cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Synthetic Study into the Nature and Solution of Nonuniqueness in Surface-Wave Inverse Problems

Abstract The solution of a Rayleigh-wave inverse problem may potentially deviate from the realistic shear-wave velocity structure due to nonuniqueness. To overcome such deviation, it is necessary to understand the source of nonuniqueness and situations that may give rise to the nonuniqueness. In this study, the existence and formation of the nonunique solutions in an inverse problem are demonstrated by modeling the solution space of a synthetic surface-wave inverse problem and investigating the major causes that might engender nonuniqueness, namely (1) the inversion convergence threshold, (2) ambient noise, (3) corner frequency of the recordings, and (4) the water level. Regarding the severity of nonuniqueness in the phase-velocity inverse problems, a technique is proposed to improve the inversion that exploits the match between the synthetic and observed time series used as a posteriori information for constraining the realistic velocity structure. Through a synthetic example, the effectiveness of such method is tested and demonstrated effective.
Nist Program on Measurements of the Properties of Materials in Electronic Packaging

Reduction in the feature sizes of electronic chips is forcing a commensurate decrease inthe sizes of the various structures in packaging so that the assumption that the materials of the structures have bulk properties is suspect, especially near the interfaces. Historically, packaging has not received research and development as sophisticated as thatof the chip, so a collection of techniques specific to packaging technology has not beendeveloped. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has identified the need for and initiated efforts to develop and refine such techniques. This paper will discuss the current NIST program and plans which were developed in conjunction with industry and other government agencies. Initial attention is given to measurements of the electrical, thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties of all types of materials used in the packaging.
Effects of vasopressin on femoral arterial blood flow and pressure in the anesthetized dog.

ConclusionsThe dose-response relationships which describe the effects of small amounts of vasopressin on femoral arterial pressure and flow have been presented. The IA and IV routes of administration were examined in 5 experiments on anesthetized dogs. The decrease in flow following IA administration and the secondary decrease in flow following IV administration have been attributed to vasoconstriction in the vascular bed supplied by the femoral artery. The primary increase in flow following IV administration has been discussed in terms of elevation of central arterial pressure and reflex vasomotor activity. It is postulated that sub-maximal antidiuretic amounts of exogenous vasopressin are vasoactive.
Decay and Reconstruction In the Study of American Intergovernmental Relations

Current criticism of the performance of American governments is often organized around an emergent theory of intergovernmental decay, which contains propositions about government size, accountability, control, capacity and achievement among its central assertions. Recent evidence of American governmental performance is used to appraise the decay theory, leading to the conclusion that the evidence offers little support for its major assertions. An alternative approach is then sketched out, based on the structural concept of "organizational interest" and the inherent dynamism of a system in which every governmental unit is always part of the relevant political environment of at least one other unit. These considerations lead to a somewhat different assessment of the "problems"facing American governments as well as an alternative way of conceptualizing their activities.
Sensitivity Training: An Established Management Development Tool?

The article looks at a questionnaire of personnel directors regarding state of sensitivity training as utilized within large scale business firms. Techniques used to improve organizational effectiv...
Development of catalysts for preparation of cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone by cyclohexane oxidation

The research development of catalysts for synthesis of cyclohexanol and cyclohexan-one by cyclohexane selective oxidation at home and abroad was reviewed.The catalysts were summerized and analyzed.The result showed that developing new,cheap,efficient and clean catalysts was the trend of technical development.
On the distribution of red cell volumes.

A large number of red cell volume distribution curves can be generated on the same sample of blood by manipulating the length of the Coulter Counter aperture and the shape of the red cell. Curves derived from sphered red cells flowing through an aperture 70 x 98µ long, or longer appear to be relatively free from artefacts and therefore the most likely to be "real." The use of long apertures to size sphered red cells will give a volume distribution curve that is approximately Gaussian and with a mean that is large relative to the variance. Whether red cells are Gaussian or log normal in their volume distribution is very difficult to determine. On a particle population where volumes are controlled as closely as on red cells (i.e. with such a low variance), the normal and the log normal distributions become practically indistinguishable. If in the future this decision can be reached by some independent means, then the volume distributions using the Coulter volume transducer can be easily and simply fitted to the shape desired by appropriate manipulation of aperture length. These ideal volume distribution curves are not likely to differ markedly from those obtained under the conditions suggested in this paper. For the present, use of a 70 x 98µ aperture to size red cells sphered by suspension in isotonic Sodium Potassium Tartrate will contribute to considerably greater accuracy in identification of red cell subpopulations in abnormal blood.
Three-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Glenohumeral Dysplasia in Neonatal Brachial Plexus Palsy.

Background: Existing quantitative measurements of glenohumeral dysplasia in children with unresolved neonatal brachial plexus palsy (NBPP) have been mostly limited to the axial plane. The purpose of this study was to describe the three-dimensional (3D) pathoanatomy of glenohumeral dysplasia using 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reformations. Methods: 3D MRI reformations of the scapula, glenoid labrum, and proximal part of the humerus were created from a volume-acquisition proton-density-weighted MRI sequence of both the affected and the unaffected shoulder of seventeen children less than six years of age with unresolved NBPP who had not undergone shoulder surgery. Glenoid retroversion and posterior humeral head displacement were measured on axial 2D images. Humeral head displacement in all planes, labral circumference, glenoid retroversion, glenoid declination, and scapular morphometric values were measured on 3D reformations. Contiguity of the humeral head with the labrum and the shape of the glenoid were classified. Measurements were compared between the affected and unaffected sides. Results: On 3D evaluation, the humeral head was completely posteriorly translated in ten patients but was never outside the glenoid labrum. Instead, in these patients, the humeral head was eccentrically articulating with the dysplastic glenoid and was contained by a posteriorly elongated labrum. Glenoid dysplasia was not limited to the axial plane. Less declination of the glenoid in the coronal plane correlated with greater 3D glenoid retroversion. Glenoid retroversion resulted from underdevelopment of the posterior aspect of the glenoid rather than overdevelopment of the anterior aspect of the glenoid. 3D measurements of greater glenoid retroversion and less declination correlated with 2D measurements of glenoid retroversion and posterior humeral head displacement. Conclusions: Posterior humeral head displacement in NBPP should not be considered a simple “dislocation.” Glenohumeral dysplasia is not limited to the axial plane. Abnormal glenoid declination may have potential implications for the evaluation and treatment of shoulder weakness and contractures.
Evasion from a group of pursuers with a prescribed target set for the evader

We consider the problem of characterizing an evasion strategy for an agent under pursuit by multiple independent agents that are distributed in a convex polygon. The proposed evasion strategy is centrally dependent on a generalized Voronoi partition of the polygon, whose proximity metric is the time of capture of the evader by the nearest pursuer. Specifically, the boundaries of the Voronoi cells determine a set of preferable paths for the evader that will safely take it to a prescribed target set. The motion of the pursuers is accounted for by sequential re-partitioning and re-planning. A novel method for the computation of the generalized Voronoi partition, which exploits the structure of the solution to a two-player differential game, is presented. It is shown that the proposed method is significantly faster (by at least one order of magnitude) than two known methods in the literature; this expedites computation of the proposed evasion strategy. Numerical simulations that illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed evasion strategy are presented.
Analysis of Heteroplasmic Variants in the Cardiac Mitochondrial Genome of Individuals with Down Syndrome

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS, trisomy 21) exhibit a pro-oxidative cellular environment as well as mitochondrial dysfunction. Increased oxidative stress may damage the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The coexistence of mtDNA variants in a cell or tissue (i.e., heteroplasmy) may contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction. Given the evidence on mitochondrial dysfunction and the relatively high incidence of multiorganic disorders associated with DS, we hypothesized that cardiac tissue from subjects with DS may exhibit higher frequencies of mtDNA variants in comparison to cardiac tissue from donors without DS. This study documents the analysis of mtDNA variants in heart tissue samples from donors with (n = 12) and without DS (n = 33) using massively parallel sequencing. Contrary to the original hypothesis, the study's findings suggest that the cardiac mitochondrial genomes from individuals with and without DS exhibit many similarities in terms of (1) total number of mtDNA variants per sample, (2) the frequency of mtDNA variants, (3) the type of mtDNA variants, and (4) the patterns of distribution of mtDNA variants. In both groups of samples, the mtDNA control region showed significantly more heteroplasmic variants in comparison to the number of variants in protein- and RNA-coding genes (P < 1.00×10-4 , ANOVA).
Mining frequent trajectory patterns from online footprints

Trajectory pattern mining has been performed over many datasets, including animal movement, GPS trajectories, and human travel history. This paper aims to explore and mine individual frequently visited regions and trajectory patterns using online footprints captured through a social media site (i.e., Twitter). Regions of frequent visits representing daily activity areas at which an individual appears are derived using the DBSCAN clustering algorithm. A trajectory pattern mining algorithm is then applied to discover ordered sequences of these spatial regions that the individual visits frequently. To illustrate and test the effectiveness of the proposed methods, we analyze the activity patterns of a selected Twitter user using the geo-tagged tweets posted by the user for an extended period. The preliminary assessment indicates that our approach can be applied to mine individual frequent trajectory patterns from online footprints that are of relatively low and irregular spatial and temporal resolutions.
Preferential Disruption of prefrontal GABAergic function by nanomolar concentrations of the α7nACh negative modulator kynurenic acid

Increased concentrations of kynurenic acid (KYNA) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are thought to contribute to the development of cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia. Although this view is consistent with preclinical studies showing a negative impact of prefrontal KYNA elevation on executive function, the mechanism underlying such a disruption remains unclear. Here, we measured changes in local field potential (LFP) responses to ventral hippocampal stimulation in vivo and conducted whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in brain slices to reveal how nanomolar concentrations of KYNA alter synaptic transmission in the PFC of male adult rats. Our data show that prefrontal infusions of KYNA attenuated the inhibitory component of PFC LFP responses, a disruption that resulted from local blockade of α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChR). At the cellular level, we found that the inhibitory action exerted by KYNA in the PFC occurred primarily at local GABAergic synapses through an α7nAChR-dependent presynaptic mechanism. As a result, the excitatory-inhibitory ratio of synaptic transmission becomes imbalanced in a manner that correlates highly with the level of GABAergic suppression by KYNA. Finally, prefrontal infusion of a GABAAR positive allosteric modulator was sufficient to overcome the disrupting effect of KYNA and normalized the pattern of LFP inhibition in the PFC. Thus, the preferential inhibitory effect of KYNA on prefrontal GABAergic transmission could contribute to the onset of cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia because proper GABAergic control of PFC output is one key mechanism for supporting such cortical functions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Brain kynurenic acid (KYNA) is an astrocyte-derived metabolite and its abnormal elevation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to impair cognitive functions in individuals with schizophrenia. However, the mechanism underlying the disrupting effect of KYNA remains unclear. Here we found that KYNA biases the excitatory-inhibitory balance of prefrontal synaptic activity toward a state of disinhibition. Such disruption emerges as a result of a preferential suppression of local GABAergic transmission by KYNA via presynaptic inhibition of α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor signaling. Therefore, the degree of GABAergic dysregulation in the PFC could be a clinically relevant contributing factor for the onset of cognitive deficits resulting from abnormal increases of cortical KYNA.
Perceptual Realism’s Fundamental Forms

Abstract Perceptual Realism is the view; perception-independent physical objects are what perceivers perceive. In this chapter, I delineate Perceptual Realism's fundamental forms. In doing so, I distinguish Direct Realism from forms of Perceptual Realism such as Naive Realism and Indirect Realism and from forms of Perceptual Anti-Realism such Idealism and Phenomenalism. I also distinguish between forms of Direct Realism such as Ur-Direct Realism, Irreducibilist Direct Realism, and Reducibilist Direct Realism. Invoking appearance-reality gaps, I distinguish as well between global and local forms of Naive Realism and between temporal, chromatic, formal, quantitative, motional, and relational forms of perceptual naivete. My key aim in drawing these distinctions is to show that both defenders and opponents of Perpetual Realism would be wise to clearly specify the kind of Perceptual Realism they are supporting or rejecting.
The Double Bind of Siblings in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

Siblings have been found to be perhaps the greatest source of social risk for adolescent substance abuse, particularly when the relationship is close. But, close sibling relationships are also linked to an array of important developmental and lifelong protective benefits. Sibling closeness simultaneously poses considerable risks and benefits. These conflicting findings suggest opposite treatment directions, or a “double bind” for practice. That sibling closeness risks contagion suggests treatment that aims to decrease sibling closeness. On the other hand, the many lifelong and protective benefits of close sibling relationships suggests increasing sibling closeness when possible. Family-based treatment is recommended for adolescent substance abuse, but offers little explicit direction for involving siblings in general, and none for this double bind. This paper untangles and translates the extant literature into preliminary practice guidelines; the Sibling Substance Abuse Treatment Matrix. Important variations related to gender, and age-spacing are considered. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Robotic Laparoendoscopic Single Site: Pyeloplasty and Nephrectomy Chapter.

Abstract Robotic laparoendoscopic single site (RLESS) for upper tract procedures is safe and feasible in the correctly selected patient. An ideal candidate is young, has a low body mass index, and ...
Mechanics-based modeling of tailor welded blank forming

Abstract: Tailor welded blanks (TWBs) offer several notable benefits including decreased component weight, reduced manufacturing costs, increased environmental friendliness and improved dimensional accuracy. In order to take full advantage of these benefits, designers must be able to predict the reduced formability of TWBs and the unique attributes related to TWB forming early in the design process. In this chapter, analytical models to predict the limiting thickness ratio of the TWB combination and the forming behavior of TWBs will be presented. In these studies, comparisons with numerical simulations and experimental results will be used to validate the accuracy of these models. Such analytical models provide designers with valuable tools to determine material and process parameters for the application, such as the location of steps on the die surface to accommodate the weld displacement, the non-uniform binder force ratio to prevent weld line movement and the potential forming height for a TWB forming process.
Presentation Slides for 'Driven to Distraction: Extraneous Events and Underreaction to Earnings News'

Psychological evidence indicates that it is hard to process multiple stimuli and perform multiple tasks at the same time. This paper tests the investor distraction hypothesis, which holds that the arrival of extraneous news causes trading and market prices to react sluggishly to relevant news about a firm. Our test focuses on the competition for investor attention between a firm's earnings announcements and the earnings announcements of other firms. We find that the immediate stock price and volume reaction to a firm's earnings surprise is weaker, and post-earnings announcement drift is stronger, when a greater number of earnings announcements by other firms are made on the same day. Distracting news has a stronger effect on firms that receive positive than negative earnings surprises. Industry-unrelated news has a stronger distracting effect than related news. A trading strategy that exploits post-earnings announcement drift is unprofitable for announcements made on days with little competing news. Link to the paper: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3195322
Prevalence and Change in Psychiatric Symptomatology Among Methadone Maintenance Patients

Investigating the prevalence of psychiatric factors among drug abusers has been a subject of study in the United States for more than 50 years.1 Most of the early studies focused on opiate addicts, as they comprised the principal population of drug abusers at risk for hospitalization or imprisonment. Pescor’s study of the clinical records of 1036 addicts hospitalized at Lexington during 1936–1937 referred primarily to opiate abusers.1 Pescor’s analysis was followed by a succession of other studies that also investigated personality factors and psychopathology among opiate abusers.2,3,4
Human kininogens regulate thrombin binding to platelets through the glycoprotein Ib-IX-V complex.

We and others have shown that both high and low molecular mass kininogens are able to inhibit the thrombin-induced aggregation of gel-filtered platelets, indicating that the locus for inhibition resides in the heavy chain. The inhibitory site is present in domain 3, confined to the C-terminal portion of the region encoded by exon 7 (K270-G292), and the minimal effective sequence is a heptapeptide (L271-A277; Kunapuli et al, J Biol Chem 271:11228, 1996). Kininogens inhibit thrombin binding to platelets and thus inhibit thrombin-induced aggregation. The molecular mechanism by which kininogens inhibit thrombin-induced aggregation of platelets is unknown. Thrombin has previously been shown to bind to two receptors on the platelet surface, glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX-V complex and the hepta-spanning transmembrane receptor coupled to G protein(s). We now show that, unlike its effect on normal platelets, kininogen (2 μmol/L) did not inhibit the thrombin-induced aggregation of Bernard-Soulier platelets, which lack the GP Ib-IX-V complex, suggesting that kininogen interacts either directly or indirectly with that complex and restricts access by thrombin to this receptor. We further show that both recombinant K270-G292 polypeptide and the synthetic peptide L271-A277 derived from high molecular mass kininogen lower thrombin binding to platelets in a manner similar to monoclonal antibodies to or ligands (von Willebrand factor and echicetin) of GP Ib-IX. The anti–GP Ib-IX-V complex antibodies, TM-60 and SZ 2, can inhibit 125I-high molecular mass kininogen binding to platelets. Conversely, kininogen could block the binding of biotinylated TM-60 or of 125I-SZ 2. Kininogen inhibited the binding of biotinylated thrombin bound to a mouse fibroblast cell line transfected with the GP Ib-IX-V complex. These results indicated that kininogen binds to the GP Ib-IX-V complex modulating thrombin binding to platelets and the consequent platelet aggregation. Kininogen can thus serve as an important regulator of the early stages of platelet stimulation by thrombin.
Sperm Motility: Models for Dynamic Behavior in Complex Environments

Sperm–often considered the most diverse cell type known–present unique challenges for modeling frameworks. Responsible for fertilizing the egg, sperm are not only necessary for sexual reproduction, but also increasingly important to study given rising rates of infertility. In this review, we summarize aspects of sperm motility and interactions, which make it unique in comparison to other cells. The journey of a sperm involves swimming in different fluid environments, where emergent trajectories and waveforms are coupled to the fluid properties such as viscosity, the mechanics of the flagellum, as well as the relevant biochemistry. We emphasize that there is a range of modeling frameworks, each of which can bring an understanding to fundamental aspects of sperm motility, such as how a particular fluid or interaction with another swimmer can alter swimming speeds and trajectories. In order to study the emergent flagellar waveforms of sperm and compare to experiments, it is important to have accurate models of the relevant surfaces and interactions to capture the correct and relevant hydrodynamics. We discuss current challenges and describe aspects of sperm motility that models can elucidate in the future, ultimately to help solve the puzzle of how the sperm is able to reach and fertilize the egg.
Workflow disruptions and surgical performance: past, present and future.

The earliest contributions of human factors engineering to surgery probably occurred just over a century ago. Already well-known for their pioneering scientific approaches to management, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth turned their expertise in time and motion studies and the psychology of management to optimising the operating room environment (and various aspects of hospital operations).1 Some readers may know this real husband and wife pair of early management gurus as the parents depicted in ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’. Written by two of their 12 children, it humorously depicted the application of the science of efficiency to the lives of this family of 14. The book, first published in 1946, generated a film (1950), a television series and an updated film in 2003. None of the antics in these various productions convey the real-life contributions of either of the Gilbreths. For instance, the modern approach to laying out surgical instruments in regular and consistent patterns grew out of their detailed analyses of filmed surgeries, in which the Gilbreths noticed that surgeons often spent more time searching for their instruments than they did operating.1 Within contemporary circles, however, many would likely cite de Leval and colleagues2 as the first to empirically demonstrate the relationship between human factors in the operating room (OR) and surgical error. They studied surgical performance and outcomes across a series of 243 arterial switch operations performed by 21 surgeons. One of their most notable findings pertains to the role that system factors play in the aetiology of errors. Such factors were generally referred to as ‘minor’ events and included such factors as failed alarm systems, coordination problems with the blood bank, perfusion issues and inappropriate task delegation. These minor events tended to disrupt to the flow of a surgical procedure, which subsequently impacted negatively the performance …
P05.61. The multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness (MAIA)

This paper describes the development of a multidimensional self-report measure of interoceptive body awareness. The systematic mixed-methods process involved reviewing the current literature, specifying a multidimensional conceptual framework, evaluating prior instruments, developing items, and analyzing focus group responses to scale items by instructors and patients of body awareness-enhancing therapies. Following refinement by cognitive testing, items were field-tested in students and instructors of mind-body approaches. Final item selection was achieved by submitting the field test data to an iterative process using multiple validation methods, including exploratory cluster and confirmatory factor analyses, comparison between known groups, and correlations with established measures of related constructs. The resulting 32-item multidimensional instrument assesses eight concepts. The psychometric properties of these final scales suggest that the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) may serve as a starting point for research and further collaborative refinement.
A phase I trial of pazopanib (suspension formulation) added to a fixed dose of cetuximab in patients with incurable head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

e17028 Background: In pre-clinical models of HNSCC, VEGFR, PDGFR, and c-kit are frequently overexpressed. Upregulation of angiogenesis by VEGFR activation is a mechanism of resistance to EGFR inhib...
Automatic Object Recognition in a Light-Weight Augmented Reality-based Vocabulary Learning Application for Children with Autism

A number of previous controlled studies have underscored the importance of early diagnosis and intervention in autism. However, despite the technological advances, augmented reality-based (AR) intervention for Chinese autistic children is still rare, which motivates our study. In particular, in this paper, we present a mobile vocabulary-learning application for Chinese autistic children by creating authentic opportunities in outdoor and home use. The core object recognition module is implemented in the deep learning platform, TensorFlow, on one hundred training models; unlike other sophisticated systems, the algorithm has to run in an offline fashion. A pilot study aiming at investigating the system's feasibility and usability had been conducted with typically developing children and their parents with very promising and satisfying results. We also further tested performance of the offline learning algorithm using seven animal toys with very satisfying results. Since the current literature of AR-technology on Chinese word-learning for children with special needs is still in its infancy and arguably lacks rigor in especially design and assessment, which thus offers limited insights into its therapeutic efficacy, feasibility and applicability of individualized intervention for autistic individuals, particularly children. It is our hope that this preliminary study adds to our understanding towards the usability and usefulness of such AR-based mobile learning application.
The Interrelationship Between Aging, Trauma, and the End of Life

This chapter explores how adverse life events inform the experiences of individuals and their caregivers as they reach older ages at unprecedented rates and as they die within the context of a human rights framework. Growing recognition of how trauma is experienced and processed across the life span illuminates myriad ways that existing memories and subsequent traumatic events influence both the quality of later life and the dying process. The experiences of veterans, prisoners, survivors, and people who have relocated to long-term care facilities illuminate the intersection of trauma, aging, and dying. Trauma-informed approaches to working with this population are presented. The fundamental role of resilience in empowering people to cope with the changes that accompany the aging process and ultimately to die well is demonstrated.
Left ventricle segmental function in childhood cancer survivors using speckle-tracking echocardiography

AIM Anthracycline-associated cardiotoxicity in childhood cancer survivors may relate to global or segmental left ventricular abnormalities from associated thromboembolic events and myocardial microinfarcts. We characterized left ventricular segmental changes by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography in anthracycline-treated asymptomatic childhood cancer survivors. METHODS AND RESULTS Childhood cancer survivors' echocardiograms with normal left ventricular fractional shortening >1 year after anthracycline chemotherapy were studied. Cancer-free control children had normal echocardiograms. Apical two-, three-, and four-chamber peak systolic left ventricular longitudinal and global longitudinal strain, and peak systolic left ventricular radial and circumferential strain at papillary muscle levels were analyzed. The mean (standard deviation) age was 12.7 (3.8) years in 41 childhood cancer survivors. The median (interquartile range) follow-up after anthracycline chemotherapy was 4.73 (2.15-8) years. The median (range) cumulative anthracycline dose was 160.2 (60-396.9) mg/m2. In childhood cancer survivors, the mean (standard deviation) left ventricular longitudinal strain was lower in two- (-18.6 [3.2] versus -21.3 [2.5], p < 0.001), three- (-16.3 [6.0] versus -21.7 [3.0], p < 0.001), and four- (-17.6 [2.7] versus -20.8 [2.0], p < 0.001) chamber views compared to controls. The left ventricular global longitudinal strain (-17.6 [2.7] versus -21.3 [2.0]) and circumferential strain (-20.8 [4.3] versus -23.5 [2.6], p < 0.001) were lower in childhood cancer survivors. Among childhood cancer survivors, 12 out of 16 left ventricular segments had significantly lower longitudinal strain than controls. CONCLUSIONS Asymptomatic anthracycline-treated childhood cancer survivors with normal left ventricular fractional shortening had lower global longitudinal and circumferential strain. The left ventricular longitudinal strain was lower in majority of the segments, suggesting that anthracycline cardiotoxicity is more global than regional.
Initial Learning Trajectories for K-12 Quantum Computing

As quantum computation (QC) comes closer to reality, questions arise as to what elements to teach, how to teach it, and to what depth. QC instruction typically depends heavily on advanced math and/or physics. Our interdisciplinary science / computer science / education team co-created quantum computing (QC) learning trajectories (LT), zines, and activities, for young learners. We present the LT's (Superposition, Quantum State, Entanglement, Measurement, and Reversibility) and the iterative process that created them.
Optimal maternal incubation strategies for altricial and precocial birds

Abstract Parental management of early offspring development is a complex but essential contribution to reproductive success for oviparous species. Mothers faced with incubating eggs in a variable environment maximize reproductive success by adaptively adjusting offspring number in a clutch and incubation schedules to facilitate egg development while meeting their own energetic demands. However, the optimal resolution of these trade-offs varies with physiological and ecological factors and is thus hard to determine using empirical data from natural systems. To untangle the complex factors driving optimal maternal decisions, we developed an ecophysiological model that identifies optimal maternal strategies and their implications for offspring, comparing results for example altricial and precocial species. We showed how plastic maternal strategies can ameliorate effects of food scarcity, offspring mortality risk, variable levels of biparental care, and constraints on producing multiple clutches within a season. In the altricial case in particular, we identified important downstream fitness effects from decisions made in the incubation stage. Additionally, we showed that seasonal decreases in clutch size may result from cumulative fecundity costs for the altricial case and from a seasonal decline in female quality for precocial species. Many of the novel results in this study are testable in future empirical work.
Relationship Between Physician Burnout and Patient’s Perception of Bedside Time Spent by Physicians

Although the adverse effect of burnout on physicians has been widely documented, studies have shown an inconsistent relationship between burnout and the quality of patient care. We hypothesized that physician burnout will have an inverse relationship with the time spent at the bedside by physicians. In a cross-sectional study, we surveyed patients on their perception of the time spent by their physician on the day of the survey (4 categories: 0-5, 6-10, 11-15, >15 minutes). Oldenburg Burnout Inventory was used to assess physician burnout; burnout was defined as high levels of both exhaustion (≥2.25) and disengagement (≥2.10). Among the 1374 patients, the most commonly reported time spent at bedside category was 6-10 minutes (n=614, 45%). Among the 95 physicians who saw these patients, burnout was present in 44 (46%), with a higher prevalence in women (61% vs 39%; P=0.04). Using ordered logistic regression, we found no relationship between physician burnout and patient's perception of bedside time spent, without adjustment (odds ratio: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.65-1.16) or with adjustment (odds ratio: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.64-1.12) for potential confounders. Although physician burnout is not associated with patient perception of time spent at bedside, it may be associated with other patient outcomes that require further research.
Can Biomarkers Guide Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy

Defects in tumor cell interferon-γ signaling is associated with resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Recently, these defects were found to confer increased sensitivity to oncolytic virus infection. Differential expression of innate sensing elements in tumor cells may serve as predictive biomarkers of oncolytic virus immunotherapy in patients with cancer.
Individual and social-psychological factors to explain climate change efficacy: The role of mindfulness, sense of global community, and egalitarianism.

This article focused on the study of individual and social-psychological determinants of a sense of efficacy on climate change mitigation. A correlational study investigated the predictive role of mindfulness, egalitarianism, risk concern, knowledge, and psychological sense of global community (PSGC). An online survey was administrated to US College students (N = 277). The main predictors of climate change response efficacy (CCRE) were PSGC and egalitarianism, followed by risk concern and climate knowledge. Among the facets of mindfulness, observing, and describing were the only ones associated with CCRE. The results found that mindfulness observing predicted response efficacy both directly and through the mediation of risk concern and sense of global community. Conversely, egalitarianism was not a significant mediator. Community psychologists should promote a sense of belonging to all humanity, and a more egalitarian view of the world, beyond risk concern, to increase climate efficacy. Training the skill of mindfulness observing could be a way to produce a sense of global community and affect climate change efficacy.
Distributed Ray Tracing of Large Scenes using Actors

We present work on implementing a ray tracing system that can work with distributed geometry so that scenes can exceed the memory requirements of a single machine using the Apache Spark big-data system. We look at a progression of implementations beginning with implementations that simply distribute the work and moving to implementations that allow the geometry itself to be distributed. We find that Spark makes it rather simple to distribute work across a cluster. While distributing the geometry across the cluster is more challenging, the implementation is still rather short given that it is capable of rendering scenes that are larger than any of the individual machines in the cluster could handle.
Real-time pharmacodynamic evaluation of a therapeutic system XC- inhibitor using [18F]FSPG-PET

164 Purpose: PET/CT offers the unique potential to noninvasively evaluate therapeutic target engagement. Our overall goal is to develop novel drugs that target the System XC- antiporter, which has been shown to be overexpressed in many malignancies, including GBM and pancreatic cancer. System XC- is composed of SLC7A11 and SLC3A2, and functions to exchange intracellular glutamate with extracellular cystine. The downstream effects of this exchange include protein and glutathione synthesis and it plays a critical role in maintaining extracellular redox balance. Our objective here is to develop a non-invasive means of monitoring System XC- target engagement by a novel class of System XC- inhibitors. Methods: We examined the cell uptake of [18F]FSPG ((4S)-4-(3-[18F]-fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate) in GBM and pancreatic cancer cell lines without and with IKE (imidazole ketone erastin; 10 uM mg/ml), a selective inhibitor of system XC-. For cell uptake studies,100,000 cells were plated in 24-well cell culture plates overnight and treated with tracer for 60 minutes followed by 4 washes with cold PBS. Cells were then lysed with 0.1M NaOH and counted using a HIDEX well counter. For tumor slice studies, fresh slices of tumor were extracted immediately after mice were euthanized and placed in specialized media for 4 hours. Slices were treated with [18F]FSPG with or without pretreatment of IKE, washed and imaged for 60 minutes on an Inveon microPET scanner. Results. [18F]FSPG was taken up robustly by GBM and pancreatic cancer cells. Uptake was significantly blocked in the presence of IKE (>80% blockade), confirming that IKE suppresses system XC- activity. Similarly, [18F]FSPG was taken up in the fresh tumor sections, which was also significantly blocked with excess IKE. Conclusions. We have established that [18F]FSPG can be used to monitor pharmacodynamic effects of IKE, a System XC-selective inhibitor and ferroptosis inducer. These findings suggest that we can utilize [18F]FSPG PET as a means to identify target engagement in vivo to personalize therapeutic selection as well as develop second generation compounds with higher affinity or better pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Support: NIH/NCI 5P01CA207206. The PET early drug development program is supported by the Columbia Dept. of Radiology and Irving Institute CTSA Translational Therapeutics Accelerator (UL1TR001873).
How may I help you? Driving brand engagement through the warmth of an initial chatbot message

Abstract Despite the growing number of brands that rely on chatbots to address customer service inquiries that once required human intervention, academics and practitioners are only beginning to acknowledge the role of chatbots in brand-building activities. Chatbots can initiate online conversations, thereby often serving as a consumer’s first brand impression. However, little is known about how managers can strategically tailor a chatbot’s initial message to foster consumer–brand connections and, ultimately, engagement. Three studies demonstrate that when chatbots initiate a conversation using a warm (vs. competent) message, brand engagement increases, as assessed using both computerized text analysis and traditional scale measures. Brand–self distance mediates this effect, such that a warm (vs. competent) initial chatbot message makes consumers feel closer to the brand. Further, the authors identify brand affiliation as a theoretically relevant moderator. This research thus offers managers insight into how initial chatbot messages can attract and engage consumers.
The Impact of Public Pension Deficits on Households' Investment and Economic Activity

US public state pension deficits are very large, accounting for 18.5% of an average state's GDP and up to 50% in Illinois. In principle, households should respond to this heavy future burden by increasing current savings, particularly in safe assets, since pension deficits are countercyclical. Comparing households residing on opposing sides of states' borders, I document that households in larger-deficit states save more, investing more in safe bank deposits and less in risky stocks. Specifically, households hold 0.70 dollars more in deposits and 0.35 dollars less in stocks for each additional dollar of pension deficit. This effect strengthened further following the implementation of new accounting standards in 2015 that made deficits more salient by requiring states to publicly disclose them. Exploiting staggered state pension reforms, I also find that households respond consistently when states reduce pension deficits; they shift savings from deposits to stocks. These reallocations spill over onto local economic activity: as households withdraw deposits following a pension reform, exposed local banks cut lending to local businesses, lowering employment and wages, especially in the non-tradable sector.
An Introduction to Christian Theology

Far from being solely an academic enterprise, the practice of theology can pique the interest of anyone who wonders about the meaning of life. Inviting readers on a journey of 'faith seeking understanding', this introduction to Christian theology - its basic concepts, confessional content, and history - emphasizes the relevance of the key convictions of Christian faith to the challenges of today's world. In the first part, this book introduces the project of Christian theology and sketches the critical context that confronts Christian thought and practice today. In a second part, it offers a survey of the key doctrinal themes of Christian theology - including revelation, the triune God, and the world as creation - identifying their biblical basis and the highlights of their historical development before giving a systematic evaluation of each theme. The third part provides an overview of Christian theology from the early church to the present.
Connecting databases with argumentation

In this paper we introduce a proposal to give argumentation capacity to databases. A database is said to have argumentation capacity if it has the capacity to extract from the database a set of interacting arguments for and against claims and to determine the overall status of some information given all the interactions among all the arguments. We represent conflicts among arguments using a construct called contestation, which permits us to represent verious degrees of conflict among arguments. Argumentation databases as proposed here give answers to queries which are annotated with confidence values reflecting the degree of confidence one should have in the answer, where the degree of confidence is determined by the overall effect of all the conflicts and interactions among arguments.
Legal Theory and The Economic Analysis of Torts and Crimes

One has to be impressed by the volume of research produced in the last fifteen years that has applied economics to analyze legal issues-in particular, the subjects of torts and crimes. The nature of the inquiry has been diverse. It has included normative analysis of the implications that economics has for the design of a particular rule of law' as well as positive analysis, using economic arguments, of why the common law has taken the form it has.2 The economic approach has featured both theoretical analysis3 and empirical work4 on legal issues. The literature has developed not only in publications explicitly devoted to law and economics5 but in law reviews and leading economics journals as well. Volumes have been produced that provide comprehensive
Past, Present, Future Erosion at Locke Island

This report describes and documents the erosion that has occurred along the northeast side of Locke Island over the last 10 to 20 years. The principal cause of this erosion is the massive Locke Island landslide complex opposite the Columbia River along the White Bluffs, which constricts the flow of the river and deflects the river's thalweg southward against the island.
“But Aren't Cults Bad?”: Active Learning, Productive Chaos, and Teaching New Religious Movements

This article considers the challenges inherent when teaching about new religious movements (“cults”), how successful instructors have surmounted them, and how teacher-scholars in other fields of religious studies can benefit from a discussion of the successful teaching of new religions. I note that student-centered pedagogies are crucial to teaching new religions, particularly if students disrupt and defamiliarize the assumed and reified categories of “cult” and “religion.” I argue that what works in a classroom focusing on new religious movements will work more broadly in religious studies classrooms, since the challenges of the former are reproduced in the latter.
Tumor-specific Anti-Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Variant III Monoclonal Antibodies: Use of the Tyramine-Cellobiose Radioiodination Method Enhances Cellular Retention and Uptake in Tumor Xenografts

Amplification and rearrangement of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene are characteristics of many types of tumors. One class of EGFR mutations, EGFRvIII, is characterized by an in-frame deletion resulting in a truncated external domain of the receptor. EGFRvIII was first identified in a subset of gliomas and has since been found in some non-small cell lung carcinomas and breast carcinomas. mAbs specific for this variant form of EGFR but unreactive with the wild-type EGFR have been reported from our laboratory. This study further characterizes three of these antibodies. We determined, via radiolabeling techniques and immunofluorescence microscopy, that, after cell binding in vitro, the anti-EGFRvIII-specific mAbs internalize at 37 degrees C. Furthermore, subsequent to internalization, the antibodies were processed intracellularly, presumably by lysosomal degradation. We also examined the use of an alternative radiolabeling procedure that uses nonmetabolizable radio-iodinated tyramine cellobiose. Our results show that the tyramine cellobiose labeling method allows for greater tumor cell retention of radiolabel in vitro (76% for tyramine cellobiose and 27% for Iodo-Gen after 24 h). Paired-label biodistribution studies in athymic mice indicate that anti-EGFRvIII mAb L8A4 localizes specifically to EGFRvIII-expressing tumor xenografts with a maximum of 34.3 +/- 7.6% injected dose/g when labeled using tyramine cellobiose compared with a maximum of 14.9 +/- 4.3% injected dose/g using Iodo-Gen; similar results were obtained with mAb H10. These results suggest that the anti-EGFRvIII mAbs may serve as potential carriers for radioconjugate- and immunotoxin-based therapies for tumors expressing EGFRvIII.