cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
World Literature and the Geographies of Resistance

This book proposes a new definition of world literature: an archive of democratic mechanisms external to state power. Accordingly, World Literature and the Geographies of Resistance takes shape as an exploration of nonstate space - territories of self-government that contest the vertical command structures of the state. Joel Nickels argues that literature devoted to these processes of spatial occuption can help us imagine democratic alternatives to state space and to the regime of legalized dispossession that goes under the name of globalization. Conceptualized in these terms, world literature can be viewed not as the corollary of 90s-era cosmopolitanism, but as a document of strategies for the militant reorganization of social space. This ambitious book addresses the work of Patrick Chamoiseau, Ousmane Sembene, Miguel Angel Asturias, Claude McKay, Arundhati Roy, T. S. Eliot and Melvin Tolson. It engages with theories of transnationality, diaspora and postcoloniality, as well as world literature.
A low-cost, mass-producible point-of-care platform for diagnosing hemoglobin disorders

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a genetically inherited hemoglobin disorder, which can be fatal if left undiagnosed and untreated. Geographically, the most SCD-prevalent regions have the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) and are therefore unable to implement costly, centralized SCD screening programs. In these regions, the early mortality is 50%–90% among children born with sickle cell anemia [1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), who passed a resolution naming SCD as a global public health problem in 2006 [2], 70% of these early mortality could be prevented by implementing low-cost SCD screening followed by cost-effective treatments [3]. To address this need, we developed HemeChip, a mass-producible, low-cost, microchip version of electrophoresis, able to detect and quantify hemoglobin type(s) from whole blood at the point of care (POC). The process is fast (<10 minutes), efficient, and can be performed by minimally trained personnel.
Students Practice Essential Components of Community Health Nursing in Home Health Care

Because home health differs from community health nursing, using home health agencies as clinical sites to teach community health nursing may be inappropriate. This retrospective descriptive study compared the perceptions of students who took community health before it included a home health placement with those whose course included home health. Mailed surveys were returned from 28(63.6%) of the 44 students enrolled prior to the home health placements and from 30(60%) of the 50 students enrolled afterwards. Students whose experience included home health rated the home visit experience significantly better in terms of providing them an opportunity to perform health promotion and to care for family as client. They found the course more relevant, felt safer in making home visits, and were more likely to consider working in community health nursing. This study supports using home health agencies as clinical placements for community health nursing if they are supplemented with aggregate-level experiences.
Automation and education

An attempt has been made in this paper to describe automation, both as an industrial process involving flow and control and as an intellectual system involving planning and decision-making. General effects on education in the areas of curriculum and program of studies, administration, general education, organization for instruction, the necessity for teaching new patterns of thinking, vocational and technical education were discussed. The concept of the possibility of automatizing the instructional process itself was introduced, and the outlines of a new content for education as a discipline were suggested. The following paper will deal with the problem of automatizing instruction through audio-visual means, and the third and last paper in the series will consider the dangers and difficulties involved in such a process.
Does Participation in International Organizations Increase Cooperation? Evidence from the ICC, UNHRC, and UNSC

Recent research asserts that public commitments to international institutions promote behavior that is consistent with institutional purposes. Evidence for this proposition is based almost entirely on studies that compare the behavior of states that have and have not ratified treaties. This paper evaluates instances in which some member states temporarily experience increased entanglement with an IO because they or their nationals serve in a position of authority. Unlike selection into IOs, selection into positions of authority is often governed by a common, observable, and partially exogenous process. I employ a regression discontinuity design and exploit exogenous exit and random assignment to different term lengths in three contexts: the International Criminal Court (ICC), the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), and the UN Security Council (UNSC). The analyses demonstrate that acquiring a position of authority in an IO can make states make more willing to reject U.S. advances to sign non-surrender agreements, adopt domestic legislation that changes the penal code (ICC case), ratify legally binding treaties (UNHRC case), and even send its own soldiers into dangerous peacekeeping missions (UNSC case). On the other hand, there is no evidence that UN institutions successfully select more cooperative states for positions of authority. Similar research designs can gainfully be employed to identify the causal effects of other forms of institutional participation.
A comparative study of academic digital copyright in the united states and Europe

The advent of Internet and digital media has added more complications to the already complex copyright laws. This paper will first summarize the history of copyright laws in the United States and Europe. It will then analyze and compare the digital copyright laws as they are applied in higher education in the United States and major countries in Europe.
What are the Constraints That can be Imposed on Arguments Addressed to an Ideal Audience

In the previous chapter we discussed the inevitability of human appeals to an ideal or universal audience and, more importantly, how recognizing the existence of these appeals can help solve certain important philosophical and legal puzzles. Our inquiry into the notion of an ideal audience in legal argumentation will require us to examine a host of other questions. These include: What is the nature of such an ideal audience, particularly in a legal context? Is the ideal audience different in different legal systems and, if so, what are some of the factors that account for this difference? Before beginning to answer these questions, which will be discussed in future chapters, it will be useful to consider an important preliminary question: Can any constraints be imposed on the type of arguments that can be addressed to an ideal or universal audience or on the ability of some members of a society to address this audience? The constraints that some have suggested are not merely philosophical or theoretical but rather constraints that are to be imposed by serious social and sometimes even legal pressure.
Static and dynamic modulation spectrum for speech recognition.

We present a feature extraction technique based on static and dynamic modulation spectrum derived from long-term envelopes in sub-bands. Estimation of the sub-band temporal envelopes is done using Frequency Domain Linear Prediction (FDLP). These sub-band envelopes are compressed with a static (logarithmic) and dynamic (adaptive loops) compression. The compressed sub-band envelopes are transformed into modulation spectral components which are used as features for speech recognition. Experiments are performed on a phoneme recognition task using a hybrid HMM-ANN phoneme recognition system and an ASR task using the TANDEM speech recognition system. The proposed features provide a relative improvements of 3.8 % and 11.5 % in phoneme recognition accuracies for TIMIT and conversation telephone speech (CTS) respectively. Further, these improvements are found to be consistent for ASR tasks on OGI-Digits database (relative improvement of 13.5 %).
Radiation resistance of Salmonella

The ionizing radiation resistances of sixSalmonella species were examined. The experimental variables were the suspending medium, the presence or absence of air, and the temperature during the irradiation process.S. typhimurium ATCC 14028,S. enteritidis ATCC 9186,S. newport ATCC 6962,S. dublin ATCC 15480,S. anatum ATCC 9270, andS. arizonae ATCC 29933 were suspended in phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH 7.0), brain heart infusion broth (BHI) or mechanically deboned chicken and exposed to gamma radiation from cesium-137 at 0.12 kGy per min. The radiation resistance of theSalmonella increased approximately two-fold when assayed in sterile mechanically deboned chicken rather than in buffer or BHI. The average radiation (0.30 to 1.20 kGy) D-value for all sixSalmonella strains was 0.56 kGy in mechanically deboned chicken.S. enteritidis was significantly more resistant to ionizing radiation than the other five strains ofSalmonella tested on mechanically deboned chicken. The temperature of irradiation but not the presence or absence of air significantly influenced the survival ofS. typhimurium andS. enteritidis in mechanically deboned chicken. Treatment of chicken meat with ionizing radiation would be an effective means for control ofSalmonella contamination.
Molecular dynamics modeling and simulation of bituminous binder chemical aging due to variation of oxidation level and saturate-aromatic-resin-asphaltene fraction

Abstract Bituminous binder’s chemical aging process leads to significant changes in its mechanical and rheological properties. The two main outcomes of chemical aging are the oxidation of molecules and changes in the binder’s saturate-aromatic-resin-asphaltene (SARA) fractions. The binder components’ reaction to oxygen results in the formation of polar viscosity-building molecules, while changes in the SARA fractions disturbs the binder’s balance, giving it brittle properties. As both of these factors affect the binder at the molecular level, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can improve the fundamental understanding of binder aging. Therefore, nine MD models were built (one model that represents unaged binder and eight different aged binder models) in this study for two specific purposes: to compare the MD simulation results with the experimental results and to conduct a parametric analysis of the MD simulations to investigate the effect of each aging outcome on the properties of the binder. A comparison among binders with different aging levels showed that the MD simulations and experiments had the same rank order in viscosity values, but they had significantly different magnitudes, which may be partly attributed to the high shear rates used in the MD simulation. The parametric analysis indicated that the dominant aging mechanism in the laboratory aged binder was the disturbance of the SARA fractions, while the oxidation of the molecules appears to be a more dominant mechanism in the field aged binder.
Abstract 121: Embolic Stroke of Unknown Source is Associated With Higher Left Atrial Fibrosis Than Other Stroke Subtypes

Introduction: Atrial cardiomyopathy without atrial fibrillation is suspected to lead to embolic stroke of unknown source (ESUS). Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac MRI (LGE-MRI) is a non-invasive ...
A Second-Look at the Repeat Resections of Bladder Tumors

Background: Research looking at the effects of repeat transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) on long-term survival and recurrence of bladder cancer has mixed results, with some studies showing improvement and others showing unclear benefit. The purpose of this current study is to evaluate the differences in recurrence rates, progression, and survival for patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) who underwent a second TURBT 2 - 6 weeks after an initial TURBT, as compared to patients who only had an initial TURBT. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who received a TURBT at our institution over a 12-year period (2005 - 2017). Patients 18 years or older with high-grade pT1 or pTis pathology on initial TURBT were included. Patients with low-grade, pTa, or stage pT2 or greater on initial TURBT and patients with variant histology other than urothelial carcinoma were excluded from the study. Differences in overall survival, recurrence rates, and cancer progression were analyzed using Cox regression to event and Poisson regression to number of occurrences in patients who had repeat TURBT vs. those who did not. Cancer progression was measured as time to cystectomy. Results: One hundred fifty-three patients with a diagnosis of high-grade NMIBC were included in the study. Forty-six patients (30.1%) had a repeat TURBT. There was no significant difference in baseline characteristics including age, stage, or gender between the two groups. After a median follow-up of 67.5 months (range 7.5 - 200 months), there was no significant difference in overall survival (OS) (P = 0.63), cancer progression (P = 0.51) or recurrence rates (P = 0.60) for patients who underwent second-look TURBT compared to those who did not. Of those patients who underwent repeat TURBT, 32 (69.6%) had residual tumor and 13 (28.2%) had a change in stage. Of the patients that had a change in stage, five were upstaged to muscle invasive (pT2) disease. Conclusions: Our analysis did not show an association between second-look TURBT with overall survival, progression, or recurrence rate of bladder cancer as compared to no second-look TURBT. However, there was a small rate of upstaging to pT2 disease on repeat TURBT. Even though there was no change in OS, repeat TURBT has an important role in finding T2 disease, and this is so critical that continuing with this conservative approach of a second TURBT is still recommended. World J Nephrol Urol. 2018;7(3-4):63-66 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/wjnu361w
The nature and role of autoimmunity in cystic fibrosis lung immunopathology

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) arises due to the altered activity of the CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein. While the lung disease in CF is associated with chronic infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), identical CFTR mutations exhibit considerable clinical variability. To elucidate this, we evaluated the autoantibody response to bactericidal permeability-increasing protein (BPI) and anti-citrullinated proteins (ACPA) in CF patients (n=38) and compared it with the autoantibody profile in sera from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients (n=50), given the association of airway inflammation with ACPA induction in RA. The presence of ACPA was restricted to RA patients; no antibodies to BPI were seen. In contrast, 42% of CF patients had anti-BPI IgG, but no ACPA. Contrary to ACPA, the autoantibodies to BPI did not bind to post-translationally modified epitopes but mapped to the protein C-terminus (CT-BPI). Patients with high levels of anti-BPI IgG exhibited worse lung function (lower FEV1), the presence of anti-Cif antibodies (CFTR inhibitory factor), and the absence of the homozygous F508del CFTR mutation. Neutrophil incubation with PA led to the cleavage of BPI into a ~32kDa fragment corresponding to CT-BPI, in an elastase dependent process. In addition, anti-BPI IgG levels were higher in patients harboring the more pathogenic (mucoid) PA strain infection. These findings prompt the model that autoantibody responses reflect greater impairment of PA clearance, which is the hallmark of this chronic inflammatory disorder. Alternatively, given that no clear association between bacterial colonization and CF disease severity exists, the model that autoantibodies independently exacerbate CF lung pathology merits consideration.
Designing a Visuohaptic Simulation to Promote Graphical Representations and Conceptual Understanding of Structural Analysis

Structural analysis is a foundational statics concept for students majoring in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and engineering technology, among others. However, the mathematical emphasis of a typical statics courses lies in algebraic calculations, matrices, vectors, and sometimes deemphasizes student understanding of the behavior of the overall structure as a system, focusing instead on its individual elements. This study investigates students’ conceptual understanding of forces acting and reacting in a truss structure as well as their corresponding representations in the form of Free Body Diagrams (FBDs). Our findings suggest that students primarily demonstrated partially coherent answers suggesting that they may hold some misconceptions about truss behavior. The most prevalent error was that students failed to account for the mutual (equal and opposite) forces between connected bodies that were separated for analysis. Based on our findings we propose the design of a learning experience that combines principles of embodied learning with the affordances of visuohaptic simulations to address students’ misconceptions.
Evolution of water chemistry during Marcellus Shale gas development: A case study in West Virginia

Abstract Hydraulic fracturing (HF) has been used with horizontal drilling to extract gas and natural gas liquids from source rock such as the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin. Horizontal drilling and HF generates large volumes of waste water known as flowback. While inorganic ion chemistry has been well characterized, and the general increase in concentration through the flowback is widely recognized, the literature contains little information relative to organic compounds and radionuclides. This study examined the chemical evolution of liquid process and waste streams (including makeup water, HF fluids, and flowback) in four Marcellus Shale gas well sites in north central West Virginia. Concentrations of organic and inorganic constituents and radioactive isotopes were measured to determine changes in waste water chemistry during shale gas development. We found that additives used in fracturing fluid may contribute to some of the constituents (e.g., Fe) found in flowback, but they appear to play a minor role. Time sequence samples collected during flowback indicated increasing concentrations of organic, inorganic and radioactive constituents. Nearly all constituents were found in much higher concentrations in flowback water than in injected HF fluids suggesting that the bulk of constituents originate in the Marcellus Shale formation rather than in the formulation of the injected HF fluids. Liquid wastes such as flowback and produced water, are largely recycled for subsequent fracturing operations. These practices limit environmental exposure to flowback.
Higher twist, ξw scaling, and effective LO PDFs for lepton scattering in the few GeV region

We use a new scaling variable ξw, and add low Q2 modifications to GRV98 leading order parton distribution functions such that they can be used to model electron, muon and neutrino inelastic scattering cross sections (and also photoproduction) at both very low and high energies.
Information extraction from large multi-layer social networks

Social networks often encode community structure using multiple distinct types of links between nodes. In this paper we introduce a novel method to extract information from such multi-layer networks, where each type of link forms its own layer. Using the concept of Pareto optimality, community detection in this multi-layer setting is formulated as a multiple criterion optimization problem. We propose an algorithm for finding an approximate Pareto frontier containing a family of solutions. The power of this approach is demonstrated on a Twitter dataset, where the nodes are hashtags and the layers correspond to (1) behavioral edges connecting pairs of hashtags whose temporal profiles are similar and (2) relational edges connecting pairs of hashtags that appear in the same tweets.
Differences in Diabetes Care With and Without Certification as a Medical Home.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess whether primary care practices certified as medical homes differ in having the practice systems required for that designation and in attaining favorable outcomes for their patients with diabetes, and whether those systems are associated with better diabetes outcomes. METHODS We undertook a cross-sectional observational study, Understanding Infrastructure Transformation Effects on Diabetes (UNITED), of 586 Minnesota adult primary care practices, comparing those that were certified vs uncertified as medical homes in 2017, with analyses supplemented by previously published studies of these practices. We collected survey information about the presence of medical home practice systems for diabetes care and obtained 6 standardized measures of diabetes care collected yearly from all Minnesota practices. RESULTS Of 416 practices completing questionnaires (71% of all practices, 92% of participating practices), 394 had data on diabetes care measures. Uncertified practices (39%) were more likely than certified practices to be rural, but their patient populations were similar. Certified practices had more medical home practice systems (79.2% vs 74.9%, P =.01) and were more likely to meet a composite measure of optimal diabetes care (46.8% vs 43.2%, P CONCLUSIONS Practices certified as medical homes have more practice systems and higher performance on diabetes care than uncertified practices, but there is extensive overlap, and any differences may reflect self-selection for certification.
Cognition, Domination and Complexity: A Speculative Outline of Intersections Between Cognitive Activity and Structures of Control, and their Relation to Dynamics of Complexity and Simplicity

It’s a relatively common observation that the conquest of political regimes and the “promethean” expansion of human knowledge have important tendencies in common; both knowledge and political conquest are expressions of a “will to power.” This paper seeks to analyze what some of these specific tendencies are by using certain conceptual models as tools to carry out this analysis. But rather than focusing on the historical unfolding of this will to power, this paper attempts to analyze the way in which it is expressed at different ontological levels; specifically, at the levels of matter, cognition, and conceptualization, respectively. The aforementioned conceptual “models” used in this analysis are the Deleuzian concept of “stratification,” and a certain notion of “complexity,” which could also be understood as “organization.” Stratification is understood as the particular process that facilitates complexity and organization, while complexity is understood in terms of its capacity to produce higher-order “unities” or “simplicities.” The idea of this relation between complexity and simplicity is taken from complexity theory and chaos theory. Regarding the specific topic of political regimes, this paper uses Gilles Deleuze’s essay “Society of Control” as an example of how concepts themselves are an integral part of these regimes, in that they are not merely implemented, but, rather, are “incarnated” through them.
Early age at menopause among left-handed women.

Associations have been suggested between handedness, autoimmune disorders, and reproductive hormonal changes. The purpose of this study was to test a proposed relationship between handedness and age at menopause. Two national survey data sets were used to compare recalled ages at menopause. Mexican-American women, ages 35-74, naturally postmenopausal for at least 1 year, were selected from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES). White and black women were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-I) using similar criteria. The mean age at menopause was found to be earlier among left-handed women than right-handed women from the NHANES-I data set. In the HHANES data set, the mean age at menopause was significantly earlier among left-handed women than in right-handed women (t = 2.35, P less than .05). Early age at menopause among left-handed women may result from misclassification of handedness among older women or differential mortality among left-handed individuals. Alternatively, the association may be related to possible correlations between left-handedness and autoimmune disorders, which may include reactions against hormone receptor sites and oocytes.
Virulence-mediated infectiousness and activity trade-offs and their impact on transmission potential of influenza patients

Communicable diseases are often virulent, i.e. they cause morbidity symptoms in those infected. While some symptoms may be transmission-enhancing, other symptoms are likely to reduce transmission potential. For human diseases, the reduction in transmission opportunities is commonly caused by reduced activity. There is limited data regarding the potential impact of virulence on transmission potential. We performed an exploratory data analysis of 324 influenza patients at a university health centre during the 2016/2017 influenza season. We classified symptoms as infectiousness-related or morbidity-related and calculated two scores. The scores were used to explore the relationship between infectiousness, morbidity (virulence), and activity level. We found a decrease in the activity level with increasing morbidity scores. There was no consistent pattern between an activity level and an infectiousness score. We also found a positive correlation between morbidity and infectiousness scores. Overall, we find that increasing virulence leads to increased infectiousness and reduced activity, suggesting a trade-off that can impact overall transmission potential. Our findings indicate that a reduction of systemic symptoms may increase host activity without reducing infectiousness. Therefore, interventions should target both systemic- and infectiousness-related symptoms to reduce overall transmission potential. Our findings can also inform simulation models that investigate the impact of different interventions on transmission.
Revisiting Infectious Complications Following Total Parenteral Nutrition Use During Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Background Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is frequently used to manage caloric needs during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Previous studies in transplant patients who received TPN have reported widely discordant results with regard to infection and mortality, and risk factors for TPN-related infection remain unclear. Method We conducted a retrospective study of all HSCT recipients treated with TPN between 2005 to 2014 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital to determine the incidence and epidemiology of infections. Electronic records were used to identify patients treated with TPN for at least 2 days who developed infection. Results Among 198 patients treated with TPN, 30% developed documented infection. Total parenteral nutrition treatment duration (13 vs. 7 days; p day 9 post HSCT; p < .0001) were significantly higher in patients who received TPN and developed infection. Receipt of an allogeneic transplant was associated with increased risk for infection (p < .0138), and day 60 mortality was significantly higher in TPN-treated patients with infection (p < .0001). Conclusion Stem cell recipients who receive TPN, especially from an allogeneic donor, have high rates of infection and mortality. Minimizing TPN exposure may reduce the chance for infection.
A School-Based Conception of Giftedness: Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities in the Development of Talent in Our Public Schools

Giftedness as a construct is increasingly found relevant in all of life’s endeavors. It is a construct with a long history in schools. As institutions tasked with the academic preparation of young people, schools must consider the practical application of any conception adopted. The constraints of schools and their institutional purpose determine what giftedness is in that setting. The optimal conception of giftedness within these boundaries provides for the development of exceptional abilities, while supporting the psychological well-being of students. It requires a commitment from schools to provide resources, supports, and opportunities that foster the development of students’ talents, with an eye toward their success beyond the K-12 experience. Students must also commit to their own talent development, bringing their abilities, interests, and the psychosocial skills required to bear in their approach to the school-provided opportunities. This chapter addresses the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in a practical, school-based conception of giftedness.
Health professional's willingness to advocate for strengthening global commitments to the Paris climate agreement: Findings from a multi-nation survey.

Abstract Health professionals have the potential to address the health threats posed by climate change in many ways. This study sought to understand the factors that influence health professionals’ willingness to engage in climate advocacy. We hypothesized and tested a model with six antecedent factors predicting willingness to engage in advocacy for strengthening global commitments to the Paris Agreement. Using survey data from members of health professional associations in 12 nations (n = 3,977), we tested the hypothesized relationships with structural equation modeling. All of the hypothesized relationships were confirmed. Specifically, higher rates of perceived expert consensus about human-caused climate change predicted greater climate change belief certainty and belief in human causation. In turn, all three of these factors, including higher levels of perceived health harms from climate change, positively predicted affective involvement with the issue. Affective involvement positively predicted the feeling that health professionals have a responsibility to deal with climate change. Lastly, this sense that climate advocacy is a responsibility of health professionals strongly predicted willingness to advocate. As a unique study of predictors of health professionals’ willingness to advocate for climate change, our findings provide unique insight into how an influential set of trusted voices might be activated to address what is arguably the world's most pressing public health threat. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are presented, and implications for message development are discussed.
The Advancing Understanding of Transportation Options (AUTO) study: design and methods of a multi-center study of decision aid for older drivers.

Decision-making about when to stop driving for older adults involves assessment of driving risk, availability of support or resources, and strong emotions about loss of independence. Although the risk of being involved in a fatal crash increases with age, driving cessation can negatively impact an older adult’s health and well-being. Decision aids can enhance the decision-making process by increasing knowledge of the risks and benefits of driving cessation and improve decision quality. The impact of decision aids regarding driving cessation for older adults is unknown. The Advancing Understanding of Transportation Options (AUTO) study is a multi-site, two-armed randomized controlled trial that will test the impact of a decision aid on older adults’ decisions about changes in driving behaviors and cessation. AUTO will enroll 300 drivers age ≥ 70 years with a study partner (identified by each driver); the dyads will be randomized into two groups (n = 150/group). The decision aid group will view the web-based decision aid created by Healthwise at baseline and the control group will review information about driving that does not include evidence-based elements on risks and benefits and values clarification about driving decisions. The AUTO trial will compare the effect of the decision aid, versus control, on a) immediate decision quality (measured by the Decisional Conflict Scale; primary outcome); b) longitudinal psychosocial outcomes at 12 and 24 months (secondary outcomes); and c) longitudinal driving behaviors (including reduction or cessation) at 12 and 24 months (secondary outcomes). Planned stratified analyses will examine the effects in subgroups defined by cognitive function, decisional capacity, and readiness to stop driving. The AUTO study is the first large-scale randomized trial of a driving decision aid for older adults. Results from this study will directly inform clinical practice about how best to support older adults in decision-making about driving. ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT04141891 . Registered on October 28, 2019. Located at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04141891
Classifying UAVs With Proprietary Waveforms via Preamble Feature Extraction and Federated Learning

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are deployed in a number of different emerging market segments as well as for recreational hobby flying. Driven by their ubiquitous availability, a large number of manufacturers offer UAV models in different form factors, control and load carrying capacities. This paper proposes a deep learning method to detect the type/model of the UAV using the transmitted RF signals, even when these signals follow proprietary medium access protocols whose headers cannot be decoded. The main contributions are as follows: (i) We show how the preamble portion of the packet is better suited for learning subtle protocol-specific differences, instead of randomly selecting any subset of the transmitted packet, (ii) we propose a pre-processing scheme that generates cross-correlation feature maps to enhance the classification accuracy, (iii) we develop a deep convolutional neural architecture that can be trained in data collected from static scenarios and then tested in practical hovering conditions with 98.2% accuracy of UAV model classification, demonstrating robustness to channel variations, and (iv) we extend this model towards a federated learning paradigm where sensors send individually trained models back to a central controller that combines them, without any appreciable loss of accuracy. Our evaluations are performed on an 8.9 GB dataset collected from static and flying UAVs, which we also release as part of the technical contributions of the work.
The direct and interactive effects of elevated CO2 and additional nitrate on relative costs and benefits of legume-rhizobia symbiosis

Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) is likely to have important effects on growth and development of plants and on their relationship with symbiotic microbes. A rise in CO2 could increase demand by plant hosts for nutrient resources, which may increase host investments in beneficial symbionts. In the legume-rhizobia mutualism, while elevated CO2 is often associated with increased nodule growth and investment in N2-fixing rhizobia, it is yet unclear if this response depends on the mutualistic quality of the rhizobia. To test if host carbon allocation towards more-beneficial nodules are similar to less-beneficial (but still effective) nodules when plant N demand changes, we manipulated plant C and N status with elevated CO2 and additional nitrate. We used two isogenic Rhizobium etli strains that differ in their ability to synthesize an energy reserve compound, poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), as well as their efficiencies for nitrogen fixation and nodulation rates, resulting in two Phaseolus vulgaris host groups with either large number of small nodules or small number of large nodules. The addition of nitrate negatively affected carbon allocation towards nodules, and elevated CO2 reversed this effect, as expected. However, this alleviation of nodule inhibition was greater on plants that started with greater numbers of smaller nodules. If smaller nodules indicate less-efficient or low-fixing rhizobia, this study suggests that increased demand for nitrogen in the face of elevated CO2 has the potential to disproportionately favor less-beneficial strains and increase variation of nitrogen fixation quality among rhizobia.
Perceptions towards an interaction partner predict social anxiety: an ecological momentary assessment study.

Social anxiety occurs in everyday social interactions, yet the real-world factors that shape the moment-to-moment experience of social anxiety have not been fully explored. Using ecological momenta...
Adapting User-Centered Design Methods to Design for Diverse Populations

User-centered design (UCD) methods such as personas and scenarios are useful tools for communicating extensive user research to design teams. However, the intensive data collection and onsite fieldwork required to create personas and scenarios can present barriers for user researchers and design teams working on technology innovations for diverse populations, including those in developing regions. This article presents a model that demonstrates how user researchers and design teams can use data collected for other purposes to source personas and scenarios and to substantively adopt user-centered design approaches. We demonstrate our methods based on research conducted in a case study in Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia.
Cuttings for disks and axis-aligned rectangles

We present new asymptotically tight bounds on cuttings, a fundamental data structure in computational geometry. For n objects in space and a parameter r ∈ N, an 1/r -cutting is a covering of the space with simplices such that the interior of each simplex intersects at most n/r objects. For n pairwise disjoint disks in R3 and a parameter r ∈ N, we construct a 1/r -cutting of size O(r2). For n axis-aligned rectangles in R3, we construct a 1/r -cutting of size O(r3/2). As an application related to multi-point location in three-space, we present tight bounds on the cost of spanning trees across barriers. Given n points and a finite set of disjoint disk barriers in R3, the points can be connected with a straight line spanning tree such that every disk cuts at most O(√n) edges of the tree. If the barriers are axis-aligned rectangles, then there is a straight line spanning tree such that every rectangle cuts O(n1/3) edges. Both bounds are the best possible.
Gaps in the Human Genome Project

If the multinational Human Genome Project is to continue its successful start, sequencing strategies must be changed.
Modes of Comprehension: Mode Analysis of Arrays and Array Comprehensions

A scheme is presented to enable the mode analysis of concurrent logic programs manipulating arrays containing both ground and non-ground elements. To do this we leverage constraint-propagation mode analysis techniques. The key ideas are to restrict multiple assignments only to variables at the leaves of paths, and to extend the language family with array comprehensions. The result is a language not significantly different than generic committed-choice languages, which can be safely mode analyzed, producing useful (not overly conservative) information, even for programs that assign to unbound array elements. An implementation of the analysis is presented.
Regular simplex fingerprints and their optimality properties

This paper addresses the design of additive fingerprints that are maximally resilient against Gaussian averaging collusion attacks. The detector performs a binary hypothesis test in order to decide whether a user of interest is among the colluders. The encoder (fingerprint designer) is to imbed additive fingerprints that minimize the probability of error of the test. Both the encoder and the attackers are subject to squared-error distortion constraints. We show that n-simplex fingerprints are optimal in sense of maximizing a geometric figure of merit for the detection test; these fingerprints outperform orthogonal fingerprints. They are also optimal in terms of maximizing the error exponent of the detection test, and maximizing the deflection criteria at the detector when the attacker’s noise is non-Gaussian. Reliable detection is guaranteed provided that the number of colluders $K \ll \sqrt{N}$, where N is the length of the host vector.
Timing of the endometrial biopsy may be critical for the accurate diagnosis of luteal phase deficiency.

Objective To determine the optimal time to perform the endometrial biopsy for the detection of "out-of-phase" endometrium. Design Two endometrial biopsies were performed during a single menstrual cycle in each subject. The patient's chronological day was determined by counting forward from the midcycle LH surge, as assessed by urinary LH detection. The "early" biopsy was done on day LH+7.4±0.8, and the "late" biopsy on day LH+11.6±0.7. Each biopsy was independently read by two pathologists and was considered out of phase if the histologic date was ≥3 days delayed compared with the chronological date. Setting Infertility practice of an academic teaching hospital. Patients Thirty-three ovulatory women seeking evaluation for infertility. Main Outcome Measure Number of patients with out-of-phase endometrium detected by the early versus the late biopsy. Results There was a significantly greater detection rate for out-of-phase endometrium using the early biopsy (12.1% to 18.2% incidence depending on the observer) compared with the later biopsy (6.1% to 9.1% incidence). A majority of the early out-of-phase biopsies corrected by the time of the later biopsy. Conclusion Our findings indicate that an endometrial biopsy performed in the midluteal phase may detect a greater number of women with delayed endometrial maturation during the temporal window of embryo implantation. The observation that most of the women with out-of-phase midluteal biopsies had normal late luteal endometrium may represent a cryptic form of luteal phase deficiency.
Modeling the seismic signature of structural data from the Oman Ophiolite: Can a mantle diapir be detected beneath the East Pacific Rise?

[1] We present modeling of the seismic delay time signature of mantle diapirs mapped in the Oman ophiolite and compare these results with those of active source seismic experiments conducted along the East Pacific Rise. To do so, we construct models of shallow-mantle, seismic anisotropy that are consistent with Oman diapirs of different size. Forward calculations of the delay time anomalies due to a combination of diapir-related seismic anisotropy and isotropic velocity structure are compared with those of a two-dimensional anisotropy field within the same isotropic velocity structure. In the presence of an isotropic, low-velocity anomaly comparable to that imaged beneath the East Pacific Rise, there are only minor differences between the predicted signals of two- and three-dimensional (diapiric) flow. Tomographic modeling is used to determine if the synthetic data for a diapiric model (with a low-velocity isotropic anomaly) can be fit by two-dimensional anisotropy and three-dimensional velocity variations. The recovered isotropic anomalies are in good agreement with the synthetic model. However, if the diapir is large enough, artifacts are generated near the corners of the model and, locally, at the ridge axis, with slightly higher velocities. Our results indicate that tomographic analyses of existing travel time data from the East Pacific Rise cannot be used to rule out the presence of diapirs beneath an active spreading center if they are similar in scale to those mapped in Oman.
Reliability and minimal detectable change of spinal length and width measurements using the Flexicurve for usual standing posture in healthy young adults.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to: 1) investigate the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of use of the Flexicurve for measurement of spinal length (L), thoracic (TL) and lumbar length (LL), thoracic (TW) and lumbar width (LW), and 2) quantify measurement error and minimal detectable change at the 95% CI (MDC95) for the same measurements. Methods: Flexicurve measurements of the thoracolumbar spine were recorded by two examiners in standing. Intra-class correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the intra- and inter-rater reliability. Measurement error and MDC 95 were calculated to determine length and width measurements that would constitute real change in spinal curvature. Results: Thoracolumbar length (L) measurements had the highest degree of intra-rater reliability (0.93), while TL, TW, LL, LW showed moderate to good intra-rater reliability (0.61-0.80). Inter-rater reliability for all measurements was moderate (0.58-0.72). Measurement error was moderate to high for TW, LL, and LW (15-25%), and low for L and TL (1-6%). The %MDC 95 for TW, LL, and LW found in this study was high (>40%), but was low for L (3.5%). Conclusion: Thoracolumbar length measurement with the Flexicurve showed good intra-rater reliability, low measurement error, and low MDC95 and may be a useful measure in clinical practice.
Allometric equations for predicting body mass of dinosaurs: a comment on Cawley & Janacek (2010)

‘In the statistics of today, transformations . . . [aid] in the analysis of data by bending the data nearer the Procrustean bed of the assumptions underlying conventional analyses’ (Tukey, 1957). This letter is in response to Cawley & Janacek (2010), who take exception with our critique of a widely used procedure for estimating bodymass of dinosaurs and other giant animals in extinct lineages (Packard, Boardman & Birchard, 2009). Although the mass of dinosaurs certainly was at issue in our critique, the article actually was a general indictment of the traditional method for estimating parameters in two-parameter allometric equations. Thus, in their challenge to our analysis, Cawley and Janacek essentially mount a defense for the traditional way of doing things (see also their reference to Kerkhoff & Enquist, 2009). This defense is flawed, however, by their failure to balance their excellent analysis of the assumptions (and shortcomings) of nonlinear regression with an equally thorough analysis of the assumptions (and shortcomings) of the traditional approach to allometric research. We focus our response on assumptions underlying the traditional approach because resolving the larger question about statistical modeling of allometric data is key to resolving disagreement concerning estimates for mass of dinosaurs. The allometric equation is widely assumed to take the form of a two-parameter power function
Patterns of management with breech presentation

Abstract A review of 12 years' experience with term breech delivery at Overlake Memorial Hospital, Bellevue, Washington, was undertaken to ascertain patterns of care as practiced in a suburban community hospital setting. A total of 402 term breech deliveries were managed by 34 family practitioners and 21 obstetricians. X-ray pelvimetry was found to correlate with clinical pelvimetry in two thirds of the cases when used. There were 314 patients delivered vaginally and 88 by cesarean section (an over-all cesarean section rate of 21.9 per cent). There was a striking increase to 43.9 per cent during the last 2 years of the review. This review indicates increasing utilization of consultation with breech presentation, an increasing percentage managed by obstetricians, increasing use of x-ray pelvimetry, decreasing frequency of prolonged labor, a sharp increase in use of cesarean section, and a decline in perinatal morbidity.
Equivalence checking for synchronous elastic circuits

Synchronous elastic circuits are clock-based latency insensitive circuits. Elastic circuits are typically synthesized from synchronous circuits. After synthesis, additional buffers can be arbitrarily inserted in the data path of an elastic circuit without altering its functionality to resolve timing issues. We have developed a verification tool that can check the equivalence of an elastic circuit (even after the inclusion of any number arbitrarily placed additional buffers) with its synchronous parent circuit. The tool inputs elastic circuits in VHDL. We have developed an algorithm that automatically computes efficient mapping functions used to map elastic circuit states with states of the synchronous parent circuit. Such mapping functions (required for equivalence checking) can be challenging to compute automatically, as the inclusion of additional buffers can drastically alter the pattern of data flow through the circuit. The capacity of the equivalence checker is demonstrated with results from 24 elastic circuit benchmarks, many of which have over 100,000 gates and 1,000 latches.