cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Auditor's Slippery Slope: An Analysis of Reputational Incentives

Reputational concerns have commonly been perceived to have a positive effect on auditing firms' execution of their monitoring and attesting functions. This paper demonstrates that this need not always be the case by studying a two-period game of repeated interaction between a manager and an auditor under the assessment of the market for audit services. Regarding reputation as the sole motivator for the auditor, we illustrate how reputational concerns induce an auditing firm to misreport. We investigate the reasons and circumstances under which such misreporting takes place. In particular, a strategic manager can induce the audit firm down a slippery slope, wherein the managerial fraud increases as the tenure of the audit firm progresses, whereas the auditor's fraud reporting probability decreases.
Control strategies for a distributed mass damper system

Recent developments of a distributed mass damper (DMD) system integrate structural and environmental control systems for buildings. External shading fins are used as mass dampers such that they can (i) control building energy consumption by adjusting the fins and, thus, the amount of sunlight coming into the building and (ii) control structural movements by dissipating energy with the dampers during strong motions due to wind or earthquakes. Shading fins are placed along the height of the building, distributing the mass along the building instead of being concentrated in a few locations like traditional tuned mass dampers (TMDs). This eliminates any large damper mass on the top of the building that can be a structural and architectural challenge to design. The DMD system is formulated, simulated and analyzed with passive, active and semiactive control strategies. The passive DMD is shown to be as effective in response mitigation as a conventional TMD; active and semiactive strategies give further improvements. The building energy consumption using the movable shading fins is also briefly presented in this paper.
Gait Initiation in Community-Dwelling Adults With Parkinson Disease: Comparison With Older and Younger Adults Without the Disease

Background and Purpose. Initiation of gait requires transitions from relatively stationary positions to stability with movement and from double- to single-limb stances. These are deliberately destabilizing activities that may be difficult for people with early Parkinson disease (PD), even when they have no problems with level walking. We studied differences in postural stability during gait initiation between participants with early and middle stages of PD (characterized by Hoehn and Yahr as stages 1–3) and 2 other groups of participants without PD—older and younger adults. Subjects. The mean ages of the 3 groups of participants were as follows: subjects with PD, 69.3 years (SD=5.7, range=59–78); older subjects without PD, 69.0 years (SD=3.9, range=65–79); and younger subjects without PD, 27.5 (SD=3.9, range=22–35). Methods. A 3-dimensional motion analysis system was used with 2 force platforms to obtain data for center of mass (COM) and center of pressure (COP). The distance between the vertical projections of the COM and the COP (COM–COP distance) was used to reflect postural control during 5 events in gait initiation. Results. By use of multivariate analysis of variance, differences in COM–COP distance were found among the 3 groups. An analysis of variance indicated differences for 4 of the 5 events in gait initiation. A Scheffe post hoc analysis demonstrated differences in gait initiation between the subjects with PD and both groups of subjects without PD (2 events) and between the subjects with PD and the younger subjects without PD (2 events). Discussion and Conclusion. The COM–COP distance relationship was used to measure postural control during the transition from quiet standing to steady-state gait. Differences between groups indicated that individuals with impaired postural control allow less COM–COP distance than do individuals with no known neurologic problems. The method used could prove useful in the development and assessment of interventions to improve ambulation safety and enhance the independence of people with impaired postural control.
Biomarkers in mood disorders research: developing new and improved therapeutics

Background Recently, surrogate neurobiological biomarkers that correlate with target engagement and therapeutic response have been developed and tested in early phase studies of mood disorders. Objective The identification of biomarkers could help develop personalized psychiatric treatments that may impact public health. Methods These biomarkers, which are associated with clinical response post-treatment, can be directly validated using multimodal approaches including genetic tools, proteomics/metabolomics, peripheral measures, neuroimaging, biostatistical predictors, and clinical predictors. Results To date, early phase biomarker studies have sought to identify measures that can serve as “biosignatures”, or biological patterns of clinical response. These studies have also sought to identify clinical predictors and surrogate outcomes associated with pathophysiological domains consistently described in the National Institute of Mental Health’s (NIMH) new Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Using the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist ketamine as an example, we identified changes in several domains (clinical, cognitive, and neurophysiological) that predicted ketamine’s rapid and sustained antidepressant effects in individuals with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar depression. Discussion These approaches may ultimately provide clues into the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders and may have enormous impact Backon the development of novel therapeutics.
Indigeneity's challenges to the white settler-state: Creating a thirdspace for dynamic citizenship

Multiculturalism has been offered as an answer to the civil rights claims of a wide variety of ethnic and national minorities within liberal democratic settler-states. This article adds to the critiques of the appropriateness of multiculturalism in answering the self-determination claims of indigenous populations by investigating biculturalism in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Indigenous groups continue to demand greater recognition not only of sui generis claims to land and resources but also to the acceptance of indigenous philosophies and perspectives in the management of land and resources. As indigenous populations have been forced toward the edge of the state, they have been forced to reassert their cultural values in order to fundamentally reinvent the relationship between colonizer and colonized. This “reinvention” of society, coming from the edges, propelled by indigeneity, is beginning to challenge the construction of the white settler-state. These challenges occur in places, not within arbitrary, theore...
Changes to the North Atlantic Subtropical High and Its Role in the Intensification of Summer Rainfall Variability in the Southeastern United States

AbstractThis study investigates the changes of the North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH) and its impact on summer precipitation over the southeastern (SE) United States using the 850-hPa geopotential height field in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, the 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40), long-term rainfall data, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) model simulations during the past six decades (1948–2007). The results show that the NASH in the last 30 yr has become more intense, and its western ridge has displaced westward with an enhanced meridional movement compared to the previous 30 yr. When the NASH moved closer to the continental United States in the three most recent decades, the effect of the NASH on the interannual variation of SE U.S. precipitation is enhanced through the ridge’s north–south movement. The study’s attribution analysis suggested that the changes of...
Class-specific classifier: avoiding the curse of dimensionality

This article describes a new probabilistic method called the "class-specific method" (CSM). CSM has the potential to avoid the "curse of dimensionality" which plagues most classifiers which attempt to determine the decision boundaries in a high-dimensional feature space. In contrast, in CSM, it is possible to build classifiers without a common feature space. Separate low-dimensional features sets may be defined for each class, while the decision functions are projected back to the common raw data space. CSM effectively extends the classical classification theory to handle multiple feature spaces. It is completely general, and requires no simplifying assumption such as Gaussianity or that data ties in linear subspaces.
An ℋ-matrix parametric cascading based fast direct finite-element solver for large-scale circuit extraction

In the electromagnetic analysis of problems with complex irregular geometries and arbitrary inhomogeneity, the finite-element method (FEM) is a favorable choice compared to other computational electromagnetic methods such as finite-difference-based methods and integral-equation-based methods. Although an FEM based analysis generates a sparse system matrix, its solution is highly computationally challenging if the problem size is large. An ℋ-matrix based direct finite element solver was recently developed [1] to solve large-scale electrodynamic problems. The storage requirements and matrix-vector multiplication have been shown to be of complexity O(kNlogN), and the complexity of direct inverse and LU is shown to be O(k2Nlog2N), where k is a small parameter that is adaptively determined based on accuracy requirements, and N is the matrix size. In [2], a layered ℋ-inverse based direct solver was developed. It takes advantage of the zero blocks in the original FEM matrix, and reduces the storage complexity to O(MlogM) and the time complexity to O(Nlog2M), where M is the number of unknowns in a single layer, which is, in general, orders of magnitude smaller than N. The methods developed in [1–2] do not make any theoretical approximation or simplification. They are developed for the analysis of general electromagnetic problems.
The Disappearing Student: Students Who Leave before the Census Date.

Community colleges are open enrollment institutions that frequently take pride in being convenient to students, reducing impediments for application and registration, and understanding the multiple demands and obligations that impinge on students' lives. One fallout of this stance is that many students may enroll in the college but leave before the official census date. Literature about retention and persistence does not address this population of students. This exploratory study examines the demographic and educational characteristics of “disappearing students,” explores their reasons for dropping courses, looks at return in subsequent terms, and suggests a complex array of factors—many outside the institution's ability to affect—shape students' enrollment and retention decisions. Using quantitative data from the institution's student information system, supplemented with qualitative data from a modest number of telephone interviews to hear students' reasons for disappearing in their own words, researche...
Miscible displacement of salinity fronts: Implications for colloid mobilization

[1] Colloids can be mobilized in the subsurface when low ionic strength pore water displaces high ionic strength pore water. Various experiments in saturated porous media, where such a change in ionic strength was used to mobilize colloids, have been reported in the literature. Here we experimentally test the effect of the flow direction on the hydrodynamic stability of the salinity displacement front. A series of experiments was conducted in packed columns where a solution of 1000 mM NaCl was displaced by 1 mM NaNO3 in a saturated porous medium. The flow direction was vertically downward, horizontal, or vertically upward. Nitrate breakthrough curves were determined at the column outflow. Results show that for downward flow of a salinity front the displacement fronts were hydrodynamically stable, but breakthrough curves showed less dispersion than in the case of equimolar miscible displacement. For upward flow of the salinity front the displacement was unstable. Breakthrough curves were not reproducible, and a family of breakthrough curves was observed for repeated experiments. This was caused by the development of distinct fingers at the displacement front. For horizontal flow of the salinity front the displacement was unstable. Repeated breakthrough curves were reproducible, but there was more dispersion than under equimolar displacement, which we attribute to some instability in the displacement front. Front instability inferred from breakthrough curves was consistent with theoretical expectations for miscible displacement.
Differential effects of insulin on peripheral and visceral tissue protein synthesis in neonatal pigs

We recently demonstrated in neonatal pigs that, with amino acids and glucose maintained at fasting levels, the stimulation of protein synthesis in longissimus dorsi muscle with feeding can be reproduced by a physiological rise in insulin alone. In the current report, we determine whether the response of protein synthesis to insulin in the neonatal pig is 1) present in muscles of different fiber types, 2) proportional in myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins, 3) associated with increased translational efficiency and ribosome number, and 4) present in other peripheral tissues and in viscera. Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic-amino acid clamps were performed in 7- and 26-day-old pigs infused with 0, 30, 100, or 1,000 ng. kg(-0.66). min(-1) of insulin to reproduce insulin levels present in fasted, fed, refed, and supraphysiological conditions, respectively. Tissue protein synthesis was measured using a flooding dose of L-[4-(3)H]phenylalanine. Insulin increased protein synthesis in gastrocnemius muscle and, to a lesser degree, masseter muscle. The degree of stimulation of protein synthesis by insulin was similar in myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins. Insulin increased translational efficiency but had no effect on ribosome number in muscle. All of these insulin-induced changes in muscle protein synthesis decreased with age. Insulin also stimulated protein synthesis in cardiac muscle and skin but not in liver, intestine, spleen, pancreas, or kidney. The results support the hypothesis that insulin mediates the feeding-induced stimulation of myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis in muscles of different fiber types in the neonate by increasing the efficiency of translation. However, insulin does not appear to be involved in the feeding-induced stimulation of protein synthesis in visceral tissues. Thus different mechanisms regulate the growth of peripheral and visceral tissues in the neonate.
Point-Of-Care Ultrasound in Pediatric Emergency Medicine: What Do Fellows Need to Know?

Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians are increasingly adopting the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to integrate focused bedside ultrasonography with clinical examination to care for pediatric patients. It is expected that PEM fellowship trainees will receive substantive POCUS education, yet there exist wide variations in training experience between institutions based on availability of faculty with expertise in POCUS and the lack of a standard curriculum or national consensus on competency standards. It is essential for trainees to understand the requirements and opportunities for POCUS training in PEM. The following document outlines common questions that PEM trainees or fellowship applicants may wish to consider.
The compressed state Kalman filter for nonlinear state estimation: Application to large‐scale reservoir monitoring

Reservoir monitoring aims to provide snapshots of reservoir conditions and their uncertainties to assist operation management and risk analysis. These snapshots may contain millions of state variables, e.g., pressures and saturations, which can be estimated by assimilating data in real time using the Kalman filter (KF). However, the KF has a computational cost that scales quadratically with the number of unknowns, m, due to the cost of computing and storing the covariance and Jacobian matrices, along with their products. The compressed state Kalman filter (CSKF) adapts the KF for solving large-scale monitoring problems. The CSKF uses N preselected orthogonal bases to compute an accurate rank-N approximation of the covariance that is close to the optimal spectral approximation given by SVD. The CSKF has a computational cost that scales linearly in m and uses an efficient matrix-free approach that propagates uncertainties using N + 1 forward model evaluations, where N≪m. Here we present a generalized CSKF algorithm for nonlinear state estimation problems such as CO2 monitoring. For simultaneous estimation of multiple types of state variables, the algorithm allows selecting bases that represent the variability of each state type. Through synthetic numerical experiments of CO2 monitoring, we show that the CSKF can reproduce the Kalman gain accurately even for large compression ratios (m/N). For a given computational cost, the CSKF uses a robust and flexible compression scheme that gives more reliable uncertainty estimates than the ensemble Kalman filter, which may display loss of ensemble variability leading to suboptimal uncertainty estimates.
Optimal Separate Accounting vs. Optimal Formula Apportionment

American states and Canadian provinces use formulas to allocate a multi-state company's national profit among the state-level jurisdictions. The formulas typically depend on the company's distribution of revenues and costs. In contrast, most countries allocate a multinational's global profit for the purposes of calculating national tax liabilities by treating each subsidiary as a separate corporation and requiring the multinational to use transfer prices to reflect the value of any trade between its divisions. Motivated in part by recent interest by the EU in replacing the current transfer price system with a formula apportionment system, this paper derives and compares the optimal transfer pricing regulation with the optimal apportionment formula in a model of multinational taxation that allows for both private information and unobservable investments. Conditions are derived under which the optimal transfer price regulation and the optimal apportionment formula are welfare equivalent. In the absence of the equivalence conditions, formula apportionment is shown to create a trade-off between inducing more efficient firm investment and rent extraction. The welfare implications of this trade-off are examined.
Prognostication of Recovery Following Stroke Using the Comparison of CT and Technetium-99m HM-PAO SPECT

This study investigated the possibility that a relationship between the anatomic defects observed on computed tomography (CT) and the functional defects observed on single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) might be used as an outcome measure to predict clinical recovery from the neurologic deficits induced by stroke. Twenty-seven patients with stroke location limited primarily to cerebral cortex were included in the study: each patient underwent a cranial CT scan, 99mTc hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime SPECT cerebral perfusion scan, and an initial and 1-yr follow-up neurologic examination. A strongly positive correlation between the ratio of the SPECT to CT volume defect sizes (SPECT divided by CT) and recovery following stroke was found, such that the greater the SPECT to CT ratio, the better the subsequent recovery of neurological deficits. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the best predictor of clinical outcome following stroke was the log-transformation of SPECT divided by CT. The results suggest that the relationship between the perfusion defects and tissue loss measured by SPECT and CT imaging may have prognostic utility following stroke limited primarily to cerebral cortex.
Pectus Excavatum in Adults

Pectus excavatum is a chest-wall deformity occurring in approximately 1 in 400 individuals and is identified four times more commonly in males than females. Based upon this figure, a region with 30,000 live births per year (approximately what would occur in an area with a population of 2,000,000) would expect to have 75 children born with pectus excavatum per year. The underlying etiology is unknown. More than 90% have some evidence of depression of the sternum at birth with progression of the severity of the deformity over the course of their growth and development. Many patients will note that a family member also has this deformity, although no clear genetic predisposition to this as an isolated entity has been identified. Patients with connective tissue disorders, such as Marfan’s syndrome, have a fairly high incidence of pectus excavatum or pectus carinatum. Because these disorders are generally of genetic origin, there is likely a chromosomal correlation in this instance.
Abstract 239: Olfactomedin 2 Regulates Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Modulation by Mediating the Interaction Between Runx2 and SRF

Olfactomedin 2 (Olfm2) is a novel regulator for vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation, but it is unclear whether Olfm2 is also involved in SMC phenotypic modulation, an important process associated with vascular injury. In this study, we found that Olfm2 was induced during PDGF-BB-induced SMC phenotypic modulation. Olfm2 knockdown attenuated PDGF-BB-induced suppression of SM marker genes including SM myosin heavy chain and SM22α, and also inhibited PDGF-BB-stimulated SMC proliferation and migration. On the other hand, Olfm2 overexpression down-regulated SM markers gene expression, and promoted SMC proliferation marker PCNA expression. Moreover, PDGF-BB slightly induced expression of Runx2, which interfered with the formation of SRF/myocardin ternary complex, but dramatically enhanced SRF-Runx2 interaction, suggesting that certain factors mediate SRF-Runx2 interaction. Indeed, Olfm2 physically interacted with both SRF and Runx2. Blockade of Olfm2 inhibited SRF association with Runx2, leading to increased association between SRF and myocardin, which in turn activated the transcription of SM markers, whereas overexpression of Olfm2 promoted SRF binding to Runx2. These results demonstrated that Olfm2 mediates the interaction between SRF and Runx2, contributing to SMC phenotypic modulation.
Shear wave speed and dispersion measurements using crawling wave chirps.

This article demonstrates the measurement of shear wave speed and shear speed dispersion of biomaterials using a chirp signal that launches waves over a range of frequencies. A biomaterial is vibrated by two vibration sources that generate shear waves inside the medium, which is scanned by an ultrasound imaging system. Doppler processing of the acquired signal produces an image of the square of vibration amplitude that shows repetitive constructive and destructive interference patterns called “crawling waves.” With a chirp vibration signal, successive Doppler frames are generated from different source frequencies. Collected frames generate a distinctive pattern which is used to calculate the shear speed and shear speed dispersion. A special reciprocal chirp is designed such that the equi-phase lines of a motion slice image are straight lines. Detailed analysis is provided to generate a closed-form solution for calculating the shear wave speed and the dispersion. Also several phantoms and an ex vivo human ...
Entropic skill assessment of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators

Large-scale distributed training exercises involve many trainees at various stages of their training maturity and at various levels of skill. Problems arise in large-scale exercises when less mature or lower-skilled trainees are exposed to training scenarios that are too advanced or too complex for their level of training maturity. These trainees are more likely to fail the mission they are given in the training scenario, thus reducing the benefits of training, leading to frustration in the trainee or even disrupting the training exercise. We present a methodology for automated skill assessment using entropy measures that form the core of a battery of automated assessment algorithms. As illustrated in a case study, in which subjects performed a reconnaissance task in a simulated unmanned aerial system environment, this methodology achieves high accuracy levels of skill assessment and has the added benefit of computational simplicity, allowing for real-time skill assessment of trainees.
Linear spectral estimation and the design of superresolution filters

A linear spectral estimation technique, the PDFT algorithm, is presented as a promising design strategy for superresolution filters. This non-iterative algorithm is applied to synthesize filters with rotational symmetry and compared with other approaches.
Slay the Three-Headed Demon

Professor Davis argues that legal education suffers because of 1) an inappropriate disregard of the intellectual and multi-disciplinary work of practice, 2) male-supremacist prejudices against interactive and openly interpretive work, and 3) systematic segregation on the basis of flawed assessment practices.
Individual Differences in the Consideration of Future and (More) Immediate Consequences: A Review and Directions for Future Research

In 1994, Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, and Edwards (1994) introduced the 12-item consideration of future consequences scale to measure individual differences in the extent to which people base their decisions on the immediate versus future consequences of their actions. After tracing the origin and development of the CFC construct, theoretical models, including the awareness and concern models, buffering and susceptibility models, and an integrative model of CFC are outlined. Next, a narrative review of work examining the role of CFC within several outcome domains is presented, including research in the areas of health, financial, work, ethical, and environmental behaviors and decision-making. Measurement issues including the dimensionality of the scale and adaptation to specific domains (e.g., healthy eating) are subsequently considered, and eight directions for future research are discussed.
Unobservable Re-authentication for Smartphones.

The widespread usage of smartphones gives rise to new security and privacy concerns. Smartphones are becoming a personal entrance to networks, and may store private information. Due to its small size, a smartphone could be easily taken away and used by an attacker. Using a victim’s smartphone, the attacker can launch an impersonation attack, which threatens the security of current networks, especially online social networks. Therefore, it is necessary to design a mechanism for smartphones to re-authenticate the current user’s identity and alert the owner when necessary. Such a mechanism can help to inhibit smartphone theft and safeguard the information stored in smartphones. In this paper, we propose a novel biometric-based system to achieve continuous and unobservable re-authentication for smartphones. The system uses a classifier to learn the owner’s finger movement patterns and checks the current user’s finger movement patterns against the owner’s. The system continuously re-authenticates the current user without interrupting user-smartphone interactions. Experiments show that our system is efficient on smartphones and achieves high accuracy.
THE IMPACT OF REMITTANCES ON REGIONAL CONSUMPTION AND INVESTMENT

This paper examines the effects of international remittances on regional economic development using spatial data from an original household survey carried out in the Republic of Moldova. I analyze remittance flows with a model that estimates regional (urban and rural) budget shares of consumption and investment expenditure categories for rural and urban households. An important contribution of the paper is that it analyzes the effect of remittances in the regions where spending takes place, which is not necessarily the same as the region where the households originating this spending reside. Using the multinomial logit approach, I control for potential selectivity and endogeneity biases of remittances. The results show that remittances lead to significantly increasing marginal productive investments in urban regions at the expense of rural regions. The fundamental finding of the study is that remittances influence the flight of productive capital out of rural areas into urban regions (a pattern similar to the crowding-out effect of the Dutch Disease). The analysis carried out in this paper can be applied to other temporary income transfers and exogenous spending injected in the region that affect households' regional expenditure patterns.
Acting as If: Differentiating Entrepreneurial from Organizational Behavior:

This paper suggests that entrepreneurship is the process of “emergence.” An organizational behavior perspective on entrepreneurship would focus on the process of organizational emergence. The usefulness of the emergence metaphor is explored through an exploration of two questions that are the focus of much of the research in organizational behavior: “What do persons in organizations do?” (we will explore this question by looking at research and theory on the behaviors of managers), and “Why do they do what they do?” (ditto for motivation). The paper concludes with some implications for using the idea of emergence as a way to connect theories and methodologies from organizational behavior to entrepreneurship.
Discrimination of Sound and Granary-Weevil-Larva-Infested Wheat Kernels by Near-Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy

Sound and infested wheat kernels containing late-instar granary weevil larvae, as identified by X-ray analysis, were used to evaluate the ability of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to predict the presence of insect larvae in individual wheat kernels. Diffuse reflectance spectra at 1100-2500 nm were recorded from individual infested and sound kernels. Principal component analysis (PCA) of NIR spectra from sound kernels was used to construct calibration models by calculation of Mahalanobis distances. Calibration models were then applied to spectra obtained from both sound and infested kernels in a separate validation set. A 5-factor PCA model using data from a first-derivative spectral transformation was the best model for correctly classifying kernels in an expanded validation sample set, including 100% of sound, 93% of infested, 95% of sound air dried, 86% of infested air dried kernels, and 90% of sound kernels from 6 wheat varieties. Calibrations using the spectral region from 1100 to 1900 nm were least sensitive to kernel moisture differences. Similar results were obtained when discriminant analysis was applied to log 1/R data from selected discrete wavelengths of NIR spectra.
Progres on large-scale, low-cost Si(Li) detector fabrication for the GAPS balloon mission

The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) experiment is an indirect dark matter search that aims to detect low-energy antideuterons resulting from dark matter annihilations and decays in the Galactic halo. Layers of semiconducting lithium-drifted silicon (Si(Li)) tracking detectors are essential to the success of the GAPS detection and background rejection scheme, requiring ∼22.5 square meters of Si(Li) active area with a channel energy resolution of ∼3 keV. To produce this large volume of detectors, we are pursuing a process that can provide the required performance and high yield at approximately two orders of magnitude less cost per unit area than commercially acquired detectors.
Potential immunotherapy targets in recurrent cervical cancer.

Abstract Objective Our objective was to characterize the intra and peritumoral immune profile in recurrent cervical cancers to identify rational immunotherapy targets. Methods Archival pelvic exenteration specimens were examined using a validated multiplex immuno-fluorescent panel of antibodies against cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8), cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), forkhead box P3 (FoxP3), programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1, N =28). Clinical data were abstracted from the electronic medical record. Results Cytotoxic T cells, macrophages, and regulatory T cells were found in higher densities in peritumoral stroma (CD8+ density 497.7 vs 83.5, p p =0.04, FoxP3+ density 214.5 vs 35.6, p p p p r =0.58, p =0.001). Conclusions While cytotoxic T cells are present in tumor tissue to varying degrees, their density is lower than in peritumoral stroma, suggesting intratumoral exclusion or destruction of T cells. Higher densities of intratumoral macrophages compared to regulatory T cells suggest macrophages may be important contributors to the immunosuppressive tumor environment. Future directions for combination therapy include altering T cell trafficking and targeting tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) to enhance intratumoral activated T cell density and effect a more robust immune response.
Minority Small-Firm Credit Applicants: Does Persistence Pay?

When credit application experiences are examined, minority-owned small firms are not the discouraged borrowers that credit outcome studies generally suggest. This paper examines repeated application for credit by small firms. Univariate statistical analysis reveals that persistence is necessary but insufficient for minority firms to be successful credit applicants. At the same time, minority-owned firms overall were more likely than white-owned firms to make repeated attempts to obtain credit, though successful minority applicants actually required fewer applications than their white cohorts. Multivariate regression also finds that different firm, lender, banking relationship, and loan characteristics affect the continued search for credit by minority- and white-owned small firms.
Working conditions in selected groups of immigrants living in the Czech Republic

Abstract The aim of this research was to confirm connections between work characteristics in selected groups of immigrants living in the Czech Republic and their nationality. As a part of the aim, gender differences in working conditions for the selected immigrants were also investigated. Methods Research was conducted using the quantitative method of questioning. Data were collected from 1014 immigrants, but due to non-complete answers concerning nationality and gender “only” 994 questionnaires were used, which consisted of Ukrainians, Vietnamese, Russians, Poles and Slovaks. Results This research has confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences between the type of work and corresponding working conditions within the selected immigrant groups. Ukrainian respondents are most frequently employed in manual labour, which also corresponds to a higher physical strain, and a noisy and dusty working environment. Respondents of Vietnamese origin most often work in the service sector, which involves a combination of manual and intellectual work. The Polish, Slovak and also Russian respondents are much more frequently engaged in intellectual work, and therefore stated an increased satisfaction with their financial situation. Almost half of the Vietnamese respondents worry about work insecurity. Gender differences are also significant; Slovak men work manually significantly more often than women. Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Slovak and Polish men have a significantly higher income, but also less favourable working conditions than women. On the other hand, women state significantly higher stress at work.
Object Flow Integrity

Object flow integrity (OFI) augments control-flow integrity (CFI) and software fault isolation (SFI) protections with secure, first-class support for binary object exchange across inter-module trust boundaries. This extends both source-aware and source-free CFI and SFI technologies to a large class of previously unsupported software: those containing immutable system modules with large, object-oriented APIs---which are particularly common in component-based, event-driven consumer software. It also helps to protect these inter-module object exchanges against confused deputy-assisted vtable corruption and counterfeit object-oriented programming attacks. A prototype implementation for Microsoft Component Object Model demonstrates that OFI is scalable to large interfaces on the order of tens of thousands of methods, and exhibits low overheads of under 1% for some common-case applications. Significant elements of the implementation are synthesized automatically through a principled design inspired by type-based contracts.
Ontogenetic approach reveals how cognitive capability and motivation shape prey-searching behavior in Pholcus phalangioides cellar spiders

An important part of understanding the evolution of behavior is understanding how and why behavior develops and changes throughout ontogeny. Patterns of behavior are shaped by an animal's capabilities as well as its motivations, both of which are subject to selection. We ran an experiment to see how spiders' efforts to recover lost prey change with age and to determine the relative contributions of shifts in capability and motivation. We found that as spiders mature, they spend less time searching to recover lost prey, and they discriminate less between prey of different sizes. We also found that even the youngest, least experienced spiders are cognitively equipped to search for lost prey. Thus, predatory behavior in spiders fluctuated primarily with each age group's motivations to capture and consume prey, and did not seem to be hindered by behavioral or cognitive limitations at young ages.
Soft tissue sarcoma nodal metastases: biologic significance and therapeutic considerations.

Nodal metastases from soft tissue sarcomas are uncommon and rarely represent an isolated site of spread. They occur almost exclusively in high-grade lesions and are seen more commonly in certain histologic types of sarcomas. When lymph node metastases do occur, they should be treated with lymph node dissection, and consideration should be given to systemic therapy because nodal metastases are usually markers for disseminated disease.
AN OPTIMAL FILTER FOR IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION

This chapter describes an optimal filter for image reconstruction. For the purposes of image reconstruction from a sampled raster, it is important that the filter be at least C 1 smooth, so that the reconstructed image will not have Mach bands. The chapter discusses about Mark Pavicic's radially symmetric filter functions, optimized for several functional forms. Pavicic's filters are not C 1 , resulting increases in the sum of the filters. Also, Pavicic restricted to radial filter functions f ( r ), which are zero for r ≥ 1. In the present filter, this restriction is not made. A nonuniform quadratic spline g ( r ) is chosen whose form is shown in the chapter. It consists of downward curving parabola for 0 ≤ r ≤ s , and an upward curving parabola for s ≤ r ≤ t , which meet smoothly at r = s , and has the properties g (0) = 1, g′ (0) = 0, g ( t ) = 0, and g ′( t ) = 0. The function that satisfies these conditions is also presented.
Measles antibody trough levels after treatment with immunoglobulin products and predicted levels assuming lower measles antibody specifications.

Background Widespread vaccination against measles has resulted in decreasing measles antibody levels in human immune globulin (IG) products. As levels continue to decline, it needs to be determined whether the release specifications for measles antibody levels in IG products can be lowered and still provide protection against infection for patients who receive IG treatment for primary immunodeficiency disease. Study design and methods Trough level measles neutralizing antibodies were measured in 10 pediatric patients with primary immunodeficiency disease (ages 2-16) treated with IG administered both by intravenous and subcutaneous infusion. The results were used to model worst-case (lowest) serum measles antibody levels in two cases: 1) the current case with intravenous dosage at 300 mg/kg at a measles antibody level of 0.48× Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Reference 176 and 2) a future case with intravenous dosage at 400 mg/kg and 0.30× Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Reference 176. Results Serum trough measles neutralizing antibody levels were an average of 11-fold or greater above minimum protective levels for immunocompetent individuals of 0.12 IU/mL in both the intravenous and subcutaneous phases of the study. Modeling using both the current worst-case dose and future case shows average levels for IG intravenous/subcutaneous infusion of 3.9/4.8- and 3.2/4.0-fold above 0.12 IU/mL for the two cases, respectively. Conclusion Lowering the measles antibody level specification to 0.30× Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Reference 176 in IG products will still provide trough serum antibody levels against measles infection of greater than 0.12 IU/mL when dosed at 400 mg/kg or higher.
Pregnant women with opioid use disorder and their infants in three state Medicaid programs in 2013-2016.

Abstract Background Maternal opioid use disorder (OUD) has serious consequences for maternal and infant health. Analysis of Medicaid enrollee data is critical, since Medicaid bears a disproportionate share of costs. Methods This study analyzes linked maternal and infant Medicaid claims data and infant birth records in three states in the year before and after a delivery in 2014–2015 (2013–2016) examining health, health care use, treatment, and neonatal outcomes. Diagnosis and procedure codes identify OUD and other substance use disorders (SUDs). Results In the year before and after delivery, 2.2 percent of the sample had an OUD diagnosis, and 5.9 percent had a SUD diagnosis other than OUD. Of the women with OUD, 72.8% had treatment for a SUD in the year before and after delivery, but most had none in an average enrolled month, and only 8.8% received any methadone treatment in a given month. Pregnant women with OUD had delayed and lower rates of prenatal care compared to women with other substance use disorders (SUDs). Infants of mothers with OUD did not differ from infants of mothers with other SUDs in rate of preterm or low birth weight but had higher NICU admission rates and longer birth hospitalizations. Health care costs for women with an OUD were higher than those with other SUDs. Conclusions There is an urgent need for comprehensive, evidence-based OUD treatment integrated with maternity care. To fill critical gaps in care, workforce and infrastructure innovations can facilitate delivery of preventive and treatment services coordinated across settings.
Human Trafficking Victim’s Service Needs and Outcomes: An Analysis of Clinical Law Data

Background: Human trafficking is a human rights violation occurring around the world. Despite the profound social, health, and economic consequences of this crime, there is a lack of research about...
Impolite Hostilities and Vague Sympathies: Academia as a Site of Cyclical Abuse.

In this autoethnographic article I reflect on my experiences as a now-tenured faculty member of color, which have been punctuated by incivility, bullying, stress, and abuse. As part of reconciling ...
Higher rates of bleeding and use of treatment products among young boys compared to girls with von Willebrand disease

There are limited observational studies among children diagnosed with von Willebrand Disease (VWD). We analyzed differences in bleeding characteristics by sex and type of VWD using the largest reported surveillance database of children with VWD (n = 2712), ages 2 to 12 years old. We found that the mean ages of first bleed and diagnosis were lowest among children with type 3 VWD. It was even lower among boys than girls among all VWD types, with statistically significant difference among children with type 1 or type 3 VWD. Children with type 3 VWD also reported higher proportions of ever having a bleed compared to other VWD types, with statistically higher proportions of boys compared to girls reporting ever having a bleed with type 1 and type 2 VWD. A similar pattern was observed with the use of treatment product, showing higher usage among type 3 VWD, and among boys than girls with type 1 and type 2 VWD. While there were no differences in life quality or in well-being status by sex, children with type 3 VWD showed a greater need for mobility assistance compared to children with type 1 and type 2 VWD. In an adjusted analysis among children with type 1 VWD, boys showed a significant association of ever bleeding [hazard ratio 1.4; P-value <.001)] compared to girls. Understanding phenotypic bleeding characteristics, well-being status, treatment, and higher risk groups for bleeding among pre-adolescent children with VWD will aid physicians in efforts to educate families about bleeding symptoms.
Spectrally tunable infrared plasmonic F,Sn:In2O3 nanocrystal cubes

A synthetic challenge in faceted metal oxide nanocrystals (NCs) is realizing tunable localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) near-field response in the infrared (IR). Cube-shaped nanoparticles of noble metals exhibit LSPR spectral tunability limited to visible spectral range. Here, we describe the colloidal synthesis of fluorine, tin codoped indium oxide (F,Sn:In2O3) NC cubes with tunable IR range LSPR for around 10 nm particle sizes. Free carrier concentration is tuned through controlled Sn dopant incorporation, where Sn is an aliovalent n-type dopant in the In2O3 lattice. F shapes the NC morphology into cubes by functioning as a surfactant on the {100} crystallographic facets. Cube shaped F,Sn:In2O3 NCs exhibit narrow, shape-dependent multimodal LSPR due to corner, edge, and face centered modes. Monolayer NC arrays are fabricated through a liquid-air interface assembly, further demonstrating tunable LSPR response as NC film nanocavities that can heighten near-field enhancement (NFE). The tunable F,Sn:In2O3 NC near-field is coupled with PbS quantum dots, via the Purcell effect. The detuning frequency between the nanocavity and exciton is varied, resulting in IR near-field dependent enhanced exciton lifetime decay. LSPR near-field tunability is directly visualized through IR range scanning transmission electron microscopy-electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM-EELS). STEM-EELS mapping of the spatially confined near-field in the F,Sn:In2O3 NC array interparticle gap demonstrates elevated NFE tunability in the arrays.
Context Matters for the Socially Anxious: Moderating Role of Drinking Context on Alcohol Outcome Expectancies

Background: Moderating effects of alcohol outcome expectancies (AOE) on the social anxiety (SA)-alcohol misuse relationship are mixed. This may be explained by differential relationships between SA...