cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regression analysis of automated measurment systems

Automated measurement systems are dependent upon successfully application of multiple integrated systems to perform measurement analysis on various units-under-tests (UUT)s. Proper testing, fault isolation and detection of a UUT are contingent upon accurate measurements of the automated measurement system. This paper extends previous presentation from 2007 AUTOTESTCON on the applicability of measurement system analysis for automated measurement systems. The motivation for this research was to reduce risk of transportability issues from legacy measurement systems to emerging systems. Improving regression testing utilizing parametric metadata for large scale automated measurement systems over existing regression testing techniques which provides engineers, developers and management increased confidence that mission performance is not compromised. The utilization of existing software statistical tools such as MinitabR provides the necessary statistical techniques to evaluate measurement capability of automated measurement systems. By applying measurement system analysis to assess the measurement variability between the US Navypsilas two prime automated test systems the Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) and the Reconfigurable-Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System (RTCASS). Measurement system analysis shall include capability analysis between one selected CASS and RTCASS instrument to validate measurement process capability; general linear model to assess variability between stations, multivariate analysis to analyze measurement variability of UUTs between measurement systems, and gage repeatability and reproducibility analysis to isolate sources of variability at the UUT testing level.
Psychopathic personality traits: heritability and genetic overlap with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology

Background. Little research has examined genetic and environmental contributions to psychopathic personality traits. Additionally, no studies have examined etiological connections between psychopathic traits and the broad psychopathological domains of internalizing (mood and anxiety) and externalizing (antisocial behavior, substance abuse). The current study was designed to fill these gaps in the literature. Method. Participants were 626 pairs of 17-year-old male and female twins from the community. Psychopathic traits were indexed using scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology were obtained via structured clinical interviews. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate genetic and environmental influences on psychopathic personality traits as well as the degree of genetic overlap between these traits and composites of internalizing and externalizing. Results. Twin analyses revealed significant genetic influence on distinct psychopathic traits (Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality). Moreover, Fearless Dominance was associated with reduced genetic risk for internalizing psychopathology, and Impulsive Antisociality was associated with increased genetic risk for externalizing psychopathology. Conclusions. These results indicate that different psychopathic traits as measured by the MPQ show distinct genetically based relations with broad dimensions of DSM psychopathology.
Enactments of Expertise

Every society recognizes expertise, and anthropologists have long documented the culturally and historically specific practices that constitute it. The anthropology of expertise focuses on what people do rather than what people possess, even in the many circumstances where the former is naturalized as the latter. Across its many domains, expertise is both inherently interactional, involving the participation of objects, producers, and consumers of knowledge, and inescapably ideological, implicated in the evolving hierarchies of value that legitimate particular ways of knowing as “expert.” This review focuses on the semiotics of expertise, highlighting four constitutive processes: socialization practices through which people establish intimacy with classes of cultural objects and learn to communicate that familiarity; evaluation, or the establishment of asymmetries among people and between people and objects; institutionalization, wherein ways of knowing are organized and authorized; and naturalization, or...
Lightness Constancy in Surface Visualization

Color is a common channel for displaying data in surface visualization, but is affected by the shadows and shading used to convey surface depth and shape. Understanding encoded data in the context of surface structure is critical for effective analysis in a variety of domains, such as in molecular biology. In the physical world, lightness constancy allows people to accurately perceive shadowed colors; however, its effectiveness in complex synthetic environments such as surface visualizations is not well understood. We report a series of crowdsourced and laboratory studies that confirm the existence of lightness constancy effects for molecular surface visualizations using ambient occlusion. We provide empirical evidence of how common visualization design decisions can impact viewers’ abilities to accurately identify encoded surface colors. These findings suggest that lightness constancy aids in understanding color encodings in surface visualization and reveal a correlation between visualization techniques that improve color interpretation in shadow and those that enhance perceptions of surface depth. These results collectively suggest that understanding constancy in practice can inform effective visualization design.
Endocannabinoids and Vascular Function

Marijuana is used by humans for its psychoactive and medicinal effects. The active constituents of marijuana, the cannabinoids, exert effects via a G protein-coupled receptor, CB(1). Two arachidonic acid analogs, N-arachidonylethanolamine and 2-arachidonylglycerol are hypothesized to function as endogenous ligands of the CB(1) receptor. The cannabinoids exert significant vascular effects in humans and laboratory animals. In particular, the cannabinoids produce vasodilation and hypotension. The possible mechanisms for these effects are inhibition of transmitter release from sympathetic nerve terminals, direct effects on vascular smooth muscle cells, and effects on endothelial cell function. The data regarding these effects of the cannabinoids and possible sources of endocannabinoid ligands in the vasculature are the subjects of this review.
Naturalized Perception Without Information

The outlines of a novel, fully naturalistic theory of perception are provided, that can explain perception of an object X by organism Z in terms of reflexive causality. On the reflexive view proposed, organism Z perceivesobject or property X just in case X causes Z to acquire causal dispositions reflexively directed back upon X itself. This broadly functionalist theory is potentially capable of explaining both perceptual representation and perceptual content in purely causal terms, making no use of informational concepts. However, such a reflexive, naturalistic causal theory must compete with well entrenched, supposedly equally naturalistic theories of perception that are based on some concept of information, so the paper also includes some basic logical, naturalistic and explanatory criticisms of such informational views.
Density compensation suggests interspecific competition is weak among terrestrial snails in tabonuco forest of Puerto Rico

In the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF) of Puerto Rico, composition of terrestrial gastropod assemblages exhibits little temporal variation, even in response to intense hurricanes. One might therefore expect snail assemblages to be equilibrial and structured by interspecific interactions such as competition. If competition is strong and persistent throughout an assemblage, then it should manifest as density compensation (a negative correlation in population density between competitors) and be most pronounced for species pairs that are morphologically similar, as they should compete most strongly for resources. We assessed the degree to which terrestrial snails in the LEF exhibit density compensation, from both spatial and temporal perspectives. In general, density compensation was weak, especially from a spatial perspective. Moreover, the degree of density compensation was not significantly associated with dissimilarity in body size or shell shape. These results suggest that external factors such as predation or disturbance probably maintain population densities at low enough levels that the effects of interspecific competition do not become intense or persistent enough to mold patterns of assemblage structure for terrestrial snails.
Book Review of 'Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint' by Lawrence O. Gostin

This is a review of a recent book that sets out to develop and promote a new vision of law as an essential tool of public health. Part One of this volume explores Conceptual Foundations of Public Health Law. Part Two addresses in depth the conflict between public health actions and personal civil liberties, while noting that frequently these two considerations work synergistically rather than in opposition. In Part Three, Gostin presents an admittedly subjective account of public health law and proffers guidelines for the future of public health law that are driven by considerations of "consistency and uniformity of approach, mission and essential functions, powers, substantive limits, procedural limits, and protection against discrimination and invasion of privacy." The reviewer pronounces this book "a monumental contribution, from the discipline of law, to the multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary theory and practice of public health." However, the reviewer notes the controversial nature of Gostin's advocating a carefully constrained and narrowly delineated interventionist role for government, at all levels, on behalf of the public's health when interventions may conflict with the civil liberties of distinct persons, while at the same time advocating an energetically activist government public health presence when the behavior of commercial enterprises is the subject of regulation.
A new method to predict the effective diffusion coefficient of gases and vapors in polyurethane/clay nanocomposite membranes

Abstract Polymer/clay nanocomposite (PCN) membranes are useful as barrier materials to reduce the permeability of gases and vapors through polymer materials. Extensive studies have focused on theoretical prediction of the effective diffusion coefficients based on the clay fraction and distribution within the polymer matrix. However, existing models are based on highly idealized geometries of the PCN membranes, and are not in agreement with experimental data as a consequence. A simple and novel numerical method based on a two-dimensional representation of the barrier membrane is developed to predict gas permeability in PCN. Employing Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), the nano-structure of PCN is captured and transformed into mathematical morphology data. Based on the image matrix, the barrier property of PCN was numerically modelled and generally agrees well with experimental measurements from the literature for volatile organic compounds. Because the geometry of barrier polymers can be easily captured by TEM, the proposed method should be applicable to different PCN membranes to quickly estimate the barrier properties for gases and vapors.
Facilitators and hindrances of implementing colorectal cancer screening intervention among Vietnamese Americans

Background Little is published about the factors that facilitate and hinder the intervention implementation process. Objective The aim of this study was to examine factors that facilitated and hindered the implementation of a culturally appropriate colorectal cancer screening intervention targeting Vietnamese Americans in a Federally Qualified Health Center located in the Puget Sound area of Washington. Methods Three focus group discussions (2 during the implementation phase and 1 during the maintenance phase) with the medical assistants (N = 13) who were the intervention implementation agents were conducted at the Federally Qualified Health Center. Three research team members independently analyzed the data using content analysis and then compared for agreement. We reread and recoded the transcripts until consensus was reached. The themes were clustered by similar codes and categorized into 4 groups, each including facilitators and hindrances of implementation: identification of implementation agents, implementation environment, intervention recipients, and the colorectal cancer screening intervention. Results Facilitators included medical assistants' high motivation with a positive attitude toward the intervention, team approach, and simplicity of the intervention, whereas hindrances included lack of time, forgetfulness, staff turnover, and language barriers. Conclusion The findings emphasized the importance of supporting implementation agents to ensure effective intervention program implementation. Implications for practice Oncology nurses need to particularly take into consideration the evidence-based findings when planning any intervention programs.
Percutaneous Balloon Valvuloplasty with Inoue-Balloon in 22 Children with Congenital Pulmonary Valve Stenosis

Objective To report the experience of percutaneous balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty(PBPV) with inoue-balloon in children with congenital pulmonary valve stenosis.Methods There were 10 males and 12 females,aged from 9.5 to 14.0 years old,which with pulmonary valve stenosis received PBPV.Under heavy sedation or local anesthesia,right heart catheterization and right ventriculography performed.The suitable inoue-balloon of which the diameter was 20%-40% larger than pulmonary valve ring was chosen.After the tract guide wire from right femoral vein to pulmonary atery established,inoue-balloon pushed to pulmonary trunk along the guide wire and expanded with radiopaque contrast medium.Results PBPV were successful in all 22 cases.Five cases expressed reactive right ventricular outflow tract stenosis,and with inderal therapy;the reactive stenosis relieved in follow-up studies.One case complicated with papillary muscle rupture of tricuspid valve,which was healed by surgical process.Conclusions PBPV with inoue-balloon was an effective and mini-traumatic method in older children with pulmonary valve stenosis.To avoid complications,indications of interventional therapy must be obeyed.
Application of asynchronous I/O for LINUX 2.5 to FTP service

Asynchronous I/O is more efficient when applied to FTP service than synchronous I/O essentially. LINUX is supportive to asynchronous I/O on kernel-level under version 2.5,but many FTP services use synchronous I/O to access file as before. By replacing synchronous I/O by asynchronous I/O to store file to improve on FTP service, performance of FTP service is improved. Comparison experiment proves that asynchronous I/O has better performance.
Laparoscopic Colon and Rectal Surgery

There are disparate variables available to appraise the quality of the laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Currently available data suggest that laparoscopic colectomy can be completed safely in most cases. It is feasible and offers patient-related benefits similar to those described for other laparoscopic procedures. The framework, within which the quality of laparoscopic colon and rectum surgery is appraised and judged, is discussed with an emphasis on diverse outcomes used to measure quality.
Burn induced cardiac dysfunction is reduced by pentoxifylline

Thermal injury impairs cardiac contractility and slows isovolumic relaxation; these myocardial defects persist despite adequate fluid resuscitation. Results of previous studies suggest that myocardial dysfunction occurring after thermal injury results from the byproducts of activated neutrophils and other inflammatory mediators. Pentoxifylline (PTX) (Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals) has been shown to modulate many of the deleterious effects mediated by the neutrophil. In the current study, isolated coronary perfused hearts of rats were used to determine if PTX improved cardiac dysfunction after burn injury. Parameters measured included left ventricular pressure (LVP), maximal rate of LVP rise (+dP/dt max) and fall (-dP/dt max). Full thickness scald burns averaging 40 percent of total body surface area (burn groups, n = 22) or zero percent for sham burns (n = 10) were produced using a template device. Ten rats with burns were not fluid resuscitated and served as untreated burns. An additional 12 burned rats received PTX intraperitoneally (50 milligrams per kilogram) 30 minutes, six hours and 20 hours after thermal insult. The results of ex vivo studies confirmed significant burn mediated cardiac dysfunction as indicated by a decrease in LVP (55 +/- 4 millimeters of mercury, p < 0.001), +/- dP/dt max (1,063 +/- 119 millimeters of mercury per second; 874 +/- 82 millimeters of mercury per second, p < 0.001) and a downward shift of LV function curves from those obtained for sham-burn hearts. However, hearts from burned rats treated with PTX had significantly higher LVP (76 +/- 3 millimeters of mercury, p < 0.001) and +/- dP/dt max (1,790 +/- 54 millimeters of mercury per second; 1,334 +/- 50 millimeters of mercury per second, p < 0.001) compared with hearts from untreated burned rats and generated LV function curves comparable with those calculated for sham-burned rats. The current data indicate that PTX attenuates postburn cardiac dysfunction and suggest a potential role for the adjunctive use of PTX after thermal injury.
Late mediastinal infection and pseudoaneurysm following left ventricular aneurysmectomy: repair utilizing a pectoralis major muscle flap.

A 54-year-old man was found to have an infected pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle 2 years after aneurysmectomy. Successful surgical treatment, including transposition of the pectoralis major muscle, is described.
The Educational Efficacy of a Values-Based Online Tool in a Public Health Ethics Course.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the educational efficacy of an online software decision -making program, The Values Exchange. While ethics is a vital aspect of educating public health professionals, it is both difficult to teach and assess. There is a need to identify best practices in the pedagogy of public health ethics and in the teaching methodologies that enhance student learning and engagement in both theoretical and practical applications of ethical concepts. Method: Ten students enrolled in a graduate level public health ethics course completed a survey and participated in a focus group about the efficacy of the Values Exchange upon completion of the five-week course. Educational efficacy was identified as the effect on student awareness of their thought process, engagement, satisfaction, and usability of the tool. Descriptive statistics and a priori qualitative thematic analysis were used to interpret the data. Results: Students reported high levels of increased awareness of their thought process, engagement, satisfaction, and usability after using the Values Exchange. Seven themes were identified that related to the educational efficacy constructs: (1) thoughtful decision making, (2) considering other viewpoints, (3) novelty of the program, (4) enhanced curiosity, (5) climate of respect, (6) reluctance and concerns, and (7) organization. Students positively evaluated the Values Exchange and noted an improved learning experience as a result of using the tool. Conclusions: This small scale study demonstrated the potential of the Values Exchange as an innovative tool to enhance student understanding of public health ethics and the complexity of decision making in challenging situations. Future studies should continue to assess the efficacy of the program with larger, more diverse populations.
ForcePhone: Software Lets Smartphones Sense Touch Force

To enhance the input capability on the severely limited space of a phone's screen, touch force has been a vital way to expand user-phone interactions. For example, users can get an options menu by hard-pressing a button or can surf the previous webpage by squeezing the phone. Researchers have shown the usefulness and importance of this expressive input interface (especially for the one-hand operation), but this advanced function has not yet been realized and deployed in most state-of-the-art smartphones. Unlike many other proposals, which require the addition of specialized hardware, the authors propose a software-based solution called ForcePhone. Their solution exploits a well-known physical property, called structure-borne sound propagation, to enable commodity phones to recognize the force applied to their touchscreen and body.
Rilke, Phenomenology, and the Sensuality of Thought

This paper takes as its point of departure Husserl’s claim that the only world we can speak of is the one given in consciousness or that presents itself to intuition. Husserl’s insistence on the world’s status as a phenomenon whose being can never be verified, as such a verification would require an act of mind, has led to the accusation that phenomenology is nothing but a form of idealism that discounts the validity of everything apart from consciousness. This paper turns this accusation on its head. To the extent that phenomenology addresses the role that consciousness plays in constituting the world, it draws attention to consciousness’ worldly aspects as not only the ground for all intuition but intuition itself in its sensuality. Consciousness is identical with what it observes, be it a bird in flight, the unfolding petals of a rose bud, or a discarded doll gathering dust in an attic. Rilke’s poetry more than any other exposes the sensuality of thought by exploring the inner contours of feeling or what he calls elsewhere the Weltinnenraum. This paper shows the intersection of poetry and phenomenology through a close reading of “Die Rosenschale,” which forms the conclusion of the first volume of the collection Neue Gedichte.
Fast robust non-negative matrix factorization for large-scale human action data clustering

Human action recognition is important in improving human life in various aspects. However, the outliers and noise in data often bother the clustering tasks. Therefore, there is a great need for the robust data clustering techniques. Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) and Nonnegative Matrix Tri-Factorization (NMTF) methods have been widely researched these years and applied to many data clustering applications. With the presence of outliers, most previous NMF/NMTF models fail to achieve the optimal clustering performance. To address this challenge, in this paper, we propose three new NMF and NMTF models which are robust to outliers. Efficient algorithms are derived, which converge much faster than previous NMF methods and as fast as K-means algorithm, and scalable to large-scale data sets. Experimental results on both synthetic and real world data sets show that our methods outperform other NMF and NMTF methods in most cases, and in the meanwhile, take much less computational time.
Promoting sense-making in volatile environments: Developing resilience in disaster management

ABSTRACTOver the past decade, the research on disaster administration has taken a critical look at the command and control operations in disaster response and recovery. Following the notable bureaucratic failures in response to Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Indonesia, researchers have focused on disaster administration system. The various actors within the system should focus on sense-making and resilience to be agile in the face of catastrophic events. This study profiles the contributions made through a focus on developing resilience in disaster management. Through a detailed literature review in multiple areas of the disaster management literature, along with illustrative examples from the challenges that agents have faced in several recent global disasters from 2014 to the present, the importance of resilience is highlighted. Areas for future research are included.
Introduction to the Thematic Minireview Series: Redox metabolism and signaling

In this sequel to the thematic collection of Minireviews on redox metabolism and signaling published last year, five articles plumb the redox metabolic pathways relevant to cell proliferation, stress response, and survival post-detachment from the extracellular matrix. The sixth article provides unexpected insights into the hepatic NAD(P)ome, revealing that more than half of these proteins reside outside the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments, pointing to the paucity of knowledge on their functions. Collectively, these articles highlight the metabolic adaptability of proliferating cells to meet redox needs, the use of lipids to mediate mitochondrial stress responses, and the need for tools to interrogate compartment-specific pool sizes and oxidized/reduced ratios of antioxidants and lipids involved in redox homeostasis.
Diversity and abundance of litter-dwelling arthropods increase with time-since-burn in a Florida scrub ecosystem

Fire is an important disturbance that can impact biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Although fire impacts have been well studied in plants and some animals, the effects of fire on litter-dwellin...
Structural Vibration Mitigation Using Dissipative Smart Damping Devices

An important problem in semiactive control of structures using “smart” damping devices for vibration mitigation is the development of an efficient control algorithm which accounts for the dissipative characteristics of the device. For smart dampers, the dissipative nature can be represented by a nonlinear inequality constraint that cannot be directly imposed on optimal control strategies using standard techniques. In previous research, the authors introduced a method using linear matrix inequality (LMI) methods to include a dissipativity constraint in a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) problem for semiactive control of structures. In this method, the LQR problem is defined as an eigenvalue problem (EVP) in terms of LMIs. Then, the dissipativity constraint is appended to the EVP in its weak expected value form. In this paper, this method is applied to realistic building and damper models. The structure is chosen to be a 9-story benchmark building and a recently-developed 20-ton magnetorheological (MR) fluid damper model as the control devices. It is found that the proposed method provides a more efficient controller, with reduced force levels and almost the same performance compared to a conventional LQR approach.
Fertilization-induced Glycosidase Release and Interspecific Sperm Competition in Ascidians

Most ascidian sperm bind to vitelline coat (VC) N-acetylglucosamine residues. The early block to polyspermy involves release of a lipid linked N-acetylglucosaminidase from the follicle cell surface. This highly mannosylated protein then binds to the VC preventing all sperm but the earliest from binding. Release of the enzyme is mediated by tyrosine phosphorylation of phospholipase C. Fertilization is generally species specific but enzyme release is not; sperm from many species of ascidians can induce enzyme release from heterologous eggs follicle cells. This non-specific enzyme release is the basis for interspecific sperm competition. Eggs of Ascidia nigra, A. sydneiensis or Phallusia julinea first inseminated with each other’s sperm followed by homologous sperm 5 minutes later show declines in fertilization of up to 44 percent. This interspecific sperm competition may be partially responsible for the differential abundance of ascidians in communities, as sperm from one species can sabotage the eggs of a second species and thus reduce the competition for space.
Tungsten powder from carbon coated WO3 precursors

This paper deals with the formation of tungsten powder from carbon coated tungstic oxide precursors. This study makes use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TGA data allowed for calculation of the activation energy as 626 ± 18.2 kJ/mol. XRD characterized the products resulting from the reaction of the carbon coated WO3 for each isotherm. These diffraction patterns support the hypothesis that reduction to W proceeds through the formation of lower oxidation states. This is the first isolation of a metal powder using the carbon coated precursor process.
Modes of Neovascularization in Tumors and Clinical Translation of Antiangiogenic Therapy

Blood vessels deliver oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body, but also nourish diseases such as cancer. Recently, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis has increased at an explosive rate and has led to the approval of antiangiogenic drugs for cancer and eye diseases. So far, hundreds of thousands of patients have benefited from blockers of the angiogenic protein vascular endothelial growth factor, but limited efficacy and resistance remain outstanding problems. Recent studies have shown new molecular targets and principles, which may provide avenues for improving the therapeutic benefit from antiangiogenic strategies. Our group and others have demonstrated that the blood and lymphatic vasculature, fibroblasts, immune cells, and the extracellular matrix associated with tumors are abnormal, and together create a hostile tumor microenvironment. Antiangiogenic agents – originally designed to starve tumors – can transiently ‘normalize’ tumor vasculature, alleviate hypoxia, and improve the outcome of various therapies.
Hemodynamically significant iatrogenic atrial septal defects after cryoballoon ablation.

Left atrial procedures requiring large sheaths and manipulation within the left atrium are increasingly common in electrophysiology. Iatrogenic atrial septal defects (iASD) created for these procedures are generally benign and do not require closure. In this report we describe 2 hemodynamically significant atrial septal defects (ASD) that occurred after cryoballoon ablation for pulmonary vein isolation.
Algorithmic Approaches and Embedded Architectures for Robotic Search and Rescue

Robots facilitate exploration of dangerous environments in response to catastrophic events. Advances in robotic technology have increased their utility and application. Risk in search and rescue operations are greatly reduced due to robotic intervention. Recently Structures, Pointing, and Control Engineering (SPACE) University Research Center (URC) of excellence at California State University of Los Angeles has developed a robotic system for search and rescue. This paper focuses on the development of the algorithms and embedded architecture employed in the system. The Eulerian Video Magnification algorithm was utilized as a means to extract biometric information such as pulse and breathing rate of a human body. The path-finding algorithms were developed for expedite navigation of the robot racing towards the potential victim. A layered model was adopted for the system architecture to facilitate the development and implementation of the designated mobile robot platform.
Feasibility of medical image-based bio 3D printing of variable tissue compositions

This study aims to display the ability and efficacy of 3D printing image-based, implantable biological scaffolds with varying properties. In this study, scaffolds were printed using various ratios of hydroxyapatite (HA) to polycaprolactone (PCL) to display a spectrum of properties suitable for musculoskeletal scaffolds. As an initial application of this method, scaffolds were generated from a series of one hundred DICOM images for a 60-year-old, female proximal femur. Additional structures, including a printed box and a circular lattice were generated. These models were printed at HA to PCL ratios (m/m) of 1:9, 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, 8:2, and 9:1. Postprinting analysis of the ratios was performed with scanning electron microscopy to observe the prints’ microstructure. Post printing analysis also included a compression test to observe biomechanical properties and a cell culture on the prints to observe cellular viability and adhesion. Ratios showed vast microstructural differences. It was also found that the 6:4 sample had the most similar surface level microstructure to that of human trabecular bone. The compression test revealed a positive correlation (R2 = 0.92) between HA concentration (%) and stiffness (N/mm). Cellular viability and adhesion were confirmed for 10 days after initial seeding cells.
Abstract 279: Increased Drp1 Acetylation Mediates Lipid Overload-induced Cardiomyocyte Death & Heart Dysfunction

Rationale: Lipid overload can cause diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), which is characterized by cardiomyocyte death, myocardial remodeling, and eventually contractile dysfunction. How excessive lipid ...
JAK2V617F Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitors Are More Resistant to Chronic Blockage of IL-10 Signaling in a Murine Model of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Rationale: Chronic inflammation is a key feature of Myeloproliferative Neoplasm (MPN), inflammation drives symptom burden and disease progression. We have found that monocytes from MPN patients persistently produce Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF) following Toll-like receptor stimulation due to dampened Interleukin 10 (IL-10) receptor signaling which usually serves to negatively regulate TNF production (Lai et al, 2019). Chronic inflammation leads to hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) exhaustion, and IL-10 plays an important role in HSC self-renewal (Kang et al, 2007). JAK2V617Fknock-in HSC do not have a selective advantage over wild-type cells in competitive repopulation assays, this suggests that JAK2V617FHSC gain a selective advantage only under specific circumstances. Here, we investigate whether blockade of IL-10 signaling allows JAK2V617F HSC to gain a selective advantage over wild-type cells. We hypothesize that blocking IL-10 signaling impairs wild-type but not JAK2V617Fmutant HSC and thereby allowing JAK2 V617Fmutant cells to expand. Results: We used competitive transplantation to assess the impact of blocking IL-10 signaling on the selective advantage of JAK2V617Fversus wild-type HSC. We transplanted equal numbers of whole bone marrow cells from wild-type (CD45.1) and JAK2 V617F(CD45.2) mice into lethally irritated recipients (CD45.1/2). At day 60 post transplantation we injected mice intraperitoneally with 0.1mg IL-10R blocking antibody (n=5) or PBS (n=4) weekly. The relative contribution of JAK2V617Fcells to donor derived peripheral blood leukocytes (n=4) decreased over time (Figure 1A) in the PBS group. In contrast, the relative contribution of JAK2V617Fcells increased after 120 days in the IL-10R blocking antibody group (Figure 1A). Mice were sacrificed at 186 days post-transplant to assess spleen size and quantify hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Mice treated with IL-10R blocking antibody had larger spleens than the PBS group (Figure 1B). The LKS (linnegc-kit+Sca-1+), which contains hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, was expanded in the mice treated with IL-10R blocking antibody (Figure 1C). The relative contribution of JAK2V617Fcells in the LKS compartment (Figure 1D) as well as whole bone marrow (Figure 1E) was higher in the IL-10R blocking antibody group as compared to the untreated group. Bone marrow from these mice were used for secondary transplants to functionally assess HSC fitness, results are forthcoming. Conclusions: In vivo blockade of IL-10R signaling increases the competitive ability of JAK2V617Fmutant cells. Spleen size is also augmented with IL-10R blockade, likely a reflection of an increase JAK2V617Fmutant cell burden. This suggests that defects in IL-10 signaling may be contributing to expansion of the mutant cells. Download : Download high-res image (96KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures Fleischman: incyte: Speakers Bureau.
Higher Acuity Resource Utilization With Older Age and Poorer HIV Control in Adolescents and Young Adults in the HIV Research Network

BACKGROUND Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with HIV experience poorer health outcomes compared with adults. To improve care for AYA with HIV, information about patterns of costly health care resource utilization is needed. METHODS Among 13-30 year olds in the US HIV Research Network, we stratified outpatient visits, emergency department (ED) visits, and inpatient days/person-year (PY) by HIV acquisition model [perinatal (PHIVY) and nonperinatal (NPHIVY)], age (13-17, 18-23, and 24-30 years), CD4 strata (<200, 200-499, and ≥500 cells/µL), and viral load (VL) suppression (<, ≥400 copies/mL [c/mL]) combined with antiretroviral (ARV) use. RESULTS Among 4540 AYA (PHIVY: 15%; NPHIVY: 85%), mean follow-up was 2.8 years. Among PHIVY, most person-time (PT) was spent between ages 13 and 23 years (13-17 years: 43%; 18-23 years: 45%), CD4 ≥500/µL (61%), and VL <400 c/mL (69%). Among NPHIVY, most PT was spent between ages 24 and 30 years (56%), with CD4 ≥500/µL (54%), and with VL <400 c/mL (67%). PT spent while prescribed ARVs and with VL ≥400 c/mL was 29% (PHIVY) and 24% (NPHIVY). For PHIVY and NPHIVY, outpatient visit rates were higher at younger ages (13-17 years and 18-23 years), lower CD4 (<200 and 200-499/µL), and among those prescribed ARVs. Rates of ED visits and inpatient days were higher during PT spent at older ages (18-23 years and 24-30 years), lower CD4 (<200 and 200-499/µL), and VL ≥400 c/mL. Utilization was higher among PHIVY than NPHIVY (outpatient: 12.1 vs. 6.0/PY; ED: 0.4 vs. 0.3/PY; inpatient: 1.5 vs. 0.8/PY). CONCLUSIONS More ED visits and inpatient days were observed during time spent at older ages, lower CD4 count, and VL ≥400 c/mL. Interventions to improve virologic suppression and immune response may improve outcomes, and thus decrease costly resource utilization, for AYA with HIV.
247 – Lysine carboxypeptidase

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the structural chemistry and the biological aspects of carboxypeptidase N (CPN) or lysine carboxypeptidase. CPN cleaves C-terminal Arg or Lys from a variety of synthetic and naturally occurring peptides. In general, the enzyme cleaves Lys faster than Arg and Ala is the preferred penultimate residue in most cases. Human CPN is a tetrameric enzyme of 280 kDa consisting of a dimer of heterodimers. Each heterodimer contains one catalytic subunit, with a reported molecular mass ranging from 44 to 55 kDa in SDS-PAGE, and one noncatalytic 83 kDa subunit. The gene for the catalytic subunit is on chromosome 10, whereas the gene for the regulatory subunit is on chromosome 8p22–p23. The genomic structure of the mouse 50 kDa subunit is very similar to that of CPE but is quite different from those of members of the more distantly related CPA/B subfamily (M14 subfamily A). CPN can be readily purified from outdated human plasma by a relatively simple two-step procedure involving DE-52 ion-exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography on arginine-Sepharose.
7.2 kV Three-Port Single-Phase Single-Stage Modular Soft-Switching Solid-State Transformer with Active Power Decoupling and Reduced DC-Link

This paper proposes a single-stage modular medium-voltage soft-switching solid-state transformer (M-S4T). The 7.2 kV 50 kVA M-S4T consists of five stacked 1.44 kV 10 kVA single-phase converter modules using 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs and diodes in reverse blocking mode. The proposed converter has some unique features. First, the M-S4T is a medium-voltage stacked converter with reduced dc-link. Second, the M-S4T has a three-port structure (MVAC, LVAC, LVDC) for renewable, storage integration, or EV fast charging. Third, the M-S4T is a single-phase medium-voltage converter with active power decoupling, i.e. using a buffer port for 120 Hz power absorption to avoid large dc-link passives. According to the literature, though already applied to low-voltage converters for improved power density, the reduced dc-link and active power decoupling strategies have not been used in medium-voltage converters before. With high-frequency isolation, reduced dc-link, and a 120 Hz active power decoupling port, passive components in the MS4T can be minimized – which often dominate the size of medium-voltage converters. Also, the M-S4T is electrolytic capacitor less and high reliability is achieved – critical for utility applications like SST. Moreover, the 7.2 kV M-S4T has low EMI through low dv/dt, and high efficiency (~97% expected at full power) over the full load range with ZVS technique. Finally, the transformer of the M-S4T is designed to pass 55 kV basic-insulation level (BIL) and 60 kV high potential (Hipot) dielectrics withstand test – major challenges for SST. The topology, design, operating principle, controls, and simulation results are presented. These concepts are finally verified with experimental results at 2 kV peak of a single converter module and 1.6 kV peak of two stacked modules.
Inducing Human Behavior to Maximize Operation Performance at PEV Charging Station

Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging station service capability is physically limited by the charger availability and local transformer capacity. However, the station operation performance has become an increasingly important factor for enhancing charging service accessibility. In this work, we propose an innovative station-level optimization framework to operate charging station with optimal pricing policy and charge scheduling. This model incorporates human behaviors to explicitly and effectively capture drivers’ charging decision process. We propose a menu of price-differentiated charging services, which differ in both the per-unit prices and the energy delivery schedule. Involving human in the loop, the operation model also exploits the capability to alleviate the overstay issue that occurs when a PEV’s charging session has completed. We then propose a muli-block convex transformation methodology to reformulate the resulted non-convex problem via Fenchel-Young Inequality; the Block Coordinate Descent algorithm is applied to solve the overall problem and the efficiency enables real-time implementation. As a result, our simulation demonstrates that the proposed control polices can realize benefits in three aspects: (i) net profits gains, (ii) overstay reduction, and (iii) quality-of-service increase.
Feasibility study of a novel portable digital radiography system modified for fluoroscopy in the neonatal intensive care unit

A portable radiographic system capable of fluoroscopic imaging in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) potentially benefits critically ill neonates by eliminating the need to transport them to a fluoroscopy suite. To evaluate whether a portable bedside fluoroscopy system in the NICU can deliver comparable image quality at a similar dose rate to a standard system in a fluoroscopy suite. In phase A, 20 patients <3 years of age and scheduled to undergo upper gastrointestinal series (upper GI) or voiding cystourethrograms (VCUG) in the radiology fluoroscopy suite were recruited to evaluate a portable fluoroscopic unit. A modified portable radiographic system with a cassette-sized detector and an in-room fluoroscopy system were sequentially used in the same examination. Four radiologists compared the image quality of 20 images from each system using the Radlex score (1–4) for five image quality attributes. The radiation dose rates for the portable and in-suite systems were collected. In phase B, fluoroscopy studies were performed in 5 neonates in the NICU and compared to the 20 previous neonatal studies performed in the department. Clinical workflow, examination time, fluoroscopy time, scattered radiation dose and patient radiation dose were evaluated. In phase A, average dose rates for in-room and portable systems were equivalent, (0.322 mGy/min and 0.320 mGy/min, respectively). Reader-averaged Radlex scores for in-room and portable systems were statistically significantly greater (P<0.05) for all attributes on the portable system except for image contrast. In phase B, scattered radiation from the average fluoroscopy time (26 s) was equivalent to the scattered radiation of 2.6 portable neonatal chest radiographs. Procedure time and diagnostic quality were deemed equivalent. The average dose rate in the NICU with the portable system was 0.21 mGy/min compared to 0.29 mGy/min for the in-room system. The portable fluoroscopy unit is capable of providing comparable image quality at equivalent dose levels to an in-room system for neonates with minimal risks to the staff and other patients in the NICU.
Equity in Emergency Mental Health Care.

* Abbreviation: ED — : emergency department Over the past 2 decades, young people have increasingly sought acute mental health care in emergency departments (EDs).1,2 In this issue of Pediatrics, Nash et al3 examine ED length of stay for children with mental health conditions. They draw on 10 years of data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2005–2015) to compare length of stay for visits with and without a mental health diagnosis. In their sample, 4.9% of pediatric ED visits had an associated mental health diagnosis, and mental health visits had 3.3-fold increased odds of a length of stay of ≥6 hours compared with non–mental health visits. Length of stay increased over the 10-year study period to nearly a quarter of visits lasting ≥6 hours. This increase in length of stay over time was driven primarily by visits with … Address correspondence to Polina Krass, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail: krassp{at}chop.edu
Analysis of Attack Surfaces and Practical Attack Examples in Open Source FPGA CAD Tools

FPGAs gain increasing utilization in system prototyping, low-volume products, and obsolete component replacement. Driven by high profits, FPGA deployment is suffering from various attacks, such as reverse engineering bitstream, functionality tampering via hardware Trojans, information leaking through covert channels, and denial-of-service attacks. Typically, the investigation of security threats on FPGA deployment is tied with a specific FPGA chip and its design suite version, either the discovered attacks or the developed countermeasures are not easy to migrate to other FPGAs. Thus, the utilization of open source FPGA CAD tools becomes increasingly attractive. This work analyzes the new attack surfaces on two open source FPGA CAD tools: VTR and Symbiflow. The case studies in this work indicate that practical attacks in open source FPGA computeraided-design (CAD) tools can be implemented with minor changes on the intermediate files generated by the CAD toolchain.