cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 1428: Targeting metabolic alteration in cisplatin-resistant lung cancer

We have discovered that all cisplatin resistant (CR) lung cancer cells are less reliant on glycolysis while increasing oxidative metabolism and mitochondrial numbers. Here, we showed that glutamine withdrawal has a detrimental effect on CR cell lines, especially in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) CR cells. We assayed for glutaminase, a key enzyme in glutaminolysis pathway and found a significant decrease in protein expression and activity in all our CR cells (n=8, P 0.05). Since not all CR cells exhibited similar sensitivity to glutamine withdrawal, we further explored other key amino acids which may be used in TCA cycle. We have found that NSCLC-CR lost argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) expression while SCLC-CR showed an increase. ASS is a key enzyme in urea cycle to regenerate arginine. Thus, NSCLC-CR will depend on exogenous arginine for their survival. Moreover, arginine in the urea cycle can be used to generate glutamate via proline pathway using P5CDH (pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase) which may explain why NSCLC-CR are auxotrophic for both arginine and glutamine. To investigate this possibility, we have studied P5CDH expression in all CR cells and their parental cells in complete and glutamine-free media. We have found that NSCLC-CR has significantly less to non-detectable levels of P5CDH and cannot be upregulated upon glutamine deprivation, while its parental cells have higher P5CDH expression which is further upregulated on glutamine deprivation. In contrast, SCLC-CR has significantly higher P5CDH expression compared to its parental cells and both can be upregulated upon glutamine deprivation. To further confirm this finding, we have overexpressed ASS using the pCMV6 vector containing full length ASS cDNA in NSCLC cells (SCASS). These transfected cells were able to withstand arginine free media compared to the NSCLC-CR transfected with empty vector (10% of NSCLC-CR cells were viable after 72hrs in arginine free media compared to 90% of SCASS were still viable). SCASS also took up less glutamine and was able to withstand glutamine free media when compared to NSCLC-CR. Furthermore, SCASS expressed higher levels of P5CDH and was further upregulated upon glutamine withdrawal. Our data demonstrate a complex metabolic network between arginine, proline, and glutamine. The derangement of the key enzymes which are necessary for generation of these amino acids can be exploited for future clinical application to selectively kill cisplatin resistant cells and improve treatment outcome in lung cancer patients. Supported by Department of Veterans Affairs, CDA2 award. Citation Format: Medhi Wangpaichitr, Chunjing Wu, Ying Ying Li, Shumei Chen, Min You, Vy Dinh, Lynn G. Feun, Macus T. Kuo, Niramol Savaraj. Targeting metabolic alteration in cisplatin-resistant lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1428. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1428
Quantitative measurements of receptive field changes during antagonism of GABAergic transmission in primary somatosensory cortex of cats.

In cortical area 3b of cats, responses of 76 single neurons to punctate indentations were recorded before and during iontophoretic administration of bicuculline methiodide (BMI), a GABAergic antagonist, at levels that did not affect spontaneous activity. Constant amplitude indentations were applied to selected sites along distalproximal and radial-ulnar axes that intersected the most sensitive area in the receptive field. Profiles of response magnitudes were used to measure receptive field dimensions before and during antagonism of GABAergic inhibition. Blockade of GABAergic transmission caused receptive field dimensions of 48 rapidly-adapting neurons to increase an average 141%, or nearly 2.5 times their original size. Analysis of the spatial distribution of inhibition indicated that in-field inhibition was larger than surround inhibition. During BMI administration, response latency was significantly longer for response elicited from the expanded territory than for responses elicited from within the original receptive field, suggesting that receptive field expansion might be mediated by multisynaptic intracortical connections. The magnitude of receptive field expansion was independent of receptive field size or peripheral location. In a substantial number of neurons, however, BMI produced asymmetric expansions that extended only in the proximal direction. For 9 slowly-adapting neurons, BMI produced measureable increases in receptive field dimensions, but these changes were significantly smaller than the changes in rapidly-adapting neurons.
USING GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR TO DETECT LAYERS IN A SANDY FIELD SOIL

Abstract Pollutant transport in sandy soils can be very complex due to the presence of coarse sand lenses. Water flows laterally over the coarse material and, subsequently, breakthrough occurs in concentrated pathways, called fingers. This (funneled) flow process is a form of preferential flow reducing solute travel time and degradation of organic chemicals. In this paper, we test ground-penetrating radar (GPR) as a tool for detecting layers in the soil. Several GPR transects were established on a fine sandy loam soil throughout the growing season and subsequent fall period to find the best time to reveal layer structures. The effect of the spatially varying moisture content on the radar velocity was determined from actual measurements with soil samples and by using the Common Mid-Point (CMP) technique. The optimal time to find coarse layers with GPR in this soil was at the end of the fall season when the soil was wetted and evaporation had decreased. The depth of layers, as indicated by GPR, was highly sensitive to the soil moisture content and could be in error by as much as ±0.4 m on a depth scale of 1.5 to 2 m if an average propagation velocity was used. A satisfactory depth prediction of textural interfaces was obtained non-destructively by collecting data in both reflection and CMP mode.
Thermal conductivity measurement of liquid materials by a hot-disk method in short-duration microgravity environments

The thermal conductivities of silicone oils with various viscosities and mercury were measured by a hot-disk method in short-duration microgravity environments. The thermal conductivities of silicone oil with low viscosity were affected by the thermal convection on the ground, but the thermal convection was suppressed in microgravity. The thermal conductivities of highly viscous samples were not influenced by thermal convection. The thermal conductivity of mercury measured in microgravity was about 3% lower than that measured on the ground around room temperature. The thermal conductivity measurement conditions on the ground and in microgravity for which there was no influence from thermal convection could be estimated by using the Rayleigh number.
Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography during liver transplantation

Objective: To investigate the safety, value, and impact of transesophageal echocardiography during liver transplantation. Design: Retrospective. Setting: University teaching hospital. Participants and Interventions: The medical records of 346 patients and the videotapes of 100 intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography examinations were reviewed. Measurements and Main Results: Transesophageal echocardiography was indicated for intraoperative monitoring in 62 patients, 41 of whom had pertinent findings, and for diagnostic purposes in 38 patients, 14 of whom had the expected diagnosis verified. Thirty-one patients had no intraoperative findings. Information that would not have been detected intraoperatively by other means included intracardiac defects, the potential for transpulmonary air passage, valvular regurgitation, the presence or absence of ventricular dysfunction, and embolization occurring at allograft reperfusion. Unanticipated findings during the initial transesophageal echocardiography examination as well as evaluation of intraoperative events resulted in a major impact on patient management in 11% of patients. Preoperatively, 64 patients had a prothrombin time greater than 14 seconds; 56 had a platelet count less than 100,000/mm 3 ; and 23 had esophageal varices, 7 of whom had not had variceal sclerotherapy. Two patients had a complication possibly caused by transesophageal echocardiography (sinus bradycardia and upper gastrointestinal bleeding). No patient experienced documented variceal hemorrhage, esophageal or gastric perforation, and/or oropharyngeal trauma. Conclusions: It appears that transesophageal echocardiography can be performed safely in patients undergoing liver transplantation, is efficacious in rapidly disclosing new information and monitoring during periods of hemodynamic instability, and may have a significant impact on intraoperative patient management during liver transplantation.
Sexual dysfunction associated with second-generation antipsychotics in outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder: An empirical evaluation of olanzapine, risperidone, and quetiapine

Abstract Objective Evaluate sexual dysfunction, as measured by the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX), in olanzapine-, quetiapine-, and risperidone-treated outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Method The sexual functioning of 238 outpatients (age ≥ 18 years) with diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who took quetiapine (n = 57), olanzapine (n = 94), or risperidone (n = 87) was evaluated with a one-time rating of the ASEX. The dose range for each treatment group was 5 to 40 mg/day (M = 16.6 mg/day, SD = 7.4) for olanzapine; 1 to 8 mg/day (M = 3.9 mg/day, SD = 1.6) for risperidone; and 50 to 900 mg/day (M = 376.8 mg/day, SD = 213.4) for quetiapine. Antipsychotic group designation was based on medication treatment at study entry (i.e., non-random assignment). Participant characteristics were collected to test for treatment group differences and for potential associations with severity of sexual dysfunction. The primary data analysis was a mixed linear model analysis of covariance with age, gender, and presence/absence of antidepressant known to cause sexual dysfunction included as covariates. Results There was a significant treatment effect on severity of sexual dysfunction, as measured by ASEX total scores (p = .04). The adjusted average ASEX total scores were lower in the quetiapine (M = 17.80) than in the risperidone (M = 19.69) or olanzapine (M = 20.34) groups. Individual comparisons of the treatments on adjusted average ASEX total scores indicated a significant difference between olanzapine and quetiapine (p = .04), but no difference between risperidone and quetiapine (p = .17) or olanzapine and risperidone (p = .76). Conclusions Quetiapine was associated with less severe sexual dysfunction than olanzapine and risperidone (albeit the effect between risperidone and quetiapine was not statistically significant). Olanzapine and risperidone were associated with a comparable degree of sexual dysfunction. Patients in all three treatment groups, nonetheless, experienced a moderately high degree of sexual dysfunction. Because the patients were not randomized, conclusions must be interpreted within the context of the quasi-experimental design.
Propagation of long fractures in the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica, investigated using a numerical model of fracture propagation

Long rifts near the front of the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica, are observed to begin as fractures along the lateral boundaries of outlet streams feeding the shelf. These flaws eventually become the planes along which tabular icebergs calve. The fractures propagate laterally as they advect through the shelf, with orientations that can be explained by the glaciological stress field. Fracture length remains constrained over much of the advective path, and locations of crack tip arrest are observed to coincide with structural boundaries, such as suture zones between ice from adjacent outlet glaciers. Geomechanical principles and numerical models demonstrate that in the absence of these suture zones crack tips are unlikely to arrest in these locations. We conclude that lateral inhomogeneity in the ice plays an important role in fracture mechanics through most of the ice shelf. Only near the shelf front are these local structural effects overcome such that the large rifts required for tabular iceberg production develop.
Emotion and the Joint Structure of Personality and Psychopathology

There are numerous well-documented problems with the DSM’s polythetic-categorical approach to the delineation of mental disorders. However, the DSM-5 introduces an empirically based dimensional model of personality traits. These traits form a hierarchical structure that represents the organization of dispositions to common mental disorders. We connect emotions to this joint hierarchical structure using a modified set point model, which accommodates major theories linking personality and psychopathology—continuum, risk, scar, and pathoplasty—as well as more dynamic multivariate models. We argue that these traits represent typical causal pathways that can be extracted from a complex web of equifinality and multifinality. Ultimately, research on mood disorders provides a stronger account of their underling traits than the variably endorsed symptoms of their polythetic criteria.
Mesonic wakes in nuclear matter, with application to meson production in nuclear collisions

Abstract The process of meson production by a source moving uniformly through infinite nuclear matter is studied in field theoretic models in which a source-meson coupling is assumed, and in which the only effect of the nuclear medium is to modify the propagator of the mesons. If the meson dispersion relation, ω ( k ), in the medium becomes space-like in some region of k , k > ω ( k ), there is, for relativistic source velocities, energy loss to the mesonic excitations. Models of the pion propagator in nuclear matter lead to such a space-like region. Rates of pion production are calculated in the lowest order of the pion-source coupling. Consideration of higher order terms leads to an interesting class of problems which we designate as those of “non-Abelian Cherenkov radiation.” Brief consideration is given to the excitation of nuclear collective modes and to the problems of treating meson production in finite nuclei.
Determining the Costs of Residents

Determining the costs associated with a residency program is a very difficult and time-consuming process. Programs have not had to shoulder this responsibility in the past. With costs increasing because of the shortage of trainees and with ever-decreasing reimbursements, it is important for training programs to understand exactly where their costs are located. Several publications have reported the overall costs of residency programs in terms of replacement costs. This is an important concept, but it is equally important to realize how the dollars are spent within the program. Only with this information will the programs be able to make management decisions regarding the education of the residents. This report explains the basic concept of activity-based costing and its application to residency education.
An Electron‐Microscope Study of the Cytology of the Protozoan Peranema trichophorum*

SYNOPSIS. The flagellate, Peranema trichophorum, has been studied in the electron microscope by thin-sectioning techniques. The flagella have the fibrillar pattern typical of cilia and flagella, but accessory structures including tapered, intraflagellar rods, striated, layered material on the outside of the membrane, and mastigonemes are present. In the near basal region of the flagellum, there is a swelling of the shaft which is correlated with the absence of the two central flagellar fibrils. The basal portion of the intraflagellar material is structurally and locationally similar to the basal parts of the flagellar fibril bundle; this similarity suggests that the two structures originated from similar precursors and that two kinetosomes comprise the light microscopist's blepharoplast in this organism. The ridged pellicle is composed of 3 membranes, only two of which follow the contour of the ridges. Several filaments 21 mμ in diameter are localized under the low point of each ridge, and a single, larger fibril which has a periodic structure is often located beneath the high point of each ridge. The cytostome and structures associated with it are described and discussed in relation to food taking. The pharyngeal rods are cross-connected and each is composed of numerous tubular elements surrounded by a denser, homogeneous layer. A system of membranes is attached to the rods and extends anteriorly. The nucleus contains two large nucleoli, numerous rod-shaped, membrane-limited bodies which appear similar in structure to bacteria, and a smaller granular component. Other organelles are briefly described including mitochondria, Golgi bodies, vacuoles, and endoplasmic reticulum.
Triangular tapered duodenoplasty for the treatment of congenital duodenal obstruction

Abstract Background/Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficiency of triangular tapered duodenoplasty, a modified procedure for the treatment of congenital duodenal obstruction was designed. Methods: Eight children underwent triangular tapered duodenoplasty over a 5-year period with a minimum follow-up of 27-months. Study parameters include morbidity and mortality postsurgical time to feedings, hospital length of stay, and weight gain. In addition, all patients were asked to undergo postoperative gastric emptying scans and upper gastrointestinal series (UGIS). Results: Eight children underwent triangular tapered duodenoplasty with 0% surgical morbidity and mortality rates. Mean postsurgical time to feedmap was 5.7 days (range, 2 to 12 days), and mean hospital length of stay was 9.6 days (range, 4 to 15 days). Mean NCHS weight gain was 50% (range, 25% to 75%). Five patients underwent postoperative gastric emptying scans with a mean Tc 43 minutes (range, 24 to 70 minutes; normal, 50 minutes). Four patients underwent postoperative UGIS showing no evidence of megaduodenum in any patient. Conclusions: Triangular tapered duodenoplasty is safe and effective in the treatment of congenital duodenal obstruction. The morbidity and mortality rates and hospital stay resulting from this procedure are the lowest as yet reported in the medical literature. J Pediatr Surg 37:862-864. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Dynamic workload characterization for power efficient scheduling on CMP systems

Runtime characteristics of individual threads (such as IPC, cache usage, etc.) are a critical factor in making efficient scheduling decisions in modern chip-multiprocessor systems. They provide key insights into how threads interact when they share processor resources, and affect the overall system power and performance efficiency. In this paper, we propose and implement mechanisms and policies for a commercial OS scheduler and load balancer which incorporates thread characteristics, and show that it results in improvements of up to 30% in performance per watt.
The Role of Pumping Tests in Site Characterization: Some Theoretical Considerations

Pumping tests are the primary means of estimating the large-scale storage and transmissive properties of an aquifer for site-characterization investigations. Most analyses of pumping-induced drawdown are performed using either the Theis log-log curve-matching procedure or the approximate Cooper-Jacob semilog method. These two procedures provide dissimilar estimates in nonuniform aquifers due to their emphasis on properties in different portions of a unit. The log-log curve-matching approach heavily weights the properties of local material, while the semilog procedure emphasizes the properties of material within the front of the cone of depression. The different emphasis of the two procedures results in log-log parameters being more appropriate for estimating pumping-well drawdown, while semilog parameters are better for estimating well yield. The magnitude of the difference between parameters estimated by the two approaches is a function of the degree of aquifer nonuniformity and the distance between the observation and pumping wells. The further the observation well is from the pumping well, the smaller the difference between the parameters. The difference between parameters estimated by slug tests and those estimated by pumping tests, on the other hand, will increase with this distance. Due to their emphasis on near-well materials, slug-test parameters may be of use in estimating pumping-well drawdown when employed in a patchy aquifer model. In general, predictions of aquifer behavior can be improved by more careful application of the conventional techniques used in pumping-test analyses.
Does Sleep Really Influence Face Recognition Memory

Mounting evidence implicates sleep in the consolidation of various kinds of memories. We investigated the effect of sleep on memory for face identity, a declarative form of memory that is indispensable for nearly all social interaction. In the acquisition phase, observers viewed faces that they were required to remember over a variable retention period (0–36 hours). In the test phase, observers viewed intermixed old and new faces and judged seeing each before. Participants were classified according to acquisition and test times into seven groups. Memory strength (d′) and response bias (c) were evaluated. Substantial time spent awake (12 hours or more) during the retention period impaired face recognition memory evaluated at test, whereas sleep per se during the retention period did little to enhance the memory. Wakefulness during retention also led to a tightening of the decision criterion. Our findings suggest that sleep passively and transiently shelters face recognition memory from waking interference (exposure) but does not actively aid in its long-term consolidation.
Tracing Discursive Resources: How Students Use Prior Genre Knowledge to Negotiate New Writing Contexts in First-Year Composition:

While longitudinal research within the field of writing studies has contributed to our understanding of postsecondary students’ writing development, there has been less attention given to the discu...
Multilevel sequential monte carlo algorithms for MIMO demodulation

We propose low-complexity sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithms for demodulation in MIMO systems that employ large signal constellations. The proposed algorithms exploit the multi-level or hierarchical nature of the signal constellation to reduce the complexity associated with the generation of Monte Carlo samples of the MIMO symbols. The signal space is partitioned into multiple levels and samples are drawn beginning from the highest level space, down to the lowest level, which corresponds to the original symbol space. At each level, we consider only the subspace associated with the sample drawn at the previous level. The advantage of such a strategy is that instead of searching the whole signal space, we restrict our search to the more promising zones of the space, thus saving significant amount of computations. Both stochastic SMC algorithm and deterministic SMC algorithm are considered under such a multi-level framework. For M-QAM signal constellation, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithms is O(log M) in terms of the constellation size, as compared to the O(M) complexity of the existing SMC MIMO detection algorithms (while keeping the number of samples fixed in both the algorithms). We also demonstrate that the performance of these algorithms improves considerably with optimal ordering. The proposed multi-level SMC algorithms are then extended to cope with the case where the number of transmit antennas is larger than the number of receiver antennas, as well as the case of frequency-selective MIMO channels. Extensive simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed new MIMO demodulation algorithms in various scenarios
Acronym-Expansion Recognition and Ranking on the Web

The paper presents a study on large-scale automatic extraction of acronyms and associated expansions from Web data and from the user interactions with this data through Web search engines. We investigate three information sources for extracting and ranking acronym-expansion pairs, as provided by a large-scale search engine: the crawled web documents, the search engine logs, and the search results. We evaluate and compare the acronym-expansion pairs generated from these sources on three dimensions: (1) the precision and recall of each source; (2) the overlap and inclusion among the acronym-expansion sets; and (3) the rank-order correlation of the ordered expansion sets. Our results show that all three data sources play an important role in building a comprehensive up-to-date collection of acronym-expansion pairs.
Frequencies of Cyclones and Cyclogenesis for North America, 1951–1970

Abstract The mean frequency of cyclonic events for North America is determined for five months based on the 20-year period, 1951–1970. Monthly maps are used to present the data and display the distribution of cyclonic frequencies. The frequencies of cyclogenesis are also determined and used to construct mean cyclone tracks. A subjective comparison between these data and cyclone frequencies from earlier studies reveals differences which do not appear to form a consistent pattern. Although some differences can be attributed to differences in the methods of analysis, others suggest significant variation between these years and the early 1900's.
Evaluation of different processing steps on the dark current of electron-injection detectors (Presentation Recording)

Our recently published results show a much reduced dark current and enhanced speed from our second-generation electron-Injection detectors, due to the introduction of an isolation method. However, these results have been limited to single-element detectors. A natural next step is to incorporate these new devices into a focal plane array (FPA), since we have already achieved very attractive results from an FPA based on the first-generation devices. Despite the high-performance characteristics of second generation devices, isolation introduces new processing steps and a robust procedure is required for realization of focal plane arrays (FPA) with good uniformity and yield. Here we report our systematic evaluation of the processing steps, and in particular the effect of the processing temperature, on the device dark current and uniformity. Our goal is to produce ultra-low dark current FPA based on isolated electron-injection detectors, and to approach single-photon sensitivity.
The Design of “Neutral” Carbanions with Intramolecular Charge Compensation

Strategies to construct zwitterionic anions from the parent anions are proposed. Two principles are employed; the cationic counterpart is (a) attached as a substituent or (b) inserted as an integral part at a remote location in the assembly. The optimized geometries reveal that a striking similarity exists between the zwitterions and the respective precursor parent anion. The computed vibrational frequencies emphasize that these novel entities are minima on their respective potential energy surfaces. A substantial HOMO–LUMO gap indicates that the proposed structures do not show instability in their respective electronic states and that the higher energy configuration states do not contribute to the ground state viability. The separation of charge between the monopoles in these zwitterions is demonstrated by moderately large nonzero dipole moments. Significant large energy barriers for rearrangement to the closely related positional isomers, demonstrated in a few cases, advocate the thermal stability (asso...
Automatic Test Data Generation Using a Genetic Algorithm

The use of metaheuristic search techniques for the automatic generation of test data has been a burgeoning interest for many researchers in recent years. Previous attempts to automate the test generation process have been limited, having been constrained by the size and complexity of software, and the basic fact that in general, test data generation is an undecidable problem. Metaheuristic search techniques offer much promise in regard to these problems. Metaheuristic search techniques are high-level frameworks, which utilize heuristics to seek solutions for combinatorial problems at a reasonable computational cost. In this paper, we present a new evolutionary approach for automated test data generation for structural testing. Our method presents several noteworthy features: It uses a newly defined program modeling allowing an easy program manipulation. Furthermore, instead of affecting a unique value for each input variable, we assign to each input an interval. This representation has the advantage of delimiting first the input value and to refine the interval progressively. In this manner, the search space is explored more efficiently. We use an original fitness function, which expresses truthfully the individual quality. Furthermore, we define a crossover operator allowing to effectively improving individuals.
Caloric determinations of phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae).

Adults of Lutzomyia longipalpis and Phlebotomus papatasi were analyzed to quantify available energy reserves and to determine the prevalence of fructose-positive specimens. In both species, males and females with access to fructose or sucrose solutions in the laboratory had more energy reserves available ($\bar x$ ≤ 1.3 cal per insect) than individuals provided with a glucose solution ($\bar x$ ≤ 0.55 cal per insect). Although anthrone tests detected fructose or sucrose in 23.5% of 34 blood-seeking L. longipalpis collected in Colombia and 24% of 50 adults of P. papatasi from Iran, minimal amounts of energy reserves ($\bar x$ ≤ 0.55 cal per insect) were present. Females of P. papatasi probably feed repeatedly on vertebrate hosts or sugar sources in nature to obtain sufficient nutrients for survival and reproduction.
Development of a 3D Stacked Package Solution for NAND 64DP Package

The need for high stacked NAND package is driven by solid state drives. Customers generally want more NAND density per package placement. Stacking chips into the vertical or third dimension (3-D) has evolved into the stacking of packages to meet the marketing needs. The advantages of stacking packages rather than chips is that the packages inside can be fully tested and ensure known good part prior to stacking. The development and evaluation work of 64DP packages was accomplished through close co-working of multi-teams especially assembly, product engineering and quality engineering. This paper describes the challenges in the process development, reliability testing; and failure modes observed during the qualification.
Exploring the Impact of Social Media on Hotel Service Performance: A Sentimental Analysis Approach

Online user-generated content in various social media websites, such as consumer experiences, user feedback, and product reviews, has increasingly become the primary information source for both consumers and businesses. In this study, we aim to look beyond the quantitative summary and unidimensional interpretation of online user reviews to provide a more comprehensive view of online user-generated content. Moreover, we would like to extend the current literature to the more customer-driven service industries, particularly the hotel industry. We obtain a unique and extensive dataset of online user reviews for hotels across various review sites and over long time periods. We use the sentiment analysis technique to decompose user reviews into different dimensions to measure hotel service quality and performance based on the SERVPERF model. Those dimensions are then incorporated into econometrics models to examine their effect in shaping users’ overall evaluation and content-generating behavior. The results s...
A distributed open social platform for mobile devices

This paper presents the architecture of an open social platform for mobile devices. This platform allows users to get access to all their data in web services and IoT devices easily, compute with them, and share them with their friends without losing data ownership to a third party. The key concepts include: (1) ThingPedia, an open-source crowd-sourced repository of interfaces and apps, (2) ThingTalk, a succinct rule-based language that allows people to share information stored in different web services and IoT devices, (3) ThingEngine, personal servers that execute ThingTalk apps on behalf of the users, and (4) Omlet, an open chat and messaging platform that does not own users’ data.
Identifying Minimum-Sized Influential Vertices on Large-Scale Weighted Graphs: A Big Data Perspective

Weighted graphs can be used to model any data sets composed of entities and relationships. Social networks, concept networks, and document networks are among the types of data that can be abstracted as weighted graphs. Identifying minimum-sized influential vertices (MIV) in a weighted graph is an important task in graph mining that gains valuable commercial applications. Although different algorithms for this task have been proposed, it remains challenging for processing web-scale weighted graph. In this chapter, we propose a highly scalable algorithm for identifying MIV on large-scale weighted graph using the MapReduce framework. The proposed algorithm starts with identifying an individual zone for every vertex in the graph using an α-cut fuzzy set. This approximation allows to divide the whole graph into multiple subgraphs that can be processed independently. Then, for each subgraph, a MapReduce-based greedy algorithm can be designed to identify the minimum-sized influential vertices for the whole graph.
Observational Studies and Experiments

Introduction This book is about regression models and variants like path models, simultaneous-equation models, logits and probits. Regression models can be used for different purposes: (i) to summarize data, (ii) to predict the future, (iii) to predict the results of interventions. The third—causal inference—is the most interesting and the most slippery. It will be our focus. For background, this section covers some basic principles of study design. Causal inferences are made from observational studies, natural experiments , and randomized controlled experiments . When using observational (non-experimental) data to make causal inferences, the key problem is confounding . Sometimes this problem is handled by subdividing the study population ( stratification , also called cross-tabulation ), and sometimes by modeling. These strategies have various strengths and weaknesses, which need to be explored. In medicine and social science, causal inferences are most solid when based on randomized controlled experiments, where investigators assign subjects at random—by the toss of a coin—to a treatment group or to a control group . Up to random error, the coin balances the two groups with respect to all relevant factors other than treatment. Differences between the treatment group and the control group are therefore due to treatment. That is why causation is relatively easy to infer from experimental data. However, experiments tend to be expensive, and may be impossible for ethical or practical reasons. Then statisticians turn to observational studies.
Introduction to Community-Based System Dynamics

This chapter introduces community-based system dynamics (CBSD), its underlying motivations, and some key concepts. Central to this argument is the idea that communities need to be involved to both inform a better understanding of the underlying system and create the support for implementing recommendations based on system models. The chapter then outlines the ways that problems can be complex and resists solutions and how causal maps and formal models with computer simulation can help improve our mental models. Participation is then defined as a process within the context of CBSD.
Outcome of Patients (pts) with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Evolving From Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Post Hypomethyling Agents (HMA) Failure

Abstract 3600 Introduction: Outcome of pts with secondary AML evolving from MDS is dismal. HMA are standard of care for pts with MDS. We have previously reported a median survival of 4 months post HMA failure. The impact of salvage chemotherapy on pts with AML evolving from MDS post HMA failure is unknown. Aims: Assess the impact of salvage chemotherapy on pts with AML evolving from MDS post HMA on survival. Methods: We reviewed 64 consecutive pts with AML evolving from MDS and treated at MDACC with HMA in clinical trials between on 1/2003 and 7/2012. Response assessment followed standard criteria. Overall survival (OS) was measured from the time of therapy till the time of death or last follow-up. Results: 64 pts with a median age of 63 years (range, 38–82) were assessed, with 39 % older than 65 years. At the time of MDS diagnosis, 13 (20%) had a high International Prognostic System Score (IPSS), 31 (48%) had an intermediate 2 IPSS score, 16 (25%) had an intermediate-1 risk IPSS score and 1(2%) had a low-risk IPSS. Thirty-seven patients (57%) had complex cytogenetics. Prior to progression into AML, 51 pts (80%) received decitabine based regimen and 13 (20%) received azacitidine based regimen. Responses to HMA were as follows: 18 pts (28%) achieved a complete remisson (CR) and an additional 2 pts (3%) achieved CR with incomplete platelet recovery (CRp), for an overall response rate (ORR) of 31%. After progression to AML, all 64 pts (100%) received at least 1 salvage regimen, 32 (50%) received 2 or more salvage regimens and 12 pts (18%) received 3 more salvage regimens. Twenty-nine pts received high-dose cytarabine (HDAC)-based regimen as first salvage and 5 as second salvage. Thirty-six pts received investigational agents at time of first relapse. Of the 34 pts who received HDAC, 7 (20%) achieved CR. Of the 36 who received investigational agents at first relapse, 8 achieved CR and 1 patient achieved CRp, for an ORR of 25%. 12 pts underwent allogeneic or cord stem transplantation, 5 of them had active disease at time of receiving the transplant, and 7 were in CR: five after HDAC containing regimens, and 2 after other agents. Median duration of response was 27 months (range, 2 to 81) after 1st salvage and 5 months (range, 0 to 74) after 2nd salvage. With a median follow-up of 52 months from transformation into AML, 5 (8%) pts remained alive, 3 of them in CR. The median OS after HMA failure is 6.4 months with a 1-year survival of 23% and a 2-year survival of 8%. Conclusion: The outcome of pts with AML evolving from MDS post HMA failure is poor with a median survival of 6.4 months. Response rate to salvage chemotherapy with HDAC is low (21%). These pts constitute a distinct population from those with secondary AML and should benefit from more innovative approaches. Disclosures: Ravandi:Eisai: Honoraria.
TCT-383 Impact of Diabetes on Renoprotective Effect of Remote Ischemic Peri-conditioning Before Hospital Arrival of Patients with ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have a markedly increased risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI), and diabetic patients have worse outcomes. Recent studies suggest that remote ischemic peri-
We are not alone: The meaning motive, religiosity, and belief in extraterrestrial intelligence

We tested the proposals that paranormal beliefs about extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) are motivated, in part, by the need for meaning and that this existential motive helps explain the inverse relationship between religiosity and ETI beliefs. In Study 1, we experimentally establish that the motive to find meaning in life increases ETI beliefs. In Study 2, we replicate previous research demonstrating that low religiosity is associated with greater ETI beliefs. In Studies 3–4 we tested and found support for a model linking low religiosity to low presence of meaning, high search for meaning, and greater ETI beliefs. In all, our findings offer a motivational account of why people endorse paranormal beliefs about intelligent alien beings observing and influencing the lives of humans.
Paleobiology of Pleistocene Proboscideans

The paleobiology of Pleistocene proboscideans plays a pivotal role in understanding their history and in answering fundamental questions involving their interactions with other taxa, including humans. Much of our view of proboscidean paleobiology is influenced by analogies with extant elephants. However, a wealth of information is available for reconstructing the paleobiology of ancient proboscideans using data from fossil specimens and preservational settings. Remarkable opportunities include permafrostderived specimens with preserved soft tissue, intestinal contents with direct evidence of diet, and compositional and structural profiles with subannual temporal resolution archived in appositional systems such as proboscidean tusks. New information on diets and local climates puts our understanding of proboscidean paleoecology on a firmer foundation, but the greatest prospects for new insight spring from life history data now being retrieved from accelerator mass spectrometry—dated fossil material. Intera...
An Empirical Comparison of Baseline Models for Goodness-of-Fit in r-Diameter Hierarchical Clustering

Publisher Summary The prior specification of a reasonable null model is a major difficulty in developing goodness-of-fit strategies for hierarchical clustering, and no generally accepted statistical method has been proposed in the literature for evaluating the adequacy of cluster analyses. Those methods that have been suggested for several specific techniques are defended mainly in terms of mathematical tractability. From an inference point of view, however, the availability of some type of reference distribution is an indispensable prerequisite if the techniques of cluster analysis are ever to be more than approximate descriptive tools. Without any baseline information whatsoever, it is always difficult to attribute the results of a cluster analysis to something other than the nonsystematic characteristics of a particular data set and the capaciousness of a particular technique. The class of r-diameter strategies provides a sequence of clustering alternatives that lie between the complete-link and the single-link extremes; at the same time, however, each such alternative maintains a sole dependence on the rank order of the proximity values assigned to the object pairs and used in constructing the partition hierarchy.
Intracranial Renal Cell Cancer Metastasis

Metastasis to the brain occurs in 5–10% of patients with renal cell carcinoma. Patients often present with localizing neurological signs or seizures. Increasingly, however, asymptomatic metastases are detected as oncologists are ordering more screening magnetic resonance and computed tomographic scans in renal cell carcinoma patients. The treatment for brain metastases from renal cell carcinoma includes whole brain radiation therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and surgical resection. Aggressive local treatment of renal cell carcinoma metastasis typically produces long periods of palliation if systemic disease can be controlled.
Flap thickness accuracy : comparison of 6 microkeratome models

Abstract Purpose: To determine the flap thickness accuracy of 6 microkeratome models and determine factors that might affect flap thickness. Setting: Magill Research Center for Vision Correction, Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Methods: This multicenter prospective study involved 18 surgeons. Six microkeratomes were evaluated: AMO Amadeus, Bausch & Lomb Hansatome®, Moria Carriazo-Barraquer, Moria M2, Nidek MK2000, and Alcon Summit Krumeich-Barraquer. Eyes of 1061 consecutive patients who had laser in situ keratomileusis were included. Age, sex, surgical order (first or second cut), keratometry (flattest, steepest, and mean), white-to-white measurement, laser used, plate thickness, head serial number, blade lot number, and occurrence of epithelial defects were recorded. Intraoperative pachymetry was obtained just before the microkeratome was placed on the eye. Residual bed pachymetry was measured after the microkeratome cut had been created and the flap lifted. The estimated flap thickness was determined by subtraction (ie, mean preoperative pachymetry measurement minus mean residual bed pachymetry). Results: A total of 1634 eyes were reviewed. Sex distribution was 54.3% women and 45.7% men, and the mean age was 39.4 years ± 10.6 (SD). In addition, 54.5% of the procedures were in first eyes and 45.5%, in second eyes. The mean preoperative pachymetry measurement was 547 ± 34 μm. The mean keratometry was 43.6 ± 1.6 diopters (D) in the flattest axis and 44.6 ±1.5 D in the steepest axis. The mean white-to-white measurement was 11.7 ± 0.4 mm. The mean flap thickness created by the devices varied between head designs, and microkeratome heads had significant differences (P Conclusions: The results demonstrated variability between the 6 microkeratome models. Device labeling did not necessarily represent the mean flap thickness obtained, nor was it uniform or consistent. Thinner corneas were associated with thinner flaps and thicker corneas with thicker flaps. In addition, first cuts were generally associated with thicker flaps when compared to second cuts in bilateral procedures.
Person and Property

The first chapter of Hegel’s book treats the most immediate form1 of the free will’s objective realization. This form is not the foundation of his system of “right,” but it is the first, most elementary yet essential element of that system. The true foundation lies in the freedom of the spirit, whose structure has been sketched in the preceding two chapters. What must now be unfolded is the range of concrete phenomena and institutions in which freedom is actualized more or less adequately. The first element, “abstract right,” is only one moment of the concrete world of freedom in which we participate; as such, it is one of the conditions of freedom rather than a concrete phenomenon by itself. The criterion according to which we can evaluate the various phenomena in which “right” (in its broadest sense) seems to realize itself, and which will be the guiding thread for this exposition, lies in the (still very abstract) idea of freedom as self-determination and of right as its necessary actualization. These ideas, which were the result of the deduction outlined in the preceding chapters, must now be developed in all their worldly concreteness.
High Performance Agent-Based Modeling to Simulate Mammalian Cell Culture Bioreactor

Abstract Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a novel modeling approach to address the complexity of systems that comprise heterogeneous interacting individuals. ABM is naturally hybrid for its ability to integrate quantitative and qualitative knowledge, deals with multiple levels of actions, and performs best when combined with conventional modeling approaches. In this study, a hybrid agent-based platform is developed using high performance computing to simulate a mammalian cell culture bioreactor. This platform enables communication of the agent-based model with the first principle models to account for quantitative changes in nutrient and metabolite concentrations and their distribution in the bioreactor. The model can predict viable cell density, and the cell cycle distributions along with the important nutrients and metabolites such as glucose and lactate. Integrating this cell culture agent-based model with highperformance computing leverages parallel processing to allow the ABM program to run faster, more efficiently, and with a higher capacity for the number of cells that can be modeled. The model is validated using bench-scale bioreactor experiments and showed good agreement with experimental data.