cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Aerosol Influence on Cloud Microphysics Examined by Satellite Measurements and Chemical Transport Modeling

Abstract Anthropogenic aerosols are hypothesized to decrease cloud drop radius and increase cloud droplet number concentration enhancing cloud optical depth and albedo. Here results have been used from a chemical transport model driven by the output of a numerical weather prediction model to identify an incursion of sulfate-laden air from the European continent over the mid–North Atlantic under the influence of a cutoff low pressure system during 2–8 April 1987. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) measurements of visible and near-infrared radiance are used to infer microphysical properties of low-altitude (T = 260–275 K) maritime clouds over the course of the event. Examination of the cloud optical depth, drop radius, and drop number concentration on the high- and low-sulfate days has allowed identification of the increase in cloud droplet number concentration and decrease in cloud drop radius associated with the sulfate incursion. These observations are consistent with the Twomey mechanism o...
Epirubicin and docetaxel is an effective neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancer: Result of a phase II study

10759 Background: Anthracyclines and Taxanes represent the 2 most active classes of chemotherapeutic drugs against breast cancer. This study assesses the efficacy of Epirubicin and Docetaxel as neo...
IDH mutation-induced suppression of type-1 anti-glioma immune response

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations are the first mutations that occur during the oncogenic process of lower-grade glioma (LGG) and confers a novel gain-of-function activity by converting α-ketoglutarate (αKG) to 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG), promoting DNA hyper-methylation. Our analysis of LGG cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database revealed that IDH-mutant (IDH-Mut) cases exhibit decreased expression of type-1 effector T cell response-related genes, which are critical for anti-glioma immunity, including: CD8A, IFNG, OAS2, GZMA, EOMES, CXCL9 and CXCL10, compared with IDH-wild type (IDH-WT) cases. On the other hand, type-2 and regulatory T cell response-related genes, such as IL5 and TGFB1, are not significantly different between IDH-Mut vs. WT cases, indicating that the observed down-regulation of type-1 response-related genes does not merely represent a possible global gene suppression. Furthermore, IDH-Mut cases exhibit increased CXCL10 promotor methylation compared with WT cases. We thus hypothesized that IDH mutation-mediated tumor intrinsic mechanisms occurring within glioma cells may inhibit anti-tumor immunity to promote tumor growth. In vitro, a normal human astrocyte (NHA) cell line transfected with IDH1-Mut cDNA expressed lower levels of CXCL10 compared to NHA cells transfected with WT IDH1. Consistently, C57Bl/6 mouse-syngeneic astrocyte and glioma cell lines transfected with IDH1-Mut expressed lower levels of CXCL10 gene and protein, compared to control cells transfected with IDH-WT, which was restored following 30 day treatment of the cells with the IDH1 inhibitor, IDH-C35. Furthermore, in vivo orthotopic IDH1-Mut gliomas at 21 days post-intracranial injection in syngeneic mice expressed lower levels of T cell chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 as determined by RT-PCR and ELISA and reduced infiltration of CD3+CD8+ T cells as determined by flow cytometry and quantitative immunohistochemistry compared with control IDH1-WT gliomas. Further, an in vitro migration assay demonstrated reduced migration of T cells towards culture supernatants from IDH1-Mut cell lines compared with control supernatants derived from IDH1-WT cells. Overall, our data demonstrate that IDH mutations in tumor cells lead to reduced T cell attracting chemokines and reduced T cell accumulation in gliomas. Our analyses of the TCGA 450K gene methylation database suggest that the suppressed expression of OAS2 and CXCL10 in IDH1-Mut cases is associated with hypermethylation of the promoter for these genes. Indeed, treatment of IDH-Mut cell lines with demethylating agent 5-Aza-CdR restored CXCL10 expression levels. Our data suggest that IDH inhibitors and demethylation agents may be used to enhance T cell recruitment to LGG in combination with T cell based immunotherapies.
Information on co-morbidities collected by history is useful for assigning Otitis Media risk to children.

Abstract Objectives Determine if a 2-Step multivariate analysis of historical symptom/sign data for comorbid diseases can abstract high-level constructs useful in assigning a child's “risk” for different Otitis Media expressions. Methods Seventeen items related to the symptom/sign expression of hypothesized Otitis Media comorbidities were collected by history on 141 3-year-old children. Using established criteria, the children were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: Control (no significant past Otitis Media, n = 45), Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion ( n = 45) and Recurrent Acute Otitis Media ( n = 51). Principal Component Analysis was used to identify factors representing the non-redundant shared information among related items and Discriminant Analysis operating on those factors was used to estimate the best predictor equation for pairwise group assignments. Results Six multivariate factors representing the assignable comorbidities of frequent colds, nasal allergy, gastroesophageal disease (specific and general), nasal congestion and asthma were identified and explained 81% of the variance in the 17 items. Discriminant Analysis showed that, for the Control-Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion comparison, a combination of 3 factors and, for the Control-Recurrent Acute Otitis Media comparison, a combination of 2 factors had assignment accuracies of 74% and 68%, respectively. For the contrast between the two disease expressions, a 2-factor combination had an assignment accuracy of 61%. Conclusion These results show that this analytic methodology can abstract high-level constructs, comorbidities, from low-level data, symptom/sign scores, support a linkage between certain comorbidities and Otitis Media risk and suggest that specific comorbidity combinations contain information relevant to assigning the risk for different Otitis Media expressions.
Finitely based finite involution semigroups with non-finitely based reducts

Since the study of the nite basis problem for nite semigroups began in the 1960s, it has been unknown if there exists any nite involution semigroup that is nitely based but the reduct of which is non-nitely based. The present article exhibits an example of such an involution semigroup of order n + 5 for any positive integer n.
Intraspecific competition in immature Amblyseius fallacis, Amblyseius andersoni, Typhlodromus occidentalis and Typhlodromus pyri (Acari: Phytoseiidae)

Intraspecific competition in immature Amblyseius fallacis, Amblyseius andersoni, Typhlodromus occidentalis and Typhlodromus pyri was examined in the laboratory using small cages at five different predator densities (two, four, eight, 16 and 32) in the absence and presence of prey 100 eggs of two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch), at 25 ± 1°C, ∼80% RH and 16L:8D photoperiod. In the absence of spider mite prey, some individuals of immature phytoseiids showed increased development and surival with increasing predator densities up to certain limits, but none survived to the adult stage, except for a single male each of A. andersoni and A. fallacis who completed development by cannibalizing on conspecifics at a density of 32 predators per cage. In the absence of spider mite prey, the mean immature survival time was independent of the initial predator density, but the variance of survival time increased with predator density. In the presence of prey, the proportion of immatures surviving to adulthood generally decreased with initial predator density and dropped sharply to almost none at the predator density of 32 for A. fallacis, eight for A. andersoni, 16 for T. occidentalis and four for T. pyri. The number of prey consumed per predator during the first day generally decreased with predator density in all four species, as prey available per predator decreased and the competition for food increased with predator density. Our data indicate that scramble competition is operating in these four species. Although cannibalism was occasionally observed, especially after the exhaustion of prey and in the generalist predators such as A. andersoni, the immatures of these phytoseiids were less influenced by the interference of conspecifics than by the increasing difficulty of finding food at high predator densities. The implications of this study for understanding phytoseiid population dynamics and their use in biological control are discussed.
Shallow Foundations on Homogeneous Soil

This chapter deals with single shallow foundations resting on homogeneous soil. Calculations of various loads (vertical, horizontal, and bending moment) a foundation can withstand are explained in details in this chapter. The calculations were performed to satisfy both bearing capacity and elastic settlement requirements. For the bearing capacity condition, the effects of many factors were considered in the analyses such as various loading conditions, foundation shapes, foundation embedment, soil compressibility, and groundwater table. Then again, the effects of several factors were considered in the elastic settlement analyses such as foundation rigidity, foundation embedment, and variation in the elastic modulus of soil with depth. Additionally, a step-by-step procedure is introduced in this chapter to develop bearing capacity and elastic settlement design charts which can be useful in the design process of shallow foundations. A number of design problems are also presented in this chapter and their solutions are explained in details. These problems were first hand-solved, and then, resolved using the Shallow-1 application of the foundationPro program. Finally, a set of design projects is suggested at the end of this chapter to allow the reader practice the concepts learned.
The hereditary components of the Project TALENT two-day test battery.

(1968). The Hereditary Components of the Project TALENT Two-Day Test Battery. Measurement and Evaluation in Guidance: Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 130-140.
Perceived Support From Multiple Sources: Associations With PTSD Symptoms

Perceived social support is negatively associated with severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the literature lacks data about specific sources of support. Using 2 service member (SM) samples (n = 207 and 465), this study examined perceived support from family/friends and the broader public. SMs perceived high support from both sources. In multivariate regressions, perceived support from the broader public was not significantly associated with severity of PTSD symptoms, but it demonstrated a nearly identical effect size (β = -.21) as support from family/friends (β = -.23) in a sample of active duty and National Guard/Reserve SMs. We found that, SMs perceived high levels of support from the broader public, with modest evidence that such perceptions may relate to severity of PTSD.
Oxazolidines from the reaction of (-) ephedrine and ( +) pseudoephedrine with salicylaldehyde and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and their rates of hydrolysis

The rates of hydrolysis of oxazolidines with ortho-hydroxyphenyl substituents at C(2) are more than 30 times faster than oxazolidines with para-hydroxyphenyl substituents. The later rates are identical to those with a phenyl group at C(2) indicating the ortho-hydroxyl orientation is responsible for the acceleration. In the solid state the ortho-hydroxyl group is hydrogen bonded to the ring nitrogen atom. Since the rate determining step probably involves protonation of the ring oxygen atom and ring cleavage, the rates of reaction are rationalized by a reorientation of the hydrogen bond to the ring oxygen after protonation of the ring nitrogen atom. This involves a movement of less than 1 A. A bifurcated hydrogen bond is an alternate but related possibility.
Transient radiation effects to Mylar and polystyrene capacitors

Numerous experiments on dielectric materials have been performed at a variety of pulsed radiation sources including pulsed reactors, linear accelerators, and flash x-ray machines. The purpose of this work is to examine the properties of the electron-band model as applied to Mylar and polystyrene at dose rates of about 1011 rad/sec.
Companions of directed sets and the Ordering Lemma

Abstract Given a partially ordered set ( D , ≤ ) , a companion ( C ⪯ ) of ( D , ≤ ) is a well ordered set where C is a cofinal subsets of ( D , ≤ ) such that for every c 1 , c 2 ∈ C if c 1 ≤ c 2 then c 1 ⪯ c 2 . The Ordering Lemma says that every partially ordered set has a companion. Given a directed set ( D , ≤ ) and a net f : D → X , the restriction f ↾ C of the net to the companion ( C , ⪯ ) of ( D , ≤ ) is a transfinite sequence. We show how the convergence and clustering of f ↾ C is related to the convergence and clustering of f .
Consuming DNA: The Good Citizen in the Age of Precision Medicine

The convergence of increasingly efficient high-throughput genetic sequencing technology and ubiquitous Internet use has fueled the proliferation of companies that provide direct-to-consumer (DTC) personal genetic information. The emergence of consumer genetics reflects several shifts in the governance of genetic testing and management of human genetic data. This article discusses DTC genetics as a case study of neoliberalism and contemporary transformations in medicine that construe disease and its management through economic rationalities. At stake are shifts in subjectivities from “patient” to “consumer” and the meaning of being a “good citizen” in the context of precision medicine. Engaging concepts of biopower, biosociality, and biovalue in the public consumption of genetic information, this article analyzes DTC genetics and its effect on social connection, identity, and modes of participation in the production of biomedical knowledge and the management of health and risk.
Restoration of tumor suppression in vivo by systemic delivery of chemically-modified PTEN mRNA nanoparticles.

11582Background: The onset and maintenance of cancer frequently involves gain of oncogenic function along with loss of tumor suppression. PTEN is a well-characterized tumor suppressor gene that is ...
Direct method for determination of sudan i in FD&C yellow No. 6 and D&C orange No. 4 by reversed-phase liquid chromatography

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method was developed to determine parts-per-million and higher levels of Sudan 1, 1-(phenylazo)-2-naphthalenol, in the disulfo monoazo color additive FDC 11 samples including the pharmacology sample), and > or =10 ppm Sudan I (> or = 0.2 microg Sudan I/mL; 2 samples). Analyses of 21 samples of DC 3 samples, including a pharmacology batch), 0.005 to <0.05% Sudan I (0.5 to <5 microg Sudan I/mL; 9 samples), and 0.18% Sudan I (18 microg Sudan I/mL; 1 sample).
Based on a True Story: The Gospel in Luke and Acts

Why does Luke meticulously avoid using the word gospel in his account of Jesus, eliminating every instance he comes across in Mark, only to introduce it halfway through his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles? Garroway resolves this long-standing interpretive conundrum with a simple answer: Luke knew the truth. Luke knew that neither Jesus nor his disciples used the word euangelion in the course of their missions. He knew that “gospel” was the name given by Paul, midway through his apostolic career, to his proprietary message about salvation outside the Law. In recounting this story, however, Luke tinkers with the truth. By inserting a fictionalized account of the Jerusalem Conference into the early part of Paul’s career, Luke makes Paul and the gospel appear far less controversial than they really were.
The Council of Europe 1

The venerable city of Strasbourg has long been famed for its stately Cathedral, its University, its baroque palaces, the quaint houses of its medieval quarter known as La Petite France —and for its greatest single gift to European culture: the invention of printing by Johann Gutenberg five centuries ago. During the past year its people have proudly displayed a new edifice symbolizing what many regard as the greatest single step toward European unity. La Maison de l'Europe , built in five months on land given by the municipality, was formally opened on August 7, 1950. It stands in the northeast quarter of the city at Place Lenotre , facing the pleasant park of l'Orangerie across the tree-lined Allee de la Robertsau . The long white structure, with fifteen flags floating in the breeze before its central portal, is strictly functional, having been planned, with a view toward efficiency and economy, as a temporary headquarters to last ten years.
3D-printable tools for developmental biology: Improving embryo injection and screening techniques through 3D-printing technology

Developmental biology requires rapid embryo injections and screening. We applied new affordable high-resolution 3D-printing to create five easily modifiable stamp-mold tools that greatly increase injection and screening speed, while simultaneously reducing the harmful aspects of these processes. We designed two stamps that use different approaches to improve the injection efficiency for two different types of embryo, first for embryos from the snail Crepidula fornicata, and second, for those from the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. Both drastically improved injection speeds and embryo survival rates, even in novice hands. The other three tools were designed for rapid side-by-side organism orientating and comparison. The first screening tool allows for optimal imaging in Xenopus laevis tadpoles, while the second and third facilitate rapid high-throughput screening of Xenopus tropicalis tadpoles and Danio rerio juveniles, respectively. These designs can act as templates for many injection or screening applications.
Education as Resistance: Teaching Critical Criminology to (Aspiring) Cops

Julie Setele reflects on her experiences teaching critical criminology to aspiring (and active) police officers. Because she teaches about the social world, the subject matter of her courses is inherently political. In criminology and criminal justice courses, for instance, students consider how crime rates are not unbiased reflections of reality, but rather the product of socio-legal definitions of crime and complex institutional decisions to police certain “crimes” and not others. It is perhaps not surprising that the (disproportionately White) students who enter her classes intending to join law enforcement do not always appreciate her perspective; indeed, she has faced considerable backlash for teaching about issues of police brutality and equality before the law. Her chapter thus examines the challenges of being an HRE educator while also maintaining a semi-public role as an activist.
Comparing Different Planned Missingness Designs in Longitudinal Studies

Planned Missingness (PM) designs, in which researchers deliberately collect only partial data, have enjoyed a recent growth in popularity. Among other benefits these designs have been proven capable of reducing the study costs and alleviating participant burden. Past research has shown that Split Form PM designs can be effective in simplifying complex surveys while Wave Missingness PM designs act similarly for Longitudinal studies. However, less work has been done to inform how to implement PM structures into studies which incorporate elements of both survey and longitudinal designs. Specifically, in studies where a questionnaire is given to participants at multiple measurement occasions the best way to design missingness is still unclear. To address this deficiency, data in this hybrid format was simulated under both Split Form and Wave Missingness PM structures. Multiple imputation techniques were applied to estimate a multilevel logistic model in each of the simulations. Estimated parameters were compared to the true values to see which PM design allowed us to best capture the true model. The results of this study indicate that, compared to the Split Form Design, the Wave Missingness design consistently performed less effectively in capturing the multilevel model. Thus, in the context of longitudinal surveys this study recommends the use of Split Form missingness designs, which performs well under a number of different conditions.
AIM-SDN: Attacking Information Mismanagement in SDN-datastores

Network Management is a critical process for an enterprise to configure and monitor the network devices using cost effective methods. It is imperative for it to be robust and free from adversarial or accidental security flaws. With the advent of cloud computing and increasing demands for centralized network control, conventional management protocols like SNMP appear inadequate and newer techniques like NMDA and NETCONF have been invented. However, unlike SNMP which underwent improvements concentrating on security, the new data management and storage techniques have not been scrutinized for the inherent security flaws. In this paper, we identify several vulnerabilities in the widely used critical infrastructures which leverage the Network Management Datastore Architecture design (NMDA). Software Defined Networking (SDN), a proponent of NMDA, heavily relies on its datastores to program and manage the network. We base our research on the security challenges put forth by the existing datastore's design as implemented by the SDN controllers. The vulnerabilities identified in this work have a direct impact on the controllers like OpenDayLight, Open Network Operating System and their proprietary implementations (by CISCO, Ericsson, RedHat, Brocade, Juniper, etc). Using our threat detection methodology, we demonstrate how the NMDA-based implementations are vulnerable to attacks which compromise availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the network. We finally propose defense measures to address the security threats in the existing design and discuss the challenges faced while employing these countermeasures.
An Evaluation of Hurricane Superintensity in Axisymmetric Numerical Models

AbstractPotential intensity (PI) is an analytical bound on steady, inviscid, axisymmetric hurricane wind speed. Studies have shown that simulated hurricane azimuthal wind speed can greatly exceed a...
The Diabetes Story: A Call to Action: 2018 Presidential Address

A presidential address of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) provides an opportunity to have a voice, the stage, and the pulpit, so to speak. For what purpose? To increase awareness and urgency around the crisis that diabetes poses to the individual and to the world. Each official outreach to the diabetes community as President of Medicine & Science presents an opportunity to tell an important story: the story of the magnitude of the diabetes crisis. In this address, I will provide the reader with important facts about the diabetes epidemic in hopes that you, each of you, will tell the story of diabetes early and often. I believe that tangible awareness of this crisis can change this story for the lives of people with diabetes and impact the global health and financial burden of diabetes. Storytelling is a potent strategy for conveying both information and inspiration about a topic. By weaving together the individual reality and the global health burden of the inadequately addressed diabetes epidemic, we can frame the urgent and misunderstood diabetes epidemic as a story: a story that will create the impetus for action. In the next few sections, I will highlight the key elements of the 24/7/365 burden of diabetes on an individual and the unaddressed issues for people living with diabetes. Next, I will present the facts regarding the U.S. and global epidemic including the life span– and health span–shortening complications of diabetes. I will emphasize the unsustainable economic implications of 30 million in the U.S. and 425 million globally living with diabetes (1,2). Next, I will discuss the urgent need of a health care delivery system to address the life-threatening reality of lack of accessible health care and medications and the unaddressed reality of the psychosocial impact and stigma and consequences of …
Promoting Performance Information Use Through Data Visualization: Evidence from an Experiment

“We have all this data, why don’t we use it?” This question seems to be a constant in performance literature. Although the uptake in performance management throughout the public sector has been pro...
Street-Scale Mapping of Urban Radio Frequency Noise at Very High Frequency and Ultra High Frequency

Modern measurement campaigns of man-made radio frequency (RF) noise have reported results from fixed locations that are assumed to be representative of the surroundings. Models derived from these measurements include parameters to express the variability in time and in space over very large distances (i.e., differences between cities). Despite the rapidly evolving mixture of noise sources, especially in modern urban environments, spatial variation of RF noise power at the scale of streets and blocks is essentially unknown in the very high frequency and ultra high frequency bands. Using a portable calibrated noise measurement system of our design, RF noise was recorded over a 1-MHz bandwidth for frequencies of 142.0, 246.5, and 972 MHz. Noise surveys were conducted during daytime working hours in two different neighborhoods within Boston, Massachusetts, USA, with each survey transiting a fixed, several kilometer long route, repeated twice to enable separation of temporal from spatial variability. Significant and spatially repeatable variations in median power, peak power, and voltage deviation were observed over distances of tens to hundreds of meters, dependent upon the measurement frequency. The observed spatial patterns of median and peak power appear to be repeatable on timescales of hours to weeks, and likely beyond, suggesting that these noise patterns are persistent features of the urban environment.
Comparison of narrow-band UVB vs. psoralen with UVA phototherapy for early-stage mycosis fungoides.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that typically presents in its early stages with papulosquamous patches and plaques in a sun-protected distribution on the skin. MF may progress to late-stage disease including cutaneous tumors as well as blood, lymph node, or visceral involvement.
Preventive Cardiology and Risk Assessment: Beyond LDL

Risk assessment is the foundational cornerstone for cardiovascular prevention. The goal of this review is to apprise the reader of the latest evidence and guideline-based stepwise method for clinical risk assessment for future atherosclerotic events. We also discuss caveats to the current approach and review future directions including the promise of precision medicine. The most recent cholesterol and prevention guidelines improve upon the widely used pooled cohort equations by incorporating risk-enhancing factors to further personalize risk assessment. For those in whom uncertainty remains, there is mounting evidence for using the coronary calcium score to uncover subclinical disease to either up- or down-classify risk. Although still in its infancy, progress in high-throughput molecular analysis is edging the field closer to more precise risk stratification. Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Emphasis on cardiovascular prevention is essential to mitigate the burden of disease. Here, we introduce a “4 + 2” paradigm for approaching preventive cardiology based on recent guidelines. Risk stratification is performed in four steps: qualitative risk approximation to initiate counseling and education, quantitative risk estimation based on a validated model, personalization with risk-enhancing factors, and measurement of coronary artery calcium score in select patients. The two foundational principles of preventive management are to promote a healthy lifestyle in all and to escalate preventive pharmacotherapy based on increasing risk. Shared decision-making remains central throughout this process.
Spectacle of property: the house in American film: by Rhodes, John David, Minneapolis, MN, University of Minnesota Press, 2017, 272 pp., $28.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-5179-0370-1

Many housing scholars enjoy the leisure activity of watching movies, especially when the focus of the movie is on housing. The relationship between housing and the cinema has been a consistent them...
Catheter Dependence After Arteriovenous Fistula or Graft Placement Among Elderly Patients on Hemodialysis

Rationale & objective Creation of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF), compared to an AV graft (AVG), is associated with longer initial catheter dependence after starting hemodialysis but longer access survival and lower long-term catheter dependence. The extent of these potential long-term benefits in elderly patients is unknown. We assessed catheter dependence after AVF or AVG placement among elderly patients who initiated HD without a permanent access in place. Study design Retrospective cohort study. Setting& participants Patients ≥67 years of age identified in the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) who had a first AVF (n=14,532) or AVG (n=3391) placed within 1 year after HD initiation between May 2012 and May 2017. Exposure AVF versus AVG placement in first year of hemodialysis. Outcome Catheter dependence after AVF or AVG placement assessed using CROWNWeb data. ANALYTICAL APPROACH: - Generalized estimating equations and negative binomial regression for catheter use over time and Cox proportional hazards models for mortality. Results Creation of an AVF versus AVG was associated with greater catheter dependence at one month (95.6% vs. 92.5%) and at three months (82.8% vs. 41.2%), but lower catheter dependence at 12 months (14.2% vs. 15.8%) and at 36 months (8.2% vs. 15.0%). Creation of an AVF, however, remained significantly associated with greater cumulative catheter-dependent days (80.1 vs 54.6 days per person-year) and a lower proportion of catheter-free survival time (78.1% vs 85.1%) after three years of follow-up. Limitations Potential for unmeasured confounding and analyses limited to elderly patients. Conclusions Creation of an AVF was associated with significantly greater cumulative catheter dependence than placement of an AVG in an elderly population initiating HD without a permanent access. As the long-term benefits in terms of catheter dependency of an AVF are not realized in many elderly patients, specific patient characteristics should be considered when making decisions regarding vascular access.
P2E-WGAN: ECG waveform synthesis from PPG with conditional wasserstein generative adversarial networks

Electrocardiogram (ECG) is routinely used to identify key cardiac events such as changes in ECG intervals (PR, ST, QT, etc.), as well as capture critical vital signs such as heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). The gold standard ECG requires clinical measurement, limiting the ability to capture ECG in everyday settings. Photoplethysmography (PPG) offers an out-of-clinic alternative for non-invasive, low-cost optical capture of cardiac physiological measurement in everyday settings, and is increasingly used for health monitoring in many clinical and commercial wearable devices. Although ECG and PPG are highly correlated, PPG does not provide much information for clinical diagnosis. Recent work has applied machine learning algorithms to generate ECG signals from PPG, but requires expert domain knowledge and heavy feature crafting to achieve good accuracy. We propose P2E-WGAN: a pure end-to-end, generalizable deep learning model using a conditional Wasserstein generative adversarial network to synthesize ECG waveforms from PPG. Our generative model is capable of augmenting the training data to alleviate the data-hungry problem of machine learning methods. Our model trained in the subject independent mode can achieve the average root mean square error of 0.162, Frechet distance of 0.375, and Pearson's correlation of 0.835 on a normalized real-world dataset, demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach.
Metabolic Contributions to Anoikis-Resistance in Metastatic Dissemination

Extracellular matrix (ECM) attachment is crucial to prevent programmed death in many epithelial and endothelial cell types. Normally, cells that disengage from the ECM are eliminated via a specific programmed cell death mechanism known as anoikis. This form of programmed cell death also constitutes a major physiological barrier to cancer metastasis, since cancer cells must be able to resist anoikis to survive in circulation before forming metastatic colonies in distant organs. Although much of the classical apoptotic signaling events that regulate anoikis have been well-characterized, preclinical research now demonstrates that ECM detachment disrupts multiple processes, such as nutrient acquisition, that are crucial for cell survival. Cell metabolism and apoptosis are intrinsically linked, as metabolites are used as signaling molecules for cellular survival signaling and several metabolic and apoptogenic pathways converge on the mitochondria. Thus, accumulating evidence now links cellular metabolism after matrix detachment to both anoikis induction and anoikis resistance. Accordingly, the metabolic regulation of anoikis has become a topic of interest in cancer metastasis, since metabolic phenotypes of viable circulating cancer cells differ in comparison to proliferative cancer cells of the original primary tumor. In this chapter, we will discuss ECM detachment-induced alterations in cellular metabolism, with a special focus on the balance of bioenergetics and redox status in relation to anoikis susceptibility. Furthermore, this chapter will discuss how reprogrammed cellular metabolism contributes to anoikis resistance and metastatic potential in human cancer cells.
ROLE OF AI-BASED VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS IN ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL RADIOLOGY REPORT WRITING

BACKGROUND Artificial Intelligence (AI) encompasses an array of devices, solutions, and codes ranging from a simple calculator to complex machine learning devices. A simple and successful AI system that is being routinely used is a voice-activated virtual assistant. There are several such devices in the market, including Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant. These devices offer a very simple voice-activated front end powered by a database at the back end. There are several instances where radiologists refer to a textbook or visit a website to look for disease-specific features, genetic mutations, and differential diagnoses. OBJECTIVE(S) The objective of this study was to evaluate the role and status of 4 voice-based virtual assistants in responding to radiology related queries. STUDY DESIGN A questionnaire consisting of 100 questions was queried to 4 commercially available voice-based virtual assistants: Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant. The questions were categorized based on 5 categories. The categorization was based on the frequency and reason for a radiologist to refer either to a textbook or an online resource before diagnosing and finalizing a radiology report. The evaluators queried the devices and rated them on a 4-point modified Likert scale: (1) The device responded with adequate information, (2) The device responded but did not provide adequate information, (3) The device did not know the response to the question, and (4) The device recognized but did not provide adequate information and led to a series of web pages. RESULTS The order of efficiency was Google Assistant, Cortana, Siri, and Alexa. A significant difference between the examiners was observed with Cortana in anatomy, dental anatomy, differential diagnosis, and pathology. There was a significant difference between the examiners with Google Assistant for queries about medication. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS There is a significant gap in retrieving simple to multilevel queries on oral radiology topics for all of the virtual assistants evaluated in this study.
Global solutions to the stochastic heat equation with superlinear accretive reaction term and superlinear multiplicative noise term on a bounded spatial domain

We describe sufficient conditions on the reaction terms and multiplicative noise terms of a stochastic reaction-diffusion equation that guarantee that the solutions never explode. Both the reaction term and multiplicative noise terms are allowed to grow superlinearly.
Near-Optimal No-Regret Learning for Correlated Equilibria in Multi-Player General-Sum Games.

Recently, Daskalakis, Fishelson, and Golowich (DFG) (NeurIPS`21) showed that if all agents in a multi-player general-sum normal-form game employ Optimistic Multiplicative Weights Update (OMWU), the external regret of every player is $O(\textrm{polylog}(T))$ after $T$ repetitions of the game. We extend their result from external regret to internal regret and swap regret, thereby establishing uncoupled learning dynamics that converge to an approximate correlated equilibrium at the rate of $\tilde{O}(T^{-1})$. This substantially improves over the prior best rate of convergence for correlated equilibria of $O(T^{-3/4})$ due to Chen and Peng (NeurIPS`20), and it is optimal -- within the no-regret framework -- up to polylogarithmic factors in $T$. To obtain these results, we develop new techniques for establishing higher-order smoothness for learning dynamics involving fixed point operations. Specifically, we establish that the no-internal-regret learning dynamics of Stoltz and Lugosi (Mach Learn`05) are equivalently simulated by no-external-regret dynamics on a combinatorial space. This allows us to trade the computation of the stationary distribution on a polynomial-sized Markov chain for a (much more well-behaved) linear transformation on an exponential-sized set, enabling us to leverage similar techniques as DGF to near-optimally bound the internal regret. Moreover, we establish an $O(\textrm{polylog}(T))$ no-swap-regret bound for the classic algorithm of Blum and Mansour (BM) (JMLR`07). We do so by introducing a technique based on the Cauchy Integral Formula that circumvents the more limited combinatorial arguments of DFG. In addition to shedding clarity on the near-optimal regret guarantees of BM, our arguments provide insights into the various ways in which the techniques by DFG can be extended and leveraged in the analysis of more involved learning algorithms.
Media law for producers

The revised third edition has been updated to include material on Interactive Media. Illustrates legal issues to help producers recognize the legal questions that can come up during production. An examination of the court system and how media law is made, performer contracts, copyright registration, insurance and royalties are included.
Relationship Among Stress of Labor, Support, and Childbirth Experience in Postpartum Mothers

Background: Due to the profound and life-changing aspects of giving birth and to each woman’s individualized birthing experience, it is important to understand the myriad of factors that contribute to a positive childbirth experience. The aims of this study were to: (1) identify factors related to a positive childbirth experience; (2) to examine relationships among women’s perceptions and personal evaluations of their childbirth experience, stress associated with labor pain, support from the nursing staff, initial contact with the baby following birth, support from partners, education, age, and obstetric history; and (3) to identify predictors of a positive childbirth experience. Method: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted using a sample of 122 new mothers recruited over a 3-month period. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires. The three questionnaires used in this study consisted of: (a) the Questionnaire Measuring Attitude About Labor and Delivery Experience (QMAALD 29 items); (b) the Questionnaire Measuring Stress Associated with Labor Pain [SLPS (version 2)]; and (c) Personal Information Questionnaire (Demographic data). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the 29 item QMAALD in this study was .82 and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the SLPS (version 2) in this study was .89. The SPSS statistical software version 16.0 for Windows was used for data analysis. Results: Participants reported a low degree of stress associated with labor pain and a moderate amount of support received from the nursing staff. They reported holding and touching their baby immediately after birth. A positive childbirth experience was inversely related to stress associated with labor pain. The reduction of stress due to support received from the nursing staff was found to be positively related to a positive childbirth. Education was related to a positive childbirth experience; but not a
Numerical Techniques for the Inverse Acoustical Scattering Problem in Layered Media

Techniques for reconstruction of medium properties, mainly acoustic impedance or permittivity, based on the backscattered energy from an interrogating wave, have applicability in a wide range of scientific fields, such as in seismology, underwater acoustics, medical ultrasound, remote sensing and optics. Consequently, the classical inversion problem has in recent years been the subject of many investigations, especially in electromagnetics Cl-3H and geophysics C4,5D. Theoretical treatment of the inverse acoustical scattering problem has been presented in papers and books [6-8].
RockTest: a programming contest management system

RockTest is a software system to facilitate the activities of contestants and judges in computer programming competitions. RockTest was developed out of experience running programming competitions for high school students as a recruiting tool for the Computer Science Department. It has been proven reliable and has received enthusiastic reviews from the competitors, judges, and contest administrators at two universities who have used it.
Automated analysis of transmitral and aortic Doppler velocity profiles using audio signal processing

Spectral Doppler echocardiography has been accepted as the standard non-invasive diagnostic procedure for evaluating cardiac hemodynamics. However, clinical ability to draw conclusions from derived parameters is dependent on manual tracings of the Doppler flow patterns. These manual tracings are cumbersome and subjective, with very poor reproducibility. A new automated signal analysis and envelope detection method has been developed which can trace continuous as well as pulsed Doppler flows and offers reliable results while eliminating inter-observer variability. Audio Doppler signals are acquired from normal subjects simultaneous with routine video storage of the spectral velocity data. A signal processing technique highlighted by a method of flow generation using short time Fourier transforms provides a digital Doppler flow pattern. Customized software, using the modal velocity as a guide, has been developed for envelope detection and parameter estimation of such digital signals. These results have been compared with the observer traced and estimated parameters.
A shooting algorithm to model Raman amplifiers

We describe a shooting algorithm for Raman amplifiers. Performance tests are done to compare the efficiency of two integration methods. Using a Jacobi weight and a continuation method yields more robust convergence of the algorithm.
A TRU-Zr METAL-FUEL SODIUM-COOLED FAST SUBCRITICAL ADVANCED BURNER REACTOR

The design concept of a subcritical advanced burner reactor (SABR) is described. SABR is fueled with transuranics (TRUs) discharged from thermal reactors cast into a TRU-Zr metal fuel pin and is cooled with sodium. The reactor operates subcritical to achieve a deep-burn four-batch fuel cycle that fissions 25% of the TRU in an 8.2-yr residence time, limited by radiation damage accumulation (200 displacements per atom) in the oxygen dispersion strengthened clad and structure. The annual TRU fission rate in SABR [3000 MW(thermal)] is comparable to the annual TRU discharge of three to five 1000-MW(electric) light water reactors, depending on the plant capacity factor of SABR. A tokamak D-T fusion neutron source based on physics and technology that will be demonstrated in ITER supports the subcritical operation.
Autoimmune-Related Retinopathy and Optic Neuropathy Accompanied by Anti-GAD Antibodies

Autoimmune-related retinopathy and optic neuropathy is characterized by visual loss in the presence of antibodies against retina or optic nerve antigens in the absence of neoplasia. We report a case with progressive central visual loss accompanied by latent autoimmune diabetes in an adult. Visual fields, multimodal imaging and electrophysiological testing showed characteristic changes without evidence of neoplasia on positron emission tomography. Immunologic testing revealed abnormal reactivity against a 20 kDa optic nerve antigen and 40 kDa and 62 kDa retina antigens along with antibodies against anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase, a constellation which we believe to be unique.
3-3 composite hydrophones from distorted reticulated ceramics

Application of reticulated ceramic technology to the fabrication of 3-3 lead zirconate-titanate (PZT)/epoxy composite hydrophones has been investigated. Directional distortion of the ceramic structure to enhance the composite hydrostatic response has also been studied. Composite fabrication is described and the effects of polymer type, distortion, volume percent PZT and poling field on the hydrophone properties are presented. In general, the results indicate that reticulated ceramic composites (RCCs) have properties which are comparable to other 3-3 PZT/epoxy composites. Composites which contained the stiffer Spurr epoxy significantly out performed those containing a softer Eccogel epoxy. In addition, a distorted structure and higher density improved hydrophone response. The novel use of reticulated ceramic technology provides substantial improvement in manufacturability over other methods and allows fabrication of sensitive, low density hydrophones.
Black-white differences on the Vocational Preference Inventory

Abstract The Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) was administered to black and white undergraduates. The overall VPI profiles of the two groups were significantly different. Seven of the 11 scales of the VPI yielded significant differences between the black students and the white students. The black students scored higher on the Social, Conventional, Enterprising, Self-Control, Status, and Infrequency scales. The white students scored higher on the Masculinity scale.
Three-dimensional simulation of anisotropic cell-driven collagen gel compaction

Tissue equivalents (TEs), formed by entrapping cells in a collagen gel, are an important model system for studying cell behavior. We have previously (Barocas and Tranquillo in J Biomech Eng 117:161–170, 1997a) developed an anisotropic biphasic theory of TE mechanics, which comprises five coupled partial differential equations describing interaction among cells and collagen fibers in the TE. The model equations, previously solved in one or two dimensions, were solved in three dimensions using an adaptive finite-element platform. The model was applied to three systems: a rectangular isometric cell traction assay, an otherwise- acellular gel containing two islands of cells, and an idealized tissue-engineered cardiac valve leaflet. In the first two cases, published experimental data were available for comparison, and the model results were consistent with the experimental observations. Fibers and cells aligned in the fixed direction in the isometric assay, and a region of strong fiber alignment arose between the two cell islands. For the valve problem, the alignment predicted by the model was generally similar to that observed experimentally, but an asymmetry in the experiment was not captured by the model.