cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Behavioral Antitrust: A New Approach to the Rule of Reason After Leegin

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., which replaced the longstanding per se rule against resale price maintenance (RPM) with a rule of reason approach, has resurrected the debate over RPM. Legal and economic proponents of this practice again point to its potential procompetitive benefits, while RPM detractors emphasize its possible anticompetitive consequences. Despite their disagreements, scholars, the Court, and the limited extant empirical data appear near-unanimous in agreeing that such arrangements can either increase or decrease efficiency. Consequently, the RPM debate predominantly revolves around theoretical assertions regarding the likely frequency and significance of RPM’s pro- versus anticompetitive manifestations. Importantly, however, both camps in the RPM debate assume that manufacturers are strictly rational actors, who employ only profit-maximizing arrangements. In contrast, our behavioral analysis reveals that real-world, boundedly rational manufacturers are prone to use RPM even in circumstances in which it is neither rationally procompetitive nor rationally anticompetitive. The available evidence further shows this excessive reliance on RPM diminishes over time, as biased manufacturers either learn of their mistake or are disciplined by the market. The slow demise of this practice, however, may entail efficiency losses over many years and sometimes generate competitive
Effects of Allometry, Sex, and River Location on Morphological Variation of Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens in the Wabash River, USA

Morphology frequently varies with phylogeny, body size, sex, and phenotypic plasticity. However, the relative influence of these variables is unknown for most taxa. Morphological variation of Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens in the Wabash River, USA was described using geometric morphometrics. A MANCOVA model of shape indicated that morphological variation was primarily influenced by allometry (body size), sex, and river location. Among all individuals, at least 50% of the variability in morphology was a product of body size while sex and river km (collection locale) accounted for 10% and 5% of the overall variability in shape, respectively. However, when mature and immature individuals were analyzed separately, mature individuals demonstrated no morphological signal concurrent with river km, while at least 45% of the variability in immature shape was attributed to river locale. The contributions of allometry, sex, and river gradient on Freshwater Drum morphology suggest that morphological variation ...
The potential of anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Summary Genetic evidence suggests that generation of amyloid β peptide is the pivotal step in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The mechanism by which this peptide induces neurodegeneration may involve inflammatory processes. Pharmacological suppression of inflammation may therefore ameliorate the neuropathology. Basic research studies provide substantial evidence that inflammatory processes present in the brains of patients with AD are destructive, and that antiinflammatory drugs can provide protection. Furthermore, epidemiological studies suggest that anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the risk of AD. However, there is not yet any strong evidence from completed randomised controlled trials that anti-inflammatory treatment is beneficial. Large trials of glucocorticoid therapy, hydroxychloroquine, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the treatment of AD have so far been disappointing. Several studies, including a large primary prevention trial with NSAIDs, are still in progress. Major issues of selection of patients, drug regimen, and duration of treatment remain unresolved.
Breast carcinoma en cuirasse as a natural progression of untreated breast cancer

Objective: Breast carcinoma en cuirasse is an aggressive manifestation of breast cancer, and is most often seen as a local recurrence. It is the most common primary malignancy to metastasize to the skin and palliative care is often the only option. Methods: Retrospective review of the patient’s chart was done. Results: Our patient is a 65 year old female with no significant past medical or surgical history, who presented with a 2 year history of an enlarging left breast mass and left axillary mass, to the point where she had pain with breathing and restriction of chest wall expansion. Work-up of her breast and axillary masses showed carcinoma en cuirasse. Given the advanced stage of her disease, the patient was offered palliative care, which she declined. Conclusions: Breast carcinoma en cuirasse is a rare manifestation of cutaneous metastases from breast cancer. While it is usually seen as a local recurrence, it can also be seen, as in our patient’s case, as a natural progression of breast cancer that is difficult to treat. Our patient’s case highlights the importance of early detection and treatment of breast cancer, as well as the surveillance for local recurrence.
A comparative study of neural network models for lexical intent classification

Domain and intent classification are critical pre-processing steps for many speech understanding and dialog systems, as it allows for certain types of utterances to be routed to particular subsystems. In previous work, we explored many types of neural network (NN) architectures — some feedforward and some recurrent — for lexical intent classification and found that they improved upon more traditional statistical baselines. In this paper we carry out a more comprehensive comparison of NN models including the recently proposed gated recurrent unit network, for two domain/intent classification tasks. Furthermore, whereas the previous work was confined to relatively small and controlled datasets, we now include experiments based on a large set obtained from the Cortana personal assistant application. We compare feedforward, recurrent, and gated — such as LSTM and GRU — networks against each other. On both the ATIS intent task and the much larger Cortana domain classification tasks, gated networks outperform recurrent models, which in turn outperform feedforward networks. Also, we compared standard word vector models against a representation which encodes words as sets of character n-grams to mitigate the out-of-vocabulary problem. We find that in nearly all cases, the standard word vectors outperform character-based word representations. Best results are obtained by linearly combining scores from NN models with log likelihood ratios obtained from N-gram language models.
Robust control of angle of attack using dynamic inversion combined with quantitative feedback theory

We describe a novel flight control design in which dynamic inversion is used to linearize the aircraft dynamics, and then quantitative feedback theory (QFT) is used to yield robust performance in the presence of model uncertainties. The approach is applied to the unstable, nonlinear, short-period dynamics of an F-16 aircraft. A second-order, dynamic inversion linearizes the alpha dynamics before applying QFT. Comparisons are made between three dynamic inversion designs and a baseline linear control design obtained by direct application of nonlinear QFT. The baseline controller demonstrates considerable robustness, successfully following large-alpha commands at flight speeds ranging from 53 to 150 m/sec while subjected to +/- 20 percent variations in pitch moment derivatives. Including dynamic inversion in the control law permits significantly lower loop gain, leading to reduced control usage at all flight speeds; however this control scheme is less robust to perturbations of the pitch moment terms. (Author)
Post-RT Urinary Incontinence and Stricture

Radiotherapy (RT) is an effective treatment for localized prostate cancer; however, post-treatment urinary complications differ from radical surgery. Prostate RT results in a higher prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB), detrusor overactivity (DO), and urgency urinary incontinence. These lower urinary tract symptoms can be transient or lasting. Pharmacologic therapy effectively treats post-RT OAB and urgency urinary incontinence. Post-RT urethral stricture disease can occur after all modalities of prostate RT. The incidence varies by modality and time from treatment. Endoscopic and surgical therapies are effective in treating post-RT urethral stricture disease. This chapter discusses the pathophysiology, prevalence, and evaluation of post-RT urinary incontinence and post-RT urethral stricture disease. The medical and surgical management options for these entities are reviewed.
Identifying Careless Responding With the Psychopathic Personality Inventory–Revised Validity Scales:

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) includes validity scales that assess Deviant Responding (DR), Virtuous Responding, and Inconsistent Responding. We examined the utility of these scales for identifying careless responding using data from two online studies that examined correlates of psychopathy in college students (Sample 1: N = 583; Sample 2: N = 454). Compared with those below the cut scores, those above the cut on the DR scale yielded consistently lower validity coefficients when PPI-R scores were correlated with corresponding scales from the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure. The other three PPI-R validity scales yielded weaker and less consistent results. Participants who completed the studies in an inordinately brief amount of time scored significantly higher on the DR and Virtuous Responding scales than other participants. Based on the findings from the current studies, researchers collecting PPI-R data online should consider identifying and perhaps screening out respondents with elevated scores on the DR scale.
Misophonia: An Overview

Misophonia is a relatively new term in the field of audiology, and there currently is no evidence-based research available on this topic; nevertheless, there are patients suffering with misophonia who are seeking help. This article provides both historical and current definitions of misophonia, as well as controversy regarding the definition. In addition, current demographics and symptoms will be presented and discussed. Patient history forms and questionnaires will guide the clinician in determining if the patient symptoms are associated with misophonia. Some patients will be satisfied with a diagnosis, whereas other patients will seek treatment. Current audiological management options are based on habituation theories used for tinnitus patients and research to guide clinicians is limited. Research is needed to determine not only the etiology and pathophysiology of misophonia but also associated symptoms, possible hereditary factors, and other disease entities that may present as misophonia. Validated questionnaires and tests to measure treatment outcomes are needed to provide best practice treatment options.
Muscle Pain, Tendon Reflexes, and Muscular Coordination in Man.∗

SummaryMuscle pain induced by 40 to 60 contractions of the ischemic muscle of the hand causes a severe disturbance in the coordination of voluntary movements as shown by the handwriting and finger-nose tests. That reflex movements are likewise altered is shown by the fact that the triceps reflex disappears regularly when ischemic pain is produced in this muscle. However, neither ischemia nor ischemic pain involving the biceps has any influence on the triceps reflex. It is concluded that muscle pain interferes with muscular coordination through influences on spinal and possibly cortical centers.
A method of teaching negotiating skill.

Can physicians and managers both enjoy successful contracts? Is it necessary for one party to win and the other party to lose? If both parties could win, or at at least have a perception that they won, perhaps the unpleasant nature of contracting and negotiation could be mitigated. Can inexperienced negotiators learn negotiating skills? The focus of this study is to attempt to answer formally the above questions. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of analytical information on the quality and efficiency of individual decisions during negotiations. The experiment required M.H.A. and medical students to agree in a medical services contract between a health maintenance organization and a group of physicians. A computer-based bargaining choice model was developed to elicit each subject's preferences and value trade-offs. Selected subjects used the analytical information when preparing for the contract negotiation. Significantly higher levels in quality of individual negotiator decisions and efficiency were observed when analytical information was used prior to negotiating. Also, significantly higher levels of joint quality and success in negotiation were observed in subjects using analytical information. The results provide strong support for developing models of individual negotiator choice behavior for use in actual health care negotiation and the education of health care administrators and physicians.
Nosocomial infections: A College of American Pathologists Q-Probes study in 512 North American Institutions

We report nosocomial infection surveillance methods and hospital infection rates in 512 institutions obtained from a Q-Probes study of the College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Ill. The results showed that nosocomial infection surveillance procedures were well standardized. Use of microbiology reports was the most common case-finding method (97.3%), followed by review of the patient's medical record (86.1%). The median number of full-time equivalents per 100 occupied beds utilized for infection control services was 0.64, and these full-time equivalents spent 40% of their time on surveillance activities. A computer was used in 81% of institutions to assist in conducting surveillance, although this usage was not associated with decreased surveillance time or personnel required. This study provided data on total and site-specific infection rates for a wide range of small to large hospitals. When stratified into subgroups (based on teaching status and hospital size), infections rates in this study were comparable with those of the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance program, and showed a trend of increasing rates of nosocomial bloodstream and surgical wound infections.
Effects of Supportive Feedback Messages on Exergame Experiences

Abstract. Since their inception, the popularity of exercise-based video games, or exergames, has continued to grow. Acknowledging the rapid growth of exergames, scholars have investigated exergame play experiences with a focus on the feedback a player receives about performance (e.g., progress bar, score) and how this information can influence game play experiences. To extend the existing exergame research, this study has two primary goals: (a) to test how the supportiveness of verbal feedback messages from an exergame can influence players’ exergame experiences and (b) to evaluate the way that a player’s sense of social presence may serve as a mechanism for understanding the link between feedback and experiences. An experiment (N = 47) was conducted using a between-subjects design. Two groups were compared: highly supportive versus lowly supportive feedback condition. The findings reveal that players who receive highly supportive feedback report greater exergame experience (e.g., enjoyment) than players ...
Electron Bombardment Induced Crack Initiation and Crack Growth in polymers and Polymer Surfaces

When a notched, polymeric material is stressed, the notch opens into a wide crack-tip, exposing a region of high stress concentration. The consequences of electron bombardment of the tip of polyisoprene, butyl rubber, Kapton-H®, Teflon®, low density polyethylene, and linear high density polyethylene stressed under vacuum are under investigation. Evidence is presented for electron induced crack growth at stresses below that needed for crack growth due to stress alone. The electron current densities used in these experiments are sufficiently small that thermal heating of the zone near the crack tip tends not to dominate. To provide information on the physical phenomena involved, we present measurements of electron current, gas pressure, and sample load in response to both periodic and stationary electron bombardment of the sample. Video taping of the shape of the crack before and during bombardment are also presented. Experiments involving the bombardment of unnotched polymers under stress are also described, along with measurements of the influence of electron bombardment on the tear energy of an elastomer.
Pre-Coding for Rapidly Time Varying MIMO Communication Channels

We consider a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication system with only statistical channel information available at the receiver. This assumption corresponds to the case of a rapidly varying channel, were channel estimation is difficult or impossible. A low complexity minimum mean squared error (MMSE) based detector is developed for the case where the channel covariance matrix is assumed to have a low rank. A space time block code (STBC) is used to code across multiple symbol vectors to increase the channel rank which can be handled by the detector. A MSE precoder is designed to further improve detection performance.
ImmunoPET Imaging of Murine CD4+ T Cells Using Anti-CD4 Cys-Diabody: Effects of Protein Dose on T Cell Function and Imaging.

Molecular imaging of CD4+ T cells throughout the body has implications for monitoring autoimmune disease and immunotherapy of cancer. Given the key role of these cells in regulating immunity, it is important to develop a biologically inert probe. GK1.5 cys-diabody (cDb), a previously developed anti-mouse CD4 antibody fragment, was tested at different doses to assess its effects on positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and CD4+ T cell viability, proliferation, CD4 expression, and function. The effect of protein dose on image contrast (lymphoid tissue-to-muscle ratio) was assessed by administering different amounts of 89Zr-labeled GK1.5 cDb to mice followed by PET imaging and ex vivo biodistribution analysis. To assess impact of GK1.5 cDb on T cell biology, GK1.5 cDb was incubated with T cells in vitro or administered intravenously to C57BL/6 mice at multiple protein doses. CD4 expression and T cell proliferation were analyzed with flow cytometry and cytokines were assayed. For immunoPET imaging, the lowest protein dose of 2 μg of 89Zr-labeled GK1.5 cDb resulted in significantly higher % injected dose/g in inguinal lymph nodes (ILN) and spleen compared to the 12-μg protein dose. In vivo administration of GK1.5 cDb at the high dose of 40 μg caused a transient decrease in CD4 expression in spleen, blood, lymph nodes, and thymus, which recovered within 3 days postinjection; this effect was reduced, although not abrogated, when 2 μg was administered. Proliferation was inhibited in vivo in ILN but not the spleen by injection of 40 μg GK1.5 cDb. Concentrations of GK1.5 cDb in excess of 25 nM significantly inhibited CD4+ T cell proliferation and interferon-γ production in vitro. Overall, using low-dose GK1.5 cDb minimized biological effects on CD4+ T cells. Low-dose GK1.5 cDb yields high-contrast immunoPET images with minimal effects on T cell biology in vitro and in vivo and may be a useful tool for investigating CD4+ T cells in the context of preclinical disease models. Future approaches to minimizing biological effects may include the creation of monovalent fragments or selecting anti-CD4 antibodies which target alternative epitopes.
Elastic wavefield separation based on the Helmholtz decomposition

ABSTRACTDivergence and curl operators used for the decomposition of P- and S-wave modes in elastic reverse time migration (RTM) change the amplitudes, units, and phases of extrapolated wavefields. I separate the P- and S-waves in elastic media based on the Helmholtz decomposition. The decomposed wavefields based on this approach have the same amplitudes, units, and phases as the extrapolated wavefields. To avoid expensive multidimensional integrals in the Helmholtz decomposition, I introduce a fast Poisson solver to efficiently solve the vector Poisson’s equation. This fast algorithm allows us to reduce computational complexity from O(N2) to O(N log N), where N is the total number of grid points. Because the decomposed P- and S-waves are vector fields, I use vector imaging conditions to construct PP-, PS-, SS-, and SP-images. Several 2D numerical examples demonstrate that this approach allows us to accurately and efficiently decompose P- and S-waves in elastic media. In addition, elastic RTM images based ...
High-resolution spectroscopy of Rydberg molecular states of Rb 2 85 near the 5 s + 7 p asymptote

Rydberg molecules, often exemplified by long-range ``trilobite'' molecules, are a subject of much recent interest at high principal quantum number $n$. States that use the same bonding mechanism can exist at much lower $n$ and less-extreme internuclear separations that are still quite long range. We use a high-resolution pulsed amplifier to study previously detected transitions to a low-$n$ Rydberg molecular state near the $5s+7p$ asymptote in $^{85}\mathrm{Rb}_{2}$. The observed line structure is modeled using precise ground-state positions and a lower bound of $\ensuremath{\tau}g1.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ s is set on the excited-state autoionization lifetime.
Unfinished Business: Nested Acquisitions, Managerial Capacity, and Firm Performance:

We highlight a largely unstudied phenomenon that affects postacquisition performance: nested acquisitions. Nested acquisitions occur when a firm acquires a target firm that has itself recently acqu...
AN AGENT-BASED MODEL TO EVALUATE HOUSING DYNAMICS OF COASTAL COMMUNITIES FACING STORMS AND SEA LEVEL RISE

An agent-based model (ABM) is developed to explore the effects of storms and sea level rise (SLR) on soft-engineered coastal management actions and households’ housing decisions at the coastal town of Nags Head in North Carolina, USA. The ABM links the behavior of household agents (individual homeowners) and town agents (coastal managers) with morphological coastal evolution caused by long-term erosion, sea level rise, and storms. Storm impacts are determined by combining the process-based model XBeach (Roelvink, 2009) outputs with the ABM framework. The integrated ABM framework is applied to simulate occupation dynamics and community viability under forcing from storms and sea level rise over a time frame of 50 years. A timeline with storm events was created using historical data and the intensity of the storm in the midpoint of the timeline was varied to explore the effect of storm intensity on the community. Simulations demonstrated a strong link between the intensity of storms and household occupancy. Results suggest that increased storm intensity hinders development and in some cases can cause community occupation growth to stagnate or decline. The results also indicate a feedback loop between the natural processes, management decisions, and household decisions. After a severe storm, buildings are damaged, expenses are increased, and occupation declines. A diminished community cannot invest in protection measures and in turn becomes more vulnerable to future storms. A tipping point may occur, where the community stagnates with respect to its household occupation. To investigate the influence of varying sea level rise rates on community occupancy dynamics, the model was forced with different sea level rise scenarios, including no sea level rise, a constant rate of sea level rise, and two scenarios with accelerated sea level rise. The scenario with no sea level rise showed a considerably more attractive community than the scenarios with sea level rise. This was attributed to (1) absence of expenses incurred in other scenarios to mitigate recession caused by sea level rise and (2) lower flooding risk.
Effects of tropical deep convection on interannual variability of tropical tropopause layer water vapor

Water vapor interannual variability in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is investigated using satellite observations and model simulations. We breakdown the influences of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and the tropospheric temperature (Δ T ) as a function of latitude and longitude using a 2-dimensional multivariable linear regression. This allows us to examine the spatial distribution of the impact on TTL water vapor from these physical processes. In agreement with expectation, we find that the impacts from the BDC and QBO act on TTL water vapor by changing TTL temperature. For Δ T , we find that TTL temperatures alone cannot explain the influence. We hypothesize a moistening role for the evaporation of convective ice from increased deep convection as troposphere warms. Tests with simulations from GEOSCCM and a corresponding trajectory model support this hypothesis.
When anger expression might be beneficial for African Americans: The moderating role of chronic discrimination.

Author(s): Park, Jiyoung; Flores, Abdiel J; Aschbacher, Kirstin; Mendes, Wendy Berry | Abstract: ObjectivesAnger expression is assumed to have mostly negative health effects. Yet, evidence is mixed on how anger expression influences African Americans' cardiovascular health. The present research aimed to clarify this link by examining moderating effects of chronic discrimination on the relationship between anger expression and cardiovascular risk among African Americans in experimental (Study 1) and epidemiological (Study 2) studies.MethodStudy 1 examined how African Americans' trait anger expression was linked to (a) physiologic reactivity to acute social rejection during an interracial encounter (Session 1); and (b) total/HDL cholesterol assessed two months later (Session 2). Study 2 examined the relationship between anger expression and total/HDL cholesterol with a larger sample of African Americans from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) survey. Both studies examined perceptions of chronic discrimination as a moderator of the relationships between anger expression and biological responses.ResultsIn Study 1 higher anger expression was associated with quicker cortisol recovery and greater testosterone reactivity following outgroup social rejection in Session 1 and lower total/HDL cholesterol in Session 2. Study 2 replicated the relationship between anger expression and lower total/HDL cholesterol and further showed that this relationship was unique to the expressive aspect of anger. Importantly, in both studies, these potentially beneficial effects of anger expression were only evident among individuals with lower perceptions of chronic discrimination.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that anger expression, when coupled with low levels of chronic discrimination, is associated with adaptive patterns of physiologic responses among African Americans. (PsycINFO Database Record
Tomato, Lycopene, and Prostate Cancer

Key Points Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death of men in the United States. Americans consume large quantities of tomatoes and tomato products, which contain various nutrients and phytochemicals, including lycopene. Epidemiological evidence strongly indicates a relationship between the increased consumption of tomatoes, tomato products, and lycopene and a reduced risk of prostate cancer. In vitro studies demonstrate that lycopene and other carotenoids decrease cancer cell proliferation in various cancer lines, including prostate cancer cells. In vivo animal studies indicate that consumption of a tomato powder diet delays chemically induced prostate cancer compared to the control diet. Lycopene is found in human tissues and serum and is the major carotenoid found in the human prostate. Plausible mechanisms of action for lycopene include acting as a singlet oxygen quencher, upregulating cellular communication, and modulation of xenobiotic metabolism. Because tomatoes contain a variety of phytochemicals in addition to lycopene, potential interactions and synergies may exist between these compounds to contribute to a reduction in prostate cancer.
Some Contributions of Split-Brain Studies to the Study of Human Cognition

It was 23 years ago that the contemporary series of experimental studies on split-brain patients began. The start was simple enough, and while a fruitful outcome could be hoped for, the prospect was not at all promising. Dramatic results could be found in the animal literature concerning the behavioral consequences of brain bisection. Myers and Sperry (1953) had shown the importance of the interhemispheric commissures in the transfer and/or communication of psychologically interesting information between the two half- brains. Could it be that such a dramatic set of results would also be seen in humans?
Assessment of surface wind datasets for estimating offshore wind energy along the Central California Coast

Abstract In the United States, Central California has gained significant interest in offshore wind energy due to its strong winds and proximity to existing grid connections. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of near-surface wind datasets in this region, including satellite-based observations (QuikSCAT, ASCAT, and CCMP V2.0), reanalysis (NARR and MERRA), and regional atmospheric models (WRF and WIND Toolkit). This work highlights spatiotemporal variations in the performance of the respective datasets in relation to in-situ buoy measurements using error metrics over both seasonal and diurnal time scales. The two scatterometers (QuikSCAT and ASCAT) showed the best overall performance, albeit with significantly less spatial and temporal resolution relative to other datasets. These datasets only slightly outperformed the next best dataset (WIND Toolkit), which has significantly greater temporal and spatial resolution as well as estimates of winds aloft. Considering tradeoffs between spatiotemporal resolution of the underlying datasets, error metrics relative to in-situ measurements, and the availability of data aloft, the WIND Toolkit appears to be the best dataset for this region. The framework and tradeoff analysis this research developed and demonstrated to assess offshore wind datasets can be applied in other regions where offshore wind energy is being considered.
Harnessing photoinduced electron transfer to optically determine protein sub-nanoscale atomic distances

Proteins possess a complex and dynamic structure, which is influenced by external signals and may change as they perform their biological functions. We present an optical approach, distance-encoding photoinduced electron transfer (DEPET), capable of the simultaneous study of protein structure and function. An alternative to FRET-based methods, DEPET is based on the quenching of small conjugated fluorophores by photoinduced electron transfer: a reaction that requires contact of the excited fluorophore with a suitable electron donor. This property allows DEPET to exhibit exceptional spatial and temporal resolution capabilities in the range pertinent to protein conformational change. We report the first implementation of DEPET on human large-conductance K+ (BK) channels under voltage clamp. We describe conformational rearrangements underpinning BK channel sensitivity to electrical excitation, in conducting channels expressed in living cells. Finally, we validate DEPET in synthetic peptide length standards, to evaluate its accuracy in measuring sub- and near-nanometer intramolecular distances.
Exploiting Terrain Information for Enhancing Fuel Economy of Cruising Vehicles by Supervised Training of Recurrent Neural Optimizers

In this chapter, we present a novel data driven approach based on supervised training of feed forward neural networks for solving nonlinear optimization problems. Then we extend the approach to approximate the solution of deterministic, discrete dynamic programming problems by using recurrent networks. We apply this data driven methodology on a real-world fuel economy application in which we train a neural optimizer to prescribe the optimum cruise speed that minimizes fuel consumption, based on the instantaneous and a limited history of the vehicle speeds and road grades, with no a priori knowledge of the future path. The optimizer is tested in simulation on novel road segments. In simulation tests, the optimizer prescribed grade based modulated speed, has achieved about 8–10.6 % fuel savings over driving with constant cruise speed on the same roads, out of which 3.7–10.6 % were due to exploiting the road grades.
Alcohol policies and alcohol involvement in intimate partner homicide in the U.S.

Introduction Intimate partner violence (IPV) results in deaths of both primary and corollary (i.e., nonintimate partner) victims. Alcohol use is a known risk factor for IPV, yet the relationship between alcohol policies and IPV homicides is unclear. This repeated cross-sectional study characterizes alcohol involvement, and the relationship between alcohol policies and alcohol involvement, among victims of IPV homicides in the U.S. Methods Homicide victim data from 17 states in the National Violent Death Reporting System from 2003 to 2012 were analyzed in 2017–2018. Alcohol Policy Scale scores characterized alcohol policies by state year and were used in generalized estimating equation logistic regression models to predict the odds of alcohol involvement among victims of IPV homicide. Results Among victims of IPV homicide, 36.5% of primary and 41.1% of corollary victims had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) >0.00%. Of the victims with a positive BAC, 67.6% had a BAC ≥0.08%. In adjusted models, a 10–percentage point increase in Alcohol Policy Scale score was associated with reduced odds of having a positive BAC (AOR=0.77, 95% CI=0.64, 0.93) and having a BAC ≥0.08% (AOR=0.82, 95% CI=0.68, 0.99) among all victims, primary victims (AOR=0.78, 95% CI=0.63, 0.98; AOR=0.82, 95% CI=0.65, 1.04), and corollary victims (AOR=0.61, 95% CI=0.42, 0.89; AOR=0.68, 95% CI=0.48, 0.97). Conclusions Alcohol use was prevalent among victims of IPV homicide, and more-restrictive alcohol policies were associated with reduced odds of alcohol involvement. Strengthening alcohol policies is a promising strategy to reduce alcohol-involved IPV homicide victimization.
[Seasonality and etiological characteristics of infectious diarrhea in outpatients of 18 or above-year-old in Shanghai, 2014-2017]

Objective: To understand the seasonality and etiological characteristics of infectious diarrhea in adults from Shanghai. Methods: Adult patients with diarrhea who had visited the enteric disease clinics in 22 hospitals that carrying on the Diarrhea Comprehensive Surveillance sentinel programs in Shanghai during 2014-2017, were surveyed. Stool specimens were collected according to the different intervals of sampling and detected for 12 bacteria and 5 viruses. Concentration ratio and circular distribution method were used for data analysis. Results: From 2014 to 2017, a total of 9 573 stool specimens were collected from the targeted diarrhea patients ≥18 years old (n=96 067), through the Shanghai Diarrhea Comprehensive Surveillance program. The positive rate of detection was 46.44%. Seasonal peaks of infectious diarrhea were both seen in summer (bacteria peak, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, etc.) and in winter (virus peak, Norovirus, etc.). Both bacterial and viral infections presented seasonal concentration (Raleigh's test P<0.001) but more obvious with bacterial infection. Viral infection accounted for 60.19% of the cause of infectious diarrhea. The top five predominant pathogens appeared as Norovirus, Rotavirus, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Salmonella spp.. Conclusions: Among the adult outpatients with infectious diarrhea in Shanghai, obvious seasonality was seen, with peaks in both summer and winter. Viral infection with Norovirus in particular, appeared as the predominant source of infection. Active, continuous and comprehensive diarrhea-related surveillance programs would be able to monitor the changing dynamic of pathogen spectrum, and lead to the adoption of targeted preventive measures.
Ecology of the Golden Eagle in Mongolia, Part 1: Breeding Distribution and Nest-Site Descriptions

During seven expeditions across Mongolia, we found 40 Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) breeding territories with eggs or young. At 20 other locations, we either found old eagle nests with Golden Eagle feathers or saw adult eagles but found no eggs or young. Golden Eagles nested in all but the driest portions of the Gobi Desert and the easternmost grasslands. Nearly all pairs had alternate nests. Of 53 nests used, 60% were on cliff ledges as is typical around the world. However, 19% were on the ground or at other sites that were easily accessible to canid predators, with the most vulnerable nests small and seldom or never reused. The most unusual nests included one atop a conical basalt peak, one on relatively flat ground among tall boulders, four on steep hillsides, one on almost flat ground amid rocky protrusions, and three on cliff tops. Where tall cliffs with many ledges were available, the eagles nested at least 7 m above the ground. Nest construction materials were often unusual and included trash, patches of large mammal hides, paper money, and clothing.
Contemporary Telemedicine Applications in the Provision of Mental Health Services in Greece

The contribution of Telepsychiatry and its applications to the national health care systems of the countries is particularly important, with positive effects according the reviewing bibliography. It is characterized by efficiency as a service with high quality rates and is the only solution for patients from remote areas to contact and access with the providers in the mental health system. Our article highlights the importance of Telepsychiatry minimizing the cost of traveling. Because of reduced published articles in the field our study is also measuring the technology acceptance by Health care professionals of the Psychiatric Sector in Greece. Finally, there are interview responses to four queries derived from the existing literature and experience about the factors influencing the spread of the use of Telepsychiatry and the reduced amount of published articles.
Defining the deadly: definitional argument and the assault weapons ban controversy

To address the apparent chaos and confusion of the assault weapons ban controversy, I analyze and evaluate the three-decade controversy over how or whether to prohibit so-called “assault weapons” t...
Common Brain Structural Alterations Associated with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Alzheimer's Dementia: Future Directions and Implications.

Recent reports suggest declines in the age-specific risk of Alzheimer’s dementia in higher income Western countries. At the same time, investigators believe that worldwide trends of increasing mid-life modifiable risk factors [e.g., cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors] coupled with the growth of the world's oldest age groups may nonetheless lead to an increase in Alzheimer’s dementia. Thus, understanding the overlap in neuroanatomical profiles associated with CVD risk factors and AD may offer more relevant targets for investigating ways to reduce the growing dementia epidemic than current targets specific to isolated AD-related neuropathology. We hypothesized that a core group of common brain structural alterations exist between CVD risk factors and Alzheimer’s dementia. Two co-authors conducted independent literature reviews in PubMed using search terms for CVD risk factor burden (separate searches for ‘cardiovascular disease risk factors’, ‘hypertension’, and ‘Type 2 diabetes’) and ‘aging’ or ‘Alzheimer’s dementia’ with either ‘grey matter volumes’ or ‘white matter’. Of studies that reported regionally localized results, we found support for our hypothesis, determining 23 regions commonly associated with both CVD risk factors and Alzheimer’s dementia. Within this context, we outline future directions for research as well as larger cerebrovascular implications for these commonalities. Overall, this review supports previous as well as more recent calls for the consideration that both vascular and neurodegenerative factors contribute to the pathogenesis of dementia.
Treatment and Non-Treatment Professionals in Texas: Race, Sex, Age, and Level of Education Influencing Attitudes About Addiction

Using a two-step process, attitudes about addiction among Texas professionals working primarily with youth were examined. In Step 1, researchers examined attitudes about addiction in Texas (n = 1,0...
Soldiers for the Mob: The Military as Metaphor for Italian Organized Crime

Rebecca Bauman explores one of the most cinematized forms of Italian criminal institutions, the Mafia, and its engagement with the military. As she notices, for the past century, military terminology has been increasingly used in the Italian media to describe the Sicilian Mafia, the Neapolitan Camorra, and other organized crime groups in Italy—a linguistic practice that helps shape public perception of such groups by referring to them in terms that seemingly justify the use of violence in illegal forms. Bauman then investigates how the popular usage of terms such as “soldier,” “combatants,” “armies,” and, most notably, “war” have become commonplace in representations of Italian organized crime, including journalistic accounts but also in the narrativization of military metaphors in film and television series, including Gomorra—la serie (Sky, 2014–present) and Marco Tullio Giordana’s film Due Soldati (2017). In so doing, she demonstrates how the adoption of military metaphors has problematized anti-mafia rhetoric and has become an instrument for normalizing Italian culture’s continuous, problematic fascination with organized crime.
Changing Markets for Domain Names: Technical, Economic, and Policy Challenges

The Domain Name System (DNS) is critical infrastructure for the Internet. The growth in size and complexity of the DNS, together with changes in its governance and operational practices, have raised numerous challenges. Herein, we provide a qualitative and empirical overview of DNS ecosystem economics and the relationships among key participants, including ICANN, the registries, registrars, and registrants. With this as background, the paper examines three key issues: (1) market power; (2) trends impacting the importance of domain names; and (3) concerns over DNS abuse and security.
Does Sorry Work? Apologies in Medical Malpractice: The Impact of 'Apology' Laws

Apologies made by physicians for adverse medical events have been identified as an important factor in whether patients file lawsuits. However, stigmas such as admission of guilt may discourage physicians from apologizing more frequently. An "Apology Law," which specifies that a physician's apology is inadmissible in court, is written to encourage patient-physician communication. Building on game theoretic work, we examine whether apology laws at the state-level have an impact on malpractice lawsuits and settlements. Using a differences-in-differences estimation, we find that state-level apology laws could expedite the settlement process and increase the number of settlements in the short run.
A critical evaluation of current definitions of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating intestinal disease of premature infants, with significant mortality and long-term morbidity among survivors. Multiple NEC definitions exist, but no formal head-to-head evaluation has been performed. We hypothesized that contemporary definitions would perform better in evaluation metrics than Bell’s and range features would be more frequently identified as important than yes/no features. Two hundred and nineteen patients from the University of Iowa hospital with NEC, intestinal perforation, or NEC concern were identified from a 10-year retrospective cohort. NEC presence was confirmed by a blinded investigator. Evaluation metrics were calculated using statistics and six supervised machine learning classifiers for current NEC definitions. Feature importance evaluation was performed on each decision tree classifier. Newer definitions outperformed Bell’s staging using both standard statistics and most machine learning classifiers. The decision tree classifier had the highest overall machine learning scores, which resulted in Non-Bell definitions having high sensitivity (0.826, INC) and specificity (0.969, ST), while Modified Bell (IIA+) had reasonable sensitivity (0.783), but poor specificity (0.531). Feature importance evaluation identified nine criteria as important for diagnosis. This preliminary study suggests that Non-Bell NEC definitions may be better at diagnosing NEC and calls for further examination of definitions and important criteria.
Unpacking the Rise in Crimmigration Cases at the Supreme Court

Why has the Supreme Court recently granted more writs of certiorari in cases concerning the complex legal test known as the categorical analysis than it has in the last ten years? As background for the uninitiated, the categorical analysis is a tool used by adjudicators to determine when immigration consequences or federal sentencing enhancements are triggered by prior convictions. It is an often misunderstood—and consequently misapplied—analysis that has befuddled adjudicators for decades. The Supreme Court has decided to reaffirm and refine the legal test in several cases over the last few terms. The Court will have the opportunity to do so again this term in two cases, Pereida v. Barr and Shular v. United States. This Article examines several factors that may elucidate why the Court has recently taken a growing interest in the categorical analysis.
Offloading load balancers onto SmartNICs

Load balancers are pervasively used inside today's clouds to distribute network requests across data center servers at scale. While load balancers were initially built using dedicated and custom hardware, most cloud providers now use software-based load balancers. This allows the implementations to be more agile and also enables on-demand provisioning of load balancing workload on generic servers, but it comes with increased provisioning and operating costs. We explore offloading load balancing onto programmable SmartNICs. To fully leverage the cost and energy efficiency of SmartNICs, our design proposes three key ideas. First, we argue that a full and complex TCP/IP stack is not required even for L7 load balancers and instead propose a design that uses a lightweight forwarding agent on the SmartNIC. Second, we develop connection management data structures that provide a high degree of concurrency with minimal synchronization when executed on multi-core SmartNICs. Finally, we describe how the load balancing logic could be accelerated using custom accelerators on SmartNICs. Our proof-of-concept implementations and preliminary results show that SmartNIC is a promising choice for navigating the underlying performance-cost tradeoffs.