cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Outcome measures for pediatric spinal muscular atrophy.

Background Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease of the anterior horn cell with a frequency of 8 per 100 000 live births and a high rate of mortality during infancy. The American Spinal Muscular Atrophy Randomized Trials (AmSMART) Group is an organization of 5 centers formed to perform clinical trials in children with SMA. Objective To devise reliable methods to measure strength, motor function, lung function, and quality of life for use as outcome measures in children with SMA. Setting Tertiary referral center, pediatric neurology department. Patients and Methods Twelve children with SMA aged 2 to 14 years were enrolled in a reliability study of 4 outcome measures: quantitative muscle testing (in children >5 years), gross motor function measure, pulmonary function tests, and quality of life. The Richmond Quantitative Measurement System was used to test grip, knee flexion and extension, and elbow flexion. Gross motor function measure was performed as described, and pulmonary function tests were measured using the KoKo system. Quality of life was assessed via the PedsQL and the PedsQL Neuromuscular Module for patients and parents. Results Ten children fulfilled the inclusion criteria and completed at least 3 visits with 3 evaluators in 6 months. Using a weighted κ, the gross motor function measure showed high interrater reliability. Quantitative muscle testing showed greater variability among the weakest children; the findings for pulmonary function tests and quality of life were inconclusive. The PedsQL Neuromuscular Module for parents had moderately high reliability. Conclusion A tool for motor function may be more useful in clinical trials of childhood SMA than one for quantitative muscle strength.
A performance model and analysis of heterogeneous traffic with heavy tails

Several research efforts have recently attempted to characterize the effects of heavy-tailed traffic on router performance, while the effects of light-tailed traffic have for long been understood. Since general Web traffic originates from heterogeneous sources, the study of traffic mixing is of importance as it can reveal the degree to which heavy-tailed traffic can be handled by networking infrastructure before router delay becomes unacceptable. We present a model for heterogeneous traffic sources, where each is an ON/OFF process with an exponential OFF time and an arbitrary ON-time distribution. We consider the case of a 2-source process where one has exponential ON time and the other power tailed and present some analysis results showing the significance of traffic mixing on router performance.
TAPHONOMIC DYNAMICS OF LACUSTRINE OSTRACODES ON SAN SALVADOR ISLAND, BAHAMAS: HIGH FIDELITY AND EVIDENCE OF ANTHROPOGENIC MODIFICATION

It is critical that the taphonomic processes by which taxa enter the fossil record be well documented and understood. This study focuses on the precision and accuracy of the fossil record of Ostracoda on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. This fauna has already been used to reconstruct climate change and sea-level fluctuations on San Salvador, but its taphonomy was not clearly understood. We test the accuracy of the record by examining correlations between rank abundance and taxonomic composition of sixteen living communities and death assemblages in seven lakes on the island. Additionally, we test the precision of this record by comparing the taxonomic composition and species abundances of sixteen death assemblages from each of the same seven lakes. In six out of seven of these lakes, the accuracy by which death assemblages record the taxonomic composition and rank-abundance distributions of living communities is high. In these same six lakes, the within-lake precision of the record is also high since death assemblages recovered from individual lakes are more similar to assemblages from the same lake than to any other lake. In the remaining water body tested, the accuracy and precision of the record exhibited wide variation at individual sampling sites that are related to its past use as a water resource for a nearby plantation, a steep depth gradient, and tidal fluctuations. This study demonstrates the high fidelity of the ostracode fossil record, but highlights the importance of site-specific taphonomic studies to understand physical and biological processes that may obscure this record.
Early negative minimal residual disease in bone marrow after immunotherapy is less predictive of late or non-marrow relapse among patients with high-risk stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Molecular detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) measured by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using a four-marker panel in the bone marrow (BM) after only two treatment cycles of anti-GD2 immunotherapy was a strong independent outcome predictor among high-risk patients with stage 4 neuroblastoma in first remission. While 32 of 46 MRD-negative patients relapsed within 2 years from immunotherapy, only four had marrow relapse; in three of these four patients, MRD turned positive in the subsequent BM. We conclude that negative MRD in the post-cycle two BM was rarely associated with BM relapse, but it did not exclude recurrences at other sites. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: E32–E34. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cost and precision tradeoffs of dynamic data slicing algorithms

Dynamic slicing algorithms are used to narrow the attention of the user or an algorithm to a relevant subset of executed program statements. Although dynamic slicing was first introduced to aid in user level debugging, increasingly applications aimed at improving software quality, reliability, security, and performance are finding opportunities to make automated use of dynamic slicing. In this paper we present the design and evaluation of three precise dynamic data slicing algorithms called the full preprocessing (FP), no preprocessing (NP) and limited preprocessing (LP) algorithms. The algorithms differ in the relative timing of constructing the dynamic data dependence graph and its traversal for computing requested dynamic data slices. Our experiments show that the LP algorithm is a fast and practical precise data slicing algorithm. In fact we show that while precise data slices can be orders of magnitude smaller than imprecise dynamic data slices, for small number of data slicing requests, the LP algorithm is faster than an imprecise dynamic data slicing algorithm proposed by Agrawal and Horgan.
Resource dependency and development options in coastal Southeast Asia

The concept of resource dependency has been used to describe the relationship between community stability and a variety of natural resource systems. Resource‐dependent communities frequently are described as being vulnerable to externally induced changes because of their reliance on a single resource system. Most of the literature on this topic has focused on North America. In this article, the concept of resource dependency is applied to the coastal zone of Southeast Asia. Resource dependency in this context takes on a very different form due to the complexity and high natural productivity of tropical coastal ecosystems. These conditions create multiple economic niches for coastal residents, thus providing an important measure of community stability within the coastal resource system. This stability is being challenged by development policies that promote economic specialization—the classic pitfall of resource‐dependent communities. An alternative ecosystem approach to coastal community development is pr...
Using measured intracavitary potentials to spatially map left-ventricular endocardial activation sequences

The objective of this study is to (1) calculate endocardial potentials from measured intracavitary potentials during the QRS complex via an inverse solution and (2) derive endocardial activation maps from the calculated endocardial waveforms. A cylindrical [51/spl times/11 mm] intracavitary probe with 57 evenly spaced unipolar electrodes on its surface and 49-58 subendocardial plunge electrodes were used to simultaneously record potentials within the left ventricular (LV) cavity and the LV endocardium, respectively. The data necessary to compute the inverse solution has been assembled for two canines. A volume conductor model is constructed based on the geometry of the probe surface, endocardial surface, and boundary integral equations. The inverse solution was implemented using the Tikhonov zero-order regularization technique. For activation sequences arising from LV apical, LV anterior base, LV posterior base and right ventricular outflow tract pacing, the inverse solution yielded on average relative errors ranging from 0.12 to 0.35. The major endocardial electrical events of excitation were seen in all the inverse maps. Specifically, the earliest site of activation spreads from the location on the endocardium nearest the location of the pacing stimulus. The results from this study indicate that it is plausible to obtain the site of origin of ventricular arrhythmias from simultaneous intracavitary recordings. This is significant because utilization of multi-channel intracavity probe recordings would reduce the time of potentially hazardous left ventricular exploration that is presently required to spatiaIly map ventricular arrhythmias.
A time-parallel implicit method for accelerating the solution of non-linear structural dynamics problems

The parallel implicit time-integration algorithm (PITA) is among a very limited number of time-integrators that have been successfully applied to the time-parallel solution of linear second-order hyperbolic problems such as those encountered in structural dynamics. Time-parallelism can be of paramount importance to fast computations, for example, when space-parallelism is unfeasible as in problems with a relatively small number of degrees of freedom in general, and reduced-order model applications in particular, or when reaching the fastest possible CPU time is desired and requires the exploitation of both space- and time-parallelisms. This paper extends the previously developed PITA to the non-linear case. It also demonstrates its application to the reduction of the time-to-solution on a Linux cluster of sample non-linear structural dynamics problems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effect of temperature and pH on the optical rotation of proteins

The effect of temperature and pH on the optical rotation of a representative group of proteins was investigated. It was found that the proteins showed little or no effect of temperature on the optical activity whether in the native or denatured state. Where definite changes in rotation occurred among the native proteins, these were attributed to denaturation accompanying the change of temperature. Zein, casein, fibrin, erepsin, globin, native and denatured egg and serum albumins, edestin, and pepsin showed no temperature dependence of optical rotation, over the temperature range 20 to 60°C., although protamine sulfate and gliadin possessed small negative coefficients. Native chymotrypsin, trypsin and β-lactoglobulin showed a marked increase in levorotation with increase of temperature, which was due to denaturation on heating. The denatured forms of the latter two proteins, however, showed no change of optical activity with temperature. The shapes of the optical rotation-pH curves obtained for salmine, zein, gliadin, egg and serum albumins, casein, fibrin, and insulin were found to reflect the presence of free acid- and base-combining groups in the proteins, with some uncertainty in the case of globin. Since native pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and β-lactoglobulin were denatured at pH values not far from those of their normal aqueous solutions, the rotation-pH curves for these proteins were not capable of similar analysis, but they could be used to follow polarimetrically the course of the denaturation.
The demand for money in Turkey and currency substitution

Over the last three decades, the Turkish economy has experienced severe macro-shocks, among which depreciation of the Turkish lira is the most noticeable one. The Turkish lira (TL) has depreciated from 13 TL per US dollar in 1973 to more than 1.5 million TL per dollar today. It is expected that because of these shocks, some of the macro-relationships could suffer from structural instability which makes policy formulation and predictions difficult. This paper considers the demand for money in Turkey. To take account of currency substitution, the demand for money that includes the exchange rate in addition to income, interest rate and inflation rate is estimated. After incorporating the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests in bounds testing approach for cointegration, it is shown that in Turkey for a successful and effective monetary policy, the monetary authorities would rather concentrate on M1 because not only is it cointegrated with its determinants and it is stable, all four determinants belong to the cointegrating...
Microstructure and Superconducting Behavior of ${\hbox{YBa}}_{2}{\hbox{Cu}}_{3}{\hbox{O}}_{7-\delta}$ Films Fabricated From Colloids of Nanoparticles

A new approach in the synthesis of YBa2CuO7-delta (YBCO) films has been demonstrated, which uses a colloidal dispersion of nanoparticles of Y-Ba-Cu-O as precursor. Since nanoscale particles tend to be very reactive, this precursor allows rapid processing. Moreover, since the starting composition is very similar to the final film, gaseous reaction products that cause porosity and toxicity in other methods can be minimized. This paper compares the microstructure and superconducting behavior of Alms prepared from nanoparticle suspensions to those fabricated by metal-organic deposition technique using trifluoroacetates. It is seen that these films show significantly reduced porosity and some enhancement in self-field critical current density (Jc). The enhancement of Jc is more significant in high magnetic fields, probably due to the nanoscale precipitates spontaneously formed. It also appears that there is scope of improving this further by adding small amounts of CeO2 nanoparticles in the precursor. However adding larger amounts may have a detrimental effect. Additional investigation on the role of nano-inclusions in flux pinning will be needed, but this work clearly shows that the use of nanoparticle colloids for making YBCO films is a very promising approach that will be scalable, non-toxic, and allow easy introduction of flux-pinning defects.
Effective Area Formulation for Thermal Detector Characterization

We have derived an expression for the effective absorbing area for thermal infrared detectors having non-zero absorption in the support legs, which is different from the geometric areas of the constituent detector elements. This technique is particularly applicable to devices where sensitivity is more important than fill-factor, as opposed to standard imaging arrays. The effective area can simply be substituted in standard equations to obtain a good estimate of the detector performance under uniform flood illumination conditions. The formalism can also be used for estimating the contributions of the individual signal generating elements to the total measured signal. This approximation has been tested for MEMS infrared detectors with thermoelectric readout operating under vacuum. The responsivity of the same device calculated using the effective area approximation and measured using a tightly constrained absorbing area are found to match very closely, within 5% over the most wavelengths and within 15% at the shortest thermal infrared wavelengths. $\hfill{[2013\hbox{-}0119]}$
A two-step procedure for optimization of contrast sensitivity and specificity of post-beamforming Volterra filters

We previously introduced post-beamforming second order Volterra filters (SOVF) for decomposing the pulse-echo ultrasonic radiofrequency (RF) signal into its linear and quadratic components. Using singular value decomposition (SVD), an optimal algorithm for deriving the coefficients of the linear and quadratic kernels of the SOVF was developed and verified. Experimental results have shown that the quadratic kernel of the SOVF offers levels of sensitivity comparable to pulse inversion. However, the agent of the standard SVD-based quadratic kernel is sometimes compromised by sensitivity to nonlinear echoes from tissue. We present a two-step algorithm for computing the coefficients of the quadratic kernel leading to a reduction of tissue component and an increase in specificity while optimizing the sensitivity to the ultrasound contrast agents (UCA). In the first step, quadratic kernels from individual singular modes of the data matrix are compared in terms of their ability of maximize the contrast to tissue ratio (CTR). In the second step, quadratic kernels resulting in the highest CTR values are convolved. Experimental results from imaging of UCA in flow channels through tissue-mimicking phantoms and from in vivo data demonstrate the advantage of this two-step algorithm.
Comparison of analytical and experimental supersonic aerodynamic characteristics of a forward control missile

Techniques to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of slender cruciform missiles have been developed and are constantly being updated and improved. This paper presents comparisons between analytical and experimental supersonic aerodynamic data for a class of canard-controlled missile configurations similar to the sidewinder missile. Three aerodynamic prediction computer codes, including program MISSILE2, a recently improved version of program MISSILE, are evaluated by comparison with the test data to assess their accuracy. The major emphasis is placed on the roll control characteristics. In addition, tail span optimization, longitudinal and lateral control, induced roll, and missile roll orientation effects are addressed.
The Contemporary Presidency: Unity in the Executive and the Presidential Succession Act

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 was passed to make the solution to the problem of a double vacancy in the presidency and vice presidency more democratic. The current law, however, privileges "democracy" at the expense of uenergy" in the executive, especially as that energy is reflected in the unitary nature of the presidency. Hamilton explains in Federalist no. 70 why unity in the executive is important, both for the purposes of energetic leadership and accountability. The possibility that a successor under the 1947 statute could be from a party other than that elected by the people diminishes the energy that is key to this branch of gov ernment. This article explores the central constitutional question surrounding the issue of double vacancy: whether the current law meets the two goals of providing for the possibility of a double vacancy while still retaining the energy that typifies the office of the presidency. Nearly three hundred tons of aircraft and fuel struck the east face of the building at a speed of three hundred knots. The aircraft disintegrated on impact. No less fragile than a bird, its speed and mass had already fragmented the columns outside the walls. Next came the building itself. As soon as the wings broke up, the engines . . . shot forward, one of them actually smashing into and beyond the House Chamber. . . . The entire east face of the building's southern half was smashed to gravel, which shot westward?but the real damage took a second or two more, barely time for the roof to start falling down on the nine hundred people in the chamber . . .
Influence of Air Pollutants on Allergic Sensitization: The Paradox of Increased Allergies and Decreased Resistance to Infection

Air pollution has long been associated with health risks such as increased susceptibility to respiratory infections and potentiation of asthmatic-type responses. Experimental evidence in rodents indicates that air pollutants including diesel exhaust particles (DEPs), gases, and metals cause lung injury, inflammation, reduce aspects of host defense, and may potentiate allergic airway responses. Here we present evidence that diesel exhaust particles delivered by inhalation or aspiration can exacerbate allergic lung disease depending on the material's chemical properties. Genomic analysis of mouse lungs following instillation or inhalation of DEPs shows an alteration spectrum of pathways associated with immune signaling, cell metabolism, and oxidative stress. Diesel exposure also may worsen respiratory infections through depression of protective immune responses. Here we show that mice exposed to diesel and co-infected with influenza had increased influenza virus titers as well as higher levels of lung injury and inflammation in association with increased Th2 cytokines, and a concomitant decrease in Th1 polarization. A simplified model explains how the potentiation of the Th2 arm of immunity by diesel exhaust results in increased allergic sensitization, whereas cell-mediated (protective) immunity against viral infections is simultaneously reduced.
The evolution of species' distributions: reciprocal transplants across the elevation ranges of Mimulus cardinalis and M. lewisii.

Every species occupies a limited geographic area, but it remains unclear why traits that limit distribution do not evolve to allow range expansion. Hypotheses for the evolutionary stability of geographic ranges assume that species are maladapted at the range boundary and unfit beyond the current range, but this assumption has rarely been tested. To examine how fitness varies across species' ranges, we reciprocally transplanted two species of monkey- flowers, Mimulus cardinalis and M. lewisii, within and beyond their present elevation ranges. We used individuals of known parentage from populations collected across the elevation ranges of both species to examine whether populations are adapted to position within the range. For both species we found the greatest average fitness at elevations central within the range, reduced fitness at the range margin, and zero or near-zero fitness when transplanted beyond their present elevation range limits. However, the underlying causes of fitness variation differed between the species. At high elevations beyond its range, M. cardinalis displayed reduced growth and fecundity, whereas at low elevations M. lewisii experienced high mortality. Weak differences in performance were observed among populations within each species and these were not related to elevation of origin. Low fitness of both species at their range margin and weak differentiation among populations within each species suggest that adaptation to the environment at and beyond the range margin is hindered, illustrating that range margins provide an interesting system in which to study limits to adaptation.
The New Rhetoric and Jurisprudence

It seems paradoxical that there is a connection between the positivist philosophy of law and the rhetorical tradition. This disbelief results from a misinterpretation of juridical positivism and unfamiliarity with rhetoric.
Simulating the Mutual Forcing of Anomalous High Southern Latitude Atmospheric Circulation by El Niño Flavors and the Southern Annular Mode

AbstractNumerical simulations using the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) are conducted based on tropical forcing of El Nino flavors. Though these events occur on a continuum, two general types are simulated based on sea surface temperature anomalies located in the central (CP) or eastern (EP) tropical Pacific. The goal is to assess whether CAM adequately represents the transient eddy dynamics associated with each of these El Nino flavors under different southern annular mode (SAM) regimes. CAM captures well the wide spatial and temporal variability associated with the SAM but only accurately simulates the impacts on atmospheric circulation in the high southern latitudes when the observed SAM phase is matched by the model. Composites of in-phase (El Nino–SAM−) and out-of-phase (El Nino–SAM+) events confirm a seasonal preference for in-phase (out of phase) events during December–February (DJF) [June–August (JJA)]. Modeled in-phase events for both EP (during DJF) and ...
Ultrasound Heating Technology

Ultrasound has several characteristics which make it well suited for the induction of thermal therapy. These include the feasibility of constructing applicators of virtually any shape and size, and the good penetration of ultrasound at frequencies where the wavelengths are on the order of millimeters. The small wavelengths allow the beams to be focused and controlled. The major disadvantages of ultrasound are high absorption in bone and reflection from gas interfaces, which make treatments difficult to execute. These competing features require that ultrasound therapy systems be fairly complex in order to execute a treatment optimally. Only a few clinical systems have attempted to utilize the flexibility of ultrasound and thus, it has not yet been widely tested. Moreover, there are no clinical systems which are fully optimized for treatment of a given tumor.
Speaker Identification in Medical Simulation Data Using Fisher Vector Representation

We present a robust speaker identification algorithm that uses effective features based on Fisher Vector (FV) representations. First, low-level spectral features are extracted from the training data. Next, we model the data (in the spectral feature space) by a mixture of Gaussian components. Then, we construct FV descriptors based on the deviation of the features from the Gaussian components. We analyze the FV feature representations on speech data with two common classifiers: K-nearest neighbor classifier (KNN) and support vector machines (SVM). The proposed approach is evaluated using audio data sets recorded to simulate medical crises. We show that the proposed FV feature representation approach achieves a significant improvement when compared to the state-of-art methods.
Etoposide catechol is an oxidizable topoisomerase II poison.

Topoisomerase II regulates DNA topology by generating transient double-stranded breaks. The anticancer drug etoposide targets topoisomerase II and is associated with the formation of secondary leuk...
Detecting problematic control-plane protocol interactions in mobile networks

The control-plane protocols in 3G/4G mobile networks communicate with each other, and provide a rich set of control functions, such as radio resource control, mobility support, connectivity management, to name a few. Despite their significance, the problem of verifying protocol correctness remains largely unaddressed. In this paper, we examine control-plane protocol interactions in mobile networks. We propose CNetVerifier, a two-phase signaling diagnosis tool to detect problematic interactions in both design and practice. CNetVerifier first performs protocol screening based on 3GPP standards via domain-specific model checking, and then conducts phone-based empirical validation in operational 3G/4G networks. With CNetVerifier, we have uncovered seven types of troublesome interactions, along three dimensions of cross (protocol) layers, cross (circuit-switched and packet-switched) domains, and cross (3G and 4G) systems. Some are caused by necessary yet problematic cooperation (i.e., protocol interactions are needed but they misbehave), whereas others are due to independent yet unnecessary coupled operations (i.e., protocols interactions are not required but actually coupled). These instances span both design defects in 3GPP standards and operational slips by carriers and vendors. They all result in performance penalties or functional incorrectness. We deduce root causes, present empirical results, propose solutions, and summarize learned lessons.
Experimental Research Noise Characteristics of Filter Capacitors in UHV DC Converter Stations

The space demanded by filter capacitor installations and capacitor installations for reactive power compensation is bigger than that of any other equipment in UHV DC converter stations.So the noise emission of them has great effect on UHV DC converter stations.These capacitor installations with large sizes and high voltages consist of a large quantity of capacitor units.Because of these characteristics,it's very difficult to reduce the noise level of these capacitor installations with external passive measures.So,internal improvement is more suitable for capacitor installations noise reduction.And the noise characteristics must be studied comprehensively before modifying the structure of capacitors for noise reduction.Audible noise characteristics generated by power capacitors subjected to different waveforms are studied by experiments,and the results are analyzed for reference of noise reduction of capacitor with internal methods.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy in Men and Women

Publisher Summary Testosterone has received a lot of praise and also skepticism for claiming its role in “restoring youth” but a great deal is unknown about its efficacy, safety, and mechanism of action. Only recently testosterone is proving to be more than a drug for restoring sexuality; it is an important regulator of many physiologic effects. As testosterone is associated with masculinity, it has had no role in women until recently, when evidence started to show that testosterone may play a role beyond masculinity in both men and women. Androgen deficiency in women and in men is a condition that has been underdiagnosed, because little was known about the role of testosterone in both genders. In men with an established diagnosis of hypogonadism, testosterone treatment is a clear indication. For men and women with partial androgen deficiency or with unclear etiology of hypogonadism, however, the decision to initiate testosterone replacement therapy is subjective, and depends on severity and nature of symptoms. Assessment of symptoms, signs, and potential adverse events with the current data should guide the decision for a short-term trial of testosterone. As more studies are showing the potential benefits of short-term testosterone replacement, further research would have to address improved methods for diagnosing androgen deficiency, as well as the long-term safety of testosterone replacement.
Microphysics Regime Impacts on the Relationship between Orographic Rain and Orographic Forcing in the Coastal Mountains of Northern California

AbstractThis study examines the impact of microphysics regime on the relationship between orographic forcing and orographic rain in the coastal mountains of Northern California using >4000 h of data from profiling Doppler radars, rain gauges, and a GPS receiver collected over 10 cool seasons. Orographic forcing is documented by hourly upslope flow, integrated water vapor (IWV), and IWV flux observed along the coast at Bodega Bay (BBY; 15 m MSL). Microphysics regime is inferred in the coastal mountains at Cazadero (CZC; 478 m MSL), where hourly periods of brightband (BB) and nonbrightband (NBB) rain are designated. BB rain is associated with a microphysics regime dominated by the seeder–feeder process while NBB rain is associated with a microphysics regime dominated by the warm-rain process. Mean BBY upslope flow, IWV, and IWV flux are ~16%, ~5%, and ~19% larger, respectively, for NBB rain compared to BB rain, while mean CZC rain rate is ~33% larger for BB rain compared to NBB rain. The orographic enhancem...
Effect of reaction parameters on the decarboxylation of oleic acid over Pt/ZIF-67membrane/zeolite 5A bead catalysts

BACKGROUND Carboxylic acids obtained from biomass raw materials are attractive starting chemicals in the conversion to linear, paraffinic hydrocarbons. The resultant hydrocarbon products can be used as platform chemicals for the production of fuels, lubricants and other valuable chemicals. RESULTS The effects of reaction parameters on the decarboxylation of oleic acid to paraffins, and hydrocarbons over Pt supported on zeolite 5A beads coated with ZIF-67 membrane (Pt/ZIF-67 membrane/zeolite 5A) were investigated. Almost complete conversion of oleic acid was observed for all reaction conditions studied here. The catalysts displayed high selectivity to heptadecane even with as low as 0.5 wt% Pt loading. Moderate reaction temperature and pressure were favorable to obtain high yield of heptadecane. The catalysts displayed a slight decrease in catalytic activity after recycling. Interestingly, of all explored reaction conditions, the catalysts exhibited the highest selectivity to heptadecane (~91%) in the presence of CO2. CONCLUSION The results from this work, demonstrate that the studied reaction parameters greatly affected the overall catalytic performance (mainly product distribution) for the decarboxylation of oleic acid into heptadecane over Pt/ZIF-67 membrane/zeolite 5A catalysts.
Cu3Ru6Sb8—a new ternary antimonide with a new structure type

The new ternary transition metal antimonide, Cu3Ru6Sb8, has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction of the elements at 1023 K. Its crystal structure has been established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. It crystallizes in a new structure type in the trigonal crystal system (Pearson index hP17) in space group Pm1. The asymmetric unit of this structure contains six crystallographically independent sites: one Cu (site symmetry .2/m.), three Ru (Ru1 (.2/m.), Ru2 (3m.), and Ru3 (m.)), and two Sb sites (Sb1 (.m.) and Sb2 (3m.)). Two of the Ru atoms and the Cu atom are coordinated to six Sb atoms in a distorted octahedral fashion; the third Ru atom is found in a trigonal bipyramidal environment of five Sb atoms. The structure can be viewed as a hexagonal closed-packed array of Sb atoms, with Ru and Cu atoms in the interstices, representing a lattice that is an ordered variant of the NiAs structure. Electronic structure calculations provide insight into the chemical bonding in this transition metal antimonide. From magnetic and resistivity measurements on polycrystalline material, the compound is metallic and exhibits magnetic response that shows an effective moment smaller than any free-ion values, suggestive of weak itinerant magnetism.
SPECT scatter correction algorithms using position and energy information: preliminary simulation studies

Summary form only given, as follows. Numerous authors have presented methods for scatter correction in SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) that make partial use of energy information. The present authors are currently testing a board that saves energy and position for each detected event, and have begun evaluating (using simulation) algorithms for scatter reduction that could make use of such information. Their current approach is to collect an energy spectrum at each point in the image. The pointwise spectra are then deconvolved by the energy PSF of the detection system to estimate the primary and scatter components at each point. Parametric modeling of the scatter spectrum makes this step quite fast. The scatter components are spatially smoothed in an energy-dependent fashion, and the smoothed scatter estimates are subtracted from the raw data, which are reconstructed using conventional methods. Simulated images and findings relating to optimal smoothing and deconvolution methods have been obtained. Some cases of the algorithms considered can be implemented as simple weighted energy acquisition methods. >
Tuning the biocompatibility of aluminum nitride

Abstract High-quality, electronic-grade, aluminum nitride thin films grown by reactive sputtering were studied in vitro. The semiconductor material showed high degree of stability in cell culture with very little Al leaching over time. Unlike other III-nitride materials, clean AlN does not promote the adhesion of cells to its surface. The work demonstrates that functionalization with peptides can be used to reverse this behavior. The presence of AlN in cell culture does not have any adverse effects on neurotypic cell behavior as confirmed by cell viability and reactive oxygen species assays.
Notes from/dev/null

ABSTRACTI will discuss the digital materials that we do not want to archive, or that do not want to be archived, that are particular to Internet history: the trash, cruft, detritus and intentionally opaque hoard of documents and artefacts that constitute our digital middens. Middens are pits of domestic refuse filled with the discards and by-products of material life: the gnawed bones, ashes, fruit stones and potsherds, shells and chips and hair and drippings which together constitute the photographic negative of a community in action and an invaluable record for archaeologists. Using this analogy, I will discuss two from my own research: the archives of spam, which we would all rather forget, and the records of the communities and marketplaces of the so-called “Dark Web,” which would prefer to be forgotten. I will also address the challenges of research with other kinds of eccentric, troubling or speculative archives, like blockchains, ephemeral imageboards and doxxes. I will close by discussing ways tha...
Fit for genomic and proteomic purposes: Sampling the fitness of nucleic acid and protein derivatives from formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue

The demand for nucleic acid and protein derivatives from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue has greatly increased due to advances in extraction and purification methods, making these derivatives available for numerous genomic and proteomic platforms. Previously, DNA, RNA, microRNA (miRNA), or protein derived from FFPE tissue blocks were considered "unfit" for such platforms, as the process of tissue immobilization by FFPE resulted in cross-linked, fragmented, and chemically modified macromolecules. We conducted a systematic examination of nucleic acids and proteins co-extracted from 118 FFPE blocks sampled from the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR) at The George Washington University after stratification by storage duration and the three most common tumor tissue types at the ACSR (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and papillary carcinoma). DNA, RNA, miRNA, and protein could be co-extracted from 98% of the FFPE blocks sampled, with DNA and miRNA "fit" for diverse genomic purposes including sequencing. While RNA was the most labile of the FFPE derivatives, especially when assessed by RNA integrity number (RIN), it was still "fit" for genomic methods that use smaller sequence lengths, e.g., quantitative PCR. While more than half of the protein derivatives were fit for proteomic purposes, our analyses indicated a significant interaction effect on the absorbance values for proteins derived from FFPE, implying that storage duration may affect protein derivatives differently by tumor tissue type. The mean absorbance value for proteins derived from more recently stored FFPE was greater than protein derived from older FFPE, with the exception of adenocarcinoma tissue. Finally, the fitness of one type of derivative was weakly associated with the fitness of derivatives co-extracted from the same FFPE block. The current study used several novel quality assurance approaches and metrics to show that archival FFPE tissue blocks are a valuable resource for contemporary genomic and proteomic platforms.
Contemporary Primary Prevention Aspirin Use by Cardiovascular Disease Risk: Impact of US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendations, 2007-2015: A Serial, Cross-sectional Study.

Background No previous study has evaluated the impact of past US Preventive Services Task Force statements on primary prevention (PP) aspirin use in a primary care setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate temporal changes in PP aspirin use in a primary care population, stratifying patients by their 10‐year global cardiovascular disease risk, in response to the 2009 statement. Methods and Results This study estimated biannual aspirin use prevalence using electronic health record data from primary care clinics within the Fairview Health System (Minnesota) from 2007 to 2015. A total of 94 270 patient encounters had complete data to estimate a 10‐year cardiovascular disease risk score using the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association global risk estimator. Patients were stratified into low‐ ( Conclusions Publication of the 2009 US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation was not associated with an increase in aspirin use. High risk PP patients utilized aspirin at high rates. Patients at intermediate risk were less intensively treated, and patients at low risk used aspirin at relatively high rates. These data may inform future aspirin guideline dissemination.
Comparative authoritarian institutionalism, regime evolution, and stability in North Korea:

The cross-national comparative politics literature on authoritarian regimes has advanced rapidly in recent years, providing fresh insights into regime longevity, potential for successful democratiz...
On Temporal Controls and the Stochastic Behavior of Renewable Natural Resources

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the effects of temporal controls on the stochastic behavior of renewable natural resources such as fisheries and rangelands. First, we show that temporal resource management is characterized by the existence of a threshold effect. Second, we point out that in the presence of environmental uncertainty, the ability of a manager to move a resource to a desirable state depends on the magnitude of the effect that the temporal control has on the state of the resource. Third, we show that if this magnitude is below a critical threshold then it will be impossible for the manger to reach any desirable state of the resource in a finite amount of time. Finally, we solve an optimization problem from the standpoint of a resource manager. Our analysis of this problem shows that the proper course of action involves choosing the temporal control in a way so that the resource is able to provide society with a flow of consumptive and non-consumptive services, and the persistence of the undesirable state is minimized.
Determinants of State Economic Perceptions

Despite a greatly increased emphasis on state economic development, citizens' perceptions of state economic conditions have been infrequently studied, leaving a serious question as to how well citizens distinguish between national and state economic performance. We investigate the sources of state economic perceptions using data from 1990 Voter Research and Surveys exit polls of 23 states along with measures of state economic conditions. We find strong support for the proposition that perceptions of state and national economies are distinct phenomena. We also find that state economic perceptions are well grounded in economic reality—that is, in the conditions of the state economy. Finally, we show that state economic perceptions are based on a variety of indicators, including measures that have not heretofore been included in models of economic voting.
Economic Incentives for Antibacterial Drug Development: Alternative Market Structures to Promote Innovation

The current economic model for antibacterial drug development and commercialization does not provide sufficient financial returns that reflect the societal value that new antibacterial agents provide. As such, the pharmaceutical industry has largely focused their development efforts on therapeutic areas where greater profit potential exists resulting in a substantial innovation gap in antibacterial drug development. The number of new antibiotics in development is likely too small to withstand technical attrition and increasing rates of bacterial resistance. New market models are needed that reward innovation in antibacterial drug development and provide a stronger return on investment for companies still operating in this space. While rewarding innovation, these models should also promote stewardship of new antibacterial drugs and ensure access to all patients that need them. This chapter explores various proposals for alternative market models and their associated policy considerations.
Toward Fundamental Pollutant Routing Within Stormwater Control Measures Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Constituents such as sediment, nutrients and heavy metals carried by rainfall–runoff from urban surfaces pose an ecological threat to receiving water bod…
Association of Health Behaviors and Quality of Life in Lymphoma Survivors

Background: Lymphoma survivors are at risk for long term and late effects which may negatively impact quality of life (QOL). Few studies have assessed the impact of change in health behaviors (physical activity (PA), alcohol and smoking) on QOL, specifically in lymphoma survivors. Methods: Patients were prospectively enrolled Results: At baseline, 2805 participants were evaluable for QOL of which 2025 were evaluable at FU3. The median age at diagnosis was 62 (IQR 52-69) years. Majority were males (N=1148, 56.8%), with advanced stage III-IV disease (N=941, 62%) and ECOG performance status At baseline, smoking status was current (N=237), former (N=802), never (N=1310) or not available (NA, N= 456). Current smokers had a significantly lower median QOL scores compared to former and never smokers for EWB (75 vs 79 vs 79, p Conclusions: Health behaviors in lymphoma survivors are significantly associated with QOL: better QOL is associated with not smoking, more PA, and moderate alcohol use. Current alcohol consumption, as opposed to former alcohol use, may be related to overall health status. An increase in PA after lymphoma diagnosis is associated with an increase in the QOL. Thus, modification of health behaviors has the potential to impact QOL in lymphoma survivors. Disclosures Cerhan:Celgene: Research Funding; Nanostring: Research Funding; Jannsen: Other: Scientific Advisory Board.
A Human Resource Framework for Enterprise Architectures

Enterprise architectures capture the organizational data required to support strategic decisions necessary to achieve organizational goals. Enterprise strategies are developed to address shifting capability requirements and are translated into roadmaps to transition the organization from its current state to the desired future state. A human resource framework can augment the enterprise architecture framework with personnel information and considerations that are necessary to support the new capabilities. This framework provides an enterprise-wide viewpoint on manpower requirements and personnel qualifications and is used to develop supporting projects to transition the organizations human resources to meet the demands of different enterprise phases. The changes in personnel requirements induced by new enterprise capabilities can impact strategic decisions that aim to balance risk, cost, and schedule: risk is minimized by the availability of certified personnel at the needed time at an acceptable salary or training cost. As part of the enterprise transition plan, mitigation projects can be created to ensure that the type and number of personnel required for each enterprise state is available.
sweetriot 2.0

In the fall of 2010, Sarah Endline, CEO and Founder of sweetriot, an organic chocolate company, was deciding the best way to grow her organic chocolate company, while keeping her chocolate physically and conceptually on the shelf. She wanted to grow the offerings and profits of her company, while maintaining its social mission and unique flair. The case tracks the origins of sweetriot from Sarah's formative early career experiences, to the company's launch and beyond as Sarah prepares future products, establishes production channels, and seeks future funding. Sarah was not content to just be a small New York City candy company. Her goal was for sweetriot to be the number one natural chocolate company in the world and to thus be a vehicle to drive change globally. How can she meet that objective while also keeping the company true to its social roots?Learning Objective: To examine how social entrepreneurs can grow their businesses' profits and products while maintaining mission.