cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantifying the utility of imperfect reviews in stopping information cascades

In models of social learning where rational agents observe other agents' actions, information cascades are said to occur when agents ignore their private information and blindly follow the actions of other. It is well known that in some cases, incorrect cascades happen with positive probability leading to a loss in social welfare. Having agents provide reviews in addition to their actions provides one possible way to avoid such “bad cascades.” In this paper, we study one such model where agents sequentially decide whether or not to purchase a good, whose true value is either “good” or “bad.” If they purchase, agents also leave a review, which is imperfect. We study the impact of such reviews on the asymptotic properties of cascades. For a good underlying state, we propose an algorithm that utilizes number theory principles and Markov chain analysis to solve for the probability of a wrong cascade. We discover that the probability of a wrong cascade is a non-monotonic function of the review strength. On the other hand, for a bad underlying state, the agents always eventually reach a correct cascade; we use a martingale analysis to bound the time until this happens.
DEMONSTRATED INTEREST: SIGNALING BEHAVIOR IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

In college admission decisions, important and possibly competing goals include increasing the quality of the freshman class and making the school more selective while attaining the targeted size of the incoming class. Especially for high-quality applicants who receive multiple competing offers, colleges are concerned about the probability that these students accept the offers of admission. As a result, applicants' contacts with admissions offices, such as campus visits, can be viewed positively by the officers as demonstrated interest in the colleges. We provide empirical evidence on the effects of demonstrated interest on admission outcomes. Specifically, we use unique and comprehensive administrative data, which include all contacts made by each applicant to the admissions office of a medium-sized highly selective university during two admission cycles. We find that an applicant who contacts the university is more likely to be admitted, and that the effect of the contact on the probability of admission is increasing in the applicant's Scholastic Assessment Test score, particularly when the contact is costly to make. We also use a numerical example to explore policies to reduce the inequity associated with the use of demonstrated interest in admission decisions, examining in particular the subsidization of costly demonstrated interest by low-income students. (JEL D83, I23)
Dependence Concepts and Probability Inequalities

Concepts of positive dependence are reviewed and their applications are indicated. The role of these concepts to produce an ordering in the families of bivariate distributions is discussed. Recent results related to the concept of “association” are shown to have applications in deriving certain inequalities for the multivariate normal and related distributions. Finally a simple example illustrating somewhat unintuitive behavior of a pair of bivariate normal distributions is given.
Revision Carpal Tunnel Surgery Options

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) affects 1% of the general population and 5% of the working population. Consequently, carpal tunnel release (CTR) is one of the most common procedures performed on the hand. Median nerve entrapment symptoms at the carpal tunnel after CTR can be defined as either failed (persistent or new symptoms) or recurrent CTS. Recurrent CTS is characterized by a symptom-free interval after surgery. The cause of recurrent carpal tunnel is thought to be due to progressive constriction of the nerve via scar formation.
Inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity: Enhancement of prostate cancer radiosensitivity

1289 Reversible acetylation of core histone proteins is currently the best-understood mechanism for regulating higher order DNA structure. Histone acetyltransferases (HAT) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key enzymes involved in the regulation of DNA based processes. Loss of radiation and androgen sensitivity are two themes associated with increased rates of prostate cancer morbidity and mortality. Remodeling of local chromatin structure has been shown to be a central factor governing both gene expression and cellular radiation sensitivity. HDAC mediated gene repression has generally been associated with chromatin condensation and may additionally serve to protect chromatin from the damaging effects of ionizing radiation. Thus, inhibition of HDAC activity and subsequent DNA decondensation may sensitize chromatin to radiation induced damage. We propose that HDAC activity likely plays a role in the acquisition and/or maintenance of radioresistant prostate cancer proliferation. Preliminary evidence has revealed that the class I HDACs 1,2, 3, 8 as well as the class II HDACs 4,5,6,7 and 9 are all expressed in our prostate cancer model system, namely the androgen-dependent cell line LNCaP and the hormone-refractory isogenic cell line C4-2. Although displaying distinct differences in radiosensitivity, the relative HDAC expression levels appear to be equivalent between LNCaP and C4-2 cells. Addition of the broad spectrum HDAC inhibitor TSA resulted in radiosensitization of C4-2 cells. We suggest that the preferential inhibition of specific HDAC isoform(s) activity and/or localization may play a role in modulating the radiation response. We propose that inhibition of HDAC activity can be therapeutically exploited to modulate radiation sensitivity. Thus, we will explore the hypothesis that targeted inhibition of specific HDAC isoforms will enhance the radiosensitivity (and possibly the hormone responsiveness) of prostate cancer cells.
Children with Special Healthcare Needs in the Classroom

This research involved 335 teachers in a rural area. Their stories of the inclusion of children with special health care needs in the classroom underline the need for healthcare providers to engage in teaching school personnel about issues in child health. The teachers tell stories about their classroom experiences and the medical needs of the children in a rural setting. Laws leading to the inclusion mandate are discussed. There is also a description of the medical diagnoses seen in rural classrooms and a discussion about the issues involved in inclusion. Keywords : rural health, inclusion, children, special health care needs http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v1i3.484
Visual Loss in a Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipient

A 58-year-old man had a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Seven weeks after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, he presented with loss of vision in his left eye, impaired depth perception, and gait imbalance. Before the transplant, he had developed mild impairment of visual acuity.
Segmentation of Diffusion Tensor Imagery

Segmentation paradigms in diffusion tensor imagery (DTI) are discussed in this paper. We present a technique for determining paths of anatomical connectivity from the tensor information obtained in magnetic resonance diffusion tensor measurements. The basic idea is to construct optimal curves in 3D space, where the optimality criteria is based on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the tensor. These curves are constructed via partial differential equations computed using multiple level-set functions. We also discuss our current efforts in clustering in DTI.
Using Data and Big Data in Retailing

In this essay, we examine how retailers can use data to make better decisions and hence, improve their performance. We have been studying retail operations for over two decades and have witnessed many, and been personally involved in a few, projects that delivered considerable value to retailers by better exploiting data. We highlight a few of these examples and also identify some other potential applications.
MULTIMODALITY IMAGING FOOLED BY A FIBROELASTOMA

Primary cardiac tumors (PCT) are extremely rare with an incidence of 0.1%. Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is the second most common PCT that is predominantly found on the valves and may lead to significant morbidity. 67 year old female with a history of hypertension presented with sudden onset right
Genomic and Transcriptomic Insights into How Bacteria Withstand High Concentrations of Benzalkonium Chloride Biocides

Benzalkonium chlorides (BAC) are commonly used biocides in broad-spectrum disinfectant solutions. How microorganisms cope with BAC exposure remains poorly understood, despite its importance for disinfection and disinfectant-induced antibiotic resistance. To provide insights into these issues, we exposed two isolates of an opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to increasing concentrations of BAC. One isolate was preadapted to BAC, as it originated from a bioreactor fed with subinhibitory concentrations of BAC for 3 years, while the other originated from a bioreactor that received no BAC. Replicated populations of both isolates were able to survive high concentrations of BAC, up to 1,200 and 1,600 mg/liter for the non- and preadapted strains, respectively, exceeding typical application doses. Transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis revealed upregulation of efflux pump genes and decreased expression of porins related to BAC transport as well as reduced growth rate. Increased expression of spermidine (a polycation) synthase genes and mutations in the pmrB (polymyxin resistance) gene, which cause a reduction in membrane negative charge, suggested that a major adaptation to exposure to the cationic surfactant BAC was to actively stabilize cell surface charge. Collectively, these results revealed that P. aeruginosa adapts to BAC exposure by a combination of mechanisms and provided genetic markers to monitor BAC-resistant organisms that may have applications in the practice of disinfection.IMPORTANCE BAC are widely used as biocides in disinfectant solutions, food-processing lines, domestic households, and health care facilities. Due to their wide use and mode of action, there has been rising concern that BAC may promote antibiotic resistance. Consistent with this idea, at least 40 outbreaks have been attributed to infection by disinfectant- and antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as P. aeruginosa However, the underlying molecular mechanisms that bacteria use to deal with BAC exposure remain poorly elucidated. Elucidating these mechanisms may be important for monitoring and limiting the spread of disinfectant-resistant pathogens. Using an integrated approach that combined genomics and transcriptomics with physiological characterization of BAC-adapted isolates, this study provided a comprehensive understanding of the BAC resistance mechanisms in P. aeruginosa Our findings also revealed potential genetic markers to detect and monitor the abundance of BAC-resistant pathogens across clinical or environmental settings. This work contributes new knowledge about high concentrations of benzalkonium chlorides disinfectants-resistance mechanisms at the whole-cell genomic and transcriptomic level.
Masking of synthesized vowel sequences: The potential roles of perceptual segregation

Modulation masking is known to impact speech intelligibility, but it is not clear how this phenomenon interacts with the perceptual segregation between the target speech and background noise. Using an experimental task in which listeners identified synthesized-vowel sequences in amplitude-modulated noises, a previous study from our laboratory found few signs of modulation masking, contrary to the findings of speech-on-speech masking experiments. It is hypothesized that modulation masking at a low rate (<6 Hz) may reflect failures of segregating the target speech from the noise. The current study systematically removed segregation cues and evaluated the amount of modulation masking. These segregation cues included the periodicity in the temporal fine structure of the target vowel sequences (in Exp. I) and the temporal regularity of the vowel sequences (in Exp. II). Results will be discussed in terms of the potential interactions between modulation masking and perceptual segregation.
An investigation into the continued use of unified modeling language (UML) in information systems development

As the de facto standard for object-oriented modeling language, UML is expected to play an increasingly important role in information systems development. The long-term viability and eventual success of UML depend, to a great extent, on the continued use by UML users such as developers and analysts. Systematic investigations on UML’s continued use have been missing from contemporary discussions. Our study attempts to fill this gap in the literature. We developed a research model, which is primarily based on the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT). According to this model, UML users’ perceived discrepancy between pre-adoption expectation and post-adoption perceived performance, which is conceptualized as performance disconfirmation and effort disconfirmation, is the determinant of satisfaction. UML users’ post-adoption expectation, in terms of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, is the determinant of attitude. Both satisfaction and attitude are posited as determinants of users’intention to continue using UML.
Gender Differentials in Intermarriage Among Sixteen Race and Ethnic Groups

This paper examines gender differences in out-marriage rates in the United States among 16 race and ethnic groups. Among most groups of Asian Americans, females are more likely to marry whites than are their male counterparts, the reverse of the pattern among African Americans discussed by Merton (1941). We find some Hispanic-American groups in both camps. We explore whether the greater contact between white U.S. military personnel in Asian countries explains the pattern of Asian white marriages. We also introduce a new statistical approach that facilitates comparisons across multiple race and ethnic groups. Data from the 1% sample of the 1990 Census are analyzed in this study.
Energy Demand and Supply

The use of energy defines the beginning of human civilization: when the prehistoric human mastered the use of fire for domestic comfort and cooking, human civilization began and evolved to reach the age of the locomotive, the nuclear power plant, the automobile, the airplane, the personal computer and the wireless internet. Throughout the centuries, the human society has evolved by increasingly using energy to the point where the consumption of energy is necessary for the functioning of the contemporary society, the prosperity of the nations and the survival of our civilization. Energy is produced and is being used in different forms: airplanes and automobiles use liquid hydrocarbon fuels; electric power plants convert primarily the energy in coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric into electricity; and a contemporary household uses electricity and natural gas for domestic comfort, entertainment and the preparation of meals. Because most functions of our society are based on the use of energy, elaborate networks of energy supply have been developed in the last three centuries: electricity is fed into communities by the transmission lines of the electric grid at high voltage; natural gas by a complex system of pipelines, which transcend national boundaries; and tanker ships crisscross the oceans daily to supply crude oil to refineries. The economic impact of the energy supply and the energy trade is of paramount importance to all nations. The geopolitical activities of most modern nations are significantly influenced by their need for a constant and secure energy supply. Most of modern wars (those after 1950) have been fought for the control and security of energy supplies and many treaties and international agreements have been cemented with energy resources as the primary issue. This is a general chapter on energy, not just alternative energy, which explains in a quantitative way what is the quantity we call “energy,” whence it comes and where it goes. The forms that energy is produced and consumed are, first, explained. The several units that are commonly used for different energy forms and quantities are listed and their equivalencies are explained. Secondly, the importance of energy in the economic activities of the contemporary society is described qualitatively and the primary energy resources are identified. The current energy trade between groups of nations is also described briefly and the main flow of primary energy resources is identified. Thirdly, historical data on energy production and consumption in several groups of nations are offered as well as some acceptable predictions for the future demand and supply of energy.
Understanding and Mitigating Product Uncertainty in Online Auction Marketplaces

The Internet interface poses a difficulty for buyers in evaluating products online, particularly physical experience and durable goods, such as used cars. This increases buyers' product uncertainty, defined as the buyer's perceived estimate of the variance in product quality based on subjective probabilities about the product's characteristics and whether the product will perform as expected. However, the literature has largely ignored product uncertainty and mostly focused on mitigating buyer's seller uncertainty. To address this void, this study aims to conceptualize the construct of product uncertainty and propose its antecedents and consequences in online auction marketplaces. First, drawing upon the theory of markets with asymmetric information, we propose product uncertainty to be distinct from, yet affected by, seller uncertainty. Second, based on auction pricing theory, we propose that product uncertainty and seller uncertainty negatively affect two key success outcomes of online marketplaces: price premium and transaction activity. Third, following information signaling theory, we propose a set of product information signals to mitigate product uncertainty: (1) online product descriptions (textual, visual, multimedia); (2) third-party product certifications (inspection, history report, warranty); (3) auction posted prices (reserve, starting, buy-it-now); and (4) intrinsic product characteristics (book value and usage). Finally, we propose that the effect of online product descriptions and intrinsic product characteristics on product uncertainty is moderated by seller uncertainty. The proposed model is supported by a unique dataset comprised of a combination of primary (survey) data drawn from 331 buyers who bid upon a used car on eBay Motors, matched with secondary transaction data from the corresponding online auctions. The results distinguish between product and seller uncertainty, show the stronger role of product uncertainty on price premiums and transaction activity compared to seller uncertainty, empirically identify the most influential product information signals, and support the mediating role of product uncertainty. This paper contributes to and has implications for better understanding the nature and role of product uncertainty, identifying mechanisms for mitigating product uncertainty, and demonstrating complementarities between product and seller information signals. The model's generalizability and implications are discussed.
Impact of Deuterium Substitution on the Pharmacokinetics of Pharmaceuticals.

Objective: Stable heavy isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, and other elements have been incorporated into drug molecules, largely as tracers for quantitation during the drug development process. Studies...
What do novices think about when they program

Computer science educators agree that, for many beginners, learning to write computer programs is difficult. And, despite our best efforts at remedying the situation, many novice programmers still struggle. We report some of the findings from our study that seeks to understand cognitive strategies novices use when learning to program. Think-aloud studies suggest that novices exhibit varied proficiencies for programming tasks: tracing code, explaining and completing code segments, debugging, as well as writing programs. In addition, as instructors, our intuitions on what is easy or challenging about programming for novices are not always accurate.
USA dental health providers' role in HPV vaccine communication and HPV-OPC protection: a systematic review.

Background. Improving human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination coverage in the US will require healthcare providers to recommend the vaccine more effectively. To inform quality improvement efforts, ...
Compression of Terawatt Long-Wavelength Laser Pulses Through Backward Raman Amplification

We propose to compress a high-energy, picosecond long-wave infrared (LWIR) pulse in the plasma using backward Raman amplification (BRA). The apparatus is in a counter-propagating geometry that employs a 3 J, 3 ps CO 2 laser pulse as the pump, and a microjoule, broadband femtosecond source as the seed. Simulations show that the amplified pulse can reach ~ 5 TW with a pulse duration of ~ 100 fs. Compared with earlier near-infrared BRA experiments, the proposed configuration uses a significantly shorter pump pulse duration, which may reduce limiting factors such as ion motions and Raman forward scattering. The experiment will be carried out at Accelerator Test Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Salsa’s Unruly Audition: Abnormal Feelings for the 1970s Fania All-Stars

This essay shows how salsa stimulates unruly audition. It responds to that stimulation by performing multi-sensorial poetic listening with the excessive, tender, and queer audio-visual sabores [tastes], gestures, and details of two live performances by the musicians and singers contracted to Fania in the 1970s, one in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in 1973 and the other in 1974 at Zaire ‘74 in Kinshasa, a music festival of Afro-Latinx, brown, and black sonic solidarity headlining the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle fight. A riot of audience ended the All-Stars’ set at the 1973 Bronx concert. Their insurgent pleasure compels us to think unruliness with salsa’s listeners, and re-imagine Latinx as a riotous movement of brown and black swerving aesthetic convergences. The essay enacts a deviant and sonically oriented close reading of Hector Lavoe’s vocals in the song “Mi Gente” [My People], in part, for their attunement precisely to audience and playful dynamics with the band. In this song, Lavoe cries out to “ anormales ” [abnormals], a sign re-imagined here as an off-kilter feeling for salsa and a multi-sensorial opening for more errant ruptures.
Analysis of Partial Thromboplastin Times in Patients With Pulmonary Embolism During the First 48 Hours of Anticoagulation With Unfractionated Heparin.

Objective The objective was to determine the proportion of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) treated with unfractionated heparin (UFH) who achieved therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) values within 48 hours of treatment. Methods Retrospective analysis of a PE response team (PERT) database was performed at a large, urban, academic teaching hospital. Inclusion criteria were adult patients with acute PE for whom the PERT was consulted and who received anticoagulation (AC) with UFH according to guideline standard dosing. aPTT values during 6-hour time periods during the first 48 hours of AC were collected and analyzed. Results A total of 505 patients met inclusion criteria. For patients receiving a bolus and infusion of UFH, the proportions (95% confidence interval [CI]) of patients in the therapeutic range were 19.0% (14.2% to 25.0%) at 12 hours, 26.3% (26.3% to 33.1%) at 24 hours, 28.3% (22.0% to 35.4%) at 36 hours, and 28.4% (20.8% to 37.5%) at 48 hours. For titrated infusion only, the proportions (95% CIs) of patients were 23.3% (16.2% to 32.3%) at 12 hours, 41.4% (31.6% to 51.9%) at 24 hours, 37.0% (26.8% to 48.5%) at 36 hours, and 42.1% (30.2% to 55.0%) at 48 hours. No patient had all therapeutic aPTT values. Conclusions The majority of patients with acute PE spend most of their first 48 hours outside of the therapeutic range of AC when treated with guideline standard dosing of UFH. Over half of the patients fail to achieve any therapeutic PTT level within 24 hours of UFH initiation, and no patient had all therapeutic aPTTs. Future research should focus on identifying factors associated with achieving therapeutic AC with UFH.
The New Enclosure: The Appropriation of Public Land in Neoliberal Britain

From Oakland to Barcelona to Berlin, housing activists are demanding the resocialization of housing and engaging in insurgent practices of reclaiming housing from corporate landlords. In contesting...
Legal Ramifications of Brain-Computer-Interface Technology.

Traditionally, humans interact with the physical environment external to their bodies via the stimulation of musculoskeletal movement by neural activity. But recent advances in brain-computer-inter...
Clinical and cardiopulmonary effects of propofol in the spotted bamboo shark (Chylloscyllium plagiosum).

Sharks are important exhibit animals at aquariums worldwide. Restraint is often necessary for physical examination, diagnostic evaluation, medical treatment and/or surgical procedures. Manual restraint is often used for simple procedures but may result in dangerous contact for the shark and the handler and, when used alone, is not sufficient for painful procedures. Limited reports describe the use of tricaine methane sulfonate, ketamine, or tiletamine–zolazepam in sharks. This study evaluates the clinical and cardiorespiratory effects of propofol in spotted bamboo sharks (Chylloscyllium plagiosum). Nine, wild-caught, adult female spotted bamboo sharks weighing 1.75–2.5 kg were used in this study. The sharks were housed in individual portable plastic containers during data collection. Water chemistries and temperature were maintained within normal limits. An initial physical examination was performed using manual restraint. Propofol (2.5 mg kg−1) was administered IV in the caudal tail vein over 30 seconds. The HR, RR, time to relaxation, resistance to handling, fin movement, loss of righting reflex, and response to painful stimuli (fin pinch) were evaluated and recorded at baseline and 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 minutes after propofol administration. Surgical anesthesia was thought to be achieved when a shark lost its righting reflex, did not respond to painful stimuli, and no longer resisted handling. The HR and RR were evaluated over time using Friedman's nonparametric analysis of repeated data. A significant difference was determined at p < 0.05. Where differences were apparent, Rhyne and Steels method for comparison of related samples to a control (time 0) was used with an experimental-wise error of alpha = 0.05. HR and RR did not change significantly over time. Respective values (mean ± SD) for each data collection point were T (0), HR 37 ± 10 beats minute−1, RR 38 ± 7 breaths minute−1; T (5), HR 40 ± 5, RR 44 ± 15; T (10), HR 41 ± 6; RR 41 ± 15; T (15), HR 43 ± 7, RR 38 ± 13; T (30), HR 39 ± 50, RR 39 ± 14; T (45), HR 43 ± 9, RR 37 ± 14; T (60), HR 45 ± 9, RR 38 ± 11; T (75), HR 44 ± 6, RR 38 ± 12. The righting response was lost in all sharks within 5 minutes of propofol administration. A surgical plane of anesthesia was observed in all nine sharks. The righting response returned within 60 minutes in 4/9 sharks, 75 minutes in 2/9 sharks, and over 200 minutes in 3/9 sharks. All nine animals had uneventful recoveries. Propofol provided a safe alternative for immobilization of spotted bamboo sharks. However, manual restraint is required for IV administration. Further studies are necessary to determine an ideal dose and further evaluate propofol's suitability as a general anesthetic for painful procedures.
Coordinated Wide-Area Damping Control Using Deep Neural Networks and Reinforcement Learning

This paper proposes the design of two coordinated wide-area damping controllers (CWADCs) for damping low frequency oscillations (LFOs), while accounting for the uncertainties present in the power system. The controllers based on Deep Neural Network (DNN) and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), respectively, coordinate the operation of different local damping controls such as power system stabilizers (PSSs), static VAr compensators (SVCs), and supplementary damping controllers for DC lines (DC-SDCs). The DNN-CWADC learns to make control decisions using supervised learning; the training dataset consisting of polytopic controllers designed with the help of linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based mixed $H_2/H_\infty$ optimization. The DRL-CWADC learns to adapt to the system uncertainties based on its continuous interaction with the power system environment by employing an advanced version of the state-of-the-art deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) algorithm referred to as \emph{bounded exploratory control}-based DDPG (BEC-DDPG). The studies performed on a 33 machine, 127 bus equivalent model of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system-embedded with different types of damping controls demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed CWADCs.
Maintaining procedural skills for academic emergency medicine faculty: A needs assessment.

Background Emergency physicians require competence performing critical and routine procedures. The clinical practice of emergency medicine (EM) alone may be insufficient for the acquisition and maintenance of skills. Prior studies suggest the presence of trainees in academic settings and/or the low frequency of procedures increase the risk of skills attrition among faculty. We sought to develop a valid needs assessment survey to inform a faculty procedural skills (FPS) maintenance curriculum. Methods A Web-based FPS survey was designed to assess experiences performing procedures, self-reported confidence with procedures, and learning preferences for skills maintenance. The survey was administered at a large academic department of EM. Responses were analyzed to determine survey construct validity, faculty attitudes about procedural attrition, and preferred learning methods. Results Among EM faculty, confidence was significantly higher for common versus uncommon procedures (p < 0.001). EM faculty respondents reported significantly greater confidence than pediatric EM (PEM) faculty for both common adult procedures (EM mean = 3.7 [±0.3], PEM = 3.0 [±0.4], p < 0.001), and uncommon adult procedures (EM = 2.7 [±0.4], PEM = 2.1 [±0.5], p < 0.001). PEM faculty reported significantly greater confidence with pediatric procedures than EM faculty (PEM mean [±SD] = 3.5 [±0.8], EM = 2.2 [±0.8], p < 0.001). Nearly all faculty (93% [52/56]) agreed that procedural attrition is a concerning problem, and 80% (44/56) had personally experienced it. The most preferred learning methods were task trainers and simulation. Faculty preferred learning environments with faculty peers (91%) over mixed groups with trainees (50%). Conclusions Significant differences in procedural skills confidence between common and uncommon procedures, and between EM and PEM faculty, indicate that the FPS survey displayed appropriate construct validity. The finding that skills attrition is prevalent among EM and PEM faculty highlights the need for skill maintenance programming, preferably in peer groups employing task trainers and simulation.
Transcranial direct current and transcranial magnetic stimulations for chronic pain.

Purpose of review Chronic pain is debilitating and difficult to treat with pharmacotherapeutics alone. Consequently, exploring alternative treatment methods for chronic pain is essential. Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are increasingly being investigated for their neuropharmacological effects in the treatment of chronic pain. This review aims to examine and evaluate the present state of evidence regarding the use of tDCS and TMS in the treatment of chronic pain. Recent findings Despite conflicting evidence in the early literature, evidence from recent rigorous research supports the use of tDCS and TMS in treating chronic pain conditions. For both tDCS and TMS, standardized stimulation parameters have been identified with the recommendation for repeated maintenance stimulation to ensure that the analgesic effect is sustained beyond discontinuation of therapy. Summary Due to a lack of defined stimulation protocols, early findings on the efficacy of tDCS and TMS are mixed. Although the application of tDCS and TMS as pain relief approaches is still in its early stages, the introduction of standardized stimulation protocols is paving the way for more robust and informed research.
Finite-Horizon Synthesis for Probabilistic Manipulation Domains

Robots have begun operating and collaborating with humans in industrial and social settings. This collaboration introduces challenges: the robot must plan while taking the human’s actions into account. In prior work, the problem was posed as a 2-player deterministic game, with a limited number of human moves. The limit on human moves is unintuitive, and in many settings determinism is undesirable. In this paper, we present a novel planning method for collaborative human-robot manipulation tasks via probabilistic synthesis. We introduce a probabilistic manipulation domain that captures the interaction by allowing for both robot and human actions with states that represent the configurations of the objects in the workspace. The task is specified using Linear Temporal Logic over finite traces (LTL f ). We then transform our manipulation domain into a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and synthesize an optimal policy to satisfy the specification on this MDP. We present two novel contributions: a formalization of probabilistic manipulation domains allowing us to apply existing techniques and a comparison of different encodings of these domains. Our framework is validated on a physical UR5 robot.
Trigger-Based Adaptive Planning to Reduce Bowel Dose in Patients Receiving Radiotherapy for Anal Cancer.

Purpose/Objective(s) Standard of care for locally advanced anal carcinoma is definitive chemoradiation with IMRT. Currently, target and organ-at-risk (OAR) volumes are created using a pre-treatment CT-simulation scan. However, during the course of radiotherapy, there is often change in the size and/or position of the tumor and surrounding normal structures. Therefore, we hypothesize that the implementation of an adaptive radiation therapy treatment protocol in anal cancer may reduce radiation dose to critical surrounding normal structures, such as the bowel, through the use of anatomy-adapted replanning. Materials/Methods Retrospective daily adaptive CTs were created for 4 patients (54 Gy, 30 fraction VMAT) in an oncology imaging informatics system using the Adaptive Calculation and Tracking for Offline Plan Review (ACTOR) toolkit. Each adaptive CT was created by deformable image registration (dir) of the planning CT to the daily CBCT. The structure sets from the planning CT were deformed onto each adaptive CT and ultimately corrected and revised by two qualified radiation oncologists. The adaptive CTs were transferred to a treatment planning system for recalculation. The original treatment plan was recalculated on each fraction adaptive CT to establish the real dose received during treatment. A two-sample t-test was used to compare the average real dose received dosimetric values to the values obtained on trigger-based adaptive planning. Results Using dose prescriptions for target volumes and normal tissue dose constraints as defined in RTOG 0529 (Kachnic et al 2013), normal bowel dose metrics, including bowel V45 20cc as trigger 1, there was a significant reduction in bowel V45 for each patient (table), with an average reduction in bowel V45 of 86.7% (P = 0.0001) across all patients. Adapting only the 5 fractions with the highest values for bowel V45 (trigger 2), we also found a significant reduction for each patient (table), with an average reduction of 20.8 % (P = 0.0011) across all patients. Conclusion Our study demonstrated that triggered adaptive re-planning using bowel V45 > 20cc could likely achieve reductions in normal tissue dose. Adaptive planning during radiation treatment of anal cancer may therefore be beneficial for reduction of treatment-related GI toxicity. These results can help inform a future randomized trial of adaptive therapy vs. standard planning.
CP Violating Contribution to $\Delta \Gamma$ in the $B_s$ System from Mixing with a Hidden Pseudoscalar

Recent evidence for a $CP$ violating asymmetry in the semileptonic decays of ${B}_{s}$ mesons cannot be accommodated within the standard model. Such an asymmetry can be explained by new physics contributions to $\ensuremath{\Delta}B=2$ components of either the mass matrix or the decay matrix. We show that mixing with a hidden pseudoscalar meson with a mass around 5 GeV can result in a new $CP$ violating contribution to the mixing and can resolve several anomalies in this system including the width difference, the average width and the charge asymmetry. We also discuss the effects of the hidden meson on other $b$ physics observables, and present viable decay modes for the hidden meson. We make predictions for new decay channels of $B$ hadrons, which can be tested at the Tevatron, the LHC and B-factories.
Comparison of protein structure in the crystal and in solution. IV. Protein solubility.

Changes in protein solubility can be related to the effect of crystallization on the equilibrium reaction of proteins with small molecules. Such measurements offer a simple approach to the comparison of reactivity in crystal and solution. The pH-dependence of the solubility of horse hemoglobin ( Green, 1931 ; Sorensen & Sorensen, 1933 ) is compared with titrations of crystalline and soluble protein and used to determine changes in proton binding that occur during crystallization. Out of approximately 130 ionizable groups with pK less than 9, crystallization affects about ten of them. It is possible that some and perhaps all of these are involved in lattice contacts. A phase change at pH 5·9 that had been observed in crystallographic studies ( Perutz, 1946 , Perutz, 1965 ) was also observed through solubility. The rearrangement of the lattice in this transition requires relatively little energy. Solubility data for insulin ( Frederique & Neurath, 1950 ) could not be interpreted in the same way as those for hemoglobin.
Room temperature luminescence from self-organized quantum dots with high size uniformity

Self-organized growth of In x Ga 1-x As/GaAs quantum dots (QD) for 0.5 2% is needed, from thermodynamic considerations, for the onset of 3D growth. The presence of fine excitonic features superimposed on the emission peaks confirms that the second peak observed in the PL spectra of quantum dots is from an excited state transition. We believe that the saturation of the ground-state emission observed under moderately high excitation photon densities is due to the long decay time constant (∼2.2 ns) as measured by time-resolved photoluminescence. Temperature variation of luminescence intensity shows a sharper decay for the ground-state emission than for the excited-state emission. Room-temperature luminescence is thus dominated by the excited state emission. Broad area lasers made from separate confinement heterostructure (SCH) laser structures with In 0.4 Ga 0.6 As quantum dots as the active region showed lasing from excited state, with J th = 650 A/cm 2 , and the single-mode ridge lasers gave a modulation bandwidth of 5 GHz at 2.51 th .
The Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)

Pickwickian Syndrome (Burwell et al., 1956; Gastaut, Tassinari and Duron, 1965), Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (Guilleminault, Eldrige, and Dement, 1976), and the Sleep Hypopnea Syndrome (Gould et al., 1988) are well known and described breathing disorders during sleep. Often these sleep disorders are associated with clinical features of hypersomnia. These syndromes share diagnostic markers allowing identification by procedures used in the assessment of breathing disorders during sleep. This assessment is based on polysomnographic findings using direct or indirect monitoring of respiratory activity and states of alertness.
Long-term Effect of Sodium Oxybate (Xyrem®) in Spasmodic Dysphonia with Vocal Tremor.

Background: Symptoms of spasmodic dysphonia (SD) are usually managed successfully with botulinum toxin injections. Vocal tremor (VT), which accompanies SD, has a poor response to this treatment. Case Report: We report a case of a female with SD and VT who became symptom‐free for 10 months after the intake of a single dose of sodium oxybate (Xyrem®). The long‐term treatment effect correlated with attenuated brain activity in the key regions of dystonic brain network. Discussion: Our case demonstrates that the novel treatment of sodium oxybate may hold promise for SD patients, especially those who have associated VT.
Nanotechnology needs for cardiovascular sciences

In medicine, the cardiovascular field is the most technically advanced discipline. The inherent technical challenges associated with the beating heart and the structure of the cardiovascular system has forced us to innovate from a biomedical engineering standpoint. Engineering achievements have helped us develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic technologies that provide safe and efficient solutions for our patients. In spite of such progress, cardiovascular disease remains the major cause of death, morbidity, and disability in the United States [1–3]. To eradicate heart disease within the next fifty years, substantial advances will be needed, and in particular, important technological hurdles need to be overcome. We foresee the progress in the field of nanotechnology could represent a major breakthrough in addressing some of our technical challenges. With this essay, we provide a glimpse at potentially important targets for nanotechnology in the field of cardiovascular medicine. By no means will this review attempt to be comprehensive but instead, it has been designed to trigger the interest of discoverers with substantial knowledge in the field of very small things.
Constraints Based Taxonomic Relation Classification

Determining whether two terms in text have an ancestor relation (e.g. Toyota and car) or a sibling relation (e.g. Toyota and Honda) is an essential component of textual inference in NLP applications such as Question Answering, Summarization, and Recognizing Textual Entailment. Significant work has been done on developing stationary knowledge sources that could potentially support these tasks, but these resources often suffer from low coverage, noise, and are inflexible when needed to support terms that are not identical to those placed in them, making their use as general purpose background knowledge resources difficult. In this paper, rather than building a stationary hierarchical structure of terms and relations, we describe a system that, given two terms, determines the taxonomic relation between them using a machine learning-based approach that makes use of existing resources. Moreover, we develop a global constraint optimization inference process and use it to leverage an existing knowledge base also to enforce relational constraints among terms and thus improve the classifier predictions. Our experimental evaluation shows that our approach significantly outperforms other systems built upon existing well-known knowledge sources.
Therapeutic potential of anti-CD137 (4-1BB) monoclonal antibodies

Introduction: 4-1BB (CD137) is an important T-cell stimulating molecule. The 4-1BB mAb or its variants have shown remarkable therapeutic activity against autoimmunity, viral infections, and cancer. Antibodies to 4-1BB have recently entered clinical trials for the treatment of cancer with favorable toxicity profile. In this article, we present a review documenting the efficacy and pitfalls of 4-1BB therapy.Areas covered: An extensive literature search has been made on 4-1BB, spanning two decades, and a comprehensive report is presented here highlighting the origins, biological effects, therapeutic potential, and mechanistic basis of targeting 4-1BB as well as the side effects associated with such therapy.Expert opinion: Research so far indicates that 4-1BB is highly protective against various pathological conditions including cancer. However, a few important side effects of 4-1BB therapy such as liver toxicity, thrombocytopenia, anemia, and suppressive effects on certain immune competent cells should be ta...
N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors outside the central nervous system: Activation causes acute lung injury that is mediated by nitric oxide synthesis and prevented by vasoactive intestinal peptide

N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, found throughout the mammalian brain, are a component of the major excitatory transmitter system. Strong evidence exists that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, by promoting excessive entry of Ca2+ into neurons, play a role in neuronal damage that follows head injury, strokes, and epileptic seizures, and is associated with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We have investigated whether N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors exist in peripheral neurons, and, if so, whether their activation may result in tissue injury. We report that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors exist in the lung, that their activation triggers acute injury, and that, as in toxicity to central neurons, this injury is associated with stimulation of nitric oxide synthesis, and can be attenuated by inhibition of this synthesis. Finally, vasoactive intestinal peptide, which protects the lung and heart against oxidant injury and promotes neuronal survival and differentiation also prevented N-methyl-D-aspartate lung injury, apparently by inhibiting a key neurotoxic action of nitric oxide, but not its production. The findings suggest that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors exist in the peripheral nervous system and that activation of these receptors, resulting in damage to peripheral neurons, may be a novel mechanism of lung and other organ injury.
Tunable membranes for free-flow zone electrophoresis in PDMS microchip using guided self-assembly of silica microbeads.

In this paper, we evaluate the strategy of using self-assembled microbeads to build a robust and tunable membrane for free-flow zone electrophoresis in a PDMS microfluidic chip. To fabricate a porous membrane as a salt bridge for free-flow zone electrophoresis, we used silica or polystyrene microbeads between 3–6 μm in diameter and packed them inside a microchannel. After complete evaporation, we infiltrated the porous microbead structure with a positively or negatively charged hydrogel to modify its surface charge polarity. Using this device, we demonstrated binary sorting (separation of positive and negative species at a given pH) of peptides and dyes in standard buffer systems without using sheath flows. The sample loss during sorting could be minimized by using ion selectivity of hydrogel-infiltrated microbead membranes. Our fabrication method enables building a robust membrane for pressure-driven free-flow zone electrophoresis with tunable pore size as well as surface charge polarity.
Histone H1 Enhances the DNA Binding Activity of the Transcription Factor EmBP-1

Previous work indicated that nuclear extracts isolated from embryogenic rice suspension cells treated with the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) have enhanced binding activity to an ABA response element (Em1a) in the promoter of the Em gene from wheat. We identified an activity in wheat and maize nuclear extracts that enhances binding of the recombinant transcription factor EmBP-1 to Em1a by 80-fold. Fractionation of nuclear extracts led us to identify histone H1 and HMGb (but not HMGc or -d) as two factors that can enhance the ability of EmBP-1 to bind to Em1a and account for at least a part of this activity of nuclear extracts. Our results, which indicate for the first time that histone H1 possesses this type of activity, lend further support to the model that positively charged proteins can drastically affect the DNA binding activity of specific transcription factors. Furthermore, our study points to these chromosomal proteins as potential targets of an ABA-mediated modification (e.g. acetylation) that could affect the regulation of Em gene expression.