cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Alternative strategies in avian scavengers: how subordinate species foil the despotic distribution

Trade-offs in species’ traits can mediate competition and enable coexistence. A key challenge in ecology is understanding the role of species’ trade-offs in maintaining diversity, and evolutionary trade-offs between the abilities of competing species are best understood by considering how competitive advantages change along an environmental gradient. Previous studies of such trade-offs are generally limited to two-species systems and a single trade-off. In this study, I consider the effect of trade-offs in search efficiency and competitive abilities on habitat use patterns among a diverse avian scavenger guild. I hypothesize that species’ dominance status and search efficiency will both be correlated with patch quality. Using counts of searching birds in areas that vary in habitat quality in terms of both wildlife and human settlement density and observations at experimental carcasses, I assess the competitive ability, search efficiency, and habitat use of seven avian scavenger species in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Findings support the hypothesis with Bateleurs, a species with high search efficiency, and Ruppell’s, Lappet-faced, and White-backed vultures, species with high individual or social dominance, preferentially exploiting habitats of high quality, while Tawny eagles and Hooded vultures, species with low search efficiency and competitive ability, prefer habitats of low quality. This paper demonstrates the importance of considering multiple strategies for assessing the effect of competition on habitat use within complex communities.
Drug‐Eluting Stents: Some First‐Generation Problems

The recent fervor surrounding the introduction of drug-eluting stents into the practice of cardiology has proven to be problematic. The experience with the Cypher Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent (Cordis Corp., Miami Lakes, FL) at Arkansas Heart Hospital progressed from anxious anticipation to complete removal of the stent from inventory in a 6-month period. Several cases involving edge dissection and subacute thrombosis were the catalyst for the decision to cease use of the device. While new products may entice, each new modality must be approached with measured enthusiasm. Drug-eluting stents are first-generation devices that may have unexposed flaws when used as first-line treatment in routine practice. The first-generation Cypher stent, as with many new devices, offers treatment-not a cure-for coronary atherosclerosis and enhances the desire for an evolved product.
Binocular rivalry with peripheral prisms used for hemianopia rehabilitation

Purpose To determine the relative binocular signal strength of moving images that are peripherally viewed through a monocular field expansion prism as opposed to moving images viewed directly. We hypothesised that prism blur might make prism images predominate less than images viewed directly with the other eye. Methods We employed the binocular rivalry paradigm to measure the relative binocular effectiveness of directly viewed vs prism images. Four normally-sighted subjects tracked the rivalrous visibility of opponent-coloured targets seen dichoptically in the same part of the retinal visual field, using monocular field expansion prisms to produce the dichoptic display. We analysed the effects of external signal strength (whether or not motion was present in either image), retinal position or eccentricity of the targets, and controlled for target saturation. Results We found that prism images predominate less than directly viewed images. When both eyes were presented with pattern in the dichoptic display, direct-to-prism predominance was 51%:31%. When only the direct view was presented with pattern, direct-to-prism predominance was 74%:12%; when only the prism view was presented with pattern, direct-to-prism predominance was 25%:58%. Dominance durations followed established binocular rivalry rules. Conclusions The prism image in a monocular, peripheral field expansion prism is perceptually weaker than the corresponding direct image in the other eye. However, the prism image is still seen a significant proportion of the time, especially when no moving pattern is present in the direct view. We conclude that the rivalry ratio of the prism device is sufficiently effective for clinical applications.
Effect of blood brain barrier permeability in recurrent high grade gliomas on the intratumoral pharmacokinetics of methotrexate: a microdialysis study

Purpose: Determining whether potentially therapeutic drug exposure is achieved within brain tumors in an exploratory clinical investigation would provide a rational basis for selecting agents for evaluation in phase II trials. This study investigated the use of microdialysis to assess intratumoral drug distribution in patients with recurrent high grade gliomas (HGG). Patients and Methods: Microdialysis catheters were placed during surgery for residual HGG 1-day before giving methotrexate (MTX) 12-g/m2 by 4-h i.v. infusion. MTX was measured by Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS) in plasma and microdialysate during the infusion and for 24-h thereafter. Blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability of tissue in which the microdialysis probe was located was determined by digitally fusing brain CT and contrast enhanced MRI images. Results: The microdialysis probe was located in contrast enhancing tumor in two patients and nonenhancing tissue in two others. Cerebral drug penetration, as indicated by the ratio of the area under the MTX concentration–time curves in brain extracellular fluid and plasma, was considerably greater in contrast enhancing tumor (0.28–0.31) than nonenhancing tissue (0.032–0.094). Nevertheless, MTX concentrations in ECF exceeded 2-μM, the average concentration for 50% cell kill against glioma cell lines in vitro, for 20–26 h in both regions of the tumor. Conclusions: Microdialysis is a very informative technique for characterizing the intratumoral pharmacokinetics of drugs, such as MTX, that do not freely penetrate the BBB. Establishing the catheter probe location relative to areas of BBB disruption is required to properly assess the significance of microdialysis data in this context.
Global image properties do not guide visual search.

While basic visual features such as color, motion, and orientation can guide attention, it is likely that additional featuresguide search for objects in real-world scenes. Recent work has shown that human observers efﬁciently extract global sceneproperties such as mean depth or navigability from a brief glance at a single scene (M. R. Greene & A. Oliva, 2009a,2009b). Can human observers also efﬁciently search for an image possessing a particular global scene property amongother images lacking that property? Observers searched for scene image targets deﬁned by global properties ofnaturalness, transience, navigability, and mean depth. All produced inefﬁcient search. Search efﬁciency for a property wasnot correlated with its classiﬁcation threshold time from M. R. Greene and A. Oliva (2009b). Differences in search efﬁciencybetween properties can be partially explained by low-level visual features that are correlated with the global property.Overall, while global scene properties can be rapidly classiﬁed from a single image, it does not appear to be possible to usethose properties to guide attention to one of several images.Keywords: visual search, gist, scene recognition, global property, natural images, guided search, attentionCitation: Greene, M. R., & Wolfe, J. M. (2011). Global image properties do not guide visual search. Journal of Vision,11(6):18, 1–9, http://www.journalofvision.org/content/11/6/18, doi:10.1167/11.6.18.
Re)defining Land Change Science through Synthetic Research Practices

This paper investigates the co-evolution of scientific practice and supporting technologies for the interdisciplinary research community of Land Change Science. Through three and a half years of iterative fieldwork and system design, we have developed a deep understanding of their synthetic research practices, specifically regarding meta-studies. Here we detail the challenges researchers face conducting meta-studies and how this collective effort advances the entire scholarly community. We illustrate how our understanding of this synthetic research practice informs the design and refinement of cyberinfrastructure to better support their work.
Finding the pose of an object in a hand

The author addresses the problem of finding the pose of an object grasped by a hand. The problem can be stated simply: given a hand grasping an object, and given a model of that object, determine the position and orientation of the object with respect to the hand. The method described uses only joint angle and torque sensing, and is able to localize two-dimensional objects grasped by the Utah-MIT dextrous hand. >
Theoretical Analysis of Forced Convective Heat Transfer in Regional Ground-Water Flow

Among the numerous processes that will cause anomalous temperature distributions in geologic basins is the spatial redistribution of heat by moving ground water. This problem is examined by solving the energy equation for the simultaneous transport of water by hydraulic gradients and heat by forced convection. The factors that affect the temperature distribution in a given basin include the intrinsic properties of the medium and contained fluid—namely, the thermal diffusivity of the solid-fluid complex and the hydraulic conductivity, the water-table configuration, and the ratio of basin depth to basin length. The severity of an anomalous geothermal gradient or temperature measurement depends primarily on the relative magnitude of the ratio of hydraulic conductivity to thermal diffusivity, and on the geometry of the flow field. A dimensionless group may be formulated from these parameters, and provides a relative measure of the simultaneous transport of heat by the bulk motion of the fluid to that by pure conduction. Solutions to the equation itself indicate that convective heat losses in ground-water recharge areas are balanced by convective heat gains in discharge areas. The geothermal gradient accordingly increases with increasing depth in recharge areas, decreases with increasing depth in discharge areas, and is a manifestation of pure conduction at the hinge line separating areas of recharge and discharge.
Ten-Year Follow-up of a Reused Kidney Graft for Transplant Using Sirolimus for Maintenance Immunosuppression

Reused kidney grafts have been transplanted with successful outcomes, though not widely performed in the Unites States. We present the case of a reused kidney graft with 10-year follow-up. The first donation was from a patient who died from a cerebrovascular accident and whose organs were used for a simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant. After 5 years, the patient died and kidney was considered for donation and reuse. The patient had a virtual crossmatch with the first donor and a complement-dependent and flow-dependent crossmatch with the second donor. Long-term immune suppression was kept with a calcineurin-inhibitor-free regimen with sirolimus to prevent further damage from the first recipient. Control kidney biopsy showed steady progression of previous CNI toxicity without further damage. We describe the immunological basis of reused graft, the technical aspects of procurement and transplantation, as well as the use of Mammalian target of rapamycin for maintenance immunosuppression with good long-term results. Reused kidney grafts can be a good source of kidney grafts when adequate selection between donor and recipients is made and immunosuppression protocol is tailored to the preexisting damage to the original graft.
The Dispassionate Scientist

In Chapter 6 on the kinetic theory of heat, we referred to a common myth about scientists: that they are objective, dispassionate observers of nature, who care only for truth and are willing to discard without a qualm any theory they hold, just as soon as experimental disproof is provided. We pointed out in that chapter how little Rumford fit this myth, and how effective he was precisely because he did not.
G-Band Identification of the Chromosomes of Sheep

Peripheral blood cultures were made on 20 Dorset sheep including 16 ewes and 4 rams. Photomicrographs of 100 cells were examined for trypsin-induced G-bands, and the length of each chromosome was measured. The banding patterns of each of the 27 pairs of chromosomes were identified and described, and the results observed in this study were compared with those previously reported. Measurements of all chromosomes in which both members of a homologous pair were identifiable were used to calculate mean relative length. Karyotypes, in which chromosomes were arranged to mean relative length, were prepared and an idiogram illustrating major bands was constructed.
Observations on Mode of Action of Erythromycin.

ConclusionsErythromycin may be either bacteriostatic or bactericidal depending on the sensitivity of the organism and on the concentration of the antibiotic. Erythromycin exerts its effect only against multiplying bacteria.
Formal Synthesis of (+)-Grandisol from Levoglucosenone

(+)-Grandisol, which is a component of the male-produced pheromone of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis, was synthesized from levoglucosenone. The key steps in the synthesis are the intramolecular diatereoselective four-membered ring construction and the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. The 17-step procedure led to a known synthetic intermediate of (+)-grandisol.
An examination of structural features and relationships in Balansia subgenus Dothichloe

Balansia subgenus Dothichloe is defined to include only species of graminicolous Clavicipitaceae that are endophytic, form stromata on leaves or culms, and produce nonstipitate black ascomata. Spe- cies included in subgenus Dothichloe are Balansia ar- istidae, B. epichloe, B. henningsiana, B. nigricans, B. strangulans, and Balansiopsis gaduae. The genus Bal- ansiopsis is invalidated since its type B. gaduae is here- in classified in subgenus Dothichloe. Balansia subno- dosa is considered to be a synonym of B. gaduae based on morphological and anatomical similarities of the ascomata. Phylogenetic relationships in Doth- ichloe are evaluated through examination of riboso- mal DNA ITS (internal transcribed spacer) sequence data. It is concluded that at least two subclades are
Annexation of a high-activity enzyme in a synthetic three-enzyme complex greatly decreases the degree of substrate channeling.

The self-assembled three-enzyme complex containing triosephosphate isomerase (TIM), aldolase (ALD), and fructose 1,6-biphosphatase (FBP) was constructed via a mini-scaffoldin containing three different cohesins and the three dockerin-containing enzymes. This enzyme complex exhibited 1 order of magnitude higher initial reaction rates than the mixture of noncomplexed three enzymes. In this enzyme cascade reactions, the reaction mediated by ALD was the rate-limiting step. To understand the in-depth role of the rate-limiting enzyme ALD in influencing the substrate channeling effect of synthetic enzyme complexes, low-activity ALD from Thermotoga maritima was replaced with a similar-size ALD isolated from Thermus thermophilus, where the latter had more than 5 times specific activity of the former. The synthetic three-enzyme complexes annexed with either low-activity or high-activity ALDs exhibited higher initial reaction rates than the mixtures of the two-enzyme complex (TIM-FBP) and the nonbound low-activity o...
Albumin and multiple sclerosis

Leakage of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a common pathological feature in multiple sclerosis (MS). Following a breach of the BBB, albumin, the most abundant protein in plasma, gains access to CNS tissue where it is exposed to an inflammatory milieu and tissue damage, e.g., demyelination. Once in the CNS, albumin can participate in protective mechanisms. For example, due to its high concentration and molecular properties, albumin becomes a target for oxidation and nitration reactions. Furthermore, albumin binds metals and heme thereby limiting their ability to produce reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species. Albumin also has the potential to worsen disease. Similar to pathogenic processes that occur during epilepsy, extravasated albumin could induce the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and affect the ability of astrocytes to maintain potassium homeostasis thereby possibly making neurons more vulnerable to glutamate exicitotoxicity, which is thought to be a pathogenic mechanism in MS. The albumin quotient, albumin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/albumin in serum, is used as a measure of blood-CSF barrier dysfunction in MS, but it may be inaccurate since albumin levels in the CSF can be influenced by multiple factors including: 1) albumin becomes proteolytically cleaved during disease, 2) extravasated albumin is taken up by macrophages, microglia, and astrocytes, and 3) the location of BBB damage affects the entry of extravasated albumin into ventricular CSF. A discussion of the roles that albumin performs during MS is put forth.
Coping with Pain in the Face of Healthcare Injustice in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease

To evaluate the pain coping strategies of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) who experience healthcare injustice from either physicians or nurses during medical visits for pain management. It is unknown how patients' coping with pain relates to their experiences of healthcare injustice from physicians or nurses. This descriptive comparative study included adult outpatients with SCD who completed the PAINReportIt®, Healthcare Justice Questionnaire©, and Coping Strategies Questionnaire-SCD. Data were analyzed using independent t tests. Frequent coping strategies of patients who experienced healthcare justice from physicians were praying-hoping and from nurses were praying-hoping, calming self-statements, diverting attention, and increasing behavioral activity. In contrast, frequent coping strategies of patients who experienced healthcare injustice from physicians were catastrophizing and isolation and from nurses were isolation. Patients who experienced healthcare justice used different sets of pain coping strategies than those who experienced healthcare injustice during medical visits for pain management.
Burden of Nonsynonymous Mutations among TCGA Cancers and Candidate Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Responses

Immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment represents a promising approach toward treating cancer and has been shown to be effective in a subset of melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and kidney cancers. Recent studies have suggested that the number of nonsynonymous mutations (NsM) can be used to select melanoma and NSCLC patients most likely to benefit from checkpoint inhibitor treatment. It is hypothesized that a higher burden of NsM generates novel epitopes and gene products, detected by the immune system as foreign. We conducted an assessment of NsM across 7,757 tumor samples drawn from 26 cancers sequenced in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Project to estimate the subset of cancers (both types and fractions thereof) that fit the profile suggested for melanoma and NSCLC. An additional independent set of 613 tumors drawn from 5 cancers were analyzed for replication. An analysis of the receiver operating characteristic curves of published data on checkpoint inhibitor response in melanoma and NSCLC data estimates a cutoff of 192 NsM with 74% sensitivity and 59.3% specificity to discriminate potential clinical benefit. Across the 7,757 samples of TCGA, 16.2% displayed an NsM count that exceeded the threshold of 192. It is notable that more than 30% of bladder, colon, gastric, and endometrial cancers have NsM counts above 192, which was also confirmed in melanoma and NSCLC. Our data could inform the prioritization of tumor types (and subtypes) for possible clinical trials to investigate further indications for effective use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, particularly in adult cancers. Cancer Res; 76(13); 3767-72. ©2016 AACR.
Cognitive and emotional processes as predictors of a successful transition into school

Research Findings: The aim of this research was to delineate developmental processes that contribute to early school success. To achieve this aim, we examined emotion regulation, executive functioning, emotion knowledge, and metacognition at ages 3 and 4 as distal and proximal predictors of age 5 achievement and school adjustment in a sample of 263 children (42% non-White). We also explored mediational pathways among these 4 processes in the prediction of the age 5 outcomes. Results revealed that all 4 processes affected achievement and school adjustment, but in different ways, with executive functioning emerging as a key predictor. Practice or Policy: Executive functioning was found to be a key factor in predicting achievement and school performance in the kindergarten year. This finding provides support for the development of executive functioning training programs that can be applied in the preschool classroom, particularly for promoting reading development. However, additional emphasis should be placed on both cognitive and emotional processes in the preschool years to promote optimal development.
The Evolution of Racketeering

The use of behavioral ecology to model the evolution of racketeering and organized crime in unregulated systems of exchange does have some points of overlap with the emerging field of behavioral economics. Behavioral economists maintain that psychological variables have measurable impacts on individual economic decision making and behavior (Camerer and Loewenstein, 2004). Much research in this area is conducted in laboratory settings so that subjects can be rigorously studied under controlled conditions. This approach also allows psychologically oriented economists to explore neurological substrates of economic behavior, such as reciprocity and altruism (Fehr and Schmidt, 2004). Behavioral economics also has implications for research with non-human primates, whose behavioral systems have also been shown to include notions of fairness as well as systems of reciprocity and exchange (see de Waal, 2010).
A Thermodynamic Definition of the Computer and Its Application to Biological Systems

A physical quantity, ‘information’, can be defined and must be included in the second law of thermodynamics. This quantity is different than entropy, though closely related to it. The function of the computer, as a thermodynamic machine, is to interconvert entropy and information. This conversion is characteristic of all living things, as well as all feedback control systems; and hence the modified second law will be required for their understanding.
Development of an Interview for Anxiety-Relevant Interpersonal Styles: Preliminary Support for Convergent and Discriminant Validity

This report presents preliminary psychometric support for a new approach to assess anxiety-relevant interpersonal styles in close relationships, the Social Anxiety Relationship Interview (SARI). The SARI is a semistructured interview, designed to evaluate relevant interpersonal styles (e.g., lack of assertion, conflict avoidance, and fear of expressing strong emotions). In this report, the convergent and discriminant validity of the SARI are examined. Results indicate that the SARI demonstrated good convergent validity, with correlations ranging from .2 to .5 between the subscales and related constructs such as assertiveness, affective control, assertion of autonomy, lack of social self-confidence, and avoidant problem solving. Examining the relationship between the SARI subscales and four conceptually unrelated constructs (somatization, hostility, paranoia, and psychoticism) indicated few significant associations, controlling for social anxiety. Additionally, most aspects of interpersonal functioning assessed by the SARI appeared specific to social anxiety, on the basis of analyses that controlled for trait anxiety. Finally, SARI responses do not appear to be influenced by social desirability. These data provide promising support for this measure, which will encourage greater exploration of the role of interpersonal factors in social anxiety.
InGaAs LDMOS power semiconductor device performances

An n-channel In 0.65 Ga 0.35 As LDMOS with Al 2 O 3 as gate dielectric is proposed. Power device parameters such as specific on-resistance, gate charge, and breakdown voltage are examined using two-dimensional device simulation. Comparison between In 0.65 Ga 0.35 As Si devices is made. The InGaAs LDMOS shows a 92% improvement in R on × Q g over its silicon counterpart.
Use Case V: Imaging Biomarkers in Musculoskeletal Disorders

Structural, compositional, and functional changes are common manifestations of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders. Therefore, with the advent of advanced medical image acquisition and image analysis techniques, there has been a demand and an increased interest toward image-based noninvasive quantification of different pathophysiological elements associated with MSK disorders. Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis of the knee are two MSK disorders with considerable personal and economic burdens. Therefore, these two pathologies have received substantial attention in the medical imaging community, with dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and radiography playing key roles in their clinical diagnosis, respectively. In terms of research, quantitative computed tomography (QCT) has become the leading in vivo imaging modality for the study of osteoporosis enabling the assessment of the most relevant tissues involved in this pathology: the bone and muscle [1, 2]. However, high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) is a relatively novel imaging modality with great potential to uncover new clinical findings in the study of osteoporosis [3, 4] and, with the new generation of scanners, also in the study of knee osteoarthritis. Regarding knee osteoarthritis research, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the leading in vivo imaging modality enabling the assessment of the most relevant tissues involved in this pathology: the cartilage, bone, muscle, and meniscus [5].
Vesicopreputial anastomosis for the treatment of obstructive urolithiasis in goats.

Objective To describe a novel surgical technique for the correction of recurrent obstructive urolithiasis in male goats. Study Design Clinical case series. Animals Castrated male goats (n = 4). Methods Medical records of male goats having undergone vesicopreputial anastomosis (VPA) as a treatment for obstructive urolithiasis were reviewed for history, signalment, clinical signs, and intraoperative and postoperative complications. Long-term follow-up (≥12 months) was obtained by telephone interview with owners or by clinical examination. Results All goats had undergone at least one surgical procedure (median, 2.5, range 2-4) to correct obstructive urolithiasis before undergoing VPA. Postoperative complications included premature removal of the tube from the bladder (1 goat), bacterial cystitis (2), and abscess formation (1). One goat suffered stricture of the anastomosis site 3 months following the original procedure and underwent a second VPA and 1 goat died 7 months after surgery due to severe, acute hydronephrosis and renal failure. Long-term survival ≥12 months was good with 3/4 goats (75%) or 3/5 VPA procedures (60%) having unobstructed urine flow at 12 months. Conclusion Vesicopreputial anastomosis is a feasible surgical procedure for the correction of recurrent obstructive urolithiasis in male goats and one that can result in a favorable clinical outcome. Further investigation in a larger population of goats is warranted for the evaluation of the suitability of VPA in male goats with obstructive urolithiasis.
A software tool for optimal class-hierarchy design based on the use-relationship among functions and variables.

We present a software tool for creating an optimal classhierarchy from the use-relationship among data-items and functions based on the method in Kundu and Gwee [3]. The tool determines the classes and their inheritance relationship, including the assignment of variables and functions to the various classes and their appropriate access levels (private, etc.). We define a class-design language for modeling the classes and the userelationship and a script language for manipulating the classes. The input to the tool and its operations are based on the constructs of these languages. We illustrate the tool with a small non-trivial class design problem.
Nonlinear neurodynamical features in an animal model of generalized epilepsy

Epileptic seizures result from the intermittent spatial and temporal summation of abnormally discharging neurons [3, 7, 20, 24]. Complex dynamical interactions between brain regions act to recruit and entrain neurons by loss of inhibition and synchronization. Long-term continuous 4-channel intracranial electroencephalographic(EEG)recordings were obtained from a genetically engineered model of generalized epilepsy (n = 3) and littermate controls (n = 3) in order to perform nonlinear dynamical analyses of intracranial brain electrical activity. Signal processing techniques included reconstruction of the EEG signal as trajectories in a phase space, applying nonlinear indicators on the trajectories (i.e., short-term maximum Lyapunov exponent), and statistical index (T-index) for quantifying interactions among distant brain sites. Analysis of interictal (seizure-free) and seizure prone periods in 2 to 3 week old H218 epileptic knockout mice revealed that (1) the brain electrical activity is of higher order during the seizureprone period, and (2) the interaction among brain sites is more active during the seizureprone period. In addition, dynamical analyses do not show significant difference between interictal periods in epileptic mice and littermate controls. These results suggest that the development of seizures in an animal model of generalized epilepsy is determined in part by non-stochastic neural processes. Results further suggest that it may be possible to identify the occurrence of seizures in advance through dynamical analytic distinction of interictal and seizure-prone periods.
On Multistage Least Squares Approach to Systems Identification

Abstract A multistage least squares (MSLS) procedure is proposed for estimating parameters in stochastic linear discrete systems. The estimates so obtained are consistent and well defined. The basic idea of the MSLS is that at first, a higher order model is estimated, and then the system and noise parameter estimates are separated in two more stages. In each stage, a simple least squares estimation is performed. Therefore, MSLS technique is more practical and computationally efficient than the existing iterative techniques. Algorithms for on-line identification are also derived. Experimental results have shown that MSLS performs satisfactorily.
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of vertebral and intervertebral disc lesions: specimen adequacy, diagnostic utility, and pitfalls.

c Background and Objectives.—Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is used extensively in the clinical workup of radiologically detected bony lesions. The aims of this study were to evaluate the diagnostic utility of FNAB of such radiologically detected vertebral and intervertebral disc lesions in patients with and without a known primary malignancy, to establish criteria for specimen adequacy, and to evaluate the diagnostic pitfalls. Design.—The cytologic material obtained by FNAB performed under computed tomographic guidance of 78 cases comprising 66 vertebral and 12 intervertebral disc lesions was reviewed and analyzed. The initial cytologic diagnosis was compared with the diagnosis after review in all 78 cases. Results.—Thirty-five cases (45%) were positive for malignancy, 1 case (1.3%) was suspicious for malignancy, 9 (11.5%) consisted of normal cellular elements with no evidence of malignancy, 21 (27%) were unsatisfactory/inadequate for diagnosis, and 12 (15.2%) were benign nonneoplastic lesions. Nonneoplastic lesions diagnosed included fracture callus, discitis/osteomyelitis, degenerative disc disease, and Paget disease. In 11 cases, FNAB gave the initial diagnosis of malignancy (8 occult carcinomas and 3 plasmacytomas). In 23 out of 36 cases with a clinical history of a known primary tumor, FNAB established the diagnosis of metastases, and in 1 case, a second primary was detected. Conclusions.—Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of radiologically suspected vertebral and intervertebral disc lesions in patients with a history of a known malignancy is useful to confirm the presence of metastases. In cases without any history of malignancy, FNAB can provide additional clues to aid in the subsequent workup and treatment of cases diagnosed with an unsuspected malignancy and other nonneoplastic lesions. Through assessment of the specimen adequacy, correct interpretation of the cytologic material available, and correlating with the clinical and radiologic findings, a definitive diagnosis can be made in most cases. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2001;125:1463‐1468)
Targeting metabolic abnormalities to reverse fibrosis in iatrogenic laryngotracheal stenosis

Objective Management of laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS) remains primarily surgical, with a critical need to identify targets for adjuvant therapy. Laryngotracheal stenosis scar fibroblasts exhibit a profibrotic phenotype with distinct metabolic shifts, including an increased glycolysis/oxidative phosphorylation ratio. This study examines the effects of the glutamine antagonist 6-diazo-5-oxo-l-norleucine (DON) on collagen production, gene expression, proliferation, and metabolism of human LTS-derived fibroblasts in vitro. Method Paired normal and scar-derived fibroblasts isolated from subglottic and proximal tracheal tissue in patients with iatrogenic laryngotracheal stenosis (iLTS) were cultured. Proliferation rate, gene expression, protein production, and cellular metabolism were assessed in two conditions: 1) fibroblast growth medium, and 2) fibroblast growth medium with 1 × 10−4 M DON. Results DON treatment reduced cellular proliferation rate (n = 7, P = 0.0150). Expression of genes collagen 1 and collagen 3 both were reduced (n = 7, P = 0.0102, 0.0143, respectively). Soluble collagen production decreased (n = 7, P = 0.0056). As measured by the rate of extracellular acidification, glycolysis and glycolytic capacity decreased (n = 7, P = 0.0082, 0.0003, respectively). adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and basal respiration decreased (n = 7, P = 0.0045, 0.0258, respectively), determined by measuring the cellular rate of oxygen consumption. Conclusion The glutamine antagonist DON reverses profibrotic changes by inhibiting both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation in iLTS scar fibroblasts. In contrast to untreated iLTS scar fibroblasts, collagen gene expression, protein production, metabolic rate, and proliferation were significantly reduced. These results suggest DON and/or its derivatives as strong candidates for adjuvant therapy in the management of iatrogenic laryngotracheal stenosis. Enzymes involved in glutamine metabolism inhibited by DON offer targets for future investigation. Level of Evidence NA. Laryngoscope, 2017
Benefits and schemes of prefetching from cloud to fog networks

Cloud data services have been in rapidly increasing demand by mobile users, but such services often face the problem of lowered QoS due to the lengthy delay of transmitting large amount of data all the way from the cloud server to the mobile client. In this paper, we propose a prefetching-based approach which utilizes the spare bandwidth and storage space of fog networks to prefetch data files from cloud data servers to edge servers in the fog networks that are much closer to the mobile users, thereby providing better data delivery in terms of transmission delay. We propose six possible prefetching schemes which are designed based on different needs of a priori knowledge about the mobile user's file access patterns. Observing that some prefetching scheme performs better than other schemes when facing a particular type of access pattern, our framework also allows the cloud server and edge servers to dynamically switch to another prefetching scheme if the current prefetching scheme does not fit well with the user's access pattern. We use simulations to evaluate the performance of our proposed prefetching schemes, and the results show that each prefetching scheme can reduce transmission delay, and that the dynamic scheme switching can help improve the performance in terms of prefetching precision and recall ratios.
Data-Driven Network Optimization in Ultra-Dense Radio Access Networks

The complexity of networking mechanisms will increase signiﬁcantly because of the dense deployment of radio base stations in ultra-dense mobile networks. As a result, the existing networking mechanisms may be unable to eﬃciently manage ultra-dense mobile networks. To solve this problem, we propose a data driven network optimization framework which integrates the big data analysis methods with networking mechanisms. In the proposed framework, we adopt big data analysis methods to divide densely deployed base stations into groups. Then, each group of base stations are managed with networking mechanisms independently. In this way, the complexity of the networking mechanisms is reduced. The key challenge in designing the framework is to optimally group base stations into clusters in real time. Addressing this challenge, the proposed framework consists of an oﬄine machine learning module and an online base station clustering and network optimization module. The oﬄine machine learning module predicts the optimal number of base station groups in the next time interval based on the historical data. The online base station clustering and network optimization module clusters base stations and optimize the network in real time. The performance of the proposed data-driven network management framework is validated through network simulations with real network data traces.
The opportunity cost of pharmaceutical price increases: improving health by investing in education

A federal law prohibits the US Government from negotiating pharmaceutical prices. This law comes with an opportunity cost: resources spent on unnecessarily highly priced drugs cannot be spent on ot...
Abstract 18093: Effect of Left Ventricular Function on Post Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Hemodynamics

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) causes immediate and long term hemodynamic effects that have not yet been clearly defined. This study sought to identify the effect of TA...
Three-Dimensional Restrictions

In this appendix we provide additional data for restrictions of irreducible reflection arrangements to subspaces of dimension 3. Two sets of numbers may be associated with a central 3-arrangement. Let n k be the number of planes which contain k lines of the arrangement. Then Σ k n k = n is the cardinality of the arrangement. Let t p be the number of lines contained in p planes. Then ∑ p t p = t is the number of lines in the arrangement. Note also that ∑ k kn k = ∑ p pt p . The tables in Appendix C may be used to determine the n k , but calculation of the t p requires additional work. In the tables below we list both sets of numbers. Type A 3 of the symmetric group is isomorphic to type D 3 = G(2,2,3). It follows from Propositions 6.77 and 6.84 that for the infinite families it suffices to consider A 3 i (r) for 0 ≤ i ≤ 3; see Table D.l. We showed in Proposition 6.85 that these arrangements are free.
PET in Bladder, Renal, and Prostate Cancer

The general application of FDG-PET to malignancies of the bladder, kidney, and prostate has been limited compared to other cancers primarily because the primary tumor and regional lymph node site for each cancer type is often masked or difficult to visualize against a background of excreted FDG in the urinary tract. Complicating matters further is the observation that primary and metastatic prostate cancers typically have lower rates of glucose metabolism, and renal cell cancers have a more variable biologic behavior than most other common cancers. With these considerations in mind, the following review summarizes the strengths and limitations of PET in these three malignancies.
Markov models for cross-covariances

Markov models based on various data screening hypotheses are often used because they reduce the statistical inference burden. In the case of co-located cokriging, the commonly used Markov model results in the cross-covariance being proportional to the primary covariance. Such model is inappropriate in the presence of a smoothly varying secondary variable defined on a much larger volume support than the primary variable. For such cases, an alternative Markov screening hypothesis is proposed that results in a more continuous cross-covariance proportional to the secondary covariance model. A parallel development of both Markov models is presented. A companion paper provides a comparative application to a real data set.
MST for Muffin-Tin Potentials

In this chapter, we begin our study of multiple scattering theory (MST) within the angular-momentum representation. This representation allows one to reduce the integral equations of MST to much more convenient matrix equations. For historical reasons, as well as for the sake of clarity, we consider first the case of muffin-tin potentials, that is, potentials that can be separated from one another by nonoverlapping spheres and that, in most applications, are also taken to be spherically symmetric. The last condition, that of spherical symmetry (although helpful in computations) provides only minimal simplification in the development of MST, but the geometric condition that the potentials be separated by nonoverlapping spheres greatly simplifies the expansion of the free-particle propagator in angular-momentum states and will be used explicitly throughout this chapter. In order to prepare the ground for subsequent developments, we will use notation which is sufficiently general to encompass nonspherical potentials. The contact with the spherically symmetric case can be made by considering all appropriate matrix quantities, such as the cell phase functions and t-matrices, to be diagonal in the angular-momentum indices. The completely general case of nonoverlapping potentials of arbitrary, space-filling shape will be considered in following chapters.
Practice Guidelines for the Use of rHuG-CSF in an Oncology Setting

The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) first approved recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rHuG-CSF) in 1991 for very broad indication to treat patients with cancer undergoing myelotoxic chemotherapy. Recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rHuGM-CSF) was also approved for use in bone marrow and stem cell transplantation; however, the two drugs were often used interchangeably in the clinic and in subsequent guidelines developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
A Fast Automatic Juxta-pleural Lung Nodule Detection Framework Using Convolutional Neural Networks and Vote Algorithm

Lung Nodule Detection from CT scans is a crucial task for the early detection of lung cancer with high difficulty performing an automatic detection. In this paper, we propose a fast automatic voting based framework using Convolutional Neural Network to detect juxta-pleural nodules, which are pulmonary (lung) nodules attached to the chest wall and hard to detect even by human experts. The detection result for each region in the CT scan is voted by the detection results of the extracted candidates from the region, which we formulate as a generative model. We perform two sets of experiments: one is to validate our framework, and the other is to compare different convolution neural network settings under our framework. The result shows our framework is competent to detect juxta-pleural lung nodules especially when only a weak classifier trained on noisy data is available. Meanwhile, we overcome the problem of determining the proper input size for nodules with high variance in diameters.
Teaching Psychology: A Step-By-Step Guide, Second Edition

This volume provides thoroughly updated guidelines for preparing and teaching an entire course in psychology. Based on best principles and effective psychological and pedagogical research, it offers practical suggestions for planning a course, choosing teaching methods, integrating technology appropriately and effectively, developing student evaluation instruments and programs, and ideas for evaluation of your own teaching effectiveness. While research-based, this book was developed to be a basic outline of "what to do" when you teach. It is intended as a self-help guide for relatively inexperienced psychology teachers, whether graduate students or new faculty, but also as a core reading assignment for those who train psychology instructors. Experienced faculty who wish to hone their teaching skills will find the book useful, too.
A Primer for Teaching African History: Ten Design Principles by Trevor R. Getz

Getz, Trevor R. A Primer for Teaching African History: Ten Design Principles . Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.
Beyond the Surveys: Qualitative Analysis from the Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS).

The Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS) collected data from more than 21,000 university students in 33 countries regarding their reading format (print or electronic) preferences and behaviors when engaging with academic texts during a three-year period. Quantitative analysis shows a consistent preference for print reading among most students worldwide. This paper presents new findings from our qualitative analysis of students’ survey comments, addressing the questions: Why do students prefer to read in print or electronically? What factors affect their decisions to read a text in their less preferred format? Are there behavioral patterns that will assist librarians and educators when deciding upon format policies?
5 – Discretization Accuracy

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of discretization accuracy and discusses how a choice of polynomials in shape functions becomes important in the light of an error analysis. According to Taylor's theorem, any analytic function is polynomial-like over a small interval. The chapter also illustrates error distribution in a displacement and the bending moment in a circular plate. The energy error depends not only on the number of elements but also on the location of the nodes. When some elements are halved without changing the location of the previous nodes, the total potential energy of the finer mesh cannot increase and convergence is monotonic. The chapter discusses the sharpness of the energy error estimate and explains the phenomenon of superconvergence. It also explains how the differential operators in boundary value problems are positive bounded. Knowledge of the theoretical rate of convergence can be used to improve the accuracy of the computed values through an extrapolation to h = 0.