cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On Small Sample Prediction of Financial Crisis

Prediction of financial crisis is a challenging problem in financial research. On the basis of the information provided by financial statements, companies are usually classified into two groups, e.g., the groups of solvent and insolvent companies. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), logistic regression and artificial neural network (ANN) are the most common statistical tools used for this classification. LDA and logistic regression separate the two groups using a hyperplane, and they provide good lower dimensional view of class separability. However, these methods are not robust against outliers and they also get affected by deviations from underlying model assumptions. Moreover, if the number of observations is small compared to the dimension of the measurement vector, these classical methods may lead to poor classification. On the contrary, ANN is more flexible and does not make any assumption about the population structure. But, it separates the competing populations using a complex surface. So, we sacrifice the lower dimensional view and the interpretability of the result, which are often the major concern in financial analysis. In this article, we propose to use a semiparametric method which preserves the interpretability and the lower dimensional view of class separability, but at the same time it is robust against outliers and capable to work well in high dimension and low sample size set up. We use two real life financial data sets to show the utility of this semiparametric method.
Gene therapies and the pursuit of a better human.

As a philosopher interested in biomedical ethics, I find recent advances in genetic technologies both fascinating and frightening. Future technologies for genetic therapies and elimination of clearly deleterious genes offer us the ability to get rid of the cause of much human suffering, seemingly at its physiological root. But memories of past eugenics programs gone horribly awry (whether we speak of Hitler's program, California sterilization laws and practices of the 1920s, or even contemporary practices, such as attempts to work out deals that exchange sterilization for early prison release) must make cautious our initial optimism for these generally well-intentioned programs. Most often the scientist proceeds in research with the best of intentions, but that does not make all scientific investigation worth pursuing.
Mass spectral characterization of the glucuronide conjugates of terbutryn {2-(t-butylamino)-4-(ethylamino)-6-(methylthio)-s-triazine} metabolites from rats and goat†

Five metabolities from terbutyrn (2-(t-butylamino)-4-(ethylamino)-6-(methylthio)-s-triazine) were characterized to be glucuronide conjugates by interpretation of mass spectral data of their trimethylsilyl derivatives. These were isolated from rat and goat urine. Three of these glucuronides were characterized to be triazinyl-S-glucuronides and two were characterized to be alkyl-O-glucuronides.
Telemedicine in education: Bridging the gap

Background: The increasing cost and inequitable access to quality healthcare, coupled with the merger of the information technology and health service sectors, has given rise to the modern field of telemedicine. Telemedicine, meaning medicine at a distance, allows us to transcend geographic and socioeconomic boundaries to deliver high quality care to remote and/or in-need patients. As technology becomes more affordable and a physician shortage looms, telemedicine is gaining attention as a possible solution to healthcare delivery. Simultaneously, telemedicine holds great promise with regard to medical education. Several studies integrating telemedicine in medical education have shown positive outcomes, demonstrating similar or greater efficacy compared with traditional educational methods with high student-reported enthusiasm. Other domestic and international telemedicine projects, largely spearheaded by universities, have also achieved great success. Discussion: In a novel approach, by pairing medical schools with in-need partner communities, utilizing similar faculty resources as traditional learning methods with standardized patients, students can gain valuable experience and skills while serving actual patients. This progressive approach to medical education fosters collaboration, communication, longitudinal care and teaches students needed skills for their future practices as 21 st Century healthcare providers.
Monolithic fabrication of electro-fluidic polymer microchips

Integration of electronic wiring with microfluidic chips is an important process as it allows electrical interactions with the fluidic media, for example required for resistive and capacitive sensing. It is also necessary in order to implement various actuation and control mechanisms such as pumping, electrophoresis and temperature control. Typically electrical wire traces are added to microfabricated fluidic chips using metal deposition processes that are carried out after the fluidic chip has been fabricated. The process for adding the wiring is complicated and is limited to select metals that can be deposited by evaporation or sputtering. We present a single step method for integrating electrical wires into polymer microfluidic chips that are fabricated by a hot embossing process. This process can flexibly embed any kind of commercially available metal wire with a microfluidic chip and the wiring may be integrated to come into surface contact with the fluid or may be embedded in close proximity to (but insulated from)the fluid paths for example for local heating purposes. This method significantly reduces total processing time and is thus a valuable method for wire integration into polymer chips. We demonstrate two applications—a microelectrolysis chip and a heater chip that were fabricated using this methodology. The design, fabrication process and the initial test results are presented.
Synaptic Depression and the Temporal Response Characteristics of V1 Cells

We explore the effects of short-term synaptic depression on the temporal dynamics of V1 responses to visual images by constructing a model simple cell. Synaptic depression is modeled on the basis of previous detailed fits to experimental data. A component of synaptic depression operating in the range of hundreds of milliseconds can account for a number of the unique temporal characteristics of cortical neurons, including the bandpass nature of frequency‐response curves, increases in response amplitude and in cutoff frequency for transient stimuli, nonlinear temporal summation, and contrastdependent shifts in response phase. Synaptic depression also provides a mechanism for generating the temporal phase shifts needed to produce direction selectivity, and a model constructed along these lines matches both extracellular and intracellular data. A slower component of depression can reproduce the effects of contrast adaptation.
Light-sensitive visualization of multimodal data for neurosurgical applications

We present a technique for enhancing multimodal visualizations for image-guided neurosurgery in the presence of adverse lighting conditions. In the surgical environment, images used for real time navigation are displayed in suboptimal conditions due to the varying lighting conditions. Our approach actively monitors the incoming light on the display and appropriately enhances the visualization based on the change in light. Based on the results of a user study to evaluate our approach, we found that our enhanced visualization techniques were mostly preferred over regular visualizations.
Sensitivity of detection of B-cell lymphoma in bone marrow by fluorescence in situ hybridization

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used in a retrospective study of bone marrow aspirate specimens submitted for conventional cytogenetic analysis with an indication of B-cell lymphoma. About 50% of cytogenetically normal samples, which had been identified as containing lymphoma by pathology, showed small cell populations with an IGH gene rearrangement by FISH. This study demonstrates that FISH scoring of 750 nuclei provides a 99% chance of identifying the presence of lymphoma with a 14q32 aberration when this population constitutes approximately 8% of the bone marrow.
TRAINING PARENTS TO USE THE NATURAL LANGUAGE PARADIGM TO INCREASE THEIR AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S SPEECH

Parents of four nonverbal and four echolalic autistic children were trained to increase their children's speech by using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP), a loosely structured procedure conducted in a play environment with a variety of toys. Parents were initially trained to use the NLP in a clinic setting, with subsequent parent-child speech sessions occurring at home. The results indicated that following training, parents increased the frequency with which they required their children to speak (i.e., modeled words and phrases, prompted answers to questions). Correspondingly, all children increased the frequency of their verbalizations in three nontraining settings. Thus, the NLP appears to be an efficacious program for parents to learn and use in the home to increase their children's speech.
Abstract 921: Small-molecule inhibitor BMS-777607 induces breast cancer cell polyploidy with increased resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy agents.

The RON receptor tyrosine kinase is a therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Here we report therapeutic effect and phenotypic change of breast cancer cells in response to BMS-777607, a RON tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Treatment of breast cancer cells with BMS-777607 at therapeutic doses inhibited cancerous clonogenic growth but had only minimal effect on cell apoptosis. Significantly, BMS-777607 induced extensive polyploidy with multiple sets of chromosomes in cancer cells. This effect is independent of RON expression. Knockdown of RON in T-47D and ZR-75-1 cells by specific siRNA did not prevent polyploid formation. Immunofluorescent analysis of α-tubulin and γ-tubulin expression in polyploid cells revealed that BMS-777607 disrupts bi-polar spindle formation and causes multi-polar-like microtubule assembly. Also, both metaphase equatorial alignment and chromosomal segregation were absent in polyploid cells. These results suggest that cellular mitosis arrests at prophase/pro-metaphase and fails to undergo cytokinesis. By analyzing kinase-inhibitory profiles, aurora kinase B was identified as the target molecule inhibited by BMS-777607. In BMS-777607 treated cells, aurora kinase B was inhibited followed by protein degradation. Moreover, BMS-777607 inhibited Ser10 phosphorylation of histone H3, a substrate of aurora kinase B. Chemosensitivity analysis indicated the resistance of polyploid cells towards chemotherapeutics. Treatment with doxorubicin, bleomycin,cisplatin, methotrexate, and paclitaxel significantly increased cellular IC50 values. These findings highlight the theory that BMS-777607 acts as a multi-kinase inhibitor at therapeutic doses and is capable of inducing polyploidy by inhibiting aurora kinase B. Increased resistance of polyploid cells to cytotoxic chemotherapeutics could have a negative impact on targeted cancer therapy using BMS-777607. Citation Format: Sharad Sharma, Jun-Yin Zeng, Chunmei Zhunag, Ruiwen Zhang, Ming-hai Wang. Small-molecule inhibitor BMS-777607 induces breast cancer cell polyploidy with increased resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy agents. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 921. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-921
Complement alternative pathway activation in the autologous phase of nephrotoxic serum nephritis

The complement cascade is an important part of the innate immune system, but pathological activation of this system causes tissue injury in several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including i...
Vocal Repertoires of Auklets (Alcidae: Aethiini): Structural Organization and Categorization

Abstract We categorized and quantified the complete vocal repertoires of breeding adult auklets (Aethiini, 5 species) in their breeding areas to provide a baseline for comparative study of the structure and function of vocalizations within this monophyletic group of seabirds. We recognized 22 call types across species and 3–5 call types for each species. Calls were characterized by one to five frequency modulated, harmonically rich note types arranged sequentially in varied combinations. Frequency attributes varied more than temporal attributes within and across species. Repertoires and display complexity of nocturnal and diurnal species did not differ consistently. We recognized two major forms of vocal display: alternating arrangement of note types (Cassin's Auklet [Ptychoramphus aleuticus] and Parakeet Auklet [Aethia psittacula]); and sequentially graded arrangement of note types (Least Auklet [A. pusilla] and Whiskered Auklet [A. pygmaea]). One species' repertoire (Crested Auklet [A. cristatella]) was...
Consensus and Coercion: Primary Health Care and the Guatemalan State

During the 1970s international and bilateral development agencies actively began promoting and financing comprehensive primary health care (PHC) programs in underdeveloped countries. The stated goal of these activities was to provide rural peoples with a modicum of basic health services, and access to health care did increase as a consequence of the PHC effort. However, this article examines the relationship between capitalist development processes, the state, and the peasantry in Guatemala in order to demonstrate another consequence of PHC interventions: that they ultimately operated as an inherent part of this relationship and bolstered legitimacy for the existing social and economic order. Although the delicate balance between the state's need to garner consensus and its potential for resorting to coercion to establish its legitimacy is clearly highlighted in an extreme example like Guatemala, the same relationship between processes of capitalist accumulation and social legitimation pertains to other settings.
Spatial and temporal changes in the distribution of proteoglycans during avian neural crest development

In this study, we describe the distribution of various classes of proteoglycans and their potential matrix ligand, hyaluronan, during neural crest development in the trunk region of the chicken embryo. Different types of chondroitin and keratan sulfate proteoglycans were recognized using a panel of monoclonal antibodies produced against specific epitopes on their glycosaminoglycan chains. A heparan sulfate proteoglycan was identified by an antibody against its core protein. The distribution of hyaluronan was mapped using a biotinylated fragment that corresponds to the hyaluronan-binding region of cartilage proteoglycans. Four major patterns of proteoglycan immunoreactivity were observed. (1) Chondroitin-6-sulfate-rich proteoglycans and certain keratin sulfate proteoglycans were absent from regions containing migrating neural crest cells, but were present in interstitial matrices and basement membranes along prospective migratory pathways such as the ventral portion of the sclerotome. Although initially distributed uniformly along the rostrocaudal extent of the sclerotome, these proteoglycans became rearranged to the caudal portion of the sclerotome with progressive migration of neural crest cells through the rostral sclerotome and their aggregation into peripheral ganglia. (2) A subset of chondroitin/keratan sulfate proteoglycans bearing primarily unsulfated chondroitin chains was observed exclusively in regions where neural crest cells were absent or delayed from entering, such as the perinotochordal and subepidermal spaces. (3) A subset of chondroitin/keratan sulfate proteoglycans was restricted to the perinotochordal region and, following gangliogenesis, was arranged in a metameric pattern corresponding to the sites where presumptive vertebral arches form. (4) Certain keratan sulfate proteoglycans and a heparan sulfate proteoglycan were observed in basement membranes and in an interstitial matrix uniformly distributed along the rostrocaudal extent of the sclerotome. After gangliogenesis, the neural crest-derived dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia contained both these proteoglycan types, but were essentially free of other chondroitin/keratan-proteoglycan subsets. Hyaluronan generally colocalized with the first set of proteoglycans, but also was concentrated around migrating neural crest cells and was reduced in neural crest-derived ganglia. These observations demonstrate that proteoglycans have diverse and dynamic distributions during times of neural crest development and chondrogenesis of the presumptive vertebrae. In general, chondroitin/keratan sulfate proteoglycans are abundant in regions where neural crest cells are absent, and their segmental distribution inversely correlates with that of neural crest-derived ganglia.
Experimental Seismic Response of Hybrid Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns with Novel Longitudinal Reinforcement Detailing

AbstractThe experimental seismic response of two bridge columns built using highly flowable hybrid fiber-reinforced concrete under unidirectional static cyclic lateral loading is presented. The objective was to design bridge columns for use in regions of high seismic hazard that (1) sustain the seismic demands in a ductile manner; (2) minimize the concrete spalling that conventional RC bridge columns experience; and (3) avoid tension strain localization in the longitudinal steel bars observed in plastic hinge regions of fiber-reinforced concrete columns. The first column was designed to rock at its base. The second column was designed to form a flexural plastic hinge at its base and used stainless steel bars as longitudinal reinforcement. Both specimens experienced limited concrete spalling up to drift ratios of 4.8% and attained drift ratios of 11.3% without losing their vertical load resistance. The response of the specimens is compared with that of conventional RC columns.
Treatment strategies for chronic hepatitis C : Update since the 1997 National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference

The National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on the management of hepatitis C, which took place in March 1997 and was published in September 1997, established guidelines for the diagnosis and management of chronic hepatitis C. The recommended treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is interferon alpha (or equivalent) 3 MIU three times per week for 12 months, in patients showing response to therapy after 3 months. Patients with the greatest risk for progression to cirrhosis (i.e. persistently elevated alanine aminotransferase levels, detectable serum HCV-RNA and liver biopsy showing portal or bridging fibrosis and at least moderate inflammation and necrosis) are recommended as candidates for therapy. The indication for therapy is less obvious in patients with milder histological changes, compensated cirrhosis and age less than 18 years or older than 60 years. Treatment is not indicated for patients with persistently normal aminotransferases or decompensated cirrhosis. This review outlines the background studies that led to the recommendations of the National Institutes of Health for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C and reviews newer evolving treatment strategies over the past year. In particular, the results of studies exploring treatment options for relapsers and non-responders to prior interferon therapy and the reported results to date on the safety and efficacy of combination therapy with interferon plus ribavirin are highlighted. Although aggressive suppression of HCV-RNA with induction therapy (daily and/or higher doses) or long-acting pegylated interferon preparations may improve the current results of therapy, few data are yet available. Finally, the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with protease inhibitors holds promise but has yet to reach the stage of clinical trials.
Gravity Waves in a Horizontal Shear Flow. Part I: Growth Mechanisms in the Absence of Potential Vorticity Perturbations

Interaction of internal gravity waves with a horizontal shear flow in the absence of potential vorticity perturbations is investigated making use of closed-form solutions. Localized wave packet trajectories are obtained, the energy growth mechanisms occurring are identified, and the potential role of perturbation growth in wave breaking is assessed. Regarding meridional propagation, the wave packet motion is limited by turning levels where the waves are reflected and trapping levels where the waves stagnate. Regarding perturbation energy amplification, two growth mechanisms can be distinguished: growth due to advection of zonal velocity and growth due to downgradient Reynolds stresses. The three-dimensional perturbations producing optimal energy growth reveal that these two mechanisms produce large and robust amplification of zonal velocity and/or density and vertical velocity, potentially leading to shear or convective instability. For large static stability, amplification of density perturbations in conjunction with vertical orientation of the constant phase lines close to the trapping level potentially leads to a convective collapse of the wave packet near the trapping level, in agreement with existing direct numerical simulation studies. For lower static stability and for waves with phase lines oriented horizontally, growth due to advection of zonal velocity dominates, leading to rapid growth of streamwise streaks within the localized wave packet and potentially to shear instability.
Selection of Pilot buses for VAR Support Considering N-1 Contingency Criteria

This paper proposes a new approach for the identification of possible bus location, pilot buses, for reactive power support that will improve voltage stability and security. A continuation power flow based N-1 contingency analysis is performed alongside the reactive power management to pinpoint the locations for the VAR support provided in this study by an SVC. The approach is through the optimization of a performance index that account for worst voltage deviations at all load buses and at the same time maximizing the loading margin. A case study of the proposed approach is performed on the IEEE 14 bus system and when compared to existing methods, it shows that the proposed approach gives better results
Infection Control and Employee Health: AIDS Update Part 2

The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) continues to perplex health care providers. As our knowledge has increased, so has the number of questions, especially those related to infection control and employee health. Since the last time AIDS was reviewed in this column, additional information has become available which elaborates on some of the infection control aspects of this disease. The human T-cell lymphotropic retrovirus (HTLV-III) appears to be the cause of AIDS. Other names used for HTLV-III are lymphadenopathy-associated virus (LAV) and AIDS-associated retrovirus. So called co-factors may be necessary to initiate disease after an individual acquires HTLV-III infection. Agents such as cytomegalovirus, the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple exposures to HTLV-III have been suggested as possible cofactors. Only a relatively small percentage of individuals who acquire HTLV-III antibody eventually develop overt disease or “full-blown AIDS.” Studies to date have shown that after 1 to 5 years of follow-up, 4% to 19% of seropositives developed AIDS. In addition, the spectrum of disease caused by HTLV-III appears to be broader than originally thought. An additional 25% of those with antibody may have developed AIDS-related diseases including neurological symptoms, fever, weight loss, diarrhea, oral candidiasis and lymphadenopathy during the follow-up period.
Steady Aerodynamics of Thick and Cambered Airfoils with Porosity Gradients

This theoretical study determines the pressure distribution over an airfoil with prescribed thickness, camber, and porosity distributions in a steady incompressible flow. A Darcy porosity condition on the airfoil surface furnishes a Fredholm integral equation, that permits an exact solution for Holder-continuous porosity distributions. Closed-form expressions for pressure distribution and lift coefficient are obtained in the special case of a thin, cambered airfoil with uniform porosity, which agree with established results in the literature. Finally, a class of differentiable porosity distributions are studied that approach a piecewise, discontinuous function in a certain parametric limit, which is representative of partially-porous airfoils with camber. The general Holder-continuous solution is further verified in this limit against partially-porous results in literature and is compared against experimental SD7003 porous airfoil aerodynamic measurements.
Multiple Strength Tests of Industrial Fasteners as an Educational Case Study

The advantages and challenges of the study of fastener materials is investigated as a teaching tool. The importance of the different types of material strength are investigated in a readily available, highly variable, low cost, ubiquitous, critical machine component.
Polycythemia Vera and Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia

Age complications bring these patients to primary physicians more frequently than would be expected from incidence or prevalence statistics alone. Therapy is symptomatic. Termination in acute leukemia occurs in both conditions and the risk may be increased by radiation or myelosuppressive drugs. Careful management can prolong survival in polycythemia vera and improve the quality of life in both conditions.
Flipping Content to Improve Student Examination Performance in a Pharmacogenomics Course

Objective. To develop, implement, and evaluate active learning in a flipped class to improve student examination performance in the genetic foundations of pharmacogenomics. Design. The flipped classroom model was adopted in which a guided-inquiry learning activity was developed and conducted to complement recorded, previously viewed didactic lectures. The activity was constructed to focus on critical thinking and application of core principles of genetic crosses and pedigree analysis. A combination of independent work and active discussion with volunteer and guided student response provided student-facilitator interaction. Assessment. Student learning was evaluated by comparing pretest and posttest formative assessment results and by the comparison of prior years' examination performance on a subset of content for which no flipped classroom learning activities occurred. There was no significant difference between examination scores between the flipped classroom and previous approaches. An item-by-item analysis of the content reflected a significant change in performance on questions addressed in the flipped classroom exercise. Conclusion. The flipped class instructional model in this project included active-learning activities and formative assessments that provided students spaced and repetitive curricular engagement. The intervention transformed the classroom interactions of faculty members and students and contributed to improved student examination performance.
Detection of Variant Transthyretin Genes by Restriction Analysis of PCR-Amplified Genomic DNA

Many of the DNA point mutations causing TTR variants lead to the formation or destruction of a restriction site; the new restriction pattern can be used to detect DNA variants after amplification of TTR coding regions by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We have PCR-amplified genomic DNA in order to detect 5 different TTR mutations associated with amyloidosis. These techniques are useful for genetic testing for TTR variants associated with disease.
Power-density aware floorplanning for reducing maximum on-chip temperature

With microprocessor power densities escalating rapidly as technology scales below 100nm level, there is an urgent need for developing innovative cooling solutions. In this paper, we introduce the concept of power-density aware thermal floorplanning and demonstrate its efficacy in reducing maximum on-chip temperature. We argue that Compact Thermal Model (CTM) based floorplanners will be hard pressed by time-to-market pressure for placing circuits having large number of modules. To circumvent this problem, we present a novel power-density aware floorplanning technique for reducing the maximum on-chip temperature that has much less runtime compared to CTM based floorplanners. Based on our method we develop a floorplanner that we name COOLER. Instead of using the conventional Simulated Annealing procedure, COOLER uses a highly efficient Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm to generate the Pareto-front. Experimental results on MCNC benchmark demonstrate that COOLER is 11x-146x faster than HOTFLOORPLAN. We use HOTSPOT for thermal simulation of the layouts produced by COOLER. Finally, we validate our method by demonstrating that HOTFLOORPLAN solutions lie on the Pareto-front generated by COOLER. It was found that by careful arrangement of components at the architecture level, the average reduction in peak temperature produced by HOTFLOORPLAN and COOLER was 15.1°C and 15.3°C respectively.
Recent Advances in Catalyst Technology for High Quality Fuels and Lubes

A major challenge for the petroleum and petrochemical industries is to derive the greatest value from each feed molecule. More highly selective catalysts are critical to improving manufacturing efficiency, energy conservation, and environmental compliance. Based on the strengths of its two heritage companies, ExxonMobil has built a catalyst technology platform centered on novel materials comprising new zeolites, mesoporous materials, metal oxides, and supported metals. This paper highlights ExxonMobil's recent advances in catalyst technology for producing cleaner fuels and better lube products.
An Image-Based Computational Framework for Analyzing Disease Occurrence and Treatment Outcome in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is generally attributed to the progressive vascular accumulation of lipoproteins that lead to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the lower extremities. The disease process is largely regulated by the local hemodynamics and biophysical conditions. In this work, an isogeometric analysis framework is presented to analyze blood flow and vascular deposition of circulating nanoparticles (NPs) in the superficial femoral artery (SFA) of a PAD patient followed up over 24 months. The patient-specific geometry of the blood vessel and the hemodynamic conditions are derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), performed at baseline and 24-months after stent-implantation. A dramatic improvement in blood flow dynamics is observed post-intervention resulting in a 500 % increase in peak flow rate as a consequence of luminal enlargement. Furthermore, flow simulations reveal a 32 % drop in mean oscillatory shear index, indicating reduced disturbed flow post-intervention. The same patient-specific data is then used to predict in silico the vascular deposition of systemically injected nanomedicine. These NPs are targeted to inflammatory cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) such as vascular cell adhesion molecules (VCAM-1) that are known to overexpress at the diseased site. Results show that VCAM-1 directed NPs preferentially accumulate near the stenosis in the baseline configuration. Such selective deposition of NPs within the stenosis could be effectively used for the detection and treatment of plaques forming in the SFA. The proposed MRI-based computational protocol can be used to analyze data from clinical trials to explore possible correlations between hemodynamics and disease progression in PAD patients, and potentially predict disease occurrence as well as the outcome of an intervention.
Optimal Testing for Crowd Workers

Requesters on crowdsourcing platforms, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, routinely insert gold questions to verify that a worker is diligent and is providing high-quality answers. However, there is no clear understanding of when and how many gold questions to insert. Typically, requesters mix a flat 10-30% of gold questions into the task stream of every worker. This static policy is arbitrary and wastes valuable budget --- the exact percentage is often chosen with little experimentation, and, more importantly, it does not adapt to individual workers, the current mixture of spamming vs. diligent workers, or the number of tasks workers perform before quitting.We formulate the problem of balancing between (1) testing workers to determine their accuracy and (2) actually getting work performed as a partially-observable Markov decision process (POMDP) and apply reinforcement learning to dynamically calculate the best policy. Evaluations on both synthetic data and with real Mechanical Turk workers show that our agent learns adaptive testing policies that produce up to 111% more reward than the non-adaptive policies used by most requesters. Furthermore, our method is fully automated, easy to apply, and runs mostly out of the box.
P-FatTree: A multi-channel datacenter network topology

The bandwidth and latency requirements of next-generation datacenter networks stress the limits of CMOS manufacturing. A key trend in their design will be a move from single-channel links and switches to multi-channel links and switches. Today's network topologies erase this distinction, providing the illusion of a unified network fabric. In this work we propose P-FatTree, which is a FatTree topology designed specifically for the future multi-channel reality. P-FatTree requires fewer switch chips and as a result has lower cost, power consumption, and latency than existing approaches. Furthermore, by embracing the parallel nature of the network itself, it enables compelling new ways to better manage and deliver application traffic.
Preclinical positron emission tomography scanner based on a monolithic annulus of scintillator: initial design study.

Positron emission tomography (PET) scanners designed for imaging of small animals have transformed translational research by reducing the necessity to invasively monitor physiology and disease progression. Virtually all of these scanners are based on the use of pixelated detector modules arranged in rings. This design, while generally successful, has some limitations. Specifically, use of discrete detector modules to construct PET scanners reduces detection sensitivity and can introduce artifacts in reconstructed images, requiring the use of correction methods. To address these challenges, and facilitate measurement of photon depth-of-interaction in the detector, we investigated a small animal PET scanner (called AnnPET) based on a monolithic annulus of scintillator. The scanner was created by placing 12 flat facets around the outer surface of the scintillator to accommodate placement of silicon photomultiplier arrays. Its performance characteristics were explored using Monte Carlo simulations and sections of the NEMA NU4-2008 protocol. Results from this study revealed that AnnPET’s reconstructed spatial resolution is predicted to be ∼1 mm full width at half maximum in the radial, tangential, and axial directions. Peak detection sensitivity is predicted to be 10.1%. Images of simulated phantoms (mini-hot rod and mouse whole body) yielded promising results, indicating the potential of this system for enhancing PET imaging of small animals.
The emerging ‘science of social work’ in the United States and German-speaking countries: A comparison:

The aim of this article is to begin a comparison between an emerging ‘science of social work’ in the United States and German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Germany, and Austria), with the intent...
Home Health Care: Nurse-Physician Communication, Patient Severity, and Hospital Readmission.

Objective To evaluate whether communication failures between home health care nurses and physicians during an episode of home care after hospital discharge are associated with hospital readmission, stratified by patients at high and low risk of readmission. Data Source/Study Setting We linked Visiting Nurse Services of New York electronic medical records for patients with congestive heart failure in 2008 and 2009 to hospitalization claims data for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. Study Design Linear regression models and a propensity score matching approach were used to assess the relationship between communication failure and 30-day readmission, separately for patients with high-risk and low-risk readmission probabilities. Data Collection/Extraction Methods Natural language processing was applied to free-text data in electronic medical records to identify failures in communication between home health nurses and physicians. Principal Findings Communication failure was associated with a statistically significant 9.7 percentage point increase in the probability of a patient readmission (32.6 percent of the mean) among high-risk patients. Conclusions Poor communication between home health nurses and physicians is associated with an increased risk of hospital readmission among high-risk patients. Efforts to reduce readmissions among this population should consider focusing attention on this factor.
Short-period surface-wave phase velocities across the conterminous United States

Abstract Surface-wave phase-velocity maps for the full footprint of the USArray Transportable Array (TA) across the conterminous United States are developed and tested. Three-component, long-period continuous seismograms recorded on more than 1800 seismometers, most of which were deployed for 18 months or longer, are processed using a noise cross-correlation technique to derive inter-station Love and Rayleigh dispersion curves at periods between 5 and 40 s. The phase-velocity measurements are quality controlled using an automated algorithm and then used in inversions for Love and Rayleigh phase-velocity models at discrete periods on a 0.25°-by-0.25° pixel grid. The robustness of the results is examined using comparisons of maps derived from subsets of the data. A winter–summer division of the cross-correlation data results in small model differences, indicating relatively minor sensitivity of the results to seasonal variations in the distribution of noise sources. Division of the dispersion data based on inter-station azimuth does not result in geographically coherent model differences, suggesting that azimuthal anisotropy at the regional scale is weak compared with variations in isotropic velocities and does not substantially influence the results for isotropic velocities. The phase-velocity maps and dispersion measurements are documented and made available as data products of the 10-year-long USArray TA deployment.
Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) in the Head and Neck Cancer Team

While treatments for head and neck cancer are aimed at curing patients from disease, they can have significant short- and long-term negative impacts on speech and swallowing functions. Research demonstrates that early and frequent involvement of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) is beneficial to these functions and overall quality of life for head and neck cancer patients. Strategies and tools to optimize communication and safe swallowing are presented in this chapter.
Prescription side effects: Long-term, high-frequency controlled burning enhances nitrogen availability in an Illinois oak-dominated forest

Abstract Controlled burning is a common management technique used to control invasive understory plants and promote oak regeneration throughout the prairie-forest ecotone and across eastern deciduous forests. However, prescribed burning effects on oak forest and woodland soils remain largely unknown. As fire has significant and often disproportionate impacts on soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), evaluating the impacts of repeated, low-intensity prescribed burning on oak forest soil is fundamental for understanding and predicting burning effects on vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functions. The goal of this study was to evaluate relative changes in soil C and nutrient dynamics in response to three decades of annual, low-intensity controlled burning in an oak-dominated forest in northern Illinois. We found that annual burning increased soil organic and inorganic N availability and microbial biomass N. Burning also increased N cycling rates and N-degrading enzyme activity in the 5–15 cm soil layer. Surprisingly, annual burning had little effect on soil P pools and fluxes, likely due to intrinsically high soil P availability. Similarly, though total soil C increased, burning did not alter available C concentrations, microbial biomass C, C-degrading enzyme activities, or C mineralization rates. As such, annual burning created a positive feedback on inorganic N production, altering relationships among C, N, and P. In contrast with management goals, controlled burning often fails to enhance oak proliferation or decrease the abundance of invasive plants. As Eastern forests were historically N-limited, our study suggests a potential mechanism behind these restoration outcomes: frequent, low-intensity burning may produce soil environments that are incompatible with restoration goals.
Economics of Pest Control

The economics of pest control is a subfield of economic inquiry that seeks to improve understanding about the determinants and consequences of the pest control decisions and polices of agricultural producers, governmental agencies, firms, and individuals. This article describes the magnitude of the problem facing agricultural producers, reviews the literature examining economic decision rules governing pest control and the equilibrium implications of pest control decisions under spatial and intertemporal externalities, and briefly discusses some current research issues.
Review of Other Methods

Below a brief review of some other methods in the theory of compressible fluid flow is given in order that the reader may have a clear picture of some possibilities at the present time in that field. The author particularly emphasizes the fact that not all available methods are included in the present brief review but only some of them for illustrative purposes. All shock-phenomena and -theories, the methods of characteristics, limiting lines, a thorough discussion of the conical field theory, unsteady flow, special two- and three-dimensional airfoil theories, etc., are excluded from this review.
Tree mortality following drought in the central and southern Sierra Nevada, California, U.S.

Much of California, U.S. experienced a severe drought in 2012–2015 inciting a large tree mortality event in the central and southern Sierra Nevada. We assessed causal agents and rates of tree mortality, and short-term impacts to forest structure and composition based on a network of 11.3-m fixed-radius plots installed within three elevation bands on the Eldorado, Stanislaus, Sierra and Sequoia National Forests (914–1219, 1219–1524 and 1524–1829 m on the Eldorado, Stanislaus, Sierra; 1219–1524, 1524–1829, and 1829–2134 m on the Sequoia), where tree mortality was most severe. About 48.9% of trees died between 2014 and 2017. Tree mortality ranged from 46.1 ± 3.3% on the Eldorado National Forest to 58.7 ± 3.7% on the Sierra National Forest. Significantly higher levels of tree mortality occurred in the low elevation band (60.4 ± 3.0%) compared to the high elevation band (46.1 ± 2.9%). Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws., exhibited the highest levels of tree mortality (89.6%), with 39.4% of plots losing all P. ponderosa. Mortality of P. ponderosa was highest at the lowest elevations, concentrated in larger-diameter trees, and attributed primarily to colonization by western pine beetle, Dendroctonus brevicomis LeConte. About 89% of P. ponderosa in the three largest diameter classes were killed, representing loss of an important structural component of these forests with implications to wildlife species of conservation concern. Sugar pine, P. lambertiana Dougl., exhibited the second highest levels of tree mortality (48.1%). Mortality of P. lambertiana was concentrated in the mid-diameter classes and attributed primarily to colonization by mountain pine beetle, D. ponderosae Hopkins. White fir, Abies concolor (Gord. & Glend.) Lindl. ex Hildebr., and incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens (Torr.) Florin, exhibited 26.3% and 23.2% mortality, respectively. Only one Quercus died. Tree mortality (numbers of trees killed) was positively correlated with tree density and slope. A time lag was observed between the occurrence of drought and the majority of tree mortality. Tree regeneration (seedlings and saplings) was dominated by C. decurrens and Quercus spp., representing a potential long-term shift in composition from forests that were dominated by P. ponderosa. About 22.2% of plots contained plant species considered invasive, including cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum L., ripgut brome, Bromus diandrus Roth, bull thistle, Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten., and yellow star-thistle, Centaura solstitalis L. The implications of these and other results to recovery and management of drought-impacted forests in the central and southern Sierra Nevada are discussed.
Optical Configuration of the ngVLA Double-Offset Reflector Antenna

TPID5179463. This study was undertaken to narrow down the design options for the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) antenna.
Identification of Degradation Pathways of Organic Solar Cells Using Infrared Spectroscopy

The degradation of organic solar cells is one of the most urgent problems facing further scientific and commercial development of organic electronics. Degradation can occur in the presence of light exposure together with external oxygen and moisture. We utilize infrared (IR) spectroscopy to identify IR active vibrational modes and the atomistic changes occurring during degradation of organic solar cell films, before and after degradation. We find measurable changes when light exposure is performed in the presence of oxygen or an ambient environment. The low band gap PTB7-PCBM blend and PTB7 films display significant increases of increased absorption at 1727 cm−1attributable to increased C=O modes in conjunction with a broad increase at 3240 cnr attributed to hydroxyl (OH) groups within polymer. Ab-initio modeling indicates that this can be explained by an oxidation of the PTB7 polymer at the a-C site and a irreversible cleaving of the polymer. Light induced degradation performed in the absence of oxygen/moisture do not lead to large changes in the IR active modes. P3HT-PCBM blends do demonstrate small changes around 2500 cm−1 after light soaking, that may be connected to local H-motion induced rearrangements. Films exposed to the ambient atmosphere in the dark do not show IR active changes, identifying photo-excited singlet oxygen to be detrimental. The identification of light induced changes in atomic bonding configurations can open up pathways to stabilizing organic solar cells.
Globalization and Pedagogy of Peace

This chapter discusses a number of those things that I believe represent essential dimensions of a pedagogy of peace. It describes some of those moral, social, and spiritual aspects of human behavior and dispositions that are needed in order to bring about that transformation toward peace in our collective lives. The chapter argues that these will form the anchor points for a curriculum of peace. The chapter draws on multiple cultural traditions in naming these dimensions of the language of peace.