cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The public conception of morality in John Rawls’ political liberalism

This paper proposes an interpretation of the conception of morality that remains relatively vague in John Rawls’ political liberalism. It begins with Rawls’ remark that the political conception of justice is also a moral conception, which is puzzling when taking into consideration Rawls’ explicit avoidance of comprehensive moral doctrines in constructing the political conception of justice. In response, this paper proposes the public conception of morality that is structurally justificatory rather than substantively foundationalist. This conception is then further developed by addressing two critical questions concerning the necessity of avoiding comprehensive moral foundations and the source of objective prescriptivity in a justificatory view of morality. The former is situated in an analysis and reinterpretation of Alasdair MacIntyre’s reading of Soren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or , and the latter is demonstrated through a comparative study of two leading justificatory theories of morality by Rainer Forst and Thomas Scanlon. Finally, the public conception of morality is fully developed to show that it both defines and defends the political conception of justice. Keywords: morality; John Rawls; political liberalism; pluralism; justification; Rainer Forst; Thomas Scanlon (Published: 3 March 2016) Citation: Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 9, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/egp.v9.28679
Immunologic relationships of antihemophilic factor of different species detected by specific human and rabbit antibodies.

SummaryThe plasmas of 14 nonhuman mammalian species corrected the specific clotting defect in human hemophilic plasma. The antihemophilic factor (AHF, Factor VIII) activity in all these plasmas was inhibited by human circulating anticoagulants directed against AHF and, except for rabbit AHF, by rabbit antiserum to purified normal human AHF, but human AHF was more readily inhibited than animal plasmas by both these agents. Porcine AHF was more resistant than bovine AHF to inhibition by all of 6 human circulating anticoagulants.In immuno-precipitation studies using rabbit antiserum, primate plasmas gave reactions of identity with human plasma, while non-primate mammalian plasmas gave reactions of partial identity. Plasma from a reptile and from two avian species contained no detectable antigen or clot-promoting properties related to human AHF.
A Cage for Studying Root Wounding of Pine by the Pine Root Tip Weevil, Hylobius rhizophagus

During investigations of the biology of the pine root tip weevil, Hylobius rhizophagus Millers, the feeding behavior of adults and larvae was studied (Kearby and Benjamin 1969). In late evening and through out the night the adults fed on tender bark or small branches of jack pine, Pinus banksiana Lamb.; Scotch pine, P. sylvestris L.; and eastern white pine, P. strobus L., while during the daylight hours they confined their activities to the pine litter or to bark crevices at the base of the tree. In May and June they invaded the soil to oviposit near root lets and ends of the primary lateral roots. Larvae fed on rootlets and major root systems. Two types of response to root injury occurred; some roots had limited injury accompanied by small crystalline deposits of resin, while others had more extensive wounding accompanied by massive exudation of resin that impregnated the adjacent soil. Identification of the cause of the variable response to root wounding was sought by employing a soil cage described below.
Religiosity and fear of death: strength of belief system.

The present study examined the hypothesis that the strength of one's belief system is an important determinant in fear of death. Individuals (120 males and 200 females, aged 17 to 44 yr.) who defined themselves as either high or low in self-perceived religiosity exhibited less death anxiety than individuals in the medium range. Increased perceptions of control and predictability are offered as an explanation.
Developing and Using Big Data Archives to Quantify Disfluency and Stuttering in Bilingual Children

Worldwide, bilingualism is the rule rather than the exception, and yet we have surprisingly little research data on the fluency development of bilingual children, and even less information on their potential risk for stuttering. Many variables influence a bilingual child's language, speech, and fluency development (e.g., amount of exposure to each language); controlling these variables in research studies necessitates large numbers of bilingual participants. The frequency and types of typical disfluencies in the speech of young children are also varied. In addition, stuttering is also variable in its presentation, and when we assess bilingual children for the presence of stuttering we are adding yet another layer of complexity. This article reviews research on typical disfluencies in monolingual and bilingual speakers, and how this information might be useful clinically. We provide examples from our laboratory to illustrate how computerized language analysis (CLAN) can be used over time to track the behaviors of research participants. We also present data on the identification of stuttering in bilingual children. We discuss challenges to studying bilingual speakers and how big data initiatives such as TalkBank address these challenges to increase our understanding of bilingual fluency development.
Winnie de Poeh had tandbederf

Het fictieve, pratende beertje Winnie de Poeh was gek op honing. Net als de echte beer Winnie, die zo’n honderd jaar geleden een publiekslieveling was in de London Zoo.
Phase I trial of combinations of recombinant interferons β(ser) and γ in patients with advanced malignancy

Based upon in vitro and in vivo synergistic activity of Type I and Type II interferons (IFNs) in preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, we initiated a phase I trial evaluating the doses, safety, and pharmacokinetics of combinations of recombinant DNA-produced human IFN-beta ser and IFN-gamma in 27 patients with cancer. Twenty-four patients were treated with a 2-hour infusion of IFN-gamma, followed by a 10-minute iv injection of IFN-beta ser, three times a week. Patients were entered on fixed dose levels of 1 X 10(6), 3 X 10(6), 10 X 10(6), 30 X 10(6), and 100 X 10(6) units of each IFN. In addition, three patients were treated at the highest dose level with a 10-minute iv infusion of IFN-gamma and a 10-minute iv infusion of IFN-beta ser. The maximally tolerated dose when administered by this schedule for greater than or equal to 4 weeks was 30 X 10(6) units of each IFN. Dose-limiting side effects at doses of 100 X 10(6) units of each IFN consisted of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, paralytic ileus, and neutropenia. The most common side effects at the three highest dose levels were fever, rigors often requiring parenteral meperidine, and constitutional symptoms. Reversible elevations in SGOT and LDH were also noted. Serum IFN levels were dose related, with peak titers occurring immediately after IFN administration. One patient with a nodular mixed lymphoma had a partial response which has been sustained for over 1 year. We conclude that combinations of IFN-beta ser and IFN-gamma can be safely administered on a chronic basis without enhanced or cumulative toxic effects.
In vivo assessment of behavioral recovery and circulatory exchange in the peritoneal parabiosis model

The sharing of circulation between two animals using a surgical procedure known as parabiosis has created a wealth of information towards our understanding of physiology, most recently in the neuroscience arena. The systemic milieu is a complex reservoir of tissues, immune cells, and circulating molecules that is surprisingly not well understood in terms of its communication across organ systems. While the model has been used to probe complex physiological questions for many years, critical parameters of recovery and exchange kinetics remain incompletely characterized, limiting the ability to design experiments and interpret results for complex questions. Here we provide evidence that mice joined by parabiosis gradually recover much physiology relevant to the study of brain function. Specifically, we describe the timecourse for a variety of recovery parameters, including those for general health and metabolism, motor coordination, activity, and sleep behavior. Finally, we describe the kinetics of chimerism for several lymphocyte populations as well as the uptake of small molecules into the brains of mice following parabiosis. Our characterization provides an important resource to those attempting to understand the complex interplay between the immune system and the brain as well as other organ systems.
Effects of farm characteristics and government disaster assistance on multiple-peril crop insurance purchases by Iowa crop farmers

The present federal crop insurance program has been characterized by low farmer participation and high government costs. It has been frequently argued that one of the major factors causing the poor participation rate is the continued availability of disaster relief payments, whereby the ad hoc disaster assistance programs help support producers' beliefs that a widespread natural disaster will be accompanied by government assistance;The purpose of this study was to develop and empirically estimate probability models that could explain Iowa farmers' behavior regarding the purchase of multiple-peril crop insurance. The models under study included both linear and nonlinear single- equations. While components of decision theory under risk have been woven into the models, the focus was shifted away from the selection of a utility function and towards the selection of indicators of risk attitude and the amount of risk;Using socio-economic measures from a sample of Iowa farmers for 1988 and 1989 crop years as the exogenous variables, the study examined the purchasing behavior of the sample farmers during a period of time when one of the largest government disaster assistance programs was underway. The intent of this study was to research, among other things, the effect of government disaster assistance payments on farmers' participation in the multiple-peril crop insurance program;This study established significant association between the purchase of multiple-peril crop insurance and some socio-economic factors. It found that the county of operation, age of the farm operator, receipt of government disaster assistance payments, total acres under operation, total gross sales and net worth of the farming operation, rate-of-return on assets after taxes, and the farmer's political view about the course of change in government policy were significant factors in determining which farmers will decide to purchase crop insurance;This study further explained the role of government disaster payments in the purchase of crop insurance and concluded that the receipt of such payments, given at the time of a disaster, encouraged farmers to participate in the federal crop insurance program. However, it may also create false expectations of future government disaster payments, which in this case would have a negative impact on the likelihood of farmers' participation in the federal crop insurance program. This negative impact is possibly more detrimental, in terms of future enrollment, for farmers who have not previously participated in MPCI.
Short-term PV generation forecasting based on weather type clustering and improved GPR model

A combined prediction method based on weather type index and Gaussian Process Regression(GPR) improved by linear weight reduction PSO algorithm was proposed to deal with the problem of forecasting of short-term PV generation. Firstly, the samples, according to the weather type index, was built, and then three types were classified based on daily mean temperature and humanity; the different GPR model, considering different highly correction factors, which measuring combined covariance functions and taking LinW-PSO to optimize the hyperparameters of model, were built; The corresponding computer code was programmed in MATLAB. Seen from simulation results of forecasting of the PV station in XinJiang, the given classification method and LinW-PSO-GPR combination predicting method enable the rate of convergence and the accuracy of results improved.
Design and development of a smart grid laboratory for an energy and power engineering technology program

This paper presents the design and development of a laboratory facility to accompany a three-course power systems sequence in the Energy and Power Engineering Technology program at Purdue Universit...
Room temperature acetone sensor based on nanostructured K 2 W 7 O 22

Acetone existing in human breath is an effective biomarker of diabetes which can be used for the early diagnosis and daily monitoring of diabetes. Comparing to the conventional method for diabetes diagnosis and monitoring that analyzes the blood glucose level in blood, breath analysis of acetone is a very need of a method in view of its merits such as non-invasive, accurate, convenient, and inexpensive. A chemiresistive sensor based on novel nanostructured K 2 W 7 O 22 is developed which can effectively detect trace of acetone at the room temperature. The lowest detection limit ∼ 1.2 ppm with response time of 12 s is already achieved. The excellent acetone response is found due to unique features of K 2 W 7 O 22 , properties of ferroelectric and semiconductor, which result in the effective interaction and strong charge transfer between acetone and K 2 W 7 O 22 . The study can improve the understanding of the new material and its acetone sensing mechanism, and thus give ideas for further increasing the sensitivity for acetone detection, eventually resulting in an advanced material capable to analyze acetone in the exhaled breath for disease diagnosis and monitoring purpose.
IMPACT OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE AND CHANGE ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

This paper accesses the influence of organizational change on organizational performance. It is designed to look at how organizations adopts to the changes that affect organizational performance and productivity. This can only be achieved through organizations adapting to change in the environment developing the attitude of welcoming change. The fate of employees being achieved, flexibility of organizational culture. The main objective of this study is to find out the extent to which organization can adapt to organization culture and environmental changes, four research questions and hypothesis were formulated. Questionnaires and interview were employed in the collection of primary data z-test statistical tool was used to analyze the hypothesis because of the large population which is above 30. the major findings show that inability of organization to adapt to organizations culture and environmental change reduced organization performance and leads to low productivity based on such findings, it was recommended that organization should understand the varied and changing environmental variable needed in their day to day transaction of business.
Multi-class computational evolution: development, benchmark evaluation and application to RNA-Seq biomarker discovery

A computational evolution system (CES) is a knowledge discovery engine that can identify subtle, synergistic relationships in large datasets. Pareto optimization allows CESs to balance accuracy with model complexity when evolving classifiers. Using Pareto optimization, a CES is able to identify a very small number of features while maintaining high classification accuracy. A CES can be designed for various types of data, and the user can exploit expert knowledge about the classification problem in order to improve discrimination between classes. These characteristics give CES an advantage over other classification and feature selection algorithms, particularly when the goal is to identify a small number of highly relevant, non-redundant biomarkers. Previously, CESs have been developed only for binary class datasets. In this study, we developed a multi-class CES. The multi-class CES was compared to three common feature selection and classification algorithms: support vector machine (SVM), random k-nearest neighbor (RKNN), and random forest (RF). The algorithms were evaluated on three distinct multi-class RNA sequencing datasets. The comparison criteria were run-time, classification accuracy, number of selected features, and stability of selected feature set (as measured by the Tanimoto distance). The performance of each algorithm was data-dependent. CES performed best on the dataset with the smallest sample size, indicating that CES has a unique advantage since the accuracy of most classification methods suffer when sample size is small. The multi-class extension of CES increases the appeal of its application to complex, multi-class datasets in order to identify important biomarkers and features.
Using the 2006 PISA Questionaire to Evaluate the Measure of Educational Resources: A Rasch Measurement Approach

School educational resources are key when studying school improvement due to their influence on learning outcomes. Because of this, careful attention should be given to the way educational resources are operationalized and measured. Using the 2006 PISA American sample containing 166 schools, this study aims to validate the 13-item PISA School Educational Resource Scale with Rasch analysis. Winsteps software was used in the analysis and results were used to evaluate how well the instrument measured the construct of school educational resource. Findings revealed that the PISA 2006 data gave an overall indication of good fit to the model, despite the instrument not separating respondents well. In regards to the quality of the scale, the majority of items perform consistently with the model . However, for schools above the average educational resource threshold, it appears there is a need for more items to discriminate the situation.
An update from the Chair of the students and new professionals Group of the International Society of Biometeorology.

The Students and New Professionals Group of the International Society of Biometeorology is composed of approximately 68 members who are either within 5 years from completing graduate studies or under 35 years of age. The group is represented by 21 countries from around the world and a variety of disciplinary perspectives working within the area of biometeorology. Here, an update from the Chair of the Students and New Professionals Group of the International Society of Biometeorology is provided based on accomplishments and new progress from 2014 to 2017 in advance of the ISB’s 60th Anniversary.
Professors Kantor and Skinner—The “Grand Alliance” of the 40’s

The long-range impact of the concepts and personalities of J. R. Kantor and B. F. Skinner is considered. The hypothesis is proposed that out of the cooperation and creative debate of these men and their followers there came a broadening and vitalization of stimulus-response psychology. When Kantor, philosopher of science and objective critic, scholar of system and meta-system was joined by Skinner, positivist, experimentalist and innovator, at Indiana University in 1945, students and faculty were indelibly influenced. From the ferment created by the interaction of their similarities and differences came both laboratory experiments and practical applications of behavior principles to the entire range of human organisms.
Styrene-Lined and Copper-Coated Containers Affect Production of Cornus florida

Abstract Response of dogwood cultivars (Cornus florida ‘Barton's White’ and ‘Weaver's White’) to styrene lining and copper hydroxide coating of 10.3 liter (#3) black plastic containers was evaluated in 1993 and 1994. After the first growing season, dogwoods were either left in their original containers or repotted into untreated 23.3 liter (#7) containers. Copper hydroxide reduced root circling of both cultivars in containers; however, root dry weight of plants grown in copper-treated containers was reduced during the first season. Copper-treated containers resulted in less growth in height when plants were left in their original container during the second growing season and less trunk diameter growth of plants repotted into 23.3 liter (#7) containers. In the absence of copper, more surface root coverage and less surface root dieback occurred with plants grown in styrene-lined containers. Both cultivars grown the second season in their original styrene-lined containers had greater height increase than th...
The time varying effect of monetary policy on stock returns

We find that a surprise increase on the federal funds rate has five times stronger and statistically significant effects on stock returns during 2000–2007, versus statistically insignificant effects during 1989–2000. These differences are not apparent in the bond markets.
Dimensional measurement sensitivity analysis for a MoSi photomask using DUV reflection scatterfield imaging microscopy

A critical challenge in optical critical dimension metrology, that requires high measurement sensitivity as well as high throughput, is the dimensional measurements of features sized below the optical resolution limit. This paper investigates the relationships among dimensional sensitivity and key illumination beam conditions (e.g., angular illumination, partial coherence) for photomask feature characterization. Scatterfield images at the edge areas of multiple line structures on a Molybdenum Silicide (MoSi) photomask are analyzed to establish sensitivity to dimensional changes. Actinic scatterfield imaging experiments for these features are performed using the NIST 193 nm Scatterfield Microscope, designed to enable engineered illumination beams at the target. Illumination configurations that improve sensitivity are identified from imaging edges of multiple line targets having linewidths and spaces of about 1/3 wavelength.
Nazarov and Related Cationic Cyclizations

During the 1940s and 1950s Nazarov and his coworkers extensively studied the formation of allyl vinyl ketones by hydration of dienynes and their subsequent acid-catalyzed closure to 2-cyclopentenones (Scheme 1).1–38 The reaction was notable as one of the first general methods for the selective construction of isolated and, more importantly, ring-fused cyclopentenones. In many instances the dienynes could be transformed directly to cyclopentenones without isolation of intermediates.
Cytoskeletal pathology in non-Alzheimer degenerative dementia: new lesions in Diffuse Lewy body disease, Pick’s disease, and Corticobasal Degeneration

Increasing use of immunocytochemistry for evaluation of dementia disorders has revealed histopathological alterations that were previously unknown, even with sensitive silver techniques. Disorders [Pick’s disease (PD), diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD)] in which immunocytochemistry has revealed occult pathology are discussed. All three disorders have neurofilament (NF) immunoreactive neuronal alterations in the neocortex. In DLBD round, eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions referred to as cortical Lewy bodies are neurofilament-positive, while in both PD and CBD neurofilament epitopes are expressed in irregularly swollen neurons and their proximal cell processes, which are referred to as ballooned neurons. Interestingly, the cortical neuronal population that is vulnerable to Lewy bodies is similar to that which is vulnerable to ballooned neurons. Furthermore, Lewy bodies can occasionally be detected within the cytoplasm of ballooned neurons. Besides neurofilament-immunoreactivity, Lewy bodies are immunoreactive for ubiquitin, while ballooned neurons are inconsistently stained with antibodies to ubiquitin. Both Lewy bodies and ballooned neurons can be appreciated with routine histology, but they are much easier to detect with immunocytochemistry. In contrast, a new type of neuritic alteration in the hippocampal CA2/3 region has been recognized in DLBD. These dystrophic neurites cannot be appreciated with routine histology and are only optimally seen with immunocytochemistry for ubiquitin. Their presence is a certain indication of the presence of cortical Lewy bodies.
Who Gets a Second Chance? An Investigation of Ohio's Blended Juvenile Sentence

During the early 1990s, many state legislatures made sweeping changes in the dispositional and sentencing options available to juvenile courts, including the introduction of a new juvenile sentencing innovation, blended sentencing. Blended sentencing emerged during a period of steadily increasing violent juvenile crime as a compromise between those who wanted to emphasize public safety, punishment, and accountability of juvenile offenders and those who wanted to maintain or strengthen the traditional juvenile justice system. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the practice of blended sentencing in Ohio. Our objective is to identify the factors that influence the probability that juvenile offenders will be processed as conventional juvenile or as blended sentencing cases (referred to as a Serious Youthful Offender or SYO in Ohio) or transferred to the adult criminal justice system. Using data from over 600 juvenile cases in Ohio, we propose a multinomial regression model to predict factors associated with the various dispositional case processing options. From these data we found, that, all other things being equal, non-white juvenile offenders were significantly less likely than white offenders to be SYOs as opposed to being transferred. While some policy makers advocate that blended sentencing options as are currently in use be discontinued, we suggest that the most promising option to rationalize the use of blended sentencing and to avoid disparities in its use is to incorporate the principal of risk in its application.
Hardware supported permission checks on persistent objects for performance and programmability

Non-Volatile Memory technologies are advancing rapidly and may augment or replace DRAM in future systems. However, a key question is how programmers will use them to construct and manipulate persistent data. One possible approach gives programmers direct access to persistent memory using relocatable persistent pools that hold persistent objects which can be accessed using persistent pointers, called ObjectIDs. Prior work has shown that hardware-supported address translation for ObjectIDs provides significant performance improvement and simplifies programming, however these works did not consider the large overheads incurred to check permissions before accessing persistent objects. In this paper, we identify permission checking in hardware as a critical mechanism that must be included when translating ObjectIDs to addresses in order to simplify programming and fully benefit from hardware translation. To support it, we add a System Persistent Object Table (SPOT) to support translation and permissions checks on ObjectIDs. The SPOT holds all known pools, their physical address, and their permissions information in memory. When a program attempts to access a persistent object, the SPOT is consulted and permissions are verified without trapping to the operating system. We have implemented our new design in a cycle accurate simulator and compared it with software only approaches and prior work. We find that our design offers a compelling 2.9x speedup on average for microbenchmarks that access pools with the RANDOM pattern and 1.4x and 1.8x speedup on TPC-C and vacation, respectively, for the SEPARATE pattern.
Comparing many-body localization lengths via nonperturbative construction of local integrals of motion

Many interesting properties of many-body localization (MBL) can be understood using a phenomenological model, involving local integrals of motion (LIOMs). Usually, LIOMs can only be computed approximately. Here, the authors explicitly compute a complete set of LIOMs nonperturbatively by maximizing their overlap with physical spin operators. The scheme is immune to accidental resonances and can be applied even at the phase transition point, providing a powerful tool to study microscopic features of MBL as characterized by various localization lengths.
Colorectal cancer screening among American Indians in a Pacific Northwest tribe: Cowlitz Tribal BRFSS Project, 2009-2010.

Objectives.Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is low among American Indians (AIs). We describe the demographics, health status, prevalence of modifiable CRC risk factors, and use of CRC screening mo...
Combined Heart and Liver Transplant: Indication, Patient Selection, and Allocation Policy.

CHLT is successful and increasing, with excellent survival for both cardiac and liver grafts. Outcomes are equivalent to single‐organ transplants, and there are potential immunological benefits compared with heart transplant alone. Evaluation and decision to proceed for dual‐organ transplant requires careful assessment by both organ teams at experienced centers to choose the appropriate recipients.
Climate change lengthens southeastern USA lightning‐ignited fire seasons

Trends in average annual or seasonal precipitation are insufficient for detecting changes in the climatic fire season, especially in regions where the fire season is defined by wet-dry seasonal cycles and lightning activity. Using an extensive dataset (1897-2017) in the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States, we examined changes in annual dry season length, total precipitation, and (since 1945) the seasonal distribution of thunder-days as a correlate of lightning activity. We found that across the entire region, the dry season has lengthened by as much as 156 days (130% over 120 years), both starting earlier and ending later with less total precipitation. Less rainfall over a longer dry season, with no change in seasonal thunderstorm patterns, likely increases both the potential for lightning-ignited wildfires and fire severity. Global climate change could be having a hitherto undetected influence on fire regimes by altering the synchrony of climatic seasonal parameters.
Location, Absolute and Relative

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by J.D. Nystuen, volume 13, pp. 9011–9013, © 2001, Elsevier Ltd.
Accessing the C–C transition state energy on transition metals

The search for catalysts that can efficiently convert large hydrocarbons has been an active area of research for decades. To gain insight into those reactions, electronic structure calculations are playing an increasing role but the screening efforts are impeded by the complexity of the reaction networks that can contain hundreds of elementary steps, presenting a large number of computationally expensive transition state barrier calculations. A large number of the sub reactions in the network involve C-C bond dissociation, a step that has been identified as rate determining in many studies. The purpose of this article is to present a methodology that allows for accurate and rapid assessment of transition state energies for C-C bond breaking in any hydrocarbon based on a small number of simple calculations. Our model significantly enhances the capability of expanding the search space for new and efficient catalysts.
Attenuation correction for PET/MRI using MRI-based pseudo CT

Deriving accurate attenuation maps for PET/MRI remains a challenging problem because MRI voxel intensities are not related to properties of photon attenuation and bone/air interfaces have similarly low signal. This work presents a learning-based method to derive patient-specific pseudo computed tomography (PCT) maps from routine T1-weighted MRI in their native space for attenuation correction of brain PET. We developed a machine-learning-based method using a sequence of alternating random forests under the framework of an iterative refinement model. Anatomical feature selection is included in both training and predication stages to achieve excellent performance. To evaluate its accuracy, we retrospectively investigated 17 patients, each of which has been scanned by PET/CT and MR for brain. The PET images were corrected for attenuation on CT images as ground truth, as well as on PCT images generated from MR images. The side-by-side image comparisons and joint histograms demonstrated very good agreement of PET images after correction by PCT and CT. The mean differences of voxel values in selected VOIs were less than 4%, the mean absolute difference of all active area is around 2.5%. This work demonstrates a novel learning-based approach to automatically generate CT images from routine T1-weighted MR images based on a random forest regression with patch-based anatomical signatures to effectively capture the relationship between the CT and MR images. Reconstructed PET images using the PCT exhibit errors well below accepted test/retest reliability of PET/CT indicating high quantitative equivalence.
Total COVID-19 Mortality in Italy: Excess Mortality and Age Dependence through Time-Series Analysis

We perform a counterfactual time series analysis using two different Data Science methods applied to 2020 mortality data reported from towns in Italy, with data from the previous five years as control. We find an excess mortality that is correlated in time with the COVID-19 reported death rate time series. Our analysis shows good agreement with reported COVID-19 mortality for age
Chapter 22 – Sapovirus

Sapoviruses are a group of viruses within the family Caliciviridae that cause acute gastroenteritis in both humans and animals. Previously considered as an exclusively pediatric pathogen, sapoviruses are now recognized to cause disease across all age groups and in a variety of settings, including schools, hospitals, long-term care facilities, cruise ships, hotels, and restaurants. Sapoviruses are transmitted primarily through direct person-to-person contact, although they may also be spread through contaminated food, water, and fomites. Like the closely related noroviruses, most sapoviruses are thought to contaminate food through handling by an infected food worker, although contamination may also occur during production of foods such as shellfish and fresh produce. Prevention of foodborne sapovirus therefore relies on adherence to proper hand hygiene practices, exclusion of ill food handlers, use of clean water for production of produce, and thorough cooking of shellfish.
Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves with an Indeterminacy Zone

This work extends Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve to the situation where some cases, falling in an intermediate "indeterminacy zone" of the predictor, are not classified. It addresses two challenges: definition of sensitivity and specificity bounds for this case; and summarization of the large number of possibilities arising from different choices of indeterminacy zones.
Patient Population and Selection Criteria for Mechanical Circulatory Support

Previous data has shown that elective left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation in ambulatory advanced heart failure patients can improve event-free survival and quality of life. The patient selection criteria for mechanical circulatory support (MCS) are complex as it involves integrating data from INTERMACS profile, clinical variables, invasive hemodynamic assessment, and recent hospitalization history. Identifying patients before incipient end organ failure ensues is key to prevent irreversible damage prior to LVAD implantation. Specific red flags that should warrant referral for advanced therapies include repeat hospitalizations, medication intolerance, worsening exercise cardiopulmonary stress testing, worsening cardiac hemodynamics, or inotrope dependence.
Higher Incidence of Protein-Losing Enteropathy in Patients with Single Systemic Right Ventricle.

Patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease are at risk of unpredictable protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) after surgical palliation. Based on prior reports of physiologic differences for patients with single morphologic right versus left ventricles, we hypothesized that those with right ventricular morphology would have a higher incidence of PLE. We performed a retrospective review of > 15 million pediatric hospitalizations from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project KID 2000–2012 databases for admissions 5–21 years old with ICD-9 codes for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and tricuspid atresia (TA) with and without PLE. Incidence of PLE was compared between those with HLHS and TA. In addition, outcomes and costs were compared between admissions with and without PLE and between HLHS and TA. Of 1623 HLHS admissions, 289 (17.8%) had PLE, and of 926 TA admissions, 58 (5.9%) had PLE (p < 0.001). Admissions with PLE were older compared to those without PLE (12 vs 10 years, p < 0.001) and PLE onset occurred at a younger age for HLHS than TA (11 vs 14 years, p < 0.001). There were no differences in hospital outcomes or costs. Review of this large administrative database suggests a higher incidence of PLE in patients with HLHS and a younger age of onset compared to those with TA. These data suggest that a single systemic right ventricle may be an independent risk factor for developing PLE.
Performance Analysis of Traditional and Data-Parallel Primitive Implementations of Visualization and Analysis Kernels

Author(s): Bethel, E Wes; Camp, David; Perciano, Talita; Heinemann, Colleen | Abstract: Measurements of absolute runtime are useful as a summary of performance when studying parallel visualization and analysis methods on computational platforms of increasing concurrency and complexity. We can obtain even more insights by measuring and examining more detailed measures from hardware performance counters, such as the number of instructions executed by an algorithm implemented in a particular way, the amount of data moved to/from memory, memory hierarchy utilization levels via cache hit/miss ratios, and so forth. This work focuses on performance analysis on modern multi-core platforms of three different visualization and analysis kernels that are implemented in different ways: one is "traditional", using combinations of C++ and VTK, and the other uses a data-parallel approach using VTK-m. Our performance study consists of measurement and reporting of several different hardware performance counters on two different multi-core CPU platforms. The results reveal interesting performance differences between these two different approaches for implementing these kernels, results that would not be apparent using runtime as the only metric.
Implementation of a Female External Urinary Catheter Reduces Indwelling Urinary Catheter Use and Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

Background: Using alternatives to indwelling urinary catheters plays a vital role in reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). We assessed the impact of introducing female external catheters on urinary catheter utilization and CAUTIs. Methods: In a 500-bed academic medical center, female external catheters were implemented on October 1, 2017, with use encouraged for eligible females with urinary incontinence but not meeting other standard indications for urinary catheters. Nurses were educated and trained on female external catheter application and maintenance, and infection prevention staff performed surveillance case reviews with nursing and medical staff. We determined the number of catheter days for both devices based on nursing documentation of device insertion or application, maintenance, and removal. We used the CAUTI and DUR (device utilization ratio) definitions from the CDC NHSN. Our primary outcomes were changes in DUR for both devices 21 months before and 24 months after the intervention in both intensive care units (ICUs) and non-ICU wards. We used a generalized least-squares model to account for temporal autocorrelation and compare the trends before and after the intervention. Our secondary outcome was a reduction in CAUTIs, comparing females to males. Results: In total, there were 346,213 patient days in 35 months. The mean rate of patient days per month increased from 7,436.4 to 7,601.9 after the implementation of female external catheters, with higher catheter days for both urinary catheters (18,040 vs 19,625) and female external catheters (22 vs 12,675). After the intervention, the DUR for female external catheters increased (0 vs 0.07; P < .001) and for urinary catheters the DUR decreased (0.12 vs 0.10; P < .001) (Fig. 1). A reduction in urinary catheter DUR was observed in ICUs (0.29 vs 0.27; P < .001) but not wards (0.08 vs 0.08; P = NS) (Fig. 2). Of the 39 CAUTIs, there was no significant overall change in the rate per 1,000 catheter days (1.22 vs 0.87; P = .27). In females (n = 20 CAUTI), there was a 61% reduction in the CAUTI rate per 1,000 catheter days (0.78 vs 0.31; P = .02), but no significant change in the rate in males (0.44 vs 0.56; P = .64). The CAUTI rate per 1,000 catheter days among females decreased in the ICUs (1.14 vs 0.31; P = .04) but not in wards (0.6 vs 0.33; P = .96). Conclusions: In a setting with a baseline low UC DUR, successful implementation of female external catheters further modestly reduced UC DUR and was associated with a 61% decrease in CAUTI among females in the ICU but not in wards. Further interventions to better identify appropriate patients for female external catheters may improve patient safety and prevent patient harm. Funding: None Disclosures: None
A large X-ray outburst in Mira A

We report the Chandra ACIS-S detection of a bright soft X-ray transient in the Mira AB interacting symbiotic-like binary. We have resolved the system for the first time in X-rays. Using Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope images, we determine that the unprecedented outburst is likely associated with the cool asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star, Mira A, the prototype of the Mira class of variables. X-rays have never before been detected from an AGB star, and the recent activity signals that the system is undergoing dramatic changes. The total X-ray luminosity of the system is several times higher than the luminosity estimated using previous XMM-Newton and ROSAT observations. The outburst may be caused by a giant flare in Mira A associated with a mass ejection or a jet and may have long-term consequences on the system.
Respiratory Distress and Weight Loss in a 16-year-old Boy with a History of Pancreatitis.

1. Alexander Bowers, DO* 2. Nicholas Friedman, DO* 3. Jason Caboot, MD* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA A 16-year-old Asian American male with a history of recurrent pancreatitis (4 episodes since 4 years of age) and sinusitis (last episode around age 6 years) presents to his primary care physician with a persistent, productive cough, fatigue, and dyspnea for 2 months after being hospitalized and treated for community-acquired and eventually atypical pneumonia with ampicillin and azithromycin 1 month previously. In addition, he endorses a 15-lb weight loss over that time. His examination is significant for increased work of breathing with nasal flaring. Rhonchi are auscultated in bilateral bases of his lungs. No significant sinus tenderness, palpable lymphadenopathy, additional heart sounds or murmurs, abdominal tenderness, or edema was appreciated. His electrolyte and liver enzyme levels are normal. His white blood cell count is 14,000/μL (14×109/L), with a normal differential cell count. Chest radiographs (Figs 1 and 2) show increased bilateral perihilar markings with a right middle lobe infiltrate and an obscured cardiac silhouette. A chest computed tomographic scan (Fig 3) is obtained and shows diffuse bronchiectasis. Pulmonology is consulted for bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), which reveals edematous bronchial mucosa and thick, purulent secretions. Respiratory cultures from the BAL fluid grow Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus fumigatus. Total serum immunoglobulin …
Fossil palm reading: using fruits to reveal the deep roots of palm diversity.

PREMISE Fossils are essential for understanding evolutionary history because they provide direct evidence of past diversity and geographic distributions. However, resolving systematic relationships between fossils and extant taxa, an essential step for many macroevolutionary studies, requires extensive comparative work on morphology and anatomy. While palms (Arecaceae) have an excellent fossil record that includes numerous fossil fruits, many are difficult to identify due in part to limited comparative data on modern fruit structure. METHODS We studied fruits of 207 palm species, representing nearly every modern genus, using X-ray microcomputed tomography. We then developed a morphological data set to test whether the fossil record of fruits can improve our understanding of palm diversity in the deep past. To evaluate the accuracy with which this data set recovers systematic relationships, we performed phylogenetic pseudofossilization analyses. We then used the data set to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of five previously published fossil palm fruits. RESULTS Phylogenetic analyses of fossils and pseudofossilization of extant taxa show that fossils can be placed accurately to the tribe and subtribe level with this data set, but node support must be considered. The phylogenetic relationships of the fossils suggest origins of many modern lineages in the Cretaceous and early Paleogene. Three of these fossils are suitable as new node calibrations for palms. CONCLUSIONS This work improves our knowledge of fruit structure in palms, lays a foundation for applying fossil fruits to macroevolutionary studies, and provides new insights into the evolutionary history and early diversification of Arecaceae.
Safety of fibrates in cholestatic liver diseases

Background and aim Off-label use of fibrates in patients with cholestatic liver diseases results in improved biochemical parameters and pruritus; however, their safety in this population has been a concern. This study summarizes safety data for fibrates when used for treatment of cholestatic liver diseases. Methods A systematic review of published studies evaluating the use of fibrates for treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) was performed. Electronic databases were searched up to December 2019 for published studies evaluating treatment outcomes associated to fibrates for these two diseases. Results A total of 37 studies were identified, including 31 for PBC and 6 for PSC, with a total of 1107 unique patients treated with fibrates ± ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Most studies evaluated fenofibrate and bezafibrate, and only one study evaluated pemafibrate. There were no studies evaluating gemfibrozil or clofibrate. The most commonly reported adverse events (AEs) were gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal. Elevations of aminotransferases and serum creatinine were reported more commonly in patients treated with ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) plus Fibrates versus UDCA monotherapy. Conclusions fibrates appear to be safe and well tolerated in patients with PBC, with a low frequency of AEs. There are scarce data about the safety of these agents for treatment of PSC.