cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Particle filtering of ARMA processes of unknown order and parameters

This paper considers inference on the widely used state-space models described by hidden ARMA state processes of unknown order observed via non-linear functions of the states. We propose a particle filtering method for sequentially inferring the unknown ARMA time-series by Rao-Blackwellization of all the static unknowns. Our method does not rely either on any assumption on the model order or on the static ARMA and state innovation parameters. Consequently, when the ARMA model order is unknown, it can be used without a follow-up model selection procedure. Extensive simulation results validate the proposed method across different ARMA models.
Fluid Mechanics of Mixing in the Vertebrobasilar System: Comparison of Simulation and MRI

Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have demonstrated that perfusion to the posterior fossa of the brain can be surprisingly unilateral, with specific vascular territories supplied largely by a single vertebral artery (VA) rather than a mixture of the two. It has been hyposthesized that this is due to a lack of mixing in the confluence of the VA into the basilar artery (BA), however the local mechanisms of mixing (or lack thereof) have not been previously examined in detail. This study aims to assess the mixing characteristics and hemodynamics of the vertebrobasilar junction using subject specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and perform quantitative comparisons to arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI measurements. Subject specific CFD simulations and unsteady particle tracking were performed to quantitatively evaluate vertebrobasilar mixing in four subjects. Phase-contrast MRI was used to assign inflow boundary conditions. A direct comparison of the fractional flow contributions from the VAs was performed against perfusion maps generated via vessel-encoded pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (VEPCASL) MRI. The laterality of VA blood supply in 7/8 simulated cerebellar hemispheres and 5/7 simulated cerebral hemispheres agree with ASL data. Whole brain laterality of the VA supply agrees within 5% for measured and computed values for all patients. However, agreement is not as strong when comparing perfusion to individual regions. Simulations were able to accurately predict laterality of VA blood supply in four regions of interest and confirm ASL results, showing that very little mixing occurs at the vertebrobasilar confluence. Additional particle tracking analysis using Lagrangian coherent structures is used to augment these findings and provides further physical insight that complements current in vivo imaging techniques. A quantitative mix-norm measure was used to compare results, and sensitivity analysis was performed to assess changes in the results with pertubations in the boundary condition values.
The Josephson effect

This is a review of the Josephson effect in superconductors, with emphasis on the electrical properties of Josephson junctions and their application to devices and measurement techniques.
Pelvic radiation is associated with urinary fistulae repair failure and need for permanent urinary diversion.

Objective To review our experience with nonmuscle flap repairs of enterourinary fistulae (EUF) and urinary cutaneous fistulae (UCF). EUF and UCF can be treated either with temporary urinary diversion allowing for healing by secondary intention or primary closure of the defect using an interposing omental, sliding, or muscle flap. Even after successful fistula repair, permanent urinary diversion can be required because of persistent urinary incontinence. Materials and Methods We reviewed 86 patients who underwent treatment of EUF or UCF at Washington University between the years 1998 and 2013. Of these, 39 patients underwent fistula repair, whereas 47 patients underwent either surgical or nonsurgical urinary diversion. Outcomes measured included postoperative fistula closure, need for permanent urinary diversion, and urinary incontinence. Results The mean age in our series was 59 years (21-87 years) at the time of surgery, with median follow-up of 20 months (1-137 months). Among patients who underwent surgical repair, radiation was associated with higher rates of repair failure ( P = .0002), postsurgical incontinence ( P P = .0076). At the time of final follow-up, 32 of the 44 radiated patients had required permanent diversion (72%) compared with 3 of the 42 nonradiated patients (7%; P Conclusion Patients who undergo pelvic radiation before EUF and UCF repairs are at higher risk for developing repair failure and postsurgical incontinence. Many patients eventually require permanent urinary diversion. Therefore, EUF and UCF repairs in radiated patients should be undertaken with caution, and patients should be counseled about the possibility of urinary diversion as primary therapy.
Double Binds and the Reproductive and Mothering Experiences of HIV-Positive Women

In spite of the increasing number of young women infected with HIV in the United States, little is known about the reproductive and mothering experiences of these women. The purpose of the grounded-theory research discussed in this article was to describe the reproductive and mothering experiences of HIV-positive women. Twenty HIV-positive women participated in 31 in-depth interviews. The grounded-theory method was used for data analysis. A communication pattern known in the psychiatric literature as a double bind was discovered to be a basic social psychological problem that affected the women's experiences with reproduction and mothering. An understanding of the power and influence of these double binds permits health care professionals to plan patient-centered programs and to individualize care specifically for HIV-positive women.
Longitudinal study of periodontal disease and edentulism with rates of bone loss in older women.

Background: Previous cross-sectional studies have suggested a link between periodontal disease and osteoporosis. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the association between changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and clinical signs of periodontal tissue destruction and tooth loss over a 2-year period. Methods: A total of 398 women (mean age 75.5 years) were randomly selected for an ancillary study of periodontal disease; osteoporosis in association with the presence or absence of teeth was evaluated. Osteoporosis in association with periodontal disease was also evaluated. All subjects were participants at the Pittsburgh Clinical Center for the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF), a prospective cohort study of women 65 years of age or older designed to determine risk factors for fractures. Oral health examinations, including periodontal probing and attachment loss, were performed at the fourth clinical visit, an average of 6 years after baseline. BMD of the total hip and its subregions was meas...
Ecology and Biodiversity of Coral Reef Polychaetes of Guam and Saipan, Mariana Islands.

Polychaetes collected from coral reefs and other coastal habitats on Guam and Saipan, and information from published studies bring the known number of species from these two islands to 101 and 15, respectively. Sediment and rock dwelling species collected, and those previously recorded, belong to 25 families. Polychaete assemblages are compared on the basis of species richness, genera in common, and trophic categories, with other West Pacific, Hawaiian and East Indian Ocean locations. Polychaetes from Guam are similar to those on reef flats of Hawaii, Enewetak, and Indonesia in faunal composition and density. Despite the limitations in comparable collecting effort and quantitative analyses for some of the areas, these coral reefs have similar complements of families and genera present, and proportions of four trophic categories.
Impact of random telegraph signaling noise on SRAM stability

Large-signal bias and temperature dependences of random telegraph signaling (RTS) noise in transistors and their impact on the dynamic stability of 6T SRAM cells are investigated. RTS causes fluctuations in SRAM stability that are dependent on cell access history and trap characteristics. Access patterns for characterizing the worst-case and best-case dynamic stability are developed.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home Movement-Promise and Peril for Family Medicine

“Strengthen the Core and Stimulate Progress: Assembling Patient-Centered Medical Homes” was the theme of my year as the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine President for 2007 to 2008. I advocated strongly for the patient-centered medical home (PCMH), especially its relevance to the
Population Management in an HMO: New Roles for Nursing

A project to define and test population-management roles in nursing was implemented in a large HMO. Three patient populations were selected: diabetics, patients with multiple sclerosis, and pregnant adolescents. Expert nurse clinicians in each of the three areas piloted the role for six months, including establishing a system of care coordination for the populations. In all three pilots, patient care outcomes were improved. Keys to success included aligning the work with the critical clinical work of the organization, practicing in multidisciplinary settings, and reporting objective outcome data to constituents.
A hybrid adiabatic content addressable memory for ultra low-power applications

This paper presents a hybrid adiabatic content addressable memory (CAM). The CAM uses an adiabatic switching technique to reduce the energy consumption in the match line while keeping the performance for the read/write operation. The adiabatic CAM is suitable for ultra low-power, low performance applications such as smart cards and portable devices. This CAM uses a clocked power supply for the match line while the rest of the circuit is the same as the basic CAM. A novel smart card application which uses the adiabatic CAM is illustrated. The circuit simulations for a 16x16 and 32x32 CAM were done in Hspice using 0.18 μm Berkeley models and the energy dissipation was compared with a basic CAM. The results show three orders of magnitude in energy savings for the 16x16 CAM and one order of magnitude savings for the 32x32 CAM when operated at 2Mhz. The maximum frequency of operation for which there was considerable energy savings was found to be 200 Mhz with a 20% and 45% energy savings for 16x16 and 32x32 CAM respectively.
"Lacunar Infarcts" do not invariably result in "Lacunes".

We report two cases of acute cerebral infarcts interpreted radiographically as "lacunes." Although the neurological deficits persisted, the "lacunes" seen on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging did not persist. These two cases suggest that the radiographic diagnosis of acute "lacunar infarcts" may not be a reliable predictor of lacune formation.
Control of single spin in Markovian environment

In this article we study the control of single spin in Markovian environment. Given an initial state, we compute all the possible states to which the spin can be driven at arbitrary time, under the assumption that fast unitary operations on the single spin are available.
The measurement of D/H ratio in alkenones and their isotopic heterogeneity.

Abstract Previous paleoenvironmental studies reported the δD values of a mixture of coeluting alkenones. Here, we present a semi-preparative normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (NP-HPLC–MS) method for purifying long chain (C37 and C38) unsaturated methyl and ethyl ketones (alkenones) on the basis of chain length and degree of unsaturation. The method was applied to purify alkenones in suspended particles and surface sediments from a site in Chesapeake Bay, eastern USA. The hydrogen isotopic composition of di- and triunsaturated C37 and C38 alkenones differed significantly on the basis of chain length and the degree of unsaturation, demonstrating the importance of gas chromatography–isotope ratio-mass spectrometry (GC–irMS) analysis of individual alkenones for accurate paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Constant fractionation factors between alkenones with different chain length but the same degree of unsaturation ( α C 37 : 2 – C 38 : 2 and α C 37 : 3 – C 38 : 3 = 1.01 ) and those with the same chain length but different degree of unsaturation ( α C 37 : 2 – C 37 : 3 and α C 38 : 2 – C 38 : 3 = 0.97 ) in all samples suggest that the values may represent hydrogen isotope fractionation associated with elongation and desaturation during alkenone biosynthesis.
Reflections on Program Optimization

Modern program optimization techniques that rely on sophisticated program analyses can result in enormous improvements in program performance. The cost associated with such an effort is usually measured in terms of compiler speed and complexity. However, there are at least two other, perhaps more severe, costs to be reckoned with: First, program performance can become very difficult to reason about (the programmer needs to understand the inner workings of the compiler). Second, programs can lose portability (a large enough quantitative difference amounts to a qualitative difference). In this talk I will attempt to classify the kinds of languages, language features, optimizations, etc. that are particularly susceptible to these problems, and discuss ways whereby we might alleviate the problems.
Habitat Modeling Within a Regional Context: An Example Using Gopher Tortoise

Changes in habitat are often a major influence on species distribution and even survival. Yet predicting habitat often requires detailed field data that are difficult to acquire, especially on private lands. Therefore, we have developed a model that builds on extensive data that are available from public lands and extends them to surrounding private lands. This model is applied for a five-county region in Georgia to predict habitats for the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), based on analysis of documented locations of gopher tortoise burrows at the Fort Benning military installation in west central Georgia. Burrow associations with land cover, soil, topography and water observed within the military installation were analyzed with binary logistic regression. This analysis helped generate a probability map for the occurrence of gopher tortoise burrows in the five-county region surrounding Fort Benning. Ground visits were made to test the accuracy of the model in predicting gopher tortoise habitat. The results showed that information on land cover, soils, and distances to streams and roads can be used to predict gopher tortoise burrows. This approach can be used to better understand and effectively carry out gopher tortoise habitat restoration and preservation activities.
Perceptions and Attitudes toward Online Mapping Services

ABSTRACTOnline mapping services, such as Google Maps and Bing Maps, have become increasingly popular. In addition to providing map, navigation, and directory information, such services provide third-party applications with a technology framework including geospatial-visualization capabilities. For instance, consumers often use location-based services and spatial decision support systems (SDSS) to locate the nearest restaurants, search for ideal homes, navigate specific routes, and effectively participate in car and bike sharing programs. Organizations utilize SDSS to perform retail site selection, manage global assets, and optimize supply chains. While geospatial-visualization is a vital capability of online mapping services, little is understood about how it impacts the acceptance of technology. Through a partial least squares analysis of 577 subject responses, this paper demonstrates that the user-acceptance of geospatial-visualization is influenced by utilitarian, hedonic, and cognitive measures. This ...
Accidental Intra-arterial Injection of Vecuronium: A case report

One of the complications of direct arterial pressure monitoring is drug injection through an arterial line mistaken for an intravenous line. We experienced a case of accidental intra-arterial vecuronium injection through an arterial line on the right radial artery. The incident was noticed just after the injection and the patient was treated by intra-arterial injection of heparin, papaverine, lidocaine and stellate ganglion block. No color change or edema of the right hand was observed until the end of operation. The patient was closely observed after operation and discharged without complication. We report a case of accidental intra-arterial vecuronium injection which was managed successfully.
Evaluation of the impact of a new biomedical equipment technician curriculum in Rwanda

The Developing World Healthcare Technology Laboratory (DHTLab) at Duke University recently developed the first evidence-based approach to training technicians to repair and maintain medical equipment in resource-poor settings, the BTA program. In this paper we describe a matched-pair study of hospitals with and without a BTA trained technician in Rwanda. Hospitals without a BTA trained technician had 54% more out-of-service equipment (14.8%) in critical clinical areas than hospitals with BTA trained technicians (9.6%). We conclude that the new curriculum has a significant impact on the healthcare of the hospitals. (3 pages)
Comparison of Therapeutic Drug-Monitoring Assays

Clinical chemistry laboratories can choose from several immunoassay methods for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). We evaluated 11 new fluorescence polarization TDM assays manufactured by Roche Diagnostic Systems (Montclair, NJ) and Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, III). These assays were performed on the Roche Cobas FARA II (Roche Diagnostic Systems) random-access centrifugal analyzer, and their results were correlated with those obtained using an existing Abbott TDx batch analyzer (Abbott Laboratories). Our study indicated that using the Cobas FARA II random-access analyzer in lieu of the Abbott TDx batch analyzer yields comparable TDM results and significantly reduces operator time and reagent costs.
An Algebraic Analogue of a Formula of Knuth

We generalize a theorem of Knuth relating the oriented spanning trees of a directed graph $G$ and its directed line graph $\mathcal{L} G$. The sandpile group is an abelian group associated to a directed graph, whose order is the number of oriented spanning trees rooted at a fixed vertex. In the case when $G$ is regular of degree $k$, we show that the sandpile group of $G$ is isomorphic to the quotient of the sandpile group of $\mathcal{L} G$ by its $k$-torsion subgroup. As a corollary we compute the sandpile groups of two families of graphs widely studied in computer science, the de Bruijn graphs and Kautz graphs.
Opportunities to Detect and Manage Perinatal Depression in Men.

Although new fathers are at lower risk of depression than are new mothers, the prevalence of depression in new fathers is higher than that in the general population.
Sports psychology and the elite athlete.

The objective of sports psychology is to optimize competence through the development of psychological skills that will permit athletes to enhance performance and gain maximal satisfaction. Sports psychology programs of the United States Olympic Committee are discussed and examples of training in psychological skills are presented, including the specific techniques of imagery training, cognitive reconstruction, and mental rehearsal.
Mammalian Metallothionein-2A and Oxidative Stress

Mammalian metallothionein-2A (MT2A) has received considerable attention in recent years due to its crucial pathophysiological role in anti-oxidant, anti-apoptosis, detoxification and anti-inflammation. For many years, most studies evaluating the effects of MT2A have focused on reactive oxygen species (ROS), as second messengers that lead to oxidative stress injury of cells and tissues. Recent studies have highlighted that oxidative stress could activate mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and MT2A, as a mediator of MAPKs, to regulate the pathogenesis of various diseases. However, the molecule mechanism of MT2A remains elusive. A deeper understanding of the functional, biochemical and molecular characteristics of MT2A would be identified, in order to bring new opportunities for oxidative stress therapy.
The Shifting Genres of Scholarly Multimedia: Webtexts As Innovation

In this article, I discuss webtexts as a multi-genre, multi-mediated type of research publication. After briefly describing what webtexts are, how they function, what their histories have looked like, and what media have been used to design them, I examine more closely what genres have been assigned to them and how those genres have fluctuated across time. This article explores how the genres of webtexts can be difficult to stabilize due to their technological and media innovations. This lack of stability is an unsolved preservation problem that rich metadata can partially ameliorate so that readers can interpret and interact with webtexts into the future. Although there doesn’t exist any official controlled vocabulary for metadata that would apply to webtext genres, this article outlines one attempt at creating a vocabulary for webtexts and their media elements that attends to their historical and generic shifts.
21.5 A 3-to-5V input 100V pp output 57.7mW 0.42% THD+N highly integrated piezoelectric actuator driver

Piezoelectric actuators are used in a growing range of applications, e.g., haptic feedback systems, cooling fans, and microrobots. However, to fully realize their potential, these actuators require drivers able to efficiently generate high-voltage (>100V pp ) low frequency ( pp with 0.42% THD+N from a 3.6V source while dissipating 57.7mW to drive a 150nF capacitor. Beyond PZT actuators, the IC can also drive any type of capacitive load, e.g., electrostatic and electroactive polymer actuators.
Fundamental Limits of Non-Coherent Interference Alignment via Matroid Theory

We consider the problem of non-coherent interference alignment, in which the goal is to align the signals of multiple interfering transmitters at a single receiver where the transmitters are not aware of the channel state information. We cast this problem as a problem of determining rank loss conditions for a column concatenation of full-rank matrices, such that each row of the composing matrices is scaled by a random coefficient. We determine necessary and sufficient conditions for the design of each matrix, such that the random ensemble will almost surely lose rank by a certain amount. The result is proved by converting the problem to determining rank loss conditions for the union of some specific matroids, and then using tools from matroid and graph theories to derive the necessary and sufficient conditions. As an application, we discuss how this result can be applied to the problem of topological interference management, and characterize the linear symmetric degrees of freedom for a class of network topologies.
Leveraging OpenMP 4.5 Support in CLANG for Fortran

Modern computer systems are increasingly parallel and heterogeneous, and the demand for high-level programming interfaces for such systems is rapidly growing. OpenMP 4.0 extended its CPU-based directives to support device offloading. Programmers can now simply insert directives to identify computations and data to be offloaded. Compilers/runtime with OpenMP support then manage code translation and data transfers. While there are various ongoing efforts to support OpenMP device offloading for Fortran as well as C/C++, the most widely used open-source compiler, LLVM, supports C/C++ only. In this paper, we describe our project, XLFLANG, that aims to build an OpenMP Fortran compiler by bridging an existing Fortran front-end and LLVM C/C++ front-end (CLANG). We translate output from IBM XL Fortran front-end into CLANG AST and feed it to CLANG where OpenMP directives are lowerized to LLVM IR. This approach allowed us to reuse CLANG code generation and LLVM optimizations while handling Fortran-specific features in our XLFLANG. However, language dependences of CLANG AST especially with OpenMP directive representations pose unique challenges both in correctness and performance aspects. We addressed these challenges to generate CLANG AST, taking care to expose possible optimization opportunities. We were able to map all major OpenMP offloading directives/clauses from Fortran to CLANG AST, and our evaluation shows the resulting AST does not add significant overheads or interfere with later optimizations.
Spatial prediction filtering for increased penetration depth in synthetic aperture ultrasound

Synthetic aperture (SA) ultrasound imaging is a well-known technique in which RF signals for every transmit and receive element combinations is first obtained and a 2-way-focused image is synthetically formed afterwards. Despite its benefits, one of its main shortcomings is reduced penetration depth caused by low acoustic power from single element firing. To address this challenge, we propose a spatial prediction filtering technique called the frequency-space (F-X) prediction filtering (FXPF), which adaptively constructs a spatial filter that rejects random noise and off-axis clutter components directly from the time-aligned channel data. By utilizing the information in the spatial domain, FXPF enhances the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by suppressing random noise within the transducer bandwidth, which typically cannot be filtered by temporal bandpass filters.
Sorafenib in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Sorafenib (BAY 43-9006) is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor which was recently approved for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), after a decade in which cytokine therapy was the standard of care. Sorafenib prolongs the progression-free survival (PFS) in treatment-refractory patients, but RECIST (response evaluation criteria in solid tumors) responses are limited (1, 2). The actions of this drug vary, and are dependent on several factors including its pharmacologic behavior (PK/PD), the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) inhibited, and the extent and duration of target inhibition (3). The significant improvement in PFS is an important milestone in the contemporary therapy of advanced RCC. It is now accepted that PFS is a surrogate of overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic RCC, as it is in other solid tumors. This chapter reviews the use of sorafenib in RCC and also future development of this agent in this neoplasm.
HLA Class II Alloantigens Defined by Cytotoxic T Cell Clones and Monoclonal Antibodies

Biochemical studies of HLA-DQ molecules have revealed polymorphisms which have not been previously recognized with alloantisera. HLA-DQ molecules from individuals homozygous for DR1, DR2, or DRw6 can all be distinguished from one another, despite the fact that all three bear the DQwl determinants [1]. These findings suggest that the DQ determinants represent supertypic specificities associated with the HLA-DQ molecules, and that these molecules exhibit a finer level of polymorphism as well. Allospecificities associated with these fine HLA-DQ polymorphisms have not been detected to date. This may reflect the fact that HLA-DQ is closely linked to and in strong linkage disequilibrium with HLA-DR. It is thus possible that some “HLA-DR alloantisera” may actually recognize unique HLA-DQ determinants which cosegregate with the relevant HLA-DR specificities in the population.
Weather, Climate, and Exercise

In addition to the myriad substances that can cause allergic reactions, many allergic children also have to contend with the fact that the mere accident of being or doing can provoke or worsen their symptoms. Extremes of heat or cold, the seasons of the year, and the level of activity of your child can and often do have a bearing on allergic symptoms.
In their own words: patient navigator roles in culturally sensitive cancer care.

Patient navigation has emerged as a promising strategy in reducing disparities among diverse cancer patients. However, little is known about navigators’ own perspectives on their roles in providing culturally competent care. The purpose of the present study is to describe these self-identified roles. Data were collected from an online survey with a convenience sample of cancer patient navigators. Using NVivo 10, qualitative content analysis was conducted on free text responses to the question: “In your opinion, what is the role of a patient navigator or nurse navigator in the provision of culturally sensitive care to patients?” Frequencies of each navigator-identified role mentioned were tabulated. Of 294 respondents, 50.7% (n = 149) provided a response to the question of interest. Respondents described the following 11 interrelated navigator roles in the provision of culturally competent care: (1) assess and understand patient needs, (2) tailor care to patient, (3) build rapport/open communication, (4) facilitate communication between patient and health care team, (5) educate/provide resources to the patient, (6) advocate, (7) self-motivated learning, (8) address barriers to care, (9) involve/meet the needs of family or support people, (10) educate/support health care team, and (11) support patient empowerment in care. Patient navigators are uniquely well-positioned to improve cultural competence of cancer care given their role as liaison to patients and providers. Cancer care settings should use navigators with direct knowledge of patient culture whenever possible; however, communication and cultural competence training is highly recommended for all navigators given the diversity of patient needs.
Neuron-Subtype-Specific Expression, Interaction Affinities, and Specificity Determinants of DIP/Dpr Cell Recognition Proteins.

Summary Binding between DIP and Dpr neuronal recognition proteins has been proposed to regulate synaptic connections between lamina and medulla neurons in the Drosophila visual system. Each lamina neuron was previously shown to express many Dprs. Here, we demonstrate, by contrast, that their synaptic partners typically express one or two DIPs, with binding specificities matched to the lamina neuron-expressed Dprs. A deeper understanding of the molecular logic of DIP/Dpr interaction requires quantitative studies on the properties of these proteins. We thus generated a quantitative affinity-based DIP/Dpr interactome for all DIP/Dpr protein family members. This revealed a broad range of affinities and identified homophilic binding for some DIPs and some Dprs. These data, along with full-length ectodomain DIP/Dpr and DIP/DIP crystal structures, led to the identification of molecular determinants of DIP/Dpr specificity. This structural knowledge, along with a comprehensive set of quantitative binding affinities, provides new tools for functional studies in vivo.
Commentary to Chapter 5

Professor Abernethy’s discussion is full of disquieting implications that she either does not see or chooses to ignore, or that do not trouble her. Her position is either inadequate or filled with foreboding moral and political implications, or a combination of the two. Although my comments are prompted by her essay, they are more broadly applicable to certain powerful tendencies in contemporary American society. These trends would transform our understanding of moral and social life by redescribing social beliefs, institutions, and practices in narrowly medical, functionalist, econometric, or socio-biological language that strips us of our capacity to make moral evaluations.
Nurture-Empower-Support: A Human-Centered Approach to Understand and Support ICU Families

Family members have been shown to be integral to the well-being and recovery of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Watching a loved one fight a critical illness, however, can be a terrifying and life-altering experience. We present the results of a need-finding process aimed to investigate how interventions in the ICU can be designed to facilitate family member support in the ICU. We first delve into an in-depth 3-month ethnographic study to understand the complex ICU environment and to observe family--care team interactions. We then capture family experiences using journals and semi-structured interviews with a total of 23 family members. Based on these investigations, we propose NES (Nurture-Empower-Support), a three-stage framework to aid the creation of a holistic system that supports the dynamic needs of families in the ICU.
Routine Influences on Aquaculture News Selection: A Q Method Study With New England Journalists:

Environmental journalists, as gatekeepers, often become arbiters of risk and benefit information. This study explores how their routine news value judgments may influence reporting on marine aquacu...
Outcome Specification in a Sample of Publicly Funded Eye and Vision Trials Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov.

Importance For findings from clinical trials to be actionable, outcomes measured in trials must be fully defined and, when appropriate, defined consistently across trials. Otherwise, it is difficult to compare findings between trials, combine results in meta-analyses, or leverage findings collectively to inform health care decision-making. Objective To identify and characterize outcomes specified in ClinicalTrials.gov records for publicly funded clinical trials for 3 high-burden, high-prevalence eye conditions. Design, Setting, and Participants ClinicalTrials.gov, a registry of publicly and privately supported clinical studies, was searched on January 31, 2019, for records of clinical trials for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), dry eye, or refractive error. The search was limited to trials funded by the National Eye Institute but did not impose a date restriction. Five elements of a well-specified outcome were extracted from each outcome stated in each record, including the domain, method of measurement, metric, method of aggregation, and time points. Main Outcomes and Measures Number of outcome domains specified for trials for AMD, dry eye, and refractive error and the number of trial records specifying each unique domain. Results A total of 49 unique outcome domains specified across 39 records of trials were identified. The median (interquartile range) number of records specifying each unique outcome domain was 1 (1-3), 1.5 (1-2), and 1 (1-1) for AMD, dry eye, and refractive error, respectively. Even when the same domains were registered across multiple trials, the time point, specific metric, and method of aggregation were specified in multiple ways. Conclusions and Relevance There were too many outcomes with too little overlap in the sample of trials that were examined. Differences in how outcomes are measured across trials make it difficult to compare results, even for well-established domains, such as visual acuity. To reduce this waste in eye and vision research, the time is ripe for agreeing on what outcomes to measure.
Clinical Characteristics Associated with Survival in Adult Sickle Cell Disease

Abstract 3229 Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) greatly decreases survival of affected patients, and significant advances will be necessary to decrease the gap in expected survival between SCD patients and non-affected individuals. We examined the relationship of clinical differences among SCD patients to survival, in order to gain greater understanding of major contributors to early mortality. Identification of such factors could guide development of therapeutic options. Methods: Survival data were obtained for 417 adult subjects previously enrolled in a study of clinical outcome modifying genes in SCD from Duke University Medical Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. All subjects were ≥18 years at the time of enrollment and were followed for a mean of 7.9 years (range 2.3–10 years). At enrollment, a number of clinical parameters were collected, including hemoglobin (Hb) genotype (SS, SC, Sβ 0 thalassemia, or Sβ + thalassemia), baseline laboratory values (Hb, WBC, platelets, reticulocytes, fetal Hb, LDH, MCV, proteinuria), comorbidities (cerebrovascular events, pulmonary hypertension, history of acute chest syndrome, avascular necrosis, priapism, and pain crises - defined as number of hospitalizations in the past 12 months, among others), and medication status (hydroxyurea, narcotics, and others). Levels of soluble adhesion molecules (sICAM, sVCAM, sE-selectin, sP-selectin), NT-proBNP, TNF-α, and interleukins-6, -8, and -10 were measured for a subset of 87 subjects. Regression analysis based on the Cox proportional hazards model was employed to determine the effect of clinical phenotypes on survival time using PROC PHREG in SAS v9.2 (SAS Systems, Cary, NC). All models were adjusted for gender and age at enrollment. Results: Mean age at enrollment was 34 years (range 18 to 84 years). The mean age at death was 45 years (range 24 to 86 years). Subjects with HbSβ 0 had the worst prognosis (p=0.0001), followed by subjects with SS, SC, and Sβ + . Lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR, hazard ratio [HR]=1.087 per each ml/min decrease in GFR, p Conclusion: SCD continues to reduce life expectancy for affected individuals, particularly those with Hb Sβ 0 and SS. Surprisingly, we found that Sβ 0 had a significantly worse survival compared to SS. Cerebrovascular events, pulmonary hypertension, proteinuria, decreased GFR, and more frequent pain crises were also strongly associated with poorer survival. Not only were these comorbidities individually associated with decreased survival, but an additive effect was observed, such that subjects with a greater number of negative endpoints had worse survival (p Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Implementation of an Emergency Multisection Online General Chemistry Curriculum in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

During the final week of winter quarter, the University of California, Irvine announced all exams would be online and the following quarter would be delivered remotely. This necessitated a course-wide common final with over 2000 students scheduled to be moved online. For the following quarter, the move to remote instruction included three different general chemistry courses, seven sections, 1968 students, and six different instructors. A professor of teaching, who had previously designed and instructed online courses, was dedicated to assist with course design, technical issues, and course policy consistency. Instructors chose a degree of support and autonomy that fit their interests, goals, and time constraints. Using previously designed course materials and a dedicated support system allowed for the implementation of best practices even under intense time pressure. Technical solutions to proctored exams and course content accountability were used. Though student perceptions varied, given the constraints due to the global pandemic as well as social unrest, the implementation was largely considered a success.
The acoustics of the "clapping circle" at Purdue University

The unusual acoustical properties of a particular landscape architecture feature of Academy Park on the Purdue University campus have been the subject of speculation for years. The feature, known informally as the “clapping circle,” consists of sixty-six concentric rings of stone tiles. When someone claps while standing at the middle of the circle, they hear a high-pitched squeak immediately afterwards. Experiments were conducted by the Purdue student chapters of the Acoustical Society of America and the Audio Engineering Society to characterize this effect. The response to a clap played from an omnidirectional speaker placed at the center of the circle was recorded using a microphone positioned above the loudspeaker. Spectrograms of the recorded responses revealed the squeak to consist of a descending tone at around 1500 Hz, and its harmonics. This tone disappeared from the spectrogram when the tile rings were covered with absorbing blankets. A mathematical model based on scattering from the gaps between the tile rings reproduced the descending frequency of the squeak, and reproduced the effect of the source and receiver height on the rate of change of frequency. Thus, it was concluded that the squeak is an example of repetition pitch produced by the tile formation.
Modulation of natural cytotoxicity by alloantibodies. V. The mechanism of a selective augmenting effect of anti-H-2 antisera on the natural killer activity of mouse spleen cells.

Abstract Treatment of mouse spleen cells with specific anti-H-2 antisera augments their natural killer (NK) activity against K562 cells but not against YAC target tumor cells. The same population of natural killer cells was found to lyse K562 as well as YAC target cells, since (a) depletion of YAC reactive NK cells by absorption on YAC monolayers resulted in a concomitant depletion of anti-K562 NK activity of mouse spleen cells, and (b) both K562 and YAC cells could inhibit their own as well as each others lysis in a cross-competition assay. Anti-H-2 antiserum could not induce anti-K562 NK activity in spleen cells previously depleted of NK cells by absorption on YAC monolayers, indicating that alloantiserum does not act by recruiting otherwise nonreactive cells to become cytotoxic toward K562 target cells. In a target-binding assay, K562 binding of NK cells (T-cell-, B-cell-, and macrophage-depleted spleen cells) increased five- to eightfold in the presence of anti-H-2 antiserum whereas YAC cells binding of NK cells was not increased. H-2 antigens per se did not appear to be involved in the alloantisera effect since anti-NK antiserum directed against a non-H-2 antigen selectively expressed on NK cells, showed a similar selective NK enhancing effect. Protein A, a reagent which binds to the Fc region of immunoglobulin molecules, completely blocked the alloantiserum induced augmentation of anti-K562 NK activity, but did not alter basal NK activity. Moreover, the F(ab)2 fraction of alloantibodies failed to enhance anti-K562 cytotoxic activity of mouse spleen cells, indicating a crucial role for the Fc portion of the alloantibodies attached to the NK cells, in NK augmentation. Utilization of several target cell lines with or without membrane Fc receptors (FcR) revealed that alloantiserum enhanced the lysis of only FcR+ target cells. It is proposed that alloantibody-coated NK cells, as a result of a secondary interaction between attached alloantibody and Fc receptors on target cells, interact more readily with the target cells and thereby cause a higher level of lytic activity.
Using prefetching to improve reference-counting garbage collectors

Reference counting is a classical garbage collection method. Recently, a series of papers have extended the basic method to drastically reduce its notorious overhead and extend the basic method to run concurrently and efficiently on a modern computing platform. In this paper we investigate the use of prefetching to further improve the efficiency of the reference-counting collector. We propose potential prefetching opportunities for the advanced reference-counting collector and report an implementation of a collector that employs such prefetching. The proposed prefetch instructions were inserted into the Jikes reference-counting collector obtaining an average reduction of 8.7% of the memory management overheads.
Decreased fidelity in one subspecies of DNA polymerase-alpha that appears during N-2-acetylaminofluorene hepatocarcinogenesis.

During the exposure of rat livers to the hepatocarcinogen 2-acetylaminofluorene (N-2-fluorenylacetamide), it was demonstrated that the cytoplasmic DNA polymerase-alpha (E.C. 2.7.7.7) was strikingly error-prone when compared to that of normal liver (Chan, J.Y.H. and Becker, F.F. (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 814-818). The fidelity of polymerization of these enzymes was assayed by determining the incorporation of noncomplementary deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates (misincorporation) on a poly(dA-dT) template. To identify the mechanism of infidelity, we modified and extended our purificaton scheme. As a result, a subspecies of polymerase-alpha 1 was identified and separated from the normal component, polymerase-alpha 2. Polymerase-alpha 1 activity eluted from a phosphocellulose column at 0.07-0.12 M NaCl, while polymerase-alpha 2 eluted at 0.15-0.2 M NaCl. Polymerase-alpha 2 demonstrated normal fidelity throughout the various steps of purification while polymerase-alpha 1, despite being purified some 10 250-fold, continued to demonstrate a severe degree of infidelity.
Too Big to Fail in U.S. Banking: Quo Vadis?

"Too big to fail" is one of the most frequently used but misunderstood terms in banking in the U.S. Except for a brief period in the mid-1980s after the insolvency of the large Continental Illinois National Bank caught the bank regulators unprepared and they did not fail the bank but kept it in operation and protected all depositors and other creditors of both the bank and its parent holding company, insolvent banks of all sizes were failed. But, all depositors were generally protected. Shareholders were wiped-out, as they eventually were even at the Continental. By 1990, TBTF had become an expensive and unpopular program and its potential use, even in its narrower form, was severally limited by the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991. The FDIC was explicitly prohibited from protecting uninsured depositors and other creditors in resolving insolvent banks if doing so would increase the cost of resolution to it. However, an exemption was provided in cases where protecting these claimants would avoid or mitigate potential serious adverse effects on the economy and financial stability. But invoking such a systemic risk exemption was made more difficult. Since 1992, no such exemption has been invoked by the regulators. However, no large money market bank has approached insolvency in this period, so that there has not been a real test. But any uncertainty is with regard to protection of some or all of the uninsured claimants, not with regard to legal failure. This paper traces the history of TBTF, analyzes the reasons for its use, and speculates on its use in future years.
Red-RF: Reduced Random Forest for Big Data Using Priority Voting a Dynamic Data Reduction

Random Forests have been used as effective ensemble models for classification. We present in this paper a new type of Random Forests (RFs) called Red(uced) RF that adopts a new dynamic data reduction principle and a new voting mechanism called Priority Vote Weighting (PV) which improve accuracy, execution time and AUC values compared to Breiman's RF. Red-RF also shows that the strength of a random forest can increase without noticeably increasing correlation between the trees. We then compare performance of Red-RF and Breiman's RF in 8 experiments that involve classification problems with datasets of different sizes. Finally, we conduct 2 additional experiments that involve considerably big datasets with one million points in each.
Effects of carbachol on gastrin and somatostatin release in rat antral tissue culture

Abstract Recent studies have demonstrated that somatostatin-containing cells are in close anatomic proximity to gastrin-producing cells in antral mucosa, suggesting a potential local regulatory role for somatostatin. The purpose of this study was to examine further the relationships between gastrin and somatostatin and the effects of the cholinergic agonist carbachol on content and release of gastrin and somatostatin using rat antral mucosa in tissue culture. Antral mucosa was cultured at 37 °C in KrebsHenseleit buffer, pH 7.4, gassed with 95% O 2 -5% CO 2 . After 1 h, the culture medium was decanted and the tissue was boiled to extract mucosal gastrin and somatostatin. Inclusion of carbachol 2.5 × 10 −6 M in the culture medium decreased medium somatostatin from 1.91 ± 0.28 (SEM) ng/mg tissue protein to 0.62 ± 0.12 ng/mg (p