cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Medium access control with coordinated adaptive sleeping for wireless sensor networks

This paper proposes S-MAC, a medium access control (MAC) protocol designed for wireless sensor networks. Wireless sensor networks use battery-operated computing and sensing devices. A network of these devices will collaborate for a common application such as environmental monitoring. We expect sensor networks to be deployed in an ad hoc fashion, with nodes remaining largely inactive for long time, but becoming suddenly active when something is detected. These characteristics of sensor networks and applications motivate a MAC that is different from traditional wireless MACs such as IEEE 802.11 in several ways: energy conservation and self-configuration are primary goals, while per-node fairness and latency are less important. S-MAC uses a few novel techniques to reduce energy consumption and support self-configuration. It enables low-duty-cycle operation in a multihop network. Nodes form virtual clusters based on common sleep schedules to reduce control overhead and enable traffic-adaptive wake-up. S-MAC uses in-channel signaling to avoid overhearing unnecessary traffic. Finally, S-MAC applies message passing to reduce contention latency for applications that require in-network data processing. The paper presents measurement results of S-MAC performance on a sample sensor node, the UC Berkeley Mote, and reveals fundamental tradeoffs on energy, latency and throughput. Results show that S-MAC obtains significant energy savings compared with an 802.11-like MAC without sleeping.
The effect of L-fucose on rat mammary tumor growth. II. In vitro studies.

Different concentrations of L-fucose uniformly produced a suppression in the growth rate and a change in the morphology of cells grown in tissue culture. The inhibition of growth of these malignant cells was found to he concentration dependent with 100% inhibition of growth at a concentration of 50 mg fucose per milliliter of medium and 60% inhibition at a concentration of 12.5 mg fucose per milliliter medium. Using other sugars that are components of the glycoproteins, it was shown that mannose and galactose could also depress the rate of growth of these tumor cells in culture. When 0.05 ml of packed tumor cells used in these experiments was resuspended in 1 ml of medium and injected into a rat, a tumor grew at the site of injection. This new tumor exhibited similar growth characteristics and showed the same histological appearance as the tumor from which the cell line was derived.
Scaling up of CO2 fluxes from leaf to canopy in maize-based agroecosystems

Carbon dioxide fluxes are being measured in three maize-based agroecosystems in eastern Nebraska in an effort to better un derstand the potential for these systems to sequester carbon in the soil. Landscape-level fluxes of carbon, water and energy were measured using tower eddy covariance systems. In order to better understand the landscape-level results, measurements at smaller scales, using techniques promoted by John Norman, were made and scaled up to the landscape-level. Single leaf gas exchange properties (CO 2 assimilation rate and stomatal conductance) and optical properties, direct and diffuse radiation incident on the canopy, and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) reflected and transmitted by the canopy were measured at regular intervals throughout the growing season. In addition, soil surface CO 2 fluxes were measured using chamber techniques. From leaf measurements, the responses of net CO 2 assimilation rate to relevant biophysical controlling factors were quantified. Single leaf gas exchange data were scaled up to the canopy level using a simple radiative model that considers direct beam and diffuse PAR penetration into the canopy. Canopy level photosynthesis was estimated, coupled with the soil surface CO2 fluxes, and compared to measured net ecosystem CO 2 exchange (NEE) values from the eddy covariance approach. Estimated values of canopy level absorbed PAR was also compared to measured values. The agreement between estimated and observed values increases our confidence in the measured carbon pools and fluxes in these agroecosys tems and enhances our understanding of biophysical controls on carbon sequestration.
Comparison in the Development of Categories

Recent research on children’s word learning has led to a paradox. Although word learning appears to be a deep source of insight into conceptual knowledge for children, preschoolers often categorize objects on the basis of shallow perceptual features such as shape. The current studies seek to resolve this discrepancy. We suggest that comparing multiple instances of a category enables children to extract deeper relational commonalities among category members. We examine 4-year-olds’ categorization behaviors when asked to select a match for a target object (e.g., an apple) between a perceptually similar, out-of-kind object (e.g., a balloon) and a perceptually different category match (e.g., a banana). Children who learn a novel word as a label for multiple instances of the category are more likely to select the category match over the perceptual match. Children who learn a label for only one instance are equally likely to select either alternative. This effect is present even when individual target instances are more perceptually similar to the perceptual choice than to the category choice. We conclude that structural alignment processes may be important in the development of category understanding.
A new testing philosophy-differential test

A new testing philosophy is proposed which takes advantages of both off-line and on-line testing strategies. A differential testing scheme (DT) is developed based on the new testing philosophy. The DT is capable of testing digital systems on-line without any error detection code but with an initialization at the very beginning. In the forced initialization, at least one-hour random test pattern generation is required if a CPU runs at 20 MHz. Using the natural initialization, the DT will not be effective until the system has run several days or weeks. This means that, once the DT is started by the initialization, it starts without end until power is turned off. >
Dual-Modality Probes for In Vivo Molecular Imaging

Various imaging modalities have been exploited and are successfully employed to investigate the anatomic or functional dissemination of tissues in the body. However, no single imaging modality allo...
EdU labeling of Trypanosome Cells and Their Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA)

[Abstract] Trypanosome mitochondrial genome, known as Kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), is a massive network of interlocked DNA rings. The studies of kDNA replication and architecture are of major significance since kDNA is a valid drug target. However, DNA in procyclic trypanosomes can not be labeled with tracer concentrations of 3 [H]-thymidine, possibly because they lack a high-affinity transporter for thymidine. Therefore, BrdU, a thymidine analog, has been used at high concentrations to study kDNA replication. However, the detection of BrdU with anti-BrdU antibody requires harsh conditions such as the acid or heat treatment to seperate double DNA strand, which affects the ability for other antibodies to bind as well as the morphology and ability for dyes that require dsDNA to bind efficiently. Instead, EdU (5-Ethynyl-2 -deoxyuridine), a novel thymidine analog, can be used to study kDNA replication and cell proliferation with a simplified protocol. Detection of EdU is based on a click reaction, which is a copper (I) catalyzed reaction between an azide and an alkyne. This click reaction does not require DNA denaturation and it is multiplex compatible, such as other antibodies and dyes for cell cycle analyses. To visualize trypanosome replicating nuclear DNA and kDNA, EdU is added into the medium of cell culture and incubated for 0.5 h to 3 h and then detected by the following procedures.
Say no to primary prophylaxis with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in asymptomatic nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy?

Nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) is a common cause of congestive heart failure (CHF) and is a risk factor for sudden cardiac death [(1,2)][1]. Although an asymptomatic patient with ischemic cardiomyopathy can now be approached with a reasonably established strategy (e.g., risk
Child Temperamental Flexibility Moderates the Relation between Positive Parenting and Adolescent Adjustment.

Abstract Temperamental flexibility and lower positive parenting are associated with internalizing and externalizing problems; however, youth varying in flexibility may be differentially affected by positive parenting in the prediction of symptoms. We examined whether children's flexibility moderated prospective relations between maternal and paternal positive parenting and youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms during adolescence. Participants ( N = 775, 71% male) and their caregivers completed measures when youth were 10–12 and 12–14 years old. Father positive parenting interacted with child flexibility to predict father-reported internalizing and externalizing problems. Consistent with the diathesis-stress model, children lower in flexibility experienced greater symptoms than children higher in flexibility in lower positive parenting contexts. Among children lower in flexibility, lower paternal positive parenting was associated with greater internalizing and externalizing symptoms compared to higher paternal positive parenting. However, among youth higher in flexibility, symptom levels were similar regardless of whether youth experienced lower or higher paternal positive parenting.
Synthesis of star-brush polymer architectures from end-reactive molecular bottlebrushes

Abstract Reactive bottlebrush-linear block copolymers with poly(methyl methacrylate) side chains and linear poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) end blocks were utilized for the fabrication of brush-star architectures. Well-defined bottlebrush copolymers with reactive end blocks were prepared by a grafting-from method, where a block copolymer backbone was synthesized by sequential reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of functionalized monomers, while side chains were installed by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate initiated from the bromide groups of the backbone. LiBr-catalyzed ring-opening of epoxides in the presence of ethylenediamine at room temperature was utilized for efficient cross-linking of PGMA blocks leading to star-brush architectures. Various structural parameters, such as side chain length and reactive end block length, were found to impact the efficacy of the cross-linking step. The developed method provided means to connect giant bottlebrush copolymer arms ( M n > 300 kg/mol) into a star architecture in an effective and tunable manner.
Utility of Operative Glaucoma Tube Shunt Viscoelastic Bolus Flush.

Objective: To assess the utility of viscoelastic injection toinduce bleb expansion and decrease intraocular pressure (IOP)in eyes with encapsulated glaucoma tube shunt blebs.Design: Case series.Subjects and participants: Forty-three glaucomatous eyes,including 13 eyes with congenital, 13 uveitic, 5 neovascular,5 open angle, 4 narrow angle and 3 traumatic glaucomas.Methods, interventions or testing: All patients underwentviscoelastic flush procedure. A pre-bent 27 or 30-gaugecannula was passed through a 25-gauge paracentesis,advanced over the iris across the anterior chamber, andinsinuated into the tube shunt lumen. Once the cannula wasfirmly lodged in position, 0.45 to 0.85 ml of viscoelastic wasinjected to hyperinflate the bleb.Main outcome measures: Paired t-tests were performedcomparing preoperative IOP and number of medications usedpreoperatively vs levels measured at 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months.Results: Intraocular pressure was reduced from a meanpreoperative level of 26.0 ≤ 1.2 (sem) mm Hg to 15.8 ± 1.0 at1 month, remaining stable thereafter at each 6-month intervalwith 15.1 ± 1.1 mm Hg at 24 months (p < 0.0001). Medicationuse did not vary significantly from baseline. Pressure remained. 21 mm Hg after 2 years in 85% of eyes cannulated within1 year of primary tube shunt implantation (n = 23), and in 62%of eyes cannulated more than 1 year after tube shunt placement(n = 20).Conclusion: Tube shunt expansion with bolus viscoelastic flushsuccessfully restored encapsulated bleb function, providing asubstantial (~10 mm Hg) IOP decrease into the mid-normalpressure range. This persisted in the majority of treated eyesfor the entire study period.
Results from the BRAHMS experiment at RHIC

The coincidence technique can offer a useful way to investigate beta and betabeta decay processes in Ca-48. In this paper the results of a preliminary experimental search are presented. In particular, here the first experimental limit on the half life of the betabeta2nu(0(+)-2(+)) decay of Ca-48 has been obtained; it is T-1/2 > 1.2 x 10(18) y (90% C.L.). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.
Protein complexes in focus

A new advance in electron microscopy can reveal highly-detailed structures of protein complexes.
A new circulating water switching method application on waste heat utilization project in a power plant

Due to great hidden danger by circulating water connecting line was close to the substation in a power plant,a new circulating water switching mode was explored in this paper,that if the daily connect unit stop,another host still could switch to connect with the waste heat recovery unit,and could be smoothly cut back to the daily one.
Simple Febrile Seizures and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Associated with SCN1A Mutation

The electroclinical features of a large Italian family with 13 living members having simple febrile seizures and SCN1A missense mutation (M145T), some complicated by temporal lobe epilepsy, are reported from University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, and other centers in Italy.
Time Reversal Transmission in MIMO Radar

Time reversal explores the rich scattering in a multipath environment to achieve high target detectability. MIMO radar is an emerging active sensing technology that uses diverse waveforms transmitted from widely spaced antennas to achieve increased target sensitivity when compared to standard phased arrays. In this paper, we combine MIMO radar with time reversal to further improve the performance of radar detection. We establish a radar target model in multipath rich environments and develop likelihood ratio tests for the proposed time-reversal MIMO radar (TR-MIMO). Numerical simulations demonstrate improved target detectability compared with the commonly used statistical MIMO strategy.
Abstract 4969: Metformin causes AR degradation via Skp2-mediated ubiquitination

One of the mechanisms for prostate cancer cells to escape the new androgen receptor (AR) signaling inhibitor Enzalutamide (Enza) is through autophagy. Combination of anti-diabetic drug metformin with Enza demonstrated improved tumor suppression in the LNCaP C4-2B orthotopic model. Through delineating the mechanism in the metformin benefit, we discovered degradation of AR in cells treated with metformin alone and more in the combination with Enza and Abiraterone (Abi). The mRNA for AR in metformin-treated cells did not change significantly by qPCR assays. This degradation was inhibited when proteasome inhibitor MG132 was added prior to the treatments. Use of the FDA approved proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib also protected AR from degradation in the presence of metformin. Immunoprecipitation of AR with its antibodies showed ubiquitination; the reverse immunoprecipitation with anti-ubiquitin followed by anti-AR probing also showed similar results; suggesting ubiqutination responsible for AR degradation. With a paper by Li et al. proposing Skp2 being a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase targeting AR for ubiquitination, we attempted to knock-down Skp2 with transient siRNA transfection. Degradation of AR was lessened with Skp2 knockdown. This study supports that use of metformin in combination with Enza or other ARSI drugs may not only block autophagy survival but also cause AR degradation that leads to PC cell death. Citation Format: Joy C. Yang, Allen C. Gao, Christopher P. Evans. Metformin causes AR degradation via Skp2-mediated ubiquitination. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4969. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4969
A Resilience Model for School-Based Mentoring Programs

This article describes a mentoring program pairing university students with at-risk youth. A resilience-based model provides a positive framework for mentors to emphasize strengths and responsibility in youth whose lives have been shaped by poverty, family dysfunction, or learning disabilities. Specific activities for relationship building, teaching the construct of resilience, and building resilience through a mentoring relationship are described.
Breastfeeding Support in the Workplace: The Relationships Among Breastfeeding Support, Work-Life Balance, and Job Satisfaction.

Background:Women are increasingly faced with decisions about how to combine breastfeeding with work, but few researchers have directly measured how breastfeeding relates to the work–life interface.Research aim:The authors examined how perceptions of work enhancement of personal life and work interference with personal life were influenced by workplace breastfeeding support, including organizational, manager, and coworker support, as well as adequate time to express human milk. Then, we examined how workplace breastfeeding support predicted work–life variables and job satisfaction.Methods:Using a self-report, survey design, the authors analyzed online surveys from 87 women in a rural, community sample who indicated that they had pumped at work or anticipated needing to pump in the future.Results:According to regression results, provision of workplace breastfeeding support, particularly providing adequate time for human milk expression, predicted work enhancement of personal life. Conversely, we found that ...
A Bayesian method for assessing multi-scale species-habitat relationships

Scientists face several theoretical and methodological challenges in appropriately describing fundamental wildlife-habitat relationships in models. The spatial scales of habitat relationships are often unknown, and are expected to follow a multi-scale hierarchy. Typical frequentist or information theoretic approaches often suffer under collinearity in multi-scale studies, fail to converge when models are complex or represent an intractable computational burden when candidate model sets are large. Our objective was to implement an automated, Bayesian method for inference on the spatial scales of habitat variables that best predict animal abundance. We introduce Bayesian latent indicator scale selection (BLISS), a Bayesian method to select spatial scales of predictors using latent scale indicator variables that are estimated with reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. BLISS does not suffer from collinearity, and substantially reduces computation time of studies. We present a simulation study to validate our method and apply our method to a case-study of land cover predictors for ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) abundance in Nebraska, USA. Our method returns accurate descriptions of the explanatory power of multiple spatial scales, and unbiased and precise parameter estimates under commonly encountered data limitations including spatial scale autocorrelation, effect size, and sample size. BLISS outperforms commonly used model selection methods including stepwise and AIC, and reduces runtime by 90%. Given the pervasiveness of scale-dependency in ecology, and the implications of mismatches between the scales of analyses and ecological processes, identifying the spatial scales over which species are integrating habitat information is an important step in understanding species-habitat relationships. BLISS is a widely applicable method for identifying important spatial scales, propagating scale uncertainty, and testing hypotheses of scaling relationships.
Tunable synthetic control of soft polymeric nanoparticle morphology.

With a growing variety of nanoparticles available, research probing the influence of particle deformability, morphology, and topology on the behavior of all polymer nanocomposites is also increasing. In particular, the behavior of soft polymeric nanoparticles in polymer nanocomposites has displayed unique behavior, but their precise performance depends intimately on the internal structure and morphology of the nanoparticle. With the goal of providing guidelines to control the structure and morphology of soft polymeric nanoparticles, we have examined monomer starved semi-batch nano-emulsion polymerizations that form organic, soft nanoparticles, to correlate the precise structure of the nanoparticle to the rate of monomer addition and crosslinking density. The synthesis method produces 5–20 nm radii polystyrene nanoparticles with tunable morphologies. We report small angle neutron scattering (SANS) results that correlate synthetic conditions to the structural characteristics of soft polystyrene nanoparticles. These results show that the measured molecular weight of the nanoparticles is controlled by the monomer addition rate, the total nanoparticle radius is controlled by the excess surfactant concentration, and the crosslinking density has a direct effect on the topology of each nanoparticle. These studies thus provide pathways to control these 3 structural characteristics of the nanoparticle. This research, therefore provides a conduit to thoroughly investigate the effect of structural features of soft nanoparticles on their individual properties and those of their polymer nanocomposites.
The Impacts of an Ethanol Plant Placement on Cotton Acreage in the Texas High Plains

This study examines the impacts of a sorghum-based ethanol plant established in a major cotton producing area on local sorghum basis and cotton acreage distribution using county-level panel data from 2002 to 2014. Spatial econometric models are employed to account for any spatial dependence. Our results support the conclusion sorghum basis and cotton acreage within a county depends on characteristics of its neighbors. Specifically, the findings indicate that the sorghum basis increased by 1.5 cents per bushel in the short-run resulting from hosting a 40-million-gallon ethanol plant, and a short-run increase by 0.2 percent in cotton acres over all counties.
Draft Genome Sequences of 14 Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Sequence Type 398 Isolates from Swine Farms in the United States.

ABSTRACT Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) is a bacterium carried by or obtained from swine and other livestock. The initial and predominant swine-associated LA-MRSA sequence type (ST) identified is ST398. Here, we present 14 draft genome sequences from LA-MRSA ST398 isolates found in the United States.
Encouraging the Art of Communicating Science to Nonexperts with Don’t Be Such a Scientist

Randy Olson’s book, Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style, was used to supplement a senior seminar in nanomaterials. While students learned about the chemistry behind useful properties of nanomaterials, they also analyzed how nanomaterials applications are presented to the public through advertising, science news, and popular culture artifacts. By using Don’t Be Such a Scientist, students learned how scientists can fail at communicating with the public and how they can become more effective communicators. To experience communicating to nonexperts, they presented outreach projects such as a video, activity, or discussion on nanomaterials. Example student projects in nanomaterials are discussed; however, Don’t Be Such a Scientist could easily be incorporated into a variety of scientific courses to include effective scientific communication to the public, a meaningful skill for all scientists and science students.
Scheduling Inter-Datacenter Video Flows for Cost Efficiency

As video streaming applications are deployed on the cloud, cloud providers are charged by ISPs for inter-datacenter transfers under the dominant percentile-based charging models. In order to minimize the payment costs, existing works aim to keep the traffic on each link under the charging volume. However, these methods cannot fully utilize each link’s available bandwidth capacity. As a solution, we propose an economical and deadline-driven video flow scheduling system, called EcoFlow. Considering that different video flows have different transmission deadlines, EcoFlow transmits videos in the order of their deadline tightness and postpones the deliveries of later-deadline videos to later time slots. The flows that are expected to miss their deadlines are divided into subflows to be rerouted to other under-utilized links. We also propose setting each link’s initial charging volume to reduce the scheduling latency at the beginning of the charging period and discuss how to deal with issues such as the prediction errors of link available bandwidth and the lack of charging volume’s prior knowledge. Furthermore, we designed implementation strategies for using EcoFlow in both centralized and distributed situations. Experimental results demonstrate that EcoFlow achieves lower bandwidth costs and higher video flow transmission rates when compared to existing methods.
Developing Quality Indicators for School Practice.

Comprehensive measures of the quality of occupational therapy services are critical as the profession as a whole and school-based occupational therapy (SBOT) practitioners in particular exa...
Subatomic Channeling and Helicon-Type Beams in SrTiO3

Inspired by recent experimental subatomic measurements using analytical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopes, we study electron probe propagation in crystalline SrTiO_{3} at the subatomic length scale. Here, we report the existence of subatomic channeling and the formation of a helicon-type beam at this scale. The results of beam propagation simulations, which are performed at various crystal temperatures, STEM probe convergence angles (10-50 mrad), and beam energies (80-300 keV), showed that reducing the ambient temperature can enhance the subatomic channeling and STEM probe parameters can be used to control the features of helicon-type beams.
Cancer Cell Metabolism: Implications for X-ray and Particle Radiation Therapy

Advances in radiation delivery technologies and immunotherapy have improved effective cancer treatments and long-term outcomes. Experimental and clinical trials have demonstrated the benefit of a combination of radiation therapy and immunotherapy for tumor eradication. Despite precise radiation dose delivery that is achievable by particle therapy and benefits from reactivating the antitumor immune response, resistance to both therapeutic strategies is frequently observed in patients. Understanding the biological origins of such resistance will create new opportunities for improved cancer treatment. Cancer metabolism and especially a high rate of aerobic glycolysis leading to overproduction and release of lactate is one such biological process favoring tumor progression and treatment resistance. Because of their known protumor effects, aerobic glycolysis and lactate production are potential targets for increased efficacy of radiation alone or in combination with immunotherapy. In the following review, we present an overview of the interplay of cancer cell lactate metabolism with the tumor microenvironment and immune cells. We discuss how a deeper understanding and careful modulation of lactate metabolism and radiation therapy might exploit this interplay for improved therapeutic outcome.
The Art Therapist's Guide to Social Media: Connection, Community, and Creativity

The Art Therapist’s Guide to Social Media offers the art therapy community a guide that addresses content related to social media use, its growing influence, and the impact social networking has on the profession and work of art therapists. This book presents a framework of relevant theories, best practices, and examples to explore existing and emerging areas of social networking's power for art therapists as practitioners and artists. Divided into three sections that highlight the themes of connection, community, and creativity, chapters explore timely topics such as the professional use of social media, ethical considerations, potential benefits and challenges, and strategies to embrace the possibilities that social media can create for the field worldwide. Art therapists in training, art therapy educators and supervisors, and practicing art therapists will find content in this text helpful for their learning and professional practice.
Stress Migration Modeling Using Probabilistic Physics of Failure

It is now well accepted that the unbiased isothermal resistance drift and latent open-via failures in Al and Cu metal interconnects is due to the formation and growth of stress induced voids (SIVs). While the basic description of SIV was established early on, it remains an important task to characterize process and design variations and their impacts on reliability. The physics-of-failure arises from the geometrical confinement and the mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion of the back-end of line (BEOL) materials with subsequent diffusive relaxation. The basic physics must be updated to include the effects of patterned structural features, microstructure, elastic anisotropy, adhesion, and nonlocal interactions. Also, due to the relaxation of the stress with time, it is found that the failure rate diminishes as the driving force reduces, leading to a probabilistic immortality very similar to the Blech effect in electro-migration. However, in some cases, the approach to this saturation is very slow and some failures may “heal.” At great age, the cumulative failure (hazard) saturates the value which is proportional to the void initiation density. With the assumption of a non-zero surface energy, the observed reverse resistance drift can be modeled as well as the open failure recovery as a void sintering effect. From the probabilistic physics of the failure model for SIV, we can derive predictions of the failure-free lifetime and immortal fraction as well as scaling laws for linewidth, microstructure, film and via adhesion, and via-size. The model also provides some insight on the physics behind the super-redundancy effect of additional via placement. The model is fit to standard high-temperature storage (125 °C to 200 °C) data, as well as long-term (>3 years) data at 30 °C, from a 110-nm Cu/Ta/TaN/low-k BEOL process.
Synchronization-Avoiding Graph Algorithms

Because they were developed for optimal sequential complexity, classical graph algorithms as found in textbooks have strictly-defined orders of operations. Enforcing a prescribed order of operations, or even an approximate order, in a distributed memory setting requires significant amounts of synchronization, which in turn can severely limit scalability. As a result, new algorithms are typically required to achieve scalable performance, even for solving well-known graph problems. Yet, even in these cases, parallel graph algorithms are written according to parallel programming models that evolved for, e.g., scientific computing, and that still have inherent, and scalability-limiting, amounts of synchronization. In this paper we present a new approach to parallel graph algorithms: synchronization-avoiding algorithms. To eliminate synchronization and its associated overhead, synchronization-avoiding algorithms perform work in an unordered and fully asynchronous fashion in such a way that the result is constantly refined toward its final state. "Wasted" work is minimized by locally prioritizing tasks using problem-dependent task utility metrics. We classify algorithms for graph applications into two broad categories: algorithms with monotonic updates (which evince global synchronization) and algorithms with non-monotonic updates (which evince vertex-centric synchronization). We apply our approach to both classes and develop novel, synchronization-avoiding algorithms for solving exemplar problems: SSSP and connected components for the former, graph coloring for the latter. We demonstrate that eliminating synchronization in conjunction with effective scheduling policies and optimizations in the runtime results in improved scalability for both classes of algorithms.
Optimization of flare management in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results of a randomized controlled trial

To evaluate the effect of a flare management intervention guided by non-physician providers versus usual care between rheumatology visits on flare occurrence and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity. Adult patients with established RA (per 2010 ACR criteria, n = 150) were randomized to the intervention arm (n = 75) versus usual care (n = 75). The Flare Assessment in Rheumatoid Arthritis (FLARE-RA) questionnaire was administered monthly during 24 months to all patients in the intervention arm to assess flare status. Telephone nurse-led counseling or an expedited visit with a rheumatology provider was offered to patients in the intervention arm who indicated they were in flare. Patients in the intervention arm completed a median of 8.5 (range 1–24) questionnaires. RA flare was reported on 122 (19%) of these questionnaires; average FLARE-RA score, 4.72 on 0 (no flare) to 10 (maximum flare) scale. Patients preferred an expedited clinic visit with a rheumatology provider during 39 (32%) of flares. The majority of patients preferred to self-manage their flare (76, 62%); some patients received nursing advice on flare management over the phone (7, 6%). There were no differences in RA flare by OMERACT9 definition, DAS28-CRP, CDAI, SDAI, anti-rheumatic treatment change by rheumatology provider, or remission by CDAI between the study arms over 24-month follow-up. The flare management intervention did not have any major effect on flare occurrence or RA disease activity metrics over the 24-month follow-up. The majority of patients in the intervention arm preferred self-management to an expedited visit with their rheumatology provider. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02382783 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02382783)
Setting the Stage: Workplace and Demographic Trends

This chapter provides a review of the significant demographic and social changes that are shaping the workplace of today and tomorrow. One trend that is discussed is the aging and increased diversity of the workforce. According to recent data from the U.S. Census, by 2050 about 19% of the workforce will be aged 65 or older—a 75% growth of the number of workers in this age group as compared to a 2% growth in individuals aged 25–54 years. The entire workforce, including older workers, is also becoming more ethnically diverse. Further, patterns of work and retirement are changing. It is no longer a “lock step process”—most workers are making many more transitions throughout their working life and move in and out of different work experiences. There are also dramatic changes in work structures and organizations, and a greater emphasis on jobs that require advanced degrees or training. Technology is also becoming ubiquitous within work environments. The implications of these changes for older workers are discussed and common stereotypes about older workers are highlighted. An overview of the book is also provided.
Facial Synthesis From Visual Attributes via Sketch Using Multiscale Generators

Automatic synthesis of faces from visual attributes is an important problem in computer vision and has wide applications in law enforcement and entertainment. With the advent of deep generative convolutional neural networks (CNNs), attempts have been made to synthesize face images from attributes and text descriptions. In this paper, we take a different approach, where we formulate the original problem as a stage-wise learning problem. We first synthesize the facial sketch corresponding to the visual attributes and then we generate the face image based on the synthesized sketch. The proposed framework, is based on a combination of two different Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) – (1) a sketch generator network which synthesizes realistic sketch from the input attributes, and (2) a face generator network which synthesizes facial images from the synthesized sketch images with the help of facial attributes. Extensive experiments and comparison with recent methods are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed attribute-based two-stage face synthesis method.
Gauge theories for the thermal Hall effect

The remarkable recent observation of a negative thermal Hall coefficient in the cuprate superconductors presents yet another puzzle about the nature of their `pseudogap' regime. Here, the authors propose an emergent gauge theory framework to understand the sign change of the thermal Hall coefficient and the violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law. They compute the thermal Hall effect in Chern-Simons theories, and find that the emergent gauge fields yield a negative thermal Hall response. The theory captures the main observed trends, but the overall magnitude of the effect is smaller than that observed, suggesting that proper account of phonons could be the missing ingredient.
Temporal Profile and Treatment of Purpureocillium lilacinum Keratitis Secondary to Herpes Zoster Reactivation Following Influenza Vaccination.

Purpose To report a temporal profile of Purpureocillium lilacinum keratitis (PLK) secondary to immune dysfunction induced by the combination of reactivation of herpes zoster dermatitis and recent influenza vaccination that suggests a possible association, including successful medical management. Methods A 64-year-old contact lens wearer presented with left eye keratitis days after receiving an influenza vaccination and subsequent development of herpes zoster lesions on the flank. Patient was initially treated for bacterial keratitis with fortified antibiotics and oral valacyclovir for her concurrent zoster. Pharmacotherapy was changed to topical voriconazole after cultures were positive for Purpureocillium lilacinum. Topography and anterior segment OCT demonstrated scarring at multiple levels within the cornea with irregular astigmatism. A literature review was conducted to identify mechanisms that demonstrate a temporal link between influenza vaccination, herpes zoster reactivation, and fungal keratitis. Results After the conclusion of topical therapy, the central corneal infiltrate regressed and a partial light-blocking anterior stromal scar remained. Best corrected visual acuity improved from 20/400 to 20/25. Conclusion Transient systemic immune dysregulation, secondary to influenza vaccination and reactivation of systemic herpetic disease, compounded by contact lens wear, may create a favorable environment for opportunistic fungal keratitis. This case highlights the importance of adequately assessing and treating for existing comorbidities in the successful treatment of mycotic keratitis.
Which one’s more work? Predicting effective credit hours between courses

University students select courses for an upcoming term in part based on expected workload. Course credit hours is often the only metric given by the institution relevant to how much work a course will be and does not serve as a precise estimate due to the lack of granularity of the metric which can lead to student under or overestimation. We define a novel task of predicting relative effective course credit hours, or time load; essentially, determining which courses take more time than others. For this task, we draw from institutional data sources including course catalog descriptions, student enrollment histories and ratings from a popular course rating website. To validate this work, we design a personalized survey for university students to collect ground truth labels, presenting them with pairs of courses they had taken and asking which course took more time per week on average. We evaluate which sources of data using which machine representation techniques provide the best prediction of these course time load ratings. We establish a benchmark accuracy of 0.71 on this novel task and find skip-grams applied to enrollment data (i.e., course2vec), not catalog descriptions, to be most useful in predicting the time demands of a course.
Terbinafine used safely in autoimmune hepatitis for treatment of tinea corporis.

Terbinafine is often considered contraindicated in those with liver disease, as one of the known side effects is hepatotoxicity. We report the first case documenting the safe use of oral terbinafine in a 77-year-old woman with stable autoimmune hepatitis presenting with extensive tinea corporis. Precautions were carried out to minimise the risk of worsening hepatotoxicity, including consultation with the patient’s hepatologist, limiting terbinafine exposure to less than 6 weeks, monitoring of liver function tests, and patient education. The patient’s fungal infection cleared without any signs or symptoms of worsening liver disease. The rash had not recurred 6 months after treatment. When terbinafine must be used in a patient with pre-existing liver disease, we recommend considering a short course of oral terbinafine after consultation with their hepatologist, obtaining baseline liver function tests with consideration of further monitoring during treatment course, and patient education on the signs and symptoms of liver injury.
Striatal fiber photometry reflects primarily non-somatic activity

Abstract Calcium recording via fiber photometry is commonly used as a proxy for recording population neuronal activity in vivo, yet the biological source of the photometry signal remains unclear. Here, using simultaneous in vivo extracellular electrophysiology and fiber photometry in the striatum, along with endoscopic 1-photon and 2-photon calcium imaging, we determined that the striatal fiber photometry signal reflects primarily non-somatic, and not somatic, changes in calcium.
Oscillators Based on Organic Memristive Devices

The chapter is dedicated to the possibility of generating current auto-oscillations by organic memristive device, similarly to important non-equilibrium processes in living beings. It is shown that the presence of a capacitive element in the chain of reference electrode is responsible for this property. It can be reached by the connection of the external capacitor in this chain, or by the realization of the reference electrode from the material, that can accumulate charges (in particular, highly oriented pyrolithic graphite). A qualitative explanation of the mechanism, responsible for the generation of auto-oscillations, is presented.
Evidence on Clean Energy Consumption and Business Cycle: A Global Perspective

This paper aims to investigate the heterogeneous patterns of clean energy consumption at business cycle frequencies. Specifically, this paper provides a rigorous empirical analysis of this relationship in a comprehensive cross-country panel by decomposing the emissions and GDP series into their growth and cyclical components using the HP filter. Focusing on the cyclical components, robust stylized facts we conclude as follows: (1) Clean energy consumption is procyclical in advanced economies and developing economies, but acyclical in the OPEC; (2) Clean energy consumption is cyclically more volatile than GDP in a typical country; (3) The correlation between cyclicality of clean energy consumption and GDP per capita is more intricate in different country groups; (4) Clean energy consumption is positively correlated with the oil price in advanced economies and developing economies, and negatively correlated in OPEC. These stylized facts are potentially important for establishing theoretical models to analyze the consequences and impacts of clean energy consumption.
The development of crossflow vortices on a 45 degree swept wing

Three-dimensional boundary-layer experiments are currently being conducted on a 45 deg swept wing in the Arizona State University Unsteady Wind Tunnel. Crossflow-dominated transition is produced via a model with contoured end liners to simulate infinite swept-wing flow. Fixed-wavelength stationary and traveling crossflow vortex are observed. The stationary vortex wavelengths vary with Reynolds number as predicted by linear-stability theory, but with observed wavelengths which are about 25 percent smaller than theoretically predicted. The frequencies of the most-amplified moving waves are in agreement with linear-stability theory; traveling waves at higher frequencies than predicted are also observed. These higher-frequency waves may be harmonics of the primary crossflow waves generated by a parametric resonance phenomena. Boundary-layer profiles measured at several spanwise locations show streamwise disturbance profiles characteristic of the crossflow instability. Near the transition location, severe distortions of the laminar boundary-layer profiles are observed. Mean-profile measurements are compared to theoretical predictions.
Studies on the control of antibody synthesis. Xvi. Effect of immunodepression on antibody affinity.

Abstract The relationship between depression in the magnitude of the immune response and a decrease in affinity of the antibody produced was examined in three different models of immuno-depression (B-cell clonal deletion tolerance, specific suppressor T-cell activity, and anti-genie competition). In B-cell clonal deletion tolerance and in antigen-specific, suppressor T-cell-mediated immunodepression, a small decrease in magnitude (50% or less) is associated with a marked decrease in high-affinity, plaque-forming cells. In contrast, with nonspecific immunodepression, due to antigenic competition, a depression in affinity is only seen when there is a marked (85%) reduction in the magnitude of the response. The results are consistent with the view that when the mechanism of immunodepression involves interaction of antigen with antigen-specific B cells there is a disproportionate loss of high-affinity, antibody-producing cells relative to the decrease in magnitude. In contrast, with nonspecific immuno-depression, where the decrease in affinity is presumably due to inefficient expansion of high-affinity clones, an effect on affinity is only observed in association with a marked depression in the magnitude of the response.
The cell cycle during oogenesis and early embryogenesis in Drosophila

Abstract Although changes in gene expression play a large role in determination and differentiation, most organisms also employ variant cell cycles in order to achieve particular developmental goals. This strategy is used widely during Drosophila development. In this chapter we address how cell cycle regulation interfaces with development, focusing on Drosophila oogenesis and early embryogenesis. Five modified cell cycles occur during these developmental stages: meiosis to produce haploid gametes, endo cycles to produce polyploid cells, amplification to increase gene copy number, S/M cycles for rapid division, and S/G2/M cycles. In each case we discuss the coordination between developmental events and alteration of the cell cycle, and we review recent advances in defining the regulation of these variant cell cycles. The unique feature of meiosis during oogenesis is that progression through the meiotic cell cycle must be halted at specific points to permit oocyte differentiation. The endo cycle is used in specific tissues throughout plants and animals. Analysis of this cycle in Drosophila nurse cells and follicle cells has provided key insights into how endo cycles are initiated and terminated, as well as how parameters of this cycle can be adjusted to produce differential DNA replication and alterations in chromosome morphology. Amplification provides a powerful model for deciphering the control of initiation of DNA replication in metazoans. We describe specialized regulation required for S/M cycles and how developmental regulatory genes directly affect the cell cycle to insert a G2 phase during embryogenesis.