cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A general framework for predictive tensor modeling with domain knowledge

In many real applications such as virtual metrology in semiconductor manufacturing, face recognition, and gait recognition in computer vision, the input data is naturally expressed as tensors or multi-dimensional arrays. Furthermore, in addition to the known label information, domain knowledge can often be obtained from various sources, e.g., multiple domain experts. To address such problems, in this paper, we propose a general optimization framework for dealing with tensor inputs while taking into consideration domain knowledge. To be specific, our framework is based on a linear model, and we obtain the weight tensor in a hierarchical way--first approximate it by a low-rank tensor, and then estimate the low-rank approximation using the domain knowledge from various sources. This is motivated by wafer quality prediction in semiconductor manufacturing. We also propose an effective algorithm named H-MOTE for solving this framework, which is guaranteed to converge. For each iteration, the time complexity of H-MOTE is linear with respect to the number of examples as well as the size of the weight tensor. Therefore, H-MOTE is scalable to large-scale problems. Experimental results show that H-MOTE outperforms state-of-the-art techniques on both synthetic and real data sets.
NSCAT funding left to NASA

The Eos news article “Conference OKs Science Budgets” (August 23, 1988, p. 801) stated that a House-Senate conference had agreed to fund the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's scatterometer at the requested and Senate-approved Fiscal Year 1989 level of $15.7 million rather than the House-approved level of $5.7 million. However, while the conference report did propose up to $10 million more than the House recommendation, it also said that the money would only be available if “the administrator elects to exercise the option of transferring u p to $30 million of funding from the construction of facilities account” to the research and development account, which includes NSCAT. According to NASA's William F. Townsend, NSCAT Program Manager, because of other stipulations in the conference report the ultimate source of the proposed funds for NSCAT would not be the construction of facilities account, but would be the research and program management account, which pays NASA employee salaries, not the construction of facilities account. Such a shift of funds is highly unlikely, he said, and the scatterometer will probably receive only $5.7 million for FY 1989, 64% less than the budget request.
On Estimating Incidence Rates of Diseases with Delayed Onset Using Biased Samples

Abstract Consistent estimators are derived for the age-specific and lifetime incidence rates of late-onset diseases from censored, biased samples, using a discrete time model and a traditional assumption for size-biased sampling. The estimators are alternatives to the so-called index case estimators often used by epidemiologists under similar circumstances. The asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators is established and an adaptation of Greenwood's formula is given for estimating and comparing their asymptotic variances. We show that index case estimators can be inconsistent and find a necessary and sufficient condition for their consistency. The results are applicable in the study of familial aggregation of diseases that are not manifest at birth when the sample consists of families identified through a family member who has the disease of interest. A survey of families of nursing home patients with a narrowly defined form of Alzheimer's disease, undertaken to clarify its mode of inheritance is an...
Toxicity of cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide, and copper gallium diselenide

This paper reviews recently derived toxicity data for Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS), Cadmium Gallium Diselenide (CGS) and Cadmium Telluride (CT), promising new materials on which a new generation of thin-film photovoltaic cells for generating electricity may be based. The new data deal with systemic and reproductive toxicity, acute pulmonary toxicity, and comparative pulmonary absorption, distribution and toxicity of these materials in laboratory rats. CT is shown to have higher lung toxicity than CIS, with the CGS toxicity being the lowest in the group. These data are extended to human exposure levels and exposure limits for CT are derived. The implications of these findings to the photovoltaic industry are also discussed. Published in 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is a U.S. Government Work and is in the public domain in the United States.
A clinical database program for evaluation of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography interpretive skills

The authors describe a quality-assurance-oriented database program designed for an intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography monitoring service. Entry data include patient and operation demographics and two-dimensional echocardiographic, saline-contrast, and color flow/pulsed Doppler assessments of the heart and great vessels. A statistical analysis component allows for comparison of intraoperative interpretations with those of an external reviewer 'gold standard' on a field-by-field basis. This provides an objective means for quantifying expertise in each individual aspect of the patient examination sequence. Such self-appraisal data are essential for delineating the status and tracking the progress of service being provided. >
Are We Moving Back to the City? Examining Residential Mobility in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area

This research assesses the extent to which there is evidence of population re-centralization or back to the city moves by tracking the historical trend of household and income mobility in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. County-to-county migration data and four migration efficiency measures are used to investigate net flows of households and income in the region. The results show a nascent tendency of back to the city movement; however, the redistri- bution of households and income in the metropolitan area is more complex.While the region's core may be starting to gain households and income, there are still significant flows into the region's most distant suburbs.The results of this research have implications for transportation, housing, and economic development policy making in Washington, DC and other regions. The study also offers a unique example of how to study household and income redistribution within U.S. metropolitan areas. grow_543 48..71
Global sensitivity analysis by polynomial dimensional decomposition

This paper presents a polynomial dimensional decomposition (PDD) method for global sensitivity analysis of stochastic systems subject to independent random input following arbitrary probability distributions. The method involves Fourier-polynomial expansions of lower-variate component functions of a stochastic response by measure-consistent orthonormal polynomial bases, analytical formulae for calculating the global sensitivity indices in terms of the expansion coefficients, and dimension-reduction integration for estimating the expansion coefficients. Due to identical dimensional structures of PDD and analysis-of-variance decomposition, the proposed method facilitates simple and direct calculation of the global sensitivity indices. Numerical results of the global sensitivity indices computed for smooth systems reveal significantly higher convergence rates of the PDD approximation than those from existing methods, including polynomial chaos expansion, random balance design, state-dependent parameter, improved Sobol's method, and sampling-based methods. However, for non-smooth functions, the convergence properties of the PDD solution deteriorate to a great extent, warranting further improvements. The computational complexity of the PDD method is polynomial, as opposed to exponential, thereby alleviating the curse of dimensionality to some extent.
Highway finance and the private sector: Issues and alternatives

Abstract Private participation in all aspects of transportation has been prevalent throughout the history of the United States. The U.S. approach to transportation finance evolved from European influence. Particularly, the English economist Adam Smith described the role of public works in facilitating national commerce. The notion of user charges or tolls as opposed to general revenue as the source of financial support was offered as a means for constructing and maintaining roads. Highway and transportation development has undergone significant changes in the last few decades. The 1970s ushered in an era of escalating costs of highway development and maintenance. Dependency on imports of foreign oil, global economics, and related events affecting the supply and demand of motor vehicle fuel have had dramatic effects on contemporary means of funding highway programs in the U.S. In responses to this funding dilemma states highway officials began exploring various alternatives for funding transportation improvements. The role of transportation agencies has changed in emphasis since the 1950s. A variety of financial, legal, and logistical issues have forced governments to closely evaluate options for transportation development and finance. State responses to these issues vary. However, there remain a variety of funding alternatives including financing districts, impact fees, tax increment financing, toll financing, and private sector funding.
The Case for Adding Randomness to the Nature-Nurture Debate

People dramatically underestimate the role that randomness plays in almost every aspect of human behavior. We show that the typical belief is that a combination of genetic inheritance and environment accounts for all of human behavior. However, in contrast to this belief, we review literature from the tradition of potential performance theory that shows that much human behavior, in a wide variety of domains, is due to randomness. The fact that randomness has been demonstrated to be an important contributor to human behavior, in many domains, suggests that psychologists should take it more seriously. Instead of attempting to account for human behavior solely with genetic and environmental influences, we argue that randomness should be included too. Thus, it is the interaction of genetics, environment, and randomness that produces human behavior, and behavioral researchers should recognize this and adjust their research programs accordingly.
YIELD MONITOR DATA ANALYSIS PROTOCOL: A PRIMER IN THE MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE DATA

This document serves to share our techniques for managing the analysis of site-specific precision agriculture data for the purposes of analyzing field-scale on-farm trial experiments. The content of this document is the culmination of over a decade of on-farm trial and spatial analysis experience which continually expands. Working with precision agriculture data can be very frustrating even for those versed in GIS and programming. This protocol was written to assist other analysts of precision agriculture data to be able to follow our steps in an effort to reduce their frustration by making available techniques that have worked for us.
Inverse semigroups generated by a pair of subgroups

The aim of this paper is to describe the free product of a pair G, H of groups in the category of inverse semigroups. Since any inverse semigroup generated by G and H is a homomorphic image of this semigroup, this paper can be regarded as asking how large a subcategory, of the category of inverse semigroups, is the category of groups? In this light, we show that every countable inverse semigroup is a homomorphic image of an inverse subsemigroup of the free product of two copies of the infinite cyclic group. A similar result can be obtained for arbitrary cardinalities. Hence, the category of inverse semigroups is generated, using algebraic constructions by the subcategory of groups.The main part of the paper is concerned with obtaining the structure of the free product G inv H, of two groups G, H in the category of inverse semigroups. It is shown in section 1 that G inv H is E-unitary; thus G inv H can be described in terms of its maximum group homomorphic image G gp H, the free product of G and H in the category of groups, and its semilattice of idempotents. The second section considers some properties of the semilattice of idempotents while the third applies these to obtain a representation of G inv H which is faithful except when one group is a non-trivial finite group and the other is trivial. This representation is used in section 4 to give a structure theorem for G inv H. In this section, too, the result described in the first paragraph is proved. The last section, section 5, consists of examples.
Report on ASSETS 2014

The 16th ACM SIGACCESS International Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2014) was held in Rochester, New York, USA, one of America's first boomtowns that rose to prominence as the site of many flour mills located on the Genesee River. The conference was held at the Hyatt Rochester, Monday - Wednesday, October 20th - 22nd, preceded by a Doctoral Consortium on Sunday October 19th, led by Jinjuan Heidi Feng from Towson University and Claude Chapdelaine from CRIM.
The Impact of the Frolic: A Shipwreck that Transcends the World

As an archaeologist I am often asked, “What is the most exciting thing you have ever found?” I am frequently stumped by this question, but in mulling it over, I think my answer is, “whatever object in a site that just doesn’t seem to belong there.” It could be a flake of worked obsidian found hundreds of miles from its source, or in this case, some nineteenth century Chinese made ceramic vessels found in a remote Indian site in Mendocino County. When Dr Thomas Layton encountered Chinese ceramics in a ridgetop Pomo archaeological site in the Jackson State Forest in 1984, he recognized their presence as an enigma that begged for explanation.Havingmyself visited this same site (known as Three Chop Village) a few years before on a survey of the Forest, I could appreciate the puzzle posed by these ceramic fragments. However, in Layton’s case, the need to explain these artifacts grew into a passion that has continued more than three decades. Laytonfirst was able tomake the connection of the presence of Chinese artifacts with reports of the sinking of a San Francisco-bound brig named the Frolic that foundered on theMendocino Coast in 1850. Not content to simply make this association, Layton threw himself into a personal quest to learn all he could about this ship, its time in history, and the men who sailed her. This film tells the story of that determined search. Utilizing archivalmaterials found in contemporarynewspapers, Layton learned more about the ship, in particular the name of the captain (Edward Horatio Faucon) and the fact that it was a Baltimore built, fast-sailing clipper ship that was particularly designed for the opium trade with China in the 1840s. In addition to the period newspapers, Layton also immersed himself in the commercial records dealing with everything from the construction of the vessel to the biography of the ship’s captain and the men who had sailed with him. In the course of researching
Absolute Time and Relativistic Time

We have seen that for Newton God’s eternity and omnipresence were ontologically foundational for his views of time and space. I have elsewhere argued that it is plausible that a transcendent, personal Creator of the universe exists’ and in yet another place that such a deity, in virtue of His real, causal relationship to the world, must (at least since the moment of creation) be temporal if an A-Theory of time is correct.2 Unfortunately in our secular age physicists and philosophers of space and time rarely, if ever, give careful consideration to the difference God’s existence makes for our conceptions of time and space. To borrow Sir Arthur Eddington’s words, “physics has in the main contented itself with studying the abridged edition of the book of nature.”3 Such indifference was characteristic of Einstein himself. Only after 1930 did he begin to refer more frequently in his nonscientific writings to religious questions. But he was, in Holton’s words, “quite unconcerned with religious matters during the period of his early scientific publications.”4 Einstein remarked that by the age of twelve he had lost his faith because of science and became a free-thinker.5 Thus, he did not consider what difference theism might make to one’s views of time and space.
Aggressive behavior management for nurses: an international issue?

Aggression against health care workers is a growing international issue. Nurses are especially vulnerable to the problem by virtue of the time involved in patient care. There are currently few programs available to train nurses in managing aggressive behavior, says the author. This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of an aggressive behavior management inservice on nurses' levels of knowledge and feelings of safety and confidence. Language: en
Budget Policy Talk In The Dark

President Barack Obama says he wants an "adult conversation" about the budget. He also wrote that the "administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." This commitment was in his first official action as president: a memorandum on "transparency and open government." Yet the White House's Office of Management and Budget is keeping secret the detailed and long-term budget projections and parameters that it uses to forecast the deficit in future years, unlike the previous administration - which divulged this information yearly.
ESTABLISHMENT AND APPLICATION OF A MODEL FOR PREDICTING FLUID FLOWING TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION IN THE MULTIPHASE FLOW PIPELINE

According to the energy conservation law of oil-gas two-phase flow, a general and unified model for predicting fluid flowing temperature distribution in the hybrid transmission pipeline was derived, which considered the effects of joule-thomson coefficient, liquid friction, fluctuating terrain and velocities of gas and liquid. Four simplified models were presented in the paper, and their validity was verified with two field cases for the technological calculation in the oil-gas two-phase pipeline. Through a comparison calculation with actual fluid temperature of pipeline's end, the main factors which effected the distribution of temperature drop along the multiphase pipeline are heat transfer coefficient, joule-thomson coefficient and liquid friction. However, undulating terrain and velocities of gas and liquid can be ignored for the calculation of temperature drop.
Corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis

The pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis are reviewed. Prolonged administration of corticosteroids causes osteoporosis, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Cumulative corticosteroid doses greater than 10 g, age greater than 50 years, and pre-existing low bone mass are risk factors for corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis. Long-term, prospective, controlled studies on prevention and treatment of corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis are limited. Measures for preventing corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis include correcting modifiable risk factors and using the lowest effective oral or inhaled corticosteroid dose for the shortest period of time. Routine use of fluoride, anabolic steroids, vitamin D, thiazide diuretics, injected calcitonin, or calcium supplements alone is not recommended. Intranasal calcitonin and pamidronate are possibilities for future treatment of corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis. Estrogen replacement therapy should be considered in postmenopausal women receiving corticosteroids. Deflazacort, a new synthetic corticosteroid, may provide a promising alternative to existing systemic corticosteroid therapy. More long-term, controlled, prospective trials are needed to determine the effectiveness of treatments for corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis and to develop improved methods for monitoring response to therapy.
The latest designs in prosthetic feet.

In this article, nine foot and ankle systems are presented. Each system represents a recent and unique approach to meeting the functional demands of the amputee. Prosthetic foot terminology is reviewed and the Medicare functional levels, K0-K4, are defined. Finally, a table to facilitate the quick comparison of the nine systems is presented.
Half full? Half empty? A new year's assessment of US health policy.

As the turn of the New Year is the traditional time for assessing the past and looking to the future, it seems appropriate to ask what kind of year it was for healthcare policy in the United States. In truth, the US healthcare system took some significant steps forward in policy matters in 2003, and also several back. Ironically, this half-full/half-empty picture often applied to the same issues.
Acylcarnitine accumulation does not correlate with reperfusion recovery in palmitate-perfused rat hearts

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-I) inhibitors improve postischemic myocardial function either by decreasing muscle long-chain acylcarnitines (LCAC) during ischemia or by increasing oxidation ...
Ultrafast Rotational Dynamics of Electronically Excited Aniline Molecules in Solution

The study of rotational dynamics of molecules in solution is a source of valuable information on the forces that mediate intermolecular interactions. Although hydrodynamic approachs are moderately successful in describing the motion of large molecules in many liquids, the regime where the solvent induced reorientation and the free, inertial motion of the solute occur on the same time scale is not yet well understood. Examples of this category is the motion of aniline in isopentane [1] and liquid CS2 [2]. In the present work the fluorescence anisotropy of aniline is studied with ca. 250 fs time resolution, greatly extending previous investigation [1.a] of this system.
Oxygen Diffusion Rate

This chapter describes how to measure the oxygen diffusion rate, the best index of oxygen availability for plant roots in soil. The method measures the oxygen diffusion rate through the liquid phase to a reducing surface approximating that of the plant root. In the method, a platinum (Pt) microelectrode is used to simulate the root in an electrolytic solution (the soil solution). Because the method depends upon electrolysis, electrolysis is described including Faraday's laws of electrolysis. The model and equations used to calculate the oxygen diffusion rate are presented. Tortuosity of the soil pores must be considered, and it is defined. The equipment is illustrated, which includes a cathode (the Pt microelectrode), an anode, a silver and silver chloride reference electrode, and a milliammeter. A sample calculation to determine an oxygen diffusion rate value is presented, and it is compared to values in the literature. A biography of Faraday is given in the appendix.
Neuromuscular Disease and Spinal Cord Compression

The involvement of the nervous system and muscle in the setting of cancer is a complex medical problem, and a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. While major advances have been made in the recent years, neurological complications in cancer patients remain problematic and continue to pose significant challenges to practicing oncologists and primary care providers. Management often involves a multidisciplinary approach with combined medical, surgical, and/or radiotherapeutic treatment.
Is There Hope? Is She There? How Families and Clinicians Experience Severe Acute Brain Injury

Abstract Background: Patients with severe acute brain injury (SABI) raise important palliative care considerations associated with sudden devastating injury and uncertain prognosis. Objective: The goal of this study was to explore how family members, nurses, and physicians experience the palliative and supportive care needs of patients with SABI receiving care in the neuroscience intensive care unit (neuro-ICU). Design: Semistructured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Setting/Subjects: Thirty-bed neuro-ICU in a regional comprehensive stroke and level-one trauma center in the United States. We completed 47 interviews regarding 15 patients with family members (n = 16), nurses (n = 15), and physicians (n = 16). Results: Two themes were identified: (1) hope and (2) personhood. (1) Families linked prognostic uncertainty to a need for hope and expressed a desire for physicians to acknowledge this relationship. The language of hope varied depending on the participant:...
Effect of the Coagulation Bath on the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Gel-Spun Lignin/Poly(vinyl alcohol) Fibers

Gel spinning was investigated as an alternative approach to the melt spinning of lignin-based fibers. Lignin/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composites with various weight percentages of lignin were gel-spun into high-strength fibers. Although lignin is an amorphous biopolymer, incorporation of the rigid filler enhanced the mechanical properties of the PVA fibers and affected their structure. Lignin stabilized the gel structure of the thermoreversible PVA gel, as noted by higher gel melting temperatures. Methanol/acetone coagulation baths with high acetone content rendered the gel-spun fibers more drawable, helped to maintain lignin within the gel fibers, and increased the gel melting point. The best mechanical performance was observed for fibers containing 5% lignin, which had an average tensile strength of 1.1 GPa, a Young’s modulus of 37 GPa, and a toughness of 17 J/g. Structural analysis of the 5% lignin fibers showed them to possess the highest index of PVA crystallinity. The fibers were more drawable at h...
Development of visible/infrared/microwave agriculture classification and biomass estimation algorithms

Agricultural crop classification models using two or more spectral regions (visible through microwave) are considered in an effort to estimate biomass at Guymon, Oklahoma Dalhart, Texas. Both grounds truth and aerial data were used. Results indicate that inclusion of C, L, and P band active microwave data, from look angles greater than 35 deg from nadir, with visible and infrared data improve crop discrimination and biomass estimates compared to results using only visible and infrared data. The microwave frequencies were sensitive to different biomass levels. The K and C band were sensitive to differences at low biomass levels, while P band was sensitive to differences at high biomass levels. Two indices, one using only active microwave data and the other using data from the middle and near infrared bands, were well correlated to total biomass. It is implied that inclusion of active microwave sensors with visible and infrared sensors on future satellites could aid in crop discrimination and biomass estimation.
Assessing the Altitude and Dispersion of Volcanic Plumes Using MISR Multi-angle Imaging from Space: Sixteen Years of Volcanic Activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Abstract Volcanic eruptions represent a significant source of atmospheric aerosols and can display local, regional and global effects, impacting earth systems and human populations. In order to assess the relative impacts of these events, accurate plume injection altitude measurements are needed. In this work, volcanic plumes generated from seven Kamchatka Peninsula volcanoes (Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Bezymianny, Tolbachik, Kizimen, Karymsky and Zhupanovsky), were identified using over 16 years of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) measurements. Eighty-eight volcanic plumes were observed by MISR, capturing 3–25% of reported events at individual volcanoes. Retrievals were most successful where eruptive events persisted over a period of weeks to months. Compared with existing ground and airborne observations, and alternative satellite-based reports compiled by the Global Volcanism Program (GVP), MISR plume height retrievals show general consistency; the comparison reports appear to be skewed towards the region of highest concentration observed in MISR-constrained plume vertical extent. The report observations display less discrepancy with MISR toward the end of the analysis period (2013–2016), with improvements in the suborbital data likely the result of the deployment of new instrumentation. Conversely, the general consistency of MISR plume heights with conventionally reported observations supports the use of MISR in the ongoing assessment of volcanic activity globally, especially where ground-based observations are unavailable. Differences between the northern (Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Bezymianny and Tolbachik) and southern (Kizimen, Karymsky and Zhupanovsky) volcanoes broadly corresponding to the Central Kamchatka Depression (CKD) and Eastern Volcanic Front (EVF) geological sub-regions of Kamchatka, respectively, are distinguished by varying magma composition. For example, by comparison with reanalysis-model simulations of local meteorological conditions, CKD plumes were generally less constrained by mid-tropospheric (
A reflection on the origins, evolution, and future of PRAGMA

Summary All of the papers in this special collection have been shaped by and/or have helped shape PRAGMA. This paper, a reflection on PRAGMA, will provide additional technical, scientific, and human context to many of these papers. We hope to illustrate that it is the people who set directions by following their interests or posing questions, who make progress by honoring their commitments and who build community by establishing open communications and trust.
Collaborative information exchange using elicit-provide-elicit to reduce risky drinking among college students

ABSTRACTBackground: Collaborative information exchange using the elicit-provide-elicit (EPE) technique is a recommended health communication strategy, though little empirical work has evaluated its merit.Methods: This study evaluated the impact of EPE on risky drinking knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Undergraduate drinkers (n = 150) were randomized to receive information regarding risky drinking limits via collaborative exchange (EPE), provision only, or to a no information control group. Changes in drinking behavior from baseline to 2-week follow-up were assessed. In addition, knowledge of and attitudes towards drinking limits were measured at follow-up.Results: Drinks per drinking day, percent days abstinent, and peak consumption did not improve from baseline to follow-up in any group. At follow-up, the proportion of participants who exceeded daily drinking cutoffs significantly decreased in the EPE and provision-only conditions, but increased among control participants. EPE and provision participan...
Cardiac amyloidosis: An update on pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment

The amyloidoses are a group of systemic diseases characterized by organ deposition of misfolded protein fragments of diverse origins. The natural history of the disease, involvement of other organs, and treatment options vary significantly based on the protein of origin. In AL amyloidosis, amyloid protein is derived from immunoglobulin light chains, and most often involves the kidneys and the heart. ATTR amyloidosis is categorized as mutant or wild-type depending on the genetic sequence of the transthyretin (TTR) protein produced by the liver. Wild-type ATTR amyloidosis mainly involves the heart, although the reported occurrence of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal stenosis and biceps tendon rupture in these patients speaks to more generalized protein deposition. Mutant TTR is marked by cardiac and/or peripheral nervous system involvement. Cardiac involvement is associated with symptoms of heart failure, and dictates the clinical course of the disease. Cardiac amyloidosis can be diagnosed noninvasively by echocardiography, cardiac MRI, or nuclear scintigraphy. Endomyocardial biopsy may be needed in the case of equivocal imaging findings or discordant data. Treatment is aimed at relieving congestive symptoms and targeting the underlying amyloidogenic process. This includes anti-plasma cell therapy in AL amyloidosis, and stabilization of the TTR tetramer or inhibition of TTR protein production in ATTR amyloidosis. Cardiac transplantation can be considered in highly selected patients in tandem with therapy aimed at suppressing the amyloidogenic process, and appears associated with durable long-term survival.
Adaptive choice of behavior and protocol parameters

Research on interaction between multiple self-interested agents has focused on either designing rational behavior for agents given the interaction protocol or designing the interaction protocol that will promote desirable rational behavior by agents. We believe that in certain situations self-interested agents can be interested in both choosing desirable protocols and deciding effective strategies to follow under the chosen protocol. We experiment with a market situation where agents repeatedly negotiate to decide on the allocation of indivisible resources. We present a parameterized protocol selection scheme which can be used by agents to select the interaction protocol to use. We show that learning agents can greatly improve performance by adapting the protocol used and the behavior adopted against a range of opponents.
Construção de gênero, laços afetivos e luto em Paris Is Burning

Jennie Livingston’s film Paris Is Burning has raised criticism and applaud since its opening, in 1990. Its portrayal of the Harlem balls in the 1980’s, the approach to its unique economy of gender construction and the negotiations it operates in the intersection of ethnicity and sexuality have inspired readings from the black activism, the post-structuralism, and, more recently, from trans studies. But, beyond the problem of appropriation and authorship, there are layers to the documentary that propose a argument about the construction of kinship, of community and agency of those marginalized subjects and their resilience in facing gender violence. Although the balls produce spectacle, the movie communicates dignity and operates in the viewers the experience of mourning, which creates a shared community of difference.
Reply to-chronic exposure to tetracyclines and subsequent diagnosis for non-melanoma skin cancer in a large Midwestern US population.

We thank Drs Nwabudike and Tatu for their interest in our recently published report “Chronic exposure to tetracyclines and subsequent diagnosis for non-melanoma skin cancer in a large Midwestern U.S. patient population” [1]. In their correspondence, Nwabudike and Tatu [2] raised some interesting and thought-provoking questions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
TPP, RCEP, and the crossvergence of Asian intellectual property standards

The debate on convergence and divergence has garnered considerable attention from policymakers and commentators involved in regulatory developments in Asia. The developments surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have added fuel to this debate. Given the different leadership in these two megaregional agreements and the exclusion of many RCEP parties from the TPP negotiations, it will be interesting to see how the agreements will affect the future efforts to set regional intellectual property standards. It will also be curious to see whether the draft and finalized standards could reveal policy preferences of the participating countries. In January 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the United States to withdraw from the TPP, putting the megaregional pact on life support. A year later, however, the eleven remaining TPP partners signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). While this transition instrument suspended some provisions in the TPP intellectual property chapter, many original provisions remain. This chapter begins by examining the regulatory convergence narrative, focusing on efforts to harmonize Asian intellectual property standards through the WTO TRIPS Agreement and TRIPS-plus bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements. The chapter then turns to the regulatory divergence narrative, discussing the region's inherent nation-based differences, the development considerations involved in developing Asian intellectual property laws and policies, and the growing rivalry between the TPP/CPTPP and the RCEP. This chapter concludes by suggesting that neither the convergence narrative nor the divergence narrative presents a complete and convincing story for a region as large, complex, diverse and internally inconsistent as Asia. Instead, the chapter contends that the region is likely to see "regulatory crossvergence"—a simultaneous convergence and divergence of regulatory standards. Such crossvergence not only has resulted in the region's development of compromising standards but has also been highly indicative of the ongoing and future standard-setting efforts in Asia.
Statutory basis for public health reporting beyond specific diseases

Statutory authority for public health surveillance is necessarily broad as previously uncharacterized diseases are regularly discovered. This article provides specific information about general disease reporting provisions in each state. The intent of these reporting laws and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule is to support this critical disease surveillance function for the benefit of the entire population.
Equal Access Is Quality: an Update on the State of Disparities Research in Trauma

Over the past 5 years, disparities in the access to and quality of trauma care have expanded on the relatively nascent body of literature. This review summarizes the newest findings in trauma disparities research, identifying 47 original research articles that either illuminate disparities that had not been previously described or augment our understanding of a known disparity. Furthermore, the current literature on trauma disparities establishes the importance of investigating disparities in pre- and post-hospital quality metrics and refining the approach to quality measurement for trauma care in pediatric and geriatric populations in particular. A new development on the study of trauma disparities is the effort to establish the mechanisms by which racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities occur. The authors conclude from this evidence-based review that, as new disparities in trauma care continue to emerge, novel approaches to measuring and eliminating these disparities are needed.
Pediatricians and Public Health: Optimizing the Health and Well-Being of the Nation’s Children

Ensuring optimal health for children requires a population-based approach and collaboration between pediatrics and public health. The prevention of major threats to children's health (such as behavioral health issues) and the control and management of chronic diseases, obesity, injury, communicable diseases, and other problems cannot be managed solely in the pediatric office. The integration of clinical practice with public health actions is necessary for multiple levels of disease prevention that involve the child, family, and community. Although pediatricians and public health professionals interact frequently to the benefit of children and their families, increased integration of the 2 disciplines is critical to improving child health at the individual and population levels. Effective collaboration is necessary to ensure that population health activities include children and that the child health priorities of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), such as poverty and child health, early brain and child development, obesity, and mental health, can engage federal, state, and local public health initiatives. In this policy statement, we build on the 2013 AAP Policy Statement on community pediatrics by identifying specific opportunities for collaboration between pediatricians and public health professionals that are likely to improve the health of children in communities. In the statement, we provide recommendations for pediatricians, public health professionals, and the AAP and its chapters.
Early Diagnosis and Detection of Colorectal Cancer in High-Risk Population Groups

Cancer of the colon and rectum is presently responsible for about 15% of all malignant neoplasms found in the United States. It now exceeds the frequency of lung cancer when male and female rates of occurrence are combined. The American Cancer Society predicted 100,000 new colorectal cancer cases in 1976; of these, 70,000 were expected to be colon and 30,000 rectal in origin (Silverberg and Holleb, 1975), with a total of 50,000 deaths. It is obvious that colorectal cancer poses a major problem in the United States as well as many other countries. Detection and diagnosis when the disease is at an earlier stage could result in earlier treatment and improvement in survival.
Scientific Jury Selection

Given the importance of trial consultants to the modern day practice of law, Scientific Jury Selection is designed to be informative for psychologists, other professionals interested in trial consulting (e.g., sociologists, communication experts, marketing researchers, psychiatrists, and social workers), and attorneys. The authors provide a thorough review of the most common techniques used to select jurors, and a critical evaluation of the ultimate effectiveness of these methods. This critique is based upon an examination of the social science literature. Psychologists and other social scientists as well as practicing trial consultants who read the book should gain a better understanding of the current state of research relevant to scientific jury selection, and areas where new research needs to be conducted to advance the field. Attorneys who read the book should be better able to decide whether or not to hire consultants to assist in future litigation, and if so, what types of services these consultants should provide.
Evolution of the Outer Atmospheres of Pre-Main-Sequence Stars

An overall view is presented of the outer atmospheric properties of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars and how these change as the stars evolve towards the main sequence. The youngest stars are characterised by very strong interaction with the surrounding molecular cloud, often involving an accretion disk and a strong bipolar outflow. With time the dominance of the stellar appearance by external processes diminishes and the true stellar properties become more apparent. The chromospheric, coronal and wind properties of PMS stars vary on both short-term and evolutionary timescales. The short-term variability provides important information on atmospheric inhomogeneity that is complementary to more detailed modelling. The naked T Tauri (NTT) stars, which actually comprise the vast majority of PMS stars, are discussed in detail, because they play a vital role in understanding the evolution of PMS activity and the temporal behaviour of star-formation.
TRPM8 and TRPA1 do not contribute to dental pulp sensitivity to cold

Sensory neurons innervating the dental pulp have unique morphological and functional characteristics compared to neurons innervating other tissues. Stimulation of dental pulp afferents whatever the modality or intensity of the stimulus, even light mechanical stimulation that would not activate nociceptors in other tissues, produces an intense pain. These specific sensory characteristics could involve receptors of the Transient Receptor Potential channels (TRP) family. In this study, we compared the expression of the cold sensitive receptors TRPM8 and TRPA1 in trigeminal ganglion neurons innervating the dental pulp, the skin of the cheek or the buccal mucosa and we evaluated the involvement of these receptors in dental pulp sensitivity to cold. We showed a similar expression of TRPM8, TRPA1 and CGRP in sensory neurons innervating the dental pulp, the skin or the mucosa. Moreover, we demonstrated that noxious cold stimulation of the tooth induced an overexpression of cFos in the trigeminal nucleus that was not prevented by the genetic deletion of TRPM8 or the administration of the TRPA1 antagonist HC030031. These data suggest that the unique sensory characteristics of the dental pulp are independent to TRPM8 and TRPA1 receptors expression and functionality.
Microglia in neurodegeneration.

The neuroimmune system is involved in development, normal functioning, aging, and injury of the central nervous system. Microglia, first described a century ago, are the main neuroimmune cells and have three essential functions: a sentinel function involved in constant sensing of changes in their environment, a housekeeping function that promotes neuronal well-being and normal operation, and a defense function necessary for responding to such changes and providing neuroprotection. Microglia use a defined armamentarium of genes to perform these tasks. In response to specific stimuli, or with neuroinflammation, microglia also have the capacity to damage and kill neurons. Injury to neurons in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and prion diseases, as well as in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, results from disruption of the sentinel or housekeeping functions and dysregulation of the defense function and neuroinflammation. Pathways associated with such injury include several sensing and housekeeping pathways, such as the Trem2, Cx3cr1 and progranulin pathways, which act as immune checkpoints to keep the microglial inflammatory response under control, and the scavenger receptor pathways, which promote clearance of injurious stimuli. Peripheral interference from systemic inflammation or the gut microbiome can also alter progression of such injury. Initiation or exacerbation of neurodegeneration results from an imbalance between these microglial functions; correcting such imbalance may be a potential mode for therapy.
Twik-2-/- mouse demonstrates pulmonary vascular heterogeneity in intracellular pathways for vasocontractility.

We have previously shown Twik-2-/- mice develop pulmonary hypertension and vascular remodeling. We hypothesized that distal pulmonary arteries (D-PAs) of the Twik-2-/- mice are hypercontractile under physiological venous conditions due to altered electrophysiologic properties between the conduit and resistance vessels in the pulmonary vascular bed. We measured resting membrane potential and intracellular calcium through Fura-2 in freshly digested pulmonary artery smooth muscles (PASMCs) from both the right main (RM-PA) and D-PA (distal) regions of pulmonary artery from WT and Twik-2-/- mice. Whole segments of RM-PAs and D-PAs from 20 to 24-week-old wildtype (WT) and Twik-2-/- mice were also pressurized between two glass micropipettes and bathed in buffer with either arterial or venous conditions. Abluminally-applied phenylephrine (PE) and U46619 were added to the buffer at log increments and vessel diameter was measured. All values were expressed as averages with ±SEM. Vasoconstrictor responses did not differ between WT and Twik-2-/- RM-PAs under arterial conditions. Under venous conditions, Twik-2-/- RM-PAs showed an increased sensitivity to PE with a lower EC50 (P = 0.02). Under venous conditions, Twik-2-/- D-PAs showed an increase maximal vasoconstrictor response to both phenylephrine and U46619 compared to the WT mice (P < 0.05). Isolated PASMCs from Twik-2 -/- D-PA were depolarized and had higher intracellular calcium levels compared to PASMCs from RM-PA of both WT and Twik-2-/- mice. These studies suggest that hypercontractile responses and electrophysiologic properties unique to the anatomic location of the D-PAs may contribute to pulmonary hypertensive vasculopathy.