cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Geometric data perturbation for privacy preserving outsourced data mining

Data perturbation is a popular technique in privacy-preserving data mining. A major challenge in data perturbation is to balance privacy protection and data utility, which are normally considered as a pair of conflicting factors. We argue that selectively preserving the task/model specific information in perturbation will help achieve better privacy guarantee and better data utility. One type of such information is the multidimensional geometric information, which is implicitly utilized by many data-mining models. To preserve this information in data perturbation, we propose the Geometric Data Perturbation (GDP) method. In this paper, we describe several aspects of the GDP method. First, we show that several types of well-known data-mining models will deliver a comparable level of model quality over the geometrically perturbed data set as over the original data set. Second, we discuss the intuition behind the GDP method and compare it with other multidimensional perturbation methods such as random projection perturbation. Third, we propose a multi-column privacy evaluation framework for evaluating the effectiveness of geometric data perturbation with respect to different level of attacks. Finally, we use this evaluation framework to study a few attacks to geometrically perturbed data sets. Our experimental study also shows that geometric data perturbation can not only provide satisfactory privacy guarantee but also preserve modeling accuracy well.
Distribution limits of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis: a case study in the Rocky Mountains, USA.

Knowledge of the environmental constraints on a pathogen is critical to predict- ing its dynamics and effects on populations. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), an aquatic fungus that has been linked with widespread amphibian declines, is ubiquitous in the Rocky Mountains. As part of assessing the distribution limits of Bd in our study area, we sampled the water column and sediments for Bd zoospores in 30 high-elevation water bodies that lacked amphibians. All water bodies were in areas where Bd has been documented from neighboring, lower-elevation areas. We targeted areas lacking amphibians because existence of Bd independent of amphibians would have both ecologic and management implications. We did not detect Bd, which supports the hypothesis that it does not live independently of amphibians. However, as- suming a detection sensitivity of 59.5% (based on sampling of water where amphibians tested positive for Bd), we only had 95% confidence of detecting Bd if it was in $16% of our sites. Further investigation into potential abiotic reservoirs is needed, but our results provide a strategic step in determining the distributional and environmental limitations of Bd in our study region.
The stability of herpes simplex virus type I genomes in infected Vero cells undergoing viral induced apoptosis

Maintaining the viral genome intact following infection and prior to replication is critical to the virus life cycle. Here we report an analysis of the stability of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) genomes, relative to host chromosomal DNA, in infected cells as a function of viral induced apoptosis. The results show that, in the absence of DNA replication, the input genomes of wild-type (KOS), and replication compromised ICP27 deleted (d27-1) virus are remarkably stable. Intracellular half-lives of their genomes exceeded 24 hours. In contrast, the half-life of replication incompetent ICP4 deleted (d120) viral genomes were significantly less (approximately 8 hours). Interestingly, it was also noted that in cells infected under conditions permissible for replication, viral DNA replication occurs, even in cells undergoing apoptosis. The possibility that the genome structure and replication compartment formation provide protection to the HSV-1 genome from degradation is discussed.
Thermomechanical behavior of micron scale solder joints under dynamic loads

Recent trends in reliability and fatigue life analysis of electronic devices have involved developing structural integrity models for predicting the operating lifetime under vibratory and thermal environmental exposure. Solder joint reliability is the most critical issue for the structural integrity of surface mounted electronics. Extensive research has been done on thermal behavior of solder joints, however, dynamic loading effects to solder joint fatigue life have not been thoroughly investigated. The physics of solder joint failure under vibration is still not very clear. This paper presents a test program which was performed to study inelastic behavior of solder joints of BGA packages. A concurrent loading unit is used which consists of a thermal environmental chamber and an electrodynamic shaker. Laser Moire Interferometry was used to measure the whole deformation field of the prepared specimen surface. The corresponding inelastic strain field is then calculated. It is found that at elevated temperature, vibration and shock can cause the accumulation of inelastic strains and damage in solder joints. In this paper, contrary to the popular belief that all vibration-induced strains are elastic, it is shown that vibration can cause significant inelastic strains.
Genome-Wide Analysis of Protein-DNA Interactions

AbstractThe human genome is predominantly composed of nonprotein-coding sequences whose function remains largely undefined. A significant portion of the noncoding DNA is believed to serve as transcriptional regulatory elements that control gene expression in specific cell types at appropriate developmental stages. Identifying these regulatory sequences and determining the mechanisms by which they act present a great challenge in the postgenomic era. Previous investigations using genetic, molecular, and biochemical approaches have uncovered a large number of proteins involved in regulating transcription. Knowledge of the genomic locations of DNA binding for these proteins in the nucleus should define the identity and nature of the transcriptional regulatory sequences and reveal the gene regulatory networks in cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a common method for detecting interactions between a protein and a DNA sequence in vivo. In recent years, this method has been combined with DNA microarr...
Investments in Tax Planning, Tax Avoidance and the New Economy Business Model

Research in economics, finance, and management describes a new type of firm and a new way of doing business — the "new economy business model" — that has been reshaping the U.S. economy since at least the mid 1980’s. We extend this research and develop a composite measure of this model, validate it using predictions established in prior research, and investigate the use of the new economy business model among firms of various maturities and industries. We then use our measure to examine the relation between the new economy business model, tax avoidance and investments in tax planning. We provide evidence that use of the new economy business model is increasing over time and is associated with lower corporate tax rates. The results also suggest that new economy business model firms invest in significantly less tax planning and that features of new economy business model firms potentially allow them to achieve greater tax savings with relatively lower investments in tax planning. We conclude that use of the new economy business model allows firms to exploit their operational flexibility (domestically and internationally) to align with available tax incentives such that they are able to achieve relatively greater tax savings in spite of lower investments in tax planning.
Dissociation in people who have near-death experiences: out of their bodies or out of their minds?

Summary Background Some people who come close to death report having experiences in which they transcend the boundaries of the ego and the confines of time and space. Such neardeath experiences (NDEs) share some features with the phenomenon of dissociation, in which a person's self identity becomes detached from bodily sensation. This study explored the frequency of dissociative symptoms in people who had come close to death. Methods 96 individuals who had had self-reported NDEs, and 38 individuals who had come close to death but who had not had NDEs completed a mailed questionnaire that included a measure of "depth" of near-death experience (the NDE scale) and a measure of dissociative symptoms (the Dissociative Experiences Scale). Median scores in the two groups were compared with Mann-Whitney U tests. The association between depth of NDE and dissociative symptoms was tested by Spearman's rank-order correlation between scores on the NDE scale and the dissociative experiences scale. Findings People who reported NDEs also reported significantly more dissociative symptoms than did the comparison group. Among those who reported NDEs, the depth of the experience was positively correlated with dissociative symptoms, although the level of symptoms was substantially lower than that of patients with pathological dissociative disorders. Interpretation The pattern of dissociative symptoms reported by people who have had NDEs is consistent with a non-pathological dissociative response to stress, and not with a psychiatric disorder. A greater understanding of the mechanism of dissociation may shed further light on near-death and other mystical or transcendental experiences.
The clymeniid dilemma: functional implications of the dorsal siphuncle in clymeniid ammonoids

Clymeniid ammonoids appeared during the Late Devonian (Mid-Famennian) and quickly radiated before becoming extinct at the Devonian/Carboniferous boundary. Outwardly indistinguishable from other ammonoids, clymeniids are distinguished internally by their dorsal siphuncle, contrasted to a ventral siphuncle in almost all other ammonoids. Comparisons of a sample of Clymeniida (n = 22 genera), Goniatitida (n = 33), Prolecanitida (n = 12), and Anarcestida (n = 13) indicate that clymeniids fall within the range of other ammonoids in terms of shell geometry and suture complexity, but their siphuncles average two to three times larger and clymeniid shells are approximately 33% thicker than those of other ammonoids. Although a dorsal siphuncle would be about 50% smaller in surface area and volume than if located in a ventral position, the enlarged clymeniid siphuncle partially and, in some cases, fully compensated for this loss. Hydrostatic simulations of 15 clymeniid genera indicate that their thicker (therefore heavier) shells would have resulted in relatively short body chambers (≈280°) and high aperture orientations (≈90°). In static life-position, these orientations would have placed the dorsal clymeniid siphuncle at or near the bottom of the most recently formed chambers, seemingly an ideal location for draining liquid from the chamber. Migration of the siphuncle to the dorsal side of the shell occurs suddenly during early ontogeny (within the first two or three chambers), and mutation of homeotic gene expression is offered as a possible explanation for the sudden shift. A dorsal siphuncle may have resulted in selection for enlarged siphuncles, but this may have incurred loss of strength against hydrostatic pressure (thereby reducing depth limits) and thus rendered the clade more susceptible to the multiple eustatic and anoxic events that marked the end of the Devonian.
Long-Term Clinical and Holistic Outcomes in Children with Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A Multidisciplinary, Mixed-Methods Approach

Long-Term Clinical and Holistic Outcomes in Children with Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A Multidisciplinary, MixedMethods Approach Alexander C Allori, MD, MPH, Irene J Pien, Danielle L Sobol, Anna R Carlson, MD, Stephanie Watkins, MD, MSPH, Arthur S Aylsworth, MD, Robert E Meyer, PhD, Luiz Pimenta, DDS, PhD, Ronald Strauss, DMD, PhD, Jeffrey R Marcus, MD, FACS Duke University, Durham, NC, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, NC
Temporal processes in research, green building and material reuse

Design to reuse materials has been difficult to systematize in the built environment. Incorporating reclaimed materials pushes the boundaries of the processes of standard materials selection, sourcing, and use. This paper will examine the melding together of a process of building deconstruction and an intensive group design process, to create a way for materials reuse to become more universal while not losing the trans-mutational qualities of reclaimed materials as they evolve from one building to the next. These tandem processes allow designers and builders to develop an attitude toward salvaged material that leads to an integrative method to guide the design, and conversely, the design to guide the reclamation process. The practice of design / build is a strategy to link sustainable design methodologies to the harvest of discarded materials and buildings. Design and building are often a process of reconciliation between process, material and vision. Quantifiable processes are a mode of operation that can be overtly included in the visioning for such projects. In the deconstruction of a 150-year old barn addition and the building of a mobile shade structure at Yestermorrow Design / Build School in Warren, VT in the summer of 2010; the students and instructors engaged in a tandem process of deconstruction and design / build. The project led to a method in which assessable results and methods were considered in depth and were laid out within a larger structure for conveying the temporal possibilities for salvaging and designing with reused materials. It was the confluence of that practice and the group design / build procedure in a compressed amount of time that led to a materials transformation and use schema that hints at more universal possibilities in the future.
Accompanying mild hypothermia significantly improved the prognosis of septic mice than artificial mild hypothermia.

Abstract Background Some patients with sepsis are found with accompanying mild hypothermia (ACMH); however, the effects of ACMH on the patients with sepsis are poorly understood. Objective To compare the impacts of ACMH and artificial mild hypothermia (ATMH) on mortality, systemic inflammatory reactions, and organ functions in mice with sepsis. Methods Septic mouse models were induced and divided into ACMH, un-hypothermia, keep normothermia, and ATMH groups, according to the anal temperature and the thermic intervention strategy. The mortality rate, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interferon γ (IFN-γ), and interleukin (IL)-4 and liver and renal functions of the mice in each group were recorded. Liver, lung, and renal tissues of the mice were stained and examined under optic microscope. Results The mortality rate in the ACMH group was the lowest among all the sepsis groups. Increased serum levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-4 and impairments of the liver and renal functions were found in the septic mice. The serum levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-4 were significantly lower and the liver and renal functions of ACMH group were not impaired significantly as compared with other sepsis groups. Pathological examinations of the lung, liver, and renal tissues showed that the ACMH group were with the lowest pathological score among all the sepsis groups. Conclusion Accompanying mild hypothermia and ATMH could both reduce mortalities in mice with sepsis, and ACMH could reduce mortality even lower, and more alleviate systemic inflammatory responses and the damages in lung, kidney, and other organs were lighter.
The Revision of Taiwan's Company Law: The Struggle Toward a Shareholder-Oriented Model in One Corner of East Asia

Proponents of the theory of global convergence of corporate governance argue that corporate governance regimes around the world are converging toward one systemthe dispersed-ownership/capital market model with a corporate governance system emphasizing the interests of shareholders. This article suggests that actual global convergence may be an unachievable myth, but the process toward greater protection of shareholder interests and a more efficient dispersed-ownership system in a particular jurisdiction should be an observable phenomenon. This article proposes that if Taiwan were in transition toward a shareholder-oriented and/or dispersed-ownership model, we would expect it to be reflected in the recent revisions to Taiwan's Company Law. This article argues that the recent revisions indeed show that Taiwan is addressing controlling shareholder expropriation, which is essential to protecting shareholder interests in a concentrated-ownership system like Taiwan. In addition, the increased importance that the revisions place on the role and accountability of the professional manager indicate that dispersion of ownership is already factoring into the corporate governance of the Taiwanese firm. Whether Taiwan continues down this path of shareholder protection and dispersed ownership remains to be seen.
A rock-physics investigation of unconsolidated saline permafrost: P-wave properties from laboratory ultrasonic measurements

ABSTRACTSaline permafrost is sensitive to thermal disturbances and is prone to subsidence, which renders it a major source of geohazard in Arctic coastal environments. Seismic methods could be used to map and monitor saline permafrost at scales of geotechnical interests because of the ice-content dependencies of seismic properties. We have developed a comprehensive study of the ultrasonic P-wave properties (i.e., velocity and attenuation) of synthetic saline permafrost samples for a range of salinities and temperatures, and measurements conducted on a fine-grained permafrost core obtained from Barrow, Alaska. The resulting data consist of P-wave properties presented as functions of temperature and salinity. Notable observations include the following: P-wave velocities showed marked reductions in the presence of dissolved salts and complex variations resulting from the water-to-ice phase transitions; strong P-wave attenuation was present in the temperature intervals in which the samples were partially froz...
Endothelial Nitric Oxide Mediates Caffeine Antagonism of Alcohol-Induced Cerebral Artery Constriction

Despite preventive education, the combined consumption of alcohol and caffeine (particularly from "energy drinks") continues to rise. Physiologic perturbations by separate intake of ethanol and caffeine have been widely documented. However, the biologic actions of the alcohol-caffeine combination and their underlying subcellular mechanisms have been scarcely studied. Using intravital microscopy on a closed-cranial window and isolated, pressurized vessels, we investigated the in vivo and in vitro action of ethanol-caffeine mixtures on cerebral arteries from rats and mice, widely recognized models to address cerebrovascular pathophysiology and pharmacology. Caffeine at concentrations found in human circulation after ingestion of one to two cups of coffee (10 µM) antagonized the endothelium-independent constriction of cerebral arteries evoked by ethanol concentrations found in blood during moderate-heavy alcohol intoxication (40-70 mM). Caffeine antagonism against alcohol was similar whether evaluated in vivo or in vitro, suggesting independence of systemic factors and drug metabolism, but required a functional endothelium. Moreover, caffeine protection against alcohol increased nitric oxide (NO•) levels over those found in the presence of ethanol alone, disappeared upon blocking NO• synthase, and could not be detected in pressurized cerebral arteries from endothelial nitric-oxide synthase knockout (eNOS(-/-)) mice. Finally, incubation of de-endothelialized cerebral arteries with the NO• donor sodium nitroprusside (10 µM) fully restored the protective effect of caffeine. This study demonstrates for the first time that caffeine antagonizes ethanol-induced cerebral artery constriction and identifies endothelial NO• as the critical caffeine effector on smooth muscle targets. Conceivably, situations that perturb endothelial function and/or NO• availability will critically alter caffeine antagonism of alcohol-induced cerebrovascular constriction without significantly disrupting endothelium-independent, alcohol-induced cerebral artery constriction itself.
Treatment of Anxiety, Depression, and Alcohol Disorders in the Elderly: Social Work Collaboration in Primary Care

Anxiety and depressive disorders and symptoms are quite prevalent in older adults as are alcohol problems. Older adults tend to minimize psychological problems and consider psychological symptoms to be related to physical illness. Engagement of the older adult in mental health/substance abuse treatment has been found to be more successful if it occurs in collaboration with primary care treatment. Collaboration between social workers and physicians appears to be an obvious solution to meeting the needs of elderly persons with mental health and/or substance abuse problems who present for medical concerns in their physician's office.
A new class of equivalence principle test masses, with application to SR-POEM

We describe a new class of test masses (TMs) for use in a Galilean test of the equivalence principle, principally in space. These TMs have vertical bars that are joined by an off-center connector. A pair of TMs will be positioned to have interleaved bars. For , the principal moments of inertia of a TM can be made equal. With their centers of mass aligned, a TM pair shows decreasing susceptibility to differential acceleration from local mass as n increases. For the Sounding Rocket based Principle Of Equivalence Measurement (SR-POEM), the mission requirements are well met with , but not met with . For a 1 kg SR-POEM TM, vibration frequencies can be made to be above 1 kHz and thus not interfere with the operation of the TM suspension system. The SR-POEM housing supports electrodes for a set of capacitance gauges that observes all six kinematic degrees of freedom of each TM.
STUDIES ON ETHIONINE. VII. FATTY ACID SYNTHESIS IN LIVERS OF ETHIONINE-TREATED RATS.

SummaryThe effect of administration of ethionine upon fatty acid synthesis in a system from the livers of female and male rats has been investigated. Three hours after administration of ethionine, fatty acid synthesis in the livers of both sexes was reduced to about 50% of the control. At 5 hours, male rats recovered from the initial inhibition to 77% of the control, whereas the synthesis in females was further reduced to 24% It was found that the ethionine effect was not merely due to a deficiency in the supply, or in availability of ATP, NADPH, or CoA. Nor was the impairment due to an accumulation of ethionine itself or S-adenosylethio-nine. The possibility is considered that the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis at 5 hours in the liver of female rats may result from the inhibition of the synthesis of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, which is found in the supernatant fraction, in addition to a partial impairment of microsomal function. The cause of the inhibition observed at 3 hours for both sexes remains to be...
Gastric Mucin a Prophylactic Against Gastro-Duodenal Ulcers and “Acute” Toxicity Resulting from Cincophen:

It has been shown by Van Wagoner and Churchill1 and Barbour and Fisk2 that relatively large doses of cincophen administered daily by stomach tube will cause gastro-duodenal ulcer and liver damage. The occurrence of ulcer after cincophen administration has recently been reported to occur in man.3 It has also been found that gastric mucin is prophylactic against the gastro-duodenal ulcer and disturbance of nutrition that results in some biliary fistula dogs4 and is of benefit in the nutritional disturbance that occurs in some Eck fistula (liver damage) dogs.5 Accordingly, we decided to ascertain if gastric mucin might prevent the occurrence of “peptic” ulcer in and prolong the life of dogs receiving large doses of cincophen.Twenty-eight healthy dogs were used. Fifteen served as controls in that they received only cincophen, and 13 received both cincophen and mucin. The cincophen was made up in a starch paste solution (20 gm. of cincophen, 40 gm. starch and 2000 cc. H2O), and administered by stomach tube to ...
Hostility Is Associated With Increased Platelet Activation in Coronary Heart Disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Potential for Hostility is related to platelet activation (PA) among patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and healthy controls. Increased PA has been associated with adverse secondary events after myocardial infarction or coronary angioplasty. METHODS: We tested 32 CHD patients and 23 healthy men and women, aged 45 to 73 years, for PA by using whole blood flow cytometry. PA was measured in blood exiting a bleeding time wound (wound-induced platelet activation) and also in venous blood stimulated in vitro with collagen. Monoclonal antibodies were used to test for fibrinogen receptor activation and fibrinogen receptor binding. All subjects refrained from taking aspirin for at least 14 days before testing; CHD patients stopped nitrates and calcium channel blockers for 24 hours, while continuing to take lipid-lowering medications. Potential for Hostility was assessed, using the Type A Structured Interview. RESULTS: Among the CHD patients only, all four of the wound-induced fibrinogen receptor activation indicators (activation and binding) were related to hostility; the relationships were significant for receptor activation at 2 minutes, and for receptor binding at 1 minute (r values = .46, p values = .02). Subjects on lipid-lowering medications had lower PA for most measures. Healthy subjects had higher wound-induced fibrinogen receptor activation at 2 minutes and fibrinogen receptor activation in vitro than the CHD patients (p = .04), but after statistical adjustment for lipid-lowering medications, there were no significant differences between the patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: PA was related to hostility among CHD patients, consistent with previous studies indicating a relationship between PA and psychological factors among CHD patients. However, PA was not increased in nonsmoking, nondepressed CHD patients relative to controls.
THE PATIENT WITH HYPERPARATHYROIDISM.

Hyperparathyroidism, may be difficult to diagnose. Demonstration of hypercalcemia is the most reliable evidence of its presence. Special preoperative measures are usually unnecessary in most patients. For those with marked hypercalcemia without severe renal insufficiency, a calcium-free diet, 4 to 6 L. water daily, and a high phosphorus intake are indicated.Hemodialysis and ultrafiltration technics against a calcium-free dialysate bath, plus phosphorus supplementation, may permit the performance of safer surgical procedures in patients with severe hypercalcemia and renal insufficiency.The major postoperative clinical problems lie in differential diagnosis of the tetanic syndromes.
Spinal Stabilization in Acute Spinal Injuries

Stabilization of acute spinal injuries is important in prevention of further neurologic compromise, prevention of late spinal deformity with associated risk of neurologic compromise, prevention of painful pseudarthrosis, and in maximizing rehabilitation.
Dorsal and Ventral Streams in the Sense of Touch

Higher-order somatosensory areas of the cerebral cortex have been divided anatomically and functionally into two distinct pathways: a ventral stream for object recognition by touch and a dorsal stream for monitoring actions of the hand and arm. This chapter reviews the anatomy and physiology of the dorsal stream for touch mediated through the posterior parietal cortex (PPC). Neurons in PPC integrate information from the somatic senses of touch and proprioception as well as from the visual system to initiate goal-directed actions of the hand and arm. They use the multisensory information to plan and monitor reach and grasp behaviors as humans and nonhuman primates interact with objects in the workspace. Reaching and grasping behaviors are mediated by distinct neural networks in medial and lateral zones of PPC that project to dorsal and ventral premotor cortices, but these behaviors are temporally coordinated by anatomical connections between the two zones. The timing of neural responses in PPC suggests that it receives convergent central and peripheral signals, allowing it to integrate and plan intended movements in a variety of coordinate systems and monitor their success or failure. Anatomical connections between the hand representations in PPC of the left and right hemispheres enable bilateral coordination of the two hands. Finally, active touch paradigms designed to acquire information needed for tactile discrimination use PPC circuits to direct the hand toward salient features of objects. The findings obtained from neurophysiological single unit studies, and functional imaging of the human brain, are consistent with the sensory and motor deficits seen in patients with damage to PPC.
Effects of Defects on Hydrogen Diffusion in NbC

Abstract Exceptional mechanical and physical properties of transition metal carbides and nitrides make them good coating-material candidates for extreme corrosive environments such as oil and natural gas wells. However, existence of small pores, pinholes and columnar structures of these ceramics significantly affect their resistance to corrosion, as pore sites would accelerate the diffusion of corrosive media into the substrate. In this research, molecular dynamics atomistic simulations are employed to investigate the effects of the isolated vacancies and the columnar structure on the diffusion rate of H atoms in NbC single crystal at various temperatures. Diffusion coefficient (D) of H atoms in NbC increased with C vacancy concentration. At elevated temperatures, the trapping effect of Nb vacancies is less effective when C vacancies are also present, as H atoms gain enough energy to jump back and forth between the C vacancies. Atomistic simulations also showed a jump in diffusion coefficient for cylindrical pore size of larger than 3 A radius. Furthermore, D increased monotonically with temperature up to 1000 K in the presence of cylindrical pores. Further increase in temperature resulted in a drop in the diffusion coefficient for small pores while the large pores only showed a lower increasing trend in diffusion coefficient with the temperature.
Demonstration of Over-the-Air RF Self-Interference Cancellation Using an Optical System

We demonstrate an analog optical self-interference cancellation system for over-the-air multipath cancellation in radio-frequency communications. Self-interference cancellation is achieved by subtracting a matched copy of the self-interference signal from the corrupted received signal. The system uses optical signal processing instead of traditional radio-frequency approaches to achieve wide instantaneous bandwidth and high precision. Channel matching is performed entirely in the optical domain with variable optical attenuators and tunable optical delays. A singlemode to multimode combiner enables the cancellation of up to six multipath components using just two optical sources. The system achieved 35 dB of narrowband cancellation and 30 dB of cancellation across 20 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth, with multipath cancellation contributing more than 10 dB of cancellation at the signal of interest frequency.
Information Acquisition and Portfolio Bias in a Dynamic World

While international portfolios are still heavily biased towards home assets, the home bias has exhibited a clear downward trend in the last few decades. Interestingly, the underlying rise in foreign investment has been primarily directed to just a handful of OECD countries, and has not given rise to an across the board increase in all foreign investments. To understand the evolution of the home bias, this paper develops a dynamic model of information acquisition and portfolio choice. The dynamic framework introduces two new endogenous forces due to the fact that asset payoffs depend on the future asset prices and hence on the future information sets. First, there is a measure of endogenous unlearnable uncertainty in asset payoffs which generates decreasing returns to information when agents are sufficiently well informed about an asset, and hence gives a reason to diversify information and portfolios. In addition, the dynamic framework introduces a strategic complementarity in learning, due to the "beauty contest" of dynamic asset markets, which is absent in the benchmark static model where learning is purely a strategic substitute. As a result of both of these new endogenous forces, the model can explain the high overall level of the home bias, its decline over time and the fact that the rise in foreign investment has been coordinated on just a handful of destination countries. Moreover, the model predicts that the home bias decline is linked to the fall in information costs, and I find direct evidence of this in the data.
Target Placement of iStent Combined with Phacoemulsification

A patient’s surgical candidacy for microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) should have been assessed preoperatively by evaluating the angle anatomy with slit lamp-based gonioscopy to ensure adequate visualization to safely perform surgery (University of Iowa Health Care Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, www.gonioscopy.org). The scleral spur serves as a surgical landmark separating the pigmented trabecular meshwork (TM) anteriorly from the ciliary body band posteriorly. The Schlemm’s Canal (SC) located deep to the pigmented TM is the final resting place for the micro-stent. The rate-limiting step in performing angle surgery is visualization of the angle with intraoperative gonioscopy (Exp Rev Ophthalmol 9(6):515–527, 2014; University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry). Target placement of the iStent (Glaukos Corp.) includes areas of greater TM pigmentation (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 50(4):1692–1697, 2009) believed to be in close proximity to collector channels (CC) for optimal aqueous outflow via the aqueous veins (AV) to the episcleral veins (EV) (Surgical innovations in glaucoma, New York, 2014). The authors propose that following induction of relative ocular hypotony, areas of initial focal blood reflux into SC adjoin CC and serve as intraoperative surgical targeting for iStent implantation in optimizing aqueous outflow. One can anticipate a reduction in IOP and/or reduction in medication burden post-op (J Cataract Refract Surg 41(12):2664–2671, 2015). Should the desired pressure reduction not be achieved or there is evidence of glaucoma progression, the patient may need to be restarted on glaucoma medical therapy. Additionally, angle surgery does not preclude traditional ab externo filtration or tube shunt surgery and forms part of a continuum in glaucoma surgical management. Risks, benefits and alternatives, and appropriate educational material should have been provided to the patient regarding angle surgery and need for cataract surgery based upon visual impairment as outlined in chapters addressing cataract extraction in this textbook.
Roles of Diacylglycerols and Ceramides in Hepatic Insulin Resistance

Although ample evidence links hepatic lipid accumulation with hepatic insulin resistance, the mechanistic basis of this association is incompletely understood and controversial. Diacylglycerols (DAGs) and ceramides have emerged as the two best-studied putative mediators of lipid-induced hepatic insulin resistance. Both lipids were first associated with insulin resistance in skeletal muscle and were subsequently hypothesized to mediate insulin resistance in the liver. However, the putative roles for DAGs and ceramides in hepatic insulin resistance have proved more complex than originally imagined, with various genetic and pharmacologic manipulations yielding a vast and occasionally contradictory trove of data to sort. In this review we examine the state of this field, turning a critical eye toward both DAGs and ceramides as putative mediators of lipid-induced hepatic insulin resistance.
Impact of CO 2 Injections on Deep Subsurface Microbial Ecosystems and Potential Ramifications for the Surface Biosphere

This chapter discusses the impact of CO 2 injections on the subsurface microbial communities, which is the reduction of one pH unit for the ground water hosted in the siliclastic reservoir. The slightly lower pH is based upon the assumption that alteration of detrital feldspars to clay in equilibrium with calcite occurs on the time scale of the injection. The power levels for many of the microbial redox reactions are generally larger than in the original ground water systems but because of this reduction of one pH unit in the ground water, microbial Fe(III) reduction reactions are significantly enhanced over the expected ambient conditions. If sufficient electron donors are available for both biotic and abiotic Fe(III) reducing reactions and sufficient Fe(III) bearing oxides are present in the aquifer then these reactions will restore the aquifer's pH to its initial, pre-injection value. CO 2 injection should cause a short-term stimulation of Fe(III) reducing communities. For long-term storage of CO 2 in siliclastic reservoirs the short-term enhancement of Fe(III) reducing microorganisms will increase the pH and most likely lead to the precipitation of various carbonates. As readily available Fe(III) is depleted it can be introduced. If this is not feasible and sulfate is not a major constituent in the ground water, then methanogenic activity will begin to dominate and the proportion of CO 2 converted to CH4 will depend upon the H2 and acetate fluxes.
Steady-state control strategy of multi-terminal hybrid UHVDC

A multi-terminnal hybrid UHVDC is planned by China Southern Power Grid. The UHVDC system consists of one LCC-based sending end and two VSC-based receiving ends, rated at ±800kV. In this paper, steady-state control strategy is designed to coordinate LCC and VSCs at both sides. Smooth start-up, shutdown and reduced DC voltage operation are achieved.
Tests of fit of historically-informed models of African American Admixture.

Objectives African American populations in the U.S. formed primarily by mating between Africans and Europeans over the last 500 years. To date, studies of admixture have focused on either a one-time admixture event or continuous input into the African American population from Europeans only. Our goal is to gain a better understanding of the admixture process by examining models that take into account (a) assortative mating by ancestry in the African American population, (b) continuous input from both Europeans and Africans, and (c) historically informed variation in the rate of African migration over time. Materials and methods We used a model-based clustering method to generate distributions of African ancestry in three samples comprised of 147 African Americans from two published sources. We used a log-likelihood method to examine the fit of four models to these distributions and used a log-likelihood ratio test to compare the relative fit of each model. Results The mean ancestry estimates for our datasets of 77% African/23% European to 83% African/17% European ancestry are consistent with previous studies. We find admixture models that incorporate continuous gene flow from Europeans fit significantly better than one-time event models, and that a model involving continuous gene flow from Africans and Europeans fits better than one with continuous gene flow from Europeans only for two samples. Importantly, models that involve continuous input from Africans necessitate a higher level of gene flow from Europeans than previously reported. Discussion We demonstrate that models that take into account information about the rate of African migration over the past 500 years fit observed patterns of African ancestry better than alternative models. Our approach will enrich our understanding of the admixture process in extant and past populations.
A better last-minute hotel deal via app? Cross-channel price disparities between HotelTonight and OTAs

Abstract To better understand hotels' cross-channel pricing mechanisms, this study aims to investigate various factors behind price discounts (as a type of price disparity) from a popular last-minute hotel deal app, HotelTonight, compared to major online travel agency (OTA) websites. Using pricing data collected from the HotelTonight app and OTA websites in six U.S. cities, we estimate several regression models to examine price discounts. The results reveal that after controlling for other variables, price discounts are largely shaped by online reputation metrics (i.e., relative review valence and volume on TripAdvisor compared to on HotelTonight), complimentary access to services with high marginal variable costs, and uncertainty in the room type offered. However, hotels’ market power does not explain price discounts. Lastly, implications are discussed.
Choice and perceptions of exercise: A test of three moderating variables

Abstract Objectives This study tested whether choice over ostensibly different exercise bike programs alters the positivity of an exercise experience, attitudes towards exercising, post-exercise mood, intentions to engage in exercise in the future, and desire to receive more information about exercise. Further we assessed whether the influence of choice-making on these dependent measures was moderated by the number of choice options, choice instrumentality, and domain familiarity. Design One-hundred fifty participants that varied in their use of bikes for exercise were randomized into a 3 (choice options) x 2 (choice instrumentality) between-subjects design. Participants' prior experience exercising on a bike was recorded and used as an additional predictor variable. Methods For the choice options manipulation, participants either made no choice or decided between 2 or 5 ostensibly different exercise bike programs. For the choice instrumentality manipulation, half of the participants were told that their program selection could improve their bike riding experience, whereas the other half were not given this information. All participants exercised on a stationary bike in the laboratory for a 10-min period using the same standardized program. Results Choice options and exercise bike familiarity interacted to determine outcomes. Specifically, opportunity for choice increased positive exercise experience, attitudes towards physical activity, exercise intentions, and the desire to receive more information—but only among those who had prior experience using a bike to exercise. Conclusions Results provide support for the use of choice as a technique for increasing liking and intentions toward exercise for those with prior experience with the exercise activity.
A pilot study of low-income mothers and fathers of preschool age children to determine the relationship of food security and nutrition assistance on feeding style and child body weight

The objective of this study was to investigate the association of household food security status and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation with parental feeding style and c...
Vascular birthmarks: Diagnosis and treatment

Summary Hemangioma is the most common tumor of childhood. In most instances it is present at birth. It may occur in any tissue or location, but most commonly occurs in the skin and subcutaneous tissues of the face. Pathologically and clinically there are three different types: the capillary or port-wine stain, the hypertrophic endothelial, or strawberry, growth, and the cavernous hemangioma. Any one lesion may have characteristic areas of all three types. Therapy should be based upon the type of tumor, its location, and size. In small port-wine marks gradual excision or excision and skin grafting are useful. In larger blemishes radiation should not be used; ultraviolet irradiation may result in improvement in this type of lesion. Strawberry hemangiomas on the trunk and extremities, and on the face, when small and suitably located, should be excised. When the hemangioma is large and involves facial features, surface radiation care-fully controlled, electrodesiccation, or carbon dioxide snow is useful. Cavernous hemangiomas are best injected with sclerosing solutions. If this is unsuccessful, electrocoagulation may be useful. All large hemangiomas about the face, when eradicated by any one of the physical agents, may leave scarring which will later have to be repaired surgically.
Decentralized Communication Strategies for Coordinated Multi-Agent Policies

Although the presence of free communication reduces the complexity of multi-agent POMDPs to that of single-agent POMDPs, in practice, communication is not free and reducing the amount of communication is often desirable. We present a novel approach for using centralized “single-agent” policies in decentralized multi-agent systems by maintaining and reasoning over the possible joint beliefs of the team. We describe how communication is used to integrate local observations into the team belief as needed to improve performance. We show both experimentally and through a detailed example how our approach reduces communication while improving the performance of distributed xecution.
Thyroglossal Duct Carcinoma

Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. In the vast majority of cases, it presents initially as a nodule within the thyroid gland, with or without metastatic disease (local or distal). Rarely, extrathyroidal or ectopic origin of this malignancy has been documented, typically in embryologic rests of thyroid cells. One common site is the thyroglossal duct. Although a cystic nodule within a remnant of this duct is the most typical neck mass detected during childhood, such nodules are almost always histologically benign.
Blind spots in telemedicine: a qualitative study of staff workarounds to resolve gaps in diabetes management.

Novel telemedicine platforms have expanded access to critical retinal screening into primary care settings. This increased access has contributed to improved retinal screening uptake for diabetic patients, particularly those treated in Federally Qualified Health Centers (‘safety net’ clinics). The aim of this study was to understand how the implementation of telemedical screening for diabetic retinopathy within primary care settings is improving the delivery of critical preventative services, while also introducing changes into clinic workflows and creating additional tasks and responsibilities within resource-constrained clinics. A qualitative approach was employed to track workflows and perspectives from a range of medical personnel involved in the telemedicine platform for diabetic retinopathy screening and subsequent follow-up treatment. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observation at three geographically-dispersed Federally Qualified Health Centers in California. Qualitative analysis was performed using standard thematic analytic approaches within a qualitative data analysis software program. The introduction of telemedicine platforms, such as diabetic retinopathy screening, into primary care settings is creating additional strain on medical personnel across the diabetes eye care management spectrum. Central issues are related to scheduling patients, issuing referrals for follow-up care and treatment, and challenges to improving adherence to treatment and diabetes management. These issues are overcome in many cases through workarounds, or when medical staff work outside of their job descriptions, purview, and permission to move patients through the diabetes management continuum. This study demonstrates how the implementation of a novel telemedical platform for diabetic retinopathy screening contributes to the phenomenon of workarounds that account for additional tasks and patient volume. These workarounds should not be considered a sustainable model of health care delivery, but rather as an initial step to understanding where issues are and how clinics can adapt to the inclusion of telemedicine and ultimately increase access to care. The presence of workarounds suggests that as telemedicine is expanded, adequate resources, as well as collaborative, cross-sectoral co-design of new workflows must be simultaneously provided. Systematic bolstering of resources would contribute to more consistent success of telemedicine screening platforms and improved treatment and prevention of disease-related complications.