cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Limits of Inference with Theory: A Review of Wolpin (2013) †

This essay reviews Kenneth I. Wolpin’s (2013) monograph The Limits of Inference without Theory , which arose from lectures he presented at the Cowles Foundation in 2010 in honor of Tjalling Koopmans. While I readily agree with Wolpin’s basic premise that empirical work that eschews the role of economic theory faces unnecessary self-imposed limits relative to empirical work that embraces and tries to test and improve economic theory, it is important to be aware that the use of economic theory is not a panacea. I point out that there are also serious limits to inference with theory: 1) there may be no truly “structural” (policy invariant) parameters, a key assumption underpinning the structural econometric approach that Wolpin and the Cowles Foundation have championed; 2) there is a curse of dimensionality that makes it very difficult for us to elucidate the detailed implications of economic theo ries, which is necessary to empirically implement and test these theories; 3) there is an identification problem that makes it impossible to decide between competing theories without imposing ad hoc auxiliary assumptions (such as parametric functional form assumptions); and 4) there is a problem of multiplicity and indeterminacy of equilibria that limits the predictive empirical content of many economic theories. I conclude that though these are very challenging problems, I agree with Wolpin and the Cowles Foundation that economists have far more to gain by trying to incorporate economic theory into empirical work and test and improve our theories than by rejecting theory and presuming that all interesting economic issues can be answered by well-designed controlled, randomized experiments and assuming that difficult questions of causality and evaluation of alternative hypothetical policies can be resolved by simply allowing the “data to speak for itself.” ( JEL B41, C18)
Weighted generalized beta distribution of the second kind and related distributions

In this paper, a new class of weighted generalized beta distribution of the second kind (WGB2) is presented. The construction makes use of the \conservability approach" which includes the size or length-biased distribution as a special case. The class of WGB2 is used as descriptive models for the distribution of income. The results that are presented generalizes the generalized beta distribution of second kind (GB2). The properties of these distributions including behavior of hazard functions, moments, variance, coecients of variation, skewness and kurtosis are obtained. The moments of other weighted distributions that are related to WGB2 are obtained. Other important properties including entropy (generalized and beta) which are measures of the uncertainty in this class of distributions are derived and studied.
Nonexponential Fluorescence Decay of 7-Azatryptophan Induced in a Peptide Environment

7-Azatryptophan is an alternative to tryptophan as an optical probe of protein structure and dynamics. 7-Azatryptophan is synthetically incorporated into an octapeptide (NAc-Lys-Ala-Cys-Pro-7-azatryptophan-Asn-Cys-Asp-NH2) that mimics the active site of potato chymotrypsin inhibitor II, which is known to be a strong inhibitor of α-chymotrypsin. The synthetic octapeptide retains some of this inhibitory activity. This is the first compound containing the 7-azaindole chromophore to display a nonexponential fluorescence decay (well fit to two exponentials) in water when fluorescence is collected over the entire emission band. The effect of external quenchers on the fluorescence decay is monitored and seen to differ markedly for the two components. These results are discussed in terms of the solvation of the 7-azaindole chromophore itself, which promotes or impedes excited-state tautomerization. The fluorescence quenching of free indole and 7-azaindole are compared. The fluorescence quenching of octapeptides containing both chromophores is also compared. It is the thesis of this article that the nonexponential fluorescence decay of the 7-azatryptophan-containing octapeptide is a consequence of excited-state tautomerization of the 7-azaindole chromophore. This tautomerization is suggested to be promoted by solvent reorganization induced by the peptide backbone or by direct interactions of the 7-azaindole with neighboring amino acid side chains.
Modernité et sorcellerie: Baudelaire lecteur du XVIII E siècle

Whereas the modern world is characterized by the decline of religion and magic in the face of scientific progress and reason, the meaning Baudelaire gives to modernity is that of a magical operation. Without claiming to solve this paradox, the present article aims to elucidate it more thoroughly than has previously been done in comparing Baudelaires aesthetics to his readings of the eighteenth century.
Comparative analysis of ACTH and corticosterone sampling methods in rats

A frequently debated question for studies involving the measurement of stress hormones in rodents is the optimal method for collecting blood with minimal stress to the animal. Some investigators pr...
Enabling Fluid-Structural Strong Thermal Coupling Within a Multi-Physics Environment

We demonstrate use of a Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov solver to enable strong thermal coupling at the interface between a solid body and an external compressible fluid. Our method requires only information typically used in loose coupling based on successive substitution and is implemented within a multi-physics framework. We present results for two external flows over thermally conducting solid bodies obtained using both loose and strong coupling strategies. Performance of the two strategies is compared to elucidate both advantages and caveats associated with strong coupling.
Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion

Abstract Women's underrepresentation in leadership positions has been well documented, but the reasons behind it are not well understood. We carry out a field experiment to test a prominent theory about the source of the gender gap in leadership ambition: women's higher aversion to competitive environments. Using politics as a context for our study, we employ two distinct subject pools – highly politically active individuals and workers from an online labor market. We find that priming individuals to consider the competitive nature of politics has a strong negative effect on women's interest in political office, but not on men's interest, hence significantly increasing the gender gap in leadership ambition.
Secure software attestation for military telesurgical robot systems

Telesurgical robot systems (TRS) are often deployed in unattended environments such as battlefields or rural areas. Therefore, adversaries can easily access the devices, compromise the system, and install their own malware. If the integrity and health of the system software and configuration files are not verified before their usage, the safety and lives of the injured soldiers and patients may be in danger. Many existing software attestation mechanisms depend on the calculation delay to distinguish a correct memory image from a compromised system. We cannot directly apply this technique to transcontinental TRS when we consider the long transmission delay between the verifier and the prover. In this paper, we propose a software attestation mechanism that can distinguish between these two kinds of delay. A secure communication protocol among the verifier, telesurgical robot, and secure token of the remote medical personnel is designed. The safety of the approach is analyzed and its overhead is evaluated.
Alternative techniques for high-resolution spectral estimation of spectrally encoded endoscopy

Spectrally encoded endoscopy (SEE) is a minimally invasive optical imaging modality capable of fast confocal imaging of internal tissue structures. Modern SEE systems use coherent sources to image deep within the tissue and data are processed similar to optical coherence tomography (OCT); however, standard processing of SEE data via the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) leads to degradation of the axial resolution as the bandwidth of the source shrinks, resulting in a well-known trade-off between speed and axial resolution. Recognizing the limitation of FFT as a general spectral estimation algorithm to only take into account samples collected by the detector, in this work we investigate alternative high-resolution spectral estimation algorithms that exploit information such as sparsity and the general region position of the bulk sample to improve the axial resolution of processed SEE data. We validate the performance of these algorithms using bothMATLAB simulations and analysis of experimental results generated from a home-built OCT system to simulate an SEE system with variable scan rates. Our results open a new door towards using non-FFT algorithms to generate higher quality (i.e., higher resolution) SEE images at correspondingly fast scan rates, resulting in systems that are more accurate and more comfortable for patients due to the reduced image time.
mHealth in pediatrics-finding healthcare solutions for the next generation

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have begun to transform the way clinicians deliver healthcare, with goals of greater patient engagement and improved health outcomes. However, the unique needs of pediatric populations are commonly neglected when novel technologies are designed. Constantly changing size and evolving developmental capabilities present a challenge for development of effective mHealth solutions for children. Parents and the greater healthcare community have a greater role in child health, placing demands on new technology to provide connected models of care. This summary provides the landscape of challenges and opportunities presented by the growing population of children who could be optimal candidates for properly tailored mHealth solutions.
Role of Cattle Ranching & Farming in the Economy of the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania

The cattle ranching and farming industry is an important part of the history and economy of Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties in the northern tier of Pennsylvania. The industry creates jobs and compensation for workers throughout the northern tier and influences tax revenues in the region.
Israel's New Government

On 22 January 2013, Israel went to the polls to elect a new government. When new elections were called in early October 2012, after failure to agree on the budget for the 2013 fiscal year, the news...
Concurrent-MAC: Increasing concurrent transmissions in dense wireless LANs

This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of Concurrent-MAC, a MAC protocol for increasing concurrent transmissions and throughput in dense wireless LANs. Based on channel gain measurements and SINR values, sets of concurrent transmitters are identified by the backhaul of APs. A node gaining access to the channel, schedules one of its neighbors for concurrent transmission. Neighbor chosen for concurrent transmission can start transmitting on the channel, immediately after it overhears the privilege given to it for concurrent transmission. Our simulation results show that, in dense wireless LANs, Concurrent-MAC improves network throughput significantly compared to 802.11 DCF.
Technic for complete Pancreatectomy in the rat.

SummaryA technic, giving a high survival rate, for essentially complete removal of the pancreas in rats is described. The use of a low residue diet and standardized pre- and post-operative care appear to be mainly responsible for the high survival rate.
Feedback Adaptive Flow Control of Air Injection in Compressors

This paper presents a new feedback control approach for controlling flow separation in a stator cascade within an axial-flow compressor using an air injection device. The objective is to control the total pressure at the outlet using a feedback adaptive control strategy which comprises a recursive least-square parameter estimation, a nonlinear trajectory planning, and a linear error-correction feedback control using the physics-based Euler equations. A new nonlinear trajectory planning and quasi-steady state feedback control based on the Euler equations have been developed. The advantage of the quasi-steady state feedback control is that it does not need an observer design as in a standard LQR method. A control simulation has demontrated the effectiveness of the flow control strategy.
Model-Invariant Hybrid Computations of Separated Flows for RCA Standard Test Cases

NASA's Revolutionary Computational Aerosciences (RCA) subproject has identified several smooth-body separated flows as standard test cases to emphasize the challenge these flows present for computational methods and their importance to the aerospace community. Results of computations of two of these test cases, the NASA hump and the FAITH experiment, are presented. The computations were performed with the model-invariant hybrid LES-RANS formulation, implemented in the NASA code VULCAN-CFD. The model- invariant formulation employs gradual LES-RANS transitions and compensation for model variation to provide more accurate and efficient hybrid computations. Comparisons revealed that the LES-RANS transitions employed in these computations were sufficiently gradual that the compensating terms were unnecessary. Agreement with experiment was achieved only after reducing the turbulent viscosity to mitigate the effect of numerical dissipation. The stream-wise evolution of peak Reynolds shear stress was employed as a measure of turbulence dynamics in separated flows useful for evaluating computations.
Screening of Inborn Errors of Metabolism in Infants with Infantile Spasms

Objective To study the inborn errors of metabolism in infants with infantile spasms(IS),aiming to provide etiological treatment and symptomatic treatment earlier. Methods Urine samples of 30 patients with IS were collected,and then analyzed by chromatography-mass spectrometry for quantification of amino acids,organic acid,fatty acid,sugars and nucleotides.Simultaneously,urine routine,hepatic function,blood biochemistry,imageology of encephalon and brain stem evoked potential(vision and audition) were exa-mined. Results Abnormality of urine screening of 23 cases were detected with a positive rate of 76.67%,among which there were 4(13.33%) cases of methylmalonic academia and 4(13.33%) cases of ketotic double carboxylic aciduria respectively,3(10.00%) cases of nonketotic double carboxylic aciduria,2(6.67%) cases of phenylketonuria,2(6.67%) cases of glutaric aciduria,2(6.67%) lactaciduria and 2(6.67%) propionic aciduria respectively,1(3.33%) case of pyroglutamic aciduria,1(3.33%) case of 4-hydroxy phenylketonuria,1(3.33%) case of tryptophanuria and 1(3.33%) case of abnormality of metabolism of lactose and galactose respectively.Hypoevolutism or retrogression of intelligence and motor function were found in all 23 cases(100%),among which there were 12 cases of abnormality of encephalic computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging(52.17%),20 cases of abnormality of brain stem evoked potential(86.96%),3 cases of abnormality of hepatic function(13.04%),4 cases of abnormality of blood biochemistry(17.39%) and 3 cases of urine ketobody(+-++)(13.04%). Conclusions Inborn errors of metabolism plays an important role in the pathogenesis of IS.Screening of inborn errors of metabolism in infants with IS should be completed as earlier as possible,which will help to provide early treatment and improve prognosis.
Multicriteria Decision Making With Ordinal/Linguistic Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets For Mobile Apps

We discuss the need for obtaining aggregation operations on ordinal-based intuitionistic fuzzy subsets (OBIFS) in order to enable the use of user-friendly fuzzy multicriteria techniques in the mobile “Apps” based environment. We next formally define these OBIFS and look at some of their properties. We describe the formal definition of aggregation of these sets, which is central to multicriteria decision making. We look at some fundamental types of aggregation in this ordinal intuitionistic environment. Particularly notable is our discussion of a new class of ordinal t-norms and t-conorms called stick-type operators.
50 – Alcohol and Stroke

This chapter describes the relationship of alcohol consumption and incidence of stroke. The relationship of alcohol use with the risk of stroke is described in multiple cohort and retrospective studies to form a ‘J-shaped’ curve with protection at lowest levels and increased risk and higher levels of consumption. This relationship applies in particular to ischemic stroke, which comprises 80% of total stroke. The relationship is not consistent throughout the studies, and is confounded by other health related behaviors, stroke risk factors, and bias in estimation of level of consumption. Moderate alcohol consumption appears to confer protection from ischemic stroke by the virtue of modulating effects on atherosclerosis. This may explain some inconsistency of previous studies, as stroke because this mechanism accounts for a minority of ischemic stroke, especially in the very old, in whom cardiac embolism is a more common mechanism. Alcohol has significant effects on virtually all stroke risk factors, including hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, and coagulopathy. It is also associated with cigarette smoking and lack of attention to health care. Heavy alcohol consumption poses a risk for hemorrhagic stroke, and a special risk exists for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in binge drinking.
High-performance infrared thermal imaging with monolithic silicon focal planes operating at room temperature

This paper describes the nature, operating principles and status of Honeywell's room-temperature infrared imaging focal planes. >
Structure of the LPS O-chain from Fusobacterium nucleatum strain 12230.

Abstract Fusobacterium nucleatum is an anaerobic bacterium found in the human mouth where it causes periodontitis. It was also found in colorectal cancer tissues and is linked with pregnancy complications, including pre-term and still births. Cell surface structures of the bacterium could be implicated in pathogenesis. Here we report the following structure of the lipopolysaccharide O-chain of F. nucleatum strain 12230: -6-α- d -Glc-4-β- d -GlcNHBu3NHBuA-3-β- d -QuiNAc4NABu- where ABu and HBu indicate ( R )-3-aminobutanoyl and ( R )-3-hydroxybutanoyl, respectively; all monosaccharides are in the pyranose form.
Environmental Injustice and Sexual Minority Health Disparities: A National Study of Inequitable Health Risks from Air Pollution among Same-Sex Partners

Air pollution is deleterious to human health, and numerous studies have documented racial and socioeconomic inequities in air pollution exposures. Despite the marginalized status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations, no national studies have examined if they experience inequitable exposures to air pollution. This cross-sectional study investigated inequities in the exposure of same-sex partner households to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in the US. We examined cancer and respiratory risks from HAPs across 71,207 census tracts using National Air Toxics Assessment and US Census data. We calculated population-weighted mean cancer and respiratory risks from HAPs for same-sex male, same-sex female and heterosexual partner households. We used generalized estimating equations (GEEs) to examine multivariate associations between sociodemographics and health risks from HAPs, while focusing on inequities based on the tract composition of same-sex, same-sex male and same-sex female partners. We found that mean cancer and respiratory risks from HAPs for same-sex partners are 12.3% and 23.8% greater, respectively, than for heterosexual partners. GEEs adjusting for racial/ethnic and socioeconomic status, population density, urban location, and geographic clustering show that living in census tracts with high (vs. low) proportions of same-sex partners is associated with significantly greater cancer and respiratory risks from HAPs, and that living in same-sex male partner enclaves is associated with greater risks than living in same-sex female partner enclaves. Results suggest that some health disparities experienced by LGBT populations (e.g. cancer, asthma) may be compounded by environmental exposures. Findings highlight the need to extend the conceptual framework for explaining LGBT health disparities beyond psycho-behavioral mechanisms translating social stress into illness to include environmental mechanisms. Because psycho-behavioral and environmental factors may together exacerbate health disparities, we call for a shift toward interdisciplinary research on LGBT health that takes into account cumulative risks, including the role of environmental exposures.
Digital Media, Participatory Politics, and Positive Youth Development

Research on the social implications of adolescent technology use often focuses on identifying and preventing risk. However, adolescence is also a time of rapidly expanding capacities, expectations of autonomy, and identity exploration. In this article, we highlight findings from research in the field of youth civic development, which point to the importance of youth civic engagement during adolescence for later adult civic engagement as well as for promoting positive developmental outcomes. Researchers suggest that certain forms of Internet use (such as information seeking, social network site use, media production, and participation in online communities) promote civic engagement and that digital tools play an important role in youth empowerment efforts. In this article, we suggest a need for greater attention to efforts to promote digital media competencies among adolescents and for greater coordination of research on adolescent risk and adolescent autonomy and empowerment related to Internet use.
Palatability of an introduced seaweed does not differ between native and non-native populations

Generalist consumers potentially limit introduced prey populations when they are willing and able to consume those prey, but because generalist consumers vary in feeding preference, they are not equally effective in resisting invasions. Previous work suggested that during the introduction of the red seaweed Gracilaria vermiculophylla to North American and European shorelines, populations evolved enhanced levels of constitutive and activated prostaglandin-based defenses against Littorina snails and the isopod Idotea balthica. However, when we offered tissue from a total of 700 G. vermiculophylla thalli from 14 native Japanese and 25 non-native sites to a North American population of the generalist amphipod Ampithoe valida, native and non-native populations were consumed at statistically indistinguishable rates. In contrast to previous results using Idotea and Littorina, we found no evidence that mechanical wounding of G. vermiculophylla altered palatability of thalli to A. valida. These results indicate either the strength of anti-herbivore defense varies across the geographic range in the seaweed’s native range in the Northwest Pacific, that the effectiveness of G. vermiculophylla to deter herbivores varies across generalist herbivore species, or both. In either case, we question the conclusion that rapid phenotypic shift in anti-herbivory traits to generalist herbivores occurred in this species. Future studies should focus on whether shifts in anti-herbivore defenses are adaptive by experimentally assessing species-specific herbivore impacts in native and non-native ranges.
Effect of Mg and Ca on the Stability of the MRI Contrast Agent Gd–DTPA in Seawater

Gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd–DTPA) is widely applied as a contrast enhancer in medical MRI. As Gd–DTPA is only minimally captured in wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) or degraded by UV light and other oxidative processes, concentrations in rivers have increased globally by orders of magnitude following its introduction in 1987. The complex also seems impervious to estuarine scavenging and is beginning to emerge in coastal waters, yet it is unknown how its stability is changed by competition for the DTPA ligand from major seawater cations. We performed potentiometric titrations at seawater ionic strength (0.7 M NaClO4) to determine dissociation constants of the five DTPA carboxylic acid groups, as well as stability constants of Mg, Ca, and Gd complexes with the fully deprotonated and single-protonated ligand. These are in general agreement with literature values at low ionic strength and confirm that complexes with Ca are more stable than with Mg. A new finding, that the DTPA complexes of Mg and Ca appear to be hydrolyzed at elevated pH, implies that their coordination in these chelates is less than hexadentate, enabling additional competition with Gd from dinuclear Mg and Ca species. Side-reaction coefficients for trace-metal-free seawater, calculated from our results, suggest that the higher abundance of Mg and Ca may significantly destabilize Gd–DTPA in coastal waters, causing dissociation and release of as much as 15% of the organically complexed Gd from the ligand. This effect could enhance the particle-reactivity and bioavailability of anthropogenic Gd in sensitive estuarine habitats, indicating an urgent need to further study the fate of this contaminant in marine environments.
Dysplasia of the lower genital tract in the female monkey, Macaca fascicularis, the crab-eating macaque from Southeast Asia

Seventy-eight female reproductive tracts from mature Macaca fascicularis caught in the wild were examined histologically for evidence of dysplasia in immature (metaplastic) and native (mature) squamous epithelium of the cervix and vagina. This series contained equal numbers of experimental animals and control and/or breeding colony animals. Five of 39 experimental animals showed dysplasia, whereas six animals with definite and two with questionable dysplasia were found in 39 control and breeding colony animals. On the basis of the foregoing facts, it would appear that these dysplastic lesions were of spontaneous origin and of undetermined etiology. Therefore, those investigators who experiment upon the reproductive tract of this species of monkey should be wary of interpreting any given experiment as "causing" dysplasia. Monkeys of this same species, born and reared in our Primate Center, have been examined for comparable dysplastic lesions of the lower female genital tract. None was found thus far but the study is continuing.
Mechanisms of Heat Conduction in High-Tc Superconductors

Much excitement has been generated by the discovery of high-Tc superconductivity by Bednorz and Muller1 and by the subsequent rapid development culminating in the synthesis of novel superconducting structures with transition temperatures at 90K and beyond.2–4 Suddenly a whole spectrum of perovskite-related structures has become available upon which one can model theoretical ideas spanning from ordinary to exotic forms of superconductivity. At the same time, material scientists and physicists have been working hard to find ways to make these fascinating materials more mechanically amenable and to improve their superconducting properties.
SP15 Novel Microarray Applications: From Exons to Methylation to Lentiviral arrays.

Microarrays were initially developed as a highly parallel assay for the measurement of relative gene expression. Over the last 10 years, the number and scope of applications developed that rely on the basic microarray technology has grown exponentially. Beyond gene expression, applications include genotyping, microRNA detection, methylation analysis, protein arrays, viral arrays, and a growing number of other applications that hold great promise in translational and basic research. This presentation will review some of the newer and exciting array applications, including the use of genotyping arrays for methylation analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis using microarrays (ChIPonChip) and the recently released Exon Array from Affymetrix, which facilitate the analysis of gene-level expression as well as splice variant analysis. In addition to the review of the above technologies, experimental data will be presented showing the use of microarray technologies to produce lentiviral-infected cell microarrays for parallel as well as combinatorial screens for loss-of-function studies in mammalian cells. Building on published work from the Sabatini lab, standard microarray equipment and methodology can be used to generate high-throughput functional screens for the analysis of gene knockdown in mammalian cells. Possibilities of both parallel and combinatorial assays will be discussed, along with the use of inducible constructs and simultaneous expression of multiple RNAi molecules.
Discussion of the β-Decay Theory

A method is developed which allows one to calculate, according to the Fermi treatment, the energy distribution of the $\ensuremath{\beta}$-electrons for any assumptions on the angular momentum balance. The evaluation of the distribution functions show disagreement with the experimental data for heavy radioactive nuclei. The distribution curves support the criticism of the Fermi treatment given by Beck and Sitte.
The Nerve Growth Factor Proteins of the Mouse Submaxillary Gland

The proteins which elicit nerve growth factor NGF activity have been the object of interest and investigation for more than a decade. The discovery of a factor which stimulates differentiation of certain neurons in embryonic sensory and sympathetic ganglia (Levi-Montalcini, 1966) and its characterization as a protein (Cohen & Levi-Montalcini, 1957) were events of very considerable significance in neurobiology and their consequences are still being exploited. Soon after the protein character of NGF was established it was found that very much more NGF activity could be obtained from the adult male mouse submaxillary gland than from the original tumor material (Cohen, 1960) and the gland became the preferred starting material for further investigation. The original method for isolating NGF from this gland was devised by Cohen (1960). His preparation was optimally active at about 15 ng/ml in the in vitro plasma clot assay and sedimented at 4.3S.
Scaffold-mediated delivery for non-viral mRNA vaccines

mRNA is increasingly being recognized as a promising alternative to pDNA in gene vaccinations. Only recently, owing to the needs of cancer immunotherapies, has the biomaterials/gene delivery community begun to develop new biomaterial strategies for immunomodulation. Here, we report a novel way to use implantable porous scaffolds as a local gene delivery depot to enhance mRNA vaccine immunization in vitro, and in vivo when compared with conventional bolus injections. We first evaluated transfection efficiencies of single-stranded mRNA condensed and charge neutralized with two lipids (Lipofectamine Messenger MAXTM LM-MM and StemfectTM SF) and two cationic polymers (in vivo-jetPEI™, Poly (β-amino ester)) as gene carriers. As SF demonstrated highest in vitro transfection and cell viability, it was selected for subsequent porous polymer scaffold-loading trials. Enhanced in vitro transfection of SF:mRNA nanoparticle-loaded poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) scaffolds was also observed with a DC2.4 cell line. Improved sustained local release and local transgene expression were also demonstrated with SF:mRNA nanoparticle-loaded pHEMA scaffolds in vivo compared with bolus injections. Our results suggest that mRNA polyplex-loaded scaffolds may be a superior alternative to either repeated bolus immunizations or ex vivo transfection cell immunotherapies.
Patterns of utilization and outcome of ovarian conservation for young women with minimal-risk endometrial cancer

Abstract Objective To profile patient characteristics associated with and outcomes of ovarian conservation at the time of hysterectomy in young women with minimal-risk endometrial cancer. Methods A population-based retrospective analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample between 2007 and 2015 was performed. Women aged Results There were nine distinct patterns of patient characteristics identified, and ovarian conservation rates ranged from 11.7% (women aged 40–49 who underwent abdominal hysterectomy at an urban teaching hospital) to 60.5% (non-obese women aged 2 days (relative risk reduction, 16.7%, P Conclusion There is substantial variability in the utilization of ovarian conservation in young women with minimal-risk endometrial cancer based on patient, surgical, and hospital factors. Our study suggests that guidelines for ovarian conservation in this population would be helpful for improving patient selection and rates of ovarian conservation.
Effect of Design Variables and System-Level Constraints on Heat Pipes Heatsink Performance: Part I - Component Materials and Heat Pipe Design Features

In order to investigate the limitations and the theoretical cooling limit of the heat pipe heatsink technology, a parametric study of high-performance heatsinks under different design and in-service constraints was conducted. Although the fluid dynamics and heat transfer of finned heatsinks are well-documented, both experimental and numerical investigations have focused on flowbench-type boundary conditions. Therefore, the impact of surrounding IT equipment, such as upstream electronics, CPU power map, etc., has not been considered for comprehensive design optimization. In the first paper, a computational model of a high-performance heat pipe heatsink has been developed to examine the effect of component material/composition and heat pipe design features on the heatsink performance. Particularly, the computational model was modified to allow different material for each heatsink component and a varied number of embedded heat pipes. Among the heatsink components, the heat pipe composition was found to be the feature with the greatest influence on the heatsink performance. A semi-empirical model to predict the heat pipe effective thermal conductivity was developed, and the relative performance improvement with respect heat pipe conductivity is presented. The effect of the number of heat pipes on the total heatsink thermal resistance was analyzed. A design trade-off in terms of heatsink impedance increase was presented as consistent thermal performance improvement with respect to number of heat pipes was observed.
Making it More Secure: The Technical and Social Challenges of Expanding the Functionality of an Existing HPC Cluster to Meet University and Federal Data Security Requirements

As High Performance Computing and Big Data analytics become more commonplace, we see researchers applying these tools in new areas. Indeed, in the past few years, we've seen the use of HPC in diverse areas such as archeology, public policy, and digital humanities. So it comes as no surprise that many life science researchers are now approaching us to use large scale computation and data analytics on their sensitive data sets, such as de-identified patient or genomics data, for the purposes of scientific inquiry. At UC Berkeley, this has become a pressing issue, as existing faculty need a place to do research on sensitive data. And we knew of at least one instance where it affected the campus' ability to recruit a new faculty member. We had a clear imperative for action!An informal survey informed us that most other institutions built a new dedicated system to support their sensitive data research, including identified and HIPAA data. This paper is a case study of how we met this need by using a methodology to apply our campus cybersecurity framework, with the help of our institution's cybersecurity team, to convert our traditional production HPC cluster, with over 2000 users across 100 research groups, and our virtual machine service offering, to also support this type of research. Our efforts show that it is not only possible, but also that it is also a practical alternative to take this approach instead of building a new environment.The field of information security focuses on defense-in-depth and as yet and offers no turnkey solutions that would prevent security incidents and breaches of data. As a result, the focus of most university and research lab information security groups is on preparing for detection of a breach after the fact and limiting its scope of impact. These realities combine such that to do secure computing in a high performance computing (HPC) cluster or on virtual machines in the Cloud, one must implement technical security controls, and write a host of process and audit documentation, which is both labor-intensive and on-going.The paper describes our work at UC Berkeley to take an existing HPC cluster, with a base level of data security controls and procedures in place, and reconfigure it to meet more secure university and federal requirements, while maintaining the same computing experience and functionality on the system for users who are not computing over sensitive data. In other words, this is a study in configuring a hybrid HPC system for computing over non-sensitive and sensitive data alike, and our work to develop the policy and procedures to meet our information security requirements. It describes in detail the technical as well the educational and partner-building work we did at our institution to make this work a success.
A detrimental role of RelB in mature oligodendrocytes during experimental acute encephalomyelitis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It is firmly established that overactivation of the p65 (RelA) nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcription factor upregulates expression of inflammatory mediators in both immune and non-immune resident CNS cells and promotes inflammation during MS. In contrast to p65, NF-κB family member RelB regulates immune cell development and can limit inflammation. Although RelB expression is induced during inflammation in the CNS, its role in MS remains unknown. To examine the role of RelB in non-immune CNS cells, we generated mice with RelB specifically deleted in astrocytes (RelBΔAST), oligodendrocytes (RelBΔOLIGO), or neural progenitor-derived cells (RelBΔNP). We used experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an accepted mouse model of MS, to assess the effect of RelB deletion on disease outcomes and performed analysis on the histological, cellular, and molecular level. Despite being a negative regulator of inflammation, conditional knockout of RelB in non-immune resident CNS cells surprisingly decreased the severity of EAE. This protective effect was recapitulated by conditional deletion of RelB in oligodendrocytes but not astrocytes. Deletion of RelB in oligodendrocytes reduced disease severity, promoted survival of mature oligodendrocytes, and correlated with increased activation of p65 NF-κB. These findings suggest that RelB fine tunes inflammation and cell death/survival during EAE. Importantly, our data points out the detrimental role RelB plays in controlling survival of mature oligodendrocytes, which could be explored as a viable option to treat MS in the future.
The effects of rosiglitazone on the neonatal rat cardiomyocyte transcriptome: a temporal analysis.

Aim: The objective was to determine via high-throughput RNA sequencing the temporal effects of rosiglitazone (Avandia®) on the neonatal rat ventricular myocyte transcriptome. Materials & methods: Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) were exposed to rosiglitazone in vitro. Meta analyses utilized temporal comparisons of 0.5 h control versus 0.5 h treatment, 0.5 h treatment versus 24 h treatment and 24 h treatment versus 48 h treatment. Results: Time dependent responses were observed. At 0.5 h, the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway was impacted. At 24 h endoplasmic reticulum activity and protein degradation were altered. At 48 h, oxytocin signaling was perturbed. Conclusion: The effects of rosiglitazone occured early and increased in magnitude over time. A protective molecular response was triggered at 24 h and maintained until 48 h. In parallel, a response that can cause cardiac damage was activated. Our findings suggest that rosiglitazone has deleterious effects.
Effects of low-temperature treatment on the properties of commercial preceramic polymers

Abstract Low-temperature, pre-gelation, thermal treatment of ceramic precursors is a common preliminary step in the polymer infiltration-and-pyrolysis-based processing of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). A variety of polymer properties can be modified using this approach, the most important being molecular weight distribution, viscoelastic state, solidification behavior, and ceramic yield. In this work, the effects of thermal treatment on the processing properties of two commercial preceramic polymers, StarPCS™ SMP-10 and KiON Ceraset® PSZ-20, have been investigated. It was determined that the volatilization, molecular chain scission, and polymerization phenomena occurring during treatment, lead to increased viscosity, higher molecular weight, lower temperature of solidification onset, and improved ceramic yield. A wide range of tailorable viscoelastic states was obtained, and allowed the formation of continuous polymer filaments. Understanding the nature and effect of these modifications on the processing state can improve the current state of CMC processing, and open novel processing routes for constituent development.
Inadequate Antibiotic Therapy Results in Higher Recurrence Rate after Drainage of Complicated Peri-Rectal Abscess.

Background: Recommended treatment for complicated peri-rectal abscess is incision and drainage (I&D) in conjunction with antibiotics. However, there is no standard antibiotic regimen for post-opera...
Evaluation of left atrial function serial change after circumferential pulmonary vein ablation for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation by tissue Doppler echocardiography

Objective To evaluate left atrial function serial change after circumferential pulmonary vein ablation(CPVA)for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation using tissue Doppler echocardiography.Methods One hundred and eight patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation underwent CPVA guided by CARTO.Tissue Doppler imaging and conventional echocardiography were underwent 48 h before CPVA,48 h,1 month,3 month and 6 month after CPVA.Results One hundred and six patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation finished CPVA successfully.Compared tO 48 h pre-CPVA,left atrial diameter and volume decreased 48 h,1 month,3 month,6 month after CPVA,significant change were found at 3 month,6 month after CPVA(P＜0.05).Left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(LVEDD),left ventricular end-systolic diameter(LVESD).left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),mitral flow E revealed no significant change(P＞0.05).Mitral flow A decreased significantly 48 h after CPVA(P＜0.05),restored significantly after 3 month.Tissue Doppler parameter S'and E'revealed no significant change(P＞0.05)through the period,A'decreased significantly 48 h after CPVA(P＜0.05),restored significantlv after 1 month.Conclusions Left atrial diameter and volume decreased after CPVA.Left atrial active contraction function decreased shortly after CPVA(LA stunning),and restored progressively. Key words: Echocardiography; Atrial fibrillation; Catheter ablation; Atrial function,left
Iranian Revolution: Four Paradigmatic Views

Any explanation of the Iranian revolution is based on a worldview. The premise of this book is that any worldview can be associated with one of the four broad paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. This chapter takes the case of the Iranian revolution and discusses it from the four different viewpoints. It emphasizes that the four views expressed are equally scientific and informative; they look at the phenomenon from their certain paradigmatic viewpoint; and together they provide a more balanced and a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under consideration. In this chapter, Sect. 1, 2, 3, and 4 present the four perspectives, and Sect. 5 concludes the presentation.
A hole-transport material that also passivates perovskite surface defects for solar cells with improved efficiency and stability

While typical perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with doped Spiro-OMeTAD as a hole transport material (HTM) have shown rapid increase in their power-conversion efficiencies (PCEs), their poor stability remains a big concern as the dopants and additives used with Spiro-OMeTAD have a strong tendency to diffuse into and degrade the perovskite active layer under normal operating conditions. Aiming to push forward the development of PSCs, many dopant-free small-molecular HTMs have been reported based on energetic considerations for charge transfer and criteria for charge transport. However, the PCEs of the state-of-the-art PSCs with dopant-free small-molecular HTMs are still inferior to those using doped Spiro-OMeTAD, and little attention has been paid to the interactions between the HTM and perovskite absorber in PSCs. Here, we report a facile design concept to functionalize HTMs so that they can passivate perovskite surface defects and enable perovskite active layers with lower density of surface trap states and more efficient charge transfer to the hole transport layer. As a consequence, perovskite solar cells with a functionalized HTM exhibit a champion PCE of 22.4%, the highest value for PSCs using dopant-free small molecular HTMs to date, and substantively improved operational stability under continuous illumination. With a T80 of (1617 ± 7) h for encapsulated cells tested at 30 °C in air, the PSCs containing the functionalized HTM are among the most stable PSCs using dopant-free small-molecular HTMs. The effectiveness of our strategy is demonstrated in PSCs comprising both a state-of-the-art MA-free perovskite and MAPbI, a system having more surface defects, and implies the potential generality of our strategy for a broad class of perovskite systems, to further advance highly efficient and stable solar cells.
Automatic Feature Extraction Based on Meta-Learning for Ultrasonic Flaw Classification

Deep Learning based classifiers such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have been successfully used in Ultrasonic non-destructive testing applications. For example, CNN performs well for flaw classification when trained and tested with a fixed number of flaw types. However, CNN architectures built for the purpose of classification of ultrasonic flaws need to redesigned or retrained in order for the new flaw types to be recognized by CNN. Meta Learning provides a solution to this issue as it can generalize feature extraction and compare the features with the template features of respective flaw type. In this work, we introduce a new Siamese Network based encoder and classifier architecture to generalize feature extraction and ensure robust classification of flaw types. Preliminary results for One-Shot One-Way classification demonstrate an accuracy of above 90%, confirming that Meta Learning can be successfully adopted for Ultrasonic flaw detection tasks.