cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Retrograde left ventricular angiocardiography in ventricular septal defect.

Abstract Thirty-five patients with ventricular septal defect underwent selective left ventricular angiocardiography in addition to selective venous angiocardiography, cardiac catheterization and routine laboratory studies. In 30 of these the ventricular septal defect was uncomplicated; in 5 it was accompanied by other anomalies although the ventricular septal defect was still the predominant lesion. The angiocardiograms demonstrated shunting of the contrast material into the right ventricle in all patients. Based on the level of the shunt stream, the defects were classified as membranous (21 cases), high muscular (9 cases) and low muscular (4 cases). In one additional case there were two defects, one in the pars membranacea and another in the apical portion of the muscular septum. The shunt-streams were distinct in the majority of cases and enabled estimation of their circular area at their point of origin from the septum. These were assumed to represent the actual size of the defect. Contraction of the ventricular septal defect, manifested by changing diameters of the shunt-stream during various phases of the cardiac cycle, was noted in nearly half of the membranous defects; it was most conspicuous in muscular defects. In 7 patients routine cardiac catheterization failed to reveal a left-to-right shunt although in 3 of these, selective dye-indicator studies revealed small left-to-right shunts. These findings suggest that left ventricular angiocardiography is superior to routine cardiac catherization for demonstrating the presence of a tiny ventricular septal defect. There were no complications encountered in the present series. Our studies indicate that selective left ventricular angiocardiography is useful for indicating the presence, location, size and number of ventricular septal defects, and the existence of any associated intracardiac anomaly of the left side.
The tunicamycins — useful tools for studies on glycoproteins

Abstract Inhibitors of protein glycosylation are valuable tools for various biochemical and physiological studies on the role of glycoproteins. The tunicamycin group of antibiotics have been widely used in this regard.
In vitro potency of inhibition by antiviral drugs of hematopoietic progenitor colony formation correlates with exposure at hemotoxic levels in human immunodeficiency virus-positive humans.

Inhibition of in vitro colony formation of human hematopoietic progenitors (CFU-granulocyte-macrophage, burst-forming unit-erythroid) by the antiviral nucleoside drugs alovudine, zalcitabine, zidovudine, ganciclovir, stavudine, didanosine, lamivudine, and acyclovir was measured. Significant correlations between in vitro 50% inhibitory concentrations and the daily human exposures (area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h; in micromolar.hour) of these chronically administered drugs in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients that induced neutropenia or anemia were demonstrated by both linear regression and Spearman rank-order analyses. These quantitative correlations allow estimation of the exposure at which bone marrow toxicity may occur with candidate compounds.
Economic analysis of privacy-aware Advanced Metering Infrastructure adoption

Demand response systems primarily seek to reduce demand levels during periods of high load and increase demand as necessary in the off-peak hours. The objective of this flattening of the demand curve is to curb the need for generators to frequently ramp up or down and to reduce peak load levels. This, in turn, would potentially decrease the aggregate production cost of electricity. One of the most effective known methods of accomplishing this is to use Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), an intelligent metering technology that collects temporally precise consumer electricity usage data and relays it to the local utility. Because AMI modules collect fine granularity consumer data, a significant threat to consumer privacy exists, as this data can be shared or sold by the utility to interested third parties. A privacy-aware AMI module can be used to avoid this inherent danger by protecting an individual consumer's data using public key infrastructure. However, while privacy-aware AMI would be preferred by consumers, utilities would naturally prefer non-privacy-aware modules, as they could profit from the sale of consumer usage data. Therefore, it is not clear what regulatory structure should be implemented in determining what type of AMI to offer consumers and with what regulations. In this paper, we examine two possible regulatory regimes using consumer decision theory and determine the economic conditions required for privacy-aware AMI adoption at equilibrium under both regimes. Finally, we predict the privacy-aware AMI adoption rates for each regime and provide regulatory recommendations.
Maximum slew-rate governor control for impulse turbines

A deflector bang-bang and speed derivative methodology for controlling impulse turbine transients is developed. The control was implemented in a linear simulation to demonstrate its effectiveness in controlling load torque perturbations. The proposed controller strategy is implemented in a nonlinear simulation. The design was found to significantly reduce turbine off-speeds and nominal operating point settling times in both simulations. >
The ars moriendi of US serial television: Towards a good textual death:

While a growing body of scholarship explores narrative beginnings, much less is known about narrative endings or narrative ‘deaths’. In this article I draw on media studies as well as gerontologica...
Important Considerations for Evaluating the Data Presented by Igarashi et al

To The Editor: The major conclusion drawn in the article by Igarashi et al,1 that cholesteryl ester hydrolase (gene symbol CES1) does not contribute to neutral cholesterol ester (CE) hydrolase activity, is based on the inability of the authors to detect CE hydrolase activity associated with the cDNA clone that they obtained by PCR amplification and by the inability of the authors to demonstrate change in intracellular CE hydrolytic activity by short hairpin (sh)RNA-mediated knockdown of CES1. The authors have not provided the sequence of the clone obtained and do not unequivocally show its identity to the reported CES1 with established role not only in intracellular CE hydrolysis,2 mobilization,3 and cholesterol efflux4 but also in attenuation of diet-induced atherosclerosis and lesion necrosis.5 It is noteworthy that the sense primer used in this study also shows a 95% homology to human CES4 (17/18 bp match; accession no. NR_003276). Single amino …
Inner-City Neighborhoods and Metropolitan Development:

This article describes the types of economic isolation that are embedded in various theories of neighborhood poverty. The literature suggests that there are a variety of reasons why inner-city areas are economically isolated. However, inadequate guidance is provided regarding whether poor neighborhoods will benefit from regional prosperity. Census data were examined to determine whether there is an association between changes in metropolitan economic welfare and changes in family income in poor census tracts. No association between the welfare indicators was found, supporting the economic-isolation hypothesis. The analysis of policies designed to strengthen ties between poor neighborhoods and metropolitan areas leads to the suggestion that connections be strengthened by supplementing the creation of economic linkages with broad-based social integration.
Free Products and HNN Extensions

In this chapter we will study the definitions, properties, and applications of the products of groups which are basic to doing combinatorial group theory. We begin with a study of free products.
e-CODEX and the Italian Piloting Experience

In the last 25 years, the introduction of ICT has been one of the main innovation drives and one of the main challenges of Justice systems all around the world. The idea is that, when properly linked to the automation and redesign of court procedures and practices, and when properly used to support the communication between courts and parties, ICT can be used to enhance efficiency, access, timeliness, transparency and accountability, thus helping the judiciaries to provide adequate services. In many countries, statutory reforms have been introduced to allow the use and the exchange of electronic data and documents within national judicial systems and ICT infrastructures, applications and services have been introduced. The e-CODEX project can be conceived as the next step, created to interconnect and make interoperable the e-justice systems developed so far within Europe and to allow the cross-border provision of e-Justice services. This paper provides a general overview of e-CODEX project, of the infrastructure it developed and presents the Italian e-CODEX Piloting Experience.
Residual Stresses in Laser Micro-Joints of Dissimilar Materials

Detailed analyses of thermal residual stress profiles due to laser micro-joining of several dissimilar material combinations, titanium (Ti) and polyimide (PI) [1], titanium coated glass (Gl) and polyimide [2], and glass and silicon (Si), are vital for the long-term applications of bio-implants and opto-electronics. In these studies, comprehensive three dimensional (3D) transient simulations for thermal and thermal stress analyses of transmission laser micro-joining of dissimilar materials have been performed by using the finite element (FE) code ABAQUS, along with moving Gaussian or super Gaussian laser heat source. The laser beam moving at a certain velocity, passes through the transparent material (e.g. PI or Gl), gets absorbed by the absorbing material (e.g. Ti or Si), and eventually softens/melts the interfacial materials to form the bond. Computational results have been compared with experiments in terms of temperatures and bond widths, and good comparisons have been observed in all combinations. Then the computational model has been used to optimize the process parameters and after this residual stress profiles of the laser-micro-joints have been calculated using the temperature profiles obtained from the thermal analyses as the systems cool down to room temperature. According to the various stress profiles, none of the stresses cross the tensile or the compressive strengths in cases of all the dissimilar material combinations at room temperature. A critical discussion has been included comparing the thermal residual stresses generated in the three combinations of dissimilar materials being used in these studies. A conclusion has been made on the formation processes of these stresses in laser micro-joining processes of dissimilar materials. This report will help to estimate the expected residual stresses in the laser micro-joining processes of dissimilar materials and will shed insight on how to select a better dissimilar material combination for a laser precision joining process.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Pressure-based Coupled Numerical Approach to the Problem of Compressible Flow through Convergent Conical Nozzles

The problem of high-speed compressible flow through convergent conical nozzles is studied computationally using the general purpose CFD code ANSYS Fluent. A pressurebased coupled solver formulation with weighted second-order central-upwind spatial discretizations is applied to calculate the numerical solutions. 15, 25 and 40 deg axisymmetric conical nozzles, and a reference nozzle with a circular arc cross section are considered. In addition, a 3D configuration of the 25 deg nozzle with a thin splitter plate sandwiched between the two halves of the axisymmetric nozzle is included to investigate the effect of the splitter on the shock location. A hierarchy of axisymmetric hybrid computational meshes is constructed to evaluate grid independence. A solution-based adaptive mesh refinement is applied to increase resolution across the shocks, and to provide an additional case matrix for a grid independence study at supersonic conditions. Effects of turbulence modeling are evaluated by comparing SST   k and Renormalization Group (RNG) k-. Numerical predictions of discharge and thrust coefficients, Mach numbers inside and at the nozzle exit, and shock locations are compared with the experimental data and excellent agreements are presented. A transient simulation using the Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) turbulence model is carried out to investigate the effect of vortex shedding off the splitter trailing edge, and an estimate of shedding frequency is provided.
AB0538 Rate, Risk Factors and Causes of Mortality in Patients with SjÖGren's Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

Background There is conflicting evidence regarding prognosis in patients with primary Sjogren9s syndrome (pSS). Objectives We estimated rate, risk factors and causes of mortality in patients with pSS through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods Through a systematic review of multiple databases through October 2014, we identified cohort studies reporting relative risk (compared to standardized population), risk factors and causes of mortality in patients with pSS. We estimated summary risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), using random effects model. Results We identified 10 studies with 7,888 patients (91% females) with pSS, of whom 682 patients died over a median average follow-up of 9 years. Pooled standardized mortality ratio in patients with pSS was 1.38 (95% CI, 0.94-2.01). Leading causes of mortality were cardiovascular diseases, solid-organ and lymphoid malignancies and infections. Risk factors associated with mortality were: advanced age at diagnosis (RR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.07-1.12), males (RR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.45-3.27), parotid enlargement (RR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.02-3.21), abnormal parotid scintigraphy (RR, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.36-6.45), extraglandular involvement (RR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.06-2.95), vasculitis (RR, 7.27; 95% CI, 2.70-19.57), anti-SSB positivity (RR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.03-2.04), low C3 (RR, 2.14; 95% CI, 1.38-3.32) and C4 (RR, 3.08; 95% CI, 2.14-4.42) and cryoglobulinemia (RR, 2.62; 95% CI, 1.77-3.90). Conclusions pSS is not associated with an increase in all-cause mortality, as compared to the general population. However, a subset of patients with extraglandular involvement, vasculitis, hypocomplementemia and cryoglobulinemia may be at increased risk of mortality, and require close follow-up. Disclosure of Interest None declared
Locus of Control and Ideational Fluency in Preschool Children

The correlation of locus of control and ideational fluency was examined for 15 preschool children whose mean age was 51.9 mo. Original responses on a battery of ideational fluency tasks correlated .55 with locus of control scores.
Characterization of intracellular polygalacturonic acidtrans-eliminase fromKlebsiella oxytoca, Yersinia enterocolitica, andErwinia chrysanthemi

Intracellular polygalacturonic acidtrans-eliminase (PATE) was purified and characterized fromKlebsiella oxytoca andYersinia enterocolitica, enterobacteria unable to macerate plant tissue. The well-studied PATE from a strain ofErwinia chrysanthemi, a phytopathogen able to macerate plant tissue and cause soft-rot disease, was included for comparison. PATE from all strains displayed endo-splitting activity with pH optima between pH 8.5 and 9.0E. chrysanthemi had three isozymes (pls at pH 9.4, 9.0, and 7.8),K. oxytoca had two isozymes (pIs at pH 5.9 and 5.3), andY. enterocolitica had one isozyme (pI at pH 5.8). Molecular weights for theKlebsiella andYersinia PATEs were 71,000 and 55,000, respectively, compared with 33,000 for theErwinia PATE. Unlike theErwinia enzyme, theKlebsiella andYersinia PATEs did not require divalent cations for activity and could not macerate plant tissue without addition of pectinmethylesterase. The polygalacturonic acid-degrading enzymes found inK. oxytoca andY. enterocolitica appear to represent a separate type of PATE enzyme. It is unlikely that these organisms are phytopathogens; however, their ability to degrade polygalacturonic acid is probably advantageous to their survival in environments containing decomposing plant residues.
Physiologic Reelin does not play a strong role in protection against acute stroke

Stroke and Alzheimer's disease, two diseases that disproportionately affect the aging population, share a subset of pathological findings and risk factors. The primary genetic risk factor after age for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, ApoE4, has also been shown to increase stroke risk and the incidence of post-stroke dementia. One mechanism by which ApoE4 contributes to disease is by inducing in neurons a resistance to Reelin, a neuromodulator that enhances synaptic function. Previous studies in Reelin knockout mice suggest a role for Reelin in protection against stroke; however, these studies were limited by the developmental requirement for Reelin in neuronal migration. To address the question of the effect of Reelin loss on stroke susceptibility in an architecturally normal brain, we utilized a novel mouse with induced genetic reduction of Reelin. We found that after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, mice with complete adult loss of Reelin exhibited a similar level of functional deficit and extent of infarct as control mice. Together, these results suggest that physiological Reelin does not play a strong role in protection against stroke pathology.
Can a model predictive of vitamin D status be developed from common laboratory tests and demographic parameters

OBJECTIVES Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent and has been linked to increased morbidity and mortality. There has been an increase in testing for vitamin D with a concomitant increase in costs. While individual factors are significantly linked to vitamin D status, prior studies have not yielded a model predictive of vitamin D status or 25(OH)D levels. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a prediction model of vitamin D could be developed using extensive demographic data and laboratory parameters. METHODS Patient data from 6 Veterans Administration Medical Centers were extracted from medical charts. RESULTS For the 14,920 available patients, several factors including triglyceride level, race, total cholesterol, body mass index, calcium level, and number of missed appointments were significantly linked to vitamin D status. However, these variables accounted for less than 15% of the variance in vitamin D levels. While the variables correctly classified vitamin D deficiency status for 71% of patients, only 33% of those who were actually deficient were correctly identified as deficient. CONCLUSION Given the failure to find a sufficiently predictive model for vitamin D deficiency, we propose that there is no substitute for laboratory testing of 25(OH)D levels. A baseline vitamin D 3 daily replacement of 1000-2000 IU initially with further modification based on biannual testing appears to factor in the wide variation in dose response observed with vitamin D replacement and is especially important in high-risk groups such as ethnic minorities.
Clinical significance of prominent retraction clefts in invasive urothelial carcinoma.

Micropapillary morphology in invasive urothelial carcinoma is an established predictor of aggressive disease. It is unknown, however, if prominent retraction is associated with more aggressive disease in the absence of classic micropapillary morphology. We reviewed a retrospective series of 309 radical cystectomy specimens with clinical follow-up data and documented the presence or absence of invasive urothelial carcinoma with prominent retraction clefts, defined as invasive carcinoma with retraction involving the majority of invasive tumor nests in at least one 100× field but without classic micropapillary morphology. Invasive carcinomas with plasmacytoid, sarcomatoid, nested, and small cell morphology were excluded, as were cases without lymph node sampling. In invasive conventional urothelial carcinoma, the presence of prominent retraction clefts was associated lymph node metastasis (odds ratio 4.7, P = .0015, Fisher exact test) but not pathologic tumor stage or several other oncologic parameters (all Ps > .10). Similarly, invasive urothelial carcinoma with micropapillary morphology had lymph node metastasis more frequently than conventional urothelial carcinoma without prominent retraction clefts (P .10). There was no statistically significant difference in rates of lymph node metastasis between invasive urothelial carcinoma with micropapillary morphology and conventional urothelial carcinoma with prominent retraction clefts (P = .54, Fisher exact test). The findings suggest that prominent retraction in invasive urothelial carcinoma may be associated with more aggressive disease, even in the absence of classic micropapillary morphology.
The interpersonal domain of alexithymia

Abstract Alexithymia refers to the difficulty identifying and describing emotions as well as an externally-oriented cognitive style. The interpersonal theory of clinical, social, and personality psychology is a well-articulated conceptual framework from which to examine this construct. In three separate samples from two geographic regions in the United States, university students completed self-report measures of interpersonal style, interpersonal goals, attachment, and interpersonal outcomes. The three components of alexithymia (i.e., difficulty identifying emotions; difficulty describing emotions; externally-oriented thinking) were associated with a hostile interpersonal style and hostile interpersonal goals. Attachment insecurity to romantic partners and to a higher power (e.g., God) was a consistent finding for those participants reporting difficulty identifying and difficulty describing their emotional experiences. Overall, these components were also associated with deleterious interpersonal outcomes, but the externally-oriented thinking component demonstrated inconsistent and weaker associations. It is argued that interpersonal theory can play an important role as an integrative framework for understanding the construct of alexithymia.
John Bull’s Other Vineyard: Selling Australian Wine in Nineteenth-Century Britain

ABSTRACTNineteenth-century Australian wine makers saw Britain as the natural market for their wines and envisioned themselves as participants in a greater imperial economy, so Australian wine should be considered in discussions of imperial commodities and the reception of popular imperialism in advertising. The Australians’ concentrated efforts to sell their wines to British consumers were stymied, though, by high tariffs and negative impressions of the quality of Australian wines, and Australia would remain a marginal player in the British wine market until the second half of the twentieth century. This article uses four case studies to argue that Australian wines were promoted in Britain in the nineteenth century and that the marketing strategies hinged on associating Australian wines with imperial unity and the civilisation of Australian settler society.
Electronic π‐to‐π* Excitations of Rhodamine Dyes Exhibit a Time‐Dependent Kohn–Sham Theory “Cyanine Problem”

The longest-wavelength π-to-π* electronic excitations of rhodamine-like dyes (RDs) with different group 16 heteroatoms (O, S, Se, Te) have been investigated. Time-dependent Kohn–Sham theory (TDKST) calculations were compared with coupled-cluster (CC) and equations-of-motion (EOM) CC results for π-to-π* singlet and triplet excitations. The RDs exhibit characteristics in the TDKST calculations that are very similar to previously investigated cyanine dyes, in the sense that the singlet energies obtained with nonhybrid functionals are too high compared with the CC results at the SD(T) level. The errors became increasingly larger for functionals with increasing amounts of exact exchange. TDKST with all tested functionals led to severe underestimations of the corresponding triplet excitations and overestimations of the singlet–triplet gaps. Long-range-corrected range-separated exchange and “optimal tuning” of the range separation parameter did not significantly improve the TDKST results. A detailed analysis suggests that the problem is differential electron correlation between the ground and excited states, which is not treated sufficiently by the relatively small integrals over the exchange-correlation response kernel that enter the excitation energy expression. Numerical criteria are suggested that may help identify “cyanine-like” problems in TDKST calculations of excitation spectra.
Capillary fluctuations of surface steps: An atomistic simulation study for the model Cu(111) system.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to investigate the capillary fluctuations of steps on the surface of a model metal system. The fluctuation spectrum, characterized by the wave number ($k$) dependence of the mean squared capillary-wave amplitudes and associated relaxation times, is calculated for $\ensuremath{\langle}110\ensuremath{\rangle}$ and $\ensuremath{\langle}112\ensuremath{\rangle}$ steps on the ${111}$ surface of elemental copper near the melting temperature of the classical potential model considered. Step stiffnesses are derived from the MD results, yielding values from the largest system sizes of $(37\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\text{meV}/\stackrel{\ifmmode \mathring{}\else \r{}\fi{}}{\mathrm{A}}$ for the different line orientations, implying that the stiffness is isotropic within the statistical precision of the calculations. The fluctuation lifetimes are found to vary by approximately four orders of magnitude over the range of wave numbers investigated, displaying a $k$ dependence consistent with kinetics governed by step-edge mediated diffusion. The values for step stiffness derived from these simulations are compared to step free energies for the same system and temperature obtained in a recent MD-based thermodynamic-integration (TI) study [Freitas, Frolov, and Asta, Phys. Rev. B 95, 155444 (2017)]. Results from the capillary-fluctuation analysis and TI calculations yield statistically significant differences that are discussed within the framework of statistical-mechanical theories for configurational contributions to step free energies.
Diastereoselective and Enantiospecific Synthesis of 1,3-Diamines via 2-Azaallyl Anion Benzylic Ring-Opening of Aziridines

The 1,3-diamine motif appears in numerous complex molecules, yet there are few methods for the stereoselective construction of this moiety. Herein, we demonstrate a stereocontrolled synthesis of 1,3-diamines, which bear up to three contiguous stereogenic centers, through benzylic ring-opening of aziridines with 2-azaallyl anion nucleophiles. Reactions proceed efficiently (yield up to 95%), diastereoselectively (dr up to >20:1), site selectively, and enantiospecifically to deliver products with differentiated amino groups.
Minimally Invasive Versus Transcatheter and Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement: A Propensity Matched Study.

BACKGROUND An increasing number of options exist for the treatment of severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. The study aim was to compare short-term outcomes in patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), minimally invasive aortic valve replacement (MIAVR), and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). METHODS A multi-institutional retrospective review of 2,571 patients undergoing SAVR (n = 842), MIAVR via right anterior thoracotomy (n = 699) and TAVR (n = 1,030) between 2011 and 2014 was conducted. TAVR patients were further stratified as either transfemoral (TF) or transapical (TA). Propensity matching was performed between MIAVR and SAVR (384 pairs), MIAVR and TA-TAVR (115 pairs), and MIAVR and TF-TAVR (247 pairs). RESULTS Total numbers of AVR increased between 2011 and 2014. When stratified by procedure type, MIAVR and TF-TAVR accounted for most of the growth, while TA-TAVR and SAVR each experienced a decreased volume. Propensity matched comparisons of SAVR, TF-TAVR, and TA-TAVR versus MIAVR revealed no difference in 30-day mortality. TF-TAVR versus MIAVR revealed that MIAVR had a decreased rate of stroke (0.4% versus 3.6%, p = 0.02) and increased atrial fibrillation (AF; 19.4% versus 4%, p <0.01). When compared to SAVR, MIAVR had a lower incidence of AF (19% versus 32.6%, p <0.01). MIAVR exhibited decreased ventilation time (27.2 versus 134 h, p = 0.03) and intensive care unit time (63.7 versus 92.7 h, p = 0.02) compared to TA-TAVR. CONCLUSIONS During recent years, MIAVR and TFTAVR have experienced significant growth in volume with near-comparable short-term outcomes, while SAVR and TA-TAVR volumes have declined. These results underscore the importance of surgeons adopting MIAVR and TF-TAVR techniques in order to offer patients optimal outcomes.
A user-centric feedback device for powered wheelchairs comprising a wearable skin stretch device and a haptic joystick

In the field of human rehabilitation, user satisfaction is a vital criterion in assessing the efficacy of assistive devices. A wheelchair is a popularly researched assistive device with more than 3.5 million users in the US [1]. Through subsequent innovations, the beginnings of the wheelchair have undergone tremendous transformations to result in today's powered-wheelchair. This technological advancement has been bolstered with studies that prove the powered-wheelchair's positive impact on user's mentality and on the social cost savings per user [2].
Modeling Chinese Consumer Responses to a Vignette Television Commercial Drama for a Vacation Resort

This study involved the formulation and testing of a model of Chinese consumers’ cognitive and affective responses to a vignette television commercial drama for a vacation resort area on the South ...
Automatic Segmentation of Data Sequences

Segmenting temporal data sequences is an important problem which helps in understanding data dynamics in multiple applications such as epidemic surveillance, motion capture sequences, etc. In this paper, we give DASSA, the first self-guided and efficient algorithm to automatically find a segmentation that best detects the change of pattern in data sequences. To avoid introducing tuning parameters, we design DASSA to be a multi-level method which examines segments at each level of granularity via a compact data structure called the segment-graph. We build this data structure by carefully leveraging the information bottleneck method with the MDL principle to effectively represent each segment.Next, DASSA efficiently finds the optimal segmentation via a novel average-longest-path optimization on the segment-graph. Finally we show how the outputs from DASSA can be naturally interpreted to reveal meaningful patterns. We ran DASSA on multiple real datasets of varying sizes and it is very effective in finding the time-cut points of the segmentations (in some cases recovering the cut points perfectly) as well as in finding the corresponding changing patterns.
New Materials of the Enigmatic Dicynodont Abajudon kaayai (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Lower Madumabisa Mudstone Formation, Middle Permian of Zambia

ABSTRACTDicynodonts were one of the most diverse and abundant clades of tetrapods from the Lopingian (late Permian) to the Late Triassic. Despite their ecological and biostratigraphic importance, the early evolutionary history of dicynodonts is not well understood. Six skulls belonging to the poorly known dicynodont Abajudon kaayai were recently collected from the Guadalupian (middle Permian) lower Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of Zambia. The skulls exhibit characters of endothiodonts, emydopoids, and basal dicynodonts that are not preserved in the holotype from the Ruhuhu Formation of Tanzania. Here we describe the anatomy of the Zambian specimens and use this information in a revised phylogenetic analysis of Permian and Triassic dicynodonts. Abajudon kaayai is found to be the sister taxon of Endothiodon. Endothiodontia is reconstructed as the sister group of Therochelonia, with Emydopoidea placed at the base of Therochelonia. This phylogenetic arrangement helps to explain the mosaic of endothiodont and ...
Closure under coupling: concept, proofs, DEVS recent examples (wip)

With the growth in new variants of DEVS, the concept of closure under coupling has reached a level of importance where it stands discussion in its own right. As emphasized in (Zeigler et al 2000), closure under coupling justifies hierarchical construction. Here we show that it also provides assurance that the class under consideration is well-defined and enables checking for the correct functioning of feedback coupled models. Absence of closure is also informative as it begs for characterizing the smallest closed class that includes the given class. This illustrated here as we discuss closure under coupling for several recently introduced subclasses of the DEVS formalism.
Sepsis in the Burn Patient

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in burn patients. Interventions are challenging owing to a lack of specific guidelines. All burn types involve a risk for complications. Interventions should include care of the burn, medication administration, continuous monitoring for infection development, infection prevention measures, and (if necessary) treatment of sepsis. Sepsis in burn patients is different from the unburned population. Efforts are needed to develop more accurate diagnostic strategies and guidelines to trigger rapid treatment via specific sepsis bundles.
Early Experience and Development

Up to the present point, the major thrust of the book has been to review available evidence on the relationship of early experience to both cognitive and social development. In addition to its implications for theory, as we noted earlier, this evidence also has potential practical applications for child-rearing and early intervention. It will be the aim of this final chapter to specify some of the implications of basic research in early experience for applied work with children.
Clinically Relevant Anti-Inflammatory Agents for Chemoprevention of Colorectal Cancer: New Perspectives

Substantial efforts are underway for prevention of early stages or recurrence of colorectal cancers (CRC) or new polyp formation by chemoprevention strategies. Several epidemiological, clinical and preclinical studies to date have supported the chemopreventive potentials of several targeted drug classes including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (aspirin, naproxen, sulindac, celecoxib, and licofelone), statins and other natural agents—both individually, and in combinations. Most preclinical trials although were efficacious, only few agents entered clinical trials and have been proven to be potential chemopreventive agents for colon cancer. However, there are limitations for these agents that hinder their approval by the food and drug administration for chemoprevention use in high-risk individuals and in patients with early stages of CRC. In this review, we update the recent advancement in pre-clinical and clinical development of selected anti-inflammatory agents (aspirin, naproxen, sulindac, celecoxib, and licofelone) and their combinations for further development as novel colon cancer chemopreventive drugs. We provide further new perspectives from this old research, and insights into precision medicine strategies to overcome unwanted side-effects and overcoming strategies for colon cancer chemoprevention.
Maintainability Verification for Cost-Effective Execution

Maintainability verification is an essential component of system requirement verification that verifies the human-machine maintenance interface. Within maintainability design, agile acquisition and effective, efficient execution of the maintainability verification process is vital to the program schedule. A majority of verification is performed via test vehicle, or aircraft so, maintainability demonstration has a high impact on cost and schedule due to significant demonstration time on the vehicle and equipment. Consequently, this predicament causes maintainability requirements such as Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) to be verified by analysis of hardware design versus risking valuable flight, ground, or sea test time. Not performing a physical procedure on the test asset can also risk system validation.
CEO Optimism and Competitive Shocks

We examine differences in how overoptimistic and non-overoptimistic CEOs respond and perform when faced with competitive shocks. Using tariff reductions as exogenous shocks to competition and triple difference-in-differences specifications on matched samples, we find that when competition increases, firms with overoptimistic CEOs slash their profit margins and increase research and development and advertising more than non-overoptimistic CEOs do. These firms achieve increased domestic market share and increased value relative to firms led by non-overoptimistic CEOs. Our empirical results support extant theories that predict that CEO overoptimism is beneficial under increased competition.
Factors Driving Patient Perception of Quality Care After Primary Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Introduction:Differences in female and male patient perception of care and satisfaction following primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were assessed via Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, demographic, and clinical data.Methods:A
Channel Estimation for Frequency-Selective mmWave MIMO Systems with Beam-Squint

Acquiring channel informaiton is necessary to design the precoders and combiners in hybrid MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) systems operating at millimeter wave (mmWave). Most of prior work on channel estimation with hybrid MIMO architectures neglects the beam-squint effect that appears when the system bandwidth is very large. To consider beam-squint, it is necessary to assume frequency- dependent array steering vectors, which further complicates the estimation of the mmWave wideband channel. In this paper, we propose al algorithm that approximates the optimal solution to the dictionary-constrained Maximum-Likelihood (ML) estimator for frequency-selective mmWave channels considering frequency-dependent array responses. Further, we develop a suboptimal channel estimation strategy to consider the beam squint effect as well. Simulation results based on channel realizations extracted from Quadriga show the effectiveness of the proposed methods at the low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) regime without assuming the channel sparsity is known.
Obesity and Diabetes

The prevalence of obesity has been increasing globally. Due to the negative health effects, obesity has been recognized as a major public health concern. Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2. The location (i.e., abdominal) and type of excess weight contribute to ill-health; thus methods such as waist circumference and body fat measurements are used in the assessment of obesity. In relation to obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D), genetics, physical activity, and diet are key predictors to the development of these chronic conditions. Fortunately, treatment options for obesity and T2D are similar and can be categorized as lifestyle, pharmacological, or surgical. When medications or surgery is added to lifestyle interventions, there is much greater benefit in terms of weight loss and diabetes control over lifestyle interventions on their own.
A New Regime of Nanoscale Thermal Transport: Collective Diffusion Counteracts Dissipation Inefficiency

We uncover a new regime of nanoscale thermal transport that dominates when the separation between heat sources is small compared with the substrate’s dominant phonon mean free paths. Surprisingly, the interplay between neighboring heat sources can facilitate efficient, diffusive-like heat dissipation.
Where is My LD Pride

The poem, Where is my LD Pride?, is the third of five Learning Disability poems about my Learning Disability shame at my intersections of power and identity in educational contexts as critical autoethnographic texts. Where is my LD Pride? by David Isaac Hernandez-Saca is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://rdsjournal.org. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://www.rds.hawaii.edu/.
Immunoepidemiology of Cancer

For many years, cancer was considered a chronic disease that had little commenality with infectious diseases. It is now clear that infections with viruses and bacteria play important roles in the etiology of many types of cancer. In this chapter, we review findings from epidemiological studies regarding the associations between various immunological factors and risk of two distinct types of cancer (leukemia and glioma). Treatment modalities for cancer were limited to surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy until the 1990s. Although the first types of cancer immunotherapy were approved by the Food and Drug Administration at that time, immunotherapy did not enter the mainstream until the past few years. With breakthroughs in knowledge about how the immune system functions and how to harness its power, we embrace an exciting new era of the development of paradigm-changing immunotherapies.
United We Stand: Platforms, Tools and Innovation With the Unity Game Engine:

The skirmish between game engines Unity and Unreal presents a new front in the platformization of cultural production. This article argues that such programs are “platform tools.” They enable amate...
Physics-Informed Machine Learning with Conditional Karhunen-Lo\`eve Expansions

We present a new physics-informed machine learning approach for the inversion of PDE models with heterogeneous parameters. In our approach, the space-dependent partially-observed parameters and states are approximated via Karhunen-Loeve expansions (KLEs). Each of these KLEs is then conditioned on their corresponding measurements, resulting in low-dimensional models of the parameters and states that resolve observed data. Finally, the coefficients of the KLEs are estimated by minimizing the norm of the residual of the PDE model evaluated at a finite set of points in the computational domain, ensuring that the reconstructed parameters and states are consistent with both the observations and the PDE model to an arbitrary level of accuracy. In our approach, KLEs are constructed using the eigendecomposition of covariance models of spatial variability. For the model parameters, we employ a parameterized covariance model calibrated on parameter observations; for the model states, the covariance is estimated from a number of forward simulations of the PDE model corresponding to realizations of the parameters drawn from their KLE. We apply the proposed approach to identifying heterogeneous log-diffusion coefficients in diffusion equations from spatially sparse measurements of the log-diffusion coefficient and the solution of the diffusion equation. We find that the proposed approach compares favorably against state-of-the-art point estimates such as maximum a posteriori estimation and physics-informed neural networks.
Comprehensive evaluation of mineral adsorbents for phosphate removal in agricultural water

Abstract Phosphorus (P) is one of the essential macronutrients for agricultural production. Accelerated crop production to meet the global food demand has led to the accumulation of P in agriculture soils through over-use of fertilizers. Phosphorus loss to the aquatic environment through surface runoff and subsurface transport is known to contribute to the occurrence of eutrophication and hypoxia. The reduction of dissolved P in agricultural drainage water has been one of the primary goals among agro-environmental communities. In recent years, advancement in material science allowed us to improve the adsorbent technology to remove nutrients in wastewaters. Numerous studies showed adsorbent specific-P adsorption capacity that can be sensitive to changes in physicochemical conditions of wastewaters (e.g., pH, solid/solution ratio, interfering ions, ionic strength, flow rate). This chapter provides a comprehensive review of inorganic adsorbents (e.g., anion exchange resins, calcium and magnesium oxides, hybrid anion exchange resins, layered double hydroxides, metal oxyhydroxides, zerovalent iron, and zirconium and lanthanum oxides) that have been demonstrated to remove dissolved P from synthetic and natural wastewaters. Important criteria (e.g., adsorption capacity, stability, and cost efficiency) for selecting adsorbents for P removal in agricultural waters and the future perspective are discussed.
Pore scale study of gas sorption hysteresis in shale nanopores using lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract Tremendous amount of gas can be adsorbed in shale nanopores as a result of the high surface-to-volume ratio, and capillary condensation might occur in mesopores (2–50 nm) for subcritical gases, leading to sorption hysteresis. However, the sorption (adsorption and desorption) behavior in different pore systems in shale is not very well understood. Herein we use a D3Q19 lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) that incorporates the mesoscopic fluid-fluid and solid-fluid interactions to study sorption hysteresis in nanopores. The model is developed based on our previous work using a D2Q9 LBM, and is calibrated to lattice density functional theory (LDFT). Improved thermodynamic consistency is observed using exact difference method and tunable interparticle forcing scheme. Sorption simulation in an open and semi-closed slit pore shows different extent of hysteresis, which is in good agreement with Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulation (GCMC) results. We then reconstruct two types of nanopore systems that are commonly observed in shale, namely the interparticle and intraparticle pores, and study and compare nitrogen sorption hysteresis. The spatial distribution of the condensed nitrogen is visualized and two distinct types of sorption hysteresis loops based on the classification by International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) are observed, which indicates that the experimentally measured nitrogen sorption curves can be used to distinguish the dominant pore type in shale. The 3D LBM developed in this study can be used to explore a wide variety of thermodynamic processes that happen at nanoscale, and it can also be incorporated with hydrodynamics to study coupled problems of fluid adsorption/transport in shale.
Policy-based branch-and-bound for infinite-horizon Multi-model Markov decision processes

Abstract Markov decision processes (MDPs) are models for sequential decision-making that inform decision making in many fields, including healthcare, manufacturing, and others. However, the optimal policy for an MDP may be sensitive to the reward and transition parameters which are often uncertain because parameters are typically estimated from data or rely on expert opinion. To address parameter uncertainty in MDPs, it has been proposed that multiple models of the parameters be incorporated into the solution process, but solving these problems can be computationally challenging. In this article, we propose a policy-based branch-and-bound approach that leverages the structure of these problems and numerically compare several important algorithmic designs. We demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing methods on test cases from the literature including randomly generated MDPs, a machine maintenance MDP, and an MDP for medical decision making.