cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Focal cortical dysplasias in autism spectrum disorders

Previous reports indicate the presence of histological abnormalities in the brains of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) suggestive of a dysplastic process. In this study we identified areas of abnormal cortical thinning within the cerebral cortex of ASD individuals and examined the same for neuronal morphometric abnormalities by using computerized image analysis. The study analyzed celloidin-embedded and Nissl-stained serial full coronal brain sections of 7 autistic (ADI-R diagnosed) and 7 age/sex-matched neurotypicals. Sections were scanned and manually segmented before implementing an algorithm using Laplace’s equation to measure cortical width. Identified areas were then subjected to analysis for neuronal morphometry. Results of our study indicate the presence within our ASD population of circumscribed foci of diminished cortical width that varied among affected individuals both in terms of location and overall size with the frontal lobes being particularly involved. Spatial statistic indicated a reduction in size of neurons within affected areas. Granulometry confirmed the presence of smaller pyramidal cells and suggested a concomitant reduction in the total number of interneurons. The neuropathology is consistent with a diagnosis of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). Results from the medical literature (e.g., heterotopias) and our own study suggest that the genesis of this cortical malformation seemingly resides in the heterochronic divisions of periventricular germinal cells. The end result is that during corticogenesis radially migrating neuroblasts (future pyramidal cells) are desynchronized in their development from those that follow a tangential route (interneurons). The possible presence of a pathological mechanism in common among different conditions expressing an autism-like phenotype argue in favor of considering ASD a “sequence” rather than a syndrome. Focal cortical dysplasias in ASD may serve to explain the high prevalence of seizures and sensory abnormalities in this patient population.
Mechanisms of Inhibition of Heart Rate by Phenylephrine

Studies were performed to determine the effects of phenylephrine in dogs under chloralose as influenced by mechanical buffering of blood pressure, adrenergic blockade produced by injection of phenoxybenzamine, and combination of the mechanical buffering of blood pressure and phenoxybenzamine administration. Chloralose did not interfere with and possibly mildly sensitized the cardioinhibitory response to phenylephrine. Tachyphylaxis did not occur when moderate doses of phenylephrine were injected at intervals of not less than 15 minutes. Either mechanical buffering or administration of phenoxybenzamine partially prevented the pressor response to phenylephrine, and the cardioinhibitory response correspondingly was less. When the increase in blood pressure was prevented entirely by mechanical buffering of blood pressure combined with phenoxybenzamine administration, phenylephrine caused either no change in heart rate or a mild acceleration. It is concluded that the decreases in heart rate which are observed following injection of phenylephrine, in the doses used in this study, are secondary to the adrenergic actions of the compound.
Experimental study of a solid adsorption cooling system using flat-tube heat exchangers as adsorption bed

In this paper, a solid adsorption cooling system with silica gel as the adsorbent and water as the adsorbate was experimentally studied. To reduce the manufacturing costs and simplify the construction of the adsorption chiller, a vacuum tank was designed to contain the adsorption bed and evaporator/condenser. Flat-tube type heat exchangers were used for adsorption beds in order to increase the heat transfer area and improve the heat transfer ability between the adsorbent and heat exchanger fins. Under the standard test conditions of 80 °C hot water, 30 °C cooling water, and 14 °C chilled water inlet temperatures, a cooling power of 4.3 kW and a coefficient of performance (COP) for cooling of 0.45 can be achieved. It has provided a specific cooling power (SCP) of about 176 W/(kg adsorbent). With lower hot water flow rates, a higher COP of 0.53 can be achieved.
Preferred Decision-Making Styles: A Cross-Cultural Comparison:

398 graduate and undergraduate business students from the USA, Japan, and Hong Kong were administered Kirton's (1976) Adaption-Innovation Inventory of decision style. Analysis of variance showed that mean group scores differed significantly with the U.S. respondents showing a preference for the Innovator style and the Chinese respondents the Adaptor style. Contrary to our hypotheses, the Japanese respondents did not show a clear preference for either style. We hypothesize that the differences among groups may be a function of cultural values and discuss the implications of our findings for managing cross-cultural teams.
Historic Heteroessentialism and Other Orderings in Early America

Abstract The aim of this essay is to highlight recent trends in the field of women's and gender history in early North America and to demonstrate why it holds value for feminist academics and activists alike. The essay focuses on two major themes in the field—one very old: the impact of the American Revolution on women's educational, political, and social opportunities; and one very new: the history of sexuality in early America. The books reviewed here address issues of power, agency, oppression, and change. Analytical categories such as race, gender, and sexuality frame the most exciting new work, offering textured perspectives on the use, abuse, and distribution of power in various realms of society. And yet, like most historical studies, even these works are limited in their attempt to consider the role that heterosexuality plays in giving meaning and stability to both individual subjects and larger systems like the family, the household economy, the market economy, and the state's need for able‐bodie...
Cardiovascular disease prevention tailored for women

Cardiovascular disease prevention is most effective when it is tailored for individual risk, since the benefit of any preventive intervention should outweigh its potential side effects and costs. Recognition of important gender differences in cardiovascular disease prevention has led to the formulation of specific guidelines for women. Based on a rigorous review of evidence, the 2007 American Heart Association guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in women differ little from the guidelines for men. The main difference pertains to the role of aspirin in primary cardiovascular prevention and to the appreciation of diabetes as a more detrimental risk factor in women than men. These guidelines provide a valuable framework to select the optimal preventive strategy for women of all ages, based on individual risk stratification, potentially supplemented with appropriate use of novel imaging modalities. Observational data continue to identify discrepancies between women and men, which target areas of need for future research.
Multi-stage rejection sampling (MSRS): A robust SRP-PHAT peak detection algorithm for localization of cocktail-party talkers

The Steered Response Power using the Phase Transform weight (SRP-PHAT) has been shown to be robust in noisy and reverberant conditions. Also, volume contraction has been applied effectively to trap the global maximum for densely-hilly 3-D spaces like the SRP. However, previous methods have suffered from the presence of peaks representing multiple talkers in close proximity as is likely in a conversational cocktail-party setting. We present a volume contraction algorithm called Multi-Stage Rejection Sampling (MSRS) for detection of multiple peaks in the SRP-PHAT space. Our method not only circumvents sorting — a computationally expensive step in volume contraction algorithms — but also automatically divides a search volume into sub-volumes for robust detection of multiple peaks. We discuss some modifications to the standard SRP-PHAT functional and present results using all real-room data for baseline white-noise, an eight-speaker teleconferencing setup and a fully unconstrained cocktail-party situation containing about 21 persons in the room.
Computing finite-time singularities in interfacial flows

Finite-time singularities occurring in mathematical models of free-surface flows indicate that important qualitative changes are taking place; for problems in solid and fluid mechanics this includes topological transitions—blow-up and pinch-off. For many problems, the dynamics leading to the formation of such singularities are described by self-similar solutions of the governing nonlinear partial differential equations. We present an analytical and numerical study of these similarity solutions and discuss their stability.
Using state transition networks to analyze multi-party conversations in a serious game

As players interact in a serious game, mentoring is often needed to facilitate progress and learning. Although human mentors are the current standard, they present logistical difficulties. Automating the mentor's role is a difficult task, however, especially for multi-party collaborative learning environments. In order to better understand the conversational demands of a mentor, this paper investigates the dynamics and linguistic features of multi-party chat in the context of an online epistemic game, Urban Science. We categorized thousands of player and mentor contributions into eight different speech acts and analyzed the sequence of dialogue moves using State Transition Networks. The results indicate that dialogue transitions are relatively stable with respect to gameplay goals; however, task-oriented stages emphasize mentor-player scaffolding, whereas discussion-oriented stages feature player-player collaboration.
Tailored Health Communication

communication to modify attitudes, shape behavior, and persuade health consumers to better manage and protect their health. However, research indicates that although traditional channels such as newspapers, radio, brochures, and television have been proven capable of reaching and informing large audiences, they are not very effective in changing behavior. Interpersonal channels have been more successful in influencing attitudes and motivating behavior change, although their potential for delivering health communications that reach a large audience in a cost-effective manner is inadequate. The implication of this research is that mass media channels are appropriate for creating awareness, but interpersonal interactions are essential for persuading individuals to change their health behavior [1–3]. In the past few years, advances in technology have led to a new tailored approach to health communication that involves soliciting information from individuals, or alternatively querying information about individuals from existing records, to provide audible and visual feedback tailored to be responsive to the solicited information. This approach is consequential because it combines the potential for delivering costeffective health communications to reach a large audience combined with the benefits of interpersonal communication. The reason is that communications that are tailored to be responsive to the solicited information can be used to mimic the transactional and response-dependent qualities of interpersonal communication. An interactive cycle of tailored feedback and response can be repeated over and over to facilitate an individual’s movement through the persuasive process of motivating health behavior change. Along the way, both source and message factors can be dynamically modified to realize the advantages inherent in interpersonal channels, advantages proven essential for persuading individuals to change their health behavior. This approach, known as tailoring, has been defined as “any combination of information or change strategies intended to reach one specific person, based on characteristics that are unique to that person, related to the outcome of interest, and have been derived from an individual assessment” [4,5]. This definition highlights the two features of a tailored approach that distinguishes it from other approaches: (1) its collection of messages or strategies is intended for a particular person rather than a group of people and (2) these messages or strategies are based on individual level factors that are related to the health or behavioral outcome of interest. Although the tailoring approach has notable benefits, it is important to note that not all information needs to be tailored to different individuals [4]. When needs within a population are very similar, the variation between tailored messages will be minimal 3 Tailored Health Communication
Sludge disposal: ethics and expediency

The United State Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) attempted to set health-based regulations for sludge disposal and used worst-case scenarios to estimate the detrimental health effect. In the absence of adequate information, this exercise led them to err so much on the conservative side that the regulations became unrealistic and would not have been accepted by the public. So the US EPA decided to do what was expedient - to establish regulations that allow most wastewater treatment plants to dispose of their sludges, knowing that these regulations are better than none at all. Such regulatory decision-making has ethical ramifications because it involves distributing costs and benefits between affected citizens. The principle of expediency as articulated by Earle Phelps calls for a regulator to optimize the benefits of health protection while minimizing costs within the constraints of technical feasibility. Phelps' expediency principle, proposed over fifty years ago, is still a useful application of ethics using scientific knowledge to set dynamic and yet enforceable environmental regulations. In the case of sludge disposal, the US EPA made an ethical decision based on the principle of expediency, weighing the moral good of human health protection versus the moral harm of taking wealth by requiring costly wastewater sludge treatment and disposal.
Abstract 3292: A genetically engineered mouse model for high grade serous “ovarian” carcinoma arising in the fallopian tube

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy because the vast majority of cases are detected in late stage, a finding that has thwarted attempts to understand the pathogenesis and cell-of-origin of this disease. The traditional view of epithelial ovarian pathogenesis asserts that all tumor subtypes share a common origin in the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE). There is robust data to support the OSE as the site of origin for many ovarian tumors, including low-grade carcinomas and borderline tumors. However, the pathogenesis of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, the most common type of ovarian cancer, continued to defy explanation by the OSE model. More recent studies suggested that the fallopian tube epithelium (FTE), rather than the OSE, may be the site-of-origin for a majority of pelvic serous carcinomas (PSC, defined as ovarian, peritoneal and tubal high grade serous carcinomas). We show here that the FTE can be site of origin for PSC by genetically engineering a mouse model that specifically targets the FT secretory cell with defined genetic alterations that are characteristic of human PSC. These mice develop tubal intraepithelial serous carcinomas, a precursor to PSC, that are morphologically and immunophenotypically similar to the lesions described in human patients. Furthermore, these intraepithelial lesions progress to widespread peritoneal disease that recapitulates the presentation of high-grade PSC in women. The tumors express common serous markers such as P53, αH2A.X, PAX8 and CA-125. Taken together our model is the first fully genetically engineered mouse model that truly recapitulates human serous carcinoma pathogenesis. Our model serves as proof-of-concept that the FTE can be site-of-origin to PSC. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3292. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3292
Experimental Prostatitis: Relationship to Pyelonephritis

Intravesical inoculation of Proteus mirabilis produced severe prostatitis preceding renal infection in male rats. Inflammation and abscesses predominated in the ventral prostate, while the dorsolateral prostate was relatively spared. Nearly all rats (126 of 130) with prostatitis had associated pyelonephritis, while renal infection was rare (4 of 52) in the absence of prostatitis. Bilateral orchiectomy five weeks before challenge resulted in prostatic ablation and protected against retrograde pyelonephritis. Orchiectomy only three days before challenge gave no protection. Previous reports have suggested a protective role for the prostate due to antibacterial activity in its secretions. It is probable that prostatitis occurs when this activity is overcome. The prostate may then serve as a focus of infection and provide an obstruction; these factors would lead to infection of the urinary tract. Orchiectomy may protect against pyelonephritis, in part, by removing the prostatic focus.
EFFECT OF FAT ON PLASMA AND TISSUE CHOLESTEROL CONCENTRATION OF HYPER-EU- AND HYPOTHYROID RATS.

SummaryA series of experiments was undertaken in an attempt to demonstrate the effects of dietary fats on plasma and liver cholesterol concentration in hyper-, eu- and hypothyroid rats. The lowering effect of unsaturated fat on plasma cholesterol seems to be independent of the thyroid state of the animal; that is, regardless of whether the animal is hyper- eu-, or hypothyroid, cholesterol levels of plasma are always lower when animals are fed cottonseed oil than when they are fed the same amounts of butter. In contrast to these effects on plasma, concentration of cholesterol in liver was always higher in animals which were fed unsaturated fat at any of the thyroid states.
Effect of Dietary Vitamin A and Cholesterol on Cholesterol and Carotenoid Content of Plasma and Egg Yolk

Abstract Kinley and Krause (1959) reported a decrease in the elevated serum cholesterol of atherosclerotic human patients following the oral administration of high vitamin A levels. Similar observations have been made on serum cholesterol level of chicks made hypercholesterolemic by the addition of cholesterol to the diet (Wood, 1960). Quite recently, Bring et al. (1965) reported an inverse relationship between vitamin A and cholesterol content of serum and liver in rats fed diets containing added cholesterol. This study was designed to determine the influence of high vitamin A fed with and without dietary cholesterol on the total cholesterol and carotenoid content of plasma and egg yolk of hens. Thirty-six White Leghorn hens, in their eighth month of production, were maintained in conventional individual laying cages. All hens were fed a yellow corn-soybean meal type basal diet (containing 4,490 I.U. of added vitamin A/kg.) for a 3-week pretest period. The experimental diets …
Analysis of Yield Components for High Yield of Rice

This paper surveys yield components under the different yield level of hybrid rice" Teyou 63",The results reveals that under the cultivation conditions in south Fujian at present,spike number per square meter and grains per spike become the main factors determining yield,the contribution rate of product of them(the total grain number per square meter) is more than 95% for yield.And while the yield per 667m2 are 500、600、700 and 800kg,the total grain number per square meter are 2.9 million,3.5 million,4.1 million and 4.7 million.
Sixteen Cases with Tethered Cord Syndrome

Objective To analyse the pathogenesis,diagnosis and treatment of tethered cord syndrome(TCS) and to improve the knowledge of the disease.Method The clinical data of 16 cases with TCS who underwent surgical lysis were analyzed,retrospectively.Results Thirteen cases were followed-up for 6 months to 1 year.Three cases with handicap of lower limb function and aesthesia and rectum and bladder sphincter dysfunction got good outcome,and 2 cases showed no improvement,while 10 cases with no symptoms(didn′t) appear TCS.Conclusions It is necessary to diagnose and manage as early as possible.The tethered cord lysis can relieve the symptoms of some cases and control development of TCS.
Use of the AS792 Artificial Sphincter Following Urinary Undiversion

AbstractReconstruction of the urinary tract after diversion has been successful in patients with normal innervation of the lower tracts. However, the possibility of urinary incontinence after such major surgical procedures has dissuaded many surgeons from attempting urinary undiversion in patients in whom the continence status cannot be determined accurately before the operation or who were known to be incontinent before the original diversion. For this reason, the presence of neuropathic bladder dysfunction has been considered a relative contraindication to urinary undiversion unless it can be established preoperatively that the patient will obtain urinary continence. Eight patients are reported who had successful outcome with the use of the AS792 artificial urinary sphincter to control incontinence after urinary undiversion. Because of this successful experience it is now believed that patients with neuropathic bladder dysfunction or anatomically abnormal lower tracts are no longer precluded from urinar...
Spirit Cults, Religion, and Performative Peace in Cambodia

Since 1979, religion and local spirit cults in Cambodia have been primary avenues for addressing structural violence that has persisted after the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime. Examining the Buddhist traditions of peacemaking in Cambodia, this chapter argues that religious peace work in the country should be understood in terms of “performative peace” that, in the immediate aftermath of the genocide, was directed toward achieving “negative peace,” and simply working to end direct violence. The chapterdiscusses the local practices of spirit cults, and the way the idioms of the spiritual practice has provided the primary idioms for resisting structural violence through acts of “performative peace” that are intended to address the problem of landgrabs, structural inequality, and structural violence.
Anti-human immunodeficiency activity of novel 2-arylpyrrolidine analogs

A series of 26 new compounds were synthesized and screened for their anti-human immunodeficiency virus-1 and cytotoxicity activity. Of these, 14 were found to be inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus replications in primary human lymphocytes with 50 % effective concentration values NH2 > C(O)NH2. The difference of activity between the 5-membered and 4-membered rings compounds was not significant. This initial information could be used to design improved anti-human immunodeficiency virus compounds in this class.
Phase sorting wave-particle correlator

Wave-particle correlations, particularly of Langmuir waves and electrons, have been the subject of significant interest extending back to the 1970's. Often, these correlations have been simply observing modulation of the electrons at the plasma frequency with no phase resolution. The first phase-resolving correlators were developed at UC Berkeley in the late 1980's and reported by Ergun in the early 1990's. A design is presented which further improves on phase resolution in correlations of Langmuir waves and electrons with phase resolution of 22.5 degrees. In this technique, a phase-lock-loop (PLL) is used to lock onto the wave and subdivide the phase. Electrons are sorted on-the-fly as they arrive into the phase bins. Discussed are details of accurate timing, testing, and calibration of this system as well as results from rocket flights in which statistically significant phase correlations have been observed.
Radiolabeling and biological evaluations of N-methylated 76Br and 123I labeled amino acids for imaging of brain tumors

1081 Objectives Many cancers upregulate nutrient transport including amino acids which can be targeted for imaging and therapy. System A amino acid transporters can concentrate substrates within cells and provide higher tumor to background ratios and prolonged retention in tumors which are desirable properties for imaging. Since system A is one of the few amino acid transport systems that transport N-methylated amino acids, the objective of this work was to synthesize and radiolabel N-methyl derivatives of the known system A tracer, [123I]IVAIB1 and to assess their tumor imaging properties in a mouse model of high grade glioma. Methods All compounds studied were synthesized from enantiopure N-boc-α-methyl-L-serine in 4-6 steps. Radiobromination was carried out using peracetic acid, ethanol and [76Br]HBr (aq). Radioiodination reactions were carried out in an ethanol solution with hydrogen peroxide, HCl and Na[123I]I (Nordion). The labeled compounds were fully deprotected and isolated using ion-retardation resin in series with a C-18 sep pak cartridge. Compound purity, specific activity and identity were determined using iTLC and radioHPLC. Me[76Br]BrVAIB and Me[123I]IVAIB was injected i.v. into mice with subcutaneous murine DBT gliomatumors for biodistribution (5 time points, n = 4). Small animal PET studies were carried out with Me[76Br]BrVAIB in mice with intracranial DBT gliomas (n = 4). Results Me[76Br]BrVAIB and Me[123I]IVAIB were radiolabeled in high yields (70-75%), purity (>95%) and good specific activity (>500 mCi/μg). Me[76Br]BrVAIB showed good uptake in the tumor with the highest uptake at 3.99 + 1.36 %ID/g at 30 min and retention at 3 h post injection with 3.30 + 1.18 %ID/g. Cell uptake studies revealed that Me[76Br]BrVAIB is a good substrate for system A transport with a more than 2 fold decrease in uptake in the presence of MeAIB at 19.8 + 9.8% compared to its desmethyl derivative, [76Br]BrVAIB, 56.1 + 11.6%.2In vivo PET studies showed good tumor uptake 3 h, p.i. as well as in the clearance organs such as the bladder and kidneys. Tracer retention was still observed in the tumor and bladder after 24 h. Conversely, Me[123I]IVAIB showed lower uptake and retention in the tumor with a maximal uptake of 3.58 + 0.66 %ID/g at 5 min p.i. and only retaining 1.85 + 1.10 %ID/g after 3 h. The compound also was significantly more unstable in vivo with higher than expected thyroid uptakes reaching a max of 44.49 + 20.57 %ID/g at 3 h p.i. and still retaining 29.79 + 9.79 %ID/g after 24 h. Cell uptake studies unexpectedly showed no substantial transport of Me[123I]IVAIB by system A. Conclusions Me[76Br]BrVAIB and Me[123I]IVAIB were easily synthesized and radiolabeled in good yields. Me[76Br]BrVAIB is a system A substrate in vitro with high tumor uptake and retention up to 24 h after injection. While Me[123I]IVAIB was taken up in the tumors, it proved to be unstable in vivo with rapid deiodination and does not appear to be a good system A substrate.
UK Infantile Spasms Study: Effect of Time to Treatment and Age at Onset on Developmental Outcome

The effects of lead time to treatment (time from onset of spasms to start of treatment), age at onset of spasms, etiology, and treatment on developmental outcome at 4 years were investigated using multiple linear regression in 77 infants with spasms treated in the UK Infantile Spasms Study (UKISS).
Improved Locoregional Control in a Contemporary Cohort of Nonmetastatic Inflammatory Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Surgery.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer characterized by rapid progression and early metastatic dissemination. The purpose of this study was to assess contemporary rates of local regional recurrence (LRR) in the era of trimodality therapy for nonmetastatic IBC and identify risk factors leading to local failure. A total of 114 patients with nonmetastatic IBC receiving trimodality therapy (neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy) were identified from a prospectively collected database from 2007 to 2015 and outcomes analyzed. Median age at diagnosis was 52 years, and the median follow-up was 3.6 years. Sixty-three (55%) patients presented with N2 IBC, and 52 patients (45%) presented with N3 IBC. Local regional recurrence was observed during follow-up for four patients; 25 died, and 85 were censored at last follow-up. Surgical margins were negative in 99% of patients (n = 113). The 2-year probability of LRR was 3.19% (95% confidence interval 1.03–9.90%). Five-year overall survival for this cohort was 69.14%. Improvement in disease-free survival was seen among patients with HER2+ subtype, clinical stage IIIB, complete or partial radiologic response to neoadjuvant therapy, pathologic complete response, and lower nodal burden on presentation. Locoregional recurrences were rare at a median of 3.6 years follow-up in a contemporary cohort of IBC patients treated with trimodality therapy. Although longer follow-up is needed, aggressive surgical resection to negative margins in the frame of trimodality therapy with curative intent can lead to LRR rates that mirror non-IBC rates.
Logic aggregators and their properties

Logic aggregators are defined as graded aggregators that aggregate degrees of truth, suitability, preference, and fuzzy membership. In this paper we present necessary and sufficient logic aggregators. In particular, we study logic aggregators that generalize classical Boolean logic and model observable properties of human reasoning in the area of soft computing evaluation logic. This paper introduces restrictive conditions that logic aggregators must satisfy.
Autonomous Training of Activity Recognition Algorithms in Mobile Sensors: A Transfer Learning Approach in Context-Invariant Views

Wearable technologies play a central role in human-centered Internet-of-Things applications. Wearables leverage machine learning algorithms to detect events of interest such as physical activities and medical complications. A major obstacle in large-scale utilization of current wearables is that their computational algorithms need to be re-built from scratch upon any changes in the configuration. Retraining of these algorithms requires significant amount of labeled training data, a process that is labor-intensive and time-consuming. We propose an approach for automatic retraining of the machine learning algorithms in real-time without need for any labeled training data. We measure the inherent correlation between observations made by an old sensor view for which trained algorithms exist and the new sensor view for which an algorithm needs to be developed. Our multi-view learning approach can be used in both online and batch modes. By applying the autonomous multi-view learning in the batch mode, we achieve an accuracy of 83.7 percent in activity recognition which is an improvement of 9.3 percent due to the automatic labeling of the data in the new sensor node. In addition to gain the less computation advantage of incremental training, the online learning algorithm results in an accuracy of 82.2 percent in activity recognition.
Anti-tick Vaccine Development: Status and Perspectives

Ticks (Acarina: Arachnida: Arthropoda) are obligate, nonpermanent ectoparasites of terrestrial vertebrates. In arthropods, ticks are second only to mosquitoes in the number of pathogens they transmit to people, domestic pets, livestock, and wild animals. Ticks are vectors to a variety of human diseases, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, tickborne encephalitis, babesiosis, tularemia, and tick-borne relapsing fever. In addition, other maladies due to tick bites, such as tick paralysis, tick toxicosis, and anaphylaxis, are common. Each year, worldwide public health and agricultural industry costs due to tick-transmitted diseases are estimated to be in the range of several billion U.S. dollars. To date, the control of ticks has relied heavily on chemical pesticides (acaricides). The excessive use of pesticides in tick control has resulted in environmental contamination, food safety concerns, and pesticide resistance. Consequently, use molecular technology to develope anti-tick vaccines is an essential alternative strategy in tick and tick-borne disease control. Recent studies and the status of anti-tick vaccine development are reviewed in this chapter.
Multiagent Pursuit Evasion, or Playing Kabaddi

We study a version of pursuit evasion where two or more pursuers are required to capture the evader because the evader is able to overpower a single defender. The pursuers must coordinate their moves to fortify their approach against the evader while the evader maneuvers to disable pursuers from their unprotected sides. We model this situation as a game of Kabaddi, a popular South Asian sport where two teams occupy opposite halves of a field and take turns sending an attacker into the other half, in order to win points by tagging or wrestling members of the opposing team, while holding his breath during the attack. The game involves team coordination and movement strategies, making it non-trivial to formally model and analyze, yet provides an elegant framework for the study of multiagent pursuitevasion, for instance, a team of robots attempting to capture a rogue agent. Our paper introduces a simple discrete (time and space) model for the game, offers analysis of winning strategies, and explores tradeoffs between maximum movement speed, number of pursuers, and locational constraints.
Ethnic Differences in Grandparent–Grandchild Affectionate Communication

Researchers have repeatedly called for more careful attention to how ethnicity and culture influence grandparent–grandchild communication. Using affection exchange theory as our guiding lens, we ex...
Visualizing effective potentials and using the IBM-Q to study quantum field theory models in 0+1 dimensions

This work explores the utility of two novel techniques applied to studying quantum field theory, namely quantum computing and visualizing effective potentials. We studied the ground state properties of the anharmonic oscillator and the Wess-Zumino model using the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm. We performed calculations for three and four qubit systems using IBM’s open source quantum computing simulation software. Using effective potentials, we study a simple dark matter system with a Higgs and dark Higgs like particle interacting through a porthole fermion.
Women's (health) work: A population-based, cross-sectional study of gender differences in time spent seeking health care in Malawi.

Background There has been a notable expansion in routine health care in sub-Saharan Africa. While heath care is nominally free in many contexts, the time required to access services reflects an opportunity cost that may be substantial and highly gendered, reflecting the gendered nature of health care guidelines and patterns of use. The time costs of health care use, however, have rarely been systematically assessed at the population-level. Methods Data come from the 2015 wave of a population-based cohort study of young adults in southern Malawi during which 1,453 women and 407 men between the ages of 21 and 31 were interviewed. We calculated the time spent seeking health care over a two-month period, disaggregating findings by men, recently-pregnant women, mothers with children under two years old, and “other women”. We then extrapolated the time required for specific services to estimate the time that would be needed for each subpopulation to meet government recommendations for routine health services over the course of a year. Results Approximately 60% of women and 22% of men attended at least one health care visit during the preceding two months. Women spent six times as long seeking care as did men (t = -4.414, p<0.001), with an average 6.4 hours seeking care over a two-month period compared to 1 hour for men. In order to meet government recommendations for routine health services, HIV-negative women would need to spend between 19 and 63 hours annually seeking health care compared to only three hours for men. An additional 40 hours would be required of HIV-positive individuals initiating antiretroviral care. Conclusions Women in Malawi spend a considerable amount of time seeking routine health care services, while men spend almost none. The substantial time women spend seeking health care exacerbates their time poverty and constrains opportunities for other meaningful activities. At the same time, few health care guidelines pertain to men who thus have little interaction with the health care system. Additional public health strategies such as integration of services for those services frequently used by women and specific guidelines and outreach for men are urgently needed.
Change management in modular assembly systems to correspond to product geometry change

Modular assembly systems are a category of changeable manufacturing systems, which can handle the rapid change in customer demands, product design change and market fluctuations. On the operational...
Evaluating User Actions as a Proxy for Email Significance

Email remains a critical channel for communicating information in both personal and work accounts. The number of emails people receive every day can be overwhelming, which in turn creates challenges for efficient information management and consumption. Having a good estimate of the significance of emails forms the foundation for many downstream tasks (e.g. email prioritization); but determining significance at scale is expensive and challenging. In this work, we hypothesize that the cumulative set of actions on any individual email can be considered as a proxy for the perceived significance of that email. We propose two approaches to summarize observed actions on emails, which we then evaluate against the perceived significance. The first approach is a fixed-form utility function parameterized on a set of weights, and we study the impact of different weight assignment strategies. In the second approach, we build machine learning models to capture users' significance directly based on the observed actions. For evaluation, we collect human judgments on email significance for both personal and work emails. Our analysis suggests that there is a positive correlation between actions and significance of emails and that actions performed on personal and work emails are different. We also find that the degree of correlation varies across people, which may reflect the individualized nature of email activity patterns or significance. Subsequently, we develop an example of real-time email significance prediction by using action summaries as implicit feedback at scale. Evaluation results suggest that the resulting significance predictions have positive agreement with human assessments, albeit not at statistically strong levels. We speculate that we may require personalized significance prediction to improve agreement levels.
Clinical, immunophenotypic, and genomic findings of acute undifferentiated leukemia and comparison to acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation: a study from the bone marrow pathology group

Acute undifferentiated leukemia is a rare type of acute leukemia that shows no evidence of differentiation along any lineage. Clinical, immunophenotypic and genetic data is limited and it is uncertain if acute undifferentiated leukemia is biologically distinct from acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation, which also shows limited myeloid marker expression and has been reported to have a poor prognosis. We identified 92 cases initially diagnosed as acute undifferentiated leukemia or acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation from pathology databases of nine academic institutions with available diagnostic flow cytometric data, cytogenetic findings, mutational and clinical data. Outcome analysis was performed using Kaplan Meier test for the 53 patients who received induction chemotherapy. Based on cytogenetic abnormalities (N = 30) or history of myelodysplastic syndrome (N = 2), 32 cases were re-classified as acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia related changes. The remaining 24 acute undifferentiated leukemia patients presented with similar age, blood counts, bone marrow cellularity, and blast percentage as the remaining 30 acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation patients. Compared to acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation, acute undifferentiated leukemia cases were characterized by more frequent mutations in PHF6 (5/15 vs 0/19, p = 0.016) and more frequent expression of TdT on blasts (p = 0.003) while acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation cases had more frequent CD123 expression (p = 0.042). Outcome data showed no difference in overall survival, relapse free survival, or rates of complete remission between acute undifferentiated leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation groups (p > 0.05). Acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes patients showed shorter survival when censoring for bone marrow transplant as compared to acute undifferentiated leukemia (p = 0.03) and acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation (p = 0.002). In this largest series to date, the acute undifferentiated leukemia group shows distinct characteristics from acute myeloid leukemia with minimal differentiation, including more frequent PHF6 mutations and expression of TdT.
Using hyperspectral imagery to detect water stress in vineyards

The purpose of this study is to examine water stress as determined by the stem water potential of two blocks of a commercial California vineyard growing two different varietals: Chenin Blanc and Cabernet. Hyperspectral reflectance data was collected from a system capturing spectra from 400 nm to 1,000 nm at a spectral resolution of 4 nm. The sensor was carried at an altitude of 75 meters above ground level by a helicopter UAS, producing a ground resolution of 3 cm. Sixty-six standard vegetative indices found in the literature were examined to see how well they predicted stem water potential utilizing simple linear regression. The five vegetative indices most related to stem water potential in terms of the coefficient of determination were the Photochemical Reflectance Index, the Green Red Ratio Index, the Ratio Vegetation Index, the Simple Ratio Index, and the Greenness Index. These indices had a coefficient of variation around 0.3. Nearly a third of the vegetative indices had a coefficient of determination less than 0.1 including the Water Band Index, the Water Index, and the Floating Position Water Band Index. Correlations of vegetative indices with stem water potentials were not improved by examining the two varietals separately.
Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) predicts heavy drinking in adolescents with alcohol dependence.

Abstract A biomarker that could indicate problematic drinking in adolescents and/or reflect changes in heavy drinking would be a valuable addition to prevention, treatment, and research efforts. Carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) is a valid biomarker of heavy drinking in adults; however, it is not well examined in adolescents. Adolescents with alcohol dependence (AD) (n = 21; 9 females) and non-dependent controls (ND) (n = 6; 3 females), ages 14–20, were interviewed to determine drinks per drinking day, peak number of drinks, and percent days heavy drinking (≥4 standard drinks/day). Blood samples from participants were assayed for percent of transferrin that was carbohydrate deficient (%CDT). Analyses compared groups on drinking and %CDT, examined the relationship between %CDT and indices of drinking, and provided preliminary estimates of the test validity of %CDT for heavy drinking in adolescents. Among adolescents with AD, %CDT was significantly and strongly correlated (r = .54) with percent heavy drinking days, and this relationship was consistent for both males and females. AD adolescents did not differ from ND on mean %CDT levels, despite significantly greater alcohol use. Indicators of test validity showed that %CDT had low sensitivity (33%) but adequate specificity (83%) for heavy drinking. Results provide proof of concept that %CDT is a potentially valuable tool to use in alcohol treatment and research in adolescents. Even if %CDT does not discriminate between adolescents with and without alcohol dependence, it could be an effective monitoring tool to indicate changes over time in binge drinking. Improved %CDT measurement methods might enhance its utility.
The Art of Advocacy: Lessons from the National Arts Action Summit and Arts Advocacy Day.

As of this writing, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are in danger of losing more than two-thirds of their annual 150 million dollar bud...
A Novel Calpain Inhibitor for the Treatment of Transient Retinal Ischemia in the Rat

Following an acute ischemia/reperfusion of the rat retina, the activation of cytotoxic proteases, including calpain, results in necrosis and apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells resulting in their degeneration. Using a systemically administered calpain inhibitor that crosses the Blood-RetinalBarrier would provide for novel systemic intervention that protects the retina from acute injury and lost function. Here we study a novel calpain peptide inhibitor, cysteic–leucyl–argininal (CYLA), in an in vivo rat model of retinal ischemia to determine functional protection using electroretinography. The CYLA-prodrug was administered intraperitoneally before and/or after ischemia-reperfusion at concentrations of 20-40 mg/kg. We found that administering 20 mg/kg CYLA even only after ischemia provides significant preservation of retinal function.
Effect of Enzyme Modification of Corn Grits on their Properties as an Adsorbent in a Skarstrom Pressure Swing Cycle Dryer

Corn grits have been tested as a desiccant in a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system to produce dry air. Two sizes of unmodified corn grits were tested in the PSA system: 2.16 and 0.978 mm in diameter, which dried moist air to dew points of −42°C and −69°C, respectively. A modification technology has been developed for the corn grits that gives an increase in the operational adsorptive capacity in a pressure swing adsorption system, so that they remove as much moisture from air as molecular sieves at the same conditions. After modification, 2.16 mm corn grits dry moist air to a −56°C dew point and the 0.978 mm corn grits dry air to a −80°C dew point. The modification process creates surface modifications on the corn grits apparently making more adsorption sites easily available. The modification procedure increases the specific surface area of the grits and possibly decreases the crystallinity, which would make more hydroxyl groups available for adsorption of water. Possible applications of using corn grits in the pressure swing adsorption system include industrial gas dryers, sorptive cooling air conditioners, and recycling equipment for industrial solvents.
Ischemic Stroke in the Neurocritical Care Unit

Ischemic stroke is the most common diagnosis in the neurointensive care unit (NCCU). Patients with acute ischemic stroke may require rapid interventions for time-sensitive pharmacologic thrombolysis or endovascular thrombectomy. Many such patients will benefit from close monitoring with optimization of hemodynamic variables and observation for complications. In addition, these patients may suffer complications of acute stroke, including expansion of infarction, hemorrhagic transformation, and malignant cerebral edema. The NCCU provides an environment for physiologic monitoring by intensivists and specialized nurses and for rapid early intervention allowing us to optimize outcomes from acute ischemic stroke. This chapter addresses the role of the neurointensivist in the care of patients with acute ischemic stroke.