cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Morphology of the Rat Vibrissal Array: A Model for Quantifying Spatiotemporal Patterns of Whisker-Object Contact

In all sensory modalities, the data acquired by the nervous system is shaped by the biomechanics, material properties, and the morphology of the peripheral sensory organs. The rat vibrissal (whisker) system is one of the premier models in neuroscience to study the relationship between physical embodiment of the sensor array and the neural circuits underlying perception. To date, however, the three-dimensional morphology of the vibrissal array has not been characterized. Quantifying array morphology is important because it directly constrains the mechanosensory inputs that will be generated during behavior. These inputs in turn shape all subsequent neural processing in the vibrissal-trigeminal system, from the trigeminal ganglion to primary somatosensory (“barrel”) cortex. Here we develop a set of equations for the morphology of the vibrissal array that accurately describes the location of every point on every whisker to within ±5% of the whisker length. Given only a whisker's identity (row and column location within the array), the equations establish the whisker's two-dimensional (2D) shape as well as three-dimensional (3D) position and orientation. The equations were developed via parameterization of 2D and 3D scans of six rat vibrissal arrays, and the parameters were specifically chosen to be consistent with those commonly measured in behavioral studies. The final morphological model was used to simulate the contact patterns that would be generated as a rat uses its whiskers to tactually explore objects with varying curvatures. The simulations demonstrate that altering the morphology of the array changes the relationship between the sensory signals acquired and the curvature of the object. The morphology of the vibrissal array thus directly constrains the nature of the neural computations that can be associated with extraction of a particular object feature. These results illustrate the key role that the physical embodiment of the sensor array plays in the sensing process.
Treatment of acute thoracic aortic injury with commercially available abdominal aortic stent-grafts.

Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta is a common cause of death after vehicle collisions. Associated injuries are common, and patients with lung injury, cardiac contusion, abdominal bleeding, and head injury comprise a group at high risk for conventional surgical or medical therapy. In this particular population, existing commercially available stent-grafts may provide a life-saving repair option. The Ancure and AneuRx stent-grafts, designed for abdominal aortic aneurysm application, were successfully placed in three patients. Accommodation for the short length of the delivery device was achieved by retroperitoneal iliac artery access. All patients had follow-up computed tomography (CT) without evidence of endoleak and were doing well with respect to their chest trauma after 5–9 months of follow-up.
Adaptation to cognitive context and item information in the medial temporal lobes.

The medial temporal lobes (MTL) play an essential role in episodic memory, and accumulating evidence indicates that two MTL subregions—the perirhinal (PRc) and parahippocampal (PHc) cortices—might have different functions. According to the binding of item and context theory (Diana, Yonelinas, & Ranganath, 2007; Eichenbaum, Yonelinas, & Ranganath, 2007), PRc is involved in processing item information, the target of memory encoding, whereas PHc is involved in processing context information, peripheral information that identifies the circumstances of the episode. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) adaptation to test the roles of different MTL subregions in the processing of item and context information. Participants were scanned while viewing a series of objects. Each object was presented with a unique semantic encoding question that elicited a salient cognitive context. The object picture, the encoding question, both, or neither were immediately repeated. We found that PRc activity was sensitive to repetition of the object but not the encoding question whereas PHc activity was sensitive to repetition of the encoding question but not the object. These data are consistent with the idea that the PRc and PHc are differentially involved in the representation of item and context information and additionally suggest that the role of the PHc extends to nonspatial, cognitive context information.
Gender and psychological well-being of persons with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective. This study examined the relationship of gender and psychological well-being (PWB) in community-dwelling persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Method. Data from the first wave oftwo longitudinal panel studies of persons with RA were examined (93 men and 276 women in panel 1; 60 men and 147 women in panel 2). Subjects completed self-report questionnaires on behavioral aspects of RA. Psychological well-being was assessed in both panels by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, using its 4 subcomponents, including positive and negative affect. Panel 2 had additional measures of PWB, namely the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Potential explanatory variables were then examined in an attempt to account for the observed gender differences. Results. Gender differences were found for negative indicators of PWB, while positive indicators of PWB showed no significant differences by gender. As with other community samples, women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and negative mood than men. Quality of emotional support, passive pain coping, and physical functional impairment could only partially explain the observed gender differences in this study. Conclusion. The relationship of gender to negative indicators of PWB cannot easily be diminished or dismissed. The mechanisms by which gender differentially affects PWB need to be further explored in order to intervene appropriately to help men and women with RA achieve an optimal quality of life.
A System-Prototype Representing 3D Space via Alternative-Sensing for Visually Impaired Navigation

Offering an alternative mode of interaction with the surrounding 3-D space to the visually impaired for collision free navigation is a goal of great significance that includes several key challenges. In this paper, we study the alternative 3-D space sensation that is interpreted by our computer vision prototype system and transferred to the user via a vibration array. There are two main tasks for conducting such a study. The first task is to detect obstacles in close proximity, and motion patterns in image sequences, both important issues for a safe navigation in a 3-D dynamic space. To achieve this task, the images from the left and right cameras are acquired to produce new stereo images, followed by video stabilization as a preprocessing stage, a nonlinear spatio-temporal diffusion and kernel based density estimation method to assess the motion activity, and finally watershed-based detection of moving regions (or obstacles) of interest. The second task is to efficiently represent the information of the captured static and dynamic visual scenes as 3-D detectable patterns of vibrations applied on the human body to create a 3-D sensation of the space during navigation. To accomplish this task, considering the current limitations imposed by the technology, we create a high-to-low (H-L) image resolution representation scheme to facilitate the mapping onto a low-resolution 2-D array of vibrators. The H-L scheme uses pyramidal modeling to obtain low-resolution images of interest-preserving motion and obstacles-that are mapped onto a vibration array. These patterns are utilized to train and test the performance of the users in free space navigation. Thus, in this paper we study the synergy of these two important schemes to offer an alternative sensation of the 3-D space to the visually impaired via an array of vibrators. Particularly, the motion component is employed as an element for the identification of visual information of interest to be retained during the H-L transformation. The role of the array vibrators is to create a small-scale front representation of the space via various levels of vibrations. Thus, 3-D vibrations applied on the user's body (chest, abdomen) offer a 3-D sensation of the surrounding space and the motion in it. In addition, we present experimental results that indicate the efficiency of this navigation scheme in creating low-resolution 3-D views of the free navigation space and detecting obstacles and moving areas.
NEST SITE SELECTION AND NESTING SUCCESS IN SALTMARSH BREEDING SPARROWS: THE IMPORTANCE OF NEST HABITAT, TIMING, AND STUDY SITE DIFFERENCES

Abstract We examined nest-site selection and nesting success in Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed (Ammodramus caudacutus) and Seaside Sparrows (A. maritimus), at seven sites in Connecticut. We found 160 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow nests and 23 Seaside Sparrow nests, and compared characteristics of their locations to each other and to random locations. We tracked success of all nests, quantified nest productivity and causes of nest losses, and tested for habitat differences between successful and unsuccessful nests. Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows nested in higher than average locations, where the vegetation was taller and more dense than at random locations, where there was a deep layer of thatch, and where saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) dominated the vegetation. There was little evidence that habitat characteristics influenced the success of nesting birds, but the timing of nest initiation relative to spring tides was important. Seaside Sparrow nests occurred in even taller vegetation, that was more spar...
Systemic Complications of Infective Endocarditis

A 49-year-old male was brought to a local emergency department from a hotel after being found by hotel staff to have confusion, speech difficulty, and left-sided weakness. A head CT scan revealed multiple infarcts, and he was transferred to a tertiary care facility for further care. On arrival, the patient was febrile (39°C) and hypotensive and appeared alert, but he was unable to follow …
Tuck Contemporary Corporate Governance Issues III Conference Program, July 9-10, 2004

Program of Tuck Contemporary Corporate Governance Issues III. The conference was held July 9-10, 2004 at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH. Conference sponsored by Tuck's Center for Corporate Governance.
An External Habit Model Subject to Long Run Risk in Continuous Time: A Multi-Dimensional Asset Pricing Model

This work develops an external habit model of the equity premium subject to long run risk in continuous time. The solution to this model is an analytic price-dividend function of the surplus consumption ratio and the long run risk variable. As a result, the equity premium can be accurately approximated by a two variable higher order Taylor polynomial within the region of convergence for the price-dividend function. Numerical evidence shows that this region of convergence is large enough to cover 99.37% of the observations in a Monte Carlo simulation. In this simulation, the equity premium and its standard deviation match the historic observations in the U.S. In addition, the auto-correlations and variance ratios support long term mean reversion in the equity premium.
Major Roles of Blend Partner Fragility and Dye Placement on Component Glass Transition Temperatures: Fluorescence Study of Near-Infinitely Dilute Species in Binary Blends

We measure the glass transition temperatures (Tgs) of near-infinitely dilute (0.1 wt %), well-dispersed polystyrene (PS) components in seven blend partners using intrinsic and extrinsic fluorescence. The PS Tgs span a 150 °C range when PS is dispersed in partners with Tgs of −6 to 150 °C. We calculate self-concentrations for PS (ϕselfPS) of ∼0 to 0.72 via the Lodge–McLeish model, the largest range ever reported for a blend component. Our study reveals that perturbations to PS Tg, which may be quantified by ϕselfPS calculations, correlate with partner fragility rather than partner Tg, with higher fragility partners resulting in higher ϕselfPS values. In particular, for 0.1 wt % PS in poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), the partner with the highest reported fragility but an intermediate Tg, the PS Tg is only weakly perturbed with ϕselfPS = 0.72. These results indicate that partner fragility plays a key role in determining the strength of Tg perturbations to a blend component. Also noteworthy is 0.1 wt % PS in poly(...
Telling Lives: The Aftermath

AbstractThis article unveils the aftermath of writing life narratives for publication. As biographer of Pete Seeger and Aldous Huxley, I draw on my experiences to categorize response from family, community, and subject. The thesis is that such anticipated response inevitably shapes the work, before publication, via prior censorship. (Oral history; oral biography interviewing; author/subject
Menstrual Patterns and Menstrual Suppression in Adolescents With Bleeding Disorders

diagnosis, identification of organism, appropriate antibiotic, surgical procedures, and identification of foreign body (p<0.01 for all) (Fig. 1). Conclusions: An advanced PAG simulation session increases postgraduate trainee knowledge as reflected in OSCE performance. Ob/Gyn residency training programs should consider implementing/adapting advanced PAG simulation sessions to increase resident knowledge in delivering care to the pediatric/adolescent patient.
Abstract 4293: Histamine dihydrochloride as an immune modulator for solid tumors

Our recent adoptive T cell transfer trial for mesothelioma revealed a striking anti-tumor response in a patient which was accompanied by anaphylaxis, suggesting endogenous histamine release. In animal models, histamine has direct and immune-based anti-tumor effects. In fact, histamine dihydrochloride is approved in Europe in combination with interleukin-2 (IL2) for leukemia treatment. We thus explored the anti-tumor role of histamine in mesothelioma and lung cancer. An in vitro MTT assay was used to measure cell proliferation. Daily doses of histamine (1 mg/kg) - alone, or in combination with other immunotherapies - was used to treat four subcutaneous flank tumor models in three different mouse strains. Flow cytometric analyses were subsequently performed on tumors. Histamine had in vitro anti-tumor activity against all five cell lines tested with an IC50 of 0.1 mg/ml. Histamine also significantly reduced tumor volume in all four in vivo models without toxic side effects. Immunodepletion studies revealed that the effect was partially due to T cells. When combined with two immunotherapy approaches (adenovirally-delivered interferon-α or a tumor antigen), anti-tumor efficacy was augmented. Histamine resulted in more interferon-γ and IL2 production by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, downregulation of CD206 expression on tumor-infiltrating macrophages, and reduced numbers of T regulatory cells (Tregs). This pre-clinical data suggests that histamine alone, or in combination with immunotherapy, should be explored in the treatment of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and perhaps other cancers. Citation Format: Kheng Newick, Shaun O9Brien, Veena Kapoor, Liang-chuan Wang, Edmund Moon, Daniel Sterman, Steven Albelda. Histamine dihydrochloride as an immune modulator for solid tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4293. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4293
3D Chemical Characterization of Micron-Sized Coal Fly Ash Particles

The surface layers on coal fly ash particles are of special environmental interest in that concentration enrichments of trace elements may occur [1], thereby enhancing the potential bioavailability of toxic species. Little research, however, has been devoted to the analytical characterization of intraparticle and interparticle distributions of trace elements. The high detection sensitivity, spatial resolution, and depth profiling capabilities of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), coupled to digital image acquisition and processing [2], permit three-dimensional (3D) compositional maps for collections of individual micron-sized particles. The 3D analysis of trace element distributions in coal fly ash particles is the subject of this SIMS investigation.
Levels of blood group synthetic enzymes in human colonic carcinoma.

SummaryHomogenates of tumorous and adjacent non-tumorous colorectal tissues from 18 patients were tested for the activities of blood group synthetic enzymes, namely α-D-galactosyl transferase for B isoantigen and α-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine transferase of A isoantigen.The galactosyl transferase activity in non-tumorous intestinal tissue was high in patients with blood group B, intermediate in group AB and was absent in group A or O. As compared with adjacent non-tumorous tissue, the Gal transferase activity increased in tumors by 1.6- to 6.9-fold in four of five patients with blood group B or AB, and the α-N-acetyl-D-galactosaminyl transferase activity increased in three- of six-tumor tissues from patients of blood group A or AB.The results suggest that the reported losses of ABH isoantigen in colorectal cancer are not due to deficiencies of Gal or GalNAc transferase activities involved in the synthesis of blood group antigens.
Notes on Collybia III. Three Neotropical Species of Subg. Rhodocollybia

Collybia turpis from Colombia and Costa Rica, and C. popayanica from Colombia, are newly described from neotropical Quercus forests, and C. sleumeri (type of sect. Cystidiatae) is redescribed from the Ecuadorian paramo. All three species possess dextrinoid, cyanophilous, smooth, pink-tinted basidiospores. These features are indicative of subg. Rhodocollybia. Rufescent flesh, resulting from an immediate oxidation, is a diagnostic attribute of C. turpis, and was previously unknown for the genus. The conic, pinkish pileus and translucent stipe are distinctive for C. popayanica. Collybia sleumeri is restricted to the high elevation paramo.
Geodynamics and Metallogeny of Mongolia with a Special Emphasis on Copper and Gold Deposits. R. Seltmann, O. Gerel, and D. Kirwin, Editors. 225 Pp. Centre for Russian and Central Eurasian Mineral Studies, IAGOD Guidebook Series 11. London. 2005. ISBN 5-8198-0075-3. Price US$90.

This volume represents another important contribution in the economic geology series of books on Eurasia, all of which have been essentially organized through CERCAMS (Centre for Russian and Central Eurasian Mineral Studies) and the London Natural History Museum. As stated in the foreword, the volume was originally compiled as a part of a 2003 international metallurgy workshop. It was then updated and expanded in 2005, as a part of the SEG-IAGOD field trip associated with the 8th Biennial SGA meeting in Beijing. The book includes 17 chapters of varying quality and length, with some of the chapters containing abstracts and some without. The value of the book lies in its descriptions of Mongolia’s most important recognized metallic mineral resources. The largest developed porphyry deposit, Erdenetiin Ovoo in northern Mongolia, is described in detail by Gerel and Munkhtsengel. The chapter includes well-organized geological maps, detailed igneous geochemistry, and descriptions of the igneous paragenesis, early Mesozoic Cu-Mo mineralization, and hydrothermal alteration. Two chapters describe the giant Devonian Oyu Tolgoi Cu-Au porphyry deposits in the South Gobi region of southern Mongolia. Kirwin and coworkers provide detailed drill hole data, geophysical information, and recent resource estimates from Ivanhoe Mines’ exploration program. A brief summary of the major and trace element geochemistry of the country rocks and Oyu Tolgoi intrusions is contributed by Kavalieris and Wainwright. Other Cu-Au porphyry deposits located to the north of Oyu Tolgoi are described and well-illustrated in chapters by Kirwin et al. (Kharmagtai district) and Bignall et al. (Shunteen deposit). A definite highlight of the volume …
Clinical study on plasma exchange in the treatment of 18 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome

Objective: To analyse the effect of plasma exchange in the treatment of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Methods: The detection of concentration of immunoglobulin and complement in 18 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome was carried out after plasma exchange and the neurological function was observed. Results: Among the patients,there were five cured cases,eight cases of significant effectiveness and four cases of effectiveness and one death case. Neurological function of these patients was improved obviously after the treatment,immunoglobulin and complement in their plasma were decreased remarkably( P 0. 05). Conclusion: Plasma exchange is an effective treatment for Guillain-Barre syndrome and potential mechanism may be the decrease of immunoglobulin and complement levels in blood.
Study on Restrain Effect of Line Arrangement on Power-frequency Electric Field under 330 kV Double Circuit Transmission Line

The distribution of power-frequency electric field under 330kV YU-Wei double circuit transmission line whieh arranges in the different-phase is measured.Based on which the forecast-model and its accuracy are verified.The power-frequency electric fieht strength under the transmission line which arranges in same-phase,different-phase and contrary-phase is forecasted by the forecast- model,then the minimum line-height to make the power-frequency electric field of all the area under transmission line is lower than 4kV/m.Finally,the restraining effect on the power-frequency electric field with transmission line arranged in different-phase is analyzed.
DITADURA, REDEMOCRATIZAÇÃO E APARTHEID NO BRASIL

Este artigo examina o significado do apartheid na interpretacao e contestacao das relacoes raciais no Brasil no seculo XX, tracando uma evolucao longe do projeto forjado por intelectuais e politicos de meados do seculo que criticaram o apartheid Sul-Africano a fim de promover uma auto-definicao nacional positiva dos brasileiros. O artigo traca a apropriacao da luta contra o apartheid pelo movimento dos direitos civis dos negros que emergiu no Brasil na decada de 1980 e 1990 como uma ferramenta didatica para tracar as linhas de discriminacao racial e da desigualdade no Brasil. O foco do artigo sobre discurso brasileiro contra o apartheid permite um exame das mudancas na politica racial brasileira, que inclui uma mudanca da negacao da existencia do racismo (em comparacao com a Africa do Sul) a um diagnostico de discriminacao racial (novamente auxiliado pela comparacao com a Africa do Sul) e implantacao de politicas de acoes afirmativas para promover a inclusao.
Recognizing the allergic individual.

Patients with respiratory tract allergy exhibit telltale auditory and visual signs. The alert clinician may have the rewarding experience of recognizing allergy early and forestalling chronicity by instituting J prompt management.
Value, Money and Capital in Hegel and Marx

Some years ago I was surprised to receive a package in the mail from a former student.1 It took me a moment to recognize what was inside, a green ceramic ΔM. I had a good laugh. From our study of Capital, the student had gotten the idea loud and clear how preoccupied Marx is with ΔM, or what he calls ‘surplus value’. In thinking over Hegel’s treatment of property, contracts of exchange and civil society in the Philosophy of Right and earlier writings, I am struck by a simple fact: Hegel just does not seem to be interested in ΔM.2 Hegel is aware that ‘gain’ or ‘profit’ motivate what he calls the ‘reflective estate’ of trade and industry. And he recognizes that civil society is naturally expansive, with firms developing products and technologies in order to accumulate wealth. But the topic of surplus value simply does not move Hegel on grounds either of science — where does ΔM come from? — or social justice — what justification can be offered for ΔM?
Autothermal oxidative coupling of methane with ambient feed temperature

Abstract We report the exploitation of thermal effects and bifurcation (ignition and extinction) behavior to enable steady-state operation of an Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) reactor with ambient feed and furnace temperature. Using a simplified kinetic and reactor model and results from bifurcation theory, we explain the experimentally observed ignition-extinction behavior for catalysts of different activity and reactor tubes of varying diameter when the furnace temperature or the space time are varied. We apply the theory to analyze the impact of reactor tube diameter and heat loss on the feasible region of autothermal operation and present experimental evidence for the existence of isolated high temperature/conversion branches. The results indicate that when catalyst activity is high enough, it is possible to operate an OCM reactor autothermally using the reactor feed (at ambient temperature or lower) as coolant, which enables the maximum practical single-pass methane conversion.
Coccydynia: Tailbone Pain

Coccyx (tailbone) pain substantially decreases the quality of life for patients who suffer with this condition. Classic symptoms include midline pain located below the sacrum and above the anus. Symptoms are worse while sitting or during transitions from sitting to standing. Physical examination typically reveals focal tenderness during palpation of the coccyx. Diagnostic tests include radiographs. Advanced studies may include MRI, computerized tomography scans, or nuclear medicine bone scans. Treatments may include the use of cushions, medications by mouth, topical medications, local pain management injections, pelvic floor physical therapy, and (in rare cases) surgical removal of the coccyx (coccygectomy).
Challenges to Conducting Health Information Exchange Research and Evaluation: Reflections and Recommendations for Examining the Value of HIE.

Introduction: Health information exchange (HIE) promises cost and utilization reductions. To date, only a small number of HIE studies have demonstrated benefits to patients, providers, public health, or payers. This may be because evaluations of HIE are methodologically challenging. Indeed, the quality of HIE evaluations is often limited and authors frequently note unmet evaluation objectives. We provide a systematic identification of HIE research challenges that can be used to inform strategies for higher quality scientific evidence. Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews with 23 HIE researchers and leaders of HIE efforts representing experiences with more than 20 HIE efforts. We also conducted a six-person focus group to expand on and confirm individual interview findings. Qualitative analysis followed a grounded theory approach using multiple coders. Results: Participants experienced similar challenges across seven themes (i.e., HIE maturity, data quality, data availability, goal alignment, cooperation, methodology, and policy). Conclusion: Several options may exist to improve HIE research, including developing better conceptual models and methodological approaches to HIE research; formal partnerships between researchers and HIE entities; and establishing a nationwide database of HIE information. Our proposed approaches of promoting data availability, resource sharing, and new partnerships can help to overcome existing barriers and facilitate HIE research.
Uncircumcision: A Technique for Plastic Reconstruction of a Prepuce after Circumcision

AbstractA simple technique is described for plastic reconstruction of the prepuce. Penile skin is used and the defect created is covered by implantation of the penis into the scrotum. At a second stage the penis is released from the scrotum. (J. Urol., 144: 1203–1205, 1990)
Adaptive importance sampling with a rapidly varying importance function

It is known well that zero-variance Monte Carlo solutions are possible if an exact importance function is available to bias the random walks. Monte Carlo can be used to estimate the importance function. This estimated importance function then can be used to bias a subsequent Monte Carlo calculation that estimates an even better importance function; this iterative process is called adaptive importance sampling. To obtain the importance function, one can expand the importance function in a basis such as the Legendre polynomials and make Monte Carlo estimates of the expansion coefficients. For simple problems, Legendre expansions of order 10 to 15 are able to represent the importance function well enough to reduce the error geometrically by ten orders of magnitude or more. The more complicated problems are addressed in which the importance function cannot be represented well by Legendre expansions of order 10 to 15. In particular, a problem with a cross-section notch and a problem with a discontinuous cross section are considered.
Clustering Inter-Arrival Time of Health Care Encounters for High Utilizers

Patients with a large number of health care encounters receive great attention in health care research because their expensive and problematic health care utilization has important implications for the US health care system. The large volume of emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient hospital stays through time provides a unique opportunity to apply data-driven methods for identifying temporal signals associated with these patients. The micro variations in the inter-arrival time of these encounters within this population are not well-studied. Computational approaches for distinguishing various temporal visiting patterns leads to the problem of efficiently clustering asynchronous time series. Thus, we propose a Wasserstein distance based spectral clustering for this problem. Asynchronous time series are first represented as histograms of inter-arrival time and their pairwise similarities are computed under Wasserstein distance. Spectral clustering operates on the similarity matrix as input thereby avoiding the computational bottleneck of Wasserstein barycenters. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by synthetic data and application to a large real world health insurance encounters dataset, identifying potential associations between temporal visiting patterns and health factors from a population of frequent ED and inpatient hospital users.
Mapping the political economy of education technology: A networks perspective:

The field of education technology (edtech) has emerged as a complex, multimillion-dollar industry, with various hubs in the USA leading the boom. This exploratory article uses a networks perspectiv...
A theoretical and computational study of the heat effects on packed-bed reactors of immobilized enzymes

The effects of heat of reaction and temperature change on an immobilized enzyme reactor have previously been generally neglected. A theoretical analysis of the overall enzyme reaction rate involving nonlinear Michaelis-Menten kinetics was carried out in order that predictions of temperature and concentration profiles in packed columns of fixed enzymes could be made. Numerical solutions of the coupled differential equations describing the overall kinetics are presented and explained. Note: The notation used in this paper is presented in a separate section at the end of the article.
Redefining the Bladder Cancer Phenotype using Patterns of Familial Risk

Abstract Relatives of bladder cancer (BCa) patients have been shown to be at increased risk for kidney, lung, thyroid, and cervical cancer after correcting for smoking related behaviors that may concentrate in some families. We demonstrate a new method to simultaneously assess risks for multiple cancers to identify distinct multi-cancer configurations (multiple different cancer types that cluster in relatives) surrounding BCa patients. We identified 6,416 individuals with urothelial carcinoma and familial information using the Utah Cancer Registry and Utah Population Database (UPDB). First-degree relatives, second-degree relatives, and first cousins were used to construct a familial enrichment matrix for cancer-types previously shown to be individually associated with BCa. K-medioids clustering were used to identify Familial Multi-Cancer Configurations (FMC). A case-control design and Cox regression with a 1:5 ratio of BCa cases to cancer-free controls was used to quantify the risk in specific relative-types and spouses in each FMC. Clustering analysis revealed 12 distinct FMCs, each exhibiting a different pattern of cancer co-aggregation. Of the 12 FMCs, four exhibited strong familial risk of bladder cancer along with specific patterns of increased risk of cancers in other sites (BCa FMCs), and were the focus of further investigation. Cancers at increased risk in these four BCa FMCs most commonly included melanoma, prostate and breast cancer and less commonly included leukemia, lung, pancreas and kidney cancer. A network-based approach can be used with familial data to discover new phenotype clusters for BCa, providing new directions for discovering patterns of cancer clustering.
State Politics and Mortgage Markets

This article examines whether elections for state offices that regulate mortgage lenders affect mortgage markets. Some scholars assert that election-related political uncertainty depresses economic activity; others contend that incumbents pursue policies to boost short-term growth prior to elections; and a third group claims that market activity fluctuates around partisan transitions. We test these theories using national data on mortgage characteristics and election data for two important state regulators. We first conduct event studies comparing mortgage market outcomes before and after elections. We then utilize difference-in-difference models to compare states in which partisan control of key offices switched following an election. Our results do not show consistent support for any of these theories. We find that elections have few significant effects on mortgage markets, suggesting that delegating regulatory power to elected state officials may be efficient.
Frontier Anxieties: Toward a Social History of Muslim-Christian Relations on the Ottoman-Habsburg Border

This article reframes the formation of the Ottoman-Habsburg frontier after 1699 in social historical terms. By going beyond diplomatic and military factors, it identifies how the contraction of Ottoman borders affected taxation, landholding, and Muslim-Christian relations in Bosnia. The article argues that peasants in Ottoman Bosnia experienced the mounting pressures of increasing taxation, manipulation over landownership, and religiously inflected hostility, often driven by those Muslim noblemen who tried to capitalize on the destabilizing wake of several wars that the Ottoman Empire fought with the Habsburg, Venetian, and Russian states in the eighteenth century. Through these processes, by the end of the century the meaning of the reaya or raya—an Ottoman term for taxpaying “subjects” that theoretically applied to all denominations, including Muslims—had become synonymous with “Christians,” acquiring a new political significance.
Simultaneous quantification of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide in different water matrices using HPLC-UV.

Abstract With low potential to generate harmful by-products, peracetic acid (PAA) has drawn increasing attention as an alternative oxidant for disinfection and advanced oxidation processes in wastewater treatment. Commercial formulations contain significant concentrations of both PAA and H2O2 in aqueous solutions and a robust method to distinctively quantify the two respective oxidants simultaneously is needed. This study aimed to improve the accuracy of employing methyl p-tolyl sulfide (MTS) and triphenylphosphine (TPP) as indicators for PAA and H2O2, respectively, under various environmental conditions, by the detection of the oxidation products of sulfoxide MTSO and phosphine oxide TPPO using HPLC-UV. To improve the analytical method, the reaction rates of MTS and TPP with PAA and H2O2, impact of pH on the detection, and matrix effects of real wastewater effluents and produce wash water were evaluated to minimize the interference of H2O2 with PAA determination. The determined rate constants of PAA reaction with MTS ( k P A A / M T S = 34.6 ± 0.4 M − 1 s − 1 in 2/1 H2O/acetonitrile (ACN) (v/v)) and H2O2 reaction with TPP ( k H 2 O 2 / T P P = 2.7 ± 0.2 M − 1 s − 1 in 1/1 H2O/ACN (v/v)) provided the fundamental guidance to optimize the method. Overall, a highly accurate and sensitive method for simultaneous quantification of PAA and H2O2 (method quantification limit = 0.8 and 6.0 μM, respectively) is established and will be useful for various environmental samples with PAA and H2O2 applications.
An Upper Bound on the Capacity-Memory Tradeoff of Interleavable Discrete Memoryless Broadcast Channels with Uncoded Prefetching

The K-receiver discrete memoryless (DM) broadcast channel (BC) is considered in which each receiver is equipped with a cache memory of the same size. We obtain an upper bound on the capacity-memory tradeoff with uncoded pre-fetching, the highest rate of reliable communication for given cache size. This bound holds for the interleavable DM BC, a class of channels that subsumes the K-receiver degraded DM BC and the three-receiver less noisy DM BC. We then specialize our bound to the Gaussian BC, and show that it is tighter than that recently proposed in the literature for coded pre-fetching for a wide range of cache sizes as would be expected, but the two bounds coincide for sufficiently large cache size. In the two-receiver case, our bound is tight in that it is the exact capacity-memory trade-off with uncoded prefetching which implies that, in this case, coded prefetching does not enhance the capacity-memory tradeoff for sufficiently large cache size.
Serum-Based Diagnosis of Pediatric Tuberculosis by Assay of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Factors: a Retrospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT Diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) is often complicated by its nonspecific symptoms, paucibacillary nature, and the need for invasive specimen collection techniques. However, a recently reported assay that detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence factors in serum can diagnose various TB manifestations, including paucibacillary TB cases, in adults with good sensitivity and specificity. The current study examined the ability of this M. tuberculosis biomarker assay to diagnose pediatric TB using archived cryopreserved serum samples drawn from children ≤18 years of age who were screened for suspected TB as part of a prospective population-based active surveillance study. In this analysis, any detectable level of either of the M. tuberculosis virulence factors CFP-10 and ESAT-6 was considered direct evidence of TB. Serum samples from 105 children evaluated for TB (55 TB cases and 50 close contacts without TB) were analyzed. The results of this analysis yielded sensitivity of 85.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 73.3 to 93.5). Similar diagnostic sensitivities were observed for culture-positive (87.5%; 95% CI, 67.6 to 97.3) and culture-negative (83.9%; 95% CI, 66.3 to 94.5) TB cases and for culture negative pulmonary (77.8%; 95% CI, 40.0 to 97.2) and extrapulmonary (86.4%; 95% CI, 65.1 to 97.1) TB cases. These results suggest that serum biomarker analysis holds significant promise for rapid and sensitive diagnosis of pediatric TB cases, including extrapulmonary or paucibacillary TB cases. The ability to use frozen samples for this analysis should also permit assays to be performed at central sites, without a requirement for strict timelines for sample analysis.
Analytical Ultracentrifugation (AUC): An Overview of the Application of Fluorescence and Absorbance AUC to the Study of Biological Macromolecules.

The biochemical and biophysical investigation of proteins, nucleic acids, and the assemblies that they form yields essential information to understand complex systems. Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) represents a broadly applicable and information-rich method for investigating macromolecular characteristics such as size, shape, stoichiometry, and binding properties, all in the true solution-state environment that is lacking in most orthogonal methods. Despite this, AUC remains underutilized relative to its capabilities and potential in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology. Although there has been a rapid development of computing power and AUC analysis tools in this millennium, fewer advancements have occurred in development of new applications of the technique, leaving these powerful instruments underappreciated and underused in many research institutes. With AUC previously limited to absorbance and Rayleigh interference optics, the addition of fluorescence detection systems has greatly enhanced the applicability of AUC to macromolecular systems that are traditionally difficult to characterize. This overview provides a resource for novices, highlighting the potential of AUC and encouraging its use in their research, as well as for current users, who may benefit from our experience. We discuss the strengths of fluorescence-detected AUC and demonstrate the power of even simple AUC experiments to answer practical and fundamental questions about biophysical properties of macromolecular assemblies. We address the development and utility of AUC, explore experimental design considerations, present case studies investigating properties of biological macromolecules that are of common interest to researchers, and review popular analysis approaches. © 2020 The Authors.
Identifying Factors in COVID - 19 AI Case Predictions

Many machine learning methods are being developed to predict the spread of COVID - 19. This paper focuses on the expansion of inputs that may be considered in these models. A correlation matrix is used to identify those variables with the highest correlation to COVID - 19 cases. These variables are then used and compared in three methods that predict future cases: a Support Vector Machine Regression (SVR), Multidimensional Regression with Interactions, and the Stepwise Regression method. All three methods predict a rise in cases similar to the actual rise in cases, and importantly, are all able to predict to a certain degree the unexpected dip in cases on the 10th and 11th day of prediction.
The Progression of Experimental Design and Data Analysis in Applied Behavior Analysis

Single subject design and visual analysis have become the standard for conducting and interpreting research in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). These methods can be traced in behavioral literature ...
The Promise of Porter? Porter v. Clarke and Its Potential Impact on Solitary Confinement Litigation

On May 3, 2019, the Fourth Circuit became the first federal court of appeals to hold that the indefinite solitary confinement of people on death row is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. The case, Porter v. Clarke, was praised as a step forward for the rights of those held on death row, as well as a major victory in the battle against solitary confinement. Prior to Porter, several courts, including the Supreme Court, had found that prolonged solitary confinement can violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, none had held that such treatment violated the Eighth Amendment, much less for people incarcerated on death row. This Comment argues that while the reasoning in Porter is legally and scientifically sound, it probably will not be adopted by other circuits. Part I outlines the decision and explains how the facts of the case are similar to conditions on death row in several other circuits. Part II then argues that idiosyncrasies of the litigation in Porter, as well as recent Supreme Court death penalty jurisprudence, make the case untenable for use in other circuits. Finally, Part III contends that, despite the hurdles discussed in Part II, the decision is not totally toothless outside of the Fourth Circuit. Using two case studies of similar litigation, that Part argues that the Porter decision should be used as a tool for encouraging settlement or voluntary changes in death row conditions elsewhere.
Changes in Recall to E-Cigarette Advertisement Exposure among Florida Youth, 2016-2019.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported increases in exposure to e-cigarette ads among US middle and high school students from 2014–2016. This study examines changes in exposure to ...
Minimally invasive surgery for suspected early-stage ovarian cancer; a cost-effectiveness study.

OBJECTIVE While there are a number of benefits to minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for women with ovarian cysts, there is an increased risk of ovarian capsule rupture during the procedure, which could potentially seed the abdominal cavity with malignant cells. We developed a decision model to compare the risks, benefits, effectiveness and cost of MIS versus laparotomy in women with ovarian masses. DESIGN Cost-effectiveness study POPULATION: Hypothetical cohort of 10 000 women with ovarian masses who were undergoing surgical management. METHODS The initial decision point in the model was performance of surgery via laparotomy or a MIS approach. Model probabilities, costs and utility values were derived from published literature and administrative data sources. Extensive sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the findings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was the cost-effectiveness of MIS versus laparotomy for women with a pelvic mass measured by incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). RESULTS MIS was the least costly strategy at $7,732 per women on average, compared with $17,899 for laparotomy. In our hypothetical cohort of 10 000 women, there were 64 cases of ovarian rupture in the MIS group and 53 in the laparotomy group, while there were 26 cancer-related deaths in the MIS group and 25 in the laparotomy group. MIS was more effective than laparotomy (188 462 QALYs for MIS versus 187 631 quality adjusted life years [QALYs] for laparotomy). Thus, MIS was a dominant strategy, being both less costly and more effective than laparotomy. These results were robust in a variety of sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION MIS constitutes a cost-effective management strategy for women with suspicious ovarian masses. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT MIS is a cost-effective management strategy for women with suspicious ovarian masses.
Ribonuclease recruitment using a small molecule reduced c9ALS/FTD r(G4C2) repeat expansion in vitro and in vivo ALS models.

The most common cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia (c9ALS/FTD) is an expanded G4C2 RNA repeat [r(G4C2)exp] in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), which eli...
A Response to the Contributors

Abstract In my “response to the contributors” I emphasize that I was moved to write my book in response to the question “Why are so many well-trained colleagues, young and old, having so much difficulty developing satisfying analytic practices?” To answer that question I proposed to explore my experience successfully developing and maintaining an analytic practice. In attempting to answer the question I inadvertently stumbled upon a revolutionary (with a “small r”) answer to the problem. I discovered, in my attitudes and in my way of working in a consultation and the early phase of an analytic collaboration, a new “concrete puzzle solution” to the problem of how to help a prospective, often reluctant collaborator give analysis a “try.” My book emphasizes my view that courses on “analyzability” and differential diagnosis are based on psychiatric rather than psychoanalytic diagnostic schema and may interfere with candidates' ability to learn how to create analytic patients. Since I was a candidate, courses ...