cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Predictable Cost of Earnings Manipulation

Although financial reporting fraud generates considerable losses, we find that investors do not fully exploit publicly available information relevant for detecting fraud. We show that firms with a high probability of overstated earnings have lower future earnings, less persistent income-increasing accruals, and lower future returns. The trading strategy based on the probability of manipulation ranks subsumes the relation between accruals and future performance and yields a hedge return of 13.9%, mostly arising from the short position. Although this suggests a limits-to-arbitrage explanation, we show that institutional investors actually increase their holdings in firms with a high probability of manipulation, and that hedge returns remain large for firms with market capitalization in excess of $1 billion. Thus, the returns concentrated on the short side of the strategy appear to arise not from asymmetric arbitrage costs, but from asymmetric errors in the expectations of (even sophisticated) market participants.
Environmental correlates of temporary emigration for female Weddell seals and consequences for recruitment

In colonial-breeding species, prebreeders often emigrate temporarily from natal reproductive colonies then subsequently return for one or more years before producing young. Variation in attendance-nonattendance patterns can have implications for subsequent recruitment. We used open robust-design multistate models and 28 years of encounter data for prebreeding female Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii (Lesson)) to evaluate hypotheses about (1) the relationships of temporary emigration (TE) probabilities to environmental and population size covariates and (2) motivations for attendance and consequences of nonattendance for subsequent probability of recruitment to the breeding population. TE probabilities were density dependent (ˆ bBPOP ¼ 0.66, c SE ¼ 0.17; estimated effects (b) and standard errors of population size in the previous year) and increased when the fast-ice edge was distant from the breeding colonies (ˆ bDIST ¼ 0.75, c SE ¼ 0.04; estimated effects and standard errors of distance to the sea-ice edge in the current year on TE probability in the current year) and were strongly age and state dependent. These results suggest that trade-offs between potential benefits and costs of colony attendance vary annually and might influence motivation to attend colonies. Recruitment probabilities were greatest for seals that consistently attended colonies in two or more years (e.g., ˆ wage10 ¼ 0.56, SD ¼ 0.17) and lowest for seals that never or inconsistently attended prior to recruitment (e.g., ˆ wage10 ¼ 0.32, SD ¼ 0.15), where ˆ wage10 denotes the mean recruitment probability (over all years) for 10-year-old seals for the specified prebreeder state. In colonial-breeding seabirds, repeated colony attendance increases subsequent probability of recruitment to the adult breeding population; our results suggest similar implications for a marine mammal and are consistent with the hypothesis that prebreeders were motivated to attend reproductive colonies to gain reproductive skills or perhaps to optimally synchronize estrus through close association with mature breeding females.
5‐Bromo‐2,2,5‐trimethyl‐1,3‐dioxane‐4,6‐dione

[34817-42-0] C7H9BrO4 (MW 237.05) InChI = 1S/C7H9BrO4/c1-6(2)11-4(9)7(3,8)5(10)12-6/h1-3H3 InChIKey = XCOQDRFRYIKEMS-UHFFFAOYSA-N (brominating agent;1-4 transfer alkylating agent;1 used to synthesize 1,2-diketones5) Physical Data: colorless crystalline solid, mp 86 °C. Solubility: commonly used in THF solution. Preparative Methods: by treating a chloroform solution of 2,2,5-trimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4,6-dione6 with Bromine and anhydrous Sodium Fluoride. Purification: recrystallization from 2-propanol. Handling, Storage, and Precautions: good laboratory practice should be sufficient when handling this reagent. The reagent is a relatively stable brominating agent and no special measures are required for its storage.
A framework for quality improvement and patient safety education in radiation oncology residency programs

In training future radiation oncologists, we must begin to focus on training future QI specialists. Our patients are demanding better quality and safer care, and accrediting bodies are requiring it. We must equip radiation oncology trainees to be leaders in this new world. To that end, a QI/PS educational program should contain 2 components: a didactic portion focused on teaching basic QI tools as well as an overview of the quality and safety goals of the institution, and an experiential component, ideally a resident-led QI project mentored by an expert faculty member and that is linked to the department's and institution's goals.
Quantum Game Theory and Coordination in Intellectual Property

Abstract The inventive and creative works protected by intellectual property laws are typically characterized as public goods. As in the case of ordinary public goods, it is often difficult for inventors and creators to erect non-legal barriers to prevent the use of their works (non-excludability), and any such use generally does not deplete their works (non-rivalry). Thus, scholars have long used classical game theoretic models of public goods to describe the strategies of players in intellectual property (IP) games. These models contain two seemingly common-sense assumptions: one, that if there are a finite number of decisions a player can make for any single move, the player must make exactly one decision; and two, that if a player engages only in a single game, the player will break a pre-game commitment with another player to follow a mutually beneficial strategy if it is in that player’s self-interest. Abstract Recent extensions to classical game theory using the theory of quantum mechanics -- known as quantum game theory (QGT) -- have dispensed with these two assumptions, yielding radical new results for many types of games. For instance, in the classical version of the prisoner’s dilemma, two prisoners will fail to cooperate even though it is in their mutual interest to do so. However, in the quantum version, the prisoners’ decisions are often “entangled” in a mutually beneficial way that overcomes the ostensible barriers of classical self-interest, leading the players to cooperate. In this regard, quantum game theorists have suggested that if some exogenous quantum mechanical mechanism -- like a quantum computer -- could be used to entangle players in a public-goods game, doing so would diminish or eliminate sub-optimal free riding.Abstract This paper contends that there are endogenous effects analogous to those in quantum games -- specifically, quantum game-like results that emerge in the absence of external quantum computers -- in certain types of IP games that may act to reduce classically predicted free riding, duplicated development costs, and deadweight losses. In particular, instead of modeling underlying IP rights as classical entities, this paper follows the suggestions of several earlier scholars that legal rights are probabilistic and, at least metaphorically, quantum in nature. In so doing, it shows that rights, including IP rights, exhibit an inherent quantum structure that allows players to avoid making a single classical choice for each move. By allowing the government -- as a mechanism designer -- to engage in quantum strategies, ordinary players can exhibit forms of seemingly altruistic behavior and cooperation that are absent in classical models. The paper concludes by commenting briefly on how QGT might be applied more broadly to other areas of the law.
Anti-Isomorphisms vs. Isomorphisms

(1971). Anti-Isomorphisms vs. Isomorphisms. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 102-103.
New Syrphidæ and Tachinidæ

Descriptions of new species of flies from various parts of the world are given herewith. Rather than present separate papers each dealing with a different faunal region, the descriptions are presented in the one paper. Disposition of the types is indicated following each species.
Experimental verification of a finite element model based functional observer for structural systems

The objective of this paper is to present the results of an experimental study aimed at verifying the performance of an algorithm developed by one of the authors for state estimation in structural and mechanical systems subject to unmeasured excitations realizations of random processes with known spectral density matrix. The proposed algorithm operates as a modified finite element model of the original system, driven by corrective forces which are linear combinations of the noise contaminated measurements. The proposed method is capable of handling large-scale finite element models, and any quantity in the modified model constitutes an estimate of the corresponding quantity in the system. A laboratory model consisting of an aluminium cantilever beam was used to perform the test, where two types of loading conditions were tested: an impact hammer test and a banded white noise excitation through a shaker. The experimental results of the proposed estimator are compared to other techniques, such as a Luenberger observer and the Kalman filter. The quality displayed by the proposed observer exceeded or was comparable to the compared methods with the advantage of reduced computational cost.
Automated Droplet Manipulation Using Closed-Loop Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis.

Droplet manipulation plays an important role in a wide range of scientific and industrial applications, such as synthesis of thin-film materials, control of interfacial reactions, and operation of digital microfluidics. Compared to micron-sized droplets, which are commonly considered as spherical beads, millimeter-sized droplets are generally deformable by gravity, thus introducing nonlinearity into control of droplet properties. Such a nonlinear drop shape effect is especially crucial for droplet manipulation, even for small droplets, at the presence of surfactants. In this paper, we have developed a novel closed-loop axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA), integrated into a constrained drop surfactometer (CDS), for manipulating millimeter-sized droplets. The closed-loop ADSA generalizes applications of the traditional drop shape analysis from a surface tension measurement methodology to a sophisticated tool for manipulating droplets in real time. We have demonstrated the feasibility and advantages of t...
The Regulating Research on Relationship Between Laser Melting Strengthening Layer of M2 High Speed Steel Shaper Cutters and Hardness of the Blade

Having studied Changes of hardness and surface roughness of strengthened layer of M2( W6Mo5Cr4V2) high-speed steel before and after surffering laser melting quenching and first tempering of 570 ℃,and analyzed the processing position of M2 high speed steel shaping cutter laser melting. And discussed the microhardness changing rules of blade parts of tool after surffering laser strengthening and finishing. Experimental studies show that: samples get different surface hardness after laser melting quenching of different process parameters combinations. After surffering tempering once again,the sample surface exhibited significant secondary hardening effect and the roughness values is stable; The microhardness changing rules of face blade parts of pinion cutter has engineering applicability,and provides the experimental basis for selecting the best laser process parameters and process method.
Varieties of stapled anastomoses of the esophagus.

The rationale for esophageal replacement or bypass is described, and based on the substitute organ chosen various anastomoses and reconstruction of gastrointestinal continuity are demonstrated.
Retroperitoneal calcifying fibrous tumor mimicking an adrenal tumor.

Establishing the etiology of a retroperitoneal tumor may be difficult due to close proximity of multiple organs. Evaluation of retroperitoneal tumors often leads to surgery, many times to obtain a definitive diagnosis and rule out malignancy. Calcifying fibrous tumors (CFT) are very rare soft tissue tumors occurring most often in young patients. They are most often found arising in the thoracic cavity, mediastinum, abdominal cavity and extremities and usually have a benign clinical course. Macrocscopically, the tumors are well circumscribed and firm with a white-tan appearance. Histologically, CFT comprised a hypocellular proliferation of bland spindle cells, densely hyalinized collagen, chronic lymphoplasmacytic inflammation and dystrophic calcifications. Other considerations in the pathologic differential diagnosis include solitary fibrous tumor and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.
Temporal and spatial gait parameters in children with Cri du Chat Syndrome under single and dual task conditions.

Abstract Aim To describe temporal and spatial gait characteristics in individuals with Cri du Chat syndrome (CdCS) and to explore the effects of performing concurrent manual tasks while walking. Methods The gait parameters of 14 participants with CdCS (mean age 10.3, range 3–20 years) and 14 age-matched controls (mean age 10.1, range 3–20 years) were collected using the GAITRite ® instrumented walkway. All participants first walked without any concurrent tasks and then performed 2 motor dual task walking conditions (pitcher and tray). Results Individuals with CdCS took more frequent, smaller steps than controls, but, on average, had a comparable gait speed. In addition, there was a significant task by group interaction. Participants decreased gait speed, decreased cadence, decreased step length, and increased% time in double limb support under dual task conditions compared to single task conditions. However, the age-matched controls altered their gait for both manual tasks, and the participants with CdCS only altered their gait for the tray task. Interpretation Although individuals with CdCS ambulate with a comparable gait speed to age-matched controls under single task conditions, they did not significantly alter their gait when carrying a pitcher with a cup of water inside, like controls. It is not clear whether or not individuals with CdCS had difficulty attending to task demands or had difficulty modifying their gait.
GPU-Accelerated High-Throughput Online Stream Data Processing

The Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) architecture of Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) makes them perfect for parallel processing of big data. In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of G-Storm , a GPU-enabled parallel system based on Storm, which harnesses the massively parallel computing power of GPUs for high-throughput online stream data processing. G-Storm has the following desirable features: 1) G-Storm is designed to be a general data processing platform as Storm, which can handle various applications and data types. 2) G-Storm exposes GPUs to Storm applications while preserving its easy-to-use programming model. 3) G-Storm achieves high-throughput and low-overhead data processing with GPUs. 4) G-Storm accelerates data processing further by enabling Direct Data Transfer (DDT), between two executors that process data at a common GPU. We implemented G-Storm based on Storm 0.9.2 and tested it using three different applications, including continuous query, matrix multiplication and image resizing. Extensive experimental results show that 1) Compared to Storm, G-Storm achieves over 7× improvement on throughput for continuous query, while maintaining reasonable average tuple processing time. It also leads to 2.3× and 1.3× throughput improvements on the other two applications, respectively. 2) DDT significantly reduces data processing time.
Model-free Q-learning optimal resource allocation in uncertain communication networks

This paper examines optimal resource allocation for uncertain communication networks with application to Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). The aim of the paper is to test the hypothesis that Q-learning can provide an adaptive strategy that reduces or eliminates congestion in a real-time communication network by appropriate channel bandwidth allocation. To demonstrate this, we use a local linear state-space network model with congestion as the network state and bandwidth as the control input. A novel adaptive estimator is developed to approximate the ideal optimal cost in real-time and obtain the network control gain using the Bellman equation. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed Q-learning approach in eliminating network congestion. The closed-loop system is shown to be asymptotically stable and the estimated control inputs approaches the ideal optimal control signals asymptotically in the presence of model uncertainty.
Resonance Production in Two-Photon Interactions.

Resonance production in two-photon interactions is studied using data collected with the ASP detector at the PEP e/sup +/e/sup /minus// storage ring located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The ASP detector is a non-magnetic lead-glass calorimeter constructed from 632 lead-glass bars. It covers 94% of 4..pi.. in solid angle, extending to within 20/degree/ of the beamline. Lead-scintillator calorimeters extend the coverage to within 21 mr of the beamline on both sides. Energy resolution of ..sqrt..E/10%, where E is the energy is GeV, is achieved for electrons and photons in the lead-glass calorimeter, and particle trajectories are reconstructed with high efficiency. A total luminosity of 108 pb/sup /minus/1/ was collected with the ASP detector at a center-of-mass energy of 29 GeV. The observed process is e/sup +/e/sup /minus// ..-->.. e/sup +/e/sup /minus//..gamma..*..gamma..* ..-->.. e/sup +/e/sup /minus//X, is a pseudoscalar resonance (J/sup PC/ = 0/sup /minus/+/) and ..gamma..* is a virtual (mass /ne/ 0) photon. The outgoing electrons scatter down the beampipe and are not detected. The observed resonances are the /eta/ and /eta/' mesons, with masses of 549 and 958 MeV, respectively. They are detected in the ..gamma gamma.. decay mode; a total of 2380 +- 49 /eta/ ..-->.. ..gammamore » gamma.. and 568 +- 26 /eta/' ..-->.. ..gamma gamma.. events are observed. From the number of events, the detection efficiency, and the calculated production cross sections the radiative widths, GAMMA/sub ..gamma gamma../, of the /eta/ and /eta/' were measured and found to be: GAMMA/sub ..gamma gamma../(/eta/) = .481 +- .010 +- .047keV and GAMMA/sub ..gamma gamma../(/eta/') = 4.71 +- .22 +- .70keV. These results are in good agreement with the world average values. 67 refs., 42 figs., 20 tabs.« less
Le bilinguisme comme genèse du projet beckettien

Cet essai veut s’ inscrire dans la perspective d’ un ‘devenir de la critique genetique’ qui depasserait les frontieres de l’ ecrit. Il propose ainsi d’ adapter les methodes hermeneutiques et objets scientifiques de cette critique pour rendre compte du processus de creation a l’ origine de l’ Œuvre bilingue beckettienne. Dans ce but, il repere dans la structure de l’ ecriture bilingue la trace d’ un travail mental qui permet de reconstituer une ‘genese du commencement.’ Cette reconstitution se fonde sur une analyse genetique heterodoxe conduite a partir de la remanence de l’ activite creatrice.
Teaching the New NMR: A Computer-Aided Introduction to the Density Matrix Formalism of Multipulse Sequences

This paper constitutes a guide for the use of density matrix calculations in the description of multipulse nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. In keeping with its didactic nature, the article follows in more detail than usual the evolution of the density matrix elements from the thermal equilibrium stage to the final magnetization behavior during the detection. Rotation operators covering a wide variety of pulses are presented, together with the formalism necessary to predict the evolution of the spin ensemble between and after pulses. The final calculation of the observables is then described. A two-dimensional nmr sequence is used for “step-by-step” illustration.
Cap-assisted colonoscopy: a meta-analysis of high-quality randomized controlled trials.

Background and study aims Standard colonoscopy (SC) is the preferred modality for screening for colon cancer; however, it carries a significant polyp/adenoma miss rate. Cap-assisted colonoscopy (CC) has been shown to improve polyp/adenoma detection rate, decrease cecal intubation time and increase cecal intubation rate when compared to standard colonoscopy (SC). However, data on adenoma detection rate (ADR) are conflicting. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the performance of CC with SC for ADR among high-quality randomized controlled trials. Patients and methods We performed an extensive literature search using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane and Web of Science databases and abstracts published at national meetings. Only comparative studies between CC and SC were included if they reported ADR, adenoma per person (APP), cecal intubation rate, and cecal intubation time. The exclusion criterion for comparing ADR was studies with Jadad score ≤ 2. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated using Mantel-Haenszel method. I2 test was used to measure heterogeneity among studies. Results Analysis of high-quality studies (Jadad score ≥ 3, total of 7 studies) showed that use of cap improved the ADR with the results being statistically significant (OR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.03 – 1.33) and detection of 0.16 (0.02 – 0.30) additional APP. The cecal intubation rate in the CC group was 96.3 % compared to 94.5 % with SC (total of 17 studies). Use of cap improved cecal intubation (OR 1.61, 95 % CI 1.33 – 1.95) when compared to SC (P value Conclusions Meta-analysis of high-quality studies showed that CC improved the ADR compared to SC.
Effects of bazedoxifene/conjugated estrogens on reproductive endocrinology and reproductive tract ultrasonographic appearance in premenopausal women: a preliminary study.

Bazedoxifene (BZA) paired with conjugated estrogens (CE) is the first tissue selective estrogen receptor complex (TSEC) approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment ...
Network Management of Multicluster RT-WiFi Networks

Applying wireless technologies in cyber-physical systems (CPSs) has received significant attention in recent years. In our previous work, a high-speed and flexible real-time wireless communication protocol called RT-WiFi was designed to support a wide range of CPSs, and we presented an implementation with a single access point (AP). To serve the CPS applications with communication nodes geographically distributed over a large area, multicluster RT-WiFi networks with multiple APs need to be deployed. Although effective scheduling algorithms have been designed to schedule tasks in RT-WiFi networks with a single AP, uncoordinated packet transmissions from multicluster RT-WiFi networks may suffer from cochannel interferences that cause performance degradation. The multicluster RT-WiFi network management problem is to resolve the cochannel interference through channel assignment for clusters and through phasing assignment for communication tasks. In this article, we first derive a conjunctive normal form encoding of the problem and design a TScheduler that searches feasible solutions through the SAT solver. A novel LRTree Scheduler is further designed to solve the problem in chain graphs while keeping the number of used channels small and the network management overhead low. A testbed of the multicluster RT-WiFi network is deployed to validate the design of the multicluster RT-WiFi network and evaluate the performance of the proposed scheduling algorithms compared to the contention-based methods in regular WiFi networks. Performance of these scheduling algorithms in large-scale networks is further evaluated through extensive simulations on both static and dynamic multicluster RT-WiFi networks.
TIMING OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD INTEGRATED DECISION AID (IDEA) FOR STROKE PREVENTION IN ATRIAL FIBRILLATION MATTERS

Although the use of shared decision making (SDM) in cardiology is increasingly recommended, how to best integrate SDM into clinical encounters is unclear. We tested the efficacy of an electronic health record integrated decision aid (IDeA) to determine its impact on knowledge of personalized stroke
Variables affecting the maintenance of L2 proficiency and fluency four years post-study abroad

Abstract This study explored the attrition / maintenance of second language (L2) proficiency by examining longitudinally the oral skills of a group of L2 French and L2 Spanish participants (n = 33) four years after study abroad, and three years after completing an undergraduate degree in languages. Multiple regressions were conducted to determine the extent to which language contact / use and attained proficiency at the end of study abroad could predict changes in fluency and oral proficiency. Results demonstrated that those variables that improved significantly during study abroad (e.g., speech rate) were maintained four years later. The amount of target language contact / use played a role in maintenance of aspects of fluency such as speech rate and frequency of silent pauses, whereas proficiency attained at the end of study abroad played a role in the use of corrections. Both language contact / use and proficiency attained are important variables in the long-term maintenance of overall proficiency.
Measurements, Metrics, and Modeling of Normal-Incidence Acoustic Interaction With Ocean Sediment

Normal-incidence echosounder signals are attractive for sediment characterization since they can be done easily and remotely over a large area. However, in addition to being sensitive to sediment type, these measurements are also sensitive to other factors such as layers, scattering, and gradients, which make sediment characterization much more difficult. In this study, a well-characterized set of normal-incidence bottom loss measurements are compared with a finite element model using measured environmental parameters such as sound speed, attenuation, and interface roughness. The acoustic measurements were taken in the midfrequency range (5–10 kHz) during the Target and Reverberation Experiment near the Florida panhandle in May 2013. To make the comparison, two sets of metrics were considered. The first was based on the statistical moments of the acoustic signal, a method commonly used for sediment characterization. The second set of metrics was based on features of the return identified by physical mechanisms. It was determined that the physically derived metrics were more robust for model-data comparison. The three physically derived metrics used were bottom loss, full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM), and the ratio of the half-width-at-half-maximum (HWHM) before the peak to the HWHM after the peak (i.e., HWHM ratio). The finite-element model allowed for effects such as layering, gradients, and interface roughness to be disambiguated from the bulk sediment parameters, thus identifying the influence of these factors on the normal-incidence echo return. Considering all measured environmental and sediment properties, the model could not account for all of the bottom loss without a substantially lower value for the density than measured. Thus, the sediment was modeled using an effective density, a proxy for poroelastic effects. Although the low density model was consistent for most of the data for all three metrics, several areas of outliers in both FWHM and HWHM ratio indicated that other mechanisms such as volume scattering may be important in some areas.
Model-Free Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC): A Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework

In this paper, a novel deep reinforcement learning (deep-RL) framework is proposed to provide model-free ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC) in the downlink of an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system. The proposed deep-RL framework can guarantee high end-to-end reliability and low end-to-end latency, under data rate constraints, for each user in the cellular system without any models of or assumptions on the users' traffic. Using the proposed model-free approach, the users' traffic is predicted by the deep-RL framework and subsequently used in the resource allocation, irrespective of the actual underlying model. The problem is posed as a power minimization problem under reliability, latency, and rate constraints. To solve this problem using deep-RL, first, the rate of each user is determined. Then, these rates are mapped to the resource block and power allocation vectors of the studied OFDMA system. Finally, the end-to-end reliability and latency of each user are used as a feedback to the deep-RL framework. It is shown that at the fixed-point of the deep-RL algorithm, the reliability and latency of the users are guaranteed. Simulation results show how the proposed approach can achieve any feasible point in the rate-reliability-latency region, depending on the network and service requirements. For example, for a 7 Mbps rate guarantee, the results show that the proposed algorithm can provide ultra-reliable low latency communication with a delay of 8 milliseconds and a reliability of 98&#x0025;.
The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder

This is an important and provocative book by Sean McFate, former US Army Officer, faculty member at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and The National Defense University, and a Senior Fellow a...
Types of Malingering in PTSD: Evidence from a Psychological Injury Paradigm

The extent to which persons may feign or malinger psychological symptoms is an important concern for civil litigation, specifically in the context of personal injury. The consequences inherent in personal injury cases involving psychological distress require an understanding of how malingering presents in medico-legal contexts, and how it can be assessed using available measures. Symptom validity tests (SVTs) and performance validity tests (PVTs) have been developed to assist in the detection of feigned psychological illness and neurocognitive impairment. While demonstrated divergence between symptom-based and performance-based outcomes have been demonstrated in civil litigants with posttraumatic symptoms after the experience of a physical injury, limited research has evaluated how these measures operate in the context of psychological injury alone. The present study evaluated the relationships among symptom-based and performance-based measures of malingering under a simulated personal injury paradigm in which psychological but not physical injury was sustained. A total of 411 undergraduate participants completed four measures of malingered symptomatology, including both symptom validity and performance validity indicators. Participants were instructed to respond to measures as if they were experiencing common emotional, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms of PTSD following a motor vehicle accident. Using a multi-trait multi-method matrix, weaker correlations were found between PVT and SVTs (ranging from .15 to .28), but moderate significant correlations were found across symptom validity measures (.51 to .65), thus demonstrating an expected dissociation between methods of malingering assessment. Additional analyses support the stability of these findings, when accounting for past exposure to motor vehicle accidents, and replicated the need for a multiple failure approach. Findings are consistent with expectations of convergent and discriminant validity and support the conceptualization of malingered PTSD as a non-unitary construct that is composed of multiple domains or “types,” as reflected by a lack of convergence between SVT and PVT methods. In practice, evaluators of psychological injury are encouraged to utilize more than one measure of malingering, including both PVT and SVT approaches, when PTSD is alleged.
Inhibition of germination and outgrowth of Clostridium perfringens spores by buffered calcium, potassium and sodium citrates in cured and non-cured injected pork during cooling

Abstract Inhibition of Clostridium perfringens spore germination and outgrowth by buffered calcium, potassium, and sodium citrates (Ca-Cit, K-Cit, and Na-Cit, respectively) during exponential cooling of non-cured and cured pork was evaluated. Antimicrobials were added to a base formulation of a pork product at a final concentration of 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5% w/w along with a control (without citrates). A three strain cocktail of C. perfringens spores was added to achieve a final spore population of 2.5–3.0 log CFU/g. Heat treatment and exponential cooling of inoculated, non-cured and cured control pork from 54.4 °C to 7.2 °C in 6.5, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 h resulted in C. perfringens spore germination and outgrowth of 0.52, 1.53, 4.45, 4.81, 5.83, 6.98 log CFU/g and 0.52, 1.55, 3.45, 4.59, 5.65 and 6.04 log CFU/g, respectively. Incorporation of K- or Na-citrates (>1.0%) inhibited germination and outgrowth of C. perfringens spores (
Opioid Crisis in the Rural U.S.

This chapter describes geographic trends in opioid mortality in the United States and discusses these trends within the broader contexts of declining U.S. rural health and “deaths of despair.” I elucidate macro-level economic and social explanations for the emergence and perpetuation of the opioid crisis. I discuss geographic variation in the crisis and summarize the consequences for rural families and communities. Some promising upstream strategies for addressing the social and economic determinants of the opioid crisis and other substance problems in the hardest-hit rural communities are proposed. Ultimately, the information presented dispels the myth that the opioid crisis is disproportionately rural and demonstrates that the magnitude of the problem varies considerably across different types of rural places. Furthermore, I urge to view the U.S. opioid problem from within the larger context of economic, family, health, and social problems occurring between and within communities along the rural–urban continuum.
Cultivating a Community of Practice through Podcasting.

While innovation in pharmacy education can be sparked through many avenues, the opportunity to learn and engage with others through practice communities is considered by many as a creative outlet for exchange and discovery. This commentary specifically describes a contemporary approach to promote such a dialogue globally through podcasting, which is a free and highly accessible medium for dissemination and exchange of innovative teaching practices. In 2018, two faculty from two colleges of pharmacy created a podcast titled Leadership Development in Pharmacy Education (LDPEcast), which provides a unique modality to stimulate discussion and disseminate ideas within the community of practice. This commentary provides a case illustration for how a podcast can be intentionally designed and implemented with the goal of inspiring engagement across a global practice community. Early results of the podcast have been largely successful with nearly 1000 episode downloads and an additional 445 episode streams from audience members. While this podcast was designed specifically to discuss leadership integration within pharmacy training, opportunities may exist for further exploration of podcasting to spread innovative ideas, practices, and evaluative approaches in pharmacy education, while strengthening connections and elevating communities of practice across institutions. Article Type: Commentary
Assessing the Efficiency of Pan Traps for Collecting Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Native bees provide important economic and ecological functions that include pollination of agricultural crops and natural plant communities, thus conservation of their declining populations is important. The use of pan traps for collecting and monitoring bee populations has become widespread because the method samples widely different habitats with equal effort. However, to the best of our knowledge no efforts have attempted to quantify their efficiency. We measured the efficiency of pan traps at collecting bees by using video cameras to record individuals coming to the traps. Videoed bees were classified as approaching the trap, making contact with the trap, or being captured. During 52 h of video, 16 bees (19%) were captured, 25 bees (30%) made contact with the trap but were not captured, and 42 bees (51%) approached the trap and departed without making contact. The results of this study suggest that pan traps collect <20% of the bees that are attracted to it and are likely to overestimate the abundance of smaller-bodied bees such as Lasioglossum spp.
Understanding the trajectory of research efforts in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors: a bibliometric analysis of the 50 most impactful studies to date

Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a highly malignant embryonal tumor of the central nervous system (CNS) that occurs predominantly in children. More is being discovered about this disease to improve understanding and outcomes. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate citation and other bibliometric characteristics of the 50 most cited articles in the contemporary literature in order to better model the trajectory of our current efforts. Elsevier’s Scopus database was searched for the 50 most cited articles about ATRT. To look for trends, earliest 25 articles were separated from the latest 25 articles and then were compared. Various bibliometric parameters were summarized and compared using Pearson’s chi-square and Mann–Whitney U tests. The 50 most cited articles were published between 1990 and 2016, from 5 unique countries in 29 unique journals, with genetic and retrospective observational cohort studies the most common design (n = 11 each). Overall median values were as follows: citation count, 145.4 citations (range, 67–626); citation rate per year, 11.7 (range, 3.5–51.4); number of authors 12 (range, 1–95); with 32 (64%) originating from the USA. Compared with older articles, newer articles had statistically lower citation counts (101.8 vs 189.0; P < 0.01), higher number of authors (17.3 vs 6.6; P < 0.01), and were less likely published from the USA (40% vs 88%; P < 0.01) The 50 most cited articles about ATRT were characterized in this analysis. There was a distinct focus in these studies on the genetic composition and consequences of these tumors. Trends over time suggest greater impact will be had in highly collaborative efforts worldwide. Moving forward, it will be of great interest to see how the findings of these basic science finding will translate into future clinical studies.
Celebrating a Unified Ethnic Identity: The Tahitian Heiva:

The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the island of Tahiti, the long-running music and sport festival known as Heiva, and a popular children's song. Also offered are ideas for i...
$E_2$ structures and derived Koszul duality in string topology

We construct an equivalence of E 2 algebras between two models for the Thom spectrum of the free loop space that are related by derived Koszul duality. To do this, we describe the functoriality and invariance properties of topological Hochschild cohomology.
Wait Time Based Pricing for Queues with Customer-Chosen Service Times

This paper studies a pricing problem for a single-server queue where customers arrive according to a Poisson process. For each arriving customer, the service provider announces a price rate and a system wait time, and the customer decides whether to join the queue, and, if so, the duration of the service time. The objective is to maximize either the long-run average revenue or social welfare. We formulate this problem as a continuous-time control model whose optimality conditions involve solving a set of delay differential equations. We develop an innovative method to obtain the optimal control policy, whose structure reveals interesting insights. The optimal dynamic price rate policy is not monotonic in wait time. In particular, in addition to the congestion effect often reported in the literature, i.e., the optimal price rate increases in the queue length (measured by the wait time in our setting), we find a compensation effect, meaning that the service provider should lower the price rate when the wait time is longer than a threshold. Compared with the prevalent flat pricing policy, our optimal dynamic pricing policy improves the objective value through admission control, which, in turn, increases the utilization of the server. We use a real data set obtained from a public charging station to calibrate our model with an objective of maximizing the average revenue. We find that our optimal pricing policy outperforms the best flat pricing policy, especially when the arrival rate is low and drivers are impatient. Interestingly, our revenue-maximizing pricing policy also improves social welfare over the flat pricing policy in most of the tested cases.
Navigation-Guided Subaxial Cervical Pedicle Screws in Revision Spine Surgery: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

Traditionally, lateral mass screws (LMSs) have been the mainstay of posterior fixation in the subaxial spine. Although LMSs provide adequate fixation, cervical pedicle screws (CPSs) facilitate high fusion rates (90.5%) and provide for greater bone purchase, better reduction, lower rates of screw loosening or pull out, 2 times greater biomechanical advantage, superior stabilization, decreased development of pseudarthrosis, and decreased revision surgeries compared to LMSs.1-4 In addition, CPSs can be a powerful bail-out option after lateral mass construct failure. Navigation-guided CPS placement has been reported to have an accuracy of 90.3%.5 Navigation has the added advantage of mitigating screw malposition for the placement of CPS because of the smaller pedicle sizes and variability in cervical anatomy.1,3,6 The potential risks of subaxial CPS placement include the risks of vertebral artery injury, spinal cord injury, and injury to adjacent neurovasculature.2 The overall radiographic breach rate with intraoperative imaging is reported to range from 2.9% of 22.9%, with the majority of breaches occurring in the lateral direction.7,8 Despite radiographic breaches, the occurrence of nerve root injury (0.31% per screw), vertebral artery injury (0.15% per screw), and spinal cord injury (0% per screw) is rare.3,7 Here, we demonstrate navigation-assisted C1-C2 posterior fusion, with combined C1 LMSs and C2 pedicle screws with subaxial pedicle screw revision of prior failed instrumentation.3 The patient gave informed consent for surgery and video recording. Institutional review board approval was deemed unnecessary.
Uniaxial and biaxial strain engineering in 2D MoS 2 with lithographically patterned thin film stressors

We introduce a controllable approach to selectively strain (uniaxially or biaxially) MoS2 by depositing e-beam evaporated thin film stressors with a lithographically patterned stripe geometry. This type of strain engineering has been highly successful in commercial silicon-based CMOS processes to enhance carrier mobility by applying uniaxial strain in MOSFET channels. We attempt to outline the basis for using the same techniques with 2D van der Waals materials with weak out-of-plane bonding. The stressor in this work is chosen to be optically transparent to examine the strain distribution within MoS2 using Raman spectroscopic mapping. MoS2 flakes with partial tensile stressor coverage show large tensile strains close to free edges and compressive strain at the center of the stressor strip. Both in-plane and out-of-plane strains are observed. By varying strip width and MoS2 flake thickness, the geometric distribution of both tensile and compressive strained regions can be controlled. The directionality of strain induced by the stressor strip is also explored through polarized Raman spectroscopy where MoS2 shows 0.85% uniaxial strains occurring at strip edges for 25 N/m film force and biaxial strains occurring at strip centers using the same stressor. Using these combined techniques, we show that strain in 2D materials can be uniquely engineered by design to selectively exhibit tension/compression, uniaxiality/biaxiality, and directionality relative to crystal axes through simple lithographic patterning of stressed thin films. This opens the opportunity to create strain patterned devices with a wide variety of strain-tunable 2D materials properties (electronic, optical, superconducting, etc.), now controllable by micro/nanolithographic design.
Routine Peptide Mapping by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

The routine application of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to many phases of protein primary structural determination is currently underway and all aspects cannot thoroughly be detailed herein. Examples of such applications include: 1) subnanomolar analytical mapping of protein digests for comparative purposes such as comparison of digestion conditions and comparison of proteins from different species or tissues; 2) nanomolar analytical mapping for amino acid compositional and end group studies on isolated peptides; 3) preparative mapping of milligram quantities of protein digests for sequence analysis, immunological and biological activity measurements, etc. Intestinal calcium-binding proteins (CaBP) from the cow (75 residues, Mr = 8,500) and chick (242 residues, Mr = 28,000), the primary structures of which have been under investigation in this laboratory, will serve as examples of these applications.
SU-E-T-242: Design of a Novel Afterloader Clearance QA Device for Biliary HDR Therapy

Purpose: Bile duct cancer affects 2–3 thousand people annually in the United States. Radiation therapy has been shown to double median survival, with combined external beam and intraluminal high dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy being most effective. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) biliary HDR, a less-invasive alternative to trans-hepatic brachytherapy, is delivered through a catheter that travels a tortuous path from nose to bile duct, requiring wire drive force and dexterity beyond typical afterloader performance specifications. Thus, specific afterloader quality assurance(QA) is recommended for this procedure. Our aim was to create a device and process for Varisource afterloader clearance QA with objectives that it be quantitative and can monitor afterloader performance over time, compare performance between two distinct afterloaders and potentially Result in a predictive nomogram for patient-specific clearance. Methods: Based on retrospective reconstruction of 20 ERCP patient anatomies, we designed a phantom to test afterloader ability to drive the source wire along an intended treatment path. The ability of the afterloader to fully extend the intended treatment path is a function of number and diameters of turns. We have determined experimentally that relative position of the turns does not impact performance. Results: Both patient and QA paths involve three common turns/loops: a large turn representing the stomach(10.8cm±2.0cm), an elliptical loop representing the duodenum(7.3cm±1.5cmx4.8cm±0.7cm), and a final turn at the end of the bile duct that may be tight for some patient-specific anatomies and absent in others(3.7cm±0.7cm, where present). Our phantom design uses anatomical average turn diameters for the stomach and duodenum then terminates in a turn of quantitatively selectable diameter. The smallest final turn diameter that an afterloader can pass is recorded as the QA parameter. Conclusion: With this device and QA process, we have the ability to quantitatively evaluate and track our afterloader performance for a technically challenging ERCP brachytherapy procedure.