cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Controlling sol-gel polymerization by solvent selection to create tissue engineering scaffolds

Polyurethane xerogels with open pore networks were created via solution-gelation (sol-gel) polymerization. The solubility parameters of the solvent(s) and prepolymers and equilibrium swelling and extraction data were both used to select solvent(s) giving porous xerogels. Polycaprolactone (PCL) diol was combined with either poly(tetramethylene glycol) (PTMEG) or castor oil (CO), and the prepoplymer mixture gelled in an array of solvents through reaction with a triisocyanate. The behavior of the PCL/PTMEG system was mapped vs. all pure solvents used as well as several binary blends, and regions generating porous bodies were identified. Both this and the PCL/CO system were also prepared as dense materials, with equilibrium swelling and extractable fraction data generated in various solvents Analysis of this data also allowed for selection of appropriate solvents for porous xerogel formation. Porous xerogels were characterized via scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry.
Complications of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP): A study of 10,000 cases

Of 402 United States owners of side-viewing duodenoscopes surveyed, 222 (55%) responded,reporting 10,435 endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatograms. Procedure failure occurred in 30%, complications in 3%, and death in 0.2%. Complications included pancreatitis, cholangitis, pancreatic sepsis, instrumental injury to the gastrointestinal tract, and drug reactions. Pancreatitis was associated with injection into the pancreatic duct, sepsis with injection into an obstructed duct or pseudocyst, and injury with abnormal gastroduodenal anatomy. Experienced workers had a 15% incidence of complications, whereas inexperience gave 4 times the failures (62%) and twice the complications (7%). The causes of complications and their prevention are discussed.
Image based modeling and prediction of nonstationary ground motions

Nonlinear dynamic analysis is a required step in seismic performance evaluation of many structures. Performing such an analysis requires input ground motions, which are often obtained through simulations, due to the lack of sufficient records representing a given scenario. As seismic ground motions are characterized by time-varying amplitude and frequency content, and the response of nonlinear structures is sensitive to the temporal variations in the seismic energy input, ground motion nonstationarities should be taken into account in simulations. This paper describes a nonparametric approach for modeling and prediction of nonstationary ground motions. Using the Relevance Vector Machine, a nonparametric regression model which takes as input a set of seismic predictors, and produces as output a wavelet image showing the expected time-frequency distribution of energy, conditioned on the predictors, is developed. Demonstrative examples comparing the recorded and predicted ground motions in time, frequency, and time-frequency domains are presented.
Legacies of Place and Power: From Military Base to Freeport Zone

This article examines the place–making of global borderlands—semiautonomous, foreign–controlled geographical locations geared toward international exchange. I use the case study of the Subic Bay Fr...
Transcriptional Enhancers: Bridging the Genome and Phenome

Enhancers play a major role in animal development by modulating spatiotemporal expression of genes. They interact with sequence-specific transcriptional regulators in response to internal and external cues to bring about transcriptional changes, thus serving as the critical link between an organism's genome and its phenotypic traits. Deciphering the biology of enhancers is a key to understanding the genetic basis of common human diseases. Although a large number of candidate enhancers have been annotated through genome-wide analyses of chromatin accessibility, transcription factor binding, and histone modification in diverse cell types, efforts to characterize their biological roles in human diseases have only begun. Recent experiments have suggested a role for the three-dimensional chromatin architecture in regulation of gene expression by enhancers.
Impact of financing on optimal R & D resource allocation

The main results of this paper are: 1) viewing the R & D effort in an organization as a financial investment, and 2) proposing methods for optimal R & D investment. When the return-on-investment for the R & D can readily be estimated, the usual investment evaluation methods can be extended for optimization. When a direct estimation of return is difficult, a quantity called "equivalent return-on-investment" is used instead. A method for determining the equivalent return-on-investment from an arbitrarily scaled utility function is proposed, providing a way for the optimization of investment levels for R & D activities, which are not all product-directed.
Concolic Fault Localization

An integral part of all debugging activities is the task of diagnosing the cause of an error. Most existing fault diagnosis techniques rely on the availability of high quality test suites because they work by comparing failing and passing runs to identify the error cause. This limits their applicability. One alternative are techniques that statically analyze an error trace of the program without relying on additional passing runs to compare against. Particularly promising are novel proof-based approaches that leverage the advances in automated theorem proving to obtain an abstraction of the program that aids fault diagnostics. However, existing proof-based approaches still have practical limitations such as reduced scalability and dependence on complex mathematical models of programs. Such models are notoriously difficult to develop for real-world programs. Inspired by concolic testing, we propose a novel algorithm that integrates concrete execution and symbolic reasoning about the error trace to address these challenges. Specifically, we execute the error trace to obtain intermediate program states that allow us to split the trace into smaller fragments, each of which can be analyzed in isolation using an automated theorem prover. Moreover, we show how this approach can avoid complex logical encodings when reasoning about traces in low-level C programs. We have conducted an experiment where we applied our new algorithm to error traces generated from faulty versions of UNIX utils such as gzip and sed. Our experiment indicates that our concolic fault abstraction scales to real-world error traces and generates useful error diagnoses.
Reason and Reasonableness in the Common Law

This Article addresses the central concept of “reasonableness” in the common law and constitutional jurisprudence. On the basis of three examples, the common law of torts, the common law of contracts, and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, the Article notes that different areas of the law follow fundamentally inconsistent utilitarian, pragmatic and formalist reasonableness paradigms. The significance of this diversity of reasonableness paradigms remains largely under-theorized. This Article submits that the diversity of reasonableness paradigms is a necessary feature of the common law. It theorizes that the utilitarian, pragmatic and formalist paradigms are grammatical markers for the common law norm-generation process. This theory permits a new, more precise definition of hard cases as cases in which these paradigms lead to a different result in a specific legal dispute. It further provides a legal criterion to determine whether hard cases have been correctly resolved as a legal matter rather than as a matter of policy. On the basis of this new understanding of hard cases, it is possible to explain a question left unresolved by Frederick Schauer’s article The Limited Domain of the Law, 90 VA. L. REV. 1909 (2004) namely how the common law develops as a limited domain while remaining responsive to changes in community standards and policy preferences. By means of this theory, the article analyses an important, and potentially dispositive, conceptual confusion underlying the recent Supreme Court affirmative action decision Fisher v. University of Texas, 133 S.Ct. 2411 (2013) and explains how that confusion can be overcome by future courts applying the decision.
Modeling the Measurable or Measuring the Modelable: A Hierarchical Approach to Isolating Meaningful Soil Organic Matter Fractionations

The approaches of modeling the measurable and measuring the modelable are both valuable for advancing our understanding of soil organic matter (SOM). In the former case, we assume that the measurements we make are the best representation of nature, and that model structure should follow. While this may simplify model testing, it may not yield a particularly useful description of SOM dynamics. There is no question that most of our knowledge about SOM is derived from experimentation, but models are being increasingly used to further our understanding. In the latter case, model structure and parameters are modified in reasonable ways to obtain the best fit of simulation with observation, thus deducing the “correct” structure. In this case, it is conceivable that more than one structure can result in a good fit to the data. Good predictions may be produced, but an incorrect structure may be derived. In either case, there are no clear criteria for obtaining the “truth” except for repeatedly testing our methods/models against new information, preferably obtained from definitive experiments. A combination of approaches is best. We elaborate a particular approach which is mindful of the habitat in which microbes and their substrates reside and relate this theory to methods developed to separately isolate plant and microbially derived SOM, which may be physically protected from microbial attack in the soil.
Jaw muscle afferent firing during an isotonic jaw-positioning task in the monkey

The activity of jaw muscle receptors was studied by recording neurons in the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal nerve in monkeys trained to control the position and movement of their mandible. Jaw position was measured by a weighted lever resting on the mandibular incisors. The force required to maintain the position of the lever was varied; in most cases it was either 25 or 360 g. Firing rates of neurons were related to stationary mandibular positions and to the velocity of movements during intervals when the movement velocity was constant. Of 49 neurons studied in detail, 21 fired at rates that were consistently and linearly related to static incisal openings. This static position sensitivity was typically about 5 spikes/mm of incisal opening. Most position-sensitive neurons fired at higher rates during opening movements and at lower rates during closing movements than would be accounted for by their position sensitivity. This sensitivity to the velocity of movement was not linear, however; slow closing movements sometimes did not produce a decrease in firing rate, and an actual increase during muscle shortening was seen in a few instances. The position sensitivity of eight neurons was evaluated during different loading conditions; in no case did it change substantially. Of the remaining 28 neurons, 26 fired at high rates during all opening movements and either stopped firing or fired at low, sporadic rates during closing movements. The static position sensitivity of these neurons was weak and variable both within and between neurons. The velocity sensitivity of these stretch-sensitive neurons was very nonlinear. Except for a range of slow movements (+/- 5 mm/s), the firing rate was maximal (200 spikes/s or higher) for most opening movements and zero for most closing movements. Maximal firing rates were higher when the loads being moved were increased from 25 to 360 g. The majority of position-sensitive neurons exhibited a large interspike-interval variability at wide incisal opening. In most of these neurons, this interspike-interval variability was periodic, usually at a rate of about 10 periods/s, and took the form of "saw-tooth" modulation on a record of instantaneous firing rate. Neurons that exhibited this modulation in a very prominent form also exhibited, in many instances, a substantial increase in firing rate during closing jaw movements.
Connecting the Dots between Microbial Epidemiology and Genomics

On the Earth, bacteria may be traced up to at least 3.5 billion years ago in Archean eon, which evolved thousands of million years earlier than ancient land plants (450 million years ago, Ordovician) and land animals (Cambrian)? Besides the time axis, these tiny unicellular organisms also occupy a broad range in the space axis, living almost everywhere on the earth including air, sea water, fresh water, soil, plants, animals, humans, and extreme environments. Although some of them are our friends, some of them are our foes which can cause diseases in plants, animals, and humans. Many species and genus are unknown yet.
A calcium binding component of dog kidney cortex and its relationship to calcium transport.

SummaryWe have identified a calcium binding component of dog kidney cortex which is in part protein and the capacity of which is related to the excretion of calcium by the kidney.
3 – Steady laminar axisymmetric flow from a tube: exit effects

Publisher Summary The axisymmetric flow of an isothermal incompressible Newtonian fluid issuing from a tube of uniform circular cross section represents another complex laminar flow. Two cases are considered in this chapter. One is the jet issuing from a horizontal tube at a high enough speed (but still laminar) that its trajectory is approximately horizontal over the dynamic region of interest. The other is the vertical jet for which the key dynamic issue is the “draw-down” of the jet as gravity causes it to accelerate in the (axial) direction of flow. Both theory and observation agree that the jet issuing from a horizontal tube reaches its final diameter within a downstream distance equivalent to a few tube diameters. The axial stress is normalized to the wall shear stress for the fully developed flow. The dynamics of the jet flow are altered significantly if the jet is vertical and pointing downward. The force of gravity accelerates or “draws” the jet and the radius continually decreases along the jet axis (at least after some small distance downstream over which the jet could expand because of velocity profile rearrangement at low Reynolds numbers).
EPR Spin Trapping

The direct detection of free radicals is limited by their extremely short half-life in aqueous solution and this is likely to be even shorter in biological systems. However, this chapter describes how free radicals can be detected in biological systems with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy by the use of small diamagnetic probes, e.g., nitrone-based and hydroxylamines, and paramagnetic probes, e.g., nitroxides and trityl radicals. EPR is a powerful tool able to provide key information on the concentration of reactive species formed, the nature of the radical formed, the kinetics of radical formation, oxygen concentration, and more.
Practice Informing Research: A Survey of Research Dissemination and Knowledge Utilization.

With a call for increased social validity in the school psychology research literature comes the suggestion that researchers listen to practitioners, both in terms of meeting important information ...
Water Vapor Transport in Snow A 2-D Simulation of Temperature Gradient Metamorphism

In dry snow packs experiencing a temperature gradient, heat and mass transport is responsible for the metamorphism of ice crystals. The work presented herein investigates the influence of geometry, density, and temperature on the coupled, simultaneous heat and mass transport in idealized, two dimensional ice lattice cells. Mass transfer rates, mass flux rates, concentration and temperature distributions, and effective diffusion coefficients and thermal conductivities are presented as functions of temperature, geometry, density, and time. The results of the analysis show clearly that both the mass and heat transport are strongly dependent upon the ice lattice geometry. The effective diffusion coefficient is enhanced relative to the diffusion coefficient for water vapor in air for all of the two dimensional geometries studied. In addition, the preferential growth of branch grains has been verified using both static and dynamic, computer generated images of the ice lattice cells undergoing temperature gradient metamorphism.
GraphTuner: An Input Dependence Aware Loop Perforation Scheme for Efficient Execution of Approximated Graph Algorithms

Graph algorithms have gained popularity and are utilized in high performance and mobile computing paradigms. Input dependence due to input graph changes leads to performance variations in such algorithms. The impact of input dependence for graph algorithms is not well studied in the context of approximate computing. This paper conducts such analysis by applying loop perforation, which is a general approximation mechanism that transforms the program loops to drop a subset of their total iterations. The analysis identifies the need to adapt the inner and outer loop perforation as a function of input graph characteristics, such as the density or size of the graph. A predictive model is proposed to learn the near-optimal loop perforation rates using synthetic input graphs. When the input aware loop perforation model is applied to real world graphs, the evaluated graph algorithms systematically degrade accuracy to achieve performance and power benefits. Results show ~30% performance and ~19% power utilization improvements on average at a program accuracy loss threshold of 10% for an NVidia&#x00AE; GPU. The analysis is also conducted for two concurrent Intel&#x00AE; CPU architectures, an 8-core Xeon&#x2122; and a 61-core Xeon Phi machine.
From objects to subjects: Repositioning teachers as policy actors doing policy work

Abstract Within policy discourses, teachers are positioned as objects of reform who enact policies under rational systems of observation and accountability and are, therefore, situated as de-professionalized actors lacking expert knowledge. This research project asks relatively straight-forward questions: If practicing teachers were given a voice in political debates over urban education policy and reform, what would they say? What macro-level policy problems would they identify as being important? Findings indicate the primary policy problems include Systemic Inequity and Bad Policy. The primary policy solutions include, Schools as a Community Resource; Shared Decision-Making; Contextual Goals; and Time, Space and Resources.
The Effect of Film-Forming Materials on the Dynamic Interfacial Properties in Crude Oil-Aqueous Systems

Interfacial behavior of crude oil-aqueous systems depends strongly upon the nature of the crude and of the aqueous displacing fluid. The crude oil contains discrete surface active particles known as asphaltenes in addition to the surface active resins, both of which contain organic acids and bases. The film forming characteristics of these components are exhibited by the interfacial films which exist at the crude-aqueous interface.
Comparison of 35 mm Cine Film and Digital Radiographic Image Imaging for Quantitative Coronary Arteriography

Visual interpretation of coronary stenosis severity is complicated by the irregular geometry and unknown orientation of the vessel, and the presence of adjacent or superimposed structures [1]. These problems combine to contribute to imprecision and observer variability [2, 3]. This problem has given rise to the development of several computerized quantitative arteriographie techniques [4–26]. Methods employing computer analysis of manual tracings of the borders of magnified cine film projections of coronary artery segments were first reported by Brown and co-workers [4]. Quantitative arteriography has now progressed through the efforts of many investigators to the point of requiring little operator intervention due to the use of automated edge detection computer algorithms [10, 15–19]. This reduces variability by removing the subjectivity of manual tracing of arterial borders. Most approaches determine the absolute geometric extent of a lesion by edge detection and relative cross-sectional area by densitometry within the detected edges.
Not Just Damaged Goods: Higher-Order Capacities and the Argument from Marginal Cases

If the arguments of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 are sound, then even the most “marginal” human organisms still have the typical human capacities that are sufficient to generate serious moral status. But this makes my position vulnerable to a version of the “Argument From Marginal Cases” (AMC).
Towards heterogeneous integration of optical isolators and circulators with lasers on silicon [Invited]

Optical isolators and circulators are extremely valuable components to have in photonic integrated circuits, but their integration with lasers poses significant design and fabrication challenges. These challenges largely stem from the incompatibility of magneto-optic material with the silicon or III-V platforms commonly used today for photonic integration. Heterogeneous integration using wafer bonding can overcome many of these challenges, and provides a promising path towards integrating isolators with lasers on the same silicon chip. An optical isolator operating for TE mode with 25 dB of isolation, 6.5 dB of insertion loss, and tunability over 40nm is demonstrated and a path towards integrating this isolator with the heterogeneous silicon/III-V laser is described.
Incremental BLAST: incremental addition of new sequence databases through e-value correction

Abstract Motivation Search results from local alignment search tools use statistical parameters sensitive to the size of the database. NCBI BLAST, for example, reports important matches using similarity scores and expect or e-values calculated against database size. Over the course of an investigation, the database grows and the best matches may change. To update the results of a sequence similarity search to find the most optimal hits, bioinformaticians must rerun the BLAST search against the entire database; this translates into irredeemable spent time, money, and computational resources. Results We develop an efficient way to redeem spent BLAST search effort by introducing the Incremental BLAST. This tool makes use of the previous BLAST search results as it conducts new searches on only the incremental part of the database, recomputes statistical metrics such as e-values and combines these two sets of results to produce updated results. We develop statistics for correcting e-values of any BLAST result against any arbitrary sequence database. The experimental results and accuracy analysis demonstrate that Incremental BLAST can provide search results identical to NCBI BLAST at a significantly reduced computational cost. We apply three case studies to showcase different use cases where Incremental BLAST can make biological discovery more efficiently at a reduced cost. This tool can be used to update sequence blasts during the course of genomic and transcriptomic projects, such as in re-annotation projects, and to conduct incremental addition of taxon-specific sequences to a BLAST database. Incremental BLAST performs (1 + δ)/δ times faster than NCBI BLAST for δ fraction of database growth. Availability Incremental BLAST is available at https://bitbucket.org/sajal000/incremental-blast. Contact sajal@vt.edu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at https://bitbucket.org/sajal000/incremental-blast
Widespread Backtracking by RNA Pol II Is a Major Effector of Gene Activation, 5' Pause Release, Termination, and Transcription Elongation Rate.

Summary In addition to phosphodiester bond formation, RNA polymerase II has an RNA endonuclease activity, stimulated by TFIIS, which rescues complexes that have arrested and backtracked. How TFIIS affects transcription under normal conditions is poorly understood. We identified backtracking sites in human cells using a dominant-negative TFIIS (TFIISDN) that inhibits RNA cleavage and stabilizes backtracked complexes. Backtracking is most frequent within 2 kb of start sites, consistent with slow elongation early in transcription, and in 3′ flanking regions where termination is enhanced by TFIISDN, suggesting that backtracked pol II is a favorable substrate for termination. Rescue from backtracking by RNA cleavage also promotes escape from 5′ pause sites, prevents premature termination of long transcripts, and enhances activation of stress-inducible genes. TFIISDN slowed elongation rates genome-wide by half, suggesting that rescue of backtracked pol II by TFIIS is a major stimulus of elongation under normal conditions.
From Societal Scorn to Divine Delight: Job’s Transformative Portrayal of Wild Animals:

This article contextualizes the Joban theophany’s stereotype-subverting portrayal of wild animals and explores its ecological and theological implications. Job 38:39–39:30 features wild animals tha...
Impact of adjuvant therapy in patients with invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas.

Abstract Background There is limited data on the efficacy of adjuvant therapy (AT) in patients with invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas (IPMN). This single center retrospective cohort study aims to assess the impact of AT on survival in these patients. Methods Patients undergoing surgery for invasive IPMN between 1993 and 2018 were included in the study. We compared the clinicopathologic features and evaluated overall survival (OS) using multivariate Cox regression adjusting for adjuvant therapy, age, T and N stage, perineural and lymphovascular invasion. We also assessed survival differences between surgery alone and AT in node negative (N0) and node positive (N+) subgroups. Results 103 patients were included in the study; 69 underwent surgery alone while 34 also received AT. Patients in the AT group were significantly younger, presented at higher T and N stages and had more perineural and lymphovascular invasion. Median OS in the surgery alone group was 134 months and 65 months in the AT group, p = 0.052. On multivariate analysis, AT was not associated with improved OS; hazard ratio (HR) = 1.03 (0.52–2.05). In N0 patients, compared to surgery alone, AT was associated with a worse median OS (65 vs 167 months, p = 0.03), whereas in N+ patients there was a non-significant improvement (50.5 vs 20.4 months, p = 0.315). Conclusion AT did not improve survival in the overall cohort even after multivariate analysis. N0 patients have excellent survival, and AT should probably be avoided in them, whereas it may be considered in patients with N+ disease.
Surface Area of Polymer Latexes by Angular Light Scattering

Angular light scattering may be used to determine particle size distribution, refractive index and number concentration of a polymer latex. An overview is given of the theory of angular light scattering including the relations for determining particle size distribution, number concentration and surface area. The dependence of angular light scattering patterns on size parameters is shown in terms of computer-drawn intensity surfaces. Methods of determining surface area are discussed and a new multi-dimensional fit is proposed. Results in terms of particle size distribution, number concentration and surface area of several latexes are discussed. It is shown that angular light scattering is a sensitive measure of the specific surface area.
Synthesis and Characterization of Silk Ionomers for Layer-by-Layer Electrostatic Deposition on Individual Mammalian Cells.

Nanocoating of individual mammalian cells with polymer layers has been of increasing interest in biotechnology and biomedical engineering applications. Electrostatic layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition...
Use of Foliar Chemical Treatments to Induce Disease Resistance in Rhododendrons Inoculated with Phytophthora ramorum

A field study was conducted at the National Ornamental Research Site at Dominican University California (NORS-DUC). The study goal was to evaluate three chemical inducers applied as foliar treatments for controlling Phytophthora ramorum, on Rhododendron x ‘Cunningham’s White’ nursery plants. The inducers were chlorine dioxide (ElectroBiocide), hydrogen peroxide (OxiDate 2.0), and acibenzolar-s methyl (Actigard). Water samples from the electrostatic sprayer were measured for three physicochemical water properties. Visual assessment of plant foliage, based on the Horsfall- Barratt scale, was conducted at three and five months after chemical treatments. Foliar fluorescence (Fv/Fm) was measured over three dates. The success of P. ramorum inoculations were determined using qPCR methods. Visual assessment across both months showed no signs of P. ramorum infection or chemical injury symptoms. However, P. ramorum infection vis-a-vis qPCR analysis was confirmed. The September Fv/Fm results revealed that all the chemical inducer treatments were equivalent to the water treatment, except for Actigard. The qPCR results were in general agreement with the Fv/Fm results indicating that the rhododendrons were successfully inoculated with P. ramorum but were non-symptomatic. The electrostatic sprayer ionized the water droplets, resulting in increased Fv/Fm values for the water treatments 90 days after application. There was a three-month delay in fluorescence responses to the most effective chemical applications, indicating that woody plants may need to be monitored over the long term to determine accurate responses to foliar treatments.
Outcomes of Homeless Ischemic Stroke Patients Receiving Intravenous Thrombolysis in the United States.

Abstract Background Morbidity and mortality among homeless people with cardiovascular diseases and stroke in the United States is high. Adverse outcomes within the homeless population may be the result of seeking care too late to receive time-sensitive interventions. We sought to investigate the impact of homelessness on ischemic stroke patients who received intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). Methods We determined rates of post-thrombolytic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), in-hospital death, and development of moderate to severe disability among homeless ischemic stroke patients treated with IVT. Patients were identified using the Nationwide (National) Inpatient Sample between 2002 and 2017. We compared rates of the various outcomes to non-homeless ischemic stroke patients treated with IVT. Results There were 514 homeless (mean age 54.7 ± 10.2 years, 20.4% women) and 364,408 non-homeless (mean age 68.6 ± 14.7 years, 49.7% women) ischemic stroke patients who received IVT. There was no difference in post-thrombolytic ICH rates between the two groups (6.6% homeless versus 8.8% non-homeless, p = 0.09). Homeless patients were more frequently discharged to self-care (p = 0.003). Homeless patients were less likely than non-homeless patients to suffer in-hospital death (AOR 0.499 [95% CI 0.30–0.84], p = 0.009) and moderate to severe disability (AOR 0.423 [95% CI 0.29 - 0.62], p Conclusion Homeless ischemic stroke patients who receive IVT are not at an increased risk of developing post-thrombolytic ICH or in-hospital death. Efforts are needed to encourage this unique population to seek medical attention as soon as possible for time-sensitive interventions that may decrease the risk of permanent disability or death associated with ischemic stroke.
Remote Power Attacks on the Versatile Tensor Accelerator in Multi-Tenant FPGAs

Architectural details of machine learning models are crucial pieces of intellectual property in many applications. Revealing the structure or types of layers in a model can result in a leak of confidential or proprietary information. This issue becomes especially concerning when the machine learning models are executed on accelerators in multi-tenant FPGAs where attackers can easily co-locate sensing circuitry next to the victim’s machine learning accelerator. To evaluate such threats, we present the first remote power attack that can extract details of machine learning models executed on an off-the-shelf domain-specific instruction set architecture (ISA) based neural network accelerator implemented in an FPGA. By leveraging a time-to-digital converter (TDC), an attacker can deduce the composition of instruction groups executing on the victim accelerator, and recover parameters of General Matrix Multiplication (GEMM) instructions within a group, all without requiring physical access to the FPGA. With this information, an attacker can then reverse-engineer the structure and layers of machine learning models executing on the accelerator, leading to potential theft of proprietary information.
Anomaly Attribution with Likelihood Compensation

This paper addresses the task of explaining anomalous predictions of a black-box regression model. When using a black-box model, such as one to predict building energy consumption from many sensor measurements, we often have a situation where some observed samples may significantly deviate from their prediction. It may be due to a sub-optimal black-box model, or simply because those samples are outliers. In either case, one would ideally want to compute a responsibility score indicative of the extent to which an input variable is responsible for the anomalous output. In this work, we formalize this task as a statistical inverse problem: Given model deviation from the expected value, infer the responsibility score of each of the input variables. We propose a new method called likelihood compensation (LC), which is founded on the likelihood principle and computes a correction to each input variable. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first principled framework that computes a responsibility score for real valued anomalous model deviations. We apply our approach to a real-world building energy prediction task and confirm its utility based on expert feedback.
Bright infrared scintillators for gamma spectroscopy

Despite years of impressive progress in development of new scintillators for gamma spectroscopy, energy resolution offered is still lagging direct detection solid state devices. Even the best scintillators do not convert more than about 30% of the initial energy into photons, and this introduces the Poisson component in the photodetector, which can become a limiting factor. On top of that, the efficiency of scintillation is strongly dependent on excitation density, so not only the number of generated photons is smaller than the initial number of electron-hole pairs, but the conversion process is subjected to additional fluctuations due to ionization density fluctuation (nonproportionality on average and pulse-to-pulse fluctuations). This stochastic pulse-to-pulse variation contributes to resolution limitation. Further progress in improving energy resolution requires to address all these issues at the same time: starting from high electron-hole production efficiency, through energy conversion into light, and ending on matching scintillation emission with superior sensitivity and noise characteristic of a photodetector. One route points to small bandgap materials (such as “black scintillators”) which have potential for obtaining extremely high light yields and match well high quantum efficiency of silicon-based photodetectors. In recent works we showed that europium-doped scintillators can be converted into near infrared emitters by samarium co-doping and provide high energy resolution in gamma spectroscopy. Alternatively, novel metal halide perovskites may become the way to higher energy resolution goal, but there are some significant problems to be solved. The ideas developed with “black scintillators” may alleviate some of obstacles found in perovskites.
Predicting Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms Among Children Diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Routines

Comorbid externalizing/internalizing symptoms among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often result in psychosocial distress. The current study examined how routines may be related to comorbid symptoms in children with ASD hospitalized for acute psychiatric care (n = 45) and a group of age/gender-matched typically developing peers (n = 45). Measures of routines, behavioral problems, and parental adjustment were completed by parents. Multiple regression analyses revealed a correlation between parental adjustment and internalizing symptoms among children, and a quadratic relation between routines and internalizing symptoms for the ASD group. A quadratic relation was also observed for routines and externalizing symptoms for the ASD group, whereas only parental adjustment emerged as a significant predictor of externalizing symptoms for the typically developing group. Implications for conceptualizing routines and treatment in the context of ASD are discussed.
The image of essential tremor: current neuroimaging and clues to disease localization, pathogenesis, and diagnosis

This chapter focuses on the main findings and advances brought by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to the understanding of prodromal and early-stage patients. In Huntington's disease (HD), as in many neurodegenerative disorders, accurate markers of disease progression that reflect pathogenic mechanisms are currently lacking, and therefore are an important focus of current research. MR techniques are a particularly promising tool in the identification of such biomarkers. Using MRI, cerebral blood flow (CBF) or perfusion can be quantitatively measured using a technique named arterial spin labeling (ASL). For measuring brain activity, another technique can be used, namely blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging. MRI is based on the detection of the proton signal within water molecules. Finally, the chapter reviews new approaches used in animal models that will hopefully be translated in clinical studies in the near future.
Universal Machines and Diagonalization

Now we come to a crucial observation about the power of Turing machines: there exist Turing machines that can simulate other Turing machines whose descriptions are presented as part of the input. There is nothing mysterious about this; it is the same as writing a LISP interpreter in LISP.
Myocardial Recovery and the Failing Heart Myth, Magic, or Molecular Target?

Medical and device therapies that reduce heart failure morbidity and mortality also lead to decreased left ventricular volume and mass and a more normal elliptical shape of the ventricle. These are due to changes in myocyte size, structure, and organization that have been referred to collectively as reverse remodeling. Moreover, there are subsets of patients whose hearts have undergone reverse remodeling either spontaneously or after medical or device therapies and whose clinical course is associated with freedom from future heart failure events. This phenomenon has been referred to as myocardial recovery. Despite the frequent interchangeable use of the terms “myocardial recovery” and “reverse remodeling” to describe the reversal of various aspects of the heart failure phenotype after medical and device therapy, the literature suggests that there are important differences between these 2 phenomena and that myocardial recovery and reverse remodeling are not synonymous. In this review, we discuss the biology of cardiac remodeling, cardiac reverse remodeling, and myocardial recovery with the intent to provide a conceptual framework for understanding myocardial recovery.
Inverse solution of Kepler's equation for hyperbolic orbits

An algorithm is presented for efficient inverse solution of Kepler's equation for hyperbolic orbits. It is shown that an expansion of Barker's equation into a bicubic polynomial provides a good approximation to obtain accurate starting values for rapid numerical solution of Kepler's equation. In the approximate equation a cubic in normalized elapsed flight time from pericenter is set equal to a cubic in a function S of eccentricity and true anomaly. The initial estimate of S to use in an iteration formula is obtained by evaluating the cubic in normalized flight time and finding in most cases the single real root of the other cubic. This initial estimate has an accuracy corresponding to values of true anomaly in error by less than 0.5 degrees generally.
T21/DP107, A Synthetic Leucine Zipper-Like Domain of the HIV-1 Envelope gp41, Attracts and Activates Human Phagocytes by Using G-Protein-Coupled Formyl Peptide Receptors

A leucine zipper-like domain, T21/DP107, located in the amino terminus of the ectodomain of gp41, is crucial to the formation of fusogenic configuration of the HIV-1 envelope protein gp41. We report that the synthetic T21/DP107 segment is a potent stimulant of migration and calcium mobilization in human monocytes and neutrophils. The activity of T21/DP107 on phagocytes was pertussis toxin-sensitive, suggesting this peptide uses Gi-coupled seven-transmembrane receptor(s). Since the bacterial chemotactic peptide fMLP partially desensitized the calcium-mobilizing activity of T21/DP107 in phagocytes, we postulated that T21/DP107 might preferentially use a lower affinity fMLP receptor. By using cells transfected to express cloned prototype chemotactic N-formyl peptide receptor (FPR) or its variant, FPR-like 1 (FPRL1), we demonstrate that T21/DP107 activates both receptors but has a much higher efficacy for FPRL1. In addition, T21/DP107 at nM concentrations induced migration of FPRL1-transfected human embryonic kidney 293 cells. In contrast, fMLP did not induce significant chemotaxis of the same cells at a concentration as high as 50 microM. Although a lipid metabolite, lipoxin A4, was a high-affinity ligand for FPRL1, it was not reported to induce Ca2+ mobilization or chemotaxis in FPRL1-transfected cells. Therefore, T21/DP107 is a first chemotactic peptide agonist identified thus far for FPRL1. Our results suggest that this peptide domain of the HIV-1 gp41 may have the potential to activate host innate immune response by interacting with FPR and FPRL1 on phagocytes.
Chapter 22. Plasma Membrane Pathophysiology

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the involvement of the plasma membrane in the pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and pharmacotherapy of some important disease processes such as cancer, hemolytic diseases, membrane diseases, and intracellular parasitism. Cancer is malignant neo lastic disease, characterized by a multitude of polymorphfc defects, involving the plasma membrane and intracellular membranes. Virally induced neoplastic fibroblasts generally exhibit a loss in high-molecular weight glycoprotein (> 200,000 D present in (on) normal cells probably a galactoprotein. The plasma membranes of cancer cells generally also exhibit abnormal lipid composition. As far as phopholipids are concerned deviations in sphingomyelin content are common. Hemolytic diseases involve a deficient stability of the erythrocyte membrane. This deficiency is often associated with transport abnormalities but decreased in vivo survival of the erythrocytes probably derives primarily from their abnormal rheologic properties. Three major categories of hemolytic diseases exist—those because of abnormal hemoglobins, those because of an abnormal membrane lipid composition, and those because of membrane protein deficiencies. In membrane diseases, cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common hereditary condition that manifests itself in abnormal Na+, Ca2+, and glycoprotein secretion by the epithelial cells of serous and mucous glands. Abnormal transport function has also been detected in non-secretory cells of patients and their parents, erythrocytes in particular. Other diseases discussed in the chapter are bacterial toxins (cholera, botulism, and tetanus), myotonic muscular dystrophy, and genetic transport defects.
Evaluation of free radical‐generating compounds for toxicity towards the cyanobacterium Planktothrix perornata, which causes musty off‐flavour in pond‐raised channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

The cyanobacterium Planktothrix perornata grows in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) production ponds in the southeastern United States and produces the musty-odor compound 2-methylisoborneol (MIB). MIB can rapidly accumulate in the flesh of the catfish, thereby rendering the fish unpalatable and unmarketable. A group of compounds that produce reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) were evaluated using a rapid bioassay for their selective toxicities towards P. perornata. The most selectively toxic compounds were tert-butyl hydroperoxide and the 8-aminoquinoline derivative (-)-(R)-8-[(4-amino-1-methylbutyl)amino]-6-methoxy-4-methyl-5-[3,4-dichlorophenoxy]quinoline succinate], with lowest-complete-inhibition concentrations (LCIC) of 0.01 µM and 1.0 µM, respectively. The 8-aminoquinoline derivative and tert-butyl hydroperoxide are not likely candidates to pursue for efficacy studies in catfish production ponds due to their respective high manufacturing cost and toxicity profile. However, this study demonstrates that ROI-producing compounds are a priority target group for evaluation of selective toxicity towards P. perornata as the first step in the discovery of novel cost-effective, environmentally safe algaecides.
Should Health System Pharmacists Keep Up with the Meaningful Use Staging Process

Are the efforts of the nation's hospitals to implement electronic health records (EHRs) relevant to pharmacists? We believe they are. As we write another installment on the topic, we suggest that pharmacists have an important role in their institutions' efforts toward meaningful use of EHRs.
The effect of dietary nicotine on the allocation of assimilated food to energy metabolism and growth in fourth-instar larvae of the southern armyworm, Spodoptera eridania (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Dietary nicotine (0.5%), which is a substrate of the PSMO (polysubstrate monooxygenase) detoxification system in the southern armyworm Spodoptera eridania, has significant negative effects on the weight of food ingested, weight gained, relative growth rate (RGR), and efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) by fourthinstar S. eridania larvae on a nutrient-rich artificial diet. It has a significant positive effect on the weight of food respired by the larvae. Thus, the detoxification of nicotine by the PSMO system exacts a fitness cost and imposes a metabolic cost on S. eridania larvae. In contrast, dietary α-(+)-pinene, an inducer of the PSMO system, neither exacts a fitness cost nor imposes a metabolic cost on the larvae. We believe this to be the first study to demonstrate unequivocally that the negative effect of a dietary toxin on net growth efficiency (ECD) in an insect herbivore is due to an increase in the allocation of assimilated food to energy metabolism and not to a decrease in the amount of food assimilated. This study, therefore, supports the hypothesis that detoxification can impose a significant metabolic load on an insect herbivore. Implications of a corroboration of the metabolic load hypothesis are discussed.
Design Method for Parallel Traffic Noise Barriers

One of the largest analyses in this country of the need for sound absorptive treatment on highway noise barriers was conducted on the Interstate 440 project in Nashville, Tennessee. Special considerations had to be made of potential multiple reflection problems between noise barriers on both sides of the highway, and between vertical rock faces in deep-cut sections. This paper presents a detailed discussion of the analysis process and the resultant design of nearly 1/2 mile of sound absorptive barriers. The purpose is to provide information to noise analysts on potential analysis techniques and on problems and pitfalls that may occur. The use of one analysis tool, a computer program developed at Vanderbilt University, will also be described briefly.