cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Curing Chronic Hepatitis C: A Cost Comparison of the Combination Simeprevir Plus Sofosbuvir vs. Protease-Inhibitor-Based Triple Therapy

Interferon-free, multi-direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly effective and well tolerated, but costly. To gain perspective on the evolving economics of HCV therapy, we compared the cost per cure of a multi-DAA regimen with the prior standard of triple therapy. Material and methods. Material and methods. Patients infected with HCV genotype 1 who were treated through the University of Colorado Hepatology Clinic between May 2011 and December 2014 comprised the study population. The multi-DAA regimen of simeprevir plus sofosbuvir (SMV/SOF) was compared to the triple therapy regimen consisting of peginterferon and ribavirin, with either boceprevir or telaprevir (TT). Sustained-virologic response (SVR) rates, total costs per treatment and adverse events were recorded. Total cost per SVR were compared for the two treatments, controlling for patient demographics and clinical characteristics. Results. Results. Results. One hundred eighty-three patients received SMV/SOF (n = 70) or TT (n = 113). Patients receiving SMV/SOF were older, more treatment experienced, and had a higher stage of fibrosis. SVRs were 86% and 59%, average total costs per patient were $152,775 and $95,943, and average total costs per SVR were $178,237 vs. $161,813.49 for SMV/SOF and TT groups, respectively. Medication costs accounted for 98% of SMV/SOF and 85% of TT treatment costs. Conclusion. Conclusion. The Conclusion. high cure rate of multi-DAA treatment of HCV is offset by the high costs of the DAAs, such that the cost per cure from TT to multi-DAA therapy has been relatively constant. In order to cure more patients, either additional financial resources will need to be allocated to the treatment of HCV or drug costs will need to be reduced
New types of diffusion in lattice gas cellular automata

These lectures are concerned with Lorentz lattice gas cellular automata (LLGCA), a subclass of lattice gas cellular automata (LGCA). While in LGCA identical point particles move on a lattice and upon encounter scatter according to certain scattering rules, in LLGCA there are two kinds of point particles: moving particles and fixed, i. e., infinitely heavy, particles or scatterers that function as obstacles for the moving particles in their motion through the (in principle infinite) lattice. The name of Lorentz is used here, because he considered for the first time the motion of small, light particles through heavy particles (see ref.[l] in ref.[4]). The lattice distance, time step and speed of the moving particles are all taken to be unity. The moving particles move, independently of each other (i. e., there are no collisions between them) along the bonds of a lattice, colliding only with the fixed scatterers. The scatterers are randomly placed on the lattice sites and in this sense one studies motion in a random medium. If a moving particle arrives at an empty lattice site, where there is no scatterer, it moves in the next (discrete) time step to the nearest neighbor lattice site in the direction of its velocity. If the lattice site is occupied by a scatterer, the collision rules prescribe the position and velocity of the particle after the collision, which takes place instantaneously. Two types of collision rules will be considered here: probabilistic and deterministic. In LLGCA there is no momentum conservation of the particles, only number (and energy). As a consequence, diffusion rather than hydrodynamic flow (see ref.[2]) can be studied. The main question is then: what is the nature of the motion of the particles through the obstacles (scatterers)?
Hadean silicate differentiation preserved by anomalous 142Nd/144Nd ratios in the Réunion hotspot source.

Neodymium-142 isotope data from young Reunion Island volcanic rocks reflect the effects of geological processes that occurred more than four billion years ago, showing that the deep mantle may preserve geochemical signatures of the primordial Earth. Certain volcanic hotspots are thought to sample sections of Earth's deep interior that were formed more than two billion years ago, with some having witnessed differentiation events—the separation of planetary materials into chemically distinct regions, such as the core and mantle—that occurred within the first 50 million years of Earth's history. Bradley Peters and colleagues report neodymium isotopic data from Reunion Island volcanic rocks. The data correlate with helium isotopic data, suggesting parallel behaviour of the isotopic systems during silicate differentiation, perhaps as early as 4.39 billion years ago. They conclude that Reunion magmas tap an unusually ancient, primitive source compared to other volcanic hotspots, which could offer a window into the formation and preservation of ancient heterogeneities in Earth's interior. Active volcanic hotspots can tap into domains in Earth’s deep interior that were formed more than two billion years ago1,2. High-precision data on variability in tungsten isotopes have shown that some of these domains resulted from differentiation events that occurred within the first fifty million years of Earth history3,4. However, it has not proved easy to resolve analogous variability in neodymium isotope compositions that would track regions of Earth’s interior whose composition was established by events occurring within roughly the first five hundred million years of Earth history5,6. Here we report 142Nd/144Nd ratios for Reunion Island igneous rocks, some of which are resolvably either higher or lower than the ratios in modern upper-mantle domains. We also find that Reunion 142Nd/144Nd ratios correlate with helium-isotope ratios (3He/4He), suggesting parallel behaviour of these isotopic systems during very early silicate differentiation, perhaps as early as 4.39 billion years ago. The range of 142Nd/144Nd ratios in Reunion basalts is inconsistent with a single-stage differentiation process, and instead requires mixing of a conjugate melt and residue formed in at least one melting event during the Hadean eon, 4.56 billion to 4 billion years ago. Efficient post-Hadean mixing nearly erased the ancient, anomalous 142Nd/144Nd signatures, and produced the relatively homogeneous 143Nd/144Nd composition that is characteristic of Reunion basalts. Our results show that Reunion magmas tap into a particularly ancient, primitive source compared with other volcanic hotspots7,8,9,10, offering insight into the formation and preservation of ancient heterogeneities in Earth’s interior.
Congenital Heart Disease in Children

The use of cross-sectional imaging modalities, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), plays a key role in overcoming the diagnostic challenges of coronary artery imaging in children by avoiding the diagnostic pitfalls of echocardiography and by reducing risks related to catheter coronary angiography. With the advent of multi-detector CT (MDCT), and more recently Dual Source CT (DSCT), cardiovascular CT angiography (CCTA) has expanded the role of noninvasive methods for the evaluation of congenital heart disease (CHD) in children, because of its high diagnostic advantages for assessing cardiovascular anatomy and extracardiac abnormalities, with a low radiation dose. Particularly in the emergency setting and pre/postoperatively, CCTA has become the preferred technique due to its short examination times and ubiquitous availability. In this review, we summarize evidence-based recommendations implemented in clinical practice in our institution for the evaluation of coronary arteries and CHD in children.
The Value of a Second Opinion for Breast Cancer Patients Referred to a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Center with a Multidisciplinary Breast Tumor Board

This study aimed to investigate the changes in diagnosis after a second opinion for breast cancer patients from a multi-disciplinary tumor board (MTB) review at an National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center. A retrospective study analyzed patients with a breast cancer diagnosed at an outside institution who presented for a second opinion from August 2015 to March 2016 at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Radiology, pathology, and genetic testing reports from outside institutions were compared with reports generated after an MTB review and subsequent workup at MUSC. The second-opinion cases were categorized based on whether diagnostic variations were present or not. The review included 70 patients seeking second opinions, and 33 (47.1%) of these patients had additional radiologic images. A total of 30 additional biopsies were performed for 25 patients, with new cancers identified in 16 patients. Overall, 16 (22.8%) of the 70 of patients had additional cancers diagnosed. For 14 (20%) of the 70 patients, a second opinion led to a change in pathology interpretation. Genetic testing was performed for 11 patients (15.7%) who met the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for genetic testing, but none showed a mutation other than a variant of unknown significance. After a complete workup, 30 (42.8%) of the 70 patients had a change in diagnosis as a result of the MTB review. A review by an MTB at an NCI-designated cancer center changed the diagnosis for 43% of the patients who presented for a second opinion for breast cancer. The study findings support the conclusion that referral for a second opinion is beneficial and has a diagnostic impact for many patients.
Some Unresolved Issues in Motor Unit Research

The intrinsic properties of motoneurones, muscle units, and synaptic inputs exhibit correlated variations that subserve a wide range of functional demands. In large limb muscles, these correlations suggest distinct "types" of motor units, while in smaller, distal muscles their distributions are more continuous. The CNS mechanisms that control recruitment patterns are still unclear, particularly the organization of spinal interneurone circuits. We need new approaches to identify segmental interneurones by their inputs and output targets. However, functional circuitry is changeable, depending on the "state" of the system. Shifting alliances of interneurone groups can in principle produce virtually unlimited permutations of motor unit coactivation and suppression. Although such state-dependence plasticity is a challenge, it can also be a useful tool in unraveling interneurone organization.
The Pathology of Human Prostatic Atrophy and Inflammation

Focal atrophy is an extremely common histological alteration in the human prostate. Although most investigators during the last several decades have assumed that it is not relevant to prostate cancer, some pathologists suggested that prostate cancers might arise from atrophy as early as the 1930s (1). Chronic inflammation is a major contributing cause of cancer in many organ systems. Only in the last few years have investigators begun to examine whether chronic inflammation, which is virtually always associated with prostate tissue that is atrophic, may be also involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. Recently, a model of prostatic carcinogenesis involving a pathway of tissue injury, focal atrophy, regeneration, and specific molecular alterations occurring in the setting of chronic inflammation has been presented (2–4). In addition, the epidemiology of the potential role of inflammation and infection in prostate cancer has been reviewed recently (5–8). In this chapter, data regarding the histological features as well as the cellular and molecular biology of prostate atrophy and inflammation are examined.
Correction to: Risk, Protection, and Adjustment among Youth with Incarcerated and Non-Resident Parents: A Mixed-Methods Study

The original version of this manuscript contained an error in the reference for our general life events measure. General life events were assessed using the Life Events and Circumstances Checklist (LEC; Work, Cowen, Parker & Wyman, 1990) rather than the Coddington Life Events Scale (CLES; Coddington, 1972). A corrected description of the measure is provided below.
Development of a neutron spectrometer utilizing rubberized Eu:LiCAF wafers

Abstract A portable ten-layer neutron spectrometer has been developed using a novel material, LiCAF. The spectrometer consists of rubber matrix wafers with embedded europium doped lithium calcium aluminum fluoride (Eu:LiCAF) crystals and crosshatched wave shifting fibers (WSF). Layers of high density polyethylene (HDPE) separating each Eu:LiCAF wafer serve as neutron moderating material. Neutrons entering the spectrometer react in the Eu:LiCAF crystal, creating scintillation photons . The photons travel down the WSFs to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) that convert the photons to an electrical signal. Custom electronics are used to gather, amplify, process, and readout the signal. A library of several neutron response curves was created in Geant4 and MCNP. The experimental output of the spectrometer was unfolded using a maximum entropy algorithm, MAXED. The spectrometer was tested using two separate DD generators. These two tests resulted in unfolded neutron spectra with average neutron energies of 2.71 and 2.78 MeV and chi-squared values of 0.88 and 1.51 χ 2 /D.O.F. respectively, when fit to a 2.45 MeV monoenergetic energy spectrum .
Non-native insects dominate daytime pollination in a high-elevation Hawaiian dryland ecosystem

Premise of the Study Over one‐third of the native flowering plant species in the Hawaiian Islands are listed as federally threatened or endangered. Lack of sufficient pollination could contribute to reductions in populations, reproduction, and genetic diversity among these species but has been little studied. Methods We used systematic observations and manual flower treatments to quantify flower visitation and outcrossing dependency of eight native (including four endangered) plant species in a dryland ecosystem in Hawaii: Argemone glauca, Bidens menziesii, Dubautia linearis, Haplostachys haplostachya, Sida fallax, Silene lanceolata, Stenogyne angustifolia, and Tetramolopium arenarium. Key Results During 576.36 h of flower observations, only insects visited the flowers. Out of all recorded flower visits, 85% were performed by non‐native species, particularly the honeybee (Apis mellifera) and flies in the family Syrphidae. Some plant species received little visitation (e.g., S. angustifolia received one visit in 120 h of observation), whereas others were visited by a wide diversity of insects. The endangered plant species were visited by fewer visitor taxa than were the common native plant species. For six of the focal plant species, bagging of flowers to exclude pollinators resulted in significant reductions in seed set. Conclusions The flower visitor community in this system, although heavily dominated by non‐native insects, appears to be facilitating pollination for multiple plant species. Non‐native insects may thus be sustaining biotic interactions otherwise threatened with disruption in this island ecosystem. This may be particularly important for the studied endangered plant species, which exhibit fewer partners than the more common plant species.
Outcomes of Ambulatory Upper Extremity Surgery Patients Discharged Home with Perineural Catheters from a Veterans Health Administration Medical Center.

OBJECTIVE The feasibility and safety of managing ambulatory continuous peripheral nerve blocks (CPNB) in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients are currently unknown. We aimed to characterize the outcomes of a large VHA cohort of ambulatory upper extremity surgery patients discharged with CPNB and identify differences, if any, between catheter types. METHODS With institutional review board approval, we reviewed data for consecutive patients from a single VHA hospital who had received ambulatory CPNB for upper extremity surgery from March 2011 to May 2017. The composite primary outcome was the occurrence of any catheter-related issue or additional all-cause health care intervention after discharge. Our secondary outcome was the ability to achieve regular daily telephone contact. RESULTS Five hundred one patients formed the final sample. The incidence of any issue or health care intervention was 104/274 (38%) for infraclavicular, 58/185 (31%) for interscalene, and 14/42 (33%) for supraclavicular; these rates did not differ between groups. Higher ASA status was associated with greater odds of having any issue, whereas increasing age was slightly protective. Distance was associated with an increase in catheter-related issues (P < 0.01) but not additional health care interventions (P = 0.51). Only interscalene catheter patients (3%) reported breathing difficulty. Infraclavicular catheter patients had the most emergency room visits but rarely for CPNB issues. Consistent daily telephone contact was not achieved. CONCLUSIONS For VHA ambulatory CPNB patients, the combined incidence of a catheter-related issue or additional health care intervention was approximately one in three patients and did not differ by brachial plexus catheter type. Serious adverse events were generally uncommon.
On the effects of buoyancy on higher order moments in lazy plumes

Jets and plumes are shear flows created by momentum and buoyant sources. They can be classified as either pure jets, forced plumes, pure plumes, or lazy plumes. Lazy plumes are characterised as hav...
Have you ever come to a point

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. "Have you ever come to a point in your life when you realized you should reexamine your life as a whole? I have often wondered what it is like to go through a “mid-life crisis”. I have recently turned 31 and although I may be considered too young to be going through such a crisis, I have definitely reached a crossroad. My crisis revolves around a recent turn of events that have swayed my beliefs and shifted my emotions. I am currently separated from my husband of almost seven years. Our marriage did not end on good terms and to make a long story short, we now have a sea of legalities between us ranging from a custody battle to felony charges for harassment and stalking, making it even harder to co-parent our three-year old son, Kristopher. You see, I thought that by this stage in my life I would be completely settled, with my career underway and a happysecure marriage under my belt. Was I ever wrong!" This the world seen through the lens of faith is available in Verbum: http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol11/iss1/5
Computing $$L_1$$ L 1 Shortest Paths Among Polygonal Obstacles in the Plane

Given a point s and a set of h pairwise disjoint polygonal obstacles with a total of n vertices in the plane, suppose a triangulation of the space outside the obstacles is given; we present an $$O(n+h\log h)$$ time and O(n) space algorithm for building a data structure (called shortest path map) of size O(n) such that for any query point t, the length of an $$L_1$$ shortest obstacle-avoiding path from s to t can be computed in $$O(\log n)$$ time and the actual path can be reported in additional time proportional to the number of edges of the path. The previously best algorithm computes such a shortest path map in $$O(n\log n)$$ time and O(n) space. So our algorithm is faster when h is relatively small. Further, our techniques can be extended to obtain improved results for other related problems, e.g., computing the $$L_1$$ geodesic Voronoi diagram for a set of point sites among the obstacles.
Challenges in Vehicle Safety and Occupant Protection for Autonomous electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) Vehicles

The burgeoning electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle industry has generated a significant level of enthusiasm amongst aviation designers, manufacturers and researchers. This industry is determined to change the urban transportation paradigm from traditional ground-based vehicles (cars, taxis, buses) to air-based eVTOL vehicles which can be summoned, much like how conventional taxi services work currently. These new eVTOL vehicles are designed to be small and lightweight and operate autonomously without user intervention. There are many unknowns as to how the industry will mature. The logistics of creating a completely new category of vehicle along with its own set of rules are complex, and there are many known - and unknown - barriers to overcome. Some (of many) known barriers include airspace management, ground logistics, physical space, and, the vehicle design itself. There are many eVTOL vehicle manufacturers and organizations working these problems presently. This report will focus on one major barrier: the level of safety as it pertains to the framework of eVTOL vehicles. A high level of safety is necessary for the vehicles to gain acceptance as the public adapts to these autonomous ride-sharing services. An overview of current levels of transportation safety and some extrapolation into how eVTOL vehicles might compare is first presented. Next, a discussion categorizing the major differences between Crash Prevention and Crash Mitigation as it pertains to eVTOL vehicle safety is included with identification of current deficiencies. The report then expands into a framework for specific ideas that could use Crash Mitigation to improve vehicle safety through a crashworthy systems level approach with several designs highlighted. Finally, a brief discussion into the regulatory approach and potential guidelines as they pertain to new eVTOL vehicles is presented. Accordingly, much of the supplemental data will be taken from sources pertaining to either General Aviation (GA) aircraft, rotorcraft, or transport category aircraft, due to the lack of overarching data from eVTOL vehicles. As of this writing, the European Aviation Safety Agency has released a draft version of a VTOL Special Condition, with a comment period closing in late 2018. It is assumed that eventual expected operations and anticipated future regulations for VTOL vehicles will consist of some combination of these (and other) sources.
Performance of deep learning synthetic CTs for MR-only brain radiation therapy.

Purpose To evaluate the dosimetric and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) performance of a novel generative adversarial network (GAN) generated synthetic CT (synCT) in the brain and compare its performance for clinical use including conventional brain radiotherapy, cranial stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), planar, and volumetric IGRT. Methods and materials SynCT images for 12 brain cancer patients (6 SRS, 6 conventional) were generated from T1-weighted postgadolinium magnetic resonance (MR) images by applying a GAN model with a residual network (ResNet) generator and a convolutional neural network (CNN) with 5 convolutional layers as the discriminator that classified input images as real or synthetic. Following rigid registration, clinical structures and treatment plans derived from simulation CT (simCT) images were transferred to synCTs. Dose was recalculated for 15 simCT/synCT plan pairs using fixed monitor units. Two-dimensional (2D) gamma analysis (2%/2 mm, 1%/1 mm) was performed to compare dose distributions at isocenter. Dose-volume histogram (DVH) metrics (D95% , D99% , D0.2cc, and D0.035cc ) were assessed for the targets and organ at risks (OARs). IGRT performance was evaluated via volumetric registration between cone beam CT (CBCT) to synCT/simCT and planar registration between KV images to synCT/simCT digital reconstructed radiographs (DRRs). Results Average gamma passing rates at 1%/1mm and 2%/2mm were 99.0 ± 1.5% and 99.9 ± 0.2%, respectively. Excellent agreement in DVH metrics was observed (mean difference ≤0.10 ± 0.04 Gy for targets, 0.13 ± 0.04 Gy for OARs). The population averaged mean difference in CBCT-synCT registrations were 0.05). An outlier with a large resection cavity exhibited the worst-case scenario. Conclusion Brain GAN synCTs demonstrated excellent performance for dosimetric and IGRT endpoints, offering potential use in high precision brain cancer therapy.
Evaluating the impact of smoking on disease-specific survival outcomes in patients with human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal cancer treated with transoral robotic surgery.

BACKGROUND When treated nonsurgically with definitive chemoradiation, smokers with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) have a worse prognosis compared with their nonsmoking counterparts. To the authors' knowledge, the prognostic significance of smoking in surgically treated patients is unknown. METHODS The current study is a retrospective case series of patients with HPV-positive OPSCC who underwent upfront transoral robotic surgery at a single institution from 2010 through 2017. Exclusion criteria were nonoropharyngeal primary tumors, histology other than SCC, HPV-negative tumors, previous history of head and neck cancer, and/or previous head and neck radiotherapy. Recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival, and disease-specific survival were compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test. Smoking history was categorized as never smokers (<1 pack-year), current smokers (smoking at the time of the cancer diagnosis), and former smokers. RESULTS A total of 258 patients met the study criteria. The average age was 60 years, and approximately 87% of patients were male. A total of 148 patients (57.4%) were smokers whereas 110 (42.6%) reported never smoking. There were 44 active smokers (17.1%) and 104 former smokers (40.3%). The median follow-up was 3.23 years. There were 17 patients of disease recurrence. Smoking pack-year history was not found to be significant for RFS (hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99-1.03 [P = .45]). There was no significant difference in RFS noted between never and ever smokers (92% vs 89.8%; P = .85) nor was there a difference observed between never, former, and current smokers (92% vs 91.5% vs 86.1%, respectively; P = .69). CONCLUSIONS A smoking history is common in patients with HPV-positive OPSCC. In the current study, HPV-positive smokers were found to have excellent survival and locoregional control, similar to their nonsmoking counterparts. The results of the current study do not support the exclusion of smokers with early-stage, HPV-positive OPSCC from transoral robotic surgery-based deintensification trials.
How black heterosexual men’s narratives about sexual partner type and condom use disrupt the main and casual partner dichotomy: ‘we still get down, but we not together’

Sexual partner types and partnership dynamics have important implications for condom use. Yet most HIV prevention research conceptualises condom use as individual-level rather than dyadic-level beh...
Four advantages of a systemic approach to the study of religion

There has been increasing interest in the evolutionary study of religion, but perfunctory fractionalization has limited our ability to explain how and why religion evolved, evaluate religion’s curr...
Isoflavone supplementation, via red clover hay, alters the rumen microbial community and promotes weight gain of steers grazing mixed grass pastures.

Biochanin A, an isoflavone present in the pasture legume red clover (Trifloium pratense L.), alters fermentation in the rumen of cattle and other ruminants. Biochanin A inhibits hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria and promotes cellulolytic bacteria and fiber catalysis in vitro and ex vivo. Consequently, biochanin A supplementation improves weight gain in grazing steers. Red clover contains biologically active isoflavones that may act synergistically. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effect of two levels of red clover hay on growth performance and the microbial community in growing steers grazing mixed grass pastures. A grazing experiment was conducted over 2 early growing seasons (2016 and 2017) with 36 cross-bred steers and twelve rumen-fistulated, growing Holstein steers for evaluation of average daily gain and rumen microbiota, respectively. Steers were blocked by body weight and assigned to pastures with one of four treatments: 1) pasture only, 2) pasture + dry distillers' grains (DDG), 3) pasture + DDG + low level of red clover hay (~15% red clover diet), or 4) pasture + DDG + high level of red clover hay (~30% red clover diet). DDG were added to treatments to meet protein requirements and to balance total protein supplementation between treatments. All supplementation strategies (DDG ± red clover hay) increased average daily gains in comparison to pasture-only controls (P DDG only controls; P < 0.05). Similarly, hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria inhibition (10-100-fold; P < 0.05), fiber catalysis (+10-25%; P < 0.05) and short chain fatty acid concentrations were greatest with the low red clover supplement (+~25%; P < 0.05). These results provide evidence that lower levels or red clover supplementation may be optimal for maximizing overall microbial community function and animal performance in grazing steers.
Colonial Virginia's paper money, 1755–1774: value decomposition and performance

Colonial Virginia's legislature introduced an inside paper money into its domestic economy that was, at that time, primarily a barter economy without any government or bank-issued inside paper monies in circulation. I decompose Virginia's paper money into its expected real-asset present value, risk discount and transaction premium. The value of Virginia's paper money was determined primarily by its real-asset present value. The transaction premium was small. Positive risk discounts occurred in years when monetary troubles were suspected, namely worries that the government would not redeem the paper money as promised. Counterfeiting, however, was not one of these worries. The legislature had the tools and used them effectively to mitigate the effects of counterfeiting on the value of its paper money. Colonial Virginia's paper money was not a fiat currency, but a barter asset, with just enough transaction premium to make it the preferred medium of exchange for local transactions. It functioned like a zero-coupon bond and traded below face value due to time-discounting, not depreciation.
Three-dimensional computation of fibre orientation, diameter and branching in segmented image stacks of fibrous networks

Fibre topography of the extracellular matrix governs local mechanical properties and cellular behaviour including migration and gene expression. While quantifying properties of the fibrous network provides valuable data that could be used across a breadth of biomedical disciplines, most available techniques are limited to two dimensions and, therefore, do not fully capture the architecture of three-dimensional (3D) tissue. The currently available 3D techniques have limited accuracy and applicability and many are restricted to a specific imaging modality. To address this need, we developed a novel fibre analysis algorithm capable of determining fibre orientation, fibre diameter and fibre branching on a voxel-wise basis in image stacks with distinct fibre populations. The accuracy of the technique is demonstrated on computer-generated phantom image stacks spanning a range of features and complexities, as well as on two-photon microscopy image stacks of elastic fibres in bovine tendon and dermis. Additionally, we propose a measure of axial spherical variance which can be used to define the degree of fibre alignment in a distribution of 3D orientations. This method provides a useful tool to quantify orientation distributions and variance on image stacks with distinguishable fibres or fibre-like structures.
Circular RNAs in Immune Response and Viral Infection

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a diverse class of RNAs with varying sizes, cellular abundance, and biological functions. Investigations from the past decade have revealed that circRNAs are ubiquitously found in eukaryotes and have defined the different biological roles of circRNAs to illuminate this previously unrecognized class of molecules. In the context of the immune system, immune responses and immune-related diseases alter circRNA expression. More recently, several oncogenic double-stranded DNA viruses have been found to encode circRNAs. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of circRNAs and their emerging functions in immune regulation and autoimmune disorders, and discuss the identification and potential roles of viral circRNAs during infections. Finally, we present promising areas for future investigations in the nascent field of circRNAs.
Cyber-Physical Analytics: Environmental Sound Classification at the Edge

Recent advances in embedded system technology have created opportunities for alleviating or eliminating common Big Data problems, by providing the resources necessary to perform AI/ML algorithms on-board edge devices. This has led to the emergence of a sub-discipline of Measurements and Signal Intelligence (MASINT) known as Cyber-Physical MASINT, wherein analysts can receive and exploit data directly from cyber-physical devices, and execute algorithms on-board, without the need to transfer to cloud servers. This type of edge analytics can decrease latency, improve security, decrease the amount of data transferred out of the device, and increase the quality of the data being transferred. With this motivation, we approach the task of environmental sound classification, a task which has seen a substantial amount of research in recent years, but which has had very limited implementation at the edge. In this work, we design and deploy an application on a mobile device to perform event detection and sound classification using a novel ensemble of deep neural networks optimized for a mobile environment, capable of classifying six common office sounds with high accuracy and low latency. We provide an accuracy and performance analysis at varying levels of optimization.
Neo-Republicanism and the Domination of Immigrants

Neo-republicanism seems well suited to provide insight into current policies for the control and restriction of immigration. In this paper, I discuss three different accounts of domination to assess whether they can provide intuitively acceptable responses to the types of domination experienced by different groups of immigrants. First, I present and criticize an argument offered by Philip Pettit in support of the view that immigration restrictions could in principle avoid being dominating. My criticism focuses on Pettit’s account of non-arbitrary governmental action that claims that laws and policies are not dominating when people have democratic control over the government’s activity. Given the failure of Pettit’s argument, I turn to the proceduralist account of non-arbitrary state action proposed by Frank Lovett, and discuss the limitations of the account in diagnosing all ways in which border controls and immigration policy can generate domination. Finally, I present and defend the view that governmental action is not dominating when there are adequate checks that protect the objective interests of individuals.
Reconstructing intelligible speech from the human auditory cortex

Auditory stimulus reconstruction is a technique that finds the best approximation of the acoustic stimulus from the population of evoked neural activity. Reconstructing speech from the human auditory cortex creates the possibility of a speech neuroprosthetic to establish a direct communication with the brain and has been shown to be possible in both overt and covert conditions. However, the low quality of the reconstructed speech has severely limited the utility of this method for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. To advance the state-of-the-art in speech neuroprosthesis, we combined the recent advances in deep learning with the latest innovations in speech synthesis technologies to reconstruct closed-set intelligible speech from the human auditory cortex. We investigated the dependence of reconstruction accuracy on linear and nonlinear regression methods and the acoustic representation that is used as the target of reconstruction, including spectrogram and speech synthesis parameters. In addition, we compared the reconstruction accuracy from low and high neural frequency ranges. Our results show that a deep neural network model that directly estimates the parameters of a speech synthesizer from all neural frequencies achieves the highest subjective and objective scores on a digit recognition task, improving the intelligibility by 65% over the baseline. These results demonstrate the efficacy of deep learning and speech synthesis algorithms for designing the next generation of speech BCI systems, which not only can restore communications for paralyzed patients but also have the potential to transform human-computer interaction technologies.
THE INFLUENCE OF TIME ON THE MATURING TEMPERATURE OF WHITEWARE BODIES. I.1

In this investigation quantitative relations have been established between the time and temperature effects in the maturing of whiteware bodies. Six typical commercial whiteware bodies were used. Similar shrinkage and porosity curves were obtained for different firing times but the longer the time the lower the curve was shifted on the temperature scale. It was found that in all cases the usual logarithmic law relating temperature with the rate of reaction applied. The constant, however, was not the same for all bodies. The microstructure of these bodies will be dealt with in Part II of this paper.
The Securitization Flash Flood

What caused the flooding of securitized products in the pre-crisis years? This paper presents evidence that demand for safe collateral in repo markets made it attractive for financial institutions to issue securitized products. Using the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) as a natural experiment that shocked demand for collateral, the paper establishes collateralized borrowing in short-term debt markets as a contributing factor to the rise of mortgage securitization. Hand-collected data on underlying collateral of over 900 repurchase contracts reveals underwriters of securitized products increased use of mortgage-based repos in the months following the law change. Highlighting an unintended consequence of bankruptcy law, the paper speaks to the debate on preferential treatment of financial contracts in bankruptcy.
Sociopolitical control as a mediator between ethnic identity and social support on 30-day drug use among black girls.

While Black girls have lower rates of drug use, they face worse health and wellbeing consequences associated with drug use. Understanding which strengths-based factors serve as buffers to limit adverse outcomes related to drug use among Black girls is essential for prevention. This study investigated the mediating role of sociopolitical control on drug use among Black girls (n = 340). Using path analysis, models were tested to include the variables of interest. Sociopolitical control (e.g. leadership competency and policy control) significantly mediated the relationship between ethnic identity and social support on drug use. Implications from this study may consider bolstering empowerment-based strategies in drug use prevention for Black girls.
Nitrogen isotopic relationship between diatom-bound and bulk organic matter of cultured polar diatoms

[1] Using batch cultures, the 15N/14N (hereafter δ15N) of diatom-bound organic matter was measured and compared to the δ15N of total diatom biomass during the progressive consumption of a nitrate pool in four polar diatom species (Fragilariopsis cylindrus, Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, Pseudo-nitzschia seriata, and Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii) and one temperate species (Thalassiosira aestivalis). In general, the δ15N of the dissolved nitrate in seawater was greater than that of the biomass, which was greater than that of the diatom-bound N. Rayleigh-type relationships were observed, allowing for estimation of the isotope effect (ɛ) for each species, with a range from 1.0‰ to 14.0‰ across all species. For all cultured strains, the δ15N values of the diatom-bound (δ15NDB) fraction was lower than those of the total diatom biomass (δ15Nbiomass). The isotopic offset between the biomass and diatom-bound N (δ15NDBoffset = δ15Nbiomass − δ15NDB) was relatively constant along the growth curve for each individual species but varied among species, with a range of 1.9‰–11.2‰. Weak relationships were determined when ɛ and the δ15NDBoffset were compared to cellular size and surface area:volume ratio. More significantly, with the exception of Pseudo-nitzschia seriata, a strong positive relationship was found between ɛ and δ15NDBoffset. While the culture data indicate a positive δ15NDBoffset across all studied diatom species, surface sediment data suggest a negative δ15NDBoffset for sedimentary assemblages. This indicates that either (1) the growth conditions of our cultures had some effect on δ15NDBoffset or (2) a low-δ15N component of the N that we measure as diatom frustule–bound is lost during early diagenesis. Given documented assemblage changes, our culture data for relevant species do not suggest that the higher δ15NDB observed in the Antarctic during ice ages can be explained by species related changes in the sedimentary bulk-to-diatom-bound isotopic difference. Future work on the diatom-bound material in cultured diatoms grown under in situ nutrient conditions, analysis of sediment trap and net tow material, and frustule dissolution experiments will more completely assess this paleoproxy.
Classifying Business Marketing Messages on Facebook

Companies are increasingly using social media for marketing purposes. In this study we first demonstrate that although the majority of company posts on Facebook are aimed for direct sales and promotions, it is their communication messages that received the most attention from customers. We then trained an SVM classifier to automatically separate these two kinds of messages, hoping to use this tool to analyze messages from many companies and consequently monitor the evolution of their social media use over time. We found that the classifier trained with tf-idf weighted part-of-speech features performed best. It is better than classifiers trained with word features. Combining feature sets did not improve the performance. Feature ranking results show that this best-performed classifier captured the genre characteristics of direct marketing and communication messages.
Controvérsia no Horizonte: Contratação para Resolução Eficaz de Disputas em Transações Comerciais Internacionais – Uma Perspectiva Norte-Americana (The Dispute on the Horizon: Contracting for Effective Dispute Resolution in International Business Transactions – A U.S. Perspective)

The English version of this paper can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1947539This Article was written by the author in English and was translated for publication in Portuguese. The Article offers a view, from a U.S. perspective but for a non-U.S. readership, on the significant aspects of planning for dispute resolution in the context of cross-border business transactions involving U.S. and non-U.S. parties. Specifically, this Article identifies the issues that parties who are located in Brazil or in other jurisdictions throughout the Americas should consider at the time of drafting, negotiating, and finalizing business contracts with U.S. counterparties, as well as business contracts that are entered into in connection with other cross-border arrangements that could involve U.S. law even when there is no U.S. counterparty, to prepare for effective management of disputes as they arise. To that end, this Article briefly describes choice of law, choice of forum, and method of dispute resolution as addressed in international business contracts, and this Article analyzes from a U.S. perspective some of the issues that arise with respect to drafting and enforcing the appropriate contract language to address the same.
Numerical Analysis Methods

In the context of Performance Evaluation (PE), numerical analysis methods refer to those methods which work with a Markov chain representation of the system under evaluation and use techniques from the domain of numerical analysis to compute stationary and/or transient state probabilities or other measures of interest. As is evident from reading through this book, the use of mathematical models to analyze complex systems has a long history. With the advent of high powered workstations and cheap memory, these applications have greatly expanded. More and more frequently, however, the characteristics of the system to be modeled are such that analytical solutions do not exist or are unknown so that systems engineers turn to computing numerical solutions rather than analytical solutions.
Prediction of binary mixture boiling heat transfer coefficients using only phase equilibrium data

Abstract A new method for predicting the variation of nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficients with composition for binary liquid mixtures is presented. It is shown that the rise in the local boiling point of the liquid, ΔTbp, adjacent to the heated surface caused by preferential evaporation of the volatile component has a limit at the peak nucleate heat flux. ΔTbp, can be determined from knowledge of only the phase equilibrium diagram at the pressure of interest. The resulting equation incorporating ΔTbp accurately predicts published experimental boiling heat transfer coefficients at heat fluxes well below the peak heat flux for six binary liquid mixture systems considered: ethanol-water, acetone-water, ethanol-benzene, nitrogen-argon, nitrogen-oxygen, and nitrogen-methane.
Direct atomic scale imaging of grain boundaries and defects in Bi-2223/Ag high-Tc superconducting tapes

Abstract Grain boundaries and defects in (Bi,Pb) 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 10+ δ (Bi-2223)/Ag composite tapes are investigated by the atomic resolution Z-contrast imaging technique in the scanning transmission electron microscope. One of the most prevalent types of boundary between superconductor grain colonies is the c -axis twist boundary that is located in the middle of the double BiO layers. Although no amorphous layers are found to exist at these boundaries, local phase variations at/near the boundaries are frequently observed. Another typical grain boundary is the small-angle asymmetrical tilt boundary (ATB), which is parallel to the basal planes of one grain. At the small-angle ATB, different types of phases with various numbers of CuO 2 layers in their unit cell are formed periodically along the boundary plane. This means that this type of the boundary also occurs in the middle of the BiO double layers. These local phase variations exist in close proximity to the Ag interface and may give rise to weak link behavior. Additionally, many dislocations and stacking faults are observed within the filaments. Although these defects may provide a benefit in the pinning of magnetic flux, they also give rise to local variations of the superconducting properties.
Fattori aventi rapporto con la sintesi e la liberazione di insulina

La produzione giornaliera di insulina da parte delle cellule beta delle isole diLangerhans corrisponde approssimativamente a 50 U di insulina. Lo stimolo per questa produzione di insulina e costituito dal glucosio che permea nelle isole. Viene preso in considerazione il ruolo degli altri esosi e dei metaboliti del glucosio nella stimolazione dell'insulinopoiesi pancreatica. Altre sostanze hanno un effetto sulla formazione di insulina da parte delle betacellule, come le sulfoniluree e un aminoacido, la leucina.