cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Synthetic Peptide Substrates in Hemostatic Testing

Since the introduction of synthetic chromogenic and fluorogenic peptide substrates from serine proteases, the testing of coagulation has undergone a dramatic conceptual and methodological change. The concept of coagulation profiling has emerged and automated methodologies are being introduced. Synthetic substrate methods for the evaluation of antithrombin-III; progressive antithrombin; plasminogen; antiplasmin; prekallikrein; antikallikrein ; alpha 1-antitrypsin; prothrombin; heparin; platelet factor IV; urokinase; tissue activator of plasminogen; factor assays; amidolytic equivalents of prothrombin time; and partial thromboplastin time have been developed. Studies on antithrombin-III indicate that immunological methods evaluate the total immunoreactive-antithrombin-III (antigenic) level and do not discriminate between functionally active forms and the AT-III serine protease complex. The clinical significance of AT-III measured by immunological methods is highly questionable. The coagulant assays for the measurement of AT-III require purified alpha-thrombin preparations. The noncoagulant forms of thrombin (beta- and gamma-) result in falsely low antithrombin-III quantitation. The molecular heterogeneity in a given thrombin preparation if standardized in terms of its amidolytic activity does not produce any errors in the quantitation of AT-III levels with synthetic peptide methods. None of the immunological methods provide clinically relevant information except in normal plasma where the immunological and functional activities are identical. Analysis of pathologic plasma samples using laser nephelometry, radial immunodiffusion and radioimmunoassay methods revealed that the functional activity of various serine protease inhibitors is greatly reduced but the reduction in the immunological quantities is minimal. Since coagulation proteins are functional, a ratio between their functional activity and absolute protein levels may be a useful parameter. Employing human and bovine thrombin; bovine and human Xa with their respective substrates, the absolute quantitation of heparin is satisfactorily carried out, however, these assays only measure heparin concentrations and do not reflect the overall anticoagulant effect of heparin. Using the synthetic substrates, the value of measuring absolute concentrations of heparin in a patient on heparin therapy is questionable. With the introduction of fluorogenic substrates, the presence of activated coagulation factors may be demonstrated in patients with thrombotic disorders.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Use of Geospatial Technology for Oil Spill Response Planning in the Western Basin of Lake Erie

This study reviews existing plans and proposes a development process for geospatially enabled oil spill protection strategies in the Western Lake Erie basin. Geospatially enabled protection strategies take advantage of existing data and the capabilities of a GIS to develop variations of protection strategies to allow for strategic changes to plans as a result of seasonal or meteorological conditions. It also allows the analysis, display and distribution of geospatial data in a manner that meet the different needs of planners, responders and incident managers. Data distribution options are discussed, including multiple paper and electronic publication options including, but not limited to Adobe Acrobat, GEOPDF, ArcReader, Google Earth and ArcIMS to make data available in the appropriate format to all personnel who require it.
Far-Infrared Spectra and Potential Energy Surface for 5,6-Dihydro-4H-thiopyran

The far infrared spectrum of 5,6-dihydro-4H-thiopyran shows eleven ring bending bands (near 120 cm−1), four ring-twisting bands (near 275 cm−1), and twelve sum and difference bands in the 383–397 cm−1 and 148–166 cm−1 regions. From these frequency data a detailed energy map was constructed for many of the excited vibrational states of the two coupled out-of-plane ring vibrations. A two-dimensional potential energy surface, which satisfactorily fits the observed data, was determined in terms of the bending and twisting coordinates respectively. The minima on the potential energy surface correspond to twisting angles of ±48° (half-chair conformation). The lowest-energy bent (boat) conformation correspnds to a saddle point 1500 cm−1 above the twisted conformation on the potential energy surfaces, and the barrier to planarity was estimated to be 6000 cm−1.
(Nuclear) Change of Plans: What Explains Nuclear Reversals?

ABSTRACTWhat explains a state’s decision to give up its nuclear weapons program? While instances of nuclear reversal figure prominently in international politics, evidence in the literature has been largely piecemeal. We offer a novel conceptualization of the proliferation process as nonlinear, potentially including instances of reversal, as well as pursuit of a nuclear program and acquisition of nuclear weapons. Employing this theoretical framework, we consider states’ cost-benefit calculations in each phase of the proliferation process, and we test our theory using a multistate model. Two counterintuitive findings emerge from this framework. First, nuclear latency increases the likelihood of pursuit and acquisition but also increases the likelihood of reversal by reducing the costs of restarting a program in the future. Second, the nonproliferation regime discourages states without a nuclear program from pursuing and acquiring nuclear weapons while at the same time making states with nuclear programs le...
|[lsquo]|The history of an incorrect term|[rsquo]|: Agamben, etymology and the medieval history of the holocaust

In his discussion of the word ‘holocaust’ in Remnants of Auschwitz, Giorgio Agamben identifies the twelfth-century English historian Richard of Devizes as the first to connect the term ‘holocaust’ to the murder of Jews, concluding with an indictment of its use: ‘it … contains a heredity that is from its inception anti-Semitic.’ This essay will take as its starting point twelfth-century usage of the term ‘holocaust,’ alongside the two key Latin terms flagged up by Agamben – immolare [‘to burn’] and sanguisuga [‘bloodsucker’]. Ultimately, the essay will suggest that, contrary to Agamben’s understanding of this moment, Richard of Devizes was not intending to portray the death of Jews as a sacrifice pleasing to God, but rather that he was demonstrating an alert awareness of the extent to which Christian culture and Jewish culture are deeply imbricated. The essay concludes by considering the implications of its own methodology.
Effect of Crystal Orientation on Polarization in Piezoelectric Materials

This work highlights the computational application of a nonlinear constitutive model to determine the impact of crystal orientation with respect to both initial poling direction and applied electrical fields. Misalignment between material axes and loading axes can occur during the fabrication process and may exhibit desirable performance feature for actuator design. The analysis showed that small angles of loading and material axes misalignment such as may occur in fabrication (less than 5 degrees) have minor impact on material performance, and that the liner response range of these materials can be expanded by increased levels of constraint at the cost of maximum actuation strain. For larger angles, variations in loading and material axes misalignment angles can have a significant impact on performance.© 2008 ASME
Induction of convulsive seizures in sound sensitive albino mice: response to various signal frequencies. 1.

SummaryConvulsive seizures were induced in audiosensitive seizure-prone mice, O'Grady strain, with defined sound signals. Optimum frequency for seizure induction was 13 kHz, but a signal of 22 kHz, inaudible to human observers, was also satisfactory. Measurements with an octave band filter covering the main mouse hearing range established that no one wavelength was specifically responsible for seizure induction: all frequencies between 8-30 kHz were convulsive, depending only on the mouse hearing acuity.
A Curatorial Dilemma: An Examination of Temporary Exhibitions Combining African and Egyptian Visual Culture

This paper considers how three exhibitions in the 1990s and 2000s displayed ancient Egyptian and African art together to form a more “holistic” art historical approach to the African continent. The effectiveness of these exhibitions will be examined, as will how this information can aid current scholars and curators in the future. DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v08i1_cummins
Evolution of the Marrow Adipose Tissue Microenvironment

Adipocytes of the marrow adipose tissue (MAT) are distributed throughout the skeleton, are embedded in extracellular matrix, and are surrounded by cells of the hematopoietic and osteogenic lineages. MAT is a persistent component of the skeletal microenvironment and has the potential to impact local processes including bone accrual and hematopoietic function. In this review, we discuss the initial evolution of MAT in vertebrate lineages while emphasizing comparisons to the development of peripheral adipose, hematopoietic, and skeletal tissues. We then apply these evolutionary clues to define putative functions of MAT. Lastly, we explore the regulation of MAT by two major components of its microenvironment, the extracellular matrix and the nerves embedded within. The extracellular matrix and nerves contribute to both rapid and continuous modification of the MAT niche and may help to explain evolutionary conserved mechanisms underlying the coordinated regulation of blood, bone, and MAT within the skeleton.
Buildings of the Future

The Webster dictionary definition of autonomous is “having the power or right to govern itself.” An autonomous building therefore should be a building capable of governing its functions without need for human involvement. Let us dig a little bit deeper and try to explain some of the functions that if a building is capable of governing itself, then it could be eligible to be called autonomous, or in other words smart or intelligent. Searching through different literatures, we can find many diverse definitions for intelligent building all around the world.
Low power GaAs photonic crystals for optical networks

We present an architecture for building optical networks using GaAs photonic crystal cavities as low-energy optical nodes, and low index waveguides for communication between nodes.
Production of Ethanol From Newly Developed and Improved Winter Barley Cultivars

Winter barley has attracted strong interest as a potential feedstock for fuel ethanol production in regions with mild winter climate such as the mid-Atlantic and northeastern USA. Ten recently developed and improved winter barley cultivars and breeding lines including five hulled and five hull-less lines were experimentally evaluated for potential ethanol production. The five hulled barley lines included three released cultivars (Thoroughbred, Atlantic, and Secretariat) and two breeding lines (VA09B-34 and VA11B-4). The five hull-less lines also included three released cultivars (Eve, Dan, and Amaze 10) and two breeding lines (VA08H-65 and VA13H-34). On the average, the hull-less barley cultivars produced more ethanol per unit mass because of their higher starch and β-glucan contents. However, since the hulled barley cultivars had higher agronomic yield, the potential ethanol production per acre of land for the two types were approximately equal. Among the ten cultivars tested, the hull-less cultivar Amaze 10 was the best one for ethanol production. The ethanol yield values obtained for this cultivar were 2.61 gal per bushel and 292 gal per acre.
The STOP-BANG questionnaire improves the detection of epilepsy patients at risk for obstructive sleep apnea

Patients with epilepsy and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are at risk for worsened seizure control and quality of life. We performed a quality improvement project, evaluating for improvements in the screening of OSA in epilepsy patients using the STOP-BANG questionnaire. The electronic medical records of patients seen in our epilepsy clinic were screened for 4 months prior to the intervention. We subsequently implemented the STOP-BANG questionnaire for 3 months. Only 22/664 patients (3.3%) had their sleeping habits explored during the pre-intervention period; 11 (1.7%) were referred to sleep medicine. Following implementation of the STOP-BANG questionnaire, the percentage of patients screened for OSA increased to 41.6% (269/647, Chi-square Fisher's Exact test 2-sided p<0.001). Of the 269 patients screened, 84 (31.2%) met criteria for elevated OSA risk. Forty-one patients were referred to sleep medicine during the subsequent 3 month period, including 33 who met STOP-BANG criteria for OSA. This represented 6.3% and 5.1% (respectively) of all 647 patients, a significant improvement over the percentage referred prior to the intervention (Chi-square Fisher's Exact test 2-sided p<0.001). Twelve of the 33 patients referred based on the STOP-BANG questionnaire saw sleep medicine; 11 (91.7%) were referred for polysomnography (PSG). Of the 10 patients who underwent PSG, 9 (90%) were diagnosed with OSA and offered treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
Comparison Studies of Interfacial Electronic and Energetic Properties of LaAlO3/TiO2 and TiO2/LaAlO3 Heterostructures from First-Principles Calculations

By using first-principles electronic structure calculations, we studied electronic and energetic properties of perovskite oxide heterostructures with different epitaxial growth order between anatase TiO2 and LaAlO3. Two types of heterostructures, i.e., TiO2 film grown on LaAlO3 substrate (TiO2/LaAlO3) and LaAlO3 film grown on TiO2 substrate (LaAlO3/TiO2), were modeled. The TiO2/LaAlO3 model is intrinsically metallic and thus does not exhibit an insulator-to-metal transition as TiO2 film thickness increases; in contrast, the LaAlO3/TiO2 model shows an insulator-to-metal transition as the LaAlO3 film thickness increases up to 4 unit cells. The former model has a larger interfacial charge carrier density (n ∼ 1014 cm–2) and smaller electron effective mass (0.47me) than the later one (n ∼ 1013 cm–2, and 0.70me). The interfacial energetics calculations indicate that the TiO2/LaAlO3 model is energetically more favorable than the LaAlO3/TiO2 model, and the former has a stronger interface cohesion than the later ...
A First Principles Investigation of Corrosion Chemistry of Common Elemental Impurities in Mg-Al Alloys

In Mg-Al alloys, experiments show that Volta potential changes with Al concentration in eutectic α-phase and the potential is nobler around the cathodic precipitate β-phase (Mg17Al12). Other elemental impurities in the anodic matrix can also change corrosion potential. Density functional theory computations are used to investigate the effects of surface impurities and the cathodic precipitate in Mg alloys. The fundamental aspects of water adsorption and dissociation reaction are linked to corrosion rates. The changes in the surface energy were calculated after alloying as an indication of the energetic tendency for surface atom dissolution. Finally, as a means to measure the role of electrode potential on reaction thermodynamics and kinetics, the changes in the stability of water, hydrogen, and hydroxyl as a function of potential on a standard hydrogen electrode were calculated and, thus, the equilibrium potentials of adsorption for these species were evaluated. This provides an estimate or trend of hydro...
Intersectional dialogue – Analyzing power in reaching a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 on conflicting grounds

The concept of “intersectional dialogue” is developed in the article to analyze intersections of power in dialogue, specifically in analyzing the relations between the particular and the universal ...
Error Aggregation in the Reengineering Process from 3D Scanning to Printing

This work aims to study the aggregation of dimensional errors in the reengineering processes using 3D scanning and printing without initial design drawings. A 57-tooth spur gear is used as an example to facilitate the discussion. Two approaches are investigated. The first one builds the gear model based upon measurement taken from a caliper, and the second approach uses a 3D scanner to collect geometry data. Dimensional errors in each stage of these two approaches are investigated. Particular attention is paid to the geometry data flow in the reengineering process from data acquisition and editing to model construction. Recommendations are made in regard to error estimation and alleviation.
Complications of prematurity: an infographic

Infographics or information graphics are easy-to-understand visual representation of knowledge. An infographic outlining the course of an extremely preterm infant and various potential complications encountered during a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) stay was developed. This infographic can be used to discuss outcomes of prematurity during prenatal counseling and while the infant is in the NICU.
Do treatment patterns alter beliefs cancer patients hold regarding oral oncolytic agents

Objective Cancer patients, particularly those prescribed with oral oncolytic medications, face treatment side effects and temporary and permanent stoppages of treatment. This research examines how events during treatment affect patients' beliefs regarding oral oncolytic medications. Methods A total of 272 cancer patients initiating 1 of 28 oral oncolytic agents were followed for 12 weeks. Assessments of Beliefs About Medications Questionnaire, symptoms, physical function, and depression measures were performed during telephone interviews at intake (medication start) and 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Electronic medical record audits identified dates of temporary and permanent medication stoppages. Linear mixed-effects models were used for longitudinal analyses of the Beliefs About Medications Questionnaire scores in relation to patient characteristics, symptom severity, and medication stoppages. Results Over the initial 12 weeks, beliefs about the necessity of oral medications have increased, concerns have decreased, and interference of medications with daily lives has increased. Permanent stoppage of a medication predicted significant declines in beliefs about its necessity over time. Male patients, those less educated, those reporting higher symptom severity, and those experiencing temporary stoppages had greater concerns. Interference of medications with daily life was higher for males, increased with higher symptom severity, and differed by drug category. Conclusions Patients' beliefs in the necessity of their oral medication were affected only by a permanent drug stoppage. Symptom severity, education, and patient sex affected patients' beliefs about their concerns with their medications and the interference medications posed for their daily lives. Interventions may need to target the distinct dimensions of beliefs during treatment with oral oncolytic agents.
Comparison of the ZIP load model and the exponential load model for CVR factor evaluation

Evaluating the effectiveness of Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) is a key challenge for utilities to determine the target feeder for voltage reduction deployment. In this paper, a time varying ZIP (TZIP) load model is developed to estimate the constant impedance, the constant current, and the constant power coefficients to calculate the CVR factor by applying a two-stage recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm. The objective of this study is to determine the accuracy of the CVR factor calculation using the TZIP coefficients and to compare with the CVR factor dependent on the exponent of time varying exponential load model (TEXP). In addition, a probabilistic method is also introduced to analyze the nature of voltage uncertainty during CVR deployment period in comparison to the case when CVR is not deployed in the same interval. Actual data from Duke Energy Progress is used for validation. Finally, time series simulation is conducted in OpenDSS to validate the results.
Metabolomics in Animal Cell Culture

Metabolomics is defined as a global quantitative assessment of metabolites within a biological system. Metabolic profiling of cell cultures has many potential applications as well as advantages to currently utilized methods for cell-line testing. Metabolite concentrations represent sensitive markers of genomic changes and responses of cells to external stimuli. Effects of drugs or toxins on cell cultures can be observed through the changes in metabolite concentrations. When cell cultures used for production of various biomolecules metabolomics can aid in optimization of cell growth. Metabolomics can also be used as a method for routine monitoring of extracellular metabolic changes in real time measurements. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are major analytical platforms used for metabolomics measurements. These methods provide detailed, non-biased and highly complementary chemical analyses of metabolic changes within cells (fingerprint) and in excreted metabolites (footprint). This chapter provides review of current applications of metabolomics in cell cultures with an overview of experimental and data analysis methodologies.
Binding sites of monoclonal anti-carbohydrate antibodies.

This chapter presents an overview of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed to carbohydrates in mammalian systems with well-characterized specificities, together with some of the information obtained from their use. Because of the rapidly increasing number of this kind of reagent not all available mAbs are included. Naturally occurring mAbs and embryological markers and their suspected immunogenicity have been extensively reviewed by Hakomori (1984) and Feizi (1985).
The knee and running.

Injuries to runners are usually the result of overuse and must be treated differently from injuries caused by direct trauma. Appreciation of the biomechanics of running can help the physician to develop an appropriate program of prevention and treatment. A physician caring for injured runners must consider repetitive stress as the cause of injury.
An Interview with Robert C. Berg: A Retrospective Look at the Career of a Group Counseling Teacher and Facilitator

During his 38-year career, Bob Berg created a model of training for group practitioners. The following is an interview with Robert C. Berg, Professor Emeritus with the University of North Texas and...
A Redox Conjugated Polymer-Based All-Solid-State Reference Electrode

This work reports the design, synthesis, and characterization of a novel redox-active conjugated polyaniline containing quinone moiety as a solid state reference electrode. The union of electro-active quinone with π-conjugated polyaniline was created by the first chemical synthesis of para-dimethoxybenzene-functionalized aniline as a monomer using a palladium-mediated coupling. The successful polymerization of the as-prepared monomer was accomplished without acid additives. Its post-polymerization modification with strong Lewis acid boron tribromide furnished unique poly (aniline quinone/hydroquinone) with desired properties for all-solid-state reference electrode (RE) applications. The electrochemical responses from the conjugated polyaniline backbone in this unique polymer have been “suppressed” by the quinone pendant. The resulting poly (aniline quinone) showed a quasi-reversible redox process from the redox behavior of the pendant quinone. The stable electrode potential of this poly (aniline quinone/hydroquinone) suggested that it was a single phase in which the amounts of totally reduced and totally oxidized species could be maintained at a constant in various solvents and electrolytes. Its electrochemical stability was excellent with 95% peak current retention after continuous cyclic voltammetric testing. The aniline and quinone moieties in poly (aniline quinone/hydroquinone) render it to have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compatibility. It showed excellent behavior as a reference electrode in aqueous and non-aqueous media and can be used in both non-zero current and zero-current conditions, providing a stable potential with a maximum potential drift of ~4.7 mV over ten consecutive days.
Abstract WP164: Validation of Noninvasive Methods of Intracranial Stenosis Measurement Against Conventional Angiography

Introduction: Stenosis caused by intracranial atherosclerotic plaques has long driven treatment algorithms. Conventional digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is considered the gold standard for me...
Isolation of Leptospira interrogans serovar bratislava from stillborn and weak pigs in Iowa

Leptospira interrogans serovar bratislava was isolated from a herd of swine in Iowa with a history of stillborn and weak neonatal pigs. Placentas, kidneys, and lungs of stillborn and weak pigs from 3 litters were processed to detect leptospires by use of bacteriologic culture and fluorescent antibody testing. Sera from stillborn and weak pigs were tested to detect agglutinating antibody against leptospires. A low antibody titer against L interrogans serovar bratislava was detected in the sera of stillborn and weak pigs. Small numbers of leptospires were sometimes detected in tissues by use of the fluorescent antibody test. Serovar bratislava was isolated from placentas, stillborn pigs or weak pigs from each of the 3 litters.
Multiple stressors produce differential transcriptomic patterns in a stream-dwelling salamander

Global biodiversity is decreasing at an alarming rate and amphibians are at the forefront of this crisis. Understanding the factors that negatively impact amphibian populations and effectively monitoring their health are fundamental to addressing this epidemic. Plasma glucocorticoids are often used to assess stress in amphibians and other vertebrates, but these hormones can be extremely dynamic and impractical to quantify in small organisms. Transcriptomic responses to stress hormones in amphibians have been largely limited to laboratory models, and there have been few studies on vertebrates that have evaluated the impact of multiple stressors on patterns of gene expression. Here we examined the gene expression patterns in tail tissues of stream-dwelling salamanders (Eurycea tynerensis) chronically exposed to the stress hormone corticosterone under different temperature regimes. We found unique transcriptional signatures for chronic corticosterone exposure that were independent of temperature variation. Several of the corticosterone responsive genes are known to be involved in immune system response (LY-6E), oxidative stress (GSTM2 and TRX), and tissue repair (A2M and FX). We also found many genes to be influenced by temperature (CIRBP, HSC71, HSP40, HSP90, HSP70, ZNF593). Furthermore, the expression patterns of some genes (GSTM2, LY-6E, UMOD, ZNF593, CIRBP, HSP90) show interactive effects of temperature and corticosterone exposure, compared to each treatment alone. Through a series of experiments we also showed that stressor induced patterns of expression were largely consistent across ages, life cycle modes, and tissue regeneration. Outside of thermal stressors, the application of transcriptomes to monitor the health of non-human vertebrate systems has been vastly underinvestigated. Our study suggests that transcriptomic patterns harbor stressor specific signatures that can be highly informative for monitoring the diverse stressors of amphibian populations.
Imaging techniques in acute cholecystitis

A recent meta-analysis of 57 studies investigated the diagnostic accuracy of imaging techniques in acute cholecystitis. The main findings were that abdominal ultrasound has a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 83%, that ultrasound seems comparable to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), that cholescintigraphy has a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 90%, and that there are insufficient studies to evaluate the role of computed tomography (CT). In daily practice, ultrasound is the preferred modality as it is safe, widely available and cheap. MRI and cholescintigraphy are less available and have additional disadvantages. Patients with a negative or inconclusive ultrasound examination should undergo CT as this is in line with the general diagnostic strategy for acute abdominal pain that results in the highest sensitivity for urgent conditions and lowest exposure to radiation. Patients with clinical suspicion of acute cholecystitis but negative imaging findings should undergo prompt diagnostic laparoscopy and potentially cholecystectomy.
Nonlinear and Hyperbolic Metasurfaces and Applications

We engineer the nonlinear response of multilayered systems by employing the optical response of Arsenide semiconductor materials. The photoexcited carriers lead to spectral, temporal, and polarization dependent optical response that is described herein. The response is suggestive of generating a transient hyperbolic materials response in this system. Exploration of this response and the use of these materials as a basis for nonlinear metasurfaces is discussed.
More Results on Experimental Evaluations of Some Algorithms for Block Sorting

BLOCK SORTING is an APX-hard combinatorial optimization problem motivated by applications in genome rearrangements. While previous works on block sorting have mainly focused on theoretical analyses of approximation algorithms, work we had previously developed an implementation framework for block sorting in the Java programming language in one of our earlier works [1]. We proposed a greedy heuristic for block sorting in that work. In this work, we use this framework to implement and experimentally evaluate five different algorithms for block sorting: 1) each block move guarantees a reduction of at least one block; 2) block moves are performed only on those blocks which are not members of the longest increasing subsequence (of blocks) in the original permutation; 3) each block move either reduces the number of blocks by two or three blocks, or reduces the number of reversals or inversions in the original permutation; 4) a previously designed algorithm for block sorting based on another problem, block merging; and 5) a theoretically conjectured more efficient version of the previous algorithm called efficient block merging. We analyze and compare these algorithms for their performance as the order of permutations is varied, using the measures of number of block moves and approximation ratios when sorting kernelized permutations of a given order. We also compare execution time of each algorithm over same set of inputs. Our experiments validate the efficiency of the greedy algorithm for block sorting presented in a companion paper [1], and brings out many practical insights of the problem. To the best of our knowledge this is the first work that is focused on implementation and experimental performance analysis of any existing algorithms for block sorting (e.g. block merging). We believe our results will be useful for researchers and practitioners working in this area.
Multidimensional risk score to stratify community-dwelling older adults by future fall risk using the Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries (STEADI) framework.

Background The Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths and Injuries (STEADI) screening algorithm aligns with current fall prevention guidelines and is easy to administer within clinical practice. However, the stratification into low, moderate and high risk categories limits the meaningful interpretation of the fall-related risk factors. Methods Baseline measures from a modified STEADI were used to predict self-reported falls over 4 years in 3170 respondents who participated in the 2011–2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study. A point method was then applied to find coefficient-based integers and 4-year fall risk estimates from the predictive model. Sensitivity and specificity estimates from the point method and the combined moderate and high fall risk STEADI categories were compared. Results There were 886 (27.95%) and 387 (12.21%) respondents who were classified as moderate and high risk, respectively, when applying the stratification method. Falls in the past year (OR: 2.16; 95% CI: 1.61 to 2.89), multiple falls (OR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.89 to 4.55) and a fear of falling (OR: 1.77; 95% CI: 1.45 to 2.16) were among the significant predictors of 4-year falls in older adults. The point method revealed integers that ranged from 0 (risk: 27.21%) to 44 (risk: 99.71%) and a score of 10 points had comparable discriminatory capacity to the combined moderate and high STEADI categories. Conclusion Coefficient-based integers and their risk estimates can provide an alternative interpretation of a predictive model that may be useful in determining fall risk within a clinical setting, tracking changes longitudinally and defining the effectiveness of an intervention.
Jets across the Atlantic?: Britain and its civil aviation industry, 1945–63

Britain emerged from the Second World War with a huge aviation industry dedicated primarily to military production. During the war, in agreement with the USA, Britain used US transport aircraft, thereby giving the USA a huge potential advantage in post-war civil aviation. Nevertheless, during the war Britain charted a course of aircraft development that would allow new, competitive civil aircraft to be in place by 1950. Under the Labour government of 1945–51, Britain imposed a “Fly British” policy to encourage production of civil aircraft and required the national airlines to buy British aircraft. However, American competition, the demands of rearmament and the tightly controlled ordering process for civil and military aircraft made the production of British civil aircraft costly and uncompetitive. Faced with changing technology, rising costs and the development of US jet aircraft, the British aviation industry was forced into a radical consolidation by the Macmillan government.
Transitioning to a carbon-constrained world: Reductions in coal-fired power plant emissions through unit-specific, least-cost mitigation frontiers

Abstract There is growing concern that progress toward reaching the carbon dioxide (CO2) targets set forth in the Paris Agreement is falling short of the mark, and efforts to decarbonize the global economy must be hastened and the reductions deepened. Doing so quickly through a buildup of natural gas generating capacity as a replacement for coal-fired capacity can greatly aid in lowering near-term emissions towards the Agreement target to limit future climate impact to well below 2 °C but would incur stranded costs as natural gas assets are retired before their end-of-life age. The stranding of such capital investment may inhibit efforts to further decarbonize the world economy because of technology lock-in. One possible solution to reduce such stranded costs is to mitigate CO2 emissions from the existing coal-fleet. For the evaluation of the costs and emissions, we develop a novel method that uses unique coal-fired electric generating unit (EGU) characteristics to evaluate multiple mitigation-technology options under local fuel prices; the result of which is a least-cost mitigation frontier for nine EGU-specific mitigation solutions created within a common assessment framework. With this EGU-specific method, we find the mitigation options that achieve the lowest capital cost and levelized cost of electricity to meet CO2 emission-intensity reduction-targets for a representative EGU in the U.S. coal-fired fleet and use this method to analyze the uncertainty for these deterministic solutions. For this EGU, we find that the portfolio of mitigations defining the frontier is sensitive to fuel price variation, as well as other EGU-specific factors such as efficiency and retirement age. A probabilistic analysis of projected fuel prices indicates that mitigation decision-related regret can be high but may be limited to specific intensity targets. A further insight is that for deep CO2 mitigation, high capital costs and predominantly low natural gas prices may limit the viability of coal-fired EGUs retrofitted with carbon capture and storage with an auxiliary power system, even with a tax credit (e.g., Section 45Q of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018).
Evidence That Selecting an Appropriate Item Response Theory–Based Approach to Scoring Surveys Can Help Avoid Biased Treatment Effect Estimates:

Considerable thought is often put into designing randomized control trials (RCTs). From power analyses and complex sampling designs implemented preintervention to nuanced quasi-experimental models ...
Industrial Sector in Q1 2019: Output Growth Is Hampered by Insufficient Domestic Demand

In the first months of 2019, Russian industry preserved output growth amid the recovery of the sales upward dynamics and around zero balance estimates of finished goods inventory. Nearly half of enterprises consider insufficient demand a major setback for significant output growth. Nevertheless, grounds for optimism remain regarding output plans and workers recruitment. The scale of investment satisfied around two thirds of industrial enterprises.
Resilience, Retribution, and Punitive Damages

Courts routinely claim that punitive damages aim to punish and deter wrongdoers. But these goals focus exclusively on regulating wrongdoers. As a result, they fail to justify transferring punitive damages awards to victims rather than, for example, state treasuries. After all, punitive damages do not compensate plaintiffs for losses; they are extra-compensatory by definition. This fact renders punitive damages vulnerable to the attack that they represent unjustified plaintiff windfalls. This Article advances a new theory of punitive damages that builds on an ideal of resilience, which encourages victims emerge better than before they have been wronged. This ideal allows us to reconceptualize punitive damages as a form of retributive justice according to which plaintiffs are empowered to demand that defendants satisfy their resilience interests. Doing so enables victims to realize a narrative according to which they made themselves better off by securing justice against their wrongdoers, e.g., by transforming their malefactors into benefactors. Satisfying those interests also improves the value of the retributive justice meted out, ensuring that it is constructive rather than merely destructive. Punitive damages practice thus plays a role in ensuring that individuals may realize this ideal of “retributive resilience.” This theory, which is the first attempt to use a normative ideal of resilience to understand private law remedies, also argues that officials should distinguish between genuine punitive damages—or “retributive damages”—and “deterrence damages.” Retributive damages rightly belong to plaintiffs. They are not windfalls. Deterrence damages, by contrast, are awarded solely for the purpose of deterring especially egregious anti-social conduct. These remain windfalls that in principle need not be allocated to the plaintiff, and may be siphoned off through mechanisms like split-recovery statutes. But the notion that all punitive damages represent windfalls should be put to rest.
Postoperative Hyperglycemia and 4-Year Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Children Operated for Congenital Heart Disease.

Objectives To study the long-term neurodevelopmental effects of hyperglycemia in infant bypass surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD). Study design Prospective cohort study on neurodevelopmental outcome after infant cardiac bypass surgery. Exclusion criteria: age older than 1 year at first surgery, genetic comorbidity, and birth weight Results Mean age at surgery was 2.8 months (0.1-10.7 months), 33% of children had an acyanotic CHD and 67% a cyanotic CHD. Glucose levels were elevated (>8 mmol/L) in 21 (14%) children in the first 24 postoperative hours. Glucose levels normalized in all children within 48 hours, 7 children (4%) received insulin infusions. Mean total IQ was within the normal range, but significantly lower than the normal population (92.5 [SD 15.0], P P Conclusion Hyperglycemia is common in the early postoperative course after infant bypass surgery for CHD and normalizes within 48 hours. Hyperglycemia has no adverse effect on long-term neurodevelopmental outcome.
Generalized Optimal Trading Trajectories: A Financial Quantum Computing Application

Generalized dynamic portfolio optimization problems have no known closed-form solution. These problems are particularly relevant to large asset managers, as the costs from excessive turnover and implementation shortfall may critically erode the profitability of their investment strategies.In this brief note we demonstrate how this financial problem, intractable to modern supercomputers, can be reformulated as an integer optimization problem. Such representation makes it amenable to quantum computers.
Subspace-based fault detection - Multiplicative and additive fault

In this research, a technique is developed to separate an additive fault from a multiplicative fault of a system which is disturbed by integrated white noise. First, Predictor-based System Identification (PBSID) is formulated in a differenced form (DPBSID) in order to filter out the integrated white noise. Second, the differenced PBSID is reformulated in a recursive form (DRPBSID) which is for separating an additive fault from a multiplicative fault. If the fault type is multiplicative, the Frobenius norm of the difference between the identified system matrix and a changed one becomes greater than a threshold. By recursively updating the system matrix, the difference goes below the threshold hence, a multiplicative fault is separated from an additive one. This technique is applied to a complex system and its effectiveness is demonstrated using Matlab simulation.
Low Apgar score and mortality in extremely preterm neonates born in the United States

Aim: To investigate the relationship between low Apgar score and neonatal mortality in preterm neonates. Methods: Infant birth and death certificate data from the US National Center for Health Statistics for 2001–2002 were analysed. Primary outcome was 28-day mortality for 690 933 neonates at gestational ages 24–36 weeks. Mortality rates were calculated for each combination of gestational age and 5-min Apgar score. Relative risks of mortality, by high vs. low Apgar score, were calculated for each age. Results: Distribution of Apgar scores depended on gestational age, the youngest gestational ages having higher proportions of low Apgar scores. Median Apgar score ranged from 6 at 24 weeks, to 9 at 30–36 weeks gestation. The relative risk of death was significantly higher at Apgar scores 0–3 vs. 7–10, including at the youngest gestational ages, ranging from 3.1 (95% confidence interval 2.9, 3.4) at 24 weeks to 18.5 (95% confidence interval 15.7, 21.8) at 28 weeks. Conclusion: Low Apgar score was associated with increased mortality in premature neonates, including those at 24–28 weeks gestational age, and may be a useful tool for clinicians in assessing prognosis and for researchers as a risk prediction variable.
Interactive Graphics: Settlement and Slope Stability

Described are the results of research and development in the use of interactive computer graphics for soil engineering analysis and design. Two specific areas are described: settlement analysis and slope stability. The systems described herein have been implemented on a CDC 6400 using a CDC 280/282 interactive display system. Three soil engineering application systems are described. They are: Rate INteractive Graphics (RING), a system for predicting the progress of consolidation of multilayered soil deposits; Elastic LAyer STress-INteractive Graphics (ELASTING), a system for determining the stresses and displacements in layered elastic media; and FEllenius-May Analysis-Limiting Equilibrium (FEMALE), a system for analyzing the stability of earth structures using the Fellenius-May technique.
Intraocular fluid dynamics: II. Postmortem changes in solute concentrations*

The concentrations of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, glucose, lactic acid, free α-amino nitrogen and ascorbic acid were determined in the aqueous and vitreous humor of rabbit eyes directly after enucleation and after up to 4 hr of incubation of the globes at either 3° or 37°C. The intraocular fluid (IOF) concentrations of sodium and calcium were unaffected by incubation at either temperature. Magnesium concentration was somewhat elevated in the aqueous, especially at 37°C, but remained essentially unaffected in the vitreous. The IOF concentration of ascorbic acid showed some fluctuations, but remained within 10% of the normal value in the aqueous and within 20% of normal in the vitreous throughout 4 hr of incubation. The concentration of potassium was greatly elevated in both IOF compartments at either temperature. At 37°C the concentration of glucose decreased rapidly in both IOF compartments, reaching zero in the aqueous after 2 hr of incubation. The initial rate of decrease indicates that the normal rate of glucose utilization from the IOFs is about 14 μg/min. Lactic acid accumulation is in excess of the measured glucose utilization. There is a rapid decrease in the vitreal concentration of ninhydrin-positive substances (about 8 × 10−9 moles/min) and a corresponding decrease in the aqueous ninhydrin value. The temperature dependence of these changes may reflect net transport of amino acids across the lens. Bovine eyes obtained from a slaughterhouse showed a greatly variable IOF composition. The aqueous humor of many, but not all, of these eyes was completely devoid of glucose on arrival at the laboratory.
In vivo deformation of stented coronary vessel centerline with cardiac motion: Implications for angiography-OCT fusion

This study aims to quantify in vivo deformation of stented coronary vessel centerlines due to cardiac motion to understand the potential errors in fusing optical coherence tomography (OCT) with angiography. We first evaluated the static error and test the reproducibility of a vessel centerline reconstruction method derived from the stereoscopic theory in vitro and in vivo. Two phantom models mimicking coronary artery bifurcations were used for in vitro static conditions, and four coronary arteries (2.75 mm ± 0.14 mm) of two Yorkshire swine implanted with 3.0 mm × 17 mm bare metal stents were used for in vivo dynamic conditions. Our method depicted a strong linear correlation (R2 = 0.91) between the reconstructed geometry and the actual geometry with the error of 2.3 mm ± 1.8 mm across various angles between paired images (50°–130°) in vitro. This method also showed higher accuracy in the stented segment's length and curvature compared to currently available methods (the root mean square error = 0.76 pixel vs. 1.3 pixel), and good reproducibility across various angles (50°–130°) and in two different cardiac cycles in vivo. The reconstructed vessel centerlines did not deform significantly over a cardiac cycle in vivo (error of length = 0.17 mm ± 0.16 mm, maximum curvature = 0.13 ± 0.09 with error = 0.07 ± 0.06 in the stented segment; four different cardiac phases, 6 ± 2 time-points). Despite small sample size, the results may support using the vessel centerline as a fusion path for non-ECG-gated intravascular images, such as OCT images, because cardiac motions introduce only a small error in the vessel centerline reconstruction.
An Efficient Algorithm for Parallel 3D Reconstruction of Asymmetric Objects from Electron Micrographs

Recently we proposed a 3D reconstruction algorithm based on Fourier analysis using Cartesian coordinates. In this algorithm the computations to determine the values of the 3D Discrete Fourier Transform of the density of an asymmetric object could be naturally distributed over the nodes of a parallel system. Now we present an improvement of this algorithm which, for reconstruction at points of an N × N × N grid, uses O(N3) arithmetic operations instead of O(N5). The algorithm is general and can be used for 3D reconstruction of asymmetric objects for applications other than structural biology.