situated between 18' 20' and 19' 20' north latitude and between 110' 45' and 114' 50' west longitude. The islands are, in order of increasing size, Roca Partida, San Benedicto, Clari6n, and Socorro. Although uninhabited, they are governed by the Mexican state of Colima. The island nearest to the mainland lies 210 miles southwest of the tip of Baja California. Roca Partida is about 300 feet long and 25 feet wide; it has two small peaks 75 and 100 feet in height. No terrestrial vegetation is present and only sea birds roost or nest there.
Belief And The Principle Of Identity

In Propositional Attitudes, Mark Richard claims that some natural and formal language sentences of the form(∀ x)(∀ y)(x = y → α → α [y/x])are false. He suggests a substitution for α that is sensitive to certain ancillary features of the variable letter as well as the assignment, and then argues that this substitution generates a false instance of the above-mentioned schema. I reject Richard's argument and argue further that the sentence is not an instance of that schema. I then argue that his putative natural language example fails as well. Finally, I suggest that although Richard's mistake here does not present any technical problem for his semantics for attitude ascriptions, it undermines his claim that his semantic theory is better able to respect the surface form of attitude ascriptions in natural languages than competing theories.
Evaluation of different diagnostic criteria for hypertension prevalence among children and adolescents aged 7-17 years in Shanghai in 2010

Objective To investigate the prevalence of hypertension in representative sample of children and adolescents aged 7-17 years in Shanghai,by using the current national age-and gender-specific cutoffs(NBPR) and using a new cutoffs including height percentiles(BPCH).Methods The data were from the 2010 routine survey of Shanghai Municipal Center for Students 'Physical Fitness and Health Surveillance involving 3 300 boys and girls respectively.Hypertension was defined as average SBP /DBP equal to or above the 95th percentile.BPCH was constructed by using GAMLSS program,for gender,age and height percentiles,based on non-overweight study subjects from 1991-2009 Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey.Children and adolescents' with inconsist results dignosed by BPCH and NBPR were analyzed,heights of them were compared by Z-score.Results The prevalence rate of hypertension diagnosed by NBPR was 11.3% for males and 10% for females.The rate was 6.9% for males and 6% for females by using NBPR.The prevalence rate increased with age by NBPR whereas it kept approximately stable by BPCH.The Kappa index of hypertension was 0.583 in male and 0.695 in female using the two references,and the consistent rate was 93%,95% respectively.377 samples(5.7% in total) were diagnosed as hypertensive by both cutoffs.50(boys:42,girls:8) hypertensive children were in BPCH who were missed by NBPR,with mean height lower than mean height of total samples by 17cm in boys(Z=-0.78,P0.000 1) and 11 cm in girls(Z=-1.29,P=0.015 9) respectively.There were 329 students(5% in total) diagnosed by NBPR but missed by BPCH,with mean height being higher than average levels,13.9 cm in boys(Z=0.31,P0.000 1) and 10.2 cm in girls(Z=0.39,P0.000 1).Conclusion It is suggested that height should be considered in diagnosis of hypertension and included in cutoffs for accurate estimation of blood pressure in children and adolescents.
Procainamide and N‐acetylprocainamide kinetics investigated simultaneously with stable isotope methodology

The pharmacokinetics of procainamide (PA) and N-acetylprocainamide (NAPA) were compared in 3 normal subjects after simultaneous intravenous injection of PA and NAPA-13C. The distribution kinetics of both compounds were modeled with a 3-compartment mamillary system, and it was found that their steady-state distribution volumes were not significantly different, averaging 1.41 Llkg for PA and 1.46 Llkg for NAPA. However, the intercompartmental clearances of NAPA were slower than those of PA. In these normal subjects, the average elimination tl/2 and total elimination clearance for PA were 2.5 hr and 589.8 ml/min, and for NAPA were 6.2 hr and 233.7 mllmin. Mean renal clearances of PA (346.7 ml/min) and of NAPA (199.5 mllmin) exceeded the usual rate of glomerular filtration, which suggests that both compounds are eliminated in part by renal tubular secretion. All subjects were phenotypic rapid acetylators of isoniazid and converted approximately one fourth of the administered PA dose to NAPA-12C. The fate of 15.4% of the administered PA and 14.5% of the administered NAPA-13C was not determined.
Observations on the influence of the hypophysis and the adrenal cortex on blood platelet levels.

Observations were made to investigate possible endocrine influences on blood platelets. Adrenal cortex extract failed to influence the platelet counts of mice, rats, or rabbits. Adrenalectomy and sham-adrenalectomy were followed by almost identical platelet increases in mice and rats. Administration of adrenal cortex extract, or physiologic saline, to adrenalectomized rats was followed by a consistent fall in platelets not observed in sham-adrenalectomized rats, or after administering distilled water to adrenalectomized rats. Platelet levels in hypophysectomized rats were significantly lower than in unoperated controls. Splenectomy in hypophysectomized rats was followed by a maximum rise in platelets markedly lower than following splenectomy in intact rats. Bone-marrow megakaryocytes in hypophysectomized rats were significantly fewer than in intact rats. No changes in megakaryocyte number or morphology appeared following splenectomy either in intact or hypophysectomized rats.
Sleep loss in aging.

Tests of performance and alertness in normal older subjects undergoing sleep loss reveal loss of performance and alertness similar to that seen in younger individuals. Recovery of performance ability occurs with one night of normal sleep, even following periods of sleep loss up to 64 hours in length. Older individuals, including older individuals with primary insomnia, may tolerate sleep loss with less decrease in ability compared with their baseline than young adults and may recover function more quickly than young adults. While it has been frequently shown that older individuals perform more poorly than young adults on a broad range of tasks, these findings do not hold well for periods of nocturnal performance or performance during sleep loss. It is possible that these findings may be accounted for to some extent by the decrease in amplitude of the circadian body temperature curve in older individuals. It is unfortunate that Reynolds et al did not attempt to collect performance data in their depressed and demented patients to determine if the differential effects on mood and EEG would also be reflected in psychomotor performance.
An introduction to the NWS West Gulf River Forecast Center

The National Weather Service (NWS) West Gulf River Forecast Center (WGRFC), in cooperation with numerous federal, state, and local government entities, uses the latest science and technology to provide timely and accurate river forecasts in an effort to protect life and property for most of the river drainages in Texas. Disaster preparedness decreases property damage by an estimated $1 billion annually nationwide. The mission is to provide basic hydrologic forecast information for the economic and environmental well-being for the nation. The WGRFC is 1 of 13 river forecast centers within the United States and is located in Fort Worth, Texas. The WGRFC’s area of responsibility stretches from the Rio Grande in southern Colorado, New Mexico and south Texas eastward to the Sabine River along the Texas-Louisiana border. Other rivers in the center’s area of responsibility include the Pecos, Nueces, San Antonio, Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, and Neches rivers. This article will describe the variety of hydrologic forecasting services routinely provided by the WGRFC. Although flood forecasts are its most well-known product, the WGRFC also generates river and water information used for recreation, reservoir operations, and water supply plans. Additionally, the WGRFC produces estimates of hourly precipitation. To achieve this, the WGRFC has 2 primary functions; a hydrometeorological function and a hydrologic function. This article will describe each function and discuss how each function serves as steps in the preparation and the issuing of hydrologic forecasts.
Sickle cell disease: Its molecular mechanism and the one drug that treats it

Sickle cell disease is probably the first known assembly disease, and its mechanism has been extensively studied. It arises because of the expression of a mutant hemoglobin that can polymerize, and which does so by a double nucleation mechanism that is now seen to operate in other diseases. The polymers so formed lead to circulatory obstruction in the microcirculation. The accuracy of the description that has been developed is sufficient to describe precisely the impact of molecules that cannot join polymers but that still crowd the solution, including fetal hemoglobin. The one approved drug, hydroxyurea, is thought to achieve its benefit by enhancing the production of fetal hemoglobin, but the effects of the drug on polymerization exceed what the added fetal hemoglobin can accomplish. While some possible answers to this mystery are suggested, no mechanism has been conclusively established for the remarkably efficacy of the one drug available to treat this disease.
Edge orientation signals in tactile afferents of macaques

The orientation of edges indented into the skin has been shown to be encoded in the responses of neurons in primary somatosensory cortex in a manner that draws remarkable analogies to their counterparts in primary visual cortex. According to the classical view, orientation tuning arises from the integration of untuned input from thalamic neurons with aligned but spatially displaced receptive fields (RFs). In a recent microneurography study with human subjects, the precise temporal structure of the responses of individual mechanoreceptive afferents to scanned edges was found to carry information about their orientation. This putative mechanism could in principle contribute to or complement the classical rate-based code for orientation. In the present study, we further examine orientation information carried by mechanoreceptive afferents of Rhesus monkeys. To this end, we record the activity evoked in cutaneous mechanoreceptive afferents when edges are indented into or scanned across the skin. First, we confirm that information about the edge orientation can be extracted from the temporal patterning in afferent responses of monkeys, as is the case in humans. Second, we find that while the coarse temporal profile of the response can be predicted linearly from the layout of the RF, the fine temporal profile cannot. Finally, we show that orientation signals in tactile afferents are often highly dependent on stimulus features other than orientation, which complicates putative decoding strategies. We discuss the challenges associated with establishing a neural code at the somatosensory periphery, where afferents are exquisitely sensitive and nearly deterministic.
Replicating and fixing failed replications: The case of need for cognition and argument quality

Abstract Recent large-scale replication efforts have raised the question: how are we to interpret failures to replicate? Many have responded by pointing out conceptual or methodological discrepancies between the original and replication studies as potential explanations for divergent results as well as emphasizing the importance of contextual moderators. To illustrate the importance of accounting for discrepancies between original and replication studies as well as moderators, we turn to a recent example of a failed replication effort. Previous research has shown that individual differences in need for cognition interact with a message's argument quality to affect evaluation (Cacioppo, Petty, & Morris, 1983). However, a recent attempt failed to replicate this outcome ( Ebersole et al., 2016 ). We propose that the latter study's null result was due to conducting a non-optimal replication attempt. We thus conducted a new study that manipulated the key features that we propose created non-optimal conditions in the replication effort. The current results replicated the original need for cognition × argument quality interaction but only under the “optimal” conditions (closer to the original study's method and accounting for subsequently identified moderators). Under the non-optimal conditions, mirroring those used by Ebersole et al., results replicated the failure to replicate the target interaction. These findings emphasize the importance of informed replication, an approach to replication that pays close attention to ongoing developments identified in an effect's broader literature.
A virtual laboratory combined with biometric authentication and 3D reconstruction

Virtual laboratories are used in professional skill development, online education, and corporate training. There are several aspects that determine the effectiveness and popularity of virtual laboratories: (i) the benefits brought to the users compared with those provided by traditional physical hands-on laboratories, (ii) the cost of adopting a virtual laboratory which includes the costs of creating the virtual environment and developing virtual experiments, and (iii) the operation which includes the communication between trainers and trainees, the authentication and remote proctoring of the trainees, etc. At present, the procedures of building and operating a virtual laboratory are still tedious, time-consuming and resource-intense, thus considerably limiting the potential applications and popularization of virtual laboratories.In this paper, a virtual laboratory built and operated with 3D reconstruction and biometric authentication is introduced and an evaluation of the feasibility of the proposed approaches is presented.3D reconstruction techniques are used to create the virtual environment of this virtual laboratory. The traditional tools used to survey the real world are replaced by a hand-held camera. Then, all of the information acquired by this hand-held camera is processed. Finally, the virtual environment of the virtual laboratory is generated automatically in real-time.The biometric authentication techniques (here facial recognition techniques) are used to create a remote proctor. The general logic and basic algorithms used to enable biometric authentication and remote proctoring are described. When using this virtual laboratory, the students log in by capturing their face with a camera. While performing a laboratory exercise, they sit in front of the camera and the virtual laboratory system monitors their facial expressions and the motion of their head in order to identify suspicious behaviors. Upon detection of such suspicious behaviors, the system records a video for further analysis by the laboratory administrator.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
An Eddy Injection Method for Large-Eddy Simulations of Tornado-Like Vortices

AbstractThe structure and intensity of tornado-like vortices are examined using large-eddy simulations (LES) in an idealized framework. The analysis focuses on whether the simulated boundary layer contains resolved turbulent eddies, and whether most of the vertical component of turbulent momentum flux is resolved rather than parameterized. Initial conditions are first generated numerically using a “precursor simulation” with an axisymmetric model. A three-dimensional “baseline” LES is then integrated using these initial conditions plus random perturbations. With this baseline approach, the inner core of the simulated vortex clearly contains resolved turbulent eddies (as expected); however, the boundary layer inflow has very weak resolved turbulent eddies, and the subgrid model accounts for most of the vertical turbulent momentum flux (contrary to the design of these simulations). To overcome this problem, a second precursor simulation is conducted in which resolved turbulent fluctuations develop within a ...
Breaking the Catheterization Laboratory Ceiling.

At my first Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference a few years ago, I came upon a shocking discovery, which had nothing to do with novel stents or valves. Upon exiting the 1,000-seat main auditorium, I bumped into a massive line for the men’s bathroom—and there was no one in
Intraoperative sentinel lymph node evaluation: Optimizing surgical pathology practices in an era of changing clinical management.

Abstract Axillary lymph node status is an independent prognostic indicator in breast cancer. Intraoperative identification of metastatic carcinoma in sentinel lymph nodes may allow for concurrent axillary lymph node dissection at the time of primary tumor excision. A retrospective review of patients undergoing primary breast cancer excision with sentinel lymph node sampling was performed. Sensitivity and specificity of imprint cytology (touch prep) with and without the incorporation of gross evaluation was determined using permanent section results as the gold standard. Five hundred sixteen lymph nodes were analyzed by imprint cytology in 213 patients, and 203 lymph nodes were analyzed in 74 patients incorporating gross examination. Sensitivity and specificity for the detection of macrometastases by touch prep alone were 60% and 99% respectively with 4 patients undergoing same-day axillary dissection for only micrometastatic disease. False negative causes included lack of transfer of malignant cells in 8 cases and misinterpretation of tumor cells in 6 cases. Incorporating gross examination in the modified protocol resulted in reduced sensitivity of 38%, but achieved the desired 100% specificity and positive predictive value. Imprint cytology alone did not reliably distinguish between micro- and macrometastatic disease. Gross assessment combined with imprint cytology allows for improved assessment of volume of axillary disease, but is an insensitive technique.
Postdiagnosis aspirin use and overall survival in patients with melanoma

Background Mouse studies show that tumor-derived prostaglandins and platelets promote melanoma progression and immune evasion. Objective Determine whether aspirin confers longer survival in patients with melanoma. Methods A retrospective cohort study of 1522 patients at Indiana University Health who had melanoma diagnosed between 2000 and 2014 and were followed up through September 2016. Results Aspirin use was associated with longer overall survival in univariate analysis and after controlling for age, sex, stage, and treatment modalities (hazard ratio [HR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45-0.75). Aspirin use was not associated with survival in patients with in situ and stage I melanoma but was associated with better survival in stages II (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.24-0.82) and III (HR, 0.57; 95% CI; 0.34-0.96). No statistical significance was observed in stage IV patients (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.27-1.13). In turn, melanoma in patients using aspirin before diagnosis was less likely to be diagnosed in stages III or IV. Limitations Observational study. Conclusions Aspirin could provide a survival advantage in melanoma. Clinical trials investigating the therapeutic potential of aspirin are warranted.
Comparison of Voltage Clamps With Microelectrode and Sucrose-Gap Techniques

This chapter provides a reference background against which the performance of the microelectrode voltage clamps can be appreciated. It is based primarily on personal experience gathered from extensive use of the sucrose-gap technique on lobster and squid axons and is compared with various aspects of this work using microelectrodes.
Strategies for Reliability Incentive Contracting

An incentive is a payment or set of payments offered by one party to a contract to the other party in exchange for receiving better performance than has been contracted for. For example, consider a customer who has negotiated a contract to obtain a product of some specified reliability to be delivered at a stated time. An incentive payment might be offered to the producer if a more reliable product is provided and/or if delivery is made early. The improved reliability would have to be demonstrated by subjecting the delivered product to a more rigorous inspection than might be called for in the original contract. The decision problem for the customer is the determination of what constitutes the optimum incentive. The decision problem for the producer is whether or not to improve the performance and if so, to what level?
EMG Feedback in Neuromuscular Rehabilitation of Spasmodic Torticollis: Therapeutic Electromyography

Researchers in behavioral medicine not unlike in neurosciences strive to achieve understanding of how the nervous system accepts, interprets, integrates and translates neuronal code signals into thoughts, ideas and concepts resulting in human behavior. While pursuing this goal, one takes it for granted that the complex and coordinated interaction of muscles mediating behavior is constant, repetitive and predictable. Lord Adrian (1935) observed that, “The chief function of the nervous system is to send messages to the muscles which will make the body more effective.”
Parent-reported executive functioning in young children treated for cancer

It is well known that children treated for cancer are at risk for cognitive and functional impairments. Such research is largely based on studies of late effects in school-aged or older children. However, far less is known about executive function weaknesses in preschool-aged children treated for cancer. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine executive functioning in a clinically referred sample of young oncology patients, and its association with broader domains of functioning. Data from 61 young children with cancer, who were referred for clinical cognitive evaluations, were abstracted and included in this study. Patients were 5.00 years of age (SD = 0.72) at assessment, 54.1% male, and two-thirds (63.9%) had been treated for brain tumors. Most executive functions were significantly discrepant from the mean, with 47.5% of preschoolers having parent-reported working memory concerns within the clinically significant range. There were no differences in executive functioning based on diagnosis or treatment status. Parent-reported executive functioning was strongly correlated with global intelligence and adaptive functioning, with some indices also associated with nonverbal problem solving and pre-academic skills. Ultimately, results indicate the presence of emerging weaknesses in executive functioning in young children with cancer, and add to a growing body of literature highlighting the potential cognitive and behavioral risks associated with a cancer diagnosis in early childhood.
Accessory Traits and Phylogenetic Background Predict Escherichia coli Extraintestinal Virulence Better Than Does Ecological Source.

Background The distinguishing characteristics of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) strains are incompletely defined. Methods We characterized 292 diverse-source human Escherichia coli isolates (116 from fecal specimens, 79 from urine specimens [of which 39 were from patients with cystitis and 40 were from patients with pyelonephritis], and 97 from blood specimens) for phylogenetic group, sequence type complex (STc), and 49 putative extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC)-associated virulence genes. We then assessed these traits and ecological source as predictors of illness severity in a murine sepsis model. Results The study isolates exhibited a broad range of virulence in mice. Most of the studied bacterial characteristics corresponded significantly with experimental virulence, as did ecological source and established molecular definitions of ExPEC and uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). Multivariable modeling identified the following bacterial traits as independent predictors of illness severity both overall and among the fecal and clinical (ie, urine and blood) isolates separately: fyuA (yersiniabactin receptor), kpsM K1 (K1 capsule), and kpsM II (group 2 capsules). Molecular UPEC status predicted virulence independently only among fecal isolates. Neither ecological source (ie, clinical vs fecal) nor molecular ExPEC status added predictive power to these traits, which accounted collectively for up to 49% of the observed variation in virulence. Conclusions Among human-source E. coli isolates, specific accessory traits and phylogenetic/clonal backgrounds predict experimental virulence in a murine sepsis model better than does ecological source.
Rotator Cuff Repair Technique With Transosseous Knotless Anchor System

Various surgical techniques exist for rotator cuff repair that provide a suitable environment for tendon-bone healing. Arthroscopic recreation of transosseous repairs, which had previously been performed by open or miniopen techniques, can now be performed; however, arthroscopic, transosseous passage of suture material can be challenging technically. There are potential biologic and cost-saving advantages of arthroscopic transosseous rotator cuff repair that make an efficient and reproducible technique desirable for arthroscopists. The technique for arthroscopic transosseous rotator cuff repair using a knotless anchor-based system is demonstrated in the current Technical Note. Potential advantages of this construct include excellent biomechanics, enhanced footprint vascularization, and utility in poor bone quality while using minimal anchor numbers. Further studies will be needed to elucidate healing rates and clinical outcomes.
Model for real-time operations of water distribution systems under limited electrical power availability with consideration of water quality

AbstractA new methodology is presented for real-time operation of water distribution systems (WDS) under the critical condition of limited electrical energy. The critical conditions could arise due...
Who Conducts Oversight? Bill-Writers, Lifers, and Nail-Biters

The landmark Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 charges Congress, through its standing committees, to “exercise continuous watchfulness” over the executive branch. Yet committees differ markedly in their performance of this responsibility; the modal House committee convenes no oversight hearings in the typical year, while other committees hold many dozens of hearings. This Article compares the characteristics of committee chairs that pursue oversight vigorously with those that do not. Surprisingly, I find that chairs’ previous prosecutorial or other legal experience has no discernable connection with oversight activity. Instead, committees that engage in frequent oversight tend to be chaired by productive lawmakers (“bill-writers”), members with long tenures in office (“lifers”), and members facing competitive elections (“nailbiters”). Should congressional leaders desire to increase their branch’s role in governance after the passage of laws, they ought to encourage members with these characteristics to chair committees.
A Study Of Pulse Optimization For The Treatment Of Diesel Emissions Using Transient Plasma

Application of plasma remediation of diesel exhaust has been investigated for several decades. Current limitations include ultimate efficiency and high power required to drive the plasma chemistry. In this paper, energy required for maximum pollutant removal is optimized and presented as a percentage of the engine power required for producing the energy. The efficiency is investigated using unipolar pulses of nanosecond duration produced with magnetic pulse compression. Effects of different rise times and different pulse widths have also been investigated. Experiments on a 5kW Kubota diesel engine at no load show promising reduction efficiency for NOx and successful removal of PM from the exhaust has also been achieved. Results have been extrapolated to apply the technology to higher kW diesel engines.
Understanding the Link between Anxiety and a Neural Marker of Anxiety (The Error-Related Negativity) in 5 to 7 Year-Old Children.

Despite growing evidence that an elevated error-related negativity (ERN) is a risk marker for anxiety, it is unclear what psychological construct underlies this association. To address this gap, we...
Trends in Polar Sea Ice Extent 1979-2015

A survey of trends in dispersed and concentrated sea ice extent in the Arctic in the northern summer and northern winter and in the Antarctic in the southern summer and southern winter for the period 1979-2015 shows a negative trend in dispersed and concentrated sea ice extent in the Arctic in the northern summer amid rising surface temperature in the northern hemisphere. The trend in concentrated sea ice extent in the Arctic summer is not uniform across the study period but mostly a phenomenon of the latter half from 1998-2014. A positive trend for dispersed sea ice extent in the Antarctic in winter amid rising winter temperature in the southern hemisphere is not matched by trends in concentrated sea ice extent and the degree of dispersion and is discounted as spurious. In the southern summer, we found no trends in sea ice extent in the Antarctic and no trend in mean surface temperature in the southern hemisphere. This work concerns only sea ice extent without considerations of the age, thickness, and total volume of sea ice.
Sentence Retrieval for Entity List Extraction with a Seed, Context, and Topic

We present a variation of the corpus-based entity set expansion and entity list completion task. A user-specified query and a sentence containing one seed entity are the input to the task. The output is a list of sentences that contain other instances of the entity class indicated by the input. We construct a semantic query expansion model that leverages topical context around the seed entity and scores sentences. The proposed model finds 46% of the target entity class by retrieving 20 sentences on average. It achieves 16% improvement over BM25 in terms of recall@20.
Failure rates and survival times of systemic and biologic therapies in treating psoriasis: a retrospective study.

Background: Systemic and biologic therapies have varying failure rates and survival times in treating psoriasis.Objective: We aim to describe the patterns of therapy failure in psoriasis patients.Methods: A retrospective (January 2009 to May 2018) analysis of 250 psoriasis patients seen at a psoriasis referral center, and 806 treatment courses of several systemic and biologic therapies, was conducted to determine failure rates and survival times for systemic and biologic therapies.Results: Systemic therapies failed more often due to their adverse effects (16.4% vs 7.2%, p < .001). Biologics failed more often due to secondary failure (24.2% vs. 9.3%, p < .001). Biologics had a longer survival time (23.9 ± 22.2 vs. 12.6 ± 15.4 months, p < .001), even with early failures (≤6 months) removed (29.0 ± 22.5 vs. 21.1 ± 16.4 months, p = .014).Limitations: Tertiary referral center, unreported causes of failure, sample size.Conclusions: Systemic therapies fail more often due to adverse effects while biologics fail more often due to loss of efficacy. Biologic therapies have longer survival times than systemic therapies.
The Epidemiological Importance of Subclinical Tuberculosis. A Critical Reappraisal.

Subclinical tuberculosis includes disease forms that are detectable by radiographic or microbiological assays but do not cause recognizable symptoms. Population-based prevalence surveys demonstrate that the majority of individuals with culture-positive tuberculosis and corresponding radiographic abnormalities lack recognizable symptoms. Subclinical tuberculosis is often conceptualized as an early stage that generally progresses to recognizable active tuberculosis disease within months. However, many individuals with subclinical tuberculosis likely never develop recognizable symptoms, and consequently are never identified as having tuberculosis. A growing body of evidence indicates that, in high-burden settings, people with tuberculosis spend more time in a subclinical state than they spend with recognizable symptoms, and that people with subclinical tuberculosis may be infectious. As such, the subclinical period may represent a long window of potential Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. To appropriately prioritize interventions, there is a need to quantify the amount of transmission that occurs during the subclinical period, including the contribution of those who never develop clinically symptomatic disease. If individuals with subclinical tuberculosis are responsible for a large fraction of M. tuberculosis transmission, then ambitious reductions in tuberculosis incidence cannot be achieved without greater focus on early detection and treatment of subclinical tuberculosis. Novel diagnostic assays, population-based studies, and bioinformatic techniques could be used to better estimate the contribution of individuals with subclinical tuberculosis to overall transmission. This knowledge can help us understand whether finding and treating people with subclinical tuberculosis is essential or extraneous as part of a comprehensive strategy to end the epidemic.
Jobs at Risk of Automation in the USA: Implications for Community Colleges

Advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots are steadily replacing jobs in the USA. Continuous skill-upgrading and re-skilling are critical for workers to remain employable th...
Modeling land use change and forest carbon stock changes in temperate forests in the United States

Forests provide the largest terrestrial sink of carbon (C). However, these C stocks are threatened by forest land conversion. Land use change has global impacts and is a critical component when studying C fluxes, but it is not always fully considered in C accounting despite being a major contributor to emissions. An urgent need exists among decision-makers to identify the likelihood of forest conversion to other land uses and factors affecting C loss. To help address this issue, we conducted our research in California, Colorado, Georgia, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin. The objectives were to (1) model the probability of forest conversion and C stocks dynamics using USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data and (2) create wall-to-wall maps showing estimates of the risk of areas to convert from forest to non-forest. We used two modeling approaches: a machine learning algorithm (random forest) and generalized mixed-effects models. Explanatory variables for the models included ecological attributes, topography, census data, forest disturbances, and forest conditions. Model predictions and Landsat spectral information were used to produce wall-to-wall probability maps of forest change using Google Earth Engine. During the study period (2000–2017), 3.4% of the analyzed FIA plots transitioned from forest to mixed or non-forested conditions. Results indicate that the change in land use from forests is more likely with increasing human population and housing growth rates. Furthermore, non-public forests showed a higher probability of forest change compared to public forests. Areas closer to cities and coastal areas showed a higher risk of transition to non-forests. Out of the six states analyzed, Colorado had the highest risk of conversion and the largest amount of aboveground C lost. Natural forest disturbances were not a major predictor of land use change. Land use change is accelerating globally, causing a large increase in C emissions. Our results will help policy-makers prioritize forest management activities and land use planning by providing a quantitative framework that can enhance forest health and productivity. This work will also inform climate change mitigation strategies by understanding the role that land use change plays in C emissions.