cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Executive Compensation and Corporate Strategy at General Dynamics

In 1991, defense contractor General Dynamics (GD) adopted an objective of creating shareholder value through downsizing, restructuring, and exit. Facilitating GD's strategy were a new management team and compensation plans that tied executive pay to shareholder wealth creation. The plans became highly controversial as GD's executives reaped rewards amid announcements of layoffs and plant closings. By December 1993, shareholders had realized gains approaching $5 billion, representing a three-year return of 440%. The lessons from the study are applicable not only in firms in the defense industry, but also in firms in a growing number of declining industries saddled with excess capacity.
Research on coordinated control systems of large-scale circulating fluidized bed boilers

It is difficult for the coordinate control systems(CCSs)of 450 t/h and 410 t/h circulating fluidized bed boilers(CFBBs)to be put into operation due to the strong coupling between parameters and the long time delay.On the basis of transfer functions obtained from CFBBs in operation of south part of Hebei power network,tests and researches were carried out to find reasonable control configuration of combustion control system and coordinated control system of CFB.The research found that "turbine follow mode" is an effective way for CFB coordinated control system and the interaction of coupling parameters should be considered in the control of bed temperature,primary-air and secondary-air.This conclusion makes references for the design and commission of CFBBs.
Transitional cell carcinoma of the prostate in cystoprostatectomy specimens removed for bladder cancer.

AbstractSpecimens from 84 radical cystectomies for bladder carcinoma performed between January 1984 and July 1986 were reviewed to characterize the involvement of the prostate with transitional cell carcinoma. Whole-mount sectioning of the prostate was performed at 4mm. intervals and processed in the same manner as radical prostatectomy specimens. A total of 36 patients (43 per cent) had transitional cell carcinoma of the prostate: 94 per cent of these had prostatic urethra involvement and 6 per cent had a normal prostatic urethra but transitional cell carcinoma was present in the periurethral structures. In situ prostatic duct or acini, ejaculatory duct and seminal vesicle involvement occurred, respectively, in 67, 8 and 17 per cent of the patients with prostatic involvement. Of the patients with prostatic involvement 39 per cent had stromal invasion (22 per cent focal and 17 per cent diffuse invasion). The incidence of carcinoma in situ of the bladder neck or trigone (59 per cent), previous intravesical...
Origins analysis of coercivity enhancement mechanism in diffusion-processed Nd-Fe-B magnets

Abstract The Nd 13.5 Fe 79.5 B 7 bulk magnets were prepared by melt-spinning followed by hot-compaction and post-annealing. In the optimized benchmark magnet, the diffusion process was carried out by using La 70 Cu 30 , Nd 70 Cu 30 and Dy 70 Cu 30 alloy powders. Elementary distribution showed that Nd was coexistent with La but immiscible with Dy in the grain boundary (GB) regions. Crystallized GB phase was observed. The components of coercivity enhancement contributed from ferromagnetic decoupling, remedied grain surface and magnetically hardened grain surface were analyzed. Our results demonstrated that remedied grain surface and magnetically hardened grain surface contribute mostly to the enhanced coercivity, instead of ferromagnetic decoupling.
Bariatric Surgery: The Less, The Better

Bariatric surgery has proven to be the most effective long-term treatment for morbid obesity. However, only a very small fraction of all potential candidates undergo surgery, mainly because of the invasiveness and the perioperative risks and complications that the procedure entails. Moreover, there is no effective option yet for those patients who do not qualify for bariatric surgery but still need a treatment for morbid obesity. It is no coincidence that the resurgence and rapid evolution of bariatric surgery coincided with the introduction of the laparoscopic approach and the adjustable gastric band, showing that the less, the better.
Current Operating Experience and Upgrade Plans of the Tevatron Cryogenic System

Fermilabs superconducting accelerator, the Tevatron has been operational for over six years. The Tevatron is a proton/antiproton collider used in high energy physics research. The cryogenic system is a hybrid design, consisting of a 4000 liter/hour central helium liquefier and twenty four 1 kw satellite refrigerators. Operating experience of the cryogenic system is discussed, including a historical perspective, accelerator systems downtime comparison, and specific hardware experiences.
Can Skin-to-Skin Holding in the NICU Support Lactation?

Purpose of study: Mothers of premature infants express breast milk for early infant feedings; however problems arise with changes in physiologic stability of the infant. This study examines the relationship of skin-to-skin holding to volume of breast milk expressed by mothers of very low birth weight (VLBW) premature infants. Subjects and methods: Twenty dyads of first-time mothers with medically stable neonates weighing 1500 g or less at birth participated in this study. Mothers pumped breast milk on regular schedules over a 5 day study enrollment, skin-to-skin held their premature infants during the study and pumped following holding their infants. Results and conclusion: Five sequential days of pumped breast milk data was collected from each mother. The holding intervention demonstrated a significant difference in breast milk volumes over the non-holding conditions with a p-value of 0.003. The clinical significance is perhaps the most important finding: Every mother expressed significantly more milk after skin-to-skin holding. Because breast milk volumes increased more than 20% after every holding intervention for every mother, skin-to-skin holding may be an integral intervention that supports lactation success in the NICU.
The lost art of the letter

Until quite recently, letters were the most common way – and often the only way – for scientists to communicate informally with each other. It is not surprising therefore that science historians have long relied on letters as invaluable sources of information.
Validation of Metrics—A Comparative Analysis of Predictive- and Criterion-Based Validation Tests in a Qualitative Study

A primary concern for researchers, when collecting self-reported data from respondents, is supporting the accuracy and reliability of the data collected. Measurement error can be introduced by questions asking for specific, factual information that may be difficult for respondents to recall. It can further increase due to the underreporting of sensitive information (Blattman et al., 2014) often attributed to social desirability. Researchers continue to struggle with finding cost-efficient and burden-free approaches to validate self-reported information. The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) collects data on the physical and emotional health of children including current and pre-existing conditions (or disabilities). As part of the NSCH Redesign study, 64 cognitive interviews were conducted with predictive and criterion-based validation tests to validate household screener items as well as items related to medical diagnosis and health insurance status. To assess predictive validity, a test-retest approach was used, whereby a subset of respondents were re-administered items from the household screener and main questionnaire two weeks subsequent to their initial interview. A separate, criterion-based validity test was conducted by asking the remaining respondents to provide documentation to validate the household screener items as well as items related to medical diagnosis and health insurance status. Respondents who did not provide documentation were asked permission to contact the child’s primary care provider. This paper addresses important issues surrounding instances where a researcher is asking respondents to provide documentation to validate reported information. For instance, we discuss the impact of requesting various types of documentation on respondent burden and the advantages and disadvantages of requesting documentation versus other means of validating information. In addition, we discuss the effectiveness of conducting re-tests in identifying potential measurement error.
Recumbent Stepper Submaximal Test response is reliable in adults with and without stroke

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to determine the reliability of the exercise response (predicted peak VO2) using the total body recumbent stepper (TBRS) submaximal exercise test in: 1) healthy adults 20–70 years of age and 2) adults participating in inpatient stroke rehabilitation. We hypothesized that the predicted peak VO2 (Visit 1) would have an excellent relationship (r > 0.80) to predicted peak VO2 (Visit 2). We also wanted to test whether the exercise response at Visit 1 and Visit 2 would be significantly different. Methods Healthy adults were recruited from the Kansas City metro area. Stroke participants were recruited during their inpatient rehabilitation stay. Eligible participants completed 2 TBRS submaximal exercise tests between 24 hours and 5 days at similar times of day. Results A total of 70 participants completed the study. Healthy adults (n = 50) were 36 M, 38.1 ± 10.1 years and stroke participants (n = 20) were 15 M, 62.5 ± 11.8 years of age. The exercise response was reliable for healthy adults (r = 0.980, p<0.01) and stroke participants (r = 0.987, p<0.01) between Visit 1 and Visit 2. Repeated Measures ANOVA showed a significant difference in predicted values between the two visits for healthy adults (47.2 ± 8.4 vs 47.7 ± 8.5 mL∙kg-1∙min-1; p = 0.04) but not for stroke participants (25.0 ± 9.9 vs 25.3 ± 11.4 mL∙kg-1∙min-1; p = 0.65). Conclusion These results suggest that the exercise response is reliable using the TBRS submaximal exercise test in this cohort of healthy adults and stroke participants.
Toll-like receptor 4 mediates fat, sugar, and umami taste preference and food intake and body weight regulation

Objective Immune and inflammatory pathways play important roles in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders. This study investigated the role of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in orosensory detection of dietary lipids and sugars. Methods Taste preferences of TLR4 knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) male mice under a standard and a high-fat, high-sugar diet were assessed with two-bottle tests. Gene expression of taste signaling molecules was analyzed in the tongue epithelium. The role of TLR4 in food intake and weight gain was investigated in TLR4 KO and WT mice fed a high-fat and high-sugar diet for 12 weeks. Results Compared to WT mice, TLR4 KO mice showed reduced preference for lipids, sugars, and umami in a two-bottle preference test. The altered taste perception was associated with decreased levels of key taste regulatory molecules in the tongue epithelium. TLR4 KO mice on a high-fat and high-sugar diet consumed less food and drink, resulting in diminished weight gain. Conclusions TLR4 signaling promotes ingestion of sugar and fat by a mechanism involving increased preference for such obesogenic foods.
Subsurface drip irrigation: A technology for safer irrigation of vegetable crops

A number of recent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses in the US have been traced to contaminated water either used in washing vegetables or in irrigating them. It is readily apparent that such foods as leafy green vegetables or crops such as melons that touch the soil surface or come in contact with irrigation water can become contaminated by pathogens in irrigation water. There is strong evidence in the literature that such crops do not become contaminated so long as the edible portions of the plant do not come in contact with irrigation water or a wetted soil surface. Thus, we undertook a modeling study utilizing the well-known software, HYDRUS-2D, to determine minimum depths of placement of irrigation tubing for subsurface irrigation that ensure that the soil surface does not become contaminated. We chose to model a cropping system commonly used for lettuce production in Arizona where the crop is nearly always irrigated using furrow irrigation. Lettuce is usually grown in Arizona in the fall and winter months when maximum crop evapotranspiration (ET) is about 4.9 mm per day. We used an application efficiency of 95% for subsurface drip irrigation on two different soil types, sandy clay loam and loam. Assuming that we would irrigate daily for two hours to apply the required 5.2 mm of water, we found water would wet the soil to a distance of 16 cm above the drip emitter in the both the clay loam and clay soils. Thus it would appear that in these soils, a drip tube placed 20 cm below the surface should avoid soil surface wetting. However, given the great spatial variability in such soil parameters as bulk density and hydraulic conductivity, we would recommend a minimum design depth of 30cm to avoid soil surface wetting.
Does National Wetland Inventory class consistently identify vegetation and edaphic differences in Oregon tidal wetlands

Accurately mapping, modeling, and managing the diversity of wetlands present in estuaries often relies on habitat classification systems that consistently identify differences in biotic structure or other ecosystem characteristics between classes. We used field data from four Oregon estuaries to test for differences in vegetation structure and edaphic characteristics among three tidal emergent marsh classes derived from National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) data: low estuarine marsh, high estuarine marsh, and tidal palustrine marsh. Independently of NWI class, we also evaluated the number and types of plant assemblages present and how edaphic variables, non-native plant cover, and plant species richness varied among them. Pore water salinity varied most strongly across marsh classes, with sediment carbon and nitrogen content, grain size and marsh surface elevation showing smaller differences. Cover of common vascular plant species differed between marsh classes and overall vegetation composition was somewhat distinct among marsh types. High estuarine marsh had the largest species pools. However, plot-level plant diversity was similar among marsh classes. Non-native species cover was highest in tidal palustrine and high estuarine marshes. The marshes in the study contained a large number of plant assemblages with most occurring across more than one marsh class. The more common assemblages occurred along a continuum of tidal elevation, soil salinity, and edaphic characteristics, with varying plant richness and non-native cover. Our data suggest that NWI classes are useful for differentiating several general features of Oregon tidal marsh structure, but that more detailed information on plant assemblages found within those wetland classes would allow more precise characterization of additional wetland features such as edaphic conditions and plant diversity.
Later Start, Longer Sleep: Implications of Middle School Start Times.

Background Although adolescents generally get less than the recommended 9 hours of sleep per night, research and effort to delay school start times have generally focused on high schools. This study assesses the relation between school start times and sleep in middle school students while accounting for potentially confounding demographic variables. Methods Seventh and eighth grade students attending 8 late starting schools (∼8:00 am, n = 630) and 3 early starting schools (∼7:23 am, n = 343) from a diverse suburban school district completed online surveys about their sleep behaviors. Doubly robust inverse probability of treatment weighted regression estimates of the effects of later school start time on student bedtimes, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness were generated. Results Attending a school starting 37 minutes later was associated with an average of 17 additional minutes of sleep per weeknight, despite an average bedtime 15 minutes later. Students attending late starting schools were less sleepy than their counterparts in early starting schools, and more likely to be wide awake. Conclusions Later school start times were significantly associated with improved sleep outcomes for early adolescents, providing support for the movement to delay school start times for middle schools.
Liquid Phase Reaction Processes

Liquid phase processing routes hold considerable promise to meet the growing demands for more reliable advanced non-oxide ceramics. These routes to new products bring the advantages that are the norm for the present, large scale chemical process industry (CPI). Indeed, most of the examples given in a well-known survey of industrial processes (Lowenheim and Moran, 1975) describe reactions with a liquid phase present at the reaction site. Only a few of these are examples with solids as the product, rather than another liquid.
Dectin-1 activation subverts the suppression of myeloid-derived suppressor cells by inducing PMN-MDSC apoptosis and monocytic MDSC differentiation to potent antigen-presenting cells in cancer (TUM6P.961)

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a heterogeneous population of immature myeloid cells that promote tumor progression. Herein, we demonstrate that activation of a C-type lectin receptor, dectin-1, in MDSC differentially modulates the function of different MDSC subsets. Yeast-derived particulate β-glucan (WGP), a ligand to engage dectin-1, oral treatment in vivo significantly decreases tumor weight and splenomegaly in tumor-bearing mice by reducing the accumulation of PMN-MDSC but not M-MDSC in spleens and tumors, and decreases PMN-MDSC suppression in vitro through the induction of respiratory burst and apoptosis. On a different axis, WGP-treated M-MDSC differentiate into F4/80 + CD11c + cells that can uptake and present OVA antigen to OVA-specific CD4 + T cells and cross-present antigen to OVA-specific CD8 + T cells in a dectin-1 dependent manner. In addition, ERK1/2 phosphorylation is required for the acquisition of APC properties in M-MDSC, since M-MDSC treated with ERK inhibitor and WGP do not differentiate into APC. Moreover, WGP-treated M-MDSC do not promote tumor growth in vivo when inoculated subcutaneously with LLC cells. Interestingly, patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that received WGP treatment prior to any treatment for two weeks had a decreased frequency of CD14 - HLA-DR - CD11b + CD33 + in the peripheral blood. Overall, these data indicate that WGP may be a potent immune modulator of MDSC suppressive function and differentiation in cancer.
The roles of Lewis acidic additives in organotransition metal catalysis

We describe recent examples of prominent reactions in organic synthesis that involve transition metal and Lewis acid cocatalysts. Introducing Lewis acid additives to transition metal catalysis can enable new reactivity or improve activity and selectivity of an existing process. Several studies are highlighted to illustrate the possible roles of Lewis acids in catalytic mechanisms. The uses of Lewis acid additives in bond-breaking catalysis (C–C activation, C–H activation, and hydrogenolysis reactions) and bond-forming catalysis (Au-catalysed alkyne functionalisation, Pd-catalysed C–C and C–N bond formation) are reviewed.
An Automated Testing Framework for Conversational Agents.

Conversational agents are systems with a conversational interface that afford interaction in spoken language. These systems are becoming prevalent and are preferred in various contexts and for many users. Despite their increasing success, the automated testing infrastructure to support the effective and efficient development of such systems compared to traditional software systems is still limited. Automated testing framework for conversational systems can improve the quality of these systems by assisting developers to write, execute, and maintain test cases. In this paper, we introduce our work-in-progress automated testing framework, and its realization in the Python programming language. We discuss some research problems in the development of such an automated testing framework for conversational agents. In particular, we point out the problems of the specification of the expected behavior, known as test oracles, and semantic comparison of utterances.
Progression-free survival (PFS) and toxicities of palbociclib in a geriatric population

Over 40% of newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer patients are ≥ 70 years old; however, this population is less likely to be represented in clinical trials. The objective of this study was to analyze PFS, dose reductions, dose delays, and toxicity in a geriatric population receiving palbociclib in a non-trial setting. Patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving palbociclib in any line of therapy were identified from a cohort of 845 patients at a large academic institution. Dose delays, dose reductions, and toxicities were retrospectively extracted from the medical record. Data were analyzed using Fischer’s exact test for categorized variables and T test/Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables. PFS and OS were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. 605 patients who met eligibility criteria were included. 160 patients were ≥ 65 years old and 92 patients were ≥ 70 years old. Patients ≥ 70 had a significantly increased number of dose reductions (p = 0.03) and dose delays (p = 0.02) compared to the younger patients. There was no significant increase in toxicities, including neutropenic fever, infections, or hospitalizations, in the ≥ 70 cohort (p = 0.3). The ≥ 70 cohort had a significantly improved PFS as compared to the younger cohort (p = 0.02); however, age was no longer a significant variable in the multivariate analysis. Palbociclib was well tolerated in the geriatric population and there was no difference in PFS between older and younger patients. These results are reassuring as palbociclib becomes the frontline standard of care therapy for patients.
Comparative Activity of Commercial Baculovirus Formulations against Heliothine Pests of Cotton

Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses have been labeled for use as microbial insecticides in agronomically-important crops in the U.S. since the 1970s. New products developed from viral isolates of different species in the heliothine genera Helicoverpa, Heliothis, and Chloridea have been introduced to the market and are receiving renewed attention for controlling heliothine pests. Two laboratory assays were used to evaluate comparative activities among the first nuclear polyhedrosis viruses registered in the U.S. and two commercially-available baculovirus products for controlling bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and tobacco budworm, Chloridea virescens (F.). Based on comparisons of LC50s of formulated products from laboratory overlay assays at 7 days, Gemstar was 2.4 and 3.7 fold less active than Elcar against bollworm and tobacco budworm, respectively. Heligen was 2.9 and 7.1 fold more active than Elcar against bollworm and tobacco budworm, respectively. However, once corrected for concentration of polyhedral occlusion bodies, susceptibility of bollworm did not differ to any of the three products tested. Tobacco budworms were more susceptible to Heligen than Gemstar in laboratory overlay assays following correction for differences in concentration of polyhedral occlusion bodies, which might be caused by interrelatedness of the species with the Old World bollworm. No discernable difference in death of bollworms or tobacco budworms was detected among the greatest labeled rate of any formulated microbial insecticide sprayed on leaves of non-Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) at 14 days and percentage of pupation at 20 days post-treatment. Although the activity of wild-type baculovirus has changed little during the past four decades, use of the products should be encouraged whenever possible. Potential ecological benefits of preserving beneficial insects and reducing selection for resistance to insecticides should be promoted as long as effectiveness and costs are reasonable.
Arsenic and Developmental Toxicity and Reproductive Disorders

Inorganic arsenic and its metabolites readily cross the placenta, which raises concerns about the health effects on the developing fetus. Toxicological studies in animals have demonstrated that high doses of arsenic are embryotoxic and teratogenic. Extrapolating arsenic’s ability to contribute to reproductive disorders is challenging because the administered doses in animal models is considerably higher than what is encountered from environmental exposures and there is considerable interspecies variability in arsenic’s toxicokinetics. This chapter examines both the toxicological and epidemiological evidence that developmental exposure to arsenic causes reproductive disorders including birth defects, infant mortality, low birth weight, and in fertility.
The Effects of Stability Ball Seating on the Behavior of Children with Autism During Instructional Activities

Children with ASD often display behavior problems that can lead to academic and social disruptions. This has led to the introduction of stability balls as an alternative seating method for children, both on the autism spectrum and with other needs. This study used a multiple baseline design and duration data to evaluate the effects of stability ball seating on attending and in-seat behavior for children with ASD who received ABA therapy in their homes. The intervention replaced their standard seating method with a stability ball. In the final phase participants chose their own seating method before beginning table work to assess preference. Following intervention the stability ball was found to increase both attending and in-seat durations for children with ASD.
A Multi-Niche Microvascularized Human Bone-Marrow-on-a-Chip

The human bone marrow (hBM) is a complex organ critical for hematopoietic and immune homeostasis, and where many cancers metastasize. Yet, understanding the fundamental biology of the hBM in health and diseases remain difficult due to complexity of studying or manipulating the BM in humans. Accurate in vitro models of the hBM microenvironment are critical to further our understanding of the BM niche and advancing new clinical interventions. Although, in vitro culture models that recapitulate some key components of the BM niche have been reported, there are no examples of a fully human, in vitro, organoid platform that incorporates the various niches of the hBM - specifically the endosteal, central marrow, and perivascular niches, thus limiting their physiological relevance. Here we report an hBM-on-a-chip that incorporates these three niches in a single micro-physiological device. Osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs produced robust mineralization on the PDMS surface (bone layer) and subsequent seeding of endothelial cells and hMSCs in a hydrogel network (central marrow) created an interconnected vascular network (perivascular niche) on top. We show that this multi-niche hBM accurately mimics the ECM composition, allows hematopoietic progenitor cell proliferation and migration, and is affected by radiation. A key finding is that the endosteal niche significantly contributes to hBM physiology. Taken together, this multi-niche micro-physiological system opens up new opportunities in hBM research and therapeutics development, and can be used to better understand hBM physiology, normal and impaired hematopoiesis, and hBM pathologies, including cancer metastasis, multiple myelomas, and BM failures.
Performance Comparison of Crowdworkers and NLP Tools onNamed-Entity Recognition and Sentiment Analysis of Political Tweets.

We report results of a comparison of the accuracy of crowdworkers and seven Natural Language Processing (NLP) toolkits in solving two important NLP tasks, named-entity recognition (NER) and entity-level sentiment (ELS) analysis. We here focus on a challenging dataset, 1,000 political tweets that were collected during the U.S. presidential primary election in February 2016. Each tweet refers to at least one of four presidential candidates, i.e., four named entities. The groundtruth, established by experts in political communication, has entity-level sentiment information for each candidate mentioned in the tweet. We tested several commercial and open-source tools. Our experiments show that, for our dataset of political tweets, the most accurate NER system, Google Cloud NL, performed almost on par with crowdworkers, but the most accurate ELS analysis system, TensiStrength, did not match the accuracy of crowdworkers by a large margin of more than 30 percent points.
Temporal Trends and Practice Patterns for Inpatient Management of Malignant Extrinsic Ureteral Obstruction in the United States.

Purpose: Malignant extrinsic ureteral obstruction (MEUO) is a challenging clinical problem. Many factors weigh into the decision to proceed with retrograde ureteral stent (RUS), nephrostomy tube (NT), or observation; however, there is no consensus for the optimal approach. The objective of this study was twofold. First, to determine practice patterns by correlating patient, hospital, and disease characteristics to manage MEUO; second, to describe treatment trends of MEUO over time. Materials and Methods: Using the National Inpatient Sample 2010-2015, we abstracted all adults with diagnoses of hydronephrosis and concurrent metastasis or lymphoma, excluding any record with a diagnosis of urinary tract stone. Multinomial regression assessed predictors of undergoing no decompression, stenting, or nephrostomy. Quarterly trends and annual percentage change of MEUO prevalence and percentage decompressed with stent vs nephrostomy were calculated. Results: There were an estimated 238,500 cases of MEUO from 2010 to 2015, of which 18.0% underwent decompression with RUS and 11.4% NT. On multinomial regression, prostate (odds ratio [OR] 1.5), bladder (1.6), cervical (1.6) cancer, academic hospitals (1.4), and acute kidney injury were among factors that most significantly increased odds of undergoing NT. Factors that significantly increased odds of undergoing RUS included colon (OR 1.4), rectal/anal (1.3), ovarian (1.2) cancer, Midwest (vs northeast) hospitals (1.4), and female gender (1.4), whereas decreased odds of RUS were associated with bladder cancer (0.7), nonwhite race (0.8), and weekend admission (0.8). While MEUO prevalence has been increasing on an average of 2.9%/year, decompression rates have been decreasing, driven solely by a decrease in RUS of 3.8%/year on average. Conclusions: There is substantial variation in approach for MEUO among patient, hospital, and disease types, with an overall decline in stenting compared with steady nephrostomy use. Further investigation into best approaches for certain patient characteristics and disease types is needed to standardize care and reduce disparities.
Recollecting: Lives of Aboriginal Women of the Canadian Northwest and Borderlands

The authors of the essays in Recollecting: Lives of Aboriginal Women in the Canadian Northwest and Borderlands successfully demonstrate that there is still more productive work to be done on the of...
“Watchful Waiting” Advice for Pediatric Ear Infections:

To reduce antibiotic use, clinical guidelines recommend treating many pediatric ear infections with watchful waiting (WW), which entails parents managing children’s symptoms while waiting to see if...
Utilization of the Thorpe-Ingold Effect in the Synthesis of Cyclooctanoid Ring Systems via Anionic 6-exo-dig Cyclization/Claisen Rearrangement Sequence.

We demonstrate a facile approach for the synthesis of gem-disubstituted cyclooctanoids, a motif found in several biologically active compounds. Appropriately substituted 1-alkenyl-5-pentyn-1-ols be...
Prostaglandin I2 signaling licenses Treg suppressive function and prevents pathogenic reprogramming

T regulatory cells (Treg) restrain both the innate and adaptive immune systems to maintain homeostasis. Allergic airway inflammation, characterized by a type 2 (Th2) response that results from a breakdown of tolerance to innocuous environmental antigens, is negatively regulated by Treg. We previously reported that prostaglandin I2 (PGI2) promoted immune tolerance in models of allergic inflammation; however, the effect of PGI2 on Treg function was not investigated. Treg from mice deficient in the PGI2 receptor IP (IP KO) had impaired suppressive capabilities during allergic airway inflammatory responses compared to mice with PGI2 signaling was intact. IP KO Treg had significantly enhanced expression of immunoglobulin-like transcript 3 (ILT3) compared to wild-type Treg, which may contribute to the impairment of the IP KO Treg's ability to suppress Th2 responses. Using fate-mapping mice, we reported that PGI2 signaling prevents Treg reprogramming toward a pathogenic phenotype. PGI2 analogs promoted the differentiation of naive T cells to Treg in both mice and humans via repression of β-catenin signaling. Finally, a missense variant in IP in humans was strongly associated with chronic obstructive asthma. Together, these data support that PGI2 signaling licenses Treg suppressive function and that PGI2 is a therapeutic target to enhance Treg function.
Homelessness, Indignity, and the Promise of Mandatory Citations for Urban Camping

Custodial arrests for the crimes intrinsically connected to homelessness, such as urban camping, inflict needless indignity on Arizona’s homeless residents. Arizona has an estimated 10,000 individuals currently experiencing homelessness, nearly half of whom are unsheltered—living on the streets, in desert washes, in vehicles, or other places not meant for human habitation. Yet the state has responded to its homelessness crisis as most states do: criminalizing simple behaviors that define the homeless experience, such a loitering in parks, resting at bus stops, obstructing sidewalks, or sleeping just about anywhere. Legal academics have long understood that treating homelessness as a crime traps individuals in cycles of poverty, pushes them toward further criminality, and is ultimately more expensive and less effective than non-carceral alternatives, such as housing-first solutions. To date, however, academic solutions have challenged criminalization itself, typically centered either on aspirational calls for code reform or on constitutional litigation strategies. These solutions have overlooked the ways in which the process of arrest itself exacerbates homelessness and imposes increased risks on those who experience it. This article, therefore, proposes a simple reform: Arizona police departments should adopt mandatory citation policies for urban camping, and similar offenses attendant to homelessness. This small, attainable reform would immediately protect the dignity of countless homeless Arizonans.
Development of Breeder-Friendly KASP Markers for Low Concentration of Kunitz Trypsin Inhibitor in Soybean Seeds

Trypsin inhibitors (TI), a common anti-nutritional factor in soybean, prevent animals’ protein digestibility reducing animal growth performance. No commercial soybean cultivars with low or null concentration of TI are available. The availability of a high throughput genotyping assay will be beneficial to incorporate the low TI trait into elite breeding lines. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a breeder friendly Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) assay linked to low Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) in soybean seeds. A total of 200 F3:5 lines derived from PI 547656 (low KTI) X Glenn (normal KTI) were genotyped using the BARCSoySNP6K_v2 Beadchip. F3:4 and F3:5 lines were grown in Blacksburg and Orange, Virginia in three years, respectively, and were measured for KTI content using a quantitative HPLC method. We identified three SNP markers tightly linked to the major QTL associated to low KTI in the mapping population. Based on these SNPs, we developed and validated the KASP assays in a set of 93 diverse germplasm accessions. The marker Gm08_44814503 has 86% selection efficiency for the accessions with low KTI and could be used in marker assisted breeding to facilitate the incorporation of low KTI content in soybean seeds.
Cyber Securing Cross-Border Financial Services: Calling for a Financial Cybersecurity Action Task Force

Cyber risk can underlie the next financial crisis. Increasing trade policies on cross-border financial services have been implemented to manage cyber-security concerns. Simply complying with the fragmented policies can cause unintended consequence for business and can even result in new cyber threat. This study develops a taxonomy to understand the effect of the trade policies for cyber-securing the cross-border financial services. The analysis reveals that a Financial Cyber-security Action Task Force, where both public and private sectors are involved, is needed to create and promote cyber norms to balance innovation and systematic cyber risk within cross-border financial systems.
Cost-effectiveness implications of increasing the efficiency of the extended-release naltrexone induction process for the treatment of opioid use disorder: a secondary analysis

Background and aims In a US randomized-effectiveness trial comparing extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) with buprenorphine-naloxone (BUP-NX) for the prevention of opioid relapse among participants recruited during inpatient detoxification (CTN-0051), the requirement to complete opioid detoxification prior to initiating XR-NTX resulted in lower rates of initiation of XR-NTX (72% XR-NTX versus 94% BUP-NX). Design This was a retrospective secondary analysis of CTN-0051 trial data, including follow-up data over 24-36 weeks. Setting Eight community-based, inpatient-detoxification and follow-up outpatient treatment facilities in the United States. Participants A total of 283 participants randomized to receive XR-NTX. Measurements Efficiency was estimated using a multivariable generalized structural equation model to explore simultaneous determinants of XR-NTX induction and induction duration (detoxification + residential days). Cost-effectiveness was estimated from the health-care sector perspective and included expected costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Findings Treatment site was the only modifiable factor that simultaneously increased the likelihood of XR-NTX induction and decreased induction duration. Incorporating the higher predicted probability of XR-NTX induction, and fewer predicted days of detoxification and subsequent residential treatment into the cost-effectiveness framework, reduced the incremental average 24-week total cost of XR-NTX treatment from $5317 more than that of BUP-NX (P = 0.01) to a non-statistically-significant difference of $1016 (P = 0.63). QALYs gained remained similar across arms. Conclusion Adopting an efficient model of extended-release naltrexone initiation could result in extended-release naltrexone and buprenorphine-naloxone being of comparable economic value from the health-care sector perspective over 24-36 weeks for patients seeking treatment for opioid use disorder at an inpatient detoxification facility.
Compressing Heavy-Tailed Weight Matrices for Non-Vacuous Generalization Bounds.

Heavy-tailed distributions have been studied in statistics, random matrix theory, physics, and econometrics as models of correlated systems, among other domains. Further, heavy-tail distributed eigenvalues of the covariance matrix of the weight matrices in neural networks have been shown to empirically correlate with test set accuracy in several works (e.g. arXiv:1901.08276), but a formal relationship between heavy-tail distributed parameters and generalization bounds was yet to be demonstrated. In this work, the compression framework of arXiv:1802.05296 is utilized to show that matrices with heavy-tail distributed matrix elements can be compressed, resulting in networks with sparse weight matrices. Since the parameter count has been reduced to a sum of the non-zero elements of sparse matrices, the compression framework allows us to bound the generalization gap of the resulting compressed network with a non-vacuous generalization bound. Further, the action of these matrices on a vector is discussed, and how they may relate to compression and resilient classification is analyzed.
Campylobacter jejuni trigger signaling through host cell focal adhesions to inhibit cell motility and impede wound repair

ABSTRACT Campylobacter jejuni is a major foodborne pathogen that exploits the focal adhesions of intestinal cells to promote invasion and cause severe gastritis. Focal adhesions are multiprotein complexes involved in bidirectional signaling between the actin cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix. We investigated the dynamics of focal adhesion structure and function in C. jejuni infected cells using a comprehensive set of approaches, including confocal microscopy of live and fixed cells, immunoblots, and super-resolution iPALM. We found that C. jejuni infection of epithelial cells results in an increased focal adhesion size and altered topology. These changes resulted in a persistent modulatory effect on the host cell focal adhesion, as evidenced by an increase in cell adhesion strength, a decrease in individual cell motility, and a reduction of collective cell migration. We discovered that C. jejuni infection causes an increase in phosphorylation of paxillin and an alteration of paxillin turnover at the focal adhesion, which together represent a potential mechanistic basis for altered cell motility. Finally, we observed that infection of epithelial cells with the C. jejuni wild-type strain in the presence of protein synthesis inhibitor, a C. jejuni CadF and FlpA fibronectin-binding protein mutant, or a C. jejuni flagellar export mutant blunts paxillin phosphorylation and partially re-establishes individual host cell motility and collective cell migration. These findings provide a potential mechanism for the restricted intestinal repair observed in C. jejuni-infected animals and raise the possibility that bacteria targeting extracellular matrix components can alter cell behavior after binding and internalization by manipulating focal adhesions.
Gordon Graham: Wittgenstein & Natural Religion

The concept of ‘‘true religion’’ is out of vogue with philosophers today, but it was once common and important in the discipline. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Hume, Spinoza, Mill, Reid, Schleiermacher, Kant and others engaged lively and interesting discussions about the grounds of religion in human nature, and the forms that ‘‘true religion’’ might take in happy and healthy human lives. They regularly used the expression ‘‘natural religion’’ to refer to faiths properly grounded in human nature, a use quite different from today’s, and they tried to map the features and possibilities of authentic faith. Hume et al. were also interested in the sort of theological and metaphysical questions that interest contemporary philosophers, but not to the exclusion of questions of the first sort. In his latest book, Gordon Graham tries to revive philosophical discussion of true religion by way of Wittgenstein. He argues that Wittgenstein’s later philosophy alerts us to religious sensibilities that are natural to human beings, but which can be stymied or fostered, much the way that our musical sensibilities can be dampened or cultivated. To neglect the development of our spiritual sensibility is to be impoverished, to some extent, as one would be impoverished by a profound insensitivity to music. Thus do ‘‘Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations ... reveal interesting dimensions of human nature that speak to the proper role of religion’’ in lives that are both personally and socially well-ordered, according to Graham (7). In fact, Graham is bitterly opposed to any and all readings of Wittgenstein that claim him as ally or adversary in debates of theistic metaphysics, that is, in philosophy of religion of the sort commonly practiced today. Graham believes that Wittgenstein has no bearing whatsoever on those debates, and he devotes about half of his book to arguments
Studies on cyclitols—XIII : Synthesis and stereochemistry of cyclopentanetriols and related epoxycyclanols

Abstract Derivatives of the three diastereomeric 1,2,3-cyclopentanetriols, and the three diastereomeric 1,2,4-cyclopentanetriols have been synthesized via reaction sequences starting with 2-cyclopentenol, 3-cyclopentenol, and various cyclopentenediols. All four isopropylidene derivatives, three mono-O-benzoylisopropylidene acetals, and five tribenzoates have been prepared. The four 1,2-anhydrocyclo-pentanetriols, their acetylated derivatives, and several other substituted cyclopentane epoxides were also prepared. The kinetics of the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of several substituted epoxides were studied, in order to assess the factors affecting such reactions. The presence or absence of intramolecular H-bonds, determined by IR spectroscopy, was useful in assigning configurations for some of the compounds. For a number of monosubstituted cyclopentane epoxides, the frequency of the IR absorption band near 840 cm −1 , which is characteristic of the oxirane ring, is correlated with the position and orientation of the substituent. The CBr stretching frequencies in several bromoepoxides have been assigned and correlated with the axial or equatorial orientation of the bromo group.
Inverse eigenvalue problems for multivariable linear systems

Many inverse eigenvalue problems appearing in control theory and other areas are characterized by polynomial equations. Algebraic geometry is the mathematical theory which deals with polynomial equations. It is extending the theory of linear algebra and it deals with the study of zero sets of systems of polynomial equations, i.e. algebraic sets and varieties, and with polynomial morphisms between varieties.
Examining teamwork and leadership in the fields of public administration, leadership, and management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of papers in ten top scholarly journals to determine their overall examination of leadership in teams and to identify which models of teamwork and leadership have been most explored by researchers. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reaches its findings through content analysis of 80 journal papers published in top academic journals from 1999 through 2012. Coding based on categories of teams, leadership and leadership styles conformed to forced choice and latent coding; two independent reviewers managed the subjectivity of the coding. Findings – Sixty per cent of the papers studied explored a group of workers whose teamwork was expected to be permanent, which receives a strong direction from a designated leader; almost that many (58.75 per cent) explored a group working with formal leadership by the worker’s supervisor; almost 50 per cent of papers explored leadership that combined two or more leadership styles simultaneously. Thi...
Dramatic increase in sea otter mortality from white sharks in California

Although southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) are not considered prey for white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), sharks do nonetheless bite sea otters. We analyzed spatial and temporal trends in shark bites on sea otters in California, assessing the frequency of shark bite wounds in 1,870 carcasses collected since 1985. The proportion of stranded sea otters having shark bites has increased sharply since 2003, and white shark bites now account for >50% of recovered carcasses. The trend was most pronounced in the southern part of the range, from Estero Bay to Point Conception, where shark bite frequency has increased eightfold. Seasonal trends were also evident: most shark-bitten carcasses are recovered in late summer and fall; however, the period of elevated shark bite frequency has lengthened. The causes of these trends are unclear, but possible contributing factors include increased white shark abundance and/or changes in white shark behavior and distribution. In particular, the spatiotemporal patterns of shark-bitten sea otters match increases in pinniped populations, and the increased availability of marine mammal prey for white sharks may have led to more sharks spending more time in nearshore waters utilized by both sea otters and pinnipeds.