cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Review Article: Past, Present and Future of Cancer Survivorship and the Importance of the Urologist

Abstract Introduction Cancer survivorship is a concept that focuses on the complete medical and holistic care of the patient with cancer from the time of diagnosis to the time of death. In 2015 the number of cancer survivors in the United States was expected to exceed 14.5 million people and a significant portion of these patients have malignancies that affect the genitourinary health of the survivor. In this review we describe the concept of cancer survivorship and review the important role of the urologist in cancer survivor care. Methods A literature search concerning cancer survivorship and urogenital neoplasms was performed. We systematically searched Medline® from inception until July 2015 with the objective of identifying studies specifically targeting broad survivorship care concerns for genitourinary neoplasms. We also included nonsystematically identified publications, and governmental and agency produced reports that are currently available through various government entities and organizations. Results Systematic searching yielded 35 articles and 7 reports for inclusion in our literature review. Urology relevant Medline findings were categorized into review articles, biopsychosocial aspects of cancer care, guidelines or society recommendations, diet and exercise related materials, models or coordination of care, or other. We found that the development of guidelines and recommendations for survivorship care in urology has been limited by the quality of the studies published to date. Conclusions More patients are surviving cancer and living with the consequences of treatment of the primary disease. Awareness of the components of survivorship will be critical as more national organizations require specific survivorship care programs to address these issues. Given that a large number of cancer survivors in the United States have survived urological malignancy or have urological side effects of treatment, the urology community must be familiar with the global concept of survivorship.
The Nature of Constitutional Literacy

Knowledge of what this Amendment says indicates constitutional literacy at a basic level. In public discourse the 4th Amendment is invoked frequently in principle, if not verbatim, alongside the 1st Amendment (freedom of speech and religion), the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms), the 5th Amendment (the right to an attorney and the right to not incriminate oneself), and the 14th Amendment (due process and equal protection under the law). Also, descriptions of police basic training that cite Amendments specifically cite the 4th Amendment more than any other. Knowing the meaning and history of the 4th Amendment suggests a higher degree of constitutional literacy than merely knowing its verbal content. This meaning and history also remind us that the full scope of constitutional literacy is beyond the document itself and includes knowing its history and philosophical influences.
Temporal and spatial evolution of nuclear polarization in optically pumped InP

The electron-nuclear interaction in optically pumped NMR of semiconductors manifests itself through changes in spectral features (resonance shifts, linewidths, signal amplitudes) and through the magnitude of the nuclear-spin polarization. We show that these spectral features can provide a measure of the parameters that govern the optical pumping process: electron-nuclear cross-relaxation rate, Bohr radius and fractional occupancy of the optically relevant defect (ORD), and electron polarization at the ORD. Applying a model of the spatial and temporal evolution of the nuclear spins under optical pumping to ${}^{31}\mathrm{P}$ in semi-insulating InP we find an ORD Bohr radius of 6 nm, independent of the electron polarization used to fit the data, confirming the ORD is a shallow donor. For an electron polarization of $\ensuremath{-}0.15$, the ORD fractional occupancy is 0.02, leading to an electron-nuclear cross-relaxation time of 0.20 s and a hyperfine frequency shift of 8.1 kHz for super-bandgap irradiation. Allowing the electron polarization to vary in the model constrained to the hyperfine shift data, we find the fractional occupancy and electron-nuclear cross-relaxation rate to be approximately inversely proportional to the electron polarization. From the long-time evolution of the nuclear polarization we calculate an ORD density of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{15}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\text{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$.
Understanding the Intersections between Metabolism and Cancer Biology

Transformed cells adapt metabolism to support tumor initiation and progression. Specific metabolic activities can participate directly in the process of transformation or support the biological processes that enable tumor growth. Exploiting cancer metabolism for clinical benefit requires defining the pathways that are limiting for cancer progression and understanding the context specificity of metabolic preferences and liabilities in malignant cells. Progress toward answering these questions is providing new insight into cancer biology and can guide the more effective targeting of metabolism to help patients.
Direct Measurement of R Value for Aluminum Alloy Sheet Metal Using Digital Image Correlation

Plastic Strain Ratio, also called the R value, is a key parameter to evaluate the formability of sheet metal which is widely used in the yield functions and constitutive equations. To measure the R value during a tensile test, the strain along the width direction and thinning direction have to be measured simultaneously. Conventionally, due to the difficulties of measuring the thinning strain, the R value is usually calculated from the principle strain 1 and 2 under zero plastic volume change assumption. This paper shows a novel testing setup using a 3D digital image correlation which can measure the strain in width and thinning strain simultaneously, thus the R value can be measured directly without volume constant assumption. The test plan, experiment setup and results are shown in detail in this article.
"Relational climate, product innovation, and the mediating role of OCB-Voice"

Product innovation is a critical component for both organizational survival and organizational growth, thus understanding innovation continues to be a prevalent topic for academics and practitioner...
A simulation model for planning emergency response systems.

Abstract A simulation model of an emergency response system is presented and used to analyze the performance of the public emergency ambulance service in Madison, Wisconsin. Based on data from the early 1970's which include the spatial and temporal distribution of emergency calls, the model is designed to replicate the sequence of events in an emergency response situation. The model is tested for validity against a sample of emergency calls from the actual system in Madison and several applications of the model are discussed to show its effectiveness in this area of regional health planning. In one example, the simulation results indicate that a relocation of two emergency units in Madison would offer substantial savings in response time, service time, and distance travelled by the system's vehicles.
Statically Checking Conventionality of Array Objects in JavaScript

A JavaScript array object is just like any other kind of object except that it has a property named length that is automatically updated. The array object may have other property names such as non-numeric strings and string representations of negative integers. A conventional array is an array that has a property named length and the names of all other properties are (string representation of) positive integers. This paper presents a conventionality analysis of array objects in JavaScript programs. The analysis provides useful information for program development and understanding since any non-conventional use of an array could indicate a potential programming error unless it is intended by the programmer. The analysis is built upon a novel abstract string domain that captures array index information more precisely than the existing ones. Our experiments on a set of 98 benchmark programs show that arrays are used in a conventional way in 95% of the benchmark programs.
How Much Is Enough? Evaluating Intervention Implementation Efficiently

This study investigated the use of brief observations to measure implementation of small group interventions using the Quality of Intervention Delivery and Receipt (QIDR) tool. Videos of 10-min seg...
Single-camera three-dimensional tracking of natural particulate and zooplankton

We develop and characterize an image processing algorithm to adapt single-camera defocusing digital particle image velocimetry (DDPIV) for three-dimensional (3D) particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) of natural particulates, such as those present in the ocean. The conventional DDPIV technique is extended to facilitate tracking of non-uniform, non-spherical particles within a volume depth an order of magnitude larger than current single-camera applications (i.e. 10?cm??×??10?cm??×??24?cm depth) by a dynamic template matching method. This 2D cross-correlation method does not rely on precise determination of the centroid of the tracked objects. To accommodate the broad range of particle number densities found in natural marine environments, the performance of the measurement technique at higher particle densities has been improved by utilizing the time-history of tracked objects to inform 3D reconstruction. The developed processing algorithms were analyzed using synthetically generated images of flow induced by Hill's spherical vortex, and the capabilities of the measurement technique were demonstrated empirically through volumetric reconstructions of the 3D trajectories of particles and highly non-spherical, 5?mm zooplankton.
Maternal Determinants of Childhood Obesity: Weight Gain, Smoking, and Breastfeeding

The mother’s genetic background and her metabolic status and behavior before, during, and after pregnancy function as important determinants of obesity and related health outcomes in her child. A substantial body of research has explored the roles of maternal factors in childhood obesity-related outcomes; however, many questions remain as to how and when during development these factors exert their influence. Thus, priorities for either clinical or public health action to reduce the risk for childhood obesity are uncertain.
CCR5 antagonists: from discovery to clinical efficacy

CCR5 is a prototypically inflammatory chemokine receptor belonging to the seven transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family. This family is generally considered druggable and well represented in marketed drugs [1]–[6]. The CCR5 receptor is expressed on numerous host defense cells including monocytes, macrophages, T-lymphocytes, dendritic cells and microglia [4, 5]. Interaction of CCR5 with its ligands MIP-1α, MIP-1β (CCL3/CCL4) or RANTES (CCL5) results in a conformational change in the seven transmembrane domain initiating a signaling cascade through heterotrimeric G-proteins ultimately giving rise to migration of immune cells to sites of inflammation [2, 5]. Due to the well documented role of CCR5 in the immune system, it has been implicated in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), multiple sclerosis (MS), transplant rejection, gastric disorders, diabetes and myeloma [7]. Perhaps the biggest driver behind the development of CCR5 receptor antagonists was the discovery that CCR5 plays an important role as a co-receptor for macrophage tropic HIV-1 strains to facilitate viral fusion and entry into host cells [5], [8]–[12]. In addition, individuals with a mutation in the CCR5 gene (CCR5Δ32) lacking expression of CCR5 on the cell surface are resistance to HIV-1 infection without notable immune system effects [13, 14], thus validating pharmaceutical intervention with a CCR5 antagonist.
The Proliferation of Theoretical Paradigms Quandary: How One Novice Researcher Used Eclecticism as a Solution

When a doctoral student plans to conduct qualitative education research, the aspect of the dissertation that often becomes problematic is determining which theoretical paradigm(s) might frame the study. In this article, the author discusses how he resolved the quandary through eclecticism. The author begins by describing briefly the purpose of his dissertation study, providing a justification for eclecticism in the selection of theories. He follows with a description of the three theories— poststructural theory, critical race theory, and critical theory—that framed his study and discusses briefly the methodology employed. The author concludes with a discussion of likely objections of his study and with an explanation of why his study was positioned within a critical
Patterns of Illness and Medical Practice in the United States

Before discussing specific diseases and how they can be prevented or mitigated, it is useful to review in general terms both the health of the American people and why people visit physicians. There are abundant data describing the causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. There are also studies that describe what kinds of problems are treated in primary-care practice. Comparing national statistics with patterns of office care should highlight where preventive efforts can be made and how the practitioner can participate in preventing early death and disability. In reviewing these data the health problems of adults will be emphasized.
Dopamine Receptor Subtype-Selective Drugs: D1-Like Receptors

A survey is presented of the development of dopamine D1 receptor-selective drugs, including agonists and antagonists. It is noted that there are presently no ligands that are specific for the D1 vs the D5 receptor isoforms. A general discussion is presented on the structure–activity features of D1/D5 selective agents, with the conclusions developed that all known full D1 agonists must contain a catechol moiety and, in addition, require the presence of a hydrophobic moiety (typically a phenyl ring) in the region adjacent to the beta side chain carbon of the embedded dopamine fragment. This latter structural feature is so crucial that when added to a noncatechol ergoline it gave a D1-selective partial agonist. Present evidence indicates that D1 agonists may be therapeutically useful in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, as well as improving cognition and working memory in schizophrenia and age-related cognitive decline. No D1 agonist has yet been commercialized, and that seems largely due to the difficulties of oral bioavailability for catechol-containing drugs.
Use of mental health apps by breast cancer patients and their caregivers in the United States: Protocol for a pilot pre-post study

Background Over one-third of cancer patients experience clinically significant mental distress, and distress in caregivers can exceed that of the cancer patients for whom they care. There is an urgent need to identify scalable and cost-efficient ways of delivering mental health interventions to cancer patients and their loved ones. Objective The aim of this study is to describe the protocol to pilot a mobile app-based mental health intervention in breast cancer patients and caregivers. Methods The IntelliCare mental health apps are grounded in evidence-based research in psychology. They have not been examined in cancer populations. This pilot study will adopt a within-subject, pre-post study design to inform a potential phase III randomized controlled trial. A target sample of 50 individuals (with roughly equal numbers of patients and caregivers) at least 18 years of age and fluent in English will be recruited at a US National Cancer Institute designated clinical cancer center. Consent will be obtained in writing and a mobile phone will be provided if needed. Self-report surveys assessing mental health outcomes will be administered at a baseline session and after a 7-week intervention. Before using the apps, participants will receive a 30-min coaching call to explain their purpose and function. A 10-min coaching call 3 weeks later will check on user progress and address questions or barriers to use. Self-report and semistructured interviews with participants at the end of the study period will focus on user experience and suggestions for improving the apps and coaching in future studies. Results This study is ongoing, and recruitment will be completed by the end of 2018. Conclusions Results from this study will inform how scalable mobile phone-delivered programs can be used to support breast cancer patients and their loved ones. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03488745; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03488745. International registered report identifier (irrid) DERR1-10.2196/11452.
Rules Made to Be Broken: Literacy and Play in a Fourth-Grade Setting.

Some of the greatest thinkers in history were known as very playful people. For example, Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish bacteriologist who discovered penicillin, loved to create pictures in petri dishes with a palette of living germs. His intimate knowledge of bacteria made him an expert on the nature, colors, textures, and growth rates of micro-organisms. He used them to produce vivid portraits of mothers and children, ballerinas, landscapes, and houses. "I play with microbes," he once said of his pastime. "It is very pleasant to break the rules" (Cole, 1988, p. C16). Fleming had a passion for germs. It gave him pleasure to play with them. Play provides chances to test boundaries and take risks, to test out what we know. And play reveals much about the players you have to know a lot about how a system works to consciously break its rules. Sometimes implicit rules are only revealed when they are broken. Perhaps this is the reason children's play has become such a fruitful area of study for literacy researchers. Many literacy theorists are studying the social nature of learning to read and write (see Bruffee, 1983; Dyson, 1990; LeFevre, 1987). Students in holistic or "process" learning programs are encouraged to link their texts to experiences so that literacy becomes meaningful to them (Atwell, 1987; Calkins, 1986). Play may be one of the most powerful tools for analyzing literacy. The ways that children use literacy in their play, when they are freed from the many constraints imposed by
Some Pragmatic Observations About Radical Critique in Environmental Law

Critics of environmental law often condemn the law for its anthropocentric foundations and for its failure to incorporate a platform of deep environmental ethics. Such “radical environmental critiques” propose perspectives and norms for our treatment of the environment that diverge from existing legal vocabularies and concepts. This article questions the effectiveness of radical environmental critique for two related reasons: first, because the conceptual scheme underlying radical alternative theories undercuts their normative force; and, second, because deeply held beliefs alone are ill-equipped to achieve progress in environmental law. This article offers environmental pragmatism as a means to avoid the problems, while maintaining the goals, of radical environmental critique. In particular, this article argues that the challenge of integrating environmental ethics and law requires the pragmatic distrust of claims of ultimate truth and the replacement of that concept with a recognition of the importance of persuasion. In support of this thesis, this article generalizes what might be called the traditional adversaries in environmental matters - property rights and non-use environmental values - as environmental paradigms. This article then questions whether the debate on environmental values is necessarily polemic - that is, whether we are all limited to being either property rights proponents or environmental activists. Environmental pragmatism, by its own terms a middle ground to any debate, offers a means to fuse the various value paradigms into a coherent system of law. Environmentalists are beginning to experiment with this type of visionary thinking, and have initially succeeded in convincing adversaries to see the other side of the land--the side not defined by its economic value.
Crossing the Color Line in the 21st Century: Mortgaging Increasingly Diverse Neighborhoods

Mortgage capital remains key to accessing the best neighborhoods and public services, as well as building wealth among lower-income Americans; yet we know little about how increasing diversity impacts mortgage outcomes. For the top 100 metropolitan areas, pre and post-recession mortgage applications are examined to isolate temporal market shifts related to well-established economic and policy developments. No relationship is found between increases in black neighbors and mortgage approval in the post-recession sample, an improvement over pre-recession. No relationship was found between increases in Hispanic neighbors and mortgage outcomes pre-recession, but Hispanic neighborhood growth correlated with decreased mortgage approval post-recession. An increase in Asian neighbors decreased mortgage approval during both years, at a relatively constant rate. Overall, results offered little support for traditional theories of neighborhood racial-ethnic change such as tipping points that posit black racial change would be most detrimental to mortgage approvals. Rather, results demand new avenues for research into racial change as we seek to understand wealth accumulation in an increasingly diverse America. The lack of significance between increases in black neighbors and mortgage approval suggests that Du Bois’ color line may have been permeated. However, continued multidimensional improvements in the socioeconomic status of minorities are necessary for access to mortgage capital to present a tangible solution that begins to close racial wealth gaps.
Minimize Category II Errors

The fourth and final set of sentence optimization techniques address the Category II errors. These are shown in Fig. 13.1 as OFIs #15 through #20. While Category II errors do impair sentence quality, they typically do not violate basic grammar and punctuation rules. As a result, and because of their tendency to be less interruptive to readers than Category I errors, this book ranks them as less severe than Category I errors. Nevertheless, when Category II errors are present in sentences, these imperfections can still irk readers, occasionally confuse them, and nearly always degrade a document’s quality, credibility, and professional excellence.
Origins of thin film delamination induced by electrodeposition and processing methods to overcome it

Abstract Electrodeposition is widely used to deposit films in technological applications, but when the current efficiency is low, injected hydrogen can strongly affect the materials properties of an underlying film including its residual stress, adhesion and electrical resistivity. It is of interest to quantify this issue and demonstrate processing routes that retain good quality films. In this work, we explore the effects of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni-W on to a Ta thin film. This system serves as challenging test case because the current efficiency is only 31%. We observe that H incorporation induces GPa-level compressive stress in an underlying Ta film. The stress initiates a buckling-induced delamination failure of within 2 s, even though at 1.5 µm the Ta is relatively thick. Delamination over the entire film area occurs within 5 s. We demonstrate two process routes by which Ta films remain adhered when Ni-W is electrodeposited for 100 s, corresponding to a 1 µm thick Ni-W film.
Justice, support, commitment, and time are intertwined: A social exchange perspective

Abstract Integrating commitment theories with social exchange theory, a three-wave longitudinal study (N = 534) was conducted to explore the dynamic relationships among organizational justice, perceived organizational support (POS), and commitment profiles [i.e., profiles of affective commitment (AC), normative commitment (NC), high sacrifice (HS) and low alternative (LA) subcomponents of continuance commitment (CC)]. The results of 3-step latent transition analysis indicated that a meaningful proportion of employees switched commitment profiles over time, suggesting that the configurations of commitment within individuals are not stable over time. Consistent with theorizing, positive changes in distributive justice and POS predicted the shift to AC/NC-dominant profile and AC/NC/HS-dominant profile. Further, positive changes in distributive justice and POS contributed to the development of HS, manifested by the shift from AC/NC-dominant profile to AC/NC/HS-dominant profile. Finally, the effect of changes in procedural justice on the change in commitment profiles was completely mediated by changes in POS, whereas the effect of changes in distributive justice was partially mediated by changes in POS. These findings provide a unique glimpse into the evolving exchange relationships between employees and the employer wherein we discuss critical theoretical and practical implications.
Postpartum Health Care Among Women With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Introduction Postpartum health care among women with intellectual and developmental disabilities has not been well studied. This study uses administrative claims to compare postpartum outpatient visits among women with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Methods Massachusetts All Payers Claims Database 2012–2015 was used to identify women with intellectual and developmental disabilities and a live birth during 2012–2014, matched by infant birth year to 3 women without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Women were followed up for 1 year after delivery. Analyses were conducted in 2019. Poisson regression compared guideline-concordant postpartum and other outpatient visits during the early (21–56 days after delivery) and late (57–365 days after delivery) periods. Types of nonpostpartum care visits were examined. Results Overall, 962 and 2,886 women with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities, respectively, comprised the sample. Among women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, 23.9% had a postpartum visit in the early and 33.3% in the late postpartum periods, compared with 25.2% and 32.1% of women without intellectual and developmental disabilities who had visits in the early and late postpartum periods, respectively (p=0.49, 0.59). Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities were more likely to have other outpatient visits than those without intellectual and developmental disabilities, both in the early (63.1% vs 40.3%, adjusted RR=1.42, 95% CI=1.28, 1.58, p Conclusions Women with intellectual and developmental disabilities are equally likely to receive guideline-concordant postpartum visits and more likely to have other outpatient visits than other women. Further research is needed to evaluate visit quality and identify best practices to support mothers with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the postpartum period.
Beyond PD-MCI: objectively defined subtle cognitive decline predicts future cognitive and functional changes

Cognitive impairment is prevalent among individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Effort has been made to identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline and dementia. Objectively-defined subtle cognitive decline (Obj-SCD) is a novel classification that may identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline prior to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We examined the utility of Obj-SCD criteria to predict future cognitive decline and difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs) among individuals with PD. The sample included 483 individuals newly diagnosed with PD. Participants were followed for a five-year span with yearly visits where they completed neuropsychological tests. Participants were categorized as cognitively normal (CN), the newly proposed Obj-SCD, PD-MCI or Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD). Analyses determined if utilization of Obj-SCD criteria predicted subsequent cognitive impairment and difficulties with ADLs. At baseline, 372 (77%) participants were classified as CN, 40 (8.3%) classified as Obj-SCD, and 71 (14.7%) classified as PD-MCI. Analyses revealed that relative to the CN group, participants classified as Obj-SCD at baseline, were more likely to develop PD-MCI or PDD within 5 years (odds ratio 2.413; 95% confidence interval 1.215–4.792). Furthermore, the Obj-SCD represented an intermediate level of impairment, relative to the CN and PD-MCI groups, on an independent measure of cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) and ADL. Findings provide evidence that Obj-SCD criteria can identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline and impairments in ADL. Obj-SCD criteria may identify individuals at risk for cognitive impairment who are not detected by PD-MCI criteria.
Development and Internal Validation of a Multivariable Prediction Model for Individual Episodic Migraine Attacks Based on Daily Trigger Exposures.

Objective To develop and internally validate a multivariable predictive model for days with new-onset migraine headaches based on patient self-prediction and exposure to common trigger factors. Background Accurate real-time forecasting of one's daily risk of migraine attack could help episodic migraine patients to target preventive medications for susceptible time periods and help decrease the burden of disease. Little is known about the predictive utility of common migraine trigger factors. Methods We recruited adults with episodic migraine through online forums to participate in a 90-day prospective daily-diary cohort study conducted through a custom research application for iPhone. Every evening, participants answered questions about migraine occurrence and potential predictors including stress, sleep, caffeine and alcohol consumption, menstruation, and self-prediction. We developed and estimated multivariable multilevel logistic regression models for the risk of a new-onset migraine day vs a healthy day and internally validated the models using repeated cross-validation. Results We had 178 participants complete the study and qualify for the primary analysis which included 1870 migraine events. We found that a decrease in caffeine consumption, higher self-predicted probability of headache, a higher level of stress, and times within 2 days of the onset of menstruation were positively associated with next-day migraine risk. The multivariable model predicted migraine risk only slightly better than chance (within-person C-statistic: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.54, 0.58). Conclusions In this study, episodic migraine attacks were not predictable based on self-prediction or on self-reported exposure to common trigger factors. Improvements in accuracy and breadth of data collection are needed to build clinically useful migraine prediction models.
Concomitant Cox-Maze IV and Septal Myectomy in Patients With Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy.

Abstract Background In patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation is associated with heart failure and increased late mortality. However, the role of surgical ablation in these patients is not well defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the concomitant Cox-Maze IV procedure in patients undergoing septal myectomy for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. Methods Between 2005 and 2019, 347 patients who underwent septal myectomy at a single institution (Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St Louis, MO) were retrospectively reviewed. For patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation who underwent a concomitant Cox-Maze IV procedure, freedom from atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATAs) on or off antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) was evaluated annually. Predictors of ATA recurrence were identified using Fine-Gray regression, with death as a competing risk. Results A total of 42 patients underwent concomitant septal myectomy and Cox-Maze IV procedures. The majority of patients, 69% (29 of 42), had paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with a 2.5-year median duration. Operative mortality was 7% (3 of 42). New York Heart Association functional class was reduced after surgery (P Conclusions Late freedom from ATAs on or off AADs was excellent after Cox-Maze IV and septal myectomy. Although there was a higher than expected rate of perioperative complications, the study results suggest that concomitant surgical ablation should be considered in selected patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation.
Adaptive Health Coaching Technology for Tailored Interventions

Recent advances in sensor and communications technology have enabled scalable methods for providing continuity of care to the home for patients with chronic conditions and older adults wanting to age in place. In this article we describe our framework for a health coaching platform with a dynamic user model that enables tailored health coaching messages. We have shown that this can improve coach efficiency without a loss of message quality. We also discovered many lessons for coaching technology, most demonstrating the need for more coach input on sample message content, perhaps even requiring that individual coaches be able to modify the message database directly. Overall, coaches felt that the structure of the automated message generation was useful in remembering what to say, easy to edit if necessary and especially helpful for training new health coaches.
Using Building Energy and Smart Thermostat Data to Evaluate Indoor Ultrafine Particle Source and Loss Processes in a Net-Zero Energy House

The integration of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled sensors and building energy management systems (BEMS) into smart buildings offers a platform for real-time monitoring of myriad factors that shap...
Surgical outcomes for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer at facilities with stereotactic body radiation therapy programs.

8538Background: Patients undergoing surgery for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be at high-risk for post-operative mortality. Access to stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT)...
Analytical study of tessellated structural-architectural reinforced concrete shear walls

Abstract This paper studies the lateral behavior of a reinforced concrete tessellated structural-architectural (TeSA) shear wall system. TeSA walls are made of prefabricated repetitive tiles and have the ability to localize damage which occurs under extreme loading. A TeSA wall is intended for architectural interest, automated construction, reconfiguration, disassembly, and reuse. This study focuses on TeSA tiles that are topologically interlocking in two directions. Nonlinear finite element analysis is used to study the monotonic pushover behavior of TeSA walls with different edge tile configurations and a comparison is made thereof with a conventional reinforced concrete shear wall. The results indicate that the strength of TeSA walls is not significantly affected by the configuration of edge tiles. Damage progression in tiles and the number of damaged tiles that need to be replaced are also presented at different drift ratios. The study shows that reinforcement ratio substantially affects the wall lateral capacity. Finally, a simplified cross-sectional analysis procedure is proposed to provide a lower and upper bound estimate of the lateral capacity of TeSA walls.
Worst-Case Welfare of Item Pricing in the Tollbooth Problem.

We study the worst-case welfare of item pricing in the tollbooth problem. The problem was first introduced by Guruswami et al, and is a special case of the combinatorial auction in which (i) each of the $m$ items in the auction is an edge of some underlying graph; and (ii) each of the $n$ buyers is single-minded and only interested in buying all edges of a single path. We consider the competitive ratio between the hindsight optimal welfare and the optimal worst-case welfare among all item-pricing mechanisms, when the order of the arriving buyers is adversarial. On the one hand, we prove an $\Omega(m^{1/8})$ lower bound of the competitive ratio for general graphs. We show that an $m^{\Omega(1)}$ competitive ratio is unavoidable even if the graph is a grid, or if the capacity of every edge is augmented by a constant $c$. On the other hand, we study the competitive ratio for special families of graphs. In particular, we improve the ratio when the input graph $G$ is a tree, from 8 (proved by Cheung and Swamy) to 3. We prove that the ratio is $2$ (tight) when $G$ is a cycle and $O(\log^2 m)$ when $G$ is an outerplanar graph. All positive results above require that the seller can choose a proper tie-breaking rule to maximize the welfare. In the paper we also consider the setting where the tie-breaking power is on the buyers' side, i.e. the buyer can choose whether or not to buy her demand path when the total price of edges in the path equals her value. We show that the gap between the two settings is at least a constant even when the underlying graph is a single path (this special case is also known as the highway problem). Meanwhile, in this setting where buyers have the tie-breaking power, we also prove an $O(1)$ upper bound of competitive ratio for special families of graphs.
Comparing Liberal and Conservative Newspapers: Diverging Narratives in Representing Migrants?

This paper investigates migrant representation patterns according to media political orientation, analyzing the coverage of key-events by liberal/conservative online newspapers of France, Greece, I...
Quantification of fuel moisture effects on biomass consumed derived from fire radiative energy retrievals

[1] Satellite based fire radiant energy retrievals are widely applied to assess biomass consumed and emissions at regional to global scales. A known potential source of uncertainty in biomass burning estimates arises from fuel moisture but this impact has not been quantified in previous studies. Controlled fire laboratory experiments are used in this study to examine the biomass consumed and the radiant energy release (Fire Radiative Energy, FRE, (MJ)) for western white pine needle fuels burned with water content (WC, unitless) from 0.01 to 0.14. Results indicate a significant relationship: FRE per kilogram of fuel consumed = −5.32 WC + 3.025 (r2 = 0.83, n = 24, P < 0.001) and imply that not taking into account fuel moisture variations in the assumed relationship between FRE and fuel consumed can lead to systematic biases. A methodological framework to derive a revised formula that enables the estimation of biomass consumed from FRE, which explicitly takes into account fuel water content, is presented.
Optimizing dynamic-threshold DTMOS device performance in an SOI embedded DRAM technology

This paper describes the DC and high frequency characteristics of a dynamic threshold DTMOS n-channel device, fabricated within a low-cost CMOS SOC process which also includes high-density embedded DRAM. The DTMOS device design in this process was previously found to be superior to both grounded body (GB) and floating body (FB) MOSFETs. This DTMOS device achieves kink-free behavior, with gm=936 /spl mu/S//spl mu/m, g/sub out/=36 /spl mu/S//spl mu/m, Ion/Ioff=210 /spl mu/A/0.1 pA, S=67 mV/dec, and fmax=32 GHz at V/sub DD/=1 V. These DTMOS devices are excellent for sub-volt embedded baseband circuits with sufficient performance for RF front-end circuits, thus enabling the combination of embedded DRAM, digital, analog, and RF circuit cores in, ultra-low-power, low-cost SOCs.
Dark Matter in Galactic Collisional Debris

Our ideas about galaxy formation and the nature of dark matter have been changed by the unexpected observation that galaxies that formed from the collisions of other galaxies contain dark matter.
Use of monoclonal antibodies to facilitate identification, cloning, and purification of Chlamydia trachomatis hsp10

As a requisite for a physiological and immunological investigation, reagents were developed that facilitated the identification and purification of Chlamydia trachomatis hsp10 (chsp10). Monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize chsp10 were generated with multiple-antigen peptides (MAPs) to promote recognition of Chlamydia-specific epitopes. MAP2, containing amino acids 54 to 69 of the hsp10 sequence, elicited strong antibody responses after immunization of BALB/c mice. Monoclonal antibodies from several cloned hybridomas reacted on immunoblots with an approximately 15-kDa chlamydial protein and recombinant chsp10. Because of its strict specificity for chsp10, monoclonal antibody M1.2 was selected for routine use. M1.2 reacted by immunoblot with the hsp10s of several C. trachomatis strains but not with Chlamydia psittaci hsp10 or Escherichia coli homolog GroES, suggesting that M1.2 recognizes a species-specific epitope. Recombinant chsp10 was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography with M1.2. For large-scale purification, chsp10 was appended with a C-terminal six-histidine tag for purification by nickel chelate affinity chromatography. The hypA gene encoding the chsp10 of C. trachomatis serovar E/Bour was cloned into the pQE-60 vector (QIAGEN, Inc.) following PCR amplification from genomic DNA. E. coli DH5 transformants were screened for chsp10 expression by colony immunoblotting with M1.2, were tested for nickel matrix binding, and were sequenced. The sequence of serovar E/Bour chsp10 was found to be closely homologous to those of hsp10s of other chlamydiae. Purified chsp10 and specific anti-chsp10 monoclonal antibodies will be useful for investigating the biological and immunological roles of hsp10 in chlamydial infections.
Market Failures: Externalities

Externalities exist whenever the costs or benefits of an economic decision do not fall to the individual making that decision. When some of the benefits of a decision accrue to third parties, it is said that external benefits have been created. When costs are imposed on third parties, it is called an external cost. The free market breaks down when externalities are present. If an external benefit is produced, then social benefits exceed the private benefits on which market decisions are made. The market would produce little benefit-yielding item. When external costs are present, a different problem appears. Social costs exceed the private costs on which the production decisions are made. The market produces many external cost-producing items. Government policies can be chosen to correct market failures and increase social welfare. External benefits can be encouraged with the use of subsidies to increase consumption. External costs can be reduced through taxation, which discourages production. Government regulations are more effective in accomplishing this reduction in external costs. A public good is an item that is shared by all. Government subsidies and government production of public goods can be used to increase social welfare.
The leucokinin pathway and its neurons regulate meal size in Drosophila

Background: Total food intake is a function of meal size and meal frequency, and adjustments to these parameters allow animals to maintain a stable energy balance in changing environmental conditions. The physiological mechanisms that regulate meal size have been studied in blowflies but have not been previously examined in Drosophila. Results: Here we show that mutations in the leucokinin neuropeptide (leuc) and leucokinin receptor (lkr) genes cause phenotypes in which Drosophila adults have an increase in meal size and a compensatory reduction in meal frequency. Because mutant flies take larger but fewer meals, their caloric intake is the same as that of wild-type flies. The expression patterns of the leuc and lkr genes identify small groups of brain neurons that regulate this behavior. Leuc-containing presynaptic terminals are found close to Lkr neurons in the brain and ventral ganglia, suggesting that they deliver Leuc peptide to these neurons. Lkr neurons innervate the foregut. Flies in which Leuc or Lkr neurons are ablated have defects identical to those of leucokinin pathway mutants. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the increase in meal size in leuc and lkr mutants is due to a meal termination defect, perhaps arising from impaired communication of gut distension signals to the brain. Leucokinin and the leucokinin receptor are homologous to vertebrate tachykinin and its receptor, and injection of tachykinins reduces food consumption. Our results suggest that the roles of the tachykinin system in regulating food intake might be evolutionarily conserved between insects and vertebrates.
High performance data clustering: a comparative analysis of performance for GPU, RASC, MPI, and OpenMP implementations

Compared to Beowulf clusters and shared-memory machines, GPU and FPGA are emerging alternative architectures that provide massive parallelism and great computational capabilities. These architectures can be utilized to run compute-intensive algorithms to analyze ever-enlarging datasets and provide scalability. In this paper, we present four implementations of K-means data clustering algorithm for different high performance computing platforms. These four implementations include a CUDA implementation for GPUs, a Mitrion C implementation for FPGAs, an MPI implementation for Beowulf compute clusters, and an OpenMP implementation for shared-memory machines. The comparative analyses of the cost of each platform, difficulty level of programming for each platform, and the performance of each implementation are presented.
Trabecular meshwork and uveoscleral outflow models.

PURPOSE To describe current laboratory models used to study aqueous outflow. Because development of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is rare in animals, no animal model of POAG is available for laboratory study on the pathogenesis of this condition. This review will discuss the alternative models used in the laboratory to study aqueous outflow. METHODS This is a brief review of published techniques, with commentary upon advantages and limitations of each. RESULTS Whole eyes and anterior segments are useful in assessing aqueous outflow resistance and anatomical changes in the meshwork. They have a limited duration of viability. Cell cultures are less expensive, easier to obtain, provide more cells than in intact meshwork, and are excellent in studying cellular physiology. The artificial environment of cell culture, however, including the plastic dish or artificial substrate and also the requirement of serum supplements, may limit applicability. Modern understanding of cells, their interaction with the extracellular matrix, and sensitivity to the composition of culture media suggest that these laboratory models should be updated to more closely mimic the in vivo situation. CONCLUSION Outflow models are a useful beginning in the study of cellular physiology, cell-extracellular matrix interactions, and reactions of the whole meshwork. All have limitations, however; the development of an animal model of human POAG would be an ideal solution to many of the current limitations.
Parameter estimation in stochastic scenario generation systems

Abstract Scenario analysis offers an effective tool for addressing the stochastic elements in multi-period financial planning models. Critical to any scenario generation process is the estimation of the input parameters of the underlying stochastic model for economic factors. In this paper, we propose a new approach for estimation, known as the integrated parameter estimation (IPE). This approach combines the significant features of other well-known estimation techniques within a non-convex multiple objective optimization framework, with the objective weights controlling the relative importance of the features. We solve the non-convex optimization problem using adaptive memory programming – a variation of tabu search. Based on a short interest rate model using UK treasury rates from 1980 to 1995, the integrated approach compares favorably with maximum likelihood and the generalized method of moments. We also evaluate performance with Towers Perrin's CAP:Link scenario generation system.