cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation and quality control of a commercial 3-D dose compensator system

Abstract A commercially available software/hardware system for automated design and fabrication of three-dimensional dose compensator molds has been tested for accuracy and precision as well as for its ability to provide adequate dose compensation at depth. To date, we have used this system to treat more than 50 patients with either head and neck or lung malignancies. In 19 head and neck patients (38 compensators) the use of a customized compensator resulted in an average reduction of dose variance in the target volume from 13.8% (range of 7%–21%) with uncompensated parallel-opposed fields to 4.5% (2%–7%) with custom-compensated parallel-opposed fields. A similar reduction was seen in the dose variation across lung tumor volumes. The custom compensators were also tested for accuracy of fabrication and positioning: both were found to be accurate within ±1 mm of the design specifications for all compensators tested. Last, the dosimetric properties of the compensators were studied. The ratios of measured open-beam dose profiles to measured compensated-beam dose profiles were compared with the ratio of similar profiles calculated with a treatment planning system. These ratios were equal within ±2.9%, thus providing evidence of the fidelity of the compensator to its design and the accuracy of the treatment planning algorithm that designs 34each compensator.
Brachytherapy: A Journey of Hope in the Battle Against Cancer

A brief summary and overview of brachytherapy in its historical evolution provides the basis for a deeper understanding of the present role and challenges of the discipline. Confronted by those challenges, brachytherapy still remains a solid and effective method of cancer treatment, and it must be known to all those who want to take part in that treatment. Based on this review of the history of brachytherapy, the present challenges and the possible trends of development are presented, and want to serve as the basis for a complete understanding of what will be discussed in all the chapters of this book. From what has been done in the past, from knowing what challenges are today dealing in cancer treatment, it would be possible to redesign the role of brachytherapy and once again promote both its role in a complete formation of new generation of radiation oncologists and its rationale use in clinical practice.
Hepatotoxicity of Cardiovascular and Antidiabetic Drugs

With the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease and associated disorders globally, there has been a proliferation of medications for antiplatelet therapy, dyslipidemia, glycemic control, and hypertension. Liver injury of varying degrees, from asymptomatic elevation in liver enzymes to liver transplantation or death, has been reported to result from members of many drug classes. Statins offer the best example of a class of agents that may cause asymptomatic liver enzyme abnormalities that are likely to be of no clinical consequence. On the other hand, first generation thiazolidinediones and some of the antihypertensive agents are more prominently associated with a capacity to induce severe liver disease. It behooves the clinician to have a framework of understanding from which to base the diagnosis and management of hepatotoxicity attributable to drugs used to treat these common diseases. Thus, the goal of this chapter is to review the pertinent literature on hepatotoxicity associated with medications used for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, including clinical presentation, histology, mechanisms of injury, and disease outcomes.
Boundary handling for convolutional sparse representations

Convolutional sparse representations differ from the standard form in representing the signal to be decomposed as the sum of a set of convolutions with dictionary filters instead of a linear combination of dictionary vectors. The advantage of the convolutional form is that it provides a single-valued representation optimised over an entire signal. The substantial computational cost of the convolutional sparse coding and dictionary learning problems has recently been shown to be greatly reduced by solving in the frequency domain, but the periodic boundary conditions imposed by this approach have the potential to create boundary artifacts. The present paper compares different approaches to avoiding these effects in both sparse coding and dictionary learning.
Persistence and fidelity of phase singularities in optical random waves

The existing quantitative phase imaging method Multifilter Phase Imaging with Partially Coherent light (MFPI-PC) has been extended to nonparaxial case. Its improved accuracy has been verified using simulations and microlens experimental measurements.
The Needs for Interdisciplinary Collaborations for Preparing Future Fashion Technocrats

As many new startups and well-established companies are coming up with WT products, there is a need for employees trained from interdisciplinary fields to satisfy the unique work demands of such firms. New technologies, such as WT and 3D printing, can play a huge role in the fashion industry. Therefore, to prepare students for these work requirements, curricula in fashion-related schools and universities will have to be updated. However, there is a huge gap in the literature to understand the interactions between apparel designers and technology engineers. To address this issue, the objectives of this research were to explore: (a) unique skill sets required by WT professionals, (b) habits cultivated to help them in providing solutions, and (c) the potential gaps in skill sets between product designers and engineers.
Implementing primary care pharmacist services: Go upstream in the world of value-based payment models

There is a shift by payers and health plans away from volume-based payments toward value-based payments that are linked to clinical quality, clinical practice improvement activities, and certified electronic health records technology. These alternative payment programs include fee-for-service with performance-based incentives, advanced payments for care management, shared savings, and population-based payments. Alternative payment programs that focus on clinical quality and practice improvements are founded on patient-centered care principles and based on team-based care delivery. There will be opportunities to expand primary care teams to address chronic care management, care transitions, and high-risk populations - all of which present medication optimization and management challenges that can be delegated to pharmacists working closely with primary care clinicians. This commentary will discuss implementation considerations for pharmacist services, standardized documentation of medication-related problems, and "upstream" pharmacist interventions (closest to the point of care) that align with alternative payment models.
Activation of cPLA2, PKC, and ERKs in the rat cerebral cortex during ischemia/reperfusion.

Release of the excitotoxic amino acid, glutamate, into the extracellular space during ischemia/reperfusion contributes to neuronal injury and death. To gain insights into the signal transduction pathways involved in glutamate release we examined the time course of changes in enzyme levels and activities of cPLA2, PKC and ERKs in the rat cerebral cortex after four vessel (4VO) ischemia followed by reperfusion. Measurement both by enzymatic assay and Western blot analysis showed significant increases in the activity and protein levels of cPLA2 during 10–20 min of ischemia. Activity remained elevated at 10 min and 20 min of reperfusion, whereas cPLA levels had returned to base line levels after 20 min of reperfusion. PKC activity increased significantly in the particulate, but not in the cytosolic, fractions both during ischemia and reperfusion. Increases in PKCγ levels were recorded in the particulate fraction during ischemia and reperfusion, and in the cytosolic fraction during ischemia. Western blot analysis with a phosphospecific antibody for characterization of MAPK (ERKs) activation revealed significantly increased phosphorylation of ERK1, and ERK2 in the particulate fraction, of ERK2 in the cytosolic fraction, during ischemia and of both enzymes in the particulate and cytosolic fractions after 10 min of reperfusion. The relevance of the results to glutamate release is discussed.
Research progress on the breeding of japonica super rice varieties in Jiangsu Province, China

Abstract In this study we report the results of a decade-long breeding program for japonica super rice made by Nanjing Branch of Chinese National Center for Rice Improvement in Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. We concluded that selection of parents with good comprehensive traits and complementary advantages and disadvantages of both parents in the hybrid combination, and early selection of high heritability traits in earlier segregating generations could significantly improve the breeding efficiency. The use of closely-linked functional markers in pyramiding of multiple genes could greatly increase breeding efficiency, avoiding time-consuming and laborious steps that were used in traditional breeding program. It is also important to coordinate the yield components with variety characteristics such as yield stability, wide adaptability, lodging resistance, and an attractive grain appearance during late growth stage of rice.
Chapter 7 Conclusion: Relating Chance and Choice: A Book Concluding With As A Wife Has A Cow A Love Story (1923)

In her conclusion, Voris follows the compositional problem of Stein’s landscape writing full circle, from the love poems where it began, to A Book Concluding With As A Wife Has A Cow A Love Story (1923), Stein’s second portrait of Toklas. With the compositional method of her landscape writing, Stein establishes chance and choice as equivalent elements in this portrait, and affirms contingency by deploying the complex time sense of her experiments with landscape. By imparting both duration and immediacy, Stein writes the portrait not as a record, but as an inquiry concerning the nature of intimacy in its relation to experience, emotion, and time. In an incisive interpretation of this challenging text, Voris demonstrates a critical method for tracing Stein’s language practices even when these take us far beyond the familiar.
Applications of the augmented van der waals theory of fluids: Phase equilibria in mixtures

Basic relations for the thermodynamic functions of multicomponent systems are derived from the equation of state, developed in part I. These functions are calculated from the total (temperature dependent) interaction energies uii , ujj , and uij . A simple combining rule for uij . is derived on the basis of the square-well potential. Comparisons with experimental data (limited to binary systems) show that the predicted values agree satisfactorily with the experimental data only for systems with small or zero values of η/k whereas for those involving large molecules (or large η/k) the ratio of polarizabilities in the combining rule for uij . requires an empirical correction. The calculations include thermodynamic excess functions at P = 0 and high-pressure liquid-vapor equilibria. Weighing of the interaction energies by means of mole fractions appears to be satisfactory only for systems of small molecules.
The Value of Developing a Mixed-Methods Program of Research:

This article contributes to the discussion of the value of utilizing mixed methodological approaches to conduct nursing research. To this end, the author of this article proposes creating a mixed-m...
Variability in observer performance studies experimental observations.

Rationale and Objectives The aim of the study is to assess variance components in observer performance studies and the possible impact on study results and conclusions. Materials and Methods Two previously performed retrospective receiver operating characteristic–type observer performance studies to evaluate the performance of seven radiologists in detecting interstitial disease on conventional posteroanterior chest films and nine radiologists in detecting interstitial disease on a high-resolution workstation were reanalyzed by using the Beiden, Wagner, and Campbell nine-component model to estimate the different variance components. We estimated case-, reader-, and mode-related components of the variance for the group as a whole and after excluding (round robin) each reader. Overall variance was evaluated, and the effect of individual readers on overall study conclusions was assessed. Results Overall results and conclusions of the reanalysis agreed with the original one in that, as a group, radiologists performed significantly better when using conventional films (P Conclusion Estimates of variance components can shed light on the appropriateness of study design, as well as the sensitivity of results to the inclusion (or exclusion) of individual observers.
Sleep Trajectories Before and After the Final Menstrual Period in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN)

Longitudinal studies show that the menopausal transition (MT) is associated with poorer self-reported sleep. Increases in sleep disturbances across and beyond the MT are strongly associated with vasomotor symptoms (VMS) but occur even without VMS. We analyzed data from baseline through 13 annual or biennial follow-up assessments from SWAN’s multi-racial/ethnic cohort of midlife women, specifically focusing on patterns of sleep problems in the years preceding and following the final menstrual period (FMP). The FMP demarcated the MT and the postmenopausal period. We addressed the following questions: (1) are there distinct trajectory patterns of sleep problems across the MT, and (2) do pre-FMP sleep trajectories predict sleep problems around the time of FMP (trans-FMP) and post-FMP? Group-based trajectory modeling using repeated-measures log-binomial regression with generalized estimating equation methods was used to describe trajectory patterns of the most prevalent sleep problem, waking several times at least 3 nights weekly during the previous 2 weeks, in 1285 naturally menopausal women. We found (1) 4 distinct trajectories for waking several times per night across the MT [low prevalence (n = 487; 37.9%), moderate prevalence (n = 365; 28.4%), increasing prevalence (n = 197; 15.3%), and high prevalence (n = 236; 18.4%)]; (2) the prevalence of sleep problems increased overall, but in one trajectory group (increasing prevalence) more than in the other three; and (3) trouble falling asleep, early morning awakening, and frequent VMS were strongly associated with problems waking several times that persist into postmenopause. Using trajectory analysis, we showed that, in general, awakenings were stable or increased slowly from pre-FMP to post-FMP.
Identifying pleiotropic genes in genome-wide association studies from related subjects using the linear mixed model and Fisher combination function

A multivariate genome-wide association test is proposed for analyzing data on multivariate quantitative phenotypes collected from related subjects. The proposed method is a two-step approach. The first step models the association between the genotype and marginal phenotype using a linear mixed model. The second step uses the correlation between residuals of the linear mixed model to estimate the null distribution of the Fisher combination test statistic. The simulation results show that the proposed method controls the type I error rate and is more powerful than the marginal tests across different population structures (admixed or non-admixed) and relatedness (related or independent). The statistical analysis on the database of the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE) demonstrates that applying the multivariate association test may facilitate identification of the pleiotropic genes contributing to the risk for alcohol dependence commonly expressed by four correlated phenotypes. This study proposes a multivariate method for identifying pleiotropic genes while adjusting for cryptic relatedness and population structure between subjects. The two-step approach is not only powerful but also computationally efficient even when the number of subjects and the number of phenotypes are both very large.
End-to-end scalable FPGA accelerator for deep residual networks

This work presents an efficient hardware accelerator design of deep residual learning algorithms, which have shown superior image recognition accuracy (>90% top-5 accuracy on ImageNet database). Two key objectives of the acceleration strategy are to (1) maximize resource utilization and minimize data movements, and (2) employ scalable and reusable computing primitives to optimize physical design under hardware constraints. Furthermore, we present techniques for efficient integration and communication of these primitives in deep residual convolutional neural networks (CNNs) that exhibit complex, non-uniform layer connections. The proposed hardware accelerator efficiently implements state-of-the-art ResNet-50/152 algorithms on Arria-10 FPGA, demonstrating 285.1/315.5 GOPS of throughput and 27.2/71.7 ms of latency, respectively.
Pickering emulsions stabilized by media-milled starch particles

A simple, organic solvent-free media-milling process was applied to modify the structure and morphology of maize starch granules. During the milling process, the sizes of starch granules reduced dramatically while their crystalline structure was largely damaged as verified by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The surface hydrophobicity of milled starch was also characterized by contact angle measurement. These media-milled starch suspensions with different starch concentrations (i.e., 2.4%, 7.2% and 10.0%) were used as stabilizers to form Pickering emulsions. The droplet sizes of the Pickering emulsions prepared in this study ranged from approximately 10μm to 900μm depending on the milling time and the initial starch concentration. The droplet sizes decreased with prolonged milling time and increased initial starch concentration. Milled starch particles of around 100nm anchored at the emulsion interfaces were observed by cryo-scanning electron microscopy. Although some emulsions creamed immediately after homogenization, most emulsions exhibited stability against coalescence during the long-term storage of 6months. The emulsions also exhibited benign stability against a wide range of pH, ionic strength and temperature conditions. This research provides a new green approach to form food-grade emulsions to deliver active food ingredients.
Why AM and eurisko appear to work

Seven years ago, the AM program was constructed as an experiment in learning by discovery. Its source of power was a large body of heuristics, rules which guided it toward fruitful topics of investigation, toward profitable experiments to perform, toward plausible hypotheses and definitions. "Other heuristics evaluated those discoveries for utility and "interestingness", and they were added to AM's vocabulary of concepts. AM's ultimate limitation apparently was due to its inability to discover new, powerful, domain-specific heuristics for the various new fields it uncovered. At that time, it seemed straight-forward to simply add Heuretics (the study of heuristics) as one more field in which to let AM explore, observe, define, and develop. That task - learning new heuristics by discovery - turned out to be much more difficult than was realized initially, and we have just now achieved some successes at it. Along the way, it became clearer why AM had succeeded in the first place, and why it was so difficult to use the same paradigm to discover new heuristics. This paper discusses those recent insights. They spawn questions about "where the meaning really resides" in the concepts discovered by AM. This leads to an appreciation of the crucial and unique role of representation in theory formation, a role involving the relationship between Form and Content.
Transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement with a self‐expanding valve for severe aortic regurgitation in a patient with left ventricular assist device

Aortic insufficiency following left ventricular assist device implantation (LVAD) has been reported in up to 40% of patients and is associated with a worse prognosis. We describe the case of a successful transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement with a self-expanding bioprosthesis for aortic insufficiency following destination LVAD implantation.
The oxidative costs of parental care in cooperative and pair-breeding African starlings.

The cost of parental care has long been thought to favor the evolution of cooperative breeding, because breeders can provide reduced parental care when aided by alloparents. Oxidative stress—the imbalance between reactive oxygen species and neutralizing antioxidants—has been proposed to mediate the cost of parental care, though results from empirical studies remain equivocal. We measured changes in oxidative status during reproduction in cooperatively breeding superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) to gain insight into the relationships among breeding status, parental care, and oxidative stress. We also compared the oxidative cost of reproduction in the cooperatively breeding superb starling to that in a sympatric non-cooperatively breeding species, the greater blue-eared glossy starling (L. chalybaeus), to determine whether cooperatively breeding individuals face reduced oxidative costs of parental care relative to non-cooperatively breeding individuals. Breeders and alloparents of the cooperative species did not differ in oxidative status throughout a breeding attempt. However, individuals of the non-cooperative species incurred an increase in reactive oxygen metabolites proportionally to an individual’s workload during offspring care. These findings suggest that non-cooperative starlings experience an oxidative cost of parental care, whereas cooperatively breeding starlings do not. It is possible that high nest predation risk and multi-brooding in the cooperatively breeding species may have favored reduced physiological costs of parental care more strongly compared to pair-breeding starlings. Reduced physiological costs of caring for young may thus represent a direct benefit that promotes cooperative breeding.
PLASTIC DEFORMATION OF COLLIDING HEMISHELLS

The collision of two hemishells is analyzed where one hemishell is clamped and the other impinges on the inner surface of the clamped hemishell. A model of rigid-perfectly plastic behavior is proposed for the flow of material in the region of contact. An expression relating velocity and deformation is obtained and compared with the results of experiments.
The sedimentation of rat skeletal-muscle ribosomes. Effect of hydrocortisone, insulin and diet.

1. The influence of hydrocortisone, insulin and diet on the size distribution of ribosomes in a post-mitochondrial supernatant prepared from rat skeletal muscle was studied by sedimentation analysis with a linear 15–40% (w/v) sucrose gradient. 2. Within 4hr. after the injection of 5mg. of hydrocortisone to well-nourished rats, a decrease in the yield per g. of muscle and proportion of total RNA due to polyribosomes was observed. Similar results were obtained in rats given a protein-free diet for 3 days before administration of the hormone. 3. Insulin injection increased the yield and proportion of polyribosomes within 2hr. and decreased the proportion of the lighter ribosomal aggregates. Similar results were noted in rats given a protein-free diet for 3 days before injection. A protein-free diet given for 3 days decreased the yield and proportion of polyribosomes. Insulin did not increase the yield of polyribosomes if rats were starved for 52hr. before injection, but decreased the yield and proportion of the lighter ribosome species. 4. A 52hr. period of starvation or 2,4-dinitrophenol (15mg./kg. body wt.) given 1hr. before the rats were killed resulted in a decreased yield and proportion of polyribosomes, and, within 6hr. of re-feeding the rats with protein-free diets, an increased concentration of polyribosomes was noted. 5. The effects of a protein-free diet, hydrocortisone and insulin on the sedimentation of muscle ribosomes were found to be in accord with their net effects on muscle protein synthesis.
Losing Amplitude and Saving Phase

Many chemical and biological phenomena are modeled as systems of coupled limit cycle oscillators. These models are inherently complex in that they involve often large numbers of coupled ordinary and partial differential equations. To understand any of the behavior of these systems, simplifying assumptions are made. One such assumption is that the individual oscillators are nearly identical and weakly coupled. In this case only the phase of the individual oscillators matters and so the coupled system becomes a smaller system on a k-torus. This technique has been applied to discrete systems [1–3] as well as to reaction-diffusion equation [4,5]. Many interesting aspects of chemical and biological systems can be understood by studying the simple phase-models [6–8]. For example, see the paper by Kopell in this volume.
Genetic Epidemiology and the Familial Atypical Multiple Mole Melanoma Syndrome

Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has been increasing in many of the western industrialized nations at a frequency which exceeds that of any other form of cancer (Magnus 1987). This disease has reached epidemic proportions among patients with light pigmentation residing in the southwestern United States and in several southern nations of the world (Crombie 1979; Green and Siskind 1983). For example, in Australia, the annual incidence of CMM is 32.7 per 100 000 individuals (Green and Siskind 1983).
How race, ethnicity, and income moderate the relationship between urban vegetation and physical activity in the United States.

Abstract To facilitate physical activity interventions, researchers identify which factors associate with physical activity, such as vegetation levels of the surrounding environment. While most studies examining vegetation and physical activity find a positive correlation, the literature does not investigate how vegetation may have a varied effect on physical activity based on demographic composition. This study examined how race, ethnicity, and income moderate the relationship between both non-tree vegetation and tree canopy on the percentage of individuals participating in leisure-time physical activity per census tract. Physical activity data from 2013 to 2014 for 7842 census tracts across 25 US cities originated from the CDC's 500 Cities project. Aerial images from the USDA's National Agriculture Imagery Program were used to classify vegetation levels per tract. Demographic variables originated from the American Community Survey 2011–2015 5-year estimates. Tracts were stratified into four types (Black + low income, Hispanic + low income, White + high income, and remaining) and assessed through multilevel modeling as to whether tract type moderated the relationship between vegetation and physical activity. Results showed that non-tree vegetation negatively associated with physical activity across all census tract types, while tree canopy exhibited a mixed association with physical activity, based on tract type. These findings can spur further research into how vegetation impacts physical activity of different demographic groups, and potentially inform greenspace and tree planting installments in those areas at greatest risk for physical inactivity-related diseases.
Educating Thriving Systems Designers

With its origins deeply rooted in the natural sciences, computing education’s commitment to design has drawn largely from what Schon calls technical rationality, a presumption that design like any computation can be achieved algorithmically. In the narrowest of contexts this may be true but, in any practical, social sphere of relevance design is a truly “wicked problem!” Indeed, extensive effort has been invested in attempts at “design by computer” through artificial intelligence approaches, but none have demonstrated any semblance of the ingenuity or the quality, ascribed to successful human designers. This discourse contemplates a vision of design education based upon first principles of a designerly way of knowing specifically centered upon computing professionals. We review the “wicked” nature of design in computing and propose a pedagogical framework to provide the concepts and skills to seed design competency in the student aspiring to become a computing professional.
Production of Short-Wavelength (XUV) Photons from Ion-Laser-Excited-Surface Charge Exchange: Li(3+), He(+) + Si(111) Systems.

It has been proposed1,2 that some selected charge-exchange processes may serve as a means of achieving population inversion for short-wavelength (VUV and soft X-ray) lasers.
A simple bijection for enhanced, classical, and 2-distant k-noncrossing partitions

Abstract In this note, we give a simple extension map from partitions of subsets of [ n ] to partitions of [ n + 1 ] , which sends δ -distant k -crossings to ( δ + 1 ) -distant k -crossings (and similarly for nestings). This map provides a combinatorial proof of the fact that the numbers of enhanced, classical, and 2-distant k -noncrossing partitions are each related to the next via the binomial transform. Our work resolves a recent conjecture of Zhicong Lin and generalizes earlier reduction identities for partitions.
Phase Control of Crystalline Ga2O3 Films by Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

Ga2O3 has emerged as a promising material for next-generation power electronics. Beyond the most stable and studied β phase, metastable α-, e-, and κ-Ga2O3 have unique characteristics such as large...
Totally extraperitoneal approach for open complex abdominal wall reconstruction.

Ventral hernia repair is typically performed via a transabdominal approach and the peritoneal cavity is opened and explored. Totally extraperitoneal ventral hernia repair (TEVHR) facilitates dissection of the hernia sac without entering the peritoneal cavity. This study evaluates our experience of TEVHR, addressing technique, decision-making, and outcomes. This is an IRB-approved retrospective review of open TEVHR performed between January 2012 and December 2016. Medical records were reviewed for patient demographics, operative details, postoperative outcomes, hospital readmissions, and reoperations. One hundred sixty-six patients underwent TEVHR (84 males, 82 females) with a mean BMI range of 30–39. Eighty-six percent of patients underwent repair for primary or first-time recurrent hernia, and 89% CDC wound class I. Median hernia defect size was 135 cm2. Hernia repair techniques included Rives-Stoppa (34%) or transversus abdominis release (57%). Median operative time was 175 min, median blood loss 100 mL, and median length of stay 4 days. There were no unplanned bowel resections or enterotomies. Four cases required intraperitoneal entry to explant prior mesh. Wound complication rate was 27%: 9% seroma drainage, 18% superficial surgical site infection (SSI), and 2% deep space SSI. Five patients (3%) required reoperation for wound or mesh complications. Over the study, four patients were hospitalized for postoperative small bowel obstruction and managed non-operatively. Of the 166 patients, 96%, 54%, and 44% were seen at 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month follow-ups, respectively. Recurrences were observed in 2% of patients at 12-month follow-up. One patient developed an enterocutaneous fistula 28 months postoperatively. TEVHR is a safe alternative to traditional transabdominal approaches to ventral hernia repair. The extraperitoneal dissection facilitates hernia repair, avoiding peritoneal entry and adhesiolysis, resulting in decreased operative times. In our study, there was low risk for postoperative bowel obstruction and enterotomy. Future prospective studies with long-term follow-up are required to draw definitive conclusions.
Localized microscopic diverticulitis revealed by arteriography at the site of hemorrhage in diverticulosis of the colon.

Selective mesenteric arteriography was used preoperatively to identify the site of hemorrhage in a patient with massive rectal bleeding. A microscopic focus of diverticulitis in the sigmoid colon was found at the site of bleeding. The operation was greatly simplified by the preoperative arteriogram, and the colonic resection was more conservative than is necessary in patients with lower gastrointestinal bleeding of totally unknown etiology.
Chapter 11 – Defense and Escape

Basic escape theory is reviewed to set the stage for a discussion of predator escape mechanisms in amphibians and reptiles. Escaping predation involves the ability to respond differently at nearly every stage of a predation event, from escaping initial detection to escaping once captured. Many fascinating escape behaviors exist and are illustrated with examples from nature. Predation can also occur on defenseless life history stages, such as eggs in nests. The intensity and predictability of predation on specific life-history stages can affect the evolution of life history strategies, and these strategies are discussed. Finally, amphibians and reptiles often carry heavy parasite loads and the effects of parasites on performance, growth, and fitness are summarized.
S16.2 Modeling considerations related to multi-site infection

Background Gonorrhea may infect the urethra, rectum, and oropharynx in men. It may only be acquired when there is contact between infected and uninfected anatomical sites. Seven plausible routes of MSM transmission have been proposed: urethra-to-rectum, rectum-to-urethra, urethra-to-oropharynx, rectum-to-oropharynx, oropharynx-to-urethra, oropharynx-to-rectum, and oropharynx-to-oropharynx. We characterize the uncertainty and potential importance of transmission from each anatomical site using a deterministic compartmental mathematical model. Methods We developed a model of site-specific gonococcal infection, where individuals are infected at zero, one, two, or all three sites. Sexual behavior and infection duration parameters were fixed similar to recent analyses. Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods were used to sample the posterior distribution of transmission probabilities that were consistent with site-specific prevalence in American MSM populations under specific scenarios. Scenarios were defined by whether transmission routes may or may not transmit by constraining specific transmission probabilities to zero rather than fitting them. Results Transmission contributions from each site have greater uncertainty when more routes may transmit, when all routes may transmit, the oropharynx can contribute 0–100% of all transmissions. In contrast, when only anal or oral sex may transmit, transmission from the oropharynx can account for only 0–25% of transmission. Intervention effectiveness against transmission from each site also has greater uncertainty when more routes may transmit. Conclusion Multiple routes of transmission leads to great uncertainty. Even under ideal conditions (i.e., when site-specific gonococcal prevalence, relative rates of specific sex acts, and duration of infection at each anatomical site are known and do not vary), the relative importance of different anatomical sites for gonococcal transmission cannot be inferred with precision. This result is generalizable to any other infection where multi-site infection leads to multiple routes of transmission. Additional data informing per act transmissibility are needed to understand site-specific gonococcal infection transmission. This understanding is essential for predicting population-specific intervention effectiveness. Disclosure No significant relationships.
6.12 – The Geochemistry of Mass Extinction

The boundaries between geologic periods often mark major turnovers in the types (species, genera, and families) of organisms that inhabit the planet, that is, mass extinctions. Geochemistry is used to investigate these events, to determine both the trigger for the event (asteroid/comet impact and volcanism) and its cause (abrupt warming, anoxia, trace-metal poisoning, loss of habitat by sea-level fall, etc.). Because they are fractionated by biogeochemical processes, the stable isotopes are important geochemical clues. Although the long-term Phanerozoic trends in stable isotope ratios reveal no consistent indication of progressively worsening conditions, detailed analysis of the geochemical and isotopic record of sedimentary successions spanning mass extinctions generally indicate some combination of a loss of biologic productivity, expansion of low-oxygen zones, and increased continental weathering. Anoxia (the loss of oxygen) and euxinia (the buildup of hydrogen sulfide) clearly played a role in the Late Devonian and end-Permian mass extinctions, as revealed by the various geochemical proxies of anoxia and the presence of biomarkers for anoxygenic sulfur phototrophs. Only the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction has conclusive evidence of asteroid impact; the other events seem to be events driven by endogenic processes in Earth system.
Fast Error-tolerant Location-aware Query Autocompletion

Location-based services have become ubiquitous in smart life, but typing queries in mobile devices is tedious and error-prone. Therefore, query autocompletion is needed to instantly provide users with query suggestions based on the incomplete user input. A recent trend is to support error-tolerant autocompletion, which could improve the usability by allowing a small number of errors between the query input and prefixes of strings in database. In addition, the query autocompletion should be location-aware for location-based services since it makes more sense to provide query suggestions for nearby objects. Unfortunately, existing query autocompletion algorithms cannot efficiently support both error-tolerate and location-aware features at the same time.In this paper, we propose a novel framework AutoEL to support error-tolerant location-aware query autocompletion. The error-tolerate feature is enabled by applying edit distance to evaluate the textual similarity between given query and the underlying data, while the location-aware feature is guaranteed by choosing the k-nearest neighbors. To improve the efficiency, we construct a hybrid data structure to jointly index spatial and textural information. We also propose several optimizations on data partition as well as search algorithm. Extensive experiments on real datasets demonstrate that AutoEL outperforms the baseline methods by up to an order of magnitude.
Stabilizing Dendritic Electrodeposition by Limiting Spatial Dimensions in Nanostructured Electrolytes

The tendency of metals to form uncontrolled dendritic morphologies during electrodeposition hinders the development of safe and reliable metal batteries. Multiphase nanostructured electrolytes can ...
A mean-field model of linker-mediated colloidal interactions

Programmable self-assembly is one of the most promising strategies for making ensembles of nanostructures from synthetic components. Yet, predicting the phase behavior that emerges from a complex mixture of many interacting species is difficult, and designing such a system to exhibit a prescribed behavior is even more challenging. In this article, I develop a mean-field model for predicting linker-mediated interactions between DNA-coated colloids, in which the interactions are encoded in DNA molecules dispersed in solution instead of in molecules grafted to particles' surfaces. As I show, encoding interactions in the sequences of free DNA oligomers leads to new behavior, such as a re-entrant melting transition and a temperature-independent binding free energy per kBT. This unique phase behavior results from a per-bridge binding free energy that is a nonlinear function of the temperature and a nonmonotonic function of the linker concentration, owing to subtle entropic contributions. To facilitate the design of experiments, I also develop two scaling limits of the full model that can be used to select the DNA sequences and linker concentrations needed to program a specific behavior or favor the formation of a prescribed target structure. These results could ultimately enable the programming and tuning of hundreds of mutual interactions by designing cocktails of linker sequences, thus pushing the field toward the original goal of programmable self-assembly: these user-prescribed structures can be assembled from complex mixtures of building blocks through the rational design of their interactions.
Abstract P269: Sodium Transporter Profile in Mice Lacking AT1A Receptors in the Renal Proximal Tubule

We have reported that mice lacking AT1A receptors (KO) in renal proximal tubule (PT) have 10 mmHg lower baseline BP and less PT fluid reabsorption than wild type (WT). We tested the hypothesis that...
SET levels contribute to cohesion fatigue.

Cancer cells often exhibit weak centromeric cohesion, but the molecular mechanisms are little known. Here we show that SET overexpression contributes to impaired centromeric cohesion in cancer cell...
Photonic integration of Er3+:Y2SiO5 with thin-film lithium niobate by flip chip bonding.

Rare earth ions are known as promising candidates for building quantum light-matter interface. However, tunable photonic cavity access to rare earth ions in their desired host crystal remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate the integration of erbium doped yttrium orthosilicate (Er3+:Y2SiO5) with thin-film lithium niobate photonic circuit by plasma-activated direct flip chip bonding. Resonant coupling to erbium ions is realized by on-chip electro-optically tuned high Q lithium niobate micro-ring resonators. Fluorescence and absorption of erbium ions at 1536.48 nm are measured in the waveguides, while the collective ion-cavity cooperativity with micro-ring resonators is assessed to be 0.36. This work presents a versatile scheme for future rare earth ion integrated quantum devices.
A Regulatory Principle for Robust Reciprocal-Time Decay of the Adaptive Immune Response

Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) play a crucial role in the regulation of immunity. They are believed to be responsible for long-term persistence of humoral antibody following vaccination or infection, due to their role in antibody response induction and their ability to retain antigen for long periods. In this paper, a regulatory control model is described which links persistence of humoral immunity with cellular processes associated with FDCs. The model predicts universal and stable reciprocal-time (= 1/t) decay of humoral antibody levels, which has been widely reported over a range of ages, observation times and vaccine types.
Seeking justice, eating toxics: overlooked contaminants in urban community gardens

Over the past several decades, urban community gardens have arisen in diverse and economically compromised neighborhoods across the U.S. as part of multiple environmental justice efforts. Urban community gardens have enabled users to mitigate the effects of many environmental injustices such as the impact of food deserts, nutrient poor food found at convenience stores, and pesticide laden grocery items. While these benefits have promulgated across the U.S., community gardens are also well known to be located in historically contaminated locations in urban landscapes. These landscapes include former brownfield sites, superfund sites, and other abandoned spaces of contamination. Although environmental justice efforts to reclaim healthy food in urban community gardens are commendable, the presence and effects of potentially harmful contaminants is often overlooked as gardens are established. Further, governmental organizations tasked with protecting human health, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, have not established any health standards for urban community gardens. This creates many challenges in determining what is safe in community gardens, and garden mangers and users are often unaware of how severe the impacts of contamination may be or how to mitigate its effects. In this study, I highlight the prevalence of harmful concentrations of contaminants in urban community gardens in and near Seattle, Washington that are managed with organic practices. I then present the challenges and barriers to gardening in contaminated spaces. Finally, I make recommendations to address contamination in gardens spaces, and call for better regulatory standards and other forms of support to mitigate risk to users.
Diagnosis of Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome: 2016 Consensus Guidelines and Other Strategies

The diagnosis of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) depends upon clinical suspicion, pattern-recognition, and exclusion of more common conditions that have overlapping features. In most patients a diagnosis of neurogenic TOS can be made or excluded on the basis of the clinical history, description of symptoms, and physical examination. The clinical diagnosis may then be supported, clarified, or challenged by a limited number of adjunctive diagnostic studies. In this chapter the clinical diagnosis of neurogenic TOS is described along with the development of consensus-based clinical diagnostic criteria for this condition by the Consortium for Outcomes Research and Education on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (CORE-TOS) and the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) committee on reporting standards for TOS. Application of these diagnostic criteria in a prospective, observational, cohort study is illustrated. Broader use of these diagnostic criteria will be a valuable step toward achieving more consistent clinical care and improved comparative effectiveness research for neurogenic TOS.