cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
US Mortality: Influence of Race, Geography and Cardiovascular Risk Among Participants in the Population-Based REGARDS Cohort

We evaluated whether differences in cardiovascular risk factors, as assessed by the Framingham risk scores for stroke and cardiovascular disease (FSRS and FCRS), contributed to disparities in all-cause mortality across race and regional strata of USA. Race-region-specific FSRS and FCRS scores were computed for 30,086 REGARDS participants who were recruited between January 2003 and October 2007. They were divided across six regions of the “Eight Americas” and then compared after adjusting for race and sex. Kaplan-Meier curves and hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were estimated between regions, first adjusted for age and sex, and then for the risk scores. After adjustment for age, sex, FCRS, and FSRS, there was no difference in mortality among Middle-America Whites versus Low-Income White. However, mortality was lower among Middle-America Blacks (−23 %; p = 0.06) and High-Risk Urban Blacks (−24 %; p = 0.01) compared to Southern Low-Income Rural Blacks. Compared to Middle-American Whites, mortality was higher among Middle-America Blacks (+39 %; p < 0.001), High-Risk Urban Blacks (+35 %; p < 0.001) and Southern Low-Income Rural Blacks (+85 %; p < 0.001). Accounting for cardiovascular risk unmasked a greater disparity in mortality between Blacks and Whites and among Southern Rural Blacks compared to Middle-America Blacks and High-Risk Urban Blacks.
Endocrine studies of lactation amenorrhea

Lactation amenorrhea was studied in 40 lactating and 14 nonlactating postpartum patients. A 24-hour urine sample and a vaginal smear were ob tained from each patient each week until the onset of the 1st menstrual period. 3 patterns of gonadotropin excretion occurred with equal frequency in the 2 groups: 1 characterized by a continuous excretion of gonadotropins and a tendency toward prolonged atrophic vaginal smears indicating low estrogen production due to temporarily refractory ovaries 2 characterized by intermittent excretion of gonadotropins and a relatively early restoration of vaginal cornification indicating fairly responsive ovaries and 3 characterized by the absence of gonadotropins and varried vaginal epithelial patterns which seems to represent a delayed recovery of pituitary function. It is concluded that with lactation the duration of amenorrhea is prolonged because of either ovarian refractoriness or delayed recovery of pituitary gonadotropic activity.
Factor Invariance in the Measurement of Job Satisfaction

Evidence for construct validity is based on attempts to use the Questionnaire to make predictions from the Theory of Work Adjustment. Individuals who have high need levels which are reinforced by their job situations report as predicted higher levels of satisfacrion than high-need-low-reinforcement individuals. Other validity evidence is inferred from the ability of the Questionnaire to discriminate between occupational groups of varying social status levels. Several factor analyses of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire have typically found that about half the common variance of scale scores is accounted for by an extrinsic factor and the other half by an intrinsic factor. The extrinsic factor is defined by Supervision-Human Relarians, Supervision-Technical. Company Policies and Practices, Working Conditions, Advancement. Compensation, and Security. The remaining 13 scales constitute the intrinsic satisfaction factor. The resemblance of these factors to Herzberg's Hygiene-Motivation Theory is obvious, though many critics have dismissed Herzberg's two-factor formulation as oversimplified. The subjects were 293 teachers randomly selected from the 1,351 high school business teachers employed full time in Georgia in 1977. The sample constituted 22% of the population of full-time high school business education teachers. Eighty-nine percent were women; 11% were men. Mean age was 38.3 yr.; SD = 12.8. Highest degree held: 36% bachelor's; 53% Master's; 11% Specialist (6th year). Scales providing highest degrees of satisfacrion were Moral Values, Social Service, Activity, and Creativity, with means representing 78, 78, 76, and 75% of the maximum possible values respectively. Scales providing lowest degrees of satisfacrion were Compensation, Advancement, School Policies
Thermo-Fluid Model for High Thermal Conductivity Thermal Ground Planes

The thermal ground plane (TGP) is an advanced planar heat pipe designed for cooling microelectronics in high gravitational fields. A thermal resistance model is developed to predict the thermal performance of the TGP, including the effects of the presence of non-condensable gases (NCGs). Viscous laminar flow pressure losses are predicted to determine the maximum heat load when the capillary limit is reached. This paper shows that the axial effective thermal conductivity of the TGP decreases when the substrate and/or wick are thicker and/or with the presence of NCGs. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the thermo-fluid model may be utilized to optimize the performance of the TGP by estimating the limits of wick thickness and vapor space thickness for a recognized internal volume of the TGP. The wick porosity plays an important effect on maximum heat transport capability. A large adverse gravitational field strongly decreases the maximum heat transport capability of the TGP. Axial effective thermal conductivity is mostly unaffected by the gravitational field. The maximum length of the TGP before reaching the capillary limit is inversely proportional to input power.© 2012 ASME
Physical mechanisms leading to the coulomb blockade and coulomb staircase structures in strongly coupled multi-Island single-electron devices

Controlled transport of electrons through tunnel junctions and their confinement by mesoscopic structures have opened up immense possibilities of single-electron device (SED) applications. The realization of a practical working SED has remained challenging largely owing to the poor understanding of the physics of operation of singe-electron tunneling devices, especially of those with multiple nanometer-sized islands. In this simulation study of one-dimensional (1D) multi-island chains, we propose physical mechanisms that lead to the coulomb blockade (CB) and coulomb staircase (CS) characteristics that are enhanced by the geometrical disorder in the chain. With increasing source-drain (VDS = VD − VS) bias, a multi-island device has to overcome multiple discrete energy barriers (up-steps) for charge advancement before reaching the threshold voltage (Vth). Beyond Vth, current flow is rate-limited by certain junctions with low transition rates, which leads to the CS structures in the current-voltage (IV) characteristic. Each step in the CS is characterized by a unique distribution of charges on the islands, each with an associated distribution of tunneling probabilities that depend on both the charge state and VDS. This study marks an important step in unraveling the microscopic details of SED operation and will inspire further experimental and theoretical studies. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [DOI: 10.1149/2.0131607jss] All rights reserved.
Finite model theory and its origins

Finite model theory is a study of the logical properties of finite mathematical structures. This talk gives an overview of how finite model theory arose, and of some work that sprang from that. This includes: 1. Differences between the model theory of finite structures and infinite structures. Most of the classical theorems of logic fail for finite structures, which gives us a challenge to develop new concepts and tools, appropriate for finite structures. 2. The relationship between finite model theory and complexity theory. Surprisingly enough, it turns out that in some cases, we can characterize complexity classes (such as NP) in terms of logic, without using any notion of machine, computation, or time. 3. Zero-one laws. There is a remarkable phenomenon, which says that certain properties (such as those expressible in first-order logic) are either almost surely true or almost surely false. 4. Descriptive complexity. Here we consider how complex a formula must be to express a given property. The goal of this talk is to introduce the audience to the fascinating area of finite model theory.
Can sugarcoated fingerprints be used to identify lurking viruses

Comparative proteomics is increasingly used to detect biomarkers and therapeutic targets that differ between healthy and diseased populations; however, differences in posttranslational modifications have received less attention. In this issue, Yang et al. (Proteomics 2016, 16, 1872-1880) present data indicating that a glycoproteomics approach can detect N-glycosylated membrane protein differences between non-HIV-infected and latently infected human CD4(+) T-cell lines, identifying 172 proteins differentially expressed by these cells. Latently infected CD4(+) T cells are thought to represent the major barrier to eventual HIV cure, but do not express detectable levels of viral protein and have not been shown to express biomarkers that can distinguish them from the vastly more abundant uninfected CD4(+) T-cell population. The findings of Yang et al. suggest that glycoproteomic analyses may have untapped potential to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets in cell populations not readily distinguishable be standard proteomic analyses.
Does emotion cause behavior (apart from making people do stupid, destructive things)?

The authors challenge the traditional view that emotion directly causes behavior, as represented in the claim that someone did something “because he was angry.” Essentially, this is the view that “the impetus for the behavior is contained in the emotion,” a premise that still leaves a miraculous gap between feeling the emotion and enacting the behavior. As an alternative, the authors advance the view that “conscious emotion tends to come after behavior and operates as a kind of inner feedback system.” The authors bolster their argument against the traditional view with evidence that emotions are not specific enough to serve as impetus for specific behaviors, that emotions seem to have more impact on cognition than on behavior, and that emotional influences on behavior tend to disappear unless people believe that their actions will affect their emotional state.
Integrated automation for optimal demand management in commercial buildings considering occupant comfort

Abstract Implementing demand response (DR) in commercial buildings can play a major role in reducing building’s peak load. This improves the efficiency of electricity grids and mitigates expensive peak demand/energy charges for buildings. Due to the lack of Energy Management Systems, small and medium-sized commercial buildings have not historically played much role as a DR resource. This paper presents an integrated control of major loads in commercial buildings, i.e., cooling, lighting and plug loads that can maintain occupant environmental preferences. Each zone’s space temperature set points are optimally adjusted to maintain thermal comfort. Lighting levels, with and without daylight availability, are tightly controlled to maintain desired illuminance levels. Unlike other studies, this research contributes to improvement in functionalities of EnergyPlus by incorporating a 1-min resolution data set at the individual plug load level. The research evaluates total building performance including interdependencies between lighting, plug load, HVAC and control systems interacting in a realistic manner, both among themselves and with building occupants. In this paper, a method to determine the DR potential of a building, i.e., the amount of electrical demand (kW) by load type that can be shifted or shed, is discussed.
POEMS syndrome and Castleman’s disease

POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome due to an underlying plasma cell disorder. The dominant feature is typically peripheral neuropathy, and the hematologic manifestations can be subtle leading to delayed diagnosis. Although the mechanism of disease is not well understood, the disease is very treatable, and survival is typically excellent. Castleman’s disease (CD) can occur with and without POEMS syndrome. Patients with unicentric CD have an excellent prognosis with local therapies; outcomes are less good, and therapies are less well established for the patients with multicentric CD with the exception of interleukin-6 and interleukin-6 receptor antibodies, which are useful in a subset of patients.
The evolution of marriage, inheritance, and labor relations in the family firm in Kyoto

AbstractThis article is from a paper written for a workshop of the Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations, 1500–2000, so the paper applies the categories from the Taxonomy of Labour Relations produced by the Collaboratory to the various labor relations discussed in the paper. The main aim of the paper, however, is to discuss the interaction of gender, marriage, inheritance and family patterns with labor relations in the history of Kyoto from its founding in 794 until the mid-nineteenth century. This period begins earlier than the time period of the Collaboratory to provide a sense of how these relations evolved over time. It begins with the evolution of labor relations, then the early modern family business, and finally marriage patterns and transmission. The nineteenth-century discussion is based on a combination of quantitative data from the population surveys and qualitative documents such as land transmission documents and court cases. The pre-modern parts of the paper, however, are a...
Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Characteristics, Management, and What's on the Horizon

Abstract Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive cutaneous malignancy with a steadily increasing incidence. Advancing age, fair skin, ultraviolet light exposure, and immunocompromise are risk factors. Sixty to eighty percent are associated with the Merkel cell polyomavirus, and the remainder carry a high mutational burden. Recently immunotherapy has been shown to be a highly effective and well tolerated treatment. The disease is also very chemosensitive similar to small-cell lung cancer. Ongoing trials are evaluating the role of adjuvant immunotherapy and novel immunotherapy agents as well as targeted therapy and endocrine therapy with somatostatin analogues. Also included in this review is our institution's experience with MCC in 6 patients treated with pembrolizumab, 5 of whom experienced an excellent response.
Diverse Pathways? The Impact of a Federal Investment in Health Professions Programs on Enrollment of Underserved Students

Abstract Purpose This study examined one case of a federal human capital investment in health professions education by comparing enrollment patterns of underserved students in health professions programs of study in a consortium of community colleges before and after they received a $19.6 million U.S. Department of Labor grant. Method Pearson's chi-square tests of independence were used to analyze in the proportion of underserved students across the consortium who enrolled in health professions programs of study prior to and after receiving funding and to examine students’ enrollments by program of study length. Results The changes made by the consortium after receiving the grant funding supported more students from underserved subgroups engaged in health professions programs. Despite the gains seen, Latino and Black students were still significantly underrepresented in associate degree programs, and a significant proportion of Latino students were either delayed or diverted from enrolling in any program of study. Discussion While there were significant gains for most of the underserved subgroups of students in the study, the variation in enrollment patterns of subgroups of students in programs of study of different lengths provides evidence of persistent systemic educational inequities.
Self-Executing Rules: Leadership Strategy and Power in the U.S. House of Representatives

Most scholarly research has highlighted the limits to the power of party leaders in Congress. While negative agenda power is widely recognized, few studies have supported any conception of strong, independent, and positive leadership power in the House of Representatives. This paper posits that by leaders’ use of self-execution rules – special rules that upon their passage alter the substance of pending legislation – presents clear evidence of positive leadership power. Using a original dataset of important legislation considered between 2001 and 2008, this study finds leaders are able to use self-executing rules to independently influence the substance of legislation they consider a priority and are especially likely to do so when the bill had been previously influenced by a committee chairperson that is ideologically unfriendly to the leadership.
Student Perspectives on the Common Core: The Challenge of College Readiness at Urban High Schools:

The Common Core State Standards were designed to prepare all students for college and careers. Using theories of cultural capital and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study of 54 college-bound, i...
Scale Effects of Sediment-Related Transport of Phosphorus

Sediment and nutrient data from USGS gauged stream sites in New Mexico and from rainfall simulation experiments were compiled and analyzed. Above a suspended sediment concentration of about 500 mg/l, associated concentrations of total phosphorus are highest in overland flow and then progressively decrease from agricultural drains to ephemeral washes to undammed rivers. Within a stream type, sediment-related concentrations of total phosphorus typically differed between larger and smaller basins. Small rivers had higher phosphorus transport per unit of sediment load than larger rivers. Small and medium sized washes had different relationships between phosphorus and sediment than did large and very large washes.
Patient-Centered Care: Nursing Knowledge and Policy:

There has been much written about the importance of care that is centered on persons and their loved ones. Patient-centered care has been central to nursing practice and unique nursing knowledge. This central focus provides an opportunity for nurses to develop policies that may affect practice so that practice is consistent with a distinctive knowledge base. The purpose of this paper is to discuss patient-centered care and nursing theory.
Origin and Evolution of Human Rights in Nigeria’s External Relations

Nigeria is an influential country in Africa with aspirations for a leadership role in its region and the world far beyond its borders. The country parades, in its external affairs, a human rights policy that is marked by the paradox of repression at home and espousal of moral values abroad. The country’s variegated leaderships unrealistically seek to promote abroad something they do not practice at home. The absurdity needs to give way to a human rights policy for the country by mid-century that better mirrors its status as a reckonable state actor and hub of trade, culture, and military strength in West Africa. Application of human rights in foreign affairs in the contemporary era is a matter of recent vintage that acquired saliency only with the Carter administration in the U.S., from 1977 to 1981, backed by human rights legislation enacted by a Democratic-controlled Congress, chastened into action by crises at home and abroad that included the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Given this recentness, the paper proposed in this abstract will trace the evolution of human rights in Nigeria’s foreign relations from the period of the country’s Second Republic in 1979 to the present time. This paper takes its logic and significance from the fact that design of a fitting human rights policy for Nigeria by mid-century must be preceded by and predicated upon a careful review of past and present trends, the limited yet enormously important goal of the study here.
Low Energy Pion-Nuclear Scattering

Recent developments in the study of low energy π-Nuclear scattering are reviewed. There has been a substantial increase in the amount of elastic scattering data at and below 50 MeV. Data, mostly preliminary, are ±presented for the scattering of 30, 40, and 50 MeV π± from various targets including 12C, 16O, 28Si, 40Ca, 56Fe, 90Zr, and 208Pb. The mass dependence and the energy dependence of the data are discussed. Significant developments in the theoretical analysis of low energy π-elastic scattering are also discussed. These include the study of second-order corrections to the first-order Optical potential that take into account effects such as nucleon-nucleon correlations and “true absorption” of the pion.
Cathodic protection retrofit of an offshore pipeline

Cathodic protection (CP) anodes and corrosion coating on two offshore pipelines were damaged during deep water installation. In-situ methods for deep-water inspection and repair of the pipelines` CP and coating systems were developed and used. High-pressure natural gas Pipeline. A design was 5.6 miles of 8.625 in. OD by 0.406 in. W.T. API SL, Grade X-42, seamless line pipe. Pipeline B design was 0.3 miles of similar specification pipe. Both pipelines were mill-coated with 14 mil of fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE) corrosion coating. Girth welds were field-coated with FBE.
Bayesian max-product expectation maximization algorithm for structured sparse signals reconstruction

We propose a Bayesian expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for reconstructing structured approximately sparse signals via belief propagation. The measurements follow an underdetermined linear model where the regression-coefficient vector is the sum of an unknown approximately sparse signal and a zero-mean white Gaussian noise with an unknown variance. The signal is composed of largeand small-magnitude components identified by binary state variables whose probabilistic dependence structure is described by a hidden Markov tree. Gaussian priors are assigned to the signal coefficients given their state variables and the Jeffreys’ noninformative prior is assigned to the noise variance. Our signal reconstruction scheme is based on an EM iteration that aims at maximizing the posterior distribution of the signal and its state variables given the noise variance. We employ a max-product algorithm to implement the maximization (M) step of our EM iteration. The proposed EM algorithm estimates the vector of state variables as well as solves iteratively a linear system of equations to obtain the corresponding signal estimate. We select the noise variance so that the corresponding estimated signal and state variables (obtained upon convergence of the EM iteration) have the largest marginal posterior distribution. Our numerical examples show that the proposed algorithm achieves better reconstruction performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
The Democratization of Africa: Dynamics and Trends ed. by Alexius Amtaika (review)

Amtaika, Alexius, ed. The Democratization of Africa: Dynamics and Trends . Austin, TX: Pan-African University Press, 2017.
Pirate, Traitor, Wife: Jeanne of Belleville and the Categories of Fourteenth-Century French Noblewomen

Pirate, traitor, military ally. None of these labels are usually applied to fourteenth-century noblewomen, and yet Jeanne of Belleville earned them all, along with wife, mother, and widow. Even her activities within these traditional roles, however, defy simplistic definition: she successfully sued her husband and remained happily wed; she saw her eldest two children ally with her enemies; and she refused to retire as an elderly widow, preferring to literally carry on the fight she had taken up decades before. Jeanne’s life demonstrates that the traditional labels are not self-explanatory and limit our understanding of noblewomen’s experiences. Taking up Joan Scott’s second, mostly neglected, call-to-arms: how did (fourteenth-century French) society shape what it meant to be a (noble) woman?
The Politics of Prioritizing Transit on City Streets

Transportation planning has become increasingly interested in the institutional changes needed to implement sustainable transportation measures. This research looks at six U.S. metropolitan areas t...
Parenting Behaviors as Predictive of Early Student-Teacher Relationships in ASD.

Student–teacher relationship (STR) quality during the early school years has important implications for student adjustment and outcomes. Studies with typically developing (TD) children have identified links between parent behaviors and STRs, but these connections remain unexplored for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study investigated relationships between observed parent behaviors during a shared literacy task and STRs one year later for 117 children (ages 4–7) with ASD. Children whose parents displayed more intrusiveness had poorer-quality STRs. Further, parent intrusiveness mediated the predictive relationship between child spoken language skills and STR quality. These results suggest that parent intrusiveness plays an important role in the development of STRs for young children with ASD. Implications for intervention and research are discussed.
Spontaneous and Triggered Longitudinal Combustion Instability in a Single-Injector Liquid-Rocket Combustor

Spontaneous and triggered longitudinal combustion instability is simulated numerically in a single-injector liquid-rocket engine using a recently developed axisymmetric compressible flow solver. Tu...
Disorders of the Immune System

The human immune system usually protects us from dangerous microbes, but sometimes it goes awry. Inborn errors in genes affecting immune function/regulation can lead to primary “immunodeficiency diseases” (PIDs). These diseases were initially discovered because individuals with this type of disorder had increased susceptibility to infection. The role of a particular gene in immune function was illuminated by studying the clinical impact of infection in individuals with the genetic defect. Nongenetic causes for immunodeficiencies can also occur and are called secondary or acquired immunodeficiencies. An increasing number of PIDs are associated with autoimmunity and immune dysregulation as predominant features. Autoimmunity occurs when the host attacks self-tissue. Autoinflammatory diseases are examples of immune dysregulation in the absence of an obvious inducer. The regulation of autoimmunity is not just genetic, however, but can be influenced by gender, geography, and the internal (microbiome) and external environment. Allergies are major health problem in many countries of the world. Normally, the immune system is exposed to many foreign antigens in the environment which are not harmful in and of themselves and thus do not elicit an immune response. In the case of hypersensitivity reactions or allergic reactions, a harmful response is elicited. Four types of hypersensitivity reactions are described: three involve antibodies, and the fourth is cell-mediated.
Constitutive Theory for Sand Based on the Concept of Critical Fabric Surface

AbstractA novel theoretical framework for the interpretation and modeling of the critical-state behavior of granular soils is proposed in this paper. The theory is built upon the hypothesis that th...
The Influence of Family and Friend Confidants on Marital Quality in Older Couples.

Objectives Relationships with confidants play an important role in older adults' health and well-being. Particularly, family and friend confidants could significantly support or interfere with older adults' marital relationships. This study used a dyadic approach to examine the influence of the structural features of both spouses' family and friend confidant networks on older couples' marital quality over 5 years. Methods Analyses used dyadic data from Wave 2 (2010-2011) and Wave 3 (2015-2016) interviews of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults. Longitudinal actor-partner interdependence models were used to examine the influence of spouses' family and friend confidant networks on couples' marital quality. Results Having a larger friend confidant network or closer connections with friend confidants predicted greater marital quality for wives and husbands 5 years later. Larger family confidant networks of both spouses predicted greater marital quality for wives over time. However, husbands reported worse marital quality over time if wives reported having closer connections with their own family confidants at baseline. Discussion This study demonstrates the importance of family and friend confidant networks for older couples' marital quality and highlights the benefits of having a larger or closer friend confidant network. Future research should examine mechanisms that account for the effects of spouses' family and friend confidant networks on older couples' marital quality.
Phasic Knee Bending Dystonic and Parkinsonian Gait: A Characteristic Finding in X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism.

Background X-linked dystonia parkinsonism (XDP) is a rare disorder characterized by adult-onset, progressive dystonia that, over time, is combined with or replaced by features of parkinsonism. Gait impairment is common. Methods Case series of 4 XDP patients with a unique gait disorder. Results The patients displayed a characteristic gait disorder with combined dystonic and parkinsonian gait features, with phasic knee bending. Of these patients, all had parkinsonism and three-quarters had prominent dystonic features, but 1 had predominant parkinsonism and subtle dystonic features. Conclusion Although XDP is a classic form of dystonia parkinsonism, some cases can mimic idiopathic Parkinson's disease. We describe a gait disorder which appears unique to XDP, involving phasic dystonic knee bending superimposed on parkinsonian shuffling, and may help clinically differentiate one of our parkinsonian-predominant patients from more-common forms of parkinsonism. The gait is distinct from other complex dystonic disorders with gait involvement.
Epigenome-wide association study using prediagnostic bloods identifies a new genomic region (near TMEM204 and IFT140) associated with pancreatic cancer risk

Abstract Background Epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) using peripheral blood have identified specific sites of DNA methylation associated with risk of various cancers and may hold promise to identify novel biomarkers of risk; however, few studies have been performed for pancreatic cancer and none using a prospective study design. Methods Using a nested case-control study design, incident pancreatic cancer cases and matched controls were identified from participants who provided blood at baseline in three prospective cohort studies (Nurses’ Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study and Physicians’ Health Study). DNA methylation levels were measured in DNA extracted from leukocytes using the Illumina MethylationEPIC array. Average follow-up period for this analysis was 13 years. Results A region in chromosome 16 near genesTMEM204 and IFT140 was identified as being differentially methylated in cases and controls. For some CpGs in the region, the associations were stronger with shorter time to diagnosis (e.g., OR= 5.95, 95% CI = 1.52-23.12, for top vs bottom quartile, for Conclusions Changes in DNA methylation in peripheral blood may mark alterations in metabolic or immune pathways (potentially including alterations in immune subtypes) that play a role in pancreatic cancer. Identifying new biological pathways in carcinogenesis of pancreatic cancer using EWAS approach could provide new opportunities for improving treatment and prevention.
iMED-Tour: An IoT-based Privacy-assured framework for Medical Services in Smart Tourism

Tourism is one of the key revenue generators in communities worldwide. In the present day, traveling has become a lot easier with all the information available through the Internet. However, there are still challenges in identifying the right medical resources while traveling to a new city for the first time. In this research, we propose a privacy-assured framework that can help in identifying the medical services for a tourist. Through this research, we have developed a cost-effective tour wearable, iMED-Tour, that can notify the user if they need to visit a hospital service in case of emergency and provide suggestions for the preferred medical services. The proposed framework was evaluated for its latency with regards to the wearable’s performance and ability to find the shortest path. The iMED-Tour wearable had an overall latency in the order of few milliseconds and the shortest path algorithm implemented in CupCarbon had a latency of 10 seconds.
Propulsion requirements for reusable single-stage-to-orbit rocket vehicles

The conceptual design of a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle using a wide variety of evolutionary technologies has recently been completed as a part of NASA's Advanced Manned Launch System (AMLS) study. The employment of new propulsion system technologies is critical to the design of a reasonably sized, operationally efficient SSTO vehicle. This paper presents the propulsion system requirements identified for this near-term AMLS SSTO vehicle. Sensitivities of the vehicle to changes in specific impulse and sea-level thrust-to-weight ratio are examined. The results of a variety of vehicle/propulsion system trades performed on the near-term AMLS SSTO vehicle are also presented.
Use of Telemedicine for Emergency Triage in an Independent Senior Living Community: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Older, chronically ill individuals in independent living communities are frequently transferred to the emergency department (ED) for acute issues that could be managed in lower-acuity settings. Triage via telemedicine could deter unnecessary ED transfers. Objective: We examined the effectiveness of a telemedicine intervention for emergency triage in an independent living community. Methods: In the intervention community, a 950-resident independent senior living community, when a resident called for help, emergency medical technician–trained staff could engage an emergency medicine physician via telemedicine to assist with management and triage. We compared trends in the proportion of calls resulting in transport to the ED (ie, primary outcome) in the intervention community to two control communities. Secondary outcomes were telemedicine use and posttransport disposition. Semistructured focus groups of residents and staff were conducted to examine attitudes toward the intervention. Qualitative data analysis used thematic analysis. Results: Although the service was offered at no cost to residents, use was low and we found no evidence of fewer ED transfers. The key barrier to program use was resistance from frontline staff members, who did not view telemedicine triage as a valuable tool for emergency response, instead perceiving it as time-consuming and as undermining their independent judgment. Conclusions: Engagement of, and acceptance by, frontline providers is a key consideration in using telemedicine triage to reduce unnecessary ED transfers.
A Historical Review of the State Police Powers and Their Relevance to the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020

At the time this article was written, in June 2020, the United States was five months into the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The United States Supreme Court, in a divided decision, has turned away a challenge to state authority to impose general public health restrictions that did not exempt religious institutions. While most state and federal courts have also rejected challenges to public health orders, an unprecedented number of courts have sided with the challengers and substituted the courts’ judgment on public health safety measures for that of the state or local public authorities. At this point in time, support for public health restrictions to slow the spread of the virus tends to follow the existing ideological divide in the country, reflecting either the President’s skepticism of science and expert opinion and downplaying the risk of the pandemic, or accepting the need for dramatic shared sacrifice in the face of grave danger. This article is a historical look at the judicial review of public health orders and statutes. Courts have almost always deferred to the judgment of public health authorities or legislatures in public health cases. In only two cases has the Supreme Court found such actions unconstitutional. In both, the Court found that the proffered public health justification was pretextual, with a significant racial/ethnic bias. But while the judicial divide over the public health response to COVID-19 is unprecedented, the public controversy is not. Public health actions have always been controversial in the United States. There have always been vaccine resisters. Businesses resist anything that interferes with their operations. Individuals resist restrictions on personal behavior, whether that was wearing masks in 1918-1919 or being isolated for tuberculosis. Public officials also have sometimes failed to act because of public opposition. Public resistance to disease control measures during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, for example, led to a second wave of cases and a dramatic increase in deaths. And political opposition to public health actions greatly exacerbated the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.
Transient Stability Assessment of a Power System Using Multi-layer SVM Method

With the rapid growth of power systems, more large interconnections and the integration of large renewable energies make the systems more complicated. Therefore, transient stability assessment (TSA) has always been considered as one of the top challenges to ensure the security and operation of power systems. The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, such as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) have been drawn attentions to the power industry recently. Compared with traditional SVM, this paper presents an advanced TSA system using Multi-layer Support Vector Machine (ML-SVM) method. Basically, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in ML-SVM to identify the valued feature subsets with varying numbers of features which makes full use of the input information. Transient stabilities of the system are determined based on the generator relative rotor angles obtained from the time-domain simulation. Data from the time-domain simulation are used as the inputs for ML-SVM training and testing. Then these trained SVMs are integrated to assess the transient stability of the power system. The simulation results show that the proposed method can reduce the possibility of misclassification of the system. Case study of IEEE 9-bus system on PowerWorld Simulator illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Reply to "Letter to the editor: 'The origin of free glutamate in milk: a role for anionic amino acid transporters'".

to the editor: We thank Dr. Shennan ([5][1]) for his comments and agree that plasma glutamate and its transporters play a role in regulating glutamate availability in lactating mammary epithelial cells. In our paper, we did not rule out this possibility, but rather suggested a potentially important
Identifying the Prevalence of Gender Biases among the Computing Organizations.

We have designed an online survey to understand the status quo of four dimensions of gender biases among the contemporary computing organizations. Our preliminary results found almost one-third of the respondents have reported first-hand experiences of encountering gender biases at their jobs.
What Proportion of Foster Care Children Do Not Have Child Protective Services Reports? A Preliminary Look.

It is perhaps surprising that we lack complete national information about why children enter foster care. While the annual Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS) report is info...
Social Deficits and Repetitive Behaviors Are Improved by Early Postnatal Low-Dose VPA Intervention in a Novel shank3-Deficient Zebrafish Model.

Mutations of the SHANK3 gene are found in some autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients, and animal models harboring SHANK3 mutations exhibit a variety of ASD-like behaviors, presenting a unique opportunity to explore the underlying neuropathological mechanisms and potential pharmacological treatments. The histone deacetylase (HDAC) valproic acid (VPA) has demonstrated neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties, suggesting possible therapeutic utility for ASD. Therefore, SHANK3-associated ASD-like symptoms present a convenient model to evaluate the potential benefits, therapeutic window, and optimal dose of VPA. We constructed a novel shank3-deficient (shank3ab -/- ) zebrafish model through CRISPR/Cas9 editing and conducted comprehensive morphological and neurobehavioral evaluations, including of core ASD-like behaviors, as well as molecular analyses of synaptic proteins expression levels. Furthermore, different VPA doses and treatment durations were examined for effects on ASD-like phenotypes. Compared to wild types (WTs), shank3ab-/- zebrafish exhibited greater developmental mortality, more frequent abnormal tail bending, pervasive developmental delay, impaired social preference, repetitive swimming behaviors, and generally reduced locomotor activity. The expression levels of synaptic proteins were also dramatically reduced in shank3ab-/- zebrafish. These ASD-like behaviors were attenuated by low-dose (5 μM) VPA administered from 4 to 8 days post-fertilization (dpf), and the effects persisted to adulthood. In addition, the observed underexpression of grm5, encoding glutamate metabotropic receptor 5, was significantly improved in VPA-treated shank3ab-/- zebrafish. We report for the first time that low-dose VPA administered after neural tube closure has lasting beneficial effects on the social deficits and repetitive behavioral patterns in shank3-deficient ASD model zebrafish. These findings provide a promising strategy for ASD clinical drug development.
Undiagnosed Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes in Health Disparities

Globally half of all diabetes mellitus is undiagnosed. We sought to determine the extent and characteristics of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes in Mexican Americans residing in the United States. This disadvantaged population with 50% lifetime risk of diabetes is a microcosm of the current pandemic. We accessed baseline data between 2004 and 2014 from 2,838 adults recruited to our Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC); a two-stage randomly selected ‘Framingham-like’ cohort of Mexican Americans on the US Mexico border with severe health disparities. We examined prevalence, risk factors and metabolic health in diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes. Two thirds of this Mexican American population has diabetes or pre-diabetes. Diabetes prevalence was 28.0%, nearly half undiagnosed, and pre-diabetes 31.6%. Mean BMI among those with diabetes was 33.5 kg/m2 compared with 29.0 kg/m2 for those without diabetes. Significant risk factors were low income and educational levels. Most with diabetes had increased waist/hip ratio. Lack of insurance and access to health services played a decisive role in failure to have diabetes diagnosed. Participants with undiagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes had similar measures of poor metabolic health similar but generally not as severe as those with diagnosed diabetes. More than 50% of a minority Mexican American population in South Texas has diabetes or pre-diabetes and is metabolically unhealthy. Only a third of diabetes cases were diagnosed. Sustained efforts are imperative to identify, diagnose and treat individuals in underserved communities.
Defense Reactions and Coping Strategies in Normal Adolescents

In exploring the relationship between defense reactions and coping strategies in a non-clinic sample of adolescents (N = 81), we assessed: defense structure by the Bond Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ); coping behaviors by the Coping Responses Inventory-Youth Form (CRI-Youth); and general adjustment by Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) ratings. Defense reactions and coping strategies were modestly associated and made independent contributions in predicting the GAF. Mature and immature defenses and avoidance coping comprised the optimal combination in predicting the GAF, accounting for 20% of GAF variance. It is therefore important to assess both unconscious and conscious processes when assessing general functioning in normal adolescents.
Use of a novel technology for presenting screening measures to detect mild cognitive impairment in elderly patients

Summary Background: Available screening tools for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, are insensitive or not feasible for administration in a busy primary care setting. Display Enhanced TEsting for Cognitive impairment and Traumatic brain injury (DETECT™) addresses these issues by creating an immersive environment for the brief administration of neuropsychological (NP) measures. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if the DETECT™ cognitive subtests can identify MCI patients as accurately as standard pen and paper NP tests. Methods: Twenty patients with MCI recruited from a memory disorders clinic and 20 age-matched controls were given both a full battery of NP tests (standard NP) and the DETECT™ screen. Logistic regression models were used to determine whether individual tests were predictive of group membership (MCI or control). Demographic variables including age, race, education and gender were adjusted as covariates. Selection methods were used to identify subset models that exhibited maximum discrimination between MCI patients and controls for both testing methods. Results: Both the standard NP model (C-index = 0.836) and the DETECT™ model (C-index = 0.865) showed very good discrimination and were not significantly different (p = 0.7323). Conclusion: The DETECT™ system shows good agreement with standard NP tests and is capable of identifying elderly patients with cognitive impairment.
Automatic spatial planning for machining operations

We present a novel spatial planning system that automatically generates machining plans with stable fixtures to fabricate complex geometries. Given a cutting tool, the system initially finds all tool poses that do not cut into the desired part geometry, and constructs the maximal volume removable from a raw stock according to the tool's degrees of freedom. The planning space is then defined as the product space of all available tools and their associated maximal removal volumes. A sequence of machining operations to iteratively remove material from a raw stock is generated by searching the planning space and finding successive machining steps that minimize manufacturing time or cost. For each step, a vise or modular fixture is automatically assembled such that the part is stable and the fixture assembly does not interfere with tool motion. Process planning is an inverse problem and multiple feasible solutions exist to machine the part if it is deemed manufacturable by the system. The system generates and visualizes several qualitatively distinct fabrication plans for an engineer to choose from. The chosen plan is sent to a tool path planner to generate machining instructions. We will show several examples of rapid and automatic end-to-end machining process planning on complex geometries to demonstrate the scalability and practicality of our system.