cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Elected Office For Engineers

The public benefits and personal intrinsic rewards would be large if more engineers were candidates for and elected to public office. With discussion related to his experience leading to and during elected office, the writer recommends five steps to elected office: (1)Budget some of your time for public service (2)write and speak your views to your elected officials: (3)volunteer for appointment to public boards or commissions: (4)volunteer to help good candidates get elected: and (5)be willing to be a candidate for elected office. The writer also recommends five principals for elected officials: (1)Diligently uphold your constitution and laws: (2)get up the learning curve before making decisions: (3)assure fairness and equity and avoid any form of favoritism or prejudice: (4)guard not only the factual principles, but also the appearances of justice and integrity: and (5)give your first allegiance to the public you service.
Concentration and Detection of a Dye in Abscesses

SummaryIn continuation of our work on the detection of hidden abscesses, a study of the localization of brominated derivatives of the dye T1824, in abscess tissue and organs was made. The mono-brominated dye was found to be best suited for future study. It was concentrated to a much lesser degree in liver, kidney and spleen and to a somewhat higher degree in the abscess than the di- and tetra-brominated compounds. The mechanism for the localization of the dye derivatives based on physico-chemical processes is discussed.
Reconceptualizing retirement: A status-based approach

The one thing on which essentially all retirement scholars agree is that there is no generally accepted definition of the term "retirement." Hence, it is not surprising that a plethora of competing models of the stages of retirement has been generated. To cut this Gordian knot, this paper proposes that the concept of statuses, which are not necessarily mutually exclusive or sequential, replace the idea of stages. Statuses better reflect observed human behavior and are more open to multicultural application, thus facilitating retirement research and clinical practice. The retirement statuses proposed here, which can exist in any combination or sequence, are retrenchment, exploration, try-out, involvement, reconsideration, and exiting (forming the acronym RETIRE).
The challenges of staying together while moving fast: an exploratory study

We report on the results of an empirical study conducted with 35 experienced software developers from 22 high-tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, and others. The goal of the study was to elicit challenges that these developers face, potential solutions that they envision to these challenges, and research initiatives that they think would deliver useful results. Challenges identified by the majority of the study participants relate to the collaborative nature of the work: the availability and discoverability of information, communication, collaborative planning and integration with work of others. Almost all participants also addressed the advantages and disadvantages of the current "fast to the market" trend, and the toll it takes on the quality of the software that they are able to deliver and on their professional and personal satisfaction as software engineers. We describe in depth the identified challenges, supporting our findings with explicit quotes from the study participants. We also put these findings in context of work done by the software engineering community and outline a roadmap for possible future research initiatives.
Epidemiological Investigations on 18 Hand,Food and Mouth Disease Cases in a Nursery

Objectives To learn the epidemiological characteristics of hand, food and mouth disease(HFMD) and provide the basis for formulating prevention and control measures of outbreak in nursery. Methods All HFMD cases and their parents were surveyed and the epidemiological characteristics, prevention and control measures were analyzed. Results There were 18 HFMD cases. Attack rate was 18.95%. All were light cases and were cured. The epidemic was controlled effectively. Conclusions The important control measures of HFMD were enhancing surveillance and early discovery, early reporting, early isolation and early treatment and cutting off the transmission effectively.
Optimization of continuous and intermittent microwave extraction of pectin from banana peels

Continuous and intermittent microwave-assisted extractions were used to extract pectin from banana peels. Extraction parameters which were employed in the continuous process were microwave power (300-900W), time (100-300s), pH (1-3) and in the intermittent process were microwave power (300-900W), pulse ratio (0.5-1), pH (1-3). The independent factors were optimized with the Box-Behnken response surface design (BBD) (three factor three level) with the desirability function methodology. Results indicate that the independent factors have substantial effect on the pectin yield. Optimized solutions for highest pectin yield (2.18%) from banana peels were obtained with microwave power of 900W, time 100s and pH 3.00 in the continuous method while the intermittent process yielded the highest pectin content (2.58%) at microwave power of 900W, pulse ratio of 0.5 and pH of 3.00. The optimized conditions were validated and close agreement was observed with the validation experiment and predicted value.
Increased Bone Marrow Iron Stores, Severe Mucositis and Large Area under the Curve (AUC) of Profound Neutropenia Predict Severe Infection in 382 Myeloma Patients Undergoing Melphalan - Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (MEL-ASCT).

Background: MEL-ASCT is standard therapy for multiple myeloma (MM) but is associated with severe infections, at times life-threatening. Objective: To determine the risk factors for severe infection (bacteremia, septic shock, colitis, pneumonia) following MEL - ASCT for MM. Materials and Methods: 382 consecutive MM patients (pts) enrolled in our Total Therapy 2 protocol and who received their first MEL - ASCT between 10/1998 and 12/2002 were included. Variables evaluated included age, sex and MM remission status, severity of mucositis and others. Because of the known association between increased body iron stores and infection, pre-ASCT bone marrow (BM) iron stores were also evaluated. The AUC for severe neutropenia ( Results: Median age was 56 years (range: 30–76) and 235 pts (62 %) were males. Severe infections developed in 77 pts (20%) including pneumonia (42 pts). Pre-ASCT risk factors for infection by univariate analysis were increased BM iron stores (OR= 3.601; 95%CI 1.795–7.222; p Post-ASCT risk factors that were significant by both univariate and multivariate analysis were severe mucositis (Grades 3–4 by NCI Common Toxicity Criteria) (OR=1.916; 95% 1.093–3.36; p=0.02) and AUC of severe neutropenia (OR= 1.001/unit; 95% 1–1.002; p=0.03). Neither the duration (days with ANC Conclusion: MM pts scheduled to undergo MEL - ASCT and who have increased BM iron stores, and those who develop severe mucositis and / or prolonged and profound neutropenia following ASCT should be considered at greater risk for developing severe infection. AUC of severe neutropenia is a useful single marker of both depth and duration of neutropenia and should be included in studies evaluating risk for infection in neutropenic pts.
Rotational speed measurement using one-dimensional position sensitive detector

Rotational speed is a key parameter of rotating machineries and it is essential for the control of these devices to measure rotational speed in real time. The rotational speed measurement method based on the photo-electric reflective principle has the advantage of being non-contacted, but it is easy affected by background light and its measuring range is limited. In this paper, a novel rotational speed measurement method was proposed based on a one-dimensional position sensitive detector (PSD). Compared with traditional rotational speed measurement methods, the novel design did not need additional devices and nearly unaffected by background light. What's more, experiments show that the measuring range of the prototype is largely broadened (up to 104 r/min), and the error is less than ±0.2% at both low and high speed.
Evaluating diversity in classical planning

Applications that require alternative plans challenge the single solution, single quality metric assumptions upon which many classical planners are designed and evaluated. To evaluate the distinctness of alternative plans (i.e., plan sets), researchers have created diversity metrics that often measure the set difference between the actions of plans. Many approaches for generating plan sets embed the same diversity metric in a weighted evaluation function to guide the search mechanism, thus confounding the search process with its evaluation. We discover that two diversity metrics fail to distinguish similar plans from each other or to identify plans with extraneous actions, so we introduce two new diversity metrics, uniqueness and overlap, to capture these cases. We then examine the tradeoffs of producing diverse plans while we control for plan length and metric interaction and confirm that metric interaction can significantly impact search performance. We show that planners searching for plan sets must consider a third metric, parsimony, that prefers shorter plans while maximizing diversity. We evaluate three existing approaches for generating diverse plans and two new algorithms that are designed to explicitly manage diversity and interaction between the diversity and quality metrics. Our findings synthesize and extend recent results in plan diversity.
Comparison of survival for partial vs. radical nephrectomy in young patients with T1a renal cell carcinoma treated at commission on cancer-accredited facilities and influence of comorbidities on treatment choice.

Abstract Purpose There is a paucity of data comparing effects of partial nephrectomy (PN) vs. radical nephrectomy (RN) on overall survival in young patients. In this study, the National Cancer Database was used to evaluate the survival outcomes of those treated with PN and RN, and influence of comorbidities on surgical treatment (PN vs. RN) in young patients while accounting for Charlson-Deyo Comorbidity Score (CDCS). Materials and methods Patients between 20 and 44 years old (n = 9,849) surgically treated for pT1a renal cell carcinoma between 2004 and 2013 were identified from the National Cancer Database. Kaplan-Meier log-rank analysis and Cox proportional hazards model were performed to compare overall survival and calculate the hazard ratio between those undergoing RN and PN. Binary logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for receiving RN compared to PN. The effect measures in all models were adjusted for potential confounding factors. Results After adjusting for comorbidities, PN offered an overall survival advantage over RN (P 1 (odds ratios = 2.049, 95% CI: 1.527–2.750). Conclusions Young patients treated with PN demonstrate an overall survival advantage. This survival advantage is observed after an early follow-up even in those without comorbidities. It is still not clear if the survival advantage seen is due to treatment itself or selection bias.
Can Probiotic Supplements Improve Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The purpose of this review is to frame the discussion of the potential use of probiotics for the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the historical and scientific context linking the human microbiota to the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of RA. Given this context, the review then details the clinical trials that have been carried out so far that have tried to address the question. A variety of laboratory and clinical observations link the flora of the oral cavity and lower gastrointestinal tract with citrullination, as well as immunological alterations that may contribute to the risk of developing RA. Clinical trials to date have been small and mostly short term. Statistically significant change in certain disparate clinical endpoints has been reported, but these endpoints have varied from study to study and have been of limited clinical significance. No consistent, robust impact on patient reported, or laboratory outcome measures has emerged from clinical trials so far. There remain theoretical reasons to further investigate the use of probiotics as adjunctive therapies for autoimmune disease, but changes in trial design may be needed to reveal the benefit of this intervention.
“I am a Teacher”: Early Career Teachers in High Needs Schools

As many as half of the new teachers who begin each year will leave either the school or the profession of teaching within five years. In underperforming districts and in schools with low resources, the retention among teachers is even worse (Ingersoll, 2010; Ingersoll & May, 2011). This comic examines a group of early career teachers; their experiences demonstrate the challenges and opportunities that are the reality for many new teachers entering high needs schools. The major themes that were uncovered included culture, success and failures, and work satisfaction. We conclude that the use of the comic representation is important in conveying the thoughts and feelings of these teachers.
Early Understanding of Pragmatic Principles in Children’s Judgments of Negative Sentences

Adults find negative sentences difficult to process, but an informative context can facilitate processing substantially, suggesting that much of this difficulty may come from the pragmatics of nega...
Prevalence and characterization of carbapenem-resistant bacteria in water bodies in the Los Angeles-Southern California area.

Carbapenems are β-lactam antibiotics used in healthcare settings as last resort drugs to treat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Carbapenem-resistant bacteria are increasingly being isolated from healthcare facilities; however, little is known about their distribution or prevalence in the environment, especially in the United States, where their distribution in water environments from the West Coast has not been studied before. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant bacteria and carbapenemase genes in water bodies from the Los Angeles area (California, USA). All samples that were analyzed contained carbapenem-resistant bacteria with a frequency of between 0.1 and 324 carbapenem-resistant cfu per 100 mls of water. We identified 76 carbapenem-resistant or -intermediate isolates, most of which were also resistant to noncarbapenem antibiotics, as different strains of Enterobacter asburiae, Aeromonas veronii, Cupriavidus gilardii, Pseudomonas, and Stenotrophomonas species. Of them, 52 isolates were carbapenemase-producers. Furthermore, PCR and sequence analysis to identify the carbapenemase gene of these carbapenemase-producing isolates revealed that all Enterobacter asburiae isolates had a blaIMI -2 gene 100% identical to the reference sequence, and all Stenotrophomonas maltophlia isolates had a blaL1 gene 83%-99% identical to the reference blaL1 . Our findings indicate that water environments in Southern California are an important reservoir of bacteria-resistant to carbapenems and other antibiotics, including bacteria carrying intrinsic and acquired carbapenemase genes.
Microbial host engineering: beyond the metabolic pathway.

As the focus of microbial metabolic engineering shifts to include bulk commodities, two aspects of this research have become increasingly important. One is the requirement for high production titers in order to make the process economically viable. The second is to engineer microbes that are tolerant to these target products, many of which are toxic to cell growth. This review focuses on recent advances in the bacterial production of bulk products such as biofuels, the resources available to aid in targeted strain engineering and future directions being pursued for such efforts. ARTICLE
Possible Sources and Sinks of Activator Calcium

In order to consider the potential sources of Ca which could, in principle, contribute to the activation of myofilaments, we must first consider how much Ca is required. The Ca binding of the cardiac myofilaments and of homogenized ventricular muscle were measured by Solaro et al. (1974) and Pierce et al. (1985), respectively. Fabiato (1983) also calculated the buffering capacity based on many estimates of the Ca buffering site concentrations and affinities (e.g. for troponin C, calmodulin, phosphocreatine, ATP, outer SR surface, and the inner sarcolemmal surface). The results of these measurements and calculations are shown in Figure 19 (in units of µmol Ca/kg wet wt.). To convert these values to the units of µmol/liter cell water (excluding mitochondrial space), the values can simply be multiplied by 2.509 (Fabiato, 1983). Fabiato’s curve is higher than the data of Solaro et al. (1974), as would be expected due to the consideration of additional cellular buffers. Fabiato’s curve is lower than the data of Pierce et al. (1985). This might also be expected since Pierce et al. (1985) measured buffering in whole homogenate which may include additional sites, both appropriately (i.e. intracellular sites not included by Fabiato, 1983) and inappropriately (e.g. extracellular sites and non-myocyte sites). It may also be noted that the values from Pierce et al. (1985) are differences in total Ca based on an unknown basal amount bound at 0.25 µM Ca, taken as 0. Since this basal number is near diastolic [Ca] and we are mostly interested in changes in bound Ca associated with increases in [Ca] and activation, this per se is not a serious limitation.
Emotional development: The growth of self-regulation

In becoming internalized, adopted strategies which first characterized regulatory relationships with the interpersonal surround will now function as features of self-regulation and eventually characterize personality idiosyncrasy. Sander (1976) A psychological function … which is externally regulated in one phase of infancy is internalized and autoregulated in the succeeding phase. Schore (1994) In contrast to the situation for the toddler, which is paradoxically referred to as “ guided self-regulation,” the preschool-age child in Western culture is expected to assume a much larger role in the self-regulation of emotions and impulses. The task becomes to contain, modify, and redirect impulses even when briefly not under immediate adult supervision. While still requiring adult monitoring, reinforcement, and support, children must to a large extent follow rules and prohibitions without direct adult input; that is, they are to internalize the standards for behavioral control and conduct themselves in accordance with these standards, even inhibiting strong impulses on their own. Also, to an increasing extent they must protect themselves from being overwhelmed by stimulation or the disorganizing influences of their own feelings. In psychoanalytic terms such protective processes are referred to as “defenses,” which are a part of normative development but which may also become pathological. The child is now expected to manage frustration and generally to modulate emotional expression.
Schlosser modification of the Wittig reaction

The normal Wittig reaction of nonstabilized ylides with aldehydes gives Z-olefins. The Schlosser modification of the Wittig reaction of nonstabilized ylides furnishes E-olefins instead.
Diseases of the Pancreas

In this chapter the various images of different types of pancreatitis are illustrated with the various complications of infection, hemorrhage and fistula formation. The different types of pancreatic neoplasms are also shown.
Buffering mepivacaine with sodium bicarbonate speeds and potentiates analgesia of median and ulnar nerve blocks performed on horses.

The objective of this study was to determine if buffering mepivacaine HCL (mepHCl) with sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) would significantly decrease the time to onset of analgesia when performing median and ulnar nerve blocks in naturally lame horses. Median and ulnar nerve blocks were performed on the naturally lame limb of nine horses during two separate study periods, with a minimum washout period of three days between study periods. Nerve blocks were performed by administering mepHCl alone or mepHCl mixed with NaHCO3 (nine parts 2 per cent mepHCl to one part 8.4 per cent NaHCO3). Lameness was evaluated objectively using a wireless, inertial, sensor-based, motion analysis system (Lameness Locator) prior to the high regional nerve block and every five minutes following administration of the nerve block for 75 min. Resolution of lameness occurred earlier and was more profound for horses administered median and ulnar nerve blocks performed with mepHCl and NaHCO3 than when these nerve blocks were performed using only mepHCl.
Chapter 4 – Introduction to Lists and Tables

Chapter 4 introduces operations on lists and tables. The examples used to illustrate the various commands in this chapter are taken from vector calculus, business, dynamical systems, and engineering applications.
In Quest of a Wittgensteinian Hinge Epistemology

Hinge epistemology is a family of theories about justification (and knowledge) which give centre-stage to Wittgenstein’s notion of a “hinge”. In the following, I will first put forward some basic methodological considerations regarding the relationship between merely exegetical work on, in particular, Wittgenstein’s texts, and more theoretically committed work, which aims at developing suggestions that can be found in the texts, even though they are not clearly attributable as such to their author (§8.2). I will then summarize the main tenets of what, to date, is still the most widespread reading of On Certainty (§8.3)—the so-called “framework reading”. In light of the initial methodological considerations and of this exegesis of On Certainty, I will then review some contemporary attempts at developing Wittgenstein’s ideas in an anti-skeptical direction, such as Crispin Wright’s, Michael Williams’ and Duncan Pritchard’s (§8.4). I will argue that, their intrinsic merits notwithstanding, they fail to take proper measure of Wittgenstein’s own position. I will then close by sketching my own version of hinge epistemology and by highlighting points of contact and disagreement with Wittgenstein’s own views as portrayed by the framework reading (§8.5).
Image Building of the Durian Mask Singer Winner in the First Year of the Mask Singer Show

The objective of the research topic of “Image Building of the Durian Mask Singer Winner in the First Year of the Mask Singer Show” was to analyze the model strategy of this winner in image building to the high popularity and acceptance to Thailand especially to the online social network that has large numbers in view sharing; besides, the Durian Mask has won the first prize for this contest too. This research work used the Qualitative Research Methodology in Communication and Interview from both the Show organizers, the designers who were behind the show productions in order to analyze the image building processes of the Durian Mask. The research results found that “Image Building of the Durian Mask Singer Winner in the First Year of the Mask Singer Show” have some remarkable and significant methods, which are: 1) The using of Beauty and Aesthetic Theories 2) Portrait Presentation with Image Concept, and 3) The using of Sign in Image Building. The research found that the appearing of the Durian Mask Image has used the principle of beauty strategy in costume designs for the odd and peculiar accessories of the attire’s color and textile designs and the using of new transferred meaning of fruit image into the portrait creation as according to the fantasy along with the Sign Theory to communicate, especially the disguised meaning through the garment to create the new personality and memory through media to impress and to create aesthetic to audiences.
Control of Flow Separation in a Rocket Nozzle Using Microjets

Abstract Recent advances in commercial space transportation emphasize rocket engine reusability, reduced number of stages, and its operation over a wide range of operating conditions. The rocket no...
Voltammetric Determination of the Stochastic Formation Rate and Geometry of Individual H2, N2, and O2 Bubble Nuclei

Herein, we report a general voltammetric method to characterize the electrochemical nucleation rate and nuclei of single nanobubbles. Bubble nucleation is indicated by a sharp peak in the current in the voltammetry of gas-evolving reactions. In contrast to expectations based on the stochastic nature of nucleation events, the peak current signifying a stable nucleus is extremely reproducible over hundreds of cycles (∼3% deviation). By applying classical nucleation theory, this seemingly deterministic behavior can be not only understood but also used to quantify the nucleation rate and size of bubble nuclei. A statistical model is developed whereby properties of single critical nuclei (contact angle, the radius of curvature, activation energy, and Arrhenius pre-exponential factor) can be readily measured from the narrow distribution of peak currents (mean, standard deviation) from hundreds of voltammetric cycles at a nanoelectrode. Single nanobubbles formed from gas-evolving reactions (H2 from H+ reduction, N2 from N2H4 oxidation, O2 from H2O2 oxidation) are analyzed to find that their critical nuclei have contact angles of ∼150, ∼160, and ∼154° for H2, N2, and O2, respectively, corresponding to ∼50, ∼40, and ∼90 gas molecules in each nucleus. The energy barriers for heterogeneous nucleation of H2, N2, and O2 bubbles are, respectively, 2, 0.4, and 0.7% of those required for homogeneous nucleation under the same supersaturation.
THE WELLPOSEDNESS OF FBSDES

In this paper we investigate the wellposedness of a class of Forward-Backward SDEs. Compared to the existing methods in the literature, our result has the following features: (i) arbitrary time duration; (ii) random coefficients; (iii) (possibly) degenerate forward diffusion; and (iv) no monotonicity condition. As a trade off, we impose some assumptions on the derivatives of the coefficients. A comparison theorem is also proved under the same conditions. This work is motivated by studying numerical methods for FBSDEs.
Macrophysical properties of continental shallow cumuli: diurnal evolution

We develop a new climatology of the macrophysical properties of single-layer shallow cumuli (ShCu), such as cloud amount and cloud base/top heights, observed during 19 summers (2000-2018) at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program’s Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility in northern Oklahoma, USA. Similar to the established datasets, the climatology incorporates the well-known advantages of the narrow field-of-view (FOV) lidar-radar measurements to resolve the vertical structure of clouds along the wind direction. In contrast to these datasets, the climatology combines the well-known advantages of the wide-FOV sky images to describe the horizontal changes of cloud amount across the wind direction. The recent update includes (1) a new tool for visualization of these across-wind changes with user-selected spatial and temporal resolutions, (2) an additional macrophysical property, the so-called cloud equivalent diameter (CED), estimated over a wide range of cloud sizes (about 0.01–3.5 km) with high temporal resolution (30s) and (3) environmental parameters. Our development of the extended climatology is aimed to enhance understanding of the environmental impact on the diurnal evolution of the cloud macrophysical properties and thus to improve performance of ShCu parameterizations.
Mobile Radiation Source Interception by Aerial Robot Swarms

This paper presents a motion planning approach to track a moving target for the purpose of classifying its radioactivity properties, using a team of micro aerial vehicles (MAV). The team falls into an optimal, from a sensing perspective, formation around the target and collectively decide, within seconds, if the target is even weakly radioactive. The MAV formation is optimal in the sense that the vehicles minimize the detection error in their collective decision-making. Intuition from the analytical solution of the basic problem formulation, coupled with numerical simulations, guides the technical approach in which an intractable nonlinear optimization problem is converted into a quadratic program (QP). The QP solution then informs a motion planner based on navigation functions, to command the MAV into the desired formation. The complete motion planning and control architecture is tested in simulation.
Beyond Recidivism: An Outcome Evaluation of A Federal Reentry Court and A Critical Discussion of Outcomes that Matter

Relatively little empirical research has documented reentry courts’ effectiveness. Even less scholarship has critically evaluated their varied goals. A quasi-experimental outcome evaluation of a fe...
#IfTheyGunnedMeDown: How Ethics, Gender, and Race Intersect When Researching Race and Racism on Tumblr

Challenges related to digital social research have centered upon protection of the participants whose activity online create the data sets used for study. Ethical issues related to digital participant protection include how researchers interact with research participants. Some researchers argue that particular sites online should be considered “public,” and as a public site of study, that type of digital research does not require participant permission to study. More recently, there has been a push from some editors to researchers to contact individuals to obtain their permission to be studied, even for areas online that might have been regarded as public. In this essay, I share how ethics, gender, and race intersect when researching race and racism on Tumblr through #IfTheyGunnedMeDown.
LONG-TERM, INTEGRATED CARDIAC SAFETY OF PATISIRAN IN PATIENTS WITH HEREDITARY TRANSTHYRETIN-MEDIATED AMYLOIDOSIS WITH POLYNEUROPATHY

Introduction Hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis is a progressive, life-threatening disease; the majority of patients develop a mixed phenotype of polyneuropathy and cardiomyopathy. Patisiran halted or reversed polyneuropathy and improved quality of life in the Phase 3 (APOLLO) study. In a prespecified cardiac subpopulation of APOLLO, patisiran also improved cardiac structure and function versus placebo. This study aims to describe the long-term comprehensive, integrated safety data from the patisiran clinical development program in patients with hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy. Hypothesis Patisiran will continue to demonstrate a positive benefit:risk profile in the integrated safety analysis. Methods Safety data as of October 7, 2019 from the Phase 2 Open-Label Extension (OLE) (NCT01961921), APOLLO (NCT01960348), and ongoing Global OLE (NCT02510261) studies were analyzed. Results Across the three studies, 224 patients received patisiran for a mean (range) of 43.6 (0.7-71.7) months, with a cumulative 813.9 patient-years of exposure; 105 (46.9%) patients received patisiran for ≥4 years and 35 (15.6%) patients received patisiran for ≥5 years. In this cohort, 149 (66.5%) had medical histories of cardiac disorders per MedDRA System Organ Class, which may be reflective of a mixed phenotype in some patients. A total of 222 (99.1%) patients experienced at least one adverse event (AE) and 132 (58.9%) patients experienced at least one serious AE. AEs considered to be related to patisiran and occurring in >5% of patients included infusion-related reactions (25.9%) and diarrhea (6.3%). Cardiac AEs occurring in >5% of patients included atrial fibrillation (10.7%) and cardiac failure (7.6%). Amongst all patients, the exposure-adjusted mortality rate was 4.3 deaths per 100 patient-years, which is on the lower end of the expected mortality rates of 6.8-29 deaths per 100 patient-years reported in the literature. Conclusions Patients with hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in the patisiran clinical development program represent those with the longest treatment with an RNAi therapeutic, including more than 15% of patients receiving patisiran for ≥5 years. Patisiran continues to demonstrate a positive benefit:risk profile in these patients.
Abstract PS7-29: Racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes: A SEER population based study

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of female cancer-related mortality in the United States. Despite advances in therapies which have significantly lowered BC mortality rates over the years, the decline in mortality in African American/Black women continues to lag behind. Black women with BC continue to do poorly compared to non-Hispanic White women. The etiologies underlying this disparity are multifactorial and still remain unclear. Our study aims to investigate the differences in clinical and socioeconomic characteristics (cts) between Blacks and Whites and evaluate their prognostic value on long-term outcomes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, population-based analysis utilizing the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and studied BC pts from 1975-2017. Different demographic and clinical cts were analyzed by race. Univariate (UV) and multivariable (MV) analyses were performed to evaluate the associations of race with disease-specific survival (DSS), overall survival (OS) using Cox regression models. Results: A total of 816,763 pts were analyzed (n=720,144 White, n=966,19 Black). As compared to White BC patients (pts), Black pts were younger in age (median age 57 years vs. 62 years), with a higher tumor stage (III/IV; 25% vs. 16.3%) and a higher tumor grade (III/IV; 52.2% vs. 35.3%) at disease presentation (p Citation Format: Medhavi Gupta, Rohit Gosain, Maithreyi Sarma, Stuthi Perimbeti, Kristopher Attwood, Wenyan Ji, Shipra Gandhi, Yara Abdou. Racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes: A SEER population based study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2020 San Antonio Breast Cancer Virtual Symposium; 2020 Dec 8-11; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS7-29.
Nitrogen availability modulates the impacts of plant invasion on the chemical composition of soil organic matter

Abstract Plant invasion can dramatically impact soil carbon (C) cycling and sequestration while, other global change factors, such as nitrogen (N) deposition, are predicted to promote plant invasion. However, questions remain as to whether the chemical composition of soil organic C (SOC) may alter with plant invasion and how N availability modulates the invasion effects on SOC. In this study, we conducted a 10-year mesocosm experiment simulating the invasion of Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) into a fallow soil, coupled with a simultaneous mineral fertilizer application scheme for the invasive plants. We investigated the invasion effects on the chemical composition of various SOC components at the molecular level, and examined how these effects responded to changes in soil N availability. Compared with the noninvaded soils, the knotweed-invaded soils exhibited a 17% increase in the microbial-derived C, mainly through the accumulation of fungal residue in the form of amino sugars. Despite receiving leaf litter which was abundant in polyphenolic compounds (40% and 3-times higher in lignin and tannins per unit biomass, respectively), the knotweed-invaded soils did not differ in the concentration of plant lipids and lignin monomers compared to the noninvaded soils inhabited by grasses. However, the concentrations of phytosterol in the knotweed-invaded soils were 1.5-fold as that in the noninvaded soils. Fertilizer application significantly increased the retention of plant-derived compounds in the knotweed-invaded soils, but also induced 45% greater degradation of lignin. Moreover, under fertilizer application, the knotweed-invaded soils accumulated 46% more microbial-derived C, primarily due to the altered microbial biomass and community composition. Collectively, our findings suggest that plant invasion has the potential to influence SOC chemical composition through changes in plant-derived and microbial-derived C. Furthermore, N deposition could reinforce the invasion effects on the molecular composition and accrual of SOC. Our results also highlight the need to understand the impacts of biological invasion in the context of other global change drivers that both affect invasion and modulate their effects.
Ratiometric Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probes Based on Hemicyanine Dyes Bearing Dithioacetal and Formal Residues for pH Detection in Mitochondria.

Ratiometric near-infrared fluorescent probes (AH+ and BH+) have been prepared for pH determination in mitochondria by attaching dithioacetal and formal residues onto a hemicyanine dye. The reactive formyl group on probe BH+ allows for retention inside mitochondria as it can react with a protein primary amine residue to form an imine under slightly basic pH 8.0. Probes AH+ and BH+ display ratiometric fluorescent responses to pH changes through the protonation and deprotonaton of a hydroxy group in hemicyanine dyes with experimentally determined pKa values of 6.85 and 6.49, respectively. Calculated pKa values from a variety of theoretical methods indicated that the SMDBONDI method of accounting for solvent and van der Waals radii plus including a water molecule located near the site of protonation produced the closest overall agreement with the experimental values at 7.33 and 6.14 for AH+ and BH+ respectively.
‘Give me liberty or give me Covid!’: Anti-lockdown protests as necropopulist downsurgency

This paper examines the ‘anti-lockdown’ protests in the US beginning in April 2020 through the concepts of necropolitics (Mbembe) and microfascism (Deleuze and Guattari). The paper argues that thes...
Beyond meaning: skeuomorphy and the mediation of Shang things

Not only does the ontological turn not necessarily imply a turn away from semiotics but that rethought as systems of mediation, semiotics are both a necessary aspect of ontological analysis and nec...
Diversity and dynamics of the CRISPR-Cas systems associated with Bacteroides fragilis in human population

Abstract The CRISPR-Cas systems are important prokaryotic adaptive immune systems and effectively record the arms-race between bacteria and invading mobile elements in their CRISPR arrays. Using data from culture-based population genomics and metagenomics, we investigated the CRISPR-Cas systems associated with Bacteriodes fragilis, an important gut bacterium, and studied their diversity and dynamics. We analyzed genomes of 601 B. fragilis isolates derived from 12 healthy individuals, among which include time-series isolates from 6 individuals. In addition, we analyzed 222 reference B. fragilis genomes. Three different types of CRISPR-Cas systems (Type I-B, II-C and III-B) were found in analyzed B. fragilis genomes, with Type III-B being the most prevalent whereas the Type II-C being the most dynamic with varying arrays among isolates. Our graph-based summary and visualization of CRISPR arrays provided a holistic view of the organization and the composition of the CRISPR spacers. We observed insertions of different new spacers at the leader ends of the CRISPR arrays of Type II-C CRISPR-Cas systems in different B. fragilis sub-populations in one individual, an example of B. fragilis’ adaptation and parallel evolution within individual microbiomes. A network of B. fragilis and its predicted invaders also revealed microdynamics of B. fragilis CRISPR array, with hairball-like structures representing spacers with multi-target capabilities and network modules revealing the collective targeting of selected mobile elements by many spacers. This work demonstrates the power of using culture-based population genomics to reveal the activities and evolution of the CRISPR-Cas systems of the important gut bacterium B. fragilis in human population.
The Driverless City Project

Ubiquitous co-robots offer society a unique opportunity to reshape our transportation infrastructure. To do so, we must balance the needs of safety, usability, and aesthetics. This research will investigate these tradeoffs in an effort to understand how to turn twentieth century transportation infrastructure (e.g. highways, intersections, roads, sidewalks) into twenty-first century human infrastructure that addresses the needs of the entire community. There is a clear link between a robot’s ability to localize within an environment and that environment’s physical structure. Tall buildings can severely compromise GNSS1 signals; landmarks that are spaced too far apart decrease localization accuracy; and the same landmarks spaced too close together can introduce a higher probability of faulty measurement associations. There is also a clear link between a robot’s ability to localize itself and safety—robots that cannot guarantee that their pose lies within a given covariance envelope are safety risks to nearby humans and objects. This safety risk may be small enough such that one or two mobile robots operating among humans would rarely cause harm. However, as we approach the concept of “ubiquitous co-robots,” the probability of unsafe operation increases by orders of magnitude that, if left unaddressed, could be life-threatening and erode the public’s trust in co-robot technology. To mitigate safety risk, one could shape the environment to maximize a robot’s localization safety, similar to the careful placement of radio-navigation equipment at airports for approaching aircraft. This could be done by creating ordinances that dictate the appearance of the streetscape so that self-driving cars, drones, and other mobile co-robots can guarantee their pose covariance envelope in the presence of faults as they navigate. However, modifying the environment to maximize co-robot safety could have negative and wide-ranging societal impacts if the process does not consider the needs of other stakeholders, such as pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, vehicle passengers, homeowners, business owners, robot manufacturers, and the government. In response, a highly interdisciplinary research project led by Professor Matthew Spenko (Director, IIT Robotics Lab), Boris Pervan (Director, IIT Navigation Lab), and Ron Henderson (Director, IIT Landscape Architecture + Urbanism Program) have received National Science Foundation funding to study the relationship between landscape architecture, city planning, and mobile co-robot navigation safety and the impact that ubiquitous robots will have on shaping urban design. The findings of this research, currently entering its third year, will be a framework that will inform city planners, architects, and landscape architects how to plan and design cities in which ubiquitous robots safely interact with humans and also educate roboticists on how the technology they are developing impacts other aspects of society.
Machine Learning based Medical Image Deepfake Detection: A Comparative Study.

Deep generative networks in recent years have reinforced the need for caution while consuming various modalities of digital information. One avenue of deepfake creation is aligned with injection and removal of tumors from medical scans. Failure to detect medical deepfakes can lead to large setbacks on hospital resources or even loss of life. This paper attempts to address the detection of such attacks with a structured case study. We evaluate different machine learning algorithms and pretrained convolutional neural networks on distinguishing between tampered and untampered data. The findings of this work show near perfect accuracy in detecting instances of tumor injections and removals.
An interactome landscape of SARS-CoV-2 virus-human protein-protein interactions by protein sequence-based multi-label classifiers

The new coronavirus species, SARS-CoV-2, caused an unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19 disease since late December 2019. A comprehensive characterization of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) between SARS-CoV-2 and human cells is a key to understanding the infection and preventing the disease. Here we present a novel approach to predict virus-host PPIs by multi-label machine learning classifiers of random forests and XGBoost using amino acid composition profiles of virus and human proteins. Our models harness a large-scale database of Viruses.STRING with >80,000 virus-host PPIs along with evidence scores for multi-level evidence prediction, which is distinct from predicting binary interactions in previous studies. Our multi-label classifiers are based on 5 evidence levels binned from evidence scores. Our best model of XGBoost achieves 74% AUC and 68% accuracy on average in 10-fold cross validation. The most important amino acids are cysteine and histidine. In addition, our model predicts experimental PPIs with higher evidence level than text mining-based PPIs. We then predict evidence levels of ~2,000 SARS-CoV-2 virus-human PPIs from public experimental proteomics data. Interactions with SARS-CoV-2 Nsp7b show high evidence. We also predict evidence levels of all pairwise PPIs of ~550,000 between the SARS-CoV-2 and human proteomes to provide a draft virus-host interactome landscape for SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans in a comprehensive and unbiased way in silico. Most human proteins from 140 highest evidence predictions interact with SARS-CoV-2 Nsp7, Nsp1, and ORF14, with significant enrichment in the top 2 pathways of vascular smooth muscle contraction (CALD1, NPR2, CALML3) and Myc targets (CBX3, PES1). Our prediction also suggests that histone H2A components are targeted by multiple SARS-CoV-2 proteins.
Decentralized control and coordination of discrete-event systems

Decentralized supervision and coordination are studied for partially observed discrete-event systems. This study extends the authors' previous results on decentralized supervision and supervision under partial observations by incorporating both these features in the control structure. In addition, a concept of coordination is introduced, and conditions for the existence of a coordinating supervisor are established. The ideas are illustrated by application to a simple model of a manufacturing system. >
The value of original source readings in management education

Purpose – Frederick Taylor, the “Father of Scientific Management” is recognized as a pioneer in the field of management. However, many unfair criticisms have been leveled at him starting with the infamous Congressional hearings of 1911. Many scholars of management history believe that such criticisms have resulted in negative portrayals of Frederick Taylor in both practitioner and academic circles, and even in some basic management textbooks. This is unfortunate because many of those criticisms result from either a failure to read and understand Taylor's original works or from misinterpretations of them. The purpose of this paper is to contend that students of management will develop a more accurate impression of Frederick Taylor if they read his words and not interpretations of them.Design/methodology/approach – First, an introduction of Frederick Taylor and scientific management is presented. Then, a categorization of common criticisms of Taylor is offered. The results of a study conducted to measure un...
Purification and Partial Characterization of a Basic Protein from Pig Brain

Abstract A basic protein has been isolated from pig brain. The purification procedure consisted of repeated extractions with chloroform-methanol (2:1 v/v), 10% sodium chloride, and dilute hydrochloric acid. The pH 2.4 to 2.6 fraction obtained from the repeated acid extraction was further purified by pH and (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration, and chromatography on Amberlite IRC-50 with a gradient (5 to 20%) of guanidinium chloride. All of the fractions obtained by this purification procedure have been examined by starch gel electrophoresis. The homogeneity of the pig brain basic protein has been established by ultracentrifugation, starch gel electrophoresis, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and end group analysis. Amino acid analysis performed on a complete acid hydrolysate of the protein indicated that the ratio of basic to acidic amino acids is greater than 1.5. An absence of cysteine and the presence of a high glycine and proline content have also been observed.