cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The proton pump inhibitor omeprazole inhibits acid survival of Helicobacter pylori by a urease-independent mechanism

Abstract Background/Aims: Non-A, non-B acute hepatitis progresses to a higher incidence of chronicity and hepatocellular carcinoma. To avoid the development of chronic liver disease, a resolution of acute hepatitis C might be most effective. The aim of this study was to establish the effect of interferon to disturb progression to chronicity and to determine the most appropriate treatment protocol. Methods: Ninety-seven patients with non-A, non-B acute hepatitis were radomly assigned to six different protocols and treated with 8.4–336 megaunits of interferon, and 90 patients were finally completely analyzed. Titers of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA and IICV genotypes were determined. Results: Seventy-four patients were positive for second-generation antibody to HCV. Of these, 65 (89%) were positive for HCV RNA. In these 65 patients, the resolution rate was a low 32%; this rate was dependent on the total treatment dosage. Only the group treated with 336 megaunits showed a high 83% (10 of 12) resolution rate, whereas the other five groups had only 0–38% resolution. Conclusions: Interferon treatment for acute hepatitis C could be regarded as a "vaccinelike" therapy by preventing the development of the virus carrier state.
Subsurface Drainage and Its Management in the Upper Midwest Tile Landscapes

Hydrologic modeling in combination with field measurements is used to understand subsurface drainage patterns and how drainage water management may impact subsurface drainage in the upper Midwest, particularly in Iowa. Long-term measured subsurface drainage data from an on-going drainage study in north-central Iowa was used to calibrate and validate DRAINMOD, a deterministic hydrologic model to simulate a soil-water regime of surface and subsurface water management systems. The model was then used with long-term (1945-2004) weather records with the objective of understanding the timing, duration, and volume of subsurface drainage flow patterns. Controlled drainage, a drainage management practice, was considered in the modeling simulations to assess its potential to reduce subsurface drainage in the upper Midwest. In the north-central Iowa, approximately 45% of the annual subsurface drainage occurs in the months of April and May, and approximately 80% of the annual subsurface drainage has occurred by the end of June. When simulating controlled drainage practices, there was approximately a 16% reduction in the volume of annual subsurface drainage but most of this reduction was reflected in increased surface runoff. The timing of subsurface drainage in these landscapes specifically during the spring coincides with the time of planting, crop germination, and early crop development. This coincident may limit the effectiveness of drainage management practices such as controlled drainage to reduce subsurface drainage and thereby nitrate-nitrogen export in the north-central Iowa.
Multifactorial intervention to reduce cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Although several clinical trials have evaluated the effects of interventions to reduce CVD risk in people with diabetes, such studies are primarily conducted to target individual risk factors such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia rather than using a multifactorial interventional approach. Existing clinical trial data suggest that intensive multifactorial interventions that target several important risk factors simultaneously result in a significantly greater risk reduction in CVD risk compared with single risk factor interventions. However, few studies have evaluated the efficacy and effectiveness of such interventions on CVD hard end points. A multidisciplinary team management of diabetes should focus on weight control, diet, physical activity, diabetes education, and adherence to pharmacotherapy. An individually tailored aggressive management program to reduce multiple CVD risk factors simultaneously has great potential to prevent CVD morbidity and mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes.
Gene-expression profile comparisons distinguish seven organs of maize

Background A maize array was fabricated with 5,376 unique expressed sequence tag (EST) clones sequenced from 4-day-old roots, immature ears and adult organ cDNA libraries. To elucidate organ relationships, relative mRNA levels were quantified by hybridization with embryos, three maize vegetative organs (leaf blades, leaf sheaths and roots) from multiple developmental stages, husk leaves and two types of floral organs (immature ears and silks).
Differential Regulation of the Bordetella bipA Gene: Distinct Roles for Different BvgA Binding Sites

The BvgAS signal transduction system of Bordetella controls an entire spectrum of gene expression states in response to differences in environmental conditions. In particular, the Bordetella Bvg-intermediate-phase gene bipA displays a complex regulatory pattern in response to various concentrations of modulators. Expression of bipA is low in the absence of modulating signals, maximal at intermediate concentrations of modulators, and near background levels at high concentrations of modulators. bipA is regulated at the transcriptional level, and the bipA promoter contains multiple BvgA binding sites present both upstream and downstream of the transcriptional initiation site. In vivo transcriptional analyses, utilizing several mutant promoter fusions to the reporter enzyme β-galactosidase, suggest that the upstream binding site IR1 is essential for expression and that the downstream binding sites IR2 and IR3 are involved in transcriptional repression. Mutations of IR2 or IR3 convert the expression profile of bipA from that of a Bvg-intermediate-specific-phase gene to that of a Bvg+-phase gene. To gain insight into the mechanism responsible for differential bipA regulation, DNase I protection studies were conducted with various mutant promoters. These analyses suggest that IR1 and IR2 function as core binding sites and are the primary determinants for the phosphorylation-induced oligomerization of BvgA to the adjacent regions.
A project on high performance I/0 subsystems

A Project on High Performance I/0 Subsystems Randy H. Katz, John K. Ousterhout, David A. Patterson, Peter Chen, Ann Chervenak, Rich Drewes, Garth Gibson, Ed Lee, Ken Lutz, Ethan Miller, Mendel Rosenblum Computer Science Division Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California Berkeley, California 94720 1. Introduction and Overview Computing is seeing an unprecedented improvement in performance; over the last five years there has been an order-of-magnitude improvement in the speeds of workstation CPUs. At least another order of magnitude seems likely in the next five years, to machines with 100 MIPs or more. DARPA has already launched a program to develop even larger, more powerful machines, executing as many as 1012 operations per second. Unfortunately, we have seen no comparable break-throughs in I/O performance; the speeds of I/O devices and the hardware and software architectures for managing them have not changed substantially in many years [Katz 89]. What will unbalanced improvements in performance mean? Twenty years ago, Gene Amdahl was asked to comment about the Illiac-IV. He noted that while the vector portion of programs might run much faster, a major portion of the programs would run essentially at the same speed. In what has come to be known as Amdahl's Law, he observed that no matter how much faster one piece of the program would go over tradi- tional computers, overall performance improvement is limited by the part of the program that is not improved. Without major increases in I/O performance and reliability we think that transaction processing systems, supercomputers, and high-performance workstations will be unable to achieve their true potential. Our research group is pursuing a program of research to develop hardware and software I/O architectures capable of supporting the kinds of internetworked work- stations and super compute servers that will appear in the early 1990s. The project has three overall goals: High Performance. We are developing new I/O architectures and a prototype system that can scale to achieve significant factors of improvement in I/O performance, relative to today's commercially available I/O systems, for the same cost. We believe this speedup can be achieved using a combination of arrays of inexpensive personal computer disks coupled with a file system that can accommodate both striped and partitioned file organizations. High Reliability. To support the high-performance computing of the mid-1990's, I/O 24
Stance and Subjectivity

Stance may be understood as the semiotic means by which we indicate our orientation to states of affairs, usually framed in terms of evaluation (e.g., moral obligation and epistemic possibility) or intentionality (e.g., desire and memory, fear and doubt). Using data from Q'eqchi'-Maya and English, stance is operationalized in terms of complement-taking predicates and the grammatical category of status. Using frameworks from Goffman and Jakobson, it is argued that these lexical and grammatical domains disambiguate principals from animators (here called the commitment event and the speech event, respectively). It is argued that stances may be crosslinguistically grouped and ordered as a function of the degree to which the commitment event subsumes, or coincides with, the narrated event. And it is argued that “subjectivity in language” is not the issue; rather, research should focus on the intersection of a crosslinguistic account of commitment events and community-specific understandings of a speaker's contribution to event construal.
Erickson and Rogers: The Differences Do Make a Difference

The author extends an earlier discussion by Gunnison (1985) of the similarities between Milton Erickson and Carl Rogers by citing several important differences in their respective counseling approaches. The implications of these differences to the continuing evolution of counseling theory and practice are briefly discussed.
Low-dose energetic protons induce adaptive and bystander effects that protect human cells against DNA damage caused by a subsequent exposure to energetic iron ions

During interplanetary missions, astronauts are exposed to mixed types of ionizing radiation. The low 'flux' of the high atomic number and high energy (HZE) radiations relative to the higher 'flux' of low linear energy transfer (LET) protons makes it highly probable that for any given cell in the body, proton events will precede any HZE event. Whereas progress has been made in our understanding of the biological effects of low-LET protons and high-LET HZE particles, the interplay between the biochemical processes modulated by these radiations is unclear. Here we show that exposure of normal human fibroblasts to a low mean absorbed dose of 20 cGy of 0.05 or 1-GeV protons (LET ∼ 1.25 or 0.2 keV/μm, respectively) protects the irradiated cells (P < 0.0001) against chromosomal damage induced by a subsequent exposure to a mean absorbed dose of 50 cGy from 1 GeV/u iron ions (LET ∼ 151 keV/μm). Surprisingly, unirradiated (i.e. bystander) cells with which the proton-irradiated cells were co-cultured were also significantly protected from the DNA-damaging effects of the challenge dose. The mitigating effect persisted for at least 24 h. These results highlight the interactions of biological effects due to direct cellular traversal by radiation with those due to bystander effects in cell populations exposed to mixed radiation fields. They show that protective adaptive responses can spread from cells targeted by low-LET space radiation to bystander cells in their vicinity. The findings are relevant to understanding the health hazards of space travel.
Ideal Point Estimation with a Small Number of Votes: A Random-Effects Approach

Many conventional ideal point estimation techniques are inappropriate when only a limited number of votes are available. This paper presents a covariate-based random-effects Bayesian approach that allows scholars to estimate ideal points based on fewer votes than required for fixed-effects models. Using covariates brings more information to bear on the estimation; using a Bayesian random-effects approach avoids incidental parameter problems. Among other things, the method allows us to estimate directly the effect of covariates such as party on preferences and to estimate standard errors for ideal points. Monte Carlo results, an empirical application, and a discussion of further applications demonstrate the usefulness of the method.
Deactivation of Pt/ZrO2/SO4 Catalyst

Publisher Summary Interest in solid superacid catalysts has resulted from hydrocarbon conversion data, which suggest they have the requirements for an ideal hydrocracking catalyst. The addition of Pt to a sulfated ZrO2 catalyst has been shown to produce a catalyst that will isomerize n-butane and n-pentane at low temperatures. The production of isoalkanes, which are favored thermodynamically at low temperatures, have higher octane numbers and are suitable for the production of reformulated gasolines. There have been many studies on the preparation and activity measurements of these catalysts; however, few studies have been done to determine the deactivation characteristics of Pt/ZrO2SO4 catalysts other than the comparison of the activities of these catalysts with and without Pt in runs lasting over 100 hours. The presence of Pt reduced the coke precursors by its hydrogenation function. The on-going research at the Center for Applied Energy Research in the preparation, characterization, and activity testing of these catalysts has produced a number of continuous plug-flow and trickle bed reactor runs of 20 to over 600 hours duration using different hydrocarbon feedstocks. At the completion of experiments in which the activity, defined by conversion of the feedstock, has declined, experiments to determine if the acid and/or metal function was responsible for the observed deactivation were performed. The results of these experiments are presented in the chapter.
Magnetic Dynamics in Underdoped YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x : Direct Observation of a Superconducting Gap

Polarized and unpolarized triple-axis neutron measurements were performed on an underdoped crystal of YBa2Cu3O7-x (x = 0.4 +/- 0.02, T-c = 62.7 K). Our results indicate, contrary to earlier evidence, that the spin excitations in the superconducting state are essentially the same as those in the fully doped material except that the unusual 41 meV resonance is observed at 34.8 meV. The normal state spin excitations are characterized by a weakly energy-dependent continuum whose temperature dependence shows the clear signature of a superconducting gap at T-c. The enhancement at the resonance is accompanied by a suppression of magnetic fluctuations at both higher and lower energies.
Microstructure Sensitive Fatigue Crack Nucleation in Titanium Alloys Using Accelerated Crystal Plasticity FE Simulations

This chapter investigates microstructure and load sensitive fatigue behavior of Ti-6242 using cyclic crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) simulations of statistically equivalent image-based microstructures. A wavelet transformation induced multi-time scaling (WATMUS) method (Joseph et al., Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 199:2177–2194, 2010; Chakraborty et al., Finite Elem Anal Des 47:610–618, 2011; Chakraborty and Ghosh, Int J Numer Methods Eng 93:1425–1454, 2013; Ghosh and Chakraborty, Int J Fatigue 48:231–246, 2013) is used to perform accelerated cyclic CPFE simulations till crack nucleation, otherwise infeasible using conventional time integration schemes. A physically motivated crack nucleation model in terms of crystal plasticity variables (Anahid et al., J Mech Phys Solids 59(10):2157–2176, 2011) is extended in this work to predict nucleation. The dependence of yield strength on the underlying grain orientations and sizes is developed through the introduction of an effective microstructural parameter Plastic Flow Index or PFI. To determine the effects of the microstructure on crack nucleation, a local microstructural variable is defined in terms of the surface area fraction of soft grains surrounding each hard grain or SAFSSG. Simulations with different cyclic load patterns suggest that fatigue crack nucleation in Ti-6242 strongly depends on the dwell cycle hold time at maximum stress.
Streams of Consciousness and Difference Equations

We have just far assumed that the subject’s cognitive-imitational system is capable of solving equations and even systems of equations. How does it do this? What calculations does it actually perform? In this section we will consider a hypothetical mechanism for such computations: we will assume that they consist essentially of a series of mental iterations which can be represented using difference equations and systems of difference equations. In other words, the mental process in question is represented as a dynamic system. This type of representation was introduced by Lefebvre, Baranov, and Lepsky (1969). The authors consider a dynamic procedure for generating subjective values which allows them to regard a process of evolution of a subjective payoff-matrix (including the matrix for the prisoner’s dilemma) in the context of game theory. More recently, the evolutionary approach to games (see Leinfellner, 1998) and to the individual’s mental domain (see, for example, Hegselmann, Mueller & Troitzsch, 1991; Danielson, 1998) has become an important factor in the development of social and psychological modeling.
Novel general KNN classifier and general nearest mean classifier for visual classification

This paper presents a novel general k nearest neighbour classifier (GKNNc) and a novel general nearest mean classifier (GNMc) for visual classification. Instead of treating the data equally, both GKNNc and GNMc assign a weight coefficient to each data. To achieve good performance, the conditions and properties of the weight coefficients for GKNNc and GNMc are further analysed. Then a sparse representation based method is proposed to derive the weight coefficients for both GKNNc and GNMc. Experimental results on several representative data sets, such as the Caltech 101 dataset and the MIT-67 indoor scenes dataset demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methods.
Denial of service hands-on lab for information assurance education: a case study

Conducting hands-on labs on information assurance education has become more and more important. Nowadays, hands-on labs are essential for computer security classes. To help with lowering the cost of hardware and software and have the availability to offer offensive hands-on labs for online learning, we propose three DoS attack lab exercises which are different from the traditional DoS labs in terms of cost and online availability. Three years of offering these special designed DoS labs at Columbus State University shows that it can help students to reach their learning objectives and better assimilate the concepts covered in classes.
The Soldier in Later Medieval England. By Adrian R. Bell, Anne Curry, Andy King, and David Simpkin. (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xiv, 318. $125.00.)

In constructing their invaluable online searchable databases (www.medievalsoldier.org) between 2006 and 2009, the authors of this study collected some 250,000 service records from the numerous Engl...
Finite Element Human Body Model Thorax Response Validation With Matched Experimental Tests

Finite Element Models (FEMs) are increasingly used to evaluate occupant response and safety system effectiveness in automotive safety research.[1, 2] These models are validated against experimental tests with known results to evaluate the model’s ability to predict the occupant response. The FEM used for this study was the Total HUman Model for Safety (THUMS). The occupant thorax model has already been validated in three basic thorax loading conditions.[3] The hypothesis of this study was if the model had been successfully validated in these simplified configurations, additional loading conditions that involve a more complex load path should also follow the experimental response.© 2013 ASME
Abstract A36: Amino acids rather than glucose accounts for the majority of cell mass in rapidly proliferating mammalian cells

To facilitate growth and division, proliferating cells must duplicate their mass over the cell cycle. Glucose and glutamine are the most consumed nutrients by proliferating mammalian cells, but the extent to which these and other nutrients contribute directly to cell mass has not been investigated. Using isotope labeled nutrients, we quantified the fraction of cell mass derived from different fuels and find that surprisingly neither glucose nor glutamine provide the majority of carbon present in cells. Instead, amino acids, which are consumed at substantially lower rates, together account for the majority of cell mass. While glucose carbon has diverse fates, glutamine is overwhelmingly diverted into protein and its incorporation into cell mass greatly exceeds that of other amino acids, suggesting that glutamine-driven anapleurosis is primarily used for amino acid biosynthesis. Our findings demonstrate that the most heavily consumed nutrients do not make a proportionately large contribution of carbon to macromolecule biosynthesis. Citation Format: Aaron M. Hosios, Vivian C. Hecht, Marc Johnson, Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Scott R. Manalis, Matthew G. Vander Heiden. Amino acids rather than glucose accounts for the majority of cell mass in rapidly proliferating mammalian cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Metabolism and Cancer; Jun 7-10, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(1_Suppl):Abstract nr A36.
The Influence of Fatalism on Self-Reported Use of Papanicolaou Smears

Objective Our objective was to examine the demographic and other predictors of fatalistic beliefs among Latinas (Hispanic women) and Anglo (non-Hispanic Caucasian) women and to assess the impact of these beliefs on the use of cervical cancer screening services. Methods We used ethnographic interviews and a cross-sectional telephone survey in Orange County, California. Our sample included 94 Latinas and 27 Anglo women selected through organization-based network sampling for the ethnographic interviews and 803 Latinas and 422 Anglo women randomly selected for the telephone survey. Results Latina immigrants (Latinas born outside the United States) were more likely than U.S.-born Latinas or Anglo women to have fatalistic beliefs. Immigration, education levels, and insurance status predicted fatalistic beliefs. Fatalistic beliefs were independent predictors of Pap smear use by Latinas but not Anglo women. For example, after adjusting for potentially confounding variables, Latinas who believed that fate was a risk factor for cervical cancer (odds ratio [OR] = .58), that they would rather not know if they had the disease (OR = .58), and that there is nothing one can do to prevent it (OR = .45) were less likely than others to report that they have had a Pap smear within the prior three years. Health insurance status, marital status, and immigration also predicted use of Pap smears. Insured Latinas were more likely than uninsured Latinas (OR = 2.89) to report having a Pap smear within the prior three years. In addition, married Latinas (OR = 2.32) and Anglo women (OR = 3.09) were more likely than unmarried women to report having appropriate cervical cancer screening. Finally, Latina immigrants were less likely than other Latinas to report having a Pap smear (OR = .26). Conclusions We conclude that fatalistic beliefs are among the factors that negatively influence Latinas’ use of Pap smears and that it is important for health care professionals to address those beliefs. Continued efforts are also necessary to decrease the economic and structural barriers to cervical cancer screening.
Acid extrusion in S3 segment of rabbit proximal tubule. II. Effect of basolateral CO2/HCO3-

Monitoring intracellular absorbance spectra of the pH-sensitive dye dimethylcarboxyfluorescein we studied intracellular pH (pHi) regulation in the isolated perfused S3 segment of the rabbit proximal tubule. In the preceding study [Am. J. Physiol. 268 (Renal Fluid Electrolyte Physiol. 37): F179-F192, 1995.], we demonstrated that simultaneously adding CO2/HCO3- to both lumen and bath stimulated two acid-extruding mechanisms, one dependent on luminal Na+ (a Na+/H+ exchanger) and one independent of Na+ (presumably a H+ pump). Here, we examine the effects of adding CO2/HCO3- to the lumen only or to the bath only. Over a broad pHi range, the total rate of pHi recovery from an acid load in the presence of Na+ was not increased by luminal CO2/HCO3-. On the other hand, basolateral CO2/HCO3- increased the pHi recovery rate to an even greater extent than had bilateral CO2/HCO3-. Regarding the Na(+)-independent pHi recovery mechanism, we found that luminal CO2/HCO3- failed to increase the pHi recovery rate compared with controls also studied in the absence of Na+. Neither did luminal CO2/HCO3- significantly affect the lag time between the maximal acid load and the initiation of the Na(+)-independent pHi recovery (approximately 147 vs. approximately 212 s in controls). On the other hand, adding CO2/HCO3- to only the bath substantially increased the rate of Na(+)-independent pHi recovery, which generally was greater than that observed with bilateral CO2/HCO3-. CO2/HCO3- only in the bath also reduced the lag time to approximately 51 s, which is not significantly different from the value of approximately 36 s observed with bilateral CO2/HCO3-. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that basolateral (but not luminal) CO2/HCO3- stimulates both a luminal Na+/H+ exchanger and a luminal H+ pump.
A new MOSFET-C universal filter structure for VLSI

A new continuous-time all-MOS universal filter structure is proposed. The new structure is based on the MOSFET-C design approach. It achieves complete MOS nonlinearity cancellation and does not require the use of fully-balanced op-amps.
Computational simulation of thermal and spattering phenomena and microstructure in selective laser melting of inconel 625

Abstract Computational modelling of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) processes such as Selective laser Melting (SLM) can reveal information that is hard to obtain or unobtainable by in-situ experimental measurements. A 3D thermal field that is not visible by the thermal camera can be obtained by solving the 3D heat transfer problem. Furthermore, microstructural modelling can be used to predict the quality and mechanical properties of the product. In this paper, a nonlinear 3D Finite Element Method based computational code is developed to simulate the SLM process with different process parameters such as laser power and scan velocity. The code is further improved by utilizing an in-situ thermal camera recording to predict spattering which is in turn included as a stochastic heat loss. Then, thermal gradients extracted from the simulations applied to predict growth directions in the resulting microstructure.
Towards Kilo-Hertz 6-DoF Visual Tracking Using an Egocentric Cluster of Rolling Shutter Cameras

To maintain a reliable registration of the virtual world with the real world, augmented reality (AR) applications require highly accurate, low-latency tracking of the device. In this paper, we propose a novel method for performing this fast 6-DOF head pose tracking using a cluster of rolling shutter cameras. The key idea is that a rolling shutter camera works by capturing the rows of an image in rapid succession, essentially acting as a high-frequency 1D image sensor. By integrating multiple rolling shutter cameras on the AR device, our tracker is able to perform 6-DOF markerless tracking in a static indoor environment with minimal latency. Compared to state-of-the-art tracking systems, this tracking approach performs at significantly higher frequency, and it works in generalized environments. To demonstrate the feasibility of our system, we present thorough evaluations on synthetically generated data with tracking frequencies reaching 56.7 kHz. We further validate the method's accuracy on real-world images collected from a prototype of our tracking system against ground truth data using standard commodity GoPro cameras capturing at 120 Hz frame rate.
Production of high specific activity 68Ge at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Summary Germanium-68 is produced at the Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer (BLIP) by irradiating natGa targets with ~45 MeV protons. Typical irradiation yields are 17.4 GBq (470 mCi) from a 4 week irradiation (0.52 MBq/µAh). Germanium-68 is recovered from the target by extraction into 4N HCl and 30% H2O2. Further purification is achieved by extraction into carbon tetrachloride and back-extraction into H2O. Recovery yields are greater than 85%, with greater than 99% radiopurity, and activity concentrations are greater than 3.15 GBq/ml (85 mCi/ml). The final pH of the product solution, which is 0.03M diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (DTPA), can now be adjusted to user specifications.
The Intel 8086 Chip and the Future of Microprocessor Design

The author of a Computer article from 1978 reflects on his piece about the 8086 architecture that changed the future of microprocessor design.
The Rotten Deal: Managed Mutual Funds and Retirement Income

About 70 percent of mutual fund assets are in managed funds. These funds seek to earn an above average return for investors but, because of the up-front loads, fees and other costs, they generally earn less than the low cost index funds that only seek to get a return equal to that of the stock market. Investors can expect their retirement savings to be reduced by 25 percent or more by favoring managed funds over index funds. The costs imposed on investors in managed funds result in tens of billions of dollars in profit for the industry. Compromised retirement savings is of public concern if government programs are going to support elderly households in need. Two policy options are explored. One is focused on educating investors about the rotten deal offered by managed funds while the other is to impose a fiduciary responsibility on the industry that requires them to act in the best interests of its clients. There is ample evidence that the industry will vigorously combat such efforts.
WTP Analysis of Mobile Internet Demand

Pricing new services is a mostly trial and error process, and wireless Internet access is no exception. Additionally, judging by recent publication, wireless Internet pricing and consumer willingness to pay (WTP) is the subject of much interest. In particular, (2002) indicates wireless Internet provider expectations have not been met by realized market demand. Maier further argues that this disappointing consumer response is caused by complicated service provider pricing schemes. However, CNET News.com considers that while complex pricing is an impediment to market growth, it is not the only problem, viz.
Evaluating Resident On-Call Performance: Does Volume Affect Discrepancy Rate?

Objective To examinehow study volume affects discrepancy rates for on-call radiology residents. Inparticular, we studied how both total shift volume and volume at a particularpoint in time might effect performance. Materials/Methods Weretrospectively analyzed 518 weekend call shifts at our institution. The totalnumber of computed tomography (CT) studies per shift was recorded. For everyabdomen-pelvis (AP) or chest-abdomen-pelvis (CAP) CT, preliminary and finalreports were compared for possible discrepancy and rated (by effect on short-termmanagement). We also developed “peristudy volume,” defined as CTs read within ±30minutes of a given CT, an estimate of how busy a resident might be at a giventime. We performed logistic regressions to determine whether overall shiftvolume or peristudy volume were predictors of discrepancies. Results CTvolume/day increased from 58.1 ± 10.1 in 2011 to 75.3 ± 12.5 in 2015(p Conclusion Whenon-call residents interpret AP CT during high volume shiftsor during busy time-points, odds of discrepancies increase. Awareness of thesedata may inform residency programs in staffing decisions.
Wideband vector modulator for RF cancellers in STAR systems

Wireless communications can benefit from Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR) functionality by providing unprecedented access to spectrum previously considered unavailable due to self-interference (SI). Several techniques have recently been developed to mitigate SI and enable this new modality, including the use of RF cancellers comprised of vector modulator devices. This paper introduces a wideband vector modulator prototype that operates over a 4:1 bandwidth, specifically 1.5 to 6 GHz, and was found to have 12.7 and 15.4 dB of insertion loss at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively. This device can provide future STAR systems with dynamic tunability to make them feasible for inclusion in advanced cognitive wireless networks.
Sternoclavicular Joint Injuries

The sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) is the only true articulation between the upper extremity and axial skeleton. The incidence of injury is low, and injuries tend to occur due to motor-vehicle accidents or during contact sports. Traumatic SCJ injuries are classified by severity from grades I to III and also by direction of dislocation (anterior or posterior), which further guides management. Posterior dislocations can be life-threatening, and rapid transport to the emergency room (ER) could be necessary. In adolescents and young adults, physeal fractures of the medial end of the clavicle should be suspected.
Traffic Assignment: A Survey of Mathematical Models and Techniques

This chapter presents the fundamentals of the theory and techniques of traffic assignment problem. It first presents the steady-state traffic assignment problem formulation which is also called static assignment, followed by Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA), where the traffic demand on the network is time varying. The static assignment problem is shown in a mathematical programming setting for two different objectives to be satisfied. The first one where all users experience same travel times in alternate used routes is called user-equilibrium and another setting called system optimum in which the assignment attempts to minimize the total travel time. The alternate formulation uses variational inequality method which is also presented. Dynamic travel routing problem is also reviewed in the variational inequality setting. DTA problem is shown in discrete and continuous time in terms of lumped parameters as well as in a macroscopic setting, where partial differential equations are used for the link traffic dynamics. A Hamilton–Jacobi- based travel time dynamics model is also presented for the links and routes, which is integrated with the macroscopic traffic dynamics. Simulation-based DTA method is also very briefly reviewed. This chapter is taken from the following Springer publication and is reproduced here, with permission and with minor changes: Pushkin Kachroo, and Neveen Shlayan, “Dynamic traffic assignment: A survey of mathematical models and technique,” Advances in Dynamic Network Modeling in Complex Transportation Systems (Editor: Satish V. Ukkusuri and Kaan Ozbay) Springer New York, 2013. 1-25.
A Past: Wintered like a Circus

The house had twenty-two rooms. There was a mirror, a blue bottle of dark wine, a painting by the one they call Chagall, and a large fern in most of the rooms. Not much furniture: unfinished wicker pieces, orange crates, and a chiffonier containing dead chrysanthemums, verbena, and old correspondence. The ceilings were high enough that the woman could lean her cane poles against the wall when she returned from fishing. At a quarter past four, every morning, the crow, whose tongue she split years ago, lit on the balcony outside her bedroom window. It looked like a pirate, strutting the deck of its ship, as it walked to and fro on the railing. The woman always slept with the canopy down and the French doors open, no matter what the weather. The draft caused the smoke from the fireplace to drift out of the upper room, as if it were a hidden lake losing its morning fog. There was some fog in the fields, anyway. "J'ai tant r?v? de toi que tu perds ta realit?." The crow did not speak English. The woman was thirty years old but did not look it. Her hair was black; not the shade of the crow. The bird was so black, it looked blue. She had a few strands of gray, the color of the tuft under a fox's neck. It is that way in the forest, sometimes. You see red leaves in July. She thought she had Just enough for a small craft to crack-up on. She left some sparkle by the window one summer. A wind came up. It went through the house, and then, out again, all about the premises, the moonlight picking it up. Someone passing by in a wagon thought the lady was throwing away her jewels. Some of the sparkle caught in the gables, next to the wasp nests. On a quiet night, you could hear the insects from the road. The long green buds of the ash trees sifted through the bedroom windows. They never fool the birds, but often the fish have them in their bellies when you slit them open. A Staffordshire bowl, half-emptied of almonds, was on the mantle. Above it was an oval mirror, a mounted alligator, and the painting: The Bark.
Comparative effectiveness of 8- and 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimens for HCV infection.

Background Real-world studies have aimed to compare the effects of 8- and 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimens on sustained virological response (SVR) among HCV infection genotype-1 (HCV-1) treatment-naive patients. Nevertheless, real-world comparative effectiveness studies pose unique challenges, such as confounding by indication, that were not adequately addressed in prior studies. We thus aimed to address limitations in prior studies and compare overall- and subgroup-specific effectiveness of 8- and 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimens among HCV-1 treatment-naive patients. Methods Patients eligible for our study were aged ≥18 years and initiated 8- or 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimens for treatment-naive HCV-1 at an urban public hospital network. We excluded patients with HIV or cirrhosis. We used marginal structural models to estimate overall and subgroup-specific risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence limits (CL) comparing the effect of 8- and 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir regimens on 12-week SVR. Results Our study population comprised 191 patients. Among both regimens, the majority were aged >50 years, non-Hispanic White and uninsured. The overall risk of SVR was comparable between the 8- and 12-week regimens (RR=1.01, 95% CL: 0.92, 1.11). The risk of SVR did not vary by race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic Black: RR=1.01, 95% CL: 0.84, 1.21; non-Hispanic White: RR=1.01, 95% CL: 0.89, 1.04). Conclusions Our real-world results suggest that 8- and 12-week ledipasvir/sofosbuvir have comparable effects on SVR among HCV-1 patients without cirrhosis or HIV. In addition, the comparable effectiveness of 8- and 12-week regimens among non-Hispanic Black individuals adds to the growing body of evidence that supports the removal of race-based treatment guidelines.
Applications of Solubility Calculations

In this chapter, we show calculations of more complex solubility equilibria in chosen cases of importance in geochemistry, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry.
Tertiary and Quaternary vegetation history of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA

Pollen analysis of 5 wells drilled to bedrock in the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA provide a record vegetation change over the last ca 13.5 Ma. Over 440 pollen samples have been counted. The longest record presented is for the mid-lake Bridge Well. Close-interval (3–10 Ka) sampling is presented for the upper Indian Cove well. Chronologic control is provided by identification volcanic tephra and by K/Ar, Ar/Ar, and fission-track dates. Ash determinations are based on electron microprobe analyses of iron, calcium, and other elements compared to Neogene ash data at the University of Utah. Sedimentation begins 38 Ma, with good pollen preservation is sediments younger than 13.5 Ma, and no obvious gaps in sedimentation after 6 Ma.
Fractal Electrodynamics: From Super Antennas to Superlattices

We provide a selected overview of fractal electrodynamics by examining the properties of fractal antennas, arrays and apertures; and investigating the nature of electromagnetic wave scattering from fractal surfaces and superlattices.
Assessment of the Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBD) are those most commonly referred by parents and teach-ers for professional help (Kazdin, Siegel, & Bass, 1990; Wells & Forehand, 1985) and also the most common mental health problems presented in pediatricians’ offices.* The assessment, differential diagnosis, and treatment of DBD thus require careful consideration. The foundation for any such assessment includes the definition of the disorder and the specific criteria to be used in its diagnosis. Anychild may display DBD to some degree at specific times or in certain settings, but in order to be considered clinically significant, they must exceed the range of normal for the child’s age group in terms of frequency, pervasiveness, severity, and interference with the child’s ability to function adaptively (see Chapter 1, this volume). At older ages, these DBD and maladaptive interactions tend to have greater chronicity and severity.
Amputee perception of prosthetic ankle stiffness during locomotion

Prosthetic feet are spring-like, and their stiffness critically affects the wearer’s stability, comfort, and energetic cost of walking. Despite the importance of stiffness in ambulation, the prescription process often entails testing a limited number of prostheses, which may result in patients receiving a foot with suboptimal mechanics. To understand the resolution with which prostheses should be individually optimized, we sought to characterize below-knee prosthesis users’ psychophysical sensitivity to prosthesis stiffness. We used a novel variable-stiffness ankle prosthesis to measure the repeatability of user-selected preferred stiffness, and implemented a psychophysical experiment to characterize the just noticeable difference of stiffness during locomotion. All eight subjects with below-knee amputation exhibited high repeatability in selecting their Preferred Stiffness (mean coefficient of variation: 14.2 ± 1.7%) and were able to correctly identify a 7.7 ± 1.3% change in ankle stiffness (with 75% accuracy). This high sensitivity suggests prosthetic foot stiffness should be tuned with a high degree of precision on an individual basis. These results also highlight the need for a pairing of new robotic prescription tools and mechanical characterizations of prosthetic feet.
Metadata Squared: Enhancing Its Usability for Volunteered Geographic Information and the GeoWeb

The Internet has brought many changes to the way geographic information is created and shared. One aspect that has not changed is metadata. Static spatial data quality descriptions were standardized in the mid-1990s and cannot accommodate the current climate of data creation where nonexperts are using mobile phones and other location-based devices on a continuous basis to contribute data to Internet mapping platforms. The usability of standard geospatial metadata is being questioned by academics and neogeographers alike. This chapter analyzes current discussions of metadata to demonstrate how the media shift that is occurring has affected requirements for metadata. Two case studies of metadata use are presented—online sharing of environmental information through a regional spatial data infrastructure in the early 2000s, and new types of metadata that are being used today in OpenStreetMap, a map of the world created entirely by volunteers. Changes in metadata requirements are examined for usability, the ease with which metadata supports coproduction of data by communities of users, how metadata enhances findability, and how the relationship between metadata and data has changed. We argue that traditional metadata associated with spatial data infrastructures is inadequate and suggest several research avenues to make this type of metadata more interactive and effective in the GeoWeb.
Biosensors for Agrochemicals

Population growth and a reduction in farming acreage over the last few decades has brought about an increasing emphasis on the use of agrochemicals in modern agricultural practice to improve yield for cost-effective production of food and fiber. Although regulatory requirements for registration of agrochemical products have restricted or banned the use of many proven toxic substances and the industry is striving to produce safer and lower-use-rate chemicals, the environmental impact of some long-lasting compounds in soil and water and bioaccumulation of some compounds in the ecosystem are still of concern. Many agencies worldwide have mandated monitoring of groundwater, drinking water, and food commodities for chemical residues, and awareness of the impact of these residues on daily life has been heightened.
Team challenges: Is artificial intelligence the solution?

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a potential growth area for facilitating the improvement and development of teams in the workplace. AI, as used in the team context, is currently underdeveloped and limited, thus reducing the wide-scale adoption and implementation of AI to improve team effectiveness. The use of AI to provide team diagnostics and improvements represents a significant shift in the approach organizations currently use to facilitate and strengthen effective teamwork. We describe the challenges involved in developing team effectiveness in organizations and the potential application of AI to improve teamwork. Further, we report on our experiences using AI in business school student project teams, the important advantages and disadvantages that emerged from this, and insights for future consideration when adopting and implementing AI in the workplace. Based on our use of AI and our experience training high-performing teams, we propose a multistep process for analyzing and improving teams in organizations.
Pharmaceutical Properties of Loracarbef: The Remarkable Solution Stability of an Oral 1-Carba-l-dethiacephalosporin Antibiotic

Loracarbef is an oral 1-carba-l-dethiacephalosporin antibiotic structurally related to cefaclor. Like many β-lactam antibiotics, loracar-bef exists in several hydrated crystalline forms. The pH–solubility profile curve for loracarbef monohydrate is U-shaped, resembling those for other zwitterionic cephalosporins. Loracarbef was found to be much more stable in solution than cefaclor. For example, in pH 7.4 phosphate buffer, loracarbef was unexpectedly found to be 130–150 times more stable than cefaclor and 10–12 times more stable than cephalexin, depending on the phosphate concentration. The pH-stability profile is U-shaped, similar to that of other zwitterionic cephalosporins, and shows maximum stability at the isoelectric point. At any given pH, loracarbef is more stable in solution than any other therapeutically useful cephalosporin. Acetate, borate, citrate, and especially phosphate buffers have catalytic effects on the rate of loracarbef hydrolysis.
Statistical modeling of a novel clinical trial design using neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) to personalize therapy in patients (pts) with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

595Background: 40-50% of pts with TNBC develop pathologic complete response (pCR) with adriamycin/cyclophosphamide (AC)ataxane (T) NAT; thus, most pts treated in randomized trials (RCTs) adding exp...