cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis on HIV Infection Status in the Population Receiving Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Liling City During the Period of 2008-2010

Objective To analyze the HIV infection status in the population receiving voluntary counseling and testing(VCT) in Liling Municipal CDC,and to offer the scientific evidence for prevention and control of HIV in Liling. Methods The demographic characteristics and HIV antibody test results of population receiving VCT in Liling Municipal CDC from January 2008 to December 2010 were collected,and then the data were analyzed using descriptive method. Results There were 1,605 persons received VCT,of which 18 cases were confirmed to be HIV positive,and the positive rate was 1.12%.The detection rate in the group of 50 years or above(5.66%) was higher than those of other age groups(P0.01).The detection rate of the divorced and widowed persons (2.15%) was higher than those of the unmarried(1.31%) and married persons(1.00%),(P0.01).The detection rate of persons with a primary school education(3.85%) was higher than those with other educational backgrounds(P0.01).The detection rate of MSM(33.33%) was higher than those receiving VCT for other reasons(P0.01).The detection rate of persons who had received VCT before(2.04%) was higher than those who received VCT for the first time(1.09%),(P0.01).The major transmission route of HIV was sexual contact,accounted for 61.11%. Conclusions The results suggest that the high-risk populations for HIV infection are adults aged 50 years or above,the divorced or widowed,adults with a primary school education,and manual workers.Not only targeted propaganda and education about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment but also targeted interventions should be carried out on the inhibition of HIV transmission.
Behind Box-Office Sales: Understanding the Mechanics of Automation Spam in Classifieds

In spite of being detrimental to user experiences, the problem of automated messages on online classified websites is widespread due to a low barrier of entry and limited enforcement-of-rules against such messages. Many of these messages may appear legitimate, but turn into spam when they are posted redundantly. This behavior drowns out other legitimate users from having their voices heard. We label this problem as automation spam – legitimate messages that are posted at a rate that overwhelms normal posts. In this paper, we characterize automation on a popular classifieds website, Craigslist, and find that 2/3rd of the posts with URLs are automated. Automation is most prevalent in categories dominated by businesses, such as Tickets, Cars by Dealer, and Real Estate, with 67–92 % of the posts with URLs exhibiting automation. Even in categories with less automation, intermittent automation still overwhelms non-automated users, demonstrating that no category is safe.
Tryptophan and threonine requirements of young pigs and their effects on serum calcium, phosphorus and zinc concentrations.

Four 28-d trials were conducted using a total of 432 pigs, with average initial weight across trials ranging from 6.3 to 9.7 kg, to estimate the tryptophan (trials 1 and 2) and threonine (trials 3 and 4) requirements of pigs fed low protein, corn-sunflower meal diets. The effect of tryptophan, threonine and protein level on serum calcium, phosphorus and zinc also was studied. The diets contained either 12 or 13% protein and were calculated to be adequate in all nutrients except crude protein and the amino acid being investigated. A lysine supplemented, 18% protein, corn-sunflower meal diet was included in all trials as a positive control. In trial 1, weight gains of pigs increased linearly (P less than .005) while feed conversion improved cubically (P less than .05) as dietary tryptophan increased from .14 to .22%. Pigs fed the 18% protein diet gained faster (P less than .05) and required less feed/gain than pigs fed low protein diets. In trial 2, weight gains improved quadratically (P less than .005) and feed conversion improved linearly (P less than .05) as dietary tryptophan increased from .104 to .204%. Serum phosphorus and zinc concentrations were lower (P less than .05) in pigs fed the 18% protein diet. In both trials, serum urea N responded quadratically (P less than .05) to increasing dietary tryptophan, and was lower (P less than .05) in pigs that were fed diets supplemented with L-tryptophan than in those fed the low protein basal or 18% protein diets.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Discovery and optimisation of potent and highly subtype selective Nav1.8 inhibitors with reduced cardiovascular liabilities

Voltage-gated sodium channels, in particular Nav1.8, can be targeted for the treatment of neuropathic and inflammatory pain. Herein, we describe the discovery and optimisation of a Nav1.8 inhibiting phenyl imidazole series that delivers chemical equity that possesses high potency and selectivity and is capable of demonstrating good oral pharmacokinetics.
Aspectos políticos e sociais da criação de emprêsas multinacionais

o principal objetivo deste artigo e apresentar e discutir o papel e a importância potencial das empresas muitinacionais no processo de integracao latino-americano. Tratase essencialmente de uma analise que resultou das reflexoes do autor, bem como as impressoes e opinioes recolhidas em conversas com homens de negocio, politicos, tecnicos e pessoas de destaque no setor publico e privado de varios paises latino-americanos. E, portanto, uma compilacao de pontos de vista e seu proposito fundamental e tracar caminhos para discussoes e pesquisas posteriores, e para servir como guia em futuros programas de acao.
Gynecologic Issues in the Pediatric and Adolescent Patient with Cancer

Survival rates for children and adolescents with cancer have increased dramatically over the past 25 years. However, many of these therapies also result in short- and long-term adverse effects. In girls and young women, it is important to recognize the possible effects of oncologic treatments on their reproductive health and development including early or delayed puberty, diminished or complete loss of ovarian function, and infertility. There are several options for preserving fertility prior to cancer treatment that are becoming more readily available. The individual-planned treatments should be evaluated for risk of gonadal effects. This should be discussed with the patient and family in advance of starting treatment whenever possible, so they may reach an informed decision regarding fertility preservation. As with all adolescents, it is important to discuss issues of sexual health and contraception; however, this is especially important during active cancer treatment as available options may differ somewhat and individual cases must be evaluated. Finally, survivors of childhood cancer will need routine gynecologic evaluation and subsequent treatment of any ovarian insufficiency, infertility, and sexual dysfunction that occur as long-term effects of cancer care. This care is best accomplished in conjunction with a pediatric endocrinologist and/or gynecologist.
Kinship Expressions and Terms

All languages have expressions that can be glossed ‘father,’ ‘wife,’ ‘brother-in-law,’ etc., covering consanguineal, spousal, and affinal categories. However, from the beginning of serious cross-cultural study, it has been apparent that societies differ in the kinship categories used. To facilitate comparison, an ‘etic grid’ is necessary; namely, an open-ended universe of kin-types, such as ‘father’s sister,’ corresponding to the denotata of the infinitely expansible possessive construction seemingly found in all languages. The minimal nuclear components are parent (Pa), child (Ch), and spouse (Sp), a combinatory algorithm (PaPaSp ¼ parent’s parent’s spouse), and cross-cutting features, including sex of referent (Ch þ female ¼ daughter), sex of linking relative (male linking relative þ Ch þ female ¼ man’s daughter), and relative age within a generation (PaSb þ senior ¼ senior sibling). The initial linking relative (e.g., you in your father) is referred to as ‘ego’ or ‘propositus.’ In practice, most anthropologists and linguists operate with atomic categories based on a prototypical set of flesh-and-blood nuclear family members: Fa(ther), Mo(ther), Br(other), Si(ster), So(n), Da(ughter), Wi(fe), and Hu(sband). Combinations are then of the type FaMoBrWi (father’s mother’s brother’s wife). This grid permits analysis of the denotational scope of each kin term and, ultimately the entire system, by identifying the complete set of kin-types onto which the term maps. Some terms, such as English mother and brother, denote unique kin-types. Others, such as English uncle, correspond semantically to finite sets of kin-types. However, in languages with ‘classificatory’ kin-term systems, each such term maps onto an unbounded set of kin-types. With such languages, a common approach is to generate the more complex kin-types from simpler ones by expansion rules that link kin-types closer to propositus, with kin-types in the denoted set farther away; doing so entails converse reduction rules that go from complex to simple types. If in a system the term for MoBrDa expands to include MoMoBrDaDa, then conversely, MoMoBrDaDa reduces terminologically to MoBrDa; they are both denoted by the same term in such a system of terms.
Pregnancy Characteristics and Outcomes among Women at Risk for Disability from Health Conditions Identified in Medical Claims

Abstract Background Women with disabilities are at risk for poor birth outcomes. Little is known about specific potentially disabling health conditions and their effects on pregnancies. Using hospital claims, we identified women at risk for disability and evaluated the relationship between disability risk and demographic characteristics, pregnancy risks, and infant and maternal outcomes. Methods The 2006 through 2009 Massachusetts Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal data system linked birth certificate and hospital claims one year pre-pregnancy through delivery. Access Risk Classification System categorized International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification /Current Procedural Terminology codes into disability risk groups (no/limited vs. medium/high). Generalized estimating equations evaluated the association between disability risk and infant and maternal outcomes. Results Of 221,867 women, 14,701 (6.6%) were at medium or high risk of disability. Health conditions were classified as circulatory (23%), musculoskeletal (10%), nervous system/sensory (13%), other physical (19%), two or more physical (5%), mental illness (24%), and comorbid mental/physical (6%). Women at risk of disability were more likely than others to have socioeconomic and pregnancy risks, and adverse infant and maternal outcomes. Socioeconomic and risk profile varied by health condition category. Adjusted risk ratios for preterm birth ranged from 1.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1–1.4) for women with nervous system/sensory diagnoses to 1.6 (95% CI, 1.4–1.9) for women with two or more physical diagnoses; risk ratios for maternal delivery hospitalization for more than 5 days ranged from 1.5 (95% CI, 1.2–1.9) for women with musculoskeletal diagnoses to 3.0 (95% CI, 2.5–3.6) for women with comorbid mental/physical diagnoses. Conclusions Disability risk identified through claims is associated with poor infant and maternal outcomes. Risk profiles vary by underlying health condition.
Culture is an imperfect and heterogeneous reference standard in pediatric tuberculosis

Abstract Background In pediatric tuberculosis (pTB), culture is the accepted reference standard for assessing new diagnostic tests despite culture only confirming 10–50% of clinically diagnosed cases. Methods Using the studies previously included in the systematic review of Gene Xpert, we evaluated the diagnostic yield of culture. Children with symptoms and signs suggestive of TB were considered to have a clinical diagnosis if they were 1) culture positive or 2) followed clinically for at least one month and started on Anti-Tuberculosis Therapy (ATT). Results Of 1989 children with presumptive pTB, 229 (11.5%) had culture-confirmation. Of the remaining 1760 culture negative children, 710 (24.4) were classified as culture-negative clinical TB and 821 were classified as “not TB”. Diagnostic yield of culture was 24.4% (median 28.7% IQR 15.6%–42.4%; range 1.5%–65%). Conclusion Culture, the accepted reference standard for pediatric TB diagnostics, has a low and variable yield that impacts how diagnostic studies should be reported as well as everyday clinical care.
Diagnostic Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography and Cumulative Trauma Disorders of the Wrist

Ligamentous injury to the wrist can produce symptoms suggestive of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The complex inter-relationships of the carpal bones allowing for this phenomenon are reviewed. The advantages and disadvantages of diagnostic ultrasonography over other imaging studies and its applicability in ligamentous injury are discussed. A case study is presented. Diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasonography provides the clinician with a valuable tool in the evaluation and treatment of ligamentous injury.
Umgang mit Feststoffen bei der Ermittlung von Wildbachgefährdungsbereichen in Bayern

Gemas Bayerischem Wassergesetz ist die Wasserwirtschaftsverwaltung dazu verpflichtet, an Wildbachen sogenannte Wildbachgefahrdungsbereiche zu ermitteln. Hierbei handelt es sich im rechtlichen Sinn zunachst um Uberschwemmungsgebiete, jedoch unter Berucksichtigung wildbachtypischer Eigenschaften. Letzteres beinhaltet neben einer zeitweise hohen Wasserfuhrung vor allem die Beteiligung von Feststoffen am Prozessgeschehen. Daher wurde am Bayerischen Landesamt fur Umwelt eine standardisierte modulare Vorgehensweise zur Gefahrenbeurteilung von Wildbachen entwickelt. Dabei werden die Feststoffe – Geschiebe und Schwemmholz – jeweils in eigenen Bausteinen berucksichtigt. Die Vorgehensweise ermoglicht ein systematisches und nachvollziehbares Ermitteln des Bemessungsabflusses, des Geschiebezuschlags sowie des Schwemmholzeinflusses und schafft eine Vergleichbarkeit der ermittelten Ergebnisse. Im Baustein Geschiebe liegt der Fokus auf dem Zusammenspiel von Geschiebepotenzial und -transport, um die Grosenordnung des Geschiebezuschlags festzulegen. Dieser wird als Faktor GZ ausgedruckt und auf die hydrologische Ganglinie beaufschlagt. Neben dem Geschiebe wird im Zuge der weiteren Gefahrenermittlung die Problematik infolge Schwemmholzeintrag in den raumrelevanten Bereich evaluiert. Dazu wurde eine Methode zur Quantifizierung des potenziell anfallenden Schwemmholzes eines Wildbacheinzugsgebietes entwickelt. Potenzielle Verklausungsstellen im raumrelevanten Bereich werden mithilfe eines Aufnahmebogens erfasst und die Verklausungsgefahr fur das Bauwerk eingestuft. Die einzelnen Bausteine werden anschliesend geeignet in die hydraulische 2D-Modellierung implementiert.
Nanostructured functional materials for advanced three-dimensional (3D) solar cells

Abstract Advancements in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology are occurring at an ever-increasing rate, as the development of novel carbon-based materials, the increasing research into new 3D surface morphologies and cell design, and the focus on the development of new sensitizers and electrolytes have allowed many new possibilities for DSSCs. Solar cells that are three-dimensionally structured offer significant advantages over traditional crystalline / semi-crystalline panels in that they can convert incident photons that strike them at large incident angles, can be flexible / used in applications which require non-rigid materials, and can be substantially cheaper to produce than traditional panels, especially with the replacement of more expensive, traditional electrode materials by carbon materials in the working / counter electrode. The use of carefully selected and engineered sensitizers like quantum dots with these three-dimensionally structured solar cells have seen them achieve ever-increasing power conversion efficiencies, and it's likely that they will soon rival traditional crystalline / semi-crystalline panels for both mass power generation and use in more niche applications such as flexible photovoltaic textile fibers. This review covers DSSCs constructed with several different materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of cell designs.
Negative Assortative Mating Based on Body Coloration in the Freshwater Platyfish (Poecillidae: Xiphophorus maculatus)

The ability of individuals within a population to survive and thrive is highly dependent upon the maintenance of genetic variation and phenotypic diversity, thereby ensuring adaptation to dynamic environments. A fundamental method of maintaining such variation is through a negative assortative mating strategy, in which individuals would be expected to reproductively select members of the opposite sex that exhibit dissimilar phenotypes. Employing three uniform body color morphs, red, yellow and blue, of the platyfish (Xiphophorus maculatus), this study was designed to investigate whether X. maculatus females would preferentially be attracted to males exhibiting an alternative color, thereby enabling an examination of the effect of male body coloration on mate choice by adult females. Mate choice was determined based on the initial preference of each female, as well as the amount of time females spent associating with each male. Initial preferences were analyzed using a binomial distribution test, and overall preference data using Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Red females initially selected for dissimilar colored males, and spent a significantly larger amount of time associating with blue and yellow males, as did yellow females with red and blue males. Blue females initially selected and spent a significantly larger amount of time associating with red males but, interestingly, showed no selective preference between blue and yellow males. In these experimental trials, the overall strong mate selection exhibited by female platyfish for males of dissimilar coloration is suggestive of a negative assortative mating strategy and provides evidence for the maintenance of color polymorphism in nature populations.
Flexible biodegradable citrate-based polymeric step-index optical fiber

Implanting fiber optical waveguides into tissue or organs for light delivery and collection is among the most effective ways to overcome the issue of tissue turbidity, a long-standing obstacle for biomedical optical technologies. Here, we report a citrate-based material platform with engineerable opto-mechano-biological properties and demonstrate a new type of biodegradable, biocompatible, and low-loss step-index optical fiber for organ-scale light delivery and collection. By leveraging the rich designability and processibility of citrate-based biodegradable polymers, two exemplary biodegradable elastomers with a fine refractive index difference and yet matched mechanical properties and biodegradation profiles were developed. Furthermore, we developed a two-step fabrication method to fabricate flexible and low-loss (0.4 db/cm) optical fibers, and performed systematic characterizations to study optical, spectroscopic, mechanical, and biodegradable properties. In addition, we demonstrated the proof of concept of image transmission through the citrate-based polymeric optical fibers and conducted in vivo deep tissue light delivery and fluorescence sensing in a Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat, laying the groundwork for realizing future implantable devices for long-term implantation where deep-tissue light delivery, sensing and imaging are desired, such as cell, tissue, and scaffold imaging in regenerative medicine and in vivo optogenetic stimulation.
Who Participates in the Great ShakeOut? Why Audience Segmentation Is the Future of Disaster Preparedness Campaigns

Background: In 2008, the Southern California Earthquake Center in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program launched the first annual Great ShakeOut, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in the history of the United States. Materials and Methods: We collected online survey data from 2052 campaign registrants to assess how people participated, whether audience segments shared behavioral patterns, and whether these segments were associated with five social cognitive factors targeted by the ShakeOut campaign. Results: Participants clustered into four behavioral patterns. The Minimal cluster had low participation in all activities (range: 0-39% participation). The Basic Drill cluster only participated in the drop, cover and hold drill (100% participation). The Community-Oriented cluster, involved in the drill (100%) and other interpersonal activities including attending disaster planning meetings (74%), was positively associated with interpersonal communication (β = 0.169), self-efficacy (β = 0.118), outcome efficacy (β = 0.110), and knowledge about disaster preparedness (β = 0.151). The Interactive and Games cluster, which participated in the drill (79%) and two online earthquake preparedness games (53% and 75%), was positively associated with all five social cognitive factors studied. Conclusions: Our results support audience segmentation approaches to engaging the public, which address the strengths and weaknesses of different segments. Offering games may help "gamers" gain competencies required to prepare for disasters. Targeting the highly active Community-Oriented cluster for leadership roles could help build community resilience by encouraging others to become more involved in disaster planning. We propose that the days of single, national education campaigns without local variation should end.
Fast Search-Based RTL Test Generation Using Control-Flow Path Guidance

In this paper, we propose a functional test generation method for Register Transfer Level (RTL) designs by systematically performing highly efficient radial searches starting from heuristically selected system states. During test generation, we track the executed path with a lightweight instrumentation and classify tests that have enabled different or unique executions. Our approach heuristically targets least explored paths, unlike methods that simply try to maximize branches reached. We obtain an overall high branch coverage upon directing the testing effort along the exploration around such paths. The unique paths executed are represented in the form of a Search Tree. A path-oriented selection metric which distinguishes tests that cover least explored paths selects the best next starting state from the Search Tree. Our work is engineered with the goal of being able to produce tests for hard-to-reach states using a lean search-based approach, rather than expensive formal or semi-formal constraint-based methods. Experimental results over benchmarks from ITC '99 and IWLS-2005 show that our method rapidly generates short tests that achieve high coverages.
Image updating for brain deformation compensation: cross-validation with intraoperative ultrasound

Intraoperative image guidance using preoperative MR images (pMR) is widely used in neurosurgery, but the accuracy can be compromised by brain deformation as soon as the dura is open. Biomechanical finite element models (FEM) have been developed to compensate for brain deformation that occurs at different surgical stages. Intraoperative sparse data extracted from the exposed cortical surface and/or from deeper brain is used to drive the FEM model to compute wholebrain deformation field and produce model-updated MR (uMR) that matches the surgical scene. In previous studies, we quantified the accuracy using model-data misfit (i.e., the root-mean-square error between model estimates and sparse data), as well as target registration errors (TRE) of surface features (such as vessel junctions), and showed that the accuracy on the cortical surface was ~1-2 mm. However, the accuracy in deeper brain has not been investigated, as it is challenging to obtain subsurface features during surgery for accuracy assessment. In this study, we used intraoperative stereovision (iSV) to extract sparse data, which was employed to drive the FEM model and produce uMR, and acquired co-registered intraoperative ultrasound images (iUS) at different surgical stages in 2 cases for cross validation. We quantify model-data misfit, and compare model updated MR with iUS for qualitative assessment of accuracy in deeper brain. The results show that the model-data misfit was 2.39 and 0.64 mm, respectively, for the 2 cases reported, and uMR aligned well with both iSV and iUS, indicating a good accuracy both on the surface and in deeper brain.
Changes in anti-fat weight bias in women after exposure to thin and plus-sized models

Abstract We examined whether exposing women to female models with different body sizes lead to changes in weight-based attitudes and whether evaluation focus altered the effects. Female college students (N = 214) were exposed to 22 images of either thin or overweight models. Participants rated models on either appearance or non-appearance characteristics and completed measures of anti-fat attitudes, thin ideal internalization, and demographics. Participants rated thin and overweight models equally attractive and sexy. Viewing overweight models showed a significant reduction in anti-fat attitudes. There were no effects for thin models or evaluation ratings. Discussion focuses on the implications of positive images of overweight individuals on social attitudes.
Elevated stress hormone levels and antidepressant treatment starting before pregnancy affect maternal care and litter characteristics in an animal model of depression.

Abstract Many women who take antidepressant medications become pregnant while taking their medication; however, the impact of depression and antidepressant medication on fetal development is not well understood. This study used a translational animal model of maternal depression to investigate the consequences of discontinuing antidepressant medication during pregnancy. First, rats received corticosterone (CORT; 40 mg/kg, s.c.) or vehicle to induce a depressive-like phenotype. After 16 days of treatment with CORT or vehicle, animals were treated with sertraline (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, SSRI; 20 mg/kg) or vehicle via gavage. Following 21 days of CORT or oil treatment, rats were mated. One group receiving sertraline was discontinued from treatment on gestational day 16, and another group continued sertraline treatment throughout pregnancy to assess the effects of discontinuation. After weaning, dams were sacrificed via perfusion to investigate neurogenesis. As intended, CORT administration created a depressive-like phenotype with increased immobility in the Forced Swim Test and reduced body weight. Interestingly, sertraline treatment could not rescue these altered features. Pre-conceptional CORT exposure resulted in smaller litters and CORT dams that received sertraline until the end of gestation spent more time off of the nest compared to CORT dams that received vehicle or discontinued sertraline during gestation. There was no difference in hippocampal neurogenesis between any of the groups. Our results suggest that treatment with antidepressants may have different effects in healthy or depressed dams, however, we need more research to investigate the detailed and long-term effects of maternal depression and its treatment in translational animal models.
Overview of the DARPA LORELEI Program

The initial impetus for the establishment of the Low Resource Human Language Technology (LoReHLT) evaluation was for LoReHLT to serve as a program evaluation for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Low Resource Languages for Emergent Incidents (LORELEI) research program. As evaluation planning developed, however, NIST and DARPA decided to open the program evaluation to the rest of the national and international research communities, in order to encourage research progress in the LORELEI-related problem space. This article describes the motivation, concept of operations, and structure of the LORELEI Program to provide some background for the design decisions made within the LoReHLT evaluation.
CLISP: conversational LISP

CLISP is an attempt to make LISP programs easier to read and write by extending the syntax of LISP to include infix operators, IF-THEN statements, FOR-DO-WHILE statements, and similar ALGOL-like constructs, without changing the structure or representation of the language. CLISP is implemented through LISP's error handling machinery, rather than by modifying the interpreter: when an expression is encountered whose evaluation causes an error, the expression is scanned for possible CLISP constructs, which are then converted to the equivalent LISP expressions. Thus, users can freely intermix LISP and CLISP without having to distinguish which is which. Emphasis in the design and development of CLISP has been on the system aspects of such a facility, with the goal in mind of producing a useful tool, not just another language. To this end, CLISP includes interactive error correction and many 'Do-what-I-Mean* features.
Sparse Optimal Control of LTI Systems under Sparsity-Dependent Delays

We address the problem of sparse $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ control design for linear time invariant (LTI) systems in the presence of feedback delays. Depending on the network configuration, the delays may be constant, or an explicit function of the sparsity itself. We first state a sufficient condition for delay stability, and show that it appears as a non-convex bilinear matrix inequality (BMI) constraint for the $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ -minimization problem. We relax this BMI as a set of convex semidefinite programs that result in a two loop optimization algorithm. The inner-loop promotes sparsity of the state feedback matrix constrained by the set of stabilizing gains for the delayed system. The outer-loop aligns the direction of sparsity with the minimizing $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ norm direction. We solve this two loop optimization using the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in finding sparse feedback matrices that achieve a low $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ norm while guaranteeing stability of the closed-loop delayed system.
An Analytical Framework for Integrating the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Environmental Context and Individual Mobility in Exposure Assessment: A Study on the Relationship between Food Environment Exposures and Body Weight

In past studies, individual environmental exposures were largely measured in a static manner. In this study, we develop and implement an analytical framework that dynamically represents environmental context (the environmental context cube) and effectively integrates individual daily movement (individual space-time tunnel) for accurately deriving individual environmental exposures (the environmental context exposure index). The framework is applied to examine the relationship between food environment exposures and the overweight status of 46 participants using data collected with global positioning systems (GPS) in Columbus, Ohio, and binary logistic regression models. The results indicate that the proposed framework generates more reliable measurements of individual food environment exposures when compared to other widely used methods. Taking into account the complex spatial and temporal dynamics of individual environmental exposures, the proposed framework also helps to mitigate the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP). It can be used in other environmental health studies concerning environmental influences on a wide range of health behaviors and outcomes.
Differentiation keeps skin cancer at bay

The cancer-suppressive mechanisms underlying a tissue’s response to spontaneous oncogenic mutations during homeostasis are largely unknown. A study now explores how clonal expansion of epidermal stem cells with specific oncogenic mutations might be restricted by their elimination through enforced differentiation.
Association between the Degree of Twin Birthweight Discordance and Perinatal Outcomes

Background Twin birthweight discordance is associated with adverse outcomes. Objective To determine what degree of twin birthweight discordance is associated with adverse outcomes. Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study of twins with vertex twin A delivered vaginally at 36 to 40 weeks (U.S. Vital Statistics Natality birth certificate registry data 2012–2014). The primary outcome was a composite of neonatal morbidity: 5-minute Apgar 6 hours, neonatal seizure, and/or neonatal transport to a higher level of care. Effect estimates were expressed as incidence rate and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) controlling for confounding using multivariate clustered analysis for between-pair effects, and multilevel random effect generalized estimating equation regressions to account for within-pair effects. We adjusted for sex discordance, breech delivery of the second twin, maternal race/ethnicity, nulliparity, age, marital status, obesity, and socioeconomic status. Results In comparison to birthweight discordance of ≤20%, aORs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by weight discordance of the primary outcome among 27,276 twin deliveries were as follows: 20.01 to 25% (aOR: 1.46 [95% CI: 1.29–1.65]); 25.01 to 30% (aOR: 1.96 [95% CI: 1.68–2.29]); and 30.01 to 60% (aOR: 2.97 [95% CI: 2.52–3.50]). Conclusion Twin birthweight discordance >20% was associated with increased odds of adverse neonatal outcome.
Impact of Glabellar Paralysis on Facial Expression of Emotion.

BACKGROUND Many prospective patients remain wary of the effects that glabellar muscle paralysis may have on their ability to normally communicate emotion with their face. OBJECTIVE We undertook a direct empirical test of the effects of glabellar onabotulinum toxin type A injections on the ability to convey 6 universally recognized facial expressions of emotion. METHODS Fifty-two female subjects ("expressors") were recorded on hidden camera while viewing video clips intended as a mood induction procedure that stimulates the 6 cardinal emotions (amusement, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise). The subjects were then injected with 25 units of onabotulinum toxin A in the glabellar region. The subjects returned 1 month later and were again recorded while being spontaneously induced to express emotion. All video clips from both time periods from the 10 maximal expressors were extracted and shown to a group of 31 "perceivers" who rated the facial expressions for intensity (Likert 1-7) and identity of emotion (percent correct emotion identified). RESULTS Glabellar paralysis significantly diminished mean perceived intensity of anger (50.4% relative reduction, P < 0.001) and surprise (20.6% relative reduction, P < 0.001). The mean intensity of disgust increased (39.0%, P < 0.001). Importantly, however, glabellar paralysis did not result in a significant change in observers' ability to discern provoked cardinal emotions. CONCLUSIONS We believe these findings provide a measure of reassurance to patients and their providers that the use of onabotulinum toxin A to paralyze the glabellar musculature for aesthetic purposes may not pose a meaningful risk to the overall ability to express emotion during social interaction. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4
A Flexible Phased-Array Architecture for Reception and Rapid Direction-of-Arrival Finding Utilizing Pseudo-Random Antenna Weight Modulation and Compressive Sampling

The direct space-to-information converter (DSIC) unifies conventional delay-and-sum analog conventional beamforming (CBF) with compressive sampling (CS) rapid direction-of-arrival (DOA) finding into a single, reconfigurable phased-array receiver architecture. Where current CBF-based DOA scanners need to exhaustively search through multiple DOA angles, the DSIC is able to receive energy from all possible angles by modulating its antenna weights psuedo-randomly. The DSIC RF-ASIC can operate from 1 to 3 GHz, was fabricated in 65-nm CMOS, and includes eight direct-conversion paths each delivering 32-dB conversion gain, 3.3-dBm in-band IIP3, and 6.4-dB NF while consuming 19.8 mW from 1.2 V. The DSIC RF-ASIC has two modes of operation, CS-DOA and CBF-Reception and can switch between them in less than $1~\mu \text{s}$ . In CS-DOA mode, the DSIC RF-ASIC finds the DOA of a single signal in $1~\mu \text{s}$ consuming 158 nJ which is 4 $\times $ faster and 1.5 $\times $ less energy than a comparable CBF-based DOA scanner.
Pro-Slavery Appropriations and Inadvertent Agencies: The Elder(ly) "Uncle" in Plantation Fiction

Pro-slavery, or apologist literature has, justifiably, been largely abandoned in humanities’ discourse since Civil Rights; yet, due to the manipulation of superannuated slaves as involuntary spokespeople for enslavement within such works, no other genre offers more representations of the elderly enslaved in nineteenth-century America. Despite the racist rhetoric of apologist literature, a slippage exists between its “happy” fictions and the appalling realities of slavery, wherein its ugly truths and the agencies of the elder(ly) enslaved surface. What these schisms inadvertently reveal are coping mechanisms and acts of resistance by aged slaves significant to our understanding of this largely overlooked faction. Plantation literature presumed that white masculinity was under constant attack, and apologists apparently believed the most effective means of reinforcing their status was representing black males as dependent, effeminate, eccentric, and frail. In deforming aged-slave men into groveling, grotesque caricatures and excluding younger slaves from their narratives, male apologists positioned their white protagonists (and themselves, by extension) as the superior masculine specimens in their readers’ imaginations. This article is an in-depth consideration of 1) the ways in which white, male authors manipulated the slave “Uncle” to desexualize black men and argue the paternalism of chattel slavery, and 2) the unexpected acts of aged-slave agency that manage to reveal themselves through the blatantly racist caricatures of apologist fiction.
Tailoring Calcite Growth through an Amorphous Precursor in a Hydrogel Environment

The precipitation of calcium carbonate in hydrogel-like environments is used by certain living organisms to build functional mineral–organic composite structures. Here, we investigate a pathway for calcium carbonate mineralization in agarose hydrogels with a wide range of polymer networks. The experimental investigation demonstrates that the formation of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) throughout the agarose hydrogels is a diffusion-limited process, and therefore, it is affected by the supersaturation of the solution and by the hydrogel network. In contrast, the inclusion of the polymer into the calcite crystals and their morphology as well as the rate of crystal growth are controlled by the amorphous precursor, and thereby, they are quite unaffected by the initial supersaturation. The nucleation rate of calcite in agarose is sufficiently high to hinder ion diffusion limiting the calcite growth rate, so that a uniform mineralization takes place in the hydrogel, in the absence of concentration gradients....
Comparing model‐based cerebrovascular physiomarkers with DTI biomarkers in MCI patients

OBJECTIVE To compare the novel model-based hemodynamic physiomarker of Dynamic Vasomotor Reactivity (DVR) with biomarkers based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and some widely used neurocognitive scores in terms of their ability to delineate patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from age-matched cognitively normal controls. MATERIALS & METHODS The model-based DVR and MRI-based DTI markers were obtained from 36 patients with amnestic MCI and 16 age-matched controls without cognitive impairment, for whom widely used neurocognitive scores were available. These markers and scores were subsequently compared in terms of statistical delineation between patients and controls. RESULTS It was found that statistically significant delineation between MCI patients and controls was comparable for DVR or DTI markers (p < 0.01). The performance of both types of markers was consistent with the scores of some (but not all) widely used neurocognitive tests. CONCLUSION Since DTI offers a measure of cerebral white matter integrity, the results suggest that the model-based hemodynamic marker of DVR may correlate with cognitive impairment due to white matter lesions. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that dysregulation of cerebral microcirculation may be an early cause of cognitive impairment, which has been recently corroborated by several studies.
Subclinical cardiac stiffness is associated with arterial stiffness in healthy young nulligravid women: Potential links to preeclampsia.

Abstract Objectives Preeclampsia is an independent risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular disease and diastolic dysfunction and has been linked to arterial stiffness. We hypothesized that arterial stiffness would be associated with echocardiographic markers of diastolic dysfunction in healthy nulligravid women. Study design 31 healthy nulligravid women underwent assessment of peripheral arterial stiffness via aorto-femoral pulse wave velocity, popliteal distensibility and β stiffness measures as well as hemodynamic response to volume challenge. 22 underwent cardiac assessment via conventional and stress echocardiography with a focus on diastolic function utilizing tissue/pulse wave Doppler imaging and 3D speckle tracking. Bivariate associations between variables were evaluated using correlation coefficients (Pearson r) and Student’s t-tests. Results No participants had echocardiographic values meeting criteria for overt diastolic dysfunction. Baseline global circumferential strain was significantly correlated with distensibility and β stiffness (n = 18, r = −0.61, p = 0.007, n = 18, r = 0.56, p = 0.01). Peak deceleration time was correlated with β stiffness (n = 9; r = 0.80, p = 0.01). Pulse wave velocity was not significantly correlated with cardiac measures (p > 0.05). Family history of a first or second degree relative with myocardial infarction or hypertension was associated with decreased popliteal artery distensibility (p = 0.02 and p = 0.03, respectively). Conclusions In healthy nulligravid women there is evidence that markers of decreased left ventricular relaxation are associated with increased peripheral vascular stiffness as is a family history of myocardial infarction or hypertension. These findings raise the possibility that the diastolic dysfunction and arterial stiffness observed in the setting of preeclampsia are driven by underlying properties present prior to pregnancy and contribute to lifetime cardiovascular risk.
Othello in Harlem: Transforming Theater in Djanet Sears's Harlem Duet

Djanet Sears's Harlem Duet reimagines Shakespeare's Othello by weaving together three stories about Othello and his first wife, Billie, across three distinct time periods: the Civil War era, the Harlem Renaissance, and the present day. This essay centers on the scenes set in the Harlem Renaissance, a timeline that appears to unfold out of chronological order. By disrupting the linear progression of time, Sears transforms the theater into a platform that amplifies the stories of the oppressed through the dramatization of the ongoing, persistent cycle of oppression.
What Goes Down When Advice Goes Up: Younger Advisers Underestimate Their Impact:

Common wisdom suggests that older is wiser. Consequently, people rarely give advice to older individuals—even when they are relatively more expert—leading to missed learning opportunities. Across s...
Orbit sizes and the dihedral group of order eight

In previous work of the second author with Yong Yang, it was shown that if G is a finite linear group which acts faithfully and completely reducibly on the finite vector space V, then $$|G/G^{\prime }|\le M$$ , where M is the largest orbit size of G on V. Ii is also known that if $$|G/G^{\prime }|= M$$ and G is nonabelian, then G is nilpotent and has at least two orbits of size M on V. In this paper, we study the latter situation in the extreme case that G has exactly two orbits of size M on V and that V is irreducible. It turns out that there is exactly one such action, namely when G is the dihedral group of order 8 acting on the vector space of order 9.
An objective measure of signal quality for pediatric lung auscultations

A stethoscope is a ubiquitous tool used to ’listen’ to sounds from the chest in order to assess lung and heart conditions. With advances in health technologies including digital devices and new wearable sensors, access to these sounds is becoming easier and abundant; yet proper measures of signal quality do not exist. In this work, we develop an objective quality metric of lung sounds based on low-level and high-level features in order to independently assess the integrity of the signal in presence of interference from ambient sounds and other distortions. The proposed metric outlines a mapping of auscultation signals onto rich low-level features extracted directly from the signal which capture spectral and temporal characteristics of the signal. Complementing these signal-derived attributes, we propose high-level learnt embedding features extracted from a generative auto-encoder trained to map auscultation signals onto a representative space that best captures the inherent statistics of lung sounds. Integrating both low-level (signal-derived) and high-level (embedding) features yields a robust correlation of 0.85 to infer the signal-to-noise ratio of recordings with varying quality levels. The method is validated on a large dataset of lung auscultation recorded in various clinical settings with controlled varying degrees of noise interference. The proposed metric is also validated against opinions of expert physicians in a blind listening test to further corroborate the efficacy of this method for quality assessment.
Next Generation Microscale Wireless Implant System for High-Density, Multi-areal, Closed-Loop Brain Computer Interfaces

A major challenge to high-resolution, closed-loop Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) is the availability of implantable technologies facilitating vastly parallel, large-scale access to cortical neural data representing complex, naturalistic tasks or sophisticated therapeutic neuromodulation. The current technological bottleneck is scalability of systems employing intra or epicortical electrode arrays with hard-wired tethers and bulky implant packaging. We address these challenges by employing an approach relying on spatially-distributed, completely wireless clusters of autonomous microscale neural interfaces, where each microdevice provides a single bidirectional channel (read-out and write-in) of neural access, and occupies a volume <0.01 mm2 inclusive of biocompatible packaging for long-term implantation. Wireless power transfer, high-bandwidth bidirectional telecommunications and adaptive networking across multi-areal clusters are managed by a wearable external module to produce an implantable device system with anatomic flexibility and scalability, forming a “cortical internet”.