cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Southeast regional climate hub assessment of climate change vulnerability and adaptation and mitigation strategies

Climate-related variability in rainfall, temperature, and extreme weather (e.g., drought, flood, unseasonal frost) pose significant challenges to working land (i.e., range, forest, and agricultural) managers across the southeastern United States. This document outlines the type of risks that southeastern agriculture and forestry currently face and, in some cases, options to address these risks. Finally, this document looks forward to providing direction on the priority needs of Southeast working land managers and an outline of how the USDA Southeast Climate Hub will address those needs.
Radiotherapy for pelvic recurrence after radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer.

Purpose To evaluate outcomes in patients treated with irradiation for recurrent cervical cancer after hysterectomy. Methods This is a retrospective chart review of 36 patients initially treated with a radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection who developed a pelvic recurrence and were subsequently treated with irradiation. None received chemotherapy. Results The overall 5- and 10-year survivals were 74% and 50%, respectively. Ten patients developed recurrent disease after irradiation. The sites of failure in these 10 patients were pelvis only in two, pelvis and distant metastases in five, and distant metastases only in three. Severe complications occurred in four patients. One patient developed a hip fracture, one developed a bowel obstruction requiring a colostomy, and two developed fistulae. Conclusion Pelvic irradiation and brachytherapy resulted in a 74% overall 5-year survival. Distant metastases were the most common site of failure. Systemic chemotherapy should be considered as adjunctive therapy for these patients.
Intermittent Palm Cooling's Impact on Resistive Exercise Performance.

To examine palm cooling’s (15°C) impact, subjects performed 3 four-set leg press workouts in a randomized sequence. Per workout they received 1 of 3 treatments: no palm cooling, palm cooling between sets, or palm cooling between sets and post-exercise. Dependent variables were examined with three-way ANOVAs; average power underwent a three-way ANCOVA with body fat percentage as the covariate. Simple effects analysis was our post hoc and α=0.05. Left hand skin temperatures produced a two-way interaction (no palm cooling, palm cooling between sets>palm cooling between sets and post-exercise at several time points). A “high responder” subset had their data analyzed with an additional three-way ANOVA that again produced a two-way interaction (palm cooling between sets>no palm cooling>palm cooling between sets and post-exercise at multiple time points). Blood lactate results included a two-way interaction (no palm cooling>palm cooling between sets, palm cooling between sets and post-exercise at 0 min post-exercise). Average power yielded a two-way interaction (palm cooling between sets, palm cooling between sets>no palm cooling for the fourth set). Intermittent palm cooling hastened heat removal and blood lactate clearance, as well as delayed average power decrements.
Gunflints: A study

A study of gunflints was undertaken to determine if a uniform use wear pattern is present on gunflints which would assist in the identification of small rectangular or sub-rectangular lithic artifacts from historic sites as gunflints. The study also sought better to understand how these patterns were formed. Both modern and archaeological specimens were employed in the study. Background information on the history, technology, and use of gunflints is summarized as a key to understanding the use wear patterns.
Enantiomeric Forms of Abeta Peptides Inhibit the Shear Stress Response of PIEZO1

PIEZO1 is a eukaryotic mechanosensitive ion channel that is cation selective and rapidly inactivates. Using fluid shear stress as a stimulus generated in a microfluidic chamber, we have monitored PIEZO activity in the presence of various peptides. To do so, we first developed a cell line that overexpresses the PIEZO1 channel in HEK293T cells. We estimate that there are about 5000 channels per cell. These cells are seeded in the microfluidic chamber and loaded with calcium indicator. A pressure servo is fitted to the chamber and allows control of the applied shear stress stimulus. The calcium change is monitored as an increase in fluorescence. Applying a 10 ms pulse at 13 dyn/cm2, we observed a robust response for the PIEZO1 cell line well above the background observed for HEK293T cells only. Peak response is achieved within a few seconds and is followed by adaptation. Disrupters of the cytoskeleton applied to the cell line, such as cytochalasinD and cholchicine, rendered the PIEZO1 channel unresponsive to the stimulus. The peptide GsMTx4 inhibits PIEZO1 currents. We measured the effect of GsMTx4 on PIEZO1 activity as a way to compare the microfluidic approach to previous work. We applied various concentrations and measure the peak response. The inhibition curve showed a Ki of around 250 nM similar to the value measured previously by patch clamp. Next, we examined the effect of Abeta peptides on PIEZO1 activity. A known attribute of these peptides is their ability to bind membranes. Given PIEZO1 is modulated by membrane tension we wanted to determine how the channel behaved in the presence of Abeta peptides. We prepared the monomer form of the peptide and measured the peak response as a function of peptide concentration. At the same time we prepared the D form of these peptides and measured them as well. Our data show that both the L and D form of Abeta 1-40 and 1-42 inhibit channel function in the fM to pM range. The enantiomeric forms of each peptide were similar in their ability to inhibit PIEZO1 activity. The lack of stereospecific interaction indicates that these peptides modulate activity of the channel by changing the properties of the membrane.This work was funded by NIHLBI and NINDS.
Automatic Sentiment Detection in Naturalistic Audio

Audio sentiment analysis using automatic speech recognition is an emerging research area where opinion or sentiment exhibited by a speaker is detected from natural audio. It is relatively underexplored when compared to text based sentiment detection. Extracting speaker sentiment from natural audio sources is a challenging problem. Generic methods for sentiment extraction generally use transcripts from a speech recognition system, and process the transcript using text-based sentiment classifiers. In this study, we show that this baseline system is suboptimal for audio sentiment extraction. Alternatively, new architecture using keyword spotting (KWS) is proposed for sentiment detection. In the new architecture, a text-based sentiment classifier is utilized to automatically determine the most useful and discriminative sentiment-bearing keyword terms, which are then used as a term list for KWS. In order to obtain a compact yet discriminative sentiment term list, iterative feature optimization for maximum entropy sentiment model is proposed to reduce model complexity while maintaining effective classification accuracy. A new hybrid ME-KWS joint scoring methodology is developed to model both text and audio based parameters in a single integrated formulation. For evaluation, two new databases are developed for audio based sentiment detection, namely, YouTube sentiment database and another newly developed corpus called UT-Opinion Opinion audio archive. These databases contain naturalistic opinionated audio collected in real-world conditions. The proposed solution is evaluated on audio obtained from videos in youtube.com and UT-Opinion corpus. Our experimental results show that the proposed KWS based system significantly outperforms the traditional ASR architecture in detecting sentiment for challenging practical tasks.
Progressive Prediction of Student Performance in College Programs

Accurately predicting students' future performance based on their tracked academic records in college programs is crucial for effectively carrying out necessary pedagogical interventions to ensure students' on-time graduation. Although there is a rich literature on predicting student performance in solving problems and studying courses using data-driven approaches, predicting student performance in completing college programs is much less studied and faces new challenges, mainly due to the diversity of courses selected by students and the requirement of continuous tracking and incorporation of students' evolving progresses. In this paper, we develop a novel algorithm that enables progressive prediction of students' performance by adapting ensemble learning techniques and utilizing education-specific domain knowledge. We prove its prediction performance guarantee and show its performance improvement against benchmark algorithms on a real-world student dataset from UCLA.
On place, time and roots of confucianism

We need places as symbols of differences and individual local cultures for enrichment of life, but we also need to go beyond places to hidden and unseen levels in our reconstruction of reality and onto-cosmology. We must realize that any place has an origin just like human beings have an origin. Places are developed historically and transferred to us with its values just like our own life comes to us in the development of our histories and cultures. This leads to the idea of a place as not separable from other places nor separable from time. Turning to Confucianism, I argue that shallow roots of Confucianism cannot be separated from its deep roots, and if indeed separated, it cannot be genuinely and whole-heartedly Confucian.
International Programs in Schools: Considerations of Form and Function

(Intergenerational Programs in Schools: Considerations of Form and Function) – In recent years there has been a groundswell of intergenerational program activity occurring on an international scale. At an unprecedented level, new initiatives are emerging which aim to bring young people and older adults together in various settings – to interact, stimulate, educate, support, and provide care for one another. The focus of this paper is on intergenerational programs implemented in schools. Discussion centers primarily on how such initiatives enhance and reinforce the educational curriculum, contribute to student learning and personal growth, enrich the lives of senior adult participants, and have a positive impact on the surrounding communities. The paper concludes with a review of some key issues that need to be taken into account when developing and evaluating intergenerational programs.
Analytical analysis of QoS for lossy network congestion control

This paper develops the analytical models necessary to compare the Quality of Service (QoS) when using different lossy network congestion control techniques. The first route model shows that the frequency (FRQ) drop method is superior to the random (RND) drop method when the perceived difference in QoS (ΔQoS) from the full transmission mode to the lower transmission mode is small and that the ratio (x) of number of shrunk packets to 1 dropped packet is low. Afterwards, this model is extended to show the QoS when packet loss concealment is used. Later, this model is extended to show the QoS when buffering is allowed. Final results show that if the constraint (QoSWB — AVGQoSPLC > x x (QoSWB — QoSNB)) is met then the RND method achieves worse QoS than the FRQ method. This result holds with and without buffering.
Autonomous network and IT resource management for geographically distributed data centers

As enterprises struggle to meet the demand for elastic cloud computing services in distributed data centers (DCs), a significant portion of the total expenditure is spent on the procurement and maintenance of server and network equipment. Network and server resource utilization efficiency is therefore crucial to minimize overall costs and increase return on investment. We present an adaptive and synergistic management of both network and IT resources with an autonomous control plane on a converged inter/ intra-DC network to address this issue. The control plane uses its awareness of both network and IT resource usage to provide dynamic resource allocations to meet quality of service guarantees, while also allowing for reduction in operational expenses by consolidating virtual machines to maintain high CPU usage on the active servers. We built a three-node inter-DC experimental testbed to demonstrate the feasibility of our concept and show that our algorithm successfully provisions both network resources and consolidates IT resources under various load conditions.
Considerations in Treating Insomnia During Pregnancy: A Literature Review.

Background The prevalence of pregnancy-associated insomnia is high. Although insomnia may flow from normal physiologic features of pregnancy, it may also be an early warning sign of a relapse, or a trigger for a relapse, of a psychiatric illness. Those at risk for psychiatric illnesses may require medications as well as behavioral and psychotherapeutic interventions, to prevent relapse in the perinatal period. Unfortunately, few reviews of psychotropics used to treat pregnancy-related sleep disorders exist. Objective We discuss issues related to sleep and sleep disorders in pregnancy in the context of co-morbid psychiatric illness, and review the literature on the commonly-used medications (e.g., benzodiazepines, sedative-hypnotics, antihistamines, trazodone, and melatonin) for insomnia during pregnancy.
An Adiabatic Charge Pump Based Charge Recycling Design Style

Adiabatic CMOS circuits reduce the energy consumption by supplying the charge at a rate significantly lower than the inherent RC delay of a gate. However, such a technique inherently trades energy for delay. In this work, we propose to incorporate an adiabatic charge pump to recycle charge for energy reduction. The adiabatic component, charge pump, is placed away from the critical paths. The adiabatic delays are overlapped with the computing path logic delays resulting in no change in the computation speed. One implementation scheme that taps the ground-bound charge in a capacitor (virtual ground) and then uses an adiabatic charge-pump to feed internal virtual Vdd nodes is described. The method has been implemented in DSP computations such as FIR filter, DCT/IDCT filters and FFT filters. Complete design details and performance analysis are presented. Simulation results in SPICE indicate that the proposed scheme reduces energy consumption in these DSP circuits by as much as 15% with no loss in performance.
Longitudinal Decline in Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Age Among Male Firefighters in San Diego, California, 2005–2015

Objectives. To determine age-associated changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) among firefighters.Methods. Male firefighters (n = 1169) underwent annual evaluations from 2005 to 2015 in San Die...
Prostate brachytherapy technique and long-term urinary incontinence: 5-year outcomes of a prospective comparative cohort study.

e16016 Background: Prostate brachytherapy (BT) causes long-term urinary incontinence. Altered techniques may improve patient outcomes. Methods: We prospectively studied three Boston-area patient BT...
A Qualitative Analysis of Students' Understanding of Conditional Control Structures

Conditional logic and control structures are typically considered an important part of introductory computer science education, yet novices often struggle to correctly write and navigate such program logic. Previous research has largely attended to student difficulties with parsing Boolean expressions, but has not had much focus on the control structures themselves. To investigate how students work through complicated logic, we conducted a qualitative analysis of four one-on-one interviews with undergraduate students in which we gave students a piece of code with a complicated conditional control structure and asked them to write test cases for all paths. We found that several students struggled to determine the output the function would provide for a given input, and we hypothesize this occurred because they incorrectly treated an if statement as an else-if statement. One student simply wrote an incorrect output, which we believe occurred because they made this particular mistake, while another student got partway through the problem before verbally seeming to correct themself and re-identify a statement as an else-if. Based on our results, we hypothesize that novices may sometimes misidentify a sequential if statement as an else-if, which may lead them to incorrectly interpret a conditional control structure.
Proteus: A Scalable BFT Consesus Protocol for Blockchains

Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus exhibits higher throughput in comparison to Proof of Work (PoW) in blockchains. But BFT-based protocols suffer from scalability problems with respect to the number of replicas in the network. The main reason for this limitation is the quadratic message complexity of BFT protocols. Previously, proposed solutions improve BFT performance for normal operation, but will fall back to quadratic message complexity once the protocol observes a certain number of failures. This makes the protocol performance unpredictable as it is not guaranteed that the network will face a a certain number of failures. As a result, such protocols are only scalable when conditions are favorable (i.e., the number of failures are less than a given threshold). To address this issue we propose Proteus, a new BFT-based consensus protocol which elects a subset of nodes $c$ as a root committee. Proteus guarantees stable performance, regardless of the number of failures in the network and it improves on the quadratic message complexity of typical BFT-based protocols to $O(cn)$, where $c<<n$, for large $n$. Thus, message complexity remains small and less than quadratic when $c$ is asymptotically smaller than $n$, and this helps the protocol to provide stable performance even during the view change process (change of root committee). Our view change process is different than typical BFT protocols as it replaces the whole root committee compared to replacing a single primary in other protocols. We deployed and tested our protocol on $200$ Amazon $EC2$ instances, with two different baseline BFT protocols (PBFT and Bchain) for comparison. In these tests, our protocol outperformed the baselines by more than $2\times$ in terms of throughput as well as latency.
Finding beam loss locations in a linac with oscillating dipole correctors

The paper proposes a method of finding the beam loss locations in a linac. If the beam is scraped at an aperture limitation, moving its centroid with two dipole correctors located upstream and oscillating in sync produces a line at the corresponding frequency in spectra of current-sensitive devices downstream of the loss point. The phase of this signal contains information about the location of the beam loss. Similar lines appear also in the position signals of Beam Position Monitors (BPMs). The phases of the BPM position lines change monotonically (within each 2{\pi}) along the linac and can be used a reference system. The phase of the loss signal compared with this reference system pinpoints the beam loss location, assuming that longitudinal coordinates of the BPMs are known. If the correctors deflection amplitudes and the phase offset between their waveforms are chosen optimally and well calibrated, the same measurement provides values of the \b{eta}-function and the betatron phase advance at the BPM locations. Optics measurements of this type can be made parasitically, with negligible effect on the emittance, if a long measurement time is acceptable.
Utilization of a Benzoyl Migration To Effect an Expeditious Synthesis of the Paclitaxel C-13 Side Chain

A benzoyl migration has been used to remove two steps during the asymmetric dihydroxylation literature route to (2R,3S)-N-benzoyl-3-phenylisoserine, the C-13 position side chain of paclitaxel. The modification provides the product as its more desirable methyl ester in similar overall yields with no loss of enantiomeric purity when scaled up to multigram quantities.
Prescription opioid availability and opioid overdose‐related mortality rates in Medicaid expansion and non‐expansion states

Aims To determine whether, in the United States, higher opioid overdose-related mortality rates (OOMR) in Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion states relative to mortality rates in non-expansion states have been mediated by increased prescription opioid availability. Design Separate mixed-effect regression models examined difference-in-difference effects of time and expansion status on Medicaid-reimbursed opioids measured in morphine milligram (mg) equivalents on all OOMR and on prescription OOMR. We used generalized structural equation models to test whether increases in Medicaid-reimbursed prescription opioid availability mediated OOMR post-Medicaid expansion. Setting and participants This study used national, serial, cross-sectional data for Medicaid-reimbursed prescription opioids, Medicaid enrollment information and annual OOMR for any opioids and for prescription opioids from 49 states and the DC pre- (2008-13) and post-ACA Medicaid expansion (2014-16). Measurements The outcome measures were OOOMR and Medicaid-reimbursed prescription opioid availability. The main input variables were time and ACA Medicaid expansion status. Findings Medicaid expansion states had larger increases in prescription opioid availability (b = 480, 357.8, P = 0.001) compared with non-expansion states. However, the largest increases in prescription opioid availability in expansion states were between 2009 and 2011, well before the ACA Medicaid expansion. Whereas expansion states also had higher any OOMR compared with non-expansion states (b = 3.6, P = 0.011), significant differences in prescription OOMR between expansion and non-expansion states did not emerge until 2015 (b = 1.4, P = 0.014) and 2016 (b = 4.0, P = 0.004), and Medicaid-reimbursed prescription opioid availability was not a significant mediator. Conclusions Increases in Medicaid-reimbursed prescription opioid availability in Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion states in the United States do not appear to have mediated post-Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion mortality rate differences, but there is still a possibility of lagged effects.
Logic and Legal Realism

According to the prevailing reading, the American legal realists believed that reliance on logic in legal reasoning is mistaken and that many traditional jurists succumbed to this mistake. But the prevailing reading is wrong. The set of loosely-related errors to which the realists thought traditional jurists succumbed did not concern reliance on logic. Sometimes the realists’ target was the traditionalists’ misguided faith in the law’s rational determinacy. Sometimes it was the traditionalists’ commitment to categorical legal rules, when legal reasoning was in fact a matter of contextualized balancing. Sometimes it was their failure to recognize the consequences of judicial supremacy or the role of courts in establishing the facts of a case. And sometimes it was the traditionalists’ misguided theory of political obligation: their belief that the existence of law necessarily entailed justified reasons for obedience.
Pseudophakic adult with progressive optic disc tilt and axial length elongation.

Abstract Purpose To describe a case of progressive optic disc tilt in a pseudophakic Asian adult associated with an increase in axial length. Observations A 28-year-old man presented with high myopia in the right eye with an axial length of 30.4 mm and refraction of −13.75 diopters (D) spherical equivalent (SE). The refraction was plano sphere after LASIK and LASIK enhancement. The left eye was blinded by retinal detachment after phacoemulsification. Six years later, the right eye axial length was 31.65 mm when he underwent phacoemulsification with intraocular lens placement for nuclear sclerosis, after which the refraction was −0.50 D SE. The right eye refraction changed progressively over 13 years after cataract surgery to −4.00 D SE, at which time the axial length was 33.69 mm. A notable increase in optic disc tilt and peripapillary atrophy was evident on comparison of fundus photographs taken 11 years apart. Conclusions Although progressive optic disc tilt in conjunction with increasing axial myopia in pediatric populations has been documented, it has not been reported in adults but may occur. Scleral stretching due to axial length elongation associated with loss of accommodation after cataract surgery and worsening peripapillary atrophy are possible causes of this finding.
The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and Academic Pathology Departments: Evaluation of the Relationship:

A survey was conducted to evaluate the relationship between Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems and academic departments of pathology in their respective affiliated schools of medicine. Most (73%) of the responding academic departments were within 5 miles of their Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems; 60% of Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems supported 1 to 5 full-time pathologist positions at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems while 70% provided 1 to 5 full-time resident positions; only 34% of academic departments had "without compensation" appointments at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems while 20% had fee-based consulting appointments; 62% of academic departments granted academic appointments to full-time Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems pathologists while few (26%) had split appointments between the academic department and the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems; only half of academic departments granted the same academic privileges to Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems pathologists as they did to full-time university faculty; 60% of the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems pathologists were not involved in recruitment of medical school faculty while 58% of medical school faculty were not involved in recruitment of Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems pathologists; most academic departments reported no research space at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems (68%) and no Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems research support (72%); only 23% of academic departments reported a sharing agreement that allows the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems to perform clinical work for the academic department while 36% reported an agreement that permits the academic department to perform clinical work for the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems; only 32% of academic departments indicated that the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service is a member of the academic department leadership team. All academic departments reported that the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems plays a significant role in education of medical students, residents, and fellows. Strengths and weaknesses of the Veterans Affairs Healthcare Systems/academic department relationships are identified.
Noncontact Steering of Magnetic Objects by Optimal Linear Feedback Control of Permanent Magnet Manipulators

A magnetic manipulator for noncontact steering of magnetic objects is considered. This system utilizes a flexible array of permanent magnets, each equipped with a servomotor to independently control its direction. The total magnetic field produced by the magnets can be shaped effectively by adjusting the directions of all magnets, which in turn, provides an effective control over the magnetic force it applies to a magnetic object. The dynamics of this object under such controlled magnetic force is inherently unstable and is represented by a set of highly nonlinear state-space equations. Despite the nonlinear nature of these equations, it is shown that an optimally designed linear state feedback can successfully stabilize the object and steer it along arbitrary reference trajectories inside a reasonably large operation region. The key to this success is the optimal scheme of this paper for linearizing the dynamics of the magnetic object.
"Except That the Haunted, Hidden Thing Was Me": Ghostly Matters and Transsexual Haunting

This paper examines motifs of ghostliness and haunting in representations of transsexuality,both in the violent and oppressive representations of transsexuality within a transphobic culture, and in the self-representation and narration of transsexuals themselves. Using scholarAvery Gordon’s definition of haunting—which characterizes haunting as the “knot” of oppression, self-representation, and knowledge production—this paper argues for the necessity ofrecognizing transsexual oppression as a form of cultural haunting.
Access to Justice and the Legal Complex: Building a Public Defenders’ Office in Brazil:

Latin American democracies have developed institutions to empower citizens against the state. This article brings attention to an often overlooked, but key, actor in these processes: the legal comp...
Modeling and Control Using Stochastic Distribution Control Theory for Intersection Traffic Flow

This work investigated stochastic distribution control theory-based traffic signal optimization to achieve a smooth and uniform flow of vehicles through signalized intersections. In this context, the static and linear dynamic stochastic distribution models were developed to express the relationship between the signal timing and the traffic queue length together with its probability density function. Two stochastic distribution control algorithms were designed to control the signal timing at intersections such that the probability density function of the traffic queue of each intersection road segment is made as narrow and as small as possible. Also, a recursive input-output traffic queue estimation model was proposed, which is data-driven and dynamic in nature, to calculate real-time traffic queue length using traffic signal timings and loop-detector data. The control algorithms were evaluated for a one-signal corridor, two-signal corridor, and 2 x 2 network of signalized intersections. MATLAB simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the use of the proposed algorithms and comparison to the existing widely-used semi-actuated control has been made. Desired results were obtained.
PyLocky Ransomware Source Code Analysis

We present an analysis of a recently developed ransomware called “PyLocky.” We first provide an overview of existing tools that may help companies or individuals recover from a “PyLocky.” attack. We also explain the limitations and operating principles of the recovery tools. We next analyze the PyLocky source code, which is now publicly available, and address numerous implementation flaws that may be exploited to speed up a brute force known-plaintext attack on the ransomware’s “two-key triple-DES” encryption scheme. The analysis illustrates general flaws in implementing cryptographic protocols that should be avoided by all software developers. Finally, we note a potentially useful cyber forensic attack on PyLocky that could be helpful for recovery efforts.
Implementation Experience With Meningococcal Serogroup B Vaccines in the United States: Impact of a Nonroutine Recommendation.

Background Meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) is the leading cause of invasive meningococcal disease among US adolescents and young adults, accounting for 62% of cases in 16-23-year-olds in 2018. Since 2015, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended vaccination of healthy adolescents against MenB based on shared clinical decision-making (previously called "Category B" or individual clinical decision-making). However, MenB vaccine coverage and series completion rates remain low. Herein we examine implementation experience of adolescent MenB vaccination in the United States under this nonroutine ACIP recommendation. Methods PubMed was searched for English-language articles published after 2015 examining MenB vaccination implementation in the United States. Studies reporting MenB vaccination awareness, coverage, knowledge of recommendations and implementation barriers or access disparities were included. Results Identified studies provided evidence that ACIP's MenB vaccination recommendation is poorly understood and prone to misinterpretation by US healthcare providers. Parental awareness of MenB vaccines is low, and racial and socioeconomic disparities exist regarding vaccine receipt. Parents rely on providers to learn about MenB disease risk and benefits of vaccination, with provider recommendations carrying substantial weight in vaccination decisions. Conclusions Five years of evidence regarding the MenB vaccination implementation experience suggest that the nonstandard recommendation for MenB vaccines is partly responsible for low vaccine coverage. Further, inconsistent implementation of ACIP recommendations could be limiting access to MenB vaccines. Providers need additional support and guidance to implement the shared clinical decision-making recommendation, in turn ensuring equitable access for vaccine-eligible adolescents to enable comprehensive protection against meningococcal disease.
Special 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Global Access to Medicines

Since its inception in 1988, the United States Trade Representative's ‘Special 301’ adjudication of foreign intellectual property law standards has been used to promote policies restricting access to affordable medications around the world. President-elect Obama released a platform promising to ‘break the stranglehold that a few big drug and insurance companies have on these life-saving drugs’ and pledged support for ‘the rights of sovereign nations to access quality-assured, low-cost generic medication to meet their pressing public health needs’. The 2009 and 2010 Special 301 Reports, however, indicate that the Obama Administration has not yet implemented this pledge into administration trade policy. Although the 2010 Report shows some improvement, the Obama Administration continues using Special 301 to pressure developing countries to adopt escalating intellectual property rules that are not required by any international agreement and that will negatively impact access to medicines.
Mapping Neural Circuit Biotypes to Symptoms and Behavioral Dimensions of Depression and Anxiety

Background: Despite tremendous advances in characterizing human brain circuits that govern emotional and cognitive functions that are impaired in depression and anxiety, we lack a circuitbased taxonomy that captures transdiagnostic heterogeneity and informs clinical decision making. Methods: We develop and test a novel system for quantifying six brain circuits reproducibly and at the individual patient level. We implement standardized circuit definitions relative to a healthy reference group, and algorithms to generate circuit function and dysfunction scores for the overall circuit and its constituent regions. Outcomes: In primary and generalizability samples of depression and anxiety (n=251) we demonstrate that overall disconnections within task-free salience and default mode circuits map onto symptoms of anxious avoidance, loss of pleasure, threat dysregulation, and negative emotional biases – core characteristics that transcend diagnoses – and poorer daily function. Regional dysfunctions within task-evoked cognitive control and affective circuits implicate more specific cognitive symptoms and valence-congruent behavioral disruptions. Circuit dysfunction scores also predict response to pharmacological and behavioral therapies in an independent sample (n=207). Interpretation: Our findings articulate circuit dimensions that parse the heterogeneity of depression and anxiety and have direct clinical translational significance. Our novel system offers a foundation for deploying standardized circuit assessments across research groups, trials and clinics to advance more precise classifications and treatment targets for psychiatry. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers R01MH101496 (LMW), UH2HL132368 (JM, LMW), F32MH108299 (ANG-P), T32MH019938 (TMB), and K23MH113708 (TMB)]. Declaration of Interests: LMW declares US Pants. App. 10/034,645 and 15/820,338: Systems and methods for detecting complex networks in MRI image data. ANG-P, TMB, ZS, KAG, SLF, ASK, BRS, and BHG declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: All procedures were approved by the Stanford University Institutional Review Board (IRB 27937 and 41837) or Western Sydney Area Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee. All participants provided written informed consent prior to study procedures.
Tenets towards smartphone-based medical tricorders

There is a vision for smartphone-based medical tricorders, in which a software application can be downloaded to smartphones around the world in people's pockets to use for medical sensing at the point of care. The power of this vision is that a quick software update could allow any phone to count coughs, track anemia, detect sleep apnea, and much more. It has the potential to enable remote healthcare effectively and equalize the reach of care. However, there is a need for further discussion around the implicit difficulties to developing and deploying medical sensing applications. The reality is that every smartphone is different, and that an application developed for one phone has no guarantee of working for the next phone or even the next OS update. In this paper, our goal is to draw out motifs around the challenges that are inherent to realizing this vision of smartphone-based medical sensing solutions. We further expound on this by juxtaposing the challenges with potential futures that we organize as tenets for how we could achieve more sustainable and universal development towards smartphone-based medical tricorders.
Shall the American Association of Geographers Endorse Carbon Offsets? Absolutely Not!

Offsetting is widely embraced as a market-based solution to global warming. Governments, universities, and businesses of all sorts have pledged to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions partly...
Natural van der Waals heterostructure cylindrite with highly anisotropic optical responses

The mechanical exfoliation of naturally occurring layered materials has emerged as an easy and effective method for achieving ultrathin van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with well-defined lattice orientations of the constituent two-dimensional (2D) material layers. Cylindrite is one such naturally occurring vdW heterostructure, where the superlattice is composed of alternating stacks of SnS2-like and PbS-like layers. Although the constituent 2D lattices are isotropic, inhomogeneous strain occurring from local atomic alignment for forcing the commensuration makes the cylindrite superlattice structurally anisotropic. Here, we demonstrate the highly anisotropic optical responses of cylindrite thin flakes induced by the anisotropic crystal structure, including angle-resolved polarized Raman scattering, linear dichroism, and polarization-dependent anisotropic third-harmonic generation. Our results provide a promising approach for identifying various natural vdW heterostructure-based 2D materials with tailored optical properties and can be harnessed for realizing anisotropic optical devices for on-chip photonic circuits and optical information processing.
Development and performance characterization of enhanced AODV routing for CBR and TCP traffic

We aim to modify an existing mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) reactive routing protocol (ad-hoc on-demand distance vector, AODV) into a hybrid protocol by introducing adaptive, proactive behavior to improve its performance. Under our proposed scheme, route maintenance decisions are based on predicted values of 'link-breakage times' (when the next-hop node will move out of transmission range) obtained from a series of position/speed estimates of the next-hop node. These estimates are based on the power level of the received MAC frames. If a link is about to break, proactive discovery of new routes to all destinations using the next-hop node depends on the history of traffic to that destination. We simulated (using the ns2 simulator) numerous test conditions using CBR and TCP traffic and compared performance metrics for the original and modified versions of the protocol. We have achieved (1) a significant reduction in mean packet latency for CBR traffic and (2) a reduction in control overhead in TCP traffic, while incurring other small penalties for both types of traffic. Also, a comparison of some performance metrics for TCP and CBR traffic leads us to conclude that slight modifications in TCP can lead to its improved performance over MANETs.
Big Places, Big Plans by Mark B. Lapping and Owen J. Furuseth, eds.

Mark B. Lapping and Owen J. Furuseth, eds. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2004. x and 187 pp., maps, diagrams, chapter notes and refs., and index. $79.95 hardback (ISBN 0-7546-3586-4). This edited vo...
Music for children with hearing loss

It would be difficult to identify a demographic within the audiology, education and music community who would not benefit from the vast resources in this text. The combination of extensive research...
On constructing overlay networks to support distributed real-time virtual environment applications

Overlay networks provide an attractive solution to distributed real-time virtual applications because of their unique features of scalability, decentralization and cost effectiveness. However, overlay support for distributed real-time virtual applications remains a challenge because of two reasons: 1) Frequent update messages traveling through multiple hops can increase the network traffic and cause long communication and processing delays; and 2) Variable latencies experienced by different participants can violate their consistency requirements and affect the performance of the application. In this paper, we propose techniques that work at two levels to address this problem. First the participants are grouped according to their virtual distance to satisfy their consistency requirements. Second, filters that combine application-level knowledge are utilized at boundary nodes to eliminate unnecessary message propagations. Our approach enables nodes to trade-off processing overhead for consistency precision, while reducing the message overhead in the overlay network.
Household Life Insurance Demand

Abstract What types of households own life insurance? Who owns term life and who owns whole life insurance? These are questions of great interest to insurers that operate in a highly competitive market. To answer these questions, we jointly examine household demand of two types of insurance, term and whole life, using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, a probability sample of the U.S. population. We model both the frequency and the severity of demand for insurance, building on the work of Lin and Grace by using explanatory variables that they developed. For the frequency portion, the household decisions about whether to own term and whole life insurance are modeled simultaneously with a bivariate probit regression model. Given ownership of life insurance by a household, the amounts of insurance are analyzed using generalized linear models with a normal copula. The copula permits the bivariate modeling of insurance amounts for households who own both term and whole life insurance, about 20% of our ...
Influence of the Combustion Energy Release on Surface Accelerations of an HCCI Engine

Large cyclic variability along with increased combustion noise present in low temperature combustion (LTC) modes of internal combustion engines has driven the need for fast response, robust sensors for diagnostics and feedback control. Accelerometers have been shown as a possible technology for diagnostics and feedback control of advanced LTC operation in internal combustion engines. To make better use of this technology, an improved understanding is necessary of the effect of energy release from the combustion process on engine surface vibrations. This study explores the surface acceleration response for a single-cylinder engine operating with homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion. Preliminary investigation of the engine surface accelerations is conducted using a finite element analysis of the engine cylinder jacket along with consideration of cylindrical modes of the engine cylinder. Measured in-cylinder pressure is utilized as a load input to the FE model to provide an initial comparison of the computed and measured surface accelerations. Additionally, the cylindrical cavity resonant modes of the engine geometry are computed and the in-cylinder pressure frequency content is examined to verify this resonant behavior. Experimental correlations between heat release and surface acceleration metrics are then used to identify specific acceleration frequency bands in which characteristics of more » the combustion heat release process is detected with minimal structural resonant influence. Investigation of a metric capable of indicting combustion phasing is presented. Impact of variations in the combustion energy release process on the surface accelerations is discussed. « less
Reconstruction of orthogonal polygonal lines

An orthogonal polygonal line is a line consisting of adjacent straight segments having only two directions orthogonal to each other. Because of noise and vectorization errors, the result of vectorization of such a line may differ from an orthogonal polygonal line. This paper contains the description of an optimal method for the restoration of orthogonal polygonal lines. It is based on the method of restoration of arbitrary ground truth lines from the paper [1]. Specificity of the algorithm suggested in the paper consists of filtering vectorization errors using a priori information about orthogonality of the ground truth contour. The suggested algorithm guarantees that obtained polygonal lines will be orthogonal and have minimal deviations from the ground truth line. The algorithm has a low computational complexity and can be used for restoration of orthogonal polygonal lines with many vertices. It was developed for a raster-to-vector conversion system ArcScan for ArcGIS and can be used for interactive vectorization of orthogonal polygonal lines.
Simplifying data access: the energy data collection (EDC) project

The massive amount of statistical and text data available from government agencies has created a set of daunting challenges to both research and analysis communities. These problems include heterogeneity, size, distribution, and control of terminology. At the Digital Government Research Center we are investigating solutions to these key problems. In this paper we focus on (1) ontological mappings for terminology standardization, (2) data integration across data bases with high speed query processing, and (3) interfaces for query input and presentation of results. This collaboration between researchers from Columbia University and the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California employs technology developed at both locations, in particular the SENSUS ontology, the SIMS multi-database access planner, the LKB automated dictionary and terminology analysis system, and others. The pilot application targets gasoline data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, the Census Bureau, and other government agencies.