cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigating the role of 'yeah' in stance-dense conversation.

This study investigates characteristics of stance-related discourse function, stance strength, and polarity in uses of the word ‘yeah.’ In an annotated corpus of 20 talker dyads engaged in collaborative tasks, over 2300 ‘yeahs’ fall into six common stance-act categories. While agreement, usually with weak, positive stance, accounts for about three-quarters of the instances, opinion-offering, convincing, reluctance to accept an idea, backchannels, and no-stance represent other common stance-related uses. We assess combinations of acousticprosodic characteristics (duration, intensity, pitch) to identify those which differentiate these stance categories for ‘yeah’ and to determine how they relate to levels of stance strength and polarity. Differences in vowel duration and intensity help to differentiate these fine-grained functions of ‘yeah.’ Within the larger agreement category, we can further assess the effects of stance strength and polarity, finding that positive polarity is signaled by higher pitch, lower intensity, and longer vowel duration, while greater stance strength shows higher pitch and intensity. Finally, a small set of negative ‘yeahs’ is examined for more specific stance functions which may be distinguishable by differing pitch and intensity contours.
Tuberculosis and HIV infection

While HIV has changed the tuberculosis situation in an unprecedented way on a global scale, its impact in western Europe on tuberculosis has remained relatively small, largely due to achievements in control over the past decades. To what extent HIV may thwart these achievements in some population segments (e.g. injection drug users) remains to be seen. Nevertheless, irrespective of the extent of the HIV epidemic, basic principles in tuberculosis control must be upheld, now more than ever: tuberculosis must remain part in the differential diagnosis, and once diagnosed, it must be assured that treatment is not only initiated but brought to successful conclusion. From an individual point of view, preventive therapy with isoniazid for dually infected persons is desirable as it effectively reduces the risk of subsequent tuberculosis even in the presence of HIV infection.
Self-test trends in Motorola microprocessors

The self-test features on the high performance MC68020 32-bit microprocessor and low cost MC6804 single chip microcomputer are the result of a decade of evolutionary efforts in test technology at Motorola. Key milestones in the development of an MOS Ie self-test methodology are discussed, beginning with the MC6800. Highlights and disappointments of this period are candidly reviewed - with emphasis on the MC6805 built-in self-test design philosophy vs production conclusions. Empirical data from a fault validation experiment involving over 22,000 MC6802 die are presented. An objective of this experiment was to examine the relationship between field reject rate and fault coverage; i.e., does fault validation (test grading) really improve quality? Future challenges for VLSI testing are outlined and a solution is suggested.
Carbon-13 Relaxation Parameters of Small Peptides

Carbon-13 spin lattice relaxation times and the nuclear Overhauser enhancement factors (NOE) have been determined at 25.2 MHz, 45.3 MHz, and 67.9 MHz for the small peptides bAngiotensin II and Bleomycin A2. Overall and internal reorientation correlation times for the individual amino acid residues were computed from experimental data.
Does Cation Size Affect Occupancy and Electrostatic Screening of the Nucleic Acid Ion Atmosphere

Electrostatics are central to all aspects of nucleic acid behavior, including their folding, condensation, and binding to other molecules, and the energetics of these processes are profoundly influenced by the ion atmosphere that surrounds nucleic acids. Given the highly complex and dynamic nature of the ion atmosphere, understanding its properties and effects will require synergy between computational modeling and experiment. Prior computational models and experiments suggest that cation occupancy in the ion atmosphere depends on the size of the cation. However, the computational models have not been independently tested, and the experimentally observed effects were small. Here, we evaluate a computational model of ion size effects by experimentally testing a blind prediction made from that model, and we present additional experimental results that extend our understanding of the ion atmosphere. Giambasu et al. developed and implemented a three-dimensional reference interaction site (3D-RISM) model for m...
Online Appendix: Consumer Pseudo-Showrooming and Omni-Channel Product Placement Strategies

This file provides online appendix for the paper "Consumer Pseudo-Showrooming and Omni-Channel Product Placement Strategies," which may be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2811230.
Bartender: an ultrafast and accurate clustering algorithm to count barcode and amplicon reads

Barcode sequencing (bar-seq) is a high-throughput, and cost effective method to assay large numbers of lineages or genotypes in complex cell pools. Because of its advantages, applications for bar-seq are quickly growing -- from using neutral random barcodes to study the evolution of microbes or cancer, to using pseudo-barcodes, such as shRNAs, sgRNAs, or transposon insertion libraries, to simultaneously screen large numbers of cell perturbations. However, the computational pipelines for bar-seq have not been well developed. Available methods, which use prior information and/or simple brute-force comparisons, are slow and often result in over-clustering artifacts that group distinct barcodes together. Here, we developed Bartender: an ultrafast and accurate clustering algorithm to detect barcodes and their abundances from raw next-generation sequencing data. To improve speed and reduce unnecessary pairwise comparisons, Bartender employs a divide-and-conquer strategy that intelligently sorts barcode reads into distinct bins before performing comparisons. To improve accuracy and reduce over-clustering artifacts, Bartender employs a modified two-sample proportion test that uses information on both the cluster sequence distances and cluster sizes to make merging decisions. Additionally, Bartender includes a "multiple time point" mode, which matches barcode clusters between different clustering runs for seamless handling of time course data. For both simulated and real data, Bartender clusters millions of unique barcodes in a few minutes at high accuracy (>99.9%), and is ~100-fold faster than previous methods. Bartender is a set of simple-to-use command line tools that can be performed on a laptop.
A case of neuralgic amyotrophy with contralateral recurrence

Neuralgic amyotrophy is a brachial plexopathy of uncertain etiology which presents as acute neuropathic pain with subsequent weakness and sensory changes. It is believed that this disease process is under recognized in the primary care setting. We present a case of a 58-year-old male who presented to the outpatient clinic with severe pain and new onset weakness in his left arm. The same patient presented several months later with the same presentation in his right arm. By the end of the case report, readers should be able to recognize the common symptoms of neuralgic amyotrophy, as highlighted by this patient’s presentation.
An Electronically-collimated Gamma-ray Detector for Localization of Radiation Sources

Small hand-held radiation detectors that can image a gamma-ray source and yet can be transported by a single operator could have numerous applications, either in medical intraoperative procedures or in nuclear security field work. We report on the design of a device intended for such applications and we present results of simulations that indicate expected performance for such a compact system. The device is electronically collimated and uses coincidence detection of Compton scattering interactions to locate distant unknown gamma ray emitters. Pixellated CZT semiconductor detectors are used, to allow a compact system with room-temperature operation. Detector energy resolution and detector geometry both impact performance, with detector geometry being a significant issue for this compact design. The useful field of view was found to be plusmn60deg in the zenith and azimuthal directions, measured outward from the front face of the detector. The radial field of view is determined by the sensitivity of the detectors, and depends upon the strength of the source. Suggestions for design improvements are discussed in our conclusions, with the goal of a hand-held device as the main stipulation.
MODES OF SEDIMENT BEHAVIOR AND SELECTION OF HARBOR DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE TECHNIQUES FOR MINIMUM SHOALING IN ESTUARIES

Recent field and laboratory studies on San Francisco Bay sediment have revealed modes of sediment transport and shoaling processes there. These studies have been partially described in reports (Krone et al., 1959> i960) and articles (Einstein and Krone, 1961a, b) and sufficient information has now been accumulated to encourage qualitative recommendations for selecting harbor designs and maintenance programs causing minimum shoaling in this bay. San Francisco Bay is a transitional region between the nearly steady uniform fresh-water flows in contiguous rivers and the marine environment. In this region unsteady quasiperiodic flows and water depths prevail, and salinities range from very low values in the rivers to that of sea water. Water density variations due to salinity differences complicate hydraulic conditions resulting from the transition from river to tide-induced flows, particularly in channels, to the extent that flows in opposite directions are found near the channel bottom and near the water surface. Large areas exist in the Bay with MLLW depths less than six feet. In these areas wind and tide-induced currents having low flow velocities, and wave action are the important hydraulic conditions. The sediments transported into the Bay generally range from fine sand downward in size, and compose the "wash loads" of entering streams that have found conditions in the Bay favoring deposition. Sediments involved in shoaling problems are generally composed of more than half clay minerals. These minerals are a heterogeneous mixture but are predominately montmorillonite and illite. Organic matter content of deposits within the Bay are of the order of .02 by dry weight. Similar estuarial conditions and clayey sediments to those in San Francisco Bay are believed to occur widely in other areas, with variations in detail of configuration, flows, salinities, wave action, and sediment composition and loads. Such details are more or less subject to modification, however, and are the principal interest of those concerned with harbor design. This paper first presents descriptions of the factors and physical processes important to sediment transport and shoaling in an estuarial environment as bases of later general recommendations for harbor design and maintenance. These descriptions are based on the San Francisco Bay studies, with supplementary information from other estuarial regions when known.
Clinical Trials: Handling the Data

Randomized control trials (RCTs) provide the foundation for evidence-based medicine, which is the cornerstone of medical practice. RCTs are prospective studies that compare the effect of an intervention between an intervention and control group. An understanding of statistical methods is fundamental to the interpretation of RCT methods and results. This chapter will not provide an in-depth description of the methods of statistical analysis (this information can be obtained from any introductory statistics textbook). Instead, this chapter will provide a brief review of common statistical methods used to analyze data and discuss some issues associated with data analysis.
Pretty Picky for a Generalist: Impacts of Toxicity and Nutritional Quality on Mantid Prey Processing.

Prey have evolved a number of defenses against predation, and predators have developed means of countering these protective measures. Although caterpillars of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L., are defended by cardenolides sequestered from their host plants, the Chinese mantid Tenodera sinensis Saussure guts the caterpillar before consuming the rest of the body. We hypothesized that this gutting behavior might be driven by the heterogeneous quality of prey tissue with respect to toxicity and/or nutrients. We conducted behavioral trials in which mantids were offered cardenolide-containing and cardenolide-free D. plexippus caterpillars and butterflies. In addition, we fed mantids starved and unstarved D. plexippus caterpillars from each cardenolide treatment and nontoxic Ostrinia nubilalis Hubner caterpillars. These trials were coupled with elemental analysis of the gut and body tissues of both D. plexippus caterpillars and corn borers. Cardenolides did not affect mantid behavior: mantids gutted both cardenolide-containing and cardenolide-free caterpillars. In contrast, mantids consumed both O. nubilalis and starved D. plexippus caterpillars entirely. Danaus plexippus body tissue has a lower C:N ratio than their gut contents, while O. nubilalis have similar ratios; gutting may reflect the mantid's ability to regulate nutrient uptake. Our results suggest that post-capture prey processing by mantids is likely driven by a sophisticated assessment of resource quality.
131I Treatment of Metastatic Thyroid Carcinoma Following Preparation by Recombinant Human Thyrotropin

Eradication of metastatic thyroid carcinoma is a challenge. This challenge is attributed to the marked reduction in iodine uptake and organification in thyroid cancer cells, the relatively slow and unpredictable rate of progression, and the generally high quality of life (QOL), even in those patients with widely metastatic lesions. Furthermore, relatively few studies have identified reliable predictors of the progression rate, the pattern of metastatic spread, or the sensitivity to 131I therapy. Patients and their physicians often continue to administer large amounts of 131I to lesions that appear iodine-avid, even in the absence of previous tumor responses. A common rationalization for this approach is that the subsequent progression would have been worse if another dose of 131I had not been administered.
Computer Simulations for Microchip Electrophoresis

A mathematical model describing electrokinetically driven mass transport phenomena in microfabricated chip devices is presented. The model accounts for principal material transport mechanisms including electrokinetic migration (electrophoresis and electroosmosis) and diffusion. A computer code that implements the model is capable of simulating the mass transport during electrokinetic manipulation in any 2-D channel structures. The code allows arbitrary channel geometries with various boundary conditions for the electric field and the sample concentration. The results simulating the sample mass transport in a cross channel geometry during different types of electrokinetic injection are presented.
Metal-oxide films with magnetically-modulated nanoporous architectures

A magnetically-driven method for controlling nanodimensional porosity in sol-gel-derived metal–oxide films, including TiO2, Al2O3, and SnO2, coated onto ferromagnetic amorphous substrates, such as the magnetically-soft Metglas1 alloys, is described. On the basis of the porous structures observed dependence on external magnetic field, a model is suggested to explain the phenomena. Under well-defined conditions it appears that the sol particles coming out of solution, and undergoing Brownian motion, follow the magnetic field lines oriented perpendicularly to the substrate surface associated with the magnetic domain walls of the substrate; hence the porosity developed during solvent evaporation correlates with the magnetic domain size.
Estimating Surface/Subsurface Sediment Mixing in Karst Settings Using 7Be Isotopes

This study shows that the cosmogenic radionuclide beryllium-7 can be used to track sediment movement through caves. The activities of beryllium-7 and cesium-137 were measured in two different karst settings at both surface and subsurface sites before and after storm runoff events. At one site, 7Be-enriched sediment was detected up to 1.5 km along a stream conduit after a moderate storm event; however, the activity of 137Cs was too variable to show a meaningful pattern. The percentages of surface sediment that was found ranged from 0 to 52% along the entire 3 km cave stream and from 33 to 52% along the upper 1.5 km. At the other site, as much as 96% of the sediment initially discharged at the spring during a storm event was fresh surface material that had traveled into and through the cave stream. Moreover, during the 4-day runoff event, approximately 23% of the total suspended sediment flux was estimated to originate from surface erosion with 78% being reworked sediment from within the cave. The data in this study shows that cosmogenic radionuclides with multi-year half-lives are too long-lived to track sediment origins in the caves; whereas, 7Be with a 53.2 day half life, can be used to track movement of sediment along cave streams.
Rationing Health Care: Inherent Conflicts Within the Concept of Justice

There is an almost universal conviction today that no society, even one as affluent as ours, can afford to provide all its citizens with the benefits modern medicine makes possible. There is every prospect that this disparity will become even greater in the foreseeable future. As a result some form of rationing is deemed necessary for both the good of individual and the common good.
Conclusion—Reintegration and Continuum of Care

Research on offenders’ rehabilitation, reentry, and reintegration has come a long way in recent years, particularly during the last decade, which indicates a renewed focus of attention to the consequences of incarceration. Nevertheless, the questions that govern these studies always tend to focus on what happens to offenders in the receiving societies, and the externally measured economic, social, and political consequences of their reintegration.
Schottelius, Justus Georg (1612–1676)

Justus Georg Schottelius's (1612–1676) initial publication, Lamentatio Germaniae expirantis (1640), is an inspiring ‘battle cry’ as well as the outline of an agenda for a determined action plan on which he focused for the rest of his life. His first programmatic item was to write a comprehensive grammar of the German language, his meritorious opus magnum: Ausfuhrliche Arbeit von der Teutschen HaubtSprache (1663), which turned out to be the first complete descriptive grammar of German.
Gender, Emotion, and Socialization

The discussion of gender differences in emotional processes is complex for two reasons. First, there are multiple processes involved in emotional functioning, including verbal, facial, and behavioral expressiveness; emotional experiences and awareness; the ability to recognize or decode emotions in others; physiological arousal; and the ability to regulate emotional experiences and expressions. Gender differences have been documented for some, but not all of these processes. Further, gender differences in many of these processes have been found to be inconsistent across personality, social, cultural, and situational variables, as well as task characteristics and the quality and intensity of specific emotions such as anger and happiness. This lack of consistency in gender differences is not surprising, considering the fact that emotions serve adaptive communicative and motivational functions. For example, expressing anger is functional in that it communicates, both to oneself as well as to others, that goals are not being met. It is also motivational in that it facilitates change on both interpersonal and intrapersonal levels. Because women and men are often socialized to have different roles, motives, goals, and self-schemas (caretaking roles, intimacy motives, and interdependent self-schemas for women; provider roles, control motives, and independent self-schemas for men; Cross & Madsen, 1997), gender differences should occur in emotional processes. However, gender differences should also fail to generalize broadly because motives and goals for individual women and men vary with the social context. Moreover, both women and men need to adapt to power and status imbalances between the two genders, in which men typically have higher power and status than do women (see Brody, 1999). Higher power is theoretically associated with emotions such as pride, guilt, and anger, whereas lower power is associated with emotions such as fear and shame. Recent research has supported some of these ideas (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003), and indicates that power differentials, both in general as well in specific circumstances, may contribute to gender differences in emotional expressiveness. Gender differences also vary across contexts because both women and men have multiple identities that consist not only of gender, but also of such factors as age, social class, race, ethnicity, status, religion, sexual orientation, and professional and interpersonal roles (e.g., professor and parent) (Stewart & McDermott, 2004). These identities may interact and become more or less salient depending on the individuals’ values; the social setting, including the content and goals of the situation (e.g., political versus personal; Ethier & Deaux, 1994); and the multiple identities of the
Procedural embedding of knowledge in planner

Since the last IJCAI, the PLANNER problem solving formalism has continued to develop. Our eplstemolgy for the foundations for problem solving has been extended. An overview of the formalism Is given from an Information processing view point. A simple example Is explained using snapshots of the state of the problem solving as the example Is worked, finally, current applications for the formalism are listed.
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: current issues for pathogenesis, diagnosis, and management in children and adults.

Abstract Current issues for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in children and adults are reviewed. Appropriate initial management of ITP in children is controversial. Some physicians favor specific treatment, whereas other physicians advocate only supportive care until the expected spontaneous remission occurs. In adults, ITP is typically persistent. Treatment is appropriate only for severe and symptomatic thrombocytopenia because prevention of bleeding is the only goal. If patients do not respond to initial glucocorticoid treatment, splenectomy is the appropriate second modality, resulting in sustained remissions in more than 66% of patients. For patients who have severe and symptomatic thrombocytopenia after splenectomy, treatment options are unclear. Intensive immunosuppression may be effective, but stimulation of platelet production by thrombopoietin may also be effective. Because major bleeding in ITP is rare, physicians must be certain that the adverse effects of treatment are not worse than the risks of bleeding caused by ITP.
Detailed Representative Case Studies

This 22-year-old black male complained of his wide, nonprojecting, undefined and ptotic nasal tip. He was also concerned about his dorsal bump and the “droopy” appearance of his nose.
Analytical Solution to the Incident Power of the Tapered Wave in 3-D Scattering Problems

The tapered incident has been applied in rough surface 3-D scattering to meet the surface truncation requirement of the method of moments (MoM). The properties of such a wave provide concentration near the scattering center and attenuation to negligible in intensity for most of the incident angles. The resulting scattered intensities need to be normalized by the tapered incident power, to quantitatively predict the radar cross-section (RCS). The exact expression is analytically elaborated instead of the conventionally numerical method, to avoid losing information on the surface edges and improve the computational efficiency.
Princess Mononoke: Understanding Studio Ghibli’s Monster Princess

The late 1990s were a key turning point in the history of anime. Its global reach was fully achieved in North America with the Pokemon television series, card game, and video games. Hayao Miyazaki’...
Clinical Outcomes of Acquired Factor VIII Inhibitors in Cancer Population: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background: In cancer patients, the development of autoantibodies against coagulation factors is a rare but a life-threatening bleeding disorder. Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is the most common subset of the disorder and is caused by the inhibitory antibodies against coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) activity which can cause significant bleeding diathesis in those patients. Therefore, a prompt diagnosis is necessary for management of controlling the suppression of the inhibitor and the bleeding diathesis. Aims: We conducted a systematic review to study the occurrence of FVIII inhibitors in cancer patients, particularly their clinical outcomes and treatment responses. Methods: We performed an electronic search through March 31, 2017 with search terms “acquired hemophilia factor VIII inhibitor and cancer”, “acquired hemophilia A” in PUBMED and EMBASE. Manuscripts with unavailable details, other coagulation factor inhibitors, hereditary cases and in other languages were excluded. The primary endpoint was measuring clinical response to treatments as defined by reduction of at least 50% in the baseline FVIII inhibitor level. Secondary endpoints were identifying early (defined a time to response ≤ 1.5 months from the initiation of therapy) vs. late responders to treatments and overall survival (OS) between responders and non-responders. Results: 47 cases of AHA associated with malignancies were analyzed. Several cancer and hemophilia characteristics were compared between treatment responders and non-responders. Findings include 68% males, median age 70 (58-74), hematologic vs. solid malignancy of 62% vs. 38%, median FVII inhibitor level 14 BU/mL. The most common therapy used to eradicate the inhibitor was immunosuppressive therapy; differences in treatment modalities did not result in significant differences between responders and non-responders (Table 1). Treatment responders have lower median FVII inhibitor level as compared to non-responders (12 vs. 41 BU/mL; p = 0.027). There was equal number of cases for early and late responders. Median OS for responders was 41 months with 95 % CI [10.7-71.3] vs. 2 months for non-responders with 95% CI [1.3-2.7]. Conclusion: The amount of inhibitor overall seems to be the best predictor of clinical outcomes in AHA patients regardless of the type of therapy used and the type of malignancy. Earlier detection of FVIII inhibitors could lead to earlier interventions with suppression therapy, potentially improving outcomes. Larger studies are needed to confirm our findings. Download : Download high-res image (70KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures Rojas Hernandez: Daichii Sankyo: Research Funding. Oo: Daichii Sankyo: Research Funding.
Acoustic emission system for a bat robot

One of the more difficult challenges in producing a biomimetic bat robot is replicating the bats' biosonar emission capabilities. For mimicking horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae), this means creating a high-power acoustic source that can also properly illuminate the noseleaf structure over a bandwidth of approximately 20 kHz. Computer tomography (CT) scans were used to inform an accurate noseleaf model which was then abstracted from life using three-dimensional mesh software. A waveguide was designed to direct sound from two electrostatic transducers into a small nozzle, creating a point source. Numerical acoustic simulations were used to optimize these waveguide shapes to obtain a good compromise between point source behavior, high output amplitudes, and minimal internal reverberation. Physical geometries were procedurally generated to create a three-dimensional design space with parameters eccentricity, length and convexity. Data from each waveguide were analyzed for volume, multidirectionality, and echoing. A second round of simulations was executed to determine the effect of nozzle width on the output. Findings indicated that waveguide convexity and eccentricity played primarily into echoing and increased length reduced output volume. As nozzle diameter increased, the output volume increased, but sound became unidirectional. Future research may include development of alternative emission systems without a need for waveguides.One of the more difficult challenges in producing a biomimetic bat robot is replicating the bats' biosonar emission capabilities. For mimicking horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae), this means creating a high-power acoustic source that can also properly illuminate the noseleaf structure over a bandwidth of approximately 20 kHz. Computer tomography (CT) scans were used to inform an accurate noseleaf model which was then abstracted from life using three-dimensional mesh software. A waveguide was designed to direct sound from two electrostatic transducers into a small nozzle, creating a point source. Numerical acoustic simulations were used to optimize these waveguide shapes to obtain a good compromise between point source behavior, high output amplitudes, and minimal internal reverberation. Physical geometries were procedurally generated to create a three-dimensional design space with parameters eccentricity, length and convexity. Data from each waveguide were analyzed for volume, multidirectionality, and echoing...
Optimal Path Planning Algorithm for Swarm of Robots Using Particle Swarm Optimization Technique

Path planning for mobile robot swarm is considered as a challenging task due to the complexity it involves. Mobile robot traveling in an unknown environment may face many challenges like the static and dynamic obstacles in the path and the other robots. The aim of the path planning is to direct the mobile robot toward a target and navigate through the environment without any prior knowledge about the environment, also to avoid the obstacles and other robots. This paper introduces particle swarm optimization (PSO) with dynamic obstacle avoidance technique for robot path planning. Our proposed systems are simulated and tested in Processing IDE, for different environments. We measured the performance of the system by measuring the time for the arrival of 90 percent robot at the target.
Synthesis and Antimicrobial Evaluation of γ-Borono Phosphonate Compounds in Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium smegmatis

Drug resistance in bacteria is a serious threat, and drugs with novel modes of action are constantly needed. Fosmidomycin is a naturally occurring antibiotic that inhibits the nonmevalonate pathway via inhibition of the enzyme 1-deoxylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR). This work is the first report in which a boronic acid is evaluated as an isostere of the retrohydroxamate moiety of fosmidomycin. We report the novel synthesis of a γ-borono phosphonate analog of fosmidomycin and its corresponding prodrugs. We evaluate the inhibition of DXR and the antimicrobial activity of γ-borono phosphonate compounds against Escherichia coli wild type, E. coli Δglycerol-3-phosphate transporter, and Mycobacterium smegmatis. Despite its structural similarities, the γ-borono phosphonate compound shows antimicrobial activity against E. coli with a mechanism of action that is different from fosmidomycin. This was proven with an underutilized method for studying in vitro inhibition of the MEP pathway in E. coli via isopentenyl pyrophosphate chemical rescue. These results indicate that these compounds may serve as a promising scaffold for developing a new class of antimicrobial agents.
Gestational buprenorphine exposure: Effects on pregnancy, development, neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, and behavior in a translational rodent model

Abstract Background The opioid crisis has led to an increased number of pregnant opioid-dependent women receiving opioid-maintenance therapy (e.g. buprenorphine, BUP), but little is known about the consequences of gestational BUP exposure on pregnancy outcomes, maternal care, or offspring development. Methods Our translational rodent model began BUP exposure to adult female rats (N = 30) at least 7 days before conception and continued throughout the postpartum period. Boththerapeutic low-dose (BUP-LD, 0.3 mg/kg, s.c.) and overexposure high-dose (BUP-HD, 1.0 mg/kg) doses of BUP were compared to saline control. Female rats were bred in house with drug-naive adult male rats. At parturition, litters were culled to 5 males/5 females and assigned randomly to various behavioral tests and assessed either neonates or adolescents. Litter characteristics, maternal caregiving, Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS), offspring development and adolescent behaviors were evaluated. Results BUP-LD decreased maternal care, delayed offspring development, decreased offspring body weight, length, temperature, and pain sensitivity (p’s Conclusion These results demonstrate that thetherapeutic BUP-LD in rats was relatively safe with subtle effects on maternal care and rodent offspring. However, overexposure BUP-HD in rats produced NOWS and compromised maternal caregiving as well as rodent offspring survival. More research is critical to validate the translational implication of these findings for human opioid-dependent mothers maintained on BUP-maintenance therapy.
Nonlocking Plate Functions

Surgical stabilization of fractures with plate and screw constructs continues to be a common contemporary method of fracture fixation. Plate design has evolved significantly over the last century. While the modern plating armamentarium commonly includes anatomically precontoured locking plates with off-axis locking screw technology for many areas of the body, the basis of plate and screw fracture stabilization stems from nonlocking plate constructs. There are numerous different plate designs with varying shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. Regardless of the plate design, the function of the plate is determined by how the plate is applied by the surgeon to the specific fracture. The main functions that a plate can serve are compression, neutralization, buttress, tension band, and bridging. The purpose of this chapter is to describe and demonstrate each primary function possible by plate and screw constructs through both correct and incorrect clinical examples.
Do Campaign Finance Reforms Insulate Incumbents from Competition? New Evidence from State Legislative Elections

Variations in state campaign finance regulations across states and over time provide an opportunity to test the effects of reforms on the electoral success of incumbent state legislators. We use the most recent state legislative election returns dataset to test whether state campaign finance reforms help or hinder incumbents. Our analysis of nearly 66,000 contests in 33 years reveals that campaign contribution limits and partial public financing have little impact on incumbent reelection prospects. However, full public financing and prohibitions on corporate independent expenditures significantly increase the probability of incumbent reelection.
Passive Sensor Data Based Future Mood, Health, and Stress Prediction: User Adaptation Using Deep Learning

Predicting one’s mood, health, and stress in the future may provide useful feedback before wellbeing related problems become severe. Previously, researchers developed participant-dependent wellbeing prediction models using mobile and wearable sensors, where the models were trained and tested with the same group of people. However, in real-world applications, it is essential to consider the adaptability of the developed models to new users for predicting new users’ wellbeing immediately and accurately. In this paper, we built wellbeing prediction models using passively sensed data from wearable sensors, mobile phones, and weather API, and deep learning methods, and evaluated the models with the data from new users. We compared deep long short-term memory (LSTM) network and the combination of convolutional neural network (CNN) and the LSTM model. We found that our deep LSTM model provided performances, in mean absolute error (MAE), as 15.7, 15.6, and 16.8 out of 100 in predicting self-reported mood, health, and stress respectively for new users. Furthermore, we applied a fine-tuning transfer learning method based on our deep LSTM model, which provided new participants with more accurate predictions, especially when the volume of new participants’ data was limited. The transfer learning model improved the MAE performances to 13.5, 13.2, and 14.4 out of 100 for mood, health, and stress, respectively.
A new highly enriched 233U reference material for improved simultaneous determination of uranium amount and isotope amount ratios in trace level samples.

Abstract A highly-enriched 233U reference material (>0.99987 n(233U)/n(U)) has been prepared and characterized for use as an isotope dilution mass spectrometry spike. An ion exchange separation was performed on 1 g of high purity 233U to further reduce trace amounts of contaminant Pu in the material. The purified 233U was then prepared as a master solution which was analyzed for molality of uranium by modified Davies and Gray titration. A portion of the master solution was quantitatively diluted and dispensed for reference material units. Selected units were analyzed for verification of uranium amount and to characterize uranium isotope amount ratios by multi-collector inductively couple plasma mass spectrometry. Modelling of spike-corrected isotopic data show that the new spike will enable simultaneous measurements of uranium amount and isotope amount ratios with resulting uncertainties that are substantially less sensitive to over spiking than widely used 233U certified reference materials.
536 Divergent cancer etiologies drive distinct B cell signatures and tertiary lymphoid structures in head and neck cancer

Background Current FDA-approved immunotherapies aim to reinvigorate CD8+ T cells, but the contribution of the humoral arm of the immune response in human cancer remains poorly understood. B cells within tissues can mediate anti-tumor immunity and regulate immune responses by presenting antigen and producing tumor-specific antibodies and immunomodulatory cytokines. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) can be induced by human papillomavirus (HPV+) and carcinogens such as tobacco and alcohol (HPV-), and the immune infiltrate is quite distinct in the two etiologies, in particular, increased B cells in HPV+ HNSCC patients. Further, increased B cells in HNSCC patients correlate with improved patient survival. Our study seeks to differentiate B cell phenotype, function and location in HPV+ and HPV- HNSCC to identify putative B cell-centric immunotherapeutic targets. Methods We utilized a multi-level approach to clearly categorize B cells in HNSCC patients. Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) was performed on CD45+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from HPV+ and HPV- HNSCC patients. HNSCC TIL and PBL were stained via spectral cytometry (Cytek Aurora,25 parameters) for unbiased analysis of B cell subsets via computational spectral unmixing. Paraffin embedded slides from HNSCC primary tumors were utilized for multispectral immunofluorescence (mIF) to identify tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) and identify differences in HPV+ and HPV- disease. Results We demonstrated distinct trajectories for B cells in HPV+ and HPV- disease. HPV- HNSCC tumors mainly contained memory B cells and plasma cells, while the B cells in HPV+ HNSCC were naive and germinal center (GC). Further, we quantified B cells and CD4+ T cells in TLS, and germinal center-like TLS were associated with improved outcome in HPV+ disease. We also observed that transcriptional and protein expression of Semaphorin A (SEMA4a) was restricted to GC B cells and increased on GC B cells in HNSCC patients compared to healthy tonsils. Additionally, we identified distinct waves of gene expression in GC B cells in HNSCC tumors, ultimately revealing a novel transitional state for GC B cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Conclusions Understanding B cell function in human cancers and how different TMEs influence B cells and TLS are important for devising novel therapeutic options for cancer patients. Ultimately, development of therapeutics to enhance B cell responses in the TME should be prioritized as a compliment to T-cell mediated therapies.
Misplaced trust: When trust in science fosters belief in pseudoscience and the benefits of critical evaluation

Abstract At a time when pseudoscience threatens the survival of communities, understanding this vulnerability, and how to reduce it, is paramount. Four preregistered experiments (N = 532, N = 472, N = 605, N = 382) with online U.S. samples introduced false claims concerning a (fictional) virus created as a bioweapon, mirroring conspiracy theories about COVID-19, and carcinogenic effects of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). We identify two critical determinants of vulnerability to pseudoscience. First, participants who trust science are more likely to believe and disseminate false claims that contain scientific references than false claims that do not. Second, reminding participants of the value of critical evaluation reduces belief in false claims, whereas reminders of the value of trusting science do not. We conclude that trust in science, although desirable in many ways, makes people vulnerable to pseudoscience. These findings have implications for science broadly and the application of psychological science to curbing misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assessing generalizability and variability of single-case design effect sizes using two-stage multilevel modeling including moderators

This study introduces an innovative meta-analytic approach, two-stage multilevel meta-analysis that considers the hierarchical structure of single-case experimental design (SCED) data. This approach is unique as it is suitable to include moderators at the intervention level, participant level, and study level, and is therefore especially recommended for the meta-analyst interested in moving beyond estimating the overall intervention effectiveness. Using this approach, the between-participant variability and between-study variability in intervention effectiveness can be evaluated in addition to obtaining a generalized effect size estimate across studies. This is a timely contribution to the SCED field, as the source(s) of variability in effect size can be identified, and moderators at the corresponding level(s) (participant level and/or study level) can be added to explain the variability. The two-stage multilevel meta-analytic approach, with the inclusion of moderators, can provide evidence-based recommendations about the effectiveness of an intervention taking into account intervention, participant, and study characteristics. First, a conceptual introduction to two-stage multilevel meta-analysis is given to provide a good understanding of its full potentials and modeling options. Second, the usage of this approach will be demonstrated by applying it to a published meta-analytic data set. The goal of this study is to disseminate the two-stage multilevel meta-analysis approach in the hope that SCED meta-analyst will consider this methodology in future meta-analyses.
Monograph: Candid - A Formal Language for Electronic Contracting

This monograph describes CANDID, a formal language for electronic contracting. Details of the language are presented, along with numerous examples.
Large-scale, discrete IP geolocation via multi-factor evidence fusion using factor graphs

Traditionally, IP geolocation has been focused on finding the exact location of a given internet host. In this work, we focus on the problem of simultaneously geolocating large numbers of IP hosts to within a discrete set of geographical regions. Towards this objective, we present a fusion algorithm that combines information from multiple, heterogeneous sources of location information. Our algorithm estimates the most likely region for all hosts simultaneously. A key component of the algorithm is a systematic procedure for automatically constructing factor graphs to perform information fusion from a collection of delay measurements between hosts. While the paper focuses on the algorithmic aspects of the problem, we present initial results that demonstrate that hosts are placed in the correct region with very good accuracy.
Semiparametric model for semi-competing risks data with application to breast cancer study

For many forms of cancer, patients will receive the initial regimen of treatments, then experience cancer progression and eventually die of the disease. Understanding the disease process in patients with cancer is essential in clinical, epidemiological and translational research. One challenge in analyzing such data is that death dependently censors cancer progression (e.g., recurrence), whereas progression does not censor death. We deal with the informative censoring by first selecting a suitable copula model through an exploratory diagnostic approach and then developing an inference procedure to simultaneously estimate the marginal survival function of cancer relapse and an association parameter in the copula model. We show that the proposed estimators possess consistency and weak convergence. We use simulation studies to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed method, and illustrate it through an application to data from a study of early stage breast cancer.
The Theory of Novae and Nova-Like Systems

Recent observational and theoretical developments in the study of novae, particularly dwarf novae, are discussed. Mechanisms promoting mass transfer include (i) nuclear evolution or (ii) envelope instability of the red star and (iii) gravitational radiation of orbital angular momentum. Growing observational evidence against (ii) is supported by recent theoretical work on the medium and long term response of stellar radii to mass loss. Mechanisms (i) and (iii) may operate alone or in concert, depending on the circumstances.