cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adaptive modulation using outdated samples of another fading channel

Adaptive transmission techniques, such as adaptive modulation and coding, adaptive power control, adaptive transmitter antenna diversity, etc., generally require precise channel estimation and channel state information (CSI) feedback. For fast vehicle speeds, reliable adaptive transmission also requires prediction of future CSI since the channel conditions are rapidly time-variant. We propose to use past channel observations of one carrier to predict future CSI and perform adaptive modulation without feedback for another correlated carrier. A statistical model of the prediction error that depends on the frequency and time correlation is developed and is used in the design of reliable adaptive modulation methods. Significant gains relative to non-adaptive techniques are demonstrated for sufficiently correlated channels and realistic prediction range.
Comparison of Strength Development in Waste Industrial Gypsum Produced by the Hemihydrate and Dihydrate Processes

Phosphogypsum produced by the hemihydrate process was characterized and compared to that produced by the dihydrate process. Neutralization with NaOH and Ca(OH)2 was studied. Stabilization with Type I portland cement and fly ash was investigated to see if the phosphogypsum developed enough strength to be used in road construction. Increasing the amount of neutralizer to adjust the pH level above 7, increasing the curing period to 7 d, and/or increasing the cement content increased the strength of phosphogypsum. The effect of grinding on grading and strength development was also studied. After achieving the required strength, extended curing periods above 28 d caused strength reversal. Using 20% fly ash is beneficial and did not show strength reversal. Further studies on prolonged curing times and on using cements with low tricalcium aluminate are needed.
SPOT! Fetch Light: Interactive navigable 3D visualization of direct sunlight

SPOT is a 3D environment for direct sunlight visualization. Implemented in Java 3D, SPOT features two distinct and complementary components: Time Projection and Navigable Animation for virtual interaction. SPOT supports multi-dimensional data visualization including sun angle variations with diurnal and annual cycles in three-dimensional space. In SPOT, users can sketch on any surface in the 3D environment to indicate the area for simulation. SPOT then generates a spatial distribution representation of the illuminance level on a selected surface over time, rendered with colors of varied gradients. SPOT also enables designers to visualize the temporal information of light distribution over time for a given point. For each point clicked on the 3D model, SPOT generates a calendar diagram where the X and Y axes represent the months of the year and the time of the day. The color of each cell of the calendar is the result of the calculation of the light amount reaching the selected point.
Rates of DSM-IV-TR Trauma Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Newly Matriculated College Students.

The negotiation of the freedoms and responsibilities introduced as adolescents begin college may be particularly challenging for those with a trauma history and traumatic stress sequelae (posttraumatic stress disorder; PTSD). The present study examined the prevalence of and risk for trauma and PTSD in a large sample of college students. Matriculating students (N 3,014; 1,763 female, 1,251 male) at two U.S. universities completed online and paper assessments. Sixty-six percent reported exposure to a Criterion A trauma. Nine percent met criteria for PTSD. Female gender was a risk factor for trauma exposure. Gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were associated with trauma severity. Although in bivariate models, gender and SES were associated with PTSD, multivariate analyses suggested this risk was a function of trauma severity. Thus, students enter college with significant trauma histories and PTSD symptoms. Findings highlight the potential for outreach to incoming students with trauma and point to research directions to enhance understanding of the psychological needs of entering college students.
A wavelet-based approximation of surface coil sensitivity profiles for correction of image intensity inhomogeneity and parallel imaging reconstruction.

We evaluate a wavelet-based algorithm to estimate the coil sensitivity modulation from surface coils. This information is used to improve the image homogeneity of magnetic resonance imaging when a surface coil is used for reception, and to increase image encoding speed by reconstructing images from under-sampled (aliased) acquisitions using parallel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods for higher spatiotemporal image resolutions. The proposed algorithm estimates the spatial sensitivity profile of surface coils from the original anatomical images directly without using the body coil for additional reference scans or using coil position markers for electromagnetic model-based calculations. No prior knowledge about the anatomy is required for the application of the algorithm. The estimation of the coil sensitivity profile based on the wavelet transform of the original image data was found to provide a robust method for removing the slowly varying spatial sensitivity pattern of the surface coil image and recovering full FOV images from two-fold acceleration in 8-channel parallel MRI. The results, using bi-orthogonal Daubechies 97 wavelets and other members in this family, are evaluated for T1-weighted and T2-weighted brain imaging.
Comparisons of the fidelity of transcription of RNA polymerase I and II following N-hydroxy-2 acetylaminofluorene treatment

Using hepatic RNA polymerase I and II from either normal or N-2-hydroxy-2-acetylaminofluorene (N-OH-AAF)-treated rats or E. coli RNA polymerase, the degree of misincorporation of noncomplementary nucleotides was assessed with the synthetic templates, poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) and poly (dA-dT).poly(dA-dT). The predominant base-pair transformation that was transcribed in the presence of Mg++ or Mn++ by RNA polymerase I from control or N-OH-AAF-treated animals or by E. coli RNA polymerase with poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC) as template was the transversion, dG-rC to dG-rA; however, transcription in the presence of Mg++ by RNA polymerase II from carcinogen-treated animals showed a statistically greater degree of the base-pair transformation, dG-rC to dG-rU. In contrast, RNA polymerase I and II from control or N-OH-AAF-treated animals transcribed the base-pair transformation, dA-rU to dA-rG, dA-rU to dA-rC and dA-rU to dA-rA to equal extents with poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT) as template. E. coli RNA polymerase transcribed the latter template to produce only the transversion, dA-rU to dA-rG. These results suggest that RNA polymerases are capable of miscopying synthetic DNA templates. The consequences of base-pair transformations on the fidelity of transcription after carcinogen treatment is discussed.
New Estuarine Measurement Equipment and Techniques (Coastal Engineering Conference in Santa Barbara, California, October 1965)

New hydraulic, radiologic, and sedimentologic measurement equipment and techniques have been developed for the study of radio-nuclide movement in the Columbia River estuary. With a new system, vertical velocity distributions are measured rapidly with a single continuously-moving boat and sufficient observations can be made in 1.5 hr to provide data for computing instantaneous water discharge at wide sections of the estuary. A radiation detector that is mounted in a sled permits radioactivity in the streambed to be monitored conveniently. Large-volume sampling and high-flow filter equipment facilitate the collection and separation of large representative suspended-sediment samples. A vibratory sampler capable of collecting 6-ft cores of bed sediment is portable and can be used to sample sandy bottoms in flow velocities up to about 5 fps. All the equipment may be used for hydrologic studies in other estuaries and rivers.
The Role of Location in Competition

(1994). The Role of Location in Competition. International Journal of the Economics of Business: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 35-40.
LED kimono

In pre-war Japan, kimonos were encoded with clues indicating gender, caste, age, class, and social ranking. Geographical location defined the colors, as certain plants that produced particular colors only grow in certain regions. Silk techniques are also regional, and the difference between fine and rough silk indicated relative wealth.
Tunable VCSELs

We review basic principle and recent advances in wavelength engineering of VCSEL and discuss how the VCSEL structure has been used to effectively control the laser emission. We discuss the design, fabrication, performance and applications of wavelength tunable VCSELs using MEMS.
Effect of Inspection Strategies on the Weight and Lifecycle Cost of Airplanes

Inspections of aircrafts fuselage panels are performed periodically, at scheduled intervals, to repair damage that can threaten the safety of the structure. Recently, structural health monitoring techniques have been developed that use sensors and actuators to detect damage, paving way for condition-based maintenance. This paper quantifies the effect of inspection strategies on the safety and lifetime cost of an airplane. The lifecycle of an airplane was modeled as blocks of damage propagation interspersed with inspection. The Paris model with uncertain parameters is used to model fatigue damage growth, and the detection process by inspections is modeled by the Palmberg equation. Two inspection strategies are compared based on their effect of optimal weight and lifecycle cost of the panel, while maintaining a desired level of reliability. Direct integration procedure computes the reliability for a given set of maintenance parameters. It is found that the better inspection model leads to about 15% savings in weight of airplane and about 35% savings in lifecycle cost of an airplane over scheduled maintenance.
Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Photonic Crystals by Templated Atomic Layer Deposition

We report investigations of atomic layer deposition for 3-D structure modification. Application to opal templates shows that dielectric inversion, large pore structures and conformal backfilling significantly enhance the photonic band gap and optical functionality.
Thematic review series: Recent advances in the treatment of lysosomal storage diseases.

The identifi cation of the lysosome as a unique cellular organelle by Christian de Duve ( 1 ) occurred less than sixty years ago. The importance of his discovery was immediately appreciated when several monogenic diseases arising from the loss of lysosomal enzyme activities were identifi ed. Over fi fty lysosomal disorders have subsequently been identifi ed to date. Most of these diseases were linked to lysosomal proteins that were identifi ed by the traditional cell fractionation techniques employed by de Duve. However, with recent advances in proteomics ( 2 ) and transcriptomics ( 3 ), undoubtedly many new lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are likely to be identifi ed. Among the fi fty known LSDs, several are associated with impaired lipid metabolism or of lipid-associated modifi cations of proteins and so represent an appropriate focus for the Journal of Lipid Research . Studies on these lipidoses have led to important advances in biochemistry, cell biology, and medicine. These advances include the delineation of the anabolic and catabolic pathways for sphingolipid metabolism, insights into protein traffi cking mechanisms, and the role of the lysosome in autophagy and cell death, to name but
Alcohol and marijuana use trajectories in a diverse longitudinal sample of adolescents: examining use patterns from age 11 to 17 years.

AIMS: We tested race/ethnic differences in alcohol and marijuana (AM) trajectories (comprising an intercept term; reflecting overall probability of use, and a slope term; reflecting change in probability of use) during adolescence, whether AM use trajectories predicted high school outcomes, and whether outcomes differed by race/ethnicity after controlling for trajectory of AM use. DESIGN: This longitudinal study involved n = 6,509 youth from 16 middle schools in Southern California surveyed from age 11.5 (2008) to age 17 (2015); all surveys assessed AM use, and the final survey also examined high school outcomes. SETTING: Youth completed five surveys in middle school and two online surveys in high school. PARTICIPANTS: The sample was 50% male and 80% non-White. MEASUREMENTS: Intercept (at 2.75 years post baseline) and slope of AM use were examined as outcomes for race/ethnic differences. AM use trajectories were examined as predictors of academic performance and unpreparedness, social functioning, mental and physical health, and delinquency. FINDINGS: We found differences in trajectories of use by race/ethnicity with white youth reporting a higher overall intercept of alcohol use compared to all other groups (v. Asian p CONCLUSIONS: Greater AM use was associated with worse functioning in high school for all youth. After controlling for AM use, non-White youth reported worse outcomes in high school for academics and health.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Language: en
Review: Incretin therapy improves glycemic control more than placebo in patients with type 2 diabetes

Source Citation Amori RE, Lau J, Pittas AG. Efficacy and safety of incretin therapy in type 2 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2007;298:194-206. 17622601
Copper Capture in a Thioether-Functionalized Porous Polymer Applied to the Detection of Wilson’s Disease

Copper is an essential nutrient for life, but at the same time, hyperaccumulation of this redox-active metal in biological fluids and tissues is a hallmark of pathologies such as Wilson's and Menkes diseases, various neurodegenerative diseases, and toxic environmental exposure. Diseases characterized by copper hyperaccumulation are currently challenging to identify due to costly diagnostic tools that involve extensive technical workup. Motivated to create simple yet highly selective and sensitive diagnostic tools, we have initiated a program to develop new materials that can enable monitoring of copper levels in biological fluid samples without complex and expensive instrumentation. Herein, we report the design, synthesis, and properties of PAF-1-SMe, a robust three-dimensional porous aromatic framework (PAF) densely functionalized with thioether groups for selective capture and concentration of copper from biofluids as well as aqueous samples. PAF-1-SMe exhibits a high selectivity for copper over other biologically relevant metals, with a saturation capacity reaching over 600 mg/g. Moreover, the combination of PAF-1-SMe as a material for capture and concentration of copper from biological samples with 8-hydroxyquinoline as a colorimetric indicator affords a method for identifying aberrant elevations of copper in urine samples from mice with Wilson's disease and also tracing exogenously added copper in serum. This divide-and-conquer sensing strategy, where functional and robust porous materials serve as molecular recognition elements that can be used to capture and concentrate analytes in conjunction with molecular indicators for signal readouts, establishes a valuable starting point for the use of porous polymeric materials in noninvasive diagnostic applications.
Generation of Parabiotic Zebrafish Embryos by Surgical Fusion of Developing Blastulae

Surgical parabiosis of two animals of different genetic backgrounds creates a unique scenario to study cell-intrinsic versus cell-extrinsic roles for candidate genes of interest, migratory behaviors of cells, and secreted signals in distinct genetic settings. Because parabiotic animals share a common circulation, any blood or blood-borne factor from one animal will be exchanged with its partner and vice versa. Thus, cells and molecular factors derived from one genetic background can be studied in the context of a second genetic background. Parabiosis of adult mice has been used extensively to research aging, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and brain development. More recently, parabiosis of zebrafish embryos has been used to study the developmental biology of hematopoiesis. In contrast to mice, the transparent nature of zebrafish embryos permits the direct visualization of cells in the parabiotic context, making it a uniquely powerful method for investigating fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms. The utility of this technique, however, is limited by a steep learning curve for generating the parabiotic zebrafish embryos. This protocol provides a step-by-step method on how to surgically fuse the blastulae of two zebrafish embryos of different genetic backgrounds to investigate the role of candidate genes of interest. In addition, the parabiotic zebrafish embryos are tolerant to heat shock, making temporal control of gene expression possible. This method does not require a sophisticated set-up and has broad applications for studying cell migration, fate specification, and differentiation in vivo during embryonic development.
Electron Cloud Observations at RHIC in Run-3 (2002/03)

In the Run-2 (2001), an unexpected vacuum pressure was observed with increasing currents in both gold and proton operation at RHIC. This pressure increase due to molecular desorption is suspected to be induced mainly by electron multipacting, but other causes may coexist. In order to obtain a reliable diagnostic of the phenomenon, electron detectors have been designed, and finally installed in the RHIC ring. The use of solenoids as a possible cure for the phenomenon has also been evaluated. This report describes both instrumentation and measurements during Run-3 (2002/03) at RHIC.
Replication-Dependent Unhooking of DNA Interstrand Cross-Links by the NEIL3 Glycosylase

During eukaryotic DNA interstrand cross-link (ICL) repair, cross-links are resolved (“unhooked”) by nucleolytic incisions surrounding the lesion. In vertebrates, ICL repair is triggered when replication forks collide with the lesion, leading to FANCI-FANCD2-dependent unhooking and formation of a double-strand break (DSB) intermediate. Using Xenopus egg extracts, we describe here a replication-coupled ICL repair pathway that does not require incisions or FANCI-FANCD2. Instead, the ICL is unhooked when one of the two N-glycosyl bonds forming the cross-link is cleaved by the DNA glycosylase NEIL3. Cleavage by NEIL3 is the primary unhooking mechanism for psoralen and abasic site ICLs. When N-glycosyl bond cleavage is prevented, unhooking occurs via FANCI-FANCD2-dependent incisions. In summary, we identify an incision-independent unhooking mechanism that avoids DSB formation and represents the preferred pathway of ICL repair in a vertebrate cell-free system.
The Physics of Time Travel: II

So far we have limited our consideration of relativity theory to speeds below the speed of light—that is, to the condition v c? This is not an empty question, because the second half of the above quote that opens this section is simply not true. That isn’t to say we can have FTL for free; there is a high price to pay, that of causality violation (although, if you are a fan of time travel, it’s a price you are probably happy to pay). If a material object goes FTL, then the mathematics seems to say that the object could travel into the past, just as the caped crusader does in the first (1978) Superman movie, in order to change the past (to save Lois Lane from dying in an earthquake). In addition, the mathematics also seems to say that if a signal bearing information could achieve FTL, then that information, too, would travel back into the past (see Fig. 6.1).
A Case Study of Leadership in the Middle Grades: The Work of the Instructional Lead Teacher

Abstract Since the mid-1960s, public school districts across the United States have struggled to create a developmental-ly appropriate learning environment that meets the needs of students in the middle grades. When junior highschools began to more closely resemble senior high schools (departmental organization, use of lecture), mid-dle schools began to emerge (Romano & Georgiady, 1994). Since 1970, the number of middle schools in theUnited States has increased from 2,080 in 1970 to 10,944 1998 (426%). During the same time period, juniorhigh schools decreased by 52% from 7,437 in 1970 to 3,599 in 1998 (National Center for Education Statistics,1999).While much research has been conducted concerning students and teaming at the middle school level, noresearch could be found concerning instructional lead teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine thework of a middle school instructional lead teacher and to chronicle his efforts to emerge as an instructionalleader.________________________________
Extrahepatic Manifestations of Hepatitis C Virus After Liver Transplantation

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a leading cause of chronic liver disease in the United States. Although the hepatic impact of chronic HCV leading to cirrhosis and the need for liver transplantation is paramount, the extrahepatic manifestations of chronic HCV infection are equally important. In particular, a better understanding of the prevalence and impact of extrahepatic manifestations of chronic HCV infection in the post-liver transplant setting relies on understanding the interplay between the effects of chronic HCV infection in a posttransplant environment characterized by strong immunosuppression and the associated risks of this milieu.
Accumulation of a Protein Associated with Plant Defense in Powdery Mildew Resistant Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Abstract This study was conducted to better understand the nature of powdery mildew resistance in flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.) and in particular to determine if inducible plant defense proteins are associated with powdery mildew resistance. Results from this study showed an accumulation of a new protein in resistant plants, but not in susceptible plants that were challenged with powdery mildew pathogen (Erysiphe (Sect. Microsphaera) pulchra). The protein accumulated in a high level in the resistant selections at 48 hr after inoculation with the pathogen and that was consistent with the production of pathogenesis related (PR) proteins. The protein was characterized as having an isoelectric point of 7.5 ± 0.5 and molecular weight of 18 ± 2 KD. Partial sequence analysis of this protein revealed homology with PR-10 protein associated with drought resistance in potato and was analogous to other proteins related to resistance in other crops. Repeated analysis showed similar results and suggested that a...
An analysis of query-agnostic sampling for interactive data exploration

ABSTRACTData analysts often explore a large database to identify the data of interest, but may not be able to specify the exact query to send to the database. A manual data exploration process is labor intensive and time-consuming. In the new paradigm of system-aided interactive data exploration, the Database Management System presents the samples to the user and engages the user in an interactive exploration process to identify the user interest. In this article, we examine a number of initial sampling techniques to identify at least one positive (i.e., interesting) sample and compare them both theoretically and empirically.
Elucidating the role of AgCl in the nucleation and growth of silver nanoparticles in ethylene glycol

Silver nanoparticles and nanowires can be efficiently synthesized in high yield using the polyol synthesis method. However, there are many open questions regarding the mechanisms involved, and how the size and morphology can be effectively controlled. In this work, silver nanoparticles were characterized during and after the synthesis procedure. In the early stages, crystalline silver-silver chloride nanoparticles (Ag-AgCl NPs) were the most commonly observed particles. As the reaction progressed, the fraction of Ag-AgCl NPs decreased while the fraction of isolated silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) increased. We hypothesize that the AgCl in Ag-AgCl NPs dissolves as Ag(I) into the solution and is then reduced to Ag(0), leaving the Ag portion as isolated Ag NPs with similar particle size, morphology, and microstructures. These Ag NPs accounted for the majority of the final product.
Trigger system changes for the HERMES III accelerator

This paper describes the hardware changes made to the triggering system of the HERMES III accelerator at Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico. The HERMES III accelerator is a gamma ray simulator producing 100 kRad dose per shot with a full width half max pulse duration of approximately 25 nanoseconds and averaging six shots per day. For each accelerator test, approximately 400 probe signals are recorded over approximately 65 digitizers. The original digitizer trigger system employed numerous independent legacy signal generators resulting in non-referenceable digitizer time bases. We detail our efforts to reference the digitizer time bases together using a modular and scalable approach with commercial-off-the-shelf components. This upgraded trigger system presently measures a maximum digitizer trigger time spread of less than two nanoseconds across the 65+ digitizers. This document details the hardware changes, provides a summary of the accelerator charging process, presents “one-line” trigger system diagrams and summarizes the times of interest for a typical HERMES accelerator shot.
Simon Smith’s Beyond realism: seeking the divine other: a study of applied metaphysics

Western monotheisms are founded in stories of human persons relating to the divine person. But with the problematizing of personal identity, making sense of this monotheistic scheme faces a major t...
Therapists' and clients' ratings of real relationship, attachment, therapist self-disclosure, and treatment progress.

Objective: While there has been much research on the role of the working alliance in psychotherapy, researchers only recently began investigating the role of the real relationship in treatment. Met...
Peristaltic Pumping: A Bioengineering Model

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an analysis of the ureteral peristalsis explicitly as a consequence of the muscle contraction. A number of assumptions are made for the analysis such as the fluid bolus is axisymmetric and is so slender that its diameter is much smaller than its length. This is justified in practice for normal ureters. The smooth muscle cells are uniformly distributed and oriented helically at a constant pitch in the ureteral wall. The analysis reveals that peristalsis in a hydroureter in which the lumen remains open throughout the length of the ureter is extremely ineffective in pumping the fluid. Small amplitude peristalsis in a distended ureter is, therefore, essentially irrelevant to fluid transport. Transport is possible if a segment of the ureter can effectively contract to close the lumen behind a bolus and move the fluid in that segment. The rest of the ureter may well remain passive. Thus, a silastic tubing replacing a portion of a ureter can work if there is another segment of ureter that functions normally.
Software Testing Theory

IT is common to talk about the ‘functionality’ of software, but establishing a rigorous connection between code and a precise mathematical description of the behaviors of that code is a challenging intellectual task. The syntax of code is apparent and well understood—every programmer uses it daily and tools like compilers mechanically exploit it—but the semantics that provides execution meaning to code is another matter. Any theory of software testing must be built on an underlying theory of semantics.
Impaired adhesion of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells (iPSC-CPCs) to isolated extracellular matrix from failing hearts.

Abstract We tested the hypothesis that induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells (iPSC-CPCs) are less able to adhere to the extracellular matrix (ECM) derived from failing human hearts with dilated cardiomyopathy compared to nonfailing human heart ECM. We also hypothesized that morphological development, cell beating rates, and mRNA levels of Nkx2.5 and cardiac troponin T would be altered after culturing the iPSC-CPCs on the failing heart ECM under cardiomyocyte differentiation conditions. We used microscopy to distinguish between adhered and unadhered cells, and to determine morphological development and cell beating. We used qPCR to determine mRNA levels. iPSC-CPCs show a significantly reduced ability to adhere to the ECM of failing hearts and higher expression of Nkx2.5 mRNA. However, morphological development, cell beating rates, and cardiac troponin T levels were not significantly altered in the cells cultured on the failing heart ECM. Our study shows that the failing heart ECM from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy impairs initial iPSC-CPC adhesion and may have a modest effect on the ability of the cells to transdifferentiate into cardiomyocytes.
Deep Learning Based Scalable Inference of Uncertain Opinions

Subjective Logic (SL) is one of well-known belief models that can explicitly deal with uncertain opinions and infer unknown opinions based on a rich set of operators of fusing multiple opinions. Due to high simplicity and applicability, SL has been popularly applied in a variety of decision making in the area of cybersecurity, opinion models, and/or trust / social network analysis. However, SL has been facing an issue of scalability to deal with a large-scale network data. In addition, SL has shown a bounded prediction accuracy due to its inherent parametric nature by treating heterogeneous data and network structure homogeneously based on the assumption of a Bayesian network. In this work, we take one step further to deal with uncertain opinions for unknown opinion inference. We propose a deep learning (DL)-based opinion inference model while node-level opinions are still formalized based on SL. The proposed DL-based opinion inference model handles node-level opinions explicitly in a large-scale network using graph convoluational network (GCN) and variational autoencoder (VAE) techniques. We adopted the GCN and VAE due to their powerful learning capabilities in dealing with a large-scale network data without parametric fusion operators and/or Bayesian network assumption. This work is the first that leverages the merits of both DL (i.e., GCN and VAE) and a belief model (i.e., SL) where each node level opinion is modeled by the formalism of SL while GCN and VAE are used to achieve non-parametric learning with low complexity. By mapping the node-level opinions modeled by the GCN to their equivalent Beta PDFs (probability density functions), we develop a network-driven VAE to maximize prediction accuracy of unknown opinions while significantly reducing algorithmic complexity. We validate our proposed DL-based algorithm using real-world datasets via extensive simulation experiments for comparative performance analysis.
Association of Overlapping Surgery With Perioperative Outcomes

Importance Overlapping surgery, in which more than 1 procedure performed by the same primary surgeon is scheduled so the start time of one procedure overlaps with the end time of another, is of concern because of potential adverse outcomes. Objective To determine the association between overlapping surgery and mortality, complications, and length of surgery. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort study of 66 430 operations in patients aged 18 to 90 years undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty; spine surgery; coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery; and craniotomy at 8 centers between January 1, 2010, and May 31, 2018. Patients were followed up until discharge. Exposures Overlapping surgery (≥2 operations performed by the same surgeon in which ≥1 hour of 1 case, or the entire case for those Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality or complications (major: thromboembolic event, pneumonia, sepsis, stroke, or myocardial infarction; minor: urinary tract or surgical site infection) and surgery duration. Results The final sample consisted of 66 430 operations (mean patient age, 59 [SD, 15] years; 31 915 women [48%]), of which 8224 (12%) were overlapping. After adjusting for confounders, overlapping surgery was not associated with a significant difference in in-hospital mortality (1.9% overlapping vs 1.6% nonoverlapping; difference, 0.3% [95% CI, −0.2% to 0.7%];P = .21) or risk of complications (12.8% overlapping vs 11.8% nonoverlapping; difference, 0.9% [95% CI, −0.1% to 1.9%];P = .08). Overlapping surgery was associated with increased surgery length (204 vs 173 minutes; difference, 30 minutes [95% CI, 24 to 37 minutes];P Conclusions and Relevance Among adults undergoing common operations, overlapping surgery was not significantly associated with differences in in-hospital mortality or postoperative complication rates but was significantly associated with increased surgery length. Further research is needed to understand the association of overlapping surgery with these outcomes among specific patient subgroups.
Mini-open sacroiliac joint fusion with direct bone grafting and minimally invasive fixation using intraoperative navigation.

Background: Describe a novel technique for sacroiliac arthrodesis using intraoperative navigation, direct bone grafting, and minimally invasive implants. Report on the outcomes of the first cohort of these patients. Methods: Institutional review board (IRB) approved, single center, two surgeon, retrospective study. Results: All patients were 18 years or older, primary sacroiliac fusions, and underwent novel technique described. Fifty patients underwent 57 surgeries. Twelve male/38 female patients. All received three sacroiliac implants. Average blood loss 42.8 mL. Average length of stay 1.9 nights. Average follow-up 13.96±13 months. Statistically significant improvements in Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores ( Conclusions: Limited open sacroiliac arthrodesis using minimally invasive implants, intraoperative navigation, and direct open bone grafting is safe and demonstrates clinical benefit, similar to other techniques for minimally invasive sacroiliac arthrodesis. There is potential for improved long-term outcomes from increased union rates.
New Inversion Scheme for Time-Distance Helioseismology

Helioseismic inversions typically rely on some variant of least-squares methods, such as SOLA (Pijpers and Thompson, Astron Astrophys 281:231–240, 1994). Optimization procedures that rely on matrix inversions may suffer from numerical instabilities caused by ill-conditioned matrices. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods sample the parameter space, independent of its complexity, while Bayesian methods are powerful ways of of understanding the posterior distribution using prior information known about a model. Here we demonstrate an idealized example of these techniques applied in the context of meridional circulation and time-distance helioseismology.
Phononic layered composites for stress-wave attenuation

Abstract The aim is to design a layered metamaterial with high attenuation coefficient and high in-plane stiffness-to-density ratio using homogenization to calculate and optimize the dynamic effective stiffness and mass density of layered periodic composites (phononic layers) over a broad frequency band. This is achieved by: (1) minimizing the frequency range of the first pass band, (2) maximizing the frequency range of the stop band, and (3) creating local resonance over the second pass band. To verify the theoretical calculation, laboratory samples were fabricated and their attenuation coefficient were measured and compared with the theoretical results. It is observed that over 4–20 kHz frequency range the attenuation per unit length in the optimally designed composite can exceed 500 dB/m; which increases with increasing frequency. A dynamic Ashby chart, depicting attenuation coefficient vs. in-plane stiffness-to-density ratio, is presented for various engineering materials and is compared with the fabricated metamaterial to show the significance of our design. This method can be used in variety of applications for stress wave management, e.g., in addition to match the impedance of the resulting composite to that of its surrounding medium to minimize (or essentially eliminate) stress wave reflection.
A Prospective Phase II Study of Safety and Efficacy of Sorafenib Followed by 90 Y Glass Microspheres for Patients with Advanced or Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose The most common cause of death in advanced/metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is liver failure due to tumor progression. While retrospective studies and meta-analyses of systemic therapy combined with liver-directed therapy have been performed, prospective studies of safety/efficacy of antiangiogenesis followed by intra-arterial therapies are lacking. We tested our hypothesis that sorafenib followed by yttrium 90 glass microspheres (90Y GMs) is safe and that survival outcomes may improve by controlling hepatic tumors. Methods We enrolled 38 Child-Pugh A patients with advanced/metastatic HCC. In sum, 34 received sorafenib, followed after 4 weeks by 90Y GMs. Analysis of safety and survival outcomes was performed to assess adverse events, median progression-free survival, and overall survival. Results A total of 34 patients were evaluable: 14 (41.2%) with chronic hepatitis, nine (26.5%) with vascular invasion, and eleven (32.4%) with extrahepatic diseases. Safety analysis revealed that the combination therapy was well tolerated. Grade III-IV adverse events comprised fatigue (n=3), diarrhea (n=2), nausea (n=1), vomiting (n=2), hypertension (n=4), thrombocytopenia (n=1), hyperbilirubinemia (n=1), proteinuria (n=1), hyponatremia (n=1), and elevated alanine or aspartate aminotransferase (n=5). Median progression-free and overall survival were 10.4 months (95% CI 5.8-14.4) and 13.2 months (95% CI 7.9-18.9), respectively. Twelve patients (35.3%) achieved partial responses and 16 (47.0%) stable disease. Median duration of sorafenib was 20 (3-90) weeks, and average dose was 622 (466-800) mg daily. Dosimetry showed similar mean doses between planned and delivered calculations to normal liver and tumor:normal liver uptake ratio, with no significant correlation with adverse events at 3 and 6 months post-90Y treatment. Conclusion This is the first prospective study to evaluate sorafenib followed by 90Y in patients with advanced HCC. The study validated our hypothesis of safety with encouraging efficacy signals of the sequencing treatment, and provides proof of concept for future combination modalities for patients with advanced or metastatic HCC. Clinical trial registration number NCT01900002.
An automated approach to describing fiction: A methodology to use book reviews to identify affect : [data]

Subject headings and genre terms are notoriously difficult to apply, yet are important for fiction. The current project functions as a proof of concept, using a text-mining methodology to identify ...
Genetically Modified Organisms Can Help Save the Planet

Publisher Summary This chapter presents various ways in which genetically modified crops can help in solving various food related problems. There are concrete achievements in the field of genetically modified foods, which shows that genetic engineering is potentially the most important tool that agriculturists have ever touched. About 80% of the cheese produced in the US and Great Britain, and 40% of the world's cheese, is now made with genetically engineered chymosin, which is allowing millions of calves to grow to adulthood which would otherwise be slaughtered at about three months of age for harvesting the coagulating agent from their stomach linings. Golden rice, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the European Union, may well eliminate the severe shortage of vitamin A that currently causes millions of poor children in rice cultures to go blind or even die every year. The genetically engineered rice can also overcome the chronic iron deficiency of rice diets that puts hundreds of millions of women and their babies at risk of birth complications. Biotechnology has also produced virus-resistant crops, which increase the yield. For the future, it is not hard to imagine that genetic engineering would provide better-tasting off-season fruits and vegetables, more nutritious foods, full set of virus-resistant crops, more tender beef, fast-growing pest-resistant trees, among others.
Ageing and gonadectomy have similar effects on hypoglossal long‐term facilitation in male Fischer rats

Long-term facilitation (LTF), a form of serotonin-dependent respiratory plasticity induced by intermittent hypoxia, decreases with increasing age or following gonadectomy in male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Ageing is accompanied by decreasing levels of testosterone, which in turn influences serotonergic function. In addition, LTF in young male rats differs among strains. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that LTF is similar in middle-aged and gonadectomized young male rats of an inbred rat strain commonly used in studies on ageing (F344) by comparison with SD rats. We further tested whether the magnitude of LTF correlates with circulating serum levels of testosterone and/or progesterone. Young and middle-aged intact and young gonadectomized (GDX) male Fischer 344 rats were anaesthetized, neuromuscularly blocked and ventilated. Integrated phrenic and hypoglossal (XII) nerve activities were measured before, during and 60 min following three 5-min episodes of isocapnic hypoxia. LTF was observed in phrenic motor output in young and middle-aged intact and young GDX rats. In contrast, XII LTF was observed only in young intact rats. In middle-aged and young GDX rats, XII LTF was significantly lower than in young intact rats (P < 0.05). Furthermore, XII LTF was positively correlated with the testosterone/progesterone ratio. These data show that serotonin-dependent plasticity in upper airway respiratory output is similar in F344 and SD rat strains. Furthermore, LTF is similarly impaired in middle-aged and gonadectomized male rats, suggesting that gonadal hormones play an important role in modulating the capacity for neuroplasticity in upper airway motor control.
Design, implementation, and case study of a function level unit test environment

The continuing focus on reduction of software development cycle time, while maintaining ever increasing standards of quality, has caused renewed emphasis to be placed on software testing technology as innovative strategies are sought. Existing development processes have generally been refined to the point where little wasted time remains to be removed. This is particularly true in the development of older, well established software. A function level unit test environment (FLUTE) provides a method for reorganizing the early stages of code development and test into a more efficient development model. The goal of this approach is to reduce the time spent on early testing, yet increase the value of such testing to the overall software quality. Following a statement of the relative issues, this paper defines what is meant by a function level unit test environment and moves on to describe an actual implementation of this methodology within a large scale, systems software development project. A case study summarizes the results which were achieved. >
Characterization of Heated Atomic Force Microscope Cantilevers in Air and Vacuum

This paper presents characterization of heated atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers in air and helium, both at atmospheric pressure and in a partially evacuated environment. The cantilevers are made of doped single-crystal silicon using a standard silicon-on-insulator cantilever fabrication process. The electrical measurements show the link between the cantilever temperature-dependant electrical characteristics, electrical resistive heating, and thermal properties of the heated AFM cantilever and its surroundings. Laser Raman thermometry measures temperature along the cantilever with resolution near 1 μm and 4°C. By modulating the gaseous environment surrounding the cantilever, it is possible to estimate the microscale thermal coupling between the cantilever and its environment. This work seeks to improve the calibration and design of heated AFM cantilevers.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
On the complexity of explicit duration HMM's

Introduces a new recursion that reduces the complexity of training a semi-Markov model with continuous output distributions. It is shown that the cost of training is proportional to M/sup 2/+D, compared to M/sup 2/D with the standard recursion, where M is the observation vector length and D is the maximum allowed duration. >
TRIENNIAL GROWTH SYMPOSIUM: Neural regulation of feed intake: Modification by hormones, fasting, and disease

Appetite is a complex process that results from the integration of multiple signals at the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus receives neural signals; hormonal signals such as leptin, cholecystokinin, and ghrelin; and nutrient signals such as glucose, FFA, AA, and VFA. This effect is processed by a specific sequence of neurotransmitters beginning with the arcuate nucleus and orexigenic cells containing neuropeptide Y or agouti-related protein and anorexigenic cells containing proopiomelanocortin (yielding the neurotransmitter α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone) or cells expressing cocaine amphetamine-related transcript. These so-called first-order neurons act on second-order orexigenic neurons (containing either melanin-concentrating hormone or orexin) or act on anorexigenic neurons (e.g., expressing corticotropin-releasing hormone) to alter feed intake. In addition, satiety signals from the liver and gastrointestinal tract signal through the vagus nerve to the nucleus tractus solitarius to cause meal termination, and in combination with the hypothalamus, integrate the various signals to determine the feeding response. The activities of these neuronal pathways are also influenced by numerous factors such as nutrients, fasting, and disease to modify appetite and hence affect growth and reproduction. This review will begin with the central nervous system pathways and then discuss the ways in which hormones and metabolites may alter the process to affect feed intake with emphasis on farm animals.
Identification of the sources of Escherichia coli in a watershed using carbon-utilization patterns and composite data sets

The field of bacterial source tracking (BST) has been rapidly evolving to meet the demands of water pollution analysis, specifically the contamination of waterways and drinking water reservoirs by point source and nonpoint source pollution. The goal of the current study was to create a BST library based on carbon-utilization patterns (CUP) for predicting sources of E. coli in a watershed, to compare this library to an antibiotic-resistance analysis (ARA) library previously published for the same isolates, and to determine the efficacy of using a composite dataset which combines data from both datasets into a single library for predicting the source of unknown isolates. This was accomplished by generating a CUP dataset and a composite ARA-CUP dataset for the E. coli isolates from known fecal sources within a watershed. These libraries were then used to predict the sources of E. coli isolates collected from 13 water sites in the same watershed and compared in regard to predictive accuracy. The dominant sources of E. coli in the South Bosque watershed were cattle as identified by all three methods. The 6-source composite library had higher average rates of correct classification (96.7%), specificity (99.2%), positive-predictive value (99.1%), and negative-predictive value (96.8%) than either the ARA or CUP 6 source libraries (ARCC 80.1% and 86.7% respectively). The current study is the first field study to compare two phenotypic methods, Antibiotic Resistance Analysis (ARA) and Carbon Utilization Profiling (CUP). This study is also the first to combine both of these methods to create a composite "toolbox" type approach.