cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
P072 De novo anti-HLA-class II donor specific antibodies are associated with patient mortality after lung transplant failure

Aim The development of donor-specific HLA antibodies (DSA) after lung transplantation has been implicated in acute and chronic rejection. The diagnosis of lung antibody mediated rejection (AMR) is based upon histology, DSA testing and clinical assessment of graft function. Post-transplant DSA monitoring has become more and more common as a guide toward diagnosis and sometimes institution of AMR treatment. In this study, we aimed to assess DSA with biopsy surveillance and associate with patient mortality after lung transplant failure (MLTF). Methods We retrospectively selected 127 patients, transplanted between Jan, 2004 and July, 2015 whose DSA were tested for clinical indications post-transplantation. Protocol biopsies were performed for these patients at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12-months after transplant for clinical suspicions. DSA were monitored using LabScreen single antigen bead assays. Biopsy HE however, no association was found for Class I DSA. No significant relationship between DSA and histological changes of AMR in lung transplant biopsies was found in this cohort. Conclusion HLA Class II DSA is associated with graft dysfunction and mortality in pulmonary transplant patients although we did not find the correlation with biopsy findings. Our study suggests that post-transplant protocol DSA surveillance may add value to assess allograft function and to treat graft rejection at the early stage.
To infinity and beyond: Children generalize the successor function to all possible numbers years after learning to count.

Abstract Recent accounts of number word learning posit that when children learn to accurately count sets (i.e., become “cardinal principle” or “CP” knowers), they have a conceptual insight about how the count list implements the successor function – i.e., that every natural number n has a successor defined as n + 1 (Carey, 2004, 2009; Sarnecka & Carey, 2008). However, recent studies suggest that knowledge of the successor function emerges sometime after children learn to accurately count, though it remains unknown when this occurs, and what causes this developmental transition. We tested knowledge of the successor function in 100 children aged 4 through 7 and asked how age and counting ability are related to: (1) children’s ability to infer the successors of all numbers in their count list and (2) knowledge that all numbers have a successor. We found that children do not acquire these two facets of the successor function until they are about 5½ or 6 years of age – roughly 2 years after they learn to accurately count sets and become CP-knowers. These findings show that acquisition of the successor function is highly protracted, providing the strongest evidence yet that it cannot drive the cardinal principle induction. We suggest that counting experience, as well as knowledge of recursive counting structures, may instead drive the learning of the successor function.
A Journey to the Past: Promoting Identity Development of African Americans Through Ancestral Awareness

Genograms are familiar tools used in counseling as a means to explore an individual’s family system. With advancements in technology, more sophisticated avenues have been introduced to further expl...
A SURVEY OF JEL CODES: WHAT DO THEY MEAN AND ARE THEY USED CONSISTENTLY?

The use and prevalence of JEL code categorization is wide in the field of economics, but what do JEL code classifications actually tell us? And are they used with consistency by academics in the field? Utilizing a data set of articles published in the American Economic Review from 1990 to 2008, we investigate whether there is heterogeneity in JEL codes assignments between authors and editors. We find that there is. A secondary goal of this paper is to survey overall thematic trends in JEL code usage over the past four and a half decades. One result is that JEL category M: Business Economics, in particular, appears to be thematically and spatially distinct from much of the rest of the published literature in the top general interest journals in the field.
Evaluation of distributed BMPs in an Urban Watershed – High resolution modeling for Stormwater Management

The urban environment modifies the hydrologic cycle resulting in increased runoff rates, volumes, and peak flows. Green infrastructure, which uses best management practices (BMPs), is a natural system approach used to mitigate the impacts of urbanization onto stormwater runoff. Patterns of stormwater runoff from urban environments are complex, and it is unclear how efficiently green infrastructure will improve the urban water cycle. These challenges arise from issues of scale, the merits of BMPs depend on changes to small-scale hydrologic processes aggregated up from the neighborhood to the urban watershed. Here, we use a hyper-resolution (1 m), physically based hydrologic model of the urban hydrologic cycle with explicit inclusion of the built environment. This model represents the changes to hydrology at the BMP scale (~1 m) and represents each individual BMP explicitly to represent response over the urban watershed. Our study varies both the percentage of BMP emplacement and their spatial location for storm events of increasing intensity in an urban watershed. We develop a metric of effectiveness that indicates a nonlinear relationship that is seen between percent BMP emplacement and storm intensity. Results indicate that BMP effectiveness varies with spatial location and that type and emplacement within the urban watershed may be more important than overall percent.
Cyclic strain rate effect on martensitic transformation and fatigue behaviour of an austenitic stainless steel

In this study, the effect of strain rate on the cyclic behaviour of 304L stainless steel is investigated to unveil the complex interrelationship between martensitic phase transformation, secondary hardening, cyclic deformation and fatigue behaviour of this alloy. A series of uniaxial strain controlled fatigue tests with varying cyclic strain rates were conducted at zero and non-zero mean strain conditions. Secondary hardening was found to be closely related to the volume fraction of strain-induced martensite which was affected by adiabatic heating due to increasing cyclic strain rates. Tests with lower secondary hardening rates maintained lower stress amplitudes during cyclic loading which resulted in longer fatigue lives for similar strain amplitudes. Fatigue resistance of 304L stainless steel was found to be more sensitive to changes in strain rate than the presence of mean strain. The mean strain effect was minimal due to the significant mean stress relaxation in this material.
Alfalfa virus S, a new species in the family Alphaflexiviridae

A new species of the family Alphaflexiviridae provisionally named alfalfa virus S (AVS) was discovered in alfalfa samples originating from Sudan. A complete nucleotide sequence of the viral genome consisting of 8,349 nucleotides excluding the 3' poly(A) tail was determined by high throughput sequencing (HTS) on an Illumina platform. NCBI BLAST searches revealed that the virus shares the greatest degree of sequence identity with members of the family Alphaflexiviridae, genus Allexivirus. The AVS genome contains six computationally-predicted open reading frames (ORF) encoding viral replication protein, triple gene block protein 1 (TGB1), TGB2, TGB3-like protein, unknown 38.4 kDa protein resembling serine-rich 40 kDa protein characteristic for allexiviruses, and coat protein (CP). AVS lacks a clear 3' proximal ORF that encodes a nucleic acid-binding protein typical for allexiviruses. The identity of the virus was confirmed by RT-PCR with primers derived from the HTS-generated sequence, dot blot hybridization with DIG-labeled virus-specific RNA probes, and Western blot analysis with antibodies produced against a peptide derived from the CP sequence. Transmission electron microscopic observations of the infected tissues showed the presence of filamentous particles similar to allexiviruses in their length and appearance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the identification of a putative allexivirus in alfalfa (Medicago sativa). The genome sequence of AVS has been deposited in NCBI GenBank on 03/02/2016 as accession № KY696659.
Origins of life: a problem for physics, a key issues review

The origins of life stands among the great open scientific questions of our time. While a number of proposals exist for possible starting points in the pathway from non-living to living matter, these have so far not achieved states of complexity that are anywhere near that of even the simplest living systems. A key challenge is identifying the properties of living matter that might distinguish living and non-living physical systems such that we might build new life in the lab. This review is geared towards covering major viewpoints on the origin of life for those new to the origin of life field, with a forward look towards considering what it might take for a physical theory that universally explains the phenomenon of life to arise from the seemingly disconnected array of ideas proposed thus far. The hope is that a theory akin to our other theories in fundamental physics might one day emerge to explain the phenomenon of life, and in turn finally permit solving its origins.
Impact of a sleep course on sleep, mood and anxiety symptoms in college students: A pilot study

Objective: To examine the impact of a sleep course on sleep-related behaviors, mood, and anxiety in college students. Participants: Participants were 145 students enrolled in either the sleep cours...
A nonlinear generalization of the Savitzky-Golay filter and the quantitative analysis of saccades

The Savitzky-Golay (SG) filter is widely used to smooth and differentiate time series, especially biomedical data. However, time series that exhibit abrupt departures from their typical trends, such as sharp waves or steps, which are of physiological interest, tend to be oversmoothed by the SG filter. Hence, the SG filter tends to systematically underestimate physiological parameters in certain situations. This article proposes a generalization of the SG filter to more accurately track abrupt deviations in time series, leading to more accurate parameter estimates (e.g., peak velocity of saccadic eye movements). The proposed filtering methodology models a time series as the sum of two component time series: a low-frequency time series for which the conventional SG filter is well suited, and a second time series that exhibits instantaneous deviations (e.g., sharp waves, steps, or more generally, discontinuities in a higher order derivative). The generalized SG filter is then applied to the quantitative analysis of saccadic eye movements. It is demonstrated that (a) the conventional SG filter underestimates the peak velocity of saccades, especially those of small amplitude, and (b) the generalized SG filter estimates peak saccadic velocity more accurately than the conventional filter.
Does a Healthy Health Care Workplace Produce Higher-Quality Care?

Article-at-a-Glance Background The multiagency Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force (QuIC) coordinates activities and plans for quality measurement and improvement across all the U.S. federal agencies involved in health care. One of its working groups focuses on the health care workforce and ways to improve the quality of care that it provides. In October 1999 four government agencies, under the aegis of the QuIC, convened a conference to examine how health care workplace quality influences the quality of care. A healthy workplace is one in which workers will be able to deliver higher-quality care and in which worker health and patients' high-quality care are mutually supportive. In October 2000 a follow-up conference was held to focus on a specific aspect of health care quality— patient safety. What we still need to know Although enough is known to justify some initiatives to improve the quality of the health care workplace, participants in both meetings agreed that the evidence to prove these associations is weak and that there has been too little research to evaluate the impact of interventions intended to improve quality through improvements in the health care workplace. New evidence-based information is needed to test the theory of the nature of the relationship between working conditions and care quality. Conclusion The tradition of evidence-based decision making needs to be applied to health care management as it has in medicine and nursing, to show how staffing, environment, organization, and culture can each can affect the quality of care.
Evaluating a Computational Approach to Labeling Politeness: Challenges for the Application of Machine Classification to Social Computing Data

Social computing researchers are beginning to apply machine learning tools to classify and analyze social media data. Our interest in understanding politeness in an online community focused our attention on tools that would help automate politeness analysis. This paper highlights one popular classification tool designed to score the politeness of text. Our application of this tool to Wikipedia data yielded some unexpected results. Those unexpected results led us to question how the tool worked and its effectiveness relative to human judgment and classification. We designed a user study to revalidate the tool with crowdworkers labeling samples of content from Wikipedia talk pages, imitating the original efforts to validate the tool. This revalidation points to challenges for automatic labeling. Based on our results, this paper reconsiders politeness in online communities as well as broader trends in the use of machine classifiers in social computing research.
Potassium, Sulfur, and Liming Value of Ash Co-Product from Corn Stover Processing for Ethanol Production

Ash results from the processing of corn (Zea mays L.) stover for ethanol production and subsequent combustion to produce electricity. However, the potential value of this ash as a soil amendment has not been fully evaluated. Preliminary chemical analyses of the ash obtained for this study showed potential to raise soil pH and supply K and S. This potential was evaluated at two Iowa fields comparing ash with KCl fertilizer, gypsum, and CaCO₃. Three 2-yr separate K, S, and lime trials were established at each site, where several rates of each material were applied only the first year. Corn was planted in 2014 and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in 2015. Soil samples (15-cm depth) were taken at the V6 growth stage of each crop and after crop harvest for analyses of pH, soil-test K, and extractable SO₄–². Leaf samples were taken at the corn R1 growth stage and soybean R3 growth stage for analyses of total K and S. There were large K effects on grain yield, soil-test K, and leaf K concentration but no differences between the K sources. First-year soil SO₄–² at the V6 corn growth stage and leaf S at the corn R1 stage showed that S supplied by the ash was less than for gypsum, but other measurements were inconclusive as of differences between the S sources. The ash had liming value comparable to pure CaCO₃.
Role of Immobile Kaolinite Colloids in the Transport of Heavy Metals.

Predicting the transport of contaminants in porous media is crucial to protecting public health and remediating contaminated soil and groundwater. However, the prediction of contaminant transport i...
A Survey of Fellowship-Trained Upper Extremity Surgeons on Treatment of Lateral Epicondylitis:

Background: The aim of the study is to investigate current management strategies for lateral epicondylitis by fellowship-trained upper extremity surgeons. Methods: A 17-question survey of treatment approaches and outcomes related to lateral epicondylitis was sent to 3354 surgeons using the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons member databases. Results: Six hundred twelve upper extremity surgeons completed the survey. The 6 most frequently prescribed nonoperative treatments for lateral epicondylitis were home exercise program/stretching (81%), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (75%), steroid injection (71%), counterforce bracing (68%), formal physical therapy (65%), and wrist brace (47%). Less commonly performed nonoperative treatment measures included platelet-rich plasma injection (16%), Tenex procedure (6%), and iontophoresis (2%). Conclusions: There is a lack of consensus in the literature for the management of lateral epicondylitis, which is reflected by individual variation in clinical treatment among the experts. Future prospective randomized control studies are needed to establish evidence-based practice standards for this common diagnosis.
Biologically Inspired Artificial Intelligence Techniques

Recent years have seen continuous, rapid growth in popularity and capabilities of artificial intelligence, and broadly speaking, of other computational techniques inspired by biological analogies. It is most appropriate, therefore, for this book to explore how such techniques might contribute to enhancing cyber resilience. This chapter argues that the fast-paced development of new cyber-related technologies complicates the classical approach of designing problem-specific algorithms for cyber resilience. Instead, “general-purpose” algorithms—such as biologically inspired artificial Intelligence (BIAI)—are more suited for such problems. BIAI techniques allow learning, adaptability, and robustness, which are compatible with cyber resilience scenarios like self-organization, dynamic operation conditions, and performance in adversarial environment. This chapter introduces the readers to BIAI techniques and describes various BIAI techniques and their taxonomy. It also proposes metrics which can be used to compare the techniques in terms of their performance, implementation ease, and requirements. Finally, the chapter illustrates the potential of such techniques via several case studies—applications pertaining to wireless communication systems.
Endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux with a self-detachable balloon system.

AbstractThere is controversy about the use of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) paste in children for the endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux due to evidence of particle migration. However, there are definite advantages in treating patients endoscopically. It is evident that the ideal substance should be able to be delivered endoscopically, conserve its volume, and be nonmigratory and nonantigenic.Towards this goal we developed a catheter with an inflatable, detachable and self-sealing silicone balloon that would fit through a 19 gauge cystoscopic needle. Hydroxy-ethyl-methyl acrylate, a hydrophilic polymer that solidifies within 60 minutes after the addition of ferrous sulfate, was chosen as the filling material for the balloon. Conceptually, the sealed balloon would prevent the migration of hydroxy-ethyl-methyl acrylate and the solidified polymer would prevent volume loss. To test this system reflux was created in 6 Hanford mini-pigs by unroofing the ureters bilaterally. In 2 pigs a previously ...
Writing Center Philosophy and the End of Basic Writing: Motivation at the Site of Remediation and Discovery.

At York College, many of the students fit the linguistic and educational profile of basic writers, and yet there is no remediation built into the curriculum. It falls to the writing center, then, to provide our students with the academic support that they need in order to move beyond being classified as developmental writers. In this article, I examine how our students are using the York College Writing Center, with a view to determining how a lower level of academic preparedness influences the kind of services that students seek and the kind of academic trajectory they follow. I suggest that the progress that we see these students making over the course of the semester can be best understood as a move from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, rather than from lowerto higher-order concerns that is the professed goal of writing center philosophy. This article has implications for how writing centers can best serve less prepared students, especially in light of the national movement to end remediation, as well as for the ways in which we measure student success.
A Measurement of the Effective Delayed Neutron Fraction for the Bulk Shielding Reactor-I

The value of the effective delayed neutron fraction has been measured for a compact loading of the BSR-I by the boron-substitution technique. The value obtained was 0.0080 ± 0.0002. By adopting the...
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Lymphadenitis

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is the cause of a worldwide pandemic that began in the 1980s, although there is evidence of viral infection by HIV decades earlier. It is estimated that 33 million persons live with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a result of HIV infection, of which approximately 60 % live in sub-Saharan Africa and 1.2 million live in United States. The virus is transmitted mainly through sexual contact, parenteral, and perinatal routes. Symptoms of disease start after a variable period of incubation. Because a main target of the virus is the CD4+ lymphocyte, the disease manifests as immunodeficiency; the term AIDS therefore encompasses the most recognizable manifestation of this infection. Patients are highly infectious during the acute phase of disease.
Seasonal Migrant Labor in the Forest Industry of the Southeastern United States: The Impact of H-2B Employment on Guatemalan Livelihoods

Migrant labor is a global phenomenon and remittances of migrant workers from non-industrial nations can play an important role in improving quality of life at family, community, and national levels...
War Stories from the Drug Survey: How Culture, Politics, and Statistics Shaped the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

The primary data driver behind US drug policy is the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. This insider history traces the evolution of the survey and how the survey has interacted with the political and social climate of the country, from its origins during the Vietnam War to its role in the war on drugs. The book includes first-hand accounts that explain how the data was used and misused by political leaders, why changes were made in the survey design, and what challenges researchers faced in communicating statistical principles to policymakers and leaders. It also makes recommendations for managing survey data collection and reporting in the context of political pressures and technological advances. Survey research students and practitioners will learn practical lessons about questionnaire design, mode effects, sampling, nonresponse, weighting, editing, imputation, statistical significance, and confidentiality. The book also includes common-language explanations of key terms and processes to help data users understand the point of view of survey statisticians.
What is Academic Advising? An Application of Analytic Induction

Nearly 40 years after the creation of NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising and at least as many years after academic advising was recognized as a unique role in higher education, the ...
From explication to emancipation: the radical pedagogy of George Sand’s Le Compagnon du tour de France

The Common Man has no idea what sorts of broad and varied knowledge an intelligent and active mind can gain, in just a short time, with regular and assiduous work. —George Sand, Le Compagnon du tou...
The Effects of LMX Differentiation on Team Performance: Investigating the Mediating Properties of Cohesion:

Although conceptualized initially as a dyadic-level theory, scholars have since broadened the theoretical underpinnings of leader–member exchange (LMX) to account for its effects on group-level phe...
Graduate Training Capacity for Regulatory Professionals at US Universities: Are We Facing a Talent Crisis?

Background Talent acquisition in regulatory affairs has been a continuing challenge now exaggerated by demographic shifts and expansion of regulatory requirements nationally and globally. Methods Survey and interview methods were used to provide information on graduation rates, graduate characteristics, and enrollment trends in the 17 US regulatory programs that could be identified to offer graduate degrees in regulatory affairs or regulatory science. Results US programs graduated approximately 522 MS and 4 doctoral students in 2018. About 70% of students attended programs in the Northeast; the remaining students were evenly split between programs in the Northwest and Southeast/Southwest. About half of the programs provided content by distance only. About 127 students were new entrants to the workforce; enrollments for this group most commonly leveled or decreased over the last 3 years. The primary challenge identified by most programs was the high tuition that discouraged participation by qualified candidates for the programs. Challenges were also reported when attracting international students because of tightening visa restrictions and consequent reluctance of industry to hire students with a temporary visa status. Conclusions The small number of graduating regulatory professionals from US universities is alarming because it falls far short of needs estimates for positions in regulatory departments. The particularly low number of entry-level professionals seems unlikely to be adequate as unemployment rates tighten and experienced professionals become harder to attract. These shortfalls may be particularly hurtful to small companies unable to compete for experienced professionals.
Are There Inter-Individual Differences in Fat Mass and Percent Body Fat as a Result of Aerobic Exercise Training in Overweight and Obese Children and Adolescents? A Meta-Analytic Perspective

Background: Determine whether inter-individual response differences exist with respect to changes in fat mass and percent body fat as a result of aerobic exercise training in overweight and obese c...
Platelet and hemoglobin count at diagnosis are associated with survival in African American and Caucasian patients with colorectal cancer

Abstract Background African Americans (AAs) compared to Caucasian Americans (CAs) with colorectal cancer (CRC) have lower stage-specific survival. CRC patients often present with several hematopathologies (such as thrombocytosis, thrombocytopenia, anemia) at diagnosis, which is associated with poorer survival. However, whether these measures impact the racial disparity in survival is not known. Methods The study population was composed of 581 histologically confirmed CRCs at the Medical University of South Carolina (393 CA, 188 AA) diagnosed between 01/01/2000 and 06/30/2013. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the association between thrombocytosis, thrombocytopenia, or anemia at diagnosis and risk of death by race. This analysis was adjusted for age, sex, stage and first-line treatment. Results In all patients combined, thrombocytosis, thrombocytopenia, and anemia (vs. the normal ranges) were associated with significantly higher risks of death. In the race-specific analyses, AAs (HR 2.51 [95 % CI: 1.52−4.15]) vs. CAs (HR 1.15 [95 % CI: 0.75−1.75]) with thrombocytosis compared to normal had a higher risk of death (p for difference = 0.03). Conclusions Abnormal thrombocyte and hemoglobin levels at diagnosis were associated with poorer survival. AAs compared to CAs with elevated platelets at diagnosis had a higher risk of death. Our study is the first to examine the role of race, hematologic measures at diagnosis, and risk of death in colorectal cancer patients. These results suggest that the racial differences in the immune response may contribute to the racial disparity in survival.
Self-rated Health Disparities Among Asian Americans: Mediating Roles of Education Level and Household Income

Asian Americans represent an understudied racial category in health disparity research. Using data from the National Asian American Survey, we examined self-rated health (SRH) disparities in eight Asian subgroups compared to Whites, explored the moderating effect of nativity status, and investigated the mediating effect of socioeconomic status. None of the Asian subgroups fared better than Whites. Across Asian subgroups, South Asians, Japanese, and Filipinos had the best SRH, with Cambodians being the most disadvantaged. Nativity was a significant moderator in that SRH disadvantages were only manifested among immigrants for Chinese, Korean, Hmong, and Vietnamese and only among natives for Filipinos. For most groups showing SRH disadvantages, SES played partial mediating roles. Education showed a higher explanatory power than income for inter-ethnic SRH disparities. Contrary to popular perception, Asian Americans are not the model minority in terms of SRH. Cultural influences on SRH reporting biases were discussed.
Theorizing with Archives: Contingency, Mistakes, and Plausible Alternatives

What are “good” kinds of archival evidence for theorizing? Surprisingly, the word archive and discussions of the archival process rarely appear in methods textbooks or discussions of methods in historical sociology. Yet, much recent historicized sociology relies upon documents left over by a small group of actors to make large-scale claims. To address this oversight, we leverage the evidentiary strengths of qualitative sociology and translate them for historical sociology. Our central argument is that three kinds of archival evidence are likely to produce generalizable claims: positive contingency, learning by mistakes, and plausible alternatives. Examples are illustrated with the cases of jail overcrowding in Los Angeles County, anti-redlining policy in the Federal Reserve, and immigration policy in the Dillingham commission.
Slim LSTMs: parameter-reductions within gating signals

Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Neural networks (RNNs) rely on gating signals, each driven by a function of a weighted sum of at least 3 components: (i) one of an adaptive weight matrix multiplied by the incoming external input vector sequence, (ii) one adaptive weight matrix multiplied by the previous memory/state vector, and (iii) one adaptive bias vector. In effect, they augment the simple Recurrent Neural Networks (sRNNs) structure with the addition of a "memory cell" and the incorporation of at most 3 gating signals.The standard LSTM structure and components encompass redundancy and overly increased parameterization. In this paper, we systemically introduce variants of the LSTM RNNs, referred to as Slim LSTMs. These variants express aggressively reduced parameterizations in the gates to achieve computational saving and/or speedup in (training) performance—while necessarily retaining (validation accuracy) performance comparable to the standard LSTM RNN.
Religion, paranormal beliefs, and meaning in life

Past research finds that individual differences in the need for meaning are positively associated with religiosity and spirituality. In the present study, we sought to expand on past research by ex...
Influenza Virus Antiviral Targets

Influenza viruses are classified as type A, B, or C based on antigenic reactions of their internal proteins. Type A influenza viruses are further divided into subtypes according to the antigenic properties of their surface antigens, the glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The genome of influenza virus consists of eight segments of single-stranded RNA, ranging in size from ~900 to 2,300 nucleotides. Each RNA segment contains the coding information for one or two proteins, but in the negative sense. The RNA segments are coated with the nucleoprotein (NP), and some are associated with the three subunits of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex. The chapter discusses targets for antivirals against influenza. The M2 ion channel is the target of the earliest licensed antiviral drugs against influenza, amantadine and rimantadine. NA is the second most abundant glycoprotein on the virus surface. It cleaves sialic acid residues from glycoproteins and some glycolipids, thus acting as a receptordestroying activity. The cyclopentane peramivir was developed by BioCryst, again based on the crystal structure of NA and its interactions with inhibitors. The aim was to find an inhibitor that was readily synthesized and orally available and that did not induce resistance. The chapter talks about development of antiviral drugs targeted to influenza, and targeting host functions. The diversity of influenza viruses and their capacity to change present a particular challenge to the development and use of anti-influenza antivirals.
Lévy Process-Based Stochastic Modeling for Machine Performance Degradation Prognosis

Accurate and reliable machine performance degradation tracking and remaining useful life (RUL) prognosis establish the foundation for predictive maintenance scheduling toward improved safety and productivity of machine operations. In general, machine performance degradation exhibits a nonlinear and nonhomogeneous pattern that arises from time-varying degradation rate and abrupt performance changes. To address this challenge and improve the generalizability of degradation modeling, in this article, we present a stochastic modeling technique based on the Levy process, which generalizes system variations as the accumulations of successive and jump increments. The developed Levy process model consists of two terms: a linear Brownian motion term for capturing the gradual degradation with time-varying rates and a nonhomogenous compound Poisson process term for capturing transient performance changes. By calculating the moments of the characteristic function of the Levy model, explicit expressions for the probability distributions of predicted performance degradation and RUL are derived. To obtain the time-varying parameters in the Levy model, Markov chain Monte Carlo is investigated. The developed technique is evaluated through simulation and run-to-failure tests of roller and ball bearings, and the good performance of the developed Levy model is confirmed.
ASSESSING GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN RISKS IN A LEAN SIX SIGMA WORLD

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the systematic coordination of activities and processes from raw materials to the final consumer. Since many organizations are located and compete worldwide, Global Supply Chain management (GSCM) has been gaining more visibility. A supply chain generally includes suppliers, production companies, distributors, wholesale organizations, and retail companies. One of its goals is to enhance organizational performance while improving customer satisfaction by efficiently delivering products to the customer. The entities in the supply chain network work cooperatively to deliver the right product at the right price at right place with quality to final consumers while adding value at each stage. In transitioning from SCM to GSCM, the supply chain network gains complexity and incorporates additional risks. This study provides a general introduction to supply chains, discusses various risks associated with them, and proposes a model that for assessing global supply chain risk within a lean, six sigma framework.
Computational thinking in programming language and compiler design (keynote)

Abstractions and algorithms are at the heart of computational thinking. In this talk I will discuss the evolution of the theory and practice of programming language and compiler design through the lens of computational thinking. Many of the key concepts in this area were introduced at the ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing.
Management strategy influences landscape patterns of high-severity burn patches in the southwestern United States

Spatial patterns of high-severity wildfire in forests affect vegetation recovery pathways, watershed dynamics, and wildlife habitat across landscapes. Yet, less is known about contemporary trends in landscape patterns of high-severity burn patches or how differing federal fire management strategies have influenced such patterns. We assessed fires managed for ecological/resource benefit and fires that are fully suppressed and investigated: (1) whether spatial patterns of high-severity patches differed by management strategy, (2) whether spatial patterns were related to fire size and percent high-severity fire, and (3) temporal trends in spatial patterns. We examined high-severity spatial patterns within large fires using satellite-derived burn severity data from 735 fires that burned from 1984 to 2017 in Arizona and New Mexico, USA. We calculated a suite of spatial pattern metrics for each individual fire and developed a method to identify those which best explained variation among fires. Compared to managed fires, spatial pattern metrics in suppression fires showed greater patch homogeneity. All spatial pattern metrics showed significant relationships with fire size and percent high-severity fire for both management strategies. Mean annual spatiotemporal trends in suppression fires have moved toward smaller, more complex, fragmented patches since the early 2000s. Increases in fire size and proportion high-severity fire are driving more homogenous patches regardless of management type, with percent high-severity more strongly driving average temporal trends. Anticipated shifts in fire size and severity will likely result in larger, more contiguous, and simple-shaped patches of high-severity fire within southwestern conifer forests.
SNAP participation and the health and health care utilisation of low-income adults and children.

OBJECTIVE: This article examined whether participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) produced changes to adult and child health and health care utilisation during a period of economic recession. DESIGN: Instrumental variables analysis relying on variation in state SNAP policies to isolate exogenous variation in household SNAP participation. SETTING: Nationally representative data on child and adult health from the 2008 to 2013 National Health Interview Survey. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 92 237 adults and 45 469 children who were either eligible for SNAP based on household income and state eligibility rules or were low income but not eligible for SNAP benefits. RESULTS: For adults, SNAP participation increased the probability of reporting very good or excellent health, and for both adults and children, reduced needing but having to go without dental care or eyeglasses. The size of these benefits was especially pronounced for children. However, SNAP participation increased the probability of needing but not being able to afford prescription medicine, and increased psychological distress for adults and behavioural problems for children under age 10. CONCLUSIONS: SNAP's benefits for adult health and improved access to dental and vision care for adults and children suggest benefits from the program's expansions during the current COVID-induced crisis. Predicted negative effects of SNAP participation suggest the need for attention to program and benefit structure to avoid harm and the need for continued research to explore the causal effects of program participation.
A systematic evaluation of 41 DNA methylation predictors across 101 data preprocessing and normalization strategies highlights considerable variation in algorithm performance

Background DNA methylation (DNAm) based predictors hold great promise to serve as clinical tools for health interventions and disease management. While these algorithms often have high prediction accuracy and are associated with many disease-related phenotypes, the reliability of their performance remains to be determined. We therefore conducted a systematic evaluation across 101 different data processing strategies that preprocess and normalize DNAm data and assessed how each analytical strategy affects the reliability and prediction accuracy of 41 DNAm-based predictors. Results Our analyses were conducted in a large EPIC DNAm sample of the Jackson Heart Study (N=2,053) that included 146 pairs of technical replicate samples. By estimating the average absolute agreement between replicate pairs, we show that 32 out of 41 predictors (78%) demonstrate excellent test-retest reliability when appropriate data processing and normalization steps are implemented. Across all pairs of predictors, we find a moderate correlation in performance across analytical strategies (mean rho=0.40, SD=0.27), highlighting significant heterogeneity in performance across algorithms within a choice of an analytical pipeline. (Un)successful removal of technical variation furthermore significantly impacts downstream phenotypic association analysis, such as all-cause mortality risk associations. Conclusions We show that DNAm-based algorithms are sensitive to technical variation. The right choice of data processing and normalization pipeline is important to achieve reproducible estimates and improve prediction accuracy in downstream phenotypic association analyses. For each of the 41 DNAm predictors, we report its test-retest reliability and provide the best performing analytical strategy as a guideline for the research community. As DNAm-based predictors become more and more widely used, both for research purposes as well as for clinic applications, our work helps improve their performance and standardize their implementation.
Analysis of the ARTIC version 3 and version 4 SARS-CoV-2 primers and their impact on the detection of the G142D amino acid substitution in the spike protein

ABSTRACT The ARTIC Network provides a common resource of PCR primer sequences and recommendations for amplifying SARS-CoV-2 genomes. The initial tiling strategy was developed with the reference genome Wuhan-01, and subsequent iterations have addressed areas of low amplification and sequence drop out. Recently, a new version (V4) was released, based on new variant genome sequences, in response to the realization that some V3 primers were located in regions with key mutations. Herein, we compare the performance of the ARTIC V3 and V4 primer sets with a matched set of 663 SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples sequenced with an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 instrument. We observe general improvements in sequencing depth and quality, and improved resolution of the SNP causing the D950N variation in the spike protein. Importantly, we also find nearly universal presence of spike protein substitution G142D in Delta-lineage samples. Due to the prior release and widespread use of the ARTIC V3 primers during the initial surge of the Delta variant, it is likely that the G142D amino acid substitution is substantially underrepresented among early Delta variant genomes deposited in public repositories. In addition to the improved performance of the ARTIC V4 primer set, this study also illustrates the importance of the primer scheme in downstream analyses. Importance ARTIC Network primers are commonly used by laboratories worldwide to amplify and sequence SARS-CoV-2 present in clinical samples. As new variants have evolved and spread, it was found that the V3 primer set poorly amplified several key mutations. In this report, we compare the results of sequencing a matched set of samples with the V3 and V4 primer sets. We find that adoption of the ARTIC V4 primer set is critical for accurate sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 spike region. The absence of metadata describing the primer scheme used will negatively impact the downstream use of publicly available SARS-Cov-2 sequencing reads and assembled genomes.
Oxidative stress in murine Theiler's virus-induced temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of acquired epilepsy that can be caused by several inciting events including viral infections. However, one-third of TLE patients are pharmacoresistant to current antiepileptic drugs and therefore, there is an urgent need to develop antiepileptogenic therapies that prevent the development of the disease. Oxidative stress and redox alterations have recently been recognized as important etiological factors contributing to seizure-induced neuronal damage. The goal of this study was to determine if oxidative stress occurs in the TMEV (Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus) model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). C57Bl/6 mice were injected with TMEV or with PBS intracortically and observed for acute seizures. At various time points after TMEV injection, hippocampi were analyzed for levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and 3-nitrotyrosine (3NT). Mice infected with TMEV displayed behavioral seizures between days 3 and 7 days post-infection (dpi). The intensity of seizures increased over time with most of the seizures being a stage 4 or 5 on the Racine scale at 6 days p.i. Mice exhibiting at least one seizure during the observation period were utilized for the biochemical analyses. The levels of GSH were significantly depleted in TMEV infected mice at 3, 4 and 14 days p.i. with a concomitant increase in GSSH levels as well as an impairment of the redox status. Additionally, there was a substantial increase in 3NT levels in TMEV infected mice at these time points. These redox changes correlated with the occurrence of acute seizures in this model. Interestingly, we did not see changes in any of the indices in the cerebellum of TMEV-infected mice at 3 dpi indicating that these alterations are localized to the hippocampus and perhaps other limbic regions. This is the first study to demonstrate the occurrence of oxidative stress in the TMEV model of infection-induced TLE. The redox alterations were observed at time points coinciding with the appearance of acute behavioral seizures suggesting that these changes might be a consequence of seizure activity. Our results support the hypothesis that redox changes correlate with seizure activity in acquired epilepsies, regardless of the inciting insults, and suggest oxidative stress as a potential therapeutic target for their treatment.
Effects of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol on calcium metabolism in chronic renal failure.

Abnormalities of vitamin D metabolism, secondary hyperparathyroidism, acidosis and other less well defined factors are postulated to be important factors in the genesis of altered calcium (Ca) metabolism of chronic renal failure (CRF) and renal osteodystrophy. This study quantitatively characterizes a number of parameters of Ca metabolism in patients with CRF before and after oral administration of pharmacologic quantities of 25* hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OHD3). A previously formulated com-partmental model is used to quantitate certain parameters of Ca metabolism. The model consists of a number of compartments of variable size and intercompartmental transfer rates (1). The experimental data required for this analysis were obtained from a 47Ca tracer kinetic study, a Ca balance study, and the retention of 47Ca in the body as measured by whole body counting techniques. Total body (TB) Ca and phosphorus (P) stores were measured by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and compared to values obtained in normal subjects by methods previously described by this laboratory (2).
Activity Areas, Surface Collection and Factor Analysis At the Phillips Spring Site, 23Hi216, Missouri

A surface collection from the Phillips Spring Site, 23HI216, Missouri, was analyzed in an attempt to delineate activity areas. The techniques employed included inspection of distribution maps of ar...