cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficient fault-diagnosis algorithms for all-optical WDM networks with probabilistic link failures

This paper investigates the fault-diagnosis problem for all-optical wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) networks. A family of failure-localization algorithms that exploit the unique properties of all-optical networks is proposed. Optical probe signals are sequentially sent along a set of designed lightpaths, and the network state is inferred from the result of this set of end-to-end measurements. The design objective is to minimize the diagnosis effort (e.g., the average number of probes) to locate failures. By establishing a mathematical equivalence between the fault-diagnosis problem and the source-coding problem in information theory, we obtain a tight lower bound for the minimum average number of probes per edge (of the network modeled as a graph) as H/sub b/(p), the entropy of the individual edges. Using the rich set of results from coding theory to solve the fault-diagnosis problem, it is shown that the "2/sup m/-splitting" probing scheme is optimum for the special case of single failure over a linear network. A class of near-optimum run-length probing schemes that have low computation complexity is then developed. Analytical and numerical results suggest that the average number of probes per edge for the run-length probing scheme is uniformly bounded above by (1+/spl epsiv/)H/sub b/(p) and converges to the entropy lower bound as the failure probability decreases. From an information-theoretic perspective, it is shown that the run-length probing scheme outperforms the greedy probing scheme of the same computational complexity. The investigation reveals a guideline for efficient fault-diagnosis schemes: Each probe should provide approximately 1 bit of information, and the total number of probes required is approximately equal to the entropy of the state of the network. This result provides an insightful guideline to reduce the overhead cost of fault management for all-optical networks and can further the understanding of the relationship between information entropy and network management. Several practical issues are also addressed in the implementation of run-length probing schemes over all-optical WDM networks.
The Creation and Taking of Human Life: The Courts' Confused (and Confusing) Understanding of the Creation and Taking of Human Life

This essay, scheduled to be published in the Montana Law Review, argues that current abortion jurisprudence allows women to act irresponsibly regarding children they intentionally conceive, while imposing strict liability upon males for any sexual activity that results in the conception of a child. In cases involving women's decisions to continue or terminate their pregnancies, there is little or no consideration for the unique dependency of the unborn child, created by the voluntary sexual activity of the women, while consideration of the needs of the child is determinative of males' legal responsibility. This anomoly is reflective of a larger theme in American law regarding the state's obligation to provide for the personal security of each citizen, but disregards Anglo-American law regarding the use of lethal force to defend self and others.
Hepatitis C virus infection in the 1945-1965 birth cohort (baby boomers) in a large urban ED

Abstract Introduction The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends one-time screening of the 1945-1965 birth cohort (baby boomers) for hepatitis C (HCV) infection. New York State legislation mandates screening of baby boomers for HCV in most patient care settings except the emergency department (ED). This cross-sectional study explores baby boomer knowledge of HCV, prevalence of HCV infection, and linkage to care from a large urban ED. Method Patients participated in a researcher-administered structured interview and were offered an HCV screening test. If HCV antibody reactive, a follow-up clinic appointment was made within 6 weeks. Reminder telephone calls were made a week before the appointment. Attendance at the follow-up appointment was considered successful linkage to care. Results A total of 915 eligible patients were approached between October 21, 2014, and July 13, 2015. A total of 427 patients participated in the structured interview; 383 agreed to an HCV rapid test. Prevalence of HCV antibody reactivity was 7.3%. Four patients were successfully linked to care. General knowledge about HCV was fair. Misconceptions about transmission were apparent. Beliefs that “if someone is infected with HCV they will most likely carry the virus all their lives unless treated” and that “someone with hepatitis can look and feel fine” were significantly associated with agreement to testing. Conclusions Better linkage to care is needed to justify HCV screening in the 1945-1965 birth cohort in this particular ED setting. Linkage to care from the ED is challenging but can potentially be improved with specific measures including simplified screening algorithms and supportive resources.
On the Formal Arguments of the Akutobhayā

Etude d'un commentaire ancien du bouddhisme de l'ecole Madhyamaka anterieur a Buddhapalitā et traitant du debat sur la logique et la methode: l'«Akutobhayā» de Nāgārjuna, analysant la structure syllogistique de la pensee de son auteur. L'A. se propose de montrer que l'«Akutobhayā» est plus proche de la conception du monde de Nāgārjuna que les commentaires de la logique indienne post-Dignāga, d'une part, et qu'il se conforme mieux aux normes des ecoles Nyāya et Sāmkhya de la logique formelle
Indirect returns and use of NPV in economic viability modeling of critical communications networks

Broadband-technology-based critical communications networks are predicted and known to generate significant direct returns. Less attention is given to their potential to generate long term indirect returns in the form of various socioeconomic benefits. This article focuses on identifying such indirect returns, and suggests that they are included in financial and economic viability analyses for better accuracy in the cost-benefit analyses of broadband critical communications networks. Developing a net present value model that accounts for both direct and indirect benefits, the article suggests that broadband critical communications networks can be highly beneficial and desirable to implement, particularly from the public and social points of view.
Social Sequence Analysis: Linkage Criteria for Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering

As discussed in Chapter 5, the key procedural question for an analyst when conducting a hierarchical cluster analysis is what criteria to use when determining whether certain cases or clusters should be merged together at each step of the agglomerative process. This appendix provides some guidance for these decisions. Assume that you are in the middle of the agglomerative process, such that you already have a number of relatively small clusters that contain a handful of cases each. The next step is to determine which of these clusters should be merged together to form larger clusters. The way this is done is that, at each step, clusters that are the shortest distance from each other are merged first. The question is how to define the distance between clusters , which may include several cases that are different distances from each other. This is what the linkage criteria are used to define. The simplest agglomerative criterion is known as single linkage . In this approach, a given cluster is merged into another when a member of that cluster is close to at least one member of that other cluster. Hence, this requires that only a “single” connection be found between cases in the two clusters before merging them together. This approach is represented in Appendix Figure B.1, which depicts two hypothetical clusters that are being considered for merging. Four panels show different kinds of relationships that one might take into account when using different criteria for merging clusters. The first panel depicts the kind of distance relationship that one would take into account when using the single linkage approach. An obvious problem with single linkage is that it ignores all but one relationship between all of the cases that are present in the two clusters. This approach therefore ignores other relationships, which may be problematic, such as peripheral cases in both clusters that are actually quite distant.
Evaluating the effects of treatment switching with randomization as an instrumental variable in a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to utilize simulated data based on an ongoing randomized clinical trial (RCT) to evaluate the effects of treatment switching with randomization as an instrumental variable (IV) at differing levels of treatment crossovers, for continuous and binary outcomes. Data were analyzed using IV, intent-to-treat (ITT), and per protocol (PP) methods. The IV method performed the best, since it provided the most unbiased point estimates, and it had equal or higher power and higher coverage probabilities compared to the ITT estimates, and because a PP analysis can be biased due to its exclusion of non-compliant patients.
Seismotectonic Provinces of the southeastern U.S. Based on Suspect Terranes

Over 600 earthquakes, with seismic intensity greater than IV on Modified Mercalli scale, which occurred between 1698 to 1983 in the southeastern United States, are used for the construction of regional seismotectonic provinces. The boundaries of these provinces are defined based on regional seismicity, gravity, magnetic, and geological data, as well as the concept of suspect terranes. Proposed boundaries of the seismotectonic provinces are nearly the same as those reported by Williams and Hatcher (1983) for the Appalachian miogeosyncline, the Piedmont and the Tallahassee-Suwannee Terranes, but they differ for the Avalon and the Brunswick Terranes. In addition, based on potential field data and seismicity pattern, a new seismotectonic province is also defined where the destructive Charleston earthquake of 1886, with maximum observed intensity of X, occurred. If this interpretation is correct, and, if it is assumed that there are no other major regional seismogenic sources based on historic seismicity, then the region with the highest seismic risk in the Coastal Plain is confined only to the Charleston seismotectonic province. Thus, the seismic risk of the remaining area of the Coastal Plain may not be as great as previously suggested.
Bacteria distribution and control measures under dynamic environment in ICU of Children's Hospital

Objective: To investigate the feature of bacteria distribution in ICU of Children's Hospital and provide the basis for preventing hospital infection. Methods: Samples were taken under dynamic environment according to the methods of technical standard for disinfection. The samples were from10 items in ward: computer keyboard, stethoscope, chart file, the button of monitor, interface of suction catheter, telephone, hands of medical staff, etc. Results: A total of 330 samples were tested, the positive rate was 28.18% and distributed mainly in telephone (54.55%), back pat (42.42%), button of hand sterilizer (39.39%), keyboard (36.36%). Staphylococcus epidermidis was the major bacteria accounted for 63.44%, the others were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, etc. Conclusion: The positive rate of bacteria in ICU is higher, and the medical staff should strengthen the compliance of hand hygiene, and the cleaners should do the cleaning work according to the requirements, so as to reduce the incidence of hospital infection.
National grid back-up protection setting tool for grading coordination across distribution network operators/third party interfaces

Back-up protection grading coordination across 400/132kV and 275/132kV auto transformers is essential to ensure that adequate discrimination between the National Grid and Distribution Network Operators (DNOs)/third parties is preserved. This is applicable for new transformer installations and any changes in protection settings due to changes in the 132kV network. A protection grading tool that provides grading margin checks for overcurrent and earth faults to National Grid's latest policy has been designed to provide a consistent output and increased efficiency on the demands of National Grid's internal engineering resource. This paper provides a summary of the change in policy, the algorithm adopted, an overview of the tool from the perspective of the user and a case study to show application.
Dynamic Mechanical Properties

Studying the influence of temperature and loading frequency on the behavior of syntactic foams is important because of its diverse set of applications. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is a widely used technique for measuring viscoelastic properties of materials over a range of temperatures and loading frequencies. The storage modulus and loss modulus determined in a DMA experiment measure the capacity of a material to store and dissipate energy, respectively. In general, the storage modulus of syntactic foams decreases with increasing temperature. This response was consistent between plain and reinforced syntactic foams. Study of storage modulus of vinyl ester/glass hollow particle syntactic foams at three different temperatures concluded that the neat resin has higher storage modulus than the syntactic foams below glass transition temperature (T g) but this trend is reversed above T g. Also, the room temperature (30 °C) storage modulus of syntactic foams increases with the increase in the wall thickness of hollow particles. The addition of nanoclay increased the storage modulus of epoxy matrix syntactic foams. The effect was attributed to the toughening of matrix resin by nanoclay particles. However, increased stiffness of nanoclay reinforced syntactic foams resulted in decreased loss modulus. Cyanate ester matrix syntactic foam with 4 vol. % of nanoclay showed higher storage modulus than the plain syntactic foams, owing to the restricted movement of the polymer chains which can be attributed to the good interaction between the nanoclay and the matrix resin.
Graphene Oxides in Water: Correlating Morphology and Surface Chemistry with Aggregation Behavior.

Aqueous aggregation processes can significantly impact function, effective toxicity, environmental transport, and ultimate fate of advanced nanoscale materials, including graphene and graphene oxide (GO). In this work, we have synthesized flat graphene oxide (GO) and five physically crumpled GOs (CGO, with different degrees of thermal reduction, and thus oxygen functionality) using an aerosol method, and characterized the evolution of surface chemistry and morphology using a suite of spectroscopic (UV–vis, FTIR, XPS) and microscopic (AFM, SEM, and TEM) techniques. For each of these materials, critical coagulation concentrations (CCC) were determined for NaCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2 electrolytes. The CCCs were correlated with material ζ-potentials (R2 = 0.94–0.99), which were observed to be mathematically consistent with classic DLVO theory. We further correlated CCC values with CGO chemical properties including C/O ratios, carboxyl group concentrations, and C–C fractions. For all cases, edge-based carboxyl func...
Biodegradable Nanoparticles for Delivery of Therapeutics in CNS Infection

Despite the significant advances in neurological medicine, it remains difficult to treat ailments directly involving the brain. The blood brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly regulated, selectively permeable barrier that restricts access from the blood into the brain extracellular fluid (BEF). Many conditions such as tumors or infections in the brain are difficult to treat due to the fact that drugs and other therapeutic agents are unable to easily pass through this relatively impermeable barrier. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) presents a particular problem as it is able to remain dormant in the brain for years protected from antiretroviral drugs by the BBB. The development of nanoscale carriers over the past few decades has made possible the delivery of therapies with the potential to overcome membrane barriers and provide specific, targeted delivery. This review seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of nanoparticle formulation and their applications in improving the delivery efficiency of drugs, specifically antiretroviral therapeutics to the brain to treat HIV.
Correlating Nonlinear Parameters of Resilient Modulus Models for Unbound Geomaterials

Abstract Characteristics of unbound aggregate pavement layers is one of the most important factors affecting the structural performance of pavements. The resilient modulus of the unbound geomaterials has been known as one of the most contributing factors to the mechanistic design process. The resilient modulus material models have been evolved significantly during the past two decades. A three-parameter nonlinear model is usually used to relate the stress state to the resilient modulus based on the characteristics of the geomaterials. Highway agencies use different versions of the resilient modulus models and the transformation from one model to another, requires the backcalculation of model parameters from laboratory results. This study aims at correlating the nonlinear model parameters between two of the resilient modulus models followed by the partial validation of the proposed process through a number of laboratory tests. The proposed correlations were associated with some level of uncertainty and yet were straightforward enough for practicality purposes. The performance of prediction models, as validated with a number of laboratory results, were reasonably acceptable. These models could then interchangeably been utilized to extract resilient modulus nonlinear model parameters from each of the evaluated models without the need to perform the backcalculation process.
Strategic Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing: A Case Study of IDS Logs

Cyber threat intelligence sharing is emerging as an important tool for network security as it can identify evolving threat patterns and prevent attackers from replicating their early success across the Internet. However the types of information sharing being practiced today are at the tactical level focusing on specific attacks, e.g. characteristics of a piece of malware, and black listed IP addresses and domains. In this paper we argue sharing cyber intelligence at a more strategic level is needed. By strategic information we mean information about salient common features of groups of attacks and attackers. Strategic information allows us to take actions that are much closer to the source of the attacks. For example instead of block an IP address as opposed to shutting down the botnet. We propose at set of strategic cyber threat indicators and show how they can be derived using an IDS log from a large commercial enterprise.
Red blood cell storage lesion

The introduction of omics technologies, in particular proteomics and metabolomics in the field of transfusion medicine, has unveiled the complexity of the storage lesion. Even though it is now universally accepted that the storage lesion affects red cell survival upon transfusion and thus, theoretically, the safety and effectiveness of the transfusion therapy, no significant association between storage duration and transfusion outcomes has been observed in any of the large-scale randomized clinical trials performed so far. This disconnection between laboratory and clinical evidence may be in part reconciled by the appreciation of the underlying biological variability among donors and recipients, utterly affecting the severity of the storage lesion and the clinical effects of the transfusion therapy. While in the last few years the transfusion community has been split between those seeing the glass half full or half empty, considerations on the influence of biological variability and prestorage variables (e.g. handling and processing) on the final quality of packed red blood cells have prompted a re-assessment of whether we do really know what is in the glass (the final blood product). Controversy persists between the supporters of the clinical irrelevance of the storage lesion and those questioning the design and statistical power of the evidence-based studies looking for a correlation between storage duration and untoward consequences of transfusion. In the meantime, alternative storage strategies and solutions have been designed that promise to deliver better quality blood products for both factions.
An overview of additive manufacturing (3D printing) for microfabrication

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a rapidly developing technology that has revolutionized the manufacturing sector. In this paper, a review of various manufacturing methods is presented and selected features are compared. Some examples requiring features on the micron-scale are presented.
Work-In-Progress: Protecting Real-Time GPU Applications on Integrated CPU-GPU SoC Platforms

Integrated CPU-GPU architecture provides excellent acceleration capabilities for data parallel applications on embedded platforms while meeting the size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements. However, sharing of main memory between CPU applications and GPU kernels can severely affect the execution of GPU kernels and diminish the performance gain provided by GPU. In the NVIDIA Tegra TK1 platform which has the integrated CPU-GPU architecture, we noticed that in the worst case scenario, the GPU kernels can suffer as much as 4X slowdown in the presence of co-running memory intensive CPU applications compared to their solo execution. In this paper, we propose a kernel mechanism called BWLOCK++ which can be used to protect the performance of GPU kernels from corunning memory intensive CPU applications. Our preliminary investigations show that by using BWLOCK++, the performance slowdown of GPU kernels in the presence of memory contention can be decreased by up-to 63%.
Quality of life in patients with vitiligo using the Short Form‐36

Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentary disorder affecting 0.5-1% of the world's population. Affected individuals often have low self-esteem, and poor quality of life (QOL) due to the disfigurement caused by the disease [1]. Vitiligo's impact on QOL compared to other diseases using general health questionnaires like the Short Form 36 (SF-36) is not well understood. We performed a cross-sectional study of patients with vitiligo and controls using the SF-36 and compared our scores to studies of patients with depression, chronic lung disease, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, arthritis, cancer, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and healthy adults. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Customary International Law

Dans ce chapitre, nous etudions le debat sur la nature et les sources du Droit international coutumier. Le Droit international coutumier qui est le Droit qui lie les nations sans etre exprime dans des traites a traditionnellement deux sources: la pratique etatique et l'opinio juris. Contrairement a la plupart des auteurs, nous soutenons que l'opinio juris devrait avoir peu de valeur dans la determination du Droit international coutumier. En revanche, en utilisant une approche fondee sur un choix rationnel, nous montrons que les pratiques etatiques passees devraient determiner des normes internationales puisqu'elles sont les seuls signaux significatifs qui permettent de depasser les obstacles a la cooperation entre nations
Women’s heart health at mid-life: what is the role of psychosocial stress?

Women in mid-life experience unique stressors, including transitions within their family roles, informal caregiving, job stress, and perceived discrimination. The impact of these stressors on cardiovascular health in women during mid-life is of growing interest in both the popular and scientific literature. The objective of this review is to summarize the recent literature on stress and cardiovascular health in mid-life women. We focus on stressors that are relevant to mid-life women, including social stress and discrimination, and long-term risk of CVD events and subclinical CVD measures. We systematically reviewed the literature published between January 2012 and April 2018 for studies examining stress in mid-life and either CVD endpoints or subclinical CVD outcomes. Eligible studies included at least one psychosocial stress exposure, a CVD or subclinical CVD outcome, and either included only female participants, reported sex-stratified analyses or tested for a sex*stress interaction. We identified 37 studies published since 2012 that met our criteria and included women between the ages of 40 and 65, including 3 case-control studies, 15 cross-sectional studies, and 19 prospective cohort studies. Because clinical CVD events typically occur after age 65 in women, only 22 studies were available that evaluated stress and hard CVD events in samples with mid-life women. Results from these studies suggested an increased and significant risk of CVD due to stress. Of the 15 studies that included subclinical CVD outcomes, the majority showed that mid-life women experiencing greater levels of stress had more subclinical CVD, as indicated by carotid intima-media thickness, flow-mediated dilation and arterial stiffness; however, several studies reported null associations. General life stress, including perceived stress and life events, in mid-life was significantly related to later-life CVD risk and mid-life subclinical CVD in the majority of studies published in the past six years. Job stress was inconsistently related to CVD risk in women, and fewer studies examined characteristics of other social roles, such as marriage, motherhood or caregiving. Perceived discrimination also was associated with CVD events and subclinical CVD in some samples of mid-life women. Further investigation into specific stressors relevant to women in mid-life, including caregiving and marital stress, are needed to understand the full extent to which life stress impacts CVD risk in mid-life women.
Design and Evaluation of the Field-Deployable Electrostatic Precipitator with Superhydrophobic Surface (FDEPSS) with High Concentration Rate

ABSTRACTHere we report on further development of an electrostatics-based bioaerosol collector with high concentration rate. We developed a field-deployable version of the electrostatic precipitator with superhydrophobic surface (FDEPSS), which consists of two combined half-cylinder collection chambers and an integrated control box. The collector is made of a static dissipative material and each collection chamber features a 3.2 mm wide collection electrode. The round top part of each chamber contains eight carbon fiber ionizers arranged in two lines of four. The collected particles are removed by a 20 µL rolling water droplet. Sampler’s components were integrated into a control box. The FDEPSS was tested with two bacterial species, Bacillus atropheus and Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria, and one fungal spore, Penicillium chrysogenum for 10 and 60 min collection times and showed collection efficiency of ~70% at a sampling flow rate of 20 L min–1. The use of a collecting water droplet of 20 µL per collection chamber achieved sample concentration rates approaching 0.5 × 106 min–1. The FDEPSS was also tested against BioSampler (SKC Inc., Eighty Four, PA) and Button aerosol sampler (SKC Inc.) when sampling bioaerosols outdoors for 60 min. The samples were characterized based on the total airborne adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration, which was reported as relative luminescence units (RLU). The FDEPSS detected 5.1 × 105 RLU m–3, while the BioSampler and the Button sampler showed 4.1 × 105 RLU m–3 and 8.7 × 105 RLU m–3, respectively. Since ATP analysis can be performed with small sample volumes, and the FDEPSS captures particles into 20 µL of liquid, resulting in a high concentration rate, we show that this sampler can detect the presence of airborne microorganisms 40× faster than the BioSampler or Button aerosol sampler. This FDEPSS feature could be integrated into bioaerosol detection systems, especially where concentrations are low and time is critical.
Whole Genome Sequence of the Parasitoid Wasp Microplitis demolitor That Harbors an Endogenous Virus Mutualist.

Microplitis demolitor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a parasitoid used as a biological control agent to control larval-stage Lepidoptera and serves as a model for studying the function and evolution of symbiotic viruses in the genus Bracovirus . Here we present the M. demolitor genome (assembly version 2.0), with a genome size of 241 Mb, and a N50 scaffold and contig size of 1.1 Mb and 14 Kb, respectively. Using RNA-Seq data and manual annotation of genes of viral origin, we produced a high-quality gene set that includes 18,586 eukaryotic and 171 virus-derived protein-coding genes. Bracoviruses are dsDNA viruses with unusual genome architecture, in which the viral genome is integrated into the wasp genome and is comprised of two distinct components: proviral segments that are amplified, circularized, and packaged into virions for export into the wasp’s host via oviposition; and replication genes. This genome assembly revealed that at least two scaffolds contain both nudivirus-like genes and proviral segments, demonstrating that at least some of these components are near each other in the genome on a single chromosome. The updated assembly and annotation are available in several publicly accessible databases; including the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the Ag Data Commons. In addition, all raw sequence data available for M. demolitor have been consolidated and are available for visualization at the i5k Workspace. This whole genome assembly and annotation represents the only genome-scale, annotated assembly from the lineage of parasitoid wasps that has associations with bracoviruses (the ‘microgastroid complex’), providing important baseline knowledge about the architecture of co-opted virus symbiont genomes.
Penalized Empirical Likelihood for the Sparse Cox Regression Model.

Abstract The current penalized regression methods for selecting predictor variables and estimating the associated regression coefficients in the sparse Cox model are mainly based on partial likelihood. In this paper, a bias-corrected empirical likelihood method is proposed for the sparse Cox model in conjunction with appropriate penalty functions when the dimensionality of data is high. Theoretical properties of the resulting estimator for the large sample are proved. Simulation studies suggest that penalized empirical likelihood works better than partial likelihood in terms of selecting correct predictors without introducing more model errors. The well-known primary biliary cirrhosis data set is used to illustrate the proposed penalized empirical likelihood method.
Centroid-Based Particle Swarm Optimization Variant for Data Classification

Recently, data mining has become more attractive for researchers as a technique to analyze and transform raw data into useful information that would help with decision support. Over the last decade, many data mining applications have been proposed in various research areas such as medicine, agriculture, and finance. Data classification is one of the data mining processes, which is a supervised learning task that analyzes the past data to predict future data. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is one of the most popular swarm intelligence methods that simulates the behavior of bird flocking whereby the best source of food in a certain area is sought. In this paper, a new approach for data classification based on PSO abbreviated as CPSO is proposed. The main idea of CPSO is to find the optimal centroid and the standard deviation for each target label and then use the normal distribution probability density function and the probability of each target label to classify unseen data. The performance of CPSO was tested using ten data sets and was compared to twelve classification algorithms. The experimental results show that the CPSO algorithm is competitive compared to other classification algorithms. In addition, the algorithm can be efficiently used for data classification.
Spilling the Beans on Understanding English Idioms Using Multimodality: An Idiom Acquisition Technique for Iranian Language Learners

Idioms are ubiquitous in English language. Despite their ubiquity, learning idioms is a thorny issue for second language learners. Multiple researchers have scrutinized different aspects of idiom learning by second language learners: important factors in processing idioms in L2 (Cieślicka, 2015); the incorporation of technology in idiom learning (Khoshnevisan, 2018b); idiom assessment (Khoshnevisan, 2018a). A number of studies have been conducted concerning the application of the Idiom Diffusion Model—an L2 idiom processing model—to develop the idiomatic competence of learners, however, the pertinent literature is sparse: Greek, German, and French (Liontas, 1997); Greek (Katsarou, 2013); Korean (Turker, 2016). It turns out that the application of the model to Persian language learners is missing. To address the gap, the author conducted a qualitative study to explore the perceptions of Iranian language learners about using a website to learn idioms. The researcher employed an online questionnaire to delve into the learners’ perceptions. The findings imply that the majority of the participants used video and picture modules to arrive at the figurative meaning of the idiomatic phrases. However, in terms of semi and post-lexical idioms, most learners benefited from translations to decode the meanings. The findings corroborate the theory that translation facilitates learning idioms.
Towards s/engineer/bot: principles for program repair bots

Of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on developer wages, up to 25% accounts for fixing bugs. Companies like Google save significant human effort and engineering costs with automatic bug detection tools, yet automatically fixing them is still a nascent endeavour. Very recent work (including our own) demonstrates the feasibility of automatic program repair in practice. As automated repair technology matures, it presents great appeal for integration into developer workflows. We believe software bots are a promising vehicle for realizing this integration, as they bridge the gap between human software development and automated processes. We envision repair bots orchestrating automated refactoring and bug fixing. To this end, we explore what building a repair bot entails. We draw on our understanding of patch generation, validation, and real world software development interactions to identify six principles that bear on engineering repair bots and discuss related design challenges for integrating human workflows. Ultimately, this work aims to foster critical focus and interest for making repair bots a reality.
Predictors of Hemodynamic Response to Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump Therapy in Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure and Cardiogenic Shock

Introduction There is renewed interest in the utility of the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) for short-term and durable support in patients with chronic systolic heart failure (HF) who present with acute decompensation and cardiogenic shock (CS). However, the clinical characteristics of IABP-responders and non-responders remain incompletely defined. We sought to identify predictors of early IABP response to guide optimal use of IABP therapy in this population. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the records of chronic systolic HF patients who presented at our institution between 2011-2018 with acute decompensated HF with hemodynamic evidence of CS and underwent IABP placement. IABP-responder was defined as having an immediate increase in cardiac output (CO) and an immediate decrease in mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) above the median values of the cohort. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of hemodynamic response. Results During the study period, 218 chronic systolic HF patients underwent IABP insertion for acute decompensation with CS. The mean age was 59.4 ±13.4 years, 79.8% were men, and 38.5% had ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM). The average hemodynamic response to IABP in the whole cohort was a CO increase of 0.57 ±0.85L/min and a MPAP reduction of 5.1 ±7.6mmHg; IABP-responders had a CO increase of 1.21 ±0.87L/min and a MPAP reduction of 12.1 ±5.9mmHg (figure). Univariable predictors of IABP-response were ICM, presence of severe mitral regurgitation, baseline heart rate, elevated MPAP, and elevated systemic vascular resistance (SVR). Following multivariable logistic regression, independent predictors of IABP-response were elevated baseline SVR (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.01 - 4.17; p=0.047) and elevated MPAP (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.23 - 5.00; p=0.01). MPAP reduction decreased the odds of death or need for escalation to another short-term circulatory support device while CO increase did not [OR 0.52 (0.28 - 0.97; p=0.04) vs. 0.83 (0.45 - 1.54; p=0.56)]. Conclusions A subset of chronic systolic HF patients had a robust hemodynamic response to IABP insertion with CO augmentation and MPAP reduction. Elevated baseline SVR and MPAP are predictors of robust response following device insertion. These parameters may be used to identify patients who may respond favorably to IABP counterpulsation therapy.
Vascular Niche in Lung Alveolar Development, Homeostasis, and Regeneration

Endothelial cells (ECs) constitute small capillary blood vessels and contribute to delivery of nutrients, oxygen and cellular components to the local tissues, as well as to removal of carbon dioxide and waste products from the tissues. Besides these fundamental functions, accumulating evidence indicates that capillary ECs form the vascular niche. In the vascular niche, ECs reciprocally crosstalk with resident cells such as epithelial cells, mesenchymal cells, and immune cells to regulate development, homeostasis, and regeneration in various organs. Capillary ECs supply paracrine factors, called angiocrine factors, to the adjacent cells in the niche and orchestrate these processes. Although the vascular niche is anatomically and functionally well-characterized in several organs such as bone marrow and neurons, the effects of endothelial signals on other resident cells and anatomy of the vascular niche in the lung have not been well-explored. This review discusses the role of alveolar capillary ECs in the vascular niche during development, homeostasis and regeneration.
A Monolithic Electro-Optic Interferometric Tunable Laser with 44-nm Tuning Range and Below 700 kHz Linewidth

A monolithic interferometric tunable laser with a tuning range of 44 nm and linewidth below 700 kHz across all channels is reported. The laser features an intra-cavity coupler consisting of three electro-optically tunable arms with distinct lengths for supermode selection.
Social Science and Universities

Although unrecognizable by their present names, the social sciences have been taught at universities from their founding. At medieval universities, they were tucked away in language or mathematical ‘faculties’ governed by the theories of Aristotle and his Jewish and Arabic commentators. Finding medieval approaches to knowledge constricting and insufficiently useful, critics and governments created alternative institutions: academies, technical and vocational schools, and specialized professional programs. These institutions varied by period and country. In the long run, however, universities proved to be the most adaptive and resilient, creating different structures for new specialties and new modes of teaching. The definition of an academic career changed to allow for greater disciplinary specialization. In the social sciences, special credit must be given to the Scottish universities of the eighteenth century for pioneering approaches to economics, political science, sociology, psychology, and history. From the nineteenth century onward, industrialism, urbanism, and global wars produced greater demands for pure and applied ‘research’ (regarded as a German innovation) and problem-solving methods. The digital revolution of the twentieth century has had similar consequences. Today, some social science activity takes place within governmental and private sectors. However, although the boundaries between institutions are more fluid than ever, the university remains the primary location for the fundamental advancement of all forms of knowledge.
Resolution Enhanced Non-Contact Thermoacoustic Imaging using Coded Pulse Excitation

Non-contact thermoacoustic and photoacoustic imaging systems which combine the high resolution of ultrasound with good dielectric/optical contrast show promise in many medical, remote sensing and non-destructive testing applications. One approach that enables meeting the challenging signal-to-noise constraints in non-contact imaging is the use of highly sensitive, resonant air-coupled capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUT) as receivers. This sensitivity, however, is gained through a fundamental tradeoff with bandwidth and is at the cost of lower image quality due to slowly decaying residual oscillations of the underdamped, high quality factor CMUTs. In this paper, we propose a pulse-based, multi-cycle signal excitation scheme which optimally modulates the generated ultrasound pressure via the thermoacoustic effect so as to actively cancel the residual oscillations of the CMUT response. This improves achievable thermoacoustic image resolution and reduces multipath clutter. The proposed technique can also be used to improve resolution in contact-based imaging systems that use resonant sensors.
Technique for Imbricated Repair of Paraconduit Conduit Hernia

Minimally invasive esophagectomy is associated with an increased rate of paraconduit hernia. Recurrences after repair are typically adjacent to the gastroepiploic vessel passage through the hiatus. This technique provides a novel solution and approach to prevent recurrence or re-recurrence after repair by imbricating the blood supply to the conduit within the conduit, allowing circumferential fixation while protecting the conduit blood supply.
On Reducing Module Activities in Online Arithmetic Operations

Online and left-to-right arithmetic process operands and results digit-serially, most significant digit first. An online operation needs only a small number of input digits to begin producing the result digits. This property allows overlap between successive operations thus reducing data dependencies. It also enables digit-level massive parallelism and allows variable precision computations with unbiased truncation. In this paper we are exploring the property that the digits are used only when available and needed thus reducing module (signal) activities and consequently the energy consumed. We analyze a general online algorithm model and relations of input patterns on module activities in basic organizations. The two basic organizations are considered: a linear array (1D) with sequential execution, and a 2D array with combinational execution. Both organizations consist of repeated digit slices (modules). Reduction of active modules has two sources due to online mode of computation: gradual use of input digits and possibility to truncate working precision to p < n full precision. As a case study we analyze online scheme for 3D vector normalization. The results presented are analytical and the reductions in module activities are estimates. In general, the module activities are reduced by about 50% with respect to conventional arithmetic sequential and linear array implementations. Implementation is needed to obtain actual energy savings. This analysis may motivate further study of module activities as a function of arithmetic modes.
NAD+ biosynthetic impairment and urinary metabolomic alterations observed in hospitalized adults with COVID-19-related acute kidney injury.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in COVID-19 and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We investigated alterations in the urine metabolome to test the hypothesis that impaired nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) biosynthesis and other deficiencies in energy metabolism in the kidney, previously characterized in ischemic, toxic, and inflammatory etiologies of AKI, will be present in COVID-19-associated AKI. Methods: This is a case-control study among two independent populations of adults hospitalized with COVID-19: a critically ill population in Boston, Massachusetts, and a general population in Birmingham, Alabama. Cases had AKI stages 2 or 3 by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes criteria; controls had no AKI. Metabolites were measured by liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry. Results: Fourteen cases and 14 controls were included from Boston, and 8 cases and 10 controls from Birmingham. Increased urinary quinolinate-to-tryptophan ratio, seen with impaired NAD+ biosynthesis, was present in cases at each location and pooled across locations (median [IQR]: 1.34 [0.59-2.96] in cases, 0.31 [0.13-1.63] in controls, p=0.0013). Altered energy metabolism and purine metabolism contributed to a distinct urinary metabolomic signature that differentiated patients with and without AKI (supervised random forest class error: 2/28 in Boston, 0/18 in Birmingham). Conclusion: Urinary metabolites spanning multiple biochemical pathways differentiate AKI vs. non-AKI in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, and suggest a conserved impairment in NAD+ biosynthesis which may present a novel therapeutic target to mitigate COVID-19-associated AKI.
A study on the application of on-chip EOS/ESD full-protection device for TMR heads

On-chip EOS/ESD full-protection for TMR heads can be achieved using shunt diodes that are mounted permanently in the TMR device. This consists of two semiconductor diodes connected in parallel and in reverse order across the reader pads of TMR heads. This method also increases the ESD threshold of the TMR heads.
Vimentin-derived proteins: Differences between normal human fibroblasts and transformed human cells☆

Abstract Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed a quantitative difference in a series of polypeptides ranging in MW from 45 000 to 51 000 and of lower isoelectric pH than vimentin, when comparing normal human fibroblasts with a virally transformed subline and with HeLa cells. Re-extraction of purified [35S]vimentin with cold whole cell homogenates and peptide mapping showed that these polypeptides are derivatives of vimentin. They may be natural components of a normal fibroblast's architecture or they may arise from a pool of vimentin that is not structured within intermediate filaments at the time of extraction. Furthermore, we show that vimentin from the two transformed cell types is more resistant to proteolysis by whole cell homogenates than vimentin from normal fibroblasts. Structural alteration of vimentin may play an important role in the expression of transformation.