cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mitogenic signals for platelet-derived growth factor isoforms in liver fat-storing cells

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a key mitogen for liver fat-storing cells (FSC), is a dimeric molecule that occurs as homodimers or heterodimers of related polypeptide chains (PDGF-BB, -AB, and -AA). In chronic inflammation of the liver lobule, any of the three dimeric forms of PDGF derived from multiple sources could potentially interact with FSC. We explored the effects of the three different PDGF isoforms on DNA synthesis and early signal transduction pathways potentially related to PDGF mitogenicity in rat liver FSC. PDGF-BB homodimer and -AB heterodimer induced a marked increase in DNA synthesis, whereas the effect of PDGF-AA homodimer was considerably lower. Moreover, the mitogenicity of each isoform proportionally correlated with their effects on phosphoinositide turnover and intracellular Ca2+. Both the PDGF-BB and -AB dimers likely interact with the PDGF-beta-receptor, although PDGF-AB requires at least one alpha-receptor. The low responsiveness to PDGF-AA could not be accounted for by downregulation of the PDGF-alpha-receptor because FSC expressed very low levels of PDGF-A- and B-chain mRNAs and did not secrete detectable amounts of PDGF activity in the conditioned media. In addition, preincubation of FSC with suramin, a potent inhibitor of PDGF binding to its receptor, failed to increase PDGF-AA-induced DNA synthesis. These results are consistent with a predominant expression of PDGF-beta-receptor in liver FSC, that is linked to phospholipase C activation.
SPIDER: a framework for understanding driver distraction

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify key cognitive processes that are impaired when drivers divert attention from driving. BACKGROUND: Driver distraction is increasingly recognized as a significant source of injuries and fatalities on the roadway. METHOD/RESULTS: A "SPIDER" model is developed that identifies key cognitive processes that are impaired when drivers divert attention from driving. SPIDER is an acronym standing for scanning, predicting, identifying, decision making, and executing a response. CONCLUSION: When drivers engage in secondary activities unrelated to the task of driving, SPIDER-related processes are impaired, situation awareness is degraded, and the ability to safely operate a motor vehicle may be compromised. APPLICATION: The pattern of interference helps to illuminate the sources of driver distraction and may help guide the integration of new technology into the automobile. Keywords: Driver distraction; Language: en
Interferon-α for viral hepatitis

IFN-alpha has emerged as a promising treatment of chronic viral hepatitis. Although therapeutic response to IFN is far from universal, efficacy has been demonstrated; and studies combining IFN-alpha with other agents, as well as trials with new preparations of IFN-alpha, are under way. Children do not represent a large part of the identified population with chronic viral hepatitis. Yet children, by simple virtue of age, are more recently infected. In addition, longer life expectancies can be expected to be associated with greater morbidity from chronic viral hepatitis. Children seem to tolerate therapy with IFN-alpha well. Treatment of children with chronic viral hepatitis should be strongly considered, with protocols designed to ascertain specific pediatric safety and efficacy.
A Comparative Study of the Breeding Ecology of Harris’ and Swainson’s Hawks in Southeastern New Mexico

I compared productivity, habitat, and diet of breeding Harris' (Parabuteo unicinctus) and Swainson's hawks (Buteo swainsoni) to examine predictions that cooperatively breeding birds should produce fewer young and be more specialized in their use of habitat or food than closely related noncooperatively breeding species. Reproductive success of Harris' Hawk (1.73 young/year) and Swainson's Hawk (1.67) breeding units was similar. Harris' Hawks tended to exploit habitats with greater mean densities of large mesquites, less mean grass cover, and more exposed ground than Swainson's Hawks; but both species used a broad range of the habitats available. Swainson's Hawks were opportunistic generalists taking the most available prey, while Harris' Hawks were relative specialists on larger mammals and some birds.My data do not support habitat saturation or resource localization as important to the evolution of cooperative breeding in the Harris' Hawk.
Mapping earthflows and earthflow complexes using topographic indicators

Abstract Practical methods of mapping earthflows and earthflow complexes using topographic recognition keys are briefly profiled in this article. These methods can be employed to tentatively identify earthflow features that may not be recognized on stereopair aerial photographs because of vegetation, mollification of the features with age, and/or unfavorable sun angle on the images. Conventional USGS 7.5-min topographic maps (1:24,000 scale) with contour intervals of > 20 ft/6.1 m are not generally useful in identifying earthflows with much less than ~ 18 to 60 m of vertical relief. Useful recognition keys for the topographic expression of earthflows are presented. These keys include divergent contours along a slope fall line with headward cutting upslope and depositional fans downslope. Fans tend to widen and deepen downslope. Earthflows in first- and second-order watersheds may exhibit more dissection of their toe lobes than those in zero-order basins. Earthflows commonly occur in large coalescing complexes, with one event, or lobe, superceding another. This forms a series of superposed lobes, with the most recent lobes being easiest to discern, while older lobes are increasingly mollified with time. The soft cohesive clay and silt debris deposited by earthflows is most easily eroded in the headscarp area, and compacted naturally in the depositional lobe. This makes the recognition of earthflows increasingly difficult with age. Earthflow debris is often interpreted to be colluvium when deposited on slopes without appreciable shearing to form slickensided contacts. Discernment of earthflows using topographic recognition techniques depends on the scale and quality of the topographic maps being evaluated.
Two Notes on Manchu Etymology

This paper studies two groups of Manchu words, and discovers the relationship of the two groups.From the morpheme structure of words, we found that more and more words in Tungusic language showed the relations with Altai language family.
Abstract C91: Reversible lysine specific demethylase-1 inhibition is synergistic with docetaxel in castrate refractory prostate cancer

Lysine specific demethylase-1 (LSD-1) expression correlates with poor survival in prostate cancer. LSD-1 is also key in androgen receptor signaling in androgen sensitive and castration refractory prostate cancer. LSD-1 is a chromatin modifying enzyme that in conjunction with its binding partners functions as an ‘erasor’ in the Epigenetic code process and demethylates lysine 4 and 9 residues on H3 protein resulting in gene repression or activation. Specifically in prostate cancer it demethylates H3k9me2 playing an important role in androgen receptor signaling promoting myc expression. Docetaxel chemotherapy is effective in prostate cancer but limited by toxicity and development of resistance. In this study we demonstrate synergy between LSD-1 inhibition and docetaxel in castrate refractory cell lines. We further demonstrate that LSD-1 inhibition is effective in docetaxel resistant cell lines. Cell survival assays were performed with HCI2509 on castrate refractory and docetaxel resistant prostate cancer cell lines. Histone methylation and myc expression were assessed. Colony formation assays, cell cycle analysis, xenograft studies were performed. Synergy studies were performed to assess the combination of 2509 and docetaxel. HCI2509 is cytotoxic to castrate refractory and docetaxel resistant prostate cancer cell lines in low micromolar doses. Treatment with HCI2509 resulted in dose dependent increase in H3K4me2, H3K4me3, H3K9me2 levels and decrease in myc protein. RT-PCR showed a significant decrease in MYC expression upon treatment with HCI2509. Cell cycle progression was arrested at G0/G1 upon treatment with 2509 with inhibition of colony formation at 10 to 100 fold lower concentrations. PC3 xenografts in mice showed significant reduction in tumor burden upon treatment with 2509 with increased H3K9me2 marks and reduced myc protein levels. LSD-1 inhibition with HCI2509 has therapeutic potential in castrate refractory and docetaxel resistant prostate cancer. It inhibits myc expression and sensitizes castrate refractory prostate cancer to docetaxel. Citation Format: Sumati Gupta, Alexis Weston, Jared Bearss, Sunil Sharma. Reversible lysine specific demethylase-1 inhibition is synergistic with docetaxel in castrate refractory prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2015 Nov 5-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(12 Suppl 2):Abstract nr C91.
Wallace's unfinished business: The “Other Man” in evolutionary theory: Essays & Commentaries

After a century in the shadows, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) has recently become the subject of increasing attention. It is suggested here, expanding on observations made by anthropologist Gregory Bateson some years ago, that Wallace's cybernetics-like view of the operation of natural selection—as a governor-like principle tending to keep species unvarying—can be expanded to a more complete evolutionary understanding by exploring in modern context Wallace's idea that “more recondite forces” are driving the process. Specifically, when the environment is regarded as a final cause (but not a deterministic force), individual adaptations may be viewed as entropy-relaying structures (acting in response to, and as a part of, larger scale biogeochemical agenda), whereas negentropy is accumulated by nonrandomly directed organism- and population-level forms of ecological engagement. Thus, range change in particular is viewed as a process that is both driven and nonrandom, and ultimately connected to the derivation of more and more organized individual, population, and community structures. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 10:25–32, 2004
Spot Weather Forecasts: Improving Utilization, Communication, and Perceptions of Accuracy in Sophisticated User Groups

AbstractSpot weather forecasts (SWFs) are issued by Weather Service offices throughout the United States and are primarily for use by wildfire and prescribed fire practitioners for monitoring local-scale weather conditions. This paper focuses on use of SWFs by prescribed fire practitioners. Based on qualitative, in-depth interviews with fire practitioners and National Weather Service forecasters, this paper examines factors that influence perceptions of accuracy and utilization of SWFs. Results indicate that, while several well-understood climatological, topographical, and data-driven factors influence forecast accuracy, social factors likely have the greater impact on perceptions of accuracy, quantitative accuracy, and utilization. These include challenges with building and maintaining relationships between forecasters and fire managers, communication issues around updating SWFs, and communicating forecast confidence and uncertainty. Operationally, improved quantitative skill in a forecast is always desi...
Beyond social support: Self-care confidence is key for adherence in patients with heart failure.

Background:Adherence to treatment is crucial to improve outcomes in patients with heart failure. Good social support is associated with better adherence, but the mechanism for this association has not been well-explored.Aims:The aim of this secondary analysis was to examine whether self-care confidence mediates the relationship between social support and treatment adherence in heart failure patients hospitalized with acute exacerbation.Methods:A total of 157 inpatients with heart failure (63.5±13 years, 73% New York Heart Association class III/IV) were recruited from two hospitals located in urban areas in the USA. Participants completed the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Medical Outcomes Study Specific Adherence Scale. A series of regression models were used to determine the mediation relationship.Results:Controlling for marital status and hospital site, social support was associated with adherence (p=0.03). When self-confidence was included...
Modeling the impact of unmet demand in supply chain resiliency planning

Abstract This paper seeks to optimize the pre-event mitigation and post-event restoration decisions for disruptive events impacting supply chain systems, while specifically accounting for how unmet demand impacts the customers within the supply chain. The pre-event mitigation strategies will prepare the supply chain for various potential disruptions and then the post-event restoration decisions are the response of it to a specific disruption. In the context of the restoration, we consider customer behaviors which require fulfillment of demand at a certain time after the disruption and those which require that a cumulative percentage of their demand must be met on-time after the disruption or, otherwise, the customer will leave the system. In addition, we then require that the system backorders unmet demand in order to maintain the customer. We build two-stage stochastic programming models to increase the resiliency of single-product, single-echelon supply chain systems that include the cost of lost customers. We further provide theoretical insights into the impact of the two distinct customer types on the restoration planning, including conditions under which the restoration planning is independent of the customers’ behaviors. Our insights from our computational analysis include that a ‘chain reaction’ occurs in most scenarios, which means the supply chain system tends to lose the same subset of customers even when they are not served by the facilities impacted by disruption. Furthermore, different sets of post-event customer behaviors tend to favor the same pre-event mitigation strategies.
Exponential Yang-Mills Connections

The last five decades have witnessed many developments in the theory of harmonic maps. To become acquainted to some of these, the reader is referred to two reports and a survey paper by Eells and Lemaire [119, 122, 124] about the developments of harmonic maps up to 1988 for details. Several books on harmonic maps [203, 205, 206, 389, 425] are also available. In this chapter, we follow the notions and notations of harmonic maps between Riemannian manifolds by Eells- Sampson [129] in the introduction.We discuss the crucial topics in harmonic maps including fundamentals, regularity, maps of surfaces, maps of KRahler manifolds, maps into groups and Grassmannians, harmonic maps, loop groups, and integrable systems, harmonicmorphisms, maps of singular spaces, and transversally harmonic maps. Since the theory of harmonic maps has been developed over half a century, it is impossible to provide full details. However, we try to present the most important components of the topics.
Speed of Language Comprehension at 18 Months Old Predicts School-Relevant Outcomes at 54 Months Old in Children Born Preterm.

Objective Identifying which preterm (PT) children are at increased risk of language and learning differences increases opportunities for participation in interventions that improve outcomes. Speed in spoken language comprehension at early stages of language development requires information processing skills that may form the foundation for later language and school-relevant skills. In children born full-term, speed of comprehending words in an eye-tracking task at 2 years old predicted language and nonverbal cognition at 8 years old. Here, we explore the extent to which speed of language comprehension at 1.5 years old predicts both verbal and nonverbal outcomes at 4.5 years old in children born PT. Method Participants were children born PT (n = 47; ≤32 weeks gestation). Children were tested in the "looking-while-listening" task at 18 months old, adjusted for prematurity, to generate a measure of speed of language comprehension. Parent report and direct assessments of language were also administered. Children were later retested on a test battery of school-relevant skills at 4.5 years old. Results Speed of language comprehension at 18 months old predicted significant unique variance (12%-31%) in receptive vocabulary, global language abilities, and nonverbal intelligence quotient (IQ) at 4.5 years, controlling for socioeconomic status, gestational age, and medical complications of PT birth. Speed of language comprehension remained uniquely predictive (5%-12%) when also controlling for children's language skills at 18 months old. Conclusion Individual differences in speed of spoken language comprehension may serve as a marker for neuropsychological processes that are critical for the development of school-relevant linguistic skills and nonverbal IQ in children born PT.
Instruments and Accessories for Endoscopic Ultrasound

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) was first introduced as a diagnostic procedure using radial array echoendoscopes and increasingly evolved to a therapeutic procedure that requires a linear array echoendoscope. Radial array echoendoscopes are largely used for cancer staging, evaluation of submucosal lesions, and for a morphologic assessment of the pancreas and bile ducts. Linear array echoendoscopes allow for tissue acquisition for cytology and histology, using different types of needles, as well as emerging applications such as augmented imaging techniques (e.g., elastography). The therapeutic capabilities of EUS include the placement of fiducials for stereotactic body radiation therapy, drainage of pseudocysts and walled-off necrosis as well as the gallbladder, creation of communications between different areas of the gastrointestinal tract, and pancreaticobiliary ductal system (e.g., excluded stomach in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, enteroenterostomy, choledochoduodenostomy). This chapter will review the instruments and accessories that serve as the basis of modern EUS clinical practice.
Differences in the Mechanism of Head Impacts Measured Between Men's and Women's Intercollegiate Lacrosse Athletes.

Background:Lacrosse is a rapidly growing sport in the United States. Comparing the magnitude and frequency of head impact mechanisms between sexes will provide data for injury prevention techniques...
Sustainability Standards and Their Implications for Agroecology

Agroecology has helped produce a movement where consumers are concerned about more than price. The qualities sought include the process by which a product is grown or produced. When supply-chains are long, it is difficult to know whether to believe any particular production quality claimed on a label. This review describes the evolution of market, government (state) and civil society efforts to devise credible certification schemes that would allow consumers to use their dollars to build healthy ecosystems that are socially just and economically secure for producers and workers. Market groups now control governmentally sanctioned certifiers, such as the International Standards Organization and the ISO 14000 family of standards, regulation and enforcement mechanisms. At the same time, numerous market-led and civil-society led certifying efforts are competing to determine what is ecologically sound and socially just. These mechanisms and their negotiations are discussed and the future of sustainability standards for agroecology assessed.
Palpation Thyroiditis (Multifocal Granulomatous Folliculitis)

Disseminated inflammatory lesions constituting a multifocal granulomatous folliculitis in the thyroid are described. These lesions were present in the majority (greater than 83%) of thyroids removed surgically because of thyroid or nonthyroid (carcinoma of the larynx) disease. They also were found at autopsy in patients who died while hospitalized but not in those who died at home. An identical lesion was produced experimentally in dogs by vigorously squeezing their thyroids. The human folliculitis is believed to result from traumatic injury or rupture of isolated thyroid follicles caused by palpation of the gland (palpation thyroiditis). Palpation thyroiditis may have little, if any, clinical importance. The remote possibility that it might be associated with iatrogenically produced metastasis of thyroid carcinoma is being investigated.
Subglottic stenosis: An evaluation of an elderly treatment-seeking population

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the demographics, etiology, intraoperative findings, and treatment outcomes of patients with subglottic stenosis (SGS), comparing those patients aged <65 years to an elderly population aged ≥65 years. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS Nine-year retrospective review of patients with SGS. Forty-eight adults presented for evaluation and treatment of SGS between January 2008 and December 2016. At the time of presentation, 41 were aged <65 years and seven were aged ≥65 years. RESULTS Comparing the aged <65 years group to the aged ≥65 years group, the etiology was idiopathic SGS in 50.0% versus 42.8%, intubation-related SGS in 22.5% versus 28.6%, and granulomatosis with polyangiitis in 27.5% versus 28.6%, respectively. No statistically significant difference was noted in the two groups when comparing the demographics, etiology, treatment, intraoperative findings, or intertreatment interval (ITI). CONCLUSIONS We sought to analyze an older patient population with SGS and found no statistically significant differences compared to a younger population. ITI trended toward older patients requiring surgery more frequently but was not significant. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Laryngoscope, 129:1155-1158, 2019.
My Year of Citation Studies, Part 2

What can we learn by examining patterns of citations to law journal articles? In this installment of my four-part series, I look at a sample of 32 law journals. It's a small sample, but has variety: general and specialty journals from law schools that are private and public, large and small. Using HeinOnline's ScholarCheck, I counted citations to all the articles and student pieces published in 2012 in those journals. Surprisingly (to me), the journals varied widely in the proportion of their pieces that were written by students, from 0% to 75%. Some journals were cited much more often than others. I discuss factors that could lead to this result. The differences were much more pronounced for articles (works by professors and lawyers) than for student pieces. The journals' performance tracked their reputation rank from an informal survey of faculty and staff. For example, the people surveyed thought that the Yale Law Journal was a better journal than the Akron Law Review and, sure enough, articles in the former were cited much more than those in the latter. An unremarkable finding, perhaps, but worth noting. Individual pieces also varied greatly in their citing success. The resulting graphs (for articles and for student works) are beautiful examples "long tails." As in retail, the less popular items still have a market: the 500th most cited article was still cited: someone found it useful enough to cite. Part 1 is at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3205672.
Light Source Spectral Power Effect on Luminance Measurements in Underground Coal Mines

Lighting regulations for luminance in U. S. coal mines are verified in the field by using a luminance photometer calibrated to a light source that uses a tungsten-filament light. Significant measurement errors can exist when measuring light sources that are dissimilar to the light source used to calibrate the photometer. This paper quantifies the measurement errors when measuring these dissimilar light sources commonly used in a U.S. underground coal mine-an LED, a CFL with a clear cover, a CFL with an amber cover, and a tungsten halogen. The impact of photometer quality was also evaluated. Three different luminance measuring instruments of high, medium, and low quality were compared-a PR-650, an LS-100, and a PMEX, respectively. The PMEX was under evaluation for measuring luminance compliance in U.S. underground coal mines. The PR-650 was used as the referent to which the other photometers were compared. The PMEX percent error consistently exceeded -15% for each light source and varied the most for the amber CFL with a -26.5% error. The LS-100 closely matched the luminance measurement for the LED and halogen; however, it had a percent error of -10.4% for the amber CFL. These results show that the spectral content of a light source and the photometer quality can greatly impact the accuracy of luminance measurement.
Neighborhood Social Context and Kidney Function Over Time: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

Rationale & Objective Although socioeconomic status has been associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), little is known about its relationship to residential neighborhood context. Study Design Secondary analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a prospective cohort study designed to investigate the development and progression of subclinical cardiovascular disease. Setting & Participants 6,814 men and women who were between 45 and 84 years of age and free of cardiovascular disease were recruited between 2000 and 2002 from Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Forsyth County, NC; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and St. Paul, MN. Exposures A composite neighborhood problem score (calculated based on 7 participant-reported domains at study entry: adequacy of food sources, availability of parks/playground, noise, sidewalks, traffic, trash and litter, and violence) and a social cohesion score (calculated based on 5 participant-reported attributes of people in their neighborhood: close knit; get along; willing to help neighbors; trustworthy; and share values). Outcomes Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; calculated using the CKD-EPI [CKD Epidemiology Collaboration] creatinine–cystatin C equation) and an indicator of eGFR decline > 30% since study entry using follow-up eGFR quantified at 4 examinations: 2000 to 2002, 2004 to 2005, 2005 to 2007, and 2010 to 2011. Analytical Approach Associations between each neighborhood measure (in separate models) and eGFR decline > 30% from baseline and annualized eGFR change were estimated using Cox proportional hazards and linear mixed regression models, respectively, adjusting for potential confounders. Results While neighborhood social context differs by race/ethnicity, neither neighborhood problems nor social cohesion was independently associated with eGFR decline after adjustment for confounders. Limitations Incomplete capture of the early stages of eGFR decline, reliance on observational data, limited variation in neighborhood measures, and the potential for residual confounding. Conclusions Although we showed no independent association between neighborhood context and eGFR decline, it is associated with many CKD risk factors and further work is needed to clarify whether it has an independent role in CKD.
VicoVR-Based Wireless Daily Activity Recognition and Assessment System for Stroke Rehabilitation

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability. Stroke patients can recover faster with personalized therapy treatments. This requires both clinical assessments and in-home assessments of daily activities. In this paper, we propose a daily activity recognition and assessment system for stroke patients. Our system is able to classify daily activities in real home environments and quantitatively evaluate upper body motions while preserving privacy by utilizing depth videos. Specifically, our system collects the depth videos and skeletal joint data of daily activities using a VicoVR sensor. It then recognizes and localizes clinically relevant actions from continuous untrimmed depth videos using a customized convolutional de-convolutional network. In addition, it assesses the extent of reach and speed metrics of both hands using skeletal joint data. The system has been tested on simulated cooking videos and real-life cooking videos in various kitchens with different room layouts and light conditions. The action recognition accuracies for simulated and real-life videos can reach 90.9% and 87.5%, respectively. With the valuable assessment feedback of our system, therapists can make better personalized treatments for stroke patients.
Designing for and Facilitating Meaningful Making with Refugee Children

The current political climate has seen the influx of refugees in many economically developed countries. Many of these children face challenges finding meaningful and enriching learning opportunities that foster authentic collaboration and engagement of their home cultures. One way that we aim to tackle this reality is through making. Accordingly, in this paper, we present observations from a workshop that implemented maker culture activities within a summer youth program for 16 refugees (5-17 years old).We examine the process of designing and implementing making sessions in collaboration with facilitators and children, as well as the facilitative moves that emerged throughout the program. We observe unique opportunities and points of discussion for 1) cultural bridging, 2) authentic language acquisition, and 3) meaningful making. Based on our findings, we discuss the lessons learned around embedding making in existing community spaces, the role of facilitation, and finally, the cultural contexts of making.
Relativistic three-dimensional Lippmann-Schwinger cross sections for space radiation applications

Radiation transport codes require accurate nuclear cross sections to compute particle fluences inside shielding materials. The Tripathi semi-empirical reaction cross section, which includes over 60 parameters tuned to nucleon-nucleus (NA) and nucleus-nucleus (AA) data, has been used in many of the world’s best-known transport codes. Although this parameterization fits well to reaction cross section data, the predictive capability of any parameterization is questionable when it is used beyond the range of the data to which it was tuned. Using uncertainty analysis, it is shown that a relativistic Three- Dimensional Lippmann-Schwinger (LS3D) equation model based on Multiple Scatter- ing Theory (MST) that uses 5 parameterizations—3 fundamental parameterizations to nucleon-nucleon (NN) data and 2 nuclear charge density parameterizations—predicts NA and AA reaction cross sections as well as the Tripathi cross section parameterization for reactions in which the kinetic energy of the projectile in the laboratory frame (TLab) is greater than 220 MeV/n. The relativistic LS3D model has the additional advantage of being able to predict highly accurate total and elastic cross sections. Consequently, it is recommended that the relativistic LS3D model be used for space radiation applications in which TLab > 220 MeV/n.
Heterogeneous Multi-Mobile Computing (video)

As smartphones and tablets proliferate, there is a growing demand for multi-mobile computing [1, 2], the ability to combine multiple commodity mobile systems into more capable ones, including using multiple hardware devices such as cameras, displays, speakers, microphones, sensors, GPS, and input. However, the tremendous device, hardware, and software heterogeneity of mobile systems makes this difficult. In this demo, we present M2, a system for multi-mobile computing that enables existing unmodified mobile apps to make use of new ways of sharing and combining multiple devices. M2 introduces a new data-centric approach that leverages higher-level device abstractions and encoding/decoding hardware to efficiently share device data as opposed to low-level device-specific APIs.
Mesoporous Co3O4 catalysts for VOC elimination: Oxidation of 2-propanol

Abstract Mesoporous cobalt oxides were prepared by an inverse micelle method and calcined at different temperatures. These materials exhibited superior activity for oxidation of 2-propanol as the model substrate for VOC elimination. Highest active Co3O4-350 material showed a maximum turnover frequency of 25.8 h−1 at 160 °C at a weight hourly space velocity of 60 L g-1 h−1. The apparent activation energies of mesoporous cobalt oxides ranged from 69.7 kJ/mol to 115.6 kJ/mol. In situ Diffuse Reflectance Infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) revealed that the reaction involves formation of carbonyl and carbonate species on the surface of the catalyst before complete oxidation to CO2 and H2O. The activities of the materials were correlated to better low temperature reducibility, large pore volumes, higher Co3+/ Co2+ ratios, and higher number of surface-active oxygen species.
Circulating Exosomes from Human Lung Transplant Recipients with Rejection Induces IL-6 by Rab27A Signaling and Promotes Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition of Airway Epithelial Cells In Vitro

Purpose Exosomes are small membrane vesicles that regulate intracellular function and cell-to-cell communication. Our report has shown circulating exosomes are induced during lung allograft rejection (Am J Transplant, 2017; 17:474-484). Rab27, a member of the Rab subfamily of GTPases, is essential for exosome secretion. The aim of this study is to determine the role of Rab27A signaling in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) stimulated with exosomes from human lung transplant recipients (LTxRs) diagnosed with acute rejection, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), or stable. Methods Exosomes were isolated using ultracentrifugation and 100µg of exosomes were added to BEAS-2B and incubated for 24hrs. Supernatants collected were analyzed for IL-6 using luminex platform. Epithelial mesenchymal transformation was determined using vimentin and α-SMA by Western blot. Protein band in western blot was normalized with β-Actin and densitometry was performed using Image-J software. Results Supernatants of BEAS-2B cells, stimulated with BOS-exosome, showed significantly higher production of IL-6 (2927, 4592 MFI p= Conclusion Rab27A signaling plays an important role in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 by airway epithelial cells following incubation with exosomes isolated from LTxRs with rejection. In addition, Rab27A signaling plays a role in exosome mediated upregulation of fibronectin protein production resulting in epithelia mesenchymal transition of the airway epithelial cells.
Efficacy of multimedia sensory integration training combined with speech training in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy and its effects on intelligence level and language function

Objective To study the efficacy of multimedia sensory integration training combined with speech training in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy and its effects on intelligence level and language function. Methods A total of 146 children with cerebral palsy were randomly divided into the control group (speech rehabilitation training) and the study group (multimedia sensory integration training combined with speech training). The treatment effects were compared between the two groups. Results After the treatment, the intelligence age and DQ were significantly increased in the two groups (P<0.05), and the increase was more significant in the study group (P<0.05); the scores of cognitive function and speech function were significantly increased in the two groups (P<0.05), and the increase was more significant in the study group (P<0.05). The effective rates of treatment were 89.04% and 75.34% respectively in the study group and the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion Multimedia sensory integration training combined with speech training can improve the intelligence level and language function of children with cerebral palsy, and enhance the treatment effect. Key words: Multimedia sensory integration training; Speech training; Children with cerebral palsy; Intelligence level; Language function
Deep Learning for Block-Level Compressive Video Sensing

Compressed sensing (CS) is a signal processing framework that effectively recovers a signal from a small number of samples. Traditional compressed sensing algorithms, such as basis pursuit (BP) and orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) have several drawbacks, such as low reconstruction performance at small compressed sensing rates and high time complexity. Recently, researchers focus on deep learning to get compressed sensing matrix and reconstruction operations collectively. However, they failed to consider sparsity in their neural networks to compressed sensing recovery; thus, the reconstruction performances are still unsatisfied. In this paper, we use 2D-discrete cosine transform and 2D-discrete wavelet transform to impose sparsity of recovered signals to deep learning in video frame compressed sensing. We find the reconstruction performance is significantly enhanced.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Events Classification by Effective Radar Cross Section (ERCS) Method Using Microwave Doppler Radar and Machine Learning Classifier

In-home sleep monitoring system using Microwave Doppler radar is gaining attention as it is unobtrusive and noncontact form of measurement. Most of the reported results in literature focused on utilizing radar-reflected signal amplitude to recognize Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) events which requires iterative analysis and cannot recommend about sleep positions also (supine, prone and side). In this paper, we propose a new, robust and automated ERCS-based (Effective Radar Cross section) method for classifying OSA events (normal, apnea and hypopnea) by integrating radar system in a clinical setup. In our prior attempt, ERCS has been proven versatile method to recognize different sleep postures. We also employed two different machine learning classifiers (K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and Support Vector machine (SVM) to recognize OSA events from radar captured ERCS and breathing rate measurement from five different patients' clinical study. SVM with quadratic kernel outperformed with other classifiers with an accuracy of 96.7 % for recognizing different OSA events. The proposed system has several potential applications in healthcare, continuous monitoring and security/surveillance applications.
Privacy Maintenance in Self-Digitization: The Effect of Information Disclosure on Continuance Intentions

Individuals are increasingly using personal Internet of Things (IoT) devices that digitize their day-to-day lives. Those devices, however, often require substantial personal information to generate their intended benefits. For example, fitness technologies collect health, sleep, personal, and a vast array of other information ubiquitously, creating possible privacy issues for the users when fitness technology platform providers store or share their information, whether users know this or not. To explore the role of privacy perceptions in the context of continued use of fitness technologies, this study collected data from 212 fitness tracker users. We find empirical support for the importance of privacy perceptions in a user's intention to continue to use their fitness tracker. More specifically, consistent with privacy calculus research, privacy concern is negatively related to willingness to disclose information while perceived benefit is positively related to it. As an extension to calculus variables, users' expectations towards the data sharing practices of organizations also influences their willingness to disclose information. Importantly, willingness to disclose information has a direct effect on continued use intentions but also moderates the relationship between perceived benefit and users' intentions to continue using a fitness tracker. We discuss the implications of these findings for research and practice.
Bodies and minds, heaps and syllables

In this paper the explanatory gap of the philosophy of mind is explored, and found to have a similar structure even in different framings of the mind–body problem (MBP). This leads to the consideration that the MBP may be a special case of the more general whole-part problem: how do properties of wholes arise from the particular assembly of isolated parts? The conclusion is argued that only an approach of mereological holism offers (some) solace from the explanatory gap problem, exchanging it for a reverse explanatory gap problem that has more promising prospects for future solution, possibly in the form of integrated information theory. These considerations, along with the problem of explaining qualia lead to a proposed solution to the MBP in holistic cosmopsychism.
Household food insecurity and children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the United States: the Healthy Communities Study.

OBJECTIVE To examine associations between household food insecurity and children's physical activity and sedentary behaviours. DESIGN Secondary analysis was conducted on the Healthy Communities Study, an observational study from 2013 to 2015. Household food insecurity was assessed by two items from the US Department of Agriculture's 18-item US Household Food Security Survey Module. Physical activity was measured using the 7-d Physical Activity Behaviour Recall instrument. Data were analysed using multilevel statistical modelling. SETTING A total of 130 communities in the USA. PARTICIPANTS In sum, 5138 US children aged 4-15 years. RESULTS No associations were found for the relationship between household food insecurity and child physical activity. A significant interaction between household food insecurity and child sex for sedentary behaviours was observed (P = 0·03). CONCLUSIONS Additional research capturing a more detailed assessment of children's experiences of food insecurity in relation to physical activity is warranted. Future studies may consider adopting qualitative study designs or utilising food insecurity measures that specifically target child-level food insecurity. Subsequent research may also seek to further explore sub-group analyses by sex.
Measuring Adolescent Participation: Results from a Qualitative Pretest in Cote D’Ivoire and Indonesia

Adolescence, or the period of transition between childhood and adulthood, is a significant stage in human development. Not only is it a time of physical growth and neurological development, but it is also a time when many young people begin to expand their networks beyond their family, form close ties with their peers, develop and express their views, and have a greater desire to be involved in decisions that affect them. This act of forming and expressing their views and influencing matters that concern them is sometimes referred to as adolescent participation. When viewed through an international human rights lens, adolescent participation is considered a fundamental right, and consequently, there is a need for reliable and valid measures that accurately assess adolescent participation and allow for internationally comparable data. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively test a draft questionnaire designed to measure adolescent participation. The goal was to gain insight into both how the items would perform cross-culturally and how adolescents’ comprehension and interpretation of different constructs related to adolescent participation. Cognitive interviews were conducted with 123 adolescents aged 10 to 19 in Cote d’Ivoire and Indonesia. This paper describes the development of the draft questionnaire, presents the methods used to pretest the questionnaire, and summarizes the findings. This study reveals important considerations for researchers and practitioners interested in qualitatively pretesting questionnaires with adolescents and in measuring and understanding adolescent participation across a range of international contexts.
Deception in Electronic Goods and Services

This chapter appeared in the Encyclopedia of E-Commerce, E-Government, and Mobile Commerce, M. Khosrow-Pour, ed., Hershey, PA: The Idea Group, 2006.
Physicians' early perspectives on Oregon's Coordinated Care Organizations.

Abstract Background Through development of Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs), Oregon’s version of the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) for Medicaid beneficiaries, Oregon is redesigning the healthcare system delivering care to some of its most vulnerable citizens. While clinicians are central to healthcare transformation, little is known about the impact on their role. The aim of this study was to understand the current and perceived effect CCO-related changes have on Oregon physicians’ professional and personal lives. Methods This qualitative observational study involved semi-structured interviews, conducted between March and October, 2013, of twenty-two purposively selected physicians who varied in years of practice, gender, employment status, specialty, and geographic location from three different CCOs. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze data. Results Physicians expressed uncertainty and ambiguity about the CCO model, reporting minor financial changes in the first year, but anticipating future reimbursement changes; new team-based care roles and responsibilities, accountability for quality incentive measures; and effects of CCO implementation on their personal lives. To meet CCO model changes and requirements, physicians requested collegial networking, team-based care training, and data system and information technology support for undergoing health system transformation. Conclusions Although perhaps not immediate, healthcare reform can have a real and perceived impact on physicians’ professional and personal lives. Implications Attention to the impact of healthcare reform on physicians’ personal and professional lives is important to ensure strategies are implemented to maintain a viable workforce, professional satisfaction, financial sustainability, and quality of care.
A Novel Formulation of VIP in Sterically Stabilized Micelles Amplifies Vasodilation In Vivo

Purpose. To determine whether human vasoactive intestinal peptide (VlP)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-grafted distearoyl-phosphatidyleth-anolamine (DSPE) micelles elicit potent and stable vasodilation in vivo.
Positioning for Growth: Carve-Outs & Spin-Offs

With equity markets and MA preliminary signs are already positive: - Strategic review and economic profitability analysis frequently identify divestiture candidates within multi-line businesses; however, divestitures are often delayed due to common misconceptions. - Restructuring creates value through improved market transparency, resource allocation, incentives and accountability. - Value creation studies of parents' short-term cumulative abnormal returns average 2-4%, but range widely from -30% to 35%: - Winner parents show a higher prevalence of companies in industrial sectors, "mature" businesses, and more business lines. Their subsidiary businesses exhibited lower levels of debt and dividends, and brighter future prospects. - Loser parents tended to appear less "mature" in terms of valuation and dividend profiles, and showed greater uncertainty around commitment to separation - evident by the prevalence of Trackers and retained control. - Takeover premiums account for a portion, but are not sufficient to explain all, of the value created; operating improvements have also been shown. Long-run value creation estimates are contentious, but range as high as 20-25%. Divested subsidiaries outperformed their industries by 6% in their first year. - Financial policies need to be recalibrated in the face of a restructuring. We also note relationships between financial policies and the restructuring methods employed.