cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Secrets, Lies, and Account Recovery: Lessons from the Use of Personal Knowledge Questions at Google

We examine the first large real-world data set on personal knowledge question's security and memorability from their deployment at Google. Our analysis confirms that secret questions generally offer a security level that is far lower than user-chosen passwords. It turns out to be even lower than proxies such as the real distribution of surnames in the population would indicate. Surprisingly, we found that a significant cause of this insecurity is that users often don't answer truthfully. A user survey we conducted revealed that a significant fraction of users (37%) who admitted to providing fake answers did so in an attempt to make them "harder to guess" although on aggregate this behavior had the opposite effect as people "harden" their answers in the same and predictable way. On the usability side, we show that secret answers have surprisingly poor memorability despite the assumption that their reliability motivates their continued deployment. From millions of account recovery attempts we observed a significant fraction of users (e.g 40% of our English-speaking US users) were unable to recall their answers when needed. This is lower than the success rate of alternative recovery mechanisms such as SMS reset codes (over 80%). Comparing question strength and memorability reveals that the questions that are potentially the most secure (e.g what is your first phone number) are also the ones with the worst memorability. We conclude that it appears next to impossible to find secret questions that are both secure and memorable. Secret questions continue have some use when combined with other signals, but they should not be used alone and best practice should favor more reliable alternatives.
Effect of reduction and replacement of sodium chloride on rancidity development in raw and cooked ground pork

Ground pork (raw and cooked) was treated with NaCl, KCl or MgCl2 at ionic strengths of either 0.70 or 0.35, and stored at 4 or -20°C. Regardless of storage temperature, NaCl and MgCl2 increased rancidity of both raw and cooked samples, whereas KCl increased rancidity of raw samples only. In raw pork samples, NaCl increased rancidity the most. In cooked samples, MgCl2 increased rancidity more than NaCl when samples were stored at 4°C, but the opposite was true for samples stored at -20°C. Discoloration was most severe for raw, frozen samples treated with NaCl. Replacement of NaCl with KCl was most effective for decreasing rancidity in both raw and cooked samples.
Bahl: Running with Fiscal Decentralization

The report looks at the career of Roy H. Bahl Jr., dean, Andrew Young School and professor of economics and public administration at Georgia State University. They were prepared for the occasion of Bahl's being awarded the Daniel M. Holland Medal at the National Tax Association meeting in Miami, Fla., November 17.
Absent Left Main Coronary Artery and Separate Ostia of Left Coronary System in a Patient with Holt-Oram Syndrome and Sinus Node Dysfunction.

Background Holt-Oram syndrome (HOS) is a rare but significant syndrome consisting of structural heart defects, conduction abnormalities, and upper extremity anomalies. It was first described in the British Heart Journal in 1960 by Mary Holt and Samuel Oram as a report of atrial septal defect, conduction disturbances, and hand malformations occurring in family members. Patients can present with heart blocks or symptoms of underlying congenital heart defects. Case report A 41-year-old man with Holt-Oram syndrome presented with seizure-like activity and was found to have an underlying conduction disturbance. Physical exam showed bilateral atrophic upper extremities with anatomic disfiguration, and weakness of the intrinsic hand muscles. Cardiovascular exam revealed a slow heart rate with irregular rhythm. EKG showed sinus arrest with junctional escape rhythm. Cardiac catheterization revealed coronary anomalies, including absent left main coronary artery and separate ostia of the left anterior ascending and left circumflex coronary artery. Coronary arteries were patent. Following electrophysiology study, sick sinus syndrome and AV block were diagnosed, and the patient received implantation of a permanent pacemaker. Conclusions This patient presented with a seizure-like episode attributed to hypoxia during asystole from an underlying cardiac conduction defect associated with Holt-Oram syndrome. Arrhythmias and heart blocks are seen in these patients, and conduction defects are highly associated with congenital heart defects. Holt-Oram syndrome rarely presents with coronary artery anomalies. There is no reported case of separate coronary ostia and absent left main coronary artery. Prompt diagnosis is important since anomalies in coronary and upper extremity vasculature might be challenging for invasive procedures.
Beyond repeal--the future of health care reform.

After the 2010 elections, it is clear that the fight over health care reform is far from over. The reform law confronts burgeoning legislative, administrative, and legal challenges, and the partisan divide on health care is widening.
An Examination of H Effusion in a-Si:H Using Infrared Spectroscopy

We present the results of H diffusion studies on glow discharge (GD) and hot wire (HW) deposited a-Si:H films studied by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. In this technique, a-Si:H films deposited on crystalline silicon are annealed isochronally for fixed times, and after each anneal the decrease in the amount of SiH infrared absorption is carefully measured. We then incorporate these data into the rate equation for loss of SiH bonds due to annealing, enabling the determination of an activation energy to break these bonds and place the H in a site that cannot be measured by IR. The activation energies for device quality GD films are similar to those found in the a-Si:H diffusion literature, suggesting that diffusion parameters can be measured by this method. On the other hand, a similar analysis of data for HW films containing similar H contents is not clear cut. GD and HW samples with lower H content, deposited at higher Ts, are also examined. We discuss these results in the context of film microstructure.
New York Approves Law Legalizing Compound Interest

Compound interest is the accruing of interest upon unpaid interest and is sometimes referred to as "interest on interest." In 1814 the Court of Appeals, the highest court in the State of New York in, State of Connecticut v. Jackson, 1 Johns Ch. R. 13 (1814), adopted the British rule prohibiting enforcement of a promise to pay compound. In establishing this prohibition on compound interest the court found that:"Interest on interest, promptly and incessantly accruing, would, as a general rule, become harsh and oppressive. Debt would accumulate with a rapidity beyond all ordinary calculation and endurance. Common business cannot sustain such overwhelming accumulation."In 1814, this principle was an appropriate one; the society was agrarian and there was very limited ability to calculate compound interest over any substantial period of time. In a case named Young v. Hill, Judge Church (in dissent) expressed the traditional abhorrence of having interest compound with the following words:"These principles are founded upon a wise public policy for the protection of the weak and ignorant debtor against extortion and oppression by the grasping creditor who, by an apparent indulgence is enabled to delude his victim into certain ruin."Over the next 175 years, various exceptions and the many creative attempts to find ways around the rule made it very difficult to determine which financial arrangements violated the New York rule and which did not. Many New York law firms found that they could not give opinions on the enforceability of compound interest provisions.The author, who at the time was Director of Corporate Law for New York City, wrote the following in a memo to Frederick A. 0. Schwarz, the Corporation Counsel of the City of the City of New York :"The rule [against enforcement of compound interest] is an anachronism: New York is one of a very few states that has such a rule. It is therefore recommended that legislation be proposed that either fully eliminates the rule or retains it only in a limited fashion, such as in consumer loans."Led by the author, with the aid of other members of the City Bar, The City of New York and the City Bar Association were brought in to become official co-sponsors of the proposed new law. The Bill was then also endorsed by the Committee on Banking of the State Bar Association, and by other groups.This is the story of why and how the legislation was written, the changes that were made and how to understand the law.
Postgraduate education in physical medicine and rehabilitation in the community hospital.

Most hospitals provide physical therapy services, but if physicians are not well informed about indications, technics and prescriptions for rehabilitation, medical supervision is seriously affected. To provide postgraduate instruction in this field, a two year program was devised, consisting of monthly clinics and lectures in a community hospital. The program proved so successful that similar plans have been developed in other communities and other areas of medicine.
Fairy Godmothers and Ugly Sisters: The Cinderella Motif in Austen’s Fiction

At the core of all of Austen’s novels lies the Cinderella story, or, rather, several mutations of the popular fairy tale. Each novel tells of a provincial girl who falls in love with and eventually marries a worthy man. Moreover, all of the novels recount a young lady’s entry into society and her earliest speculations in the marriage market. Yet Austen does not resignedly reproduce the Cinderella story; instead, she transforms the novelistic paradigm of the fairy tale into an original artistic pattern. This paradigm, passed down from Richardson’s Pamela, in which a poor servant girl marries her rich master and becomes a model wife,1 was rooted in a middle-class ideology obsessed with rising up the social ladder. It filtered down through the eighteenth-century novel, saturating the works of such female authors as Charlotte Smith, Frances Burney, and Jane Austen, all of whom both conformed to and subverted the pattern. In particular, we can imagine the cynical, witty Austen taking on the typical Cinderella novel formula with a grimace. But although she frequently twists and disfigures components of the Cinderella dream in order to highlight the misconceptions and false expectations to which they give rise, Austen ultimately exploits the crucial elements of fantasy. All her novels, for instance, offer examples of wish fulfillment: they have happy endings, and the heroines attain or even surpass their dreams of love.
A multi-objective optimization framework for energy and asset management in an industrial Microgrid

Abstract Increased competition and reduced profit margins are pushing manufacturing plants to find ways to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. At the same time, government incentives and community initiatives are encouraging the industrial sector to pursue sustainability in operation and energy consumption. This has introduced a paradigm shift where the focus of plant operation is moving from solely cost reduction to one that considers asset management, emission control, and utilization of alternative energy resources. Mathematically speaking, the problem is changing from a single objective optimization to one with multiple objective functions that may at times be contradictory. The focus of this paper is to propose a methodology for management of an industrial plant considering the above factors. It is assumed that the plant is equipped with distributed generation (DG), and can also participate in demand response (DR). Further, the effect of ambient temperature on the lifetime and available capacity of assets such as the plant transformer has been taken into account and incorporated into their daily schedule. The objective is then to find an optimal solution for operating various workstations in such a way that it minimizes the operational costs, the emissions produced, and the loss of life of assets exposed to excess temperatures. A multi-objective optimization problem is therefore formulated through extended lexicographic goal programming, which is further modified to ensure Pareto optimality. A case study has also been presented for a manufacturing plant for luxury vehicle cockpit assembly line.
Toxoplasmosis After Solid Organ Transplantation

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligated intracellular protozoan with worldwide distribution. T. gondii can cause asymptomatic infection, ocular disease, congenital infection, and life-threatening disease in the immunocompromised host such as those with AIDS and transplant recipients. Transmission to humans occurs by ingestion of meat containing tissue cysts or of food or water contaminated with oocysts. The risk of toxoplasmosis following solid organ transplantation (SOT) differs by the transplanted organ, pre-transplant toxoplasmosis serostatus in donors/recipients, and the degree of immunosuppression. Hence, donors and SOT-candidates should be systematically screened for toxoplasmosis with IgG/IgM prior to transplantation. Transplant recipients with toxoplasmosis present more frequently with disseminated disease including encephalitis, pneumonitis, myocarditis, and multi-organic dysfunction. PCR and histopathology are the main diagnostic tools in SOT-patients. If untreated, toxoplasmosis in SOT-patients is 100 % fatal. Pyrimethamine+sulfadiazine+folinic acid or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) are the regimens of choice. TMP-SMX used for Pneumocystis prophylaxis is sufficient for suppression of toxoplasmosis in high-risk SOT-recipients: mismatched D+/R-heart transplant and seropositive (R+) SOT-recipients with high-degree of immunosuppression. Seronegative SOT-recipients must be educated on appropriate preventive measures in order to avoid primary toxoplasma infection.
Effects of Contaminants on Urine Methamphetamine Screening Test

Adding contaminants in urine samples have been employed by drug users to avoid detecting addictive substances in their urine. The purpose of this research was to identify urine contaminants which could affect methamphetamine screening tests, cloned enzyme donor immunoassay (CEDIA) and immunochromatography (IC), by preparing urine samples containing methamphetamine at 750, 1,000, 2,500 and 5,000 ng/mL. Twelve types of liquid urine contaminants, namely - liquid soap, liquid detergent, toilet bowl cleaner, deodorant, bleach, vinegar, energy drink, tea, eye drops, lemon juice, saliva and water, and three types of solid urine contaminants – alum, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and cigarettes were tested for interference with methamphetamine sgreening. The results showed that for CEDIA, liquid soap, liquid detergent and bleach decreased all methamphetamines contained in the four different urine samples and provided false negative results. For the sample with 1,000 ng/mL methamphetamine, vinegar, energy drink, tea, eye drops, lemon juice, saliva, water, alum and MSG gave false negative result by diminishing the small amount of methamphetamine. On the other hand bathroom cleaning solution and deodorant affected the CEDIA methamphetamine screening test by increasing methamphetamine quantities, thus the result was reported as false positive. By the IC method, false negative or indeterminate test results were obtained for urine samples contaminated with bathroom cleaning solution, bleach, vinegar, lemon juice, alum and MSG. Only the urine sample with 1,000 ng/mL methamphetamine was affected by liquid soap, liquid detergent, deodorant, energy drink, tea, eye drops and cigarette, providing false negative results. Thus it can be concluded that all urine contaminants tested produce different effects on methamphetamine screening tests depending on various factors such as the property and concentration of contaminants, concentration of drug abuse, and the performance of the screening tests.
Molecular Clones within Organismal Clones

Some vertebrate “species”* exist predominantly or exclusively as females, exhibiting asexual or semisexual reproduction (Dawley and Bogart, 1989). Examples occur among the fishes, amphibians, and squamate reptiles. Essentially all known unisexual vertebrates carry the nuclear genomes of two or more bisexual species, and thus arose via interspecific hybridization. These all-female biotypes reproduce without genetic recombination, by one of three modes (Fig. 1): (a) parthenogenesis, in which the female’s nuclear genome is transmitted intact to the egg, which then develops into an offspring genetically identical to the mother; (b) gynogenesis, in which the process is the same except that sperm from a related bisexual species is required to stimulate egg development; and (c) hybridogenesis, in which an ancestral genome from the maternal line is transmitted to the egg without recombination, while paternally-derived chromosomes are discarded only to be replaced in each generation through fertilization by sperm from a related sexual species.
Soil development over mud-rich rocks produces landscape-scale erosional instabilities in the northern Gabilan Mesa, California

In soil-mantled landscapes, the length of hillslopes is set by the relative efficiency of hillslope transport processes and incision by channelized flows. In cases where rapid channel incision exposes less-weathered, more-resistant rocks, incision should slow, creating a damping feedback that prevents runaway channel expansion. We present observations from the northern Gabilan Mesa (central Coast Ranges, California), which is underlain by mud-rich rocks that provide less resistance to erosion than the soils produced from them. This strength inversion arises because unconfined, mud-rich units of the Pancho Rico Formation undergo a process called slaking, in which pervasive fractures, spaced centimeters apart, develop when subjected to wet-dry cycles. In contrast, consecutive wetting and drying cycles have produced a cohesive regolith with higher tensile strength than the slaked bedrock. Exposure of the relatively weak bedrock may create a positive feedback, where the acceleration of erosion within the bedrock undermines the cohesive regolith and allows channels to expand headward at the expense of hillslopes. Geomorphic mapping reveals numerous channelized features that have incised deeply into bedrock, and crosscutting relationships and topographic analyses indicate that these features have consumed regions of the landscape previously occupied by hillslopes. However, these features are only present in south-flowing drainages, where soil is thinnest and therefore bedrock is most likely to be exposed by increases in erosion rate. Preferential headward expansion of these south-flowing channels has established a profound topographic asymmetry, where south-flowing tributaries occupy ∼75% of drainage basin width. These results suggest that processes operating at the scale of the critical zone, which may be unique to certain rock types, conspire to produce an instability that shapes the morphology of drainage basins.
PRECESION: Progressive recovery and restoration planning of interdependent services in enterprise data centers

Abstract The primary focus of this paper is to design a progressive restoration plan for an enterprise data center environment following a partial or full disruption. Repairing and restoring disrupted components in an enterprise data center requires a significant amount of time and human effort. Following a major disruption, the recovery process involves multiple stages, and during each stage, the partially recovered infrastructures can provide limited services to users at some degraded service level. However, how fast and efficiently an enterprise infrastructure can be recovered depends on how the recovery mechanism restores the disrupted components, considering the inter-dependencies between services, along with the limitations of expert human operators. The entire problem turns out to be NP-hard and rather complex, and we devise an efficient meta-heuristic to solve the problem. By considering some real-world examples, we show that the proposed meta-heuristic provides very accurate results, and still runs ∼ 600 – 2800 times faster than the optimal solution obtained from a general purpose mathematical solver [1].
Microcomputer Based Drill Wear On-Line Monitoring

Solid carbide drill wear can be correlated to measurable machining parameters when drilling graphite composite work material. The thrust force is found to be the leading indicator of wear with feed and speed having minor influence. Industrial drill wear limits are governed by the quality of the hole produced. The total depth of material removed is a convenient means of expressing the degree of drill wear permissible. An on-line monitoring system has been developed utilizing the computational power and low cost of the microcomputer. Development of sensors to retrofit existing equipment makes the system industrially feasible.
Traumatic disorders of the distal radioulnar joint

Trauma can lead to isolated or associated distal radioulnar joint disorders. Instability or incongruity of the joint frequently leads to pain, weakness, and limited forearm rotation. A knowledge of the anatomy and biomechanics is helpful to understand the pathology and to formulate a treatment protocol. This article reviews the surgical options that have been proposed to correct derangements of the distal radioulnar joint resulting from trauma.
Abstract A50: Modeling and targeting of oncogenic proteotoxic stress in drug-resistant breast cancer

ERBB2/HER2-positive breast cancers are associated with poor prognosis, and resistance to HER2-targeted therapy (trastuzumab and lapatinib) presents a significant clinical hurdle. There are no treatment options for metastatic HER2+ BCs that have progressed on HER2-targeted therapy. At present, most of the research on therapeutic strategies in therapy-refractory Her2+ BCs focuses on resensitizing tumor cells to HER2-targeting agents. We have shown that targeting of nononcogenic vulnerabilities, specifically adaptive proteotoxic stress response, is a promising therapeutic approach in this subset of BCs (Singh N. et al, HER2-mTOR signaling-driven breast cancer cells require ER-associated degradation to survive. Science Signaling 2015). We showed that Her2+ BCs have specific dependence on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway to suppress the hyperactive Her2/mTOR pathway-driven proteotoxic stress. Here, we explore the kinetics of protein homeostatic changes during the course of Her2-targeted drug therapy, and identify optimal therapeutic windows for the targeting of ERAD in the therapy-refractory Her2+ BCs. Using an integrated systems approach, we have modeled the dynamics of signaling and protein homeostasis changes in Her2+ cells during remission, resistance, and relapse phases of Her2-targeted therapy. We found that the resistance and relapse phases of anti-Her2 drug (lapatinib and trastuzumab) treatment are associated with Her2-independent acquisition of mTOR signaling, as previously reported. However, these signaling pathway changes also resulted in heightened proteotoxic burden on the ER due to increased protein synthesis rates, which was further exacerbated upon the release of cells from anti-Her2 treatment. Accordingly, cells in the relapse phase, and even more so upon further drug withdrawal, showed significantly heightened sensitivity to the inhibition of ERAD. This study reveals the kinetics of protein homeostasis associated with the signaling pathway changes during acquired resistance to anti-Her2 therapy, and suggests optimal therapeutic windows for the targeting of ERAD in therapy-refractory Her2+ BCs. Citation Format: Navneet Singh, Vishnu Modur, Belal Muhammad, Kakajan Komurov. Modeling and targeting of oncogenic proteotoxic stress in drug-resistant breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Breast Cancer Research; 2017 Oct 7-10; Hollywood, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2018;16(8_Suppl):Abstract nr A50.
Kinetics of Intramolecular Phenyl Migration and Fused Ring Formation in Hexylbenzene Radicals

A combined ab initio/TST study was conducted to study the phenyl migration and fused ring formation of a series of 1-phenyl-hex-x-yl radicals. Phenyl shift proceeds through a two-step mechanism with a ring closure by ipso-cycloaddition, followed by a ring-opening by β-scission leading to x-phenyl-hex-1-yl radical isomers. Both steps involve a spirocyclic transition state connected by a spirocyclic intermediate. Barrier heights at the CBS-QB3 level range from 9.9 to 17.7 kcal mol–1 depending on the size of the newly formed ring. Formation of fused rings by peri-cycloaddition reactions occur through barrier heights that range from 8.8 to 28.8 kcal mol–1. The addition sites are the substituted and ortho carbons of the phenyl ring for the ipso- and peri-cycloadditions, respectively. For both types of reaction, the Arrhenius A factor decreases as the ring size increases. This is related to the number of internal rotors lost across the reaction. In addition, length of the side chain also impacts on the kinetics...
Unobtrusive Driver Drowsiness Prediction Using Driving Behavior from Vehicular Sensors

Falling asleep is an eventual result of drowsiness, while driving it might also be a cause of major disasters. Driver's oblivious attempt of driving a vehicle when they are drowsy will lead to life-threatening accidents and even fatality. In this paper, we developed a framework to capture the drowsiness state of the driver using vehicle measures in an unobtrusive way. A well experimented VR-based simulated driving environment was employed to monitor the driver's drowsiness based on the acceleration, braking, and steering wheel axis pattern of the vehicle, in tandem with the self-estimated rating from the subject using KSS (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale). We proposed two prediction models to accomplish the drowsiness detection. We used the Classification as well the Regression techniques which produced a maximum accuracy rate of 99.10% and a minimum error rate of 0.34 RMSE. It was evaluated, based on its performance through the Ensemble classifier and Decision-Tree algorithms. As a result, it is identified that a system built using the Decision-Tree with the proposed segmentation of 4 sec window, could determine the driver's drowsiness at the earliest of 4.4 sec in the Classification and 4.5 sec with Regression, respectively.
Fear extinction learning as a predictor of response to cognitive behavioral therapy for pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder.

Abstract Background While cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for many children and adolescents with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), therapeutic response is variable. Fear conditioning and extinction are central constructs underlying exposure-based CBT. Fear extinction learning assessed prior to CBT may be a useful predictor of CBT response for guiding treatment decisions. Methods Sixty-four youth who participated in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of CBT with and without d-cycloserine (DCS) completed a fear conditioning task. Skin conductance response (SCR) scores were used to measure fear acquisition and extinction to determine whether extinction learning could predict CBT response. Results CBT responders and non-responders appeared to acquire conditioned fear SCRs in a similar manner. However, differences between treatment responders and non-responders emerged during the extinction phase. A responder (responder, non-responder) by conditioned stimulus type (CS+, CS−) interaction showed that CBT responders differentiated the stimulus paired with (CS+) and without (CS−) the unconditioned stimulus correctly during early and late extinction, whereas the CBT non-responders did not (p = .004). Conclusions While the small sample size makes conclusions tentative, this study supports an emerging literature that differential fear extinction may be an important factor underlying clinical correlates of pediatric OCD, including CBT response.
Developing Postdoctoral Scholar and Graduate Student Mentorship Ability

This research full paper presents a mixed methods study in developing the professional skills of engineering postdoctoral scholars and graduate students.}{It has been well documented that mentorship ability is crucial for mentee-mentor pairs in educational settings. The ability to be a mentor is a valuable professional skill for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students regardless of the career path taken following their education. How postdoctoral scholars and graduate students themselves develop an ability to mentor has not been widely researched. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Centers (ERC) provide summer mentoring opportunities, including Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students (REU), Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), and Young Scholars Program (YSP), for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students to learn and practice how to be a mentor. A major challenge associated with this opportunity is the belief that such activities are not a valuable time investment. This belief can come from both the postdoctoral scholar or graduate students and their advisors. This paper presented a mixed methods study to investigate how practicing mentorship impacts the development of various professional skills for those involved in ERC Summer Programs.
Unevenly spaced continuous measurement approach for dual rotating–retarder Mueller matrix ellipsometry

In order to efficiently extract the sample Mueller matrix by dual rotating–retarder ellipsometry, it is critical for the data reduction technique to achieve a minimal data processing burden while considering the ease of retarder control. In this paper, we propose an unevenly spaced sampling strategy to reach a globally optimal measurement matrix with minimum sampling points for continuous measurements. Taking into account the robustness to both systematic errors and detection noise, we develop multi-objective optimization models to identify the optimal unevenly spaced sampling points. A combined global search algorithm based on the multi-objective genetic algorithm is subsequently designed to solve our model. Finally, simulations and experiments are conducted to validate our approach as well as to provide near-optimal schemes for different design scenarios. The results demonstrate that significant improvement on error immunity performance can be achieved by applying an unevenly sampled measurement strategy compared to an evenly sampled one for our ellipsometer scenario.
Equity Capital, Internal Capital Markets, and Optimal Capital Structure in the U.S. Property-Casualty Insurance Industry

This paper reviews the most pertinent literature on the sources and uses of equity capital in the U.S. property-casualty (P-C) insurance industry. P-C insurers serve a risk management and risk bearing function in the economy. Insurers create diversified risk pools consisting of large numbers of exposures. However, even in the most highly diversified risk pools, uncertainty is not reduced to zero; and insurers must hold equity capital to credibly promise that claims will be paid even if losses are higher than expected. We begin with a financial overview of the industry. Insurers are shown to be well capitalized and financially stable, withstanding large catastrophic events and economic crises. Next, an analysis of capital regulation shows that regulation is not binding for the vast majority of insurers. We then review the theoretical and empirical evidence on the most important economic phenomena impinging on capital in P-C insurance: underwriting cycles, internal capital markets (ICMs), and optimal capital structure. P-C insurers are shown to be heavy users of ICMs, and insurer ICM transactions are shown to be efficient. The available evidence supports the view that P-C insurers have optimal capital structures and behave according to the tradeoff theory of capital structure.
Optimization of Electronic Medical Records for Data Mining Using a Common Data Model

The increasing use of electronic health records (EHRs) in veterinary medicine creates an opportunity to utilize the high volume of electronic patient data for mining and data-driven analytics with the goal of improving patient care and outcomes. A central focus of the Clinical and Translational Science Award One Health Alliance (COHA) is to integrate efforts across multiple disciplines to better understand shared diseases in animals and people. The ability to combine veterinary and human medical data provides a unique resource to study the interactions and relationships between animals, humans, and the environment. However, to effectively answer these questions, veterinary EHR data must first be prepared in the same way it is now commonly being done in human medicine to enable data mining and development of analytics to facilitate knowledge formation and solutions that advance our understanding of disease processes, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for veterinary patients and their owners. As a first step, COHA member institutions implemented a Common Data Model to standardize EHR data. Herein we present the approach executed within the COHA framework to prepare and optimize veterinary EHRs for data mining and knowledge formation based on the adoption of the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics' Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model.
[Investigation on awareness rates of malaria prevention knowledge among residents and students in Huai'an District, Huai'an City].

Objective To understand the awareness status on malaria control knowledge of residents, primary and middle school students in Huai'an District, Huai'an City, so as to provide the evidences for promoting the malaria elimination process in this district. Methods Three towns in Huai'an District were selected randomly, and one village, one primary school and one junior middle school in each town were chosen as the investigation sites. The residents over 18 years old, the primary school students in Grade 4 to 6, and the junior middle students in the investigation sites were investigated by questionnaires to understand their awareness status on knowledge of malaria control. Results Totally 305 residents and 618 students were investigated. The awareness rate of students was 89.97%, and the rates of the junior middle school students and primary school students were 85.94% and 94.10%, respectively, the difference between them was statistically significant (P＜0.01). The awareness rate of the residents was 80.98%, which was lower than that of the students (P＜0.05). For the students, the awareness rate on "precaution of malaria" (96.74%) was the highest, while that on "drug of malaria" (68.93%) was the lowest. For the residents, the rate on "transmission route of malaria" (95.08%) was the highest, that on "4·26 is Malaria Day" (64.26%) was the lowest. Expect the items of "transmission route of malaria" and "precaution of malaria" (both P＞0.05), the differences of the awareness rates on all the other items between the students and residents were statistically significant (all P＜0.01). Conclusions Although the awareness rates of malaria control knowledge in the population of Huai'an District, Huai'an City have achieved the goal of the relevant requirement, the health education on malaria control still should be strengthened, especially for the primary students, female residents and exported labor service personnel.
Determining the Extractive Casting Mold of Intimate Platforms through Document Theory

This paper introduces document theory as a mechanism to analyze intimate platforms as sociotechnical systems. The theory, developed in documentation studies and applied to HCI, focuses on the casting mold or how agents, through particular means and modes, produce documents that govern social relations. We studied the process of creating a profile by identifying and mapping out the fields asked among the ten most popular online dating apps in the US. By looking at dating profiles as documents and their creation as a process of documentation, we argue that the current casting mold of these intimate platforms is designed to extract profit via invisibilization of labor in digital networks leading to the emergence of a constrained rational market agent. Our study illustrates how document theory makes visible the assumptions of technological systems, calling on us to imagine alternatives beyond incremental design changes given broader structural realities of market and power.
Multiscale cardiac imaging spanning the whole heart and its internal cellular architecture in a small animal model.

The heart is our hardest-working organ and beats around 100,000 times a day, pumping blood through a vast system of vessels to all areas of the body. Specialized heart cells make the heart contract rhythmically, enabling it to work efficiently. Contractile molecules inside these cells, called myofibrils, align within the heart cells, and heart cells align to each other, so that the heart tissue contracts effectively. However, when the heart has defects or is diseased this organization can be lost, and the heart may no longer pump blood efficiently, leading to sometimes life-threatening complications. For example, around one in a hundred newborn babies suffer from congenital heart defects, and despite medical advances, these conditions remain the main cause of non-infectious mortality in children. Many cases of congenital heart disease are diagnosed before a baby is born during an ultrasound scan. However, these scans, as well as subsequent diagnostic tools, lack the precision to detect problems within the heart cells. Now, Rykiel et al. used two complementary imaging techniques known as micro-computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy to acquire pictures of the whole heart as well as of the organization inside the heart cells. This made it possible to capture the structure of the heart tissue at both micrometer (the whole heart) and nanometer resolution (the inside of the cells), and to study what happens within the heart and its cells when the heart has a defect. Rykiel et al. tested the imaging technology on the hearts of chicken embryos, at stages equivalent to a five to six-month-old human fetus, and compared a healthy heart with a heart with a defect called tetralogy of Fallot. They found that the tissues in the heart with a defect had a sponge-like appearance, with increased space in between cells. Moreover, the myofibrils of the heart with a defect were aligned differently compared to those in the normal heart. More research is needed to fully understand what happens when the heart has a defect. However, the imaging technology used in this study offers the possibility of examining the heart at an unprecedented level of detail. This will deepen our understanding of how structural heart defects arise and how they affect the pumping of the heart, and will give us clues to design better treatments for patients with heart defects and other heart anomalies.
Potential Clinical and Economic Value of Norovirus Vaccination in the Community Setting

Introduction With norovirus vaccine candidates currently under development, now is the time to identify the vaccine characteristics and implementation thresholds at which vaccination becomes cost effective and cost saving in a community setting. Methods In 2020, a norovirus transmission, clinical, and economics computational simulation model representing different U.S. population segments was developed to simulate the spread of norovirus and the potential impact of vaccinating children aged Results Compared with no vaccination, vaccinating preschool-aged children averted 8%–72% of symptomatic norovirus cases in a community, whereas vaccinating older adults averted 2%–29% of symptomatic cases (varying with vaccine efficacy [25%–75%] and vaccination coverage [10%–80%]). Vaccination with a 25% vaccine efficacy was cost effective (incremental cost–effectiveness ratio ≤$50,000 per quality-adjusted life year) when vaccination cost ≤$445 and cost saving at ≤$370 when vaccinating preschool-aged children and ≤$42 and ≤$30, respectively, when vaccinating older adults. With a 50% vaccine efficacy, vaccination was cost effective when it cost ≤$1,190 and cost saving at ≤$930 when vaccinating preschool-aged children and ≤$110 and ≤$64, respectively, when vaccinating older adults. These cost thresholds (cost effective and cost saving, respectively) further increased with a 75% vaccine efficacy to ≤$1,600 and ≤$1,300 for preschool-aged children and ≤$165 and ≤$100 for older adults. Conclusions This study outlines thresholds at which a norovirus vaccine would be cost effective and cost saving in the community when vaccinating children aged
Prudential Regulation and the Knowledge Problem: Towards a New Paradigm of Systemic Risk Regulation

In this article I examine the regulatory structure created by Title I of the Dodd-Frank Act and ask whether the prudential regulatory authority given to the Financial Stability Oversight Council is an effective tool for accomplishing the mission of identifying and containing risk in the financial system. Prudential regulation, the principal tool at the disposal of the FSOC, was developed in the 19th century to counteract moral hazard in the banking system. Over time, prudential supervision has become policymakers’ regulation of choice, to the point where it is now employed in the oversight and regulation of non-bank financial firms. However, due to the limits of human knowledge — what I refer to as “the knowledge problem” — I argue that it is unlikely that prudential-style regulation, dependent as it is on the planning of a central regulator, can achieve the reduction in systemic risk envisioned by Title I of Dodd-Frank. I draw on advances from complex systems theory to show how complexity and the knowledge problem present significant obstacles for any framework of systemic risk regulation built around a system of prudential supervision. Finally, I outline some alternatives to prudential regulation for regulating non-bank financial firms and reducing systemic risk in a way that minimizes regulators’ reliance on their necessarily incomplete knowledge.
Navigation of a Freely Walking Fruit Fly in Infinite Space Using a Transparent Omnidirectional Locomotion Compensator (TOLC)

Animal behavior is an essential element in behavioral neuroscience study. However, most behavior studies in small animals such as fruit flies (Drosophilamelanogaster) have been performed in a limited spatial chamber or by tethering the fly's body on a fixture, which restricts its natural behavior. In this paper, we developed the Transparent Omnidirectional Locomotion Compensator (TOLC) for a freely walking fruit fly without tethering, which enables its navigation in infinite space. The TOLC maintains a position of a fruit fly by compensating its motion using the transparent sphere. The TOLC is capable of maintaining the position error < 1 mm for 90.3% of the time and the heading error < 5° for 80.2% of the time. The inverted imaging system with a transparent sphere secures the space for an additional experimental apparatus. Because the proposed TOLC allows us to observe a freely walking fly without physical tethering, there is no potential injury during the experiment. Thus, the TOLC will offer a unique opportunity to investigate longitudinal studies of a wide range of behavior in an unrestricted walking Drosophila.
Recanalization and Reconstruction of a Chronically Occluded Inferior Vena Cava Through an Existing Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt in the Setting of Budd-Chiari Syndrome

Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) results from the occlusion or flow reduction in the hepatic veins or inferior vena cava and can be treated with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt when hepatic vein recanalization fails.1-3 Hypercoagulable patients with primary BCS are predisposed to development of new areas of thrombosis within the TIPS shunt or IVC. This case details a patient with BCS, pre-existing TIPS extending to the right atrium, and chronic retrohepatic IVC thrombosis who underwent sharp recanalization of the IVC with stenting into the TIPS stent bridging the patient until his subsequent hepatic transplantation.
Variations in presentation and management of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients: A multi-center descriptive analysis

Rationale: Early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic there was significant practice variation among hospitals regarding the choice and timing of treatments for acute respiratory failure. It is unknown whether this practice variation contributed to outcome differences. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of all adult patients with respiratory failure due to COVID-19 admitted between March 11 and May 31, 2020 to a medical or surgical ICU at three Massachusetts hospitals. Medical charts were manually reviewed by physicians and abstracted into a standardized REDCap database. Chi-square test for categorical variables and Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables were performed using R version 4.0.2. Results: Data from 429 patients were analyzed. Among the three institutions, there were significant differences in race, prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, duration of COVID-19 symptoms on presentation, and days between admission and intubation. Significant differences were observed in presentation acuity by sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score but not simplified acute physiology score (SAPS) or PaO2:FiO2 ratios. Hospital A intubated more patients on the day of admission and utilized more inhaled nitric oxide and less immunosuppression (steroids, anti-IL6 agents). Hospital B treated more patients with remdesivir, other experimental antivirals, and early paralysis (within 48 hours of intubation) but less awake prone positioning. Hospital C utilized more non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) and high flow oxygen in lieu of intubation;it also administered more statins and steroids for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and used less early proning within 48 hours of intubation. No difference in hydroxychloroquine use was seen across institutions. There were no statistical differences across hospitals in reintubation, ventilator-free days at 28 days, or in-hospital mortality. Transition to comfort measures was more common at hospital C. There was a trend at hospital A toward lower 30-day (A=25.3%, B=32.1%, C=39.4%;p=0.054) and 90-day (A=28.5%, B=36.1%, C=41.4%;p=0.085) mortality. At hospital A there was significantly longer hospital length-of-stay (A=25.0, B=19.0, C=15.0;p=0.004) and ICU length-of-stay (A=18.0, B=15.0, C=12.0;p=0.001). Conclusions: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts, there were significant differences in patient characteristics and treatments administered across three institutions. One institution demonstrated a trend toward lower 30-day and 90-day mortality despite later presentation from symptom onset, higher admission acuity, and less utilization of remdesivir or steroids. Practice variation across institutions may explain differences in outcomes, independent of baseline characteristics, and should be studied further as it may inform future management of COVID-19.