cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF PARTIAL WETTING ON TRICKLE-BED REACTOR PERFORMANCE

Analysis of trickle-bed reactor data is almost always done by assuming that the catalyst particles are completely covered by a liquid film. The effect on reactor performance from violations of this assumption is demonstrated. The hydrodesulfurization of benzothiophene was simulated with the feed consisting of 10%, by weight, benzothiophene and 90% decalin. The temperature and pressure were held constant at 630 K and 68 atm. The results show that the exit conversion is strongly affected by the wetting efficiency.
Annotation: Psychopathology in Children with Intellectual Disability

Recent advances are reviewed in understanding the heightened prevalence of psychopathology and maladaptive behavior among children with intellectual disability. Researchers have traditionally emphasized measurement and prevalence issues, using either psychiatric assessments or rating scales to identify the prevalence of various problems in children with intellectual disability. Yet the time is ripe to shift directions, and identify more precisely why children are at increased risk for psychopathology to begin with. Although several "biopsycho-social" hypotheses are reviewed, a particularly promising line of work links psychopathology to genetic intellectual disability syndromes. Psychiatric vulnerabilities in several syndromes are reviewed, as are the advantages of phenotypic work for understanding psychopathology among children with intellectual disability more generally.
Gastrointestinal complications of transplant immunosuppression.

At a time when the judicious use of a broad range of immunosuppressive drugs has ensured excellent patient and organ survival rates after kidney transplantation, attention is focusing on strategies to minimize their side effects. Almost all immunosuppressive medications are associated with some form
The Structure of Negotiation: Lessons from El Salvador for Contemporary Conflict Resolution

During more than a decade of violent conflict (1980–1992) involving the military, rebel forces, and paramilitary “death squads,” El Salvador suffered some 75,000 casualties, mostly civilians. After three years of negotiations, the government and the largest rebel group signed a historic comprehensive peace accord that brought an end to the war and instituted wide-reaching political and social reforms. This agreement, and the peace process that produced it, has been widely hailed as a successful example of a negotiated end to civil war. In order to understand the conditions that led to the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords ending the war, this article tests ripeness theory in the context of the Salvadoran peace process. This article affirms the validity of theories of ripeness and the mutually hurting stalemate as structural explanations for the initiation of dialogue and notes the role of “indicators of ripeness” in forcing the parties to recognize a hurting stalemate that may already exist. It also proposes several hypothesized explanations for the effectiveness of the Salvadoran negotiations themselves. These explanations include the presence of strong, empowered policy entrepreneurs on both sides with the political will and capability to make credible commitments; the combination of internal and external pressure for a negotiated solution that raised the cost of defection; and the active involvement, based on consent of both parties, of a neutral, empowered, and credible mediator who provided both technical assistance and vigilance to move the process forward. After analyzing the Salvadoran case through this theoretical lens, the article applies the same concepts to contemporary conflict cases such as Iraq and Colombia, discussing how the lessons learned in El Salvador do and do not provide instructive guidance for managing civil conflicts today.
Logical Consistency and Objectivity in Causal Learning

Logical consistency and objectivity are cornerstones of science that distinguish it from cult and dogma. Scientists’ concern with objectivity has led to the dominance of associative statistics, which define the basic concept of independence on observations. The same concern with avoiding subjective beliefs has led many scientific journals to favor frequentist over Bayesian statistics. Our analysis here reveals that to infer causes of a binary outcome, (1) the associative definition of independence results in a logical inconsistency -- even for data from an ideal experiment -- for both frequentist and Bayesian statistics, and (2) removing the logical error requires defining independence on counterfactual causal events. The logically coherent causal definition is the one intuitively adopted by humans. Our findings have direct implications for more consistent and generalizable causal discoveries in medicine and other sciences.
Influence of angiotensin on the early progression of heart failure

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of circulating ANG II in mediating changes in systemic and renal hemodynamics, salt and water balance, and neurohormonal activation during the ea...
Interdisciplinary collaboration between medical and non-medical professions in health and social care.

OBJECTIVES: This paper addresses the issue of interdisciplinary collaboration between medical and non-medical profes sions in health and social care. The introduction defines basic terms such as interdisciplinary cooperation, interdisci- plinary team, and health and social care. Additionally, it highlights the significance and contribution of interdisciplinary collaboration in the care of the patient/client in health and social care. The aim of the paper is to identify factors influencing the process of interdis- ciplinary collaboration between, in particular, social workers and physicians. In compliance with the main goal of the research, the following partial goals were included: 1) to identify factors that limit the process of interdisciplinary collabo- ration between social workers and physicians, and 2) to identify factors which support the process of interdisciplinary collaboration between social workers and physicians. Based on the research goals, a systematic review was selected as the research method for the paper. The research dataset consisted of articles obtained from the following databases: EBSO, PUBMED/MEDLINE, SCIENCE DIRECT and SCOPUS. The databases were search using the following keywords: inter- professional cooperation, interdisciplinary, collaboration, social work, and physi- cians/doctors. RESULTS: Using the results, the following factors supporting interdisciplinary col- laboration were identified: acknowledgement of colleagues' expertise, recognition of roles, positive level of communication, and mutual respect. Factors that limit interdisciplinary processes included the following: varying professional perspec- tives, theoretical differences, lack of knowledge, and poor communication.
Synthesis and Deposition of Oocyte Envelopes (Vitelline Membrane, Chorion) and the Uptake of Yolk in the Dragonfly (Odonata: Aeschnidae)

Light and electron-microscope studies on dragonfly ovarioles reveal evidence that the precursor vitelline membrane and chorion secretions are synthesized within the follicle cells. It is suggested that the sequence of synthesis and deposition of the vitelline membrane occurs as follows. The vitelline membrane presecretion appears to be synthesized by the rough surfaced endoplasmic reticulum, giving rise to intracisternal granules. These appear to migrate in the cisternae to the region of the Golgi complex where the endoplasmic reticulum loses most of its ribosomes and the intracisternal granules move into the Golgi region where they appear within small vesicles. These seem to find their way into the Golgi cisternae where they may be incorporated with the secretions from the Golgi cisternae to produce the definitive previtelline secretion. The previtelline secretion bodies are eventually discharged into the space between the oocyte and follicle cells, forming rows of secretion bodies between the microvilli. These fuse into progressively larger bodies until a complete membrane is established. Follicle cells actively secreting precursor vitelline membrane substance show many disk-shaped, relatively clear vesicles in the cytoplasm. After the vitelline membrane is laid down, the follicle cells take on an entirely different function; namely, the synthesis and deposition of the chorion. The first visible chorion secretion appears in profile as elongate dense bodies within the Golgi cisternae which tend to coil, and in so doing, expand the cisternae. As this occurs, the enlarged cisterna, loaded with concentric coiled secretion material, separates from the remainder of the Golgi cisternae and becomes free in the cytoplasm as a prechorion secretion body. These migrate to, and collect below, the surface of the cell where they are eventually ejected between the surface folds and become incorporated into the developing chorion. Uptake of yolk in the dragonfly seems to be predominantly by micropinocytosis. The oocyte surface during active vitellogenesis bears many pits which contain an extracellular material closely applied to the outer surface of the plasma membrane. Thin, radially oriented bristles are continuous with the inner surface of the plasma membrane in this region. The pits continue to invaginate until they are cut off from the plasma membrane and come to lie in the oocyte cortex as coated vesicles. These appear to lose their coats gradually and fuse with one another to produce definitive yolk spheres.
Borrowing Trouble: Sovereign Credit, Military Regimes, and Conflict

ABSTRACTChanges in relative military power in the international system are seen as an impediment to peace. This article will focus on one particular avenue for states to increase their relative military power: sovereign borrowing. States’ ability to borrow inexpensive credit can undermine credible commitments in international relations, but only for those states that habitually use credit for military purposes. I argue that military regimes are more likely to use fiscal resources such as sovereign credit toward military spending, which leads to sudden increases in military power. As a result, adversarial states have incentives to use preventive action against military regimes before these regimes use credit for military purposes. To test this argument, I examine target behavior in militarized disputes as a function of expected borrowing costs credit and regime type. The empirical analysis demonstrates that military regimes, expected to have improved borrowing costs, are more likely to be the target of mil...
Coombs-negative Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia Followed by Anti-erythropoetin Receptor Antibody-associated Pure Red Cell Aplasia: A Case Report and Review of Literature

A 76-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because of anemia. The laboratory findings revealed hemolysis. Although a direct Coombs test was negative, a high titer of RBC-bound IgG was detected, and a diagnosis of Coombs-negative autoimmune hemolytic anemia was made. She was successfully treated with prednisolone. One year and five months later, she again presented anemia and was diagnosed with pure red cell aplasia. Anti-erythropoietin receptor antibody was detected in the serum. She was treated with cyclosporine and obtained prompt recovery. We herein report this rare case and review the pertinent literature.
Intestinal slow waves: effect of transection on propagation velocity.

SummaryThe velocity of electrical slow waves recorded from the upper jejunum in unanesthetized dogs was markedly reduced below a transection. This observation suggests that intrinsic nerves are involved in propagation of slow waves.
Effect of simulated insect damage on growth and survival of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings

Effects of simulated insect damage—artificial defoliation and root damage in combination with two levels of watering—were studied to determine the potential effect on northern red oak seedlings ( Quercus rubra L.). Treatments and treatment combinations caused significant differences in stem diameter, percentage of stem dieback, and mortality. Defoliation and a regime of decreased watering seemed to have the greatest effect on seedling growth and mortality. Root injury had no consistent direct effect, but interacted significantly with other factors. Insect damage to foliage and roots, together with water stress, may be a factor in poor survival of oak seedlings under field conditions.
Design and Implementation of Monitored Control Model Web-based for Embedded Devices

A monitored control model Web-based for embedded devices is presented to realize the online remote supervision, management, and maintenance embedded devices using a standard Web browser over Internet. A thin TCP/IP stack, which provides the network interface for embedded devices and makes them can be connected to Internet, is implemented because of the limited resources and computing power of embedded devices. The embedded device gateway performs format conversion between TCP/IP messages and monitor instructions of embedded devices, and therefore remote users can transparently access devices over Internet. The networking and intelligent management of embedded devices can be really implemented. The performance experiment results show that the model can meet the most of network application demands and will decrease systemrunning cost and improve maintaining efficiency.
Probabilistic assessment of near-field tsunami hazards: Inundation depth, velocity, momentum flux, arrival time, and duration applied to Seaside, Oregon

Abstract The generation, propagation and inundation for a probabilistic near-field tsunami hazards assessment (PTHA) at the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) are analyzed numerically. For the tsunami hazard assessment, a new method is presented to characterize the randomness of the fault slip in terms of the moment magnitude, peak slip location, and a fault slip shape distribution parameterized as a Gaussian distribution. For the tsunami inundation resulting from the seismic event, five tsunami intensity measures (IMs) are estimated: (1) the maximum inundation depth, hMax, (2) the maximum velocity, VMax, (3) the maximum momentum flux, MMax, (4) the initial arrival time exceeding a 1 m inundation depth, TA, and (5) the duration exceeding a 1 m inundation depth, Th, and presented in the form of annual exceedance probabilities conditioned on a full-rupture CSZ event. The IMs are generally observed to increase as the moment magnitude increases, as the proximity of the peak slip becomes closer to the study area, and as the distribution of fault shape narrows. Among the IMs, the arrival time (TA) shows a relatively weak sensitivity to the aleatory uncertainty while the other IMs show significant sensitivity, especially MMax. It is observed at the shoreline that MMax increases by an order of magnitude from the 500-year to the 1000-year event, while hMax increases by a factor of 3, and TA decreases by only factor of 0.05. The intensity of IMs generally decreases inland, but there are also varying dependencies on bathymetry. For example, a shorter inundation duration, Th ( 3 m) while a longer Th (~ 100 min) is observed near the river and creek.
Optical directional coupler and Mach-Zehnder interferometer enhanced via 4H-SiC phonons

Surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs), similar to it cousin phenomenon surface plasmon polaitons (SPPs), are quasi-neutral particles resulting from light-matter coupling that can provide high modal confinement and long propagation in the mid to long infrared (IR). Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is a combination of two connected optical directional couplers (ODC). With the use of SPhPs, sub-wavelength feature sizes and modal areas can be achieved and to this end a hybrid SPhP waveguide, where propagation length and modal area can be trade-off, will be employed in the design of an ODC and MZI. This endeavor analyzes and characteristics both an ODC and MZI using commercially available numerical simulation software employing finite element method (FEM). The ODC and MZI are design using a novel SPhP hybrid waveguide design where a 4H-SiC substrate provides the polariton mode. The output ports power and relative phase difference between ports are investigated. SPhP enhanced ODC and MZI has applications including, but not limited to, next-generation ultra-compact photonic integrated circuits and waveguide based IR sensing.
Nascent Capitalism: “L’Illustre Gaudissart”

“L’Illustre Gaudissart” uses comedy to make significant points about “Nascent Capitalism.” The beneficent changes of the Industrial Revolution required the involvement of the entire society. Gaudissart is sent to the provinces to encourage the developmentally arrested provincials to unearth their assets and provide the financial liquidity desperately needed by the economy. The madman Margitis exemplifies the retrograde provincials, who understand little about the new capitalistic society. Chained to present circumstances and pleasures, he is unable to see beyond the daily weather, and he has no grasp of the importance of events occurring outside his neighborhood.
Duration Dependence and Composition in Unemployment Spells

This article reviews the evidence for duration dependence in job-finding rates and its implications for the unemployment duration distribution. The authors document duration dependence and show that it exists within nearly every demographic subgroup. Then, they examine the implications of duration dependence on unemployment duration, emphasizing that a uniform job-finding rate that does not incorporate duration dependence understates unemployment duration. Finally, they explore a composition-based approach to duration dependence, where they solve for the distribution of preexisting heterogeneity that is consistent with observed duration dependence. The authors look at how this distribution varies cyclically and, in particular, during the Great Recession. The largest changes occur at the low finding-rate tail of this distribution.
Direct Real Time Visualization of Platelet Calclium Signaling In Vivo: Role of Platelet Activation and Thrombus Formation in a Living Mouse.

Abstract Intracellular calcium mobilization plays a critical role in platelet signaling. Upon platelet activation, an intracellular calcium mobilization leads to the activation of various intracellular and membrane proteins, including integrins involved in both platelet shape change and aggregation. The goal of the present study was to monitor platelet calcium mobilization in vivo in an intact animal and to determine which intracellular pathways are dominant in platelet accumulation into the developing thrombus. Platelets were isolated from mice, washed, loaded with a calcium-sensitive fluorochrome, Fura2-AM and then infused into a recipient mouse. We studied Fura2-AM loaded platelet incorporation during arterial thrombus development following laser injury of the vessel wall in the cremaster microcirculation of living mice using high speed intravital widefield digital microscopy. Fura-2 loaded platelets were monitored by excitation at 380 nm; this fluorescence reports the basal calcium levels in platelets. Calcium mobilization was monitored by excitation at 340 nm where the fluorescence intensity reflects Fura2-calcium complex formation. We observed that platelets bind to the growing thrombus independent of calcium mobilization. However, the stable incorporation of platelets into the thrombus correlated with a significant intracellular calcium increase. Once the thrombus reached maximal size at about 100 seconds, the calcium mobilization also reached maximal intensity. Subsequently, platelets that did not mobilize calcium dissociated from the thrombus. We confirmed these observations by using platelets treated with the calcium chelators, BAPTA-AM or EGTA-AM. We observed a significant inhibition of platelet accumulation into the thrombus, indicating that the intracellular calcium increase is necessary in vivo for the stable accumulation of the platelets into the thrombus. We also evaluated the involvement in vivo of two platelet agonists, ADP and thromboxane A2 (TxA2), on calcium mobilization and platelet incorporation into thrombi. When platelets were treated with aspirin or with the P2Y1 antagonist A3P5P (adenosine 3′-phosphate-5′-phosphate), we observed a partial decrease in both calcium mobilization and platelet accumulation into the thrombus. These results indicate that TxA2 and ADP via the P2Y1 receptor are involved in vivo in platelet activation upon vessel wall injury in this thrombosis model. When platelets were treated with both compounds, we completely inhibited the calcium increase and the incorporation of platelets into the thrombus. Altogether, our results directly show, for the first time in vivo, the importance of the calcium mobilization on platelet accumulation into the developing thrombus. The platelet agonists TxA2 and ADP both play an important and complementary role on platelet activation by acting on the mobilization of the intracellular calcium.
The Impact of Cancer and its Treatment on the Growth and Development of the Pediatric Patient

Background Cancer treatment can have profound effects on the growth and development of pediatric patients. Different models of psychosocial development and behavioral treatment approaches aid children receiving medical treatment. Providing education, anticipatory guidance, and individualized support to child and their families is a psychosocial standard. Objective Clarify the different models of psychosocial development and applicable psychosocial interventions to better prepare and tailor cancer treatment to pediatric patients. Methods Authors reviewed existing evidenced-based literature in oncology, psychology, developmental, and psychiatric while drawing on case examples and expert knowledge to illustrate the impact of cancer treatment on pediatric patients, analyze developmentally individualized needs, and describe facilitative interventions. Result Pediatric patients of all ages cope and adjust better to all phases of treatment when their care is delivered in a developmentally-informed and psychosocially thoughtful way. Conclusion Providers can comprehensively prepare their patients and families for treatment better by utilizing a psychosocially- and developmentally-informed framework while meeting individualized unique needs of patients. An integrated multidisciplinary psychosocial support team is facilitative in anticipating and meeting the needs of pediatric cancer patients and has recently become a psychosocial standard of care.
Role of NFUPκB Signaling in Normal and Malignant B Cell Development

Early B cell development is governed by a program of gene rearrangements in the immunoglobulin (Ig) loci, through which the cells ultimately acquire the ability to express an antibody as part of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) complex. Gene rearrangements are also critical in the counter-selection of autoreactive specificities in the antibody repertoire expressed by the newly generated cells, through a process called receptor editing. Expression of a BCR is required for the generation of B cells and remains a survival determinant for mature, peripheral B cells, monitoring their functional integrity as antigen-responsive cells. When the cells enter the pool of long-lived peripheral B cells, they come under the control of a second survival factor, namely BAFF, a cytokine of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family. BAFF is produced by non-B cells in the environments where peripheral B cells accumulate, delivers a survival signal to the cells through interaction with BAFF-receptor (BAFF-R), and is considered to be critical for the control of B cell numbers in the peripheral immune system, with the exception of the compartment of B-1 cells5. A main signaling cascade activated by both BCR and BAFF-R engagement is the NF B signaling pathway. While the BCR appears to activate mainly so-called canonical NF B signaling through activation of a complex of two kinases, IKK1 and IKK2, and the scaffold protein NEMO. BAFF-R appears to signal mainly, although perhaps not exclusively, through the so-called alternative pathway, whose activation depends on IKK1 and a second kinase, NIK. The two pathways have very different kinetics of activation, use distinct members of the NF B transcription factor family, and control overlapping,
Do coverage mandates affect direct-to-consumer advertising for pharmaceuticals? Evidence from parity laws

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs is a relatively unique feature of the US health care system and a source of tens of billions of dollars in annual spending. It has also garnered the attention of researchers and policymakers interested in its implications for firm and consumer behavior. However, few economic studies have explored the DTCA response to public policies, especially those mandating coverage of these products. We use detailed advertising expenditure data to assess if pharmaceutical firms increase their marketing efforts after the implementation of relevant state and federal health insurance laws. We focus on mental health parity statutes and related drug therapies-a potentially ripe setting for inducing stronger consumer demand. We find no clear indication that firms expect greater value from DTCA after these regulatory changes. DTCA appears driven by other considerations (e.g., product debut); however, it remains a possibility that firms respond to these laws through other, unobserved channels (e.g., provider detailing).
Quantifying CDOM and DOC in major Arctic rivers during ice-free conditions using Landsat TM and ETM+ data

Abstract As high-latitudes warm, permafrost thaws, and the hydrological cycle accelerates, ground-based monitoring of riverine organic matter may be supplemented by satellite remote sensing during ice-free conditions. Recent programs, namely the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory, have established methodologically consistent sampling across the hydrograph, and shared the resulting data publicly. However, these efforts are limited by frequency, funding, and length of record. Satellite remote sensing can be used to estimate chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) as a riverine constituent that influences optical properties in surface waters. In this study, daily CDOM absorption was first estimated using discharge-constituent regression-based models for 2000–2013. We then regressed these discharge-based CDOM estimates against Landsat TM and ETM+ surface reflectance data from Google Earth Engine for the six largest rivers draining the pan-Arctic watershed (the Kolyma, Lena, Mackenzie, Ob', Yenisey, and Yukon rivers). These CDOM results were converted to dissolved organic carbon (DOC), using the strong relationship (R2 = 0.88) between direct measurements of the two constituents. Using river-specific remote sensing models, R2 could be as high as 0.84. Grouping all rivers into a single “universal” regression reduced R2 and increased root mean square errors, such as in the Yenisey River where R2 dropped by 0.63, and RMSE rose by 1.1 m−1. Seasonally varying discharge drove much of the variation in satellite-derived CDOM and DOC, corroborating recent studies. Satellite imagery can increase the frequency of monitoring observations, particularly during summer and fall when riverine CDOM absorption may be most sensitive to thawing permafrost.
Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in Pt/Co/Ir and Pt/Co/Ru multilayer films

The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (iDMI) in asymmetric magnetic multilayer films has displayed increasingly important roles in the modification of domain walls, stabilization of Skyrmions, and realization of new topological spin textures such as magnetic radial vortices. Unlike magnetization and magnetic anisotropy which can be readily measured, iDMI is difficult to measure. In this work, we measured the iDMI in Pt/Co/Ir and Pt/Co/Ru multilayer films by exploring the spin-orbit torque induced effective field under an in-plane bias magnetic field. Skyrmions have been reported to exist in Pt/Co/Ir multilayers. We found that Pt/Co/Ru multilayers have a similar magnitude of the iDMI for Pt/Co/Ir multilayers, suggesting that Pt/Co/Ru is a good candidate to host Skyrmions.
Development and validation of a high-throughput assay for the quantification of multiple green tea-derived catechins in human plasma.

A rapid, accurate and robust method for the determination of catechin (C), epicatechin (EC), gallocatechin (GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), catechin gallate (Cg), epicatechin gallate (ECg), gallocatechin gallate (GCg) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) concentrations in human plasma has been developed. The method utilizes protein precipitation following enzyme hydrolysis, with chromatographic separation and detection using reversed-phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Traditional issues such as lengthy chromatographic runtimes, sample and extract stability, and lack of suitable internal standards have been addressed. The method has been evaluated using a comprehensive validation procedure, confirming linearity over appropriate concentration ranges, and inter/intra-batch precision and accuracies within suitable thresholds (precisions within 13.8% and accuracies within 12.4%). Recoveries of analytes were found to be consistent between different matrix samples, compensated for using suitable internal markers and within the performance of the instrumentation used. Similarly, chromatographic interferences have been corrected using the internal markers selected. Stability of all analytes in matrix is demonstrated over 32 days and throughout extraction conditions. This method is suitable for high-throughput sample analysis studies.
Recent Advances in Cancer Genomics and Cancer-Associated Genes Discovery

Human cancer is a personalized disease characterized by complex molecular genetic abnormalities unique to individual patients. Studying cancer genome has defined much of the molecular pathogenesis of neoplasia we have understood so far and has supported the view that cancer is a genetic disease caused by sequential accumulation of genetic alterations. Recent advances in genome-wide technologies have provided unprecedented tools to reveal the genomic landscape of cancer in great detail, and thus have offered new opportunity in deciphering the specific genomic changes participated in tumor initiation and progression. Here, we review these emergent array- or sequencing-based technologies and provide examples of how they can be applied in discovering molecular genetic changes in cancer and in facilitating mining of important cancer genes. From a clinical perspective, it appears a daunting challenge in translating those molecular genetic findings from cancer cells to cancer patients. Therefore, we will also briefly discuss the potential problems in translational cancer genomic research and propose the possible solutions.
A generative model for simultaneous estimation of human body shape and pixel-level segmentation

This paper addresses pixel-level segmentation of a human body from a single image. The problem is formulated as a multi-region segmentation where the human body is constrained to be a collection of geometrically linked regions and the background is split into a small number of distinct zones. We solve this problem in a Bayesian framework for jointly estimating articulated body pose and the pixel-level segmentation of each body part. Using an image likelihood function that simultaneously generates and evaluates the image segmentation corresponding to a given pose, we robustly explore the posterior body shape distribution using a data-driven, coarse-to-fine Metropolis Hastings sampling scheme that includes a strongly data-driven proposal term.
DVM: Scaling Out Virtual Memory in Userspace

One of the most challenging problems in modern distributed big data systems lies in their memory management: these systems preallocate a fixed amount of memory before applications start. In the best case where more memory can be acquired, users have to reconfigure the deployment and re-compute many intermediate results. If no more memory is available, users are then forced to manually partition the job into smaller tasks, incurring both development and performance overhead. This paper presents a user-level utility for scaling the memory in a distributed setup---the Distributed Virtual Memory (DVM). DVM enables to efficiently swap data between memory and disk between arbitrary nodes without users' intervention or applications' awareness.
Current Update on Management of Male Stress Urinary Incontinence

Male stress urinary incontinence has significant economic and psychosocial effects on a patient. The following manuscript examines the surgical treatment as well as the recent technological advances in implantable devices for male stress urinary incontinence. The number of urethral slings available to the male patient with stress incontinence has increased dramatically over the last several years has increased. Since its introduction, the male transobturator sling has been shown to have particular unique advantages. Data is rapidly becoming available regarding the use of adjustable slings and the AdVanceXP male sling. The artificial urinary sphincter remains the standard of care in the index patient with male stress urinary incontinence. Although management of this condition has improved dramatically over the past decade, large well-designed nonrandomized prospective studies are still needed to increase the level of evidence.
Islamophobia: A Christian Psychiatrist’s Perspective

“Muslims are like canaries in the coal mine. We may be the first to feel it, but the toxic air of fear is harming us all” (Dalia Mogahed). Many Christians in the USA seem to harbor an irrational and harmful fear of Muslims. Historical reasons include tensions and mistrust heightened by the Crusades, 9/11, and ongoing wars in the Middle East that followed. A range of interpretation (and misinterpretation) of theology and practice within Islam, as well as the threat of radicalization, make it difficult for many Christians to distinguish Islamic core beliefs from politically driven positions. And a frequent lack of familiarity with the spectrum of people who follow Islam contributes to misunderstanding, providing fertile ground for the process of scapegoating. People who follow the teachings of Christianity can respond helpfully by examining their biases and assumptions, by informing themselves and getting to know Muslims around them, by obeying their mandate to forgive rather than punish, and by celebrating what they share with Muslims, including respect for the insights and example of Jesus and the adoration and reverence they have for his mother Mary. Clinicians need to appreciate the clinical impact of Islamophobia and the corresponding fear that Muslims may have of them as Christians.
Coherent Graphical Lasso for Brain Network Discovery

In brain network discovery, researchers are interested in discovering brain regions (nodes) and functional connections (edges) between these regions from fMRI scan of human brain. Some recent works propose coherent models to address both of these sub-tasks. However, these approaches either suffer from mathematical inconsistency or fail to distinguish direct connections and indirect connections between the nodes. In this paper, we study the problem of collective discovery of coherent brain regions and direct connections between these regions. Each node of the brain network represents a brain region, i.e., a set of voxels in fMRI with coherent activities. Each edge denotes a direct dependency between two nodes. The discovered brain network represents a Gaussian graphical model that encodes conditional independence between the activities of different brain regions. We propose a novel model, called CGLasso, which combines Graphical Lasso (GLasso) and orthogonal non-negative matrix tri-factorization (ONMtF), to perform nodes discovery and edge detection simultaneously. We perform experiments on synthetic datasets with ground-truth. The results show that the proposed method performs better than the compared baselines in terms of four quantitative metrics. Besides, we also apply the proposed method and other baselines on the real ADHD-200 fMRI dataset. The results demonstrate that our method produces more meaningful networks comparing with other baseline methods.
Toward Classification of Developmental Phonological Disorders

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the fundamental properties of classification. The number of levels in a genetic classification system is entirely arbitrary, as are the particulars of their relationships to one another. The formal system in the natural sciences is generally referred to as the genetic approach to classification. A genetic classification system presumes some common historical attribute among entities classified at the level of the species. There are identifiable subgroups of children within a group who have been referred to as having functional or developmental speech disorders. Organic disorders are generally organized either by site of lesion or by clinical entity. Children classified similarly share some common history, which presumably explains the major origins of their speech deficits. Children acquire phonemes long before they correctly master allophones or correct speech sound production.
Measuring the validity and reliability of the Apple Watch as a physical activity monitor.

Background This study aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of the energy expenditure (EE) estimation of Apple Watch® among college students. Methods Thirty college students completed two sets of three 10-minute treadmill walking and running trials while wearing three Apple watches and being connected to indirect calorimetry. The walking trials were at speeds of 54, 80, and 107 m·min-1 while the running trials were at 134, 161, 188 m·min-1. Energy expenditure comparisons were made using Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Reliability was analyzed by Intraclass Correlation. Results There was no significant device x speed interactions (F (15, 696)=1.113, P=0.341) between the indirect calorimetry (criterion) and Apple Watch®. The lowest Inter-Class Correlation (ICC) scores were 0.49 (95%CI) at 54 while the highest were 0.72 (95%CI) at 107 and 134 m·min-1. Conclusions Apple Watch® demonstrated a low to moderate validity and reliability on measuring EE.
Abstract 1571: Association of Chronic Kidney Disease With Atrial Fibrillation in the United States

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common among patients with end-stage renal disease, but little is known about its prevalence among adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) of lesser severity. We studied the association of CKD with electrocardiogram-confirmed AF among 26,917 participants in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a population-based cohort of African-American and white US adults ≥45 years of age. During an in-home study visit, blood and urine samples were collected and electrocardiograms were conducted by trained staff. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated using the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study equation and microalbuminuria was defined as a urinary albumin to creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g. Patients were categorized by renal function: no CKD (eGFR ≥60 ml/min/1.73m 2 without microalbuminuria; n=21,081), stage 1–2 CKD (eGFR ≥60 ml/min/1.73m 2 with microalbuminuria; n=2,938), stage 3 CKD (eGFR 30 to 59 ml/min/1.73m 2 ; n=2,683) and stage 4 –5 CKD (eGFR 2 ; n=215). The prevalence of AF in each category was 1.0, 2.8, 2.7 and 4.2%, respectively. Compared to participants without CKD, the age, race, sex adjusted odds ratios for prevalent AF were 2.67 (95% CI 2.04 –3.48), 1.68 (95% CI 1.26 –2.24) and 3.52 (95% CI 1.73–7.15) among those with stage 1–2, stage 3 and stage 4 –5 CKD, respectively (Table). The association between CKD and prevalent AF was attenuated but remained statistically significant after further multivariable adjustment. This association also remained consistent across subgroups, including African-Americans and whites. In conclusion, CKD is associated with an increased prevalence of AF in this population-based cohort of US adults.
Analysis of Systematic Reviews of Medication Adherence Interventions for Persons with HIV, 1996-2017.

This overview of reviews summarizes the evidence from systematic reviews (SR) on the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence interventions for people with HIV (PWH) and descriptivel...
Cell biomechanics and mechanobiology in bacteria: Challenges and opportunities

Physical forces play a profound role in the survival and function of all known forms of life. Advances in cell biomechanics and mechanobiology have provided key insights into the physiology of eukaryotic organisms, but much less is known about the roles of physical forces in bacterial physiology. This review is an introduction to bacterial mechanics intended for persons familiar with cells and biomechanics in mammalian cells. Bacteria play a major role in human health, either as pathogens or as beneficial commensal organisms within the microbiome. Although bacteria have long been known to be sensitive to their mechanical environment, understanding the effects of physical forces on bacterial physiology has been limited by their small size (∼1 μm). However, advancements in micro- and nano-scale technologies over the past few years have increasingly made it possible to rigorously examine the mechanical stress and strain within individual bacteria. Here, we review the methods currently used to examine bacteria from a mechanical perspective, including the subcellular structures in bacteria and how they differ from those in mammalian cells, as well as micro- and nanomechanical approaches to studying bacteria, and studies showing the effects of physical forces on bacterial physiology. Recent findings indicate a large range in mechanical properties of bacteria and show that physical forces can have a profound effect on bacterial survival, growth, biofilm formation, and resistance to toxins and antibiotics. Advances in the field of bacterial biomechanics have the potential to lead to novel antibacterial strategies, biotechnology approaches, and applications in synthetic biology.
Do Morals Featured in Media Content Correspond with Moral Intuitions in Media Users?: A Test of the MIME in Two Cultures

The model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) predicts that moral representations in media content can activate related moral intuitions in audiences, and that audience members in turn are i...
Evaluation of cotton emergence using UAV-based imagery and deep learning

Abstract Crop emergence is an important agronomic factor for making field management decisions, such as replanting, that are time-sensitive and need to be made at very early stages. Crop emergence, evaluated using plant population, stand count and uniformity, is conventionally quantified manually, not accurate, and labor and time intensive. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imaging systems are able to scout crop fields rapidly. However, data processing can be too slow to make timely decision making. The goal of this study was to develop a novel image processing method for processing UAV images in nearly real-time. In this study, a UAV imaging system was used to capture RGB image frames of cotton seedlings to evaluate stand count and canopy size. Images were pre-processed to correct distortions, calculate ground sample distance and geo-reference cotton rows in the images. A pre-trained deep learning model, resnet 18, was used to estimate stand count and canopy size of cotton seedlings in each image frame. Results showed that the developed method could estimate stand count accurately with R2 = 0.95 in the test dataset. Similar results were achieved for canopy size with an estimation accuracy of R2 = 0.93 in the test dataset. The processing time for each image frame of 20 M pixels with each crop row geo-referenced was 2.22 s (including 1.80 s for pre-processing), which was more efficient than traditional mosaic-based image processing methods. An open-source automated image-processing framework was developed for cotton emergence evaluation and is available to the community for efficient data processing and analytics.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: another leap forward.

In 2020, there have been substantial advances in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease mechanisms, diagnostics and treatment. Key developments include the identification of a cellular and tissue signature to provide new insights into pathophysiology, advancements in non-invasive diagnostics and publication of interim results of the first phase III trial to demonstrate improvement in hepatic fibrosis.
Native Advertising in WeChat Official Accounts: How do Ad-Content Congruence and Ad Skepticism Influence Advertising Value and Effectiveness?

WeChat Official Accounts, subscription-based accounts that broadcast information to followers, have become a popular venue for native advertising in China. This study investigated the effects of in...
Muscle activation pattern during two-legged hopping in children with and without Down syndrome.

This study aimed to characterize muscle activation and its variability during two-legged hopping in children with and without Down syndrome (DS). Seventeen typically developing (TD) children and 15 children with DS were recruited. As only 6 children with DS (4F/2M, 9.95 (1.71) years) completed the test, we used a 2(TD):1(DS) ratio to age- and sex-match 12 TD children. Subjects first hopped at a self-selected free frequency and then three metronome-cued conditions: slow, preferred, and moderate (80%, 100%, and 120% of free frequency, respectively). Across conditions, children with DS exhibited greater pre-activation before landing and greater shape and timing variability in gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis, and biceps femoris than TD children. However, this compensatory strategy limited their ability to change movement speed.
Investigation of aero-mechanical jitter on a hemispherical turret

Optical measurements of a hemispherical turret were conducted in both a wind tunnel and airborne testing environment to measure aero-mechanical jitter imposed onto a laser beam. A hemispherical turret was positioned in the freestream flow at various protrusion distances, Mach numbers, and azimuthal angles. Lasers and accelerometers were used to quantify the mechanical contamination imposed onto the beam due to the fluid-structure interaction of the incoming freestream flow and the protruding turret body. The results from wind tunnel and in-flight testing were compared. It was shown that the wind tunnel and in-flight tests yielded different results both quantitatively and qualitatively. The possible reasons for the discrepancies between these testing campaigns were also discussed.