cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thermal stability of shear‐induced precursor structures in isotactic polypropylene by rheo‐X‐ray techniques with couette flow geometry

Combined in situ rheo-SAXS (small-angle X-ray scattering) and -WAXD (wide-angle X-ray diffraction) studies using couette flow geometry were carried out to probe thermal stabilty of shear-induced oriented precursor structure in isotactic polypropylene (iPP) at around its normal melting point (162 °C). Although SAXS results corroborated the emerging consensus about the formation of “long-living” metastable mesomorphic precursor structures in sheared iPP melts, these are the first quantitative measures of the limiting temperature at which no oriented structures survive. At the applied shear, rate = 60 s−1 and duration ts = 5 s, the oriented iPP structures survived a temperature of 185 °C for 1 h after shear, while no stable structures were detected at and above 195 °C. Following Keller's concepts of chain orientation in flow, it is proposed that the chains with highly oriented high molecular weight fraction are primarily responsible for their stability at high temperatures. Furthermore, the effects of flow condition, specifically the shear temperature, on the distributions of oriented and unoriented crystals were determined from rheo-WAXD results. As expected, at a constant flow intensity (i.e., rate = 30 s−1 and duration, ts = 5 s), the oriented crystal fraction decreased with the increase in temperature above 155 °C, below which the oriented fraction decreased with the decrease in temperature. As a result, a crystallinty “phase” diagram, i.e., temperature versus crystal fraction ratio, exhibited a peculiar “hourglass” shape, similar to that found in many two-phase polymer–polymer blends. This can be explained by the competition between the oriented and unoriented crystals in the available crystallizable species. Below the shear temperature (155 °C), the unoriented crystals crystallized so rapidly that they overwhelmed the crystallization of the oriented crystals, thus depleting a major portion of the crystallizable species and increasing their contribution in the final total crystalline phase. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3553–3570, 2006
Color-Blind and Color-Visible Identity Among American Whites

Many signs point to the contemporary period as a color-blind era, one in which Whites purport to be unaware of race in social or political life. At the same time, White ethnic and racial identity c...
Mutations of γ-aminobutyric acid and glycine receptors change alcohol cutoff: Evidence for an alcohol receptor?

Alcohols in the homologous series of n-alcohols increase in central nervous system depressant potency with increasing chain length until a “cutoff” is reached, after which further increases in molecular size no longer increase alcohol potency. A similar phenomenon has been observed in the regulation of ligand-gated ion channels by alcohols. Different ligand-gated ion channels exhibit radically different cutoff points, suggesting the existence of discrete alcohol binding pockets of variable size on these membrane proteins. The identification of amino acid residues that determine the alcohol cutoff may, therefore, provide information about the location of alcohol binding sites. Alcohol regulation of the glycine receptor is critically dependent on specific amino acid residues in transmembrane domains 2 and 3 of the α subunit. We now demonstrate that these residues in the glycine α1 and the γ-aminobutyric acid ρ1 receptors also control alcohol cutoff. By mutation of Ser-267 to Gln, it was possible to decrease the cutoff in the glycine α1 receptor, whereas mutation of Ile-307 and/or Trp-328 in the γ-aminobutyric acid ρ1 receptor to smaller residues increased the cutoff. These results support the existence of alcohol binding pockets in these membrane proteins and suggest that the amino acid residues present at these positions can control the size of the alcohol binding cavity.
Correlated inhibitory and excitatory inputs to the coincidence detector: analytical solution

We present a solution for the steady-state output rate of an ideal coincidence detector receiving an arbitrary number of excitatory and inhibitory input spike trains. All excitatory spike trains have identical binomial count distributions (which includes Poisson statistics as a special case) and arbitrary pairwise cross correlations between them. The same applies to the inhibitory inputs, and the rates and correlation functions of excitatory and inhibitory populations may be the same or different from each other. Thus, for each population independently, the correlation may range from complete independence to perfect correlation (identical processes). We find that inhibition, if made sufficiently strong, will result in an inverted U-shaped curve for the output rate of a coincidence detector as a function of input rates for the case of identical inhibitory and excitory input rates. This leads to the prediction that higher presynaptic (input) rates may lead to lower postsynaptic (output) rates where the output rate may fall faster than the inverse of the input rate, and shows some qualitative similarities to the case of purely excitatory inputs with synaptic depression. In general, we find that including inhibition invariably and significantly increases the behavioral repertoire of the coincidence detector over the case of pure excitatory input.
Peer Influence on Children's Physical Activity: An Experience Sampling Study

on their activity intensity and whether the activity was solitary or with others for seven consecutive days. Results Children were more likely to report more intense physical activity when in the company of peers or close friends. Overweight children reported greater physical activity when in the presence of peers than did lean children; however, overweight children also reported more time spent alone. Conclusions Taken together, findings highlight the importance of considering peer relationships in studies of physical activity and childhood ‘‘obesity.’’
Real-time integrated video-compression architecture for broadcasting HDTV and multimedia applications

DCT/IDCT based source coding and decoding techniques are widely accepted in HDTV systems and other MPEG based multimedia applications. In this paper we propose a new direct 2-D DCT algorithm based on parallel divide and conquer approach for computation in real-time. The algorithm distributes computation by considering one time-domain coefficient at a time and doing partial computation and updating as every coefficient arrives. A novel parallel and fully pipelined architecture with an effective processing time of one cycle per pixel for an N/spl times/N size block is designed to implement the algorithm. An unique feature of this architecture is that it integrates shuffling and source-coding into a single compact data-path. We avoid the insertion of a FIFO between the motion-estimator and compression engine. The entire block of frequency coefficients are sampled in a single cycle for statistical encoding after compression. Also, we use only N/sup 2/ multipliers and N/sup 2/ adders.
A BAYESIAN ANALYSIS OF MULTIPLICATIVE TREATMENT EFFECTS WHEN TWO INDEPENDENT SAMPLES ARE OBSERVED

A Bayesian analysis of multiplicative treatment effects is given for a normally distributed population. The two samples taken, one for each treatment, are used to make inferences on the multiplicative effect. An analysis of the general problem with uneven sample sizes and prior information is rather untractable, which leads to the use of numerical integration methods. A special case for which analytical results are available is discussed. Finally, the method suggested in this paper is compared with an approach utilizing a logarithmic transformation.
Is There a Chemical Memory Trace

The existence of chemical changes in the brain correlated with acquisition and storage of information, and impairment of learning by inhibitors of RNA and protein synthesis suggest that chemical processes are involved in long-term memory. The main controversy is over the significance of these processes: whether they are merely concerned with increased metabolic needs or represent a molecular code in which neural information would be processed and preserved. The molecular coding hypothesis can neither be proved nor disproved by a purely chemical approach; additional means are necessary for revealing the presence of minute amounts of specific substances. One of these means is the behavioral bioassay which, in the last ten years, has guided the detection of eight learning-induced substances, all peptides, in the brain. Two of them (scotophobin, ameletin) have been fully identified and synthesized; they can now be determined and studied by chemical methods. Three other peptides have been purified and their structure is being elucidated. Although good correlation has been found between scotophobin and dark avoidance, specificity of each peptide for a given learned behavior requires further study. The nature of the hypothetical coding system is unknown but it operates probably within the framework of neural circuits: it could create new synaptic junctions, mark them and guide the flow of nerve impulses along the new channels induced by learning. This reprogramming may be based on the chemical recognition system that is believed to direct the formation of the genetically programmed pathways.
TCT-816 Comparison between of Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty and Surgical Commissurotomy for Mitral Valve Stenosis: Meta-Analysis of the Randomized Clinical Trials

Percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty (PMB) has been described as a feasible alternative option for surgical commissurotomy among patients with mitral valve stenosis. We aimed to evaluate the post procedures outcomes and its clinical significance on long term follow up between these two treatment
Improving software maintenance by learning from the past: a case study

Although it is common to view software maintenance as an activity that is distinct from software development, it is often true that the development it is often true that the development of novel products is mixed in with the evolution of existing products. Examples are families of similar applications, such as communications processors, that share considerable functionality, and a large scale information system that acts as a base for new tasks. In these situations, the maintenance process involves the adaptation of previous experience to new requirements. The author explores this type of environment, first by examining the software process, and then by relating the key activities to maintenance. An information system case study is used to illustrate how the experience of the past can be structured to facilitate future modifications. >
Transparent amorphous silicon channel waveguides and high- Q resonators using a damascene process

We demonstrate a damascene process for fabricating amorphous silicon (a-Si), single-mode optical channel waveguides and high-Q racetrack resonators. This process is compatible with thermal budget limitations for a-Si phase stability. It offers improved optical transmission and facilitates hydrogen encapsulation for process integration of a-Si waveguide cores. At 1550 nm, the average measured transmission loss coefficient is 2.5+/-0.1 dB/cm for the TE mode, comparable with high-quality single crystalline silicon counterparts. The racetrack resonators have mid-104 to 105 quality factors (Q) and extinction ratios as high as 25 dB.
The Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Necrotizing Enterocolitis

To the Editor. The treatment of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a continuing challenge for neonatalogists and pediatric surgeons. Although many infants are treated successfully without operation, others require surgical intervention for intestinal perforation or necrosis. Determining which infants with NEC require operation is a diagnostic challenge. In a recent issue of Pediatrics, Maalouf et al conclude, “Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is likely to be of value in diagnosing intestinal necrosis and determining the need for surgical intervention.”1 Although the authors have chosen a crucial subject for study and have raised some interesting questions, they have not presented data sufficient to support their conclusions. The major problems of this study include: selection of a study group inappropriate to answer the research question, selection of a control group inappropriate to the research question, retrospective analyses of the results of the MRI scans by unblinded radiologists already aware of the clinical findings, and a sample size far too small to allow results to be generalized. The authors defined the entry criteria for the study to include patients with clinical and radiographic signs of severe NEC who subsequently underwent operation for NEC. All 6 of the study patients already had a combination of clinical and radiographic abnormalities mandating operation before the MRI scan was obtained. Each had extensive pneumatosis on plain films and at least 2 had intraperitoneal gas. The authors describe the MRI findings to include dilated bowel loops, mesenteric edema, and thick bowel wall. Each of these findings was present on the plain radiographs, and MRI was not needed to see them. The authors then describe what they believe to be the pivotal finding in their study: “bubble-like appearance.” “Bubble-like appearance” is the term used by the authors to describe the MRI appearance of intramural gas or what is commonly called …
Analysis of compact electromagnetic anechoic chamber performance using finite difference time domain methods

The feasibility of modeling compact range performance using the FDTD (finite difference time domain) method is discussed. The advantages of the FDTD method, such as excitation waveform, material, and geometric generality are considered. The limitations, including staircasing errors (which can be reduced or eliminated at the expense of increased computation) and a maximum computation frequency based on computer resource limitations, are also discussed. An example of the resolution that can be obtained using 864,000 FDTD cells (suitable for workstation computations) to model a compact range in two dimensions is presented. >
Reconstruction and flux‐balance analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum metabolic network

Genome-scale metabolic reconstructions can serve as important tools for hypothesis generation and high-throughput data integration. Here, we present a metabolic network reconstruction and flux-balance analysis (FBA) of Plasmodium falciparum, the primary agent of malaria. The compartmentalized metabolic network accounts for 1001 reactions and 616 metabolites. Enzyme–gene associations were established for 366 genes and 75% of all enzymatic reactions. Compared with other microbes, the P. falciparum metabolic network contains a relatively high number of essential genes, suggesting little redundancy of the parasite metabolism. The model was able to reproduce phenotypes of experimental gene knockout and drug inhibition assays with up to 90% accuracy. Moreover, using constraints based on gene-expression data, the model was able to predict the direction of concentration changes for external metabolites with 70% accuracy. Using FBA of the reconstructed network, we identified 40 enzymatic drug targets (i.e. in silico essential genes), with no or very low sequence identity to human proteins. To demonstrate that the model can be used to make clinically relevant predictions, we experimentally tested one of the identified drug targets, nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferase, using a recently discovered small-molecule inhibitor.
Expression of myogenic constrictor tone in the aorta of hypertensive rats

We investigated the effect of intraluminal pressure or stretch on the development of tone in the descending thoracic aorta from rats with aortic coarctation-induced hypertension of 7–14 days durati...
Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-wow

The inter tribal pow-wow is the most widespread venue for traditional Indian music and dance in North America. Now in paperback, Tara Browner's "Heartbeat of the People" is an insider's journey into the dances and music, the traditions and regalia, and the functions and significance of these vital cultural events.
Poverty, Depression, or Lost in Translation? Ethnic and Language Variation in Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

OBJECTIVE Despite advances in therapies, disparities in outcomes have been documented for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients for both ethnicity and English language proficiency. The goals of these analyses were to compare differences in RA patient-reported outcomes, by both self-identification of ethnicity and English language proficiency, and to identify factors that might explain differences among groups. METHODS Data were collected through structured telephone interviews of a longitudinal cohort with physician-diagnosed RA (n = 438); only women were included (n = 335). Three groups were defined based on self-reported ethnicity and English proficiency: white/English (n = 219), Hispanic/English (n = 39), and Hispanic/Spanish (n = 77). Outcomes examined were patient-reported physical functioning, pain, and presence of moderate or severe fatigue. Multivariate regression analyses compared outcomes among groups, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, health and disease factors, and depression. RESULTS Hispanic/Spanish women had worse function, pain, and fatigue than either English-proficient group. Depression was associated with all outcomes (P < 0.0001), and accounted for greater differentials in scores than ethnicity/language proficiency. In interaction analyses, differences between women who were and were not depressed were greater for Hispanic/English than for Hispanic/Spanish. Nondepressed Hispanic/Spanish scores were significantly worse than nondepressed Hispanic/English, i.e., the impact of depression was less for Hispanic/Spanish women because both depressed and nondepressed women in this group reported worse outcomes. After adjustment for sociodemographic factors and depression, language remained significantly associated with outcomes. CONCLUSION Disparities in patient-reported outcomes may be driven less by ethnicity than by sociodemographic or psychological factors. Measurement instruments that are not culturally appropriate and equivalent may also hamper meaningful analyses of disparities.
Screening of Blastocladialean Fungi for Antibiotic Production by a Modified “Cross-Streak” Test

(1983). Screening of Blastocladialean Fungi for Antibiotic Production by a Modified “Cross-Streak” Test. Mycologia: Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 909-913.
Dual-Matrix Composite Antenna Structures for CubeSats

A concept for a deployable high-performance antenna for CubeSats is presented. The detailed design of a conical log-spiral antenna with wideband operation between 250 500 MHz, a gain of above 5 dB, and circular polarization is performed using electromagnetic simulations. A structural concept using dual-matrix composites with soft hinge regions, allowing the antenna to be packaged into small volumes, is developed. An antenna prototype is fabricated using Astroquartz fibers in an epoxy matrix; a high-strain silicone matrix is used in the hinge regions. Structural and electromagnetic analyses are conducted and show good agreement with predicted performance thus demonstrating the validity of the proposed antenna concept.
Heavy incorporation of 3H-prostaglandin F2 alpha in the neoplastic cells as revealed by autoradiographic studies.

A marked uptake (9-fold) of the3H-PGF2α was found specifically over heterochromatin in the nuclei of neoplastic cells. Lower but significant uptakes of3H-PGF2α were also found in the nuclei of control epidermal cells, which indicate the presence of nuclear receptors in the epidermal neoplastic cells.
Investigation of fluoroethylene carbonate effects on tin-based lithium-ion battery electrodes.

Electroless plating of tin on copper foil (2-D) and foams (3-D) was used to create carbon- and binder-free thin films for solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) property investigation. When electrochemically cycled vs lithium metal in coin cells, the foam electrodes exhibited better cycling performance than the planar electrodes due to electrode curvature. The effect of the additive/cosolvent fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) was found to drastically improve the capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency of the cells. The additive amount of 2% FEC is enough to derive the benefits in the cells at a slow (C/9) cycling rate. The interfacial properties of Sn thin film electrodes in electrolyte with/without FEC additive were investigated using in situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (EQCM-D). The processes of the decomposition of the electrolyte on the electrode surface and Li alloying/dealloying with Sn were characterized quantitatively by surface mass change at the molecular level. FEC...
Overcoming Communication Delays in Distributed Frequency Regulation

This paper proposes a general framework for determining the effect of communication delays on the convergence of certain distributed frequency regulation (DFR) protocols for prosumer-based energy systems, where prosumers are serving as balancing areas. DFR relies on iterative and distributed optimization algorithms to obtain an optimal feedback law for frequency regulation. But, it is, in general, hard to know beforehand how many iterations suffice to ensure stability. This paper develops a framework to determine a lower bound on the number of iterations required for two distributed optimization protocols. This allows prosumers to determine whether they can compute stabilizing control strategies within an acceptable time frame by taking communication delays into account. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated on two realistic power systems.
Treatment of refractory cutaneous lupus erythematosus

SUMMARY Photoprotection, topical steroids, and hydroxychloroquine are the mainstays of therapy of cutaneous LE. In severe and/or refractory disease, antimalarials remain the drugs of choice, and multiple induction and combination strategies can be employed to achieve optimal results with minimal toxicity. Retinoids, dapsone, clofazimine, and thalidomide are effective but more toxic alternatives. Their use dictates frequent and careful monitoring. Retinoids and thalidomide are teratogenic, and thalidomide is not available in the United States. Results with vitamin E are controversial. Gold and IFN-α have unacceptably high risk to benefit ratios. Cytotoxic agents are generally restricted to the patients with concomitant organ-threatening systemic disease.
American Character and National Identity: The Dilemmas of Cultural Diversity

‘It is really potentially a great thing for America that we are becoming so multi-ethnic...But it’s also potentially a powder keg of problems and heart break and division and loss. And how we handle it will determine, really, — that single question may be the biggest determination of what we look like fifty years from now and what the children of that age will have to look forward to.’
The Originality of E. M. Forster

Although his novels superficially resemble Victorian novels, it is not too much to say that E. M. Forster permanently changed the English novel. Perhaps his not having written novels for the last four decades of his life has inhibited our recognition of the seminal role Forster played in the transformation of the Victorian novel into what we know as the Modern novel. For example, Lionel Stevenson1 barely mentions E. M. Forster’s contribution, and Walter Allen asserts that Forster cannot ‘be regarded as a pioneer’ and places him ‘in the older English tradition which, beginning with Fielding, ends, we normally assume, with Meredith’.2 In this chapter, I shall make rather more substantial claims for Forster’s originality as an artist than are usually made.
Hilbert Space Theory

In this chapter, we will consider the spectral theory for compact hermitian operators on a Hilbert space.
Metre and meaning in Jane Kenyon’s ‘Song’

ABSTRACTAs experienced poets are well aware, ideas and emotions are not only contained in semantics, but in the poem as a performance of sonic, rhythmic and metrical development. The discussion of metre in ‘Song’ provides a good example of how ‘free verse isn’t free’. Jane Kenyon’s ‘Song’ is an excellent example of how formal techniques of metre can be employed by lyric free verse poets to great effect. In ‘Song’ suspense and tension is created between triple metre and two kinds of duple. This metre-induced suspense is woven into the poem’s meaning. There is a pattern in which the triple metre states its theme, the duple metre states its contrasting theme, and the two clash during the poem’s development. The metrical motifs used in ‘Song’ consist of trochees to express the natural world, while using dactyls to underscore more prosaic actions in the foreground. Finally, iambs create gravitas, complication, and resolution.
A convenient synthesis of α-amino-β-lactams

Abstract A safe and convenient method is described for the synthesis of α-amido-β-lactams starting with glycine and an azomethine. The amino group of glycine is protected by reaction with a β-dicarbonyl compound following the method of Dane et al. and the carboxyl group is activated through the formation of a mixed anhydride or an active ester. Condensation between these glycine derivatives and acyclic or cyclic imino compounds (including thioimidates) in presence of triethylamine leads to stereospecific synthesis of 3-(β-carbonyl-vinylamino)-2-azetidinones in 40–60% yield. The vinylamino side chain can be hydrolyzed under mild acid conditions to form 3-amino-2-azetidinones which can be acylated to α-amido-β-lactams. Alternatively, the vinylamino side chain can be converted to an amido side chain by ozonolysis. The molecular parameters of a 3-(β-carbonyl-vinylamino)-2-azetidinone were determined by X-ray crystallography. Usefulness of this α-amido-β-lactam synthesis is illustrated by the preparation of isotopelabeled β-lactams and intermediates for some β-lactam antibiotics.
Laboratory studies of hydraulic fracturing by cyclic injection

Abstract We assess the possibility of decreasing the breakdown pressure of rock and increasing the damage around hydraulic fracture by using pre-breakdown cyclic injection during hydraulic fracturing under triaxial stress conditions. Unlike the monotonous increase in pressure used in conventional hydraulic fracturing, the fluid is injected in cycles until breakdown. During cyclic injection, the peak pressure of each cycle is increased in an increment of 10% of the reference breakdown pressure. The reference breakdown pressure of the rock is the pressure at which the rocks fails during hydraulic fracturing by conventional injection. To obtain a reference breakdown pressures, specimens of dry and saturated Tennessee sandstone were hydraulically fractured by conventional injection. The decrease in breakdown pressure and increase in damage during cyclic injection is quantitatively compared with the case of conventional hydraulic fracturing. Acoustic emission (AE), fracture permeability, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the fracture surface were used to compare the damage around hydraulic fractures generated by conventional and cyclic injection hydraulic fracturing. Laboratory results indicate that the damage generated around hydraulic fracture by cyclic injection hydraulic fracturing of dry Tennessee sandstone is approximately twice that generated by conventional injection. Also, the breakdown pressure recorded during cyclic injection fracturing of dry Tennessee sandstone is lower and varies more than two standard deviations from that of conventional injection.
Perceptions about Expert Teaching for Students with Severe Disabilities among Teachers Identified as Experts.

Teaching students with severe disabilities is a complex endeavor, and the skills and qualities of expert teachers for students with severe disabilities are not well understood. A lack of understand...
The trimerization of acetylenes involves a cascade of biradical and pericyclic processes

Thorough computational studies were performed on mechanisms and energies for the thermal trimerizations of neutral or electron-rich acetylenes used as cross-linkers in organic hard-masks for lithography applications. These studies indicate that the operative mechanism proceeds through initial cyclobutadiene formation via a biradical mechanism. Cyclobutadienes form Dewar benzenes via Diels-Alder cycloadditions, or biradical processes, or both, before producing benzenes by electrocyclic ring-opening reactions. These pathways are preferred to alternatives involving concerted trimerizations or mechanisms involving carbene intermediates.
Hierarchies of Need in Sustainable Development: A Resource Dependence Approach for Local Governance:

Urban sustainability is a burgeoning focus for urban scholarship but rarely examined within the larger context of local government economic activities. Why should cities focusing on cutback managem...
Data Rituals in Intimate Infrastructures: Crip Time and the Disabled Cyborg Body as an Epistemic Site of Feminist Science

While much feminist STS has focused on science and laboratories as sites of critical engagement, feminism and feminist theory has introduced alternative sites of knowledge production and engagement. This essay draws on new materialism and feminist theories of nature, embodiment and technology in order to analyze the disabled cyborg body as an epistemic site of feminist science. In particular, I analyze my own experience of adopting and using networked technologies—specifically, an insulin pump and glucose monitor--to manage Type 1 diabetes and the kinds of scientific practices that I engage in on a daily basis. These technologies and practices deserve attention in terms of what they can teach us about common discourses around science, innovation and infrastructure and, ultimately, about ourselves.
Medical Students' Acquisition of Adolescent Interview Skills after Coached Role Play.

Abstract Study Objective To develop and evaluate an educational activity designed to teach the adolescent Home, Education and employment, Eating, Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide/depression, and Safety (HEADS) examination. Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, and Main Outcome Measures Participants were third-year medical students in their pediatric clerkships. Students received an article on the HEADS interview and attended an adolescent medicine educational session. The session included individualized goal-setting and coached role play. Students’ skills in doing a HEADS interview were evaluated through a standardized patient encounter (SPE) with a checklist and a retrospective pre- and post-test survey. The SPE checklist was used to assess whether the students included questions in 6 key areas of a HEADS interview. Results One hundred fifty-two students participated. During the SPE, 90% of students queried the adolescent's home life, 91% education, 82% activities, 84% drug/substance abuse, 95% sexual history, and 61% symptoms of depression. Pre- and postintervention data were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis Test and showed a statistically significant difference in the students' ability to list key topic areas of the HEADS exam (P Conclusion After an introduction to the HEADS examination, most students covered almost all of the topic areas of this screening interview during a SPE. Only three-fifths of the students, however, included questions about symptoms of depression. Coached role play with goal-setting facilitated effective learning of this approach to adolescent interviewing.
Adapting tax systems for population aging

Population aging is occurring around the world, presenting a number of policy challenges. Most notably, it will increase dependency ratios, making it more difficult for governments to support their older populations. As a result, tax policy will need to be changed in ways that result in more revenues collected, including strengthening tax incentives for work and reducing features that distort business decisions. Population aging also means that more people will be at risk of hardship because of limited financial resources in retirement, implying that tax systems should be changed in ways that better encourage retirement saving. Finally, the lower interest rates that have resulted in part from population aging and the resulting complications for monetary policy mean that governments would also be well served by changing tax systems to include more automatic stabilizers.
A Review of the Literature Regarding Sleep and Cardiometabolic Disease in African Descent Populations.

In the 21st century, African descent populations on both the continent of Africa and throughout the world are experiencing a high rate of both sleep disturbances and cardiometabolic diseases. The most common sleep disturbances are reduced sleep duration, insomnia, disordered circadian rhythm, and obstructive sleep apnea. Cardiometabolic diseases include hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and the metabolic syndrome. This review seeks to call attention to new insights regarding the impact of sleep disturbance on cardiometabolic risk factors and outcomes and then apply these concepts to African descent populations, a relatively understudied population. Initial data suggest disparities in sleep quality may have an important role in current and emerging patterns of cardiometabolic disease for African descent populations both in the United States and abroad.
Pharmacist-led medication assessment and deprescribing intervention for older adults with cancer and polypharmacy: a pilot study.

The aims of this study were to compare the application of three geriatric medication screening tools to the Beers Criteria alone for potentially inappropriate medication quantification and to determine feasibility of a pharmacist-led polypharmacy assessment in a geriatric oncology clinic. Adult patients with cancer aged 65 and older underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment. A polypharmacy assessment was completed by a pharmacist and included a review of all drug therapies. Potentially inappropriate medications were screened using the Beers Criteria, Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment/Screening Tool of Older Persons’ Prescriptions, and the Medication Appropriateness Index. Deprescribing occurred after discussion with the pharmacist, geriatric oncologist, patient, and caregiver. Data were collected for 26 patients. The mean number of medications was 12. The Beers Criteria alone identified 38 potentially inappropriate medications compared to 119 potentially inappropriate medications with the three-tool assessment; a mean of 5 potentially inappropriate medications were identified per patient. After the application of the three-tool assessment, 73% of potentially inappropriate medications identified were deprescribed, resulting in a mean of 3 medications deprescribed per patient. Approximately two thirds of patients reported a reduction in symptoms after the deprescribing intervention. Healthcare expenditures of $4282.27 per patient were potentially avoided as a result of deprescribing. Our three-tool assessment identified three times more potentially inappropriate medications than the Beers Criteria alone. Pharmacist-led deprescribing interventions are feasible and may lead to improved patient outcomes and cost savings. This three-tool assessment process should be incorporated into interdisciplinary assessments of older patients with cancer and validated in future studies.
The adaptive complexity of maximizing a submodular function

In this paper we study the adaptive complexity of submodular optimization. Informally, the adaptive complexity of a problem is the minimal number of sequential rounds required to achieve a constant factor approximation when polynomially-many queries can be executed in parallel at each round. Adaptivity is a fundamental concept that is heavily studied in computer science, largely due to the need for parallelizing computation. Somewhat surprisingly, very little is known about adaptivity in submodular optimization. For the canonical problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function under a cardinality constraint, to the best of our knowledge, all that is known to date is that the adaptive complexity is between 1 and Ω(n). Our main result in this paper is a tight characterization showing that the adaptive complexity of maximizing a monotone submodular function under a cardinality constraint is Θ(log n): - We describe an algorithm which requires O(log n) sequential rounds and achieves an approximation that is arbitrarily close to 1/3; - We show that no algorithm can achieve an approximation better than O(1 / log n) with fewer than O(log n / log log n) rounds. Thus, when allowing for parallelization, our algorithm achieves a constant factor approximation exponentially faster than any known existing algorithm for submodular maximization. Importantly, the approximation algorithm is achieved via adaptive sampling and complements a recent line of work on optimization of functions learned from data. In many cases we do not know the functions we optimize and learn them from labeled samples. Recent results show that no algorithm can obtain a constant factor approximation guarantee using polynomially-many labeled samples as in the PAC and PMAC models, drawn from any distribution. Since learning with non-adaptive samples over any distribution results in a sharp impossibility, we consider learning with adaptive samples where the learner obtains poly(n) samples drawn from a distribution of her choice in every round. Our result implies that in the realizable case, where there is a true underlying function generating the data, Θ(log n) batches of adaptive samples are necessary and sufficient to approximately “learn to optimize” a monotone submodular function under a cardinality constraint.
Multiscale Modeling of Defect Nucleation and Reaction: Bulk to Nanostructures

Homogeneous nucleation of deformation twin in a metal and the reaction between a water molecule and silica are studied using classical interatomic potential and molecular-orbital theory respectively. They are examples of local (atomic-level) processes which involve the breaking and formation of chemical bonds, relevant in bulk solids as well as nanostructures.
Feature Selection using Multiple Streams

Feature selection for supervised learning can be greatly improved by making use of the fact that features often come in classes. For example, in gene expression data, the genes which serve as features may be divided into classes based on their membership in gene families or pathways. When labeling words with senses for word sense disambiguation, features fall into classes including adjacent words, their parts of speech, and the topic and venue of the document the word is in. We present a streamwise feature selection method that allows dynamic generation and selection of features, while taking advantage of the different feature classes, and the fact that they are of different sizes and have different (but unknown) fractions of good features. Experimental results show that our approach provides significant improvement in performance and is computationally less expensive than comparable “batch” methods that do not take advantage of the feature classes and expect all features to be known in advance.
A single cell transcriptional portrait of embryoid body differentiation and comparison to progenitors of the developing embryo

Directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells provides an accessible system to model development. However, the distinct cell types that emerge, their dynamics, and their relationship to progenitors in the early embryo has been difficult to decipher because of the cellular heterogeneity inherent to differentiation. Here, we used a combination of bulk RNA-Seq, single cell RNA-Seq, and bioinformatics analyses to dissect the cell types that emerge during directed differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells as embryoid bodies and we compared them to spatially and temporally resolved transcriptional profiles of early embryos. Our single cell analyses of the day 4 embryoid bodies revealed three populations which had retained related yet distinct pluripotent signatures that resemble the pre- or post-implantation epiblast, one population of presumptive neuroectoderm, one population of mesendoderm, and four populations of neural progenitors. By day 6, the neural progenitors predominated the embryoid bodies, but both a small population of pluripotent-like cells and an anterior mesoderm-like Brachyury-expressing population were present. By comparing the day 4 and day 6 populations, we identified candidate differentiation paths, transcription factors, and signaling pathways that mark the in vitro correlate of the transition from the mid-to-late primitive streak stage.
Abstract SY22-02: Metabolic vulnerability of PTEN mutant cancer

Signaling pathways that act as drivers of cancer cell growth and proliferation activate metabolic pathways required to generate the building blocks required for cell doubling. Loss of PTEN activates PI3K, AKT and mTOR to stimulate glucose and glutamine flux to allow DNA replication. One of the metabolic pathways that is activated after deletion of both alleles of PTEN is the de novo pyrimidine synthesis pathway. PTEN null cells show evidence of increased DNA replication and low levels of damage at replication forks that can be rescued by providing supplementary uridine. Interruption of de novo pyrimidine synthesis with an inhibitor of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) increased DNA damage at replication forks of PTEN null cells that ultimately led to chromosome breaks detected in mitosis and cell death. This cellular vulnerability to inhibition of DHODH was rescued with uridine, demonstrating the specificity of the effect. Exploration of the mechanism that led to vulnerability of PTEN null cells demonstrated that it was due to defective ATR signaling at replication forks that was a consequence of activated AKT, which phosphorylate and attenuate TOPBP1 and CHK1. Complementation of PTEN null cells with mutants of TOPBP1 and CHK1 that cannot be phosphorylated by AKT rescued the cells from DNA damage and cell death due to inhibition of DHODH. Tumor cell lines lacking PTEN tended to be more sensitive to DHODH inhibition than PTEN wild type cells were. In conclusion, the attenuated ATR signaling and increased flux of nucleotides to newly synthesized DNA at replication forks makes PTEN mutant cells vulnerable to disruption of de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Citation Format: Ramon E. Parsons. Metabolic vulnerability of PTEN mutant cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr SY22-02.
Evidence of Magnetic Torque Dynamics in Optically-induced Magnetization

Rotational assignments and polarization states of inelastic components in the cross-polarized spectrum of light scattered by liquid samples of tetrahedral molecules provide direct evidence of a theorized enhancement mechanism for induced magnetism.
Effects of Mo and Mn microadditions on strengthening and over-aging resistance of nanoprecipitation-strengthened Al-Zr-Sc-Er-Si alloys

Abstract Combined microadditions of 0.09 at.% Mo and 0.4 at.% Mn to a dilute Al-0.10Zr-0.01Sc-0.007Er-0.10Si (at.%) alloy lead to increases in strength upon peak-aging, and improved over-aging resistance at 400, 425 and 450 °C for at least 6 months. These improvements are related to four cumulative effects. Firstly, Mn and Mo provide, in the as-cast state, a solid-solution-strengthening contribution of ∼90 MPa. The solid-solution contribution from Mo (∼80 MPa) remains essentially unchanged during aging at 400–450 °C, due to its extremely small diffusivity and precipitation. Secondly, Mn and Mo partition to the cores and shells, respectively, of the nano-size coherent, L12 (Al,Si)3(Zr,Sc,Er) nanoprecipitates, which nucleate in
Cognitive barriers during monitoring-based commissioning of buildings

Abstract Monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) is a continuous building energy management process used to optimize energy performance in buildings. Although monitoring-based commissioning (MBCx) can reduce energy waste by up to 20%, many buildings still underperform due to issues such as unnoticed system faults and inefficient operational procedures. While there are technical barriers that impede the MBCx process, such as data quality, the focuses of this paper are the non-technical, behavioral and organizational, barriers that contribute to issues initiating and implementing MBCx. In particular, this paper discusses cognitive biases, which can lead to suboptimal outcomes in energy efficiency decisions, resulting in missed opportunities for energy savings. This paper provides evidence of cognitive biases in decisions during the MBCx process using qualitative data from over 40 public and private sector organizations. The results describe barriers resulting from cognitive biases, listed in descending order of occurrence, including: risk aversion, social norms, choice overload, status quo bias, information overload, professional bias, and temporal discounting. Building practitioners can use these results to better understand potential cognitive biases, in turn allowing them to establish best practices and make more informed decisions. Researchers can use these results to empirically test specific decision interventions and facilitate more energy efficient decisions.
Racial Differences in Time to Breast Cancer Surgery and Overall Survival in the US Military Health System

Importance Racial disparities in time to surgery (TTS) after a breast cancer diagnosis and whether these differences account for disparities in overall survival have been understudied in the US population. Objectives To compare TTS in non-Hispanic black (NHB) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) women with breast cancer and to examine whether racial differences in TTS may explain possible racial disparities in overall survival in a universal health care system. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort identified from the Department of Defense Central Cancer Registry and Military Health System Data Repository linked databases containing records between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2008, of 998 NHB women and 3899 NHW women who received a diagnosis of stages I to III breast cancer and underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or mastectomy in the US Military Health System during the study period. Data analyses were conducted from July 5, 2017, to December 29, 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures The main outcome was time to breast cancer surgery. Non-Hispanic black and NHW women were compared at the 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles of TTS by using multivariable quantile regression. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for all-cause death in NHB compared with NHW women after controlling for potential confounders first without and then with TTS. Results Among the 4887 NHB and NHW women in the cohort, the mean (SD) age was 50.0 (9.4) years. The median TTS was 21 days (95% CI, 20.6-21.4 days) among NHW women and 22 days (95% CI, 20.6-23.4 days) among NHB women. Non-Hispanic black women had a significantly greater estimated TTS at the 75th (3.6 days; 95% CI, 1.6-5.5 days) and 90th (8.9 days; 95% CI, 5.1-12.6 days) percentiles than NHW women in multivariable models. The estimated differences were similar by surgery type. Non-Hispanic black women had a higher adjusted risk for death (HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.06-2.01) compared with NHW women among patients receiving breast-conserving surgery. The risks were similar between races among those receiving mastectomy (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.76-1.48). The HRs remained similar after adding TTS to the Cox proportional hazards regression models. Conclusions and Relevance This study’s results indicate that time to breast cancer surgery was delayed for NHB compared with NHW women in the Military Health System. However, the racial differences in TTS did not explain the observed racial differences in overall survival among women who received breast-conserving surgery.