cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Autoregressive Spectral Estimation in Ultrasonic Scatterer Size Imaging

An autoregressive (AR) spectral estimation method was considered for the purpose of estimating scatterer size images. The variance and bias of the resulting estimates were compared with those using classical FFT periodograms for a range of input signal-to-noise ratios and echo-signal durations corresponding to various C-scan image slice thicknesses. The AR approach was found to produce images of significantly higher quality for noisy data and when thin slices were required. Several images reconstructed with the two techniques are presented to demonstrate difference in visual quality. Task-specific guidelines for empirical selection of the AR model order are also proposed.
Learning-induced Dependence of Neuronal Activity in Primary Motor Cortex on Motor Task Condition

A brain-computer interface (BCI) system such as a cortically controlled robotic arm must have a capacity of adjusting its function to a specific environmental condition. We studied this capacity in non-human primates based on chronic multi-electrode recording from the primary motor cortex of a monkey during the animal's performance of a center-out 3D reaching task and adaptation to external force perturbations. The main condition-related feature of motor cortical activity observed before the onset of force perturbation was a phasic raise of activity immediately before the perturbation onset. This feature was observed during a series of perturbation trials, but were absent under no perturbations. After adaptation has been completed, it usually was taking the subject only one trial to recognize a change in the condition to switch the neuronal activity accordingly. These condition-dependent features of neuronal activity can be used by a BCI for recognizing a change in the environmental condition and making corresponding adjustments, which requires that the BCI-based control system possess such advanced properties of the neural motor control system as capacity to learn and adapt
The Drosophila 14-3-3 protein Leonardo enhances Torso signaling through D-Raf in a Ras 1-dependent manner.

14-3-3 proteins have been shown to interact with Raf-1 and cause its activation when overexpressed. However, their precise role in Raf-1 activation is still enigmatic, as they are ubiquitously present in cells and found to associate with Raf-1 in vivo regardless of its activation state. We have analyzed the function of the Drosophila 14-3-3 gene leonardo (leo) in the Torso (Tor) receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathway. In the syncytial blastoderm embryo, activation of Tor triggers the Ras/Raf/MEK pathway that controls the transcription of tailless (tll). We find that, in the absence of Tor, overexpression of leo is sufficient to activate tll expression. The effect of leo requires D-Raf and Ras1 activities but not KSR or DOS, two recently identified essential components of Drosophila RTK signaling pathways. Tor signaling is impaired in embryos derived from females lacking maternal expression of leo. We propose that binding to 14-3-3 by Raf is necessary but not sufficient for the activation of Raf and that overexpressed Drosophila 14-3-3 requires Ras1 to activate D-Raf. SUMMARY
Regulation of the production of murine IgG2a by an H-2-linked gene and other unlinked genes.

Alleles of at least two loci (rig-1 and Rig-2) regulate the levels of serum immunoglobulin of the Igh-1b class and allotype in BALB/c Igb (BAB/14) and (BALB/c × BAB/14)F1 mice. The combined effect of the BALB/c alleles at these two loci is to lower Igh-1b levels significantly below those observed in other strains and below their own levels of Igh-1a in allotype heterozygous mice. The rig-1 locus is closely linked to or within the H-2 complex. Two alleles have been defined: rig-1d and rig-1b in H-2d and H-2b haplotypes, respectively. Homozygous rig-1d d animals heterozygous for the BALB/c Rig-2 allele(s) have very low levels of Igh-1b. The designation of Rig-2 is provisional since it has not been mapped or defined as a single locus.
Evaluation of clinical and laboratory data for early diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

Purpose Results of a study to determine the utility of combining laboratory values and clinical probability scores to improve the detection of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) are reported. Methods In a retrospective, single-site, chart review–based investigation, 156 cases in which patients with suspected HIT had positive results on a widely used diagnostic test (the anti–heparin/platelet factor 4, or anti-PF4, assay) were identified; in all cases, the blood specimens had been sent to a reference laboratory for confirmation of HIT via serotonin release assay (SRA). After investigator scoring of the clinical probability of HIT in each case by the 4T’s method, a multiple logistic regression model was used to evaluate the combined effect of 4T’s scores and anti-PF4 assay values in predicting SRA results. Results 4T’s scores indicating an intermediate or high probability of HIT combined with high anti-PF4 test values (i.e., optical density [OD] value of ≥1.4) were strongly predictive of a positive SRA result, as were high-probability 4T’s scores alone. Low-probability 4T’s scores alone or in combination with anti-PF4 OD values of <1.4 were highly correlated with negative SRA results. Controlling for potential confounding factors, logistic regression analysis indicated that the 4T’s score was a better predictor of SRA results than the anti-PF4 test value. Conclusion The combination of anti-PF4 OD values and 4T’s scores accurately predicted SRA results, suggesting that the SRA may not be necessary to confirm HIT in patients with a relatively low 4T’s score and a low anti-PF4 OD value.
Study on discharge characteristic of SF_6 gas insulation equipment

With wider application of SF6 gas insulation equipment in electric power system,the prob lems of it’s insulation state monitioring and checkout and related type of defection distinction need prompt solution at present.Through building defection model make test and alanysis for discharge characteristic of SF6 gas in different state,extracted characteristic parameters and obtained character istic gas component in different state of defection.The result shows that the representative characteris tic gas may use for the test contrast standard and the data information of the fault diagnostician system of SF6 gas insulation equipment.
Epidemiological survey of bronchial asthma in 1860 children of She ethnic minority

Objective To investigate epidemiology, distribution feature and influencing factors of asthma in She ethnic minority children, in order to provide epidemiology evidence for asthma management. Methods According to the national children's asthma cooperation to establish unified scheme, cluster sampling method was used. Bronchial asthma epidemiology of 1860 children aged 0-14 of She ethnic minority in Ningde City were investigated. Results The accumulative total morbidity rate of asthma in children aged 0-14 of She ethnic minority in Ningde City was 3.17%. The disease occurred predominantly in winter(25.4%) and spring(28.8%). The asthmatic attack was correlated with gender(male and female prevalence was 3.45% and 2.81% respectively), respiratory infection(81.4%) and genetic factor(39.0%). Conclusion Bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory disease in children. Bronchial asthma is the combination of environmental factors and genetic factors induced complex diseases. To popularize asthma related knowledge of asthma for She ethnic minority children with asthma and their parents is an important measure for improvement of the diagnosis and treatment of asthma.
Bilateral renal cell carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma in the solitary kidney.

AbstractWe report on 43 patients with renal cell carcinoma in a solitary kidney, 39 of whom underwent a potentially curative resection. Of 36 patients who had a nephron salvaging procedure only 4 required ex vivo surgical resection. The survival curves of patients with solitary or bilateral lesions are similar, and depend more on the adequacy of tumor resection and tumor stage than on the fate of the contralateral kidney. Crude survival in this series was 64 per cent for patients followed for more than 1 year.
Financial Education in Teacher Training with Technological Support

Financial literacy standards based on the recommendations of the OECD are fully implemented into the main curriculum documents of primary and secondary education in the majority of countries. It is clear that teachers should be well prepared for such a situation. Therefore, these standards should be incorporated into curricula of fields of study related to the pre-service and in-service teacher training. In reaction to this demand the Faculty of Education where the authors work launched the subject An Introduction to Finance in the fields of study concerning the teaching of mathematics, the content of which reflects the five factors emphasizing the importance of financial literacy that were defined in the OECD document Improving Financial Literacy. The chapter is based on the authors’ experience in the teaching of this subject. It mainly presents methods of computer support of financial education that the authors developed, together with the results of research that was carried out on students over several years. In addition to the usual computer means of financial computation such as spreadsheet and online calculators, the authors discovered the utilization of the computer algebra system Maple to be beneficial. Therefore, the use of the so-called smart documents, which are created in this software, to introduce students of mathematics teaching to the nature of basic financial issues will also be presented in the chapter.
Experimental evidence that electrical fatigue failure obeys a generalized Coffin-Manson law

Abstract The empirical Coffin–Manson law has been used to characterize the low-cycle mechanical fatigue failure of metallic materials for decades. Our experimental studies reported in this letter have shown that the electrical fatigue failure in dielectrics can be well described by a fitting function having the same mathematical expression as that of the Coffin–Manson law. This observation indicates that the physical mechanism beneath the formation and evolution of atomic disordered structures, the key factor influencing both mechanical and electrical fatigue, might be the same.
Hereditary Noninflammatory Arthropathies

Noninflammatory arthropathy is a major manifestation of a number of genetic disorders. There is a great variety of phenotypes, which present a diagnostic challenge in the clinical setting. In some of these conditions, this arthropathy is generalized, while in others it predominates in the hip joints, with or without significant involvement of the spine. Degenerative osteoarthritis, especially of the weight-bearing joints, is a common complication in a large number of genetic skeletal dysplasias and disorders. This chapter reviews the following hereditary noninflammatory arthropathies, focusing on the most recent genetic linkages: spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia (SED), familial osteoarthropathy with a focus on hand osteoarthritis, primary osteoarthropathy of the hip, and Mseleni joint disease.
School Uniforms: Policies and Procedures

AbstractThis research summary addresses both student and teacher perceptions about the importance, value, and level of implementation of school uniform use in the Bossier Parish School District in Louisiana. Summative data are also used to investigate the relationship of uniform use with evidence of both improved student academic gain and school learning climate. Participants in the study included 1,680 students and 285 teachers in the above north Louisiana public school district composed of 16,000 students and 1,250 teachers.Nine schools were selected for data gathering purposes representing all segments of the population of students and teachers. Schools selected for this study had the same principal as the year prior and identified no significant changes in school policy affecting discipline or attendance since the previous year. The only difference in the school was the fact that school uniforms were mandated for all students in the present year as opposed to the previous year.A perception questionnai...
Spatial Data Infrastructures for Coastal Environments

Central to this chapter is a review and discussion of the “data portal” as the primary means for search, discovery and download of spatial data. Discussed are some of the most pressing challenges to effective implementation of portals within the broader context of a spatial data infrastructure or SDI. Potential solutions are featured via two major case studies of interest to practitioners in coastal ecosystem assessment and management. While there are numerous projects that can be pointed to as successful case studies to emulate, the projects highlighted, along with related efforts and initiatives, are significant demonstrations of innovation, implementation, and practice, from which lessons can be learned. And finally, as critical as a data portal may be to successful SDI implementation, so too are the partnerships behind the portals, which are discussed at chapter’s end with a consideration of virtual communities as an emerging necessity.
Assessing Serious Educational Games

Games can train and teach just like teachers do in a traditional sense. However, bad games (like bad teachers/trainers) don’t teach well. A standard for Serious Educational games must be established. This chapter discusses the rationale, development, and psychometrics of a Serious Educational Game Rubric.
Automatic-Signal Monitors with Multi-object Synchronization

Current monitor based systems have some disadvantages for multi-object operations. They require the programmers to (1) manually determine the order of locking operations, (2) manually determine the points of execution where threads should signal other threads, (3) use global locks or perform busy waiting for operations that depend upon a condition that spans multiple objects. Transactional memory systems eliminate the need for explicit locks, but do not support conditional synchronization. They also require the ability to rollback transactions. In this paper, we propose new monitor based methods that provide automatic signaling for global conditions that span multiple objects. Our system provides automatic notification for global conditions. Assuming that the global condition is a Boolean expression of local predicates, our method allows efficient monitoring of the conditions without any need for global locks. Furthermore, our system solves the monitor composition problem without requiring global locks. We have implemented our constructs on top of Java and have evaluated their overhead. Our results show that on most of the test cases, not only our code is simpler but also faster than Java's reentrant- lock as well as the Deuce transactional memory system.
Stand-Out Segmentation Access Control for Cloud Outsourced Data

Cloud computing provides several benefits to developers, service providers and consumers with respect to scalability, flexibility and availability at inexpensive cost. On the other hand, security is the main concern for cloud computing, particularlyoutsourced data. We focus on a stand-out segment to protectoutsourced of cloud data, which poses various new securitychallenges that need to be addressed. The security stresses ofoutsourced data to open fogs serves as our motivation to work forthe improvement of data security systems. Existing pretty goodprivacy (PGP) and Kerberos mechanisms provide the secureauthentication. However, both experience the security challenges. When user belongs to multiple group that faces authentication orgroup policy-setting problem with Kerberos. On other hand, prettygood privacy (PGP) overcomes on this security challenge, but itexperiences due to poor usability and lack of ubiquity includinglong length of public key. This paper introduces the stand-out segmentation accesscontrol (SSAC) process for securing cloud outsourced data. TheSSAC involves PGP and Kerberos mechanisms for segmentation. The PGP and the Kerberos combination are used for doubleprocess authentication purposes by integrating the features ofboth. The SSAC aims to ensure that no data are leaked and user isproperly authenticated with rich usability and ubiquity support. The proposed double authentication process is implemented usinga JAVA platform. The results confirm that our proposed approachprovides better security than PGP, Kerberos and other knownauthentication mechanisms.
Expression Versus Distraction: An Investigation of Contrasting Emotion Regulation Strategies When Drawing, Writing, Talking, and Thinking

While the benefit of distraction over expression as an emotion regulation strategy has been shown, it is not clear whether this benefit generalizes across a range of activities. To find out, we com...
A college athletics recruiting game to teach the economics of rent-seeking

ABSTRACTThe authors of this article describe an adaptation of the rent-seeking game by Goeree and Holt (1999) to the recruiting of athletes by NCAA Division I football and basketball teams. Students engage in an effort-based lottery, i.e., recruiting to sign a blue-chip prospect. The winner gets the prize—the player's marginal revenue product in excess of his grant in aid. Students recruit in three scenarios: by recruiting legally, by recruiting legally or with illegal bribes, and by offering wages to athletes in an auction. The authors demonstrate the game's use in a principles course, but it is easily adaptable to other courses. To aid instructors unfamiliar with sports and NCAA recruiting, they include a comprehensive lesson plan with suggested readings and multimedia.
Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Loblolly Pine: Effects of Various Wastes on Produced Biocrude

In this study, feedstock interaction of cow manure and digested sewage sludge on hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of loblolly pine (LP) was evaluated. Noncatalytic HTL experiments were performed at reaction temperatures of 250, 275, and 300 °C at a constant reaction time of 30 min. Cyclohexane and acetone were used for biocrude extraction separately. The study focuses on the characteristics of the produced biocrude, and thus, physicochemical properties of biocrudes were examined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, density, and viscosity measurements, in addition to comparing mass and energy yields. On a LP basis, the biocrude yield reached as high as 30 and 17% for acetone and cyclohexane extraction, respectively, at the highest reaction temperature. Elemental carbon and energy contents increased with increasing HTL temperature for all cases. Alkalinity of the HTL process liquid (aqueous phase) increases from the HTL of sludge, and thus, it favored the formatio...
Biological Markers of Alzheimer’s Disease: A View from the Perspective of Phospholipids in Membrane Function

Considerable variability exists in the clinical expression of Alzheimer’s disease, yet the biological underpinnings of this variability are not well understood. Significant differences in clinical presentation include both global characteristics such as age at onset and rate of progression of dementia (39,40,60), as well as the manifestation of selective cognitive deficits (4,6,11,63), neurological symptoms (21,31), and behavioral syndromes (27,33,38,66). Of these, age at onset of dementia may be the clinical characteristic that has received the most attention. While Alzheimer’s disease appears to have a typical onset between 75 and 85 years (26,34,64), a subpopulation of patients who meet clinical consensus and neuropathological criteria for this disorder develop dementia several decades earlier. Age at onset of dementia appears to be a familial characteristic that is influenced by at least two genes, FAD (47) and PMF (7). However, twin studies indicate that this variable is also affected by stochastic processes or unidentified environmental factors (61). Furthermore, an early onset of Alzheimer’s disease is associated with more global distributions of brain morphologic lesions and neurochemical deficits than are the more typical later-onset cases (39,40,67).
Comparison of modal parameters estimated from operational and experimental modal analysis approaches

Experimental modal testing has been performed for several decades as an approach to identify system characteristics. This involves a controlled test where the applied force and response are measured to identify frequency response functions which are processed to obtain modal parameters. More recently there has been a trend to utilize output only measurement approaches to extract similar information. The main advantage is that the structure need not be brought to the test lab and operating responses can be used to extract similar modal parameters. However, the operating approaches may not always obtain the same modes as those obtained from the traditional modal test.
Inverse limits with set valued functions

We begin to answer the question of which continua can be homeomorphic to an inverse limit with a single upper semi-continuous bonding map from [0,1] to the set of closed subsets of [0,1]. Several continua including [0,1]×[0,1] and all compact manifolds with dimension greater than one cannot be homeomorphic to such an inverse limit. It is also shown that if the upper semi-continuous bonding maps have only zero dimensional pointvalues, then the dimension of the inverse limit does not exceed the dimension of the factor spaces.
Bleeding risk and complications associated with percutaneous ultrasound-guided liver biopsy in cats.

ObjectivesLiver biopsy is necessary for a diagnosis of liver disease; however, post-biopsy bleeding is a concern. The aim of this study was to describe the extent of bleeding and the occurrence of ...
User Testing an Information Foraging Tool for Ambulatory Surgical Site Infection Surveillance.

Background Surveillance for surgical site infections (SSIs) after ambulatory surgery in children requires a detailed manual chart review to assess criteria defined by the National Health and Safety Network (NHSN). Electronic health records (EHRs) impose an inefficient search process where infection preventionists must manually review every postsurgical encounter ( Objective This article compares the Workbench and EHR on four dimensions: (1) effectiveness, (2) efficiency, (3) workload, and (4) usability. Methods Comparative usability test of Workbench and EHR. Objective test metrics are time per case, encounters reviewed per case, time per encounter, and retrieval of information meeting NHSN definitions. Subjective measures are cognitive load using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Task Load Index (NASA TLX), and a questionnaire on system usability and utility. Results Eight infection preventionists participated in the test. There was no difference in effectiveness as subjects retrieved information from all cases, using both systems, to meet the NHSN criteria. There was no difference in efficiency in time per case between the Workbench and EHR (8.58 vs. 7.39 minutes, p = 0.36). However, with the Workbench subjects opened fewer encounters per case (3.0 vs. 7.5, p = 0.002), spent more time per encounter (2.23 vs. 0.92 minutes, p = 0.002), rated the Workbench lower in cognitive load (NASA TLX, 24 vs. 33, p = 0.02), and significantly higher in measures of usability. Conclusion Compared with the EHR, the Workbench was more usable, short, and reduced cognitive load. In overall efficiency, the Workbench did not save time, but demonstrated a shift from between-encounter foraging to within-encounter foraging and was rated as significantly more efficient. Our results suggest that infection surveillance can be better supported by systems applying information foraging theory.
Development and Validation of the College Admissions Knowledge Evaluation

This article describes the process used to develop a new measure of college knowledge and the findings from an initial study to examine the measure’s construct validity. We employed common test con...
Placement Efficiency: an Alternative Ranking Metric for Graduate Schools

Placement efficiency measures the number of tenured and tenure-track placements of Ph.D.-graduates per tenured and tenure-track faculty at a given Ph.D.-granting institution. We believe that the focus on tenured and tenure-track appointments provides both the most accurate control for the size of a department as well as the most appropriate operationalization of placement. We have chosen to utilize a data set that focuses solely on placement in Ph.D.-granting programs because we believe that this gives the clearest picture of competitive-advantage across these peer institutions. Our focus is on 3,709 tenured and tenure-track professors at 136 research-intensive universities that political scientists cite as their Ph.D.-granting alma mater. Our narrow selection is by design so as not to compare institutions with different missions because we are interested in performative variables, not proxies. Therefore, we consider this an intersectional study to determine the relative advantage of the upper echelons of political science education. We do, however, recognize that universities place students within the professoriate in national liberal arts colleges, regional universities, regional colleges, and community colleges.
A Population-based Study of Ureteroenteric Strictures After Open and Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy

Abstract Objective To evaluate differences in the incidence of benign ureteroenteric stricture, we compared stricture rates of robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and open radical cystectomy (ORC) using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare data. Methods We identified 332 RARC and 1449 ORC performed between 2009-2014 to determine stricture rates at 6, 12, and 24 months following surgery. We defined ureteroenteric stricture as the need for procedural intervention. Additionally, we compared the incidence of stricture diagnosis. Multivariable proportional hazards regression was performed to determine factors associated with stricture development. Results The incidence of ureteroenteric stricture at 6 and 12 months was higher for RARC vs. ORC at 12.1% vs. 7.0% (p Conclusion RARC is associated with a higher rate of ureteroenteric stricture diagnosis and intervention on a population-based level that is mitigated by higher hospital volume. A significant study limitation is inability to differentiate extracorporeal versus intracorporeal diversion. However, a stricture complication compounds the financial burden of care and efforts must be pursued to improve this surgical outcome.
Mother-Child and Father-Child Connectedness in Adolescence and Disordered Eating Symptoms in Young Adulthood.

Abstract Purpose The aim of the study was to examine mother–child connectedness and father–child connectedness in adolescence as potential protective factors against a range of disordered eating symptoms in young adulthood among males and females. Methods This study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 13,532). Sex-stratified logistic regression models adjusted for demographic covariates were conducted to examine associations of youth-reported mother–child connectedness and father–child connectedness in adolescence (mean age = 15.4 years) with disordered eating symptoms in young adulthood (mean age = 21.8 years). Results In this nationally representative sample of U.S. young adults, 7.2% of participants reported binge eating-related concerns, 3.7% reported compensatory behaviors (e.g., self-induced vomiting) to control weight, and 8.6% reported fasting/skipping meals to control weight. Among females, both higher mother–child connectedness and higher father–child connectedness were associated with lower odds of binge eating–related concerns (mother–child: odds ratio [OR] = .83, 95% confidence interval [CI] = .74–.94; father–child: OR = .79, 95% CI = .69–.91), compensatory behaviors (mother–child: OR = .85, 95% CI = .75–.97; father–child: OR = .81, 95% CI = .69–.95), and fasting/skipping meals (mother–child: OR = .79, 95% CI = .72–.87; father–child: OR = .81, 95% CI = .73–.91). No statistically significant associations were observed for mother–child connectedness or father–child connectedness with future disordered eating symptoms among males. Conclusions These findings suggest that improving mother–child connectedness and father–child connectedness in adolescence may be valuable targets for eating disorders intervention, particularly among females.
Modeling gene regulation in response to wounding: temporal variations, hormonal variations, and specialized metabolism pathways induced by wounding

Plants respond to wounding stress by changing gene expression patterns and inducing jasmonic acid (JA), as well as other plant hormones. This includes activating some specialized metabolism pathways, including the glucosinolate pathways, in the case of Arabidopsis thaliana. We model how these responses are regulated by using machine learning to incorporate putative cis-regulatory elements (pCREs), known transcription factor binding sites from literature, in-vitro DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq) and DNase I hypersensitive sites to predict gene expression for genes clustered by their wound response using machine learning. We found temporal patterns where regulatory sites and regions of open chromatin differed between clusters of genes up-regulated at early and late wounding time points as well as clusters where JA response was induced relative to clusters where JA response was not induced. Overall, we identified pCREs that improved model predictions of expression clusters over known binding sites. We discovered 4,255 pCREs related to wound response at different time points and 2,569 pCREs related to differences between JA-induced and non-JA induced wound response. In addition, pCREs found to be important at different wounding time points were mapped to the promoters of genes in a glucosinolate biosynthesis pathway indicating regulation of this pathway under wounding stress. Finally, we experimentally validated a predicted cis-regulatory element, CCGCGT, showing that knock-out via CRISPR-Cas9 reduces gene expression in response to wounding.
A text analysis and gatekeepers’ perspectives of a promotional genre: Understanding the rhetoric of Fulbright grant statements

Abstract This study investigates the rhetorical strategies of successful applicants to the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grants program. Using a move-step analysis, I analyzed 50 personal statements and 50 statements of grant purpose written by applicants between 2012 and 2016. Also incorporated are six Fulbright faculty-raters’ views of these statements through think-alouds and semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest successful ETA applicants utilize four moves in their personal statements: (1) competence claims, (2) motivation for pursuing ETA grant, (3) motivation for applying to target country, and (4) framing childhood and family history. In applicants' statements of grant purpose, most writers again utilize three moves from the personal statements (1–3). Faculty-raters’ perspectives are discussed in relation to the moves-steps the raters find influential, and also, raters’ perspectives concerning the ideal rhetoric of/relationship between personal statements and statements of grant purpose. Implications are discussed for future grant applicants and related genres such as graduate school applications.
Creation and filtering of a recurrent spectral library of CHO cell metabolites and media components.

This paper reports the first implementation of a new type of mass spectral library for the analysis of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell metabolites that allows users to quickly identify most compounds in any complex metabolite sample. We also describe an annotation methodology developed to filter out artifacts and low-quality spectra from recurrent unidentified spectra of metabolites. CHO cells are commonly used to produce biological therapeutics. Metabolic profiles of CHO cells and media can be used to monitor process variability and look for markers that discriminate between batches of product. We have created a comprehensive library of both identified and unidentified metabolites derived from CHO cells that can be used in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry to identify metabolites. In addition, we present a workflow that can be used for assigning confidence to a NIST MS/MS Library search match based on prior probability of general utility. The goal of our work is to annotate and identify (when possible), all liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry generated metabolite ions as well as create automatable library building and identification pipelines for use by others in the field.
Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults.

Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues—a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker’s face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker’s mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort for young (N = 180) and older (N = 180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adults. However, with the addition of moderate (− 5 dB SNR) and high (− 9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Participants also rated speech produced with a face mask as more effortful than unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.
White matter microstructure in Parkinson’s disease with and without elevated REM sleep muscle tone

The mechanisms contributing to increased expression of motor and cognitive impairment in people with Parkinson9s disease who lack muscle atonia during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep compared to those with muscle atonia are poorly understood. This study used tract-based spatial statistics to compare diffusion measures of white matter microstructure between people with Parkinson9s disease with and without REM sleep without atonia as well as the relationships of these measures to motor and cognitive function. Thirty-eight individuals with mild-to-moderate Parkinson9s disease and twenty-one matched control subjects underwent ultra-high-field MRI (7Tesla), quantitative motor assessments of gait and bradykinesia, and neuropsychological testing. The Parkinson9s disease cohort was separated post-hoc into those with and without elevated chin or leg muscle activity during REM sleep based on polysomnography findings. Fractional anisotropy was significantly higher, and radial and mean diffusivity significantly lower, in diffuse regions of the corpus callosum, projection, and association white matter pathways in the Parkinson9s group with normal REM sleep compared to controls. In contrast, there was no significant difference in fractional anisotropy between the Parkinson9s group with elevated muscle tone and controls. Fractional anisotropy was also significantly higher in a subset of pathways in the Parkinson9s disease group with normal REM sleep muscle tone compared to those with elevated REM sleep muscle tone. The group with elevated REM sleep muscle tone had significant impairments in gait and upper arm speed compared to controls and significantly worse scores in specific cognitive domains (executive function, visuospatial memory) compared to the Parkinson9s disease group with normal REM sleep muscle tone. Regression analyses showed that gait speed and step length in the Parkinson9s disease cohort were predicted by measures of mean fractional anisotropy of the anterior corona radiata, whereas elbow flexion velocity was predicted by fractional anisotropy of the superior corona radiata. Visuospatial memory task performance was predicted by the radial diffusivity of the posterior corona radiata. These findings demonstrate that people with mild-to-moderate severity of Parkinson9s disease who have normal muscle tone during REM sleep show alterations in white matter microstructure that are associated with preserved motor and cognitive function, but these adaptations are reduced or absent in those with increased REM sleep motor tone.
Managing diarrhea and fecal incontinence: results of a prospective clinical study in the intensive care unit

Managing fecal incontinence and diarrhea challenges ICU staff to control the fecal output and to protect the skin. This diverts resources from other vital patient needs. A new medical device system (FMS) was developed in which an inflated balloon retains a tube within the rectum while an external pouch collects fecal material, offering an option for temporary continence in subjects with uncontrolled diarrhea.
Abstract W P273: The Cost-Effectiveness of Telestroke Varies by Implementation Cost and Stroke Severity: Real World Data From a Pacific Northwest Network

Objective: An obstacle for community hospitals in joining a telestroke network is often the cost of implementation. Yet, previous analyses examining the cost and cost-effectiveness have only used estimates from the literature. Using real-world data from a Pacific Northwest telestroke network, we examined the cost-effectiveness of telestroke for spokes by level of financial responsibility for these costs and how this changes with patient stroke severity. Methods: We constructed a decision analytic model and parameterized it using patient-level clinical and financial data from the Providence Telestroke Network (PTN) pre and post telestroke implementation. Data included patients presenting at 17 spokes within 4.5 hours of symptom onset. Probability inputs included observed IV-tPA treatment rates, transfer status and hospital costs and reimbursements. Effectiveness, measured as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and cost per patient were used to calculate incremental cost effectiveness ratios (ICERs). ICER’...
From resultssets to resultstables in Stata

The listtab package supersedes the listtex package. It inputs a list of variables and outputs them as a table in one of several formats, including TEX, LATEX, HTML, Microsoft Rich Text Format, or p...
Numerically intensive computing as a benchmark for parallel computer architectures

We compare execution time for typical numerical problems, obtained on different parallel architectures, including typical vector supercomputers, multiprocessors and network of computers with PVM environment.
Timeliness and data element completeness of immunization data in Washington State in 2010: a comparison of data exchange methods.

Health information systems receive data through various methods. These data exchange methods have the potential to influence data quality. We assessed a de-identified 2010 dataset including 757,476 demographic records and 2,634,101 vaccination records from Washington State’s Immunization Information System (IIS) to describe timeliness and completeness of IIS data across several data exchange methods: manual entry, HL7, and flat file upload. Overall, manually-entered data and HL7 records were more timely than records imported as flat files. Completeness, though very high overall, was slightly higher for records arriving via flat file. Washington State IIS users, including clinicians and public health, rely on its data to inform patient care and determine population coverage of immunizations. Our results suggest that although data element completeness in systems like Washington’s IIS will likely not be immediately or significantly impacted by provider’s migration to HL7 connections with IISs, timeliness could be substantially improved when using HL7 connections.
Network bandwidth utilization forecast model on high bandwidth networks

With the increasing number of geographically distributed scientific collaborations and the growing sizes of scientific data, it has become challenging for users to achieve the best possible network performance on a shared network. We have developed a model to forecast expected bandwidth utilization on high-bandwidth wide area networks. The forecast model can improve the efficiency of resource utilization and scheduling of data movements on high-bandwidth networks to accommodate ever increasing data volume for large-scale scientific data applications. A univariate forecast model is developed with STL and ARIMA on SNMP path utilization data. Compared with traditional approach such as Box-Jenkins methodology to train the ARIMA model, our forecast model reduces computation time by 83.2%. It also shows resilience against abrupt network usage changes. Its forecast errors are within the standard deviation of the monitored measurements.
Safety evaluation of combination CCNU and continuous toceranib phosphate (Palladia®) in tumour‐bearing dogs: a phase I dose‐finding study

While maintaining a standard toceranib dosage [2.75 mg kg−1, PO, every other day (EOD)], three dose-escalating CCNU cohorts up to and including 60 mg m−2, PO, q3wk, were completed. The dose-limiting toxicities (DLT) for the combination were neutropenia and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) for CCNU when given with continuous toceranib was determined to be 50 mg m−2, q3wk. While activity is not a primary objective of phase I trials, we observed one complete (lymphoma) and four partial responses (lymphoma, sarcoma, undifferentiated carcinoma and prostatic carcinoma) and two dogs experienced stable disease for >6 weeks [gastric adenocarcinoma and metastatic multilobulated osteochondrosarcoma (MLO)] for an objective response rate of 38.4% and a biological response rate of 53.8%. Concurrent continuous toceranib (2.75 mg kg−1, EOD) and pulse dose CCNU (50 mg m−2, q3wk) was well tolerated. Phase II effectiveness and phase III prospective randomized trials should further interrogate the potential activity of this combination.
Mechanism limiting centrosome duplication to once per cell cycle

The centrosome is duplicated just once per cell cycle so that there is one centrosome at the beginning of the cell cycle and two in mitosis. Defects in this process can cause genome instability and even cancer. An in vitro study points to a strikingly similarity between the way cells control centrosome duplication and chromosome segregation. The pair of centrioles in the centrosome disengage at the end of mitosis, a process requiring separase, a protease involved in sister chromatid separation at mitosis. The separated centrioles are a substrate for duplication in the next cell cycle. Newly duplicated centrioles are paired, so they cannot duplicate again until passage through mitosis, when they are freed to duplicate by separase-mediated disengagement. This work reveals a common mechanism behind the two cellular processes that result in exact duplication once per cycle. Centrosome duplication needs to be tightly controlled to occur once and only once per cell cycle. The regulated timing of centriole disengagement in late mitosis is shown to allow one round of centrosome duplication in the next cycle. The centrosome organizes the microtubule cytoskeleton and consists of a pair of centrioles surrounded by pericentriolar material. Cells begin the cell cycle with a single centrosome, which duplicates once before mitosis. During duplication, new centrioles grow orthogonally to existing ones and remain engaged (tightly opposed) with those centrioles until late mitosis or early G1 phase, when they become disengaged1. The relationship between centriole engagement/disengagement and centriole duplication potential is not understood, and the mechanisms that control these processes are not known. Here we show that centriole disengagement requires the protease separase2 at anaphase, and that this disengagement licences centriole duplication in the next cell cycle. We describe an in vitro system using Xenopus egg extract and purified centrioles in which both centriole disengagement and centriole growth occur. Centriole disengagement at anaphase is independent of mitotic exit and Cdk2/cyclin E activity, but requires the anaphase-promoting complex and separase. In contrast to disengagement, new centriole growth occurs in interphase, is dependent on Cdk2/cyclin E, and requires previously disengaged centrioles. This suggests that re-duplication of centrioles within a cell cycle is prevented by centriole engagement itself. We propose that the ‘once-only’ control of centrosome duplication is achieved by temporally separating licensing in anaphase from growth of new centrioles during S phase. The involvement of separase in both centriole disengagement and sister chromatid separation would prevent premature centriole disengagement before anaphase onset, which can lead to multipolar spindles and genomic instability3,4.
Coherent spin manipulation without magnetic fields in strained semiconductors

A consequence of relativity is that in the presence of an electric field, the spin and momentum states of an electron can be coupled; this is known as spin–orbit coupling. Such an interaction opens a pathway to the manipulation of electron spins within non-magnetic semiconductors, in the absence of applied magnetic fields. This interaction has implications for spin-based quantum information processing1 and spintronics2,3, forming the basis of various device proposals4,5,6,7,8. For example, the concept of spin field-effect transistors4,5 is based on spin precession due to the spin–orbit coupling. Most studies, however, focus on non-spin-selective electrical measurements in quantum structures. Here we report the direct measurement of coherent electron spin precession in zero magnetic field as the electrons drift in response to an applied electric field. We use ultrafast optical techniques to spatiotemporally resolve spin dynamics in strained gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide epitaxial layers. Unexpectedly, we observe spin splitting in these simple structures arising from strain in the semiconductor films. The observed effect provides a flexible approach for enabling electrical control over electron spins using strain engineering. Moreover, we exploit this strain-induced field to electrically drive spin resonance with Rabi frequencies of up to ∼30 MHz.