cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Micro-Blog: sharing and querying content through mobile phones and social participation

Recent years have witnessed the impacts of distributed content sharing (Wikipedia, Blogger), social networks (Facebook, MySpace), sensor networks, and pervasive computing. We believe that significant more impact is latent in the convergence of these ideas on the mobile phone platform. Phones can be envisioned as people-centric sensors capable of aggregating participatory as well as sensory inputs from local surroundings. The inputs can be visualized in different dimensions, such as space and time. When plugged into the Internet, the collaborative inputs from phones may enable a high resolution view of the world. This paper presents the architecture and implementation of one such system, called Micro-Blog. New kinds of application-driven challenges are identified and addressed in the context of this system. Implemented on Nokia N95 mobile phones, Micro-Blog was distributed to volunteers for real life use. Promising feedback suggests that Micro-Blog can be a deployable tool for sharing, browsing, and querying global information.
Severity of Type 2 Diabetes, Cognitive Function and Self-care

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with poorer performance on certain measures of cognitive function. However, little is known about the associations among working memory (WM), executive function (EF), and self-care in those with severe T2DM. This investigation explored these relationships among 67 middle-aged and older individuals with T2DM (mean age of 62.9 years). Severity of T2DM was measured with a health status composite (HSC) score from the Diabetes Care Profile, the number of prescribed medications, and the number of comorbid conditions. Cognitive assessments included the Working Memory Index and the Executive Interview 25 (EXIT 25). Self-care was measured using the Self-Care Inventory-Revised (SCI-R) and hemoglobin A1c (HgbA1c). WM was significantly correlated with all measures of severity of T2DM (HSC, r = .542, p < . 01; number of comorbidities, r = -.476, p < .01; and number of prescription medications, r = -.344, p < .01). EF was significantly correlated with all measures of severity of T2DM (HSC, r = -.504, p < .01; number of comorbidities, r = .492, p < .01; and number of prescription medications, r = .326, p < .01). The self-care measure HgbA1c was significantly correlated with WM (r = -.352, p < .01) and EF (r = .510, p < .01). The EXIT 25 score fully mediated the relationship between severity of T2DM and self-care as measured by HgbA1c (β = .431, p < .001). These findings provide preliminary evidence for the associations among severity of T2DM, WM, EF, and self-care.
LED charge-control model and speed at high currents

A simple charge-control model for light-emitting diodes exists. The equation may be applied to both waveform analysis and synthesis (current preshaping). At high current levels, the cutoff frequencies are higher than predicted from the static high-injection lifetimes alone. The harmonic contents in the output may be frequency dependent at high current levels and cannot be completely determined from the static intensity-current curve.
Array mapping in behavioral synthesis

Abstract: This paper discusses the mapping of arrays in a behavior to memories in an implementation. We introduce a design representation based on a variety of array grouping techniques and the binding of array groups to memory components with different dimensions, access times, and number of ports. The results of design actions are computed in terms of the number of memory components and the length of schedules in the behavior. We demonstrate the ability of a synthesis tool using this representation to generate designs that span the entire range of the memory design space.
THE PCAST ENERGY STUDIES: Toward a National Consensus on Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment Policy

▪ Abstract During the period 1995–1999, the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) produced three major energy studies, at President Clinton's request. The panels that conducted these studies were broadly constituted from the academic, industrial, and NGO (nongovernmental organization) sectors, and their recommendations were unanimous. These efforts (a) helped lay the foundation for several major energy initiatives of the second Clinton term, including the Climate Change Technology Initiative, the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative, and the International Clean Energy Initiative; (b) helped launch energy RD and (c) strengthened related activities, such as the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, the Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing, the fossil power Vision-21 Program, and the National Bioenergy Initiative. Federal budgets for research, development, demonstration, and deploy...
Uncertainty Analysis of the TRMM Ground-Validation Radar-Rainfall Products: Application to the TEFLUN-B Field Campaign

Efforts to validate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) space-based rainfall products have encountered many difficulties and challenges. Of particular concern is the quality of the ground-based radar products—the main tool for validation analysis. This issue is addressed by analyzing the uncertainty in the maps of rain rate provided by the ground-validation radar. To look closely at factors that contribute to the uncertain performance of the radar products, this study uses high-quality rainfall observations from several surface sensors deployed during the Texas and Florida Underflights (TEFLUN-B) field experiment in central Florida during the summer of 1998. A statistical analysis of the radar estimates is performed by comparison with a high-density rain gauge cluster. The approach followed in the current analysis accounts for the recognized effect of rainfall’s spatial variability in order to assess its contribution to radar differences from independent reference observations. The study provides uncertainty quantification of the radar estimates based on classification into light and heavy rain types. The methodology and the reported results should help in future studies that use radar-rainfall products to validate the various TRMM products, or in any other relevant hydrological applications.
Principal Turnover: Are There Different Types of Principals Who Move From or Leave Their Schools? A Latent Class Analysis of the 2007–2008 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2008–2009 Principal Follow-Up Survey

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which there is a typology of principals who depart from their schools in the U.S. using the 2007–2008 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2008–2009 Principal Follow-up Survey. Prior principal retention research has focused on identifying factors that predict principal turnover; however, this research has not focused on understanding the extent to which there may potentially be different subgroups of principals who depart. This study uses latent class analysis to identify and better understand the types of principals who exit their schools and discusses the implications of such findings.
Enzymatic Replication of DNA in E.Coli Probed by Small Phages

Many of us here either have a vested interest in studying DNA synthesis or are considering how seriously to undertake research in the subject. I think DNA synthesis is important and attractive to pursue for several reasons. (1) Interest in biological sciences is in the ascendency, with even wider appeal now than the physical sciences. (2) DNA replication is one of the fundamental processes in all biological systems. (3) Major questions about DNA replication remain to be answered; information is increasing at a rapid and exponential rate and opportunities for resolving these major questions are great. For these reasons I am pleased and grateful that Masamichi Kohiyama and Ian Molineux had the vision and made the effort to organize this school and that NATO has sponsored it.
Moving beyond the exchange value in the nonmarket valuation of ecosystem services

Abstract There has been much discussion across the ecosystem services literature as to the role of economic valuation in identifying ecosystem service values and shaping policy. This article demonstrates a non-typical use of a nonmarket valuation technique known as the stated choice experiment (CE) for understanding a range of public preferences for stream-related ecosystem services in Macon County, NC. The experiment was carried out as part of the National Science Foundation funded Coweeta Long Term Ecological Research initiative, and it reflects an interdisciplinary attempt to produce knowledge regarding ecosystem service values that is of relevance to policy makers. The CE uses a split-sample design to test for the impact of mechanism of program implementation on respondent preferences and demonstrate a range of public willingness to pay (WTP) for stream health improvements. Responses are analyzed with a latent class logit and the results show that altering the mechanism of program implementation changes the latent class composition. Results also demonstrate consistent preferences for certain attributes of stream health, but WTP for ecosystem service provisioning varies widely with proposed program implementation. The use of the CE in this research demonstrates the flexibility of the tool for combining with interdisciplinary knowledge, as well as the usefulness of information provided by nonmarket valuation techniques for informing policy design.
Host–Pathogen Interaction Profiling Using Self-Assembling Human Protein Arrays

Host–pathogen protein interactions are fundamental to every microbial infection, yet their identification has remained challenging due to the lack of simple detection tools that avoid abundance biases while providing an open format for experimental modifications. Here, we applied the Nucleic Acid-Programmable Protein Array and a HaloTag-Halo ligand detection system to determine the interaction network of Legionella pneumophila effectors (SidM and LidA) with 10 000 unique human proteins. We identified known targets of these L. pneumophila proteins and potentially novel interaction candidates. In addition, we applied our Click chemistry-based NAPPA platform to identify the substrates for SidM, an effector with an adenylyl transferase domain that catalyzes AMPylation (adenylylation), the covalent addition of adenosine monophosphate (AMP). We confirmed a subset of the novel SidM and LidA targets in independent in vitro pull-down and in vivo cell-based assays, and provided further insight into how these effect...
Prevention knowledge, risk behaviours and seroprevalence among nonurban injectors of southwest Connecticut.

Introduction and Aims Little is known about injection-associated risk behaviours, knowledge and seroprevalence of viral infections among people who inject drugs (PWID) in nonurban locales in the US. Harm reduction services are more available in urban locales. The present study examined a cohort of active PWID residing in non urban areas of Connecticut to investigate how primarily injecting in urban or non urban areas was associated with injection-associated risk behaviours, knowledge and prevalence of blood-borne viruses. Design and Methods We described the sample and performed bivariate and multivariable analyses on injection-associated risk behaviours, HIV/hepatitis/overdose knowledge and baseline serological data to identify differences between individuals who injected primarily in nonurban locales and those who did not. Results Harm reduction knowledge and use of harm reduction services were poor in both groups. Those injecting most often in urban settings were 1.88 (1.19, 2.98 95% confidence interval) times more likely to engage in at least one injection-associated risk behaviour than their nonurban counterpart. Seroprevalence rates (23.6% for hepatitis B virus, 39.2% for hepatitis C virus, and 1.1% for HIV) were no different between the two groups. Discussion and Conclusions The data provided little evidence that the benefits of urban harm reduction programs, such as syringe exchange, risk reduction interventions and education programs have penetrated into this nonurban population, even among those who injected in urban locales where such programs exist. Harm reduction interventions for nonurban communities of PWID are needed to reduce HIV and hepatitis B and C transmission. [Grau LB, Zhan W, Heimer R. Prevention knowledge, risk behaviours and seroprevalence among nonurban injectors of southwest Connecticut. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;00:000-000]
Analysis on surveillance results of HIV among prisoners in Urumqi in 2006-2009

Objective To analyze the HIV prevalence of people who are prisoners in Urumqi from 2006 to 2009.Methods The HIV antibodies were detected in prisoners in Urumqi from 2006 to 2009.Results 26 589 samples were detected,and 1116 samples were confirmed.59.32% of HIV positive had injecting drug users(IDU) history,16.04% had history of sexual promiscuity,and 41.04% had IDU and sexual promiscuity history.The average positive rate in the male was 3.53% and female was 7.7%.Conclusion HIV infection rate in prisoners is high in Urumqi,and the HIV infected prisoners are mainly IDUs and/or sexual promiscuity.It was suggested that we should strengthen training of HIV knowledge and behavior intervention in prisoners.Surveillance and information network should be improved.The prisoners with HIV could contact with the community and receive care after leaving the prison,which is beneficial to changing the risk behavior and control AIDS transmission.
When Virchow Meets Da Vinci: Correlating Thrombogenesis With Intracardiac Flow Dynamics.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia, afflicting >5 million people in the United States alone1 and associated with considerable morbidity because of migration of left atrial (LA) and specifically left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombi. A combination of LA anatomic, inflammatory, and metabolic changes results in abnormalities in both flow characteristics, endothelial function, and blood constituents. Thus, AF creates an hypercoagulable state in the LA by virtue of fulfilling Virchow’s triad of thrombogenesis.2 Although the CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc risk scores are clinically useful for identifying AF patients who are at high risk for thromboembolism,3 they are imperfect (C statistics 0.60–0.69).4,5 They concentrate on the clinical substrate and do not consider local physiological factors such as LA/LAA flow, which are likely to offer higher fidelity discrimination of those at highest risk for thrombus formation. See Article by Markl et al The essence of cardiology is blood flow, but noninvasive tools to comprehensively characterize intracavitary blood flow dynamics have been lacking. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is already recognized as the noninvasive clinical gold standard for the assessment of cardiac volumes, regional/global systolic function, fibrosis, and inflammation.6,7 More recently, 2D phase-contrast CMR has been shown to be clinically important for assessment of mitral regurgitation.8 Advancement in flow visualization have now provided us with more powerful tools for in vivo multidirectional blood flow assessment using either phase-contrast CMR, echocardiography particle imaging velocimetry, and echocardiography vector flow mapping.9 These novel tools enable us to verify and continue Leonardo Da Vinci’s quest to study intracavitary flow dynamics10 and provide new insights regarding intracardiac flow—revealing asymmetrical spiral flow in the heart chambers and great arteries that have pivotal importance in physiological and pathological conditions.11 The use of …
Using Natural Language Processing and Qualitative Analysis to Intervene in Gang Violence: A Collaboration Between Social Work Researchers and Data Scientists

The U.S. has the highest rate of firearm-related deaths when compared to other industrialized countries. Violence particularly affects low-income, urban neighborhoods in cities like Chicago, which saw a 40% increase in firearm violence from 2014 to 2015 to more than 3,000 shooting victims. While recent studies have found that urban, gang-involved individuals curate a unique and complex communication style within and between social media platforms, organizations focused on reducing gang violence are struggling to keep up with the growing complexity of social media platforms and the sheer volume of data they present. In this paper, describe the Digital Urban Violence Analysis Approach (DUVVA), a collaborative qualitative analysis method used in a collaboration between data scientists and social work researchers to develop a suite of systems for decoding the high- stress language of urban, gang-involved youth. Our approach leverages principles of grounded theory when analyzing approximately 800 tweets posted by Chicago gang members and participation of youth from Chicago neighborhoods to create a language resource for natural language processing (NLP) methods. In uncovering the unique language and communication style, we developed automated tools with the potential to detect aggressive language on social media and aid individuals and groups in performing violence prevention and interruption.
Vertical Articulation of Cut Scores Across the Grades: Current Practices and Methodological Implications in the Light of the Next Generation of K–12 Assessments

Federal accountability requirements after the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the need to report progress for various disaggregated subgroups of students meant that the methods used to set and articulate performance standards across the grades must be revisited. Several solutions that involve either a priori deliberations or post-hoc adjustments have been offered over the years. In this paper, I provide a methodological review of the alternative cut-score articulation methods, including some novel solutions (e.g., using predictive methods) that have been proposed in the context of the next-generation K–12 assessments. In systematically evaluating these methods, I focus on the psychometric challenges they might present and the practical feasibility of their operational implementation. In addition, results from a survey of several state departments of education help to provide information on the prevalence of these methods across the states. Overall, this review shows that none of the alternative methods is completely free of limitation; yet, each method provides solutions that are appropriate for addressing certain methodological and practical requirements. Therefore, in the context of the next-generation assessments and the need to identify students who are on track to being college and career ready, practitioners are advised to consider a combination of methods and cautioned against overreliance on any single method.
Randomized tensor-based algorithm for image classification

We present a method for the image classification problem. First, the set of images is organized in a tensor format. Then, we define several classes in terms of subtensors of the same type of images. The method relies on the tensor dimensionality reduction algorithm to create the basis of the subtensor. Our algorithm was tested on the AT&T database of faces. From our experiments, the algorithm successfully classifies unknown images from the measured residual.
Role of Water Sorption in Tablet Crushing Strength, Disintegration, and Dissolution

Drugs formulated as tablets are subjected to accelerated stability conditions with the goal of identifying a stable formulation that will exhibit a sufficiently long shelf life. Water sorption at a condition such as 40°C/75% RH can result in significant changes in tablet properties such as a decrease in dissolution rate, the cause of which may be difficult to interpret, given the complex nature of ingredients and their interactions in a tablet. In this research, three drugs, displaying a wide range of physicochemical properties, were formulated with commonly used diluents, disintegrants, and binders, using a design of experiments approach. The tablets were stored at accelerated conditions and assessed for content, dissolution, disintegration, and crushing strength, as well as other properties. The research demonstrated many water-induced effects in tablet properties. Due to the experimental design approach that revealed many interactions, it was possible to interpret all of the changes observed in tablet crushing strength, disintegration, and dissolution for the drugs using a common set of physical principles. Specifically, the relevant factors considered were (1) mechanical properties of materials, (2) water sorption surface effects in surface diffusion and capillary condensation, (3) water sorption bulk effects for amorphous materials such as viscous flow/spreading, and (4) water-induced stress on interparticle bonding arising from volume expansion. These physical principles enable a comprehensive interpretation of the complex changes observed in tablet properties, which should be valuable in the design of tablet formulations that will be stable to accelerated storage conditions.
Parenting, self-regulation and social competence with peers and romantic partners

Abstract The present cross-sectional study tested a portion of the tripartite model of familial impacts on self-regulation (Morris et al., 2007) in reference to social competence during early adulthood. N = 302 young adults ages 18 to 24 years (64.9% female; 80.4% European American; 10% Hispanic) were recruited through Mechanical Turk ( n = 254) and the local community ( n = 48). All participants responded to anonymous online questionnaires about self-regulation, parenting practices, and interpersonal competence with same-sex peers and romantic partners. High parental acceptance and low psychological control were linked to high levels of self-regulation. High social competence in both relationship types was associated with high acceptance and self-regulation; lifetime romantic relationship experience also covaried with high romantic competence. Findings suggest that the tripartite model is applicable to interpersonal competence in emerging adulthood.
Identifying the source population of fish re-colonizing an arid-land stream following wildfire-induced extirpation using otolith microchemistry

Movement is necessary for re-colonization of habitats following disturbance, but methods to estimate dispersal of small-bodied fishes are limited. We evaluated the efficacy of otolith microchemistry in identifying habitat origin of longfin dace Agosia chrysogaster in the Gila River, NM, USA. Additionally, we used this method to determine the source population of speckled dace Rhinichthys osculus that re-colonized a tributary reach following wildfire-induced extirpation. We determined otolith microchemical analysis was possible after finding elevated ambient water concentrations of Mg, Mn, and Sr in the disturbed tributary both before and after wildfire relative to other source streams. These water chemistry differences allowed us to test if speckled dace were derived from downstream populations, or from those potentially persisting within refugia in the fire-affected tributary. We found that otolith signatures consistently reflected water chemistry patterns for Mn and Sr, allowing us to classify individuals to known capture locations 86% (range = 74–100%) of the time. Otolith microchemistry techniques then revealed that 88% of speckled dace that re-colonized the fire-affected tributary reach were derived from refuge populations within the tributary. Our results indicated that otolith microchemistry could be an important tool for characterizing re-colonization dynamics of fish populations residing in chemically heterogeneous stream networks.
Should Screening Techniques for Colorectal Cancer All Have an 'A' Recommendation? Yes: All Conventional Screening Techniques Should Have an 'A' Recommendation.

We need to emphasize the message that regardless of which test is used, patients should get screened for colorectal cancer.
Anaplasma Phagocytophilum Infection Modulates Expression of Megakaryocyte Cell Cycle Genes Through Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase Signaling

Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis infects neutrophils and other cells from hematopoietic origin. Using human megakaryocytic cell line, MEG-01, we show that expression of cell cycle genes in these cells are altered upon A. phagocytophilum infection. Expression of several cell cycle genes in MEG-01 cells was significantly up regulated at early and then down regulated at later stages of A. phagocytophilum infection. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays revealed reduced cellular cytotoxicity in MEG-01 cells upon A. phagocytophilum infection. The levels of both PI3KCA (p110 alpha, catalytic subunit) and PI3KR1 (p85, regulatory subunit) of Class I PI3 kinases and phosphorylated protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) and inhibitory kappa B (IκB) were elevated at both early and late stages of A. phagocytophilum infection. Inhibition of PI3 kinases with LY294002 treatment resulted in significant reduction in the expression of tested cell cycle genes, A. phagocytophilum burden and phosphorylated Akt levels in these MEG-01 cells. Collectively, these results suggest a role for PI3K-Akt-NF-κB signaling pathway in the modulation of megakaryocyte cell cycle genes upon A. phagocytophilum infection.
Socioeconomic Disparities in Access for Watchman Device Insertion in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and at Elevated Risk of Bleeding

ABSTRACTBackground: As the Watchman device is new, no studies have yet reported on healthcare disparity issues in this population. We sought to investigate socioeconomic and racial disparities amon...
Investigating the effects of subconcussion on functional connectivity using mass-univariate and multivariate approaches

There are concerns about the effects of subconcussive head impacts in sport, but the effects of subconcussion on brain connectivity are not well understood. We hypothesized that college football players experience changes in brain functional connectivity not found in athletes competing in lower impact sports or healthy controls. These changes may be spatially heterogeneous across participants, requiring analysis methods that go beyond mass-univariate approaches commonly used in functional MRI (fMRI). To test this hypothesis, we analyzed resting-state fMRI data from college football (n = 15), soccer (n = 12), and lacrosse players (n = 16), and controls (n = 29) collected at preseason and postseason time points. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and degree centrality (DC) were calculated as measures of local and long-range functional connectivity, respectively. Standard voxel-wise analysis and paired support vector machine (SVM) classification studied subconcussion’s effects on local and global functional connectivity. Voxel-wise analyses yielded minimal findings, but SVM classification had high accuracy for college football’s ReHo (87%, p = 0.009) and no other group. The findings suggest subconcussion results in spatially heterogeneous changes in local functional connectivity that may only be detectible with multivariate analyses. To determine if voxel-wise and SVM analyses had similar spatial patterns, region-average t-statistic and SVM weight values were compared using a measure of ranking distance. T-statistic and SVM weight rankings exhibited significantly low ranking distance values for all groups and metrics, demonstrating that the analyses converged on a similar underlying effect. Overall, this research suggests that subconcussion in football may produce local functional connectivity changes similar to concussion.
Direct silver to aluminum solid-state bonding processes

Abstract The high thermal conductivity, light weight, and low cost of aluminum (Al) make it a promising substrate material for high power electronic packaging. A main challenge of using aluminum in electronic packaging is its poor bondability. The native aluminum oxide (Al2O3) prevents aluminum from bonding to commonly used die-attach materials such as solders. Thus, zincating process is often needed to dissolve the Al2O3 layer and deposit a protective zinc layer which provides a basis for subsequent metallization or soldering processes. In this research, Ag-Al solid-state bonding has been developed as a novel bonding technique to bond Ag directly to Al substrates. No surface treatment was applied on Al substrates to remove the native Al2O3 layer prior to bonding. The shear strength of Ag-Al joints passes the military criterion (MIL-STD-883H method 2019.8) by a large margin. SEM and TEM imaging was utilized to study the microstructures. In the bonding processes conducted at 425 and 450 °C, Ag and Al atoms inter-diffused through the thin Al2O3 to react and form Ag2Al and Ag3Al compounds. To examine the fracture modes of Ag-Al joints, the fracture surfaces after shear tests were evaluated. The effect of bonding temperatures on Ag-Al joint morphology and the fracture behaviors were investigated and discussed. An application of this new technique is to bond thin Ag foils to Al substrates and make them bondable to die-attach materials such as solders and nano-silver paste. This Ag foil bonding method provides an alternative to the zincating process. Other potential applications include making Al surfaces easier to blaze to other metals such as brass, bronze and copper.
MR Elastography in Renal Transplant Patients and Correlation with Renal Allograft Biopsy: A Feasibility Study

Rationale and Objectives Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) images the propagation of mechanical shear waves in tissue and uses that information to generate quantitative measures of tissue stiffness. Hepatic MRE has been successfully performed in thousands of patients, with good correlation between histologic grade of fibrosis and tissue stiffness. There has been no prior investigation of the utility of MRE for the assessment of kidney transplants. The aims of this study were to prospectively evaluate the feasibility of MRE in a small group of kidney transplant recipients and to correlate the measured magnetic resonance elastographic stiffness values with biopsy-proven histopathologic fibrosis. Materials and Methods MRE of renal transplants was performed in 11 patients returning for protocol allograft biopsies. Calculated tissue stiffness values were compared to histologic degree of fibrosis in nine of the 11 patients. Results The mean stiffness of two patients with moderate interstitial fibrosis was higher than the mean of six patients with mild interstitial fibrosis, but not significantly so (90 Hz, P = .12; 120 Hz, P = .17; 150 Hz, P = .26). The mean stiffness of the two patients with moderate interstitial fibrosis was slightly greater than the mean of one patient with no significant interstitial fibrosis at 90 Hz ( P = .78) and slightly less at 120 and 150 Hz ( P = .88 and P = .76). The mean stiffness of the six patients with mild interstitial fibrosis did not differ significantly from that of the one patient with no interstitial fibrosis (90 Hz, P = .35; 120 Hz, P = .22; 150 Hz, P = .16). Conclusions Preliminary results demonstrate feasibility and support known multifactorial influences on renal stiffness.
Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgery

Endoscopic procedures involving the gastrointestinal system offer advantages over conventional surgery in that they are less invasive and provide direct visualization. To take advantage of these procedures, an understanding of the effects of positioning on the ability to visually assess anatomic structures is necessary. Laparoscopy can be used to evaluate horses with abdominal pain before and after surgery. It can be used to evaluate abdominal masses and parenchymal organs such as the spleen, liver, and kidney. Endoscopic gastrointestinal surgical procedures such as colopexy and adhesiolysis are currently limited but will continue to develop as instrumentation and technologies evolve.
Tubular ectasia of the rete testis : a benign condition with a sonographic appearance that may be misinterpreted as malignant

Tubular ectasia of the rete testis is a recently recognized entity whose sonographic appearance has been described principally in the radiological literature. The sonographic features of this benign process must be appreciated by urologists as well so that is not mistaken for malignancy. We report 3 cases showing the spectrum of this process and review the literature.
The framework for a model of psychoanalytic inference

Although theoretical prepositions in the field of psychoanalysis ultimately rest on the empirical base of claims by individual psychoanalysts about their institutive understanding of the utterances of individual analysands, there is as yet no significant scientific theory that accounts either for the analyst's ability to understand or for how he does so. Our claim is that these institutions can be represented by a two-stage model whose first step consists of classificatory processes and whose second step is essentially that of inductive inferences. We shall present our case by discussing three levels of structure to be found in the discourse of a patient in psychoanalysis: the surface TEXT, the classification of this text in Linguistic MAPS and Personal Event FRAMES derived from the maps.
The 5 Pillars of Islam

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. "The basic rites of Islam that were revealed to the Prophet are the “pillars” of Islam. These are considered to be the entire ritual structure of the Islamic religion because they are the five essential and obligatory practices that all Muslims follow. These pillars also “have certain disciplinary effects in curbing the excess desires of the believers, in teaching them to do things together for the welfare of the group and for the purification of their souls” (Farah, 135). The five rituals consist of: 1.) Shahada, the profession of faith, 2.) Salah, prayer, 3.) Zakah, almsgiving, 4.) Siyam, fasting, and 5.) Hajj, the pilgrimage." This research paper is available in Verbum: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol2/iss2/9
Review Mechanical properties of ice and snow

The mechanical properties of ice and snow are reviewed. The tensile strength of ice varies from 0.7–3.1 MPa and the compressive strength varies from 5–25 MPa over the temperature range −10°C to −20°C. The ice compressive strength increases with decreasing temperature and increasing strain rate, but ice tensile strength is relatively insensitive to these variables. The tensile strength of ice decreases with increasing ice grain size. The strength of ice decreases with increasing volume, and the estimated Weibull modulus is 5. The fracture toughness of ice is in the range of 50–150 kPa m1/2 and the fracture-initiating flaw size is similar to the grain size. Ice-soil composite mixtures are both stronger and tougher than ice alone. Snow is a open cellular form of ice. Both the strength and fracture toughness of snow are substantially lower than those of ice. Fracture-initiating flaw sizes in snow appear to correlate to the snow cell size.
Continuous surface EMG power reflects the metabolic cost of shivering during targeted temperature management after cardiac arrest.

Abstract Aim Shivering may interfere with targeted temperature management (TTM) after cardiac arrest, contributing to secondary brain injury. Early identification of shivering is challenging with existing tools. We hypothesized that shivering detected by continuous surface sEMG monitoring would be validated with calorimetry and detected earlier than by intermittent clinical observation. Methods This prospective observational study enrolled a convenience sample of comatose adult cardiac arrest patients treated with TTM at 33 °C. Clinical shivering was monitored hourly using the Bedside Shivering Assessment Scale (BSAS) by bedside nurses who administered intermittent neuromuscular blockade (NMB) when BSAS ≥ 1. The research team monitored independently for shivering with BSAS every 15 min during continuous blinded monitoring of oxygen consumption (VO2) via indirect calorimetry and sEMG power during the maintenance phase of TTM. A sustained 20% increase in the 5-min rolling average of VO2 above baseline identified the Gold Standard shivering threshold (VO2-20). Results Among 18 patients, clinical shivering was detected 23 times in 14 patients. Hierarchical models to predict a shiver event determined by the VO2-20 for sEMG power and BSAS revealed an AUC for sEMG power of 0.92 (95%CI = 0.88–0.95), and 0.90 (CI = 0.87–0.94) for BSAS. The optimal threshold of sEMG to predict VO2-20 was 32 decibels (dB), and this was exceeded 38 (29–56) min before nurse-detected shivering. Conclusions Shivering was detected by sEMG power earlier than by clinical assessment with BSAS, with similar accuracy compared to the indirect calorimetry gold standard. Continuous sEMG monitoring appears useful for clinical assessment and research for shivering during TTM.
Cyber-Human Approach For Learning Human Intention And Shape Robotic Behavior Based On Task Demonstration

Recent developments in artificial intelligence enabled training of autonomous robots without human supervision. Even without human supervision during training, current models have yet to be human-engineered and have neither guarantees to match human expectation nor perform within safety bounds. This paper proposes CyberSteer to leverage human-robot interaction and align goals between humans and robotic intelligent agents. Based on human demonstration of the task, CyberSteer learns an intrinsic reward function used by the human demonstrator to pursue the goal of the task. The learned intrinsic human function shapes the robotic behavior during training through deep reinforcement learning algorithms, removing the need for environment-dependent or hand-engineered reward signal. Two different hypotheses were tested, both using non-expert human operators for initial demonstration of a given task or desired behavior: one training a deep neural network to classify human-like behavior and other training a behavior cloning deep neural network to suggest actions. In this experiment, CyberSteer was tested in a high-fidelity unmanned air system simulation environment, Microsoft AirSim. The simulated aerial robot performed collision avoidance through a clustered forest environment using forward-looking depth sensing. The performance of CyberSteer is compared to behavior cloning algorithms and reinforcement learning algorithms guided by handcrafted reward functions. Results show that the human-learned intrinsic reward function can shape the behavior of robotic systems and have better task performance guiding reinforcement learning algorithms compared to standard human-handcrafted reward functions.
Characterization of laser ultrasound source signals in biological tissues for imaging applications.

Short optical pulses emitted from a tunable Q-switched laser (800 to 2000 nm) generate laser ultrasound (LUS) signals at the surface of biological tissue. The LUS signal’s acoustic frequency content, dependence on sample type, and optical wavelength are observed in the far field. The experiments yield a reference dataset for the design of noncontact LUS imaging systems. Measurements show that the majority of LUS signal energy in biological tissues is within the 0.5 and 3 MHz frequency bands and the total acoustic energy generated increases with the optical absorption coefficient of water, which governs tissue optical absorption in the infrared range. The experimental results also link tissue surface roughness and acoustic attenuation with limited LUS signal bandwidth in biological tissue. Images constructed using 810-, 1064-, 1550-, and 2000-nm generation laser wavelengths and a contact piezoelectric receiver demonstrates the impact of the generation laser wavelength on image quality. A noncontact LUS-based medical imaging system has the potential to be an effective medical imaging device. Such a system may mitigate interoperator variability associated with current medical ultrasound imaging techniques and expand the scope of imaging applications for ultrasound.
Boron Alloys for GaAs-based 1.3μm Semiconductor Lasers

We present BGaInAs as a potential active region for 1.31 μm laser sources on GaAs substrates. We demonstrate high quality BGaInAs films with high indium concentrations and multiple percent boron concentrations that emit at room temperature. © 2019 The Author(s)
CSIP: A Synchronous Protocol for Automated Vehicles at Road Intersections

Intersection management is one of the main challenging issues in road safety because intersections are a leading cause of traffic congestion and accidents. In fact, more than 44% of all reported crashes in the U.S. occur around intersection areas, which, in turn, has led to 8,500 fatalities and approximately 1 million injuries every year. With vehicles expected to become self-driving, the question is whether high throughput can be obtained through intersections while keeping them safe. A spatio-temporal intersection protocol named the Ballroom Intersection Protocol (BRIP) [8] was recently proposed in the literature to address this situation. Under this protocol, automated and connected vehicles arrive at and go through an intersection in a cooperative fashion with no vehicle needing to stop, while maximizing the intersection throughput. Though no vehicles run into one another under ideal environments with BRIP, vehicle accidents can occur when the self-driving vehicles have location errors and/or control system failure. In this article, we present a safe and practical intersection protocol named the Configurable Synchronous Intersection Protocol (CSIP). CSIP is a more general and resilient version of BRIP. CSIP utilizes a certain inter-vehicular distance to meet safety requirements in the presence of GPS inaccuracies and control failure. The inter-vehicular distances under CSIP are much more acceptable and comfortable to human passengers due to longer inter-vehicular distances that do not cause fear. With CSIP, the inter-vehicular distances can also be changed at each intersection to account for different traffic volumes, GPS accuracy levels, and geographical layout of intersections. Our simulation results show that CSIP never leads to traffic accidents even when the system has typical location errors, and that CSIP increases the traffic throughput of the intersections compared to common signalized intersections.
Integrated pan-cancer map of EBV-associated neoplasms reveals functional host-virus interactions

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a complex oncogenic symbiont. The molecular mechanisms governing EBV carcinogenesis remain elusive and the functional interactions between virus and host cells are incompletely defined. Here we present a comprehensive map of the host cell-pathogen interactome in EBV-associated cancers. We systematically analyzed RNA sequencing from >1,000 patients with 15 different cancer types, comparing virus and host factors of EBV+ to EBV- tissues. EBV preferentially integrated at highly accessible regions of the cancer genome, with significant enrichment in super-enhancer architecture. Twelve EBV transcripts, including LMP1 and LMP2, correlated inversely with EBV reactivation signature. Overexpression of these genes significantly suppressed viral reactivation, consistent with a "virostatic" function. In cancer samples, hundreds of novel frequent missense and nonsense variations in virostatic genes were identified, and variant genes failed to regulate their viral and cellular targets in cancer. For example, one-third of patients with EBV+ NK/T-cell lymphoma carried two novel nonsense variants (Q322X, G342X) of LMP1 and both variant proteins failed to restrict viral reactivation, confirming loss of virostatic function. Host cell transcriptional changes in response to EBV infection classified tumors into two molecular subtypes based on patterns of IFN signature genes and immune checkpoint markers, such as PD-L1 and IDO1. Overall, these findings uncover novel points of interaction between a common oncovirus and the human genome and identify novel regulatory nodes and druggable targets for individualized EBV and cancer-specific therapies. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides a comprehensive map of the host cell-pathogen interactome in EBV+ malignancies.See related commentary by Mbulaiteye and Prokunina-Olsson, p. 5917.
Elevation, an emotion for prosocial contagion, is experienced more strongly by those with greater expectations of the cooperativeness of others.

A unique emotion, elevation, is thought to underlie prosocial contagion, a process whereby witnessing a prosocial act leads to acting prosocially. Individuals differ in their propensity to experience elevation, and thus their proneness to prosocial contagion, but little is known about the causes of such variation. We introduce an adaptationist model wherein elevation marks immediate circumstances in which generalized prosociality is advantageous, with this evaluation of circumstances hinging in part on prior expectations of others’ prosociality. In 15 studies, we add to evidence that elevation can reliably be elicited and mediates prosocial contagion. Importantly, we confirm a novel prediction–generated by our adaptationist account–that an idealistic attitude, which indexes others’ expected degree of prosociality, moderates the relationship between exposure to prosocial cues and experiencing elevation. We discuss how our findings inform both basic theorizing in the affective sciences and translational efforts to engineer a more harmonious world, and we offer future research directions to further test and extend our model.
Mastery Learning for Clinical Emergencies

Clinicians faced with acute emergencies must act together as an effective, coordinated team to provide high-quality care to individual or multiple patients. Educators who train clinicians to provide emergent care need to address specific clinical algorithms, teamwork, and communication skills. In this chapter, we discuss established national life support curricula as exemplars of the challenges faced in training healthcare professionals to a high standard when targeting thousands of learners. We discuss the recent American Heart Association resuscitation education best practice report (Cheng et al, Circulation. 138:e82–122, 2018) and how mastery learning (ML) should be a key feature in a well-designed resuscitation program. We also review our experience with ML Advanced Cardiac Life Support to demonstrate the applicability of ML to resuscitation programs.
Geometric Dispersion Theory for Portfolio Accurate Out-of-Sample Predictions of Stock Market

This paper addresses portfolio selection under Geometric Dispersion Theory (GDT). GDT is a recently developed model for analyzing risk. GDT evaluates the risk of each alternative based on two new geometric dispersion measures; one for the risk-prone case and one for the risk-averse case. GDT risk measures satisfy convexity, non-negativity, and asymmetry where other models ignore the last property. Also, GDT model satisfies first-order stochastic dominance and resolves drawbacks of other decision-making models. GDT outperforms Mean-Variance, Expected utility theory, and Cumulative Prospect theory. In this study, we apply GDT for portfolio selection problem and compare it to Mean-Variance, Mean-absolute Deviation, Two-Sided Coherent Risk Measure. We show that GDT risk measures satisfy all of the desirable properties of risk measure including diversification, monotonicity, insensitivity to mean preserving spread, and asymmetry while other risk measures do not satisfy all of these properties. Also, we compare performances of the models based on real-world data and show that GDT models outperform the models in term of the diversification ratio and in out-of-sample data, GDT models outperform the models in term of tracking error, information ratio, Sharpe Ratio and expected returns rate of portfolios.