cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Physico-Chemical Effects on the Scale-Up of Ag Photodeposition on TiO 2 Nanoparticles

We have previously demonstrated that TiO2 nanoparticles can be functionalized by photodeposition with silver or gold particles in the 1–2 nm range presumed to be desirable for catalysis applications. However, the preparation of these samples directly on microscope grids, while conducive to particle size determinations, did not produce sufficient materials for reaction studies. We report here scale-up techniques designed to produce greater quantities of material for testing, while maintaining characteristics that contribute to uniformity in the deposition process. For the scale-up process, an irradiation source with highly uniform intensity is necessary to generate Ag/TiO2 samples with consistent Ag loading. In addition, control of the precursor concentration is also required to produce Ag/TiO2 samples with high Ag loading and narrow Ag size distribution. The optimum conditions for the scale-up process found in this study involved Ag photodeposition from a 5 × 10−3 M AgNO3 solution using a high pressure Hg lamp at 366 nm for 60 s. Under these reaction conditions, the size of Ag particles determined by TEM and HAADF-STEM imaging was within 1–2 nm and the Ag loading was ~3.2 wt%. Achievement of this level of uniformity required control of the uniformity of illumination, as well as of the solution concentration and irradiation conditions. Higher solution concentrations and higher power led to the growth of larger (ca. 10 nm) silver particles. In contrast, the loading and size distribution of the Ag particles photodeposited were remarkably insensitive to the source and morphology of the TiO2 nanoparticles utilized. No Ag peak was resolved in the XRD patterns for Ag/TiO2 samples obtained from the optimized scale-up process, corroborating the size range determination of the Ag nanoparticles. XPS showed that the Ag particles in all cases were metallic Ag.
The Dawn of Digital Light

Digital pictures and computers are now inseparable, so it's surprising how generally unremarked their association was in the beginning. Records reveal that the first digital pictures--the first still pictures, videogames, and computer animations--were made on the earliest computers. Historians have noted this before, but individually without a unifying context. This article shows that the original digital pictures were associated with the original computers in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This fresh perspective on digital pictures establishes a different take on the history of early computers and unifies the history of digital light itself.
Importance of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder to the Primary Care Physician

Sleep disorders and neurodegenerative diseases are commonly encountered in primary care. A common, but underdiagnosed sleep disorder, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD), is highly associated with Parkinson disease and related disorders. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is common. It is estimated to affect 0.5% of the general population and more than 7% of individuals older than 60 years; however, most cases go unrecognized. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder presents as dream enactment, often with patients thrashing, punching, and kicking while they are sleeping. Physicians can quickly assess for the presence of RBD with high sensitivity and specificity by asking patients the question "Have you ever been told that you act out your dreams, for example by punching or flailing your arms in the air or screaming and shouting in your sleep?" Patients with RBD exhibit subtle signs of neurodegenerative disease, such as mild motor slowing, constipation, or changes in sense of smell. These signs and symptoms may predict development of a neurodegenerative disease within 3 years. Ultimately, most patients with RBD develop a neurodegenerative disease, highlighting the importance of serial neurological examinations to assess for the presence of parkinsonism and/or cognitive impairment and prognostic counseling for these patients. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder is treatable with melatonin (3-6 mg before bed) or clonazepam (0.5-1 mg before bed) and may be the most common, reversible cause of sleep-related injury. Thus, it is important to identify patients at risk of RBD in a primary care setting so that bedroom safety can be addressed and treatment may be initiated.
Energy-aware computing for android platforms

Android smartphones and tablets are changing peoples' daily lives. People can now perform tasks on the go that were previously impossible without a laptop or desktop system. The increasingly demanding applications combined with the mobile nature of such systems places heavy emphasis on battery life. Unfortunately, many end users are not satisfied with the battery life of their Android devices. One key challenge developer's face is to understand how their software impacts energy usage. Ideally, a resource within a device should only consume power when needed and otherwise remain inactive. In this survey, we study the aggressive power management techniques underpinning the Android operating system. To aid developer's understanding of application power consumption, we introduce system-wide, function-level power profiling tools and a methodology for energy-efficiency debugging.
Penryn: 45-nm next generation Intel® core™ 2 processor

This paper describes Penryn (codename), Intel–s next generation family of processors implemented in a 45nm High-k metal gate silicon process technology and designed to meet a wide range of power envelopes and market segments. It is a dual-core, 64-bit CPU based on the Core™ microarchitecture with a unified 24-way L2 cache of 6MB. Key new features in Penryn include a Fast Radix- 16 Divider, an SSE4 instruction set, a radically new Power Management state (Deep Power Down) and Enhanced Dynamic Acceleration Technology (EDAT). Active and leakage power reduction techniques are used throughout the design to reduce power consumption while not compromising the scalability requirements. The chip is offered in various package technologies including a MCP version for the Quad-core products.
Layerwise Interweaving Convolutional LSTM

A deep network structure is formed with LSTM layer and convolutional layer interweaves with each other. The Layerwise Interweaving Convolutional LSTM (LIC-LSTM) enhanced the feature extraction ability of LSTM stack and is capable for versatile sequential data modeling. Its unique network structure allows it to extract higher level features with sequential information involved. Experiment results show the model achieves higher accuracy and shoulders lower perplexity on sequential data modeling tasks compared with state of art LSTM models.
Targeting postprandial blood glucose levels reduced hemoglobin A1c levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Source Citation Bastyr EJ 3d, Stuart CA, Brodows RG, et al., for the IOEZ Study Group. Therapy focused on lowering postprandial glucose, not fasting glucose, may be superior for lowering HbA1c. Dia...
Charity for the 'Death Tax': The Impact of Legislation on Charitable Bequests

The national debate over the federal estate tax has caused fear in American charities over the past ten years, a fear that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Since Congress acted in 2001 to repeal the “death tax” for one year, for decedents dying in 2010, charities and individuals have become increasingly concerned about the impact of a repeal on charitable donations. While only a small percentage of charitable gifts come in the form of gifts at death, these few but generous incidents in fact amount to billions of dollars, and are imperative to the operation of our charities. Today, the vast majority of estates are already exempt from the tax. If the estate tax is repealed, or, as widely expected, the exemption simply remains at the current $3.5 million, will those testators exempt from the estate tax in turn exempt charity from their estates? Legal literature has addressed many of the factors that affect whether a testator gives to charity, including tax laws, the economy, the individual decedent’s wealth, the family members the decedent leaves behind, and the financial status of each. This article will focus on one factor that has been, thus far, largely ignored: state laws that impede gifts to charity at death. While true mortmain statutes are rare in the U.S., such impediments do still exist and must be examined in order to fully appreciate the impact on charitable donations. Part I of this article discusses the federal estate tax enacted in 2001 and the potential impact on charities if a repeal is made permanent. Part II traces the history of federal estate tax law and charitable exemptions or deductions and contrasts the federal law with state limitations on charities, especially churches, and testators by examining four types of state statutes that serve as impediments to charitable giving: state laws designed to protect testators from overreaching by charities; state laws designed to protect testators’ families from a testator who is giving away too much; state laws designed to raise revenue from taxing charities; and true mortmain statutes, which limit the amount or value of property a charity can hold. Part III looks at our current laws, beginning with the Revenue Act of 1916, to see how many of these state laws still exist. Part IV concludes the article with a prediction of charitable donations in the future.
Proactive Incast Congestion Control in a Datacenter Serving Web Applications

With the rapid development of web applications in datacenters, network latency becomes more important to user experience. The network latency will be greatly increased by incast congestion, in which a huge number of requests arrive at the front-end server simultaneously. Previous incast problem solutions usually handle the data transmission between the data servers and the front-end server directly, and they are not sufficiently effective in proactively avoiding incast congestion. To further improve the effectiveness, in this paper, we propose a Proactive Incast Congestion Control system (PICC). Since each connection has bandwidth limit, PICC novelly limits the number of data servers concurrently connected to the front-end server to avoid the incast congestion through data placement. Specifically, the front-end server gathers popular data objects (i.e., frequently requested data objects) into as few data servers as possible, but without overloading them. It also re-allocates the data objects that are likely to be concurrently or sequentially requested into the same server. As a result, PICC reduces the number of data servers concurrently connected to the front-end server (which avoids the incast congestion), and also the number of connection establishments (which reduces the network latency). Since the selected data servers tend to have long queues to send out data, to reduce the queuing latency, PICC incorporates a queuing delay reduction algorithm that assigns higher transmission priorities to data objects with smaller sizes and longer queuing times. The experimental results on simulation and a real cluster based on a benchmark show the superior performance of PICC over previous incast congestion problem solutions.
VX-984 is a selective inhibitor of non-homologous end joining, with possible preferential activity in transformed cells.

// Atif J. Khan 1, 2 , Sarah M. Misenko 3 , Aditya Thandoni 2 , Devora Schiff 2 , Sachin R. Jhawar 2 , Samuel F. Bunting 3 and Bruce G. Haffty 2 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10011, USA 2 Department of Radiation Oncology, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA 3 Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA Correspondence to: Atif J. Khan, email: khana7@mskcc.org Keywords: DNA-PK; non-homologous end joining; DNA repair; double-strand break repair; radiation therapy Received: December 05, 2017 Accepted: April 25, 2018 Published: May 25, 2018 ABSTRACT Purpose: DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) can be repaired by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR). We demonstrate the selectivity of VX-984, a DNA-PK inhibitor, using assays not previously reported. Experimental Design: The class switch recombination assay (CSR) in primary B cells was used to measure efficiency of NHEJ. A cellular reporter assay (U2OS EJ-DR) was used to assess the efficiency of HR and NHEJ in cells treated with VX-984. Immunofluorescence assays (IF) evaluated γ-H2AX foci for DSB repair kinetics in human astrocytes and T98G glioma cells. Western blotting was used to evaluate phosphorylation of DNA-PKcs substrates. Results: We found a dose-dependent reduction in CSR efficiency with VX-984, and through the EJ-DR assay, dramatic dose-dependent increases in HR and mNHEJ. Immunofluorescence assays showed an inability of malignant cells to resolve γ-H2AX foci in the presence of VX-984. Radiation-induced phosphorylation of DNA-PK substrates was further reduced by treatment with VX-984. Conclusions: VX-984 efficiently inhibits NHEJ, resulting in compensatory increases in alternative repair pathways, increases DSBs, and appears to affect transformed cells preferentially.
Dissecting income segregation: Impacts of concentrated affluence on segregation of poverty

This article investigates how income inequality shapes residential segregation by income. Using agent-based modeling, it develops a residential preferences model that is capable of generating resul...
Painting the Canvas of the Great Andean Uprising: Recent Research on the Age of Tupac Amaru

This essay reviews the following works: Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between: Murals of the Colonial Andes. By Ananda Cohen Suarez.Austin:University ofTexas Press, 2016. Pp. xi + 304. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477309551. Of Love and Loathing: Marital Life, Strife, and Intimacy in the Colonial Andes, 1750–1825. By Nicholas A. Robins. Lincoln:University ofNebraska Press, 2015. Pp. x + 280. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780803277199. Revolution in the Andes: The Age of Tupac Amaru. By Sergio Serulnikov. Translated by David Frye. Foreword by Charles F. Walker.Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013. Pp. xi + 155. $22.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822354987. The Tupac Amaru Rebellion. By Charles F. Walker.Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press ofHarvardUniversity Press, 2014. Pp. xi + 341. $29.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780674058255.
Understanding thermomechanical failure of athletic textiles via the pendulum skid method

Fiber textiles worn by some athletes and basketball and volleyball players experience higher than usual thermomechanical stresses compared to everyday garments because these athletes slide and dive...
Androgen exposure potentiates formation of intratubular communities and renal abscesses by Escherichia coli

Females across their lifespan and certain male populations are susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTI). The influence of female vs. male sex on UTI is incompletely understood, in part because preclinical modeling has been performed almost exclusively in female mice. Here, we employed established and new mouse models of UTI with uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) to investigate androgen influence on UTI pathogenesis. Susceptibility to UPEC UTI in both male and female hosts was potentiated with 5α-dihydrotestosterone, while males with androgen receptor deficiency and androgenized females treated with the androgen receptor antagonist enzalutamide were protected from severe pyelonephritis. In androgenized females and in males, UPEC formed dense intratubular, biofilm-like communities, some of which were sheltered from infiltrating leukocytes by the tubular epithelium and by peritubular fibrosis. Abscesses were nucleated by small intratubular collections of UPEC first visualized at five days postinfection and briskly expanded over the subsequent 24 hours. Male mice deficient in Toll-like receptor 4, which fail to contain UPEC within abscesses, were susceptible to lethal dissemination. Thus, androgen receptor activation imparts susceptibility to severe upper-tract UTI in both female and male murine hosts. Visualization of intratubular UPEC communities illuminates early renal abscess pathogenesis and the role of abscess formation in preventing dissemination of infection. Additionally, our study suggests that androgen modulation may represent a novel therapeutic route to combat recalcitrant or recurrent UTI in a range of patient populations.
[18F]PEG-Biotin labeled nanoparticles for tracking drug delivery and tumor therapy

417 Objectives Multi-functional nanoparticles (NPs) are expected to be a useful drug delivery carrier, since they may enter into and distribute through brain tissues to deliver drugs for the treatment of brain tumors or other CNS diseases. The development of noninvasive methods to quantify the distribution of delivery and kinetics of therapy achieved by nanoparticulate delivery systems in the CNS would represent a significant advance. Avidin-modified NPs could be easily conjugated with F-18 labeled biotin to measure the in vivo distribution. Methods N-(4-[18F]fluorobenzyl)propanamido-PEGn-Biotin (e.g., n=4, [18F]NPB4) was prepared via [18F]4-fluorobenzylamine. [18F]NPB4 was mixed with avidin and the resulting product was injected to a superose-12 column to determine conjugation efficiency. It was then conjugated to avidin, or poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles that were surfaced-modified with avidin. Imaging studies were carried out on Focus-220 PET scanner to track the infusion of the labeled products in agarose gel or the living rat brain. Other homologues were also prepared for conjugation and infusion studies. Results [18F]NPB4 was successfully prepared with 27.8±13.9% radiochemical yield and > 98% radiochemical purity (n=7). Conjugation of [18F]NPB4 with avidin or avidin-attached NPs was fast and efficient, giving quantitative yield of labeled NPs after 30 min of incubation in PBS. The distribution of [18F]NPB4 NPs was significantly different from bare [18F]NPB4, and NP images obtained with PET matched well with features of fluorescent microscope images of sectioned tissue. PET imaging data showed that the F-18 labeled NPs can be used to quantitatively track the distribution of NPs in the rat brain. Conclusions F-18 labeled PEG-biotin and its homologues were successfully synthesized and conjugated to avidin-modified NPs for tracking drug delivery into the brain. The application of this imaging methodology is a new avenue to study the delivery and distribution of multifunctional therapeutic NPs for the treatment of brain tumors or other CNS diseases
Torsional Oscillator Study of Thin Helium Films on Hydrogen Substrates

We have made torsional oscillator measurements of thin helium films on a Mylar surface preplated with 2 and 5 layers of H 2 . The minimum 4 He coverage needed for superfluidity, or “inert” layer, n o on both surfaces is found to be 6 μmole/m 2 . This is equivalent to 1/2 of a monolayer at bulk liquid density. The superfluid transition in coverages above n o is similar to that found on bare Mylar, exhibiting the standard Kosterlitz-Thouless characteristics. We find no anomaly in ρ s or the dissipation in the film that can be identified with a second transition reported in recent third sound experiments.
Unifying Themes in Moral Reasoning on Socioscientific Issues and Discourse

It is clear from the research reviewed in this volume that current reforms in science education are calling for increased curricular emphasis on the nature of science (NOS) (Abd-El-Khalick, Bell & Lederman, 1998; Abd-El-Khalick & Lederman (2000) and scientific inquiry (NRC, 2000). In particular, students are expected to develop an understanding of the epistemology of scientific knowledge as well as the processes/methods used to develop such knowledge. Among other reform imperatives, ensuring that students gain an understanding of science as a “way of knowing” is believed to be absolutely necessary if students are to make informed decisions regarding the scientifically-based personal and societal issues with which they are increasingly confronted in a modern, technologically-advanced society. At the present time, ozone depletion, recycling, genetic engineering, alternative forms of energy and other environmental and health issues are part of the daily buzz. Successful advertising campaigns have urged consumers to choose “environmentally-friendly” products. Even something as fundamental as the food we eat has become a socioscientific issue, as an almost bewildering array of competing diet books claims support from the most up-to-date scientific findings. Society believes that scientific progress comes with consequences and requires hard decisions, as reflected in television dramas highlighting advances in medical technology by spotlighting ethical questions (Who deserves treatment? Should this little girl be saved?) The media melodrama merely amplifies a societal concern for pressing socioscientific questions: When does life begin? Should research for human benefit be conducted at any cost on other animals? How should we allocate scarce
Assembled but unrehearsed: corporate food power and the ‘dance’ of supply chain sustainability

In recent years, many of the companies collectively known as ‘Big Food’ have undertaken efforts to assess and improve agricultural sustainability, both within their own supply chains and as members...
The Use of 3-Dimensional, Virtual Reality Models for Surgical Planning of Robotic Partial Nephrectomy.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether 3-dimensional virtual reality models of patient-specific anatomy improve outcomes in patients undergoing robotic partial nephrectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans for 30 patients undergoing robotic partial nephrectomy were converted to 3-dimensional virtual reality models prior to the patient's operation. These models were then viewed on the surgeon's mobile phone pre- and intraoperatively using a Google Cardboard headset to assist in surgical planning. This group was compared to 30 patients who previously underwent robotic partial nephrectomy. We compared operative time, clamp time, estimated blood loss, hospital stay, complications, and margin status between these groups. We used forward selecting multivariate regression models to create the final model controlling for significant demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS When controlling for case complexity and surgeon, patients with 3-dimensional, virtual reality-assisted surgical planning had significantly lower operative time (141 minutes vs 201 minutes, P < .0001), clamp time (13.2 minutes vs 17.4 minutes, P = .0274), and estimated blood loss (134 cc vs 259 cc, P = .0233). Patients without 3-dimensional, virtual reality-assisted surgical planning were more likely to have a hospital stay of greater than 2 days (odds ratio 5.1, 95% confidence interval 1.0, 26.4). There were no complications or positive margins noted in the VR group. CONCLUSION Use of a 3-dimensional, virtual reality model when performing robotic partial nephrectomy improves key surgical outcome parameters.
Option Implied Risk Aversion and Elasticity of Intertemporal Substitution

We estimate both a time series of risk aversion and elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS) using option prices on the S&P 500, returns on the index, and the Epstein-Zin utility function. This is the first study to simultaneously estimate both a time series of risk aversion and EIS coefficients. Unlike many previous option implied risk aversion studies, we find positive and reasonable estimates of risk aversion. Further, we show that unexpected changes in risk aversion and EIS are both significantly related to changes in the market risk premium and with changes in the aggregate consumption-to-wealth ratio. Unanticipated changes in EIS are significantly related to changes in interest rates and market volatility. Our findings show the importance of disentangling the representative agent's risk aversion and EIS and the importance of modeling a changing representative agent.
Life cycle analysis of power cycle configurations in bioenergy with carbon capture and storage

Abstract Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) has been proposed as a promising negative emission technology even though questions remain about the most effective ways to deploy it at large scale. Here, a comparative life cycle analysis of power plant configurations was conducted to understand the effect of three design parameters: (1) centralized versus decentralized siting and size of power plants; (2) steam versus supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) working fluids in the turbine; and (3) water versus air cooling of the power cycle. These parameters can be combined to create pathways for delivering BECCS that would leverage the distributed nature of biomass generation in the landscape and the potential to use sCO 2 power cycles, which have a higher efficiency, smaller footprint, and greater potential for dry cooling than steam turbines. The performance of the pathways was assessed in terms of energy use, global warming potential, land use, and water use. The results suggest that centralized plants tend to have lower environmental impacts than decentralized plants because the higher efficiencies of larger plants offset the lower environmental burdens of having to transport the biomass. A sCO 2 power plant with tower cooling offered the best solution with respect to energy use, land use, and water use. Model results suggest that the least efficient power plant stored the most CO 2 . To capture the dual benefits of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, an aggregate metric that combines net energy production and CO 2 storage potential is proposed and the results are interpreted using this new metric. A sensitivity analysis reveals the parameters, such as biomass energy density and CO 2 capture efficiency that most directly impact the performance of the BECCS life cycle.
Leveraging Omics Biomarker Data in Drug Development: With a GWAS Case Study

Biomarkers have proven powerful for target identification, understanding disease progression, drug safety and treatment responses in drug development. Recent development of omics technology has offered great opportunities for identifications of omics biomarkers at low cost. Although biomarkers have brought many promises to drug development, steep challenges arise due to high dimensionality of data, complexity of technology and lack of full understanding of biology. In this article, the application of omics data in drug development will be reviewed. A genome wide association study (GWAS) will be presented.
Abstract 4391: Disruption of the translation initiation complex by eIF4A mutant inhibits prostate tumor growthin vivo

Translation initiation in cancer cells is the rate-limiting step of oncogenic mRNAs translation/protein synthesis and is primarily mediated by the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4 F (eIF4F) complex that consists of three subunits: eIF4E, which binds the cap of mRNA; eIF4A, an RNA helicase implicated in unwinding mRNA structure; and a scaffold protein eIF4G. Our prior crystal structure determination of human eIF4A in complex with Heat 1 domain of eIF4GI (722-999) revealed that eIF4G interacts with both N- and C-terminal domains of human eIF4A (eIF4A1-NTD and eIF4A1-CTD). Utilizing structural information gained from this complex, we generated a series of eIF4A mutants (eIF4A1-NTD: E41K, R45D, Y48A and eIF4A1-CTD: T271A, R324D, D296A/T298A) in order to identify the crucial site(s) of interaction with eIF4G Heat 1 domain. Using in vitro binding studies, we demonstrated that amongst various mutants tested, eIF4A-CTD (eIF4A1R324D) mutant disrupted the eIF4A/eIF4G Heat 1 complex formation, mirroring the binding residue E809K mutant of eIF4G that also interrupted eIF4A/eIF4G Heat 1 interaction. Given that eIF4G has an additional eIF4A-binding site named Heat 2 domain, we further investigated whether eIF4A1R324D mutant is able to disrupt binding to full-length eIF4G protein in vivo. Surprisingly, overexpression of Flag-tagged eIF4A1R324D in prostate cancer cell line blocked interaction with exogenous eIF4G as well as endogenous eIF4G. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that eIF4A1R324 residue plays a crucial role in mediating eIF4A/eIF4G complex formation in vivo. Furthermore, overexpression of eIF4A1R324D mutant significantly blocked oncogene c-myc and Bcl-2 mRNA translation thereby inhibiting prostate tumor growth in vivo. To conclude, our studies provide a previously unexplored strategy to identify small-molecule compounds disrupting eIF4A-eIF4G complex by targeting the pocket spanning eIF4AR324 and its binding site residues on eIF4G for cancer therapy. Citation Format: Puja Singh, Hanyong Chen, Hanxuan Li, Young-In Chi, Bin Liu, Junxuan Lu, Wei Li, Zigang Dong, Yibin Deng. Disruption of the translation initiation complex by eIF4A mutant inhibits prostate tumor growth in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4391.
Quality assessment of the literature on surgical quality improvement

Abstract Background A proliferation of work on surgical quality improvement has brought about an increase in quality improvement publications. We assessed the quality of surgical quality improvement publications using the Standards of Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) guidelines. Methods We conducted a comprehensive review of the surgical quality improvement literature from 2008 to 2018. Articles were reviewed for concordance with 18 SQUIRE statements and 40 subheadings using a dichotomous (yes or no) scale. Results Fifty-five articles were included. No publication adhered to all 18 SQUIRE statements. On average, quality improvement publications met 11 out of 18 (61%) of the main statements and 26 out of 40 (65%) of the subheadings. Articles were concordant with introductory components, such as problem description (n = 55, 100%) and rationale (n = 52, 95%), but were less adherent to statements describing methodology, results, and discussion sections including measures (n = 7, 13%), results (n = 3, 5.5%), interpretation (n = 2, 3.6%), and conclusions (n = 2, 3.6%). Only 4 articles cited the SQUIRE guidelines (7.3%). Articles that cited SQUIRE were not more concordant to the statements than those that did not cite SQUIRE. Conclusion Our analysis demonstrates that SQUIRE guidelines have not been adopted widely as a framework for the reporting of surgical quality improvement studies. Increased adherence to SQUIRE guidelines has the potential to improve the development and dissemination of surgical quality improvement projects.
Yarn: Generating Storyline Visualizations Using HTN Planning

Existing storyline visualization techniques represent narratives as a node-link graph where a sequence of links shows the evolution of causal and temporal relationships between characters in the narrative. These techniques make a number of simplifying assumptions about the narrative structure, however. They assume that all narratives progress linearly in time, with a well defined beginning, middle, and end. They assume that at least two participants interact at every event. Finally, they assume that all events in the narrative occur along a single timeline. Thus, while existing techniques are suitable for visualizing linear narratives, they are not well suited for visualizing narratives with multiple timelines, nor for narratives that contain events with only one participant. In this paper we present Yarn, a system for generating and visualizing narratives with multiple timelines. Along with multi-participant events, Yarn can also visualize single-participant events in the narrative. Additionally, Yarn enables pairwise comparison of the multiple narrative timelines.
Utilization of PCSK-9 Inhibitors in Statin Intolerant Cardiac Transplant Patients

Background HMG CoA Reductase Inhibitors, commonly referred to as statins, are widely used in heart transplant patients as dyslipidemia is common after cardiac transplantation and increases the risk of cardiovascular adverse events including cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). However, not all patients can tolerate statins or see an adequate lowering of the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK-9) inhibitors have been shown to be effective at lowering LDL with great tolerance and excellent safety profiles in the general population. Yet, there is limited data regarding effect of PCSK9 inhibitors in heart transplant patients. Objective To study the effect of PSCK-9 inhibitors in post-cardiac transplant patients. Method We reviewed post heart transplant patients who received PCSK9 inhibitors at our University Medical Center from 2017 to March 2020. We found four patients who were eligible. Results The mean age of the four patients was 65.75± 4.7 years (3 Females). Indication for PCSK9 inhibitors in three patients was statin intolerance due to myopathy; the fourth patient had familial hypercholesterolemia that required more aggressive therapy. Average time for initiation of the medication since heart transplant was 10.25 years. The average duration of treatment was 18.25 months. Two patients were on Evolocumab 140mg subcutaneously once every 2 weeks, and the other two were on Alirocumab 75mg every 2 weeks. All four patients continued the medicine with no side effects. Mean LDL-C prior to initiation of the drug was 125.75± 24.42 mg/dL. At 8-12 week follow up there was significant reduction in the LDL 35.75 ±13.74mg/dL (p=0.006).There was no significant dose changes to the immunosuppressive medications. None of the four patients experienced rejection of the transplanted heart. Only one patient with familial hypercholesterolemia had mild CAV on heart catheterization prior to initiation of the drug and there was no progression of the CAV at one year follow up. Conclusion PCSK9-inhibitors were effective in reducing low-density lipoprotein levels in post-cardiac transplant patients and were well tolerated without any rejection or modifications to the transplant medications in this small cohort of patients. The study findings are promising and highlight the need for larger, prospective, multicenter studies.
Evaluating Quality of Life After Facial Reanimation Using the Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale in a Series of Pediatric Patients.

BACKGROUND Facial palsy can have significant functional and psychological impact. Dynamic facial reanimation methods have provided means of restoration of smile. There remains a dearth of quality of life data in children. The authors aim to assess patient reported outcomes in this underreported population. METHODS A retrospective review was performed of pediatric patients with facial palsy who had dynamic facial reanimation from 2009 to 2017 at a single institution. Patients were sent a digital Facial Clinimetric Evaluation (FaCE) questionnaire, a validated tool to assess patient quality of life. FaCE statements are grouped into 6 categories: facial movement, facial comfort, oral function, eye comfort, lacrimal control, and social control. RESULTS Twenty patients met inclusion criteria. Fourteen successfully completed the survey. With normal function being 100, our cohort scored: facial movement 38.7 ± 14.3; facial comfort 67.3 ± 23, oral function 75 ± 22.7, eye comfort 68.75 ± 18.2, lacrimal control 53.6 ± 32.5, social function 64.3 ± 25.6. The overall FaCE score was 61.07 ± 10.85. The facial movement subscores were lower for brow raise 16.1 ± 33.4 relative to smiling 53.6 ± 29.2 and lip pucker, 46.4 ± 23.7. No correlation was found between facial movement scores and total scores (R2 < 0.01). There was a strong negative correlation between total scores and time since procedure (Spearman's rho R = -0.45). CONCLUSION Our pediatric facial reanimation cohort demonstrated excellent social function, in contrast to a relatively lower facial movement score. The low facial movement score was mediated by low score for brow raise and was not correlated to overall FaCE score. Interestingly, overall FaCE score tended to decrease with time from procedure.
Components and Mechanisms of Nuclear Mechanotransduction.

The cell nucleus is best known as the container of the genome. Its envelope provides a barrier for passive macromolecule diffusion, which enhances the control of gene expression. As its largest and...
Militarism and the Bedouin: Intersections of colonialism, gender, and race in the Arab Gulf:

This article investigates the development of militarism in the Arab Gulf using the militarized representation of the Bedouin and their poetic tradition as a site for its analysis. The article trace...
Fusion of Hard and Soft Information in Nonparametric Density Estimation

Abstract This paper discusses univariate density estimation in situations when the sample (hard information) is supplemented by “soft” information about the random phenomenon. These situations arise broadly in operations research and management science where practical and computational reasons severely limit the sample size, but problem structure and past experiences could be brought in. In particular, density estimation is needed for generation of input densities to simulation and stochastic optimization models, in analysis of simulation output, and when instantiating probability models. We adopt a constrained maximum likelihood estimator that incorporates any, possibly random, soft information through an arbitrary collection of constraints. We illustrate the breadth of possibilities by discussing soft information about shape, support, continuity, smoothness, slope, location of modes, symmetry, density values, neighborhood of known density, moments, and distribution functions. The maximization takes place over spaces of extended real-valued semicontinuous functions and therefore allows us to consider essentially any conceivable density as well as convenient exponential transformations. The infinite dimensionality of the optimization problem is overcome by approximating splines tailored to these spaces. To facilitate the treatment of small samples, the construction of these splines is decoupled from the sample. We discuss existence and uniqueness of the estimator, examine consistency under increasing hard and soft information, and give rates of convergence. Numerical examples illustrate the value of soft information, the ability to generate a family of diverse densities, and the effect of misspecification of soft information.
Sugarcane and pinewood biochar effects on activity and aerobic soil dissipation of metribuzin and pendimethalin

Abstract Biochars were produced by pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse (350 °C and 700 °C) and pine wood (400 °C) and are abbreviated BC350, BC700, and WC400, respectively. Metribuzin adsorption by batch equilibrium showed that BC700 had the greatest adsorption capacity followed by BC350 and WC400. The bagasse biochars were mixed with clay and a silt loam soil and the pine wood biochar with a loamy sand soil and fortified with the metribuzin and pendimethalin. The soils were incubated at 25 °C in the dark and were extracted with methanol after 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 63, 86, and 111 days. Parent compounds and metribuzin degradates were analyzed in extracts by HPLC – mass spectrometry. Increases in metribuzin half life (DT50) were indicated for all soil-biochar combinations. BC350 had the greatest impact, doubling the DT50 in the silt loam soil. In contrast, BC700 had minimal impact on the DT50 in the silt loam soil and contributed to a significant DT50 decrease in the clay. The metribuzin degradate, metribuzin-desamino, was detected at rates proportional to metribuzin dissipation. For pendimethalin, biochar additions increased DT50 in all soil-biochar combinations. In contrast to metribuzin, BC700 and WC400 had the greatest impact with the BC700 increasing the DT50 more than 2-fold. In the loamy sand soil, the 1–4% biochar rate contributed to an increased trend in palmer amaranth emergence. At the 8% rate, palmer amaranth emergence was statistically higher than the control (p = 0.072). In sum, how biochar impacted the activity and dissipation of these herbicides depended on soil, herbicide, and biochar properties.
Dynamically consistent voting rules

Abstract This paper studies preference aggregation in a dynamic choice context. Voters face menus of options in stages and the source of dynamics is that menus possibly get smaller across each stage. We call the family of stage voting rules “dynamic voting rules” and provide an axiomatic characterization, on the domain of single-peaked preferences, of dynamic voting rules that are strategy-proof and satisfy a second property, inspired from choice theory, which we call dynamic consistency.
Design of multiplierless programmable linear phase narrowband-bandpass FIR filters

In this paper, we develop a design technique for narrowband multiplierless programmable linear phase bandpass filters as a tapped cascade of very low complexity multiplierless cascade integrator-comb (CIC) filters of E.B. Hogenauer (1981). The design is based in a frequency transformation technique discussed by S.N. Hazra (1984) which maps a lowpass prototype filter to a programmable bandpass filter and is further transformed to a narrowband bandpass filter using the transformation of W.F. Mecklenbrauker, et al., (1976) and T. Saramaki (1987). The nature of the frequency transformations and the CIC filter used in the design restrict the range of attainable edge frequencies in the transformed narrowband-bandpass filter. We derive the limits that define the attainable edge frequency region for given values of the edge frequencies of the prototype lowpass filter. We also discuss an efficient network structure for the implementation of the proposed bandpass filter.
Chains Within Chains

The literature on franchising has largely ignored one of its distinguishing features: the ownership of multiple units by a single franchisee. Based on the findings of an in-depth field study, this article argues that multi-unit franchisees outperform single unit franchisees in meeting several important management challenges facing chain organizations, which helps explain the prevalence of this form of franchising.
Quinolone resistance: Susceptibility data from a 300-bed community hospital

Abstract Introduction of the fluoroquinolones has altered physician prescribing practices in the treatment of infectious diseases for both inpatients and out-patients. To evaluate the impact of unrestricted prescribing of these agents, the antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates to ciprofloxacin and other commonly used antibiotics was prospectively studied in a 300-bed community teaching hospital. Only 0.6 percent (nine of 1,454 isolates) of fresh clinical isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (minimal inhibitory concentration value greater than 2 μg/ml) in an initial study conducted between 1984 and 1985. A similar pattern was observed in the second half of 1987 (0.5 percent, or five of 940 isolates), just prior to the release of ciprofloxacin. Throughout 1988, however, as quinolone usage rose, the incidence of ciprofloxacin resistance rose, reaching a peak of 4.0 percent in the last quarter of 1988. Of 63 ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates in 1988, 22 were Pseudomonas and 28 were staphylococci, representing resistance rates of 6.5 and 4.2 percent, respectively. Enterobacteriaceae remained exquisitely susceptible with only five of 1,720 isolates (0.3 percent) resistant to ciprofloxacin. Seventy-two percent of ciprofloxacin-resistant isolates were recovered from patients who had received a fluoroquinolone within the previous month. If these isolates are subtracted from the total number of resistant micro-organisms recovered, baseline fluoroquinolone resistance did not change significantly from 1984 to 1988. Soft-tissue infections (50 percent) represented the greatest source of ciprofloxacin-resistant organisms, including osteomyelitis, but urinary tract infections (26 percent), all associated with instrumentation, were also a significant source. Although the fluoroquinolones are extremely valuable antimicrobial agents, the emergence of drug resistance may be promoted when these drugs are used for treatment of chronic infections or when poorly drained abscesses, necrotic tissue, or indwelling foreign bodies are present.
Local Fiscal Policies and Urban Wage Structures

It has long been recognized that average wages vary strikingly across regions and urban areas in part due to differences in local amenities and fiscal policies. However, analogous differences in wa...
A scalable artificial immune system model for dynamic unsupervised learning

Artificial Immune System (AIS) models offer a promising approach to data analysis and pattern recognition. However, in order to achieve a desired learning capability (for example detecting all clusters in a dat set), current models require the storage and manipulation of a large network of B Cells (with a number often exceeding the number of data points in addition to all the pairwise links between these B Cells). Hence, current AIS models are far from being scalable, which makes them of limited use, even for medium size data sets. We propose a new scalable AIS learning approach that exhibits superior learning abilities, while at the same time, requiring modest memory and computational costs. Like the natural immune system, the strongest advantage of immune based learning compared to current approaches is expected to be its ease of adaptation in dynamic environments. We illustrate the ability of the proposed approach in detecting clusters in noisy data.