cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ionic liquid effects on nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions from QM/MM simulations.

Nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) reactions are particularly sensitive to medium effects and have been reported to benefit from ionic liquids. The SNAr reaction between cyclic secondary amines (i.e., piperidine, pyrrolidine, and morpholine) and the 2-L-5-nitrothiophene (para-like) and 2-L-3-nitrothiophene (ortho-like) isomers, where L = bromo, methoxy, phenoxy, and 4-nitrophenoxy, has been computationally investigated in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate [BMIM][BF4] and [BMIM][PF6], respectively. QM/MM Monte Carlo simulations utilizing free-energy perturbation theory were used to characterize the solute–solvent interactions over the addition–elimination reaction pathway. Energetic and structural analyses determined that the improved SNAr reactivity in [BMIM][BF4] and [BMIM][PF6] can be attributed to (1) an enhanced nucleophilicity of the cyclic amines in the ionic liquids with an order of Pyr ≥ Pip > Mor, (2) beneficial π+–π interactions between the BMIM cations...
Feedback in clinical education: untying the Gordian knot.

Feedback is essential to clinical education, especially in the era of competencies, milestones, and entrustable professional activities. It is, however, an area where medical educators often fall short. Although educational leaders and faculty supervisors provide feedback in a variety of clinical se
The Nature and Significance of Systox Residues in Plant Materials

The three previous papers of this series (Metcalf et al. 1954b, Fukuto et al. 1955, March et al. 1955) have presented information regarding the behavior of Systox as a systemic insecticide, and concerning its biochemical transformation in plants and animals. It is the purpose of this report to assess the effects of these developments upon the estimation and significance of Systox residues in edible plant materials.
Institutional Investors and Earning Management by Bank Holding Companies

This study explores the role of institutional investors in constraining earning management by bank holding companies (BHCs). We hypothesize that monitoring institutions, namely institutional investors with long term focus and independence from managers, have strong incentives to monitor their investees. Consequently, BHCs with high ownership by monitoring institutions are less likely to manipulate earnings. Using a sample of 4169 BHC - years from 1994 to 2010, we find that earnings management by BHCs is negatively related to ownership by monitoring institutions. In contrast, we find no significant relation between earnings management and ownership by non-monitoring institutions or ownership by all institutions.
Protecting the NECTAR of the Ganga River through game-theoretic factory inspections

Leather is an integral part of the world economy and a substantial income source for developing countries. Despite government regulations on leather tannery waste emissions, inspection agencies lack adequate enforcement resources, and tanneries’ toxic wastewaters wreak havoc on surrounding ecosystems and communities. Previous works in this domain stop short of generating executable solutions for inspection agencies. We introduce NECTAR - the first security game application to generate environmental compliance inspection schedules. NECTAR’s game model addresses many important real-world constraints: a lack of defender resources is alleviated via a secondary inspection type; imperfect inspections are modeled via a heterogeneous failure rate; and uncertainty, in traveling through a road network and in conducting inspections, is addressed via a Markov Decision Process. To evaluate our model, we conduct a series of simulations and analyze their policy implications.
Distributed Model Calibration

We show that given certain constraints, such as the spatial pattern of parameters, unique solutions do exist, thus making it possible to calibrate a distributed model. As we have shown in previous chapters, the drainage length, slope, and other parameters extracted from DEMs and geospatial data are resolution dependent. Thus, it is more likely than not, such parameters would require some adjustment. This chapter presents a method for calibrating a distributed model consistent with the conservation equations that underlie PBD models.
Fractal grammars which recover from perturbations

Neural symbolic integration may be a natural phenomenon of dynamical systems. Attractors--subsets of a state space to which a dynamical system returns when perturbed--are a broadly relevant dynamical systems phenomenon. The mathematical theory has mainly focused on autonomous dynamical systems (i.e., not driven by an environment) of the form f : X → X (where x(t+1) = f(x(t)) [iterated map] or dx/dt = f(x) [differential equation]), and discovered a rich inventory of attractors, including stable fixed points, limit cycles, and chaos. Here, I focus on the iterated map case and consider certain nonautonomous dynamical systems characterized by a finite set of functions f1, f2, ...; fk : X → X and a language on alphabet Σ = {1, ..., k} of one-sided infinite strings which applies the functions in particular orders starting from a specified initial state x(0) in X. I extend the definition of attractor by considering cases where the system returns to an invariant proper subset when perturbed in the environment of the language. The news of this paper is that there is a class of nonautonomous dynamical systems that have attractors for mirror recursion languages, a type of language arguably central to natural language syntax.
Diverse Non-genetic, Allele-Specific Expression Effects Shape Genetic Architecture at the Cellular Level in the Mammalian Brain

Summary Interactions between genetic and epigenetic effects shape brain function, behavior, and the risk for mental illness. Random X inactivation and genomic imprinting are epigenetic allelic effects that are well known to influence genetic architecture and disease risk. Less is known about the nature, prevalence, and conservation of other potential epigenetic allelic effects in vivo in the mouse and primate brain. Here we devise genomics, in situ hybridization, and mouse genetics strategies to uncover diverse allelic effects in the brain that are not caused by imprinting or genetic variation. We found allelic effects that are developmental stage and cell type specific, that are prevalent in the neonatal brain, and that cause mosaics of monoallelic brain cells that differentially express wild-type and mutant alleles for heterozygous mutations. Finally, we show that diverse non-genetic allelic effects that impact mental illness risk genes exist in the macaque and human brain. Our findings have potential implications for mammalian brain genetics. Video Abstract
Improving end-of-life care: Palliative care embedded in an outpatient oncology clinic.

77Background: Patients with advanced cancer benefit from early involvement of palliative care. Nonetheless, the ideal method of palliative care integration remains to be determined. Prior studies proposed automatic referral criteria and embedding palliative care teams within specialty clinics. Methods: We studied the impact of an embedded palliative care team that saw patients in an academic oncology clinic based on automatic referral criteria. Patients seen in this clinic on a specific day had access to the “embedded” model, whereas patients seen on two other days could access a separate palliative care clinic upon oncologist referral (usual care). We abstracted data from the medical records of 118 patients who were cared for in this oncology clinic and died during the 3 years following implementation of the embedded model. Results: Compared with those with access to usual care (n = 88), patients with access to the embedded model (n = 30) encountered palliative care as outpatients more often (p < 0.001) ...
Insulin Resistance in Youth Without Diabetes Is Not Related to Muscle Mitochondrial Dysfunction.

Context Obesity, insulin resistance (IR), and diabetes are increasing in youth, especially in girls. IR is associated with muscle mitochondrial dysfunction in youth and adults with diabetes. However, it is unknown whether this relationship is present in youth prior to development of diabetes. Objective Assess IR and mitochondrial function, including sex differences, in nondiabetic youth. Design Cross-sectional study of youth in the Exploring Perinatal Outcomes among Children, Resistance to InSulin in Type 1 And Type 2 diabetes, and Androgens and Insulin Resistance Study cohorts. Setting Academic medical university. Participants Two hundred seventy-five youth, 13 to 19 years old [43% males: 17.1 (16.52, 17.63) years, body mass index z-score (BMI-Z) 0.36, 64.7% Tanner 5; 57% females: 17.2 (16.43, 17.67) years, BMI-Z 0.72, 78.9% Tanner 5]. Interventions Fasting laboratories, oral glucose tolerance test, and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Main Outcome Measures IR [triglyceride:high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio, Matsuda index, and homeostasis model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)] and muscle mitochondrial function (adenosine 5'-diphosphate time constant and oxidative phosphorylation rate). Results Compared with males, females were more insulin resistant, with higher triglyceride:HDL ratio [1.95 (1.30, 2.79) vs 1.69 (1.21, 2.23), P = 0.042], HOMA-IR [3.18 (2.42, 4.39) vs 2.76 (2.02, 4.08), P = 0.035], and fasting free fatty acids (FFAs) and lower Matsuda score [3.98 (2.71, 5.96) vs 5.39 (3.43, 7.57), P < 0.001]. After adjustment for the higher BMI and Tanner stage and lower physical activity levels seen in females, there were no sex differences in mitochondrial function nor in any IR measure except FFAs. We did not find an association between measures of IR and mitochondrial function. Conclusions The greater IR seen in adolescent girls vs boys is mostly explained by differences in BMI and physical activity. Mitochondrial function does not appear to be related to IR in a large cohort of nondiabetic youth.
Risk factors for blood transfusion in patients undergoing high-order Cesarean delivery.

BACKGROUND The objective was to identify risk factors associated with blood transfusion in patients undergoing high-order Cesarean delivery (CD). STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing third or more CD by a single maternal-fetal medicine practice between 2005 and 2016. We compared risk factors between women who did and did not receive a red blood cell transfusion during the operation or before discharge. Repeat analysis was performed after excluding women with placenta previa. RESULTS A total of 514 patients were included, 18 of whom (3.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2%-5.5%) received a blood transfusion. Placenta previa was the most significant risk factor for transfusion (61.1% of patients who received a transfusion vs. 1% of patients who did not; p < 0.001). Patients with a placenta previa had a 68.8% likelihood of requiring a blood transfusion. After women who had placenta previa were excluded, the incidence of blood transfusion was seven of 498 (1.4%; 95% CI, 0.7%-2.9%). Risk factors significantly associated with blood transfusion in the absence of previa were prophylactic anticoagulation during pregnancy and having labored. The incidence of transfusion in patients with no placenta previa, no anticoagulation, and no labor was 0.7% (95% CI, 0.3%-2.1%). Placenta previa was the most predictive risk factor for transfusion with a positive predictive value of 68.8% and a negative predictive value of 98.4%. CONCLUSION In patients undergoing a third or more CD, only placenta previa, prophylactic anticoagulation during pregnancy, and having labored are independently associated with requiring a blood transfusion. These data can be used to guide physician ordering of prepared blood products preoperatively.
A new application of change point analysis reveals extensive edge effects on a temperate mixed forest

Questions How do landscape changes along edges of protected areas affect forest interiors and stand development? What are the locations, spatial extents and magnitudes of these effects? Location The 8500-ha Sylvania Wilderness Area, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA. Methods We conducted vegetation surveys in 202 plots in ten transects crossing the Sylvania Wilderness border in 2013 and 2014. We recorded characteristics of forest structure, trees, shrubs, saplings, seedlings and herbaceous species. We constructed GLMM to estimate the location, spatial extent and magnitude of change of edge effects on Sylvania with a range of possible edge effect locations and widths of effect. We selected best-fit models that minimized the AIC and applied likelihood ratio tests to assess the statistical significance of each edge effect. Results Overall, evidence of edge effects occurred up to 625 m into the Sylvania Wilderness, with most significant changes occurring within 400 m of the wilderness border. Wide zones of change occurred across the wilderness border, while zones of change farther from the edge tended to be narrower, suggesting that distinct environments are established beyond the transitional habitats surrounding the border region. Canopy-level and understorey-level variables exhibited the largest magnitudes and steepest gradients of change, indicating these communities are strongly influenced by edge effects in this forest system. Canopy-level heterogeneity also increased approaching the internal core area of Sylvania. Conclusions In this case study, we applied a linear change point model and found a minimum buffer zone of 400 m to mitigate edge effects in an old-growth temperate mixed forest. Regionally, land managers could implement this buffer to existing edges of protected areas or negotiate this buffer zone in land acquisitions. A more stringent buffer zone of 625 m internal and 250 m external to old-growth forests would be ideal. This application of change point analysis provides a simple, efficient method to establish effective buffer zones and to identify functional groups or ecosystem attributes for which edge effects are of greatest conservation concern. We recommend modifying our open-source change point package to estimate local edge effects that take into account regional characteristics.
Bond Time: The Electric Method of Time Recording

From the construction of the first marine chronometer in the United States and the innovation of accurate constant-force clock escapements to the invention of the “Spring Governor” drum chronograph, the Bond family enhanced the accuracy of timekeeping and perfected the distribution of time from the Bond’s firm in Boston and the Harvard College Observatory. As a result of their enterprise, combined with the growing network of the telegraph, the “American Method” of transit observation advanced geodesy and positional astronomy. It also provided the mid-nineteenth century burgeoning industry and the New England railroads, through the sale of time, the opportunity to maintain coordinated scheduling. The Bonds were pivotal at the nexus of science and business.
Variables that impact medical malpractice claims involving plastic surgeons in the United States

Background Medical malpractice lawsuits contribute directly and indirectly to the cost of healthcare in the United States. Reducing medical malpractice claims represents an often unrecognized opportunity for improving both the quality and affordability of healthcare. Objectives The aim of this study was to better understand variables of the informed consent process that may contribute to reducing malpractice claims in plastic surgery. Methods A prospective multiple choice questionnaire was distributed via email to all of the 1694 members of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) to evaluate attitudes and practices of informed consent in relation to medical malpractice. Results A total of 129 questionnaires obtained from plastic surgeons were eligible for analysis (response rate 7.6%). Respondents who provided procedure-specific brochures to their patients were significantly less likely to be sued for medical malpractice (P = 0.004) than those who did not. Plastic surgeons that participated in malpractice carrier-required courses on avoiding medical malpractice litigation had a similarly significantly reduced likelihood of lawsuits. (P = 0.04). Conclusions Variables that may reduce malpractice claims, and thereby both improve the quality and affordability of healthcare, include: (1) the use of procedure-specific patient education brochures; and (2) physician participation in malpractice insurance carrier-required courses. These findings should be of interest to physicians, hospitals, and insurance companies.
Gödel, Lucas, and the Soul-Searching Selfie

J. R. Lucas argues against mechanism that an ideal, immortal agent whose mental activities could be mimicked by a Turing machine would be able, absurdly, to prove the Godel sentence for the set of arithmetical sentences she is able to prove. There are two main objections: “The agent cannot know her own program” and “The agent cannot be sure the things she can prove are consistent.” It is argued that accepting the first objection would hand the anti-mechanist a roundabout victory, since for an ordinary finite mechanical system, one can determine what its program is, but that one need not accept the first objection. The second objection can only be thwarted by adopting a conception of “proof” that treats proof as veridical. This reduces Lucas’s argument to Montague’s theorem on the undefinability of epistemic necessity, which is, it is argued, an obstacle to naturalized epistemology.
Identification of a Novel TCF4 Isoform in the Human Corneal Endothelium.

Purpose:Alternative splice isoforms of TCF4, a gene implicated in Fuchs corneal dystrophy, have been identified in multiple human tissues outside of the eye. The aim of this study was to identify the transcriptional profile of TCF4 in the corneal endothelium.Methods:We extracted RNA from the donor c
Who benefits from euro depreciation in the euro zone

In this paper, we try to assess the short-run and long-run effects of changes in the value of the euro on the trade balance of 12 original members of the euro zone to identify those who benefit from euro depreciation. After estimating a linear and a nonlinear trade balance model for each country, the results favor the nonlinear adjustment of the real euro and nonlinear models. We find that while seven members will benefit from a euro depreciation, Germany is the only country that will also benefit from a euro appreciation, perhaps due to an inelastic world demand for German goods. The results also support asymmetric effects of euro appreciation and euro depreciation in most countries in the zone, in the short run as well as in the long run.
PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG EFFECTS ON PLASMA NOREPINEPHRINE AND PLASMA DOPAMINE β-HYDROXYLASE IN MAN

Chronically-administered clorgyline, pargyline and fenfluramine produced marked reductions in plasma norepinephrine (NE) levels in depressed patients. In contrast, the acute administration of (+)-amphetamine and fenfluramine led to modest increases in plasma NE in depressed patients. Lithium carbonate treatment tended to be accompanied by higher plasma NE, but like plasma dopamine β-hydroxylase changes with all of these drugs, there were large variations in response in individual patients, and statistically-significant alterations were not observed during treatment.
Targeting extracellular vesicles to injured tissue using membrane cloaking and surface display.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and exosomes are nano-sized, membrane-bound vesicles shed by most eukaryotic cells studied to date. EVs play key signaling roles in cellular development, cancer metastasis, immune modulation and tissue regeneration. Attempts to modify exosomes to increase their targeting efficiency to specific tissue types are still in their infancy. Here we describe an EV membrane anchoring platform termed “cloaking” to directly embed tissue-specific antibodies or homing peptides on EV membrane surfaces ex vivo for enhanced vesicle uptake in cells of interest. The cloaking system consists of three components: DMPE phospholipid membrane anchor, polyethylene glycol spacer and a conjugated streptavidin platform molecule, to which any biotinylated molecule can be coupled for EV decoration. We demonstrate the utility of membrane surface engineering and biodistribution tracking with this technology along with targeting EVs for enhanced uptake in cardiac fibroblasts, myoblasts and ischemic myocardium using combinations of fluorescent tags, tissue-targeting antibodies and homing peptide surface cloaks. We compare cloaking to a complementary approach, surface display, in which parental cells are engineered to secrete EVs with fusion surface targeting proteins. EV targeting can be enhanced both by cloaking and by surface display; the former entails chemical modification of preformed EVs, while the latter requires genetic modification of the parent cells. Reduction to practice of the cloaking approach, using several different EV surface modifications to target distinct cells and tissues, supports the notion of cloaking as a platform technology.
Open-Book Testing and Multi-Label Deep Generative Models

Deep Generative Models (DGMs) are very powerful semi-supervised classifiers. We aim to further improve their prediction accuracies by constructing novel generative models that incorporate multiple labels and by proposing open-book testing, a new testing paradigm that leverages the semi-supervised nature of DGMs. We perform all of our experiments on the NORB data set. Open-book testing allows unlabeled test data to be used while training in an effort to combat overfitting. We show experimentally that open-book testing significantly increases classification performance even though no label information is provided. Further, we develop five new multi-label DGMs. One is a generic multi-label model and four are custom-tailored to the NORB data set. We find that, compared to a single-label classifier, the presence of additional labels degrades performance despite open-book testing but is nearly perfect at 99.7% when a priori independence is enforced.
Her2 targeted nanoparticle bioconjugates for breast cancer treatment

4181 An estimated 211000 new cases and 40000 deaths will be attributed breast cancer in the USA in 2006. Novel approaches that allow for a more effective and less toxic chemotherapy for disseminated breast cancer are needed for which the current therapies are largely ineffective. Targeted drug encapsulated nanoparticles may decrease the side effects of available treatment and increase their efficiency resulting in enhanced therapeutic index of available chemotherapies. The targeted delivery of nanoparticles with polypeptides may confer certain advantages when compared to antibodies such as small size, robustness of platform, and synthetic production that can facilitate scale-up production. We report the development of controlled release polymer nanoparticles using a poly (D,L lactic)-poly(ethylene glycol) copolymer with a terminal maleimide functional group (PLA-PEG-MAL). These nanoparticles were conjugated to a polypeptide sequence that has a preferential binding characteristics for the Her-2 receptor, a well characterized antigen that is overexpressed on the surface of breast and pancreatic cancers. The resulting pegylated nanoparticle-peptide bioconjugates were ~120 nm in size and had negative surface charge of ~ -5 mV. The combination of these characteristics is expected to minimize the non-specific clearance of these nanoparticles by the body’s immune system. The conjugation of the peptide does not affect the physical properties of the nanoparticles and we did not observe any nanoparticle aggregation. We next demonstrated a differential cytotoxity of these bioconjugates using docetaxel encapsulated targeted nanoparticles. These bioconjugates specifically bound to and were taken up by the Her2 expressing cells resulting in enhanced differential cytotoxity as compared cells which do not express Her2, and to empty nanoparticle controls. These targeted drug delivery nanoparticles could be used as a powerful therapeutic tool for Her2 expressing cancers. Keywords: Her2, Poly(lactic acid), PLA, targeted nanoparticles, docetaxel Topic: Drug Delivery & Therapeutics- Targeting at Molecular, Cellular and Higher Levels. Figure 1. Targeted nanoparticle-polypeptide conjugates uptake into SKBR-3 cells
Framework for scalable intra-node collective operations using shared memory

Collective operations are used in MPI programs to express common communication patterns, collective computations, or synchronization. In many collectives, such as MPI_Allreduce, the intra-node component of the collective lies on the critical path, as the inter-node communication cannot start until the intra-node component has completed. With increasing number of core counts in each node, intra-node optimizations that leverage shared memory become more important. In this paper, we focus on the performance benefit of optimizing intra-node collectives using POSIX shared memory for synchronization and data sharing. We implement several collectives using basic primitives or steps as building blocks. Key components of our implementation include a dedicated intra- node collectives layer, careful layout of the data structures, as well as optimizations to exploit the memory hierarchy to balance parallelism and latencies of data movement. A comparison of our implementation on top of MPICH shows significant performance speedups with respect to the original MPICH implementation, MVAPICH, and OpenMPI.
Deep Learning Locally Trained Wildlife Sensing in Real Acoustic Wetland Environment

We describe ‘Tidzam’, an application of deep learning that leverages a dense, multimodal sensor network installed at a large wetland restoration performed at Tidmarsh, a 600-acre former industrial-scale cranberry farm in Southern Massachusetts. Wildlife acoustic monitoring is a crucial metric during post-restoration evaluation of the processes, as well as a challenge in such a noisy outdoor environment. This article presents the entire Tidzam system, which has been designed in order to identify in real-time the ambient sounds of weather conditions as well as sonic events such as insects, small animals and local bird species from microphones deployed on the site. This experiment provides insight on the usage of deep learning technology in a real deployment. The originality of this work concerns the system’s ability to construct its own database from local audio sampling under the supervision of human visitors and bird experts.
Synthesis, structure, and reactivity of unexpectedly stable spiroepoxy-beta-lactones obtained by epoxidation of 4-alkylidene-2-oxetanones.

-lactone2a. Optimal yields were obtained only withpurified ketene dimer since degradation of the dimer due to tracesof amine hydrochloride salt from the dimerization step wascompetitive with epoxidation. In this manner, several spiroepoxides2b-e (Table 1) were prepared with good diastereoselectivity andproved to be surprisingly stable to silica gel chromatography,allowing separation of diastereomers. This stability contrastssignificantly from dioxaspirohexanes and dioxaspiropentanes, whichcould not be chromatographed. However, spiro-
Microbial, color and textural qualities of fresh asparagus, broccoli, and cauliflower stored under controlled atmosphere

Fresh asparagus, broccoli, and cauliflower were held under controlled atmosphere storage (CAS) and ambient air systems at 4°C for 21 days. Samples were examined on the initial day of experiments and after 2, 4, 7, 14, and 21 d of storage. On each day of analysis, color (value, chroma, and hue angle) was measured. Texture was measured as J needed to shear the vegetable/mm2 vegetable shear surface area. Total aerobic microbial populations were enumerated. Populations of total aerobic microorganisms were initially about 104 - 105 CFU/g on all three vegetables and grew to at least 107 CFU by d 21 of storage. CAS storage significantly reduced the growth of microorganisms on broccoli but had no significant effect with the other vegetables. Asparagus stored under CAS was easier to shear and had slightly higher hue angles than those of asparagus stored under air. Cauliflower stored under CAS showed less decline in value. CAS extended the length of time vegetables were subjectively considered acceptable for consumption. However, overall results indicate that quality of vegetables, as determined by objective measurements of color and texture, is not significantly influenced by CAS during refrigerated storage.
Linking openness to cognitive ability in older adulthood: The role of activity diversity.

Relatively few studies have examined the reasons older individuals participate in activities that may benefit cognition with aging. Personality traits, particularly, openness to experience, are lik...
Genetics of Electrophysiologic Disorders

Abstract The familial inheritance patterns of cardiac arrhythmias highlight the importance of genetic abnormalities contributing to ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and sudden cardiac death. An understanding of these underlying genetic defects, primarily in various ion channels and desmosomes, has provided insights into disease mechanisms and has impacted risk stratification and therapeutic strategies. In this chapter, we provide a detailed review of the inherited arrhythmic disorders, which constitute approximately one-half of unexplained cardiac arrests and include the congenital long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. The discovery of genetic mutations implicated in these conditions has impacted the diagnosis and ability to treat both patients and clinically silent family members. However, a common theme that arises across these disease states remains the need to identify and understand the full spectrum of genetic variation and biology that is responsible for the inherited arrhythmic diseases. Finally, despite the importance of genetics and inheritance patterns that underlie the workup of these conditions, clinical evaluation and testing should remain the primary means of risk stratification.
Role of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures on Predicting Outcome of Bunion Surgery.

Background:Prior studies have suggested preoperative patient-reported outcome scores could predict patients who would achieve a clinically meaningful improvement with hallux valgus surgery. Our goa...
Progressives and Foreign Policy in the Trump Era

This chapter develops two more case studies of Progressive/Liberal activism during the first years of the Trump administration. It examines the outspoken political challenges of Progressives Democrats in response to the president’s international travel bans in Trump’s first year in office. Members employed negative issue framing and protests to effect changes in policies. The chapter also analyzes Progressive challenges to the Trump administration’s approach to ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and related immigration legislation through traditional and nontraditional means.
Activating Neighborliness Frames: Drawing on Culturally-Relevant Discourses of Community to Build a Stronger and More Diverse Environmental Movement

In this article, I draw on my experience as an environmental social scientist and narrative nonfiction writer working in working class conservative communities that frequently challenge or reject science communication. Based on my own trial-and-error path as a public intellectual working to advance sustainable agriculture, I present a method that I’ve developed to promote broader and more diverse public dialogue about environmental problem solving. Acknowledging that people interpret the world through socially-reinforced cultural cognition and pre-existing cognitive frames — and also that humans are social animals who thrive in groups — I propose that frames can be the science communicator’s friend. I have yet to find a community that does not have some connection to ancestral or local knowledge about community interdependence and the importance of being a good neighbor. Indeed, I often find that these “neighborliness” frames are at the very core of people’s cultural cognition. Such neighborliness frames, in turn, provide a strong foundation for environmental consciousness. Thus, by being curious about a community’s unique history with and knowledge about neighborliness, science communicators can help to build up frames necessary for environmental actions, while also helping cultivate broader understandings of the “neighborhood” within which communities’ values and worldviews demand action.
The effect of transparency on the gender-based compensation gap in surgical disciplines within a large academic healthcare system.

Background Female representation in surgery and surgical subspecialties has increased over the last decade. Studies have shown a discrepancy in compensation in the field of surgery, and several groups have advocated for increasing transparency as a primary solution to decrease this gender salary gap in surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in compensation between genders in surgical specialties within a large academic healthcare system. Methods Using a public compensation database from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016, this retrospective observational study analyzed salaries of full-time faculty surgeons within a large multi-institutional academic healthcare system. Surgeons included those who were employed for the entirety of 2016 and were full-time faculty who were then stratified according to surgical specialty and rank. The median base and median total salaries were compared between male and female surgeons with adjustment for rank and surgical specialty. Results There were 170 surgeons from eight surgical subspecialties included in the study with 29% being female (n = 50). Overall, unadjusted and adjusted median total salaries were significantly lower for female compared to male surgeons by $121,578 and $45,904, respectively. The three subspecialties with the highest compensation had a median total salary of $558,998 and had a high male to female ratio (3.7 male to 1 female), whereas the three subspecialties with the lowest compensation had a median total salary of $376,174 and had a male to female ratio of 1.5 male to 1 female. Conclusions In a large academic healthcare system with transparent and publicly accessible salaries, the gender compensation gap in surgery persists. In conjunction with transparency, future academic institutions should consider a value-based, objective compensation plan with personal and systemic introspection of traditional gender biases, in efforts to circumvent the impact of gender on salary.
Deep learning for robust and flexible tracking in behavioral studies for C. elegans

Robust and accurate behavioral tracking is essential for ethological studies. Common methods for tracking and extracting behavior rely on user adjusted heuristics that can significantly vary across different individuals, environments, and experimental conditions. As a result, they are difficult to implement in large-scale behavioral studies with complex, heterogenous environmental conditions. Recently developed deep-learning methods for object recognition such as Faster R-CNN have advantages in their speed, accuracy, and robustness. Here, we show that Faster R-CNN can be employed for identification and detection of Caenorhabditis elegans in a variety of life stages in complex environments. We applied the algorithm to track animal speeds during development, fecundity rates and spatial distribution in reproductive adults, and behavioral decline in aging populations. By doing so, we demonstrate the flexibility, speed, and scalability of Faster R-CNN across a variety of experimental conditions, illustrating its generalized use for future large-scale behavioral studies.
The operational impacts of Chief Supply Chain Officers in manufacturing firms

Many firms have elevated their supply chain management decision-making responsibilities through the creation of ‘Chief Supply Chain Officer’ (CSCO) positions. This is widely attributed to the recog...
The Precautionary Principle

In the previous two chapters, I considered approaches to precautionary reasoning stemming from decision theory and moral theory.
Radiosynthesis of 5-[18F]Fluoro-1,2,3-triazoles through Aqueous Iodine-[18F]Fluorine Exchange Reaction.

In this report, a simple and efficient process to achieve fluorine-18-labeled 1,2,3-triazole is reported. The heteroaromatic radiofluorination was successfully achieved through an iodine–fluorine-18 exchange in an aqueous medium requiring only trace amounts of base and no azeotropic drying of fluorine-18. This methodology was optimized on a model reaction and further validated on multiple 1,2,3-triazole substrates with 18–60% radiochemical conversions. Using this strategy—the radiosynthesis of a triazole-based thiamin analogue—a potential positron emission tomography (PET) probe for imaging thiamin-dependent enzymes was synthesized with 10–16% isolated radiochemical yield (RCY) in 40 min (uncorrected, n > 5).
Outcomes Following Participation in a Support-Based Summer Camp for Children Who Stutter.

Purpose Self-help and support activities are often recommended for people who stutter, and there is growing interest in understanding whether and how such experiences might be beneficial for childr...
Contemporary Issues in Longitudinal Research

Criminology has increasingly embraced the longitudinal approach to the study of delinquency and crime. Most significantly, longitudinal methods, or at least data that are longitudinal in character, have become the principal means for the investigation of criminal careers. Indeed, over the past two decades, criminological research has increasingly focused on a particular category of offender and his associated criminal behavior. This particular focus has concerned what was originally referred to as the “chronic offender” (Wolfgang et al., 1972). The current focus, however, has evolved beyond just the category of the habitual or chronic offender itself, to a broader concern with topics such as “criminal careers” and “career criminals” (see Blumstein et al., 1986).
Different approaches to the programming languages course

Consider the poor, beleaguered Programming Languages course! Most computer science instructors would recognize this as a not-unusual computer science undergraduate course, usually at the upper division and often a junior-level course. ACM's Computing Curriculum 2001 (CC2001, http://www.sigcse.org/cc2001/) largely left it out. CC2001 included four example implementations of the intermediate level of the Computer Science curriculum in its Chapter 8. Only one of these four, the intensive systems-based example approach, makes mention of something approaching this course, and that example course's title, "CS240s - Programming Languages Translation", might be taken by some to not be the same thing at all. And, CS240s's link is not even operational.
Reality Bites: The Illusion of Science in Bite-Mark Evidence

More than a decade after Daubert, years after the amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence, and long after the courts in Frye jurisdictions started examining the empirical basis for expert claims before permitting such testimony in their courtrooms, judges are still evading their gatekeeping duties when it comes to criminal cases. A prime example of this can be found in bite-mark testimony. Although it comes dressed in the illusion of science, having experts with advanced degrees, a fancy name (forensic odontology), professional associations, and professional journals, that illusion belies the reality that bite-mark evidence utterly lacks empirical support for its claims. This Article examines the claims made for bite-mark testimony, and the empirical support for those claims. It discusses the avoidance techniques used by the courts which permit this testimony into evidence despite the experts' inability to provide empirical support. It analyzes the threshold relevance requirement as basic to a rational system of adjudication, the concept of reliability as an inextricable component of this analysis, and why cross-examination, engine of truth though it may be, cannot resolve the problem of bogus expertise. This matters, because the result of admitting such flawed testimony is not only injustice in the individual case, but undermines the legitimacy of the justice system.
Tolerance and withdrawal of immunosuppressive drugs in patients given kidney and hematopoietic cell transplants.

Sixteen patients conditioned with total lymphoid irradiation and anti-thymocyte globulin were given kidney transplants and an injection of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells and T cells from HLA matched donors in a tolerance induction protocol. Blood cell monitoring included changes in chimerism, balance of T cell subsets, and responses to donor alloantigens. Fifteen patients developed multilineage chimerism without graft versus host disease (GVHD), and 8 with chimerism for at least 6 months were withdrawn from anti-rejection medications for 1 to 3 years (mean- 28 months) without subsequent rejection episodes. Four chimeric patients have just completed or are in the midst of drug withdrawal, and 4 patients were not withdrawn due to return of underlying disease or rejection episodes. Blood cells from all patients showed early high ratios of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells and NKT cells versus conventional naive CD4+ T cells, and those off drugs showed specific unresponsiveness to donor alloantigens. In conclusion, total lymphoid irradiation and anti-thymocyte globulin promoted the development of persistent chimerism and tolerance in a cohort of patients given kidney transplants and hematopoietic donor cell infusions. All 16 patients had excellent graft function at the last observation point with or without maintenance drugs.
Characterization of S-adenosylmethionine: ribosomal ribonucleic acid-adenine (N 6 -) methyltransferase of Escherichia coli strain B.

This study is concerned with the isolation and characterization of the enzyme, S-adenosylmethionine:ribosomal ribonucleic acid-adenine (N6−) methyl-transferase [rRNA-adenine (N6-) methylase] of Escherichia coli strain B, which is responsible for the formation of N6-methyladenine moieties in ribosomal ribonucleic acids (rRNA). A 1,500-fold purified preparation of the species-specific methyltransferase methylates a limited number of adenine moieties in heterologous rRNA (Micrococcus lysodeikticus and Bacillus subtilis) and methyl-deficient homologous rRNA. The site recognition mechanism does not require intact 16 or 23S rRNA. The enzyme does not utilize transfer ribonucleic acid as a methyl acceptor nor does it synthesize 2-methyladenine or N6-dimethyladenine moieties. Mg2+, spermine, K+, and Na+ increase the reaction rate but not the extent of methylation; elevated concentrations of the cations inhibit markedly. The purified preparations utilize 9-β-ribosyl-2,6-diaminopurine (DAPR) as a methyl acceptor with the synthesis of 9-β-ribosyl-6-amino-2-methylaminopurine. A comparison of the two activities demonstrated that one methyltransferase is responsible for the methylation of both DAPR and rRNA. This property provides a sensitive assay procedure unaffected by ribonucleases and independent of any specificity exhibited by rRNA methyl acceptors.
Bayesian Semi-Parametric and Non-Parametric Methods in Marketing and Micro-Econometrics

I review and develop Bayesian non-parametric and semi-parametric methods based on finite and infinite mixtures of normals. Applications include regression, IV methods, and random coefficient models.
Analysis of interconnect and package structures using PEEC models with radiated emissions

The PEEC (partial element equivalent circuit) approach is well suited for the modeling of integrated circuits and system interconnect and packages. In this paper, techniques which incorporate the latest enhancements of the PEEC approach are applied to EMI and electrical interconnect and package (EIP) example problems. Our approach corresponds to a full wave solution, which accurately determines the high frequency and also the time domain currents and voltages. Two examples are given to illustrate the usefulness of the techniques for both transient and frequency domain electromagnetic simulation as well as for radiated field calculation.
High‐pressure processing with hot sauce flavouring enhances sensory quality for raw oysters (Crassostrea virginica)

Summary This study evaluated flavouring raw oysters by placing them under pressure in the presence of a commercially available hot sauce. Hand-shucked raw oysters were processed at high pressure (600 MPa), in the presence or absence of hot sauce flavouring and evaluated by an experienced sensory panel 3 and 10 days after postharvest processing. The sensory panel evaluated high-pressure-processed oysters, with and without flavouring, for eleven flavours and three texture characteristics using an 11-point intensity scale. Oysters were plump and characterised as moderately chewy and firm. Most oyster flavour characteristics were low in intensity with moderate intensity for briny and umami attributes. Flavoured oysters had a moderately intense tangy flavour and aftertaste. Flavouring a raw oyster by high-pressure processing provides the potential to create a microbiologically safe product with unique sensory characteristics, which may influence consumer acceptance and marketability.
Image and Video Coding

The sections in this article are 1 Compression Framework For Still Images 2 Jpeg–Still-Image Compression Standard 3 Beyond JPEG: Wavelets 4 Beyond JPEG: Fractal Coding 5 Compression Framework For Video 6 Video Standards 7 MPEG-4 Standard 8 MPEG-7 and Multimedia Databases 9 Current and Future Research Issues 10 Acknowledgments
Bending and curvature calculations in B-DNA

Abstract A simple program, BEND, has been written to calculate the magnitude of local bending and macroscopic curvature at each point along an arbitrary B-DNA sequence, using any desired bending model that specifies values of twist, roll and tilt as a function of sequence. The program has been used to evaluate six different DNA bending models in three categories. Two are bent non-A-tract models: (a) A new model based on the nucleosome positioning data of Satchwell et al 1986 (J. Mol. Biol. 191, 659-675), (b) The model of Calladine et al 1988 (J. Mol. Biol. 201, 127-137). Three are bent A-tract models: (c) The wedge model of Bolshoy et al 1991 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 2312-2316), (d) The model of Cacchione et al 1989 (Biochem. 28, 8706-8713), (e) A reversed version of model (b). The last is a junction model: (f) The model of Koo & Crothers 1988 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 1763-1767). Although they have widely different assumptions and values for twist, roll and tilt, all six models correctly predict experimental A-tract curvature as measured by gel retardation and cyclization kinetics, but only the new nucleosome positioning model is successful in predicting curvature in regions containing phased GGGCCC sequences. This model--showing local bending at mixed sequence DNA, strong bends at the sequence GGC, and straight, rigid A-tracts--is the only model consistent with both solution data from gel retardation and cyclization kinetics and structural data from x-ray crystallography.