cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of hydrocarbon production on reflection amplitude properties of reservoirs—a case study of Kov Field, Niger Delta, Nigeria

A better understanding of how hydrocarbons and other fluids such as brine move in the reservoirs within the Kov Field will enable the improved application of secondary recovery methods such as water and gas injections and also highlight areas within the field that have remaining hydrocarbons. This work focuses on the two major sandstone reservoir intervals, the AG-I and the AG-II all within the Agbada Formation, since they showed prominent amplitude changes. In the AG-I Formation, the results obtained from the production data and rock physics modeling show an increase in the amplitude impedance (AI) contrast around injection wells and a decrease in AI contrast around production wells due to fluid replacement, and it also deals with the pressure changes in correlation to the water injection performed to maintain the reservoir pressure, while in the AG-II Formation, the effect of hydrocarbon production serves to visualize and map the oil-water contact (OWC) as it evolves with the production time; the OWC is not observable on later seismic vintages because the reservoir drops below the OWC. Conclusively, the effect of hydrocarbon production throughout the reservoir and across the entire Field would be beneficial in mapping fluid changes in the Kov Field, which can be utilized for enhanced oil recovery and improved reservoir management.
Golden reference matching for gate-level netlist functionality identification

Outsourcing designs to 3rd party vendors is a common practice in the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing industry. This outsourcing brings advantages such as lower manufacturing cost and shorter time-to-market for a new system, which at the same time raises security threats in the IPs from 3rd party vendors. These IPs may contain hardware Trojans capable of compromising the product's confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability. While prior work of the golden reference matching method focuses on RTL designs, this paper introduces a framework of golden reference matching for gate-level netlists. Promising results have been achieved on several benchmark circuits in functionality matching, which leads to various ways in detecting inserted Trojans.
Multi-agent coordination via a shared wireless spectrum

This paper considers a planar multi-agent coordination problem. Unlike other related works, we explicitly consider a globally shared wireless communication channel where individual agents must choose both a frequency and power to transmit their messages at. This problem is motivated by the pressing need for algorithms that are able to efficiently and reliably operate on overcrowded wireless networks or otherwise poor-performing RF environments. We develop a self-triggered coordination algorithm that guarantees convergence to the desired set of states with probability 1. The algorithm is developed by using ideas from event/self-triggered coordination and allows agents to autonomously decide for themselves when to broadcast information, at which frequency and power, and how to move based on information received from other agents in the network. Simulations illustrate our results.
Computational Analysis of Vortex Wakes Without Near-Field Rollup Characteristics

A computational study on the wake characteristics of span-optimized wings is discussed, where the effect of the wing spanload on the resulting wake rollup characteristics and structure is emphasized. Two wing configurations, each optimized for minimum induced drag at a fixed CL and fixed bending-moment constraint, are studied; and their wake characteristics are compared against an elliptically loaded wing. Results from Navier–Stokes simulations across the near-field wake demonstrate a symmetric large-scale rotation of the entire wake structure, centered roughly at the quarter-span location, for the bending-optimized wings. This wake structure is contrasted with the classical tip vortex formation associated with the elliptic spanload, which occurs immediately in the wing near-field wake. The far-wake structure was also studied using a free-wake simulation approach. The results from this analysis indicate a gradual rollup of the entire wake far downstream for the bending-optimized wings. This absence of wak...
Design and Development of Digital Board Gaming System

Board games have been very popular and are fun to play. But each new game requires a dedicated board and accessories. The digital era has provided us with many solutions like mobile apps, games, software platforms, etc. But one thing they fail to cater is the same experience as playing on an actual board. In this paper, we propose a single digital board for all such games. The technologies used in the board try to make the gaming as realistic as possible. It provides a platform for single player as well as multiplayer games. Networking capabilities enable multiple boards to connect through the Internet. This allows players from various parts of the world to come together and play amongst each other.
Neuromorphic Computing Across the Stack: Devices, Circuits and Architectures

Current machine learning workloads are constrained by their large power and energy requirements. In order to address these issues, recent years have witnessed increasing interest at exploring static sparsity (synaptic memory storage) and dynamic sparsity (neural activation using spikes) in neural networks in order to reduce the necessary computational resources and enable low-power event-driven network operation. Parallely, there have been efforts to realize in-memory computing circuit primitives using emerging device technologies to alleviate the memory bandwidth limitations present in CMOS based neuromorphic computing platforms. In this paper, we discuss these two parallel research thrusts and explore the manner in-which synergistic hardware-algorithm co-design in neuromorphic computing across the stack (from devices and circuits to architectural frameworks) can result in orders of magnitude efficiency compared to state-of-the-art CMOS implementations.
Spectrum: A Framework for Adapting Consensus Protocols.

There exists a plethora of consensus protocols in literature. The reason is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, since every protocol is unique and its performance is directly tied to the deployment settings and workload configurations. Some protocols are well suited for geographical scale environments, e.g., leaderless, while others provide high performance under workloads with high contention, e.g., single leader-based. Thus, existing protocols seldom adapt to changing workload conditions. To overcome this limitation, we propose Spectrum, a consensus framework that is able to switch consensus protocols at run-time, to enable a dynamic reaction to changes in the workload characteristics and deployment scenarios. With this framework, we provide transparent instantiation of various consensus protocols, and a completely asynchronous switching mechanism with zero downtime. We assess the effectiveness of Spectrum via an extensive experimental evaluation, which shows that Spectrum is able to limit the increase of the user perceived latency when switching among consensus protocols.
Larger Valve Size is Associated with Permanent Pacemaker Implantation in Edwards SAPIEN 3™ Transcatheter Aortic Valves.

BACKGROUND Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) can be complicated with a high-degree atrioventricular (AV) block requiring a permanent pacemaker (PPM) in 5% - 25% of patients. TAVR valve size is a modifiable risk factor for permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) after TAVR. We studied the association of valve size in PPI with Edwards SAPIEN 3™ (ESV3) (Edwards Lifesciences LLC, Irvine, CA, USA) TAVR valves. METHOD This is a single-center retrospective cohort analysis of 449 patients undergoing TAVR from December 2012 to April 2018. We excluded patients with TAVR valve types other than the ESV3 (113 patients) and those with prior PPM or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (37 patients). Patients with an aborted procedure and surgical conversion were also excluded (16). Data of 14 patients with missing values for different clinical variables were excluded as well. The final sample size was 269. The primary outcome was PPI. Statistical analysis was done using Chi-square, T-test, and multivariate regression analysis. Multivariate analysis was done for comparison between different clinical variables. RESULTS Of the 269 patients (50.6% males; mean age of 79.5 ± 8.7 years; mean Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score: 6.2), PPI was seen in 17 patients (6.3%). Time to PPI was 1.3 days. PPI was significantly high in patients with prior conduction defects (p = 0.016). There was a positive relationship between PPI and valve size for ESV3. PPI was seen in eight patients (47%) with 29 mm valves, six patients (35%) with 26 mm valves, three patients (17%) with 23 mm valves, and none with 20 mm valves. When taken as a reference, 23 mm valves had a significantly lower PPI compared with 29 mm valves (eight versus three; p = 0.04). CONCLUSION Larger valve size is a possible risk factor for a high-degree AV in patients receiving ESV3.
Poirot: A Web Inspector for Designers

To better understand the issues designers face as they interact with developers and use developer tools to create websites, we conducted a formative investigation consisting of interviews, a survey, and an analysis of professional design documents. Based on insights gained from these efforts, we developed Poirot, a web inspection tool for designers that enables them to make style edits to websites using a familiar graphical interface. We compared Poirot to Chrome DevTools in a lab study with 16 design professionals. We observed common problems designers experience when using Chrome DevTools and found that when using Poirot, designers were more successful in accomplishing typical design tasks (97% to 63%). In addition, we found that Poirot had a significantly lower perceived cognitive load and was overwhelmingly preferred by the designers in our study.
Evaluating the environmental benefits of implementing Industrial Symbiosis to used electric vehicle batteries

Abstract For many countries, the transportation sector plays a critical role in the economy. Unfortunately, transportation contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the United States, there exists a very developed end of life (EoL) infrastructure for conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. As the market for Electric Vehicles (EVs) grows, this EoL infrastructure will need to keep pace with the changing vehicle technologies. One reason why this is of particular concern is the use of several high value and critical materials that have been procured using several resource-intensive manufacturing processes. The lack of adequate EoL infrastructure will result in the wastage of several materials resulting in increasing environmental burdens and the possibility of supply chain risks. This paper proposes the use of industrial symbiosis (IS) and principles of waste hierarchy to minimize material wastage and environmental burdens. A short case study evaluating the potential environmental benefits of rerouting degraded EV Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries as feedstock in an alternative industry is presented and the resulting environmental benefits are estimated.
Police Body-Worn Cameras: Research Developments on an Emerging Technology:

Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) represent one of the latest innovations to permeate policing, and the rapid speed with which law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and internationall...
Differential Long-Term Outcomes for Individuals With Histories of Preschool Speech Sound Disorders

Purpose The goal of this study was to determine whether adolescent outcomes for individuals with histories of early speech sound disorders (SSD) could be differentiated by speech and language skills at earlier ages (preschool, 4-6 years, and school age, 7-10 years). Method The study used a retrospective longitudinal design. Participants with and without histories of early SSD were classified in adolescence as having no SSD, resolved SSD, low multisyllabic word (MSW; difficulty with MSW repetition but no errors in conversational speech), or persistent speech disorders (errors in both conversational speech and MSW repetition). Analysis of variance was employed to determine whether early speech, language, and literacy skills distinguished these adolescent outcome groups. Results Preschool and school-age skills differed for adolescents whose SSD had resolved from those who had persistent speech errors. Adolescents with errors solely in production of MSWs (Low MSW) did not differ in early speech and language skills from adolescents who had difficulty with both MSWs and persistent errors in conversation. Conclusions Speech and language assessments earlier in childhood can help establish risks for persistent SSD and other language and literacy difficulties in adolescence. Early identification of these clinically relevant subgroups of SSD may allow for early targeted interventions. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9932279.
Abstract PL2: The role of radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy in oligometastatic cancer

In 1995 Samuel Hellman and I advanced the hypothesis that many cancers represent a spectrum of disease from purely localized to widespread, highlighting a disease state we termed “oligometastasis.” We proposed that oligometastasis represented an intermediary state between localized and widespread disease that was amenable to cure by metastasis-directed therapies. We also hypothesized that tumor clones that escape systemic therapies, now termed “oligoprogressors,” might be targets for ablation by focal treatments. I will present data supporting the basis and classification of (oligo)metastatic disease, as well as clinical trial results from patients, including those with breast cancer, that informs us regarding future clinical strategies. A decade ago our group noted that large radiation doses used in stereotactic radiotherapy employed in clinical trials of oligometastatic tumors induced immunogenic cell death, which has led us to investigations into the potential interaction between radiotherapy and immunotherapy. I will also present basic and clinical data from investigations into combined radio-immunotherapy treatment and suggest how these investigations might improve treatment of patients. Citation Format: RR Weichselbaum, S Hellman. The role of radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy in oligometastatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PL2.
A Neonatal Delivery Room Experience Ladder: Part of the Puzzle for Defining Competence in the Delivery Room

Background: Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) providers are increasingly providing delivery room (DR) coverage for high-risk deliveries. Most have little post-residency DR training, and there is evidence that DR competencies are not being achieved through traditional residency training. Though attempts are made to develop DR skills such as endotracheal intubation with trainees, there is no consensus definition for DR competency. Our PHM division created a Delivery Room Competence Dashboard utilizing: (1) standardized DR …
Dynamic Learning in Strategic Pricing Games

In monopoly pricing situations, firms should optimally vary prices to learn demand. The variation must be sufficiently high to ensure complete learning. In competitive situations, however, varying prices provides information to competitors and may reduce the value of learning. Such situations may arise in the pricing of new products such as pharmaceuticals and digital goods. This paper shows that firms in competition can learn efficiently in certain equilibrium actions which involve adding noise to myopic estimation and best-response strategies. The paper then discusses how this may not be the case when actions reveal information quickly to competitors. The paper provides a setting where this effect can be strong enough to stop learning so that firms optimally reduce any variation in prices and choose not to learn demand. The result can be that the selling firms achieve a collaborative outcome instead of a competitive equilibrium. The result has implications for policies that restrict price changes or require disclosures.
Membrane paradigm, gravitational Θ-term and gauge/gravity duality

Following the membrane paradigm, we explore the effect of the gravitational Θ-term on the behavior of the stretched horizon of a black hole in (3 + 1)-dimensions. We reformulate the membrane paradigm from a quantum path-integral point of view where we interpret the macroscopic properties of the horizon as effects of integrating out the region inside the horizon. The gravitational Θ-term is a total derivative, however, using our framework we show that this term affects the transport properties of the horizon. In particular, the horizon acquires a third order parity violating, dimensionless transport coefficient which affects the way localized perturbations scramble on the horizon. Then we consider a large-N gauge theory in (2 + 1)-dimensions which is dual to an asymptotically AdS background in (3 + 1)-dimensional spacetime to show that the Θ-term induces a non-trivial contact term in the energy-momentum tensor of the dual theory. As a consequence, the dual gauge theory in the presence of the Θ-term acquires the same third order parity violating transport coefficient.
Computational profiling of hiPSC-derived heart organoids reveals chamber defects associated with Ebstein’s anomaly

Abstract Heart organoids have the potential to generate primary heart-like anatomical structures and hold great promise as in vitro models for cardiac disease. However, their properties have not yet been carefully studied, which hinders a wider spread application. Here we report the development of differentiation systems for ventricular and atrial heart organoids, enabling the study of heart disease with chamber defects. We show that our systems generate organoids comprising of major cardiac cell types, and we used single cell RNA sequencing together with sample multiplexing to characterize the cells we generate. To that end, we also developed a machine learning label transfer approach lever-aging cell type, chamber, and laterality annotations available for primary human fetal heart cells. We then used this model to analyze organoid cells from an isogeneic line carrying an Ebstein’s anomaly associated genetic variant, and we successfully recapitulated the disease’s atrialized ventricular defects. In summary, we have established a workflow integrating heart organoids and computational analysis to model heart development in normal and disease states.
A Bayesian spatio-temporal abundance model for surveillance of the opioid epidemic

Opioid misuse is a national epidemic and a significant drug related threat to the United States. While the scale of the problem is undeniable, estimates of the local prevalence of opioid misuse are lacking, despite their importance to policy-making and resource allocation. This is due, in part, to the challenge of directly measuring opioid misuse at a local level. In this paper, we develop a Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal abundance model that integrates indirect county-level data on opioid overdose deaths and treatment admissions with state-level survey estimates on prevalence of opioid misuse to estimate the latent county-level prevalence and counts of people who misuse opioids. A simulation study shows that our joint model accurately recovers the latent counts and prevalence and thus overcomes known limitations with identifiability in abundance models with non-replicated observations. We apply our model to county-level surveillance data from the state of Ohio. Our proposed framework can be applied to other applications of small area estimation for hard to reach populations, which is a common occurrence with many health conditions such as those related to illicit behaviors.
The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India-China Border, 1846–1962

Kyle J. Gardner reveals the transformation of the historical Himalayan entrepot of Ladakh into a modern, disputed borderland through an examination of rare British, Indian, Ladakhi, and Kashmiri archival sources. In so doing, he provides both a history of the rise of geopolitics and the first comprehensive history of Ladakh's encounter with the British Empire. He examines how colonial border-making practices transformed geography into a political science and established principles that a network of imperial frontier experts would apply throughout the empire and bequeath to an independent India. Through analyzing the complex of imperial policies and practices, The Frontier Complex reveals how the colonial state transformed, and was transformed by, new ways of conceiving of territory. Yet, despite a century of attempts to craft a suitable border, the British failed. The result is an imperial legacy still playing out across the Himalayas.
The role of N6-methyladenosine modification in the life cycle and disease pathogenesis of hepatitis B and C viruses

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent modification of mammalian cellular RNAs. m6A methylation is linked to epigenetic regulation of several aspects of gene expression, including RNA stability, splicing, nuclear export, RNA folding, and translational activity. m6A modification is reversibly catalyzed by methyltransferases (m6A writers) and demethylases (m6A erasers), and the dynamics of m6A-modified RNA are regulated by m6A-binding proteins (m6A readers). Recently, several studies have shown that m6A methylation sites have been identified in hepatitis B virus (HBV) transcripts and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA genome. Here, we review the role of m6A modification in HBV/HCV replication and its contribution to liver disease pathogenesis. A better understanding of the functions of m6A methylation in the life cycles of HBV and HCV is required to establish the role of these modifications in liver diseases associated with these viral infections.
Predicting open wound mortality in the ICU using machine learning.

Background Open wounds have a significant impact on the health of patients causing pain, loss of function, and death. Labeled as a comorbid condition, open wounds represent a "silent epidemic" that affect a large portion of the US population. Due to their burden of care, open wound patients face an increased risk of ICU stay and mortality. There is a dearth of studies that investigate mortality among wound patients in the ICU. We sought to develop a model that predicts the risk of mortality among wound patients in the ICU. Methods Random forest and binomial logistic regression models were developed to predict the risk of mortality among open wound patients in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database. MIMIC-III includes de-identified data for patients who stayed in critical care units of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center between 2001 and 2012. Six variables were used to develop the model (wound location, gender, age, admission type, minimum platelet count and hyperphosphatemia). The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Elixhauser Comorbidity Index were used to assess model strength. Results A total of 3,937 patients were included with a mean age of 76.57. Of those, 3,372 (85%) survived and 565 (15%) died during their ICU stay. The random forest model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.924. The CCI and Elixhauser models resulted in AUC of 0.528 and 0.565, respectively. Conclusions Machine learning models may allow clinicians to provide better care and management to open wound patients in the ICU.
Risk Prediction Model for Basal Cell Carcinoma in Cardiac Allograft Recipients.

ABSTRACT Background Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the second most common skin cancers in posttransplant patients. Long-term immunosuppression predisposes the patients to higher risk. This study was undertaken to develop a risk prediction model using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database. Materials and methods Heart transplant recipients (2000~2015) from the UNOS database were analyzed. The Cox proportional hazards model was applied to screen the predictors associated with the development of BCC. Stepwise forward selection with Akaike information criterion was done to obtain the multivariate model. Area under the curve was derived from the receiver operating characteristics curve to assess the quality of the prediction model. A risk scoring system was developed to stratify patients into different risk groups, and the occurrence rates of posttransplant BCC among different groups were compared. Results There were 24,374 patients who received heart transplantation within this study period, and 1211 recipients have been reported with BCC. The multivariate model provides area under the curves at 5, 8, and 10 years posttransplant of 0.77, 0.76, and 0.76, respectively, in the derivation set and 0.75, 0.74, and 0.74, respectively, in the validation set. The predicted and observed probabilities of developing BCC in 5 years agree well across different risk groups. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated, which demonstrate significant differences between subjects in different risk groups. Conclusion A risk prediction model has been generated for the first time for BCC with a c-statistic of ≥ 0.74 in both derivation and validation sets, making it a good tool for risk stratification.
An Exploratory Analysis of Auditors’ Perceptions of the Firms’ Tone at the Top

This study examines public accounting firms’ “tone at the top” with respect to audit quality initiatives from the perspectives of both firm leaders (those who set the tone) and engagement level auditors (non-leaders). Specifically, we (1) solicit the perceptions of audit firm culture and leadership from the perspectives of audit personnel at the partner and non-partner levels, (2) assess how firm leaders communicate tone at the top through formal and informal communications, (3) examine the firm work environment and its relation to perceived tone at the top. We interviewed audit partners and auditors below partner rank to address our research questions. Participants were from regional and local public accounting firms that audit primarily non-public entities (although some of the firms are also registered with the PCAOB). Results indicate that although most firms characterize their tone as being strongly employee- or team-focused, the way firm leaders communicate with and support employees varies across firms. In addition, firms focus on innovation or other values, such as superior client service. Our results have implications for firms, regulators and academics interested in examining the link between tone at the top and audit quality.
Outcomes of Social-Ecological Experiments in Near-Shore Marine Environments: Cognitive Interpretation of the Impact of Changes in Fishing Gear Type on Ecosystem Form and Function

The environment is undergoing profound change due to climatic and other anthropogenic related factors. However, we often cannot anticipate the changes before they happen and thus do not have effective base-lines for decision making, or good means of assessing the rate and extent of change. At the same time even if we could anticipate these changes, the cost of developing sufficient biological data would often be prohibitive. This paper explores the use of social data, to address biological questions. In this example we examine the resilience of near shore marine systems ability to respond to a reduction in fishing pressure as a proxy for understanding the broader ability of the system to adapt to change.
Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise and Protein Intake on Appetite and the Neural Response to Visual Food Cues

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies reveal altered food cue processing in brain reward centers [e.g. insula (INS), amygdala (AMY), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), caudate (CAU), putame...
Relation between the total cross section and the slope of ln(dσdt) in the high energy scattering

Abstract From the unitarity condition a sum rule s−1∫FA(s,t)dt = +i is derived for p-p scattering amplitude. A relation between σtot and the slope of ln(dσ/dt) is obtained and compared with experiment.
Effective Technology Integration: Old Topic, New Thoughts

Although teachers are aware of the importance of technology integration into daily process of teaching and learning, they tend to face a number of barriers when it comes to effectively integrating technology into their curricula. While some barriers are resource related, others originate from fundamental beliefs and processes of current education system. In this paper, the author first demonstrates why a systemic change is needed for effective technology integration in K-12. Then, by reviewing the relevant literature on barriers to technology integration, she points out the most fundamental barriers. Finally, the stages of change that individuals tend to go through in the context of K-12 technology integration is discussed.
Mediation of IGF-1-induced skeletal myotube hypertrophy by PI(3)K/Akt/mTOR and PI(3)K/Akt/GSK3 pathways

Skeletal muscle is composed of multinucleated fibres, formed after the differentiation and fusion of myoblast precursors. Skeletal muscle atrophy and hypertrophy refer to changes in the diameter of these pre-existing muscle fibres. The prevention of atrophy would provide an obvious clinical benefit; insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a promising anti-atrophy agent because of its ability to promote hypertrophy. However, the signalling pathways by which IGF-1 promotes hypertrophy remain unclear, with roles suggested for both the calcineurin/NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) pathway and the PtdIns-3-OH kinase (PI(3)K)/Akt pathway. Here we employ a battery of approaches to examine these pathways during the hypertrophic response of cultured myotubes to IGF-1. We report that Akt promotes hypertrophy by activating downstream signalling pathways previously implicated in activating protein synthesis: the pathways downstream of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the pathway activated by phosphorylating and thereby inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3). In contrast, in addition to demonstrating that calcineurin does not mediate IGF-1-induced hypertrophy, we show that IGF-1 unexpectedly acts via Akt to antagonize calcineurin signalling during myotube hypertrophy.
Regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis in normal and malignant tissues.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the major biochemical and subcellular characteristics of the systems that regulate cholesterol synthesis in the liver and in the intestine. The rate of cholesterol synthesis in the livers of higher animals is controlled primarily by a sensitive negative feedback system, and to a lesser extent, by caloric intake. Bile acids do not play a direct role in regulation of cholesterol synthesis in the liver. Cholesterol synthesis in the intestine of higher animals has been shown to be controlled by a similar feedback control mechanism; however, the feedback inhibitor consists of bile acids rather than cholesterol. Phylogenetic studies indicate that, in contrast to the case in higher animals, in nonmammalian vertebrates, cholesterol synthesis in the intestine is regulated by cholesterol itself. The most striking defect in the control of cholesterol synthesis so far observed involves the consistent loss of the cholesterol feedback system in all hepatomas.
2D DOA estimation with propagator method for correlated sources under unknown symmetric Toeplitz noise

The paper employs the propagator method (PM) to find two-dimensional (2D) direction of arrival angles (DOAs). The proposed algorithm can be applied to the situation when the incident sources are mixed, either with uncorrelated or fully correlated (coherent) sources. Like S. Pasad et al. (see IEEE Trans., vol.ASSP-36, no.5, p.631-41, 1988), we assume a symmetric Toeplitz covariance matrix for the unknown noise model. But the proposed algorithm, when compared with Pasad's, has two main advantages: it does not require any eigen decomposition to find the DOAs, so that the complexity can be significantly smaller than in Pasad's method; it requires the number of sensors, N, to be larger than the number of sources, K, i.e., N>K, but Pasad's method requires N>2K. The proposed method is based on the covariance matrix difference between the average of the forward-backward covariance matrices of the received data and its Hermitian of the backward. This difference is introduced to eliminate the noise components from the array structure. The numerical results verify that the proposed method performs successfully under the environment where Pasad's method fails, and, furthermore, gives better performance and less computation than the conventional MUSIC.
Risk aversion and the utility of annuities

A well-known result in life-cycle models with uncertain lifetime is that, absent other sources of uncertainty, egoistic agents should annuitize all their wealth. The gain from access to an annuity market, as measured by the increase in non-annuitized wealth required to obtain the same utility level, has repeatedly been shown to be a positive function of risk aversion in expected-utility models. This paper extends the analysis by considering the recursive utility function introduced by Epstein and Zin. By disentangling risk aversion from the elasticity of intertemporal substitution it is shown that the utility value of annuitization is decreasing with both parameters. The classical Yaari result that access to a fair annuity market leads to the same consumption dynamics as in the certainty scenario is also shown to obtain only in the expected-utility case.
High Prevalence of Inappropriate Urine Drug Tests in a Pain Clinic for Patients with HIV

Dear Editor, We read the article regarding compliance with opioid treatment guidelines for chronic noncancer pain by Sekhon et al. with interest [1]. Our clinic recently conducted a similar study in a primary care setting for persons with HIV and found similar results. The management of chronic pain in HIV-infected persons is particularly challenging as it is often complicated by comorbidities, addiction disorders, and mental illness. Universal precautions to mitigate the risk of substance misuse/abuse among individuals with chronic pain on chronic opioid therapy has been recommended; behavioral contracts, surveillance urine drug tests (UDTs), and review of prescription refills have been suggested to control potential misuse of opioids [2]. The HIV Outpatient Program (HOP) is a primary care clinic for persons with HIV who provide care to patients in New Orleans and surrounding areas in Louisiana. The clinic has had a specialized clinic dedicated for patients with chronic pain for several years. This clinic, held once a week, is staffed by a physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Treatment plans vary depending upon each condition, but include physical therapy referrals, corticosteroid injections, analgesics, opioids and adjuvant therapies. The pain clinic is open to all patients in the general HIV clinic, but requires a referral from the primary care provider. In 2011, …
Nutritional Quality of Meals Compared to Snacks in Child Care

Abstract Background: Most young children are in child care. Previous studies suggest that children may receive insufficient vegetables, and foods and beverages with added sugars, fats, and sodium in these settings. None have compared the nutritional quality of meals to snacks. Methods: Directors from 258 full-day child-care centers in two urban counties of southwestern Ohio were surveyed via telephone in the fall of 2009 about their nutrition practices, and asked to provide a current menu. Lunch and afternoon snack menus were categorized according to average weekly frequency for fruits, vegetables, lean meats, juice (100%), and sweet or salty foods served. Frequencies were compared by meal occasion (lunch vs. snack) using the Fisher exact test. Results: Most (60%) directors reported serving 2% milk to children ≥3 years; 31% served whole milk. Menu analysis demonstrated the composition of lunches differed from snacks (p<0.0001) in all food categories. A total of 87% centers rarely (<1 time per week) listed...
Social networks and prestige attainment: New empirical findings

Several hypotheses are derived that relate social networks to the occupational prestige attainment process. These hypotheses are evaluated using theoretically derived indicators and ordinary least squares regression. Most of the hypotheses considered do not receive support, and the one hypothesis that does lacks a consistent theoretical explanation. From this analysis, two important conclusions are drawn: 1. The relationship between the prestige of a social network contact and prestige attainment may be empirically strong, but the theoretical explanation linking them lacks consistency. 2. Empirical work performed to test social network theories should no longer focus on dyadic data alone. The broader implications of these conclusions for future research are considered.
CAUSATION AND DISEASE: A CHRONOLOGICAL JOURNEY THE THOMAS PARRAN LECTURE

A historical review of the evolution of concepts, postulates and guidelines concerning disease causation from early germ theory to current work in the area of chronic noncontagious diseases. Students and researchers in epidemiology, clinical medicine, microbiology and related fields will value discussion of changing criteria as these apply to speci
Comparison of temperature processing methods for monitoring focused ultrasound ablation in the brain

Purpose To investigate the performance of different reconstruction methods for monitoring temperature changes during transcranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS). Materials and Methods Four different temperature reconstruction methods were compared in volunteers (without heating) and patients undergoing transcranial MRgFUS: single baseline subtraction, multibaseline subtraction, hybrid single baseline/referenceless reconstruction, and hybrid multibaseline/referenceless reconstruction. Absolute temperature error and temporal temperature uncertainty of the different reconstruction methods were analyzed and compared. Results Absolute temperature errors and temporal temperature uncertainty were highest with single baseline subtraction and lowest with hybrid multibaseline/referenceless reconstruction in all areas of the brain. Pulsation of the brain and susceptibility changes from tongue motion or swallowing caused substantial temperature errors when single or multibaseline subtraction was used, which were much reduced when the referenceless component was added to the reconstruction. Conclusion Hybrid multibaseline/referenceless thermometry accurately measures temperature changes in the brain with fewer artifacts and errors due to motion than pure baseline subtraction methods. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;38:1462–1471. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Rapid destructive arthritis of the hip revisited

Rapid destructive arthritis of the hip is a rare entity with unknown pathogenesis and outcome. First described by Forestier in 1957, it is characterized by a rapidly progressive hip disease resulting in rapid destruction of both the femoral and acetabular aspects of the hip joint, with almost complete disappearance of the femoral head within a few months. Since the original description, case reports and small series have been reported, and many names have been proposed to describe the rapid destruction of the femoral head and occasionally the acetabulum. Initial presentation includes acute hip pain with the lack of radiographic evidence of joint destruction, rapidly progressing to complete vanishing of the proximal femur within a few months. This article summarizes the related literature aiming to present the current concepts for the diagnosis and treatment of rapid destructive arthritis of the hip.
Demand Information Sharing in Heterogeneous IT Services Environments

In an information technology services outsourcing arrangement, variance in demand volume and individual user preferences pose significant challenges to the provider organization in making resource allocation decisions. Such variations affect service levels, especially under fixed resource constraints. We explore the possible role of periodic demand information sharing and subsequent resource-level adjustments as a means of addressing issues arising from demand variation. As information exchange alters the dynamics of the relationship between the customer and provider organizations, incorporating information sharing in service-level agreements requires modifying current pricing schemes. A pricing heuristic is developed and tested under varying levels of information accuracy and granularity. The heuristic is shown to provide better economic welfare for both participants in comparison to the baseline pricing strategies considered. Also, it is shown that information, even at a coarse level of granularity, is very effective in providing stable service levels-a finding that is encouraging for enhanced collaborations between customer and provider organizations in outsourcing arrangements.
Transcutaneous Raman spectroscopy for assessing progress of bone-graft incorporation in bone reconstruction and repair

Allografts and other bone-grafts are frequently used for a variety of reconstructive approaches in orthopaedic surgery. However, successful allograft incorporation remains uncertain. Consequently, there is significant need for methods to monitor the fate of these constructs. Only few noninvasive methods can fully assess the progress of graft incorporation and to provide information on the metabolic status of the graft, such as the mineral and matrix composition of the regenerated-tissue that may provide early indications of graft success or failure. For example, Computed-tomography and MRI provide information on the morphology of the graft/host interface. Limited information is also available from DXA. To address this challenge, we present here the implementation of a noninvasive Raman spectroscopy technique for in-vivo assessment of allograft incorporation in animal-model. In an animal use committee approved osseointegration experiment, a 3mm defect is created in rat's tibia. The defect is reconstructed using auto or allograft and Raman spectra are collected at several time-points during healing using an array of optical-fibers in contact with the skin of the rat over the tibia while the rat is anaesthetized. The array allows excitation and collection of Raman spectra through the skin at various positions around the tibia. Raman parameters such as mineral/matrix, carbonate/phosphate and cross-linking are recovered and monitored. The system is calibrated against locally-constructed phantoms that mimic the morphology, optics and spectroscopy of the rat. This new technology provides a non-invasive method for in-vivo assessment of bone-graft incorporation in animal-models and can be adapted for similar study in human subjects.
D(-)-Lactic Acid and D(-)-Lactate Dehydrogenase in Octopus Spermatozoa

The spermatozoa of Octopus dofleini martini produce anaerobically D(-)-lactic acid and possess a very active D(-)-lactate dehydrogenase. In this respect, while resembling certain microorganisms, they differ strikingly from mammalian spermatozoa which produce L(+)-lactic acid and contain L(+)-lactate dehydrogenase.
Experiments on isothermal and non-isothermal evaporation from partially filled, open-topped vertical tubes

Abstract Experiments were performed to provide a critical test of analytical/numerical models for predicting evaporation from an open-topped vertical tube partially filled with a liquid. Separate apparatuses were used to achieve evaporation under either isothermal or non-isothermal conditions. The experiments were performed for water evaporating into air which contained water vapor. The experimental work was supplemented by the numerical implementation of the models using the ambient conditions of the experiments as input. Excellent agreement was found to prevail between the experimentally determined and numerically predicted Sherwood numbers. This finding, along with other comparisons, validated the models. For isothermal evaporation, the validation established that account must be taken of natural convection in the gas-vapor space above the liquid surface and that pure diffusion is an insufficient description of the transport process. For non-isothermal evaporation, it was established that in addition to natural convection in the gas-vapor space, it is necessary to account for thermal radiation at the bounding surfaces of the space and for natural convection in the liquid pool.
Successful treatment of spider leg veins with a high-energy, long-pulse, frequency-doubled neodymium:YAG laser (HELP-G)

Background. While sclerotherapy has been the standard treatment for spider leg veins for many years, recent advances have allowed lasers to be considered as a treatment option. Objective. To study the efficacy of a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm with a 50 ms pulse width and chill tip device in the treatment of spider leg veins. Methods. Forty-six patients with spider leg veins with a diameter of less than 1 mm or 1–2 mm were treated with a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm with a pulse width of 50 ms (VersaPulse HELP-G laser) while using a water-cooled chill tip device. Results. Of patients with veins less than 1 mm in diameter, 60% had greater than 50% clearing after one treatment and 80% had greater than 50% clearing after two treatments. Of patients with veins 1–2 mm in diameter, 39% achieved greater than 50% clearing after one treatment and 67% had greater than 50% clearing after two sessions. Conclusion. Our results suggest that the frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser with a pulse width of 50 ms and chill tip device offers an excellent alternative to sclerotherapy in the treatment of small spider leg veins.
Chromosomal recombination and breakage associated with instability in mouse centromeric satellite DNA

Abstract A mouse L cell line containing the centromeric insertion of herpes thymidine kinase genes (tk) was previously shown to undergo a high frequency of DNA rearrangement at the site of tk insertion. Analysis of TK− revertants had demonstrated that DNA rearrangements were usually associated with DNA deletion and were always mediated by intrachromosomal recombinations. In this study, we further analyzed several TK+ subclones to examine the mode of DNA rearrangements in the absence of negative selection pressure. In two clones, LC2-3F and LC2-3E17, rearrangements were accompanied by DNA amplification and were mediated by intrachromosomal recombination. In subclone LC2-3E17-19, we further detected perturbations in the pattern of centromeric heterochromatization. This was associated with chromosome instability, as evidenced by chromosome breakage at the centromere. The analysis of three other sibling clones, LC2-3, LC2-6 and LC2-15, further suggests that reciprocal recombination events may play a role in such centromeric rearrangements. These results suggest that DNA rearrangements in the centromere may be mediated by a number of different mechanisms, and generally do not affect chromosome stability except when accompanied by changes in the pattern of heterochromatization.