cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How Do Patients with Chronic Pain Benefit from a Peer-Supported Pain Self-Management Intervention? A Qualitative Investigation.

Objective. Peer support is a novel and under-studied approach to the management of chronic pain. This study’s purpose was to uncover the elements of a peer-supported self-management intervention that are perceived by participants as essential to achieving positive changes. Design. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Methods. Veterans and veteran peer coaches who participated in a pilot study of peer support Improving Pain using Peer-Reinforced Self-Management Strategies (IMPPRESS, [NCT01748227][1]) took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews after completing the 4-month intervention. Questions were designed to facilitate understanding of how participants experienced the intervention. An immersion/crystallization approach was used to analyze data. Results. All 26 peer coaches and patients who completed the intervention were interviewed. Qualitative analysis revealed three elements of IMPPRESS that peer coaches and patients believed conferred benefit: 1) making interpersonal connections; 2) providing/receiving encouragement and support; and 3) facilitating the use of pain self-management strategies. Conclusions. Peer support represents a promising approach to chronic pain management that merits further study. The current study helps to identify intervention elements perceived by participants to be important in achieving positive results. Understanding how peer support may benefit patients is essential to optimize the effectiveness of peer support interventions and increase the implementation potential of peer-supported pain self-management into clinical practice. [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=CLINTRIALGOV&access_num=NCT01748227&atom=%2Fpainmedicine%2Fearly%2F2016%2F07%2F07%2Fpm.pnw138.atom
The Psychology and Neuroscience of Financial Decision Making

Financial decisions are among the most important life-shaping decisions that people make. We review facts about financial decisions and what cognitive and neural processes influence them. Because of cognitive constraints and a low average level of financial literacy, many household decisions violate sound financial principles. Households typically have underdiversified stock holdings and low retirement savings rates. Investors overextrapolate from past returns and trade too often. Even top corporate managers, who are typically highly educated, make decisions that are affected by overconfidence and personal history. Many of these behaviors can be explained by well-known principles from cognitive science. A boom in high-quality accumulated evidence-especially how practical, low-cost 'nudges' can improve financial decisions-is already giving clear guidance for balanced government regulation.
The Lasting Effect of Sex Ratio Imbalance on Marriage and Family: Evidence from World War II in Russia

How does a shock to sex ratios affect marriage markets and fertility? I use the drastic change in sex ratios caused by World War II to identify the effects of unbalanced sex ratios on Russian women. Using unique archival data, the results indicate that male scarcity led to lower rates of marriage and fertility, higher nonmarital births, and reduced bargaining power within marriage for women most affected by war deaths. The impact of sex ratio imbalance on marriage and family persisted for years after the war's end and was likely magnified by policies that promoted nonmarital births and discouraged divorce.
The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor†

Abstract I use a field experiment in rural Kenya to study how temporary incentives to save impact long-run economic outcomes. Study participants randomly selected to receive large temporary interest rates on an individual bank account had significantly more income and assets 2.5–3.5 years after the interest rates expired. These changes are much larger than the short-run impacts on experimental bank account use and almost entirely driven by growth in entrepreneurship. In contrast, interest rates on joint accounts and modest cash payments did not significantly impact long-run economic outcomes. (JEL C93, D13, D14, D90, G21, I32, O12)
The Influenza M2 Ectodomain Regulates the Conformational Equilibria of the Transmembrane Proton Channel: Insights from Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

The influenza M2 protein is the target of the amantadine family of antiviral drugs, and its transmembrane (TM) domain structure and dynamics have been extensively studied. However, little is known about the structure of the highly conserved N-terminal ectodomain, which contains epitopes targeted by influenza vaccines. In this study, we synthesized an M2 construct containing the N-terminal ectodomain and the TM domain, to understand the site-specific conformation and dynamics of the ectodomain and to investigate the effect of the ectodomain on the TM structure. We incorporated 13C- and 15N-labeled residues into both domains and measured their chemical shifts and line widths using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. The data indicate that the entire ectodomain is unstructured and dynamic, but the motion is slower for residues closer to the TM domain. 13C line shapes indicate that this ecto-TM construct undergoes fast uniaxial rotational diffusion, like the isolated TM peptide, but drug binding increases...
A note on the semiclassical formulation of BPS states in four-dimensional N=2 theories

Vector spaces of (framed) BPS states of Lagrangian four-dimensional N=2 field theories can be defined in semiclassical chambers in terms of the $L^2$-cohomology of Dirac-like operators on monopole moduli spaces. This was spelled out previously for theories with only vectormultiplets, taking into account only a subset of the possible half-supersymmetric 't Hooft-Wilson line defects. This note completes the discussion by describing the modifications needed when including matter hypermultiplets together with arbitrary 't Hooft-Wilson line defects. Two applications of this extended discussion are given.
Efficacy of Liposomal Bupivacaine Infiltration on the Management of Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Importance Liposomal bupivacaine is a novel extended-duration anesthetic that has recently been used for local infiltration in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Athough liposomal bupivacaine is widely used, it is unknown if the benefits justify the cost in the veteran population at our institution. Objective To evaluate a change in practice: the effect of local infiltration of liposomal bupivacaine on perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing primary TKA. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients who underwent primary TKA at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center before (March 3, 2013-March 2, 2014) and after (March 3, 2014-March 2, 2015) the implementation of liposomal bupivacaine for local infiltration in TKA. Intervention Drug utilization evaluation of liposomal bupivacaine for local infiltration in TKA. Main Outcomes and Measures Use of opioids after discharge from the postanesthesia care unit. Results Among 199 patients, those who received liposomal bupivacaine after primary TKA (mean [SD] age, 65.3 [6.9] years; 93 males and 5 females) had a reduced median opioid use in the first 24 hours after surgery compared with those who did not receive liposomal bupivacaine (mean [SD] age, 64.9 [8.4] years; 95 males and 6 females; [intravenous morphine equivalents, 12.50 vs 22.50 mg; P = .001]). The use of patient-controlled analgesia was also reduced among patients who received liposomal bupivacaine vs those who did not (49 vs 91; P P = .001) and in the postanesthesia care unit among those who received liposomal bupivacaine vs those who did not (4 vs 20; P = .001). The number of patients in the postanesthesia care unit with no pain was improved among those who received liposomal bupivacaine vs those who did not (44 vs 19; P P = .001), patients who received liposomal bupivacaine had greater median (interquartile range) pain scores 48 hours (5.5 [4.0-7.0] vs 5.0 [3.0-6.0]; P = .01), 72 hours (5.0 [4.0-6.0] vs 4.0 [2.0-6.0]; P = .002), and 96 hours (5.0 [3.0-6.5] vs 4.0 [1.0-5.0]; P = .003) after surgery than those who did not receive liposomal bupivacaine. There was no difference in the median length of stay between the 2 groups. Institutional cost savings was estimated at $27 000 per year. Conclusions and Relevance Local infiltration of liposomal bupivacaine reduces use of opioids in the first 24 hours after primary TKA. Similarly, reduction in antiemetic use and improved postoperative pain are also seen in the first 24 hours after surgery but are limited to this time frame. Furthermore, a positive institutional cost savings was observed.
Protecting genomic data analytics in the cloud: state of the art and opportunities.

The outsourcing of genomic data into public cloud computing settings raises concerns over privacy and security. Significant advancements in secure computation methods have emerged over the past several years, but such techniques need to be rigorously evaluated for their ability to support the analysis of human genomic data in an efficient and cost-effective manner. With respect to public cloud environments, there are concerns about the inadvertent exposure of human genomic data to unauthorized users. In analyses involving multiple institutions, there is additional concern about data being used beyond agreed research scope and being prcoessed in untrused computational environments, which may not satisfy institutional policies. To systematically investigate these issues, the NIH-funded National Center for Biomedical Computing iDASH (integrating Data for Analysis, ‘anonymization’ and SHaring) hosted the second Critical Assessment of Data Privacy and Protection competition to assess the capacity of cryptographic technologies for protecting computation over human genomes in the cloud and promoting cross-institutional collaboration. Data scientists were challenged to design and engineer practical algorithms for secure outsourcing of genome computation tasks in working software, whereby analyses are performed only on encrypted data. They were also challenged to develop approaches to enable secure collaboration on data from genomic studies generated by multiple organizations (e.g., medical centers) to jointly compute aggregate statistics without sharing individual-level records. The results of the competition indicated that secure computation techniques can enable comparative analysis of human genomes, but greater efficiency (in terms of compute time and memory utilization) are needed before they are sufficiently practical for real world environments.
Very deep convolutional networks for end-to-end speech recognition

Sequence-to-sequence models have shown success in end-to-end speech recognition. However these models have only used shallow acoustic encoder networks. In our work, we successively train very deep convolutional networks to add more expressive power and better generalization for end-to-end ASR models. We apply network-in-network principles, batch normalization, residual connections and convolutional LSTMs to build very deep recurrent and convolutional structures. Our models exploit the spectral structure in the feature space and add computational depth without overfitting issues. We experiment with the WSJ ASR task and achieve 10.5% word error rate without any dictionary or language model using a 15 layer deep network.
Unsupervised clustering under the Union of Polyhedral Cones (UOPC) model

Abstract In this paper, we consider clustering data that is assumed to come from a union of finitely many pointed convex polyhedral cones. This model is referred to as the Union of Polyhedral Cones (UOPC) model. Similar to the Union of Subspaces (UOS) model where each data from each subspace is generated from a (unknown) basis, in the UOPC model each data from each cone is assumed to be generated from a finite number of (unknown) extreme rays . To cluster data under this model, we first build an affinity graph with the different edge weights where the edge weights are derived using a K -nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm. Subsequently, spectral clustering is applied to obtain the clusters, and the proposed algorithm is denoted as KNN-SC. We show that on average KNN-SC outperforms Sparse Subspace Clustering by Non-negative constraints Lasso (NCL), Least squares approximation (LSA), Sparse Subspace Clustering (SSC), robust Subspace Clustering via Thresholding (TSC), and Mutual KNN based Spectral Clustering (KNNM-SC), and we provide deterministic conditions for correct clustering using KNN-SC. We show that on average KNN-SC outperforms NCL, LSA, SSC, TSC, and KNNM-SC, and we provide deterministic conditions for correct clustering using KNN-SC. For an affinity measure between the cones it is shown that as long as the cones are not very coherent and as long as the density of data within each cone exceeds a threshold, KNN-SC leads to accurate clustering. Finally, simulation results on real datasets (MNIST and CMU Motion datasets) depict that the proposed algorithm works well on real data indicating the utility of the UOPC model and the proposed algorithm.
Mammography-Seeking Practices of Central Illinois Amish Women

Motivated by compelling, but scant, literature on high rates of breast cancer mortality among the United States Amish, a survey was conducted to examine mammography-seeking practices among Amish women. Inclusion criteria included age 40–70 years and membership of the Arthur, Illinois Amish community. Data were collected from this unique, socially isolated group through a mail questionnaire focusing on health history, mammography practices, and beliefs surrounding breast health. Sample mammography adherence and “ever mammogram” rates were compared with both the general population of the United States (U.S.) and other Amish communities in the U.S. Logistic regression on the “ever mammogram” variable showed that Amish women with knowledge of screening guidelines experienced an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 5.26 [confidence interval (CI) 1.79, 15.45] for mammography screening compared to those without that knowledge. Participants who believed nutrition/diet causes breast cancer experienced an OR of 4.27 (CI 1.39, 13.11) for mammography and those who believed physical injury caused breast cancer had an OR of 3.86 (CI 1.24, 12.04) compared to women who do not hold these beliefs. Future research is needed to confirm and extend these results.
Complete linear optical isolation at the microscale with ultralow loss.

Low-loss optical isolators and circulators are critical nonreciprocal components for signal routing and protection, but their chip-scale integration is not yet practical using standard photonics foundry processes. The significant challenges that confront integration of magneto-optic nonreciprocal systems on chip have made imperative the exploration of magnet free alternatives. However, none of these approaches have yet demonstrated linear optical isolation with ideal characteristics over a microscale footprint – simultaneously incorporating large contrast with ultralow forward loss – having fundamental compatibility with photonic integration in standard waveguide materials. Here we demonstrate that complete linear optical isolation can be obtained within any dielectric waveguide using only a whispering-gallery microresonator pumped by a single-frequency laser. The isolation originates from a nonreciprocal induced transparency based on a coherent light-sound interaction, with the coupling originating from the traveling-wave Brillouin scattering interaction, that breaks time-reversal symmetry within the waveguide-resonator system. Our result demonstrates that material-agnostic and wavelength-agnostic optical isolation is far more accessible for chip-scale photonics than previously thought.
Deep Tensor convolution on multicores

Deep convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) of 3-dimensional kernels allow joint modeling of spatiotemporal features. These networks have improved performance of video and volumetric image analysis, but have been limited in size due to the low memory ceiling of GPU hardware. Existing CPU implementations overcome this constraint but are impractically slow. Here we extend and optimize the faster Winograd-class of convolutional algorithms to the N-dimensional case and specifically for CPU hardware. First, we remove the need to manually hand-craft algorithms by exploiting the relaxed constraints and cheap sparse access of CPU memory. Second, we maximize CPU utilization and multi-core scalability by transforming data matrices to be cache-aware, integer multiples of AVX vector widths. Treating 2D ConvNets as a special case, we demonstrate a 5 to 25-fold improvement in throughput compared to previous state-of-the-art.
The arterial border: negotiating economies of risk and violence in Mexico's security regime

This article examines the material and ideological dimensions of what I conceptualise as Mexico's 'arterial border'. Since the late 1980s, transit routes in Mexico's interior have increasingly become sites of a diffused migration enforcement strategy. Based on long-term ethnographic research along Central American transit routes, I examine how the arterial border has developed historically and is experienced by migrants in local contexts. I pay particular attention to the disjuncture between violent encounters with the state and discourses of security, human rights and humanitarianism that serve to legitimise bordering practices. Such an analysis moves beyond understandings of borders as spatially fixed entities to reimagine them as constantly shifting and dynamic sites of state violence, individual agency and contestation.
QUESTIONS IN CROCODILIAN PHYSIOLOGY

Morphologists, physiologists, behaviourists and ecologists have traditionally asked different and often mutually exclusive questions within their different conceptual frameworks. Only the concept of natural selection and the idea that the animals have been modified for one or another mode of life history provide a common denominator or common framework for comparison. This approach also suggests that the observed responses to disturbance and to the multiple facies of the biotope are likely to be adaptive and that such adaptation is to be looked for. Finally one can see that selection is apt to differ during the stages of ontogeny and that age-specific selection is likely to produce age-specific adaptation. Three cautions then apply to the interpretation of data now in the literature. Each reflects the need to treat the animal holistically in an adaptive context.
Is more information always better? A case in credit markets

This paper studies the impact of behavioral and non-behavioral information contained in consumer credit reports on the credit market. A repeated game of incomplete information between a borrower and a sequence of lenders is considered. Lenders’ beliefs regarding the borrower's type depend on the borrower's historical loan performance and other informative signals. It is established that for low beliefs, strategic defaults occur in equilibrium as the borrower defaults on his loans despite having the ability to repay them. Further, as the ancillary signals become increasingly informative of the borrower's type, the range of beliefs over which strategic defaults occur expands. This increase in strategic defaults highlights an unintended negative effect of allowing informative signals to influence beliefs. On the upside, the informative signals allow lenders to learn the borrower's type more quickly.
Efficient algorithms for globally optimal trajectories

We present serial and parallel algorithms for solving a system of equations that arises from the discretization of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation associated to a trajectory optimization problem of the following type. A vehicle starts at a prespecified point x/sub o/ and follows a unit speed trajectory x(t) inside a region in /spl Rscr//sup m/ until an unspecified time T that the region is exited. A trajectory minimizing a cost function of the form /spl int//sub 0//sup T/ r(x(t))dt+q(x(T)) is sought. The discretized Hamilton-Jacobi equation corresponding to this problem is usually solved using iterative methods. Nevertheless, assuming that the function r is positive, we are able to exploit the problem structure and develop one-pass algorithms for the discretized problem. The first algorithm resembles Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm and runs in time O(n log n), where n is the number of grid points. The second algorithm uses a somewhat different discretization and borrows some ideas from a variation of Dial's shortest path algorithm (1969) that we develop here; it runs in time O(n), which is the best possible, under some fairly mild assumptions. Finally, we show that the latter algorithm can be efficiently parallelized: for two-dimensional problems and with p processors, its running time becomes O(n/p), provided that p=O(/spl radic/n/log n). >
The Proposed Yucca Mountain Repository from a Corrosion Perspective

In this paper, the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository is viewed from a corrosion perspective. A major component of the long-term strategy for safe disposal of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain Repository is first to completely isolate the radionuclides in the waste packages for long times and to greatly retard the egress and transport of radionuclides from penetrated packages. Therefore, long-lived waste packages are important. The corrosion resistance of the waste package outer canister is reviewed, and a framework for the analysis of localized corrosion processes is presented. An overview is presented of the Materials Performance targeted thrust of the U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's Office of Science and Technology and International. The thrust program strives for increased scientific understanding, enhanced process models and advanced technologies for corrosion control.
Online Actions with Offline Impact: How Online Social Networks Influence Online and Offline User Behavior

Many of today's most widely used computing applications utilize social networking features and allow users to connect, follow each other, share content, and comment on others' posts. However, despite the widespread adoption of these features, there is little understanding of the consequences that social networking has on user retention, engagement, and online as well as offline behavior. Here, we study how social networks influence user behavior in a physical activity tracking application. We analyze 791 million online and offline actions of 6 million users over the course of 5 years, and show that social networking leads to a significant increase in users' online as well as offline activities. Specifically, we establish a causal effect of how social networks influence user behavior. We show that the creation of new social connections increases user online in-application activity by 30%, user retention by 17%, and user offline real-world physical activity by 7% (about 400 steps per day). By exploiting a natural experiment we distinguish the effect of social influence of new social connections from the simultaneous increase in user's motivation to use the app and take more steps. We show that social influence accounts for 55% of the observed changes in user behavior, while the remaining 45% can be explained by the user's increased motivation to use the app. Further, we show that subsequent, individual edge formations in the social network lead to significant increases in daily steps. These effects diminish with each additional edge and vary based on edge attributes and user demographics. Finally, we utilize these insights to develop a model that accurately predicts which users will be most influenced by the creation of new social network connections.
Three-dimensional simulation of a hole-coupled FEL oscillator

Abstract The performance of a two-mirror resonator with holes for out-coupling has been examined in a previous study in which the FEL gain was neglected, but the geometrical effect of the wiggler aperture was included in the optical calculation. The phenomenon of mode degeneracy was found to occur, that has serious implications for the stability of performance when the FEL gain is included. We have developed a FEL oscillator code based on “TDA”, a three-dimensional FEL amplifier code, to study the mode characteristics in the presence of an FEL. We find that the interaction of the radiation and the FEL has an important, and positive, impact on the mode-profile and related cavity performance parameters. In particular, mode degeneracy is not expected to be a serious problem for reasonable FEL oscillator designs.
Savings, investment and international capital flows

Abstract The high correlation between national savings and domestic investment rateshas been interpreted as evidence that capital is not internationally mobile. This paper surveys the theory and evidence on the relationship between savings and investment. In a sample of 23 OECD countries a positive correlation between savings and investment rates is found in both the short and long runs, However, a wide variety of models generate such co-movements in savings and investment in response to exogenous disturbances, even under conditions of complete financial markets. Thus, the savings-investment correlation provides little evidence on the question of international capital mobility.
Modeling of coupled edge stochastic and core resonant magnetic field effects in diverted tokamaks

Abstract Attaining the highest possible performance in poloidally diverted tokamaks requires resonant magnetic perturbation coils to avoid core instabilities such as locked, resistive wall and neoclassical tearing modes. These coils also perturb the pedestal and edge region, causing varying degrees of stochasticity with remnant islands. In this paper, the effects of the DIII-D locked mode control coils are modeled with a field line integration code and compared with experimental measurements. We find that without a detailed profile analysis and field line integration modeling, it is difficult to establish whether a given response is due to a ‘core mode’ or an ‘edge stochastic boundary effect’. We also find in diverted Ohmic plasmas, stochastic boundary layers display many characteristics associated with edge stochasticity in non-diverted tokamaks but can have significant differences such as a ‘focusing’ of the open magnetic field lines into the divertor.
Learning Human-Understandable Strategies.

Algorithms for equilibrium computation generally make no attempt to ensure that the computed strategies are understandable by humans. For instance the strategies for the strongest poker agents are represented as massive binary files. In many situations, we would like to compute strategies that can actually be implemented by humans, who may have computational limitations and may only be able to remember a small number of features or components of the strategies that have been computed. We study poker games where private information distributions can be arbitrary. We create a large training set of game instances and solutions, by randomly selecting the information probabilities, and present algorithms that learn from the training instances in order to perform well in games with unseen information distributions. We are able to conclude several new fundamental rules about poker strategy that can be easily implemented by humans.
Top income shares and aggregate wealth-income ratio in a two-class corporate economy

This paper examines some determinants of top income shares and the aggregate wealth-income ratio in the USA. The paper, first, points out the difficulties in Pikettyâ€™s neo-classical version of explanation of US income inequality, which stresses the effect of the rising aggregate wealth-income ratio and high elasticity of factor substitution. Second, the analysis, based on a Cambridge two-class model along the lines of Kaldor (1955â€“56, 1966) and Pasinetti (1962), highlights the role of financialization in increasing inequality. Third, the analysis suggests that the rise in the aggregate wealth-income ratio from 1980 to 2007 in the USA is explained mostly by asset price inflation, not by technical relations. Finally, the analysis examines the effects of the slowdown in capital accumulation on income distribution and wealth-income ratios, which are very different from those in Pikettyâ€™s Capital in the Twenty-First Century.
The multinorm principle for linearly disjoint Galois extensions

Abstract Text Let L 1 and L 2 be finite separable extensions of a global field K , and let E i be the Galois closure of L i over K for i = 1 , 2 . We establish a local-global principle for the product of norms from L 1 and L 2 (so-called multinorm principle ) provided that the extensions E 1 and E 2 are linearly disjoint over K . Video For a video summary of this paper, please click here or visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fwHt_k5dVQ .
Adaptive adjustment of noise covariance in Kalman filter for dynamic state estimation

Accurate estimation of the dynamic states of a synchronous machine (e.g., rotor's angle and speed) is essential in monitoring and controlling transient stability of a power system. It is well known that the covariance matrixes of process noise (Q) and measurement noise (R) have a significant impact on the Kalman filter's performance in estimating dynamic states. The conventional ad-hoc approaches for estimating the covariance matrixes are not adequate in achieving the best filtering performance. To address this problem, this paper proposes an adaptive filtering approach to adaptively estimate Q and R based on innovation and residual to improve the dynamic state estimation accuracy of the extended Kalman filter (EKF). It is shown through the simulation on the two-area model that the proposed estimation method is more robust against the initial errors in Q and R than the conventional method in estimating the dynamic states of a synchronous machine.
Boundary segmentation for fluorescence microscopy using steerable filters

Fluorescence microscopy is used to image multiple subcellular structures in living cells which are not readily observed using conventional optical microscopy. Moreover, two-photon microscopy is widely used to image structures deeper in tissue. Recent advancement in fluorescence microscopy has enabled the generation of large data sets of images at different depths, times, and spectral channels. Thus, automatic object segmentation is necessary since manual segmentation would be inefficient and biased. However, automatic segmentation is still a challenging problem as regions of interest may not have well defined boundaries as well as non-uniform pixel intensities. This paper describes a method for segmenting tubular structures in fluorescence microscopy images of rat kidney and liver samples using adaptive histogram equalization, foreground/background segmentation, steerable filters to capture directional tendencies, and connected-component analysis. The results from several data sets demonstrate that our method can segment tubular boundaries successfully. Moreover, our method has better performance when compared to other popular image segmentation methods when using ground truth data obtained via manual segmentation.
THE STABILITY OF DUAL-TAPER MODULAR HIP IMPLANTS: A BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF IMPACT DIRECTION ON COMPONENT STABILITY

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of dual-taper modular hip implants following impaction forces delivered in varying directions as measured by the distraction forces required to disassemble the components. Methods Distraction of the head-neck and neck-stem tapers of dual-taper modular implants with 0°, 8°, and 15° neck angles were measured utilizing a custom-made distraction fixture attached to a servohydraulic materials test machine. Distraction was measured after hand-pressing the components as well as following a simulated firm hammer blow impaction. Impacts to the 0°, 8°, 15° necks were directed axially in-line with the neck, 10° anterior, and 10° proximal to the axis of the neck, respectively. Results Distraction forces required to disassemble the neck-stem taper were significantly higher following impaction (1125- 1743 N) when compared to hand pressed assembly (248–302 N). Off-axis impacts resulted in significantly reduced mean (±95% CI) distraction forces (8° neck = 1125 ±117 N; 15° neck = 1212 ±73 N), which were up to 35% lower than the mean distraction force for axial impacts to the 0° neck (1743 ±138 N). Conclusion The direction of impaction has a significant effect on the stability of dual taper modular implants, measured by the component distraction force. Greatest stability at the modular interface was achieved with impaction directed in line with the longitudinal axis of the taper junction. Off axis impaction of the 8° and 15° neck led to significantly reduced stability at the neck-stem junction.
Timing of mid-crustal ductile extension in the northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex, Nevada: Evidence from U/Pb zircon ages

Metamorphic core complexes within the western U.S. record a history of Cenozoic ductile and brittle extensional deformation, metamorphism, magmatism, and exhumation within the footwalls of high-angle Basin and Range normal faults. In models proposed for the formation of metamorphic core complexes there is a close temporal and spatial link between upper crustal normal faulting, lower crustal ductile extension and flow, and detachment faulting. To provide constraints on the timing of ductile extension in the northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex (Nevada) and thereby test these models, we present new 238 U- 206 Pb dates on zircons from both deformed and undeformed rhyolite dikes intruded into this core complex. The older age bracket is from the northern dike swarm, which was emplaced in the northwestern part of the range pretectonic to syntectonic with ductile extension. The younger age bracket is from the Silver Creek dike swarm, which was emplaced in the southern part of the range after ductile extensional deformation. The 238 U- 206 Pb zircon ages from these dikes provide tight bounds on the timing of ductile extension, between 37.806 ± 0.051 Ma and 22.49 ± 0.36 Ma. Our field observations, petrography, and 238 U- 206 Pb zircon ages on these dikes combined with published data on the geology and kinematics of extension, moderate- and low-temperature thermochronology on lower plate rocks, and age and faulting histories of Cenozoic sedimentary basins, are interpreted as recording an episode of localized upper crustal brittle extension during the late Eocene that drove upward ductile extensional flow of hot middle crustal rocks from beneath the northern Snake Range detachment soon after, or simultaneously with, emplacement of the older dike swarm. Exhumation of the lower plate continued in a rolling hinge–isostatic rebound style; the western part of the lower plate was exhumed first and the eastern part extended ductilely either episodically or continuously until the latest Oligocene–earliest Miocene, when the post-tectonic younger dike swarm was emplaced. Major brittle slip along the eastern part of the northern Snake Range detachment and along high-angle normal faults exhumed the lower plate during middle Miocene.
Family universal anomalous U(1) in realistic superstring derived models

Abstract An important issue in supersymmetry phenomenology is the suppression of squarks contributions to Flavor Changing Neutral Currents (FCNC). Recently it was noted that in some free fermionic three generation models the anomalous U(1) is family universal. It was further shown that if the D-term of the U(1)A is the dominant source of supersymmetry breaking, the squark masses are indeed approximately degenerate. In this paper I discuss the properties of the superstring models that give rise to the flavor universal anomalous U(1). The root cause for the universal U(1)A is the cyclic permutation symmetry, the characteristic property of the Z2×Z2 orbifold compactification, realized in the free fermionic models by the NAHE set of boundary condition basis vectors. The properties of the three generation models that preserve this cyclic permutation symmetry in the flavor charges are discussed. The cyclic permutation symmetry of the Z2×Z2 orbifold compactification is proposed to be the characteristic property, of phenomenological interest, that distinguishes it from other classes of superstring compactifications.
Progressive skeletal benefits of physical activity when young as assessed at the midshaft humerus in male baseball players

Physical activity benefits the skeleton, but there is contrasting evidence regarding whether benefits differ at different stages of growth. The current study demonstrates that physical activity should be encouraged at the earliest age possible and be continued into early adulthood to gain most skeletal benefits. The current study explored physical activity-induced bone adaptation at different stages of somatic maturity by comparing side-to-side differences in midshaft humerus properties between male throwing athletes and controls. Throwers present an internally controlled model, while inclusion of control subjects removes normal arm dominance influences. Throwing athletes (n = 90) and controls (n = 51) were categorized into maturity groups (pre, peri, post-early, post-mid, and post-late) based on estimated years from peak height velocity ( 10 years). Side-to-side percent differences in midshaft humerus cortical volumetric bone mineral density (Ct.vBMD) and bone mineral content (Ct.BMC); total (Tt.Ar), medullary (Me.Ar), and cortical (Ct.Ar) areas; average cortical thickness (Ct.Th); and polar Strength Strain Index (SSIP) were assessed. Significant interactions between physical activity and maturity on side-to-side differences in Ct.BMC, Tt.Ar, Ct.Ar, Me.Ar, Ct.Th, and SSIP resulted from the following: (1) greater throwing-to-nonthrowing arm differences than dominant-to-nondominant arm differences in controls (all p < 0.05) and (2) throwing-to-nonthrowing arm differences in throwers being progressively greater across maturity groups (all p < 0.05). Regional analyses revealed greatest adaptation in medial and lateral sectors, particularly in the three post-maturity groups. Years throwing predicted 59% of the variance of the variance in throwing-to-nonthrowing arm difference in SSIP (p < 0.001). These data suggest that physical activity has skeletal benefits beginning prior to and continuing beyond somatic maturation and that a longer duration of exposure to physical activity has cumulative skeletal benefits. Thus, physical activity should be encouraged at the earliest age possible and be continued into early adulthood to optimize skeletal benefits.
On the optimal control of partially observed inventory systems

Abstract This Note introduces recent developments in the analysis of inventory systems with partial observations. The states of these systems are typically conditional distributions, which evolve in infinite dimensional spaces over time. Our analysis involves introducing unnormalized probabilities to transform nonlinear state transition equations to linear ones. With the linear equations, the existence of the optimal feedback policies are proved for two models where demand and inventory are partially observed. In a third model where the current inventory is not observed but a past inventory level is fully observed, a sufficient statistic is provided to serve as a state. The last model serves as an example where a partially observed model has a finite dimensional state. In that model, we also establish the optimality of the basestock policies, hence generalizing the corresponding classical models with full information. To cite this article: A. Bensoussan et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 341 (2005).
Early Writing Intervention: A Best Evidence Synthesis.

The purpose of this best evidence synthesis was to identify promising interventions that align with a theoretical model of early writing development, targeting three components of early writing: tr...
Chromium and Lanthanum on Transition Alumina Surfaces: The Role of Bulk Point-Defect Distributions on Catalytic Activity

We employ a combination of Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (ZSTEM) and first-principles density-functional calculations to investigate the interaction between metal atoms and cubic alumina catalytic supports. We show that there are two observed La sites at the porous γ- alumina surface, and that single La atoms do not exhibit a tendency to cluster. Cr behaves very differently from La - it has a tendency to cover the alumina surface in ordered, periodic raft-like patches. The degradation of the chromia/alumina catalyst is related to the possibility for the chromium to move away from the surface into the bulk, and the activation barrier for such a process is higher in η- alumina than in γ- alumina, i.e., η- alumina is a more durable support for chromium catalyst.
Mycobacterium Fortuitum Infection of a Hickman Catheter Site

A patient with histiocytic lymphoma who developed a Hickman catheter exist site infection due to Mycobacterium fortuitum is described. Due to the risk of dissemination in immunosuppressed patients and the resistance to antibiotic therapy, rapid-growing mycobacteria should be considered when gram-positive bacilli are associated with infections in patients with these catheters.
The impact of an Educational Program on Gentamicin Use in a Teaching Hospital

Abstract We evaluated the effectiveness of a structured educational program in improving the gentamicin prescribing pattern of physicians in the hospital. Predetermined criteria for acceptable use were based upon the specific indications for initiating the drug therapy, the dosage regimen, and the precautions taken to avoid toxicity. In the pre-education review period, 57 of 109 courses of gentamicin (52 percent) were found acceptable. Following the educational program, 93 of 120 courses (78 percent; p
Status of Pediatric Pain Control: A Comparison of Hospital Analgesic Usage in Children and Adults

A chart review was conducted of the records of 90 children and 90 adults, randomly selected and matched for sex and diagnosis, to investigate analgesic usage. Four diagnostic categories (hernias, appendectomies, burns, and fractured femurs) at two hospitals were examined. Results revealed that adults received an average of 2.2 doses of narcotics per day, whereas children received 1.1 (P = .0001). Significant differences in dosing were noted between the diagnostic categories. Diagnoses associated with a longer hospital stay showed a greater discrepancy between narcotic usage in children and adults. Hospital differences were also significant (P = .004) with more doses per day administered at the urban hospital than the rural one. Infants and young children were less likely than older children to have narcotics ordered for them, but, if ordered, frequency of administration was similar for all children. Our study demonstrates that children and adults with the same diagnoses are treated differently as regards narcotic administration. Further research is necessary to determine whether these results represent a difference in pain tolerance in children or a lack of recognition of their discomfort.
P-Fimbriated Escherichia Coli Urinary Tract Infection: A Clinical Correlation

We designed a retrospective study to determine the incidence of P-fimbriated Escherichia coli in patients with asymptomatic bacteriuria, acute urethral syndrome, bacterial cystitis, acute pyelonephritis, possible acute pyelonephritis, and acute and chronic prostatitis. In addition, we compared the incidence in uncompromised vs compromised hosts, inpatients vs outpatients, and children vs adults. P-fimbriated E coli were isolated in more than 80% of uncompromised patients with either acute pyelonephritis or acute prostatitis. In clinically compromised patients having these disorders, the incidence dropped to approximately 30% (P less than .025). Neither age nor inpatient/outpatient status was a significant factor. We stress the importance of P-fimbriation as a virulence factor in acute pyelonephritis and acute prostatitis caused by E coli, though these diseases may be caused by less virulent organisms in compromised patients. Thus, patients with acute pyelonephritis or acute prostatitis caused by E coli negative for P-fimbriae probably should be considered compromised; the compromising factor should be determined as a guide to subsequent treatment.
Systematic Heuristic Evaluation of Computerized Consultation Order Templates: Clinicians’ and Human Factors Engineers’ Perspectives

We assessed the usability of consultation order templates and identified problems to prioritize in design efforts for improving referral communication. With a sample of 26 consultation order templates, three evaluators performed a usability heuristic evaluation. The evaluation used 14 domain-independent heuristics and the following three supplemental references: 1 new domain-specific heuristic, 6 usability goals, and coded clinicians' statements regarding ease of use for 10 sampled templates. Evaluators found 201 violations, a mean of 7.7 violations per template. Minor violations outnumbered major violations almost twofold, 115 (57%) to 62 (31%). Approximately 68% of violations were linked to 5 heuristics: aesthetic and minimalist design (17%), error prevention (16%), consistency and standards (14%), recognition rather than recall (11%), and meet referrers' information needs (10%). Severe violations were attributed mostly to meet referrers' information needs and recognition rather than recall. Recorded violations yielded potential negative consequences for efficiency, effectiveness, safety, learnability, and utility. Evaluators and clinicians demonstrated 80% agreement in usability assessment. Based on frequency and severity of usability heuristic violations, the consultation order templates reviewed may impede clinical efficiency and risk patient safety. Results support the following design considerations: communicate consultants' requirements, facilitate information seeking, and support communication. While the most frequent heuristic violations involved interaction design and presentation, the most severe violations lacked information desired by referring clinicians. Violations related to templates' inability to support referring clinicians' information needs had the greatest potential negative impact on efficiency and safety usability goals. Heuristics should be prioritized in future design efforts.
Outcome of cataract surgery in patients treated for retinopathy of prematurity

Background/Aims: Pediatric patients with treated retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) may develop visually significant cataracts. We report the outcome of cataract surgery in patients who had ROP treatment. Method: Retrospective chart review of 19 eyes from 16 patients who had ROP treatment and subsequent cataract surgery between August, 2002 and March, 2015. Results: Eighteen of 19 eyes received laser treatment for ROP; 1 eye received intravitreal bevacizumab. 5 eyes received lens-sparing pars plana vitrectomy (LSPPV) in addition to laser. Average follow up was 10.1 ± 5.5 years. Average visual acuity improved from 20/324 prior to and 20/110 after cataract surgery (p = 0.06). 13/19 (68%) of the eyes received laser only and developed cataracts an average of 6.2 ± 5.6 years after laser treatment. 5/19 (26%) eyes developed cataracts an average of 6.4 ± 4.2 years after LSPPV and laser. In one eye, a cataract developed after a bevacizumab injection 2.9 years after the injection. Visual axis opacification (VAO) developed in 2/5 (40%) eyes after Ce/PCIOL/PPC-Antvx, 8/10 eyes (80%) after CE/IOL, and in 0/4 eyes after CE/PPC-AntVx. Ocular comorbidities included strabismus, nystagmus, amblyopia, optic atrophy, corneal band keratopathy, and phthisis bulbi. Conclusion: Cataract surgery in patients who have a history of ROP can be complicated by anatomical changes from prematurity and prior vitreoretinal surgeries. Vision improvement is limited by other ocular comorbidities.