cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of probe vehicle sampling strategies for traffic signal control

The impending widespread availability of realtime traffic condition data from vehicles serving as traffic probes offers the possibility of significant advances in traffic signal control performance. In order to realize these advances, it is necessary to understand the capabilities and limitations of traffic probe data collection. In this paper, vehicle trajectories from a microscopic simulation of an arterial corridor are used as the baseline truth model, and are then sampled according to a variety of sampling strategies that could be implemented on probe vehicles. Measures of effectiveness relevant to traffic signal control, such as travel times and speeds, queue lengths and percentages of vehicles that need to stop, are estimated using the sampled data and these estimates are compared with the baseline truth values. These comparisons show the difficulty of estimating the MOEs at low market penetrations of probe vehicles, indicating that at the lower market penetrations it will probably be necessary to aggregate data from multiple signal cycles in order to obtain reliable enough outputs to use for real-time signal control adjustments.
Elastic energy storage in β-sheets with application to F 1 -ATPase

We present a methodology for obtaining the elastic properties of protein motifs. We combine the use of interpolated structures (IS), molecular dynamics (MD) and collective coordinates to deduce the elastic properties of the β-sheet in F1 ATPase. We find that about 3.5 kcal/mol (6 k B T at room temperature) of elastic energy is stored in the β-sheet as the β-subunit undergoes its hinge bending motion, in good agreement with the finite element model of Wang and Oster [Nature (1998) 396:279–282]. The technique should be useful for β-sheets in other proteins and aid in the construction of phenomenological models for molecular motors that are computationally prohibitive for MD alone.
Driving forces for consolidation or fragmentation of the US water utility industry: A cost function approach with endogenous output

Abstract This paper empirically analyzes the structure of the US water industry, using a multiproduct flexible cost function model with the amount of water delivered to final consumers recognized as endogenous. The cross-sectional econometric analysis focuses on measures of cost economies in water production, and their variation with network characteristics. The estimates reveal considerable scale economies in terms of volume, particularly for small utilities that tend to have less output density. These economies are, however, counteracted by simultaneous increases in customers and service area size, especially for large utilities. Overall, our results indicate that consolidation of small utilities might generate cost efficiencies, depending on the concurrent expansion of the network, but consolidation of already large utilities without corresponding increases in output density is not likely to be cost effective.
MALDI imaging mass spectrometry of human tissue: method challenges and clinical perspectives

The molecular complexity of biological tissue and the spatial and temporal variation in the biological processes involved in human disease requires new technologies and new approaches to provide insight into disease processes. Imaging mass spectrometry is an effective tool that provides molecular images of tissues in the molecular discovery process. The analysis of human tissue presents special challenges and limitations because the heterogeneity among human tissues and diseases is much greater than that observed in animal models, and discoveries made in animal tissues might not translate well to their human counterparts. In this article, we briefly review the challenges of imaging human tissue using mass spectrometry and suggest approaches to address these issues.
An extended back-propagation learning algorithm by using heterogeneous processing units

Based on the idea of using heterogeneous processing units (PUs) in a network, a variation of the backpropagation (BP) learning algorithm is presented. Three parameters, which are adjustable like connection weights, are incorporated into each PU to increase its autonomous capability by enhancing the output function. The extended BP learning algorithm thus is developed by updating the three parameters as well as connection weights. The extended BP is intended not only to improve the learning speed, but also to reduce the occurrence of local minima. The algorithm has been intensively tested on the XOR problem. By carefully choosing learning rates, results show that the extended BP appears to have advantages over the standard BP in terms of faster learning speed and fewer local minima. >
Interdisciplinarity: Bring biologists into biomimetics

Engineers, chemists and others taking inspiration from biological systems for human applications must team up with biologists, writes Emilie Snell-Rood.
Building a resident research program in emergency medicine

Residency training programs requirements state, "Residents should participate in scholarly activity." However, there is little consensus regarding how best to achieve these requirements. The objective of this study is to implement a resident research program that emphasizes resident participation in quantitative or qualitative empirical work. A three-step program "Think, Do, Write" roughly follows the 3 years of the residency. During the first phase, the resident chooses a topic, formulates a hypothesis, and completes standard research certifications. Phase 2 involves obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, and conducting the study. The final phase entails analyzing and interpreting the data, and writing an abstract to present during an annual research day. Residents are encouraged to submit their projects for presentation at scientific conferences and for publication. Multiple departmental resources are available, including a Resident Research Fund, and full support of the faculty. Prior to the new program, most scholarly activity consisted of case reports, book chapters, review articles, or other miscellaneous projects; only 27 % represented empirical studies. Starting in 2012, the new program was fully implemented, resulting in notable growth in original empirical works among residents. Currently there is almost 100 % participation in studies, and numerous residents have presented at national conferences, and have peer-reviewed publications. With a comprehensive and supported program in place, emergency medicine residents proved capable of conducting high-quality empirical research within their relatively limited time. Overall, residents developed valuable skills in research design and statistical analysis, and greatly increased their productivity as academic and clinical researchers.
Morphology and Allometry in Several Genera of Semiaquatic Rodents (Ondatra, nectomys, and Oryzomys)

Examination of postcranial morphology in species of five murid rodent genera elucidated osteological and myological modifications associated with adaptation to a semiaquatic environment. Moreover, these differences exhibited a morphologic progression corresponding to the degree of external modifications in the semiaquatic taxa. Morphometric analyses of osteological measurements provided quantitative confirmation of these data. Although the majority of morphometric variation among genera was attributed to size, shape differences interpreted from variable loadings on the second principal component indicated that the semiaquatic rodents examined had long hind feet and long tails combined with short proximal elements relative to their terrestrial counterparts. This variation is similar to that reported for the semiaquatic opossum, Chironectes , in comparison to its terrestrial relative, Didelphis . Multivariate coefficients of allometry lent additional support to the hypothesis that the degree of morphologic adaptation exhibited by these semiaquatic mammals is in proportion to the amount of time the animals spend in the water and to the types of activities performed there.
The Doleful Dance of Politics and Policy: Can Historical Institutionalism Make a Difference?

State and Party in America's New Deal. By Kenneth Finegold and Theda Skocpol. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. 342p. $54.00 cloth, $19.95 paper. The Poverty of Welfare Reform. By Joel F. Handler. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995. 177p. $25 cloth, $15.95 paper. Improving Poor People: The Welfare State, the "Underclass," and Urban Schools as History. By Michael B. Katz. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. 179p. $22.50. The Politics of Welfare Reform. Edited by Donald F. Norris and Lyke Thompson. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995. 255p. $45.00. Words of Welfare: The Poverty of Social Science and the Social Science of Poverty. By Sanford F. Schram. Foreword by Francis Fox Piven. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995. 242p. $55.00. Social Policy in the United States: Future Possibilities in Historical Perspective. By Theda Skocpol. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. 326p. $29.95.
The Tie That Binds: Eicosanoids in Invertebrate Biology

Eicosanoids are oxygenated compounds formed from C20 polyunsaturated fatty acids by reactions involving at least 1 step of mono- or dioxygenase-dependent oxidation. These compounds have been detected in species representing all major animal taxa including numerous insect species. Although these compounds are best understood in human biology where they have immense clinical medicinal significance, they are now recognized as universally important to all life forms. Indeed, these compounds appear to have been recruited into roles as biological signaling moieties long before the origin of the Metazoa. During the ensuing evolutionary diversification of animals, eicosanoids have been commandeered into a plethora of biological roles, some of which are known only from invertebrates. In this review we provide a brief chemical overview of the diversity of eicosanoids that have been discovered and discuss a number of physiological, behavioral and ecological systems where these compounds have been shown to be of major importance. Our discussions are couched in terms of comparative biology, and where it is appropriate, include evolutionary speculations.
Abstract 3800: Dietary agent α-Mangostin inhibits growth of pancreatic cancer BxPC3 and PANC1 cells and arrests the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase: Involvement of Ras, Hedgehog, NF-kB, and STAT3 signaling networks

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is one of the most fatal of all cancers and is ranked as the fourth most common cause of cancer related deaths among both men and women in the United States. It is estimated that 42,407 cases of pancreatic cancer (PaC) will be diagnosed in the United States alone in 2009 and 35,240 cancer related deaths are projected. The systemic toxicity caused by high doses of current chemotherapeutic drugs in PaC patients is of great concern, as it limits their use in patients. Since most of the chemotherapeutic agents generally target a specific pathway, they most often fail to inhibit growth of PaC in preclinical and clinical settings. Thus, there is a need to develop new novel non-toxic therapeutic agents which can either target the multiple oncogenic signaling pathways or target major pathways at multiple level. α-Mangostin a novel dietary natural agent isolated from the pericarp of Mangosteen fruit (Garcinia mangostana) has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and cardioprotective activities. However, no study exists examining the effects of α-Mangostin in the prevention and/or treatment of PaC. In this study, we present that α-Mangostin treatment of PaC PANC1 and BxPC3 cells results in dose-dependent decreases in cells viability and arrests PaC cells in G0/G1 phase of cell cycle. To understand the molecular mechanism of α-Mangostin for the inhibition of cell proliferation, we target the multiple signaling molecules which are aberrantly expressed and involved in survival, proliferation, initiation, development and chemoresistance of PaC cells. It has been reported that Sonic hedgehog (Shh) interacts with activated K-Ras and cooperates in initiation and maintenance of PaC. Western blot analysis showed that α-Mangostin treatment significantly inhibited the constitutive expression of K-Ras, Shh and transcription factor GLI-1 proteins in dose- and time-dependent manner in PaC cells suggesting that α-Mangostin targets Ras and Shh signalings molecules. Since NF-kB and Stat3 are another molecular targets in PaC, therefore, we next examined the effect of α-Mangostin in these transcription factors. We observed that α-Mangostin treatment of PaC cells not only inhibits the constitutive expression of of NF-kB and Stat3 proteins but also inhibits their phosphorylation. α-Mangostin treatment also elicited the inhibition of DNA-binding of Stat3 and NF-kB, suggesting inhibition in translocation of these transcription factors into the nucleus by α-Mangostin. Taken together, these results indicate that α-Mangostin is a novel multi-targeting dietary agent which could be developed as a natural dietary non-toxic agent for the prevention and treatment of PaC. (Support: RD 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3800.
Rapid onset and termination of neuroimaging findings in intracranial hypotension

MRI findings of intracranial hypotension are well-documented and include diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement, descent of the cerebellar tonsils, decrease in size of the prepontine and perichiasmatic cisterns, flattening of the basis pontis, crowding of the posterior fossa, enlargement of the pituitary gland, and the formation of subdural fluid collections.1 We present 2 cases that describe the temporal profile of how rapidly these imaging findings can develop and how quickly they can resolve.
Lambs to Slaughter? Young People as the Prospective Target of Workplace Bullying in Higher Education

While few studies examine the rights of younger workers (under 35), young people in the American workplace are one of the few groups that do not invoke United States Title VII federal protection. Other groups based on race, gender, age and disability can seek legal protections to prevent or subdue harassment if such incivility can be directly tied to these aforementioned statuses. The central research question of this analysis is: What is the impact of workplace bullying on young employees in American higher education? One hundred and seventy-five baccalaureate year colleges and universities were surveyed with the 35questionnaire instrument inquiring about the occurrences, duration and type of workplace bullying in American higher education. A total of 401 (n=401) higher education respondents completed the survey. An analysis of the data set revealed that 71% of young respondents face workplace bullying in higher education, which is higher than the 62% rate for the general population of the study who report being affected by workplace bullying. Analysis of the findings and subsequent discussion is guided by Bolman and Deal’s human resource frame (2013).
Causes of readmission after laparoscopic and open ventral hernia repair: Identifying failed discharges and opportunities for action.

Background Thirty-day hospital readmissions are used as an indicator of quality for health care systems. The timing of readmissions after ventral hernia repair (VHR) is poorly defined, and its relationship to laparoscopic or open technique is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess differences between early and late readmissions after VHR. Methods The participant use data set of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project for 2012 was used for this study. Current procedural terminology codes for laparoscopic (n = 3,360) and open VHR (n = 9,009) were used to identify the study population. Thirty-day readmissions were grouped into early and late admissions based on the 25th percentile of days from discharge. Results Laparoscopic VHR had fewer 30-day readmissions (6.9% vs 9.2%, odds ratio [OR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63–0.85). The 2 most common reasons for readmission were wound occurrences (32%) and gastrointestinal disorders (14%; mostly nausea and emesis). Early readmissions occurred in 283 patients (2.3% of the entire cohort). Gastrointestinal disorders were more common in patients with early readmissions compared with late readmissions (39% vs 13%, OR 4.45, 95% CI 3.06–6.47) and were less common after open versus laparoscopic VHR (16% vs 33%, OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.75–3.84). Wound occurrences were more common in patients with late readmissions (52% vs 23%, OR 3.68, 95% CI 2.56–5.29) and more common after open VHR (49.6% vs 24.4%, OR 3.05, 95% CI 2.06–4.52). Conclusion Patients with early and late readmission following VHR demonstrate different characteristics. Causes of readmission are also different and are based on timing and operative technique. Knowing the causes of readmission following VHR can potentially help clinicians prevent readmissions. Attempts to decrease early readmissions after VHR should mainly target prediction, avoidance, and management of gastrointestinal complications; efforts to decrease late readmissions should focus on the management of wound-related complications.
Inhibition of cyclic diadenylate cyclase, DisA, by polyphenols

Cyclic di-AMP has emerged as an important signaling molecule that controls a myriad of functions, including cell wall homeostasis in different bacteria. Polyphenols display various biological activities and tea polyphenols in particular have been shown to possess among other properties antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Certain tea polyphenols, such as catechin and epigallocatechin gallate, have been used to augment the action of traditional antibiotics that target the cell wall. Considering the expanding role played by cyclic dinucleotides in bacteria, we investigated whether the action of polyphenols on bacteria could be due in part to modulation of c-di-AMP signaling. Out of 14 tested polyphenols, tannic acid (TA), theaflavin-3′-gallate (TF2B) and theaflavin-3,3′-digallate (TF3) exhibited inhibitory effects on B. subtilis c-di-AMP synthase, DisA. TF2B and TF3 specifically inhibited DisA but not YybT (a PDE) whilst TA was more promiscuous and inhibited both DisA and YybT.
Late hemorrhagic pseudoseptic arthritis encountered during total knee arthroplasty due to hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and affects approximately one-third of people in the United Sates aged 65 years and older. Since 2013, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has not been able to recommended using hyaluronic acid for patients with symptomatic OA of the knee. Subsequent publications have also cautioned against the use of viscosupplementation based on lack of efficacy and the potential for harm. We present a case of late hemorrhagic pseudoseptic arthritis encountered during TKA due to hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation. Our triad of findings includes (1) acute and chronic inflammatory cells on frozen section, (2) synovitis with hemosiderin deposition, and (3) blackened cartilage with iron deposition on permanent histopathology. Our case is unique in that it shows a previously undescribed late complication of viscosupplementation.
Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests

Increased forest fire activity across the western continental United States (US) in recent decades has likely been enabled by a number of factors, including the legacy of fire suppression and human settlement, natural climate variability, and human-caused climate change. We use modeled climate projections to estimate the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed increases in eight fuel aridity metrics and forest fire area across the western United States. Anthropogenic increases in temperature and vapor pressure deficit significantly enhanced fuel aridity across western US forests over the past several decades and, during 2000–2015, contributed to 75% more forested area experiencing high (>1 σ) fire-season fuel aridity and an average of nine additional days per year of high fire potential. Anthropogenic climate change accounted for ∼55% of observed increases in fuel aridity from 1979 to 2015 across western US forests, highlighting both anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability as important contributors to increased wildfire potential in recent decades. We estimate that human-caused climate change contributed to an additional 4.2 million ha of forest fire area during 1984–2015, nearly doubling the forest fire area expected in its absence. Natural climate variability will continue to alternate between modulating and compounding anthropogenic increases in fuel aridity, but anthropogenic climate change has emerged as a driver of increased forest fire activity and should continue to do so while fuels are not limiting.
Review: Democracy disfigured: opinion, truth and the people, by Nadia Urbinati, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2014, 307 pp., US$39.95 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-674-725133

ReviewDavid RagazzoniMy contribution to this Symposium on Nadia Urbinati’s Democracy Disfigured consists of three main sections.In the first section, I situate the book within the intellectual traj...
The Relationship between Bone Mineral Density and Cardiovascular Function in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy: A Retrospective Cohort Study (P5.080)

Objective: The objective of this retrospective cohort study is to examine the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and cardiovascular health in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Background: DMD is a genetic disorder, affecting boys that cause progressive muscle weakness. Cardiac dysfunction is a frequent cause of death in DMD. The long-term use of oral corticosteroids to delay the progression of muscle weakness in DMD is complicated by poor bone health. Epidemiological studies have suggested a biological link between the loss of BMD and cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular events. Whether an association between low BMD and cardiac dysfunction occurs in DMD boys has not yet been studied. Methods: Data on DMD patients was collected retrospectively from patient records dated 2010 2014 at Children9s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Whole body BMD was measured using DEXA scan and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured using echocardiogram. Linear regression was used to evaluate the relationship between BMD and LVEF. Results: This analysis included 32 boys with DMD who had BMD baseline measurements at a mean age of 11±3 (SD) years with the worst LVEF measured a mean 23.7±21.8 (SD) months after baseline. The final adjusted linear regression of the relationship between baseline BMD Z-score and worst LVEF was not statistically significant (R2=0.1460, s=0.41, p-value=0.6455). Conclusions: In this cohort of boys with DMD, BMD was not associated with LVEF dysfunction up to 79 months later. Future research with more longitudinal follow-up is suggested. Disclosure: Dr. Kervin has nothing to disclose. Dr. Thangarajh has nothing to disclose.
Proinflammatory Cytokine Environments Can Drive Interleukin-17 Overexpression by γ/δ T Cells in Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective. Systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) is speculated to follow a biphasic course with an initial systemic disease phase driven by innate immune mechanisms and interleukin (IL)-1β as a key cytokine, while a second chronic arthritic phase may be dominated by adaptive immunity and cytokines such as IL-17A. Although a recent mouse model points to a critical role of IL-17 expressing γδT cells in disease pathology, in human patients both the prevalence of IL-17 as well as the role of producing cells are still unclear. Methods. SJIA patients' and control serum samples were analyzed for IL-17A and related cytokine levels, while whole blood samples were studied for cellular IL-17 and IFNγ expression. Isolated sJIA and healthy control CD4+ and γδT cells were assayed for cytokine secretion in different culture systems. Results. IL-17A was prevalent in active sJIA serum while both ex vivo as well as in vitro experiments revealed γδT cells to over-express this cytokine. This was not seen with CD4+ T cells, which, on the contrary, expressed strikingly low levels of IFNγ. Therapeutic IL-1 blockade was associated with partial normalization of both cytokine expression phenotypes. Further, culturing healthy donor γδT cells in sJIA patients' serum or IL-1β, IL-18 and S100A12-spiked medium induced IL-17 over-expression similar to observations on patients' cells. Conclusions. A sJIA cytokine environment may prime particularly γδT cells for IL-17A over-expression. Thus, our observations in sJIA patients strongly support a pathophysiological role of these cells as proposed by the recent murine model. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Debt, Debt Relief, and Growth: A Bargaining Approach

This model predicts that without cooperative infrastructure agreements between countries, there will be underinvestment in those forms of infrastructure in which the investments will have spillover effects to other countries. For a relatively small country, for example, there would tend to be more underinvestment in railroad and highway infrastructure to neighboring countries than there would be in airport and harbor infrastructure (carrying goods to the whole world). Bond examines whether trade liberalization should create a greater incentive for countries to invest in transportation infrastructure. He pays special attention to the case of preferential trade liberalization between neighboring countries, where investments in roads or railroads are specific to the partner country and will thus have spillover effects. The existence of spillovers will lead to gains from cooperative agreements about investment levels. Bond shows that in a small country the incentive to invest in infrastructure depends on the level of the tariff when demand is linear. If protection is in the form of a quota, on the other hand, trade liberalization will increase the optimal infrastructure investment. He shows that in a two-country model with spillovers between countries, the cooperative equilibrium may involve either more or less investment than the noncooperative equilibrium, depending on the pattern of trade between the two countries and the degree of substitutability between investments in the two countries. For a relatively small country, for example, there would be more underinvestment in railroad and highway infrastructure to neighboring countries than there would be in airport and harbor infrastructure. The first type of investment is specific to certain markets and is likely to affect the relative price of goods in those markets. The second type of investment, on the other hand, will send goods to world markets generally, where prices are likely to be relatively unaffected by the investments. Bond also examines the desirability of linking regional trade and infrastructure agreements. The prediction generated by his model is that in the absence of cooperative agreements between countries, there will be underinvestment in those forms of transportation in which the investments will have spillover effects to other countries. Bond identifies two forms of gains from infrastructure agreements: - Internalizing the terms-of-trade effects and thus avoiding the inefficient investment levels that arise in noncooperative choices of investment levels. - Internalizing the effects of the infrastructure investment in the tariff negotiation process, in cases where countries cannot commit to future tariff rates. This paper - a product of the Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to understand regionalism and development.
Determination of an Optimum Backcalculation Cross Section for Unconventional Pavement Profiles

The validity of backcalculation results partly depends on the pavement cross section used in the procedure. However, the development of a backcalculation cross section is challenging, particularly for an unconventional pavement (subgrade stiffer than base). The unconventional stiffness profile poses challenges to backcalculation, including compensating layer effects. This study presents a systematic investigation to determine an optimum backcalculation cross section for seven unconventional pavements at the National Center for Asphalt Technology pavement test track. Apart from the unconventional stiffness profile, the granular materials had different stress sensitivities: the subgrade was stress independent, whereas the aggregate base material exhibited some stress sensitivity. Falling weight deflectometer testing provided 2,268 deflections for backcalculation, which was executed with Evercalc 5.0, and 126 deflection tests on embedded gauges for forward calculation, which was accomplished with WESLEA 3.0....
Risk Factors for Preoperative Seizures and Loss of Seizure Control in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Metastatic Brain Tumors

Objective Metastatic brain tumors are the most common brain tumors in adults. Patients with metastatic brain tumors have poor prognoses with median survival of 6–12 months. Seizures are a major presenting symptom and cause of morbidity and mortality. In this article, risk factors for the onset of preoperative seizures and postoperative seizure control are examined. Methods Adult patients who underwent resection of one or more brain metastases at a single institution between 1998 and 2011 were reviewed retrospectively. Results Of 565 patients, 114 (20.2%) patients presented with seizures. Factors independently associated with preoperative seizures were preoperative headaches ( P = 0.044), cognitive deficits ( P = 0.031), more than 2 intracranial metastatic tumors ( P = 0.013), temporal lobe location ( P = 0.031), occipital lobe location ( P = 0.010), and bone involvement by tumor ( P = 0.029). Factors independently associated with loss of seizure control after surgical resection were preoperative seizures ( P = 0.001), temporal lobe location ( P = 0.037), lack of postoperative chemotherapy ( P = 0.010), subtotal resection of tumor ( P = 0.022), and local recurrence ( P = 0.027). At last follow-up, the majority of patients (93.8%) were seizure-free. Thirty patients (5.30%) in total had loss of seizure control, and only 8 patients (1.41%) who did not have preoperative seizures presented with new-onset seizures after surgical resection of their metastases. Conclusions The brain is a common site for metastases from numerous primary cancers, such as breast and lung. The identification of factors associated with onset of preoperative seizures as well as seizure control postoperatively could aid management strategies for patients with metastatic brain tumors. Patients with preoperative seizures who underwent resection tended to have good seizure control after surgery.
Fabricating ordered 2-D nano-structured arrays using nanosphere lithography

Recent advances in the use of plasmonic metamaterials to improve absorption of light in thin-film solar photovoltaic devices has created a demand for a scalable method of patterning large areas with metal nanostructures deposited in an ordered array. This article describes two methods of fabricating ordered 2D nanosphere colloidal films: spin coating and interface coating. The two methods are compared and parameter optimization discussed. The study reveals that: •For smaller nanosphere sizes, spin coating is more favorable, while for larger nanospheres, the angled interface coating provides more coverage and uniformity.•A surfactant-free approach for interface coating is developed to fabricate zero-contamination colloidal films.•Each of the methods reaches an overall coverage of more than 90% and can be used for nanosphere lithography to form plasmonic metamaterials.
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Ebola Crisis: A Mindfulness Perspective

This paper utilizes an organizational mindfulness perspective to analyze the series of events that led to the misdiagnosis of the first Ebola case in the U.S. in 2014 and to the transmission of the...
1993 New Car Data

The 93CARS dataset contains information on 93 new cars for the 1993 model year. Measures given include price, mpg ratings, engine size, body size, and indicators of features. The 26 variables in th...
Exploring sport participants’ event and destination choices

This study explored the relationship between destination and event elements and an individual’s motivation to travel for sport events. Investigators surveyed participants who were planning to trave...
Lobular capillary hemangioma of the mandible: A case report

Lobular capillary hemangiomas are acquired benign vascular neoplasms which typically affect the skin and mucous membranes. While these lesions commonly involve the head and neck, particularly the oral cavity, there are no reports in the literature of lobular capillary hemangioma arising from the mandible. The diagnosis of such a rare entity can therefore be challenging, especially as it may mimic more aggressive lesions, including malignancy. We present a rare case of an 8-year-old male with a lobular capillary hemangioma of the mandible, highlighting its imaging features and discussing the differential diagnosis of primary mandibular lesions in the pediatric population.
The Health Benefits of the Bowman-Birk Inhibitor

There have been numerous reviews on the beneficial effects and health benefits of the soybean protease inhibitor known as the Bowman-Birk Inhibitor (BBI) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. The early in vitro studies were so promising that in vivo studies were performed at a very early stage of BBI development. The results of animal carcinogenicity studies were sufficiently promising that permission to perform BBI human trials was sought. It was planned that human trials using BBI would be performed with BBI Concentrate (BBIC), a soybean extract enriched in BBI. BBIC achieved Investigational New Drug (IND) Status with the FDA in 1992, and human trials began at that time. There have been six INDs involving BBI human trial work for the following endpoints: cancer prevention (regression of a pre-malignant lesion known as oral leukoplakia), treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer detection and treatment (with measurements of prostate specific antigen levels and prostate volume, etc.), treatment of ulcerative colitis, gingivitis, or esophagitis (and/or alleviation of adverse side effects of lung cancer treatment), as described elsewhere [15]. There are numerous publications on the results from these trial areas [16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]. In this “expert opinion”, the current status of BBI experimentation and human trials will be discussed.
Approximation of singular concentration in compressible flows

Publisher Summary This chapter proposes the use of numerical pressure-like addition to illustrate the formation of the density concentration in compressible flows. Shock waves are one of the most fundamental non-linear waves in nature and arise in supersonic/transonic flows or from a very sudden release of chemical, nuclear, electrical, radiation, or mechanical energy in a limited space. The basic equations governing the dynamics of shocks are the compressible Euler equations, consisting of conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy. It shows that, for the transport equations, solutions cannot be expected to be of bounded variation. In fact, the δ-shocks and vacuum states occur in its Riemann solutions. Since the two eigenvalues of the one-dimensional transport equations coincide, the occurrence of δ-shocks and vacuum states can be regarded as a result of resonance between the two characteristic fields. The δ-shock is characterized by the location, propagation speed and the weight that represents the mass of concentrated particles.
‘Giving back’ to one’s country following an international higher education scholarship: comparing in-country and expatriate alumni perceptions of engagement in social and economic change in Moldova

This qualitative study explores how graduates of Western higher education view their contributions to their home country’s social and economic development by comparing groups of international schol...
Fibrous, Fibrohistiocytic, and Myofibroblastic Tumors of Intermediate Malignancy

Fibrous, fibrohistiocytic, and myofibroblastic tumors of intermediate malignancy comprise a group of lesions that has a relatively high risk of local recurrence, but a limited risk of metastasis. Most of these tumors present in young adults as superficial masses. Members of this group include dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans and its numerous variants, plexiform fibrohistiocytic tumor, angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma, giant cell tumor of soft tissue, and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.
Platform Variability in Edge-Cloud Vision Systems

Modern edge devices such as smartphones, tablets, smart glasses, VR and AR headsets have gotten more capable with high-resolution displays, powerful CPU/GPUs, multiple sensing modalities and multiple connectivity options. These platform capabilities are enabling complex sensing applications that integrate visual, inertial, and other sensing modalities in real-time to enable applications such as indoor navigation, object recognition, face recognition, activity recognition, and others. Typically, such applications are computationally-intensive and require execution of complex computer vision pipelines for effective execution. While edge devices are getting more powerful, it is still challenging to run such computationally intense applications exclusively on the edge. To address this challenge, several solutions propose splitting the computing between the cloud and the edge. However, these solutions are typically tested for a few seconds/minutes. Our observation is that this ignores platform constraints when multiple apps are running on the same edge device and/or long-term operation, resulting in platform variability such as voltage/frequency scaling, shutting down of CPU cores, etc. all of which affect the application performance. We build an edge-cloud vision system and use it to demonstrate this concern through experiments. Our proposal is that future edge-cloud systems need to explicitly test for platform variation due to long-term operation in order to demonstrate feasibility.
Adenosine and hyaluronan promote lung fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension in combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema.

Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) is a syndrome that predominantly affects male smokers or ex-smokers and it has a mortality rate of 55% and a median survival of 5 years. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a highly fatal complication of CPFE. Despite this dismal prognosis, no curative therapies exist for patients with CPFE outside of lung transplantation and no therapies are recommended to treat PH. This highlights the need to develop novel treatment approaches for CPFE. Studies from our group have demonstrated that adenosine and its receptor, ADORA2B, are elevated in chronic lung diseases. Activation of ADORA2B leads to elevated levels of hyaluronan synthases and increased hyaluronan, a glycosaminoglycan which contributes to chronic lung injury. We hypothesize that ADORA2B and hyaluronan contribute to CPFE. Using isolated CPFE lung tissue, we characterized expression levels of ADORA2B and hyaluronan synthases (HAS). Next using a unique model of experimental lung injury that replicates features of CPFE, namely airspace enlargement, PH and fibrotic deposition, we investigated whether 4MU, a hyaluronan synthase inhibitor, was able to inhibit features of CPFE. Increased protein levels of ADORA2B and HAS3 were detected in CPFE and in our experimental model of CPFE. Treatment with 4MU was able to attenuate PH and fibrosis but not airspace enlargement. This was accompanied by a reduction of HAS3-positive macrophages. We have generated pre-clinical data demonstrating the capacity of 4MU, a FDA-approved drug, to attenuate features of CPFE in an experimental model of chronic lung injury.
38) Early detection of clinically relevant sepsis in children

Background: Early identification of severe sepsis in children in order to administer goal-directed therapy remains a challenge. We have initiated a real-time EMR-integrated screening algorithm, called e-ASSIST, for children ages 6-12 at risk for clinically relevant sepsis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a newer class of potential biomarkers …
Network-based multi-task learning models for biomarker selection and cancer outcome prediction

Motivation Detecting cancer gene expression and transcriptome changes with mRNA-sequencing or array-based data are important for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and cellular events during cancer progression. In previous studies, the differentially expressed genes were detected across patients in one cancer type. These studies ignored the role of mRNA expression changes in driving tumorigenic mechanisms that are either universal or specific in different tumor types. To address the problem, we introduce two network-based multi-task learning frameworks, NetML and NetSML, to discover common differentially expressed genes shared across different cancer types as well as differentially expressed genes specific to each cancer type. The proposed frameworks consider the common latent gene co-expression modules and gene-sample biclusters underlying the multiple cancer datasets to learn the knowledge crossing different tumor types. Results Large-scale experiments on simulations and real cancer high-throughput datasets validate that the proposed network-based multi-task learning frameworks perform better sample classification compared with the models without the knowledge sharing across different cancer types. The common and cancer-specific molecular signatures detected by multi-task learning frameworks on The Cancer Genome Atlas ovarian, breast and prostate cancer datasets are correlated with the known marker genes and enriched in cancer-relevant Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathways and gene ontology terms. Availability and implementation Source code is available at: https://github.com/compbiolabucf/NetML. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Track-Based Cyclone Maximum Wind Retrievals Using the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) Mission Full DDMs

Cyclone maximum wind retrievals are demonstrated using tracks of full delay-Doppler map (DDM) measurements of the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation. The method is based on the production of a library of simulated DDMs for a synthetic storm model, as the parameters of the synthetic storm are varied. A matched filter approach between normalized simulated and measured DDMs is then applied to retrieve storm parameters. Because the method uses normalized DDMs in the retrieval, it is insensitive to the absolute power calibration of the DDM and instead relies on the DDM shape. Results from the method are shown for CYGNSS full DDM overpasses of Hurricane Irma as a case study. The maximum wind speed estimates obtained were associated with a retrieval root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 6.89 m/s and an unbiased RMSE 5.20 m/s with a mean difference of 4.52 m/s compared to reported National Hurricane Center Best Track forecasts.
Beyond survival: strategies and stories from the transformative justice movement

Abolition has been described as both inciting ‘the founding of a new society’ (Harney & Moten, 2013, p. 42) and ‘promising a heaven-on-earth that will never come to pass’ (Lancaster, 2017). In the ...
Bayesian modeling of the mind: From norms to neurons

Bayesian decision theory is a mathematical framework that models reasoning and decision-making under uncertain conditions. The past few decades have witnessed an explosion of Bayesian modeling within cognitive science. Bayesian models are explanatorily successful for an array of psychological domains. This article gives an opinionated survey of foundational issues raised by Bayesian cognitive science, focusing primarily on Bayesian modeling of perception and motor control. Issues discussed include the normative basis of Bayesian decision theory; explanatory achievements of Bayesian cognitive science; intractability of Bayesian computation; realist versus instrumentalist interpretation of Bayesian models; and neural implementation of Bayesian inference. This article is categorized under: Philosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science.
Litigating Inequitable Conduct after Therasense, Exerge, and the AIA: Lessons for Litigants, Options for Owners

In April 2010, the Federal Circuit undertook to reconsider, en banc, the standards governing the judicially-created defense of inequitable conduct. The level of amici participation in the case, Therasense, Inc. v. Becton Dickinson & Co., reflected the importance to the patent and business communities of the issues considered. The United States, companies, intellectual property organizations, bar associations, industry organizations, law professors, practitioners and others weighed in on issues including the definition of materiality, what evidence should (and should not) suffice to establish deceptive intent, and appropriate inequitable conduct remedies.
Assignment of local coordinate systems and methods to calculate tibiotalar and subtalar kinematics: A systematic review

The introduction of biplane fluoroscopy has created the ability to evaluate in vivo motion, enabling six degree-of-freedom measurement of the tibiotalar and subtalar joints. Although the International Society of Biomechanics defines a standard method of assigning local coordinate systems for the ankle joint complex, standards for the tibiotalar and subtalar joints are lacking. The objective of this systematic review was to summarize and appraise the existing literature that (1) defined coordinate systems for the tibia, talus, and/or calcaneus or (2) assigned kinematic definitions for the tibiotalar and/or subtalar joints. A systematic literature search was developed with search results limited to English Language from 2006 through 2020. Articles were screened by two independent reviewers based on title and abstract. Methodological quality was evaluated using a modified assessment tool. Following screening, 52 articles were identified as having met inclusion criteria. Methodological assessment of these articles varied in quality from 61 to 97. Included articles adopted primary methods for defining coordinate systems that included: (1) anatomical coordinate system (ACS) based on individual bone landmarks and/or geometric shapes, (2) orthogonal principal axes, and (3) interactive closest point (ICP) registration. Common methods for calculating kinematics included: (1) joint coordinate system (JCS) to calculate rotation and translation, (2) Cardan/Euler sequences, and (3) inclination and deviation angles for helical angles. The methods each have strengths and weaknesses. This summarized knowledge should provide the basis for the foot and ankle biomechanics community to create an accepted standard for calculating and reporting tibiotalar and subtalar kinematics.
Surviving and Thriving: Understanding and Developing Your Emotional Intelligence: National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education 30th Delphine Hanna Commemorative Lecture 2021

The National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education’s (NAHKE) efforts to connect professionals to share our strategies and passions for success within kinesiology are more valuable than ev...