cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A massively parallel computation strategy for FDTD: time and space parallelism applied to electromagnetics problems

We present a novel strategy for incorporating massive parallelism into the solution of Maxwell's equations using finite-difference time-domain methods. In a departure from previous techniques wherein spatial parallelism is used, our approach exploits massive temporal parallelism by computing all of the time steps in parallel. Furthermore, in contrast to other methods which appear to concentrate on explicit schemes such as Yee's (1966) algorithm, our strategy uses the implicit Crank-Nicolson technique which provides superior numerical properties. We show that the use of temporal parallelism results in algorithms which offer a massive degree of coarse grain parallelism with minimum communication and synchronization requirements. Due to these features, the time-parallel algorithms are particularly suitable for implementation on emerging massively parallel multiple instruction-multiple data (MIMD) architectures. The methodology is applied to a circular cylindrical configuration, which serves as a testbed problem for the approach, to demonstrate the massive parallelism that can be exploited. We also discuss the generalization of the methodology for more complex problems.
Simulation Run Length Control in the Presence of an Initial Transient

This paper studies the estimation of the steady state mean of an output sequence from a discrete event simulation. It considers the problem of the automatic generation of a confidence interval of prespecified width when there is an initial transient present. It explores a procedure based on Schruben's Brownian bridge model for the detection of nonstationarity and a spectral method for estimating the variance of the sample mean. The procedure is evaluated empirically for a variety of output sequences. The performance measures considered are bias, confidence interval coverage, mean confidence interval width, mean run length, and mean amount of deleted data. If the output sequence contains a strong transient, then inclusion of a test for stationarity in the run length control procedure results in point estimates with lower bias, narrower confidence intervals, and shorter run lengths than when no check for stationarity is performed. If the output sequence contains no initial transient, then the performance measures of the procedure with a stationarity test are only slightly degraded from those of the procedure without such a test. If the run length is short relative to the extent of the initial transient, the stationarity tests may not be powerful enough to detect the transient, resulting in a procedure with unreliable point and interval estimates.
A two-session psychological intervention for siblings of pediatric cancer patients: a randomized controlled pilot trial

Since siblings of pediatric cancer patients are at risk for emotional, behavioral, and social problems, there is considerable interest in development of early psychological interventions. This paper aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a two-session psychological intervention for siblings of newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients. Thirty siblings age 6-17 years were randomly assigned to an intervention group or an active control group with standard psychosocial care. The manualized intervention provided to siblings in the first 2 months after the cancer diagnosis of the ill child included medical information, promotion of coping skills, and a psychoeducational booklet for parents. At 4 to 6 weeks, 4 months, and 7 months after the diagnosis, all siblings and their parents completed measures (from standardized instruments) of social support, quality of life, medical knowledge, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and anxiety. At follow-up siblings in the intervention group showed better psychological well-being, had better medical knowledge, and reported receiving social support from more people. However, the intervention had no effects on posttraumatic stress symptoms and anxiety. The results of this pilot trial suggest that a two-session sibling intervention can improve siblings' adjustment, particularly psychological well-being, in the early stage after a cancer diagnosis. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00296907
Risk Shifting in International Licensing Agreements: A Note*

On average, announcements of international licensing agreements are followed by reductions in US firms' betas only for licensing agreements announced after 1980 and only for licences that transfer technology. These findings are inconsistent with an unambiguous benefit from indirect international diversification through firms. When risk does change, the change relates positively to announcement period abnormal returns for multinational corporations but not for firms going abroad for the first time. The absence of a significant relation between abnormal returns and the change in risk for first-time entrants into international markets may be caused by small sample sizes, by extraproject information conveyed by licensing announcements made by these firms, or by potential estimation risk.
Glass formation - A contemporary view

The process of glass formation is discussed from several perspectives. Particular attention is directed to kinetic treatments of glass formation and to the question of how fast a given liquid must be cooled in order to form a glass. Specific consideration is paid to the calculation of critical cooling rates for glass formation, to the effects of nucleating heterogeneities and transients in nucleation on the critical cooling rates, to crystallization on reheating a glass, to the experimental determination of nucleation rates and barriers to crystal nucleation, and to the characteristics of materials which are most conducive to glass formation.
Visualization of modal irradiance patterns in an optical fiber

A laboratory exercise that allows the student to combine theory, numerical computation methods, and experimental observation to learn more about electromagnetic modes and modal patterns is presented. It provides students with the opportunity to derive the field equations and the characteristic equations from first principles, solve for the parameters of the modes and plot them, and visually compare the modes observed in the laboratory with those calculated. >
Refactoring pipe-like mashups for end-user programmers

Mashups are becoming increasingly popular as end users are able to easily access, manipulate, and compose data from many web sources. We have observed, however, that mashups tend to suffer from deficiencies that propagate as mashups are reused. To address these deficiencies, we would like to bring some of the benefits of software engineering techniques to the end users creating these programs. In this work, we focus on identifying code smells indicative of the deficiencies we observed in web mashups programmed in the popular Yahoo! Pipes environment. Through an empirical study, we explore the impact of those smells on end-user programmers and observe that users generally prefer mashups without smells. We then introduce refactorings targeting those smells, reducing the complexity of the mashup programs, increasing their abstraction, updating broken data sources and dated components, and standardizing their structures to fit the community development patterns. Our assessment of a large sample of mashups shows that smells are present in 81% of them and that the proposed refactorings can reduce the number of smelly mashups to 16%, illustrating the potential of refactoring to support the thousands of end users programming mashups.
Machine Politics, Police Corruption, and the Persistence of Vote Fraud: The Case of the Louisville, Kentucky, Election of 1905

Although vote fraud is an acknowledged component of American political culture, scholarship on the inner workings of stealing elections is rather thin. Despite popular exposes by nineteenth-century muckrakers, the functioning dynamics of vote stealing remains somewhere beneath the visible layer of political analysis. The Gilded Age has been the recipient of some extensive studies of ballot corruption, but scholars have generally concluded that the extent of fraud in changing the actual outcome of a specific race was exaggerated, and with the advent of the Australian, or secret, ballot in the early 1890s, American elections took on a decidedly freer and fairer tone. The scholarship surrounding vote fraud has also tended to focus on a secondary issue: Did the secret ballot diminish fraud to the point where earlier turnout levels could be seen as inflated? Following the lead of Walter Dean Burnham, numerous scholars have answered decidedly in the negative—the level of fraud was so insignificant as not to change turnout totals in any meaningful way.
Demographic-related variations in posterior segment ocular sarcoidosis.

Abstract Objective To compare the frequency of posterior segment involvement (PSI), the prevalence of specific posterior segment signs, and visual acuity in ocular sarcoidosis by patient race, sex, and age. Design Retrospective, cross-sectional observational study. Participants Seventy-six consecutive patients with biopsy-proven or presumed ocular sarcoidosis seen at the Duke University Eye Center between 1989 and 2001. Methods Medical record review. Main outcome measures Patient demographics, presence and laterality of specific posterior segment signs, and visual acuity at initial examination. Results Of the 76 patients, 68% were black (34 female and 18 male) and 32% were white (18 female and 6 male). A total of 68 patients (89%) had PSI: black patients had 85% and white patients had 100% ( P = 0.05). For patients with PSI, white females had the highest mean age at initial examination (58 years compared with 37 years for all others; P = 0.005). The most common findings among the 68 patients with posterior segment disease were vitritis (69%); choroidal "punched-out" lesions (56%); "snowball" lesions (46%); cystoid macular edema (CME; 31%); and periphlebitis, vitreous opacity, and posterior vitreous detachment (29% each). There was a significantly higher prevalence of "punched-out" lesions and CME in whites (79% and 54%, respectively) compared with blacks (43% and 18%, respectively; P = 0.005 each). Additionally, the prevalence of CME was highest in white females (61%) compared with all others (20%; P = 0.002). Patients with vitreous hemorrhage were more likely to be in the youngest age group ( P = 0.02). Female patients with posterior segment disease had a significantly lower visual acuity compared with males in both the better ( P P = 0.002) eye. Conclusions We have identified variations based on patient race, sex, and age in PSI, specific posterior segment signs, and visual acuity in cases of ocular sarcoidosis.
The effects of wall roughness on the separated flow over a smoothly contoured ramp

Experimental measurements address the effects on a turbulent boundary layer of wall roughness on a flat plate and a ramp that produces a separation bubble over the ramp trailing edge. A fully rough flow condition is achieved on the upstream flat plate. The main effect of the wall roughness on the outer layer turbulence on a flat plate is to change the friction velocity. The separation region is substantially larger for the rough-wall case. The rough-wall boundary layer turbulence is less sensitive to the onset of an adverse pressure gradient over the ramp, producing substantially smaller Reynolds stress peaks in upstream flat-plate, wall-unit coordinates.
Swipe vs. scroll: web page switching on mobile browsers

Tabbed web browsing interfaces enable users to multi-task and easily switch between open web pages. However, tabbed browsing is difficult for mobile web browsers due to the limited screen space and the reduced precision of touch. We present an experiment comparing Safari's pages-based switching interface using horizontal swiping gestures with the stacked cards-based switching interface using vertical scrolling gestures, introduced by Chrome. The results of our experiment show that cards-based switching interface allows for faster switching and is less frustrating, with no significant effect on error rates. We generalize these findings, and provide design implications for mobile information spaces.
A first look at the hidden cost of random node placement in wireless sensor networks

While wireless sensor networks are often envisioned to be composed of a collection of nodes scattered inadvertently in an environment, the implications of random node placement in terms of system resource requirements remain mostly unexplored. This work studies resource consumption in wireless sensor networks in the context of decentralized detection. It is argued that, for most detection problems, the number of bits necessary to capture most of the information contained in an observation is small and insignificant when compared to the communication overhead associated with data transfer. Message compression therefore plays a limited role in minimizing resource consumption at each node. The communication rate and the positioning of individual nodes are likely to have a much greater impact overall. In particular, it is shown that for typical dispersive environments, the random placement of wireless nodes may result in an average transmit power that is 6 to 24 times the power required to communicate on a regular lattice. This excessive power consumption may affect the coverage of a system, its life expectancy, the probability of error at the fusion center, and the number of nodes required for a system to operate properly. These preliminary results underscore the importance of planning in the deployment of sensor systems
Who Invented the Bronze Drum? Nationalism, Politics, and a Sino-Vietnamese Archaeological Debate of the 1970s and 1980s

This paper reviews the Sino-Vietnamese archaeological debate of the 1970s and 1980s pertaining to the origins of the bronze drum, specifically analyzing how nationalism and international politics had an impact on both the questions posed by archaeologists as well as the answers they provided to these questions. Based on a reading of the major works on the bronze drum published in Viet Nam and China since the 1950s, particularly those published in the 1970s and 1980s, this paper argues that the debate between Chinese and Vietnamese archaeologists on the origins of the bronze drum in general, and the dating, classification, and interpretations of the decorations of the bronze drum in particular, had many of its origins in the political and military conflicts between the two countries, to the extent that an individual archaeologist's views of certain issues were largely determined by his nationality.
NUCLEAR RESONANT SCATTERING AT HIGH PRESSURE AND HIGH TEMPERATURE

We introduce the combination of nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and synchrotron Mossbauer spectroscopy with the laser-heated diamond anvil cell technique for studying magnetic, elastic, thermodynamic, and vibrational properties of materials under high pressures and high temperatures. An Nd:YLF laser, operating in continuous donut mode (TEM01), has been used to heat samples inside a diamond anvil cell from both sides. Temperatures of the laser-heated sample are measured by means of spectral radiometry and by the detailed balance principle of the energy spectra. The temperature measured by the detailed balance principle is in very good agreement with values determined from the thermal radiation spectra fitted to the Planck radiation function up to 1700 K. Nuclear resonant scattering on 57 Fe-containing materials (i.e., Fe, FeO, Fe2O3) has been studied up to 2500 K and 100 GPa. A detailed description of the laser-heating optics, temperature determination, the X-ray monochromatization, and the X-ray focusing optics is given in this article.
Small cache, big effect: provable load balancing for randomly partitioned cluster services

Load balancing requests across a cluster of back-end servers is critical for avoiding performance bottlenecks and meeting service-level objectives (SLOs) in large-scale cloud computing services. This paper shows how a small, fast popularity-based front-end cache can ensure load balancing for an important class of such services; furthermore, we prove an O(n log n) lower-bound on the necessary cache size and show that this size depends only on the total number of back-end nodes n, not the number of items stored in the system. We validate our analysis through simulation and empirical results running a key-value storage system on an 85-node cluster.
Aging, Obesity, and Mortality Misplaced Concern about Obese Older People?

Obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m2) has been described as reaching epidemic proportions in the United States (Mokdad et al. 1999). Estimates vary across studies of the U.S. population, but between 18% to 25% of adults are now considered obese and another 30% are considered overweight (Flegal et al. 1998; Mokdad et al. 1999; Strauss and Pollack 2001). The social cost of obesity is also great, resulting in approximately 280,000 deaths per year (Allison et al. 1999; Must et al. 1999). Obesity has become a substantial public health problem in the United States, with no signs of even slowing its rising prevalence. In an attempt to summarize the risk to society and prescribe appropriate clinical standards, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) published Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults in 1998. The Guidelines specified normal weight for adults as a BMI ≥ 18.5 and < 25. Underweight adults were defined as persons with a BMI < 18.5; overweight was defined as a BMI ≥ 25 and < 30, and obesity was defined as a BMI ≥ 30. The Guidelines was offered with some caveats, especially with regard to its application for older adults. This is because some studies of mortality have shown that obesity is significant in younger adults but not for older adults—suggesting that the risk of excess weight on health and mortality in the later years has been exaggerated (Andres, Muller, and Sorkin 1993; Linsted and Singh 1997). Andres (1995) concluded that “those who either maintain their weight or, better, gain small amounts of weight, show the lowest mortality” (p. 69). Understandably, this assertion has been the source of much debate. Others have countered that obesity is a significant health risk throughout adulthood and that it may hasten disability and mortality in older adults, especially heart-disease-related deaths (Peeters et al. 2003; Willett, Dietz, and Colditz 1999). The purpose of this article is to systematically reexamine the relationship between obesity and mortality for younger and older adults. We ask whether the risk of obesity on mortality is significant in later life. Although many studies show that obesity in young and middle-age adults heightens mortality risk, does it also raise mortality risk among obese people who survive into later life? The present research addresses this question by examining all-cause and heart-disease deaths in a national sample of adults.
A Statistical–Dynamical Parameterization of Interception and Land Surface–Atmosphere Interactions

At a local scale, the interception capacity of the canopy depends on a variety of climatic and canopy factors. Of particular importance is the intensity of rainfall—interception capacity varies inversely with rainfall intensity. At a field or regional scale, like the scale of global climate models, the spatially averaged interception also depends significantly on the spatial variability of rainfall intensity and total precipitation depth. A new parameterization of canopy interception is developed. In the new parameterization, the spatial average of actual interception is obtained as a function of rainfall intensity and total precipitation depth, and of an interception capacity, which depends on the characteristics of the leaf surface and of the vegetation cover. In a statistical‐dynamical framework, the new parameterization also accounts for the subgrid-scale spatial variability of rainfall intensity and total precipitation depth. The implications of accounting for the dependence of interception capacity on rainfall characteristics are examined by assessing the consequent responses of the energy and the water fluxes at the land surface. This is accomplished by incorporating the new parameterization into a soil‐plant‐atmosphere column model that is fundamentally based on the physical parameterizations of NCAR’s Community Climate Model.
HealthWorks: results of a multi-component group-randomized worksite environmental intervention trial for weight gain prevention

U.S. adults are at unprecedented risk of becoming overweight or obese, and most scientists believe the primary cause is an obesogenic environment. Worksites provide an opportunity to shape the environments of adults to reduce obesity risk. The goal of this group-randomized trial was to implement a four-component environmental intervention at the worksite level to positively influence weight gain among employees over a two-year period. Environmental components focused on food availability and price, physical activity promotion, scale access, and media enhancements. Six worksites in a U.S. metropolitan area were recruited and randomized in pairs at the worksite level to either a two-year intervention or a no-contact control. Evaluations at baseline and two years included: 1) measured height and weight; 2) online surveys of individual dietary intake and physical activity behaviors; and 3) detailed worksite environment assessment. Mean participant age was 42.9 years (range 18-75), 62.6% were women, 68.5% were married or cohabiting, 88.6% were white, 2.1% Hispanic. Mean baseline BMI was 28.5 kg/m2 (range 16.9-61.2 kg/m2). A majority of intervention components were successfully implemented. However, there were no differences between sites in the key outcome of weight change over the two-year study period (p = .36). Body mass was not significantly affected by environmental changes implemented for the trial. Results raise questions about whether environmental change at worksites is sufficient for population weight gain prevention. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00708461
Economics 2.0

Economics is not what it used to be. Over the last few decades, economists, social scientists, political scientists and others have begun a significant reorientation in how they look at the world. This shift has significant implications for politics and policy. To understand this change in orientation, consider one of the most basic notions in first year economics, an economy's so-called "factors of production." We used to teach that there are three factors of production: land, labor and capital. We described an economy consisting of amber waves of grain, routine unskilled work, and belching, clanking machines inside of giant factories. But most people in the developed world today do not live in that economy. Instead we work in quiet offices situated on land whose value has nothing to do with its agricultural fecundity, doing tasks that are highly specialized and differentiated.For years, economists and others left out the most important elements of the story. We focused on tangible inputs and ignored intangible factors of production that are far more important. We ignored the positive forces of creativity, innovation, and advancing technology that propel economies forward. We also left out the often hidden negative forces that can hold economies back: bad governance, counterproductive social practices, and patterns of taking wealth instead of creating it. We took for granted things like secure property rights, honest public servants, and the willingness of individuals to experiment and adapt to novelty.
Understanding Substance Abuse Counselor Turnover Due to Burnout: A Theoretical Perspective

Clinical staff turnover resulting from burnout is one of the most challenging issues facing the substance abuse treatment field. This article provides a succinct description of the impact of clinical staff turnover on organizational performance and client treatment, along with a comprehensive literature review of individual and organizational characteristics that often lead to burnout. The Job Demand-Control Model and six areas of work life are explicated to identify leverage points for organizational leaders to make the largest impact on improving work conditions and mitigate the consequences of burnout.
The Taxonomy of the False Scorpion Genus Synsphyronus with Remarks on the Sporadic Loss of Stability in Generally Constant Morphological Characters (Arachnida: Chelonethida)

The genus Synsphyronus Chamberlin was erected in 1930 (Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (10), 5 : 609, 616–617) to accommodate an unusual species of the family Garypidae which differed primarily from other members of the group in having the metatarsus and tarsus of the legs secondarily fused to form a typical miotarsus. At the time, it was pointed out that, in spite of this unusual character, the genus was undoubtedly truly referable to the family Garypidae on the basis of every other morphological character definitive of that group. In spite of this, Beier in 1932 (Das Tierreich, 57 :238) elevated the genus to family rank (Synsphyronidae) and removed it from the superfamily Garypoidea[2][1] to the Feaelloidea. Consideration of the following tabular summary of the normal characteristics of these two superfamilies will clearly reveal the untenability of Beier's disposition of this genus. In every character but the invariable presence of a normal, two-segmented tarsus, Synsphyronus agrees with the characters itemized under the heading Garypoidea. [1]: #fn-1
MEDICINAL INJECTION FOR TREATMENT OF 54 CASES OF LUMBAR STRAIN

Lumbar strain refers to the long-term accumulated mild injuries due to improper posture and overload in soft tissues, such as in lumbar sacral muscle, ligament and fascia. It happens generally at young age, is the common disorder in clinic and leads to quite inconvenience and pain in the life of patient. The author adopted medicinal injection with procaine and Vit.B1 on Tingyaoxue (挺腰穴) to treat 54 cases of lumbar strain and has achieved the remarkable effects. The report is presented as follows.
Wege in ein digitales Wirtschaftswunder. Mobile & Cloud First: Wie die digitale Transformation Geschäftsmodelle, Arbeitswelt und Privatleben verändert

Ein digitaler Wandel durchdringt Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft gleichermasen. Er ist keine Option, rasant und nicht mehr reversibel. Das beweisen diejenigen Branchen, die schon eine intensive Transformationsphase hinter sich gebracht haben.
Consistent Activation of Fetal Hemoglobin Synthesis in Cultured Adult Bone Marrow Cells

The production of fetal hemoglobin was investigated in plasma clot cultures of adult bone marrow cells from normal donors and from individuals with homozygous HbS or HbC disease. Synthesis of gamma and beta chains was assessed either by 35S-methionine labeling of cultures and measurement of the radioactivity incorporated into the methionine- containing tryptic peptides of the gamma and beta subunits or by 3H- leucine labeling and measurement of the radioactivity incorporated into the globin chains of Hbs F0 and A0 isolated by ion-exchange chromatography. The cultures from all individuals responded with increased production of HbF. Cultured cells from subjects without a hemoglobinopathy produced an average of 8.2% gamma chains (range 3.1%– 20.3%), while cultured cells from subjects homozygous for HbS or HbC produced an average of 16.6% gamma chains (range 12.2%–20.4%). These findings indicate that fetal Hb production was regularly enhanced in adult bone marrow cells triggered in vitro to clonal growth in the plasma clot culture system.
Effects of Locomotor Exercise Intensity on Gait Performance in Individuals With Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury.

Background High-intensity stepping practice may be a critical component to improve gait following motor incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI). However, such practice is discouraged by traditional theories of rehabilitation that suggest high-intensity locomotor exercise degrades gait performance. Accordingly, such training is thought to reinforce abnormal movement patterns, although evidence to support this notion is limited. Objective The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, we evaluated the effects of short-term manipulations in locomotor intensity on gait performance in subjects with iSCI. Second, we attempted to evaluate potential detrimental effects of high-intensity locomotor training on walking performance. Design Single-day repeated-measures and pre-/post-training study design. Methods Nineteen individuals with chronic iSCI performed a graded-intensity locomotor exercise task with simultaneous collection of lower extremity kinematics and EMG. Measures of interest were compared across intensity levels of 33%, 67%, and 100% of peak gait speed. A subset of 9 individuals participated in 12-weeks of high-intensity locomotor training. Similar measures were collected and compared pre- to post-training. Results Our results indicate short-term increases in intensity led to significant improvements in muscle activity, spatiotemporal metrics, and joint excursions, with selected improvements in measures of locomotor coordination. High-intensity locomotor training led to significant increases in peak gait speed (0.64 to 0.80 m/s; p<0.01), and spatiotemporal and kinematic metrics indicate a trend for improved coordination. Limitations Measures of gait performance were assessed during treadmill ambulation and not compared to a control group. Generalizability of these results to overground ambulation is unknown. Conclusions High-intensity locomotor exercise and training does not degrade, but rather improves locomotor function and quality in individuals with iSCI, which contrasts with traditional theories of motor dysfunction following neurologic injury.
Variability of the Present and Ancient Sun: A Test of Solar Uniformitarianism

Modern observations of the Sun demonstrate that surface features vary on time scales of minutes (solar flares) to weeks and months (the lifetimes of sunspots and active regions) to years (the 11 and 22 yr cycles of sunspot and magnetic activity). Less certain in the available record of direct observations (now 378 years long) are solar changes of longer period, including a possible “Gleissberg” cycle of 80 to 90 yrs that is suggested in the envelope of annual mean sunspot numbers. We examine what is known of solar variations before the time of the telescope to test the thesis of solar uni- formitarianism: whether the Sun behaved any differently in the past, and whether the full spectrum of modern variations are found in ancient and proxy records. For this purpose we consider naked-eye observations of the Sun, records of the aurora, the tree-ring record of 14C, initial investigations of ice-borne 10Be, and the possible records of solar influence that are found in sedimentary deposits from the Precambrian.
REVIEW OF INDEPENDENT NURSE PRESCRIBING IN A PAEDIATRIC CYSTIC FIBROSIS (CF) AND RESPIRATORY POPULATION

Aim With pressures on junior doctors9 availability in the NHS, non-medical prescribing is topical. Independent Nurse Prescribers (INPs) can prescribe any licensed medicine for any medical condition within their level of competence.1 An audit was undertaken of the four INPs employed by the Respiratory Department evaluating current prescribing practices. Method The requirement for this audit was identified by the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and Trust approval was obtained. A data collection form was designed capturing patient demographics and full details of prescribed items. Over a 3 month period (August to October 2014) outpatient cystic fibrosis (CF) and respiratory prescriptions were studied using cluster sampling. Over a 6 week period prescription requests by CF INPs faxed to General Practitioners (GPs) were reviewed. INPs also prescribe via telephone, documenting advice on trust forms; these were preliminarily audited. All data was analysed using Microsoft Excel. Legality of prescriptions and adherence to national and local guidelines were evaluated. Reference keys were used to designate non-adherence post-application of exclusion criteria. Results A total of 77 outpatient prescriptions (45 CF and 32 respiratory) were completed by the 4 INPs, containing 122 items (72 CF and 50 respiratory). Of the CF prescribed items 21 were oral antibiotics (29%). Respiratory INPs mainly prescribed 14 inhaler devices (28%) and 12 inhaled bronchodilators (24%). All INP prescriptions met legal requirements. Basic details of medicinal products (drug name and dose) were documented for all items. A key finding was that duration/quantity was not indicated for 27 (54%) respiratory items. After applying exclusion criteria, of the CF prescribed items, 56/59 (95%) adhered to national guidelines and 47/66 (71%) followed local guidelines. The leading reason for not following local guidelines was not documenting allergy status. Of the respiratory prescribed items, 34 (100%) adhered to national guidelines and 31/32 (97%) followed local guidelines. A total of 33 faxes (with 38 items) were completed and 35 items (92%) were oral antibiotics. Drug name, dose and frequency were stated for all items. From the faxed items, 38 (100%) adhered to national guidelines and 32/33 (97%) followed local guidelines. Over 5 days, CF INPs provided telephone advice for 12 patients. Of these, 6 patients had respiratory exacerbation. Telephone advice led to faxes being sent to GPs for 9 patients. This was preliminary data with a re-audit planned after amendment of trust form. Conclusion Overall INP prescribing was found to be safe and effective. This review enabled education of the respiratory team of prescribing practices via a local audit meeting. The positive contribution that INPs provide to patient care was highlighted as they improve the patient journey and support the MDT. The demand for INP prescribing in particular with CF has provided opportunity for a pharmacist prescriber to join the CF MDT. It is recommended medical and pharmacist prescribing to be reviewed.
Dynamic risk measures and related risk-averse decision problems

In this paper, we consider a risk-averse decision problem for systems governed by stochastic differential equations with dynamic risk measures, where the classical average performance criteria may not be sufficient to account for how risks to uncertain outcomes are perceived by a decision maker. In particular, we formulate a risk-averse stochastic optimization problem, involving a family of time-consistent dynamic convex risk measures induced by conditional g-expectations (i.e., filtration-consistent nonlinear expectations) that is associated with the generator function of a certain backward stochastic differential equation. Moreover, under suitable conditions, we establish the existence of optimal risk-averse solutions, in the sense of viscosity solutions, to the associated risk-averse dynamic programming equations. Finally, we briefly remark on the problem of risk-averseness under model uncertainty, when decision maker is allowed to take into account alternative models that are statistically difficult to distinguish.
Abstract 4983: T cells expressing chimeric PD1 receptors that contain a Dap10 costimulatory domain are a potential treatment for multiple types of cancer

Adoptive transfer of tumor-reactive T cells is a promising anti-tumor therapy for many cancers. To enhance tumor recognition by T cells, chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) consisting of signaling domains fused to receptors that recognize tumor antigens can be created and expressed in T cells. One receptor that is a prospective target for a new chimeric antigen receptor is PD1 because the ligands for the PD1 receptor are expressed on many cancer types. Therefore we developed a murine chimeric PD1 receptor (chPD1) consisting of the PD1 receptor extracellular ligand recognition domain and the activation domain of CD3 zeta. In addition, current chimeric antigen receptor therapies utilize various costimulatory domains to enhance anti-tumor efficacy. Therefore, we also compared the inclusion of CD28, Dap10, 41BB, GITR, ICOS, or OX40 costimulatory domains in our chPD1 receptor to determine which costimulatory domain induced optimal anti-tumor immunity. To determine if this novel CAR could potentially target a wide variety of tumors, the anti-tumor efficacy of chPD1 T cells against murine lymphoma, melanoma, kidney, pancreatic, liver, and colon cancer cell lines was measured. Of the ten cell lines tested, all expressed PD1 ligands on their cell surface, making them potential targets for chPD1 T cells. Regardless of the costimulatory domain in the CAR, all of the chPD1 T cells induced similar levels of T cell proliferation and tumor cell lysis. However, differences were observed in the cytokine secretion profiles depending on which costimulatory receptor was included in the CAR. While most of the chPD1 T cell receptor combinations secreted both pro-inflammatory (IFNγ, TNFα, IL-2, GM-CSF, IL-17, and IL-21) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10 and IL-5) as determined by ELISA and LegendPlex analysis, chPD1 T cells containing a Dap10 costimulatory domain secreted high levels of proinflammatory cytokines, but did not secrete a significant amount of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, adoptive transfer of chPD1 T cells could be a novel therapeutic strategy to treat multiple types of cancer and inclusion of the Dap10 costimulatory domain in chimeric antigen receptors may induce a preferential cytokine profile for anti-tumor therapies. Citation Format: Kelsey Deal, Emily Nylen, Amorette E. Barber. T cells expressing chimeric PD1 receptors that contain a Dap10 costimulatory domain are a potential treatment for multiple types of cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4983. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4983
“A true vassal of the King”: Pardo literacy and political identity in Venezuela during the age of revolutions

ABSTRACTEighteenth-century Venezuela was a highly stratified society in which race, education, occupation, honor, family ties, and economic resources all played important roles in defining the place that each member occupied. In this complex social map, not all social groups had equal access to education; literacy was a marker of status and power. Traditionally, literate and formally educated people belonged to the white elite, while the majority of the supposedly “non-literate” population belonged to lower social groups of color, who relied largely on oral media for the transmission of knowledge. By the end of the eighteenth century, this picture began to change: the number of people who owned books increased, an incipient informal market of books began to operate, and original networks for the circulation of books and manuscripts among different social groups proliferated. Increasingly mixed-race groups, known as pardos, learned to read and write through informal means to an education. However, members ...
Radiocarbon Data, Bayesian Modeling, and Alternative Historical Frameworks: A Case Study From the US Southeast

This article employs comparative Bayesian chronology building to formally evaluate the quality of a legacy radiocarbon dataset from the southern Appalachian region of the southeastern United States and to interrogate the assumptions that form the basis of the extant chronological narrative for the region. By incorporating alternative assumptions into Bayesian models, a number of alternative chronological frameworks are developed and compared to one another to yield insights into the development of sociopolitical complexity across southern Appalachia between AD 600 and 1600. The treatment of alternative chronological models as working hypotheses concerning the timing, tempo, and nature of sociopolitical transformations makes use of legacy radiocarbon datasets in developing new research trajectories including the encouragement of renewed field- and lab-based investigations. As such, this article provides a case study to illustrate the value of Bayesian chronological modeling in assessing legacy radiocarbon datasets and reevaluating extant chronological frameworks. Beyond initial evaluation of extant datasets and narratives, the methods and procedures outlined below can be used to form baseline models against which newly acquired data can be formally incorporated and interpreted.
A Comparison of Academic Journal Impact in Dermatology vs. Similarly Sized Medical Specialties

A dearth of research exists on how dermatology compares to similarly sized medical specialties in terms of number of papers published and scholarly impact of top journals. We investigate the impact factor, 5-year impact factor, number of journals with impact factor greater than 2, total documents published, and H5-index of the top 5 journals in dermatology. The impact of journals in dermatology has not been well described in the literature. We review the methods by which the impact of publications can be assessed and present an approach to interpreting the scope and impact of journal publications. We further identify how dermatology compares to similarly sized specialties in terms of such metrics. Our results reveal that the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, the highest-ranking dermatology journal for both impact factor (7.2) and SCImago Journal Rank (2.6), ranked second to last among top journals of comparable size. Lancet Neurology and Gastroenterology, by comparison, had impact factors of 21.9 and 16.7, respectively. These findings may result from the relatively low number of academic and fellowship-trained dermatologists, as well as the outpatient nature of dermatology. A positive correlation was observed between total number of academic physicians in a field and impact factor, 5-year impact factor, Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP), percentage of journals with an impact factor greater than 2, and H5-index. Further studies could investigate ways to address barriers to research in dermatology to allow for increased scientific impact.
Multiple intracranial aneurysms in a patient with type I Gaucher disease: a case report and literature review

Multiple intracranial aneurysms (IAs) have never been reported in a patient with Gaucher disease (GD). A 69-year-old-female with type I GD presented with a left sixth nerve palsy due to a large posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) aneurysm. Cerebral angiography demonstrated fifteen unruptured IAs (UIAs).
Low power 16-channel electronic neuronal brain interface design

Objective: The purpose of this study is to provide a connection between the neural behavior and external behavior of animals for potential brain machine interface (BMI) and other further applications. Methods: The present work proposes a 16-channel neural recording based on hardware-software co-design. The spike detection and feature extraction of the neural signal processor on this system is implemented in hardware design, and the clustering and classification of the neural spike sorter is designed in software. The two-stage spike detection, combining the benefit of threshold method and nonlinear energy operator, is presented as the initial step of the spike sorting process. The adaptive threshold and the feedback rule are utilized for adaptively adjusting the threshold and the discriminate factor with fluctuant surroundings. Results: The results suggest a significant improvement for spike separation on feature space, with the help of the discrete derivative method. Conclusion: The proposed spike sorting system is feasible as the first step for neuroscientist to figure out the brain function of animals. The accuracy of the spike sorting was enhanced on an indistinguishable data set from the result. Significance: The proposed spike sorting system could simultaneously record 16 channel neuronal activities on real-time and the whole spike sorting process is automatic without any supervision.
Forward and inverse problems in the mechanics of soft filaments

Soft slender structures are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems, in active and passive settings and across scales, from polymers and flagella, to snakes and space tethers. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of a simple and practical numerical implementation based on the Cosserat rod model to simulate the dynamics of filaments that can bend, twist, stretch and shear while interacting with complex environments via muscular activity, surface contact, friction and hydrodynamics. We validate our simulations by solving a number of forward problems involving the mechanics of passive filaments and comparing them with known analytical results, and extend them to study instabilities in stretched and twisted filaments that form solenoidal and plectonemic structures. We then study active filaments such as snakes and other slender organisms by solving inverse problems to identify optimal gaits for limbless locomotion on solid surfaces and in bulk liquids.
Learning Rules and Clusters for Anomaly Detection in Network Traffic

Much of the intrusion detection research focuses on signature (misuse) detection, where models are built to recognize known attacks. However, signature detection, by its nature, cannot detect novel attacks. Anomaly detection focuses on modeling the normal behavior and identifying significant deviations, which could be novel attacks. In this chapter we explore two machine learning methods that can construct anomaly detection models from past behavior. The first method is a rule learning algorithm that characterizes normal behavior in the absence of labeled attack data. The second method uses a clustering algorithm to identify outliers.
Holomorphic Structures Modeled After Compact Hermitian Symmetric Spaces

Let M be a compact m-dimensional complex manifold and F(M) the holomorphic frame bundle over M. Then π:F(M)→M is a holomorphic principal GL(m;c)-bundle over M. Let G be a complex Lie subgroup of GL(m;c). A holomorphic principal G-subbundle tt:P + M of Fin) is called a holomorphic G-structure on M.
Further Meta-Evaluation of Broad-Coverage Surface Realization

We present the first evaluation of the utility of automatic evaluation metrics on surface realizations of Penn Treebank data. Using outputs of the OpenCCG and XLE realizers, along with ranked WordNet synonym substitutions, we collected a corpus of generated surface realizations. These outputs were then rated and post-edited by human annotators. We evaluated the realizations using seven automatic metrics, and analyzed correlations obtained between the human judgments and the automatic scores. In contrast to previous NLG meta-evaluations, we find that several of the metrics correlate moderately well with human judgments of both adequacy and fluency, with the TER family performing best overall. We also find that all of the metrics correctly predict more than half of the significant systemlevel differences, though none are correct in all cases. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for the utility of such metrics in evaluating generation in the presence of variation. A further result of our research is a corpus of post-edited realizations, which will be made available to the research community.
Advance electronic screening of patients with cancer leveraging a new EHR to increase efficiency of care delivery, driving clinical care pathways in a perioperative anesthesia assessment center (PAAC), at a comprehensive cancer center.

308Background: Most cancer institutions are using electronic health records (EHRs). With MACRA and MIPS, this number will continue to grow. EHR’s can be frustrating as some are seen as more cumbers...
Filtering rate of the cladoceran, Daphnia pulex as a function of body size, light and acclimation

Daphnia pulex were raised under nine light intensities (0, 1.7, 3.5, 7, 14, 28, 55, and 110 ft-c), polarized light (6.6 ft-c), and four wavelength ranges.