cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessing posttraumatic stress related impairment and well-being: The Posttraumatic Stress Related Functioning Inventory (PRFI)

Posttraumatic stress symptoms are associated with poorer social and occupational functioning and quality of life. However, general assessments of functioning do not determine the extent to which these difficulties are directly related to PTSD symptoms. This study examines the psychometric properties of a self-report measure, the 27-item Posttraumatic Stress Related Functioning Inventory (PRFI), which was developed to provide a self-report tool for clinicians and researchers to better understand the perceived impact of PTSD symptoms on functioning. The psychometric properties of the PRFI were examined utilizing data collected within a larger study examining quality of life and functioning in 251 veterans who had served in OEF/OIF/OND and endorsed the presence of subsyndromal or greater levels of PTSD symptoms at screening. One-year test-retest reliability of the measure was examined in a subset of the baseline sample who received a second administration of the PRFI (n = 109). Higher levels of PTSD symptoms were associated with poorer functioning in all domains. The PRFI demonstrated convergent validity with a measure of PTSD symptoms and was less correlated with measures of alcohol and drug use, good internal consistency and test-retest reliability from baseline to one-year follow-up. The PRFI provides self-report information regarding several domains of functioning. This initial examination of psychometric properties of the scale indicated that it may be useful for efficiently eliciting information about the ways in which PTSD symptoms in veterans impact everyday functioning.
IL-10 reduces grain dust-induced airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity

To determine whether interleukin-10 (IL-10) could alter the development of grain dust-induced airway disease, we pretreated mice with either saline or IL-10 intravenously, exposed the mice to an in...
Learning a kernel for multi-task clustering

Multi-task learning has received increasing attention in the past decade. Many supervised multi-task learning methods have been proposed, while unsupervised multitask learning is still a rarely studied problem. In this paper, we propose to learn a kernel for multi-task clustering. Our goal is to learn a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space, in which the geometric structure of the data in each task is preserved, while the data distributions of any two tasks are as close as possible. This is formulated as a unified kernel learning framework, under which we study two types of kernel learning: nonparametric kernel learning and spectral kernel design. Both types of kernel learning can be solved by linear programming. Experiments on several cross-domain text data sets demonstrate that kernel k-means on the learned kernel can achieve better clustering results than traditional single-task clustering methods. It also outperforms the newly proposed multi-task clustering method.
Multi-stage game theroy in continuous time

I define multi-stage stochastic games in continuous time. As in Bergin and MacLeod (1993), strategies have infinitesimal inertia, i.e., agents cannot change their strategies in an infinitesimal interval immediately after each time t. I extend the framework to allow for mixed strategies. As a novel feature in continuous time, mixing can be done both over actions, and over time (choosing the time of the action). I also define ”layered times,” which allow for stopping the clock and having various stages of the game be played at the same moment in time. I apply the theory to a trading game, where patient agents can choose whether to trade immediately or place a limit order and wait.
A low-resource, simple method to treat postpartum hemorrhage.

Lifesaving medication surgical supplies and access to emergency surgery are often lacking in low-resource settings where too many women die from postpartum hemorrhage the leading cause of maternal mortality in many developing countries. Even in the developed industrialized world women still suffer mortality and morbidity from postpartum hemorrhage as lifesaving resources take time to be mobilized and are often not immediately available in smaller hospitals. A simple inexpensive method of uterine tamponade which does not require extensive surgical skills and is readily available can provide temporary or permanent control of postpartum hemorrhage and as a result save lives or buy time for definitive treatment in any obstetric care setting. Sterile rubber catheters and condoms are available all over the world at low cost and the concept of using a catheter and attached condom for hydrostatic tamponade is ingenious innovative and practical. (excerpt)
Social media in study abroad

iii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2 CHAPTER 3. THEORY 17 CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 21 CHAPTER 5. METHODS 23 CHAPTER 6. FINDINGS 29 CHAPTER 7. LIMITATIONS 36 CHAPTER 8. DISCUSSION 37 APPENDIX: CODE SHEET AND FRAMES 42 REFERENCES CITED 51
Solid-Phase Synthesis as a Platform for the Discovery of New Ruthenium Complexes for Efficient Release of Photocaged Ligands with Visible Light

Ruthenium-based photocaging groups have important applications as biological tools and show great potential as therapeutics. A method was developed to rapidly synthesize, screen, and identify ruthenium-based caging groups that release nitriles upon irradiation with visible light. A diverse library of tetra- and pentadentate ligands was synthesized on polystyrene resin. Ruthenium complexes of the general formula [Ru(L)(MeCN)n]m+ (n = 1–3, m = 1–2) were generated from these ligands on solid phase and then cleaved from resin for photochemical analysis. Data indicate a wide range of spectral tuning and reactivity with visible light. Three complexes that showed strong absorbance in the visible range were synthesized by solution phase for comparison. Photochemical behavior of solution- and solid-phase complexes was in good agreement, confirming that the library approach is useful in identifying candidates with desired photoreactivity in short order, avoiding time-consuming chromatography and compound purification.
Methods of Delaying Selection of Acaricide Resistant Strains of the European Red Mite

Certain acaricides were tested on apple for three seasons as control agents for the European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus telarius (L,), according to three plans: (1) single acaricides alone at standard concentration in consecutive acaricidal applications; (2) two acaricides separately at standard concentration in alternate applications; (3) two acaricides mixed, with each at one-half standard concentration, in consecutive applications. In the third season of continuous use according to plan 1, the acaricides failed to control the European red mite, an indication that the use of each chemical had developed a strain of this pest resistant to it. The same acaricides continued to give a high degree of control of this pest in the third season of continuous use according to plans 2 and 3.
Hydrolyzed Serum Agar for the Isolation of Corynebacterium Diphtheriae

vation of Corynebacterium diphtheriae which is almost universally used for diagnostic work. That there is need of a more convenient medium for the isolation of pure cultures is evidenced by several attempts to produce such a medium. In 1920 Klein 1 made a serum-agar medium. After first treating horse serum with sodium hydroxide until it was no longer coagulable by heat he added it to nutrient agar. Two years later Douglas 2 used trypsinized blood serum in nutrient agar, and added potassium tellurite to give the medium differential value. In 1923 Megrail3 modified Klein's medium by the addition of potassium tellurite. The object in these attempts seems to have been the making of a liquefiable medium which could be used in the same way as nutrient agar and at the same time give selective action for the diphtheria organism. In my experience, however, potassium tellurite will inhibit Corynebacterium diphtheriae considerably if used in sufficient amount to be effective on other organisms. Greenspon4 modified Loeffler's medium by the addition of sodium citrate and by adjusting the reaction with citric acid to Ph 6.4. The citrate acted as a growth stimulant to the diphtheria organism while the acidity acted to inhibit other organisms. In the present work a medium was made which combined the hydrolyzed serum of Klein with the substances used by Greenspon to accelerate the growth of Corynebacterium diphtheriae and inhibit some of the other organisms with which it is commonly found in the throat. The medium is prepared as follows:
Cavernosography Following Clinical Failure of Penile Vein Ligation for Erectile Dysfunction

AbstractIn an attempt to determine what occurs to the venous circulation of the penis after ligation of the deep dorsal vein, 9 men with veno-occlusive dysfunction who underwent deep dorsal penile vein ligation and failed to achieve normal erectile function postoperatively consented to a postoperative cavernosogram. Preoperatively, the deep dorsal vein was visualized in all 9 patients, the cavernous vein in 2 and the corpus spongiosum in 1. Postoperatively, the deep dorsal vein was visualized in 1 patient, the cavernous vein in 1 and the corpus spongiosum in 8. These observations suggest that either the inability to identify a cavernous-spongiosal communication preoperatively or the induction of such a communication postoperatively may lead to a clinical failure in patients who undergo deep dorsal penile vein ligation.
Near IR Spectra of Early-Type, Mass-Loss Stars

Observations were made using the CRSP on the 2.1m telescope at KPNO. Low resolution spectra cover the H and K bands at a resolution of about 200. High resolution spectra were obtained in the 2.1–2.2 µm region at a resolution of 850.
Wireless streaming of interactive multi-view video: Network compression meets path diversity

I formulate a system framework for network compression of interactive multi-view streaming video. The setup comprises a media server that delivers the content over two independent network paths to a client. My system features a proxy-server located at the junction of the wired and wireless portions of each path. The proxy dynamically adapts the content data sent over the wireless links, in response to channel quality feedback from the client, such that video distortion at the client is minimized. I analyze the performance of my system and contrast its characteristics with dynamic content adaptation at the source and conventional streaming architectures, including scalable video. I numerically simulate the operation of all streaming systems under comparison and establish a close agreement between my analysis and the experimental findings. The proposed system delivers superior video quality over the reference competitors, while enabling notable transmission rate savings, at the same time.
Both Sides Now

One of the questions that intrigued us (the authors of this case) about participating in an arts-based self-study was how ten colleagues from different disciplines, positions, authority, and years of experience in higher education collaborated as equal peers. We wonder, in retrospect, how we went about engaging in this organic process without defined structures and procedures that were new to most of us.
The bayesian basis of common sense medical diagnosis

In this paper, we show that the objections most frequently raised against the use of Bayesian statistics within the Al-in-medicine community do not seem to hold. In particular, we will show that the independence assumptions required to make Bayesian statistics computationally feasible are not nearly as damaging as has been claimed. We will also argue that Bayesian statistics is perfectly compatible with heuristic solutions to the multiple disease problem.
Mercury Temporal Trends in Top Predator Fish of the Laurentian Great Lakes from 2004 to 2015: Are Concentrations Still Decreasing?

Mercury (Hg) concentration trends in top predator fish (lake trout and walleye) of the Great Lakes (GL) from 2004 to 2015 were determined by Kendall–Theil robust regression with a cluster-based age normalization method to control for the effect of changes in lake trophic status. When data from the GLs (except Lake Erie) are combined, a significant decreasing trend in the lake trout Hg concentrations was found between 2004 and 2015 with an annual decrease of 4.1% per year, consistent with the decline in regional atmospheric Hg emissions and water Hg concentrations. However, a breakpoint was detected with a significant decreasing slope (−8.1% per year) before the breakpoint (2010), and no trend after the breakpoint. When the lakes are examined individually, Lakes Superior and Huron, which are dominated by atmospheric Hg inputs and are more likely than the lower lakes to respond to declining emissions from areas surrounding the GL, have significant decreasing trends with rates between 5.2 and 7.8% per year f...
Material Connections: German Schools, Things, and Soft Power in Argentina and Chile from the 1880s through the Interwar Period

From the late nineteenth century through the interwar period, the production and consumption of German things played critical roles in delineating and connecting a wide variety of German places in Latin America. Such places became ubiquitous in Chile and Argentina. They flourished because there was ample room in the German imagination for the multiplicity of German places and the cultural hybridity that accompanied them to extend beyond Imperial Germany's national boundaries and colonial possessions. They also flourished because host societies found virtue in having those German places in their states. This essay uses German schools in Argentina and Chile as a window into the emergence of such German places and the soft power that accompanied them. Scholars often overlook that power when they focus on colonial questions or formal and informal imperialism in Latin America. More than any other institution, German schools became sites where the production and consumption of German things were concentrated and multilayered, and where the consistencies and great varieties of Germanness that arrived and evolved in Latin America gained their clearest articulation. Because those schools were both centers of communities and nodes in a global pedagogical network that thrived during the interwar period, they provide us with great insight into a nexus of motivations that created German places in Latin America. Life around these schools also underscores the importance of studying immigrants and their things together.
Role of Discriminative Stimuli in Concurrent Performances: Duration of Changeover Delay

Pigeons alternated between simultaneously available, variable-interval 90-sec. schedules using a Findley changeover response procedure. Responses on the left key resulted in reinforcers according to the variable-interval schedules, while responses on the right key altered the reinforcement contingencies on the left key and initiated a changeover delay. Concurrent schedules were in effect when a changeover response alternated both the reinforcement schedule and discriminative stimulus on the left key. When the changeover response alternated only the reinforcement schedule, but not the discriminative stimulus on the left key, a parallel schedule was in effect. The lengths of the changeover delays were manipulated for both the concurrent and parallel schedules. For concurrent and parallel conditions, the birds were nondifferential between the components in terms of the relative proportion of responses emitted, time spent, and reinforcers received. When changeover delay was varied, changeover response rate was inversely related to the changeover duration. However, for a given changeover duration, changeover rate was consistently higher in concurrent than in parallel conditions. For both concurrent and parallel conditions, left-key response rate during the changeover delay was consistently greater than during post-changeover periods. A change in the discriminative stimulus (concurrent conditions) facilitates, but is not necessary for, the maintenance of changeover responding. These data suggest that the elevated rate on the left key during changeover delay is not affected greatly by variation in the discriminative stimuli, though the role of Pavlovian conditioning cannot be completely ruled out.
Spaces, Sites, and the Art of Memory

This essay reviews the following works: Sites of Memory in Spain and Latin America: Trauma, Politics, and Resistance. Edited by Aida Diaz de Leon, Marina Llorente, and Marcella Salvi. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015. Pp. vi + 177. ISBN: 9781498507806. La consagracion de la memoria: Una etnografia acerca de la institucionalizacion del recuerdo sobre los crimenes del terrorismo de Estado en la Argentina. By Ana Guglielmucci. Buenos Aires: Antropofagia, 2013. Pp. 398. ISBN: 9789871238996. Art from a Fractured Past: Memory and Truth-Telling in Post-Shining Path Peru. Edited by Cynthia E. Milton. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014. Pp. xi + 307. ISBN: 9780822355304. Ni tan elefante, ni tan blanco: Arquitectura, urbanismo y politica en la trayectoria del Estadio Nacional. By Valentina Rozas Krause. Santiago, Chile: RIL Editores, 2014. Pp. 342. ISBN: 9789560100641. Memorials in Berlin and Buenos Aires: Balancing Memory, Architecture, and Tourism. By Brigitte Sion. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015. Pp. xix + 129. ISBN: 9780739176306.
Fundamental Principles of Normal Speech Production

The purpose of this chapter is to describe fundamental principles of normal speech production. This will be done to provide a framework for the discussion of speech symptoms of velopharyngeal insufficiency in Chapter 12, and the description of the speech protocol used in the videofluoroscopic evaluation in Chapter 14.
Structural controllability of linear systems

One version of the concept of structural controllability defined for single-input systems by Lin and subsequently generalized to multi-input systems by others, states that a parameterized matrix pair (A, B) whose nonzero entries are distinct parameters, is structurally controllable if values can be assigned to the parameters which cause the resulting matrix pair to be controllable. In this paper the concept of structural controllability is broadened to allow for the possibility that a parameter may appear in more than one location in the pair (A, B). Subject to a certain condition on the parameterization called the “binary assumption”, an explicit graph-theoretic characterization of such matrix pairs is derived.
Longitudinal Effects of Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy on the Quality of Life of Post-menopausal Women with Non-metastatic ER+ Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review

Anti-estrogen (ER) endocrine therapy is an effective treatment strategy in reducing breast cancer mortality. This therapy has a better therapeutic index than chemotherapy but can still affect patients’ quality of life (QOL) over time. The objectives of this systematic review were to (1) describe QOL instruments used in ER-positive (ER+) non-metastatic breast cancer trials and (2) document the longitudinal effects of adjuvant endocrine therapy on the QOL of post-menopausal women with ER+ non-metastatic breast cancer. We searched three electronic bibliographic databases for articles published from inception to October 2017 that described (1) a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of non-metastatic breast cancer containing an adjuvant endocrine regimen in at least one arm; (2) the use of a patient self-report measure assessing general or breast cancer-specific QOL; and (3) QOL outcomes at multiple time points during follow-up of at least 5 years. All included trials were independently evaluated by two reviewers, and data were extracted using standardized forms. In total, 13 studies met our inclusion criteria and were assessed in this review. The quality of the trials was reasonably good. The top three most commonly used QOL instruments in the trials were the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy, the Short Form-36 and the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life. Most studies found no differences between tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitor groups in terms of global QOL. QOL data affected treatment regimen recommendations in a few cases. A meta-analysis was not feasible because the RCTs included in our review varied in terms of sample size, comparators, QOL instrument used, and timing of QOL measurement. Additionally, as no search strategy has perfect sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, there is always a chance that potentially relevant articles were missed. This systematic review suggests that the QOL of post-menopausal women is unlikely to be adversely affected by long-term use of adjuvant endocrine therapy. Efforts are needed to improve the quality of QOL reporting in clinical trials.
Predictability of Pelvic Tilt During Total Hip Arthroplasty Using a Traction Table.

Abstract Background Pelvic positioning during total hip arthroplasty (THA) affects functional position of the acetabular component. We sought to evaluate whether preoperative pelvic tilt correlated with intraoperative pelvic tilt while positioned on a traction table for direct anterior THA and furthermore to evaluate whether there was a consistent and predictable effect on pelvic tilt while positioned for surgery. Methods We evaluated the sagittal spinopelvic preoperative standing and supine pelvic tilt radiographic measurements as compared with intraoperative measurements of 25 patients. Changes in pelvic tilt were analyzed for statistical significance and interobserver reliability. Results The mean standing pelvic tilt was 13.5° ± 5.7°. The mean supine pelvic tilt was 13.3° ± 6.1°. There was no statistically significant difference between standing and supine pelvic tilt (P = .866). The mean intraoperative pelvic tilt was 3.0° ± 6.2°. There was a statistically significant decrease in pelvic tilt between both standing to intraoperative comparison and supine to intraoperative comparison (P Conclusion Patient positioning on a traction table for direct anterior THA has a reliable effect on pelvic tilt in the magnitude of approximately 10° decreased pelvic tilt. This effect on pelvic tilt correlates to approximately 7.4° and 3° altered anteversion and inclination, respectively. Taking into account this change in pelvic tilt at the time of surgery will allow the hip arthroplasty surgeon to more accurately place acetabular components in the desired functional position.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE)

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a disease that encompasses two primary entities, deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE). Both disease states cause a significant amount of morbidity and mortality from hereditary and acquired causes. This article is an overview for the reader to have a better understanding of the scope and complexity of the disease.
Art Historical Appropriation in a Visual Culture-Based Art Education

Critical art histories have strategically contributed to the constitution of visual culture studies as an interdisciplinary field that interprets the mediations of massproduced imagery in contemporary culture. This article advocates for an antihistoricist perspective of art historical knowledge connected to cultural analysis and centered on the present time. It presents an approach to art as a contingent visual event that responds to theoretical and political emergencies and urgencies in specific times and contexts. The article conceptualizes a pedagogy of art historical appropriation that situates the learner as a critical examiner of cultural legacies, inherited genealogies, and repressed memories. Three instances of art historical appropriation (autobiography, archival work, and global narratives), inspired in the work of contemporary artists, art historians, and curators, are analyzed as possible contributions to a visual culture-based art education.
PURIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF THE ASPARAGINE SYNTHETASE OF STREPTOCOCCUS BOVIS.

Streptococcus bovis is an unusual member of the genus Streptococcus because it can synthesize its major cellular nitrogen compounds from ammonium salts (1). Other members of the genus are well known for their requirements for amino acids. Bn enzyme survey was conducted in order to provide information concerning the primary sites of incorporation of NHa into organic nitrogen in Streptococcus bovis. During the course of this survey, it was found that cell extracts were capable of catalyzing the formation of a hydroxamate of aspartic acid in the presence of adenosine triphosphate and Mg++, whereas no similar reaction could be detected with glutamic acid as substrate. These observations suggested the possibility that the extracts contained an asparagine-synthesizing system and were devoid of glutamine synthet.ase. The aspartate-activating system was purified and shown to be an asparagine synthetase which catalyzes the following reaction.
Redefining Nutritional Frailty: Interventions for Weight Loss Due to Undernutrition

Nutritional frailty is an unintentional, precipitous loss of both lean and fat mass resulting almost entirely from a reduction in food intake. Unintentional weight loss is associated with functional decline and increased mortality. Efforts to minimize nutritional frailty should emphasize early interventions to maintain and enhance oral food intake; these efforts can include improved esthetics, social support at mealtime, assistance with eating/feeding, and treatment with orexigenic agents. When oral food intake is insufficient, protein/calorie supplements or enteral/parenteral feedings by tube may be utilized. However, the extent of positive impact on medical outcomes is generally modest and complications are common with tube feedings.
Phase I study of single agent ibrutinib in recurrent/refractory primary (PCNSL) and secondary CNS lymphoma (SCNSL).

2046Background: PCNSL is an aggressive primary brain tumor. Outcome and treatment options are poor for patients with recurrent/refractory disease. Response rates range between 30-60% with a progression free survival (PFS) of 2-6 months. Ibrutinib has shown promising clinical response in some B-cell malignancies. This phase I trial investigates ibrutinib in patients with recurrent/refractory (r/r) PCNSL and secondary CNS lymphoma (SCNSL). Methods: Eligible patients had r/r PCNSL or SCNSL, age ≥ 18, KPS ≥ 50, normal end-organ function, and unrestricted number and type of prior therapies. In patients with SCNSL disease, systemic disease needed to be absent. Results: Ten patients were enrolled (3 at 560 mg; 7 at 840 mg). Median age was 70 (range 21-80); 7 were women. Median ECOG was 1 (0: 1, 1: 5, 2: 4). 70% had PCNSL and 30% SCNSL. Six had parenchymal disease, 3 isolated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) involvement and 1 both. Patients were highly pretreated: 2 (both SCNSL) had prior stem cell transplant; 3 (2 PCNS...
What Do Parents Want From Preschool? Perspectives of Low-Income Latino/a Immigrant Families.

Abstract With a qualitative approach drawing from four focus groups, this study explored what aspects of preschool were valued most by 30 low-income Latino/a immigrant parents with children enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in Texas. Beyond the push and pull factors of necessity, convenience, and supply, parents reported valuing the responsiveness of the school to families’ needs and concerns, the provision of a safe and developmentally appropriate environment, the role of preschool in both care and education, the incorporation of parents within the school, and the school’s capacity for developing parents’ human and navigational capital. Even though parents saw great value in preschool for preparing their children for school and helping themselves as parents, there was also fear and mistrust in neighborhood schools that was rooted in discrimination and long-term educational inequality.
Optimizing de novo genome assembly from PCR-amplified metagenomes.

Author(s): Roux, Simon; Trubl, Gareth; Goudeau, Danielle; Nath, Nandita; Couradeau, Estelle; Ahlgren, Nathan A; Zhan, Yuanchao; Marsan, David; Chen, Feng; Fuhrman, Jed A; Northen, Trent R; Sullivan, Matthew B; Rich, Virginia I; Malmstrom, Rex R; Eloe-Fadrosh, Emiley A | Abstract: Background:Metagenomics has transformed our understanding of microbial diversity across ecosystems, with recent advances enabling de novo assembly of genomes from metagenomes. These metagenome-assembled genomes are critical to provide ecological, evolutionary, and metabolic context for all the microbes and viruses yet to be cultivated. Metagenomes can now be generated from nanogram to subnanogram amounts of DNA. However, these libraries require several rounds of PCR amplification before sequencing, and recent data suggest these typically yield smaller and more fragmented assemblies than regular metagenomes. Methods:Here we evaluate de novo assembly methods of 169 PCR-amplified metagenomes, including 25 for which an unamplified counterpart is available, to optimize specific assembly approaches for PCR-amplified libraries. We first evaluated coverage bias by mapping reads from PCR-amplified metagenomes onto reference contigs obtained from unamplified metagenomes of the same samples. Then, we compared different assembly pipelines in terms of assembly size (number of bp in contigs ≥ 10 kb) and error rates to evaluate which are the best suited for PCR-amplified metagenomes. Results:Read mapping analyses revealed that the depth of coverage within individual genomes is significantly more uneven in PCR-amplified datasets versus unamplified metagenomes, with regions of high depth of coverage enriched in short inserts. This enrichment scales with the number of PCR cycles performed, and is presumably due to preferential amplification of short inserts. Standard assembly pipelines are confounded by this type of coverage unevenness, so we evaluated other assembly options to mitigate these issues. We found that a pipeline combining read deduplication and an assembly algorithm originally designed to recover genomes from libraries generated after whole genome amplification (single-cell SPAdes) frequently improved assembly of contigs ≥10 kb by 10 to 100-fold for low input metagenomes. Conclusions:PCR-amplified metagenomes have enabled scientists to explore communities traditionally challenging to describe, including some with extremely low biomass or from which DNA is particularly difficult to extract. Here we show that a modified assembly pipeline can lead to an improved de novo genome assembly from PCR-amplified datasets, and enables a better genome recovery from low input metagenomes.
Predictive Factors, 30-Day Clinical Outcomes, and Costs Associated With Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak in Pituitary Adenoma Resection

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a complication of endoscopic endonasal pituitary adenoma resection. Previous studies examining complications of pituitary adenoma resection have not examined associations of an exhaustive list of clinical and financial variables with CSF leak. We designed a retrospective analysis of 334 consecutive patients that underwent endoscopic endonasal pituitary adenoma resection at a single institution over 5 years, analyzing associations between CSF leak and demographic data, operative data, comorbidities, clinical complications and outcomes, costs, charges, and payments. Of the 20 preoperative variables studied, none were positively associated with CSF leak in between-groups comparison, although multivariate analysis revealed an association with a history of radiation to the skull base (odds ratio [OR], 8.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94–57.03; p
Expect More from the Networking: DDoS Mitigation by FITT in Named Data Networking

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have plagued the Internet for decades, but the basic defense approaches have not fundamentally changed. Rather, the size and rate of growth in attacks have actually outpaced carriers' and DDoS mitigation services' growth, calling for new solutions that can be, partially or fully, deployed imminently and exhibit effectiveness. In this paper, we examine the basic functions in Named Data Networking (NDN), a newly proposed Internet architecture, that can address the principle weaknesses in today's IP networks. We demonstrate by a new DDoS mitigation solution over NDN, Fine-grained Interest Traffic Throttling FITT, that NDN's architectural changes, even when incrementally deployed, can make DDoS attacks fundamentally more difficult to launch and less effective. FITT leverages the NDN design to enable the network to detect DDoS from victim's feedback, throttles DDoS traffic by reverse its exact paths through the network, and enforces control over the misbehaving entities at their sources. Our extensive simulation results show that FITT can throttle attack traffic with one-way time delay from the victim to the NDN gateway; upon activation, FITT effectively stop attack traffic from impacting benign flows, resulting in over 99\% of packets reaching victims being legitimate ones. We further demonstrate that service providers may implement NDN/FITT on existing CDN nodes as an incrementally deployable solution to effectuate the application level remediation at the sources, which remains unattainable in today's DDoS mitigation approaches.
Afterword: On Education and Technological Unemployment

This chapter develops a summary assessment of the edited collection’s wide-ranging overview of labor and education issues in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It reviews the contributors’ critical analyses of what human learning is now, and their debates about what it must become as colleges, universities, and other learning environments undergo digital disruptions. As the staff and students of all educational institutions confront the deep changes intrinsic to these news waves of work reorganization and technological unemployment, the radical changes coming from autonomous systems, networked computing, robotic devices, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology tools cannot be downplayed. It concludes with thoughts about how human beings and nonhuman intelligent systems must develop new terms of coexistence within these new high-tech environments to respond effectively to the world’s most pressing problems at this historical juncture.
Implementing an Opt-in eConsult Program at Seven Academic Medical Centers: a Qualitative Analysis of Primary Care Provider Experiences.

Electronic consultation (eConsult), which involves primary care provider (PCP)-to-specialist asynchronous consultation, is increasingly used in health care systems to streamline care and to improve patient access. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) formed a collaborative to support the implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR)-based, opt-in eConsult program across multiple academic medical centers (AMCs). In this model, PCPs can elect to send either an eConsult or a traditional referral. We sought to understand the PCP experience with eConsult to identify facilitators of and barriers to the successful adoption of the model. We conducted 35 semi-structured interviews and 6 focus groups with a range of primary care providers at 7 AMCs participating in the AAMC collaborative. Interviews were recorded and transcribed or detailed field notes were taken. We used the constant comparative method to identify recurring themes within and across sites, and resolve interpretive discrepancies. We identified three major themes related to the eConsult program: (1) eConsult increases the comprehensiveness of primary care and fills PCPs’ knowledge gaps through case-based learning. (2) Factors that influence PCPs to order an eConsult rather than a traditional referral include patient preference, case complexity, and need for expert guidance. (3) Implementation challenges included increasing PCPs’ awareness of the program, addressing PCPs’ concerns about increased workload, recruiting engaged specialist consultants, and ensuring high quality eConsult responses. Implementation success relied on PCP ownership of the consultation process, mitigating unintended consequences, ongoing education about the program, and mechanisms for providing feedback to clinicians. Our findings demonstrate that an opt-in eConsult program at AMCs has the potential to increase PCP knowledge and enhance the comprehensiveness of primary care. For these benefits to be realized, program implementation requires sustained efforts to overcome barriers to use and establish norms guiding eConsult communication.
3,5-Dichloro-3',4'-dimethoxybiphenyl.

The title compound, C14H12Cl2O2, is a dimethoxylated derivative of 3,4-di­chloro­biphenyl (PCB 14). The dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 42.49 (6)°. The meth­oxy groups on the non-chlorinated ring lie essentially in the plane of the benzene ring, with C—C—O—C torsion angles of 4.0 (2) and −2.07 (19)°. In the crystal, the compound displays π–π stacking inter­actions between inversion-related chlorinated benzene rings, with an inter­planar stacking distance of 3.3695 (17) A.
Sequential Approximation of Functions in Sobolev Spaces Using Random Samples

We present an iterative algorithm for approximating an unknown function sequentially using random samples of the function values and gradients. This is an extension of the recently developed sequential approximation (SA) method, which approximates a target function using samples of function values only. The current paper extends the development of the SA methods to the Sobolev space and allows the use of gradient information naturally. The algorithm is easy to implement, as it requires only vector operations and does not involve any matrices. We present tight error bound of the algorithm, and derive an optimal sampling probability measure that results in fastest error convergence. Numerical examples are provided to verify the theoretical error analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed SA algorithm.
The longitudinal association of psychological resources with chronic conditions and the mediating roles of health behaviours and allostatic load

Objective: To investigate the association of psychological resources with the prevalence of chronic conditions up to 10 years later, and the mediating roles of health behaviours and allostatic load...
A Security Analysis of the Facebook Ad Library

Actors engaged in election disinformation are using online advertising platforms to spread political messages. In response to this threat, online advertising networks have started making political advertising on their platforms more transparent in order to enable third parties to detect malicious advertisers. We present a set of methodologies and perform a security analysis of Facebook’s U.S. Ad Library, which is their political advertising transparency product. Unfortunately, we find that there are several weaknesses that enable a malicious advertiser to avoid accurate disclosure of their political ads. We also propose a clustering-based method to detect advertisers engaged in undeclared coordinated activity. Our clustering method identified 16 clusters of likely inauthentic communities that spent a total of over four million dollars on political advertising. This supports the idea that transparency could be a promising tool for combating disinformation. Finally, based on our findings, we make recommendations for improving the security of advertising transparency on Facebook and other platforms.
Chapter 24 – Lentivector Vaccines

As a vector for gene delivery, lentiviruses based on HIV-1 are commonly used in the laboratory. These lentivectors benefit from the advantages of efficient transduction of nondividing cells, low natural antivector immunity, and a low potential for genotoxicity due to insertional mutagenesis. Numerous modifications of the lentivector have improved their safety profile and ability to elicit a strong immune response. In cancer therapy, lentivectors have been used to transduce dendritic cells with tumor-associated antigens ex vivo. When transferred back into mice, these vaccines generate a strong antigen-specific immune response, and they can slow the growth of tumors in several mouse models of human cancer. Antigen-carrying lentivectors can also be injected directly into mice, after which they also elicit a strong immune response and provide protection to tumor challenge. In the few clinical trials that have utilized lentivectors, no adverse effects from the lentivector have been observed. Future advances in the field will likely focus on improving the safety profile of these vectors and adapting them for large-scale clinical trials.
Gynecologic Surgery in the Elderly

Due to the known longer life expectancy of women, care of the geriatric female is an important and evolving topic in healthcare. Common gynecologic conditions in the elderly female include vaginitis, post-menopausal bleeding, pelvic floor disorders, and vulvar dermatitis. Less frequently encountered is a pelvic mass but since the peak incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer is in women 65 years and older, a pelvic mass is most worrisome. Gynecologic cancer surgery often involves complex and radical surgery, and many elderly women can successfully undergo surgery, chemotherapy, and targeted radiotherapy. Surgical decision-making in the geriatric female is influenced by disease outcomes, surgical approach (minimally invasive including robotic, laparoscopic and vaginal approaches, vulvar surgery, and open laparotomy), and frailty estimates. Additionally, careful consideration should be taken in the perioperative period to the older woman’s family structure since geriatric women are often the primary caregivers for others. Data on frailty in elderly women undergoing gynecologic surgery is lacking and most is extrapolated from the general geriatric population.
Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab PCR positivity in COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors.

Background Nucleic acid persists after symptom resolution and infectivity for many viral infections via delayed clearance of nucleic acid fragments, non-infectious particles, or transmissible virus. For Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the relationship between nasopharyngeal (NP) swab positivity, the development of antibodies against COVID-19, and clinical history are unclear. Study design and methods Individuals who recovered from COVID-19 and volunteered to donate convalescent plasma (CP) were screened by NP swab PCR, responded to a questionnaire, and were tested for anti-COVID-19 antibodies. Results A proportion of 11.8% of individuals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by NP swab PCR greater than 14 days after the resolution of symptoms of active disease, including one donor who had asymptomatic disease and tested positive by NP swab 41 days after her initial diagnosis. Clinical history did not show a significant correlation with persistence of NP swab positivity. Also, NP swab positivity >14 days from symptom resolution did not correlate with anti-COVID-19 serology results. IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody strength correlated with hospitalization for COVID-19 using two different assays. Total anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody strength correlated with time from symptom resolution to sample collection and symptom duration. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid is detectable long after the resolution of symptoms in a significant percentage of previously diagnosed individuals, which is important to consider when interpreting PCR swab results. Persistence of PCR positivity does not correlate with antibody strength or symptoms of COVID-19. If anti-spike antibody is used to assess CP potency, individuals who suffered severe COVID-19 disease symptoms may represent better donors.
Self-Deception: Adopting False Beliefs for a Favorable Self-View

This paper demonstrates how people deceive themselves into thinking of themselves as altruistic. I present a lab experiment in which subjects need to decide whether to behave altruistically or selfishly in an ambiguous environment. Due to the nature of ambiguity in this environment, those who are pessimistic have a legitimate reason to behave selfishly, even if they are inherently altruistic. For people who are inherently selfish but like to think of themselves as altruistic, this environment can serve as a scapegoat for selfish behavior. That is, by falsely claiming to be pessimistic, individuals can behave selfishly without damaging their self-image of being altruistic. Through two seemingly unrelated experimental tasks, I elicit subjects’ adopted beliefs and true beliefs about the same probability. I find that selfish subjects adopt beliefs that are systematically more pessimistic beliefs than their true beliefs, whereas altruistic subjects adopt beliefs that are in alignment with their true beliefs. The most plausible explanation for why only selfish subjects manipulate their beliefs is that selfish behavior damages their self-image and belief manipulation helps them mitigate that damage; altruistic subjects, by contrast, have no such need for belief manipulation because their behavior does not damage their self-image.
Robust cascaded frequency filters to recognize rebar in GPR data with complex signal interference

Abstract Automatically recognizing rebar by using ground penetrating radar (GPR) is an ongoing research area that attracts much attention from researchers and practitioners. Existing studies in the literature have presented various methods to recognize rebar from GPR data, but these methods are mainly focused on straight-forward cases and do not systematically address the signal interference challenges. In this manuscript, the authors propose a novel method to address these challenges based on designing robust cascaded frequency filters. The frequency filters are pertinently designed to decompose GPR data into different components according to the directional transformation of the GPR image, which are then reconstructed as a refined hyperbolic pattern based on a similarity comparison between right and left tail images. Finally, the proposed method is validated using both synthetic and actual on-site datasets and the obtained results are compared with the results of two other state-of-the-art methods existing in the literature.
Seismic Diffusivity and the Influence of Heterogeneity on Injection-Induced Seismicity

The spatiotemporal patterns of injection-induced seismicity (IIS) are commonly interpreted with the concept of a triggering front, which propagates in a diffusion-like manner with an associated dif...
A new computational approach for estimation of the Gini index based on grouped data

Many government agencies still rely on the grouped data as the main source of information for calculation of the Gini index. Previous research showed that the Gini index based on the grouped data suffers the first and second-order correction bias compared to the Gini index computed based on the individual data. Since the accuracy of the estimated correction bias is subject to many underlying assumptions, we propose a new method and name it D-Gini, which reduces the bias in Gini coefficient based on grouped data. We investigate the performance of the D-Gini method on an open-ended tail interval of the income distribution. The results of our simulation study showed that our method is very effective in minimizing the first and second order-bias in the Gini index and outperforms other methods previously used for the bias-correction of the Gini index based on grouped data. Three data sets are used to illustrate the application of this method.