cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Correlation Coordinate Plots: Efficient Layouts for Correlation Tasks

Correlation is a powerful measure of relationships assisting in estimating trends and making forecasts. It’s use is widespread, being a critical data analysis component of fields including science, engineering, and business. Unfortunately, visualization methods used to identify and estimate correlation are designed to be general, supporting many visualization tasks. Due in large part to their generality, they do not provide the most efficient interface, in terms of speed and accuracy for correlation identifying. To address this shortcoming, we first propose a new correlation task-specific visual design called Correlation Coordinate Plots (CCPs). CCPs transform data into a powerful coordinate system for estimating the direction and strength of correlation. To extend the functionality of this approach to multiple attribute datasets, we propose two approaches. The first design is the Snowflake Visualization, a focus+context layout for exploring all pairwise correlations. The second design enhances the CCP by using principal component analysis to project multiple attributes. We validate CCP by applying it to real-world data sets and test its performance in correlation-specific tasks through an extensive user study that showed improvement in both accuracy and speed of correlation identification.
Les Chrétiens d’Orient

This slim volume offers a magisterial synthesis of the history of Middle Eastern Christians from Christianity’s origins until today. Bernard Heyberger explains theological controversies and sectari...
The effects of water quality on back-reef sponge survival and distribution in the Florida Keys, Florida (USA)

Abstract For decades, water quality in Florida Bay and the shallow, back-reef areas of large portions of the Florida Keys (Florida, USA) have varied dramatically as a consequence of climatic conditions and water management strategies in the adjacent freshwater marshes of the Everglades. The resulting fluctuations in water quality have led to die-offs of seagrass and sponges in hard-bottom habitats, transforming the ecosystem. In this study, we examined the implications of water quality on sponge community structure in two ways. First, in laboratory experiments we tested the tolerance of five prominent sponge species to salinities ranging from 15 psu to 45 psu at typical summer and winter temperatures. We then compared sponge distributions at 32 sites in the Florida Keys with regional patterns in water quality. Our experiments showed that during the summer the loggerhead sponge ( Speciospongia vesparium) and glove sponge ( Spongia cheiris ) were the most tolerant of sustained changes in salinity, but most species died at higher rates at salinities other than 35 psu. Salinity-associated mortality declined in the winter, but was again higher at salinities Ircinia variablis and Cinachyrella alloclada grow in most environments, whereas the occurrence of most species declines when salinity is variable and at high nutrient concentrations. These results provide a more detailed picture of the species-specific environmental tolerance of several shallow-water Caribbean sponges, and suggest that changes in environmental conditions are likely to significantly impact their distribution and species composition with potentially drastic impacts on ecosystem function.
Stop laryngeal contrasts of endangered languages of Northern Pakistan

Iranian, Indo-Aryan (Dardic), and Tibeto-Burman languages of Northern Pakistan are characterized by 2-, 3-, and 4-way laryngeal contrasts at four or five places of articulation (e.g., Balti, Kalasha, Wakhi, etc.). However, the number of stop laryngeal contrasts, their phonetic realization, and the exact place of articulation of retroflex stops (apical or sub-apical) are still controversial in most of the endangered languages of Northern Pakistan. The current study provides the first detailed acoustic and articulatory (Ultrasound for coronals and velars and aerodynamic for all stops) description of the stop laryngeal contrasts of six languages of Northern Pakistan: Balti (Tibeto-Burman), Burushaski (Isolate), Kalasha, Khowar, Shina (Indo-Aryan, Dardic), and Wakhi (Iranian, Pamir). Given that there are languages belonging to different families, we may expect differences in the phonetic realization of stop laryngeal contrasts and the articulation of retroflexes across languages. The acoustic, articulatory, and aerodynamic data were collected in Chitral and Gilgit, Pakistan in 2017. A total of 33 participants were recorded (Balti: 5; Burushaski: 4; Kalasha: 9; Khowar: 5; Shina: 6; and Wakhi: 4). The results of this study will help understand the diverse nature of stop consonants in the endangered languages of Northern Pakistan.Iranian, Indo-Aryan (Dardic), and Tibeto-Burman languages of Northern Pakistan are characterized by 2-, 3-, and 4-way laryngeal contrasts at four or five places of articulation (e.g., Balti, Kalasha, Wakhi, etc.). However, the number of stop laryngeal contrasts, their phonetic realization, and the exact place of articulation of retroflex stops (apical or sub-apical) are still controversial in most of the endangered languages of Northern Pakistan. The current study provides the first detailed acoustic and articulatory (Ultrasound for coronals and velars and aerodynamic for all stops) description of the stop laryngeal contrasts of six languages of Northern Pakistan: Balti (Tibeto-Burman), Burushaski (Isolate), Kalasha, Khowar, Shina (Indo-Aryan, Dardic), and Wakhi (Iranian, Pamir). Given that there are languages belonging to different families, we may expect differences in the phonetic realization of stop laryngeal contrasts and the articulation of retroflexes across languages. The acoustic, articulatory, a...
Arteriovenous fistula maturation rate is not affected by ipsilateral tunneled dialysis catheter.

Abstract Objective The effect that ipsilateral tunneled dialysis catheters (TDC) have on arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation is unclear. We sought to define this association by comparing AVF maturation rates in patients with contralateral TDC with those with ipsilateral TDC. Methods A review of a prospectively maintained database including all AVF creation procedures between 2009 and 2016 was performed. All patients with a TDC in place at the time of AVF creation were included in this study. Clinical and functional maturation rates were compared in patients with contralateral vs ipsilateral dialysis catheters. Categorical variables were analyzed by a two-tailed Fisher's exact test. A P value of less than .05 was considered statistically significant. Results There were 187 patients who underwent fistula creation with a TDC in place during the study period. Of those, 137 patients had a contralateral TDC and 50 had an ipsilateral TDC. A greater proportion of contralateral patients were first-time dialysis access patients at the time of index AVF creation (67% vs 48%; P = .03). There was no difference in clinical (contralateral 73% vs ipsilateral 78%; P = .57) and functional (contralateral 64% vs ipsilateral 74%) maturation rates between the two groups. The rate of TDC removal after AVF maturation was also not different (contralateral 64% vs ipsilateral 72%; P = .30). There was also no statistical difference in the rates of thrombosis at less than 30 days, outflow stenosis, central stenosis, and steal syndrome. Conclusions There was no association between TDC sidedness and AVF maturation or early failure in our cohort. Planning for AVF creation should not be influenced by attempts to avoid an ipsilateral TDC.
Processing and Microstructure of Syntactic Foams

This chapter discusses processing methods for reinforced syntactic foams and the effect of processing parameters on the structure and properties of syntactic foams. Enhancement of the mechanical properties of syntactic foams can be achieved by incorporation of micro- or nano-scale reinforcements into the matrix material. Dispersion of nanoparticles and nanotubes and nanofibers in polymer resins is challenging. Mechanical, shear, and ultrasonic mixing techniques have been used for obtaining wetting and dispersion of nanoscale reinforcement in the matrix. Nanoparticle reinforcement may also provide unintentional effect of increased matrix porosity by stabilizing gas bubbles in polymer matrix, if the processing method is not carefully designed. The processing methods are also required to be efficient in promoting wetting of reinforcement by the matrix resin, breaking clusters without fracturing the reinforcement material, and obtaining uniform distribution of reinforcement in the matrix resin. In addition, the hollow particles should not be excessively fractured during the manufacturing process. This chapter provides an overview of various processing methods and the issues encountered during fabrication of reinforced syntactic foams.
Happiness and agency in the Stoics and Aristotle

Is virtue sufficient for happiness? That question has had two different histories. Cicero writes that the defining question in ethics since Aristotle was what happiness consists in. In contemporary debate, by contrast, the sufficiency question is usually taken to have been settled by Aristotle. The second history makes the first unintelligible. The author argues that the first history has it right, because the Stoic case for sufficiency was stronger than the Aristotelian case against it. The Stoic case rested on two theses: that happiness consists in activity and that the attachments within which we act are not constituents of those activities. Thesis 1 rests on deep eudaimonist commitments about goodness, the author also argues, so an attack on the sufficiency thesis should offer an alternative to 2. This chapter sketches such an alternative, and shows how the resulting view of the self alters the modern view of the debate. Keywords: Aristotle; Cicero; Eudaimonia; Stoic's sufficiency thesis
“You are too friendly!” The negative effects of social media marketing on value perceptions of luxury fashion brands

Abstract In light of the growing concern about brand dilution of luxury brands on social media, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of brand-consumer engagement on value perceptions of luxury fashion brands within the context of social media marketing. The result of Study 1 demonstrated that luxury brands were inherently psychologically distant than mainstream brands. The results of Study 2 and Study 3 showed that a luxury brand with a high level (vs. low level) of brand-consumer engagement resulted lower value perceptions (i.e., social, uniqueness, and quality value perceptions) of the brand, and such relationships were mediated by decreased psychological distance. This research provides important implications for luxury brand managers and scholars that luxury fashion brands should maintain psychological distance on social media to protect the core value perceptions of the brands.
Scale-invariant geometric data analysis (SIGDA) provides robust, detailed visualizations of human ancestry specific to individuals and populations

Scale invariance is a common property of physical laws and a key concept in perspective drawing, which aims to provide a meaningful two-dimensional representation of a more complex, three-dimensional scene. Here we describe Scale Invariant Geometric Data Analysis (SIGDA), a new, general exploratory data analysis (EDA) method based on normalization of data to scale invariance. We discuss similarities and differences between SIGDA and two widely-used EDA methods, Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA). We then illustrate SIGDA's ability to analyze and visualize population structure relationships within the data that inspired its development: genetic marker data, in which context PCA is considered a standard method. We show that SIGDA provides significant advantages over PCA of the same data, including: (a) robust detection and separation of a larger number of population axes, leading to (b) better separation of annotated populations; (c) separation of an independent allele frequency axis interpretable as a proxy for allele age, (d) visualization of marker flow between populations (population history), and (d) robust detection and visualization of relationships between closely-related individuals and among family groups. Although this illustration focuses on a specific task, SIGDA is a general-purpose EDA method and derives its advantages from its novel approach to fundamental issues in data analysis, rather than clever sampling or other task-specific methodology.
A 2.4-GHz Reference-Sampling Phase-Locked Loop That Simultaneously Achieves Low-Noise and Low-Spur Performance

Dividerless synthesizers such as sub-sampling phase-locked loops (PLLs) and injection-locked clock multipliers have demonstrated some of the lowest jitters for a given power consumption (jitter-power ${\text {FoM}}_{j}$ metric). However, they contain a tradeoff between the spur and noise performance, where techniques incorporated for spur reduction adversely affect jitter or power performance. A new dividerless Type-I sampling PLL, called the reference sampling PLL (RS-PLL), which estimates the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) phase error by sampling the reference sine wave with a VCO square wave is demonstrated. A clock-and-isolation buffer which accelerates the VCO sine wave to a square wave sampling clock and simultaneously isolates the VCO tank from spur mechanisms in the sampler is included in place of a traditional reference buffer. By combining sampling clock buffer and VCO isolation functionalities into a single block, the RS-PLL eliminates the noise penalty of two separate buffers. The power penalty due to sampling at VCO frequency is restricted by limiting the activity of the switching circuits to the region around the reference zero crossing where the phase error information exists. The prototype RS-PLL implemented in 65-nm CMOS achieves a jitter-power ${\text {FoM}}_{j}$ of <−251 dB between 2.05 and 2.55 GHz with a reference spur of <−66 dBc at 50 MHz. In doing so, it improves upon the simultaneous noise and spur performance achieved by current state-of-the-art clock multipliers.
An integrative review of multimodal pain management on patient recovery after total hip and knee arthroplasty.

Abstract Background Pain management after total knee arthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty is pivotal, as it determines the outcome of the recovery process after surgery. Ineffective pain control results in many postoperative complications and hinders successful recovery. In recent years, the transition from opioids to a multimodal pain management approach after total knee and total hip arthroplasty has increasingly become an alternative. This is due to the multitude of adverse effects associated with opioids. As a result, the use of non-opioid interventions such as acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, gabapentinoids, and ketamine, and techniques such as peripheral nerve block and local infiltration analgesia have become more favorable. Objectives This paper aims to summarize literature around the effectiveness of non-opioid interventions as part of a multimodal pain management after total knee and total hip arthroplasty. Methods A literature review was conducted to provide evidence-based information with respect to pain management during the postoperative period in order to enhance the pain recovery process. The literature chosen was extracted through the electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL, and Embase. Twenty-seven eligible articles were identified that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results Literary evidence shows that non-opioid interventions such as acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, gabapentinoids, ketamine, peripheral nerve blocks, and local infiltration analgesia benefit patients after total knee and total hip arthroplasty for pain management. However, further quality research trials are necessary for more conclusive evidence-based information. Conclusion Selective literature supports the use of non-opioid interventions as part of a multimodal analgesics regimen for effective pain management after total knee and total hip arthroplasty.
Chlamydia in adolescent/adult reproductive management trial study (CHARM): Clinical core protocol.

Abstract Introduction Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is a common sexually transmitted pathogen with significant reproductive health implications. Data are mounting that the bacterial communities that reside within the vagina, collectively termed the vaginal microbiota, aid in defense against sexually transmitted infections. Disruptions in the vaginal microbiota, such as during episodes of bacterial vaginosis, may increase susceptibility to infection. Herein, we describe the clinical core protocol for a NIH NIAID Cooperative Research Center titled Eco-Pathogenomic of Chlamydial Reproductive Tract Infection. The primary goals of the project are to describe the interrelationships between the urogenital microenvironment, the properties of the pathogen and immunologic responses of the host in men and women, and their association with clinical outcomes of CT infection in women. Methods Men and women with confirmed genital CT infections were recruited to a number of study protocols, including cross-sectional and longitudinal sub-studies. Participants completed a demographic and sexual health questionnaire and underwent a physical exam at baseline. In the longitudinal study arms, biologic samples were collected daily, weekly, and monthly to determine the relationships between the vaginal microbiota, prevalent CT infection, re-infection and treatment. Discussion The biological samples and the demographic and history information collected throughout this study will be used for various analyses evaluating genomics, metabolomics and host immune responses in the context of CT infection.
Electricity Charges, Mandates and Subsidies

The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project reports identify clear emissions targets and various energy resource scenarios that can meet them. However, they do not tell us which policy levers to pull to get there. This chapter focuses on specific policy changes to electric power mandates, subsidies, and retail customer charges that can help to facilitate the transition to deep decarbonization. Existing state and federal policies regarding these tools demonstrate their potential for balancing economic, consumer welfare, and environmental goals as the electric power system adapts to various decarbonization energy resource scenarios. It will be necessary to significantly scale up and recalibrate electric power mandates, subsidies, and retail customer charges to successfully reduce carbon intensity in the electric power sector. While no one change to these tools will be sufficient on its own to achieve the deep decarbonization's goals, state regulators, Congress, and federal agencies are well positioned to design a package of reforms to ensure that the transition to deep decarbonization does not impair economic efficiency or consumer welfare. Utility regulation provides some particularly powerful tools to build on in doing so.
Software Engineers at Play

Active learning helps students to retain the course material and apply it to the real world when needed. Involving games in teaching has gained much attention over the past few years. Educational games have always helped students by promoting participation and active learning. It has helped them by motivating and bringing out the best ideas in them in order to understand a skill or a concept. It is an emerging pedagogy. This study discusses how games can help classroom teaching. Also, how the concepts that are taught through games can be used to solve real world problems. Agile software development has been taught to graduate students in the Software Engineering program using games. The games used in this study are the ones which are also used in the software industry to teach employees about Agile framework. The results of the study and student feedbacks are presented in this paper.
Structural and Functional Differences Between Glycosylated and Non-glycosylated Forms of Human Interferon-β (IFN-β)

Purpose. Two recombinant IFN-β products have been approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, a glycosylated form with the predicted natural amino acid sequence (IFN-β-la) and a non-glycosylated form that has a Met-1 deletion and a Cys-17 to Ser mutation (IFN-β-lb). The structural basis for activity differences between IFN-β-la and IFN-β-lb, is determined. Methods. In vitro antiviral, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory assays were used to directly compare the two IFN-β products. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC), SDS-PAGE, thermal denaturation, and X-ray crystallography were used to examine structural differences. Results. IFN-β- la was 10 times more active than IFN-β- Ib with specific activities in a standard antiviral assay of 20 × 107 lU/mg for IFN-β-la and 2 × 107 lU/mg for IFN-β-lb. Of the known structural differences between IFN-β-la and IFN-β-lb, only glycosylation affected in vitro activity. Deglycosylation of IFN-β-la produced a decrease in total activity that was primarily caused by the formation of an insoluble disulfide-linked IFN precipitate. Deglycosylation also resulted in an increased sensitivity to thermal denaturation. SEC data for IFN-β-lb revealed large, soluble aggregates that had reduced antiviral activity (approximated at 0.7 × 107 lU/mg). Crystallographic data for IFN-β-la revealed that the glycan formed H-bonds with the peptide backbone and shielded an uncharged surface from solvent exposure. Conclusions. Together these results suggest that the greater biological activity of IFN-β-la is due to a stabilizing effect of the carbohydrate on structure.
Sex-specific mechanisms of sudden cardiac death

Abstract Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is one of the leading causes of death in the nation. Women have an overall lower risk of SCD than men, even after adjusting for risk factors. Even so, SCD remains the fifth leading cause of death in women and the third leading cause of premature death in women. Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) represent the majority of cardiac arrests and SCD in both men and women. However, women more often present with pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or asystole, are less likely to have witnessed cardiac arrests, and are more likely to arrest at home. This suggests the initial rhythm may have been VT/VF that degenerated to asystole or PEA during the time to arrival of emergency personnel. Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) represent the majority of cardiac arrests and SCD in both men and women. However, women more often present with pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or asystole, are less likely to have witnessed cardiac arrests, and are more likely to arrest at home. This suggests the initial rhythm may have been VT/VF that degenerated to asystole or PEA during the time to arrival of emergency personnel. Differences in substrate, as well as in hormonal and autonomic influences affect the mechanism of and susceptibility to SCD in women versus men. The most prevalent cause of SCD is coronary artery disease (CAD), and fewer women with epicardial CAD have SCD compared with men. Yet more women with SCD have microvascular disease. Hormonal differences between men and women affect expression and function of ion channels and excitation -contraction coupling. This results in variable susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias and SCD. Autonomic activity and reactivity also vary between men and women, which results in different arrhythmogenic susceptibility. Known differences in electrophysiological, hormonal, and autonomic properties lead to sex-specific risks for SCD. A greater understanding of the sex-specific mechanisms of SCD will improve risk assessment, care, and outcomes for women at risk of SCD.
Exploiting Locality and Structure for Distributed Optimization in Multi-Agent Systems

A number of prototypical optimization problems in multi-agent systems (e.g. task allocation and network load-sharing) exhibit a highly local structure: that is, each agent's decision variables are only directly coupled to few other agent's variables through the objective function or the constraints. Nevertheless, existing algorithms for distributed optimization generally do not exploit the locality structure of the problem, requiring all agents to compute or exchange the full set of decision variables. In this paper, we develop a rigorous notion of "locality" that relates the structural properties of a linearly- constrained convex optimization problem (in particular, the sparsity structure of the constraint matrix and the objective function) to the amount of information that agents should exchange to compute an arbitrarily high-quality approximation to the problem from a cold-start. We leverage the notion of locality to develop a locality-aware distributed optimization algorithm, and we show that, for problems where individual agents only require to know a small portion of the optimal solution, the algorithm requires very limited inter-agent communication. Numerical results show that the convergence rate of our algorithm is directly explained by the locality metric proposed, and that the proposed theoretical bounds are remarkably tight; comparison to the projected sub-gradient algorithm shows that our locality-aware algorithm requires orders of magnitude fewer communication rounds to achieve similar solution quality.
A novel SNCA E83Q mutation in a case of dementia with Lewy bodies and atypical frontotemporal lobar degeneration

In this case report, we discuss a patient presenting with parkinsonism followed by a non-amnestic dementia with aphasic clinical features, as well as frontal dysexecutive syndrome. There was a family history of dementia with an autopsy diagnosis of "Pick's disease" in the proband's father. Neuroimaging of the patient revealed focal and severe temporal lobe and lesser frontoparietal lobe atrophy. At autopsy, there was severe frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Histologic evaluation revealed an absence of tau or transactivation response DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP) pathology but rather severe Lewy body deposition in the affected cortices. Genetic phenotyping revealed a novel missense mutation (p.E83Q) in exon 4 of the gene encoding α-synuclein (SNCA). This case study presents a patient with a novel SNCA E83Q mutation associated with widespread Lewy body pathology with prominent severe atrophy of the frontotemporal lobes and corresponding cognitive impairment.
Engineering for a Changing World

We live in a time of great change, an increasingly global society, driven by the exponential growth of new knowledge and knitted together by rapidly evolving information and communication technologies. It is a time of challenge and contradiction, as an ever-increasing human population threatens global sustainability; a global, knowledge-driven economy places a new premium on technological workforce skills through phenomena such as outsourcing and offshoring; governments place increasing confidence in market forces to reflect public priorities, even as new paradigms such as open-source software and open-content knowledge and learning challenge conventional free-market philosophies; and shifting geopolitical tensions are driven by the great disparity in wealth and power about the globe, manifested in the current threat to homeland security by terrorism. Yet it is also a time of unusual opportunity and optimism as new technologies not only improve the human condition but also enable the creation and flourishing of new communities and social institutions more capable of addressing the needs of our society
Estimating future industrial emissions of hazardous air pollutants in the United States using the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS)

Abstract Retrospective studies such as the National Air Toxics Assessment have focused on modeling hazardous air pollutant (HAP) concentrations and exposures in the near past; however, future projections of HAPs emissions are relatively unexplored compared to those for greenhouse gases or criteria pollutants, and HAPs are typically not included in energy systems optimization or integrated assessment modeling. In this study, we demonstrate a method that harnesses sector-based emissions data from the US environmentally extended input-output (USEEIO) model and scenario results from the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) to project HAPs emissions from industrial sectors in United States, disaggregated to 9 regions. The results show that most HAPs have higher projected emissions in 2050 compared to the baseline year when assuming constant emissions intensities per unit of economic output, but lower emissions when trend values for pollution control and technology improvements are incorporated. Regional and temporal patterns are diverse among the 237 HAPs considered. Using formaldehyde as a prominent example, the oil and gas sector is the largest national contributor (49%-77%) to future formaldehyde emissions across scenarios. Overall, this method enables projections of industrial HAPs emissions, aligned with official NEMS scenarios, that can be used in assessments of future air quality and potential health impacts from HAPs.
DDIWAS: High-throughput electronic health record-based screening of drug-drug interactions.

Objective We developed and evaluated Drug-Drug Interaction Wide Association Study (DDIWAS). This novel method detects potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) by leveraging data from the electronic health record (EHR) allergy list. Materials and methods To identify potential DDIs, DDIWAS scans for drug pairs that are frequently documented together on the allergy list. Using deidentified medical records, we tested 616 drugs for potential DDIs with simvastatin (a common lipid-lowering drug) and amlodipine (a common blood-pressure lowering drug). We evaluated the performance to rediscover known DDIs using existing knowledge bases and domain expert review. To validate potential novel DDIs, we manually reviewed patient charts and searched the literature. Results DDIWAS replicated 34 known DDIs. The positive predictive value to detect known DDIs was 0.85 and 0.86 for simvastatin and amlodipine, respectively. DDIWAS also discovered potential novel interactions between simvastatin-hydrochlorothiazide, amlodipine-omeprazole, and amlodipine-valacyclovir. A software package to conduct DDIWAS is publicly available. Conclusions In this proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate the value of incorporating information mined from existing allergy lists to detect DDIs in a real-world clinical setting. Since allergy lists are routinely collected in EHRs, DDIWAS has the potential to detect and validate DDI signals across institutions.
Statistical Timing Analysis Using Bounds

The growing impact of within-die process variation has created the need for statistical timing analysis, where gate delays are modeled as random variables. Statistical timing analysis has traditionally suffered from exponential run time complexity with circuit size, due to the dependencies created by reconverging paths in the circuit. In this paper we propose a new approach to statistical timing analysis which uses statistical bounds. First, we provide a formal definition of the statistical delay of a circuit and derive a statistical timing analysis method from this definition. Since this method for finding the exact statistical delay has exponential run time complexity with circuit size, we also propose a new method for computing statistical bounds which has linear run time complexity. We prove the correctness of the proposed bounds. Since we provide both a lower and upper bound on the true statistical delay we can determine the quality of the bounds. The proposed methods were implemented and tested on benchmark circuits. The results demonstrate that the proposed bounds have only a small error.
Solitary fibrous tumor presenting as a colonic polyp: Report of a case and literature review

Abstract Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a rare mesenchymal tumor, which can be seen in varied anatomic locations, most commonly arising in the lung/pleura. SFTs of the gastrointestinal tract are exceedingly rare. Herein we report a case of SFT presenting as a 35 mm polyp in the descending colon, arising from the submucosa, that was found during routine screening colonoscopy in a 66 year old male. This was clinically felt to be a lipomatous lesion. Histologic sections demonstrated a spindle cell lesion with haphazard/patternless architecture, hyalinized collagen, and dilated, ectatic, irregularly shaped “staghorn” vessels. Mitoses were infrequent. Immmunostains demonstrated the neoplastic cells were positive for CD34 and STAT6; while they were negative for c-Kit, DOG1, SMA, and S100, confirming the diagnosis of SFT. The patient was disease free following the procedure. To our knowledge, this is only the second reported case of SFT presenting as a polyp, arising from the submucosal layer of the colon.
Aerococcus urinae infective endocarditis in a pediatric structurally normal heart

Abstract Aerococcus species are an infrequent infectious organism and may be misidentified as contaminate on culture. An exception to this interpretation is urinary tract infections (UTI) in elderly men with a urologic co-morbidity; where it is well established that Aerococcus urinae species are often the causative organism. Seldom reports of A. urinae infective endocarditis have been reported in pediatric and adult populations, but those cases typically have structural heart disease (eg. ventricular septal defect, bicuspid aortic valve, etc.). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. urinae infective endocarditis in a pediatric structurally normal heart. Interestingly, this patient had low risk factors for infective endocarditis, but correlating risk factors for A. urinae UTI including urine with-holding behavior and urinary incontinence due to an overactive bladder. This case is to highlight for those patients presenting with a diagnosis of infective endocarditis and urologic co-morbidity, Aerococcus species should not be considered a contaminate and antibiotics should include coverage for this organism pending cultures.
Space weathering of the 3-μm phyllosilicate feature induced by pulsed laser irradiation

Abstract Here we present results from pulsed laser irradiation of CI and CM simulant samples in an effort to simulate space weathering on airless bodies via micrometeorite impacts. For this study, we focused on determining what type of alteration occurs in the 3-μm absorption region, as this region will be critical to ascertain compositional information of the surface regolith on hydrated asteroids. Generally, using entirely in situ spectral analysis, we find that the laser produces similar effects in both samples. Specifically, irradiation causes the blue spectral slope to increase until it is relatively flat. Furthermore, the sample darkens initially with laser irradiation but brightens back to about half of its original level by the end of the irradiation. We also find that laser irradiation causes the band depth on the 3-μm absorption band to increase by as much as 30%, yet the shape of the entire absorption band does not change and the band minima of the 2.72 μm shifts less than 0.001 μm as a result of laser irradiation. The constancy of the latter two parameters, which will be most critical to compositional analysis, suggests that this spectral region could be very useful to determine the asteroid composition on surfaces of hydrated asteroids that have undergone extensive aqueous alteration even if the surface had been subject to a significant amount of space weathering. Whether the same conclusion will be generally applicable to other surfaces containing minerals with a wide range of aqueous alteration is currently unclear but will be tested in future studies.
Entertain Me Well: An Entertaining, Tailorable, Online Platform Delivering CBT for Depression

Abstract Depression prevalence is high, impacting approximately 20% of Americans during their lifetime, and on the rise due to stress and loss associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the high prevalence of depression, unacceptable treatment access disparities persist. When depression goes untreated, it leads to substantial negative impacts in multiple life domains. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the gold-standard psychosocial treatment for depression, remains largely unavailable to individuals living with depression, particularly individuals who are members of underrepresented groups in our society. Digital mental health interventions (DMHI) have led to important advances in extending the reach of CBT for depression; however, they are underutilized and treatment engagement remains low. We sought to address some of the current gaps in DMHI by developing an online platform for delivering CBT for depression that is entertaining, simple and straightforward, and tailorable. First, this article introduces our online platform, Entertain Me Well (EMW) and its key innovations, including the use of an engaging, character-driven storyline presented as “episodes” within each session, as well as customizable content that allows for tailoring of text, images, and examples to create content most relevant to the target client population, context, or setting. Next, we describe two EMW depression treatment programs that have been tailored: one for delivery in the rural church setting, called Raising Our Spirits Together, and one tailored for delivery in dialysis centers, called Doing Better on Dialysis. Finally, we discuss future directions for the EMW platform, including the ability to create programs for other common mental health and health conditions, the development of additional character-driven storylines with greater treatment personalization, translation of content in multiple languages, and the use of additional technological innovation, such as artificial intelligence like natural language processing, to enhance platform interactivity.
Online Channel Use and Destination Advertising Response

Understanding the relationship between use of online information channels and response to destination advertising is one of the most important challenges facing destination marketing organizations. The results of this study indicate that the use of information sources and online channels differs substantially for each major component of the travel planning process (e.g., whether or not to take a trip, where to visit, and what to do there). Further, the results of these analyses indicate that travellers use online information sources differently and this use significantly affects their response to destination advertising. Thus, the results of this study provide essential guidance regarding potential strategies for designing and implementing online destination advertising programs.
Central Tolerance Regulates B Cells Reactive with Goodpasture Antigen α3(IV)NC1 Collagen

Patients and rodents with Goodpasture's syndrome (GPS) develop severe autoimmune crescentic glomerulonephritis, kidney failure, and lung hemorrhage due to binding of pathogenic autoantibodies to the NC1 domain of the alpha3 chain of type IV collagen. Target epitopes are cryptic, normally hidden from circulating Abs by protein-protein interactions and the highly tissue-restricted expression of the alpha3(IV) collagen chain. Based on this limited Ag exposure, it has been suggested that target epitopes are not available as B cell tolerogens. To determine how pathogenic anti-GPS autoantibody responses are regulated, we generated an Ig transgenic (Tg) mouse model that expresses an Ig that binds alpha3(IV)NC1 collagen epitopes recognized by serum IgG of patients with GPS. Phenotypic analysis reveals B cell depletion and L chain editing in Tg mice. To determine the default tolerance phenotype in the absence of receptor editing and endogenous lymphocyte populations, we crossed Tg mice two generations with mice deficient in Rag. Resulting Tg Rag-deficient mice have central B cell deletion. Thus, development of Tg anti-alpha3(IV)NC1 collagen B cells is halted in the bone marrow, at which point the cells are deleted unless rescued by a Rag enzyme-dependent process, such as editing. The central tolerance phenotype implies that tolerizing self-Ag is expressed in bone marrow.
Adapting Query Optimization Techniques for Efficient Alert Correlation

Intrusion alert correlation is the process to identify high-level attack scenarios by reasoning about low-level alerts raised by intrusion detection systems (IDSs). The efficiency of intrusion alert correlation is critical in enabling interactive analysis of intrusion alerts as well as prompt responses to attacks. This paper presents an experimental study aimed at adapting main memory index structures (e.g., T Trees, Linear Hashing) and database query optimization techniques (e.g., nested loop join, sort join) for efficient correlation of intensive alerts. By taking advantage of the characteristics of the alert correlation process, this paper presents three techniques named hyper-alert container, two-level index, and sort correlation. This paper then reports a series of experiments designed to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques. These experiments demonstrate that (1) hyper-alert containers improve the efficiency of order-preserving index structures (e.g., T Trees), with which an insertion operation involves search, (2) two-level index improves the efficiency of all index structures, (3) a two-level index structure combining Chained Bucket Hashing and Linear Hashing is the most efficient for streamed alerts with and without memory constraint, and (4) sort correlation with heap sort algorithm is the most efficient for alert correlation in batch.
A proximity metric for continuum path planning

The problem of planning motions of robot manipulators and similar mechanical devices in the presence of obstacles is one of keen interest to the artificial intelligence community. Most of the algorithms previously reported for solving such problems have been combinatorial algorithms, which work by partitioning the problem domain continuum into a finite set of equivalence classes, and applying combinatorial search algorithms to plan transitions among them. However, the few continuum algorithms that have been reported, which do not rely on such a partitioning, have shown greater promise when applied to problems of complexity equivalent to that of planning a true manipulator motion. This is true even though the heuristics employed in these continuum algorithms have been extremely simple in nature. A significant barrier to the development of more refined heuristics for use in continum algorithms is the uncertainty over how to characterise the proximal relationship between rigid bodies. In this paper, a new measurement function is reported which permits such characterisation. An introduction is made to a new type of path planning algorithm which this function makes possible, which promises to significantly increase the capabilities of continuum path planning software.
The Use of Classical and Rasch Latent Trait Models to Enhance the Validity of Affective Measures

The purpose of this study was to compare the utility of the information yielded by the classical and latent trait psychometric models employed to examine the psychometric qualities of the School Situation Survey (SSS) (Helms and Gable, 1989), a 34-item attitude scale that assesses four sources and three manifestations of school-related stress. The first analysis employed classical principal component analyses followed by oblique rotations and was applied to data collected from a sample of 1111 students in Grades 5, 7, and 9. The second approach utilized a Rasch rating scale model and analyzed SSS data from 1958 students in Grades 6, 7, and 8. Practical aspects of instrument development including (a) lack of adequate variable definition and (b) the use of item-fit and person-fit statistics to reveal item content ambiguity were presented. In general, it was concluded that factor analytic procedures, while necessary, may not provide sufficient support for the adequacy of variable definition.
Nitrogen mustard: An “in vitro” inhibitor of erythrocyte sickling

Abstract Sickling of erythrocytes from patients with sickle cell anemia can be completely inhibited by exposure to nitrogen mustard (HN2). Reaction of hemoglobin (Hb) S with increasing quantities of HN2 produces a progressive rise in the minimum concentration of hemoglobin required for gelation on deoxygenation. Quantities of HN2 sufficient to alter gelation cause no observable change in oxygen affinity or in heme:heme interaction. Preliminary studies of osmotic fragility and autohemolysis showed no abnormalities after erythrocytes were treated with HN2. Due to the known toxicity of HN2, no “in vivo” intravenous therapy with this agent can be considered.
Delayed-onset pachyonychia congenita associated with a novel mutation in the central 2B domain of keratin 16.

A young girl with clinical features of pachyonychia congenita type 1 was unusual in that the typical skin and nail changes were not noted until the age of 6 years. Direct sequencing of the KRT16A gene, encoding keratin K16, revealed a novel mutation K354N in the central 2B domain of the K16 polypeptide. The mutation created a new BsmI restriction site and therefore, the mutation was confirmed in the patient and excluded from both parents and 50 normal, unrelated individuals by BsmI digestion of KRT16A polymerase chain reaction products. This is the first time a mutation has been described in this location in a keratin other than K14, where similar mutations cause the milder Weber-Cockayne and/or Kobner types of epidermolysis bullosa simplex.
Dexamethasone and stress-induced analgesia.

Analgesia induced in rats by cold-water swim stress and measured by the tail-flick and hot-plate methods was significantly antagonized after IP pretreatment for 3 days with 8 mg/kg dexamethasone. The analgesia developed by the cold-water swim stressor was also attenuated by 1 mg/kg naloxone. These results suggest that the corticosteroids may have a role in modulating stress-induced analgesia and that the adrenal-pituitary axis modulates the endogenous opiate system. These conclusions are based on recent reports that indicate the release of the opiate-like peptide β-endorphin and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) from the pituitary are increased by acute stress and inhibited by administration of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone.
Characterization and studies of electroactive properties of an organometallic polymer of iron‐phthalocyanine

An iron-phthalocyanine polymer has been characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The electrical properties of resistivity, dielectric constant and the thermally stimulated depolarization effect have been investigated in the temperature range 30–240°C. The depolarization of thermoelectret shows two current peaks at about 176°C and 200°C. The unpolarized sample also displays a pyroelectric current on heating, indicating the possibility of ferroelectric polarization. A temperature-dependent measurement of the dielectric constant exhibits a dielectric maximum around 180°C which is likely due to electret current peaks. The results have been compared with a monomer of iron-phthalocyanine and interpretations are made in terms of the highly delocalized π-electron system of the phthalocyanine macrocycle being further extended by polymerization.