cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simulation of Fatigue Crack Growth at Bimaterial Interfaces

We present the results of fatigue crack growth simulations in a system with an interface between two elastic-plastic solids of different yield strength. Crack growth is allowed to occur along the direction perpendicular and parallel to the interface. The analysis is conducted by the use of an irreversible cohesive zone model. The outcome of the simulation is in excellent agreement with published experimental data.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Their War and Mine

The half decade from 1940 to 1945 was among the happiest and saddest years of my entire life. In the first year of that period, I was married to my college sweetheart, and it was pure bliss. The following year I completed my Ph.D. in history, and that was incredible for a twenty-six-year-old who, just a few years earlier, had wanted nothing more than to practice law with his father. By this time I would be content merely to settle down in a respectable institution and continue my research and writing in history. Despite the usual limitations placed on people of my color, I did little in the way of complaining. I had a regular job in a black institution, which was all that I could possibly aspire to at the time, since teaching in predominantly white institutions was quite unthinkable. I had a lovely wife whose career in library science was already well launched, and we had warm and congenial friends. In many ways, life was good. I was, nevertheless, well aware of the rumblings of war that began as early as 1938. When it finally broke out in Europe in 1939, just as I was beginning to teach at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, my apprehensions became real. Although I was already aggressively nonviolent, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was only ten years old, I was not inclined to assume the role of a pacifist. I had little time to think about that, however, for in the nationwide drawings after the passage of the Selective Service Act, I received such a low draft number that I was among those listed in the Raleigh News and Observer as the most likely candidates for early induction. How best to serve became the question uppermost in my mind. The question appeared to have been answered by the United States Navy, which ran a full-page advertisement in the local newspaper. There was a shortage of personnel to handle the crush of office work, the navy stated; and men who could type, take shorthand, operate simple business machines, and perform other office chores could look forward to early promotion. I rushed down to the recruitment office and volunteered my services to relieve the navy of its distress. By the time I began my interview with the navy recruiter, I was prepared to do a real "selling job," for I had concluded that I "could be all that I could be" in the navy. Thus, I reeled off my qualifications in the hope of overwhelming the youngish navy lieutenant. I was winner of three gold medals in typing, and even then could do at least seventy-five words per minute. I could do shorthand, and had racked up
Teaching English Reading: What’s Included in the Textbooks of Pre-Service General Education Teachers?

With changing demographics, pre-service general education teachers in many English-speaking countries will face the challenge of effectively teaching English language learners (ELLs) when they enter the classroom. Research into how to teach English reading has emphasized the importance of five essential components as summarized by the National Reading Panel, or NRP (2000): phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. Other research suggests spelling and assessment are additional important components of reading instruction (Coltheart and Prior, 2007; Geva, 2000). Furthermore, pre-service teachers in countries with substantial numbers of ELLs need to learn strategies that are effective for teaching reading to ELLs (August and Shanahan, 2006).
The survival and inactivation of enteric viruses on soft surfaces: A systematic review of the literature

Background Worldwide, enteric viruses are the main cause of acute gastroenteritis. In humans, these viruses spread via person-to-person contact, food, water, and/or the environment. Their survival and inactivation on hard surfaces have been extensively studied; however, nonlaunderable soft surfaces, such as upholstery and carpet, have received little attention. The aim of this systematic review was to determine factors that influence the survival and inactivation of enteric viruses on nonlaunderable soft surfaces. Methods EBSCO and Web of Science were searched for experimental studies published between 1965 and 2015 using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methods. Titles and abstracts were screened using 3 eligibility criteria. The quality of all study methods was also assessed. Results Our search yielded 12 articles. Viruses survived between 0 hours and 140 days depending on surface and environment conditions. Virus survival was influenced by temperature, relative humidity, organic content, and deposition method. A variety of chemistries were tested across studies and were shown to have a varied effect on enteric viruses. Chlorine, glutaraldehyde, vaporous ozone, and hydrogen peroxide were the most efficacious against enteric viruses (> 3-log reduction). Conclusions Environmental factors, such as temperature and relative humidity, can influence survival of enteric viruses on nonlaunderable soft surfaces. The efficacy of liquid and vaporous chemistries are associated with surface and virus type.
Treatment and Biomechanics of the Pelvis Oblique Caused by Strength Imbalance of Gluteal Muscles

Objective To know the rehabilitate degree of the pelvis obligue caused by the strength imbalance of the gluteal muscles and explore the pathogeny of pelvis oblique and therapeutic mechanisms of different therapy. Methods 78 children with pelvis oblique caused by the strength imbalance of the gluteal muscles were followed up ,the changes of the limb length and pelvis position recovery degree were detected of all 78 cases ,68 were the gluteal muscles contracture,who were treated with selective excision of the contractured gluteal musclar fibers. The bumps in buttocks in 10 cases with desmoid were extensively excised. The gluteal muscle functional exercises, the bilateral skin traction and a single leg skipping training were performed in the postoperation. Results After 6~18 months followed up, 76 cases of them, the oblique pelvis was recovered to natural position completely. Two cases did not recovery, though the gluteal muscles exercises and skin traction were also carried out. Conclusions The pelvis oblique caused by the strength imbalance of the gluteal muscles is reversible pathological change, we consider that by the operative excision to clear the cause of abnormal high strength of gluteal muscles is a therapeutic key, gluteal muscles exercises and skin traction in the postoperation in timely are beneficial, and the skip training also is a simple, effective auxiliary method to correct the pelvis oblique.
Discovery of midgut genes for the RNA interference control of corn rootworm.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising new technology for corn rootworm control. This paper presents the discovery of new gene targets - dvssj1 and dvssj2, in western corn rootworm (WCR). Dvssj1 and dvssj2 are orthologs of the Drosophila genes snakeskin (ssk) and mesh, respectively. These genes encode membrane proteins associated with smooth septate junctions (SSJ) which are required for intestinal barrier function. Based on bioinformatics analysis, dvssj1 appears to be an arthropod-specific gene. Diet based insect feeding assays using double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) targeting dvssj1 and dvssj2 demonstrate targeted mRNA suppression, larval growth inhibition, and mortality. In RNAi treated WCR, injury to the midgut was manifested by “blebbing” of the midgut epithelium into the gut lumen. Ultrastructural examination of midgut epithelial cells revealed apoptosis and regenerative activities. Transgenic plants expressing dsRNA targeting dvssj1 show insecticidal activity and significant plant protection from WCR damage. The data indicate that dvssj1 and dvssj2 are effective gene targets for the control of WCR using RNAi technology, by apparent suppression of production of their respective smooth septate junction membrane proteins located within the intestinal lining, leading to growth inhibition and mortality.
SmartSim: A device-accurate smart home simulator for energy analytics

Utilities have deployed tens of millions of smart meters, which record and transmit home energy usage at fine-grained intervals. These deployments are motivating researchers to develop new energy analytics that mine smart meter data to learn insights into home energy usage and behavior. Unfortunately, a significant barrier to evaluating energy analytics is the overhead of instrumenting homes to collect aggregate energy usage data and data from each device. As a result, researchers typically evaluate their analytics on only a small number of homes, and cannot rigorously vary a home's characteristics to determine what attributes of its energy usage affect accuracy. To address the problem, we develop SmartSim, a publicly-available device-accurate smart home energy trace generator. SmartSim generates energy usage traces for devices by combining a device energy model, which captures its pattern of energy usage when active, with a device usage model, which specifies its frequency, duration, and time of activity. SmartSim then generates aggregate energy data for a simulated home by combining the data from each device. We integrate SmartSim with NILM-TK, a publicly-available toolkit for Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM), and compare its synthetically generated traces with traces from a real home to show they yield similar quantitative and qualitative results for representative energy analytics.
Calculus of moving surfaces and singular wave-fronts in ideal magnetohydrodynamics

Jacques Hadamard [1] introduced a method of studying propagating wave-fronts in linear media, treating them as mathematical singular surfaces of discontinuities of various field functions. Contrary to the shock-like wave-fronts in nonlinear media, the analysis of the Hadamard's (weak) fronts does not require any additional physical conditions across the fronts but only some purely geometric and kinematic conditions, the so called, compatibility conditions. The approach of Hadamard appears to be very flexible permitting analysis of the fronts in nonhomogeneous and nonlinear media also. Hadamard method has a very essential shortcoming: the structure of the compatibility conditions remains to be very cumbersome and their complexity rapidly grows with the growing order of the discontinuous derivatives. Unfortunately, the higher terms in the Hadamard method demand using those higher derivatives. Levi-Civita [2] and Thomas [3] made essential contribution to cope with this sort of difficulties. This work was continued in the monograph [4], devoted to the so called Calculus of Moving Surfaces (CMS). Earlier, the results, recently presented in [4], permitted to explore and express in a very transparent form the so-called transport (Ricatti) equation for nonlinear ideal hydrodynamics. In this paper, we present further analysis for the Alfven wave in ideal magnetohydrodynamics.
Free surface over a horizontal shear layer: vorticity generation and air entrainment mechanisms

Two air entrainment mechanisms driven by vortex instability are reported in the unstable relaxation of a horizontal shear layer below a free surface. This flow is experimentally investigated by means of planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) coupled with surface profilometry. PLIF identifies counter-rotating vortex pairs (CRVP) emanating from the surface following the growth of high steepness two-dimensional millimetre-size waves for Reynolds and Weber numbers based on the momentum thickness of 177 to 222 and 7.59 to 13.9, respectively. High spatio-temporal resolution PIV reveals the role of surface-generated vorticity and flow separation in the highly curved trough of the waves on the injection of a CRVP. Air bubbles are entrapped in the wake of these CRVPs at Reynolds number above 190. PIV data and spanwise PLIF images show two initiation mechanisms: primary vortex instability modulating the spanwise location where the flow separates, resulting in the pinch off of an air ligament, and secondary vortex instability turning a CRVP into -shaped loops pulling the surface down. Instability wavelengths agree with linear stability analysis, and models for these new air entrainment mechanisms are proposed.
Pericytes Regulate Fibrinolytic Function of Brain Capillary Endothelial Cells

P110 Our prior work has shown that astrocytes inhibit fibrinolysis of brain capillary endothelial cells (eg, Stroke 1999:30;1671–1677). The complex cellular microenvironment at the blood-brain barrier includes pericytes, which are adjacent to and share basement membrane with brain capillary endothelial cells. We analyzed the hemostatic regulatory role of pericytes in a blood-brain barrier model consisting of human brain pericytes cultured on transwell membrane inserts with human brain capillary endothelial cells. We measured fibrinolysis proteins and function in media conditioned by 48 hour co-culture of human brain capillary endothelial cells and human brain pericytes, as well as brain capillary endothelial mono-cultures. Compared to endothelial mono-cultures, pericyte-endothelial co-cultures exhibited levels of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) protein reduced by 50±15% (p
A Validation Process for Observation Protocols: Using the "Revised SMPs Look-For Protocol" as a Lens on Teachers' Promotion of the Standards.

The Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs) describe mathematical behaviors and habits that students should express during mathematics instruction. Thus teachers should promote them during class...
Bridging Education and Practice With a Competency-Based Learning Contract

Field work programs have a substantial responsibility for providing support and gatekeeping functions while ensuring an educational experience that allows students to master the nine holistic, mult...
Examining a Web-Based Procedure for Assessing Preference for Videos

A web-based program was developed to conduct brief multiple-stimulus without replacement preference assessments for videos (e.g., movies, cartoons, music videos). The preference assessment program was used with two populations: young adults with developmental disabilities and school-age children with emotional and behavioral needs. Stimulus preference hierarchies were identified for all participants, indicating that a web-based preference assessment procedure is an efficient procedure for isolating highly preferred videos, which might be useful as reinforcers in a variety of settings.
Angiocoupling between the dominant follicle and corpus luteum during waves 1 and 2 in Bos taurus heifers.

Abstract The local two-way effect of the future and established dominant follicle (DF) and corpus luteum (CL) on color-Doppler signals of blood flow on each other (angiocoupling) was studied from ovulation to 16 days after ovulation during wave 1 and for the first time in wave 2 in Bos taurus heifers (N = 24). Identity of follicles greater than 4 mm was maintained from day to day. Blood-flow signals in the follicle wall and in the CL were estimated after scanning the entire structure. Ovarian patterns were defined based on the presence of a DF and CL: DF−CL pattern (DF and CL in the same ovary), DF pattern or CL pattern (DF and CL in opposite ovaries), and devoid pattern (neither DF nor CL). Comparisons were made of blood flow in each structure when in the same ovary vs opposite ovaries. Data were normalized to expected diameter deviation (DF closest to 8.5 mm). Blood-flow signals were detected in most growing follicles when they attained 6 mm (6.0–6.9 mm). Combined for waves 1 and 2, the percentage of all 6-mm growing follicles that displayed blood-flow signals was greater (P
Factors Limiting Success of Introduced Natural Enemies

Since the initial success against the cottony-cushion scale in California, by 1976 approximately 128 species of pest insects and weeds in many parts of the world have been completely or substantially controlled by imported natural enemies (Laing and Hamai, 1976). Despite this gratifying record, most attempts in classical biological control either have met with total failure, or have been only partially successful (Turnbull and Chant, 1961; Turnbull, 1967; Hall and Ehler, 1979). But this is not reason for despair, as the few limited successes have been of immense value, saving countless millions of dollars for growers and consumers, and have helped reduce pesticide use in agriculture. This record of course needs improvement, and only careful agroecosystem analysis of the factors limiting natural-enemy effectiveness will help show us the way.
The NGE learning algorithm

This chapter describes the details of the nested generalized exemplar learning algorithm used by Each. The text below is organized exactly in the order in which the program functions. Many variables and other features are adjustable by the user, and these are described at the points where the program would use them, rather than at the beginning. Each of the sections which follows, then, is a phase of the program’s operation. For the sake of brevity, descriptions of the data structures and minor subroutines have been omitted.
Excursion in Trigonometry

When I asked myself the last question of Chapter 4, I decided to try a few triangles and see whether they satisfied conditions (*) and (**). Would you believe it, the very first triangle I picked did the job! It was the triangle T with the sides \(\sqrt{2}, \sqrt{3}, \sqrt{4}\) (see Figure 5.1).
Abstract LB-218: Pathologist reproducibility of combined positive score (CPS) for the evaluation of PD-L1 in gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma tumors

Background: The clinically relevant and highly reproducible combined positive score (CPS) algorithm is used in conjunction with PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx for evaluation of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma specimens. PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx and the CPS algorithm were approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 22, 2017 to aid in identifying patients likely to respond to pembrolizumab. Objective: Assessment of pathologist reproducibility in the gastric and GEJ adenocarcinoma Early Validation Program (EVP). Methods: Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for PD-L1 was performed on thirty gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma surgical resection specimens with PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx. All specimens were evaluated by in-house pathologists and assigned a reference CPS. Inter-pathologist and intra-pathologist reproducibility was assessed in ten pathologists from five clinical labs. Acceptance criteria was based on a minimum of 85% agreement with the reference CPS. Results: Nine pathologists met acceptance criteria for inter-observer reproducibility (87-100% agreement) and intra-observer reproducibility (87-100% agreement). One pathologist had 90% inter-pathologist agreement and 80% intra-pathologist agreement. This pathologist received additional training and achieved 87% intra-pathologist agreement upon re-testing. Upon completion of EVP, all ten participating pathologists were certified to score gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma specimens stained with PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx. Inter-pathologist (87.6% overall agreement) and intra-pathologist (93% overall agreement) studies performed in analytical validation demonstrate similar reproducibility. Conclusion:The CPS algorithm is highly reproducible within and among pathologists for gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma specimens stained with PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx, as demonstrated in analytical validation. Citation Format: Lindsay Guerrero, Karina Kulangara, Yen Truong, Sue Schwefel, Debra Hanks. Pathologist reproducibility of combined positive score (CPS) for the evaluation of PD-L1 in gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-218.
13 – Public Health Law I: Complications of Federalism

This chapter will explain the origins and current operations of public health emergency law, at both the federal and state levels. You will learn how public health law in the United States began as an area entrusted almost entirely to cities and the states. As transportation, and with it the possibility of rapid disease spread, became ever faster and more accessible, the original reliance on local containment mechanisms became outdated. As you will see throughout this chapter, however, public health law in the United States still reflects a strong orientation toward state and local dominance.
The weird detector: flagging periodic, coherent signals of arbitrary shape in time-series photometry

By design, model-based approaches for flagging transiting exoplanets in light curves, such as boxed least squares, excel at detecting planets with low S/N at the expense of finding signals that are not well described by the assumed model, such as self-lensing binaries, disintegrating or evaporating planets, or planets with large rings. So far, such signals have typically been found through visual searches by professional or citizen scientists, or by inspection of the photometric power-spectra. We present a nonparametric detection algorithm, for short duty-cycle periodic signals in photometric time series based on phase dispersion minimization. We apply our code to 161,786 Kepler sources and detect 18 new periodic signals consistent with heartbeat binaries/planets, 4 new singly-transiting systems, and 2 new doubly-transiting systems. We show that our code is able to recover the majority of known Kepler objects of interest (KOIs) to high confidence, as well as more unusual events such as Boyajian's star and a comet passing through the Kepler field. Nonparametric signal-flagging techniques, such as the one presented here, will become increasingly valuable with the coming data from TESS and future transit surveys as the volume of data available to us exceeds that which can be feasibly examined manually.
A Multi-Driver Write Scheme for Reliable and Energy Efficient 1S1R ReRAM Crossbar Arrays

This work proposes a reliable and an energy efficient Multi-Driver write scheme for 1S1R ReRAM crossbar arrays. The IR drop induced by the line resistance results in a significant degradation of the delivered voltage across the selected cell. This degradation hampers the write window and may cause write disturbance. It also increases the write latency resulting in increased energy consumption of the crossbar array. To this end, the Multi-Driver write scheme, proposed in this work, improves the voltage delivered across the selected cell via reducing the effective line resistance. This enhancement in voltage delivery improves the write margin. In addition, it allows for reducing the write voltage that reduces both write disturbance and energy consumption of the crossbar array. It is shown that for large crossbar arrays, Multi-Driver write scheme outperforms the conventional write approach while its gains are suppressed for small crossbar arrays.
First principles high-throughput screening to enhance the ductility of lightweight magnesium alloys

The low ductility of lightweight magnesium prevents it from wide engineering applications, making it essential to improve its ductility. To provide guidelines to accelerate this improvement, we propose and test a hierarchical high-throughput screening approach for alloy design that is based on the quantum-mechanics-derived full general stacking fault (GSF) energy surface (\ensuremath{\gamma} surface), but simplified to examine only the unstable stacking fault energy (${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{us}}$). We apply this approach to determine the promising dopant elements in Mg-$X$ binary alloys which may activate the pyramidal dislocations by decreasing GSF energy and thus improve the ductility of Mg. Ten elements, including Hg, Tl, Sn, Sb, Bi, Te, As, Pb, In, and Ca, are sifted out as promising alloying elements. Particularly, the Mg-Te alloy has the lowest ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{\mathrm{us}}$ of $156\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{mJ}/{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ among all binary alloys, which is 25% lower than that of Mg ($209\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\mathrm{mJ}/{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$), suggesting that it is the most promising alloy to enhance the ductility of Mg.
Novel Bicyclic Lactams as XaaPro Type VI beta Turn Mimics: Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation.

The design, enantioselective synthesis, and structural characterization of novel bicyclic lactams as peptide mimics of the type VI β turn is described. The mimics duplicate the conformation of the ...
The sliding friction contact frequency response function

Abstract This paper details frequency response function (FRF) measurement and simulation for a dynamic oscillator with a sliding (Coulomb) friction contact. The oscillator is approximated physically using the friction measuring machine (FMM), a parallelogram leaf-type flexure with a sliding friction contact. The flexure-based FMM provides linear motion between a polytetrafluouroethylene pin and (lubricated) polished steel counterface. Both the input force and response velocity are measured by impact testing to determine the FRF. Numerical simulations are completed to identify the best-fit friction coefficient for three input force levels (450 N, 1000 N, and 1450 N). It is shown that: 1) the FRF magnitude increases linearly with impulse (i.e., the area under the time domain force profile); and 2) a single friction coefficient (0.113) is sufficient to describe the dynamic response for the three force levels.
Diagnostic Approach to Intrinsic Abnormality of Spinal Cord Signal Intensity

Intramedullary cord hyperintensity at T2-weighted MRI is a common imaging feature of disease in the spinal cord, but it is nonspecific. Radiologists play a valuable role in helping narrow the differential diagnosis by integrating patient history and laboratory test results with key imaging characteristics. The authors present an algorithmic approach to evaluating intrinsic abnormality of spinal cord signal intensity (SI), which incorporates clinical evaluation results, time of onset (acute vs nonacute), cord expansion, and pattern of T2 SI abnormality. This diagnostic approach provides a practical framework to aid both trainees and practicing radiologists in workup of myelopathy.©RSNA, 2019.
MOOS: A Multi-Objective Design Space Exploration and Optimization Framework for NoC Enabled Manycore Systems

The growing needs of emerging applications has posed significant challenges for the design of optimized manycore systems. Network-on-Chip (NoC) enables the integration of a large number of processing elements (PEs) in a single die. To design optimized manycore systems, we need to establish suitable trade-offs among multiple objectives including power, performance, and thermal. Therefore, we consider multi-objective design space exploration (MO-DSE) problems arising in the design of NoC-enabled manycore systems: placement of PEs and communication links to optimize two or more objectives (e.g., latency, energy, and throughput). Existing algorithms to solve MO-DSE problems suffer from scalability and accuracy challenges as size of the design space and the number of objectives grow. In this paper, we propose a novel framework referred as Multi-Objective Optimistic Search (MOOS) that performs adaptive design space exploration using a data-driven model to improve the speed and accuracy of multi-objective design optimization process. We apply MOOS to design both 3D heterogeneous and homogeneous manycore systems using Rodinia, PARSEC, and SPLASH2 benchmark suites. We demonstrate that MOOS improves the speed of finding solutions compared to state-of-the-art methods by up to 13X while uncovering designs that are up to 20% better in terms of NoC. The optimized 3D manycore systems improve the EDP up to 38% when compared to 3D mesh-based designs optimized for the placement of PEs.
Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Precision Cancer Medicine

Like many other emerging biomedical technologies, precision cancer medicine (or precision oncology) poses a broad range of ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI). These ELSI issues are present across multiple levels of health care, research, and social policy. For example, at the individual (patient) level, use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) presents challenges for securing truly informed consent and honoring patient preferences for the many different types of genetic information potentially yielded by NGS. At the institutional level, various stakeholders (e.g., professional organizations in genetics and oncology, test laboratories, clinical trials networks) have vested interests in deciding which types of sequencing results will be analyzed and returned to patients or research participants, and how the clinical implications of results will be managed. Finally, at a broader societal level, we must wrestle with questions of resource allocation and priority setting. Precision oncology represents a promising avenue for breakthroughs in cancer therapies, but what proportion of public funds should be earmarked for this approach versus other domains of cancer treatment, where significant disparities in health care access and outcomes still persist? In this chapter, we will address such ELSI issues, drawing upon both empirical research and ethical and policy commentary in the field.
In AF and stable CAD, rivaroxaban reduced cardiovascular events and mortality more than rivaroxaban plus an antiplatelet

Source Citation Yasuda S, Kaikita K, Akao M, et al. Antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation with stable coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2019;381:1103-13. 31475793
Shoulder Position During Magnetic Resonance Arthrogram Significantly Affects Capsular Measurements.

Abstract Purpose To determine whether change in shoulder position between internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) during magnetic resonance arthrography (MRA) affects previously defined capsular measurements and to determine the utility of rotation in the diagnosis of instability. Methods A retrospective study was conducted of patients who received a shoulder MRA with humeral IR and ER views. Patients with an arthroscopically confirmed diagnosis of instability and those with clinically stable shoulders, no history of instability, and no MRA findings of instability were identified and compared. Humeral rotation, glenoid retroversion, humeral head subluxation, capsular length, and capsular area using axial sequences of IR and ER views were recorded. Analysis compared IR, ER, and Δ capsular measurements between groups using independent t tests and univariate and multivariate regression. Results Thirty-one subjects who were diagnosed with instability were included, along with 28 control subjects. Capsular length, capsular area, and humeral subluxations were significantly greater with ER compared with IR views (P Conclusion Variance in humeral rotation during shoulder MRA significantly affects capsular measurements. Rotational views increase the utility of capsular measurements when assessing for instability, particularly capsular length and capsular area. The implementation of ER positioning enhances the ability to examine capsular changes of the shoulder joint and can assist in the diagnosis of instability. Level of Evidence III, retrospective comparative study
Predicting particle trajectories in oceanic flows using artificial neural networks

Abstract Predicting ocean transport has many practical applications ranging from search and rescue operations to predicting the spread of oil, debris, and biogeochemical tracers, yet trajectory prediction remains a challenge for existing ocean modeling techniques. General circulation models require high resolution observational data in order to be properly initialized, but these data do not exist for the ocean. Statistical models are difficult to tune with existing data and are often too simple to accurately encapsulate turbulent flows. Here we investigate a data-driven approach to ocean transport prediction wherein the goal is to first learn from available data instead of prescribed laws of physics and then apply this information to new data. More specifically, we explore whether simple artificial neural networks (ANNs) are capable of learning to predict 2D particle trajectories using only previous velocity observations. ANNs are trained in two ways: first, a so-called “one-to-one ANN” uses a particle’s most recently observed velocity to predict its velocity six hours later, and second, a “time series ANN” uses the past 24 hours’ worth of velocity observations to predict the next 24 h. We present a proof-of-concept considering particles in a hierarchy of simulated flow regimes ranging from uniform, steady flow to more complex scenarios with interacting scales of motion and then substantiate our approach on trajectories in modeled flows generated by a high-resolution Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model for a mesoscale eddy in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We also assess ANN sensitivity to the prediction window over which forecasts are made, the number of training particles used, and the size of the network. ANNs successfully predict 24 h trajectories within the temporal bounds of the training data with forecast errors around half those of both rudimentary persistence and classical ARIMA models. Predicting beyond the domain of the training data leads to forecast errors comparable to ARIMA models. Our results suggest that ANNs offer promising potential as a data-driven approach to forecasting material transport in the ocean.
Expanding Medical Education and Task Shifting Comment on "Doctor Retention: A Cross-sectional Study of How Ireland Has Been Losing the Battle".

Brugha et al provide convincing evidence that Ireland stills need to overcome many hurdles, including poor training and working experiences in Irish hospitals, before it can significantly improve its record on doctor retention. The findings reported by Brugha et al are particularly disappointing in light of the fact that Ireland implemented a doctor retention strategy in early 2015. Ultimately, doctor retention is important because it can help alleviate the health workforce shortages that many countries face currently and that are projected to worsen over the next decade. The purpose of this commentary is to highlight two additional strategies for alleviating health workforce shortages – expanding medical education and task shifting.
Isoconversional kinetics of vaporization of nanoconfined liquids

Abstract Isoconversional kinetic analysis is applied to thermogravimetry data on vaporization of n-decane and dimethyl sulfoxide from alumina nanopores and bulk. For bulk vaporization, the isoconversional activation energy is independent of conversion and equal to the enthalpy of vaporization. For vaporization from nanopores, the isoconversional activation energy varies strongly with conversion, passing through a minimum at midrange conversions. This behavior is shown to be consistent with the successive transition of the rate control from the Kelvin effect to Knudsen diffusion, and eventually to surface diffusion. All three phenomena are demonstrated to have their specific activation energies. It has been determined that the deceleration of vaporization from nanopores is due to a dramatic decrease in the value of the preexponential factor. The decrease is linked to the high frequency of collisions with the pore walls and to a possibility of adsorption on the walls.
Advances in Clostridioides difficile therapeutics.

Clostridioides difficile is an urgent public health threat by virtue of being the most common pathogen in hospitals and an increased risk of community-acquired infection [1]. The incidence of Clost...
Fungal Infections in Humans

Fungi are pathogenic to humans and cause a variety of diseases in normal and immunocompromised hosts. Fungi can exist as filamentous/mould or yeast form, both forms are able to cause infections in human host. Dimorphic fungi, that is, Histoplasma capsulatum also exist and can grow as a filamentous form at room temperature and yeast at body temperature. Fungi can infect any part of the human body including hairs and nails and depending upon their level of penetration is divided into four groups, superficial mycoses, cutaneous mycoses, subcutaneous mycoses and systemic/deep mycoses. Systemic mycoses are often fatal without treatment. Ability to maintain constant body temperature is the natural defence against pathogenic fungi. In the event of infection, accurate diagnosis and often the combination of different treatment modalities are required for a successful treatment. Key Concepts: Fungal infections represent the invasion of fungi in tissue. Only 200 fungal species are able to cause infection to human host, of these only 20–25 species commonly cause infection. Fungi appearance is either hyphae (known as mould) or yeast. Few are dimorphic and change from one state to other depending on the temperature conditions. Fungi can cause superficial to deeper infections to human host. Most of the fungal infections are opportunistic and do not need the human host for survival. Most fungal infections are airborne and acquired by inhalation or contact of air, soil or surfaces contaminated with spores. Causes more damage to immune-suppressed patients, that is, organ transplant recipients and AIDS patients. Diagnosis is made usually by using simple tests that include microscopic stains, culture and Antibody/antigen tests, in some cases imaging can be helpful for deep-seated infection diagnosis. Fungal infection commonly caused by normal flora so the reoccurrence rate is higher than other infection Allylamines, antimetabolites, azoles, glucan synthesis inhibitors, polyenes, echinocandins and others are the drugs used to cure fungal infections. Keywords: mycoses; fungus; antifungal therapy; opportunistic; yeast; mould
Adaptive support for representational competencies during technology-based problem solving in chemistry

Background: A key aspect of STEM learning is the use of visual representations for problem solving. To successfully use visuals, students need to make sense of how they show concepts and to fluentl...
Uncertainty propagation in risk and resilience analysis of hierarchical systems

Abstract A novel formulation is proposed for uncertainty propagation in risk and resilience analysis of hierarchical systems. The main challenges are related to the complexity of hierarchical systems’ computational workflow and high-dimensional probability space. The computational workflow in regional risk and resilience analysis consists of many interconnected sub-models to predict future hazards, the reliability and functionality of physical systems, and the recovery of disrupted services. The complexity of the computational workflow limits the number of model evaluations for uncertainty propagation. In contrast, the computational workflow contains many sources of uncertainty that demand extensive model evaluations to accurately estimate their effects. The proposed formulation in this paper consists of a multi-level uncertainty propagation approach to reduce the problem dimensionality and a variables-grouping approach to reduce the number of model evaluations. The idea of the multi-level uncertainty propagation is to break down the high-dimensional problem into several low-dimensional ones, one for each level of the hierarchy in the computational workflow. The proposed variables-grouping approach provides an adaptive refinement of uncertainty propagation to identify the influential uncertain input data and computational sub-models. The paper illustrates the proposed formulation through a well-known academic problem and regional risk and resilience analysis of a community.
SU-E-T-451: Hybrid-VMAT: A Novel Technique Combining VMAT and 3D in Planning Whole Breast Radiotherapy with a Simultaneously-Integrated Boost (WBRT+SIB)

Purpose: The RTOG 1005 trial offered a hypofractionated arm in delivering WBRT+SIB. Traditionally, treatments were planned at our institution using field-in-field (FiF) tangents with a concurrent 3D conformal boost. With the availability of VMAT, it is possible that a hybrid VMAT-3D planning technique could provide another avenue in treating WBRT+SIB. Methods: A retrospective study of nine patients previously treated using RTOG 1005 guidelines was performed to compare FiF+3D plans with the hybrid technique. A combination of static tangents and partial VMAT arcs were used in base-dose optimization. The hybrid plans were optimized to deliver 4005cGy to the breast PTVeval and 4800cGy to the lumpectomy PTVeval over 15 fractions. Plans were optimized to meet the planning goals dictated by RTOG 1005. Results: Hybrid plans yielded similar coverage of breast and lumpectomy PTVs (average D95 of 4013cGy compared to 3990cGy for conventional), while reducing the volume of high dose within the breast; the average D30 and D50 for the hybrid technique were 4517cGy and 4288cGy, compared to 4704cGy and 4377cGy for conventional planning. Hybrid plans increased conformity as well, yielding CI95% values of 1.22 and 1.54 for breast and lumpectomy PTVeval volumes; in contrast, conventional plans averaged 1.49 and 2.27, respectively. The nearby organs at risk (OARs) received more low dose with the hybrid plans due to low dose spray from the partial arcs, but all hybrid plans did meet the acceptable constraints, at a minimum, from the protocol. Treatment planning time was also reduced, as plans were inversely optimized (VMAT) rather than forward optimized. Conclusion: Hybrid-VMAT could be a solution in delivering WB+SIB, as plans yield very conformal treatment plans and maintain clinical standards in OAR sparing. For treating breast cancer patients with a simultaneously-integrated boost, Hybrid-VMAT offers superiority in dosimetric conformity and planning time as compared to FIF techniques.
Review Essay: Encouraging Students to Think About Research as a Process

Mit Forschungsdesigns in der Sozialforschung bietet David DE VAUS Studierenden und Praktiker(inne)n eine hervorragende Hilfe fur die Planung und Durchfuhrung von Forschungsdesigns. Zunachst stellt DE VAUS einfuhrende Tools vor, um dann in den folgenden Abschnitten Forschungsdesigns fur Experimental-, Longitudinal-, Querschnitts- und Einzelfalluntersuchungen zu diskutieren. In jedem Abschnitt werden verschiedene Typen des jeweiligen Designs behandelt, und Hinweise zur Planung und Durchfuhrung und Empfehlungen fur die Datenanalyse gegeben. Forschungsdesigns in der Sozialforschung eignet sich fur ein breites Publikum, sowohl fur Anfanger(innen) als auch fur Fortgeschrittene, und dies jenseits der Zugehorigkeit zu bestimmten sozialwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen. Was das Buch besonders auszeichnet ist seine Nutzlichkeit fur die Lehre, denn der Autor insistiert nachdrucklich darauf, dass "es den richtigen Weg zum Entwickeln von Ideen nicht gibt" (S.23), und dass Forschende immer neu uber das, was sie tun, nachdenken mussen, statt blind vermeintlichen "Rezepten" zu folgen. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs020420
Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903)

This article is reproduced from the previous edition, volume 22, pp. 14894–14898, © 2001, Elsevier Ltd.
The Current Tax Payment Act

When they write the history of this period, 1943 will go down as the year in which there was the most individual tax litigation of any year in the history of the country. Of course, you know why that is-all because a man over at Macy's, an idea man, Beardsley Ruml, Treasurer of Macy's, who has no duties, gets paid for coming and sitting with his feet on the desk and thinking up ideas for Macy's, thought up ideas for not only Macy's but for other people. He became obsessed with the idea that there was something wrong with our method of collecting taxes. He was confirmed in that when one of Macy's executives came back to them after he had been retired-they retired him and had a big send-off party for him, gave him a pension for the rest of his life-and then at the end of February, at their February meeting, this man came back to the board of directors and said, "You have done a big thing. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the pension you have given me, but the fact of the matter is I haven't the money to pay my tax on my income for last year." Macy's thought there was only one way to retire a man and that was to retire him, and if he has to ask for someone else to pay his tax, he isn't retired, so the directors voted money to pay his tax for the preceding year. According to Beardsley Ruml that was wrong. He was confirmed in that opinion the following year when the same man came back and said, "This time I am embarrassed. I haven't the money to pay the tax on the money you gave me last year to pay the tax on my income the year before." That is the origin of the famous Ruml pay-as-you-go plan. Actually two things needed to be done: one was to withhold money from a lot of people who were in the income tax brackets who had never been there before, to keep them from spending that money. Those people had been raised in an economy where they were not taught to save, but to buy on the installment plan, so how could you expect people, all at once to reverse and start saving money for next March 15?
Preparation of 125I-Catalytic Subunit of Aspartate Transcarbamylase and Its Use in Studies of the Regulatory Subunit

Abstract A quantitative specific assay for the regulatory subunit of aspartate transcarbamylase is described. The assay, in which the native enzyme will not interfere even when present in large excess, is sensitive to 5 ng of regulatory subunit at a concentration as low as 0.1 µg per mg in crude extracts. The assay utilizes a 125I-labeled catalytic subunit which combines spontaneously with regulatory subunit to form a complex which co-migrates with the native enzyme on acrylamide gel electrophoresis in a position clearly separable from the 125I-catalytic subunit. The amount of regulatory subunit can then be calculated from the known weight ratio in the enzyme complex. Mutants of Salmonella typhimurium defective in aspartate transcarbamylase activity are shown to still synthesize regulatory subunit, while a mutant constitutive for the enzymes in the pathway for pyrimidine biosynthesis is shown to produce an excess of free regulatory subunit over native enzyme. A new procedure for iodination of proteins under mild conditions is described. It utilizes a preoxidation of iodide to iodine under conditions of stoichiometric or very low excess of oxidizing agent followed by reaction with the protein. It is used on a microscale to prepare 125I-catalytic subunit having properties virtually indistinguishable from the native protein.
Drug delivery via ion exchange across a fiber membrane.

The exchange of pharmaceutically significant amounts of dopamine across a micromembrane is reported, establishing the practical basis for such a drug delivery system. Drug release was accomplished with a commercially available device initially intended for use as a postcolumn reactor in ion chromatography. Release of other ionic drugs (e.g., methyldopate and piperacillin) was also achieved but with a lesser efficiency than was dopamine, presumably because of a size effect. The effect of releasing ion identification and concentration, the flow rate of the delivery solution and concentration of drug in the device reservoir on the drug release efficiency was examined. Under optimal conditions the efficiency approaches 80%, and 1 mg of drug is released/ml of delivery solution. Alternatively, operating conditions can be changed so that magnitude of release is optimized but absolute efficiency is sacrificed. Under such conditions the magnitude of dopamine release approaches 2 mg/ml but exchange efficiency is approximately 25%.