cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hybrid load-value predictors

Load instructions diminish processor performance in two ways. First, due to the continuously widening gap between CPU and memory speed, the relative latency of load instructions grows constantly and the slows program execution. Next, memory reads limit the available instruction-level parallelism as instructions that use the result of a load must wait for the memory access to complete before they can start executing. Load-value predictors alleviate both problems by allowing the CPU to speculatively continue processing without having to wait for load instructions, which can significantly improve the execution speed. In this paper, we investigate the performance of all hybrids that can be built out of a register value, a last value, a stride 2-delta, the last four values, and a finite context method predictor. Our analysis shows that hybrids can deliver 25 percent more speedup than the best single-component predictors. Our hybridization study identified the register value + stride 2-delta predictor as one of the best two-component hybrids. It matches or exceeds the speedup of two-component hybrids from the literature in spite of its substantially smaller and simpler design. Of all the predictors we studied, the register value + stride 2-delta + last four value hybrid performs best.
Changing Family Structure and Youthful Well-Being Assessing the Future

The vanishing nuclear family constitutes one of the most significant demographic and social transformations in recent history. A voluminous body of theoretical and empirical literature in family studies, proceeding on the assumption that the nuclear family is the optimum child-rearing structure, suggests this change will have dire consequences for the well-being of future generations. The present essay challenges that conclusion, pointing out various methodological and conceptual problems with the extant research on which this prediction is based.
Determinants of variations in self-reported barriers to colonoscopy among uninsured patients in a primary care setting.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer among both males and females in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Although largely preventable through screening, early detection and removal of polyps, screening rates are considered sub-optimal. Perceived barriers to screening have been reported to influence screening rates. This paper examines variations in the extent to which uninsured patients identified barriers to CRC screening using colonoscopy based on race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age, gender, marital status and prior colonoscopy. Multivariate analyses showed that compared to Caucasians, African Americans had an increased likelihood of identifying lack of transportation as a barrier [odds ratio (OR) 2.68; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.35–5.32] while Hispanics were more likely to identify fear of finding cancer as a barrier (OR 2.09; 95 % CI 1.19–3.66). Compared to those with more than a high school education, there was increased likelihood of identifying lack of knowledge as a barrier among individuals with high school education (OR 3.51; 95 % CI 1.94–6.36) or less than a high school education (OR 2.16; 95 % CI 1.04–4.50). Our findings suggest that strategies aimed at increasing colonoscopy screening rates among underserved populations should take into consideration race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age, and prior colonoscopy experience when developing education and outreach plans to reduce barriers to colonoscopy.
Storing and Discovering Critical Workflows from Log in Scientific Exploration

This paper aims at effectively reproducing the results of previous scientific workflow executions. We first identify the information that needs to be recorded in a workflow execution log, based on which we then determine the data flow among experiments. To effectively record a workflow execution log in a relational database management system (RDBMS) when the workflow design is absent, we propose a generic relational storage schema. Then techniques have been designed to automatically discover the minimal set of experiments that must be performed in order to reproduce a scientific result by posing appropriate SQL queries. Although such SQL queries can be evaluated using an off-the-shelf database system, we investigate the unique characteristics of the workflow log data and optimization techniques for evaluating such SQL queries efficiently.
Bifurcated queueing for throughput enhancement in input-queued switches

We propose a bifurcated queueing approach to breaking the well-known 0.586 barrier for the throughput of input queued switches with head-of-line blocking. Each input line maintains a small number k of parallel queues, one for each of a set of k mutually exclusive subsets of the set of output-port addresses. We generalize the analysis of Karol et al. (1987) and show that the upper bound on throughput is (1+k)-/spl radic/1+k/sup 2/, k=1, 2, 3, .... We point out that even for k=2, there is a significant improvement in throughput and that as k increases, the throughput approaches one.
Multigrating competition effects in photorefractive mutually pumped phase conjugation

We present both steady-state and dynamical studies of multigrating competition effects in photorefractive mutually pumped phase conjugation. It is shown that in the case of a single interaction region the conical ring, resulting from the scattering by multiple gratings, will collapse to the plane-wave component that has the highest gain. The coupling between the scattered beams is also considered. Both theoretical and experimental results are presented and discussed.
Attitudes toward Government Policies that Assist Informal Caregivers The Link between Personal Troubles and Public Issues

With the aging of the population, families are increasingly likely to confront the caregiving needs of their older parents, grandparents, and other disabled relatives. This analysis uses national survey data to examine the preferences of Americans for public programs that directly assist caregivers in their activities. Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the following three policies: directly paying caregivers, granting tax credits to caregivers, and requiring that employers grant time off without pay to caregivers. Although only one-third of respondents agreed with the idea of paying caregivers, more than 70 percent supported tax credits, and almost 60 percent supported time off to caregivers. Multiple regression reveals that current caregivers more strongly support all three policies, even when controlling for demographic factors, resources, values toward family responsibility, and political orientation. The results suggest that public policies that marshal informal services in ...
Denervation of cat fast- and slow-skeletal muscles: effect on ouabain binding.

The specific binding of [3H]ouabain in microsomal suspensions obtained from slow-contracting soleus and fast-contracting tibialis anterior is approximately 200% and 10%, respectively, of that seen in the microsomes of the mixed type gastrocnemius muscle. Chemical sympathectomy decreased specific binding of [3H]ouabain by 90% in the soleus and 33% in the tibialis anterior muscle microsomes. Scatchard analysis revealed that the fall in specific binding of [3H]ouabain in muscles obtained from sympathectomized cats was due to a marked decrease in the density of ouabain binding sites. The equilibrium dissociation constants decreased in all three types of muscles after administration of 6-hydroxydopamine. Ablation of the motor nerve, which involves surgical sympathectomy, increased specific binding of [3H]ouabain by 20 to 40% in soleus and gastrocnemius muscle microsomal preparations. Kinetic analysis by reciprocal plots suggested that the enhancement of ouabain binding after denervation is due to changes in the total number of binding sites, and not the affinity constant. Since ouabain selectively binds to (Na+ + K+)-ATPase, these observations provide support for the hypothesis that the motor nerve may be involved in the regulation of the number of (Na+ + K+)-ATPase molecules in skeletal muscles. An increase in ouabain binding and (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity following ablation of the motor nerve would suggest that the fall in resting membrane potential of denervated skeletal muscle may not be due to decrease in (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity.
Influence of physical activity on ligament insertions in the knees of dogs.

1. At ligament-bone junctions in dogs existing at varying levels of physical activity, strength diminished as activity diminished. 2. At the proximal end of the tibia, subperiosteal resorption weakened the ligament-bone junction of the medical collateral ligament. A similar change was seen in the fibular attachment of the lateral collateral ligament but not in the other ligament attachments about the knee. 3. Microscopically, widespread subperiosteal bone resorption developed in inactive dogs. 4. Simple caging for six weeks or more produed boen resorption. 5. With continued caging, bone resorption at the ligament-bone attachment healed over a period of six months or more as fibrous tissue replaced resorbed bone and then became mineralized. The widespread subperiosteal bone loss consequent to inactivity probably healed in the same way, suggesting on the basis of this histological evidence that inactivity produces bone resorption which is followed by bone accretion.
Study of multiband disordered systems using the typical medium dynamical cluster approximation

We generalize the typical medium dynamical cluster approximation to multiband disordered systems. Using our extended formalism, we perform a systematic study of the nonlocal correlation effects induced by disorder on the density of states and the mobility edge of the three-dimensional two-band Anderson model. We include interband and intraband hopping and an intraband disorder potential. Our results are consistent with those obtained by the transfer matrix and the kernel polynomial methods. We apply the method to ${\mathrm{K}}_{x}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2\ensuremath{-}y}{\mathrm{Se}}_{2}$ with Fe vacancies. Despite the strong vacancy disorder and anisotropy, we find the material is not an Anderson insulator. Our results demonstrate the application of the typical medium dynamical cluster approximation method to study Anderson localization in real materials.
Corporate accelerators: Building bridges between corporations and startups

Abstract Today's startups are a major source of innovation, as they employ emerging technologies to invent products and reinvent business models. Corporations that embrace an open innovation strategy increasingly look to startups as a source of external innovation. Corporate accelerators offer a potent approach to nurturing innovations from entrepreneurial ventures. However, the vast differences between corporations and startups make collaboration a challenge. Corporate accelerators need to be designed effectively to add value for startups and create innovation benefits for the company. Based on information obtained during interviews with managers and participants of corporate accelerators (n=40), managers receive a framework and strategies for designing corporate accelerators. To leverage startups’ innovation and to make corporate accelerators an effective part of a firm's overall innovation strategy, managers need to systematically and thoughtfully consider the design dimensions of proposition, process, people, and place.
Fundamentals of Enterprise Risk Management: How Top Companies Assess Risk, Manage Exposure, and Seize Opportunity by John J. Hampton

Fundamentals of Enterprise Risk Management provides an introduction to risk management as well as strategies and tools for mitigating diverse risks, which can range from environmental (such as Hurr...
Open-Angle Glaucoma

Our understanding of glaucoma has undergone dramatic changes in the past decade. The ferment has derived from new epidemiologic information, improved diagnostic methods, and developments in surgical and drug therapy. This review concentrates on primary open-angle glaucoma, the most prevalent form of the disorder in Western countries. Definition Primary open-angle glaucoma usually affects both eyes and combines a particular abnormal appearance of the optic disk (optic-nerve head) with a slowly progressive loss of visual sensitivity (Figure 1). The characteristic appearance of the glaucomatous optic disk is visible by ophthalmoscopy (Figure 2). The present standard for determining visual loss in glaucoma . . .
Neutrophil responses to platelet-activating factor

1-O-Alkyl-2-O-acetyl-sn-glyceryl-3-phosphorylcholine (i.e., platelet-activating factor) was prepared and confirmed to possess potent platelet aggregating activity. It was also potent in aggregating and degranulating rabbit and human neutrophils. When injected into rabbits, the lipid induced profound neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anaphylactic symptoms. The lyso derivative of this lipid, 1-O-alkyl-sn-glyceryl-3-phosphorylcholine, was inactive or several orders of magnitude weaker in inducing these responses. The acetylated lipid appears to be a potent stimulator of both platelets and neutrophils. Its anaphylactic-like toxicity may be related, at least in part, to its ability to aggregate or otherwise stimulate these cells.
Making Claims: Citizenship and Service Delivery in Rural India

How do poor citizens of the world's largest democracy seek and obtain resources from the state? This paper seeks to explain local variation in citizen-state relations in rural India by examining the diverse paths – direct, mediated, and contentious – through which citizens claim public goods and services from the state. Who makes claims, and claims of what nature? Why do different people – under roughly the same structural conditions – engage the state differently? Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork in rural Rajasthan, including 400 interviews and an original survey of 2210 households, I uncover striking individual-level variation in both the incidence and variety of claim-making practices both across socioeconomic groups set apart by class, caste, and gender, as well as within such groups. I argue that claim-making practices are conditioned by local institutions and opportunity structure, but that – within these structures – individuals develop diverse strategies through participation in distinct networks that aggregate interests, position potential brokers, and shape the flow of ideas within and across social cleavages. The paper concludes by asking what can be learned from different patterns of claim-making about citizen-state relations for democratic practice in rural India.
Analysis of Memory Constrained Live Provenance

We conjecture that meaningful analysis of large-scale provenance can be preserved by analyzing provenance data in limited memory while the data is still in motion; that the provenance needs not be fully resident before analysis can occur. As a proof of concept, this paper defines a stream model for reasoning about provenance data in motion for Big Data provenance. We propose a novel streaming algorithm for the backward provenance query, and apply it to the live provenance captured from agent-based simulations. The performance test demonstrates high throughput, low latency and good scalability, in a distributed stream processing framework built on Apache Kafka and Spark Streaming.
Effect of apomorphine plus 5-hydroxytryptophan on plasma prolactin levels in male rats.

The relative potency of dopaminergic inhibition and serotonergic stimulation of prolactin secretion in male rats was compared. 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), 100 mg/kg, i.p., the precursor of serotonin, produced a 6-11 fold increase in plasma prolactin. Apomorphine, a dopamine agonist, at doses of 1-10 mg/kg, i.p., had no significant effect on plasma prolactin. However, when apomorphine was given with or before 5-HTP, it nearly completely blocked the increase in prolactin produced by 5-htp. these results indicate that inhibition of prolactin secretion by dopaminergic stimulation can overcome the prolactin releasing effect of serotonin. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that prolactin secretion is ordinarily under a weak serotonergic stimulation and a profound dopaminergic inhibition. It is also possible that apomorphine affects plasma prolactin levels by increasing prolactin clearance.
Effect of bulk growth temperature on antiphase domain boundary annihilation rate in MOCVD-grown GaAs on Si(001)

Abstract GaAs is a material of interest as a potential buffer layer in future III–V semiconductor-based transistor technologies integrated on Si wafers. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of growth temperature on the propagation and annihilation of antiphase domain boundaries (APBs) in GaAs films grown on Si(001) by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). No intentional wafer off-cuts or high temperature pre-growth anneals (>1000 °C) were employed as both of these practices complicate integration with other devices. To evaluate the role of growth temperature on the APB evolution, a 200 nm thick layer of GaAs was grown on the Si at a fixed temperature of 530 °C so that all samples started with the same approximate APB density. Subsequently, 600 nm of GaAs was grown at temperatures varying between 530 °C and 650 °C. Chemical etching combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to profile the density of the APBs in each sample as a function of depth. The APB annihilation rate, i.e. the exponential decay rate of APB density with respect to film thickness, increases from 2.6 μm −1 to 10.7 μm −1 as the growth temperature increases from 530 °C to 610 °C and then saturates. The increase in annihilation rate with increasing temperatures suggests that the higher temperatures remove kinetic barriers to the reduction of the overall APB interfacial area. An activation energy of 1.1 eV was extracted using an Arrhenius relationship and likely corresponds to the energy needed for APBs to kink from {110} to higher-index planes, e.g. {112}. Dark field transmission electron microscopy showed that at higher growth temperatures the APBs can shift from vertical {110} habit planes to {112} planes leading to self-annihilation with sufficient thickness.
A Clovis Point from East-Central Arizona

ABSTRACTThis paper reports on a broken Clovis point recovered from the surface of a lithic scatter in the Zuni River region of east-central Arizona. Site location and point morphology are described, and the significance of a possible Clovis occupation in this region is discussed.
A STUDY OF DIFFUSION IN AN ESTUARY

The problem of dispersion and flushing of contaminants from estuarine waters is of ever-increasing importance to engineers. To determine this reduction in concentration and removal of contaminants from estuarine water, several basic methods have been established. They are: (1) the classical tidal prism method, where the flushing is a function of the amount of water brought in and removed on each tide; (2) Ketchum's modified tidal prism method, where flushing is a function of tidal action and river discharge; and (3) a diffusion-advection method which may be based on a coefficient of eddy diffusivity. This third method, diffusion-advection, would seem to give the most realistic answer provided that confidence can be had in the coefficient of eddy diffusivity. This discussion will be confined to the third method. Furthermore, we will concern ourselves only with that portion of a contaminant that goes into solution and partakes of the motion of the water. Such factors as absorption onto particulate matter, settling out onto the bottom, and uptake of the contaminant by marine organisms will be neglected.
Acknowledgment of Ad Hoc Reviewers.

As we reach the end of our first full year of publishing cutting-edge research in the microbial sciences, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to the many individuals who have acted as referees of the manuscripts that we have handled since our birth in late 2015. They have helped us achieve our
Do Secret Pay Policies Cause Employees To Turnover? It Depends On Attributions

Pay transparency - disclosure of employee pay information - has emerged to the forefront of public policy issues. The merits of pay transparency (vs. secrecy), however, are up for debate. In order ...
The Power of the Cloud: Google Forms for Transition Assessment:

The inclusion of age-appropriate transition assessments is a key component of transition services for students with disabilities. Although these assessments may focus on a variety of areas, their g...
Ecology, social behavior, and conservation in zebras

Abstract Most of African's wildlife lives on landscapes inhabited by people. Nowhere is this more evident than on grasslands and savannas of arid areas where conflict between wildlife and livestock has always been common. In the past, economic development on these landscapes has eclipsed conservation, but in today's Africa, where pastoral herders and small-scale landholders seek enhanced lifestyles, understanding the links between behavior and ecology suggests that the demise of wildlife is not inevitable. Behavioral ecology offers insights into how features of the environment shape behavior. By unraveling the rules for particular species in particular environmental circumstances, it is possible to intervene and adjust peoples' behavior so that landscapes can be modified in ways that allow species to sustain themselves while improving human welfare. In this chapter I examine the socioecology of two zebra species—one thriving, the other verging on extinction–and show how resiliency emerges from understanding the link between a species' ecology and its behavior, demography, and population dynamics. I show that by working with large-scale commercial livestock ranchers, small-scale ranchers, and pastoral communities to apply basic behavioral ecological principles in context specific ways, balancing conservation and development is possible.
Overcoming overuse: the way forward is not standing still-an essay by Steven Woloshin and Lisa M Schwartz.

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment are real, wasteful, and harmful, and doctors have an ethical duty to act, say Steven Woloshin and Lisa M Schwartz, responding to recent claims otherwise in the New England Medical Journal
Scleractinian coral microplastic ingestion: Potential calcification effects, size limits, and retention

The impact that microplastics (<5 mm) have on scleractinian coral is largely unknown. This study investigated calcification effects, size limits, and retention times of microbeads and microfibers in two Caribbean species, Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata, in a series of three experiments. No calcification effects were seen in the two-day exposure to a microbead concentration of 30 mg L−1. M. cavernosa and O. faveolata actively ingested microbeads ranging in size from 425 μm–2.8 mm, however, a 212–250 μm size class did not elicit a feeding response. The majority of microbeads were expelled within 48 hours of ingestion. There was no difference in ingestion or retention times of 425–500 μm microbeads versus 3–5 mm long microfibers. M. cavernosa and O. faveolata have the ability to recognize and reject indigestible material, yet, there is still a need to study effects of energetics and microplastic contamination as a result of ingestion and egestion.
The effects of hip-targeted physical therapy interventions on low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Purpose To investigate the effects of physical therapy interventions of the hip on outcomes of pain and disability in patients with low back pain. Data sources PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus were searched from inception to 18 April 2018. Study selection/eligibility criteria The following inclusion criteria were required to be met: (1) randomized controlled trials; (2) populations with diagnosed low back pain; and (3) interventions that target the hip joint. Two researchers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full texts for inclusion. Data extraction and synthesis Data was extracted for information related to patient demographics, specific interventions, and outcomes assessed. When studies demonstrated homogeneity on outcome measures, the mean differences or standardized mean differences with 95% confidence interval were calculated and pooled in a meta-analysis. Results Six articles with a total of 387 participants were included in the review and meta-analysis. Specific intervention categories that were found in the search included: hydrotherapy (n = 1); exercise therapy (n = 4); and manual therapy (n = 2). Trivial effect size was found for the pain outcomes and small effect size was found for disability. All of these studies were found to have high risk of bias according the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Conclusion The meta-analyses from the pooled studies did not result in statistically significant reductions in either pain or disability with the addition of hip-targeted physical therapy interventions to patients with LBP.
Resource Management: Performance Assuredness in Distributed Cloud Computing via Online Reconfigurations

Cloud computing relies on software for distributed batch and stream processing, as well as distributed storage. This chapter focuses on an oft‐ignored angle of assuredness: performance assuredness. A significant pain point today is the inability to support reconfiguration operations, such as changing of the shard key in a sharded storage/database system, or scaling up (or down) of the number of virtual machines (VMs) being used in a stream or batch processing system. We discuss new techniques to support such reconfiguration operations in an online manner, whereby the system does not need to be shut down and the user/client‐perceived behavior is indistinguishable regardless of whether a reconfiguration is occurring in the background, that is, the performance continues to be assured in spite of ongoing background reconfiguration. Next, we describe how to scale‐out and scale‐in (increase or decrease) the number of machines/VMs in cloud computing frameworks like distributed stream processing and distributed graph processing systems, again while offering assured performance to the customer in spite of the reconfigurations occurring in the background. The ultimate performance assuredness is the ability to support SLAs/SLOs (service‐level agreements/objectives) such as deadlines. We present a new real‐time scheduler that supports priorities and hard deadlines for Hadoop jobs. We implemented our reconfiguration systems as patches to several popular and open‐source cloud computing systems, including MongoDB and Cassandra (storage), Storm (stream processing), LFGraph (graph processing), and Hadoop (batch processing).
Mourning Freud, by Madelon Sprengnether

At first glance, the title of Madelon Sprengnether’s book Mourning Freud might appear to allude not just to Freud’s literal death in 1939 but to the death of Freud’s legacy. After all, since the se...
Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a common problem and frequently generates a consult for the acute care surgeon. Although very few patients with this complaint ultimately have any surgical intervention, surgeons have historically been intimately involved in the management of UGIB patients. With the discovery of Helicobacter pylori, effective H. pylori treatment and eradication regimens have greatly decreased the incidence of peptic ulcer disease as well as shifted the algorithm away from surgical treatment. Moreover, there appears to be a decreasing incidence and mortality of peptic ulcer disease as well as a decrease in acute UGIB related to peptic ulcer disease [1]. Recent data suggests that surgical intervention for any symptom or complication of peptic ulcer disease have declined more than 80 % [2]. Moreover, the fields of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy as well as interventional radiology have expanded in directions that have had a huge impact on the treatment options available for the patient with an UGIB. The role of the surgeon will often be to assist their colleagues in guiding the patient into an informed and evidence based plan of action.
General Guidelines for the Conversion of Damages Calculated in Foreign Currency: Tort Claims

Abstract This paper contributes to the debate about determining the proper procedures for the conversion of damages calculated in foreign currency into U.S. dollars by offering general guidelines a...
Hcr1/eIF3j Is a 60S Ribosomal Subunit Recycling Accessory Factor In Vivo.

Summary Hcr1/eIF3j is a sub-stoichiometric subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) that can dissociate the post-termination 40S ribosomal subunit from mRNA in vitro. We examine this ribosome recycling role in vivo by ribosome profiling and reporter assays and find that loss of Hcr1 leads to reinitiation of translation in 3′ UTRs, consistent with a defect in recycling. However, the defect appears to be in the recycling of the 60S subunit, rather than the 40S subunit, because reinitiation does not require an AUG codon and is suppressed by overexpression of the 60S dissociation factor Rli1/ABCE1. Consistent with a 60S recycling role, overexpression of Hcr1 cannot compensate for loss of 40S recycling factors Tma64/eIF2D and Tma20/MCT-1. Intriguingly, loss of Hcr1 triggers greater expression of RLI1 via an apparent feedback loop. These findings suggest Hcr1/eIF3j is recruited to ribosomes at stop codons and may coordinate the transition to a new round of translation.
Improving Care Transitions From Inpatient to Primary Care Pediatric Settings: A Resident-Led Quality Improvement Project

Background: Breakdowns in the coordination of care across the health care continuum, such as poor transition and miscommunication among providers, may cause confusion regarding treatment plans, duplicate testing, medication discrepancies, missed physician follow-up, and ultimately, fragmented care, patient dissatisfaction and even adverse patient outcomes. We aimed to identify gaps in the current transition of care process from pediatric inpatient to outpatient …
Drainage of inflammatory macromolecules from brain to periphery targets the liver for macrophage infiltration

Many brain pathologies are associated with liver damage, but a direct link has long remained elusive. Here, we establish a new paradigm for interrogating brain-periphery interactions by leveraging zebrafish for its unparalleled access to the intact whole animal for in vivo analysis in real time after triggering focal brain inflammation. We reveal that drainage of inflammatory macromolecules from the brain led to a strikingly robust peripheral infiltration of macrophages into the liver independent of Kupffer cells. We further demonstrate that this macrophage recruitment requires signaling from the cytokine IL-34, Toll-like receptor adaptor protein MyD88, and neutrophils. These results highlight the ability for circulation of brain-derived substances to serve as a rapid mode of communication from brain to the liver. Understanding how the brain engages the periphery at times of danger may offer new perspectives for detecting and treating brain pathologies.
Microbial Inactivation on a Processed Cheese Surface by UV-A Light

Ultraviolet (UV) light has exhibited antimicrobial effects, with recent studies looking at UV-A light in particular. The objective of this study was to determine the antimicrobial mechanism and mic...
LuckyFind: Leveraging Surprise to Improve User Satisfaction and Inspire Curiosity in a Recommender System

The growing amount of online information today has increased opportunity to discover interesting and useful information. Various recommender systems have been designed to help people discover such information. No matter how accurately the recommender algorithms perform, users' engagement with recommended results has been complained being less than ideal. In this study, we touched on two human-centered objectives for recommender systems: user satisfaction and curiosity, both of which are believed to play roles in maintaining user engagement and sustain such engagement in the long run. Specifically, we leveraged the concept of surprise and used an existing computational model of surprise to identify relevantly surprising health articles aiming at improving user satisfaction and inspiring their curiosity. We designed a user study to first test the validity of the surprise model in a health news recommender system, called LuckyFind. Then user satisfaction and curiosity were evaluated. We find that the computational surprise model helped identify surprising recommendations at little cost of user satisfaction. Users gave higher ratings on interestingness than usefulness for those surprising recommendations. Curiosity was inspired more for those individuals who have a larger capacity to experience curiosity. Over half of the users have changed their preferences after using LuckyFind, either discovering new areas, reinforcing their existing interests, or stopping following those they did not want anymore. The insights of the research will make researchers and practitioners rethink the objectives of today's recommender systems as being more human-centered beyond algorithmic accuracy.
Characterization of the Apollo Astronaut Lunar Extravehicular Activity Falls and Near-Falls

The Apollo astronauts that set foot on the moon performed extravehicular activities (EVAs) that included traverses, collecting samples, and running experiments that provided knowledge about our planet, the moon, and our universe. During these EVAs, the astronauts were observed to fall, which could lead to risk of injury to the astronaut or damage to the space suit. The Apollo-era spacesuits had mobility limitations that affected task performance, including decreased range of motion, restorative forces of the suit based on soft-goods deformations, and an altered center of mass primarily due to the portable life support system (PLSS). It is possible that these mobility limitations coupled with the reduced gravity environment of the moon led to falls, although it is not documented what aspects of their tasks may have triggered falls. We analyzed the video and audio transcripts from all the Apollo lunar EVAs to characterize when in the timeline a fall or near fall occurred, as well as what task was being performed at the time of the event. Here a fall was defined as impact with the ground (other than the boot) and a near-fall was when the astronaut required corrective actions but was able to recover without impacting the ground. A total of 48 events (27 falls and 21 near-falls) were catalogued. Of these events, 32 occurred during sample collection or equipment interaction (inclusive of local reorientation steps), 5 occurred while mounting or dismounting the lunar rover, 5 occurred during a general traversal, and 6 had other causes (e.g., playing, throwing a non-tool object, transitioning between tasks, unknown off-video). The events that occurred during general traversals were initiated by stepping on rocks, craters, or surface inclines. The events were distributed across the timeline of the EVA, with a greater number of events during the 25-75% of the EVA duration (32 total events) than for the beginning and end periods (16 total events). While events did occur during traversals, task activities generated events, including retrieving tools, connecting and avoiding cables, setting up experiments, picking up items off the ground, and reorienting in the local environment to continue the task. These data highlight the importance of interactions with equipment and task goals on fall risk. Improved suit designs that increase mobility will address some of these events; however, future missions should consider how tools, equipment, and local reorientation are used within tasks to mitigate future risks.
Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors Versus Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and the Risk for Cardiovascular Outcomes in Routine Care Patients With Diabetes Across Categories of Cardiovascular Disease.

Background Both sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) have shown cardiovascular benefits in placebo-controlled trials of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and established cardiovascular disease (CVD). Objective To evaluate whether SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 RAs are associated with differential cardiovascular benefit among T2D patients with and without CVD. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting Medicare and 2 U.S. commercial claims data sets (April 2013 to December 2017). Participants 1:1 propensity score-matched adult T2D patients with and without CVD (52 901 and 133 139 matched pairs) initiating SGLT2 inhibitor versus GLP-1 RA therapy. Measurements Primary outcomes were myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke hospitalization and hospitalization for heart failure (HHF). Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and rate differences (RDs) per 1000 person-years were estimated, with 95% CIs, controlling for 138 preexposure covariates. Results The initiation of SGLT2 inhibitor versus GLP-1 RA therapy was associated with a slightly lower risk for MI or stroke in patients with CVD (HR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.82 to 0.98]; RD, -2.47 [CI, -4.45 to -0.50]) but similar risk in those without CVD (HR, 1.07 [CI, 0.97 to 1.18]; RD, 0.38 [CI, -0.30 to 1.07]). The initiation of SGLT2 inhibitor versus GLP-1 RA therapy was associated with reductions in HHF risk regardless of baseline CVD in patients with CVD (HR, 0.71 [CI, 0.64 to 0.79]; RD, -4.97 [CI, -6.55 to -3.39]) and in those without CVD (HR, 0.69 [CI, 0.56 to 0.85]; RD, -0.58 [CI, -0.91 to -0.25]). Limitation Treatment selection was not randomized. Conclusion Use of SGLT2 inhibitors versus GLP-1 RAs was associated with consistent reductions in HHF risk among T2D patients with and without CVD, although the absolute benefit was greater in patients with CVD. There were no large differences in risk for MI or stroke among T2D patients with and without CVD. Primary funding source Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Balancing Power Consumption and Data Analysis Accuracy Through Adjusting Sampling Rates: Seeking for the Optimal Configuration of Inertial Sensors for Power Wheelchair Users

Smartphones have already been used to capture wheelchair maneuvering data to analyze a wheelchair user’s activity level, which is directly related to his/her quality of life. Typically, the inertial sensors (e.g., accelerometer and gyroscope) in a smartphone are used for data collection. However, the limited battery life of the smartphone has become a major barrier to effective data collection. The sampling rate, as a primary configurable parameter of an inertial sensor, may have important impact on power consumption. Presumably, a lower sampling rate would consume less battery power. However, it may compromise the accuracy of data analysis. In this study, we investigate how the sampling rate of inertial sensors impacts the battery power consumption as well as the accuracy of data analysis. The four pre-defined sampling rate settings of the Android OS were evaluated for their impact on the smartphone’s power consumption. Additionally, we also measured the accuracy differences of the four sampling settings by comparing the sensor data-derived wheelchair maneuvering distances with the actual distances. The experimental results showed that it is possible and practical to balance the power consumption and data analysis accuracy by switching between appropriate sampling rate settings.
Automatically labeling the inputs and outputs of web services

Information integration systems combine data from multiple heterogeneous Web services to answer complex user queries, provided a user has semantically modeled the service first. To model a service, the user has to specify semantic types of the input and output data it uses and its functionality. As large number of new services come online, it is impractical to require the user to come up with a semantic model of the service or rely on the service providers to conform to a standard. Instead, we would like to automatically learn the semantic model of a new service. This paper addresses one part of the problem: namely, automatically recognizing semantic types of the data used by Web services. We describe a metadata-based classification method for recognizing input data types using only the terms extracted from a Web Service Definition file. We then verify the classifier's predictions by invoking the service with some sample data of that type. Once we discover correct classification, we invoke the service to produce output data samples. We then use content-based classifiers to recognize semantic types of the output data. We provide performance results of both classification methods and validate our approach on several live Web services.
Transforming growth factor-beta receptor expression in human cornea.

Purpose Limbal basal cells and corneal endothelial cells appear to be inhibited in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. As a preliminary to determining whether transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) might mediate this inhibition, investigation was made to determine whether human corneal and limbal cells express TGF-beta receptor types I (RI), II (RII), and III (RIII). Methods Corneas from eight human donors, aged stillborn to 85 years, were fresh frozen, cryostat sectioned, and prepared for indirect immunofluorescence localization of RI, RII, and RIII, using an established protocol. Corneas from donors 50 years of age or older were used to prepare RNA from the epithelium and endothelium. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was conducted using primers specific for each TGF-beta receptor type. Results Immunolocalization patterns for RI, RII, and RIII were similar, regardless of donor age. Binding of RI and RII antibodies was barely detectable in central corneal epithelium; however, most limbal basal cells stained positively for RI and RII. All layers of central corneal epithelium and the suprabasal layers of the limbus stained positively for RIII, whereas staining for this receptor was markedly decreased in limbal basal cells. Corneal endothelium bound the antibody for all three TGF-beta receptor types. In the same tissue sections, antibody staining for the RIII protein was more intense in corneal endothelial cells than in limbal basal cells. Polymerase chain reaction product for RI, RII, and RIII was detected in the epithelium and in the endothelium. Conclusions Limbal basal cells and corneal endothelial cells expressed mRNA and protein for TGF-beta receptor types I, II, and III, suggesting that both cell types can transmit a TGF-beta-induced signal. These two cell types may differ in their relative response to those TGF-beta isoforms that require binding to RIII for signal transduction, in that staining intensity for RIII was relatively low in limbal basal cells compared with that in the endothelium. That limbal basal and corneal endothelial cells express receptors for TGF-beta suggests that this cytokine could mediate G1 phase arrest in these two cell types.
Spacecraft analysis, MSAS-a multi-mission solution

This paper describes the design of the JPL institutional Multi-Mission Spacecraft Analysis System (MSAS) its initial adaptation to the Cassini mission and adaptation strategies for smaller missions. Also discussed is the relationship of MSAS to the Flight Engineering Service paradigm proposed for support of future missions Fundamental to the MSAS design is the concept of a spacecraft state and the ability to define, track and manipulate spacecraft state information with a variety of analysis tools. The processing of this state information in a consistent manner from application to application is central to automating the spacecraft analysis tasks. A basic element of the MSAS design is an environmental core, which provides analysis capabilities, required by every mission and many operational elements of a flight team. The MSAS core design directly supports, in a seamless manner, the development of mission specific applications that reflect unique subsystem analysis requirements. The paper concludes with a discussion of the adaptation strategies of MSAS to smaller missions and describes the role of MSAS in the Flight Engineering Services paradigm being used at JPL to support multiple missions.
Numerical simulations: boundary feedback stabilization

Numerical simulation of boundary feedback laws for stabilization of parabolic systems is described. The numerical method proposed by J. Lund et al. (1991) addressed the use of the fully Sinc-Galerkin method for the simulation of a boundary feedback law for the classical diffusion equation. The authors complement the results of that work through the discussion and implementation of this fully Sinc-Galerkin scheme for nonlinear problems. In particular, with the simulation of the boundary feedback law introduced by C.I. Byrnes and D.S. Gilliam (1991) in mind, they focus on the numerical tracking of the (possibly slowly evolving) steady state of the system. This ability to track steady states is illustrated by an example. It forms another step torwards the simulation corresponding to the stabilization effected via the introduction of a small gain parameter. >
Role of endogenous gamma interferon in host defense against Chlamydia trachomatis infections.

Abstract BALB/c mice (6 to 8 weeks old) infected with Chlamydia trachomatis serovar L1 were sacrificed, and the yield of Chlamydia inclusion-forming units from the liver and lungs was measured in HeLa 229 cells. The yield of inclusion-forming units reached a peak at 3 days postinfection and then progressively declined. The mice infected with C. trachomatis had no detectable levels of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in their sera. However, stimulation of their spleen cells with either concanavalin A or heat-killed C. trachomatis resulted in the release of high levels of IFN-gamma (600 to 900 IU/ml) at 5 to 8 days postinfection. The increased release of IFN-gamma from the spleen cells paralleled the clearance of chlamydia from the liver and lungs. Sera and spleen cells from animals immunized with live C. trachomatis were transferred to recipient mice that were subsequently challenged with C. trachomatis. Transfer of spleen cells resulted in a reduction of the infection in the recipient animal as measured by the yield of chlamydia from the spleen, but transfer of the sera did not confer protective immunity. In addition, mice infected with C. trachomatis serovar L1 were treated with a hamster neutralizing monoclonal antibody to recombinant murine IFN-gamma (MAb-MuIFN-gamma). In the animals receiving the MAb-MuIFN-gamma, the yield of chlamydia from the lungs, spleen, and liver was significantly higher than from the control groups of mice. Histopathological analysis of tissues from the chlamydia-infected mice showed that the animals treated with the MAb-MuIFN-gamma had a significantly more extensive inflammatory reaction in their lungs, liver, and spleen.