cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Role of Echocardiography and Intracardiac Exploration in the Evaluation of Candidacy for Biventricular Repair in Patients With Borderline Left Heart Structures

Background Predictors for single ventricle palliation (SVP) or successful biventricular repair (BVR) in patients with borderline left-side heart structures are not well defined. The goal was to evaluate the role of echocardiography and intracardiac exploration in determining feasibility of BVR. Methods All neonates surgically treated from 1995 to 2015 with mitral valve (MV), aortic valve, or left ventricle end-diastolic dimension z score of −2 or less for whom management was controversial were included. Data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results The cohort consisted of 42 patients: 7 SVP (17%) and 35 BVR (83%). Median follow-up was 7 years (range, 6 months to 18 years). Intracardiac exploration was performed in 29 patients (69%). There was poor correlation between echocardiographic and intraoperative MV measurements (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.14). Preoperative echocardiography significantly underestimated MV size in 14 patients (54%). Two BVR patients were converted to SVP, and 4 (including 1 converted patient) had cardiac-related deaths. All patients with MV greater than 8 mm on preoperative echocardiography had successful BVR. An intraoperative MV less than 8 mm and an abnormal subvalvar apparatus was present in 5 of 6 SVP (83%) and 3 of 3 (100%) failed BVR patients who had intracardiac exploration, and in only 1 of 20 successful BVR patients (5%) who had an intracardiac exploration. Conclusions The decision to proceed to BVR in patients with borderline left-side heart structures should not rely strictly on echocardiographic measurements. Intracardiac exploration of the MV and subvalvar apparatus is useful before committing a patient to SVP. Patients with low MV z scores, especially those with a normal subvalvar apparatus, may undergo BVR with good outcomes.
Institutional Responses to the Bologna Process in Danish Engineering Education

The aim in this chapter is to present and discuss our detailed, empirical findings with regards to the institutional-level responses to the Bologna Process among Danish engineering schools and universities. It also documents their responses to new Danish national policies as they relate, both directly and indirectly, to the Bologna Process.
Triclocarban: Commercial Antibacterial and Highly Effective H-Bond Donating Catalyst for Ring-Opening Polymerization

The antibacterial compound, triclocarban (TCC), is shown to be a highly effective H-bond donating catalyst for ring-opening polymerization (ROP) when applied with an H-bond accepting base cocatalyst. These ROPs exhibit the characteristics of “living” polymerizations. TCC is shown to possess the high activity characteristic of urea (vs thiourea) H-bond donors. The urea class of H-bond donors is shown to remain highly active in H-bonding solvents, a trait that is not displayed by the corresponding thiourea H-bond donors. Two H-bond donating ureas that are electronically similar to TCC are evaluated for their efficacy in ROP, and a mechanism of action is proposed. This “off-the-shelf” H-bond donor is among the most active and most controlled organocatalysts for the ROP of lactones.
Nitric oxide inhibits ATPase activity and induces resistance to topoisomerase II-poisons in human MCF-7 breast tumor cells.

Abstract Background Topoisomerase poisons are important drugs for the management of human malignancies. Nitric oxide ( • NO), a physiological signaling molecule, induces nitrosylation (or nitrosation) of many cellular proteins containing cysteine thiol groups, altering their cellular functions. Topoisomerases contain several thiol groups which are important for their activity and are also targets for nitrosation by nitric oxide. Methods Here, we have evaluated the roles of • NO/ • NO-derived species in the stability and activity of topo II (α and β) both in vitro and in human MCF-7 breast tumor cells. Furthermore, we have examined the effects of • NO on the ATPase activity of topo II. Results Treatment of purified topo IIα and β with propylamine propylamine nonoate (PPNO), an NO donor, resulted in inhibition of the catalytic activity of topo II. Furthermore, PPNO significantly inhibited topo II-dependent ATP hydrolysis. • NO-induced inhibition of these topo II (α and β) functions resulted in a decrease in cleavable complex formation in MCF-7 cells in the presence of m-AMSA and XK469 and induced significant resistance to both drugs in MCF-7 cells. Conclusion PPNO treatment resulted in the nitrosation of the topo II protein in MCF-7 cancer cells and inhibited both catalytic-, and ATPase activities of topo II. Furthermore, PPNO significantly affected the DNA damage and cytotoxicity of m-AMSA and XK469 in MCF-7 tumor cells. General significance As tumors express nitric oxide synthase and generate • NO, inhibition of topo II functions by • NO/ • NO-derived species could render tumors resistant to certain topo II-poisons in the clinic.
Influence of 13C Isotopic Labeling Location on Dynamic Nuclear Polarization of Acetate

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) via the dissolution method has alleviated the insensitivity problem in liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy by amplifying the signals by several thousand-fold. This NMR signal amplification process emanates from the microwave-mediated transfer of high electron spin alignment to the nuclear spins at high magnetic field and cryogenic temperature. Since the interplay between the electrons and nuclei is crucial, the chemical composition of a DNP sample such as the type of free radical used, glassing solvents, or the nature of the target nuclei can significantly affect the NMR signal enhancement levels that can be attained with DNP. Herein, we have investigated the influence of 13C isotopic labeling location on the DNP of a model 13C compound, sodium acetate, at 3.35 T and 1.4 K using the narrow electron spin resonance (ESR) line width free radical trityl OX063. Our results show that the carboxyl 13C spins yielded about twice the polarization produced in...
Targeting Phospholipase D4 Attenuates Kidney Fibrosis

Phospholipase D4 (PLD4), a single-pass transmembrane glycoprotein, is among the most highly upregulated genes in murine kidneys subjected to chronic progressive fibrosis, but the function of PLD4 in this process is unknown. Here, we found PLD4 to be overexpressed in the proximal and distal tubular epithelial cells of murine and human kidneys after fibrosis. Genetic silencing of PLD4, either globally or conditionally in proximal tubular epithelial cells, protected mice from the development of fibrosis. Mechanistically, global knockout of PLD4 modulated innate and adaptive immune responses and attenuated the upregulation of the TGF-β signaling pathway and α1-antitrypsin protein (a serine protease inhibitor) expression and downregulation of neutrophil elastase (NE) expression induced by obstructive injury. In vitro, treatment with NE attenuated TGF-β-induced accumulation of fibrotic markers. Furthermore, therapeutic targeting of PLD4 using specific siRNA protected mice from folic acid-induced kidney fibrosis and inhibited the increase in TGF-β signaling, decrease in NE expression, and upregulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling. Immunoprecipitation/mass spectrometry and coimmunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that PLD4 binds three proteins that interact with neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 1, a receptor also known as TrkA that upregulates mitogen-activated protein kinase. PLD4 inhibition also prevented the folic acid-induced upregulation of this receptor in mouse kidneys. These results suggest inhibition of PLD4 as a novel therapeutic strategy to activate protease-mediated degradation of extracellular matrix and reverse fibrosis.
Application and Product-Volume-Specific Customization of BEOL Metal Pitch

High-volume manufacturing of integrated circuits is what drives the semiconductor industry and the scaling of CMOS; however, shrinking all feature sizes is not optimal for all product volumes and applications. While scaling transistors provide improvement in performance at power in general, concerted scaling of the back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnects provides improvement in density but at some expense of performance and quality. In this paper, we explore the benefits of relaxing the BEOL metal pitches as a tunable knob for application-specific optimization as a function of product volume. This paper demonstrates that a relaxed BEOL (r-BEOL) methodology can be applied at block level as well as chip level to provide performance and quality benefits while considering density constraints. The benefits of an r-BEOL pitch for power, timing, design for manufacturability, routing congestion, and signal integrity are considered for a 16-nm FinFET technology. Silicon results using relaxed M4–M7 metal layers are used to validate the simulation comparisons.
Mass transport and adsorption in particle-loaded beds

Physical systems consisting of densely packed particles have many industrial applications in filtration and separation technologies. Typical adsorbent materials readily available in the marketplace include carbon and zeolite particles, and can be purchased with a variety of sizes, shapes, pore size distributions, and chemical activity. The flow medium and target species depend on the application, and the performance of an absorbent depends on the target species and the flow medium. On February 21, 1997 Tom Hoffend from 3M Company described the structure of particle-loaded beds and presented an idealized standard mathematical model based on mass conservation and adsorption chemistry. He then reported on current work, jointly with Tom Kramer from 3M Company, aimed at characterizing adsorbents, both physically and mathematically, for use in product design, using computational prototyping and experimental verification. He concentrated on certain limiting cases whereby the governing reaction-advection-diffusion equations reduce to a familiar model of a chromatographic column. He compared computed results based on this model with measured results, and concluded with some suggestions for future work.
Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation and Condensation on Static and Dynamic Compressive Behavior of Nanophased Glass/Epoxy Composites

Increased use of fiber reinforced polymeric composites in an outdoor environment has led to questions concerning their environmental durability, particularly as related to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, moisture, and temperature exposure. This chapter describes the effects of UV and UV radiation + condensation (UC) on the static and dynamic compressive properties of unidirectional glass/epoxy composites. The samples were manufactured using an infusion process with and without nanophased epoxy and exposed to UV radiation and UC conditioning for 5, 10, and 15 days respectively. Nanophased epoxy was prepared with 1 wt%and 2 wt% nanoclay. Static compression tests were carried out using MTS test system under displacement control mode at a crosshead speed of 1.27 mm/min. Dynamic compression tests were carried out using modified Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) at different strain rates. The compressive strength and stiffness were evaluated as functions of strain rate. Results of the study showed that samples lost weight when exposed to UV radiation, whereas they gained weight when exposed to UC conditioning. Weight gain or loss was lower for nanophased composites when compared to neat samples. Static and high strain compressive properties reduced for all the nanophased samples when compared with room temperature samples. However, the loss in compressive properties was lowest in nanophased composites with 2 wt% nanoclay.
A stomatal control model based on optimization of carbon gain versus hydraulic risk predicts aspen sapling responses to drought

Empirical models of plant drought responses rely on parameters that are difficult to specify a priori. We test a trait- and process-based model to predict environmental responses from an optimization of carbon gain vs hydraulic risk. We applied four drought treatments to aspen (Populus tremuloides) saplings in a research garden. First we tested the optimization algorithm by using predawn xylem pressure as an input. We then tested the full model which calculates root-zone water budget and xylem pressure hourly throughout the growing season. The optimization algorithm performed well when run from measured predawn pressures. The per cent mean absolute error (MAE) averaged 27.7% for midday xylem pressure, transpiration, net assimilation, leaf temperature, sapflow, diffusive conductance and soil-canopy hydraulic conductance. Average MAE was 31.2% for the same observations when the full model was run from irrigation and rain data. Saplings that died were projected to exceed 85% loss in soil-canopy hydraulic conductance, whereas surviving plants never reached this threshold. The model fit was equivalent to that of an empirical model, but with the advantage that all inputs are specific traits. Prediction is empowered because knowing these traits allows knowing the response to climatic stress.
Identifying parameters of nonlinear structural dynamic systems using linear time-periodic approximations

While numerous mature parametric identification methods are available for linear systems, there are only a few methods capable of identifying parametric models for multiple degree of freedom nonlinear systems. In a previous work, the authors proposed a new identification routine for nonlinear systems based on harmonically forcing a system in a periodic orbit and then recording deviations from that orbit. Under mild assumptions one can model the response about the periodic orbit using a linear time-periodic system model that is relatively easy to identify from the measurements using a variety of techniques. The method provides an estimate of the time periodic state coefficient matrix of the system which gives direct information on the order of the system and the nonlinear-parameters. A prior work explored the method in detail for a single degree-offreedom system, but it has only been applied to an MDOF system with a limited set of excitation conditions. This work explores a range of possible excitation signals using an analytical model of a cantilever beam with a cubic spring at its tip. Numerical continuation techniques are used to find the stable and unstable periodic responses of the beam and different excitation strategies are explored. Additionally, the method is validated on the analytical model with a conventional approach for nonlinear system identification. The most promising strategies are then applied to a real beam with a significant geometric nonlinearity.
Tumor Biology and Environmental Carcinogenesis

During normal development and renewal, cells evolve to perform highly specialized functions to meet the physiologic needs of the organism. Development and renewal involve tightly regulated processes that include continued cell proliferation, differentiation into specialized cell types, and programmed cell death (apoptosis). An intricate system of checks and balances ensures proper control over these physiologic processes. The genetic composition (genotype) of a cell determines which pathway(s) will be followed and exerting that control. The environment also plays a crucial role in influencing cell fate. Cells use complex signal transduction pathways to sense and respond to neighboring cells and their extracellular milieu. In addition, however, environmental factors may have a direct impact on cell phenotype and fate by causing DNA damage that permanently alters the host genome. Cancer is a genetic disease whose progression is driven by a series of accumulating genetic changes influenced by hereditary factors and the somatic environment.
A Reachability Method for Verifying Dynamical Systems with Deep Neural Network Controllers.

Deep neural networks can be trained to be efficient and effective controllers for dynamical systems; however, the mechanics of deep neural networks are complex and difficult to guarantee. This work presents a general approach for providing guarantees for deep neural network controllers over multiple time steps using a combination of reachability methods and open source neural network verification tools. By bounding the system dynamics and neural network outputs, the set of reachable states can be over-approximated to provide a guarantee that the system will never reach states outside the set. The method is demonstrated on the mountain car problem as well as an aircraft collision avoidance problem. Results show that this approach can provide neural network guarantees given a bounded dynamic model.
Lactate Predicts Mortality 12 Hours after VA ECMO Initiation

Purpose Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is an important but resource intensive therapy for refractory cardiogenic shock. We aimed to identify the utility of early elevated lactate levels as a predictor of ECMO mortality. Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients supported by VA-ECMO from 2011-2018 (N=247). Patients were grouped into a mortality cohort consisting of patients that died during index hospitalization and a survival cohort of those that survived to hospital discharge. Patient characteristics, comorbidities and lactate levels during index hospitalization were compared between cohorts. Results Of the 247 patients, 80 survived (33%). Lactate levels were significantly higher in the mortality cohort at multiple time points including: average lactate before ECMO (7.08 vs 4.25 mmol/L, p Conclusion Mean lactate level during the initial 12h of VA-ECMO support is both a sensitive and specific predictor of mortality. Early lactate levels can assist with the often difficult decisions associated with VA-ECMO. More research is necessary to develop a robust prediction model to aid in the clinical decision making early after ECMO initiation.
Abstract LB-052: Detection of rare, deleterious clonal mutations during unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants using an error correction pipeline for NGS

While next-generation sequencing (NGS) has transformed our ability to characterize the genome, it is limited in detection of rare mutations due to a high error rate of ~0.5-2.0%. We have developed an error correction pipeline and previously demonstrated that our process is capable of detecting variants as rare as 1:10,000 or 0.0001 VAF. Using our error correction pipeline, we have recently identified leukemia-related hematopoietic clones in a cohort of young healthy bone marrow donors (median age 26). In the context of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), we sought to determine whether these detected leukemia-related clones of donor origin selectively engraft and correlate with transplant-related morbidities in recipients post-HSCT. Genomic profiles of pre-transplant donor samples were compared to the genomic profiles of corresponding recipient samples post-HSCT. Results show that two-thirds of the healthy donor samples harbor deleterious hematopoietic clones and that these specific clones are significantly more likely to engraft compared to benign clones. We also found that 75% of recipients who had at least one persistently engrafted, deleterious mutation developed chronic GvHD versus 50% of those without persistently engrafted clones with deleterious mutations. In comparing the results from our error correction pipeline and conventional short tandem repeat (STR) testing for donor-patient chimerism, we showed that our method provides a highly sensitive approach to both screening for donors without deleterious clones and monitoring residual disease in recipients following hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT). Furthermore, the clinical implications of these results warrant a large-scale study using our error correction pipeline to detect rare variants in HSCT. Citation Format: Wing Hing Wong, Andrew Young, Todd Druley. Detection of rare, deleterious clonal mutations during unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants using an error correction pipeline for NGS [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-052.
Eye-gaze control technology holds the potential to promote communication skills in young children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy, but more rigorous research is needed to prove its effectiveness1

Q Is eye-gaze control technology feasible and effective in improving communication and participation for young children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy?Design: The study used a pretest-posttest desi...
Private Voluntary Organizations

A more relaxed view is appropriate when considering private voluntary organizations that do not receive public funds. These organizations need not always reflect the democratic principles of freedom and equality in their internal values. In general, individuals should be free to form private associations rooted in a common purpose without fear of dilution by forced association with others who do not share their goals. Context, however, is important. Society must not only allow for exclusivity, but also the slack, or the potential for other opportunities for association, that gives meaning to the freedom to leave. Although the Boy Scouts, for example, merit criticism for their former policy of excluding gay boys and scoutmasters, the Supreme Court was correct to allow them the expressive freedom to expel a gay scoutmaster despite the Scouts’ flimsy justification for doing so. But if enough voluntary associations were exclusive toward the same groups, these unified policies might curtail opportunities similarly to Jim Crow, thereby justifying government intervention. Private organizations accepting public funds, however, have less room to deny liberal democratic values. Because the Christian Legal Society, for example, accepted benefits from a public law school, they were correctly required to follow the school’s accept-all-comers policy.
A Lower Limb Phantom for Simulation and Assessment of Electromyography Technology

Electromyography signal processing approaches have traditionally been validated through computer simulations. Electromyography electrodes and systems are often not validated or have been validated on human subjects where there is no clear ground truth signal for comparison. We sought to develop a physical limb phantom for validation of electromyography hardware and signal processing approaches. We embedded pairs of wires within a conductive gelatin surrounding an artificial bone such that the antennae could broadcast identified ground truth signals. The ground truth signals can be simple sinusoids or more complex representations of muscle activity. With the phantom and surface electromyography electrodes, we were able to show varying levels of crosstalk between nearby recording electrodes as we altered the amplitude of the antennae signals. We were also able to induce motion artifacts in our recordings by lightly dropping the phantom on a surface while antennae broadcast signals. High-density electromyography recordings of the trials showed that traditional filtering techniques fail to fully eliminate relatively small motion artifacts. The results suggest that the electrical limb phantom could be a valuable tool for testing potential effects of muscle crosstalk and motion artifacts on different electromyography systems and signal processing approaches.
Point-of-Care Clinical Trials in Sports Medicine Research: Identifying Effective Treatment Interventions Through Comparative Effectiveness Research.

Context Recently, calls to conduct comparative effectiveness research (CER) in athletic training to better support patient care decisions have been circulated. Traditional research methods (eg, ran...
Prehistoric baseline reveals substantial decline of oyster reef condition in a Gulf of Mexico conservation priority area.

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is home to the world's largest remaining wild oyster fisheries, but baseline surveys needed to assess habitat condition are recent and may represent an already-shifted refe...
High-Rejection RF Code Domain Receivers for Simultaneous Transmit and Receive Applications

Code-domain signal processing techniques implemented at radio frequencies (RFs) enable simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) applications. With direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) techniques and RF correlators, transmit (TX) self-interference (SI) is separated from the receive (RX) signal at the antenna interface for STAR. The processing gain inherent in the code-domain approach increases the TX SI rejection in the RF domain to relax filtering and linearity requirements of the RX. A code-domain RX demonstrates 52 dB of TX SI rejection with TX code-notch and RX code-pass filters operating at the same center frequency. The RX is tunable from 0.25 to 1.25 GHz and has a gain of 39 dB at 1 GHz while consuming 90 mW of which 40 mW are consumed in the front-end filters. The RX is implemented in a 45-nm CMOS SOI process and full-duplex operation is verified through an over-the-air demonstration.
Deep Convolutional GANs for Car Image Generation.

In this paper, we investigate the application of deep convolutional GANs on car image generation. We improve upon the commonly used DCGAN architecture by implementing Wasserstein loss to decrease mode collapse and introducing dropout at the end of the discrimiantor to introduce stochasticity. Furthermore, we introduce convolutional layers at the end of the generator to improve expressiveness and smooth noise. All of these improvements upon the DCGAN architecture comprise our proposal of the novel BoolGAN architecture, which is able to decrease the FID from 195.922 (baseline) to 165.966.
EEG features of brain injury during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in children.

Objective To examine EEG features of major pathophysiology in children undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Methods This was a single-center, retrospective study of 201 pediatric patients on ECMO, using the first 24 hours of continuous EEG (cEEG) monitoring, collating background activity and electrographic seizures (ES) with imaging, ECMO type, and outcome. Results Severely abnormal cEEG background occurred in 12% (25/201), and was associated with death (sensitivity 0.23, specificity 0.97). ES occurred in 16% (33/201) within 3.2 (0.6–20.3) hours (median [interquartile range]) of cEEG commencement, and higher ES burden was associated with death. ES was always associated with ipsilateral injury (p = 0.006), but occurred in only one-third of cases with abnormal imaging. In 28 patients with isolated hemisphere lesion, type of arterial ECMO cannulation was associated with side of injury: right carotid cannulation was associated with right hemisphere lesions, and ascending aorta cannulation with left hemisphere lesions (odds ratio, 0.29 [95% confidence interval, 0.08–0.98], p = 0.03). Conclusions After starting ECMO, cEEG background activity has the potential to inform prognosis. Type of arterial (carotid vs aortic) ECMO correlates with side of focal cerebral injury, which in ≈33% is associated with presence of ES. We hypothesize that the differential distribution reflects abnormal flow dynamics or embolic injury.
E-053 Peri-procedure anemia is associated with poor functional outcome after mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke: single center experience

Introduction Anemia has been associated with worse clinical outcomes and increased mortality following acute ischemic stroke, however, the study of anemia in acute ischemic stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy has been limited. Methods We performed a retrospective study of 346 anterior circulation stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy to investigate the impact of peri-procedure anemia (Hgb Results One hundred patients (29%) met the criteria for peri-procedure anemia after admission for thrombectomy. Females comprised 73% of patients (n=73) with peri-procedure anemia compared to 39% (n=97) of patients without anemia (p Conclusion Female sex and ≥3 thrombectomy passes were independently associated with peri-procedure anemia. Peri-procedure anemia was associated with worse clinical outcomes at 3-month follow-up. The interventional neuroradiologist should consider the potential adverse effects of peri-procedure anemia and minimize overall procedural blood loss when able, mainly in women that inherently have lower hemoglobin levels than men. Future studies are required to better understand the causal relationship between procedural blood loss and clinical outcomes following thrombectomy. Disclosures H. Carvalho: None. A. Wessell: None. G. Cannarsa: None. T. Miller: None. D. Gandhi: None. G. Jindal: None.
Anticipation and Consumption

Cash transfer payments are an increasingly widespread policy tool in developed and developing countries, used for both short-term and long-term objectives. We study the design of these policies by examining how the time horizon over which households anticipate receiving transfer payments affects consumption and savings. Using Nielsen Consumer Panel data, we estimate higher marginal propensities to spend for US households scheduled to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Payments sooner. Analyzing data from randomized experiments in Kenya and Malawi, we document higher savings among households scheduled to wait longer before receiving lump-sum transfers. We discuss implications of our results through a model of mental accounting.
Behavioral and Environmental Analytics from Potential Guide Dogs with IoT Sensor Data Informed by Expert Insight

Producing successful guide dogs for the visually impaired is a costly process and many dogs do not succeed in training. Identifying and screening successful dogs early is vital for the success of guide dog programs. Volunteer puppy raising is an essential part of training to expose candidate dogs to new stimuli and teach obedience skills away from the school. As there is little objective data about puppies' experiences with raisers, there is great potential in providing analytical insight during this important developmental period. We present a collar-based sensor system to remotely collect various sensor data to derive higher-level analytics describing behaviors and environments. We interviewed guide dog experts to refine and develop metrics derivable from sensor data. With the collar system, we collected training data and generated machine learning models to capture these metrics in order to remotely provide insight remotely at wide scale insight about puppies raised by volunteers.
Does Trade Reporting Improve Market Quality in an Institutional Market? Evidence from 144a Corporate Bonds

We study the effect of public transaction reporting on trading activity, trade execution costs, and dealer behavior for Rule 144A corporate bonds that are primarily traded by institutional investors. TRACE reporting had no measurable impact on bond turnover, or the dealers’ willingness to hold inventory positions, participate in interdealer trades, or facilitate block transactions. Transaction costs decrease following trade reporting by approximately 10% with large reductions observed for block transactions and bonds with lower dealer competition. Small dealers gain market share and close the trading cost advantage enjoyed by large dealers. Our evidence suggests that even institutional traders benefit from improved transparency, particularly when competition among dealers is weak.
Field Test Results of a Road Departure Crash Warning System: Driver Utilization and Safety Implications

The Road Departure Crash Warning System Field Operational Test (RDCW FOT) was conducted to assess the safety impacts, driver acceptance levels, and the maturity of road departure crash warning systems as installed on a light vehicle platform. This paper presents the experimental design, performance of the road departure system in naturalistic use, and analyses of safety impacts of the technology using surrogate measures. Use of the system led to a 50% reduction in the observed rate of events in which the equipped vehicle came within 0.1 m of a lane edge in steady-state lane-keeping situations. Lane changes performed without the use of a turn signal were reduced by 43% on freeways and ramps and 24% on surface roads. Levels of lateral acceleration in curves was not significantly different, except on ramps, where a significant change in the 90th percentile values of lateral acceleration were observed for a within-subject comparison. There were no observed effects of risk homeostasis and no evidence of significant negative unintended consequences.
Viscoelastic Properties of Snow and Sand

The frequency dependence of dynamic properties of the viscoelastic solids is studied based on the theory of linear viscoelasticity. The variation of dynamic moduli, viscosity, and the loss factor with frequency is explained by use of a relatively simple form of creep function. Employing a newly developed method of determining the dynamic response of materials, which enables one to obtain the results at any desired frequency, experimental results on snow and sand are obtained from steady state vibration over a large range of frequency. The experimental results agree with predictions of the theory of linear viscoelasticity, in which the distribution function of relaxation times is assumed equal to a constant divided by time between two time limits. It is shown that the theory developed is approximately obeyed by the test results on snow, but deviation from the theory is noted for the soil (Ottawa sand) used. In general, the dynamic moduli of both snow and soil increase slightly with frequency, the dynamic viscosity shows a decrease, and the loss factor remains, more or less, constant with frequency.
Using broiler litter and swine manure lagoon effluent in sawdust-based swine mortality composts: Effects on nutrients, bacteria, and gaseous emissions.

Abstract Disposition of mortalities challenges confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), especially sow (farrowing) farms, which experience mortalities daily. Regulations and transportation costs may preclude incineration, landfill burial, and rendering; therefore, swine CAFOs in Mississippi in the Mid-South U.S. often compost mortalities. In this study, a farm-standard composting mix of sawdust (S) and water (W) was compared with mixes where N was supplied by broiler litter (L) and water was replaced with swine lagoon effluent (E). The objective was to assess the effects of these manure byproducts: 1) on nutrients and bacteria in composts destined for land application; and 2) on emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases. Three replications of four mixes (SW, SLW, SE, SLE) were compared in microcosms comprising modified plastic recycling bins. The experiment was repeated three times in different seasons in one year. Mixes were compared for differences in temperature, water content, nutrients (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn), bacteria (Gram −, Gram +, Clostridium perfringens , Salmonella , Listeria , Escherichia coli ), and emissions (NH 3 , CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O). Litter addition increased composting temperatures initially and after aerations; increased nutrient concentrations, except C, in start mixes and all except C and N, in finish mixes; increased Gram + bacteria, Salmonella , and E. coli in start mixes, but only Gram+s in finish mixes; and increased emissions. Effluent addition increased early composting temperatures; had no effect on nutrients or bacteria, except increased C. perfringens in start, but not finish mixes; and had no effect on emissions. Nutrients in finish composts did not differ among mixes for N (average 3.3%), but litter composts had more P and K, and lower N:P than composts without litter. Improving mortality composting is of global importance as increasing livestock populations and intensive animal production systems require practical, safe, environmentally sound disposal of carcasses.
Evaluating Zidua Herbicide for Use in Potato Production

Zidua (pyroxasulfone) is a relatively new herbicide from BASF currently being used in corn, soybeans, and wheat. In the future, BASF would like to expand the Zidua label to include additional crops such as potatoes. In support of this goal, we conducted a field trial in 2014 to evaluate weed control effectiveness and potato crop tolerance to Zidua when used alone and in combination with other herbicides in a potato production system.
Family child care provider beliefs and program quality: A longitudinal study investigating the role of consultation

Considering the large numbers of young children being cared for in family child care programs and acknowledging the general lack of regulations and supports for these homebased providers, an examination of factors influencing the quality of care children experiences in these settings is imperative. The present studies examine the relations among structural indicators often association with quality, providers’ beliefs about best practices with young children and beliefs about professional motivation, job-related stress, and observed quality in family child care programs. Interviews were used to gather data about provider beliefs and program structural characteristics. In addition, observational data about the global process quality and the quality of adult-child interactions were collected in a sample of 343 home-based family child care providers in five states who had agreed to participate in an intervention study on the effectiveness of a model of consultation aimed at quality enhancement. The overall purpose of these studies was to address the shortage of research in family child care and to examine the gaps in defining child care quality by investigating both structural characteristics and beliefs as predictors of quality. Chapter III, the first empirical article, provides a detailed description of this sample of family child care providers and their beliefs, the characteristics of their programs, and ratings of observed process quality. Data for this study come from the Quality Interventions in Early Care and Education (QUINCE) study designed to investigate a quality enhancement initiative and consist of information obtained prior to any consultation intervention. In addition, this study examines the relations among provider and program structural characteristics, measures of beliefs, and the quality of care being provided in this sample of family child care
Women’s Cityward Migration, Domestic Service and Schooling in Southern Mexico

That 40,000 women work as household workers in Oaxaca City (population 450,000) is deemed “very high for a country as developed as Mexico” (Selby, Murphy and Lorenzon 1991:48; INEGI 2001). Ethnographic data collected among women currently and at one time working as either full-time or daily/hourly domestic workers shed light on the realities faced by unskilled women cityward migrants who find employment in the lowest paid, least prestigious jobs in the urban economy. Two case studies are presented to illustrate ways that women's paid household labor can finance their own or their children's acquisition of the schooling requisite for more gainful, higher paid forms of urban formal sector employment.
Preparation of frozen-hydrated specimens for high resolution electron microscopy

A method is presented for preserving the high resolution structure of biological membranes in a frozen-hydrated environment for electron microscopy. The technique consists of sandwiching a specimen between two carbon films and then waiting while some of the solvent evaporates. When the solvent layer is judged to be of an appropriate thickness, the specimen is then frozen in liquid nitrogen. The specimen can then be inserted into the precooled stage of an electron microscope. Electron diffraction studies of the purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium recorded at -120 degrees C have shown that the structure can be preserved to a resolution of 3.5 A. The main advantage of this method over previous techniques is that the hydrating conditions can be accurately controlled.
Luminescence Associated with Shallow Acceptor Centers in ZnTe

The luminescence centers in ZnTe(Li) and ZnTe(P) have been studied from 2 to 300\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K, using photoexcitation and electron beam excitation. As-grown crystals of ZnTe(P) and ZnTe(Li) of comparable electrical properties exhibit similar luminescence spectra. An emission series starting at 2.33 eV (2\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K) present in both materials can be attributed to transitions from the conduction band to the un-ionized acceptor level. The response of ZnTe(Li) and ZnTe(P) to thermal treatments is different. Li can be removed from ZnTe(Li) by low-temperature (250\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C) firings for extended periods of time (8 days), and the associated emission peaks markedly diminish in intensity. The emission of ZnTe(P) is stable under this treatment. High-temperature, short-term firings (850\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C, 2 h) under maximum Zn overpressure produce different changes in the emission spectra and in the electrical properties of ZnTe(P) and ZnTe(Li). ZnTe(Li,Al) crystals exhibit a luminescence spectrum which indicates that interaction between Li and Al occurs.
Time invariant multi electrode averaging for biomedical signals

One of the biggest challenges in averaging ECG or EEG signals is to overcome temporal misalignments and distortions, due to uncertain timing or complex non-stationary dynamics. Standard methods average individual leads over a collection of epochs on a time-sample by time-sample basis, even when multi-electrode signals are available. Here we propose a method that averages multi electrode recordings simultaneously by using spatial patterns and without relying on time or frequency.
ESR and HRTEM Study of Carbon-Coated Nanocrystalline MgO

Carbon-coated nanocrystalline MgO samples were prepared by butadiene pyrolysis at 500 °C over aerogel-prepared MgO samples. Samples with carbon loadings of 1.2, 3.2, 5.0, 10.0, and 15.9 wt % were prepared. Initial carbon formation rate was about 2 wt % per hour. According to HRTEM, the structure of the mineral component in the carbon-mineral materials was not altered by the carbon deposition. At low loading of carbon, it was found to deposit only inside the MgO aggregates 5−10 nm from their outside surface, forming thin individual bands 1.5−2 nm long. At the highest loading, carbon deposits form three-dimensional graphite-like multilayer structures filling the pore volume of the MgO aggregates and cover the outside surface of the aggregates with a thin monolayer coating. A single symmetric Lorentzian line with g = 2.0029 attributable to carbon deposits has been observed in the ESR spectra of the carbon-mineral materials. It gradually narrows from 5.0 to 1.9 G as the carbon loading increases from 1.2 to 15...
Wealth as Security: Growth Curve Analyses of Household Income and Net Worth During a Recession

Building on evidence of increasing inequality with the 2008–2009 recession, we asked whether households experienced different financial trajectories through the recession depending on initial income and net worth. Using growth curve models of households headed by young adults in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we compared the relationship between initial income and net worth and the rate of change of income and net worth from 1989 to 2011 among households with income above and below $50,000. We found different patterns of income change and different relationships among income, net worth, and their rates of change between high- and low-income categories. Results suggest initial wealth helped to stabilize income and wealth changes among higher income households, reducing financial insecurity.
Reading the 1835 parish censuses from Bahia: Citizenship, kinship, slavery, and household in early nineteenth-century Brazil

Since the late 1960s, a growing number of studies have drawn on local manuscript censuses, also known as household or nominal lists, to reshape the historiography of late colonial and early nineteenth-century Brazil. While many of those studies focus on family or household composition, manuscript censuses have also been used to explore topics ranging from proto-industrialization and demographic trends to patterns of slaveholding and the status of women. In working with this documentation, scholars have generally restricted themselves to quantitative analyses; they have seldom devoted much explicit attention to the format of censuses and to the categories found in them. As a result, the ideological assumptions and political concerns that census-takers in late colonial and early nineteenthcentury Brazil brought to bear in enumerating, classifying, and ordering the population have remained largely unexplored topics. To detect those assumptions and concerns, we need to go beyond quantification and to read Brazilian manuscript censuses for the qualitative information they contain. At the very least, reading censuses qualitatively holds out the possibility of raising questions that complement and enhance the findings from the more familiar quantitative studies.
Discriminatory Practices in the Banking/Finance Industry: Some Managerial Observations

Introduction A report by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1980 indicates that 31.1% of banks' officials and managers were women. This nearly doubled the proportion of women officials and managers in banking from 1970 to 1978. (ABA Banking Journal, October 1980). “People of Colour made smaller advances in the period. Blacks Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans made up 15.9% of the officials and managers at the largest 50 banks, up from 12.3% in 1978, Blacks alone accounted for 6.9% of the officials and managers, up from 5.4% a decade ago.” (American Banker, August 29, 1989). This 27.78% increase in the number of black officials and managers looks impressive, but blacks only represent 6.9% of total managers.
Near-Optimal Low-Thrust Earth-Mars Trajectories via a Genetic Algorithm

A genetic algorithm is used to determine several types of Earth‐Mars trajectories, with the objective of maximizing payload delivered to Mars. The trajectories have three phases: Earth escape, heliocentric flight, and arrival into low Martian orbit. The actual planetary orbits are used with one approximation: Mars’s very small orbit inclination to the ecliptic plane is ignored. Impulses provided by chemical rockets are used for Earth departure and capture into orbit about Mars. The optimizer chooses the magnitude and direction of the impulse explicitly for the departure from Earth and implicitly, by choosing the hyperbolic excess velocity vector, for the arrival at Mars. The heliocentric flight uses low-thrust nuclear‐electric propulsion; cases with continuous thrust and cases in which a coasting, that is, a no-thrust phase, is allowed are both considered. The continuous time history of the thrust pointing angle is modeled using a sequence of cubic polynomials whose coefficients become parameters of the genetic algorithm’s chromosome. The fitness function of the genetic algorithm is dynamic; it first forces the spacecraft to arrive within the Martian sphere of influence. With that accomplished, it then emphasizes optimizing final mass.