cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TU-D-207B-02: Delta-Radiomics: The Prognostic Value of Therapy-Induced Changes in Radiomics Features for Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Purpose: To determine how radiomics features change during radiation therapy and whether those changes (delta-radiomics features) can improve prognostic models built with clinical factors. Methods: 62 radiomics features, including histogram, co-occurrence, run-length, gray-tone difference, and shape features, were calculated from pretreatment and weekly intra-treatment CTs for 107 stage III NSCLC patients (5–9 images per patient). Image preprocessing for each feature was determined using the set of pretreatment images: bit-depth resample and/or a smoothing filter were tested for their impact on volume-correlation and significance of each feature in univariate cox regression models to maximize their information content. Next, the optimized features were calculated from the intratreatment images and tested in linear mixed-effects models to determine which features changed significantly with dose-fraction. The slopes in these significant features were defined as delta-radiomics features. To test their prognostic potential multivariate cox regression models were fitted, first using only clinical features and then clinical+delta-radiomics features for overall-survival, local-recurrence, and distant-metastases. Leave-one-out cross validation was used for model-fitting and patient predictions. Concordance indices(c-index) and p-values for the log-rank test with patients stratified at the median were calculated. Results: Approximately one-half of the 62 optimized features required no preprocessing, one-fourth required smoothing, and one-fourth required smoothing and resampling. From these, 54 changed significantly during treatment. For overall-survival, the c-index improved from 0.52 for clinical factors alone to 0.62 for clinical+delta-radiomics features. For distant-metastases, the c-index improved from 0.53 to 0.58, while for local-recurrence it did not improve. Patient stratification significantly improved (p-value<0.05) for overallsurvival and distant-metastases when delta-radiomics features were included. The delta-radiomics versions of autocorrelation, kurtosis, and compactness were selected most frequently in leave-one-out iterations. Conclusion: Weekly changes in radiomics features can potentially be used to evaluate treatment response and predict patient outcomes. High-risk patients could be recommended for dose escalation or consolidation chemotherapy. This project was funded in part by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
Least Cost Utility Planning

Even just a few years ago there was little interest in research or modeling about multiple impacts from energy-related decision making. The call for accurate and detailed decision-guiding approaches was barely audible. Decision makers accepted the Faustian bargains that accompanied energy systems while their critics were widely perceived as windmill-tilters. Very recently, in addition to more rigorous economic modeling, there has been a new interest in modeling many indirect and external effects of energy decision making. This trend is emerging with the advent of least cost utility planning (LCUP), because so much attention is being focused on definitions of cost.
Thermal behavior of polyhalite: a high-temperature synchrotron XRD study

As an accessory mineral in marine evaporites, polyhalite, K2MgCa2(SO4)4·2H2O, coexists with halite (NaCl) in salt formations, which have been considered as potential repositories for permanent storage of high-level nuclear wastes. However, because of the heat generated by radioactive decays in the wastes, polyhalite may dehydrate, and the released water will dissolve its neighboring salt, potentially affecting the repository integrity. Thus, studying the thermal behavior of polyhalite is important. In this work, a polyhalite sample containing a small amount of halite was collected from the Salado formation at the WIPP site in Carlsbad, New Mexico. To determine its thermal behavior, in situ high-temperature synchrotron X-ray diffraction was conducted from room temperature to 1066 K with the sample powders sealed in a silica-glass capillary. At about 506 K, polyhalite started to decompose into water vapor, anhydrite (CaSO4) and two langbeinite-type phases, K2Ca x Mg2-x (SO4)3, with different Ca/Mg ratios. XRD peaks of the minor halite disappeared, presumably due to its dissolution by water vapor. With further increasing temperature, the two langbeinite solid solution phases displayed complex variations in crystallinity, composition and their molar ratio and then were combined into the single-phase triple salt, K2CaMg(SO4)3, at ~919 K. Rietveld analyses of the XRD data allowed determination of structural parameters of polyhalite and its decomposed anhydrite and langbeinite phases as a function of temperature. From the results, the thermal expansion coefficients of these phases have been derived, and the structural mechanisms of their thermal behavior been discussed.
TNF-α-Mediated Tumor Promotion Is Characterized by Enhanced Vasculogenesis and Generation of Myeloid/Endothelial Vascular Leukoctyes.

Whereas in many contexts myeloid cells are cytotoxic, it is well-established that as yet unknown microenvironment cues instruct the infiltrating tumor associated myeloid cells (TAMs) to drive malignant progression and dissemination. Recently, we and others have characterized a significant subpopulation of tumor associated myeloid cells that co-express endothelial and myeloid markers designated “vascular leukocytes”. Studies suggest that vascular leukocytes play an important role in tumor progression and also demonstrate modest contribution to functional vessels, i.e. vasculogenesis, suggesting that they represent a critical tumor-promoting TAM subpopulation. We have identified TNFα as a key regulator of the vascular transdifferentiation of myeloid progenitors in vitro and within the tumor milieu. TNFα at 40ng/ml significantly increased the numbers of flk-1/VE-cadherin dual positive, early outgrowth EPCs from human CD14+ cells by day 7 (about five fold of the control), starting with increased spindle-shaped population appeared as early as day 3. Consistent with this, we observed increased flk-1 expression by ∼9-fold (p 5-fold increase for B16 tumor, p=0.04; >8-fold increase for PyV-mT tumor, p<0.01). Both tumor models indicated that overexpressing TNFα caused higher vascular density over control, while tumor necrosis was significantly reduced. Additionally, we observed increased bone marrow-derived vessels (vasculogenesis) in mouse TNFα-overexpressing tumors, which can be specifically inhibited by an anti-TNFα blocking antibody. A significant increase in association of vascular leukoctyes was detected in tumors overexpressing TNFα by FACs, which was abrogated in the mice lacking TNF receptors. Interestingly, TNF-overexpressing tumors did not recruit greater overall numbers of tumor-associated (myeloid or lymphoid) leukocytes, suggesting a specific role in myeloid to endothelial transdifferentiation in vivo. Our studies suggest that TNFα constitutes part of the microenvironment repertoire that biases recruited myeloid cells towards a proangiogenic/provasculogenic phenotype.
Signatures of Size-Dependent Structural Patterns in Hydrated Copper(I) Clusters, Cu+(H2O)n=1–10

The isomers of a hydrated Cu(I) ion with n = 1–10 water molecules were investigated by using ab initio quantum chemistry and an automated isomer-search algorithm. The electronic structure and vibrational spectra of the hundreds of resulting isomers were used to analyze the source of the observed bonding patterns. A structural evolution from dominantly two-coordinate structures (n = 1–4) toward a mixture of two- and three-coordinate structures was observed at n = 5–6, where the stability provided by expanded hydrogen-bonding was competitive with the dominantly electrostatic interaction between the water ligand and remaining binding sites of the metal ion. Further hydration (n = 7–10) led to a mixture of three- and four-coordinate structures. The metal ion was found, through spectroscopic signatures, to appreciably perturb the O–H bonds of even third-shell water molecules, which highlighted the ability of this nominally simple ion to partially activate the surrounding water network.
Isolation, Solubility, and Characterization of D-Mannitol Esters of 4-Methoxybenzeneboronic Acid

The purpose of this study was to determine the aqueous solubility of a model phenyl boronic acid, 4-methoxybenzeneboronic acid, as a function of pH both in the absence and in the presence of varying D-mannitol concentration. Solid isolated D-mannitol esters were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal X-ray studies, and the boronic acid-to-D-mannitol ratio was quantified by HPLC. Hydrolysis of the monoester was studied using UV spectral differences between the monoester and the parent boronic acid. Two D-mannitol esters of 4-methoxybenzeneboronic acid were isolated. The triboronate ester was very insoluble whereas a symmetrical monoboronate monohydrate was also less soluble than the parent. Both esters were crystalline. The monoboronate monohydrate was, however, more soluble than the parent at alkaline pH values due to its lower pKa value (6.53) compared to the parent acid (9.41). Hydrolysis of the monoboronate was extremely fast when even small amount of water was added to dry acetonitrile solutions of the ester. The hydrolysis was buffer concentration dependent and apparent pH sensitive with hydrolysis accelerated by acid. Implications affecting the formulation of future boronic acid drugs are discussed.
Resurrection of Auritibicen shikokuanus (Kato, 1959) stat. rev. & comb. nov. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cryptotympanini) from Ehime and Hiroshima of Japan

Abstract Auritibicen shikokuanus (Kato, 1959) stat. rev. & comb. nov. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cryptotympanini) from Ehime Prefecture (Shikoku) of Japan is resurrected from junior synonymy with Auritibicen kyushyuensis (Kato, 1926). Auritibicen ishiharai (Kato, 1959) syn. nov. & comb. nov. from Hiroshima Prefecture (Honshu) of Japan is resurrected from junior synonymy with A. kyushyuensis and then is synonymized with A. shikokuanus . Morphological comparisons are made among closely related species, A. shikokuanus , A. kyushyuensis , and Auritibicen intermedius (Mori, 1931).
Immigrant Latino Families Saving Against Great Odds: The Case of CSAs and the Prosperity Kids Program

Children’s savings account programs are interventions that seek to engage disadvantaged children and their families in early college saving, cultivate college-saver identities, and reduce disparities in educational and economic outcomes. Existing research has revealed positive effects of CSAs on children’s outcomes, but questions remain about how and for whom CSAs facilitate these outcomes. This study uses account data from 493 accountholders and findings from interviews with 50 participants to examine asset accumulation and savings experiences among mostly low income, Latino families in New Mexico’s Prosperity Kids CSA program. One-third of the families made a deposit into their child’s account designated as “savers” with a median total contribution of $123 and a median account balance, including initial seed deposit, of $345. Longer duration of program enrollment and fewer number of unexcused absences predicted savers status. Qualitative findings highlight emerging college-saver identities, viewed through the framework of identity-based motivation, understood to include salience, normalization of difficulty, and group congruence. Qualitative interview data further suggest that initial seed money, deposit incentives, and withdrawal restrictions were important influences on participants’ saving. These findings suggest CSA features that may encourage positive savings outcomes for economically disadvantaged households and, then, that may have implications for future CSA policy development.
The “Free Press” of Unionized Journalists and Students: An alternative journalistic collaboration

This paper outlines a history of the union organizing of the American Newspaper Guild at Thomson Newspapers’ Peterborough Examiner in Canada from 1968 to 1969. It examines the communication tools that union members used to facilitate this labor organizing and “bite back” at the profitable Thomson chain. Peterborough newsworkers went on strike from November 1968 to April 1969 over union recognition. During the strike, the union members built an unprecedented alliance with Ontario university students, collaboratively launching a strike newspaper called the Peterborough Free Press. Expanding on the concept of temporary labor convergence, this paper considers how strike newspapers can be seen as a form of alternative journalism that newsworkers use as a campaigning tool to communicate their struggles to the public and put pressure on news corporations to bargain with them. This case study is situated in the local institutional contexts of labor relations at the Peterborough Examiner and the news industry in P...
Association between atopic dermatitis and serious cutaneous, multiorgan and systemic infections in US adults.

Abstract Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with barrier disruption, immune dysregulation, and immunosuppressing treatments that can increase the association with an unusual number of infections. Objective To determine whether adults with AD have an unusually large number of serious infections and related outcomes. Methods Data from the 2002 to 2012 National Inpatient Sample were analyzed, including an approximately 20% sample of all US hospitalizations (n = 72,108,077 adults). Prevalence of serious infections in hospitalized patients with vs without AD, length of stay, cost of care, and inpatient mortality secondary to serious infections were determined. Results The prevalence of serious infections expressed as a percentage (95% confidence interval) was higher in adults hospitalized with than in those without AD (42.1% [41.6–42.6] vs 25.4% [25.2–25.6]; P = .0002). In logistic regression models with multiple predictors (multivariable logistic regression models), AD was associated with 32 of 38 infections examined. Associated cutaneous infections included eczema herpeticum (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] adjusted for other predictors: 67.93 [47.93–96.28]), erysipelas (11.15 [9.47–13.1]), and cellulitis (4.53 [4.42–4.64]). Associated respiratory infections included aspergillosis (1.51 [1.21–1.88]) and tuberculosis (1.57 [1.41–1.76]). AD was associated with extracutaneous, multiorgan, and systemic infections, including infectious arthropathy (2.01 [1.84–2.20]), endocarditis (1.25 [1.12–1.39]), encephalitis (1.65 [1.40–1.96]), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections (3.29 [3.17–3.42]). Patients with AD hospitalized with vs without any serious infection had an increased geometric mean cost of inpatient care ($8,273 [8,126–8,423] vs $7,179 [7,052–7,307]) and length of stay (5.3 days [5.2–5.3] vs 3.9 [3.9–4.0]; P = .0002), with $11 to $228 million excess annual costs from hospitalization with serious infections in adults with AD. Conclusion Adults with AD had increased cutaneous, respiratory, multiorgan, and systemic infections, which were associated with a considerable cost burden.
Sociodemographic Differences in Humility: The Role of Social Relations

This study examines whether humility is associated with gender, education, and racial/ethnic group. We also investigate how social relations mediate these links across the life course. Data are from the Detroit Community Study, which focused on three prominent groups in the area: Arab Americans, African Americans, and White Americans (N=907). Findings indicate that Arab Americans and African Americans report greater humility than Whites. Further, social relations partially mediate this association, but only among older Arab Americans. Findings are discussed within a developmental science perspective to consider the relational aspects of the individual and context over the life course.
Analysis of essential gene dynamics under antibiotic stress in Streptococcus sanguinis.

The paradoxical response of Streptococcus sanguinis to drugs prescribed for dental and clinical practices has complicated treatment guidelines and raised the need for further investigation. We conducted a high throughput study on concomitant transcriptome and proteome dynamics in a time course to assess S. sanguinis behaviour under a sub-inhibitory concentration of ampicillin. Temporal changes at the transcriptome and proteome level were monitored to cover essential genes and proteins over a physiological map of intricate pathways. Our findings revealed that translation was the functional category in S. sanguinis that was most enriched in essential proteins. Moreover, essential proteins in this category demonstrated the greatest conservation across 2774 bacterial proteomes, in comparison to other essential functional categories like cell wall biosynthesis and energy production. In comparison to non-essential proteins, essential proteins were less likely to contain ‘degradation-prone’ amino acids at their N-terminal position, suggesting a longer half-life. Despite the ampicillin-induced stress, the transcriptional up-regulation of amino acid-tRNA synthetases and proteomic elevation of amino acid biosynthesis enzymes favoured the enriched components of essential proteins revealing ‘proteomic signatures’ that can be used to bridge the genotype–phenotype gap of S. sanguinis under ampicillin stress. Furthermore, we identified a significant correlation between the levels of mRNA and protein for essential genes and detected essential protein-enriched pathways differentially regulated through a persistent stress response pattern at late time points. We propose that the current findings will help characterize a bacterial model to study the dynamics of essential genes and proteins under clinically relevant stress conditions.
INDUCT: A risk score to predict relapse in estrogen-receptor–positive breast cancer.

11063 Background: Early stage ER+ breast cancer may be treated with hormone therapy and/or chemotherapy. Currently available prognostic tools (e.g. Oncotype DX, Mammaprint and ProSigna) assess the ...
Modern Manufacturing Practices: Information, Incentives and Implementation

In this paper, I explore the impact of management control policies on the relationship between various Modern Manufacturing Practices like Just-in-Time (JIT) and the customer satisfaction metrics of quality, timeliness and cost. This research is motivated in part by the paucity of empirical work that links the theory and implementation of MMPs. The first part of this paper models the benefit to a firm from a JIT production system and derives conditions under which JIT is an optimal response to uncertainty about demand and worker productivity. It applies multi-person decision theory to provide a rationale for the concurrent adoption of modern manufacturing practices such as zero-inventory, process improvement, information sharing and worker empowerment. In the second part, which is a field-based empirical study, using data collected from the operating plants of several large companies and Structured Equation Modeling (SEM), I relate the emphasis placed on specific combinations of practices to the degree of improvement experienced in quality, timeliness and cost. I find that process improvement activities positively affect all the manufacturing performance measures of interest. I also find evidence of strong complementarities between process improvement and information sharing, particularly for quality. Automation and supplier initiatives seem to have had a very limited impact on the performance metrics. These results have implications for plant management who, with the aim of improving particular aspects of plant performance, must allocate limited resources among various plant initiatives and practices.
Cecal rupture after continent ileocecal urinary diversion during total pelvic exenteration.

Continent ureteral diversion at the time of pelvic exenteration avoids an external appliance and allows patients to retain bladder reservoir function. The technical difficulty of this procedure requires meticulous attention to operative and perioperative care, particularly after pelvic irradiation. A patient with recurrent stage IIIB carcinoma of the cervix underwent total pelvic exenteration with reconstructive procedures including low rectal anastomosis, neovagina formation, and ileocecal (Indiana) continent diversion. Early catheterization of the reservoir began 2 weeks postoperatively. One week later cecal rupture occurred, not related to suture line (technical) failure. Because of the high wall tension and reduced compliance in the irradiated cecum, the authors do not recommend catheterization of the urinary reservoir before 4-6 weeks. In order for continent diversion to become the standard diversion in exenteration patients, the major complication rate must remain comparable to that of noncontinent diversion.
Analyticity, Compositionality, and Meaning Holism

As presented so far, a strict conceptual role theory that rejects misrepresentation makes content blatantly holistic. If the content of every mental representation is determined exclusively by its use, i.e. by its conceptual role, hence in relation to the content of every other representation, then all the attitudes made up of those representations are (weakly) analytic and can be compositional. The meaning of the whole is dependent on the meanings of the parts, but the meanings of the parts are determined by the entire system. Misrepresentation is ruled out in virtue of the fact that there are no non-meaning-fixing liaisons in the conceptual system: all liaisons count toward the meaning of the representation in question, making every representation correct, and analytic, true in virtue of its meaning. Therefore there cannot be any misrepresentation.
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Summer School Chronology - July 2018

espanolLa profesora Marita Gimenez-Candela y yo, en nombre del ICALP y del Master en Derecho Animal y Sociedad, tuvimos el placer de asistir a la Quinta Escuela Anual de Verano de Oxford sobre Etica Animal. Esta cronologia detalla ciertos elementos de esta Conferencia, destacando los aspectos clave y, para demostrar los tipos de ideas presentadas y compartidas, describe especificamente las presentaciones de antiguos miembros del Master en Derecho y Sociedad Animal en la UAB. Asimismo, tambien expone mis puntos de vista sobre los exitos de la Conferencia tanto a nivel personal como profesional. EnglishProfessor Marita Gimenez-Candela and myself, on behalf of the ICALP and Master of Animal Law and Society, had the pleasure of attending the Fifth Annual Oxford Summer School on Animal Ethics. This chronology details certain elements of this Conference, highlighting the key aspects and, to demonstrate the types of ideas brought and shared, describes specifically the presentations of former members of the Master in Animal Law and Society at the UAB. This piece also presents my views on the successes of the Conference on both a personal and professional level.
Accruals Quality and CEO Compensation

This paper examines the impact of accruals quality on the stewardship value of earnings. Christensen, Feltham and Sabac (2005) illustrate that accrual noise, i.e., performance measure noise associated with accrual estimation errors, decreases the sensitivity of compensation to earnings by increasing the noise in earnings, and increases the sensitivity by decreasing the autocorrelation of earnings. Serving as a proxy for accrual noise, accruals quality is defined as the extent to which current accruals map into operating cash flow realizations. This paper presents empirical evidence that higher accruals quality leads to a greater incentive weight on earnings in compensation contracts. This implies that the noise effect dominates the autocorrelation effect in the association between accruals quality and the contracting role of earnings. Furthermore, accounting rigidness is defined as the degree to which the accounting system limits managerial discretion over accruals quality. The evidence indicates that CEO compensation is more sensitive to earnings generated by more rigid accounting systems. Additional analyses suggest that accruals quality and accounting rigidness provide incremental information regarding the pay-earnings sensitivity after controlling for the factors documented in prior studies.
Meeting Report: Key Outcomes from a Collaborative Summit on Agricultural Water Standards for Fresh Produce.

On February 27 to 28, 2018, the Produce Safety Alliance convened a national water summit in Covington, KY to discuss the requirements of the United States Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption (Produce Safety Rule [PSR]). The goals of the meeting were to better understand the challenges growers face in implementing the requirements in Subpart E-Agricultural Water and work collaboratively to develop practical solutions to meet fruit and vegetable production needs while protecting public health. To meet these goals, the summit engaged a diverse group of stakeholders including growers, researchers, extension educators, produce industry members, and regulatory personnel. Key outcomes included defining implementation barriers due to diversity in water sources, distribution systems, commodity types, climates, farm size, and production activities. There was an articulated need for science-based solutions, such as the use of agricultural water system assessments and sharing of federal, state, and regional water quality data, to ensure qualitative and quantitative standards reduce microbial risks. These identified challenges and needs resulted in significant debate about whether reopening the PSR-Subpart E for modification or attempting to address concerns through guidance would provide the best mechanism for alleviating concerns. In addition, training, outreach, and technical assistance were identified as vital priorities once the concerns are formally addressed by FDA. The water summit highlighted the critical need for transparency of FDA's progress on reevaluating the Subpart E requirements to help guide growers' decisions regarding the use of agricultural water.
A Method for Evaluation of Transmission Section Steady-state Security Region Considering Multiple Faults and Maintenance Mode of Power Grid

In recent years, with the increasingly growth of power grid scale and its load, the requirements for security and stability of the power grid and reliability of power supply are gradually improved. In this paper, the superposition principle of power flow transfer in component state space considering multiple faults and maintenance mode of power grid is proved based on that the characteristic of the power flow transfer after N-1 contingency is approximate linearity. According to user-defined set of transmission sections and set of faults and maintenance states, a mathematical model based on state superposition algorithm to calculate steady-state security region of transmission section is proposed. The correctness of the model and the validity of the solution are verified by the actual example of Hubei power grid.
Design of Efficient Resonator-Enhanced Electro-Optic Frequency Comb Generators

Resonator-enhanced electro-optic (RE-EO) frequency comb generators produce broad combs by coupling an optical field to a resonator containing a phase modulator driven at a harmonic of the resonator free spectral range (FSR). Recent advances in integration technologies have opened up the possibility of fabricating low-loss, efficient, and tunable ring-based RE-EO comb generators. In this work, we analyze the properties of a canonical ring-based RE-EO comb generator and propose a new dual-ring comb generator to increase comb conversion efficiency, an especially important characteristic for comb-based optical communications systems. After a brief review of RE-EO comb generator properties in the case of resonant operation, i.e., when the optical frequency and the modulation frequency are harmonics of the resonator FSR, we analyze the effect of input optical phase noise and modulation phase noise on the resulting comb. Additionally, we show analytically that in non-resonant operation the optical frequency offset and the modulation frequency offset can be much larger than the linewidth of the resonator, increasing the tolerance to fabrication errors. Then, we develop and validate numerical models to predict the output spectrum in the presence of dispersive waveguides, which cannot be modeled analytically. Using these accurate models, we analyze a dual-ring RE-EO comb generator that uses a small coupling ring to increase the conversion efficiency to 32%, compared to the 1.3% efficiency of a single-ring RE-EO comb generator. We then analyze a point-to-point inter-data center optical link and determine that a dual-ring RE-EO comb generator can support high-capacity coherent links at 20 Tb/s per fiber.
Heeding the call from McCullough: Is religion related to retrospective trends in forgiveness over time?:

This study explores the use of a new retrospective method of forgiveness to study forgiveness trends in religious individuals. This article tries to establish an initial “proof of concept” for this...
Mechanism for frustum transition over blunt cones at hypersonic speeds

Numerical and experimental studies have demonstrated laminar–turbulent transition in hypersonic boundary layers over sharp cones via the modal growth of planar Mack-mode instabilities. However, due to the strong reduction in Mack-mode growth at higher nose bluntness values, the mechanisms underlying the observed onset of transition over the cone frustum are currently unknown. Linear non-modal growth analysis has shown that both planar and oblique travelling disturbances that peak within the entropy layer experience appreciable energy amplification for moderate to large nose bluntness. However, due to their weak signature within the boundary-layer region, the route to transition onset via non-modal growth of travelling disturbances remains unclear. Nonlinear parabolized stability equations (NPSE) and direct numerical simulations (DNS) are used to identify a potential mechanism for transition over a 7-degree blunt cone that was tested in the AFRL Mach-6 high-Reynolds-number facility. Specifically, computations are conducted to study the nonlinear development of a pair of oblique, unsteady non-modal disturbances in the regime of moderately blunt nose tips. Excellent agreement was demonstrated between the NPSE and DNS predictions. Results reveal that, even though the linear non-modal disturbances are primarily concentrated outside the boundary layer, their nonlinear interaction can generate stationary streaks that penetrate and amplify within the boundary layer, eventually inducing the onset of transition via the breakdown of these streaks. The results indicate that a pair of oblique, controlled non-modal disturbances can produce transition at the location measured in the experiment when their initial amplitude is chosen to be approximately 0.15 % of the free-stream velocity.
History of IBM Z Mainframe Processors

IBM Z is both the oldest and among the most modern of computing platforms. Launched as S/360 in 1964, the mainframe became synonymous with large-scale computing for business and remains the workhorse of enterprise computing for businesses worldwide. Most of the world's largest banks, insurers, retailers, airlines, and enterprises from many other industries have IBM Z at the center of their IT infrastructure. This article presents an overview of the evolution of the IBM Z microprocessors over the past six generations. The article discusses some of the underlying workload characteristics and how these have influenced the microarchitecture enhancements driving the performance and capacity improvements. The article then describes how the focus shifted over time from speeds and feeds to new features, functions, and accelerators, and presents some examples on improved availability, enhanced security and cryptography, and embedded data compression acceleration.
The Role of Social Media in Enhancing Clinical Trial Recruitment: Scoping Review.

Background: Recruiting participants into clinical trials continues to be a challenge, which can result in study delay or termination. Recent studies have used social media to enhance recruitment outcomes. An assessment of the literature on the use of social media for this purpose is required. Objective: This study aims to answer the following questions: (1) How is the use of social media, in combination with traditional approaches to enhance clinical trial recruitment and enrollment, represented in the literature? and (2) Do the data on recruitment and enrollment outcomes presented in the literature allow for comparison across studies? Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature search across 7 platforms to identify clinical trials that combined social media and traditional methods to recruit patients. Study and participant characteristics, recruitment methods, and recruitment outcomes were evaluated and compared. Results: We identified 2371 titles and abstracts through our systematic search. Of these, we assessed 95 full papers and determined that 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 17 studies reported enrollment outcomes, of which 9 achieved or exceeded their enrollment target. The proportion of participants enrolled from social media in these studies ranged from 0% to 49%. Across all 33 studies, the proportion of participants recruited and enrolled from social media varied greatly. A total of 9 studies reported higher enrollment rates from social media than any other methods, and 4 studies reported the lowest cost per enrolled participant from social media. Conclusions: While the assessment of the use of social media to improve clinical trial participation is hindered by reporting inconsistencies, preliminary data suggest that social media can increase participation and reduce per-participant cost. The adoption of consistent standards for reporting recruitment and enrollment outcomes is required to advance our understanding and use of social media to support clinical trial success.
The Role of Preoperative Anemia in Predicting Short-Term Morbidity and Mortality After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.

BACKGROUND Preoperative anemia has been suggested as a contraindication to gastric bypass. Using the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement database, this study sought to determine the role of preoperative hematocrit on 30-day morbidity and mortality after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for weight loss. METHODS A cohort of 31 981 patients was reviewed for factors associated with a composite primary end point including 30-day reoperation, readmission, reintervention, or mortality, including degree of anemia. Analyzed separately by gender, factors significant on bivariate analysis were included in nominal logistic multivariate analysis to assess for independent significance of the hematocrit level as a risk factor for the primary end point. RESULTS Upon multivariate analysis, the hematocrit level was significantly associated with the 30-day end point in the male cohort (P = .05), specifically, severe anemia (hematocrit <35%) conferred an increased risk relative to a normal hematocrit (odds ratio 1.5, P = .03). There was no association of hematocrit with the 30-day end point in the female cohort. CONCLUSION Bariatricians should carefully consider the appropriateness of a gastric bypass over a less anemogenic procedure such as sleeve gastrectomy in patients, particularly men with preoperative anemia.
Discovering Unprecedented Heuristics For Hub Identification By Joint Graph Embedding And Reinforcement Learning

A plethora of neuroscience studies find that connector hub nodes play a key role in regulating multiple modules and supporting brain functions, due to its critical topological location in the network. Current methods mainly rely on hand-crafted attributes (aka. graph embedding at each node) from the domain knowledge of network neuroscience such as high connectivity degree to identify connector hub nodes. However, simple ranking heuristic based on the pre-defined attributes has limited power to characterize the complex network topology, which often results in less accurate hub identification. Although graph theory allows us to find connector hubs, the large scale of brain network often compromises the well-defined optimization into a local and sub-optimal solution. To overcome, we propose a joint graph embedding and hub identification in a reinforcement learning framework to discover the unprecedented heuristics from the existing knowledge of network neuroscience and graph theory, which allows us to outperform state-of-the-art hub identification methods.
Atrioventricular Connections: Double-Inlet Ventricle, Atrioventricular Discordance, and Congenitally Corrected Transposition of Great Arteries

Congenitally corrected transposition of great arteries is a rare form of congenital heart disease. It is characterized by atrioventricular and ventriculoarterial discordance (double discordance). It accounts less than 1% of congenital heart defects. Double-inlet ventricle is a form of single ventricle with both atrioventricular valves communicating with a common ventricle. Cardiac CT is extremely valuable for demonstration of extracardiac abnormalities of systemic and pulmonary venous connection and aortic arch and branch pulmonary artery abnormalities.
Synthesis, structure features and application of pro- azaphsphatranes as catalysts and strong non-ionic bases in organic synthesis

The proazaphosphatrane P(MeNCH2CH2)3N is synthesized in high yield from (HMeNCH2CH2)3N and ClP(NEt2)2. The last compound is synthesized from inexpensive
Space Launch System (Sls) Safety, Mission Assurance, and Risk Mitigation

SLS Driving Objectives: I. Safe: a) Human-rated to provide safe and reliable systems for human missions. b) Protecting the public, NASA workforce, high-value equipment and property, and the environment from potential harm. II. Affordable: a) Maximum use of common elements and existing assets, infrastructure, and workforce. b) Constrained budget environment. c) Competitive opportunities for affordability on-ramps. III. Sustainable: a) Initial capability: 70 metric tons (t), 2017-2021. 1) Serves as primary transportation for Orion and exploration missions. 2) Provides back-up capability for crew/cargo to ISS. b) Evolved capability: 105 t and 130 t, post-2021. 1) Offers large volume for science missions and payloads. 2) Modular and flexible, right-sized for mission requirements.
Complex Numbers and Functions

The insight into algebraic curves afforded by complex coordinates—that a complex curve is topologically a surface—has important repercussions for functions defined as integrals of algebraic functions, such as the logarithm, exponential, and elliptic functions. The complex logarithm turns out to be “many-valued,” due to the different paths of integration in the complex plane between the same endpoints. It follows that its inverse function, the exponential function, is periodic. In fact, the complex exponential function is a fusion of the real exponential function with the sine and cosine: e x+iy = e x (cos y + i sin y). The double periodicity of elliptic functions also becomes clear from the complex viewpoint. The integrals that define them are taken over paths on a torus surface, on which there are two independent closed paths. The two-dimensional nature of complex numbers imposes interesting and useful constraints on the nature of differentiable complex functions. Such functions define conformal (angle-preserving) maps between surfaces. Also, their real and imaginary parts satisfy equations, called the Cauchy–Riemann equations, that govern fluid flow. So complex functions can be used to study the motion of fluids. Finally, the Cauchy–Riemann equations imply Cauchy’s theorem. This fundamental theorem guarantees that differentiable complex functions have many good features, such as power series expansions.
Replication Region Fragments Cloned from Flac+ Are Identical to EcoRI Fragment f5 of F

The replication region fragments from Flac+ cloned in plasmids pSC138 and pML31 are identical with each other and with EcoRI fragment 5 of plasmid F.
Adverse effects of e-commerce

E-commerce is the fastest growing industry worldwide and is one of the most rapidly evolving areas of national and international trade. The Internet has become an incredibly powerful tool for conducting business electronically. Companies have taken the proactive approach and are jumping on the new way to conduct business. E-commerce enables organizational change and helps organizations to conduct business with improved efficiencies and productivity. E-commerce is credited with empowering employees and knowledge workers, by giving them easy access to virtually unlimited information. E-commerce technologies have helped nations to accelerate their economic growth and to provide more opportunities for the businesses to grow. Meanwhile, it has also created many challenges and adverse effects, such as concerns over privacy, consumer protection, and security of credit card purchases, displacement of workers (especially low-status ones), and is charged with having a negative impact on quality of work life. This chapter describes the various adverse effects that have accompanied the advent of the Internet and e-commerce revolution.
Civil service reform in Tanzania

This paper establishes the link between institutional development (ID) and process consulting. It does so by recognising ID’s concern for client exploration and learning and process consulting’s focus on client ownership and increased capacity. In that context, the paper outlines the modalities for generating organisation and efficiency reforms in the Tanzanian civil service. It highlights the central role of middle‐ranking civil servants in the twin process of learning and the building of capacity. It looks at the resulting impact of the organisation and efficiency reforms. Finally, it reviews the process consulting experience in terms of the often elusive states of growing ownership and commitment to the reform process. Both are prerequisites for sustainability; an enduring challenge in the developing world.
Personalisierte Medizin durch individuelle Genome

Die dynamische Entwicklung in der Sequenziertechnologie hat die technischen Kosten sowie die Zeit, die benotigt wird, ein individuelles Genom zu entschlusseln, so dramatisch reduziert, dass die komplette Sequenzierung personlicher Genome fur Privatpersonen und Gesundheitssysteme finanzierbar wird. Die breite Verfugbarkeit individueller Genome wird die Medizin weiter in Richtung einer informationsbasierten Wissenschaft treiben und die Bedeutung der informationswissenschaftlichen Techniken erhohen.
Down-regulation of Notch signaling during corneal epithelial proliferation

Purpose We evaluated the expression and activation of Notch pathway genes in the adult human and murine corneal epithelium during proliferation.
Job Scope-Employee Reaction Relationships: Methodological Considerations:

This study tests whether apparent relationships between job scope and employee reactions which have been isolated by previous research may be confounded by pay and by intercorrelations among employee reactions. Pay is found to be related to job scope, but not to confound observed job scope-employee reaction relationships. Controlling for organizational commitment and satisfaction with work itself is found to substantially deflate the relationship between job scope and job involvement. Implications of the findings are discussed.
An FPGA-based MOS circuit simulator

A novel method for performing SPICE-like circuit simulations on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is presented. An RC filter and an NMOS transistor have been simulated as demonstration examples. The presented technique utilizes a digital signal-processing object (SPO) that is analogous to an analog operational amplifier. An array of SPOs solves nonlinear difference equations in the same way that an array of opamps solves nonlinear differential equations. The SPO is first designed in Simulink and then emulated in the Xilinx system generator. This model is then programmed onto an FPGA, Spartan-3, e.g. The simulation result is virtually identical to a standard SPICE simulation, but simulation speed is increased by more than an order of magnitude, as compared to simulations running on typical workstations. This is because a typical FPGA holds many SPOs, all running in parallel at a high clock rate. Advantages are: 1) speed of execution with little or no degradation in the accuracy, 2) no parallel programming step since the SPO interconnections are specified by the difference equations and 3) the resulting FPGA can act as a high speed attached processor to the workstation.
Outcomes of augmented allograft figure-of-eight sternoclavicular joint reconstruction

Background Sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) instability is a rare condition resulting in impaired function and shoulder girdle pain. Various methods for stabilizing the SCJ have been proposed, with biomechanical analysis demonstrating superior stiffness and peak load properties with a figure-of-8 tendon graft technique. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of SCJ reconstruction with an interference screw figure-of-8 allograft tendon technique. Methods A retrospective analysis of a consecutive cohort of patients from 2007 to 2011 was performed for all patients undergoing SCJ reconstruction for instability. All patients were treated for SCJ instability with a figure-of-8 allograft reconstruction augmented by 2 tenodesis screws. Outcomes were performed with the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, the shortened Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (QuickDASH) score, and the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain score for all patients. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were recorded. Results A total of 10 patients were included in the study, with an average follow-up of 38 months (range, 11.6-66.8 months). Preoperatively, the mean ASES score was 35.3 points (range, 21.7-55 points), whereas the postoperative mean ASES score increased to 84.7 points (range, 66.6-95 points). The mean VAS score improved from 7.0 (range, 5-10) before surgery to 1.15 (range, 0-3) at follow-up, and the QuickDASH score average was 17.0 points (range, 0 to 38.6 points). Minor postoperative complications were noted in 2 patients. Conclusion Patients who underwent repair of SCJ instability by an augmented figure-of-8 allograft tendon reconstruction report marked improvements in both shoulder function and pain relief.
Deficient B lymphopoiesis in murine senescence: Potential roles for dysregulation of E2A, Pax-5, and STAT5

Abstract B lymphopoiesis in senescent mice is typically diminished and characterized by low pre-B cell numbers. The transcription factors E2A, Pax-5, and STAT5 have been implicated in the differentiation, proliferation, and survival of B cell precursors. In this review, we discuss the impairment of B lymphopoiesis during old age in the context of mechanisms at the molecular level responsible for the handling and turnover of these key transcriptional proteins. Alterations in the expression of E2A, Pax-5, and STAT5 may affect multiple stages of B cell development, contribute to reduced B lymphopoiesis, and preface changes in the “read-out” of the BCR repertoire during murine senescence.
A PRECISION MEASUREMENT OF THE SUPERFLUID DENSITY NEAR THE TRANSITION OF A 2D SUPERFLUID

In this paper we report the measurement of the superfluid density and dissipation of a 2 dimensional superfluid. The superfluid density data support the Kosterlitz-Thouless picture of a two dimensional superfluid.