cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improved Results in 336 Patients with the Isolated Mitral Beall Valve Replacement

In the four year study of 336 mitral Beall valve replacements there was an early operative mortality of 8.6 percent (29 patients). The late mortality was 7.4 percent (25 patients). Only five (1.5 percent) of these died as a result of thromboemboli from the prosthesis. Withdrawal of anticoagulants may have been a factor in causing clotting on the prosthesis in two of these patients. There were 20 patients (6 percent) who developed nonfatal postoperative emboli, mostly transient in nature. This low emboli incidence may be due to a lack of exposed valve metal. Residual valvular leak occurred in 18 patients but only in five was it severe enough to warrant reoperation. The late results in the 273 survivors were gratifying; 92 percent (252) were in excellent or good condition at the end of the study period. Most of these survivors resumed a normal active life.
Construction Grammar in the twenty-first century

Adele Goldberg, Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. vii + 280.Goldberg's new work ‘investigates the nature of our knowledge of language, how that knowledge is acquired by children, and how crosslinguistic and language-internal generalizations can be explained’. It builds on earlier research on Construction Grammar (CxG) by Fillmore (1986), Lakoff (1987), Fillmore, Kay & O'Connor (1988), and Goldberg (1995), among others. Since the mid-1990s constructions have become more and more popular as an alternative to Chomsky's (1995) Minimalist Program, but it was not until the new millennium that CxG reached a new level of interest that resulted in an ever-growing body of research (for an overview, see Fried & Ostman 2004). Besides numerous articles and monographs, the increased interest in CxG is evidenced by a book series and an e-journal devoted to constructional research, as well as the bi-annual International Conference on Construction Grammar (ICCG). The publication of Goldberg (1995) inspired much constructional research over the past decade, most notably Croft's (2001) typologically oriented approach to CxG and Tomasello's (2003) constructional account of language acquisition.
Wireless Micropower Instrumentation for Multimodal Acquisition of Electrical and Chemical Neural Activity

The intricate coupling between electrical and chemical activity in neural pathways of the central nervous system, and the implication of this coupling in neuropathologies, such as Parkinson's disease, motivates simultaneous monitoring of neurochemical and neuropotential signals. However, to date, neurochemical sensing has been lacking in integrated clinical instrumentation as well as in brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Here, we present an integrated system capable of continuous acquisition of data modalities in awake, behaving subjects. It features one channel each of a configurable neuropotential and a neurochemical acquisition system. The electrophysiological channel is comprised of a 40-dB gain, fully differential amplifier with tunable bandwidth from 140 Hz to 8.2 kHz. The amplifier offers input-referred noise below 2 muV rms for all bandwidth settings. The neurochemical module features a picoampere sensitivity potentiostat with a dynamic range spanning six decades from picoamperes to microamperes. Both systems have independent on-chip, configurable DeltaSigma analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with programmable digital gain and resolution. The system was also interfaced to a wireless power harvesting and telemetry module capable of powering up the circuits, providing clocks for ADC operation, and telemetering out the data at up to 32 kb/s over 3.5 cm with a bit-error rate of less than 10-5. Characterization and experimental results from the electrophysiological and neurochemical modules as well as the full system are presented.
Selective haematological parameters in steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson

Fifteen steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri, were assayed for selective blood parameters. The trout were reared under flow-through conditions at the salmonid aquaculture facility at the University of Rhode Island. The means of the measured haematological parameters were: pH, 7·59 ± 0·05; pCO2, 8·5 ± 1·05 mmHg; HCO3-, 11·9 ± 1·9 meq/1; Ferri-Hb, 21·7 ± 2·0%; C1-, 147 ± 17·8 meq/1; Hct, 30·7 ± 4·8%.
Solidus, Subsolidus, and Subdissociation Phase Equilibria in the System Fe-Al-O

The objective of this investigation was to determine phase relations in the system Fe-Al-O outside the composition and temperature regions of oxygen dissociation. Subsolidus phase equilibria were studied using inert atmospheres and the quenching technique. Compatibility relations are presented on isothermal sections at 1000°, 1250°, and 1350°C. Lattice parameters of iron-bearing spinel, Al2O3and Fe2O3 are given as a function of composition. Stability and some structural relations of the compound Fe2O3 Al2O3 are discussed. Solidus surfaces in the nondissociating portions of the system have been established using both published data and measurements made during this investigation.
Design and Performance Analysis of Supercapacitor Charging Circuits for Wireless Sensor Nodes

Micro-solar energy harvesting systems have achieved efficient operations through maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and maximum power transfer tracking (MPTT) techniques. However, they may have chargers with relatively high power thresholds, below which they have 0% efficiency. As a result, these harvesters either require much larger panels than necessary, or they fail to sustain extended periods of poor weather. To address this problem, we propose to generalize MPTT to MCZT, for Maximum Charging Zone Tracking, to expand the zones of effective charging. To cover the wide dynamic range of solar irradiation, we propose a programmable charge pump driven by a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). In addition, we dynamically reconfigure the topology of multiple supercapacitors to maximize charging efficiency and minimize voltage-dependent leakage. Experimental results from simulation and measurement show that under the high solar irradiance of 1000 W/m2, our MPTT part achieves 40%-50% faster charging time than one without MPTT; and under low solar irradiation of 300 W/m2, the boost-up operation of our system enables fully charging the supercapacitors, thereby extending the harvesting time zone from 10:00 am-07:10 pm to 8:20 am-8:00 pm even on a sunny day, all with an MPTT overhead of 1.5 mW.
Semantic approximation of data stream joins

We consider the problem of approximating sliding window joins over data streams in a data stream processing system with limited resources. In our model, we deal with resource constraints by shedding load in the form of dropping tuples from the data streams. We make two main contributions. First, we define the problem space by discussing architectural models for data stream join processing and surveying suitable measures for the quality of an approximation of a set-valued query result. Second, we examine in detail a large part of this problem space. More precisely, we consider the number of generated result tuples as the quality measure and we propose optimal offline and fast online algorithms for it. In a thorough experimental study with synthetic and real data, we show the efficacy of our solutions.
An Electrothermal Micromirror with High Linear Scanning Efficiency

An electrothermal micromirror with an aperture size of 1 mm times 1.2 mm has been developed. The mirror can tilt as much as 21deg with a 15 V DC voltage. High linear scanning efficiency is obtained by using a special drive voltage waveform. The waveform is characterized by two parameters which are determined experimentally.
Measurement and Characterization Techniques for Thermoelectric Materials

Characterization of thermoelectric materials can pose many problems. A temperature difference can be established across these materials as an electrical current is passed due to the Peltier effect. The thermopower of these materials is quite large and thus large thermal voltages can contribute to many of the measurements necessary to investigate these materials. This paper will discuss the characterization techniques necessary to investigate these materials and provide an overview of some of the potential systematic errors which can arise. It will also discuss some of the corrections one needs to consider. This should provide an introduction to the characterization and measurement of thermoelectric materials and provide references for a more in depth discussion of the concepts. It should also serve as an indication of the care that must be taken while working with thermoelectric materials.
Modulation of the ComA-dependent quorum response in Bacillus subtilis by multiple Rap proteins and Phr peptides

In Bacillus subtilis, extracellular peptide signaling regulates several biological processes. Secreted Phr signaling peptides are imported into the cell and act intracellularly to antagonize the activity of regulators known as Rap proteins. B. subtilis encodes several Rap proteins and Phr peptides, and the processes regulated by many of these Rap proteins and Phr peptides are unknown. We used DNA microarrays to characterize the roles that several rap-phr signaling modules play in regulating gene expression. We found that rapK-phrK regulates the expression of a number of genes activated by the response regulator ComA. ComA activates expression of genes involved in competence development and the production of several secreted products. Two Phr peptides, PhrC and PhrF, were previously known to stimulate the activity of ComA. We assayed the roles that PhrC, PhrF, and PhrK play in regulating gene expression and found that these three peptides stimulate ComA-dependent gene expression to different levels and are all required for full expression of genes activated by ComA. The involvement of multiple Rap proteins and Phr peptides allows multiple physiological cues to be integrated into a regulatory network that modulates the timing and magnitude of the ComA response.
Joint array calibration and direction-finding with virtual-ESPRIT algorithm

The amount of partial information necessary to jointly calibrate an arbitrary array and estimate the directions of far-field sources is investigated. The authors prove that the presence of a doublet and use of fourth-order cumulants is sufficient to accomplish this task. Their approach is based on the interpretation of cumulants for array processing. The cumulant-based algorithm is computationally efficient and more general than constrained covariance-based algorithms. Simulations indicate excellent results by the proposed algorithm. >
Video object segmentation by hypergraph cut

In this paper, we present a new framework of video object segmentation, in which we formulate the task of extracting prominent objects from a scene as the problem of hypergraph cut. We initially over-segment each frame in the sequence, and take the over-segmented image patches as the vertices in the graph. Different from the traditional pairwise graph structure, we build a novel graph structure, hypergraph, to represent the complex spatio-temporal neighborhood relationship among the patches. We assign each patch with several attributes that are computed from the optical flow and the appearance-based motion profile, and the vertices with the same attribute value is connected by a hyperedge. Through all the hyperedges, not only the complex non-pairwise relationships between the patches are described, but also their merits are integrated together organically. The task of video object segmentation is equivalent to the hypergraph partition, which can be solved by the hypergraph cut algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by extensive experiments on nature scenes.
What does the history of technology regulation teach us about nano oversight

As policy makers struggle to develop regulatory oversight models for nanotechnologies, there are important lessons that can be drawn from previous attempts to govern other emerging technologies. Five such lessons are the following: (1) public confidence and trust in a technology and its regulatory oversight is probably the most important factor for the commercial success of a technology; (2) regulation should avoid discriminating against particular technologies unless there is a scientifically based rationale for the disparate treatment; (3) regulatory systems need to be flexible and adaptive to rapidly changing technologies; (4) ethical and social concerns of the public about emerging technologies need to be expressly acknowledged and addressed in regulatory oversight; and (5) international harmonization of regulation may be beneficial in a rapidly globalizing world.
A social explanation for the rise and fall of global health issues

This paper proposes an explanation concerning why some global health issues such as HIV/AIDS attract significant attention from international and national leaders, while other issues that also represent a high mortality and morbidity burden, such as pneumonia and malnutrition, remain neglected. The rise, persistence and decline of a global health issue may best be explained by the way in which its policy community - the network of individuals and organizations concerned with the problem - comes to understand and portray the issue and establishes institutions that can sustain this portrayal. This explanation emphasizes the power of ideas and challenges interpretations of issue ascendance and decline that place primary emphasis on material, objective factors such as mortality and morbidity levels and the existence of cost-effective interventions. This explanation has implications for our understanding of strategic public health communication. If ideas in the form of issue portrayals are central, strategic communication is far from a secondary public health activity: it is at the heart of what global health policy communities do.
A microfluidic system for rapid bacterial pathogen detection

We previously demonstrated application of a MEMS electrochemical biosensor to detect pathogenic bacteria in urine. Using custom-designed DNA oligonucleotide probes specific for bacterial 16S rRNA, species-specific detection was achieved within 45 minutes. However, the urine sample preparation protocol is still a labor-intensive 7 to 10 step process. This paper outlines our initial efforts to develop PDMS-based pump and mixer designs compatible with our existing electrochemical biosensor. The eventual goal is to use these preliminary designs and numerical and experimental test results from various microfluidic components in PDMS in order to build an integrated lab-on-a-chip for rapid bacterial pathogen detection. Preliminary active mixing tests show at a four-fold improvement in the resulting electrochemical signal amplitude, when compared to flow through the microfluidic structure without mixing, as well as when compared to manual mixing.
The spontaneous polarization as evidence for lithium disordering in LiNbO3

The ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition in lithium niobate is examined. The present study focuses on the microscopic mechanism for this phase transition. Literature reports that give insight into this mechanism are reviewed. Two alternate mechanisms for this second order transition have been discussed previously. The phase transition has been proposed to occur by either (a) cooperative displacement of Li ions or (b) statistical disordering of Li between two octahedral sites in the structure. The present study develops a general Landau expression for the second order phase transition. The spontaneous polarization of the lattice is used as an indicator of the extent of transformation. Then both displacement and disordering models are explored. These are compared with the observed spontaneous polarization data. It is concluded that the spontaneous polarization data are indicative of a Li disordering model, rather than a Li displacement model.
SWIFT: scheduling in web servers for fast response time

This paper addresses the problem of how to service web requests quickly in order to minimize the client response time. Some of the recent work uses the idea of the shortest remaining processing time scheduling (SRPT) in Web servers in order to give preference to requests for short files. However by considering only the size of the file for determining the priority of requests, the previous works lack in capturing potentially useful scheduling information contained in the interaction between networks and end systems. To address this, this paper proposes and implements an algorithm, SWIFT that focuses on both server and network characteristics in conjunction. Our approach prioritizes requests based on the size of the file requested and the distance of the client from the server The implementation is at the kernel level for a finer-grained control over the packets entering the network. We present the results of the experiments conducted in a WAN environment to test the efficacy of SWIFT The results show that for large-sized files, SWIFT shows an improvement of 2.5% - 10% over the SRPT scheme for the tested server loads.
Rethinking the political economy of development: back to basics and beyond

This paper explores a number of key issues in Development Economics which should be central concerns of contemporary development debates but which rarely attract the attention they deserve. It argues that there were fundamental insights in much of the early theoretical work of the ‘first generation’ of development economists, including the Latin American structuralists, that remain important. It then discusses the view that much of this earlier work is in danger of being ignored, forgotten or for various ideological reasons, airbrushed out of history. Recent examples include the omission of Latin American structuralism from recent editions of otherwise highly regarded texts, the omission of any reference to Harrod or to Domar in another recently published book which purports to discuss the evolution of growth theory, and a third book focussing on Economic Growth which excludes both Harrod and Domar and gives Arthur Lewis only one mention. The main conclusion is that Development Economics has moved too far away from its core competencies, and that a move ‘back to basics’ is long overdue. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Approximation algorithms for stochastic scheduling problems

In this dissertation we study a broad class of stochastic scheduling problems characterized by the presence of hard deadline constraints. The input to such a problem is a set of jobs, each with an associated value, processing time, and deadline. We would like to schedule these jobs on a set of machines over time. In our stochastic setting, the processing time of each job is random, known in advance only as a probability distribution (and we make no assumptions about the structure of this distribution). Only after a job completes do we know its actual “instantiated” processing time with certainty. Each machine can process only a singe job at a time, and each job must be assigned to only one machine for processing. After a job starts processing we require that it must be allowed to complete—it cannot be canceled or “preempted” (put on hold and resumed later). Our goal is to devise a scheduling policy that maximizes the expected value of jobs that are scheduled by their deadlines. A scheduling policy observes the state of our machines over time, and any time a machine becomes available for use, it selects a new job to execute on that machine. Scheduling policies can be classified as adaptive or non-adaptive based on whether or not they utilize information learned from the instantiation of processing times of previously-completed jobs in their future scheduling decisions. A novel aspect of our work lies in studying the benefit one can obtain through adaptivity, as we show that for all of our stochastic scheduling problems, adaptivity can only allow us to improve the expected value obtained by an optimal policy by at most a small constant factor. All of the problems we consider are at least NP-hard since they contain the deterministic 0/1 knapsack problem as a special case. We therefore seek to develop approximation algorithms: algorithms that run in polynomial time and compute a policy whose expected value is provably close to that of an optimal adaptive policy. For all the problems we consider, we can approximate the expected value obtained by an optimal adaptive policy to within a small constant factor (which depends on the problem under consideration, but is always less than 10). A small handful of our results are pseudo-approximation algorithms, delivering an approximately optimal policy that is feasible with respect to a slightly expanded set of deadlines. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.) (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
The Evolution of Election Polling in the United States

Public opinion polls have long played an important role in the study and conduct of elections. In this essay, I outline the evolution of poll- ing as used for three different functions in U.S. presidential elections: fore- casting election outcomes, understanding voter behavior, and planning campaign strategy. Since the introduction of scientific polling in the 1936 election, technology has altered the way polls are used by the media, public, candidates, and scholars. Today, polls and surveys remain vital to electoral behavior and our understanding of it, but they are being increas- ingly supplemented or replaced by alternate measures and methods. Public opinion polls are now conducted on every topic under the sun—everything from presidential approval to celebrity outfits and sports predictions—but they remain especially fundamental to the conduct and study of elections. Elections and polling are so intertwined that it is hard to imagine one without the other. Poll numbers provide fodder for media coverage and election predictions, they shape candidate and voter behavior, and they are the basis of interpreting the meaning of election outcomes. Public Opinion Quarterly was founded in January 1937 on the heels of the advent of modern scientific polling in U.S. presidential elections. The first issue included an essay, ''Straw Polls in 1936,'' explaining how George Gallups quota-controlled survey of a few thousand triumphed over the Literary Digests straw poll of millions in correctly predicting the election outcome (Crossley 1937). Election polling has evolved considerably since that inaugural issue. Perhaps most notably, there has been an explosion in the number of election polls in the United States. Traugott (2005) estimated a 900-percent increase in trial heat polls between 1984 and 2000. The number has continued to grow since then, due largely to the rise in interactive-voice-response (IVR) and Internet polls since the 2000 election. In the 2008 election, there were an estimated 975
TPS transportability: From the factory to the depot

A major issue in replacing testers is the need to transport test program sets (TPSs) from the installed tester to the replacement tester. A test program set includes test programs and fixtures. The authors first address some of the key issues involved in developing translation systems to transport TPSs from an installed depot tester to a replacement commercial tester. They then provide an example based on their experience in developing a translation system for migrating from GR179X testers to Teradyne's L-series functional testers. >
Multithreaded Community Monitoring for Massive Streaming Graph Data

Analyzing static snapshots of massive, graph-structured data cannot keep pace with the growth of social networks, financial transactions, and other valuable data sources. Current state-of-the-art industrial methods analyze these streaming sources using only simple, aggregate metrics. There are few existing scalable algorithms for monitoring complex global quantities like decomposition into community structure. Using our framework STING, we present the first known parallel algorithm specifically for monitoring communities in this massive, streaming, graph-structured data. Our algorithm performs incremental re-agglomeration rather than starting from scratch after each batch of changes, reducing the problem's size to that of the change rather than the entire graph. We analyze our initial implementation's performance on multithreaded platforms for execution time and latency. On an Intel-based multithreaded platform, our algorithm handles up to 100 million updates per second on social networks with one to 30 million edges, providing a speed-up from 4x to 3700x over statically recomputing the decomposition after each batch of changes. Possibly because of our artificial graph generator, resulting communities' modularity varies little from the initial graph.
Limex'87 Ice Surface Characteristics And Their Effect Upon C-band Sar Signatures

Ice surface characterization data were recorded during March 1987 in the Labrador Sea marginal ice zone, at the onset of spring melt. Measured data are used as input parameters in a simple scattering model to simulate the effects of temporal variations in material properties upon C-band scattering signatures. Snow moisture and surface roughness have a significant effect upon sigma(0)HH and large differences are predicted between undeformed floe surfaces and deformed or rubbled ice areas. The model reproduces a calibrated synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR)-derived signature obtained during the experiment with a reasonable degree of certainty. Predictions also simulate a trend observed in SAR images of increasing backscatter contrast between deformed and undeformed ice over period of surface warming.
Group Key Management for Secure Multicasting in Remote Software Upload to Future Vehicles

In future, updating various software modules in vehicles on a regular basis will be required for various reasons such as update functionalities in the existing system, add new functionalities, remove software bugs, update navigation map etc. For updating software to a large number of vehicles, remote updating using mobile multicasting would be the most efficient and economic than unicast updating in service station. However, the security requirement of multicast communication, i.e., confidentiality and integrity of the information transmitted and authenticity of the group members, is challenging. In this paper, we investigate issues in designing key management architectures for secure multicast network, particularly for remote software update in future vehicles. Vehicular software distribution network is considered as wireless network where vehicles are connected to the software distributors through base stations. Since the network consists of vehicles and base stations, the network dynamics is characterized by quasi-permanent mobility, high speed and frequent hand-off. High mobility and frequent hand-off increase the complexity of dynamic group membership which results in increase complexity in key generation and distribution. However, unlike the other mobile hosts such as PDA, vehicles provide sufficient battery, computational power and memory which allow performing complex cryptographic algorithm. Taking these things into consideration, we propose to use decentralized key management technique to generate and distribute multicast session key to the group members. Consequently, we evaluate our proposed architecture based on key distribution efficiency, re-keying efficiency, computational complexity, key storage requirement and scalability. From our analysis, it is found that the set-up and re-keying time of the proposed mechanism is in the range of few milliseconds while it provides confidentiality, authenticity and data integrity.
Blood Pressure Effects of Yoga, Alone or in Combination With Lifestyle Measures: Results of the Lifestyle Modification and Blood Pressure Study (LIMBS).

The authors conducted a study to assess the effects of yoga on blood pressure (BP). Patients were randomized to yoga (Blood Pressure Education Program [BPEP]), or a combined program (COMBO). Ambulatory BP was measured at baseline and at 12 and 24 weeks. Data are presented for all enrolled patients (n=137) and for completers only (n=90). Systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were significantly decreased within all groups at 12 and 24 weeks (P<.001) for enrolled patients and completers. SBP was significantly reduced in the yoga and COMBO groups as compared with the BPEP group at 12 weeks in all enrolled and completers. SBP differences were no longer significant at 24 weeks between groups in all enrolled patients; however, there was a greater reduction in SBP at 24 weeks in completers favoring BPEP over yoga. No differences in DBP between groups or in BP between the yoga and COMBO groups were present. The authors did not observe an additive benefit from combining yoga with BPEP measures. Reasons for this are unclear at this time. BP lowering with yoga, however, was similar to that achieved with lifestyle measures.
Nature of the Li 8 Beta-Decay Interaction

Li/sup 8/ was produced by bombarding a thin layer of Li/sub 7/ on a 0.005-inch aluminum backing, with a deuteron beam pulsed at 60 pulses per second. During the periods when the beam was cut off, alpha particles following the Li/ sup 8/ beta decay were magnetically analyzed and detected in a CsI(Tl) crystal in coincidence with electrons. The measured alpha particle momentum spectra are shown. Corrections to the experimental data were made for the He/sup +//He//sup ++/ ratio and for the momentum loss of the alpha particles in escaping from the target. (W.D.M.)
Legislative Proposals to Address the Negative Consequences of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions

In testimony to the House of Representatives Subcomittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, the author addresses potential unintended impacts of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions on corporate compliance programs. The bill assumes that all companies operate at the lowest levels of ethical behavior and provides incentives to bypass existing compliance programs when there are effective incentive structures within existing Sentencing Guidelines which should be supported. There should be a presumption that whistleblowers report internally first unless there is no viable, credible internal option. Then the SEC informs the company unless there is legitimate reason not to do so. Those with a fiduciary duty to report should be excluded from the bounty provisions of the bill and should be required to report upward internally before reporting externally. Culpable individuals should be excluded from eligibility to receive a bounty for reporting their own conduct. Lastly, the legislation needs to be clarified to ensure that while no adverse action can be taken against an employee for making a good-faith report, the Act should not preclude an employer from legitimate non-retaliatory employment actions.
Control Power Optimization using Artificial Intelligence for Hybrid Wing Body Aircraft

Traditional methods of control allocation optimization have shown difficulties in exploiting the full potential of controlling a large array of control surfaces. This research investigates the potential of employing artificial intelligence methods like neurocomputing to the control allocation optimization problem of Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) aircraft concepts for minimizing control power, hinge moments, and actuator forces, while keeping the system weights within acceptable limits. The main objective is to develop a proof-of-concept process suitable to demonstrate the potential of using neurocomputing for optimizing actuation power for aircraft featuring multiple independently actuated control surfaces and wing flexibility. An aeroelastic OREIO model was used to generate a database of hinge moment and actuation power characteristics for an array of control surface deflections. Artificial neural network incorporating a genetic algorithm then performs control allocation optimization for an example aircraft. The results showed that for the half-span model, the optimization results (for the sum of the required hinge moment) are improved by more than 11%, whereas for the full-span model, the same approach improved the result by nearly 14% over the best MSC Nastran solution by using the neural network optimization process. The results were improved by 23% and 27% over the case where only the elevator is used for both half-span and full-span models, respectively. The methods developed and applied here can be used for a wide variety of aircraft configurations.
A quality improvement approach to reducing use of meperidine.

Article-at-a-Glance Background In 1991 the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics formed a pain management QI team whose goal was to improve pain management through education, outcome monitoring, and the development of programs intended to improve clinical practice. Longitudinal monitoring mechanisms were established to audit medical records and survey patients to examine both staff practice patterns and patient outcomes. The QI team targeted use of meperidine, one of the most widely used opioid analgesics for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, which is now discouraged as a first-line agent for most painful conditions. Implementing the QI process A QI process was implemented using a traditional plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model, resulting in a successful and sustained reduction of inappropriate meperidine use. A cause-and-effect diagram helped highlight the multiple factors contributing to the drug's overuse and was used to prioritize targets for action. A flow chart helped to uncover some of the interrelationships between the myths about meperidine and the resultant customary prescribing and administration practices. While most of the strategies were implemented in 1996 (formulary guideline release, change in stock supply and physician orders, staff education and feedback), a significant impact in practice was not seen until late 1997. Ongoing tracking and feedback loops were established to ensure continued low use of meperidine. Conclusion Use of a QI approach in pain management has been shown to affect the visibility of pain as a clinical priority, enhance interdisciplinary collaboration, facilitate the implementation of clinical guidelines at the bedside, and improve the quality of care for patients.
Alcoholic Cirrhosis, Transplantation, and Recurrence of Disease

Alcoholic liver disease is the second leading indication for liver transplantation in North America and Europe. New understandings of the complexity of alcoholism and recidivism have challenged absolute approaches to define periods of pretransplant sobriety, but may further complicate recurrence of any alcohol use post-transplant. Rates of recidivism are reported at approximately 30 %, but recurrent disease leading to allograft damage is limited to transplant recipients who resume abusive patterns of alcohol consumption. Additionally, alcoholic liver transplant recipients are at greater risk for mortality from cardiovascular disease and aerodigestive malignancy associated with alcohol and tobacco, than from the risk of mortality from recidivism. Screening for malignancy and the treatment of cardiac disease should be of greater focus in patients who were transplanted for alcoholic liver disease. Recurrence of alcoholic liver disease post-transplantation is a multifaceted problem that differs in scope from recurrence of viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Multidisciplinary treatment plans that begin pretransplant and continue into the post-transplant period are important in minimizing rates of recidivism. Thus, psychological and social counseling should focus on both alcohol and tobacco cessation in this susceptible population.
Stub Effect Mitigations Using Absorbing Materials

A new technology is developed for the mitigation of stub effects in high-speed interconnects. This technology substantially reduces the stub effects for high-speed signaling. It dampens reflected signals on stubs, thus reducing intersymbol interference and harmful coupling, and correcting timing jitter, all typically induced by the stub’s reflected signals. This paper shows two applications for high-speed digital system designs, the mitigation of via stub effects and that of empty connector effects, respectively. However, it is notable that the present method is suitable for reflection suppression for arbitrary types of stubs to improve the signal integrity.
Central role of the TIR-domain-containing adaptor-inducing interferon-β (TRIF) adaptor protein in murine sterile liver injury

Multiple pathways drive the sterile injury response in the liver; however, it is unclear how the type of cells injured or the mechanism of injury activates these pathways. Here, we use a model of selective hepatocyte death to investigate sterile liver injury. In this model, the TIR-domain-containing adaptor-inducing interferon-β (TRIF) was a central mediator of the resulting intrahepatic inflammatory response that was independent of both upstream Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 signaling and downstream type I IFN signaling. TRIF was required for the induction of IL-10, IL-6, and IL-1β cytokines. Conversely, although the induction of CCL2 and CXCL1 chemokines and the up-regulation of chemokine (Ccl2, Ccl7, Cxcl1, Cxcl2, and Cxcl10) and cell-adhesion (Icam1 and Vcam1) genes involved in myeloid cell recruitment was reduced in a majority of TRIF-/- mice, a subset of TRIF-/- mice showed breakthrough inflammation and the ability to induce these genes and proteins, indicating that redundant pathways exist to respond to hepatocyte death. Furthermore, we found that hepatocytes themselves were the main responders to hepatocyte death, increasing transcription of genes involved in myeloid cell recruitment more than either liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) or Kupffer cells (KCs). Conclusion: Our studies define a TRIF-dependent, TLR4- and type I IFN-independent pathway of sterile liver injury in which hepatocytes are both the targets of damage and the principal responding cell type. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
In vivo cutaneous malignancy diagnosis using mitochondrial imaging.

A recent study by Pouli et al. (2016) published in Science Translational Medicine used an elegant set of experiments to demonstrate the ability of mitochondrial monitoring to distinguish skin cancer cells from healthy tissue in vivo. This study reveals important implications regarding the future of real-time malignancy detection (Pouli 2016). Skin cancers represent the vast majority of human malignancy, with the current estimated incidence of 4.5 million cases per year in the United States alone (Centers for Disease Control 2017). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Leveraging spintronic devices for ultra-low power in-memory computing: Logic and neural network

In-Memory computing has drawn many attentions as a promising solution to reduce massive power hungry data traffic between computing and memory units, leading to significant improvement of entire system performance and energy efficiency. Emerging spintronic device based non-volatile memory is becoming a next-generation universal memory candidate due to its non-volatility, zero leakage power in un-accessed bit-cell, high integration density, excellent endurance and compatibility with CMOS fabrication technology. In this paper, we present that different spintronic devices based memory, including spin-orbit torque magnetic random access memory (SOT-MRAM), magnetic racetrack memory, magnetic skyrmion, could be leveraged to implement an energy efficient inmemory computing platform. Then, we employ SOT-MRAM and racetrack memory to develop an efficient in-memory data encryption engine that could encrypt data within memory. Furthermore, we also show that emerging magnetic skyrmion device could be leveraged to design a tunable skyrmion neuron cluster that approximate non-linear neuron activation function, which is promising to achieve two orders of lower energy consumption compared with CMOS counterparts.
Quantifying the Effect of Data Quality on the Validity of an eMeasure

Objective The objective of this study was to demonstrate the utility of a healthcare data quality framework by using it to measure the impact of synthetic data quality issues on the validity of an eMeasure (CMS178—urinary catheter removal after surgery). Methods Data quality issues were artificially created by systematically degrading the underlying quality of EHR data using two methods: independent and correlated degradation. A linear model that describes the change in the events included in the eMeasure quantifies the impact of each data quality issue. Results Catheter duration had the most impact on the CMS178 eMeasure with every 1% reduction in data quality causing a 1.21% increase in the number of missing events. For birth date and admission type, every 1% reduction in data quality resulted in a 1% increase in missing events. Conclusion This research demonstrated that the impact of data quality issues can be quantified using a generalized process and that the CMS178 eMeasure, as currently defined, may not measure how well an organization is meeting the intended best practice goal. Secondary use of EHR data is warranted only if the data are of sufficient quality. The assessment approach described in this study demonstrates how the impact of data quality issues on an eMeasure can be quantified and the approach can be generalized for other data analysis tasks. Healthcare organizations can prioritize data quality improvement efforts to focus on the areas that will have the most impact on validity and assess whether the values that are reported should be trusted.
Solution Self-Assemblies of Sequence-Defined Ionic Peptoid Block Copolymers

A series of amphiphilic ionic peptoid block copolymers where the total number (1 or 3) and position of ionic monomers along the polymer chain are precisely controlled have been synthesized by the submonomer method. Upon dissolution in water at pH = 9, the amphiphilic peptoids self-assemble into small spherical micelles having hydrodynamic radius in ∼5–10 nm range and critical micellar concentration (CMC) in the 0.034–0.094 mg/mL range. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) analysis of the micellar solutions revealed unprecedented dependence of the micellar structure on the number and position of ionic monomers along the chain. It was found that the micellar aggregation number (Nagg) and the micellar radius (Rm) both increase as the ionic monomer is positioned progressively away from the junction of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments along the polymer chain. By defining an ionic monomer position number (n) as the number of monomers between the junction and the ionic monomer, Nagg exhibited a power la...
Professional Responsibility in an Age of Alternative Entities, Alternative Finance, and Alternative Facts

Business lawyers in the United States find little in the way of robust, tailored guidance in most applicable bodies of rules governing their professional conduct. The relative lack of professional responsibility and ethics guidance for these lawyers is particularly troubling in light of two formidable challenges in business law: legal change and complexity. Change and complexity arise from exciting developments in the industry that invite — even entice — the participation of business lawyers. This essay offers current examples from three different areas of business law practice that involve change and complexity. They are labeled: “Alternative Entities,” “Alternative Finance,” and “Alternative Facts.” Each area is described, together with significant attendant professional responsibility and ethics challenges. The essay concludes by offering general prescriptions for addressing these and other professional responsibility and ethics challenges faced by business lawyers in an age of legal change and complexity.
Motivating emissions cleanup: Absolute vs. relative performance standards

Abstract This article empirically compares the effectiveness of relative versus absolute performance standards in motivating compliance actions. By leveraging a unique set of Chilean administrative panel data, I examine a natural experiment created by a change in the performance standard used to incentivize the reduction of particulate matter in the atmospheric emissions of stationary pollution sources in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. I find that the absolute standard drove ∼21% less emissions cleanup than did the relative standard. I also demonstrate how sharp heterogeneity in responses to the change in standards is predictable based on an ex-ante identifiable type-categorization, which leads to the broadly-applicable conclusion that stricter regimes drive more compliance actions when imposed via an absolute performance standard compared to a relative standard. The extension of this framework provides a general means of anticipating whether an absolute or relative performance standard will drive higher rates of compliance actions in other settings.
Helper T Lymphocyte Proliferation is Stimulated by the Presence of EBV-Carrying B Lymphocytes

Epstein-Barr Virus immortalized B lymphocytes axe subject to autocrine stimulation because of, their capacity to produce endogenous factors which stimulate growth. This study questions whether B lymphocytes producing growth factor can also affect proliferation of T lymphocytes. The helper. T cell line, D10.G4.1, is exquisitely sensitive to immunomodulating factors (IL-1 and IL-2) and requires exogenously supplied IL-1 to proliferate in response to ConA. D10.G4.1 cells are stimulated by released soluble factors from virally stimulated B lymphocyte. Para-fornaldehyde-fixed EBV-carrying lymphoblastoid cells also are potent stimulators of ConA treated D10.G4.1 cells in blastogenesis assays. In acute EBV infection T lymphocyte proliferation may be stimulated by released soluble factors from virally infected B lymphocytes. Leukocytosis of T lymphocytes also may result from direct paracrine stimulation by virus carrying B lymphocytes.
Reconstruction and Commissioning

This chapter describes basic particle reconstruction and identification. The types of commissioning activities required to understand the detector and the performance of the particle reconstruction algorithms, are introduced. Several related concepts used throughout the thesis are also presented.
Sustainability and Energy Conservation Scoring Systems

Human technical advancements during the industrial age have led to many inventions in different fields. In building industry inventions such as utilization of refrigerants like chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), and hydro-chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) in manufacturing buildings air conditioning systems, using Halon (a compound made of bromide, fluorine and carbon) in building fire distinguishing systems, and using carbon-based fuels in the forms of burning wood, coal, oil, natural gas, or any other sub-product of these materials for electricity generation in power plants have changed the face of the industry drastically. Even though these are some of the major contributors to the advancement of the buildings and building technologies during these years, unfortunately the advancement of the building technologies is not these items sole effect. These innovations had also been proven to create some notable negative consequences for both people and the environment.